TheNewsGuru

Tag: Kaduna

  • Senate condemns demolition of APC secretariat in Kaduna

    Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu has criticized the action of the Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai who allegedly demolished the Secretariat of a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The demolition was reported to have occurred around 4am on Tuesday.

    Presiding over plenary, Ekweremadu declared that the Senate condemns the act and that democracy has no place for such “tyranny and impunity” by the Governor El-Rufai.

    He said: “Let me just say this is actually condemnable and send my sympathy to Sen. Hunkunyi on the destruction of your house. Democracy has no place for tyranny and this kind of impunity. So if you decide to go on the path of democracy, we must accept some of the things that come with it and one is the rule of law.

    “So if you have any form of grievance, it should be centered to the law court and not using force or the weight of the office. This is one of the reason Nigerians are opposed to the issue of immunity especially immunity for executives.

    “This is something that we need to watch. As we head into 2019, I would appeal to politicians not to overheat the system and then impede our democracy. There is a limit to the patience of our people. So I just do hope that this is the end to this kind of incidence in any part of the country.

    “If people have grievances they have the court there to settle it. And our courts are trusted to ensure that justice is delivered to whoever justice is due. If this is true the governor should make efforts to replace the house or rebuild the house or repay him as compensation.”

  • Drama as newly commissioned Kaduna APC factional office is demolished [Photos]

    The recently commissioned factional office of the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC ) located on 11A Sambo Road, Kaduna State has been demolished.

    The office was unveiled last Thursday by both the ‘APC Akida’ and the ‘Restoration APC’. TheNewsGuru.com reports that both factions are not loyal to the Governor Nasir El-Rufai led state government. However, less than 24 hours after the unveiling, the office was defaced with red paint.

    Recall that the faction had after the opening of the office issued query to Governor Nasir El-Rufai and suspended three of his allies.

    Three days after the query, precisely on Sunday, the Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi led faction suspended Governor El-Rufai for six months, giving El-Rufai’s failure to answer the query issued him as reason.

    However, on Monday, the suspension was overturned by the party executives loyal to the governor, claiming that the Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi-led faction had no such powers.

    Details later…

  • Gunmen assassinate politician in Kaduna

    Moses Banka, a politician and businessman from Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State, has been assassinated by unknown gunmen.

    Mr. Banka was reportedly killed at Ankwa village of Jema’a Local Government Area in Kaduna state.

    Yusuf Usman, the Administrator of Jema’a Local Government Council, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Kafanchan.

    He said that the deceased was assassinated on Wednesday night at his residence in Ankwa village in Godogodo Chiefdom of Jema’a.

    “The assassins stormed the residence and headed straight to his room and shot at him without hurting anyone before they left.

    “Before his death, he was also an active farmer and owned an irrigation farm at Dogon Daji Reserve close to Godogodo where he farmed hectares of soya beans,’’ the administrator said.

    Mr. Usman said a formal report had been made to the appropriate authority on the unfortunate incident and urged residents to remain calm as efforts were ongoing to fish out the perpetrators.

    Also, Abdulmuminin Ashafa, the Administrator of Sanga Local Government Council, who regretted the unfortunate demise of the deceased told NAN that the deceased would be remembered for his meaningful contributions to the people.

    Yuguda Dauda, a resident of Gwantu in Sanga Local Government Area of the state, said late Banka would be remembered for single-handedly building the local government council secretariat in Gwantu asides sponsoring politicians from the area.

     

  • Kaduna govt announces 32.5% salary increase for teachers

    The Kaduna State Government on Thursday said it has increased the salary of public school teachers by 32.5 per cent.

    The state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Ja’afaru Sani said at a news conference in Kaduna, that 27.5 per cent would be added to all the teachers while five per cent was incentive for teachers posted rural areas.

    According to him, while head teachers would be entitled to 3-Bedroom accommodation while other teachers would have 2-bedrooms flats in addition to motorcycles to ease their transportation challenges to schools.

    According to him, the measure becomes necessary to retain qualified and professional teachers posted to rural areas.

    “Currently, we have more teachers in urban areas than we have in rural areas because the salary package is the same and so whenever teachers are posted to rural schools they redeploy to urban centres.’’

    Sani said that the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) would post the first batch of 10,000 newly recruited teachers to primary schools within the next two weeks.

    He assured of the state government resolved to ensure quality and standard in teaching and learning in schools across the state.

    “The El-Rufa’i led-administration strongly believes that only access to affordable and quality education will ensure social mobility for children of the poor.

    “Only quality education will equip them with the needed skills to be creative, inventive and be part of the social movement towards development and self-fulfilment,” Sani said.

    The commissioner maintained that the state public schools would no longer be dumping ground for those seeking employment through political patronage.

    On the replacement of the sacked 22,000 teachers, Sani said selection of the first batch of 10,000 teachers for posting across the 23 local government areas was in the final stage.

    The commissioner explained that 36, 097 applicants sat for the recruitment examination, which was marked at NTI by lecturers of Federal College of Education, Zaria and Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya.

    Given further details, SUBEB Chairman, Nasiru Umar said: “ data entries and data analysis were made and we have released the names of the shortlisted candidates of 24,979 applicants as placed at the 23 LGA offices and SUBEB headquarters.“

    Umar said five-man committees for each of the 36 centres were set for the oral interview which included representative of Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria and Education Data Research and Evaluation in Nigeria.

    Others included in the exercise were the Teachers Registration Council, State Teachers Service Board, Civil Service Commission and seasoned educationists in the state.

    The official said that the oral interview covered General Knowledge, Personal Trait, Reading/ Writing, Comprehension and Self Expression.

    He said the exercise was monitored by Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai and relevant officials.

    Umar further said Data entry was ongoing, to be followed by data analysis after which a technical committee would select the successful candidates to be vetted by the main committee.

  • Teachers’ sack: Suspension of strike action by NUT is victory for public education – El-Rufai

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Monday said the recent suspension of the strike action embarked upon by the state’s chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) without recalling any of the dismissed teachers is victory for public education system in the state.

    Recall that the NUT, supported by the Nigeria Labour Congress, had called the strike to demand the recall of about 22,000 primary school teachers sacked by the state government for failing a competency test.

    In his first public reaction to the collapse of the NUT strike, Mr. El-Rufai said there was no time to dwell on the euphoria of removing trade union obstacle to better standards in the education sector.

    In a statement signed by the governor’s spokesperson, Samuel Aruwan, Mr. El-Rufai at a meeting with the state’s 23 local government administrators and their Education Secretaries, said the focus must now be on implementing the education reforms in a way that upholds standards and improves the welfare of teachers.

    At the meeting, the state primary education board, SUBEB, chairman, Nasir Umaru, reaffirmed plans for the first batch of new teachers to be appointed by February 2018.

    SUBEB informed the meeting that interviews for applicants who passed the recruitment test conducted on 20 December, 2017 will commence on Wednesday, 24 January.

    ” The interviews will be conducted across the 23 local government areas by panels comprising experienced personnel from the Teacher Development Programme and other professionals,” Mr. Umaru said.

    Mr. El-Rufai said that the education reforms in the state require that a commitment to standards be sustained and new incentives provided for teachers.

    “Among these incentives would be a new salary scale for teachers and provision of houses for teachers posted to rural schools,” he said.

    The governor observed that the difficulty in securing decent accommodation in rural areas has led to over-concentration of teachers in urban centres.

    He said the Ministry of Education will provide designs for construction of buildings with at least six flats for teachers and a bungalow for head-teachers in rural schools.

    On education standards, he said the state had passed a law to establish the Quality Assurance Board to uphold standards in schools, while the state university-owned Kaduna State University, KASU, had been directed to establish an Institute of Education to provide continuous training for teachers.

    He further said that the current recruitment exercise will prioritise teachers of English, Mathematics and the Sciences. To expand the production of such teachers, the governor disclosed that the College of Education, Gidan-Wayawill will adjust its curriculum so that most of its products are trained in Primary Education Studies, Mathematics, English and the Sciences.

    The local government administrators and Education Secretaries commended Mr. El-Rufai for the unwavering manner in which the state government is implementing its education reforms.

    They noted that the governor’s determined stance had defeated trade union power that was being used improperly, and that teachers are now ready for a new phase.

     

  • BREAKING: Police rescue four abducted Americans, Canadians in Kaduna

    The four Americans and Canadians that were abducted by on Tuesday by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have been released.

    Confirming the development to journalists on Saturday, State Commissioner of Police, Mr Agyole Abeh said the two foreigners were rescued by the police at Jere area in Kagarko Local Government Area the state.

    The police boss also added that one suspect has been arrested in connection with the abduction of the four expatriates.

    Giving a narrative on how the rescue mission was initiated, CP Abeh explained that the kidnapped foreign businessmen were freed inside a Bush at about 6 am on Saturday morning.

    The development followed a massive manhunt of their abductors by men of the command and the Inspector General of Police Special Anti-Kidnapping Squad.

    He also gave the assurance that the police were on the trail of the remaining suspects with a view to arresting them and bring them to justice

  • Kaduna Govt. bans child fostering, adoption

    Kaduna State Government has banned fostering and adoption of children due to abuses by orphanage homes in the state, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, has said.

    Baba said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Kaduna that the government had discovered that some of the orphanages were conduits for trafficking and abuse of children.

    She said that the ban would remain in force until the government sanitise the system of adoption and fostering of children in the state.

    “When we came on board, we found out that people just turn their houses into orphanages and get these children, but won’t give them out for fostering or adoption.

    “Rather, they use them as a business to get donations and that is what they capitalise on to feed their own children.

    “We have also found out that children were being sold, so we felt that this is a very serious issue that needs our intervention.

    “We wrote to the governor seeking approval to stop fostering and adoption because we don’t know where the children are been taken to.

    “Some are being sold or trafficked, some are exposed to serious dangers; we even learnt that some of their organs are being sold.

    “So, for now we have stopped fostering and adoption.

    “We will seek justice for those children and some of those issues are already before the courts,’’ she said.

    The commissioner disclosed that in one of the cases, the ministry was dragged to court by a Ghanaian after it retrieved three children from him.

    “There is one Ghanaian man accused of buying three children in Zaria, we have collected these children from him but he took us to court and we are in court now.

    “The man is accused of buying the baby boy for N400, 000 and the baby girls for N350, 000.’’

    The commissioner explained that the ministry had drafted a regulatory framework to guide the operations of orphanages and as soon as it is ratified, the ban would be lifted.

    Baba said the ministry had undertaken the mapping of all orphanages in the state in conjunction with relevant government agencies.

    “As of now, we have the total number of orphanages in the state and their maps for easy tracking.’’

    On other activities, Baba said the ministry was battling with high number of teenage pregnancies and those who either sell off their babies or kill them after delivery.

    “We requested for shelter where we keep children on emergency or women that are bartered so as to undergo psycho-social and trauma counselling.’’

    According to her, the government will open a trauma centre in 2018 to offer 24-hour service to women and children.

    “We will have volunteer nurses and doctors, and also work with security agencies at the trauma centre.’’

     

  • New Kaduna teachers to resume February – State Govt

    The Kaduna state government has announced that new teachers employed to replace the sacked 21,870 teachers will be issued their appointment letters in February.

    Some teachers were dismissed after they failed a primary competency test administered on them by the state government in 2017.

    The state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) is currently on indefinite strike over the matter.

    On Monday, the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) disclosed after a meeting with the state Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, that the first batch of the 25,000 new teachers will get the letters next month.

    A statement issued after the meeting by spokesman of the governor, Samuel Aruwan, said the education secretaries presented reports on the conditions of schools in their localities.

    The secretaries said most teachers in Kaduna were reporting to work, but were being intimidated by officials of the NUT.

  • Again, herdsmen strike in Kaduna, kill 10, injure several others

    Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen went on a fresh rampage in Kaduna State on Friday night killing at least 10 people.

    The herdsmen attacked Dangaji and Ungwan Gajere villages, both in Birni Gwari Local Government Area of the state.

    The attacks lasted all through Friday night to Saturday morning, according to reports from the areas. The invaders set houses ablaze as they retreated.

    Scores of villagers fled into the bush.

    One of the lucky escapees from Dangaji said: “after they penetrated the village, they went to other places and burnt down houses.

    “This morning (Saturday) they went to another village, Kutemechi in Unguwan Gajere where they killed about nine men.”

    The injured were taken to the hospital for treatment.

    However, one of the injured persons reportedly died on the way to the hospital.

    “Right now, all the villagers have fled and scattered in other communities where they can find shelter,” the escapee said.

    It was also gathered that a week ago, no fewer than three persons people were kidnapped in Dangaji village.

    Six million was said to have been paid as ransom for their release.

    Another eyewitness said the hoodlums disappeared before the arrival of military men.

    The Kaduna State Police Command spokesman, ASP Mukhtar Aliyu did not respond to calls put across to him last night.

  • Teachers’ sack: NLC dares El-Rufai, security operatives, commences protest in Kaduna

    The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on Thursday ignored the directives of Governor Nasir El-Rufai and security agencies to shelve its proposed protest of the mass sack of teachers in Kaduna.

    Recall that the police had earlier deployed 8,000 officers to stop the planned demonstration.

    Soldiers and armoured vehicles were also deployed to stop the march.

    Gov. Nasir El-Rufai warned he would sanction teachers who join the protest, one of the biggest the state has seen in recent years.

    But the NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, said the union would not be intimidated and the protest would continue.

    By afternoon, thousands of protesters broke through police blockade and marched along Independence Way towards along Muhammad Buhari way.

    “Anybody who think we cannot come out for the protest has malaria, and that malaria must be treated today,” Mr. Wabba, said while addressing members inside the Labour House.

    The protesters continued to shout “bama yi, bama so bama so, El-rufai Barawo ne” as they marched to the Government House to deliver a letter to the governor.

    They held banners and placards with different inscriptions.

    Three police vans later joined to give security cover along Ali Akilu Road by NNN roundabout.

     

    Details later…