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Tag: Kaduna

  • Kaduna Police Command arrests 2 suspected kidnappers

    Kaduna Police Command arrests 2 suspected kidnappers

    The Kaduna State Police Command, on Thursday said that it had arrested two suspected kidnappers operating on major highways in the state.

    The Command’s Public Relation officer, ASP Muktar Aliyu, who made the disclosure in an interview with TheNewsGuru (TNG), said the suspects were arrest on Dec. 17.

    Aliyu said the operatives of the Intelligence Respon Team (IRT) attached to Operation Absolute Sanity Along Abuja-Kaduna Express way arrested the suspects.

    “The two suspected kidnappers were operating along Jere/Katari axis of the Abuja-Kaduna express way and Jere-Kagarko Road all in Kaduna State.

    He said the two suspects, Adamu Lawan, 30, and Aminu Lawan, 25, were on the police’s wanted list.

    Aliyu said items recovered included two AK47 rifles and 135 rounds of live ammunition.

    “The kidnappers were arrested with bullet wounds after gun battle with IRT operatives.

    The PPRO said the suspects had confessed to being part of several kidnappings along the two major highways.

    He said serious efforts to arrest more gang members were in progress.

  • CAS commissions new lecture rooms at AFIT kaduna

    The Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar commissions new block of lecture rooms at the Air Force Institute of Technology, AFIT in Kaduna.

    Thenewsguru reports that the newly commissioned building is expected to accommodate at least 220 students of the institute.

    However, the CAS seized the opportunity to commission the newly built lecture rooms after chairing a meeting of the Governing Council of the Institute who also attended the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Inter-Command Drill Competition, first in its history which ended on 19, December 2017 at Military Training Ground Kaduna.

    Being the Guest of Honour, the CAS expressed his delight to be at the maiden Inter-Command Drill Competition in the NAF.

    “The drill competition is one of the ways of actualizing his vision for the NAF, one of the Vision’s key drivers being to improve regimentation, esprit de corps as well as to enhance inter-Service cooperation”.

    He further stated that the importance of drill in a military force cannot be over emphasized, being the bedrock of military discipline upon which all other tenets are built.

    Air Marshal Abubakar urged personnel to be security conscious and to remain vigilant at all times, especially as Year 2017 gradually ends.

    He then thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his unflinching support to the NAF through the timely provision of resources, thereby enabling the Service to meet its operational objectives.

     

     

     

  • NNPC to construct 4,600MW power plants for Abuja, Kaduna, Kano – Baru

    NNPC to construct 4,600MW power plants for Abuja, Kaduna, Kano – Baru

    In a bid to improve the current epileptic power supply in some parts of the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Wednesday announced that it would build power generating plants with combined capacity for 4,600 megawatts in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano states.

    The Corporation explained that the resolve to invest in the power plants was due to the recently approved contract for the construction of the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline, also known as the AKK Pipeline.

    The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, who disclosed this during a courtesy call on him in Abuja by the Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, noted that the corporation, in partnership with private investors, would build the power generating plants to support the Federal Government’s effort to provide stable electricity across the country.

    He was quoted in a statement as saying, “As part of the drive to establish power plants to augment the power supply to the nation, the Federal Executive Council has recently approved the AKK Gas Pipeline project to be financed through public-private partnership.

    “The project comes with other auxiliary ones, which include 1,350MW, 900MW and 2,350MW of power generation plants in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano, respectively.”

    He said the NNPC and the private investors would also build fertilizer plants in some parts of the country, one of which would be located at Izzon, Niger State.

    Baru informed the visitors that in line with the presidential mandate on oil exploration in all the frontier basins, the corporation was well-focused on exploration in the Bida Basin and would carry out the job professionally.

    “We have contracted the geological mapping of the Bida Basin to the Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai, and the job will be completed in three months,” he stated.

    He explained that once the geological mapping was completed, the NNPC’s Integrated Data Services Limited would be engaged to carry out the other aspects of the seismic activities, which would be completed by July 2018.

    Baru said the corporation would go into more detailed 2D seismic data acquisition in the Bida Basin by August 2018, to be followed by an Environmental Impact Assessment in order to establish what the baseline was, which would signify the need or otherwise for the deployment of 3D acquisition facilities.

    As part of efforts to decongest the highways, the GMD said the NNPC would encourage private investors to build tanker parking facilities around the Minna Depot, Suleja Depot, Tegina and Mokwa, among others, and charge the users of the facilities appropriately.

    Baru explained that talks were ongoing with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to reintroduce weigh bridges on the highways in order to check the issue of excessive loading by tankers above the recommended 46,000 tonnes gross weight.

    He said the NNPC, on its part, had already directed all its depots nationwide to stop loading tankers with loading capacities above 40,000 litres.

    In his remarks, Bello said the essence of the visit was to get first-hand information on the NNPC’s plans for oil exploration in the Bida Basin and to solicit the corporation’s support in finding alternative parking spaces for tankers along the highways and communities in the state.

  • Court stops sack of over 20,000 Kaduna teachers

    The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Kaduna division, on Thursday, stopped the planned sack of 21,780 primary school teachers who failed a competency test organised by the state government.

    The lawyer representing the teachers, Samuel Atum, had on October 30 filed a motion of “interlocutory injunction”, asking the court to restrain the government from dismissing or disengaging any teacher on the basis of the test conducted in June 2017.

    Justice Lawal Mani granted the application pending the determination of the substantive suit. The case was adjourned to February 6th, 2018.

    The hearing on Thursday was attended by hundreds of teachers and labour leaders.

    The lawyer, Mr. Atum, praised the court for “graciously” giving the order.

    “This is democracy and the premise of democracy is the rule of law, so we expect nothing more than absolute submission by the state government to comply with the order of the court,” he told journalists. “I have confidence that the government will comply or obey this order.”

    Lawyers representing the State Attorney General and the State Government, as well as Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN, declined comments.

  • Fire razed over 1000 Shops At Kaduna Market

    Fire razed over 1000 Shops At Kaduna Market

    More than 1000 shops were razed by fire on Friday morning at the popular Pantaker building materials market in Kaduna State.

    According to eyewitnesses, the fire started from an electrical spark from one of the shops and later spread to the entire market, destroying properties worth millions of naira.

    Pantaker market, the main hub of building materials in the state capital, has been reduced to heaps of ruins with virtually everything in sight completely burnt after the inferno.

    Although no life was lost, owners of the affected shops who were taken by surprise by the inferno counted their losses to fire.

    The traders also lamented that the late arrival of men of the fire service supposedly worsened the situation.

    Chairman of the market traders’ association, Ibrahim Dauda, told Channels Television that it was not the first time such incident would occur in their market.

    He, however, called on the state government to come to their aid and help rebuild the burnt market.

    Meanwhile, the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had visited the scene of the incident to assess the level of damage done to the market.

  • EFCC seals Maina’s properties in Kaduna

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday sealed some properties belonging to the recently sacked ex-chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, in Kaduna State.

    Maina was accused of being involved in a N2bn fraud and on the wanted list of the EFCC for the alleged offence. He had since gone into hiding and the agency had launched a manhunt for him.

    The agency sealed two companies on Monday while six other properties were sealed as of the time of filing this report, according to the EFCC’s Kaduna Zonal Office spokesman, Ibrahim Kamiludeen.

    Kamiludeen told newsmen on the telephone that the properties include a two-storey shopping plaza located on 2C Ibrahim Taiwo road, and a one storey duplex at Katuru road all in the state capital.

    All the properties acquired by Maina were being identified by the anti-graft agency for possible forfeiture to the federal government.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Commission had earlier sealed Maina’s $2 million mansion in Abuja on Monday.

    The building at No. 10 Hamisu Musa Road, Jabi, was cordoned off by police officers providing cover to an EFCC operative who was marking the house in red.

  • Exam failure: Teachers union commence 3-day fasting, prayer over planned sack of 20,000 in Kaduna

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers, Zaria Local Government Area Branch will on Tuesday begin three days of fasting and prayers over the planned sack of 20,000 primary school teachers.

    68 per cent of the teachers had failed an examination conducted by the Kaduna State Government. The teachers failed to pass the primary four pupils’ exam at excellent level.

    NUT Chairman in Zaria Local Government Area, Malam Yahaya Abbas, said on Monday that the teachers were compelled to seek God’s intervention over the planned sack.

    Abbas said, “Majority of our members here are Muslims and we do not have anywhere to lodge our complaint except to our creator.

    “Therefore, we intend to start a three-day fasting on Oct. 17, in addition to prayers, to seek God’s intervention on the planned mass sack of our members whom government said did not pass its examination.

    “There is no way for everybody to score “A” grade in an examination; that is 75 per cent, this is not what was agreed with the union representatives.

    “The agreement was that the pass mark should be 60 per cent not 75 per cent. Again, the result of the examination is not yet out but the government said it will sack 20,000 teachers.”

    He said that the government still owed some teachers salary arrears of between three months and 13 months, while some of them were being underpaid.

    “I can assure you that there is one female teacher who teaches 200 pupils in a class due to the shortage of teaching staff.

    “Again, sacking of experienced teachers and recruiting new ones is not the solution because anybody who bagged a National Certificate in Education or degree in the last 10 years must have been taught by these categories of teachers.

    “Therefore, if the government argued that the present calibre of teachers are not qualified, then, how do you expect their products to be better than the teachers?”, he asked.

  • Photo: Ex-Supreme Court Justice, Coommassie, buried in Kaduna

    The body of ex-Supreme Court Judge, Justice Saifullahi Coommassie, was laid to rest in his hometown, Zaria, Kaduna State, on Friday.

    Coommassie died on Thursday evening in Zaria at the age of 71 after a brief illness.

    The funeral prayer was performed at the Emir of Zazzau’s palace.

    Dignitaries at the funeral included the Emir of Zazzau, Dr Shehu Idris, Yariman Zazzau, Alhaji Munnir Ja’afaru, and the Adviser to Gov. Nasiru El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State on Political Matters, Alhaji Lawal Sama’ila-Yakawada.

    Others were judges and prominent politicians.

    The late Coommassie initially trained as a teacher and taught Arabic and English languages in Zaria and Kaduna.

    He left the teaching profession as the Principal of Provincial Arabic School in Fada, Zaria, after spending many years on the job.

    He obtained an LL.B in 1976 from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1977.

    He was a State Counsel with Ministry of Justice in Kwara from 1977 to 1978 and Kaduna State in 1978.

    Between 1978 and 1988, he was with the High Court of Kaduna State in various capacities and rose to the rank of Chief Registrar.

    Prior to joining the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2008, he was a judge of the Court of Appeal and served in Port Harcourt, Jos, Abuja, Ilorin and Benin divisions of the court.

    He was awarded the Time News Magazine Nigeria merit award in 2006; he was on national assignment as a member of the Karibi Whyte Disturbance Tribunal in Abuja (1986-1987).

    Coommassie attended several workshops and seminars on Sharia and other aspects of law and was a member of the Nigerian Body of Benchers.

    He is survived by two wives and two children.

     

    NAN

  • ‘21,780 teachers failed primary four exams in Kaduna’ says Gov El-Rufai

    The Kaduna State government has disclosed that about 21,780 out of 33,000 teachers failed the primary four exams they set out to test their knowledge and competence.

    This was made known by the state Governor Nasir el-Rufai while announcing recruitment plans when he received a World Bank’s delegation in Kaduna yesterday.

    According to the governor, they are now looking for 25,000 new teachers in other to restore dignity and quality education to the state.

    “We tested our 33,000 primary school teachers, we gave them primary four examinations and required they must get at least 75 percent but I am sad to announce that 66 percent of them failed to get the requirements.

    “The hiring of teachers in the past was politicized and we intend to change that by bringing in young and qualified primary school teachers to restore the dignity of education in the state.’

    He said that teachers would be redeployed across the state to balance the issue of teacher-pupil ratio.

    “We have a challenge with the teacher-pupil ratio in the urban schools; there is concentration of teachers that are not needed. In some local government areas, it’s a teacher-pupil ratio of 1-9 while in some places it’s 1-100,” he said.

    The governor also that in a bid to improve the education sector, the school directors decided to enroll their children in public schools starting from this academic session.

    The World Bank representative, Dr. Kunle Adekola, also expressed appreciation to the state for stepping up to improve quality education in the state.

    “This state has demonstrated and supported us to achieve our goals,” he said.

    According to him, the Bank would invest N30 million in Rigasa Primary School, which has a population of about 22,000 pupils, as part of its support for the state.

  • Again, resident doctors commence indefinite strike in Kaduna

    Again, resident doctors commence indefinite strike in Kaduna

    Residents doctors in Kaduna State have began an indefinite strike on Tuesday over “sorry state” of healthcare facilities in state government hospitals.

    Dr. Joseph Jokshan, President, Association of Resident Doctors in the state, said at a press briefing Monday night in Kaduna that the state government had not responded to any of the doctors’ demands issued 21 days ago.

    He said that the doctors were pained to begin the strike, but “unfortunately, we cannot effectively carry out these tasks in the current sorry state of our healthcare facilities.”

    Jokshan listed issues that prompted the strike to include poor funding, equipping and staffing of hospitals and non-provision of living environment for medical, health workers and patients.

    He said that members of the association were also demanding for payment of House Officers salaries and arrears and immediate and full implementation of “corrected” CONMESS.

    “Immediate implementation of already approved funding for residency training of Kaduna state doctors in their chosen fields, as well as promotion of our doctors that are due.”

    He urged the general public to “join us in this struggle and push the government to do the needful.”

    “This is the struggle we intend to see through to the end, not because we are unaware of the implication of this action but because we are left with no other option,” he added.