Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima has said that some Boko Haram fighters are still hiding around Lake Chad and the Sambisa Forest.
Governor Shettima, who spoke to news men shortly after a close door meeting with the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Abba Kyari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja today, said however that the insurgents no longer pose great danger to the country compare to before 2015.
“Well, the ongoing insurgency problem is largely over. We might be having some hiccups but when you compare the past with the present, we have every cause to celebrate.
“We have pockets of the insurgents in inlands around the Lake Chad and the Sambisa forest but when you juxtapose the sorry state of affairs three, four years ago and the current situation we are in, I think there is cause for celebration. There is no cause for alarm.”
Governor Shettima was accompanied on the visit by Ali Ndume and Abu Kyari, Senators from Borno state.
Buhari is expected to visit Borno State on Friday.
Human rights lawyer, Dr. Kayode Ajulo, has called on the Nigeria Bar Association to boycott the courts if the Federal Government fails to honour the latest court order granting bail to the former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki.
In a statement today, Tuesday, the lawyer said that the continued flouting of court orders by the federal government in respect of bails for Dasuki is a danger to democracy and the rule of law.
“The Federal Government should not be allowed to decide which orders it will obey because by so doing, it dangers the authority of the judiciary as an arm of government and offers little hope to citizens that their fundamental human rights can be guaranteed.”
According to him, despite assurances by President Muhammadu Buhari not to encroach on the functions of the other two arms of government in his inaugural address on May 29, 2015, the president has not kept faith with the promise as his administration has continued to decide which court orders it should obey or not.
“Three years down the line, this solemn vow seems to have been kept in the breach as the Presidency is intent on having its way on court rulings which it feels are not according to its liking.
“Adherence to court rulings and the Rule of Law in general is not about feelings rather courage and obedience to one of the fulcrums of democracy and the sanctity of the courts as a sanctuary to all citizens.
“It is in this regard that I hope the Federal Government will obey the latest court order by Hon. Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu on bail for former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki.
“I must emphatically point out that the failure of the Federal Government to allow Col. Dasuki enjoy bail which has been granted to him severally (six now in total) is a danger to our nascent democracy and those of us who are ministers in the temple of justice ought to cry out before we are buried in the sands of impunity.
“Take note that if Dasuki who is part of the few power elite could be treated with such impunity, then there is no such guarantee that other Nigerians/clients who are granted reprieve by the courts to the dissatisfaction of the government will be allowed their liberty as granted by the courts.
“Therefore, if the Federal Government fails to honour the bail order by Justice Ojukwu within Seven (7) Days of fulfilment of the bail Condition as stipulated by the court, I appeal to the Nigeria Bar Association to boycott the courts and urge the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to resign his position.”
The lawyer said that even if the NBA fails to act in this direction, he will boycott the courts and galvanise like minds to press home his demand to show that Nigeria is not a Banana Republic.
Ajulo said: “the efficacy of court rulings is in their applications by all parties irrespective of how they feel about such orders.
“The Federal Government cannot be allowed to cherry pick which judgment to obey. It is an irony that it finds it expedient to obey an order of court on the NFF, but not on Dasuki?”
Police has announced the arrest and detention of a serving Councilor of Fidi Council Ward, Makurdi in Benue State, Benjamin Bagugba Tivfa and many others in connection to the attacks and killings of many people both in Benue and Plateau States recently.
A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Ag. DCP Jimoh Moshood, the 32 year old Councilor had already confessed to be responsible for the supply of arms and ammunition to the bandits for their criminal activities.
Other suspects arrested, according to the statement are 35 year old Victor Ganabe, who is a native of Gwer West, Naka; 22 year old Daniel Kyase of Mbaku in Makurdi; 28 year old Adajo Tomza of Tse Egbe, Gwer West; 23 year old Msugh Teraki of Sengv, Naikpe, Gwer West; 49 year old Julius Avaan of Ikpayongu, Gwer East; 37 year old Terkula Udeh of Gwer West and 34 year old Sunday Cheche of Guma Local Government Area all in Benue State.
The police said that two AK47 rifles and 436 rounds of AK47 ammunition were recovered from the arrested suspects.
The Statement said that the arrested bandits have confessed that the councilor is a member of their gang and responsible for supply of arms and ammunition including money to finance their operations.
It said that even the councilor admitted to have bought 15 rounds of AK47 ammunition from the last suspect, Sunday Cheche and also confessed to have provided money to finance the operations of the gang.
It added that the bandits have themselves admitted to have carried out several killings and armed robbery attacks on innocent people in different locations in Benue State.
The police assured that investigation is in progress to arrest other members of the bandits at large, saying that they will be arraigned in court on completion of the investigation.
Suspects:
The Force Headquarters also announced the arrest of 11 suspected bandits that participated in wanton killings in Plateau State recently, giving their names as Biliaminu Abdullahi, Samaila Saleh, Muhammadu Kabiru, Aminu Mohammed, Alhassan Saidu, Abubakar Adam, Gazali Isah, Hamza Inusa, Yahuza Yau, Dahiru Ahmed and Friday Musa.
Items recovered from them, the statement said, including five AK47 rifles and two live cartridges
“The Nigeria Police Force is assuring the people of Plateau State of adequate security of lives and property in the State and hereby implored them to support the Police personnel deployed in their localities to sustain the peace that have been restored to the State.”
Police left some phone numbers for those in distress or with information for the Police Special Intervention Force and the investigation team to call. They are 07059473022, 08038907662, 08075391844 and 09053872296
The military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo raised a national storm in 1978 when it set up the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB). Since the first University was set up in Nigeria in 1946, admissions into universities were squarely the responsibilities of the various universities. The idea of a regulatory body to conduct admissions was strange and resisted in many quarters.
“A university that cannot be trusted with the responsibility of admitting its students cannot also be trusted with the responsibility of deciding which of its students should pass its examinations or fail,” complained Ade Ajayi, erudite professor of history and Vice Chancellor University of Lagos at the time. His views represented a broad spectrum of those who believed setting up JAMB would interfere with the academic independence of the universities.
Professor ShamsudeenAmaliis an academic and university administrator of international repute. Trained at Nigeria’s Premier University in Ibadan and in the United States, he has been a Vice Chancellor of two Nigerian Universities – the University of Ilorin and the Nasarawa State University.
He served for four years from 1978 as a founding Board Member of JAMB. Today he remembers vividly even if emotionally the teething problems of JAMB.
“Forty years ago, I was appointed to serve on the first Board of JAMB. The late Michael S. Angulu was the first Registrar and we struggled hard as pioneers to lay the foundation on which our successors have built.”
He revealed that the task before them was not easy because right from the start, JAMB had many enemies who wanted to pull it down. Often, he threatened to resign from the Board because of the work load and the antics of JAMB’S opponents but was urged to stay on by Michael Angulu.
Even within the universities, there was some subtle hostility towards those who gained admission through JAMB. I was a final year student at the university of Ibadan in 1978 when the first set of those admitted via JAMB arrived. We had a suggestions box placed at the Students Union building outside the cafeteria. It was meant for suggestions on how to improve services at the cafeteria. On this day when the box was opened, there was a sealed letter inside, addressed in fine handwriting to a parent, with the appropriate postage stamp on the righthand corner. It was posted there by one of the newly admitted students who came through JAMB. From that day, ‘Jambite’ became a synonymous word for any foolish act on the part of a student.
Even today as JAMB marks its four decades of existence, there are still some acts associated with the board that tend to not only ridicule and call to question its relevance but also impinge its credibility. The most celebrated case is the scandalous claim by a staff of JAMB that a huge amount of money, running into millions of Naira put in her trust by the board was swallowed by a snake.
At 40, JAMB has come a long way – from controversy to sublime; from the ridiculous to scandalous.
Since his appointment as Registrar in 2016, Professor Is-haqOlanrenwajuOloyede has worked hard not only to reposition JAMB butto build on the foundation that was laid by its founders.
One of the innovations he has put in place is to convoke a policy meeting of all stake holdersdrawn from the academia, all former Registrars of JAMB, human rights activists, Labour organizations, media, administrators etc. He defines it as“a most potent strategic platform to share and validate the Board’s vision, solicit and obtain feedbacks and input”.
The Stakeholders Meeting and other forms of engagement are held periodically toexchange information and create awareness; they have thus become ingrained in all facets of the Board’s activities as it strives to achieve its mandate.
This novel experiment of democratizing the policy formulation and operations of JAMB he further said is paying great dividends. The achievements of the Board in the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME)according to him would have been less spectacularwithout the benefits of involving stakeholders of JAMB.
The 2017 UTME, he said was significant in many respects for it recorded the highest number of candidates, even with the registration period being essentially for one month; an optional Mock Examination was conducted for the candidates for the first time;introduction of 8-Key Keyboard to minimize the challenge of use of Mouse for candidates during the Examination;expanded and active involvement of stakeholders throughout the Exercise;domestication and better control of Examination Infras.
Today JAMB has not only improved on its service delivery, it has enhanced the credibility of all examinations conducted by the body.
Professor Oloyede as Registrar of JAMB has done more for the organization. He has brought credibility to the government that gave him the chance through prudent management of resources. In the words of AdamuAdamu the Minister of Education:
“Since JAMB was established more than 40 years ago, the total amount it has given government was N200 million; but in one year, Prof. IshaqOloyede has remitted N5 billion to government. The new JAMB registrar has been correcting many anomalies in the board. Within a year, he has been able to stop all the untold things that were happening there.”
There cannot be a more positive endorsement of the efforts by Prof Oloyede than this.
Last Tuesday June 26, the policy meeting of all stake holderswas held at the Bola Babalakin Auditorium, Gbogan in Osun State. AdamuAdamu the Minister of Education who chaired the meeting said it“shall continue to be the forum where the agenda, guidelines, modalities, and timelines would be set for the purpose of admissions to Universities, Polytechnics, Monotechnics and Colleges of Education in Nigeria and for all modes of study including Full Time, Distance Learning, Part Time, Outreach, Sandwich and other related programmes.”
He warned that no admission to any Tertiary Institutions should be announced before the Policy Meeting. He directed that the meeting is held not later than June each year, early enough for the commencement of the new session.
Chairman of the JAMB Board, Dr Emmanuel Ndukwe commended the leadership skills of the current Registrar of JAMB for the achievements he has recorded since his appointment.
“The unprecedented returns of billions of Naira to the Public Treasury further testifies to the ability of Mr. President not only to be honest but also to fish out and entrust honest persons with strategic public office. The Governing Board under my leadership with the support of our upright and unassuming Minister of Education, Mallam AdamuAdamu will further add rigour to transparent and honest services of the Board.”
To demonstrate the current level of transparency and consensus building in JAMB, the Registrar took time to brief the meeting on all issues to be tackled in this year’s admission exercise. All conclusions at the meeting were reached democratically.
For this reporter who witnessed the meeting last Tuesday at Gbogan, it was a worthwhile exercise. At 40, JAMB is certainly not the foolish Jambite we had at the university of Ibadan in 1978 who mistook a suggestion box for a post office and posted a letter to his father there.
Little Miss Judith welcoming President Macron of France to Nigeria, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, with a bouquet of beautiful flowers. [myad]
The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Rasheed has said that only one per cent of Nigerian population form the total enrollment of students in the 164 universities across the country.
Professor Rasheed, who spoke today, Tuesday, on the sidelines of the presentation of Provisional License to a new private university, Skyline University, Kano, said that the 75 private universities in the country accounted for 5.31 per cent of the total enrollment in the universities across the country.
He described the situation as unhealthy and stressed the need for more access either by creating more universities or expanding existing ones.
“All the 75 private universities in the country account for only 5. 31 per cent of the total enrollment in our universities and many of them are small.
“If you look at the population of 198 million which is nearly 200 million and if you bear in mind that the total enrollment in our universities today, all the 164 universities is less than 2 million. That is just 1.96 million students in the universities that translates roughly to one per cent of the population; one per cent of the population are in the university, I think that is not healthy.
“So, we need more access; that is why we need either more universities or we need expand existing universities. We need to create more space for more Nigerians to get quality university education,” he said.
The NUC boss said that the commission could not regulate the fees of private schools even as he called on government at all levels and philanthropists to institute scholarship for indigent students, who are intelligent to enable them access quality education .
According to him, the establishment of the university is significant because it is the first private university in the Kano and the second private university in the North. The university is already in operation in the United Arab Emirate.
Professor Rasheed said that the NUC would continue to support investors in university education as long as they delivered quality education, which will in turn develop the country.
“The future of this country rests in the strength of the university education, so we will continue to support investors in our university education,” he said.
The Proprietor of Skyline University, Kamal Puri, commended the NUC for the quality guidelines set in establishing universities in the country.
Puri stressed that the growth and development of any nation was attributed to the quality of education of the people.
He said that there is the need to prepare the young generation for the rapid change in technology, because they are the future leaders.
“Nigeria should expect technology in education because the world is changing; cyber security, artificial intelligence and robotics are spreading in every field. Teaching has changed; it is life-long learning and we are the leaders in technology.
“Teaching is not just providing knowledge and skills, but also helping the students to face the global challenges and that will be our advantage,” he said.
Puri gave assurance that the university would deliver in standard and quality, because they were determined to produce quality graduates.
“We are not here to engage in a business making venture, education will not give you that returns. But seeing quality graduates at the end performing optimally will give me happiness.
“The returns are the respect and happiness in your heart when you see your former students doing very well.”
He assured the NUC that the institution would follow the rules and regulations and bring the best technology and curriculum in running the school.
French President, Emmanuel Macron and FCT Minister, Malam Mohammed Musa Bello in a warmed handshake
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has conferred honourary citizenship of Nigeria to the visiting French President, Emmanuel Macron.
The minister, who handed out a symbolic key to Macron to the Federal Capital, Abuja, when the French President arrived today, Tuesday, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Musa Bello explained that the visiting President was conferred with such honor to demonstrate the appreciation of Nigeria on the strong friendship and cordial relationship between the people of Nigeria and France.
President Macron, whose Boeing 777 Republique Francaise aircraft touched down the Presidential Wing of the airport, was received also by the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Denys Gauer, among others. [myad]
Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Barrister Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad, has charged Max Air, one of the air carriers for this year’s Hajj operations to braze up for the operations.
At the formal signing of agreement between the airline and NAHCON yesterday, Monday, Barrister Abdullahi Mukhtar advised Max Air to deliver the best services to the pilgrims.
He stressed that the level of the commitment and services rendered by the airline will determine its continued patronage by NAHCON.
NAHCON chairman stressed the need for the airline to be courteous to pilgrims while on board.
Barrister Abdullahi Mukhtar also stressed the importance of keeping to airlift schedules to avoid confusion.
He expressed his appreciation for the patriotism displayed by President of Max Air, Alhaji Dahiru Mangal, who was represented at the signing by Alhaji Bashir Barau Mangal, Vice Chairman/CEO and accompanied by Malam Shehu Wada.
The NAHCON Chairman also thanked other air carriers that had helped in bringing respite in this year’s Hajj fares.
The representative of Max Air, Alhaji Bashir Barau Mangal, assured NAHCON that they are ready for the airlift exercise.
He promised the Commission that Max Air will do it’s best as charged by the NAHCON Chairman.
Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Lokoja, Professor Angela Freeman Miri
The Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Lokoja, in Kogi State, Professor Angela Freeman Miri, has explained that Senate of the institution followed due process in expelling 13 final year students over examination leakage.
In a statement today, Monday, the Vice Chancellor said: “I can say in the affirmative that these students were expelled from the school before the second convocation in 2017 over alleged exam leakage.
“Those involved were final year students in the Economics Department. They were suspended and due process was thereafter followed.
“We set up a disciplinary committee and the examination misconduct panel and the matter was sent to the Senate.
“At the second to fourth Senate meeting, two weeks ago, the Senate sat on the matter and took the decision. It was on that basis that the Senate took its decision and expulsion letters handed to the affected students.”
She said that the institution’s disciplinary panel would decide the fate of employees that were allegedly involved in the examination scandal.
The Presidency has expressed surprise that Nigerian media went to sleep when the Nigeria Police arrested five suspected killers, namely, Manga Husseini, David Akenawe, Agada Tsesaa, Tarza Orvanya and Ngyohov Shin, of two Rev Fathers in Benue state.
“The mostly sleeping Nigerian media, for reason explained to the nation by one of our veteran journalists, did not consider it “Breaking News,” said the Presidency.
In a statement posted on her Facebook page titled CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (CAN), NOT IN TALKING TERMS WITH GOD!, the President Muhammadu Buhari’s social media aide, Mrs. Lauretta Onochie said that the media was nowhere to be found and could not even engage in their usual “Cut and paste.”
“This is a bid to demarket President Muhammadu Buhari, a man elected to salvage a nation that it’s ruination was backed by unrighteous men parading themselves as Christians. The CAN of worms that reaps from the bloody trade that is going on in our nation did not deem it fit to pat the security operatives on the back.
“Why would they? The Cankerworm Association of Nigeria, previously known as “Christian” Association of Nigeria, had achieved its aim, using the blood of two innocent Catholic Priests, to bring back the Catholic Church to their unrighteous fold.
“The lives of those two innocent Priests were pawns in the desperate game by certain evil former Landlords of our nation, who are in bed with the demonic Cankerworms and purveyor of hate messages and fake news. It was in the hey days of the Jonathan administration. Sin was in vogue. Corruption was the currency of trade for the association of partakers of stolen funds otherwise and regrettably known as Christian Association of Nigeria.
“It was very fashionable to commit atrocities and be honoured with a front seat in church and a title. But the Catholic Church in Nigeria would have none of it. The Catholic Bishops decided to quit the unholy organization CAN, as there was no more Christianity in the Christian Association of Nigeria.
“They cited poor leadership and POLITICISATION of the association. The Catholics further went on to add that some attitudes, utterances and actions of the national leadership of CAN which in their opinion negate the concept of the foundation of the association and the desire of Our Lord Jesus Christ, made it impossible for them to continue in the same organization as unrighteous people. And then, as if in answered prayer for the Catholics, Nigerians rallied round Muhammadu Buhari, a man of honour and integrity, sacking the government that fed the greed of the CAN of worms who constantly received stolen funds meant to make the lives of Nigerians better and easier.
“This made the Tape worms very unhappy. They began to plot to bring back the Catholic Church to their fold. Their silence was deafening when IPOB tried to destabilize the country. So when IPOB suddenly dumped Christianity for Judaism, watchers alleged that the Worms had not been able to meet their financial obligations to IPOB.”
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Human rights lawyer, Dr. Kayode Ajulo, has called on the Nigeria Bar Association to boycott the courts if the Federal Government fails to honour the latest court order granting bail to the former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki.
