The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad III is angry with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) for its failure over the years to arrest and prosecute drivers of big men in the society, who often engage in dangerous driving on the roads.

Speaking at the 6th Annual Lecture Series organized by the FRSC today, Tuesday in Abuja, Abubakar III said that convoy drivers of highly placed individuals in Nigeria are treated like sacred cows, as they drive dangerously on the roads, thereby endangering themselves and the lives of other road users.

The Sultan, who was the Chairman of the occasion, called for a new FRSC that would be alive to its statutory responsibilities on the roads even s he advocated capacity building for the personnel of the FRSC who work on the road to ensure safety.

He said that they should be trained both psychologically and mentally, adding that Nigeria has lost more lives through road traffic crashes than air crashes.

The Sultan noted that Nigerian citizens reserve the right to live safely, adding that all hands must be on deck to ensure road safety.

Also speaking, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, expressed the commitment of the present administration to guarantee safety and security of Nigerians.

Lawal said that President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier directed the drivers of all Federal establishments to undergo training under the FRSC, saying that the administration would work assiduously to embark on massive construction of roads across the country in a bid to mitigate the spate of road traffic crashes.

He acknowledged that road safety is a shared responsibility, even as he called on the three tiers of government to collaborate to reduce the carnage on the roads.

In his lecture, Akinwunmi Ambode, the Governor of Lagos State, who spoke on the “State Road Traffic Management Efforts: The LASTMA Experience,” called for the creation of enabling environment for law enforcement agencies to operate effectively.

Ambode, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Tunji Bello, also advocated the provision of legal framework for the enforcement agencies to ensure effectiveness in the management of road traffic in the states.

Using the Lagos experience, Ambode said that Lagos lost N42 billion worth of labour on annual basis as a result of chaotic traffic situation in the past before the introduction of LASTMA. [myad]

Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar has approved the immediate removal of four management staff of the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) as a result of what was considered an act of sabotage. The affected staff members were fingered in the delay of the payment of staff of the Local education Authorities’ salaries in the State and the resultant restiveness created by the delay.

Those affected are the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Ya’u Garba; Director Administration and Human Resources, Alhaji Haruna Bako; Director Finance and Accounts, Alhaji Umar Umaru Jaja and the Internal Auditor, Alhaji Adamu Mohammed.

Their withdrawal comes as the workers’ verification exercise comes to a climax with a clear manifestation of negligence of duty and uncultured behavior of the withdrawn management staff of the Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB.

A letter signed by the Head of the State Civil Service, Mr. Abdon Gin also says the affected management staff concealed some vital information to both the “new Chairman of the Board and some members of the Bauchi State House of Assembly while on oversight function”.

“This was pertaining to remittance of funds made to the Board for the payment of teachers’ salaries for which adequate funds were released by the Government for immediate payment to all the verified teachers under the Board”, Mr. Gin further explained.

The removal of the management staff therefore becomes pertinent considering the setback their actions have caused the Bauchi State Government’s commitment to ensure that all verified staff were paid their salary entitlements without delay.

The Head of Service, Mr. Abdon Gin advised all staff to ensure that they carry responsibilities assigned to them diligently and effectively as “doing otherwise will attract very severe consequences.” [myad]

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on his fellow African leaders to go after the sponsors of terrorists, whose attacks across African nations bore similar trademarks of intense planning, strong alliances and proper financial sponsorship.
He insisted too that such sponsors must be thoroughly investigated and reversed.
“Terrorist activities always have financial sponsorships and this can be seen in their acquisition of weapons, their movements and other logistics.
“Here in Nigeria, we saw that Boko Haram had strong material resources and they had a close link to ISIL.”
President Buhari who spoke today at a farewell audience at the State House with the High Commissioner of Kenya to Nigeria, Mr. Tom Amolo insisted that ending insurgency in Africa will require stronger collaboration and commitment from governments, financial institutions and security agencies in tracking the sponsorship of terrorist activities.
The President said that African governments must make efforts to dissuade the younger generation from joining the ranks of terrorist groups, who explore youthful minds for suicide bombings.
“We need a whole cultural orientation in order to succeed against terrorism.”
This is even as the outgoing High Commissioner said he enjoyed his stay in Nigeria and still looked forward to returning to the country in the near future. [myad]

Workers of the 17 local government areas in Abia state have decried the nonpayment of their February and March 2016 salaries and have raised curse on the state governor, Okezie Ikpeazu.
The workers, some of who had taken loans from commercial banks, using their salaries as collateral, lamented that the none payment of the salaries has brought untold hardship to them and their families.
The workers, who raised curse on Governor Ikpeazu, said that none payment of their salaries have exposed them to the risk of banks always seizing any money paid into their accounts.
The workers feared that even as at the 4th day of the new month of April, there are no signs that salaries would be paid in the next one week. They blamed the situation on what they described as misplacement of priorities by the Ikpeazu led administration.
“The governor has not been fair to local government workers. He is always paying in arrears. December 2015 salary was paid in the first week of February; January salary was paid in March. February salary has not been paid, this is April, there is no hope that we will be paid this week. How can a worker plan and achieve any target with this system? Our leave allowances have been withdrawn. Yet we hear he (the governor) collects N750 million every month. Yet, he finds it difficult to pay us the pittance as salaries. The saying goes that a worker is worthy his wages, but this is not true in Abia state. Only God will judge our case with the governor.”
Meanwhile, an official of one of the old generation banks hinted that they have been directed by their headquarters in Lagos to stop extending loans to council workers because of the none payment of salaries leading to the creation of bad debts. [myad]

A young Igbo man whose name was given simply as Ugochukwu, is now cooling off in Kuje police detention room for sneaking into the hostel of the Government Girls Science Secondary School, Kuje in the Nigeria Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
A police source hinted that the young man acquired the school visitor’s card from his girl friend, who is a final year student of the school (name withheld), and used the card to gain entry into the school premises, where he spent the whole day with the girl.
The source explained that the female student, a Muslim, had stolen the visitor’s card from her father’s pocket during the last vacation, and gave it to the young man to use in gaining entrance to the school premises.
It was gathered that the school security personnel (gate men) had denied the girl’s father from entering the school premises because he could not produce visitor’s card, but that as soon as the girl’s boyfriend arrived, he was ushered into the premises on producing the required card.
Luck ran out on the two lovers when a senior teaching staff of the school, who saw the girl’s father at the gate, asked the gate men to allow him into the premises “on self-recognition.”
The source said that the girl had hid the intruding boyfriend in her room with the help of her room-mates and that immediately her father left, she settled down with the young man to eat the food her father took to her.
“It was when the young man made to leave the premises late in the evening that the vigilant gate men stopped him at the gate, subjected him to interrogation and eventually discovered that he was an intruder,” the source hinted.
It was gathered that the school authority, embarrassed by the development, promptly handed the young man to the police, even as the authority sent the girl parking out of the school premises.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Kuje was not immediately available to comment on the issue, but a senior officer confirmed that the young man is in detention and that investigation is ongoing. [myad]