Category: General

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Special Congress on Saturday in Kogi ratified Alhaji Ahmed Usman-Ododo as the party’s governorship candidate for the Nov. 11 Governorship election in the state.

Ododo had on Friday defeated six other aspirants to emerge candidate and flag bearer of the APC in the party’s Direct Primary Election held across the state

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ratification, held at Mohammadu Buhari Square Lokoja by a special Congress of the party, was done in conformity with the party’s guidelines for the primary election across the state’s 239 wards on Friday.

The special congress, presided over by Gov Mohammed Bello-matawale led Kogi APC Election Committee, superintended over the ratification which was widely attended by party members that came from different parts of the state.

Mr Patrick Obahiagbon, the Secretary to the committee, represented the Zamfara Governor.

Obahiagbon said, “After the carefully conducted primaries, devoid of rancour and with no violence recorded anywhere in the state, and having scored 78,704 votes, Alhaji Usman Ododo has been returned as the governorship candidate of our great party.”

“By the election and ratification, Ododo will fly the party’s flag in the November 11 Governorship Election in the state,” he said.

Ododo, in his acceptance speech, promised to continue to improve on the security template laid down by the incumbent Gov Yahaya Bello, among many other life-changing legacies of the current administration.

Bello, at the event, said he was sure that Ododo would not disappoint kogi people, adding that the crowd at the congress was a pointer to his acceptability across the length and breadth of the state, without consideration for ethnic or religious bias.

“Today’s event shows that there is no opposition in Kogi State. We are one big family; we have won everything election in the state.

“We won presidential election, we won the available three senatorial seats; six out of nine House of Representatives seats; and 23 out of 25 state assembly seats and expect to win the Nov. 11 governorship poll,” the governor said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Nigerian Navy (NN) has sustained presence of her capital ships at sea as well as directed operations bases to enhance efforts to dominate their Areas of Operations, In response to recent spike in piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

The Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Ayo-Vanghan said the spate of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) within the last 10 years reduced to an all time low in 2022.

He said that while concerted efforts were being made to reduce piracy within the GoG to its lowest minimum, two unfortunate incidences were recorded within the region in the last three weeks.

According to him, the first incident which involved the hijack of Motor Tanker (MT) MONJASA REFORMER, occurred on March 25 at a location144 nautical mile (nm) West-South-West (WSW) of Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo.

He said it was later discovered that the pirates abducted six crew members from the vessel.

“The second incident involved the hijack of MT SUCCESS-9 about 306 nm SW of Abidjan Fairway Buoy (FWB), Cote d’Ivoire on April 10.

“It is pertinent to state that the NN vectored Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) GONGOLA to rendezvous MT MONJASA REFORMER in company of NNS KANO and a French Warship to escort the vessel to Lome, Togo.

“The NN has equally continued to employ her surveillance infrastructure to monitor shipping activities within the nation’s maritime environment and will continue to exploit intelligence to track activities of criminals, to maintain sanctity of the Nigerian Maritime Environment (NME).

“To this end, the NN enjoins all seafarers to continue to carry out their legitimate businesses without fear,” he said.

The naval spokesman said that no incident of piracy had occurred within NME, adding that the area remained safe for maritime and economic activities.

He gave assurance that NN would continue to sustain credible presence to deter any form of criminality.

“In securing the NME and GoG in general, the NN appreciates the efforts of international partners under the Coordinated Maritime Presence arrangement as well as the support of other maritime stakeholders that play other roles in the collective security of the GoG,” he added.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Federal Government has approved the release of N45.3 billion as reimbursement to States and the FCT for the implementation of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG CARES) Programme.

The National Coordinator of NG-CARES Programme, Dr Abdulkarim Obaje, made the disclosure in a statement by Mr Suleiman Odapu, Information and Communication Officer, NG-CARES, on Sunday in Abuja.

Obaje explained that the funds, disbursed on Thursday, April 13, were based on Results each State and FCT earned after a rigorous result verification exercise conducted by an independent Consultant.

He stated that the results earned by the States and the FCT show significant progress towards achieving the set objectives and targets of the NG-CARES Programme.

“To facilitate the smooth take-off of the programme, the Federal Government disbursed a one-off recoverable advance of N35.3 billion to all the 36 States and the FCT in March 2022, and in less than one year, States and FCT have produced results valued at N77.2 billion, impacting over 2 million direct beneficiaries.”

“The Federal Government on Thursday reimbursed the 29 States and FCT to the tune of N45.3 billion after recovery of the one-off advance. The top three best performing States in this round of reimbursement are Zamfara State, with N5,273,150,000.00, Bauchi State N4,232,200,000.00 and Ondo State N3,838,233,411.00.

“This is a milestone in the efforts at reducing poverty in the country,” Obaje noted.

The National Coordinator appealed to States and the FCT to use the funds released in line with the Financing Agreement and the “Funds Release Policy” which all the States and FCT signed.

Obaje commended key stakeholders in the programme, notably, the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, for providing the needed leadership at the federal level to coordinate the implementation at the States and FCT, State Governors, and the World Bank for providing the credit and technical support.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NG-CARES Programme is a Federal Government initiative and supported by the World Bank implemented in all 36 States and FCT.

The Programme aims to expand access to livelihood support and food security services and grants for poor and vulnerable households and firms.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Management of N3 Wellness Hub, an online consultancy that specializes in nutritional and dietetics management has donated food items, toiletries, and an undisclosed amount to the House of Mercy Ophanage at Teiman, near Oyarifa as part of its charity project.

Mrs Dorcas Asante Afari Chief Executive Officer of the Hub said the donation was to complement the nutritional needs of the children of the orphanage and to ensure that they get the nutritional requirements for their healthy growth.

‘I feel obliged to assist the needy where possible and seeing these very young innocent children for the first time I visited them, I thought with my background as Nutritionist, I can prepare these locally made food items-soyabean powder, fortified tombrown and add few toiletries to support them.’

Mrs Asante Afari said N3 Wellness Hub, was committed to fostering a supportive and inclusive environment to empower individuals and communities to take control of their health and live their best lives through optimal nutrition and lifestyle choices.

Mrs Priscilla Terdeku, mother of the orphanage said the orphanage was established in 2010 and currently has 16 children ranging from one year to 14 years with different forms of ailments.

The children she said, were placed under their care by the Department of Social Welfare and the home depended on benevolent organisations and philanthropists for care and support.

She commended N3 Wellness for their generosity appealed for more support to enable them to enrol some of the children who have reached the school going age to schools.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Christ Addict Ghana, a non-governmental organization has fed over 200 homeless and street children in some parts of Accra as part of its charity project.

A team of 29 volunteers including the executives of the NGO distributed food items to the children along the 37 Military Hospital to the Accra Mall area.

The project dubbed: ‘Feed a Child with Christ Addict’ aimed to distribute food items and water to street children and the homeless in the Accra metropolis to fulfil part of the commitments of the NGO to build a better Ghana and a better Africa.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, the founder, Mr Caleb Dande said, ‘The Feed A Child with Christ Addict project is one of the many initiatives the NGO has embarked on to fulfil its mission of helping those in need. The project is aimed at providing nutritious meals to nourish those who may not have access to regular meals, due to poverty.’

He said the initiative was making a significant impact on the lives of those in need, adding, ‘One person at a time.’

Mr Dande called on the government and other organizations to join hands with Christ Addict Ghana to create a better future for the less privileged in the country.

He, however, expressed his gratitude to the volunteers and other executive members who made the project a success.

Christ Addict Ghana was established in 2016 by Mr Caleb Dande, a passionate Christian and social worker who saw the need to help drug addicts in his community.

The NGO has since expanded its focus to include youth empowerment, drug rehabilitation and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of no poverty and quality education.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Tasiu Gidari-Wudil, President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), has advised members of the society to emulate the stewardship service of late Mrs Funmilola Ojelade, who was a member of the society.

The president gave the advice on Friday in Abuja at the funeral service organised in honour of the deceased by the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), a division of the NSE.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ojelade, a staff of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPM), died on March 22 after a brief sickness.

Gidari-Wudil described Ojelade who was the 16th President of APWEN, as a woman who dedicated many parts of her live while on earth to the service of NSE.

He said that the deceased was a very strong woman, innovative in her leadership role with APWEN, and by extension NSE.

“We cannot say we wont have a replacement of her but it will be difficult to have somebody like her, very innovative, her leadership was seen in running the APWEN, and by extension NSE, I will appeal to those of us who are still alive to emulate her.

“Ojelade was a detribalized Nigerian, a devoted Christian because I always received her Friday prayers every Friday, this tells you how nationalistic she was, how patriotic she was.

“I will urge everyone of us to emulate her and pray for her to be on the right side of the throne of God. I pray for the family because it is a sudden shock to us when we learnt of her demise.

“We pray to God to give the immediate family the fortitude to bear the loss,” the President stressed.

Mrs Elizabeth Eterigho, the current President of APWEN (17th), described the deceased as a humorous person whom everyone would like to be with, because she express her mind on issues straight.

She also described Ojelade as a woman who provided answers immediately to challenging issues, adding that many members of APWEN have drawn from her wealth of knowledge.

According to Eterigho, the deceased was a very close person to her because why she was the president of APWEN, herself was the vice-president, and by this they are always close together where she learnt a lot from her.

“During COVID-19 when everything was silent with most associations, Funmilola never allowed our association to be silent, she was up and doing in the association’s activities, her death was a huge lost to us,” Eterigho stressed.

Mrs Valerie Agberagba, the Ninth President of APWEN who disclosed that she had known the deceased for almost 25 years, described her as her IT tutor whom she would miss a lot.

She also described Funmilola as a fellow of the NSE who mentored young Engineers, by impacting knowledge into them, and prayed to God to continue to be with the young peers of the society who will miss her most.

According to Agberagba, the deceased had always advised young engineers to be strong and to be ethical in the profession of whatever they are doing.

Mrs Comfort Emenyonu, a fellow of NSE and member of APWEN who gave the first Christian sermon, advised members to live a life that they would be remembered for.

Emenyonu who titled her sermon as “What will you be remembered for”, taking from the book of Ecclesiastes 9:5 and Hebrew 9:27, stated that everyone must die, but they should be remembered for something.

According to her, Funmilola played her role before she left this sinful world, and prayed to God for everyone to be able to walk in the way that will bring impact to people’s life.

“You must live an indelible mark on this earth before you go, let’s learn how to forgive one another, let’s care for each other, concentrate on God’s works.”

Also, Pastor Dan Ogu of Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG), Jesus Embassy Parish, Province 18, admonished Christians to prepare to meet God after death.

The pastor who titled his sermon as “Truth be told”, said all Christians need to know about death, adding that death is a constant and frequent occurrence which happens everyday.

He said that the holy book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 2 had testified that there are time to be born and there are time to die, saying that every living must taste death hen the time reaches.

He therefore encouraged everyone to prepare for death and prepare to meet their creator, and that after death, judgement follows.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria