INews,
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Kano govt sacks 6 caretaker chairmen over corruption A UGUSTINE M AO U-W EST KANO
Ki
ano State 10V'J(tUIlent
yestmlay sat ~ six ocal gov'!rnment caretaker-dlalrmen ~ faUlng to meet set standards in the admlnlstraUon of their
councils.
The goverllm,mt announced the sael. pf the council bosses whb have been replaced \"y their directors of
management (DPM). The action followed the resolution of the
governor sometLme last year after dUlgent scru-
House of Assembly call-
tiny allegedly fall below standard In the ratmg of
were issued with warnings. They include Kum· botso, Nassarawa, MinJiblr and Madobi local
tng on the government
the assemhl}t
council areas.
to sack the leadership of the local councils affect·
ed following allegations of corrupt practices,
They include the chairmen
of
Ajlngl.
K.iru, Oawakln Tora, Garko, Sumalla and Klblya local
truancy and other iden- government areas. tified defects In their acSimilarly. some oUlcr tivities.
The affected Interim
local government interim management officers have received sanctions
A release signed by the state local government
ministry
spokesman.
Abdu Usman, lssued to newsmen in Kane, said the action by the House Is pan. of its oversight functions as provided in 'Sec-
Lion 128 as contained in
M
Ism practice In tlu! country.
He said that it was high time that joumaUsts and other stakchoIders in the to a~ point an ombudsman that would help in reRUlaHng the pracili:e of journalism. MaIm made the suggestion in Abuja at a sensltlsation workshop on the Freedom of Informa· sector oooperated
tion (rol) Law organlsed
Age of aircraft not barrier to efficiency - Expert A
n aviation union leader
was no batTier to It5 service emciellCJ National PresJdl'nt, Air Transport Servl~ es Senior Staff Assoclatloll of Nigeria. )l.ir Benjam 1 Dkewu, made the statenlenl at a news conference "The avtation Industry has a system Of checks and balances ~o~ the main· tenance pf atrcraft since Inost pails of th" lIrplane have what Is dl.Ued ser-
vi:~~~rt I~
the expiration of Uil!iifespan is changed an~hen "it! change those p rls in the aircraft. \t lsI, ed that ,uchan~h good, "
Okewu said.
He said 'as part of the government responsibility and effort towards improving/enhancing service delivery, especially at the local government level In order to meet the yarnlngs and aspirations of the people, government had approved the Immediate sack of six Inter-
Kana
im management officers from office'. In the same vein. the Kwankawso government bas ~mlnded the only ANPP-elected Chairman of Dawkln Kudu local Iilovernment area that his tenure had lapsed and thai he should be-fore 17th of this month (tOOa) vacate the seat and allow the councll DPM to take charge.
Maku reiterates need for regulation of journalism practice mister of Informa· tion, Mr Labaran Maku, at the weekend ~iterated the need for tlu! ~guIa:tion of journal-
I'lsaId in Lagos fln Ptiday thai the age of a I aircraft
the 1990 constitution and as amended'.
Okewu explained that the International Civil
Aviation
Organisation
(lCAO) had never banned an aircraft anywhere because of old age.
He said, however, that many countries had do-
mesticated their own laws to ban specific kInds of aircraft in their airspace. ' The BACU aircraft th3t was banned In Nigeria is still flying in other parts of the world, .. Okewusald. He assured air pas· sengers thai the Nigerian airspace was safe, adding that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had enough In· spectors to check the sta· tus of any aircraft. He debunked claims
that pUots were cutting cor ners by not reporting developments in aircraft they flew to the engineers and NCAA. "n would be a sin and a stain OD tile integrity of a pilot not to log safety issues In the log book for the air traffic controllers and engineers to know and rectify." Okewu said. He noted that efforts were being made to en· sure that aU the airlines formed a union to Lntervene when tileir workers had problems. The union's Vice-Presl· dent. Mr Ahmadu Ililrus, w-goo airline operators to always grant more rest hours for their cabin crew to guard against human error In nights
for State House and M era1 f',Unistry of lnfonnaLion co~pondents. TIle minister explained that the regulation was necessary to ensure that privileges provided by the
Fol law were not unduJy exploited and abused by joumallsts.
He reminded journal-
Ists that the Fol was not
with the provisIons of the
for journalism alone but [or democracy and all NI-
law.
gerians.
.. , want to use this opportunity to remind my roUeagues in the media of the need to hlM! a regulator in the Indus~ - We should not take thIngs for granted because of the freedom of lnformation that we now have.
"""e law Is not for us alone, the law Is for NI· gerians, the law is for democracy. It Is for all of us. MNow is the time to appoint a regulator that would guide joiurnaIlslS on Issues relaUng to the ethics and code of prac· tice," Maku stated. He said the future of joumallsm in Nigeria was brighter now and w-ged journalists to Camlltarlse themselves
Re90urce persons at the workshop. Messrs Oma J)jebah and Ouistmas Akpodiete. called on journalJsts to demonstrate greater COllImIbnenl aoo efIkiency in exploring the FoILaw Akpodiele in his pre-
sentalion said the Fol law empowered Journalists to dIg dJp and bring up issues that would stir devel· opment in Ule coun~ He emphasised that journalists should be fearless in their quest for in· formation in the interest of the people. OJebah reminded jour· nallsts of the enormous responsibility ahead of them, He said that Nigerians were ealiler1y watching how they would use the law for the good of the society.
IITA, WACCI to increase plant breeders in Africa T'he International
I
lnsti-
tute for Tropical Agri·
culture (IITA) and the West
Africa Centre for Crop im-
provement (WACCI) have signed a Memorandwn of Understanding (Mol]) to train plant breeders in M rlOL
A statement made avallabl.e to News Agency
of Nigula
(NAN) in
lbadan on Saturday by
UTA's Communication Officer. Mr God-
the
wtn Atser; described the agreement as strategic move to boost the nwnber of plant breeders on the continent
Under Ule agreement. WACCl, a centre at the University of Ghana. would send postgradu· ate students to IlTA for three years to c:arry out resean:h in plant breed· ing, the statement saJd, adding that they would have access to UTA facU1-
lies and be supervised by senior UTA scientists. It 5a.id that WACel and !ITA consider the alliance as a panacea to the dwindling number of plant breeders in Africa, "AfrIcan breeders will train on the problems facing Afiican crops with the hope that they will remain in Africa. - Pro(
Eric Oanquah, the Director of WACCl, said while commenting on the MoU,"
Foursquare hosts health seminar 7~oIdcous'n
emor~ Uduaghan
of Delta Stale, ~ was
kidnapped In h" h:»me on DtA Road A.saba tHO days ago, has been r~1easecI by kidnappers, sa~:II'nreport. ENS.COOl reports;
The old m3l1 '*'83 SIQhted althe Delta r;~~ J:oIIce headquarter ~day eve-
'1
ning gMng a statement to the police about his ordeal. It is nee known If any ransom was paid 10 his abductors to secure his release_The Police Public Relations Officer In Della State, 0'Iar1es Mouka, did
Foursquare Gospel
ChIxch, Asokoro AbuJa. e.k.a. Assembly of His Excellency, is set to host lor a lifestyle seminar series !of residents of the Federal Capital Tenitory and ils
not immediately return calls to confirm Pa Udughan's
environs. The thretH:lay programme, billed fOf 5 p ,m. each day, begins
release, according to the
tomooow
'"",,"".
Guest SpeakElf, Rev
Akinyemi, 01 Shepherd's Flock International Church, lagos, Is repuled to be an authority on scriptural priociples and precepts on health issues. He would
highlight good and necessary dietary habits thai could enhance positive and healthy lifestyles.
He also believes !hat
Tony
il-health IS avoidable and
strongly fetO
,.1 .... ids the
setTWw series for ~ who don't want to be sick: who are sick and med; and bred of being sick and tWed: Organised by !he Excellent Men's Fellowship 01 FOOfSquare Gospel Church, AsokofO, the seminar Is designed to assist In raising healthy citizenry fof the
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