TuesdaJ4 March '1:1, 2012
I
Natiooal; MlrTOr
www.natkmalmllTOl,"Onl.ine.DI!C
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Community Mir or Businessman calls for inquiry into students' dealh
· We have many substandard projects In ~ State because cootractors had given sums of money to goyemment functionaries as rewards or gratification for getting
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Lawyer advocates private prosecutors WALE I GBINTADE
A
based
Lagos
constitullonal
lawyer,
Mr: Rabatunde Oshilaja
has cnIled on the Nationa1 Assembly
lhat
to
would
enact enabl~
n
law
private
prosecUtors to initiate criminal proceedings in OOW"t.. A ptiVlue prosecution is a criminal proceeding initiated b)' an individual or prh'Ute organLsalion instead a public prosecutor who represents lhe state. Osh il&ija. In a stntemenl, said the Ilnroduction of pnvtue prosecut)on would be remed}' to present delay in prosecution ~ aiminal matters b)' the I:>oUoeand other public prosecution agencies. ACCOI'dulG to him, the UltrOOucticll of private prosecution ....'OUld curb undue Influence by public prosecution agents who are moslly foot· draggmg In pl-05eCutlng
or
criminal offences. He cited a petition
of December 12, 201] wrillen to Ihe Assistant Inspector General of
Pulice. Zone 2 Oolkan against the proprietors of Christ the
Cornerstone International School over an alleged Issuance of dud cheques contrary and putUshable under Section 1(1) and (2) of the Dishonoured Cheques (Offences) Act Cap 102
Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He lamented that even though Police Investigation confirmed commission of the crime rather than charge the case to COUl"t, the Anti·Fraud Section at Zone 2, Onlkan have '\ _'l I " been seeking to preva U over the will of his client by pressurising ; ' him to come for "debt recovery" settlement, even when they knew It was crime that was reported and not debt recover)t He contended that delay In prosecuting the maner would be counter-productive and \ spells doom for Ihe efficacy and success of the new cashless economic policy of the Centra1 Bank of Nigeria which depends on the Integrity ' reposed in cheques as a legal, candldat.tor UTME and.kMnt Admluiona and Matricu.I.t1on1 Board, who IUdd.nly oewloped PllIIImlnation teYer" valid and efficacious means of •being 8lWin Urne 10 !'KOver for the.urn et Gombe Stale UntYeflity. I'HOTO;NAII effecting payment In financial sales of a landed property al pleading and entered into Assistant Jfh-p~tor-GeneraJ of t.r ansactlons. He urged the Inspector Maryland, Jlr.eJa. Lagos and she Terms of SetUement but yet to Police, Zone 1, Onikan, Lagos. He said "\"e su~gest thai one General of Police. Governor was io remit the proceeds after be made judgment of the Court. He stated thai when the sureremedytolhetnusllrooming of the Central Bank of Nigeria taklne her commission. He further explained that me derendant's latest cheques were problem of procrastination and and legislators of the House of Assembly In the staies and property was allegedly sold for presented for payment al the compound In); IIf crimes by the National Assembly to enact NBS million but the sum of N6J bank they were dishonoured public prosecution agencies due to Insufficient funds to is for the iflg lslature8 In the a law that would empower a 218,000.00 was }'et to be paid. states and No! iOllaJ Assembly He added that In a bid 10 cover the value of the cheques. private prosecutor to initiate "Upon our advice, thil crime to consider enact In& into law, recover the balance. his client crlminaJ proceedings. According to him, his client rued a civil action in suit committed under section J(J) the riGht of a pl'fvate prosecutor had Instituted a civil action No- 10/ 734/20 10 against. the and (2) of the Dishonoured in cases like thIS one as a means against one Mn. Ablmbola proprietress at the High Court Cheques(OfTences)ActCaP.I02, to s tem the ('orrosive effects Fisayo, the Proprietress of Lagos State but In response Laws of the FRN was reponed of corruption and peddJlng defendant allegedly In December 2011 to the Pnlice of Wldue InOuence on public of Christ the Cornerstone the International School, over admitted N59 mUlien in her AuthoriUes at the Office of the prosecution agronts."
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Fanners benefit from Fadama Programme in Cross River FRANCIS SUBERU WITH AGENCY AEPOAT
he CoordInator of Fadama III project In Cross River, Mr. Bassey Eleml, has said that 22,566 farmers have benefited from the programme since Inception In the state in 2009. He saJd that the benef1c1arles comprised 17, &10 male and 7, 5m female farmers. The coonUnator said that a a mid-term evaluation of the programme had shown that 79 per cent of Fadama User Groups were satisfied with its implementation, especially the
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maintenance and utilisation of community infrastructure and capital assets. "More than 79 per cent of the Fadama User Groups In the state are satisfied with the operations and maintenance of the project. while 81 per cent were satisfied with utilisation of facUlties provided by the programme", Bassey sald_ He said a total of 768 projectS were undenaken under the programme in the 18 local govern· ment areas of the state. According to h1m, these projects comprised of crop production, nsheries, processing, livestock development and small
scale community-owned infra· structure, among others. Bassey also said Fadamn is partnering with other InstJrulions to strengthen the Implementation of Its projects In the stata "We partner with the Depart· ment of Cooperatives to train our cooperative societies on cooperatives mana cement and with USAlD to train farmers un the Nigerian Agriculture En· terprise Curriculum. We also partner the Global Environment t<"acUity to implement various projects under tbe sustainable land management programme," he stated.
LG to withhold salaries of absentee workers J AMES O ANJUM. KATSINA
OTTied by persistent absence of government employees from their places of work, lngawa l..ocal Council Area or Katslna State says it would henceforth withhold salaries of those found to be absent from duty for a period or seven days. Chairman of Ihe transltJon committee, AlbaJl Usafnl Dam· be saId the counell was worried with the attitude of stafT in Ihe habit of not coming to work for days or even weeks. Dambo, who spoke while receiving officiaJs of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Nigeria Union of Local Go\'ernmenl
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Employees, NULOE, and health workers in hl5 omce. said the council had observed lhat most of the staff came to work at the end of month to oollect salary. He saJd ml\Jorlty of tbe staff resided in Ka_'lO and Kaduna stales with otiH':r5 cominG from the state capital. and ....'Quld only collie to work toco\Lect their sal· aries at end of tbe month. Dembo warnt~ that the coun· cil would nol Cftndone absenteeism and lrUilllCy (rom employees and would not hesitate to sack anyone wllo absconds from dut)( • He directed heads of departments to Ollen registers for staff members, and every staff should sign hi!' or her name at the time they n'port to duty.