51
NEWS
NlcedllD Tribune Frida 17 Februa .2012
FG, Kwara sign MoU on cassava transformation I 810la Azeez . lIodo
N lIS bid to transform agriculture as the engine room of growth Bnd national development, lhe Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoUl, with the Kwara State government on cassava transformation Speaktng at llle signIng ceremony at the Government 1I0use, 110M, on Thursday. the Minister of Agriculture,. Dr Aklnwuml Adeslna , who signed on behalf of the
Federal Government, said the MoU was de Signed to encourage the cultivation of cassava In commereJal scale tn the Slale. He added thaI II was borne: oul afme suc-cess story of the Shonga Commercial Fanning inlllnUve of !.he stale government and MoiNe Youth Integrated Tralning Fann. 111e objectives of the MoU , according to Dr Aklnwuml. Is to facIlitate
market oUllet for 660,000 Ions of cassava In the short - lerm , 10 grade five small and mcdlum scale enterprises producing high quality cassava flour. to conduct InfraslrUctun: and eqUIpmem upgrade: for clght clusters of food processors. to establish 14 large dried chip processIng plants. each capable of producing 6.000 tons of drted Chips. to creale out grower farmers and
10 establish demomllralion lrtais In 50 locations In the Slale. among others. ~Your Excellency, Kwara Slale: Is vcry Im porlant to Nigena.. TIus statc Is rapidly trans forming as the sustalnable food basket of Nigerla-. the minister said. Dr Adeslna. who deSCribed agriculture as a real pron\able business, wondered why lis petformance III abysmally low.
especially In the NorthEast and North-West that have the highest level of poverty. mainulJ1l1on and unemployment According to the mlnIsler, China was able to un 400mllllon people oul of poverty In 10 years through agriculture. which he sold IS equally poSSible In Nigeria If Is 5«11 agrlcullurt: 35 a serlous business, rathtr than just a devdo pmel1l project.-
Academic proffers solution to unemployment Johusou Babajlde, U.aluu·dl OLE admtnlslr'ator of the COllege of Arts a n d ProfessiOnal Studies in Makurdi. Benue State, Dr 'l)Iotom Keghku, has advocated functiona l education as panacea for unemploym~t In the counlfy. Speaking w it h newsmen In his office In Makurdl, lhe academiC noted thai the rate 01 unemploymenl in !he counlry' has reached a threatenIng dlmensXJn thai calls for urgent au~tJon. He explained that the only way to remedy lhe situation Is fOl" the: htghcr education of learning In Ihe country to lncIudc: v0cational courses in their cumcula. though apprc:ci~ ated that some private universilies have em braced lhls. Kerkugh said thai II was obvious; that white 001· tar Jobs an:: no longer thcrt: ror lllousonds of graduates. who are churned OUI yearly. He stressed that the IntJ'Oducuon of compulsory vocaUona! course for all students will surely make numy graduates self reliant. While acknowledging that vocational courses arc capital Int~slve. the sole administrator said that llle dctenntnaUOll 01 governmenl at al1lcvds 10 assist IIle eduC8lkm sector will go a long way in showcasing their readiness at developing Ihe nauon's educaUon sector
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-chl<.fla.In of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDPj In EkUi State, Chi~ Reuben Famuy i bo and wife. Sumbo. with thei.r daugh.ter, Oyi nkan.sola, when she WQS called to the Bar, In Abuja, recenUy.
Senate confirms Jatau, others as INEe commissioner decUon will be an Impnwemenl on the: last dcctlon and make -Nigeria lhc true pride 01 Africa: Also confirmed was the daughlc:roflhc lateChkf M. K. AbIoIa. Omolola Abtola-Edcwoc as the ExccutlveDiTCclorCorporate Services. of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance CorporaUon INDIC).
HE Senate, on Thursday, con firmed Professor Jacob Jalau and four others as Raildl:nt Ekctoral Commissioner of lhe Independent NatJonal Electoral Commission (INEC).
outing In the: last c:kcUcn We believe that these other ones will Join forces with lho8c already In llte commission on llle good work lhey have started.Ue added -I bcIkve that there weTC some grey arcas In the last election. I do hope that lhe agency will wo.-k with lite NaUOnal Assembly 50 thalule 2015
Alh~~;e:;'a~:::t~";
PDP'll regain power in Oyo -Minority Leader
Ayodele AdesanmJ, Abuja
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Segun Agbajc. Alhajl Nasir AyUara and Mr Ausllne OkoJle,followtngthcadoplion of a .scn:entng ~pon submltled by llle Senale CommlUce on tNEC. Deputy Senate Presldent. Ike Ekweremadu. who presided over the: pienary tasked the newcommissloner.>toworkhardm eosurtng bener elecUons til 2015. Ekwerc.madu said: -We had a ~ successful
By Adebayo Waheed W ITH the level of reconcllia tlon among the fac lions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) In Oyo State, the MinorlIy Leader In Ihe Oyo State House of Assembly , AlhaJI Adekunle Rafiu, on Thursday expressed confidence that lhe party would regain
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power In the stale_ TIle Minority LcadeT, while s peaking with newsmen In lbadan. said that the party would also emerge victorious In the (orthcomingtocalgovemment elecllon In lhe slate. lie appealcd to all concerned POP leaders and stakeholders to hinge the developm~t on genulne-
Oyo rerun: Defendant dies in auto crash B1 Yemi Banjo
NE of the 110 de:fendants who were 8J'T1ligncd before: an rbadan chief magtstrates' court for alleged elc:ctoral otrcnc:c:s dur1ng a rerun !he Oorelope / lrepo l Olonmsogo Federal consliluency In Oyo State /on Saturday, ..Ja n uary 28, 2012. has reportedly dted In an aut.ocrash. This fact was dlsclosed
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at the resumed hc:ar1ng of the case. which came up on Thursday before Mr. E.A. Idowu of the Chief Magistrates' Court. lbadan. The lead counsel for the defendants, Mr Kaxc:cm Cbadamos.I. told Mr ldowu that the 16lh defendanL Laslsl Asogun was dead. He pro miscd to bring the death certJflcate oflhe d efe n da n t 0 11 th e OCIt pro«cdlng.
Cbadamosl also. pleaded with the chief magistrate to be lenlcnt with two of the defen daniS, SaJlu Akande and Bayo M~. who were absent from coun dur1 ng tJle proceedings. The c:ounselstoted tha I the defendants ",Ight have been held up lin a
traffic congcsllon, since t h ey were coming from th e ir dc:sUflatlon, which was OUl5kie lbadan .
Earller.the prosecutor. Corponl James Oriola. had lold the coon that the two defendants were absenl without any lawful excuse and therefore applied fOl" a bench warrant against lhem. I-Iowever. due 10 the appeal (or clemency. Mr ldowu dla not Issue a bench warrant against the defen dants. He adjourned the ease u n March 14,20 12.
Senators. durtng the confirmation . described Honourable Ablola EdeY.'Of, who Is a fomler member of Ul(: Ilouse of Representatives, as an Intelligent and Bstute woman, who will bring her wealth of experience in moving the NOle and the Nigerian banking seclor forward
ness and Sincerity Adekunle, who Is rep· resenting Saki West Slate con stituency. sflld ailihe warring parties In PDP In Oke Ogun and lbadan, the state capltnl. had resolved to 'A'Ork together for the sake of achievtng good TCSulls in fUiure elections He explained thai this Single act from the leaders of Ole party had made It possible for the pany to reposlUon Itself towards viC lOry In the coming locaJ government election . which had manJrcsted In the recent rerun election In lrepo / Orelope and Olorunsogo federal conSUtuency won by the PDP candidate. The Minority Leader disclosed that peaceful co-existe n ce a m ong lhe
party leaders had been ove r due and with the perseverance of the conven er It was realised.
Briefly
Ekitl ms.. n1llllber of bc:ndicinIa 01.snciaI security scheme by IO,1XX) n-iE EklU Stale government has Increased the number 0( the elderly dUzens 0( Ilk sUlle In Its S0cial Security Scheme by addlUOfl;l1 )0,000. Aceold lng to a statement malle available to nC'NSlTlen III Ado Ekltl by !he state ~1lnl5try of Inform.1.1.I01l &nd CMc O!1entatkln. the S1llte goyemmcnt said It \o'Cil lld commence aJlOther round of \'I:r1flca don and n'glslratioo rL elderly clUans throughout Eldu Sta ~ 00 February 20. The sta lemenl quoted the state Commissioner for Labuur. P'roducUvlty and Hum .. n Capital Development. Mr Wole Adewumt, as saytng that -the e,.erclse will take pIaoe In all the towns and villages d dlt: state..It added that Adc:wuml said the venflcatlon of those: who had been enjOying Ihe payment 01 the monthly Stipend was necessary -in MeT to have up lO date Inlonnauon about lhe .senIor clt.lzen5. A total number of 10.084 Illdlgent elderly citizens of Ihe state are currently enjoying a monthly s llpend ofN5,OOO wider Ult scheme. Sam N_o ko. Ado EkJd
School don.tes books to charity home
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V.lenlme's Day IMPAC1-110USE Model School s. one of the prtvate :>chools a1 Mowc:. Ogun Statl: . on the occasion of this year's Valentine':; Day donaled books 10 a char1ty home. The 51 hool. which COlllmeI1C('(!. actlvtties in 20 I 0, ha~1 a lways used the yearly Valenti n e's Day cel ebr ation to encourage parents. staff and p uplla to demonstrate true love to others. T . gged Impacl Day, Ihe IiChool visited and donated books to Habltallo n of Hope . located In Mowe, Ogun State. The school commended the work of Habltallon tlf Hope , Ii charity o r g anisation founded bl' Ihe Ikdeemed ChrtsUBn ·Church of God (RCCC) to help children and youths, and wished them in<-TI a5t.'tI blr:s.smgs In the ir mission of rebulldJng lives PastrJr Samson Ogedcngb c . the parish paSlOT of HabltaUon of Hope and Ihe entire slaff oft.he ch~r.ty organisation also eXpressed their graUtude to ImpactHouse Model &llools ror their vtsJl anti IIle love of God demons! ra Ied by reaching out to th"m during Ihe school's el enl