6
NEWS
NI"eriiD Tribune:
~~,.
24 Jan"a
BI-1efly giY .e.! .arm] 48 lurs to nlease_.-
~SS9~
detained: members IRKED toy lht" kJIIlng and dampdNvn o r Its members by su ldlers In On llsha . Anambra State. the MO/ement ror the AcluallS30Uon or th e Sove r e ign Statt o r Bla rra IMASSOBI. ha s gl\len the mil itary h igh command 48 hou m to effect the release or Its lTembers including the corps es or thos e k illed . DIScl ')S ln~ the posllion o r the MO\leme nt to n ews m(' n In O nHsha , MAS50B Director o r Inro rm atlo n . Ue h e nn a l\ lad u , a ta ted t hat th e ar m y had pro \lo ke d MASSO B members thro u gh ull wa rranted killings and cletenUon or l\IASSOB members. wamlng that, "U Ule ulUmatum Is not heeded . the arm:1 ami the Nigerian state wUl see the vio le n t ~ tde or MASSOS." Madu mai ntained tha t Ule non-\-Iolent posture of M A~SO B h ad been mistaken (or weak ness by securtty operatI\les, "wh o row derl\le JoY In the kJlllng and l.ntlmldatlon of una rmed MASSOB men.bers." OkodUi l'id.ldl. OnUs ha
FG appoinl~ 2 Dew
perm sees THE Federal GO\lernment has appolnte,l two new Permanent Sa:retaries In the Federal CiVIl Service. T h ey arc A1 hajl ~I yu Is ma 'ila Nurna n and Mr Ossal George hf"amdu na. A s tate m ent diSclosIng the appolr.lments by the Head of Cjvtl Service or lhe Federation . A1 h ajl Isa Bello Sail In Abuja o n Monday, ~ a..id President Goodluc k Jonathan app ro\led Ihe appoint m e nts to rill the Adamawa and E bo n y l s l ate SIOIS. AlhaJI Sa il . In th e s tatement sigHed by Mr Tope Ajakaly' ~ , Deputy Director, Pres! and Pub~ IIc Rela ttons. s aid t h e appolntment:i took effect rrom Jan uary 20 , 20 12. The lh~ad .. r Ser\llce sald Alhajl Ilman was appointed to 011 the s lot or Adamawa 5 ate which became vacant ro lloWlng the e1eyatlon or A1haJI Sall as thc Head o r the C I\lll Service or Ule FederaUon. In the 53m(' \leln, Mr Aramduna rro m Ebony! State was appointed to replace Proresnor Simon Ogamdl, who n:tIred rrom s e rvice In Aug ust 20 I I. C lement Id o t.o . AbuJa
. 20 12
US investors to build 1.5bn cement factory, power planrin Ebonyi
cJemeDt Oko NnaebJ. -b alit' A air. HE Ebonyl Stale gove rnm e nt h as
T range~~e~~~U~~~h
a
tiS
pany. to construe a . metric ton cement rae-
tory. In addJtlon to a 600 m ega watts coal power
generated revenue profil e of lhe s tate and acceieralc power genera Uon.
s hare In Us visio n of rapid development. malDtal nlng tha t the ir goal was to revi talise ceme n l
A
gc n ey
an
d
US AID
.
amongoUlus. which had co nsi s tentl y provided funds fo r the executio n
~~: :~~~~nS\~;~I~~~e~.at UU~ pr;::~~foa~ th~i掳7t,a~' ~~~d~~cUa~~ !:~I~Y~:~~ :~~~,,:,~,~,',dn'hV,路s' 路,P.mm:~ks".'
nown ed Un1tcd States of
The compa ny. Caufco
projec t s ' poten ti al to
America uwcstmcnt com-
G ro up a nd Its development partners, nam ed C r oss River Intern ational Consulting INC. In conJu nclio n with t he
Governor Martin Eleehl, me mbers or the state cxecuUve.eoun cll and lead ers o r thought at the co un c il c h a mbers In
Johnson Babajide . Mak u rdl
coal power plant. which would ge nerate employmenl. boost In ternally
sian or the company to pa r tne r with the s tate
~~\~ ~~a~:~mlng you th
V<I
<u
or On the rund lng or the
Gove rn o r El eehl dl s closed tha t the state governm e nt h ad been par11lering with a consorUum or Chin ese experts,
Bank. African Develo pme nt Ba nk , the United S tates
coal-dri ven power plant, you th employmenl ....'Ou ld be greatly enhanced.
Electl'on panel p rojects , t he c hi d exmembers re fuse ccuUve offi cer said the to handle cases ;~~y~o:~:l;m~:;~r~~ ::~~16m~~~ ~~~~~: ;~~~~~:dl ~ar~'b~;~~~~ ~;bl':;~I~~S~~~~~ ;!::; nershlp with d o n or ,IDVOIVID' gACN cem the cons truc tion o r the Group. Mr A.C .T age n cies including the plan ts. adding t ha t with e nt ractory and the Sandas. sa id the decl - Unit e d States NEXIM the con s tru c tion or a
EMBERS or t he e lecUon panel or the Court or Appeal Sitting In Makurdl. Ule Be nue Slate capital . ha\le announced their withdrawal from handllng any case Involving members o r Action Congress or Nlgerta (ACN). Members or the panel are Ju stlcc s M .L. Isamlya, All 8abandl G unel and Uch echukwu O nye mewam. T h e deciSio n or the p a nel Is hinged on the series or petitions wr1ttcn by ACN members to the Na tional Judlc la.1 Com mlsslon in AbuJa. alleging rraudulent ma lprac tices by members or the pando At their sitti ng on Monday. thc Judges, through th eir c hairman , JusUce Isamlya. said the panel took the decision a rler lhe petition written last Dece mber In which som e members o r the pa rt y a lleged that t he j udges received N17 m illion bribe.
M
Minimum wage: Shehu of Bomo
appeals to NULGE, NUT James Bwata , Ma.ldugu.rl E S hehu of Borno, Alhajl Abubaka r Ibn Ga rba l EI Kaneml. h as appealed to orncers or Ule Nige rian Union or Local GO\lemme n t Emp loyees (NULGE I and the Nigeria Union or Tcach ers (NUT) to collect thei r December 20 11 old salary. pending t he Implementation of the mlnmum wage . AppeaUng to the officers at h lS palace. Ule royal raUlcr also sald th e two unions s hould allow their members to collect the o ld salary. as Ule s tate gO\lernme nt was ready to Implement the mlnlmum wage at k>ca.1 go\lernment levcl ln February 20 12. He said civil servant.5 we~ Uving rrom hWld to mouth and. as such , they s houldn't be de pri\led or their saiarle!. adding tha t the part1al n::moval of oll subsidy and Insccut1ty In the s late had compounded Ute people's problem _
TI
Adebayo Alao-Akala. at State. on Monday. I'hoto: Tommy Ad~bi (e
Kwara to embark on large scale farming of rice, maize Biola Azeez. Dorlo part or Its re\l enue ge neratio n rl\le. th e Kw a ra Slalegovern.ment will soon emba.r k on large scale planting of malzc:, I1ce. soya beans and cassava. Speaktng du rtng his visit 10 S honga Fann. a comme rc ial publlc - prl ~ \lale rann In Edu Local GO\lernmen t Area o r the
N.
s tate at the wee k e nd . GO\lernor Abdu lrata h Ahmed said the reaSOD ror the plan was to cater ro r the needs o r rarmers In Shonga. pa.rucularly poUltry and d airy farmers, who wo uld need to reed their rowls and cows In o rder to Inc rease their produc Uvtty. The governor, who .said modalities had been
m ap ped out to ensure the s m ooth take-orr o r the rarm as soon as rain comm e n ces. ca ll ed o n the p eo pl e or t h e sta l e to grow the crops In large scalc. saying Ul e re was rea dy- made marke t ror them . He IdenUrted lac k or IrrtgaUon rac lllttes as the o nly majo r challenge racIng the rarme rs , a n d
Late coming: Amosun shuts out civil servants, pOll'tical appointees
Ol.yl.k. O'.k.ya . Seu.n Agberu a.od Fatlmab OIowonro. Abeok a GUN S tale Govern o r , Se n ator Ibl k unl e Amos un . on Mond ay . shut the ga tes against thousands or workers In Ule state chill servi ce and sco res or po li tical appo lntces ror res uming late to work. It wtIl be rec.a.lled that GO\lernor Amosun, a t h is Inaug uratio n , said his admlnistraUon would not condo ne any acts o r in disCipline a nd la c klustre pe rrorman ce rrom el\lll servants or pollUcaI ap-
O
polntees Irrespectl\le of their posUions. T b e gO\lernor , Nig erian Tribune learnt, arri\led at the slate secretariat heron:: 7.30a.m. Ule offiCia l resumption Ume and ordered that the two en trances to the seereta r l,1 be s hut against those who railed to res ume a t the omclal time. SPeaktngWlthJoumalIsts) the stale Head or Se rvi ce, Mrs Modupe Ade kunle. said the governor d ecided to enrorce the punctUality rule because or the laekadalslcal a tUtude or Ute vast m aJortty
or workers 10 work . Adekunle s ald, "most workers were not on thelr seats by 30 minutes to 8 O'clock hence we decided to e nrorce the p un c tu ality r ul e . GO\lernment will no lo nge r tol e ra te late n ess as punctuali ty Is the soul or bus iness. S he further said that the action was carried o ut as a wanllng Signal to t h e workers adding that arterwards , those round lO be coming late to wo rk would race the music acalrdlng to dvtl service ru les.
ca ll ed on t h e Federal GO\le rnm C{it to assist the slate In the provtslon o r lrr1gatlo n facili ties to encourage all-year-round rarming. "The s tate gO\lern 路 men I h as tried Its best to encourage t h e ranners bu t It Is not enough because the project Is ca pital Intensl\le , - t he gO \lernor said . The govern or also said that the state go ycrn m e nt had set a s id e a - bslan Liai a mo unt of money to encourage commercial rar m lng In t h e Sla l e. -It Is hig h time KwaraRS seized the o pportun ity or the presence or New Ntgerla Fa rmers In Ule Slate to d l\lers;l(y and see farming as a productl\le Job to bett er lhemsel\les In particula r and the state In general. IlllS Ume around. the Issue or unemployme nt a nd YO Ul h restl \leness s hould be a thing or the paSL Our people should go back to the farm and we. as a gO\lernment. are ready to assis t," he said.