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COMMUNITY NEWS
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,- Timber merchants urge govt to resuscitate railway
T:
le Association of Tim-
ber Merchants in Kad un.3 Stale has at· tributed the high cost of limber ;n the country to the ailing rail transportation sy5-
"'"
'The 0iai1l1lM of the assodatic:Jl\ fvlr Chidi Oborlutana, told the News AF1tJ' ofNi-
8eria (NAN) in
KadUll.l
that
the dcplol<lbJc st.lle of the rail systt!l1l had scnouslyaffected timb...... business in the country,
He said rail Ira nsportahon had berornea majorchal!enge in the timber business, as transporters had rontin-
lied to increase haulage chmges by aboul15 ~ ceo!. rompared to last yeal's rilte. Obodu ta na sa id transporters were charging N I 70,OOO per tr ailer-load from t he South to t he
Nor th as a l December 2010, which had been increased to abou t N280,(OJ. He said if government could upgr3Je the rail syste m to interna tional s la ndard, Lhe cost would be reduced, explai n ing that a
wago n coul d ca rry five traile r- load s of limbe r al mi nimal cost.
'Stop dumping refuse on the highway' Saka Gbe miniyi,
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A
co mmun ity leader in [bafe area of O bafcmi
Owodc Loca l Governmen t o f Ogun S l ate, h as ad vised resi d e nt s of [bare, especia lly traders a t Iba fe Mai n Market, to d esis t f r o m d ump i n g r(d u se o n the h igh way . II w ill be reca ll ed th at th e s late gove rnm e nt , abo u t Iwo weeks ag o, had cleared il mo untain
an eyesore to u s. It was a sort o f emba rrass ment to t he s ta te beca u se it was on the hi g h way a nd w hoever was passi ng thro u gh the ex pressway wo ul d see it. The gove rn men t did we ll by clear ing ii, but un fo rtuna te l y, the re fu se is back". So m e of th e m a r ket wom e n who spoke with
Co mmunity News, fre igned igno ra n ce abou t t h e peopl e w h o d umped th e refuse as n obody was ready to own up. A t rade r i n the m;Jrke l, Serifa l Ajoke, to ld Communjty News thai the loca l counci l s h ou ld prOV ide a n o ff icia l dump si te fo r the market as t he re was none pres-
e ntl y ." HWe d o n ' t have a place to d u mp refuse and th is is a market. If there is an officia l dump s ite in the market, peop le wo u ld s to p dumping re fu se i ndi scr im inatel), " . Ano t her trade r to l d Community Ne ws thai t he leade rs h i p o f th e ma r ket s ho uld monitor
th e p lace and \\' Iloevc r tha t was caug ht dumpi n g ref u se on the expre ssw ay s h ou lJ be punished . Meanwhile, the residents h ave appealed to the s tate government to come to th eir aid by cleari n g t he refu se, as th e odo ur emanati ng fr o m it co u ld ca u se health problems.
of refu se dump in Ibafe
t-,'Iain Ma rket on Lagos[badan exp ressway. bUI
so m e
peop le
ha ve
s ta rt ed d um ping refuse o n the s pot again, thu s co n s titutin g e n v iro n menl ,1! hazard s to the reside nt s, especia ll y
those w ho frequen t t he m arke t. A lh a ji
Yisa u
Balogun. a co mmunit y leader. told Comm unity News th a i the reside nt s
ex pressed sa ti s fac ti o n and hllppiness whe n officials of the s l ate governm en t came and cleared t h e ref use, but reg re li e d that so m e peopl e h ad sta rt ed dumping refu se at th e same spo t a gai n . " We were ve r y happy w hen Governo r lbikunl e Amosun o rd e red th a t th e mess shou l d be clea red, beca u se it was
- Oyo Sta te government win have to employ hard m easures to ertforre environm ental sanity around Ogunpa C'hannelisation to pre vent fP-OC'CUrence o/flooding. especially now that rain is becoming steady. Photo: Seye AdeJtiyi_
Fadama ill to reduce poverty in 2.2m households in Kebbi' Flood w reaks havoc in Alapere
A
n es timate d 2.2 mi ll ion r ura l fa rm i n g h o u seholds in Kebbi state are ex pected to benefi t f ro m thi! 450 mill ion dollilfs Fada m a III programme, says the s ta te Coord inalo r, Alhaji Um a r Ud ulu . The News Agency of N igeria (NAN) re ported tha t the prog ramm e was bein g s po n so re d by the World Bank a nd th e
gove rnm e nt c oun c il s and t he benefi tt ing co mmuni ties wou ld co nt ribu te 8.9 pe r cent and 13.3 pe r cen l. The coordin ato r lis ted til e goal s of the p rogramm e to includ e ac hi eving food securit y, re du c tion of poverty i n r ural areas, c rea te emp loy me nt and increased op p o r t uniti es fo r eco-
'ed ... , Cov, mm. nL
nomk d,ve ' op men' ;n
A s t atemen t made avai l ab l e to th e NAN rece n tly i n Birnin Kebb i li s ted th e be neficiaries to incl u de pastoralists, fis h e rm en , trad e r s, processors, h u n ters, were w id ows, w idow e r s an d th e h and i-
the r ural areas. He sa id tha t th e acli vilies s up ported by the p rogram m e incl u ded g rou p owned produ ctive assets s u c h as wat e r pumps, s p raye rs, p epp er gri n di n g ma c hi nes a nd rice mill .
Saka Gbeminiyi,
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R
esidents of Ala pere in Agboyi Ketu l..oa l Council Development Area of Llgos State ha ve called o n the l agos State Government to come to the ir a id, as they sa id nood was about to wipe the Communi ty away_ Som e residen ts to ld
was not showing interest in
lhe plig ht of the people, as several complaints lodged at Ihe council h ad been treated wit h levity. A comm u n ity leader, Al haji Bashiru Ayincle, told CommWlity News that the landlord associations in the a rea had met wi th the officials of the council on the menace.
Tradi'tional ruler p1edges support for gov Idris
Yeklnl limoh, Lokoja T
HBObaroof Kabba in Kog i sta te, Oba Mic ha e l O labayo, has ass u red governor Ibrahimldrisoftotalsuppori of the peopleofOl..."Un
cappe d . O lhe;!; werde in.p ut la nTdh'e- (,' " , . ,.,' ' ,ad,' , Udul u said that the su pp o r pro u c tlOn, World Bank was expected to mar ket ing, rural in fratio nal ru le r who assured contribute 55.6 perrentofthe s tru c tu re and Fadama the governor when he led 450milliondollars"wrulethe ag ri c ultural deve lo p - a de ligate of traditional Federal Government would me nt, he sa id . rulers from his d omain to contnbuteS.1 percent Hesaid effortswould be Lu ga rd H o use, Lokoja, S im ila rl y, the s ta te m a de to e ns ure prom p t said the people of Okun ove rnme nt woul d pro- parn:'entof the.counterpart land wen: proud of Govg Od 171 ' fundmg toachievetheo~ · emor Idns as a result of VI e . p e rce" 0 .\e h · fth ~' h' I' h' l u nru u s t as ' t h e' local ~ jecUveso e programme. ... r: IS tre mendous ac leve-
,[,1.
CommUlljty Newsthllt they were a lways in fear whenever it rained in the last two mo nths, as nood had been causing havoc in the commu ni ty. Community News li!aml from the residents that the problem of nooding in the area \"asasa result ol b~ dra inage. T hey la mente d thai the local govemment
ments in various sectors in the s tate. T he trd iti ona l ru le r add e d f urth e r th a t the people o f Okuo la nd had benefited one way o r the o ther fro m the a dministration of the governor. He, the re fo re, ass ured him o f the support of the people of Okun la nd and the t rAdit iona l co uncil from lha t a rea. He noted thai the people of Okun would not betray him as he passed vote of confidence 00 the ad ministration of Governor Idris.. The governo r, in his re-
sponse, comme nd ed the Oba ro of Kaba. saying tha t a ll the aggrieved me mbers of the Peoples Democratic rarty (POI) in Okun land that defected to other parties w Ul be recalled back to the party. He said before the next yea r election, he wou ld make s ure that POl' became one big family agai n. He thanked. all the traditiona l rulers from Okun land for the visit. saying that their action was an indication that the people of QJ.."UJl \¥ere progressive minded.
~We are in serious problem here. We need good dra inage system to ensure free now of wa te r during rai ny season_ The community cannot do it without the mtervention of the government, hence we had in the past six months been going to the roundl for assistance, but we are yet to get good respon.5I! from them. We appeal to them 10 save us and o ur pro~rt )' from bei ng swept away b}· nood. ~ When Community News visited the area, it was 0bser ved tha t some people were in the habit of throwing refuse into the g utte r, th us blocking the water channel.. "You see, as an associatio n , we noticed that people we re throwi ng refuse into the wa te r ways, a nd Ive e ngaged them in e nli gh te nme nt campaign, but we wou ld apprecia te it if the local council can enforce and pun ish whoever is engaged in dup ing refu se in wa ter channel," a resident to ld Community
News .