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MONDAY, NQVEl>1BER 21. 201 1
Briefly FCT job scheme HE Federal Capital TerritoI)' Ad.ninisttation is Tecruiting workers secretly into various departments, including the Directorate of Road Trnf fic Services popularly known as Vehicle Inspection OffiCI!. FIndings indicated that the execise had been going on for sometim2 ~ \acanl slots in the health ' department. Federal Capital DEvelopment Authority ill~ d others wen! also being fined with candidates under an Internal
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emplO!fmeot pohcJ. A source told
our
correspondl'l1t tha t a number of people had b<*o engaged in the pa5t Ihre! months. adding that 1t1e expa.nsive
JTF arrests Bolm Haram members over shootings IELD Commander o f Ihe J oint Task Force in Moiduguri.Bomo State. Col. Victor Ebhaleme, on Sunday confirmed the <UTest of a number of people by the force. Ebhaleme told the News Agency 0/ NIgeria that the atTests were in connection wit h the rece nt indiscriminate shooling in Ihe metropolis. He . nowever. said ne could not give an eKact number of the suspects. He added that Ihey were still undergoing interrogation. ~Anybody tnat is found guilty will however face the full wrath of the lawaI Ihe e nd of the day." the JTF
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Field Commander !>aid. He said the arrests became necessary in view of tne roJe amled ,.ob'bers now played in the city under the guise of being Boko Haram members. Ebhaleme however den ied reports that two soldiers were killed ina snoot· out between JTF operatives and gunmen in the Gwange area of f.1aiduguri. ~ I want to assure the public that UleJTFiscombalready to deal ..... ith onybody wno goes conlrary to the rule of law.~ he said. suspected Mean ..... hile. members of Boko Haram haveslarted tevealing names
of high profile individuals said to be sponsors of thei r violent attacks in the country. An investigation o f the implicated persons was said to have been auth orised in order to cut the financial stream of Ine group. The sect members ..... ere said te. nave mentioned names of their financiels during Interrogations by Ihe State Securi ty Service and the police. A source told THE PUNCH on Sunday that the governmen t WM keeping the names of the sponsors close to ils che.sl to avoid embarrassing those tnat were
Innocent. "The government is benl on fishing oul the sponsors of the sect; names of high profile people are being mentioned by the arrested Boko Haram members. but the governmen t is treading carefully to avoid embarraSSing innocen t persons because the suspects could mention any name under duress.~ the source said. It was gathered that the government might have however commenced negotiation with the group covertly while using the military action in the NorlhEaslern states to pressurise
premises had t t«orne a beehive of job-rk~rs. The SOOTCe ! !he
:aid.
secret recruitment has been going on for ~ irtime. We see ne..~· faces being engaged in different units em 1I daily
basis. but you can't just ....-alk · in and 6q:ect to be employed. "
Ekiti social security HE Eklti State TGovenun en! \as begun
Tension persists in petroleum varsity
moves to make th e paymen t
of the stipends frum the Social Sel."l.Iriiy Scheme which it introduced last month to ~nio r citizens, permanent The Commi~:ioner for Information , Mr.. runm iniyi Aiuye, said this ••1 a forum organl~ed b;.r ' the Ekiti State Council of the Nigerian Union of J OUlllaiists o n Friday. Afuye said Ule current administration did not wanl the plogramme to be scrapped after the expiration of its tenUle. He said the 1roce:55 to make a lilw to hack it up was already on .•dding no government would be able to abolish!! by tte time the bill was passed Into law.
Crashes kill 3,36!) HE Corp Mmhal and OJief Executi;e Officer of the Federal Rtw:! Safety Corps. ~ita Chl:ioka, has said about 3,365 Nigerians lost their lives behveen January and Nov mlber this year in ro.sd eras 'IeS llCTOSS the country. Chidoka. al th e 2011 Wond Remembr.lnce Day service for road crash victims held at Ihe Methads1 Church Nigeria, Ibadcm Dioceses. Oyo State. adi.el thai Ihe World Health Organisation put the number of deaths reoorded yearly through crashes at over 1.3 mUllon. The FRSC bas;. who was represented by the ;tate FRSC Sector Com mand.~r, Godwin Ogagaoghene. sal:j the third Sunday of Novem ber of every year 1.1.115 observed worldwide to letIlli mber road bame victims in iiI ~ with Ihe United Nations Resolution Al6OJ~ 0[26, Octeber, 2005.
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its members Into yie lding and embracing ground peace. The Federal Government was said to be usi ng force to induce the extremists to aa:epl itsamnestyofler in line with the recommendation of the Ambassado r Usman Galtimari-Ied Presidential Committee on Security Challenges in North·East. The panel had hoped thai diologue and other measu res, includi ng compensating religious organi5.iltions that suffered seve re Josses. would assuoge the bitterness that fue!!ed what it described as a socio-economic revolt When con\<!cted. the Deputy Director. Media and Pu blic Relotio ns. SSS. Manlyn Ogar. said she could nol speak on Ihe alleged confession by the sed members. ~I Cllfl'tspeakon the Issue. I dont know about it;wait lilI lomorrow (taday) for the press release I will issue. You can gi!1 Information Ihe re . but I don't know about any confe5l;ion .~ she stated.
Em m a nu el Add e h , WMri
HE T Resources.
• LR: Vice-Chancello r, Federal UniueT$ityo/TechrlaI05n'. Alrure, Pro/. Adebisi &/ogun: Former Celllral Bank Govenlor. Dr. Joseph Sonusi; his wi/e. Ahlgoel. during the unuelling of 'J Computer Resource Cl!1l1re /Iamed o/ter So/I usi by FUTA .... on Friday
How PDP chairman died at peace meeting TUlld e Odesola, O.so gbo
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RESH facts haveemergecl on hau' Ihe Chairman. Peoples Demoaatie Party in Boluwaduro local Governme nt Council. Alhaji Raimi Awoleye. died during a Tl!conciliotion meeting in Osogbo. Osun State on Saturday. Invesligation showed thai Awoleye, appeared nale an d hearty having attended a meeting called by state executive of the state PDP earlier in Ihe day. It was gathered that !ike othe r council chairmen . he mobilised PDP members in Boluwaduro LGA to the zonal meeling called by National Vice- Chairman. South·Wesl. Alhaji TaJu Oladipo. Investigation showed that Oladipo had sent out invitations to 28 elden; of Osun PDP. requesting them to attend Ihe !;fUcial meeting at his Oke·Ayepe residence. Awole~oe. it was gathered ush ered in former Governor Olagun50ye Oyinlola and ex· Chairman. Senate CommitfeeonAppropriation. Chief Iyioia Omisore. into m", venue of Ihe meeting
with songs and donce. Confusion was said fO ha~oe breweaal the meeting when SlNeral members cmd 5upporten; of the party that were not invited stormed the Awoleye. who rompi.ained of heol during Ihe meeting. was rushed oul
o f the venue. Bul he died before getting to the Ladoke Akin tola University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo. was buried in his lresi hometown on Sunday accord ing to Muslim rites. The meeting was to adopt a reporl by the tru th and reconciliation panel sel
up by the state executive of the PDP.
Do,
of
recommendations 01 Ihe panel is Ihe dissolution of Ihe Oje-Williams-Ied executive but an uninvited faction stormed the meeting in order to stall the recommendation from being adopled
Rep faults disbursement of N200bn agric fund J ud e Owuama nam HAIRMAN o f the House of Representatives Commi ttee on Agriculture, Mr. Mohammed Monguno, has expressed displeasure wilh the manner of disbun;ement of the N200bn agricu ltu ral loan scheme. He lamented the situation where farmers we re asked to bring collateral before such loan could be given to them. r-Ionguno. who spoke after inspecting the level o f development at the National Research Veterinary Inslitute. Vom. near Jos on Friday. also lame nted late release of funds to agencies and departments under Ihe Ministry of AgriclJl ture. He said such had
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hampered Ihe developmen tal efforts of such departments. The chairman. while decrying the stringent conditions attached to the disbursement of Ihe loan. said the situations had not changed even a fter the House had invi ted the Central Bank o f Nigeria Governor. MaHam Lamido Sanusi. to explain the rationale behind osking for collateral. Mongunno said. KWe are not impressed with the level of di sbun;ement under the N200bn agricultural loan scheme. because of the stringenl conditions a ttached to the disbursement of the funds. KWe are not imp ressed with the expianationsbecause banks thai are supposed to
give the loans a re asking lor coltaieral. which most of our poo r larmers. who are mostly subsistence farmers . could not provide So il nas become very difficult for Ihem 10 access these fu nds. And 50 we are looking for ways and means of soft · pedolling so that farmers can have access to th ese fu nds .~ He said one of Ihe \'\''ily5 of making the funds a ccessible to farmers is ~Io do away with the issue of collateral and aUow Ihe Nigerian Insurance Agricultural Corporation 10 insure the loan orserveasguarantorsto the loans 50 th ai the fanners do not necessarily have to go through Ihe rigours like the collateral they are usually required to provide . ~
crisisrockln g theFedera1 Unrversity 01 R!troleum Ugbornra. Delta Starn. ~MUOO 00 ~nMy as the leadership of the institution's academic union d~ over the directive by the reinstated VICe-OwlCeIJor. Praf. &batunde Alabi. to o.vorkers to resume 00 Mondoy (today). A text message aUegedly sent by Alabi h3d directed the striking \lIOrker5 to resume \lIOrk on Monday or face sanctions. The message to the workers reads in part, ~A register has been opened in the central Admin fOf staff still intemsrnd in working with the University to sign and return to work. ~Names of staff who fail 10 sign by the close of \Vork on Monday 2 1,November 201 l. wiU be forwarded to the Federal Minister of Education for further necessary action .~ But in its reaction. the Academic Staff Union 01 UniversiUes, FUPRE chapter called on lis members to disregard the threat ~Disregard the empty threat by Alabl. It is ooly an attempt to try v.'hat ha ppe ned at Ihe University of 1I0rin involvi ng 49 staff that failed woefully. In fact, Prof. Alabi has no 10CU5 standi because he is still on leave as directed and approved by the Governing CounciL~ ASUU said through its Secretary, Dr OukeOkoro. It was also aUeged that plans were already undenvay 10 lIlTest some members of ASUU and Non-Academic Staff Union members in FUPRE as from Monday.