" ANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE . I7; 20 11-15
NEWS Street children: UNICEF blames menace on societyeAs FG opens rehabilitation centres BYVlCTORlA OJEM.E "CALEB AYANSINA
A BWA - THE Country ~eplesentative 01 UntIed Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF. to Nigeria.. DL Suomin SakaI. yes1erdaY . attributed the street.children phelOnJ.81on In thecounllyto sodeUII laill1Je. This came as the Federal Gavemmenlestahlishedcm--
tres toprovlde shelter; educalion and vocational skill for the children. Sakal, whostat!!dlhisanlhe occasion to mark this year's Day at the Oilld celebration in Abuja, mentioned child safety. good cDllll$ding, social
weUare work force among others as measures to be instituted to tackle the phenom~
"Jt is not about the money Ihegwenmentha$, the issue hele is, do W!! all have the will to utilize the social capital the community has to enable family to take care of their children to avoid going to the street, H she asked.
She Mid some children left because of high
hom e
h.mdednessby their parents> while othen Wt!re in Iile street as a result of poverty faced by theifparents. . "Children may leave their home because of pbysical abuse ,ttl get out 01 vlolence. this should not be allowed, parents and community should be edUC<'lted on' haw best to take cille 01 dilldren,"
"""""",,The J\onnllm:nt 5ecn:tMy, Fedes'aI. Ministry 01 WmIen AH<'lin and Social Qevel~ me nt, Idris Kuta. said the Ministry had estabtished centres toprovideshelter 1« street. dilldren, as wcll as give them the opportunity to learn numerical, vocational and life savingskilli;. According to rum. grants have been given to NGOs lor various initiatives thatMklress therights al chi1W"en". Hesaid about 7,488 children were benefiting from the government initiatives, which provide school fees, books, unlforms and shoes, advising people not 10 see street children <'IS criminal but render an)' assistance God puts in their mind ta improve their
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CBN to give farmers additional N450bn loan BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU
A
BWA~THE
Central
~oINigeria.CBN,
has Mid it would prCl\'ide (Ill additional N450billion loan to the agrirultural sectm; just as the apex bmktargets credit ladlitaties to 3.8million farmes by 2020. The CBN hopes to <!dl.leve theN45Obilllonbankiending to fanners througb the Nigerian Incentive-baSed Risk Sharing S~ for AgriCultural Lending, NIRSAL NlRSAL is an initiative which the CBN re«ntly com-
-,
pleted 10 provide a one jacket lending to Nigerian fanners. Mallam Sanu sl Lamldo, CBN govemo~ revealed this al the opening of a ~day conference on "Fi.nandngAgrl rultural Value O:Ja..ID in SubSaharan Africa"; organised by Union Bank of Nigeria. in partnership with International CJup Research InstihIle lor Setai-Arid Tropic, JCRlSAJ; in Abuja yesterday. Simusi said thewindaw had. lour concrete and transparenl measures of SU«"e'lS, induding generating an additional N450billion of bank lending within 10 years byde-risking the agrirultural value chain.
FG to establish 400 schools for Almajiris Bl'I NAL EGWU SHAIBU
A BUJ;)-The feder a l .t"'S.govemment has announced plans 10 establish too schools annual ly lor AlmajiJis in the countty lor the next louryears, begfnningthis yea r Vice President Namadi Sambo made the disclosure ~~aywhenhedecl~ open a meeting 01 the National Executive Council 01 Nigerian Supreme Cound l for Islamic Affair.;, NSClA. al the National Mosque, Ahuja. Sambo slaled that government had concretized plans to build schools that win <.!ddress Ute almajiti menace as ....."rlI as give Utedilldren ·westem education, adding that this is "a deliber<.!te pro-
gramme to take off from the streets the9.6mi.llionanny of roaming our s t r eel s " He also said "governmenl "'ill not rest on its bars in ensuring that it delivered On its promises of a translormed Nigeria, noting thai President GoodluckJolUlthan bad aptly cautioned that ''tills Is no time for lamentation but a tiiDffii tr ansformation." He re-emphasi zed that Ute admlnistration will de1iveron infrastructure, education, health and other necessary facilities which were promIsed durin g campaigns. Sambo, who urged the Supreme Islamic Council 10 regulate Ute activities of zealots causing dis4tlection in the society. almajjris
UTME holds tomorrow, JAMB insists -20% of students to gain admission as BY EMMANUEL EDUKUGHO & CHRIS OCHAYI
tion. said the Board was not aWllle of any ex.amlnation being conduct by the Army lIaIIledRy.
J\. BWA-ll-IE Joint Ad
~on illld Matriculation Board, JAMB, yesterday, sald there was no c.hangein dale forthe conduct 01 Its 2011 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UlM.E, examination slated fOf tomoauwacros:sthecountry and in six loreign countries. A total of 1. 493, 603 candldates who registered for the 20 11 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, trrME. will silfor theaamination. Spokesperson d JAMB. Mt TImothy Oyedeji, who stated thb" while ~ctlng to reports ·that tomorrow's examination arindded with the Nigerian Army recruitmenl aamina-
Oyed.ejlsaid.: "JAMBisnot changing the dated its elam.i.n.ation because oftheAnny's rec ruitment examination ; Army examination is not a regulill or scheduled.examination. "JAMB is not ilWare 01any Armyemmina1ion and.therefore, we are going ahead to conduct the euuninations for our candidates on Saturday; June 18,·2011." Acr-ordingtohim,JAMSas a responsible pubuc exam bodybaspOOl.tivelyrespmded
to national calls by shifting lJTME for the last general elections and NECO examination cannot alford to shift the dale 01 the e%dIn again. Meanwhile, there4!:eabout 117 unh'etsities in the COWl-
~.4m
sit for exams
try owned by federal. slales However; someofthechaland priVllle entities, mainly lenges had been solved. alchurches and individuals, though anxiety still persists spread across the country. aboul the WOlkability 01 the Due to acute shortage of system In ensuring smooth spaces, onIyabout20 per~t conduct 01 the examination of qualified candidates can tomOTlOw. be offered ftdmlssion, lMVing Biametric system of registhe remaining 80 pet cenllO _ tration will capture the face. wail for the next entrance a- finger prints, and other peramination. sonal data of a candidate, almort akin 10 the last voters' Introduces biomebic registration lor the recent 2011 general elections. verification ' In an earlier lfltervieonwlth For the first time. JAMB is Vanguo rd, Professor Dibu IntrodudngthebiometricS)'$- Ojerinde, JAMB Registrar, !em of~ation 01 candi- eq>lained that the biometric dales in order 10 checkmale system will eliminate imperImpersonation and other sonation, a situation where malpractices associated with people wrote the entrance theexaminatioo in the past examlnallon lor others, Since JA?vIB introduced undermining the·inlegrity of and test-run the biometric theexerr:ise system, It had c<'lused E\-"l!Ilatlhat,ihenewmethod awehmsionsllllddifficulties hasposedsomediffirulties for lor most 01 the candidates, .~ .thecandidates..
Corruption: Opposition parties support Obasanjo's stance BY CHRIS OCHAYl
presenl governmen t had not done enough 10 fight corruption , Ju st as National Publicity Secretary o f CNP p, Mr, ·Osila Okechukwu. agreed that Obasanjo" was right in his assessment
r.e grelted thai the battle ilgains t corruption Willi losl since the last days 01 lormer president O?asan jo. He J\. BUJA- REMARKS silid: "Wemustglveformer ~y lormer President President Obasanjo credH O lu segun ObllSanjo Ihat he made attempt to Ihat the current regime In figbt corruption but alon g Nigeria lacked the will and _r~B~ u~'oD~.~p~u~ty~N~.~"~.~n¥..~l_<"'O.,li;;-D~.;;;:h~."derailed, when consistency to hght corrup- Chairman of Alliance for he beg<'ln 10 use the antitlon bas continued to elicit. Democ r acy, Rev. graft agencies for vendetta, reactions from Nigerians, Okechukwu Obioha, a r- and ins trument 01 InUmlwith th e National C hair- guedthatObasanjo la·cked d a.ti.ng political opponents. man . of C itizen Popular th e mo.ral right to accuse " Bul the issue 01 corrupParty, CPp, Maxi Okwu. the present government 0 1 lion h as gone worse from saying corruption had be- not doing enough to light the point where Obasanjo come worse in the last four corruption, addlng that he leltlt, under the regime 01 years. didn't larebetter during his l ate Presi dent Uma ru Simila rl y, Na tional e1ght yellls' tenureinoftice_ Yar'Adua and President Chairman 01 Nigerian PeoOkwu, while corroborat- Goodlu ck Jonathan. In pi es Co ngress, Prince ing the lormer ruler's re- l act , GoodluckJonath~ls Ngozi Emioma. said the marks yesterday, however, not serious in wagi ng war
against corruption. "Th e only way Presidenl Jonathan can lell· the world, particularly, Nigerians that he Is serious is to sack the Chairman , Economic and Financial Crime Commissi on , EFCC, Mrs. Farida Wazarl. If he, Jo nath an, is serious, he shou ld send Wazirl packing. The EFCC under Wazari is "a. joker. '"As I have said eililier, the EFCC started well under Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, bul got lost when Ribadu began to obey the InsO"\lction of his master to use the agency to· Intimidate and harass perceived political enemies."