Aliaa laments underdevelopment of Igede people

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue

State Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia has lamented over the insensitivity of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP to the plight of the Igede people.

He made the lamentation on Monday at the commencement of the party’s campaign in the State.

Fr. Alia who toured Oju and Obi local government areas promised to rescue the people of Igede from the deplorable state of the roads in their communities. He also pledged to provide adequate and quality water and the general enhancement of economic, social and general well- being of their lives, adding that the roads the PDP led government has been using to solicit for the votes of the Igede community was in deplorable State.

Benue Govt debunks claim of non payment of scholarship allowance for 4 years

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Benue State government has disclosed that it disbursed over N400 million between 2017 and 2021 as scolarship allowance to students in the state.

Executive Secretary of the State Scholarship Board, Dr Isaac Igbe made the disclosure during an interaction with correspondents in Makurdi on Tuesday.

The scholarship boss disclosure was against the backdrop of a petition written by a factional leader of the Nigeria Union of Benue State Students, NUBESS Amb. Yoosu Soonen Skyt, alleging that the state government has failed to pay their scholarship allowance for more than four years, even as it extorted 5,000 from the students for forms.

The group had also passed a vote of no confidence on Governor Samuel Ortom.

However, Dr Igbe said that the government had so far paid scholarship allowance seven times under the leadership of Governor Samuel Ortom to different category of beneficiaries in the state.

By Egena Sunday Ode

President Muhammadu Buhari Monday congratulated the incoming Chief Executive Officer of the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, Nigeria’s

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna Minister of Environment, Barr.

Mohammed Abdullahi on Wednesday, unveiled the report of the Gap Analysis Report of the Solid Waste Management Sector, National Roadmap on Solid Waste Management and User Guide for the use of Solid Waste Management Database.

The event was witnessed by the Ambassador of France to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mrs. Emmanuelle Batman AFD Country Director, Nigeria, Mr. Xavier Muron.

The Minister said that Nigeria, with a population of about 200 million people generated about 1.5million tones of plastic wastes every year of which less than 10% was recycled.

He therefore said that the report couldn’t have come at a more auspicious time in view of daunting challenges Nigeria was facing as a result of poor

Solid Waste Management.

The Minister described the problem of pollution in the country as exacerbated by issues including; inadequate waste management infrastructure, poor behavioral attitude, unskilled waste collection workforce, indiscriminate dumping and burning of plastic wastes, poor awareness, inadequate funding.

He said: “It is against this background that we welcome this Technical Assistance to support the Federal Management Framework on Solid Waste.

“The Technical Assistance is part of a series of actions being undertaken by Government to address the challenges of Solid Waste in the Country in a holistic and sustainable manner, particularly in our quest for alternatives to drive investment in the right direction and support sustainable development objectives to which Nigeria subscribes.”

It would be recalled that the Technical Assistance project which commenced in 2020, had attained all expected deliverables, including the engagement of National and SubNational stakeholders for effective Solid Waste Management in Nigeria.

The Minister said: “It is therefore, a thing of great joy to me that despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the study was successfully carried out and validated by stakeholders and it is now ready for unveiling”.

The Minister said that the project had also delivered capacity building workshops for State and Federal level actors on; waste collection and transportation, dumpsite management, waste recycling and recovery, waste wise cities and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

He said: “Let me at this juncture, appreciate and thank the Government of France for supporting this Technical

Assistance.