Daily Archives: August 14, 2013

Aden’s Governor, PEC and Altaaqa Global Inaugurates Power Plant

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ltaaqa Global strives to meet the electricity needs of every Yemeni citizen as envisioned by The President, His Excellency Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. The 54 MW temporary power plant can supply up to 150,000 homes with electricity, benefiting more than half people in the city of Aden. Also present at the inauguration were various officials from Public Electricity Corporation (PEC) and other government and non-governmental officials.

Aden, Yemen – Altaaqa Global, a leading global power solutions provider, has successfully installed a 54 MW temporary power plant in Aden, Yemen. His Excellency Wahid Ali Rashid, Governor of Aden and Engineer Khalil Abdul-Malik, Director General of Public Electricity Corporation (PEC) together with the Executives of Altaaqa Global inaugurated the temporary power plant that can provide electricity to 150,000 customers in Yemen.

 

“With this new power plant, 95% of the workforce is local Yemeni engineers and the remaining 5% are from Altaaqa Global Caterpillar.” According to Steven Meyrick, Managing Director of Altaaqa Global, “We are committed to helping our immediate environs through a sustainable business model by creating employment opportunities in the areas where we operate. By hiring local talents in Yemen, we are proud to serve the community and contribute to their social lives. We have also invested a significant amount of resources to train the Yemeni workforce to ensure that our operation is still on its optimum level. In the end, we have passed on our technical know-how to the local workforce while maintaining our operational standards and processes. We will surely replicate the same process of hiring local people in other countries that we are planning to pursue in the future.”

 

“Because of the successful collaboration between the Altaaqa Global workforce and the local Yemeni team, the power plant installation was completed as per schedule.” According to Peter den Boogert, GM of Business Development of Altaaqa Global, “Even during summer when it can reach up to 38 degrees Celsius, and during Ramadan when we can only work for a short period of time, we were able to complete the power project on schedule due to our strong operational and streamlined business processes.”

 

On top of the swift installation and commissioning, Billy Wharton, Director of Operations of Altaaqa Global, mentioned, “Our project in Aden is the most advanced in the power industry. We are the only company in the Middle East who utilized an integrated control protection system that can switch from grid to island to grid in just minutes. This is also the most advanced Caterpillar electric power protection system in the world. Our control system provided the most flexible power solution to support base load, intermediate, peaking or standby power generation. Whether it’s an island mode/stand alone or grid, or a combination of all operational modes, we can exactly meet the mode requirements at a push of a button.”

 

— END —

About Altaaqa Global

Altaaqa Global, a subsidiary of Zahid Group, has been selected by Caterpillar Inc. to deliver multi-megawatt turnkey temporary power solutions worldwide. The company owns, mobilizes, installs, and operates efficient temporary independent power plants (IPP’s) at customer sites, focusing on the emerging markets of Sub-Sahara Africa, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, Latin America, South East Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Offering power rental equipment that will operate with different types of fuel such as diesel, natural gas, or dual-fuel, Altaaqa Global is positioned to rapidly deploy and provide temporary power plant solutions, delivering electricity whenever and wherever it may be needed.

http://www.altaaqaglobal.com/press-media/press-releases

 

About Zahid Group

Zahid Group represents a diverse range of companies, offering comprehensive, customer-centric solutions in a number of thriving industries. Some of those include construction; mining; oil & gas; agriculture; power, electricity & water generation; material handling; building materials; transportation & logistics; real estate development; travel & tourism; waste management & recycling; and hospitality.

http://www.zahid.com

 

PRESS INQUIRIES

Robert Bagatsing

Altaaqa Global

Tel: +971 56 1749505

rbagatsing@altaaqaglobal.com

 

READER REQUESTS

Altaaqa Global

Marketing Department

P.O. Box 262989

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 

Visit Our Social Media

 

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https://twitter.com/AltaaqaGlobal

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http://www.linkedin.com/company/altaaqa-global-cat-rental-power

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http://www.youtube.com/user/altaaqaglobal

 

 

 

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
ionyclaret@gmail.com
https://www.codewit.com
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NIGERIA: ‘Made-in-Abia product exhibition’ elicits fresh confidence in locally made goods

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Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, has one of the largest concentrations of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and a good number of them are engaged in leather works, steel fabrication and garment making. These have made the city very popular.
 
A survey carried out by the United Nations revealed that the Aba leather cluster consists of 11,000 enterprises with 23,000 employees and earns an annual turnover of $100 million.
 
The garment sector is estimated to have more than 20,000 artisans fully engaged in garment making and designs.
 
The role of micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) cannot be overemphasised given its relevance in resource mobilisation, utilisation and overall contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a nation.
 
It serves as the engine of economic growth and development, as it responds to the macro-economic problems militating against developing nations like Nigeria.
 
It is pertinent to note that the ‘Made-in-Abia Product Exhibition’ was a bold attempt to promote locally made goods by Abia people, within Abia environment, to accelerate the economic development of the state.
 
It was also unique because the initiative came from the office of the governor’s wife, Mercy Odochi Orji. The office made all the necessary connections to bring together committed and interested people from the public and the organised private sector under a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative.
 
Governor Theodore Orji was impressed with the project and strongly commended the initiative from Her Excellency’s Office in its entirety.
 
He was also full of praise for the public and the private sectors of the society that shared in the dream, by coming together to begin the process of taking Abia-made products to the next level and with renewed confidence.
 
According to the governor, “I find this exhibition very unique in another special way. It is a celebration of the famed ingenuity of our people, especially our local entrepreneurs, whose ‘can-do’ spirit and legendary quality goods were once celebrated and sold all over the world under false labels, even though they were indeed ‘Aba-made’ goods.
 
“Aba-made-products are Abia-made products, and these are still sold through-out the countries of West Africa and the world under false labels.
 
“It is time for Abians to reclaim the pride of their franchise. It is my belief that the project will provide ample and timely opportunity for Abians to become proud again to market their products as Abia-made products and flaunt their ingenuity.
 
“Through this medium, Abians will not only reclaim our rightful place as pioneers of the Nigerian and African economic revolutions, but will once more lay the solid foundation for the new and young industries that will spring up and grow in our urban and rural areas from accelerated demand and supply of Abia-made goods”.
 
Continuing, the governor said, “As part of our legacy projects, our government has been building new markets and renovating or relocating old ones for better positioning and for aesthetic values. These new markets are meant to offer veritable grounds for continuous exhibition and massive exchange of goods and services that promote Abia-made-products, which fame will certainly soar after this exhibition, and new wealth created in our state”.
 
The governor implored Abians to employ their energies, their ingenuity and business-acumen for productive competition, through creativity and not through dishonest or criminal activities to help in building a prosperous Abia of our dream.
 
“I assure Abians and especially our commercially-minded citizens that there is enough room for everyone to work hard in all sectors and with honesty, create the values that will make Abia products desirable and Abia State great.
 
“Our government will continue to ensure the maintenance of peace and security which we have now established in the state, so that the enabling environment for business, equitable politics and the good life which our people crave for and enjoy, will be firmly established in Abia State”, he said.
 
The core lesson to be learnt from the exhibition is the courage and resilience of one woman, and of several people that share the same dream to promote the identity and good quality of a proud people and a proud state.
 
It is a lesson in the belief that working together, ordinary people, the public and the private sector can make Abia work again.
 
Abia is known for hosting the highest number of small and medium scale industrialists in the country, however, majority of the industrialists operate in isolation, which prompted the government to use the exhibition to bring them to the limelight.
 
This is where Abia has comparative advantage over other states in the country. So, the government wants to stamp that superiority by exposing hidden treasures in the state.
 
Nine sectors participated in the exhibition. They are metal and machine fabrication, leather and allied products, garment, wood works and carpentry, food and beverages, hair stylists and cosmetologists, auto mechanics and chemical and allied sartorial group.
 
Majority of these industrialists lack exposure which is not good for their businesses and the government wants to expose them through this exhibition in order for them to attract patrons.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
ionyclaret@gmail.com
https://www.codewit.com
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Zamfara gov, others trapped in Lagos protest

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LAGOS — Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State and other road users, were, yesterday, trapped in Lagos as hundreds of protesters took to the streets in a peaceful protest to lament the deplorable state of the nation’s public education sector.

The placard-carrying demonstrators consisting of delegates from the Joint Action Front, JAF; Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU; Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP; Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU; National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS; South-West Zone, among others.

The protest kicked off at the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, house in Yaba.

Singing solidarity songs, the crowd moved to Ojuelegba, and occupied the busy Ikorodu Road for several minutes, refusing entry to motorists, including the Zam-fara governor’s convoy.

When the convoy finally made its way through the crowd, there was loud booing and calling of unprintable names.

The protest terminated at Maryland Roundabout, with anxious commuters trapped in the traffic until the crowd was addressed and dismissed.

The JAF Secretary, Mr. Abiodun Aremu, said: “This is just the kick-off point. Our goal is to shut down the country, until government makes education a priority.”

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
ionyclaret@gmail.com
https://www.codewit.com
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JONATHAN: North should wait till 2019 – Ameh Ebute

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Senator Ameh Ebute was merely one of the senators in the democratic experiment pushed by former Military  President, General Ibrahim Babangida in the botched Third Republic until, he,  in 1993 teamed up with some other senators to unseat the then president of the Senate, Senator Iyorchia Ayu. His stay in office was, however, very brief as within months,  General Sani Abacha struck to dismantle the country’s then nascent democratic institutions.

Following that, Ebute, in a daring rebuff of Abacha summoned a session of the Senate in Lagos to give legitimacy to the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Bashorun Moshood Abiola. For his action, he was thrown into detention alongside one of his fellow senators, Senator Ahmed Tinubu. On his release, Senator Ebute from the Idoma speaking area of Benue State in northern Nigeria laid low and reverted to his legal practice in Abuja.

In an interview session with newsmen in Lagos, Senator Ebute divorces himself and his people in the North-Central Nigeria from the increasing agitations against another term for President Goodluck Jonathan, who he claimed has performed excellently. He gives reasons the consolidation of three parties into the All Progressives Congress, APC will fail and warns his distinguished colleague, Senator Tinubu to beware of his new friends in the North. Excerpts:

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

What do you say to fellow stakeholders from the North who are saying that it is the turn of the North to produce the president?

My advice to them is that they should wait until President Goodluck Jonathan completes his second term since by divine providence, the zoning has automatically fallen on the South-South. So, the North whose definition I am not too sure includes the Middle Belt, should wait until the person God has given the presidency has completed his term. As soon as he completes his second term one can now argue that the turn should now come to the North and that North, should include all the zones in the North, not only the North-West. We have other zones in the North, but some people are now arguing or defining North as if it means only the North-West.

Ameh Ebute

So do you say that when Ango Abdullahi speaks, he doesn’t represent you?
I am not a member of the Arewa Consultative Forum or the Northern Elders Forum. Whether he is speaking for Arewa Consultative Forum or Northern Elders Forum, it is left to Ango Abdullahi and I don’t know anything that is happening within those organizations.

Daily press conferences
But I assure you that apart from the members of the Northern Elders Forum and Arewa Consultative Forum, there are millions of other northerners that believe in the administration of Goodluck Jonathan. So, when one person representing a few people being funded by the governors and holding press conferences virtually everyday, he is putting up his own ideas, you cannot say that the ideas are supported by everybody within that zone. I agree that he must be speaking for some people, but they are not the majority in that zone.

So you don’t support the assertion that the North is disenchanted?
Why should the North be disenchanted? I am part of the North and that is why I ask whether I am part of the North they are speaking about? Why should the North be disenchanted? We started this presidential system in 1979 when President Shehu Shagari was the president for four years. He entered the second term when the military took over from him. The head of the military that took over from him (Buhari) was from the North, then one year into office, another northerner, IBB took over from Buhari and was in office for nine years. Then from IBB, you had Abacha who was in office for five years and Abacha died and Abdulsalami was in office for another one year and yet, nobody complained.

The people who were at the helm for 16 years were all northerners and there was no Boko Haram and nobody organized anything to distabilise the polity. So why should the North be bitter for the eight years that President Goodluck Jonathan is going to be in office? If Nigerians could be patient when these people I have mentioned were in office, then why shouldn’t they be patient when other persons are in office? Does that mean that the presidency belongs to them? Nigerians say no, the presidency does not belong to any particular zone.

Do you see the APC as a threat to your party, the PDP?
If I go into the history of Nigerian politics, you will agree with me that the merger will not work. I was in detention with Bola Tinubu in 1994 after I reconvened the Senate in Lagos after Abacha had taken over and (Senate) urged Abacha to hand over to Abiola and we were arrested and I was in detention with Bola Tinubu in Alagbon for 50 days. Bola knew what happened and I still know what happened and I am surprised that Bola can go into marriage with these people.

We were there in Alagbon Close when Abiola was arrested and there was hue and cry and the whole of Alagbon Close was full of people and we thought that Abiola was going to join us in detention when he declared himself the president. One hour later, people started wailing that Abiola was being taken to Abuja and that was what led to the end of his life and I don’t think that the Yoruba people have forgotten that incident to hobnob or have a marriage with people who will likely treat them the same way again. I don’t know.

Which people are you referring to?
You know them. You know the people that constituted the CPC, that is Buhari’s party. Buhari was the chief adviser to Abacha when Abacha was Head of State. As chairman of PTF, they were very hard on us. I am not saying that because of that they shouldn’t become leader again, but I am warning Bola Tinubu that what happened to us in 1994 could happen to him again, that he should be careful because he is my colleague.

Do you see General Buhari as a leader of the North?
From the way the 2011 election votes were cast, I now agree that Gen. Buhari is a leader of his zone, that is the North-West zone. He is in full control of his North-West zone politically.

What of your own area?
No, no, he is not in control of the North-Central.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
ionyclaret@gmail.com
https://www.codewit.com
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Why Okagbare failed in 100m – British coach

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Could Blessing Okagbare have done six Jumps in a day and on the following day do two highly competitive 100m races and ended up well?

Mike Afuleka, a track and field coach with England is among those who strongly felt that it was a difficult thing to do.

Mike took time to analyse the races Blessing ran from the heats to the final and pointed out two errors that slowed Blessing down. He was analysing the races to sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi when Nigerian journalists  came in and Abdullahi invited the journalists to hear out the coach who recorded the races and played them back, analysing every move.

Blessing had complained of pains in the morning of the final. Her plan on Sunday was to only jump two times and rest her body for the 100m final on Monday. Her first jump was a 6.89m effort but United State’s Brittney Resse had jumped 7.01 in her second jump and Blessing knew that she had to do more.

That put pressure on her and she had to complete the six jumps, hitting a 6.99m effort that won her the silver. But the jumps had their toil on her and experts here say it could have been better for the Nigerian if the Long Jump event and the 100m were spaced out in the World Championship programme.

“I think the Long Jump affected her but there were other technical things. You saw how she started and what happened midway into the race,” Mike said.

“I have discussed with AFN President, Chief Solomon Ogba for them to know which event to concentrate on any time a programme of a championship clashes like we had here,” Abdullahi said. He has repeatedly said that Nigeria should celebrate the silver that Okagbore won on Sunday.

“Blessing cried all day after that race. Ogba brought her here. It was so painful to her. What pained her most was that the winner of the silver medal, Muriella Ahoure of Ivory Coast ran 10.93, a time that she could easily return,” the minister said, adding that “but she is fine now and ready for the 200m.”

Jamaica’s Shelly Anne Fraser Pryce won the race in 10.71 and Carmeliter Jeter of USA placed third with 10.94.

Blessing who just three weeks ago broke the 14 year old African record placed 6th with 11.04.

Abdullahi would like AFN to produce many top class athletes so that the pressure of doing well would not be on only one athlete. It is a job that the National Sports Commission which he heads would have to play a major role in achieving. Financial allocations to AFN, for years, have been meagre. Ogba says that “Abdullahi wants to change that.”

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
ionyclaret@gmail.com
https://www.codewit.com
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Okagbare: Tears stop, training begins

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WEEPING AND WAILING AND MOURNING AND GNASHING OF TEETH was a popular track by the Mighty Diamonds in the 1980s. The  title of the Mighty Diamond’s album is Right Time

That song captured the mood of Nigerians here after the 100m final in the ongoing 14th edition of the World Championships on Monday night.

Blessing Okagbare, the brightest Nigerian athlete for now has been the face of the Nigerian sports from the Beijing Olympics in 2008 to the last games in London and to the ongoing World Championships. She shoulders the weight of the country and when she failed in London, it amounted to Nigeria’s failure. BAD for a country of 160 million.

Okagbare

She wiped away the London sorrow with a silver medal here in the Long Jump but badly wanted a great show in the 100m, the more glamorous event.

She ran good races before the Moscow games, even beating Olympic champion Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce in London three weeks ago and setting African record in the process. She ran 10.79 seconds.

But on Monday she could not re-enact her pre-games effort in the 100m and dropped to the 6th position. Nigerians at home gnashed their teeth, officials and coaches here mourned and Blessing simply anchored the sorrow by some pathetic weeping and wailing that touched everybody here.

It was a night of disappointment, anger, frustration, regret and pity, a paradox of some sort. Blessing cried all night. But so determined to make Nigeria proud, she went back to train about four hours after the 100m disappointment.

She trained at night and that amazed all officials including the sports minister, Bolaji Abdullahi who appears overwhelmed by her patriotism and determination to win more medals for Nigeria. However, after training, Blessing continued weeping. But the good news now is that she has stopped crying and training strongly to make a good show in the 200m that starts on Thursday.

“Blessing has stopped crying,” Ogba said yesterday evening. “It was good she cried out her feelings. She is in good shape and things will unfold. God gave us and we need to be grateful and thank Him for that achievement. The Long Jump affected her but now she is back,” Ogba said.

And now that Blessing has stopped crying, it is perhaps the right time to wipe away the disappointment of the 100m with another medal in the 200m.

Two medals in one World Championships will be a record in Nigeria and a performance that will make her celebrate and dance like  the queen  the group,   Abba described in their song DANCING QUEEN. Yes, Blessing’s dance steps may produce the sound  louder than her wailing. Another medal can create that.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
ionyclaret@gmail.com
https://www.codewit.com
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Verification: Edo teacher can’t read own certificate

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BENIN CITY — IT was drama, Tuesday, at the venue of the verification of certificates of primary school teachers in Edo State, as a teacher in Asologun Primary School, Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of the state, Mrs. Augusta Odemwinge could not read a sworn affidavit she purportedly tendered as part of her credentials.

The state governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, who paid an unscheduled visit to the state Staff Training Centre, venue of the exercise, said “if you can’t read, what do you teach the pupils, what do you write on the board?”

Chairman of the state Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr. Patrick Ikosimi, who was also at the screening to monitor the exercise, said that the woman’s failure was “an embarrassment.”

On arrival at the centre, the governor took time to peruse some of the teacher’s credentials and documents presented.

When Mrs. Odenwingie took her turn during the exercise, the governor, who listened to her defence, asked her to read the affidavit she presented, but she stuttered, to the consternation of everybody around.

Ikosimi, who described Mrs. Odemwingie’s failure to read a document she presented as an embarrassment, said the union was in tune with the state government on the need to sanitise the school system.

He said: “We are committed to partnering the government to reposition education in the state. What this teacher has just displayed is a show of shame; it shows the decadence in the education sector.

“As the chairman of NUT, I had written to the governor that we are in total support of what he is doing.

“He should properly involve the NUT, so that together we can fish out the culprits, who are not viable as far as the system is concerned,” he said.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
ionyclaret@gmail.com
https://www.codewit.com
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Lagos State: Fashola orders sealed Kalu’s house re-opened

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FORMER Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, and Lagos State government, Tuesday, disagreed over the reason for the sealing of Kalu’s property in Park View Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Meantime, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola has ordered that the house be reopened.

While Kalu’s aide linked the sealing of the house to the criticism of Fashola by Kalu over the deportation of 72 residents of Lagos, who are of South East origin, the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Media, Hakeem Bello, said he believed the action has nothing to do with the alleged deportation of Igbos from Lagos.

According to him; “Fashola’s administration has no time for trivial matters.”

Emeka Obasi reacts

Reacting to the sealing of the Park View house of Kalu, his Special Adviser, Media, Emeka Obasi, said it was done as a revenge for the criticism of Kalu, who is the Coordinator of Njiko Igbo, a group fighting the cause of the South East.

Orji Kalu’s property in Park View Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos

Obasi said the property had been there for several years and that sealing it after just two weeks of his boss criticsing Fashola over the deportation issue was an indication that there was more to it.

Obasi said Kalu was not the only Igbo to have suffered such fate in Lagos State “after the wicked and ungodly act of deporting legitimate residents of Lagos State.”

He added, “Why is it that it is now that the property is being sealed, barely two weeks after my boss disagreed with the action of Fashola? We maintain our stand and this will not distract us from fighting for the people.

“The action of the Lagos State Government remains unconstitutional because every citizen of Nigeria has a right to live in any part of the country. Fashola should remember that the Igbo community constitutes about 35 per cent of registered voters in Lagos State and they should be treated like they matter in the scheme of things.”

Hakeem Bello comments

The Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Media, Hakeem Bello, when contacted, said he could not give any details on the development as he had not been briefed on the matter.

He, however, said that if the owner of the building had committed an infraction against any of the state laws, he or she should be ready to be sanctioned when the long arms of the law finally caught up with the him or her.

“ I don’t think it has anything to do with the alleged deportation of Igbos from Lagos. Fashola’s administration has no time for trivial matters,” he said.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
ionyclaret@gmail.com
https://www.codewit.com
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UN, UK denounce Borno mosque massacre

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The United Nations and the United Kingdom have condemned the killing of 44 people in Borno State as they prayed in their mosque by the Boko Haram Islamic sect last Sunday even as the Federal Government dismissed the threat posed by the sect while conceding that the sect has destroyed Nigeria’s reputation.

Gunmen wearing Nigerian army camouflage fatigues struck under cover of darkness as residents were saying their dawn prayers at around 5:30 a.m. last Sunday, just as another 12 civilians died in a simultaneous attack on Ngom village just outside Maiduguri, .

While the British Cabinet Minister, Mark Simmonds, yesterday condemned the attack as “contemptible and cowardly”, UN Secretary General, Ban ki Moon asked for dialogue to resolve the violence.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Interior Minister, Abba Moro, has dismissed the attack in the mosque and the Boko Haram threat as “desperate” and “isolated”.

A report in UN News Centre yesterday said the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in statement signed by his spokesperson called on all extremist groups in Nigeria to cease attacks, after 44 people were killed in Borno State, including worshippers reportedly shot to death while praying inside a mosque.

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the recent violent attacks that have killed scores of civilians in the localities of Mafa and Kondugo in Borno State,” his spokesperson said in a statement.

Ban called on all parties to resolve their differences through dialogue and other peaceful means.

“The Secretary-General reiterated his firm conviction that no objective can be attained through such violence,” the spokesperson stressed.

In his reaction, British Cabinet Minister Mark Simmonds condemned the attack as “contemptible and cowardly”.

“Attacking innocent people in a place of worship is a contemptible and cowardly act,” the Foreign Office Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds said in a statement Tuesday.

He said Britain “stands with the government and people of Nigeria as they seek to reduce violence in the north east of the country.”

Abba Moro in his reaction told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme yesterday that, “The security agencies of Nigeria have been able to push the Boko Haram sect from their major strongholds,”

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
ionyclaret@gmail.com
https://www.codewit.com
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Delta injects N6.7b towards meeting MDGs

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Delta State government has once again re-affirmed its pledge to support the economically poor and underprivileged families in the state and enhance its poverty alleviation programme by setting up a special scheme which will avail such families of monthly financial assistance and an annual exit payment, through the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme.

This disclosure was made by the Delta State Commissioner, Special Duties, Directorate of Millennium Development Goals, Queen Mother Victoria Ikenchuku, while presenting the mid-term report of her Directorate to journalists in Government House, Asaba, on Tuesday, August 13, 2013.

The Commissioner revealed that the Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) which was introduced in 2007 is funded from the savings of Debt Relief Gains of $1 billion of which the Federal Government’s share is  $750 million, while the State share is $250million, adding that the scheme seeks to engage and support States and Local Governments in achieving the MDGs by the target date of 2015.

Addressing the need to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, which is Goal 1 of the MDG Goals, Queen Victoria noted that the Delta State government had already keyed into the Federal Government designed Conditional Grants Scheme (CGS) since 2008 and identified Five (5) Local Government Areas, as part of the selection mechanism for an objective implementation of the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme in the State, with the weakest MDG indicators and Five (5) wards and communities from the poverty mapping data already collected and collated by OSSAP-MDGs, using the Baseline Facility Inventory and Needs Assessment.

Speaking further, the Queen Mother said that, “the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) is a social safety net intervention whereby grants are provided to targeted extremely poor households on the condition that their children of basic school age attend school and participate in the free health care programme for children and pregnant women and to this end, a total of 2,250 extremely poor households in five poorest Local Government Areas of Delta State have been targeted as beneficiaries of the Scheme”.

The selected beneficiaries LGA’s are Ukwuani, Oshimili South, Warri South West, Okpe, and Udu  and the selection survey of households is already on-going in the five identified communities in five LGA’s.

According to her, "The selection of beneficiaries from each community was restricted to poor female – headed households, poor aged – headed households, and child – headed households”, adding that the criteria used were Shelter, income, access to education and health, widowhood, and HIV-impacted households amongst other indices to select the five LGAs.

She further added that, “The life span of the scheme is one year and the Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT, is intended to increase access to education, basic health care and ability to engage in income generating activities by the poor households, while beneficiaries are also assisted in saving towards income that would be invested in petty trading that would provide some steady income for the household”.

The MDG Commissioner also said that “The financial monthly disbursement per household is N5,000.00 (Five Thousand Naira) while the exit payment is N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira),” adding that “The exit payment is intended to enable the beneficiary start off an agricultural skill which she would have acquired during the year.”

She noted that the Directorate would collaborate with the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), to impact Agricultural Skills on would-be beneficiaries in the selected rural wards/communities, even as she anticipated that this would ensure that the households become self-reliant at the end of the one year scheme.

The challenges, according to her, include community acceptance and buy-in into the projects that are meant to improve their lives, dealing with resistance and apathy in certain communities, intensive capital funding brought about by running costs, commitment by the beneficiaries to acquiring skills and sustainability of the trade engaged in and harassment by community youths over financial gratifications before projects can be sited in the communities as well as the peculiarities and challenges of the terrain in the State.

Listing the achievements of the Directorate, the Commissioner said that from 2008 to date, the Directorate has strengthened existing primary health care facilities in the Twenty Five LGAs in the state through provision of Maternity Wards, Medical Staff Quarters, Units of Delivery Packs, Units of Long Lasting Insecticide Nets, Doses of Anti- Malaria Drugs as well as teaching aids to the schools of midwifery in Asaba and Sapele amongst others.

With specific reference to local governments, the Directorate has so far funded the construction, renovation and provision of Classrooms/administration Blocks, gender friendly toilets, in primary schools, motorized, solar powered or ring wells water schemes, which could be motorized, solar powered or ring wells, provision of teachers’ and pupils’ desks, chairs and tables, construction and furnishing of primary health care centres staff quarters as well as payment of stipends to Village Health Workers for rendering primary health care services employed by the National Primary Health Care in implementation of the SURE P.

Queen Ikenchuku asserted that since 2008 till date, the state government has dutifully provided its counterpart funding of N1billion annually to the Directorate and the total funding to the MDG project in the state so far is N6.7 billion, made up of N2.5 billion from the Federal Government and N4.2 billion from the Delta state government.

The Commissioner affirmed that the Delta State Directorate of MDGs is an interventionist Directorate, which utilizes the Conditional Grant Scheme Fund to complement the State investments in projects and facilities to enhance the living conditions of all Deltans and ensure the ultimate objective of achieving the Millennium Development Goals by target year of 2015 and beyond.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
ionyclaret@gmail.com
https://www.codewit.com
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