The Nigeria Governors’Forum Secretariat has picked holes in a statement credited the Minister of state for Budget and National Planning Mr. Clement Agba, where he blamed the 36 Governors, for the rising poverty index in the country.

They insisted that the Minister got the true situation wrong.

Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, the Director, Media and Public Affairs, Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat, in a statement,noted that the Minister of State’s statement came to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum as a surprise and unnecessary.

According to the statement,the tirade early this week by the Minister of state for Budget and National Planning Mr. Clement Agba, on the 36 Governors, where he blamed them for the rising poverty index in the country comes to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum as a surprise.

They said the Minister’s attacks are not only unnecessary, but they represent a brazen descent into selective amnesia.

They maintained that the Minister who should be responding to a question demanding to know what he and his colleague, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, were doing to ameliorate the hardship Nigerians are facing attempted to defray the notion that rising levels of hunger and lack were peculiar to Nigeria.

They added:”True as that may be Mr. Agba went further to explain that their government, through many of its social security programs, has been dedicating resources to alleviating hardship, and then goes further to accuse state governors of misdirecting resources to projects that have no impact on the people.

“While rightly pointing out that that 72% of the poverty in Nigeria is found in the rural areas, the Minister said that the rural populace had been abandoned by governors.

“This assertion is not only preposterous and without any empirical basis, but also very far from the truth. It is Mr. Clement Agba’s veiled and deliberate effort, as a minister, to protect his paymasters and politicize very critical issues of national importance.Instead of answering the question thrown at him by journalists, Mr. Agba veered his attention to soft targets that happen to be 36 Governors.

“It is the opinion of the Governors that the dereliction that the Minister is talking about lies, strictly speaking, at the doorstep of the Federal Government which he represents, in this scenario.

“First and foremost, the primary duty of any government is to ensure the security of lives and property, without which no sensible human activity takes place. But the Federal Government which is responsible for the security of lives and property has been unable to fulfil this covenant with the people thus allowing bandits, insurgents, and kidnappers to turn the country into a killing field, maiming and abducting people, in schools market squares and even on their farmlands.

“This dereliction of duty from the center is the main reason why people have been unable to engage in regular agrarian activity and in commerce. Today, rural areas are insecure, markets are unsafe, surety of travels are improbable and life for the common people generally is harsh and brutish.

“The question is, how can a defenceless rural population maintain a sustainable lifestyle of peace and harmony when their lives are cut prematurely, and they wallow permanently in danger? How does a minister whose government has been unable to ensure security, law and order have the temerity to blame governors?

“Two states, Edo State and Akwa Ibom State had promptly responded to the vituperations of the Minister.According to Akwa Ibom State, what determines poverty and unemployment in a country is its economic policy, which is set, normally by the central government nationally.

“Akwa Ibom insists that the Federal Government cannot abdicate its responsibility by blaming states and goes further to ask, albeit rhetorically, how economic policies in a state drive the dollar which determines almost every aspect of our national existence.

“In its response to Clement Agba, Edo State, on the other hand, reeled out the projects the state embarked upon which were targeted at alleviating poverty among its people. Mr. Agba is perceptibly oblivious of them. Many other states have been implementing pro-poor programs in their domain, and they are there for all to see.

“Although the Minister committed the folly of tarring all thirty-six governors with the same brush, there cannot be a one-size-fits all reply to the Minister’s misguided outburst.For example, it is the Federal Government that, in its campaign message in 2019, promised to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

“Today, records show that more than 130 million Nigerians are living below the globally accepted poverty line of a dollar a day.
Under the current administration that Mr. Clement Agba is minister, the national cash cow, the NNPC, had failed to remit statutory allocations to states in several months.

“The situation had compelled governors to rely on other sources of revenue like, the SFTAS program and other interventions anchored by the NGF, to fund states activities while monies budgeted for such federal ministries as Agriculture, Rural Development and Humanitarian Affairs are not being deployed in the direction of the people.

“So, where is the Minister getting his unverified facts and figures from? It is important to mention here that only this week the House of Representatives asked the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, to quit office if she was not ready to do her work of alleviating poverty in the land.

“This, in other words, is a resounding vote of no confidence on the ministers among whom Mr. Agba serves.The Nigeria Governors’ Forum would like to state categorically that it does not indulge in joining issues with the Federal Executive Council, being a non-partisan organ.

“The NGF’s primary mandate is to partner with all well-meaning institutions, concerns, MDAs, and individuals for the progress of the Nigerian people. However, it is important to put on record the progress made by state governors in the administration of their states, which have witnessed tremendous progress in recent time. Governors have undertaken projects where they, in conjunction with their people, deem them fit for purposes.

“Governors have today shown greater responsiveness to the yearnings and aspirations of their people, and these vary from one state to another. The opinion, therefore, of one minister, based on a survey of 56 000 households in a country of 200million people can never diminish the good work that 36 pro-poor minded Governors are doing for this country.

“Finally, it is important to admonish top government functionaries like Mr. Clement Agba that the Nigerian people deserve answers from even those who are appointed to serve them and these finger-pointing invectives on soft targets do not help matters, only answers do”.

Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos has confirmed that there was a shooting incident on its campus on Wednesday.

The victim and the culprit are not students of the institution,a statement signed by the institution’s Head of Public Relations, Joe Ejiofor, said.

He said in the statement that the culprit was immediately arrested and handed over to the police at Sabo Police Station.

The statement read:“True, a shooting incident took place in the college yesterday. But please, let it be known that the victim who was shot is not a student of the College. The good news, however, is that the person who did the shooting was arrested immediately and taken to Sabo Police Station.

“This week was declared as student week which has attracted a large influx of people to the campus. Some miscreants who are not students of the college and who probably have scores to settle among themselves perhaps used the opportunity of the large influx to settle their previous scores.”

He faulted a story making the round that five students of the College were killed in September, saying was a fallacy.

He said:“It is also not true that five students were killed in September as reported by some news media.As responsible and responsive management, our main task is to ensure the safety of staff and students on campus, and the college manager will not relent on that,” he assured all stakeholders.

Babatunde Solanke,Lagos

A United Kingdom based Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSH Association UK) has conferred a Fellowship Award on the Director-General/Chief Executive of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Sir Joseph N. Ari.

The association explained that the award was in recognition of the DG’s invaluable contributions to entrenching occupational health and safety in the Fund and ensuring that contributing employers adhere to occupational health and safety standards.

The Director General of ITF Ari, expressed delight and appreciated the Association for the award, noting that as the foremost human capacity development organisation in Nigeria, the ITF was charged with the responsibility of setting and maintaining training standards in all sectors of the economy and monitor adherence amongst other responsibilities.

“In the discharge of our mandate, the ITF has over the years implemented several training programmes in occupational health and safety for both staff of the Fund and our stakeholders. “

He said It was in recognition of the important place of occupational health and safety in organisations that the ITF made it a key criterion for granting training reimbursement to contributing employers.

According to him,”This is aimed at encouraging employers of labour to carryout safety training and adhere to safety protocols in their various organisations.“

Babatunde Solanke,Lagos

The Federal Government has commenced steps to tackle challenges posed by the rising number of out-of-school-children in the country.

Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs Maryam Uwais disclosed this in Maiduguri during the closing the ceremony of a 3-week capacity building Programme for Youth facilitators under the Federal Government’s At-Risk-Children Programme, ARC-P in Borno State.

Mrs Uwais noted that the youth facilitators were trained on several skills including basic literacy and numeracy, sports and life skills, vocational and digital skills, mental health, psychosocial support as well as basic monitoring and evaluation.

She explained that the intensive training exercise was in line with the implementation strategy of the At-Risk-Children Programme organised to empower the youth facilitators with the requisite knowledge and skills that will enable them provide the needed guidance, mentorship and support for the vulnerable children assigned to them.

She added that the 830 youth facilitators trained in Borno would be assigned a minimum of 50 children across the 18 local government areas of the State, noting that more than 41000 street children and vulnerable young people are expected to benefit in the first phase of the Programme in Borno State.

She advised the youth facilitators to approach the assignment with all sense of commitment, hardwork, diligence and patriotism, calling on them to use the knowledge gained from the various training sessions to make a difference in the lives of the primary beneficiaries of the Programme.

“Please do not shirk in your responsibilities. Be patient with the children to assigned to you because It’s not easy to look after children. Engage them with every sense of compassion and avoid the temptation of inflicting physical or emotional pains on them. Do not hit them, do not yell at them. If a child behaves unruly, try to find out why. Most times children behave funny because they are looking for attention. This is why we had a lot of trainings on mental health, life skills and psycho-socio support.

“All these skills are necessary. We are also opening their minds up to technology because many of their parents do not know technology which you all know is very profitable. We want to also support the malams and Ulamas to see how we can encourage their businesses so that they will allow these children to learn new things”, Mrs Uwais said.

Mrs Uwais who is also the National Coordinator of the At-Risk-Children Programme, ARC-P thanked the Government of Borno State led by Professor Babagana Zulum for accepting to sign up on the ARC-P initiative which according to her is critical to addressing the fundamental issues associated with low school enrolment and child poverty.

“This Programme was conceived to support children who are out of school and who do not have support as much as they should. There is nobody here that can claim to love these vulnerable children as much as their parents, but the kids have not been exposed to the kind of skills that will enable them to take ownership of their lives and become assets to their families.

“These children have become part of our lives and we can’t ignore them. So it is much more than enrolling children and giving them skills. It is making sure that they actually remain in those classes and apply the skills. Foundation literacy is critical for skills because everyone needs to understand numbers and letters to be able to engage even in the market places”, she added.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Umaru Kadafur who represented Governor Babagana Zulum thanked the Federal Government for Introducing ARC-P to the State and said the humanitarian Interventions of the Buhari administration is impacting significantly on the lives of the people, particularly those affected by insurgency in Borno State.

Babatunde Solanke,Lagos

Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, TRACE, has advised motorists against driving vehicles with loaded containers filled with petroleum products in view of its attendant consequences.

TRACE Commander/Chief Executive, Cdr. ‘Seni Ogunyemi, who stated this while addressing newsmen in Abeokuta, maintained that though the country is experiencing the challenge of fuel distribution, it is risky and dangerous for motorists, especially commercial bus and taxi drivers to move around petroleum products in jerry cans inside the booths of vehicles and on passenger seats.

He reminded motorists that as the ember months peak, with the dry season setting in, it is also risky and dangerous for drivers to carry fuel in jerry cans and bottles while on transit, as this may speed up havoc of immense proportion.

Empathizing with the motoring public on the prolonged queues and waste of productive man hours at filling stations due to fuel scarcity, the TRACE boss described the situation as unfortunate.

He urged motorists across the state to maintain order at petrol stations to minimize traffic gridlock presently being experienced at several parts of the state, particularly in Abeokuta metropolis.

He stated that TRACE operatives have been directed to assist motorists whose vehicles breakdown on the road due to insufficient fuel, along and around filling stations and other road users whose movement are hindered and also caused untold hardship, as a result of reckless parking, in addition to driving against traffic, which is prevalent at major traffic flash point of the state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission,INEChas fixed Monday 12 December 2022 to Sunday 22 January 2023 as the dates for the collection of Permanent Voters Cards in all the 774 local government offices of the commission in Nigeria.

The commission has also resolved to devolve PVC collection to the 8,809 Registration Areas/Wards from Friday 6th to Sunday 15th January 2023.

It said those that are unable to collect their PVCs at the local government offices of the commission can do so at the registration areas/electoral wards.

It also said after the 15th of January 2023, the exercise will revert to the Local Government Offices of the Commission until 22nd January 2023.

According to the commission,all eligible and valid registrants can collect their PVCs from 9.00am to 3.00pm daily, including Saturdays and Sundays.

It added:”All the RECs and Electoral Officers (EOs) have been directed to convene a meeting with the critical stakeholders in their States and Local Government Areas, including traditional and religious leaders, civil society groups, community-based organisations and the media to brief them on the modalities for the collection of the PVCs in order to sensitise the public and ensure seamless exercise.

“Similarly, RECs and EOs have also been directed to set up help desks to assist registrants with complaints about their PVCs or with the PVC collection procedure for immediate redress”

Appreciating the patience and understanding of Nigerians, especially those who registered as voters or applied for transfer/replacement of their cards from January to July 2022, the commission said it is also working to ensure that the process is simple and hitch-free for Nigerians”