Category: Highlights

Taraba State Internal Revenue Service (TIRS) In collaboration with the Joint Tax Board (JTB). Wishies to invite the General Public to the Official Launching & Flag-Off Single Inter-State Road Tax Stickers (SIRTS) and Single Haulage Fee (SHF).

Schedule to hold on Thursday 9th February 2023 at Gym Hall Jolly Nyame Stadium Jalingo Taraba State By 10AM.

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, yesterday, absolved Federal Government of blame on the four-week strike embarked upon by Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), accusing the lecturers of downing tools at a time government was attending to their demands.

Adamu, who spoke after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said: “Unfortunately, they have gone on strike and I am looking for them because all the issues are being addressed. The last thing that happened was that our committee looked at their demands. But there are re-negotiations going on. They submitted a draft agreement, which the ministry is looking at.”

He added: “We want a peaceful resolution. The Federal Government is ready to meet them on all issues they have raised and if there are so many meetings and the gap is not closing, I think it’s not the fault of the government.

“There is a solution to this. The negotiations are the solution, and that is why I have said that I am surprised that ASUU has gone on strike.”

IN a statement signed by President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, the congress urged the Federal Government to resume negotiation with ASUU and conclude signing of the contentious renegotiated 2009 agreement.

“Specifically, we call on government to sign the re-negotiated agreement with ASUU. Furthermore, President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier directed that a Federal Government team should meet with ASUU to resolve all the outstanding issues. We call on relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure Mr. President’s directive is discharged immediately to end the stalemate,” NLC said.

In the same breath, NLC named Abia, Cross River, Zamfara and Taraba as states that are yet to begin implementation of the national minimum wage, three years after the law came into existence, even as it cautioned petrol marketers from profiteering in the shortage of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol).

THIS came as Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Ali Pantami, declined comment on ASUU’s challenge to his appointment as professor of cybersecurity by Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO).

“From the evidence available to us, Dr. Pantami was not qualified, and the said appointment violated established procedure for appointment of professors in the university. ASUU National Executive Committee directs all members and branches of our union throughout the Nigerian federation not to recognise, accord or treat Dr. Isah Ali Ibrahim Pantami as a professor of cybersecurity under any guise,” the association had said.

“No comment,” Pantami said, when reporters sought his reaction, following the FEC meeting. He also resisted several overtures by newsmen seeking information on the matter.

MEANWHILE, The Guardian, yesterday, noted that academic activities at University of Ibadan (UI), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) and University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) campuses were paralysed.

Read More…

The Son of the Governor of Taraba State, Architect Darius Dickson Ishaku will be wedding at the Jolly Nyame Stadium tomorrow, Saturday.

The wedding of Buratai’s Step Daughter is holding today 27th of July, 2018 in Jalingo, Taraba State.

The Nigeria Police has maintained that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has a case to answer.

The Police also insisted that as such, the lawmaker must report to the Force Intelligence Response Team, Guzape, Abuja to give more details on his alleged link to the act which claimed more than 33 people in Kwara State. 

The Nigerian police also waved aside reports that the Senate President was exonerated in the case based on a report from the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, which allegedly set him free on the grounds that it had no evidence against the senator.

Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, an acting Commissioner of Police, said this in a statement in Abuja.

He added that the reaction became necessary following reports to the effect that Saraki was exonerated on the basis that, “there was no evidence that linked the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki and Kwara State Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed to the armed robbery attack that left 31 persons dead in Offa, Kwara State, in April”,this year.

“It is incumbent on the Force to educate the writer of the story that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the Federation in the legal advice did not restrain or restrict the Force from investigating further, the indictments against the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki and the Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfattah Ahmed by the principal suspects arrested in connection with the Offa bank robbery of 5th April, 2018, “the statement said. It added that” the DPP advice did not exonerate the Senate President, it only called for further investigations into the matter.

“It is in the course of further investigations into the case that a letter of invitation dated 23rdJuly, 2018 was sent to the Senate President to appear on 24th July, 2018 at 8.00am before the Investigation Team at Intelligence Response Team office, Guzape Junction, Abuja. ”

“Consequently, the Force is hereby re-affirming that the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki has case to answer by virtue of the facts that the statements submitted by the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki earlier to the Investigation Team was not explicit and detailed enough, and was discovered to require further clarifications and interrogation, and coupled with the fact the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki in his statement, claimed that the full text of the statement of the suspects who indicted him in their confessional statements to the Police was not shown to him.

“It is therefore, imperative for the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki to report to the Police to make further statement after sighting the full text of the statement of the suspects.

“Furthermore, the Force wishes to inform the media and the public that investigation is still ongoing on the Offa bank robbery and the indictment against the Senate President from the confessions of some the arrested principal suspects, and that, there is no political influence or consideration in the matter.

“The media and the Police are veritable partners in crime prevention, protection of lives and property, and absolute compliance with the rule of law. The media are implored not to allow the pages of their esteemed publications be used to misinform the public.”

Nyandan and four other ethnic groups in Lau Local Government Area of Taraba State on Saturday signed a peace agreement with Fulani.

The peace agreement was signed during a meeting attended by stakeholders of all the ethnic groups in Mayolope a border town between Taraba and Adamawa states.

It was agreed that all ethnic groups should immediately withdraw their militia; while security agents were directed to arrest any person or group of persons found with arms.

It was also agreed that the groups and Fulani should comb all trouble areas and arrest any criminal found there.

Daily Trust gathered that all the ethnic groups had, during the meeting, blamed one another for allowing outsiders to come in and instigate conflict.

The meeting had also accused forces not residing in the area of preaching disunity by using religion and ethnicity as tools.

A spokesperson of Nyandan, Aaron Artimas, who described the peace accord as successful, said all the ethnic groups and Fulani had been living in peace for years.

“We agreed that all the tribes should withdraw their militia and peace and reconciliation committee set up and start building bridges of understanding immediately. There is no question of whether you are a Nyandan, Mumuye or Fulani, we are also not talking of religion but all we want is peace and understanding, cohesion and mutual respect”, he said.

A spokesperson of Fulani, Buba Musa said the peace and reconciliation meeting was a good development, asking all parties to be sincere and abide by all the agreements reached.

As the Nigerian Peace Corps battles the Nigeria Police to vacate its national secretariat, the legality of the organisation might have run into trouble as the President has not assented to its establishment bill, which was transmitted to him last year. Saturday Vanguard learnt from competent sources that President Muhammadu Buhari, apparently bowing to security advice, has not appended his signature to the NPC Establishment Bill, which was officially sent to him by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. Sani Omolori, in the last week of December 2017. Findings by Saturday Vanguard indicate that the 30-day window under, which the president should sign a bill duly transmitted to him elapsed on January 31, 2018, leaving the National Assembly with the only option of mobilising two thirds of its members to veto the president’s rejection of the bill. By implication, the Presidency has thrown out the NPC bill and the piece of legislation okayed by the two chambers of the NASS can therefore not be cited as a law in Nigeria and the outfit does not have the legal backbone to continue to operate as a legal entity unless the NASS mobilises two thirds of its members to override the president. A top Presidency official conversant with the matter, confirmed to our correspondent last night that the President could not have assented to the NPC bill because there was no need for such an outfit under the Nigerian security architecture. The source said, “By implication the bill has been rejected by Mr. President since he did not sign it into law within the stipulated 30 working days. “By law, the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill will not fly in Nigeria as the President has not appended his signature to it within the period prescribed by law,” the official explained. Asked what could be done given the fact that the courts had ruled that the embattled security outfit had the right to operate as a voluntary organisation in Nigeria, the presidency official said that the organisation must first derive its legality from the law of Nigeria before functioning as an entity of the law. But reacting to the development, the Spokesman for the House of Representatives, Abdulrazaq Namdas, said the members would wait patiently for President Muhammadu Buhari to write the NASS on why he would not append his signature to the bill before deciding on what next step. Namdas told one of our correspondents that the lawmakers were aware that the president was in the habit of giving reasons whenever he rejects a bill sent to him by the NASS. “But if we wait up to a certain time and the usual excuses we expect of him does not come then the House may take a further action to override the president. “If you remember just last week he returned three bills stating the reasons he refused to sign them into law,” Namdas said. It will be recalled that the NPC has been having a running battle with the Nigeria Police since it came out as a security outfit but not yet licensed by the Federal Government, culminating in the sealing of its national headquarters in Jabi and the arrest and detention of its leaders by the NPF. The running battle between the NPC and the NPF has also resulted in a lingering legal tussle between the two groups, with the court asking the police to pay the NPC N12.5 million as compensation, an order the police are yet to comply with. File: Peace-Corps The police have also refused to quit the headquarters of the NPC despite repeated court orders. While the Senate passed the bill on November 25, 2016, a conference committee of both chambers was inaugurated on December 8, 2016, to harmonise the bill. The House of Representatives laid and adopted its conference report on January 19, 2017, while the Senate adopted its report on July 25, 2017. But on February 17, 2017 the police stormed the National Office of the NPC and arrested the head of the organisation, Dickson Akoh, and about 49 other members. The police accused Mr. Akoh of using the Peace Corps, which was registered as a non-governmental organisation, but operating as a para-military agency, to fleece innocent young job seekers. Mr. Akoh has however denied all the allegations and has since been granted bail by the court. Meanwhile, CHAIRMAN, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, APC, Niger North has said that the Senate will do what the Constitution specifies in case Mr. President refuses to assent the Peace Corps Bill. He said that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for what should be done if a bill passed by the National Assembly, transmuted to the President for assent did not receive the assent of the President. “For me personally I see it as a very good thing; it is not new to Nigeria but it is happening in many other countries so that was why in the first instance, the National Assembly supported it.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/02/buhari-rejects-nigerian-peace-corps-bill/

A Non-governmental organisation (NGO) Center For Initiative and Development (CFID), has donated working implements, worth millions of naira, to women presently taking refuge in the various Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Taraba State.

The tools include sewing machines, rice processing equipment, soap making materials and hair driers.The organisation had early last year also engaged the women in various trainings and skills acquisition programmes.

The women, who were displaced from their original homes in neighboring Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, following the Boko Haram insurgency, could not hold back tears of gratitude over the donations.

Chairman and Chief Executive of the CFID, Danjuma Adda, said the organisation decided to take train and empower the women to discourage them from indulging in prostitution and other vices capable of jeopardising their future.Adda said CFID had in the past engaged in various humanitarian activities and would not relent in reaching out to the less privileged in the state and the country.He admonished the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the implements to benefit themselves, the IDPs and society at large.

A representative of United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in the state, Daniel Bisu, and the Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Paul Tino, reiterated their commitments to partner with CFID.

Chairman of the IDPs in the state, Paul A. Achagwa, said: “The IDPs in Taraba state will forever remain grateful to CFID. Since we arrived this state from other states, CFID has been helping us in all areas of life.”

A representative of the state Ministry of Women and Child Development Affairs, Elizabeth K. Joshua, said the state government would continue to partner with CFID to discourage women from engaging in negative acts.She urged the women to tread legitimate paths that would bring succour to them and charged the beneficiaries not to sell the items donated to them, but go the extra mile to training their fellow IDPs.

Some of the women beneficiaries promised to make use of the equipment and the knowledge acquired during the training to make life better for themselves and IDPs in the state.

Nigerian Army has embarked on an exercise code named: “AYEM AKPATUMA” otherwise known as “Cat Dance” in Taraba State. The exercise, according to a notification letter signed by commander 23 Brigade Yola, Brigadier General, Bello Muhammad and made available to journalists yesterday in Jalingo, the exercise will end on March 31. He said the exercise was aimed at curbing security challenges, especially on clashes between herders and farmers, armed banditry and cattle rustling among others. According to the letter, the exercise would cover Taraba, Kogi, Benue, Nasarawa and Niger States. The letter also stated that in addition to real tactical exercise, “AYEM AKPATUMA” would conduct some civil military activities with government ministries, department, agencies, traditional institutions and the media. Muhammad also said other activities would include town hall meetings, medical outreach and show of force when necessary.