FG SUES THREE SUPREME COURT OFFICIALS

The Nigerian government has charged three Supreme Court officials with nine counts, including alleged diversion of 2.2 billion Naira belonging to the court.

The Chief Registrar of the court, Mr Ahmed Saleh, Muhammed Sharif and Rilwanu Lawal are also accused of receiving gratifications totalling 74.4 million Naira from private contractors providing services to the Supreme Court between 2009 and 2016.

Mr Saleh is among persons shortlisted for final consideration by the National Judicial Council to succeed the outgoing Secretary of the council, Mr Danladi Halilu.

The date of their arraignment has not been fixed, but they will be facing nine counts of conspiracy, criminal breach of trust by allegedly diverting 2.2 billion belonging to the apex court and receiving gratification as public officers.

The Attorney General of the Federation filed the charges before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Maitama on Thursday.

According to the charges, they were alleged to have received gratification from Willysdave Limited, Welcon Nigeria Limited, Dean Musa Nigeria Limited, Ababia Ventures Limited and MBR Computers Limited.

Niger state govt, repositions the health sector

Disturbed by the state of health facilities in the state, the Niger state government on Thursday repositions the heath sector for better service delivery.

To this end, it has earmarked the sum of two billion Naira to upgrade five out of the 16 general hospitals in the state which have been left unattended to for the past ten years in the first phase of the project.

Briefing journalists after the State Executive Council meeting in Minna, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mustapha Jibrin, said that the government inherited what he called “moribund” health facilities across the state from the immediate past administration in the state.

He disclosed that the immediate past government in the state expended well over N5billion to build three general hospital in Gulu, Nasko and Wuse areas of the state, but only the one in Wuse was functional.

Those that will benefit from the first phase of the hospital rehabilitation project include the Suleja, Kontagora, Mokwa, Kagara and Minna general hospitals, while all the remaining ones would be attended to in the second phase of the project.

The Commissioner further disclosed that following the inadequate health personnel in the state-owned hospitals, and to ensure quick service delivery, the state government has employed an additional 40 medical doctors, 70 nurses and 10 hospital workers since the inception of the present administration.

He described the current situation where one doctor attends to nine patients as unacceptable.

He said that the state government has approved the immediate payment of the 100% salary structure for all categories of all health workers being enjoyed by their counterpart in other states across the country

FEC Approves 8 New Private Universities.

The federal executive council approves eight new private universities in the country. Some of these universities approved has been invoke but have not been approved officially by the federal executive council.
 The council made this decision after considering the welfare of our youth and also to train them in other to have a brighter future.
After much deliberations eight universities were approved.
 Here are the list of the newly approved universities:

Anchor university, ayobo Lagos state.
Arthur Jarvis university, akpabuyo cross river.
Clifford university, owerrinta abia state
Coalcity university, Enugu state
Crown-hill university, eiyenkoren kwara state.
Dominican university, Ibadan Oyo state.
Kola daisi university, Ibadan Oyo state.
Legacy university, okija anambra state.

Lawmakers Query Buhari’s Request For External Loan

Some members of the House of Representatives have questioned President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for a $29.9 billion loan from foreign financial institutions.

As regards the rejection of the request by the Senate, the lawmakers demanded for details of the loan from the Executive, to enable them appreciate the need for the loan.

Some of the members of the House who queried the request for the loan on Wednesday were Johnson Agbonayinma, Animu Suleiman and Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje.

The legislators said that despite the good intentions of President Buhari, they have reservations about his team.

Considering the development, analysts say it is not clear yet when the House of Representatives will consider the President’s request.

They, however, noted that the issue must be quickly resolved as it had implications for the 2017 budget, which is yet to be presented to the National Assembly by the Executive.

President Buhari had written to the National Assembly to seek its approval for an external loan to ensure the prompt implementation of projects.

President Buhari said that the projects cut across agriculture, health, education, and water supply.

The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday refused to approve President Buhari’s request to borrow $29.6 billion.

The matter went into a voice vote when it was brought forward and the nays had it.

The senators turned down the external borrowing request due to what they called “lack of documents supporting the request as referenced in the letter”.

Police Nab Suspected Vandals Of Electricity Transformer In Abia

Police have arrested some persons suspected to have vandalised transformers of the Enough Electricity Distribution Company Sub-Station in Abia State.

The Abia State Police Command said the suspects vandalised a facility at Omaha in Isilangwa South Local Government Area of Abia State.

According to the command, intensified anti-crime campaign with renewed vigour aimed to ridding the state of criminals led to the arrest of the suspected criminals.

About 20 suspects were paraded at the Police Headquarters in Bende Road, Umuahia.

Part of the figure were other suspects involved in various crime – armed robbery, fraud, faking and forging of vehicle license, proof of ownership and other sensitive government documents amongst others.

Also among them were four suspected cultist of Covenant Polytechnic, Aba, who are all final year students pursuing a National Diploma.

The police said that all the suspects have confessed to the crime.

Items recovered from them include, one locally made double barrel shortgun, two live cartridges, one machete, two rolls of heavy armoured cables worth thousands of Naira and two jacks as well as some substance suspected to be cocaine.

One of the suspects, Prince Okoroafor, an indigene of Amaekpu ,Ohafia and a car washer at Aba, claimed that it was his first attempt at vandalising government’s installation.

He also said that he was lured into the business by a friend – an indigene of Omoba where the heavy armoured cables were stolen – but was unaware that his friend was notorious for vandalising government’s infrastructure.

”My friend called me to escort him to his village that he has a business for us but I did not know that it involved vandalising, as soon as I got close to the armoured cable with the okada man, the villagers quickly surrounded us and I looked around but my friend was gone,” he told reporters.

His friend is currently on the police list as a wanted criminal and all efforts are being put in place to track him down and arrest him for the crime.

The Police Commissioner in the State, Adeleye Oyebade, said that the strategies put in place by his management team in combating crime yielded the desired results.

He told reporters that the Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers had been mandated to explore intelligence-led policing, community policing and involvement of Eminent People’s Forum in tackling crime.

These efforts, according to the Commissioner of Police, require the involvement of citizens and would assist to chase away the criminals from the state.

He warned hoodlums to stay clear, as all the exit and entry points to the state were secure, with officers strategically positioned to checkmate any criminal actibvity.