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Aregbesola: FG Spends Over N1million on Inmate Per Annum

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Aregbesola: FG Spends Over N1million on Inmate Per Annum

By: Michael Mike

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has revealed that the federal government spends a little over a million Naira annually to maintain each of the inmates kept in custodial facilities across the country.

Speaking at the commissioning a 20-bed COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund Hospital and Equipment at the Maximum Security Custodial Centre Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Saturday, Aregbesola lamented that the challenges of running correctional services are enormous, with huge demands for infrastructure, equipment and maintaining the welfare of inmates.

He however assured that the federal government has provided long term solution to the challenge of running the centres, while revealing that the government at the centre spends N1,065,790 on maintaining each inmate per annum, reiterating his earlier announcement that the government will stop feeding inmates who are state offenders by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the Minister restated the commitment of the federal government to the welfare of inmates and officers at the custodial facilities nationwide.

On the commissioned project, Aregbesola said it will be an enduring legacy and a testimony of the utmost importance the federal government has taken corrections and the welfare of inmates and the well-being of staff.

Aregbesola stated that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has addressed the problem of inmates contracting diseases in custodial centres, as the inmates at the custodial centres now have access to excellent medical care beyond the centres.

He said: “The custodial centres were frighteningly centres for contracting diseases like scabies and tuberculosis, among others. Happily, this has been addressed by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and is now a thing of the past. We do not only have well-manned clinics and well stocked pharmacies, the inmates at the custodial centres now have access to excellent medical cares beyond the centres.”

He lamented the overcrowding of custodial facilities across the country, he said: “This Maximum Security Custodial Centre in Port Harcourt, with a capacity for 1,800 inmates, presently houses about 3,067 inmates. This is just a reflection of the situation in most urban Custodial Centres where we have congestion at the moment. The facilities and even the personnel are overstretched, but we are coping and providing long term solutions to this challenge.

“One of such solutions is the construction of mega 3,000-capacity custodial villages in six geo-political zones of the country. The one for the South-South is in Bori, not far from here in Rivers State. The ones for the North West in Janguza, Kano and the North Central, in Karshi Abuja are ready. Hopefully, we shall commission the one in Kano in a few days, before our departure, even as work is steadily going on in the others and has reached appreciable level.

“Let me also reiterate that the Federal Government will stop feeding inmates incarcerated for breaching state laws. As you commence your budget process for next year, include feeding of your inmates.”

Ogbeni Aregbesola added that the hospital, like several others, including the one commissioned in Osun last week, was built from the Covid-19 Crisis Special Intervention Fund of the Federal Government, and will go a long way in addressing the medical concerns of inmates and Correctional Service personnel as well.

While commending the management and staff of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) for working hard to keep the virus away, he restated that the new hospital is a unique intervention aimed at making robust healthcare for those in custody as well as staff members, a pleasant reality.

“We celebrate how the NCoS, through professional responsiveness and hard work, triumphed over the COVID-19 pandemic, coming out clean without a single case of the virus finding its way into any of our custodial centres. On this, we were able to best even the most advanced countries whose custodial centres were thriving ground for Covid-19 incubation and transmission, with deaths running into thousands.

“Of significant note is the fact that all of these interventions in consonance with other reforms in the NCoS will obviously translate to security, peace and tranquillity in and around our Custodial Centres and ultimately for our country.”

Aregbesola commended the Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa, for the good work he is doing and the quality leadership he is providing at the Service. He also encouraged him and his management team to sustain the tempo of progress and do more to actualise the noble provisions of the NCoS Act, 2019.

On his part, the Controller General, Haliru Nababa thanked the federal government for its support to the Service, saying the facility will take care of the needs of the inmate, staff and the host community alike.

He said: “As a Service, Inmates’ welfare is not only a matter of priority but a statutory responsibility that is key to the general peace and tranquillity experienced all over our custodial centre.

“This hospital that we are commissioning today will go a long way in helping the service fulfill its statutory responsibility to the inmate, the staff and the host community,” the CG stated.

Speaking on behalf of the host community, Council Chairman of the Bunduama Community, Evangelist Dasika George thanked the Minister for the hospital and the opportunity given to members of the community to benefit from its services, declaring him the ‘best minister’ of the Buhari administration.

He said: “We thank our performing minister, in fact, the best minister in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for citing this project in our community and giving us the privilege to use it as well. We thank you, but please don’t stop here.

“We still need water, electricity transformers, adequate street, adequate drainage system amongst other social amenities.”

Aregbesola: FG Spends Over N1million on Inmate Per Annum

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VP Shettima’s Agricultural Assessment Visit To Ethiopia

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VP Shettima’s Agricultural Assessment Visit To Ethiopia

By: Our Reporter

An agricultural economist by training whose love for agricultural transformation and development has never been hidden, as demonstrated recently when he visited the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan for an on-the-spot assessment of the Institute’s crops and resource potentials, Vice President Kashim Shettima today embarked on an assessment of the popular Adama Industrial Zone near Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

Farms visited by the Vice President for the on-the-spot assessment included the Adama Dairy Farms, Luke Avocado Nursery site, Shera Dibandiba Mojo Family Integrated Farm, Biyyo Poultry Farm, and the Bishoftu Pea Farm.

While speaking on areas of agricultural collaboration between both countries, the Vice President ordered specialised coffee beans seeds for massive production in Nigeria while also directing the immediate training of selected Nigerian agricultural extension farmers on the production of specialized avocado seedlings for the Nigerian market.

VP Shettima also sought an exchange of mechanisation technologies between both countries, stressing that the potential of both Nigeria’s and Ethiopia’s agricultural sectors was capable of capturing world markets, especially when fully harnessed and exploited.

VP Shettima’s Agricultural Assessment Visit To Ethiopia

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Leboku-in-Abuja 2025 Festival Celebrates New Yam Festival to Bolster Nigeria’s Rich Cultural Heritage

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Leboku-in-Abuja 2025 Festival Celebrates New Yam Festival to Bolster Nigeria’s Rich Cultural Heritage

By: Michael Mike

One of the nation’s most celebrated events, the New Yam ear Festival would berth in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as the Kedei Seh Umor-Otutu, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy stage the Lenoku-in-Abuja 2025.

It promises to bolster Nigeria’s cultural heritage and showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Yakurr people in Cross River, the South-South and South-East in the nation and the world at large.

Addressing a pre-festival press conference in Abuja, President of Kedei Seh Umor-Otutu, a community-based association, Queency Patrick said the forthcoming festival with the theme: “A celebration of heritage, unity and harvest,” is one of the kind.

She explained that Lenoku-in-Abuja 2025 is an internationally acclaimed New Yam festival that is celebrated on August 30 in Abuja, under auspices of Kedei Seh Umor-Otutu, an association of Ugep people living in the FCT.

Patrick said: “Leboku-in-Abuja-2025 aligns with national goals of cultural preservation, inter-ethnic harmony and in promoting Nigeria as a cultural destination.

“The Federal Capital Territory provides the ideal backdrop to unite heritage and modernity, welcoming all who believe in peace, identity and pride of origin.

“For us, it is not just a cultural event, it is a call to national unity, peace and cultural tourism development.

“It is also an opportunity for us to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Yakurr people in Cross River, the South-South and South-East in the nation and the world at large.”

She further explained that: “The event fosters appreciation of Nigeria’s diverse ethnic-root and culture. Leboku-in-Abuja is more than a festival, it is a stage for celebrating our cultural identity, building bridges through tradition and encouraging investment in the creative economy and tourism sector.”

According to her, Mr Obi Asika, DirectorGeneral/CEO of the National Council for Arts and Culture, had in a letter which formally endorsed the association’s collaboration with government described Leboku-in-Abuja, as annual New Yam Festival celebrated in Abuja by Yakurr people of Cross River.

Patrick further quoted him by saying the Leboku festival, deeply rooted in the traditions of the Yakurr people of Cross River, has long been a symbol of unity, celebration, and agricultural prosperity.

Asika, in the letter noted that: “Bringing this renowned festival to Abuja will provide a unique opportunity for cultural exchange, tourism development, and deeper appreciation of our diverse traditions.

“It aligns with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda and NCAC’s mandate to promote arts and culture, as essential drivers or Nigeria’s creative economy,” Asika added.

Patrick revealed the event would provide platform for public lecture, economic empowerment, traditional food festival, cultural and arts exhibition, sports, agriculture, trade and tourism development.

The event scheduled to hold at the Bolton White event centre, Wuse Zone 7, Abuja is centered on promoting unity and peace with the toga: “One Yam, One People.”

Leboku-in-Abuja 2025 Festival Celebrates New Year Festival to Bolster Nigeria’s Rich Cultural Heritage

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Crisis brews in Gombe SDP as Yakubu emerges acting chairman

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Crisis brews in Gombe SDP as Yakubu emerges acting chairman

The Gombe State chapter of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has appointed a new chairman, Aaron Yakubu to serve in acting capacity following the suspension of its state chairman, Comrade Adamu Abubakar Modibbo, over allegations of mismanagement, lack of transparency, and misuse of party resources.

His suspension was announced at a news conference held in Gombe on Saturday by the party’s Welfare Secretary, Usman Yahaya, on behalf of concerned members of the state executive.

Reading the statement, Yahaya said there were countless complaints against the now suspended chairman, whom he said had side-lined party stakeholders and running the party like his personal property.

“Since Comrade Modibbo assumed office, the party has experienced no meaningful progress. Instead, the leadership claims he has used his position to witch-hunt loyal stakeholders and frustrated committed party members for his personal gain.”

He accused Modibbo of systematically “caging” the party’s executive members and aspirants, depriving over 90% of both returning and newly acting executive members of access to official SDP membership cards.

He further alleged that the selection of party candidates has been done without due process or consultation, with names being announced solely via national platforms involving prominent figures like Malam Nasir El-Rufai, thereby side-lining the state executive.
Yahaya also accused the suspended chairman of allegedly using his personal residence as the de facto party office.

This, the executives say, violates proper procedures and comes despite funds being made available to renovate the official state party office and rent offices across the local government areas.

“As it stands, the SDP in Gombe State does not have a functional or recognised operational office,”

In the light of the above weighty and numerous allegations against Modibbo, the Welfare Secretary said that the Gombe State chapter of the party has taken decisive action by suspending Comrade Adamu Abubakar Modibbo as chairman with immediate effect.

“In this regard, we hereby announce that the current State Secretary of the party, Mr. Aaron Yakubu, will now serve as the Acting State Chairman of the SDP in Gombe.

“Similarly, Ambassador Lukman Adamu Elkanem, previously serving as the Acting Assistant Public Relations Officer, has now been appointed as the Acting State Secretary of the party.”

Yahaya, on behalf of the state chapter of the SDP, appealed for intervention from the national body of the party to look into the allegations against the former chairman and to restore discipline, accountability, and credible leadership to the Gombe chapter of the party.

Speaking shortly in an interview, Yakubu said he would work to build inclusiveness in the party and ensure all party members were carried along in line with the constitution of the party.

He stated that out of the 13 working committee members of the party, nine were present and in support of the suspension of Modibbo.

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