Benue Govt. spends N805.5m on office complex, school renovation

Makurdi - The Benue Government on Tuesday said it had spent N805.5 million on the renovation of an office complex and three Science and Technical Schools in the the state.
The Commissioner for Science and Technology, Anthony Onuh, said this on Tuesday while briefing newsmen in Makurdi.
"The government had spent N805,5 million on the renovation and construction of the office complex in the ministry’s headquarters, Makurdi.
"The sum of N71,1 million was also used in the renovation of another office complex in the ministry, while N208,9 million was spent in the renovation of the Government Science and Technical College, Anyiin.

He said N278,1 million was also spent on the renovation of Science and Technic
He said some of the projects were delayed due to increase in prices of some equipment required for the laboratories. He said the school projects were ongoing and fell within the specified period of completion as contained in the contracts terms.
The commissioner said the projects were at completion stages, adding that the schools were designed to boost the technological advancement of the people of the state.
He said the state government had also installed Vsat equipment and Internet connectivity at a cost of N6,7 million in the three schools.
Onuh also said that the state government had concluded plans to provide solar street light in Gboko, Otukpo and Katsina-Ala before the end of the year.

He warned motorists against reckless driving to avoid damaging the street light, saying that the state government would apply appropriate sanctions against anyone found to damaged the lights through reckless driving or vandalising them.
al School,  Garagbohol and N267,4 million on Science and Technical School, Otukpa.”

60,000 pregnant women die annually —Commissioner

Nigeria - The Kwara State Commissioner for Health, Mr. Kayode Issa, says that about 60,000 pregnant women die annually from pregnancy and childbirth related cases.

He spoke during a training  for health workers on maternal morbidity and  mortality reduction tagged, ‘Safe motherhood,’ in Ilorin on Monday.

Issa said about 59 per cent of Nigerian women deliver without attending any antenatal care.

The essence of promoting safe motherhood initiative, he said, was to reduce maternal mortality, noting that out of 100 pregnant women, 75 of them will have normal deliveries.

He added that five would have to be operated on, while 15 would have complications.

He lamented that it was difficult to ascertain those that would develop complications or require surgical delivery until the delivery day.

He said the state government was investing towards reducing maternal mortality; adding that it had provided free health care services and bought many kits  to be distributed free of charge to pregnant women who  attend antenatal clinics.

“In view of this, there is the need for skilled obstetric care for mothers and effective prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, if we must achieve the Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal and child mortality rate by two-thirds of the pre-MDG levels by 2015,” Issa said.

He said the training was to strengthen the capacity of the health workers, who provide effective maternal health care services and care for the new born.

He added that in the aftermath of the training, health workers would be able to render mother and child-friendly services, all of which are geared towards reducing maternal and child mortality within 48 hours of delivery.

Nigeria Military deploys more fighter jets in Borno, others

Strong indications have emerged that Islamic militants from some North African countries are coordinating attacks against the Nigerian military in the North Eastern part of the country.

A military source in Abuja said that security operatives came to this  conclusion when they   discovered  that many Arabs of Shuwa descent  and fair-skinned  people from Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia, Algeria and Niger, were among those whose bodies were found  after some of the recent encounters with the militants.

The source said, “We strongly believe that the foreign militants under the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb are coordinating the attacks against our men in the troubled  North Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

It is very possible they are  helping the Nigerian insurgents like those in Boko Haram  in  coordinating attacks against our men.”

 There were strong feelings in the military that the militants who still  have several bases in the thick forests of  the northern part of Borno State,  were among those chased out of Mali by the French and  the West African troops led by Nigeria.

The militants  are  said  be  be armed with Rocket Propelled Grenades and General Purpose Machine Guns which are more sophisticated than the AK 47 used by the  Nigerian troops.

Findings indicated that the level of preparedness and calibre of arms in possession of the militants were  responsible for ‘the  high casualty on the Nigerian side.’

 The Director of Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, had said during a press conference  a week ago that the Army lost 15 soldiers with nine others missing during the attack by militants in the  Kasiya Forest in Ngazai Local Government Area of Borno State.

Last Sunday and Monday morning, the insurgents launched another rounds of attacks on the Nigerian troops, necessitating the deployment of more fighter jets in the troubled states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

It was learnt that the fighter jets immediately  commenced  monitoring the activities of the insurgents in  the three states which are  under emergency rule.

  The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, is said to be personally supervising the use of fighter jets and the Air Force personnel  supporting the Army in the fight against the insurgents.

It was also gathered  that a major offensive planned by the Army with aerial back up from the Air Force resulted in the killing of a good number of the insurgents on Monday night. The Director of Air Information, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas, confirmed the deployment of Alpha jets as well as  M1, 35  and M1,34  helicopters  in the operational areas.

Anas also confirmed that  Badeh  was in Maiduguri to supervise the latest deployment  and the personnel of the Air Force  assisting the  the Army in the  campaign against terrorism.

 He said, “It is true; we have deployed M1, 35 and M1,34 helicopters and Alpha jet aircraft. They are there to support  the Nigerian Army in curtailing the security situation in the North-East.

Nigeria Senate investigates Apo killings in Abuja

The Senate on Tuesday asked its committees on National Security, Intelligence and Judiciary to immediately start investigations into the circumstances that led to the death of eight people in the Apo area of Abuja following an encouter they had with security operatives last week Friday.

Senator Sahabi Yau, representing  Zamfara North, had raised the point of order directing his colleagues’ attention to the controversial incident, which he said, had been generating series of  condemnations from Nigerians.

He therefore sought three prayers – the condemnation of the act by the senate, a one-minute silence for the victims and a thorough investigation of the incident with a view to recommending appropriate punishments for culprits.

However, Senate President David Mark, after listening to the submissions of other senators who commented on the issue, noted that it would be unfair for the Senate to grant the first and second prayers of Yau because doing so, without details of the incident could be prejudicial.

He said, “It will be too hasty to start condemning the act because we don’t have the details of what actually happened. We cannot rely on newspaper reports or rumours from members of the public.

“We condemn any form of extra-judicial killings as well as all forms of terrorism but we cannot condemn the operational procedure employed by the affected security agency because we don’t know what actually happened.

Meanwhile, there was confusion on Tuesday at the Asokoro General Hospital, Abuja as relatives of the victims besieged the hospital.

The relatives lamented that the victims had been neglected as they were not receiving adequate treatment.

A friend of one of the victims, Mallam Isah Moriki from Zamfara State, who spoke on behalf of other victims’ relatives, confirmed this.

He said, “The problem on ground here is that the patients are not being given proper care.

“The bullets have not been removed. As I speak with you, the victims are very hungry because the hospital refused to give them food.

“When they asked of food, they were told that money had finished and they needed to pay more. It was one woman who came and assisted them with N20, 000. No care is being given to them. They only give them injection and tablets like Vitamin C.

Several calls and text message to the Chief Medical Director of Asokoro Hospital, Dr. Ahmadu Abubakar were not replied.