Tertiary institutions students to be supported as CBN donates N500 grant
By Uzair Adam Imam
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has earmarked N500 million grant to the universities and polytechnics in Nigeria.
CBN said that the effort is to help the teeming youths in tertiary institutions to promote entrepreneurship and also reduce unemployment.
In the report titled: “Guidelines for the implementation of tertiary institutions entrepreneurship scheme”, CBN made this known on Wednesday
“Five top Nigerian polytechnics and universities with the best entrepreneurial pitches/ideas shall be awarded as follows: first place – N150m; second place – N120m; third place – N100m; fourth place – N80m; and fifth place – N50m,” it said.
According to the guideline, the aim of the scheme is to promote access to finance by undergraduates and graduates of universities and polytechnics in Nigeria.
Students will be help with innovative Entrepreneurial and technological ideas to enable them build their future.
The guidline added that Individuals will be entitled to a loan limit of N5.0 million to be paid within the maximum period of 5 years at an interest rate of 5 percent for each year.
Sa’adatu Rimi college to be upgraded to university status – Ganduje
By Uzair Adam Imam
Following the lingering request by Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education (SRCE) management, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has revealed that the institution would be upgraded to the university status with the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Ganduje stated this when the management team of the institution led by Prof. Yahaya Isa Bunkure, the Provost of the College, paid him a courtesy visit.
In a release issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Abba Anwar, Ganduje said: “I am happy that the College is now a degree awarding institution. Therefore, the call for the upgrading of this College to university, is without much financial commitment.
“Because most of the facilities needed are already there. Even lecturers we need to employ Professors.
“We can see how we can pursue this, so that we can actualize it. The only thing is, it will not continue awarding Certificate of Education. But we can still move all NCE Courses to other institutions. Just as some of our institutions have already started awarding NCEs,” Ganduje said.
Baffa Bichi celebrates Kwankwaso’s birthday
I, Dr Baffa Abdullahi Bichi, on behalf of my family, One-2-Tell-10 Compassion and the entire good people of Kano State, rejoice with His Excellency Sen. Dr Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso on his 65th birthday.
We thank Almighty for sparing our lives to witness another propitious anniversary of our leader, Kwankwaso.
The achievements of your first and, especially, your second tenures as Kano State Governor, in both human and capital development, are unprecedented. The revival of education, leadership by example and touching the lives of millions of people, among many things, will always make me proud to associate myself with you.
As I join millions of Nigerians in felicitating with you on this joyous occasion of your 65th birthday anniversary, I wish you Allah’s guidance, good health, prosperity and many happy returns.
Happy birthday, sir!
Baffa Bichi donates food items to over 500 households in Kano State
By Abdurraman Muhammad
As many Muslims around the world are celebrating the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be unto him), the former Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Dr Abdullahi Baffa Bichi has distributed food items to over 500 households as a philanthropic gesture to commemorate the 1443 Maulud Celebration.
Speaking during the distribution exercise, that took place in his residence at Bayero University Kano, Old Campus, Dr Bichi said the essence was to put smile on the faces of people by cushioning the effect of harsh economic situation in the country.
He noted that many people are finding it difficult to feed their families and therefore, his action was to make them happy on this festive period.
The donated items included a bundle of cloth, bag of rice, millet and maize each and a portion of meet.
“As we are today celebrating the birth of our Noble Prophet SAW, we feel obliged to put smiles on the faces of our brothers who could not afford a good food for their families”.
Many people who benefitted from the gesture expressed their appreciations by describing him as the rising politician who has the interest of a common man at heart.
After collecting his items, Malam Abubakar Idris said, “the items came handy as he had no single grain in his house with a family of five.
Another woman busted into tears of joy, lamenting that it has been over a week since last they cooked a solid food in the house. They just rely on other difficult means.
“We were surviving on crunches for the last few weeks, as we have nothing in the house, my husband died last year during the Covid-19 pandemic, he left me with five children and no one to feed us. The selling of akra I was doing did not last long due to lack of capital. In addition to the food items, he equally supported us with a by to take-off money to start a business. We really appreciate him and may Allah continue to guide him. Alhamdulillah.”
A director in the One 2 Tell 10 campaign organisation of Baffa Bichi, Honourable Ghali while explaining the concept of human empowerment, noted that the desire was to bail out the needy especially widows, orphans and other needy persons in the society.
Honourable Ghali disclosed that the only way out of the economic crunch is for all the wealthy and public sprites individuals to come up with program that would have a positive pact on the lives of the less privilege by providing them with capital money so as to be independent and self reliant.
“Our desire is to empower people to be self-reliant so that they can as well be productive to the society. No nation can grow and prosper if the teeming populace are in abject poverty and economic dependency. Ours is to teach a person how to fish so that he can be productive in the society,” he declared.
M.D. Aminu: A transition from academia to consultancy
By Ahmadu Shehu, PhD.
Recently, my friend Dr Mohammed Dahiru Aminu took a step further in realizing his promised greatness. He joins PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as Manager in Sustainability and Climate Change consulting. PwC is one of the ‘big four’ accounting/management consulting firms and the world’s second-largest professional services networks, operating in 157 countries with over 742 locations. The annual revenue generation of the company is around $42.4 billion, which is greater than Nigeria’s annual budget.
Dahiru, as he is known and called by persons close to him, was born in Yola to Dr Aminu Raji’s family, a descendant of Modibbo Raji—one of the most prominent 19th-century Islamic scholars in northern Nigeria and the most important scholar in the Fombina emirate. Dahiru earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Maiduguri and a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from London South Bank University. In addition, he holds a PhD in carbon capture and storage from Cranfield University.
Upon completing his master’s degree, Dahiru launched a career in academia as an Assistant Lecturer at the Modibbo Adamawa University of Technology before moving to the American University of Nigeria as an Assistant Professor of Petroleum Chemistry. Brief as it may seem, Dahiru’s academic career is a story of success. He is amongst the world’s first generation of PhDs in the emerging carbon capture and storage area and has produced consequential papers in the leading journals in that discipline. One of his papers, entitled “A review of developments in carbon dioxide storage”, published in Applied Energy—a leading journal within Energy and Environmental Science—is arguably the broadest published paper in the open literature on any aspect of carbon dioxide storage. Other contributors to the article were Professor Vasilije Manovic and Dr Syed Ali Nabavi of Cranfield University, and Dr Christopher A. Rochelle of the British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, UK.
Because of the paper’s relevance within the field, it won an award as one of the most cited papers ever published in Applied Energy since the journal’s inception in 1975. The award was announced at the International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE) in 2020, which was scheduled to hold in Bangkok (Thailand), but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was held in a virtual conference in December 2020.
Similarly, all chapters of Dahiru’s thesis, completed under a research program entitled “Carbon Dioxide Storage in the UK Southern North Sea: Experimental and Numerical Analysis”, were published in leading scientific journals as the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control and Heliyon.
Dahiru has also been actively involved in community service and is a member of several advisory boards, councils, and committees. He is a member of the Roster of Experts of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Bonn, Germany; and serves as member and secretary of the Working Group on Solid Waste Management for implementation of the Nigeria Climate Change Response Programme (NCCRP), Federal Ministry of Environment, Abuja; amongst others.
Although Dahiru’s scholarly achievements in academia were remarkable, nonetheless, those of us who know him have always felt that the academic career path was a transitional phase. His expertise would be better harnessed for the more public good in the private or policy sectors, where he could apply his training and knowledge in a more instrumental setting. This move should also offer him greater visibility and voice in meaningful African conversations around sustainability and climate change.
Beyond academia, Dahiru’s profile reaches into the arena of public commentary and public service. He is one of Nigeria’s prolific and influential young public intellectuals. His writings and talks on national issues and sharp analyses and prognoses of Nigeria’s economic and developmental challenges are as informed as they are illuminating. He publishes opinion pieces in Nigeria’s leading online and traditional newspapers. He is also a visible and strident voice in Nigeria’s vibrant cyberspace. As Dahiru joins the world of consulting, where he will work on finding solutions to the problems posed by climate change as one of humanity’s greatest challenges, he will undoubtedly deploy his expertise and experience in a more hands-on approach, now more than ever.
Dr Ahmadu Shehu holds a PhD in Linguistics and writes from Yola, the Adamawa state capital. He can be reached on ahmadsheehu@gmail.com
Where do we go from here?
By MA Iliasu
This one is a personal experience about our society’s current state of affairs and the ills they may be carrying instead of any brainstorming discourse. It started a little more than two years ago when a young man, pressed by the excessive frugality of his godfather, looted his quarterly savings and ran away to Cote d’Ivoire. Fortunately, the godfather didn’t get mad at him on the belief that the boy ran away with what was worthy of his long years of servitude. Months later, he came back, maybe after receiving assurance about his immunity. Most people developed an interest in the bold-albeit-stupid young man, mostly about why he would betray his godfather cum cousin’s trust. But knowing people’s tendency for moral hazard, I thought it shouldn’t surprise anyone why he did it. Quite differently, I am more interested in why he chose Cote d’Ivoire above all the places to run within Nigeria and nearby. To me, the choice seemed very odd, which surely can’t be a coincidence. I shall explain why.
Firstly, the place is very far from here, and in my experience, our people aren’t very fond of distance. Secondly, the excessive cultural and linguistic variation would shake the thoughts of any young man of such age and education, who are primarily monolingual and inept on homogeneity. Thirdly because of the infamous homesickness and risk aversion. Thus, what warrants the overlooking of such defining factors should rationally be investigated beyond the naivety of a scared young man. But it may also be wondered why would I be so interested in something that doesn’t directly concern me.
As a rule, a wise guardian tasked with the responsibility of an immature youth that can’t be within his sight all the time is only right to extend surveillance on the developments surrounding new trends, norms, habits and idiosyncrasies that inform the conduct of the respective age bracket. The young man belongs in the age bracket that must interest any guardian.
He said, “a kola nut trader who used to stop at Mariri (a kola nut market in Kano) arrived in Ujile (another kola nut market in the metropolis) once told us about the opportunities that await in the kola nut farms and industries in Cote d’Ivoire. He portrayed that as far better than any job we do here”. I smiled because I predicted that. “And what did you discover when you arrived? Was he telling the truth?” I asked him. “He was, but partially,” the boy replied. “The opportunities aren’t better than the ones here. But the environment in Ivory Coast is far more liberating and nourishing. You can’t separate the rich from the poor based on food. They’re not very sensitive to what happens between a man and a woman, even if she’s not his wife. And that alone is a reason for me to stay,” he added.
“Holy God,” I sighed. The boy’s account was revealing and taking an exciting dimension, so I asked him again, “How many of you went there (Ivory Coast)?” He replied: “We were seven. But many others were aiming to reach Libya and Algeria to work in the goldmines or become professional footballers. Other groups were set to follow also.”
I became dumbfounded that many young men have taken the risk of fleeing to the far West and North Africa for different reasons and confessed my concern to a friend who lives in a neighbourhood away. To my utmost surprise, he told me that his younger brother too had, four weeks ago, led a group of young men and ran away to work in the goldmines in Libya. More unfortunate is that it’s against their mother’s wishes. I lamented at how a tragedy of such magnitude could occur without myself being informed. And he laughed it off with the claim: “it is nothing serious. Such has been the norm for a while down here”.
A month later, he informed me that the boy had made it to Libya. They started working but later got apprehended and sold into slavery. I couldn’t believe it. Slavery in the 21st century? But he erased my doubts when he outlined the financial plan they were putting in place to buy the boy’s freedom. “Merciful God,” I said, “man has turned into a commodity”. In a short while, the boy made it back alone to meet the troubles of other boy’s parents, who blamed him for their children’s departure.
The depth of my grief grew big; emigration as a function of trade and brain drain isn’t particularly worrying. After all, the young men have attained the age of choice. What they do within the boundaries of the reason is even welcoming. But the unique circumstances surrounding the decisions of those youths must worry any sane person.
I pondered how the young men came from a society where the emerging youths are characterised by risk aversion, phobia to distance, homesickness, monolingualism and relative poverty of world-class skills. And they’re certainly not traders; they are relatively ignorant and unskilled labourers. On the other hand, some of them are pretty talented in sports and athletics. So it’s obvious, what’s happening isn’t brain drain but a willed-slavery. Indeed the forces that rattle the youths into overcoming those fears heedlessly warrant an investigation.
Let me say the obvious: the ravaging unemployment has since become the fuel of thuggery, pick-pocketing, phone-snatching, armed burglary. The rotten state of public education has produced more cunning kids who discovered they should rather hawk sachet-water than waste their time in a place that resembles a poorly-kept third-world prison than a school. The parental nonchalance plagues the family institution is graduating malnourished, under-schooled, undisciplined, wicked, and mentally unprepared rotten eggs. Coupled with the unfortunate trend of social organisation, people no longer serve as their brother’s keepers. Immorality, especially amongst youths, is being granted a place in the code of conduct, excuse in the intelligentsia and warming reception in the mainstream opinion. While the moral police are either questioned on a far-fetched basis or upon a deliberate loyalty for cancel culture.
It wouldn’t require an expert to predict how the future looks bleak. Critically it asks the question of the accuracy of the relative size of any sample. However, it’s scary that when a menace breakout like a bushfire, a small sample only tells the story of the little that appears obvious. The reality in Kano, amidst the meagre of the sample size, is an emerging bracket of youths being radicalised into emigration-cum-slavery in North Africa. And the weak social forces can only hope to stop them.
MA Iliasu can be contacted via muhada102@gmail.com.
Matso-Matso Jibia and their unfair treatment
By Prof. Abdussamad Umar Jibia
It is now one and a half months since the Nigerian Telecommunication Commission (NCC) issued an order to all telecommunication companies to shut down their telecommunication sites in Zamfara state. According to the information released by Nigeria’s telecommunication regulator, it did so at the instance of the Zamfara State Government. The shutdown, according to the NCC boss was necessary to “enable relevant security agencies to carry out the required activities towards addressing the security challenge in the state”.
Soon after, a number of local governments in Katsina state, including mine, were shut down at the request of the Katsina State Government.
Although I had my reservations about the order, I kept my comments to myself and remained hopeful. This is for two reasons. One. I decided to believe that the decision was taken in good faith after due consultations and brainstorming among Government and security officials on the ground. In civilized societies such collective decisions are respected not necessarily because they are the best but because of the blessings associated with numbers.
My other reason was to avoid being misunderstood. Since banditry started in Jibia/Batsari area it has affected many of my near and distant relations. But despite that and the fact that all of us, including most of the direct victims, supported and voted in this Government, many people believe that we have no reason to criticize the present Government even if constructively. If you are kidnapped, killed, raped or injured the person you should blame is yourself or your Governor but not the central Government. I know the kind of negative reactions I receive from such people just for narrating that a bandits’ operation has taken place in my local government. That has not prevented me from saying my mind anyway.
It is almost two months now and so far, as far as I know, none of the known bandits’ kingpins has been killed or arrested. Is that because their locations are unknown? I don’t think so. When Government was looking for them to sign a peace accord, they were easily located. In fact, if Government sources are anything to go by, the Governors have their telephone numbers and they were always in touch.
“Since the bandits are isolated inside the forest, is it not easier to bombard them?” I am only repeating a question a journalist asked one of the Governors. The answer, please don’t laugh was, “They hide inside caves”.
Like that journalist, I also thought that the security agents had already identified the bandits’ locations and all that remained was to launch rains of attacks within the two weeks they requested. Alas! Here we are. Tens have just been killed in Sokoto state. In other states like mine, the stories are not different. However, the news does not travel quickly because of the telecommunications shutdown. I heard someone insinuate that to be the reason the Government asked for telecommunications cut.
Of course, some of the Governors like Aminu Masari are vividly helpless. We saw how he went around begging service chiefs to come and help him deal with bandits. In the end, when the kind of help he was looking for was not forthcoming, he started telling the people to acquire arms and defend themselves. Do you blame him?
Yes. I blame him for not buying the weapons and distributing them to the people. Most of the victims of banditry are villagers who are struggling to eat. Where does my Governor expect them to get the money to buy AK47 rifles?
But if I may ask, whose policy is it to burn the houses of suspected bandits but not to kill or arrest them? Again, how do you identify a bandit in order to arrest, kill or burn their houses? I wrote severally that the bandits living in communities should be identified and summarily tackled and I have no regret for saying it.
However, some of the activities of local vigilantes and security forces in the Jibia/Batsari axis leave much to be desired. Over the past month, many houses in selected villages were burnt to ashes and personal effects were taken away by local vigilantes backed by regular security forces. To my dismay, no bandit was said to be arrested or killed in the operations. In fact, as far as I know, no bandit was identified and declared wanted. This raises concern about the sincerity of those who carried out the attacks. Are they actually fighting banditry or is it banditry with another face?
I am particularly worried about one of the villages whose story I know very well. Matso-Matso is a small settlement about two kilometres from Zandam in Jibia local government. Matso-Matso villagers are some of the early victims of banditry. Their resistance to banditry is what led to the assassination of their Imam in 2016. The Imam, who doubles as my maternal uncle, had the habit of gathering people every Thursday to recite the complete Qur’an and pray against bandits’ activities. This led to his attack by a group of bandits on August 7, 2016. The following week, I led a delegation of the villagers to meet the Emir of Katsina and the Commissioner of Police. If PC Usman Abdullahi or the head of his CID are reading this they will bear witness that they promised to launch a raid to arrest the five key suspects identified by the villagers. On their part, the villagers promised to arrest Jatau (not real name) the principal suspect and hand him over to the police dead or alive whenever they set eyes on him.
Neither the police raided nor did the villagers set eyes on Jatau before the infamous peace agreement Governor Masari sealed with the criminals in November of that year. To their disappointment, Jatau came to their village with a full Police escort and they were told that they had no option but to accept him since the Governor had forgiven him and signed a peace agreement with him. After all, they were told, he was their “brother” from a neighbouring village in the Batsari Local Government Area.
With Government in it, the villagers had no choice. They were totally demoralized. They realized their limited power and had to submit. Many times the bandits would come with their cattle and devour their farm produce but they had nowhere to report. The village was attacked several times but calling the regular security forces was a waste of time. The only choice Matso-Matso villagers had was to be paying Jatau, the killer of their Imam to be protecting them against other gangs. And it has been working very well.
Matso-Matso also falls on a major bandits’ route from the forest to the eastern part of Jibia LGA. The armed bandits thus made it a habit to branch and rest in the village and the villagers had no power to repel them.
That is the village in which no less than 28 houses were burnt down by local vigilante and their military backers because “all the people there are bandits”. Meanwhile, Jatau, the leader of bandits in Jibia and Batsari LGA has not been arrested.
My call on Governor Masari, Chief of … (sorry, I don’t even know who to call upon now). Okay, whosoever is in charge should find a more scientific way of identifying bandits living in rural communities and neutralizing them. The advice given by the Chairman, Jibia People’s Forum, which I agree to, is to launch an unexpected house to house search for weapons and the like in the villages. As for the townships, I believe they have by now heeded the advice of the Governor and acquired sufficient rifles.
Anarchy….. Allah Ya kyauta!
Professor Abdussamad Jibia can be contacted via aujibia@gmail.com.
Police apprehend man for allegedly raping two women in Ondo
By Muhammad Sabiu
A 23-year-old Okada man has been apprehended by the police in Ondo State for allegedly raping two women.
Parading the suspect at the police headquarters in Akure, Ondo State capital, on Tuesday, the state’s police public relations officer DSP Odunlami Funmilayo said the suspect was nabbed after intelligence reports reached the police.
The DSP was quoted as saying, “On Oct. 17, at about 1300hrs, Omogunwa (suspect) conveyed a 35-year-old victim at Elebisere road en route Karo camp, Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo state, where he brutalised, raped, robbed and left her to die.
“The suspect along the way, diverted into a bush, attacked and raped the victim, having tied her to a tree and thereafter punctured her eyes with his motorcycle key”.
She added that the suspect also robbed his second victim after raping her.
She confirmed, “The suspect using same modus operandi, before he was arrested, robbed and raped a 45-year-old woman on March 28, along Owobanbo road.
“The suspect after beating the suspect into a coma, raped her, inflicted injuries on her body and also robbed her of N112,000.
DSP Funmilayo also confirmed that the suspect had admitted committing the crimes he was accused of and that he would be charged to court.
No Maulud procession in Plateau this year—Troops
By Muhammad Sabiu
The troops saddled with the responsibility of maintaining peace and order due to the fragile peace in Plateau State have declared that there would be no Maulud procession across the state this year.
The Troops, also codenamed as Operation Safe Heaven, have in a statement signed by their spokesperson, Major Ishaku Takwa, said they had been directed “to ensure that no group organises any form of procession during the period of the Maulud.”
According to the statement, “Operation Safe Haven has noted the arrangement by some Muslim Youths on the Plateau to hold a procession to commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad SAW (PBUH) on Tuesday, 19 October 2021.
“Information received also indicated that the procession is organised without the knowledge of Jamaatul Nasir Islam (JNI), security agencies and the Plateau state government.
Nevertheless, the troops indicated that “While felicitating with the entire Muslim ummah on the birth of Prophet Muhammad SAW (PBUH) and recognising the right to such processions under different circumstances, it is, however, expedient to state that the fragile peace on the Plateau does not present a conducive atmosphere for any form of procession at the moment.
“Further to this, Operation Safe Haven, therefore, wishes to draw the attention of the youths and members of the public on the ban of any kind of protest and procession in force in the state.
“The Military task force encourages Muslim faithfuls to observe the Maulud without any form of procession.
“The Commander, Operation Safe Haven, Major General Ibrahim Ali has directed troops to ensure that no group organises any form of procession during the period of the Maulud.”
Recall that there were in recent months a series of ethno-religious violent attacks and reprisals that led to the death of many and many others sustained injuries.