The Nasarawa State ministry of information and ethical re-orientation on Friday was thrown into pandemonium over a fire outbreak that gutted part of its offices located along Shendam road in Lafia.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that properties worth millions of naira were destroyed in the inferno.

No life was reportedly lost in the fire but archival materials including calendars, historical documents, diaries and electrical appliances were burnt.

The ministry’s staff including the commissioner, Hamza Elayo, were seen making efforts to put out the fire before the arrival of fire fighters.

Speaking to journalists, Elayo said that the fire was caused by power fluctuations noted from the ministry’s store that was recently re organized.

He said that the fire started around 10.30 a.m but was extinguished through efforts of the ministry’s staff before the arrival of fire fighters from the state fire service.

Elayo said that experts would be invited from the state ministry of works to ascertain the level of damage in the building to avoid cracks that might lead to its collapse.

Recent attacks carried out by members of the outlawed Boko Haramsect in Borno state have been done out of desperation for food and cash, the military has said.

Army spokesman in the state, Sagir Musa, said in Maiduguri on Friday that recent attacks on some communities in the state indicate that the terrorists, who are still holed up in various hideouts, may be running out of supplies.

“The recent distressed attacks on isolated villages in some agrarian areas of Northern Borno state brings to the fore the blatant desperation of Boko Haram terrorists in search for food items, cash for survival and sustenance of their sacrilegious activities,” he said.

According to the spokesman, sect members who have now also resorted to cannibalism for survival, rob helpless villagers of food and money.

Musa said that the sect had sent a letter to traders in Dikwamarket demanding N1 million to enable them purchase food items and other logistics, failure of which would invoke their wrath.

He also recalled that on Thursday, troops from Banking Forward Operating Base on a mission to 202 Battalion in Bama discovered some Boko Haram members on the road from Bama road carrying out armed robbery attacks on traders and travellers.

“The terrorists had killed three passengers and collected unspecified amounts of cash and food items during the robbery incident,” he said.

A confrontation that ensued left seven casualties on the side of the insurgents, Musa said.

He attributed the recent upsurge in attacks by the sect to the on-going activities of the 7 Division Nigerian Army combat operations team targeted at Boko Haram bases and enclaves in the rural communities of Bama, Damboa and Gajiram.

Some camps which served as shelter for the group have been destroyed and members dispersed to different locations from where they come out and attack innocent civilians.

Musa noted that these new bases and enclaves have been identified, assuring the public that the army is on top of the situation.

The recent rise of poliomyelitis cases in Borno State has been blamed on terrorist activities in the region.

Borno has recorded 14 cases of polio so far this year, double the figure recorded last year and the highest among eight other northern states in the country yet to kick out the virus.

According to the state commissioner for health, Salma Anas-Kolo, the insecurity in parts of the state made it difficult for health workers to immunize children, thus leading to higher records of the polio virus.
Anas-Kolo said this at a sensitization programme for traditional leaders in the state to create awareness on the need to meet the World Health Organisation, WHO target of a polio-free world by 2014.

She said Maiduguri was picked for the kick-off of the sensitizationprogramme because it recorded the highest cases of six out of 14 in the state, adding that the incidencts could have been higher but for the dedication of health workers in spite of the insecurity in the area.

On his part, the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Al-Amin Elkanemi, who hosted the sensitization programme at his palace, called on his subjects to immunise their children from a few months to five years against the scourge.

He also called on all traditional institutions in the state to intensify effort towards fighting polio, insisting that the government will not give them any drug that will harm them.

In Nigeria, 37 cases of polio have been recorded this year, over 70 per cent of the global 44 cases.

The other states yet to completely eradicate the virus areAdamawa, Kano, Niger, Gombe, Nasarawa, Bauchi, Yobe and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

Niger and the FCT have the lowest record of one case each.

In what now seems to be the norm in Edo State, the traditional ruler  Udo Community, Patrick Igbinidu, has been abducted by unknown men.

His abduction came only hours after human rights activist, MikeOzekhome, was released by his kidnappers nearly three weeks after he and his driver were whisked away.

The traditional ruler, who is the Iyasere of Udo and an in law to the Benin Monarch, Omo N’oba Erediauwa, was kidnapped at about 7pmby a four-man gang while playing draft with his friends close to his palace in the community and forcefully taken away to unknown destination in an Audi car.

Chairman of Ovia South-west local government area, MorrisonOgunrobo, confirmed the kidnap of the traditional ruler, adding that security operatives have been drafted to the area.

Udo, a small community in Ovia South-West local government area of Edo state, is a significant community in Benin Kingdom, where all crown princes to the Benin throne must perform certain rituals before being crowned as Oba of Benin.

Meanwhile, Ozekhome who was freed Thursday morning has asked the federal government to grant amnesty to kidnappers in the country.

Recounting his ordeal to newsmen at his Lagos residence, he described his abductors as “angry and desperate well-read graduates” who have a network of cells across the country.

He said during his interactions with them, they told him that they were pushed into kidnapping due to unemployment and poverty but that they were prepared to sheath their swords and embrace a deal with government if they were assured of their lives.

“As a matter of extreme urgency, I want the Federal Government to immediately grant amnesty to all kidnappers and institute an amnesty programme for all kidnappers,” Ozekhome said.

He also urged the government to declare a national state of emergency on youth unemployment and infrastructure decay, adding that the security situation in the country was a national calamity which demanded urgent attention.

A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt on Thursday ordered the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to recognise and deal with the two factions of the party in Anambra State.

The presiding Judge, Hyeladzira Nganjiwa gave the order while ruling on a motion filed by a factional chairman of the PDP in Anambra,Ejike Oguebego, praying the court to declare Andy Uba as the party’s candidate for the forthcoming November 16 governorship election in the state.

The faction also prayed the court to direct INEC and National Working Committee of PDP not to recognise, Ken Emeakayi’s faction of the party in the state, which produced Tony Nwoye as its candidate for the election.

Justice Nganjiwa in his ruling directed that the order should stay pending the determination of a suit.

READ ALSO:

• Ondo State Ex-Gov, Olusegun Agagu is dead
• Fire guts Nasarawa Information Ministry
• Boko Haram Members Desperate For Food – Army
• Insecurity Shoots Up Polio Records In Borno
• Edo State Traditional Ruler Kidnapped

The judge also ordered the two factions to maintain the status quo and obey the order of a Federal High court in Akwa, Anambra, on May 31

The judge, after giving the order, announced that he was handing off the matter due to a petition he received from Ekem Ekem law firm, adding that he would inform the Chief Judge of Federal High Court and await his directive.

“I will not hear this matter again until I see my chief judge,”Nganjiwa said and adjourned the case to September 17.

The Adamawa Police Command said on Thursday that two policemen were killed in an attack by gunmen on a police station in Lala, Gombi local government area of the state.

The command’s public relations officer, Mohammed Ibrahim, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Yola that the gunmen attacked the station at about 9: 25 p.m. on Wednesday.

Ibrahim said that the attackers fired shots and explosives during the operation.

“The station was burnt because of the explosives used. We lost two of our men and one other sustain injuries,” he said.

Ibrahim added that the attackers escaped to Borno State.

The attack was the first of its kind since the imposition of a state of Emergency on the state by President Goodluck Jonathan in May.

Edo State in South south Nigeria on Thursday during the 3^rd EdoTechnology Day became the first in the country to launch an open data portal which gives access to public records and data.

Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole who launched the open data portal in Benin, said that introduction of Information and Communications Technology, ICT, into governance will make for more efficient operations and help reduce wastages and the problem of ghost workers in the public service.

“I have always wondered how in the 21st century, government after government buffet us with stories about ghost workers; it must sound strange to our development partners when local governments, state governments and federal government talk about ghost workers”, the governor observed.

He went further: “The truth is that we were dealing with monumental fraud in our salary administration such that clerks, junior service officers whose names are not printable in newspapers take advantage of our bulky documentary process  using analoguetactics to deal with digital solutions  and such is the huge fraud that has characterised our wage administration.”

Oshiomhole said that he was sure about where he was going when he assumed office which informed the setting up of an ICT unit, adding, “I am convinced in the task of good governance there is no way we can deliver without investment on ICT.”

“Today we haven’t gotten to where we want to go, but we are already reaping enormous benefit from the initial investment we have made”, the governor stated.

The minister for communications technology, Omobola Johnson, commended the Edo State government for sustaining the EdoTechnology Day and noted that the use of ICT can help a government improve the interaction between it and it citizens or between it and the international community.

Also speaking at the occasion, the representative the World Bank, Jeff Kaplan, said the launching of the open portal data is a major “milestone” not only for Edo State but also for Nigeria.

“As Edo State launches the open data portal, there are about three hundred governments around the world that are also doing the open portal. Around the world now open data is something important to investors,” Kaplan stated..

“As far I know, it’s the first in Africa by a sub-national government and I think it might be the first in the world to launch an open data forum which on day one has data from the sub-national government, the national government, civil society which and international development partners, in this case the World Bank. I don’t know of any open data portal which from day one has data from all of these,” he added.

The Edo State open data portal contains data sets on various aspects of public information including a list of tertiary institutions, school enrolment, population by age and sex, budgets, road contracts among others.

The Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, has called on the federal government to come up with a revenue allocation formula that would ensure even distribution of the nation’s wealth.

The governor made the call at the opening ceremony of a two day public hearing on the review of the revenue allocation formula for the North Central Zone which was held in Lafia,Nasarawa State capital on Wednesday.

Al-Makura, who was represented by his deputy, Dameshi Luka Barau, noted that since 1992, the nation has been unable to come up with a new revenue formula that would reflect changing realities in the state and local government areas.

He expressed dismay at the level of imbalance in the current revenue allocation formula.

“It is no longer news that one state in the South-south receives more than the allocation of the entire North Central zone. This is not only unacceptable but regrettable since we are all contributors to the national wealth and therefore it sharing should be fair”, governor Al – Makurasaid.

Also speaking at the occasion, the chairman Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission,RMAFC, Elias Mbam, said the commission is set to review the current formula in line with paragraph 32 (b) part 1 of the third schedule to the 1999 constitution.

This empowers the commission to ” review from time to time, the revenue allocation formula and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities, provided that any revenue formula which had been accepted by an Act of the National Assembly Shall remain in force for a period of not less than five years from the date of commencement of the Act.”

Mbam pointed out that the review exercise will be the basis for a new revenue allocation formula amongst the three tiers of government.

While observing that the revenue allocation in Nigeria is very sensitive and has serious implications on the unity and socio-economic developments of the country, he enjoined stakeholders at the hearing to be patriotic in their contributions, adding that every section of the country should be considered equally.

At least six persons were killed and two others injured when gunmen attacked Gambiri village inGanjuwa Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

The state police public relations officer, PPRO, Hassan Auyo, who confirmed this on Wednesday inBauchi, said that preliminary investigations showed that the attackers were cattle robbers.

“Our preliminary investigations show that the attackers were cattle rustlers,” he said.

The director of Danga Vigilante outfit in Bauchi, Yusuf Hassan, whose member was killed in the attack, said they were alerted by some villagers that Gambiri village was being attacked and that by the time his men got to there, the attackers had fled.

“We received information that some gunmen attacked Gambiri village in Ganjuwa Local Government Area. Our men were dispatched to the area, but on reaching the place, they found out that the assailants had left,” Hassan explained.

READ ALSO:

• Anambra Polls: Court Orders PDP, INEC To Maintain Status Quo
• Gunmen Kill Two In Attack On Police Station In Adamawa
• Mike Ozekhome Regains Freedom
• Edo Launches First Open Data Portal In Nigeria
• Gov Al Makura Advocates New Revenue Sharing Formula

According to him, it was while conveying the dead and injured to the hospital that his men were ambushed and one of them shot dead.

Hassan said that the incident would not deter the commitment of the outfit in its fight against crime and criminality in the state and assured that the attackers would be brought to book.

He said those who lost their lives in the attack had been buried according to Islamic rites, while the injured were admitted at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, ATBTH, Bauchi.