NEWS
Niger’s Gov. Bago Commends NYSC for Fostering Unity, National Integration
Gov. Umaru Bago of Niger on Tuesday commended NYSC for its unwavering commitment to foster unity and promotion of national integration.
He gave the commendation at Paiko Local Government Area of the state at the swearing in of the “2023 Batch C, Stream 1’’ corps members deployed to Niger and those redeployed from the FCT for their three-week orientation programme.
The governor was represented by Mr Yahaya Gulbin-Boka, Commissioner for Youth and Sport Development.
He noted that the NYSC scheme had narrowed ethnic and religious cleavages as young people gathered from different parts of the country to serve in a one-year programme after their graduation from tertiary institutions.
He promised to provide an enabling environment for the corps members for their personal growth and successful execution of community development projects.
He encouraged the corps members to assimilate the local culture, tradition and practices of their host communities by listening to their stories and their needs.
In her address of welcome, Mrs Abdulwahab Olayinka, NYSC Coordinator in Niger, said the orientation programme was designed to prepare the corps members for the tasks of the service year.
She advised the corps members to participate in camp activities and to learn from any of the skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development programmes as white-collar jobs were not readily available.
“Let me remind you that the oath of allegiance is important and is expected to guide your conduct in the service year and have significant influence on your lives,’’ she said.
Olayinka advised the corps members to distance themselves from drug abuse, cultism and use of the social media to spread fake news or to fuel of and other untoward purposes.
She enjoined the corps members to, instead promote national unity and be security-conscious and to report suspicious characters to appropriate authorities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a representative of the Chief Judge of Niger, Justice Halima Ibrahim administered the oath of allegiance on the 2,203 corps members deployed in the state. (NAN)
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NEWS
Customs Intercept Contraband Worth N510.92m in Two Conths
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit Zone C, says it intercepted contrabands with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N510.92 million between July 15th and September 15th, 2024.The zone covers the six states in the South-South geopolitical zone and the five states in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
This is contained in a statement signed by Jerry Attah, Public Relations Officer, NCS, Zone C, and made available to journalists on Wednesday. According to the statement, Comptroller Michael Ugbagu, NCS, Zone C, gave the statistics while showcasing the seized contraband to relevant regulatory agencies at the Government Warehouse in Edo.Ugbagu said that the zone also recovered the sum of N25.57 million from demand notices raised based on some infractions noticed, making a cumulative sum of N536.49 million recorded within the months under review.“The DPV was derived from our seized goods, which include 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without an NAFDAC number.“1,015 sacks of dry donkey meat and skin, 75 jumbo bales of second-hand clothing, 463 cartons of foreign spaghetti, 269 pieces of used pneumatic tires, and 56 cartons of smuggled foreign tomato paste.“More worrisome is the interception of 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without NAFDAC registration numbers.”He noted that the cough syrup with codeine and tramadol without NAFDAC registration numbers, if not intercepted, could have had adverse effects on youths.He added that the items were mostly intercepted along the Ewu-Okada/Benin expressways based on credible intelligence. (NAN)NEWS
APC Forum Decries Deplorable Condition of Federal Roads
The Forum of Stakeholders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has decried the deplorable condition of some federal roads in Nigeria. Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the North-Central Chairman of the forum, said this in an interaction with newsmen on Wednesday in Jos. Zazzaga described some of the federal roads as ”death traps”, particularly those within the north-central region.
He said that some of the deplorable roads in the region include Jos-Akwanga, Makurdi-Oturkpo-Otukpa, Makurdi-Ankpa, and Jos-Saminaka. Other roads that needed urgent attention, he said, included Suleja-Minna, Ejule-Otukpa, Ganawuri-Manchok, Lokoja-Abuja, Lapai-Agaie-Bida, Birnin-Gwari-Bokani-Mokwa, Minna-Zungeru-Tegina-Kontagora. ”Currently, the north-central region has the most deplorable roads and highways in the country. ”These deplorable roads have brought severe hardship on the people and lost lives and property through preventable road traffic crashes. ”We call on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and ensure the rehabilitation of these roads because good roads are vital enablers of development,” he said. The chairman also called on governors of states within the region to reconstruct the dilapidated roads and seek refunds from the federal government. ”Though these are largely federal roads, they are located within states, and the beneficiaries are the people of these states. ”So we call on state governments to reconstruct these roads and seek refunds from the federal government,” he added. (NANNEWS
Yuan Strengthens 7. 087 Against Dollar
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 160 pips to 7.087 against the dollar on Wednesday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreigners exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)