Quote of the Week…Anticipate “The other side of Bad News”…Season of gaffes and somersaults…Soludo’s “State of Emergency”…QRC at 80…plus South East Digest…
Quote of the Week
"“We have not even
started retracing our steps, closing this gap in exchange rates, closing the
gap in these inflated subsidies, reducing the subsidy payments. While we are
spending 108 percent of our revenues on debt service. Countries cry when they
are spending 30 percent of their revenues on debt service. We are spending a 100 percent, we are all
laughing. We are having parties. If we don’t fix this, we are going to have our
children curse us till eternity." _
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Anticipate “The other side of Bad News”
Keep a date with us next week as we bring you an in-depth interview with Onyemalivegaemechi Okeke.
Season of gaffes and somersaults
It’s that season again when we see and hear the best and the worst from politicians. There were two major breaks last week, one from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and the other from the Jagaban himself, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Speaking yesterday at interactive
session of the Arewa townhall policy dialogue in Kaduna, former Vice President
Atiku Abubakar said “northerners need a president who hails from the north.” He concluded his remarks by saying “I stand
before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin.” The earthquake from this statement is still reverberating!
We told you last week about Jagaban’s growing incoherence. He surpassed himself, yet again, yesterday at KadInvest, the Kaduna State Investment Summit. The APC Presidential candidate inadvertently said Governor El-Rufai “turned a rotten situation” he met on ground in Kaduna into “a bad one”!!
FEC approves MTN to takeover Enugu-Onitsha road construction
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the takeover of the construction of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway by MTN at the cost of over N202.8 billion under the road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme. This followed a memorandum presented by the Ministry of Works and Housing to the Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja last Wednesday.
The Minster, Babatunde Fashola, who briefed correspondents after the meeting, explained that it is in line with Executive Order 7 signed by the President in January 2019. He said the telecommunication giant will complete the dualisation of the 110-kilometre road.
In the same vein, he said the Council approved the Umuchi-Ususu-Umueme GZ Industries Road in Abia for construction by GZ Industries also under the Tax Credit Scheme at the cost of about N4.2 billion. Fashola explained: “So we, the Ministry of Works and Housing presented two memoranda and they are largely PPP-based memoranda and I will explain how.
(A digest of latest reports on the Economy, Industry,
Politics, Sports, and developments around the South East of Nigeria)
ABIA STATE
Appeal Court's ruling on MNK: Jubilation in Aba
The Appeal Court ruling discharging Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB leader, has sparked wild jubilations in some South East States. In Owerri such, people were celebrating and ordering for drinks following the news from the Nigerian capital, Abuja in Aba, supporters of IPOB trooped to the streets singing and dancing to celebrate the appellate court ruling.
ANAMBRA STATE
Governor Chukwuma Soludo has continued to pursue his avowed “State of Emergency” on Anambra State roads with great vigour. Yesterday, the Governor announced the award contracts worth N6.6bn for 5 vital roads in Awka, and N1.6bn for Oye-Agu to Nimo Road.
The contract for the construction of the five vital roads in Awka, the capital city of Anambra State, went to Niger Construction Company Limited and would be completed within 10 months while that for Oye Agu Abagana which was awarded to Nimo Road by Triconstruct Nigeria Limited would be completed in eight months.
QRC Onitsha is 80
The Queen of the Rosary
College (QRC), Onitsha, celebrated its 80 years anniversary last week.
Organised by the alumni, the event held within the school premises attracted Old Girls of the school from within and outside the country.
Queen of the Rosary College was founded on the 7th of October, 1942, during the time, the school was a citadel of moral and academic excellence. Eighty years after, the school is still waxing strong in academic excellence and has produced great manpower in Education, Politics, Religion, Business, Technology and more.
In his homily to mark the event and the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on which the school was founded, the Archbishop of Onitsha Diocese, Most Reverend Valerian Okeke who spoke on Excellence said for one to excel in life, one must dedicate enough time to planning, have a good mentor, be vision driven, imbibe the culture of discipline, be consistent and back up his or her plans with prayer. Archbishop Okeke who is also the proprietor of the school charged the students to key into the Archdiocesan culture which is Excellence in behavior, character and academics.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Education Mrs Ngozi Chuma-Udeh commissioned the staff quarters built by the Old Girls.
FG releases relief materials for flood victims in
Anambra
The Federal Government has released relief materials mainly food and non-food items to flood victims in Anambra. Mr Walson Ibarakumo, an Assistant Director in charge of Response and Rehabilitation, at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said this after a closed-door meeting with officials of the Anambra Government in Awka last Thursday.
Ibarakumo said the non-food items had arrived but the food items were yet to arrive in Anambra due to the traffic challenges caused by flooding in the confluence town of Lokoja, Kogi State.
The NEMA official and his team were received by Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, Deputy Governor of Anambra and Chief Paul Odenigbo, the Executive Secretary of Anambra State Emergency Management Agency.
He said the food consignment had been trapped on the Lokoja axis where the flood had rendered the road impassable to vehicular traffic. He said the food items meant to Anambra were 1,400 (10kg) bags of rice, 1,400 (10kg) bags of beans, 1,400 (10kg) maize, 75 (20kg) of salt, 75 (20 ltr) vegetable oil, 1,000 cartons of seasoning and 75 cartons of tin tomatoes.
The non-food items included 7,350 nylon mats, 1,000 treated mosquito nets, 600 cartons of bath soap, 2,500 Guinea brocades (5yrds) and 1,000 units of each of children, women and men’s wear.
EBONYI STATE
Government Secondary School, Afikpo, holds home-coming
The Governor of Nasarawa State, Eng. Abdullahi Sule will be a guest speaker at the 2022 Home Coming and World Convention of Government Secondary School Afikpo (GSSA, Ebonyi State, while Ejiofor Ezekwe, retired Bank CEO, and a leading Asset and Leasing Consultant will be the keynote speaker. The announcement was made by Amaechi Ude Nkama, Chairman of the 2022 Home Coming and World Convention Planning Committee in an internal memo to the school’s alumni members.
According to him, the
4-days event is scheduled to be held from October 20 to 23, 2022 at Afikpo,
Ebonyi State. Nkama further informed GSSA’s old boys that Eng. David Nweze
Umahi, the Governor of Ebonyi State, also an old boy of the school is the Chief
Host. Amaechi Nkama stated that the
Planning Committee is exceptionally thrilled with the level of support and
cooperation from its old boys’ who reside in Nigeria and the Diaspora, towards
ensuring the successful hosting of an outstanding four-day convention. He
further stated that the convention theme, “Taking Charge of the Future”
reflects the commitment of the alumni association to secure a brighter future
for present and future generations of GSSA students and by extension, Nigerian
students, who are expected to impact the Nigerian society and the world
positively in the years to come.
The programme of activities for this year’s convention released by the Planning Committee will feature among others, the formal dedication and reopening of the newly renovated School Captains Lodge which will be renamed Captain Etta Arikpo Lodge in honour of the first School Captain who is expected to be in attendance.
In his remarks, Chairman, Communication and Publicity Sub-committee, Franklyn Ginger-Eke said, “we are happy to be hosting yet another of our gatherings, and this time we are witnessing a strengthening of the ongoing partnership between Government Secondary School Afikpo Old Boys Association (GSSAOBA) and Government Secondary School Afikpo Alumni Association (GSSAAA). This also explains it’s a hybrid to encourage our old boys in the Diaspora and those unable to travel down to Afikpo to participate online in the various activities”. The 2022 Homecoming and World Convention will seek to aggregate a refined vision for creative partnerships to improve the quality of secondary education in Nigeria, and adequately prepare young ones with requisite skills to meet development challenges of the 21 century”.
IMO STATE
Bridging skills gap in Nigeria requires collaborative
effort, says alumni committee chair
Chairman of the Scholarship Award Committee, tagged STAR Project, an initiative of the alumni network of the Class of 86 at Government Secondary School, Owerri, Imo State, also known as OGSSIAN 86ers, Mr. Emeka Mba, has called for multi-stakeholders collaboration to bridge the gap in skills among Nigerian students. Mba spoke at the unveiling of the STAR mentorship initiative and the second edition of the association’s yearly award held at their alma mater in Owerri.
Stressing the need for collaboration among government, corporate organisations and civil society in bridging the skills gap, he noted that this is in line with the vision and mission of the STAR mentorship initiative of the OGSSIAN 86ers alumni network.
He said: “STAR Project is designed as a learning and development initiative, which seeks to improve learning outcomes, expand school enrollment and raise a pool of students with outstanding academic performances, focused on purpose-driven career goals.
“The programme is the outcome of a detailed need assessment by the school management and the alumni network of the Class of 86.
“In an era where the dearth of human capital development remains a shared concern, the Class of 81-86 proposes its STAR Scholarship initiative as a strategic intervention to help tackle human capital development deficit in the education system.”
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