11042019 - INSECURITY: Senate condemns killings; insists on State Police

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26 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 BY EBUNOLUWA SESSOU THE Executive Director, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Mrs. Lucy Omosefe- Ajayi has described the recent allegations that the complex has been taken over by National Leader of the All Progressive Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his daughter, Iyaloja General Mrs Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, as a blatant lie, void of any iota of truth. Adding that the complex is intact and operators and investors have nothing to fear. Ajayi in an attempt to clear the air on the alleged spurious claim, said that she was right within the LITFC premises prior to the shut down by the operators some weeks back to protest any likelihood of concessioning the trade fair in its entirety. A development they claim was in contravention of the lease agreement the major operators entered into with government. She disclosed this during Vanguard International Women’s Day Round Table oragnised by Vanguard Media Limited which took place at Radisson Blu, Victoria Island, Lagos recently, while responding to issues that bothers on women and development of the country. It will be recalled that some group of protesters mounted the Trade Fair complex recently demoing for explanation by the federal government on why it decided to concession the complex to an individual. Painting the real picture of the issue, Ajayi said, the daughter of the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu never muted such rather it is a mere insinuation by political jobbers to spark up unnecessary rivalry in the state. LITFC is intact, operators, investors have nothing to fear — Ajayi “Madam Folashade Tinubu Ojo never had any hand in this, they were mere insinuations peddled around by mischief makers, our party APC is together and we are in control in LITFC, the transformation here is a testimony in the lips of the operators and those who have one or two things doing here. So the claim is baseless. “On the Igbo thing, Lagos remain an accommodating host they were never discriminated against, rather they are also stakeholders here so they need not fear. “The true picture of what transpired here on March 18th was that the stakeholders embarked on a demonstration at the Trade Fair Complex over a rumour making the round that the complex was going to be given to a concessionaire. “They were protesting the rumoured concession. The PDP government did the concession; which ought to be for 30 years but the new APC administration led by President Mohammadu Buhari aborted it after nine years without a considerable turn over. But in one year we have given the Federal Government about N1bn,” she said. ...As Nigeria spend $1b yearly to import fish BY ELIZABETH UWANDU Dr Patricia Anyanwu, Acting Executive Director, Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, NIOMR stated that empowerment of youths and women in fish production will encourage self reliance, boost the economy and reduce the $1 billion spent yearly to import fish. NIOMR ED, declaring the weeklong training on fish production, fish processing and fish feed production for unemployed youths and women from selected Senatorial districts in Nigeria said that it’s organised as part of the Green Initiative of President Muhammad Buhari led administration. She explained that the training was timely based on the efforts made in diversifying the economy through agriculture, and the shift in oil dependence. Speaking to the participants, Dr Anyanwu said, “I enjoin you as participants to make good use of the knowledge and skills being taught and shown to you through lectures and practical on fish production and post harvest technology. “The fisheries sector and aquaculture now occupy prominent position in the economy of Nigeria. This is because fisheries and aquaculture play major roles in employment generation; poverty alleviation; food security; and foreign exchange earning etc., especially for the rural poor. “Why Nigeria spends over $1 billion importing fish, our goal is to be self sufficient •Lucy Ajayi “The previous handler breached all the contractual agreements, the first thing, it was a developmental concession. The revenue generation is another, he didn’t develop anything. “Secondly he made lives unbearable for the stakeholders here and thirdly he didn’t remit a dime to the Federal Government. So they had to revoke the contract after nine years. “Clearly they never wanted a repeat of the harrowing experience they had way back while the concessionaire held sway. “The whole market people came out, I got a wind of it earlier and I had to come as early as 5:55am so as to prevent a breakdown of law and order. I had to come out to address the crowd. “I had to beg them. They raised so many issues. One was that they said Lagos State wants to take over the place and be collecting fees from them while they were Engaging youths & women in fish production will boost economy in fish production. As the deficit in fish production can be met through local production by engaging the youths and women in agriculture in a sustainable manner that will increase fish production and improved standard of living. “NIOMR CEO said. She added that part of the ways to sustain the drive for local fish production and post harvest technology was to equip participants with Starter packs. Her words, “As trainees after the programme you will be empowered with Starter Pack to kick start their own fish business. The Starter pack is comprised of one tank; catfish juveniles; bags of fish feed; plastic basins; one scale; one plastic sieve; 25kg bag of salt and one logbook for record keeping. “I encourage you to use this training in increasing Nigeria’s revenue through local fish production and also improved your standard of living. Effective monitoring will be put in place and there will be provision of networking. “Dr Anyanwu said. already paying to the Federal Government. “They also raised issues about the concession of the place. Those were the two major issues. I calmed their frayed nerves that there is no cause for alarm and that I will talk to my boss. “I told them Buhari government leads a friendly government and will look into it and they should be calm and go back to their business premises,” she said. On the rumoured concession she said, “Well, I won’t say there shouldn’t be a concession. What I would say is that there should be the presence of the government in this place which we gave the concessioner to do but he didn’t so we had to revoke the agreement in August 2017. “The management board I superintend took over in November 2017, so that means we have been here for one year and four months. If I’m not mistaking the first thing we did was to call a meeting of the stakeholders and to tell them the state of things and to tell them Buhari means well for them and that we are here to find out what went wrong,” she said. According to her most people didn’t know this was a Federal parastatal, this position is an equivalence of a DG. Mine is ED/ CEO, meaning I can defend a budget. Some of my colleagues are just ED and not CEO. They now see things differently. On the concessionaire who failed to remit fund to the Federal coffers, Ajayi said only the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) could answer what would happen about the case. “I think BPE can answer. When I came I took him to EFCC, he was detained for three weeks and they left him on health ground. Mine was to take him there; I am not a debt collector. “Since they have successfully taken him out of my way, mine is to focus. BPE was given the assignment to make him pay the N6.5bn he owed,” she said. She cited effort put in place to check the debtor who some feel have dangerous mien to the system; Ajayi said she has put security in place to forestall any breakdown of law and order around the complex. Some of the concerned operators also clarify the issues, Chairman of the Mechanic Village, Mr. Muritala Mohammed Olawuyi he gave reasons for the protest at the Trade Fair Complex. “We were protesting because we do not want to experience what we experienced under the concession again. He collected money from us without remitting to the Federal Government. For which we were still in the Federal High Court. “Our protest now is that we want to deal directly with the Federal Government. We don’t want any concession again. He took money from us, he didn’t pay the government and he wanted to throw us out. We don’t want that experience again,” he said. Another stakeholder, Mr. Tony Obi, President of Balogun Business Association, BBA, Trade Fair Complex in his own view unequivocally declared that the market is tired of concession regime. “We have different reasons for staging the protest. We have 13 different markets here. Now we are not against the government concession policy but what we are praying for is that they should remove the stakeholder out of it. We have developed the areas given to us. If they want to give out the other remaining areas, they can, but they should leave the area we are using alone. We have developed it. We are also praying they should give us the offer of first refusal, “he pleaded. Firm Empowers Young Female Entrepreneurs SWEET Look World Concept, a beauty company based in Lagos penultimate Sunday completed the empowerment programme of young female school leavers on skin care, makeup, bridal hairstyle, spa, gele craft, Hairdressing, event planning, among others in Lagos. Over twenty participants were issued certificates and assisted with startup kits. Speaking at the graduation ceremony, The Chief Executive Officer of the beauty firm Mrs. Oladunni Mosunmola Mubo explained that the 12 months training programme was designed to alleviate poverty, create employment and address social vices prevalence among the youth. She said: “I feel it is a good thing to empower young girls develops new skills through this kind of training and empowered them to start on their own. I got my training from the Lagos State women poverty alleviation programme. Since I finished and graduated in 2008, I decided to reciprocal by training young Nigerians rediscover themselves, create jobs and help put an end to vices among youth in the country.” The beautician and entrepreneur has vowed to empower more youths, improved their living standard and exposed them to the world in spite of challenges entrepreneur encountered in the country.
Vanguard, THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 — 27 Mother’s Day: Our mothers should be treated with dignity as nation builders-NGO BY GABRIEL EWEPU ABUJA- AS Nigerians join the rest of the world to mark Mother’s Day at the weekend, Founder of Voice for the Less Privilege Organization, VOLPO, Dr Ego- Queen Ezuma, has called for better treatment of mothers as nation builders. Ezuma made the assertion as she spoke on the impact mothers have made to keep the nation moving forward in terms of raising children with painstaking effort and affection for them to be responsible citizens whom have become national assets for sustainable development. According to her, she as a mother knows what it takes to raise children and by her experience also she has seen the impact on the children and nation. She said: “It is important that the world recognises the role of mothers in building the family and ensuring these children are better and productive citizens. “The international Mother’s Day is cardinal because what mothers experience cannot be over emphasized. They have the stressful role to maintain the family coupled with their profession. “Despite what mothers are doing to ensure the nation has human assets for sustainable development they are not really recognized. “The government, development partners, religious organisations, traditional leaders, and community leaders are to see how to recognize mothers and also identify their needs in view of rendering assistance to them through different empowerment platforms that would complement their efforts including legislations as incentives to help these mothers with different careers.” BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA Nigeria government, private sectors and non-profit sectors including faith based organisations have been tasked to prioritized women’s access to wealth. The call was made at the international women day’s conference organised by Fountain Initiative for Social Development, FISD, themed; Advancing women’s equal access to wealth held recently in Lagos. In her keynote address, Pastor Mrs. Nomthi Odukoya said that there is a direct link between women financial well being and the well-being of the society. This is one of the reasons women’s access to wealth should be prioritized by the Nigeria government at all levels, private sectors and non-profit sectors including faith based organisations.” According to her, “Wealth creation will improve how women make decision about their health, their children’s future and also •Barr Ego She further stated that VOLPO will not relent in its mandate and mission to add value to the lives of less privilege mothers as it has been doing. “We in Voice for Less Privilege Organization, VOLPO, will do our best to assist indigent mothers and families with our scare resources, and are ready to partner with relevant and like-minded organisations and individuals to ameliorate the plight of mothers with precarious situations” , she said. She also urged husbands to be of help to their wives to reduce the burden of taking care of the family and expressed concern for single mothers who are finding it difficult to raise their children and as a result have become vulnerable to social vices. “Single mothers are to be assisted also. The challenges are enormous and overwhelming on them, therefore have become vulnerable. Government should protect such who are widows and divorcees by enforcing laws that give them coverage. how they relate with men,” she said Nomthi noted that despite women’s pursuit at various levels of human endeavour, they still suffer marginalisation in decision making skills. It must be acknowledged that, women have made significant progress in Nigeria and across Africa. It is no longer strange for a woman to be the CEO, minister, governor and even president in Africa”. The organizer of the event, Jenifer Soba Pearse, noted that “In spite of many milestones achieved by female entrepreneurs, in our daily lives there are many women that have been maltreated. Numerically, we have more women entrepreneurs in Nigeria than men; disappointingly the female entrepreneurs predominantly occupy the mantra of small businesses and are not supported to grow. During the first panel discussion titled financing your passion Olori Ajayi Executive director Katie Wang company encouraged women to be creative in running their business. BY EBUNOLUWA SESSOU Determined to nurture future investors, a frontline Non- Governmental Organization (NGO), ‘The I Create Club’ recently organised annual entrepreneurship competition among primary schools in Nigeria on innovation and creativity. This year’s competition, in line with the National financial inclusion strategy of the federal government, was supported by Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, a leading manufacturer of rigid foams and allied products. The catch-them -young entrepreneurship competition is also consistent with ‘The I Create Club’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which places premium on nurturing children investors and entrepreneurs as leaders of tomorrow. The Club hosted an Award Prioritize women’s access to wealth — FISD tasks govt., private sector others Ceremony for the outstanding pupils, on “Letter to Mom” and production of frame at Sheraton Hotels, Lagos, at the weekend. The event was lazed with the celebration of Mother’s Day which focuses on virtues of motherhood. A female panel discussed good parenting, balancing of finances, fashion and how to keep up with good looks and fit as mothers. Addressing the participants at the ceremony, the founder and initiator of ‘The I Create Club’, Mrs Eniola Afolayan stated that creativity knew no boundary and that was why this year’s child challenge was taken to a different level to focus on what made mother special to a child. The theme for this year is “letter to Mom: Dear Mom. From left: Empathyspace Consulting Service’s CEO/Consultant Phychatrist, Dr. Kafayah Ogunsola, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc’s Group Products Manager, Mrs Rachel Ogolo, I create Club, Founder/CEO, Mrs Eniola Afolayan, Child Author, ‘The Lion Comes To Town’, Miss Bolaoluwa Asaolu , Corona School Trust Council’s CEO, Mrs Adeyoyin Adesina, Design for Love, Founder, Mrs Oluwunmi Funbi-Olufeko at Lunch and Treat for mothers in commemoration of mother’s day in Lagos at weekend. “The conversation on creating wealth for women is not only about money, it is about financial independence which is an important part of women having confidence. No doubt wealth creation will improve how women make decision about their health, their children’s future and also how they relate with men.” “As we balance for better, women should find ways to enjoy every aspect of their lives this will have a more sustainable positive effect on the quality of their lives and over the long term the health of the nation, she added” However, Abosede George Ogan, ED, Lagos state employment Trust fund warned participants not to take loan to start up a business. It is not a good decision to start up a business with a loan. Sourcing for funding for business should come from friends and family. If you have a vision and you have character and integrity, naturally people will be willing to invest in your business even when they may not understand the business plan but they understand you. NGO nurtures children investors with innovative competition Afolayan explained that the whole idea was to discover children whose write-ups indicated that a bond exists between them and their mothers. She stated further that this brought about the need for the children to undergo a lesson in recycling as they were taught how to transform old cartons to how to frame personalized letters to their mothers. She noted that the 30 competing primary schools were drawn from Lagos State. According to her, each school had two winners, the best pupil in letter to the mother and the best in frame design while mothers of the two winners from each school were invited for the special treat.The child with the overall best frame and letter were the only pupils invited to thee event. Corroborating her,Vitafoam’s Group Product Manager, Mrs Rachel Ogolo, explained that the company was driven by creativity, innovation and the urge to give back to the society, at all levels. Ogolo noted Vitafoam’s support for the lofty vision of The I create club was informed by the need to expose our children to the relevance of innovation and creativity as necessary attributes of an entrepreneur. According to her, a good entrepreneur is also a good investor. She explained that the role of mothers as building block of the nation cannot be ignored as they play pivotal roles in the upbringing of children. “ Vitafoam as an organization believes in creativity. It is part of our core values; we believe in family, we believe in giving back to our society. Our entire business relies on creativity and we know that when people have good rest, it enhances creativity. Igbo-Alejo C&S Nur & Pry where pupils learn in broken classrooms Continued from page 25 years. I observed something, when we went for the signing of MoU, there was a statement that came out from one of the Directors, the woman said even if we stand or do not stand by the contractor, that government will still pay him. I saw that they were playing game with us. That is why, he abandoned this project and went ahead to build another school in Satellite Town while this one was still on-going. He went on and built another one in Epe. “It is like they are using political sense on us being that we do not have much people at the top to help us out. When we get to SUBEB, they will tell us that the chairman is not around, that the school’s abandonment was our problem. Seeking Amuwo-Odofin intervention “Again, when we informed the chairman of Amuwo, Engr. Valentine Buraimoh, he sent his Vice Chairman to see the state of the school. He came and just went round the school, and before I could come see him, he said he had another project to inspect and left. This happened in 2018. “Igbo-Elejo Bale said When asked what he wanted the government to do, the Chief answered, “We want government to help us out to quicken the work on this new building so that we can move the pupils there. We discussed with them to an extent that if this new school is completed, we are going to renovate this old one and make it as the teachers’ lodge.” Chief said. We know about the state of the school, government is working towards its completion – SUBEB PRO When Vanguard sought the reaction of SUBEB, Mr. Seyi Akitoye the public relations officer, PRO, said that government was aware of the deplorable state of the school. However, he added that plans were underway to complete the new building. His words, “We are aware of the school in Igbo-Elejo. However, we are doing all we can to complete the building.” However, when Vanguard paid Engr. Valentine Buraimoh, Chairman, Amuwo-Odofin, LGA a visited he was not available. And all efforts to get his reaction proved abortive as neither did he respond to calls made to him or text messages sent to him. Respite for Igbo-Alejo pupils as construction work begins In a recent visit to the community, although the children are still in the dilapidated old school building, it seems respite may soon come their way as a tour to the new site indicated that work has truly commenced. However, the question is how long would it take again for the classrooms to be fitted so that pupils of C & S Nursery and Primary school, Igbo-Alejo will move in before the rainy season comes. This is as neither the contractor or his workers were seen on site on Monday. Speaking on the new development, Mrs Adeleye said that construction work has actually begun. According to HM, “Works have started at the new site, but we cannot say when it will be finally completed. On his part, the Bale said he wanted to believe that this time the work will not stop. “As you can see, the classrooms are been put in shape. But I cannot tell you when they will finish it. My only plea is that it should be completed before Governor Akinwunmi Ambode hands over as it was under his administration the project was commissioned”.
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11042019 - INSECURITY: Senate condemns killings; insists on State Police

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