25112020 - Selfish Northerners opposing restructuring, says el-Rufai

14 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020
:Vanguard News
Troops neutralise 23 terrorists,
capture IED specialist
By Ndahi Marama
TROOPS
of
Operation Fire Ball
under Operation Lafiya
Dole in the North-East
have neutralised 23
terrorists and captured one
Improvised Explosive
Device (IED) specialist in
Ngamdu, near Maiduguri.
The Acting Director,
Defense Media
Operations, Brig-Gen.
Benard Onyeuko, who
disclosed this yesterday,
said some of the terrorists
were decimated while
trying to obtain ransom from
relatives of abducted
victims.
According to him, two
women and three children
were rescued unhurt from
the Boko Haram/Islamic
State of West Africa Province
(ISWAP) terrorists.
“The gallant troops
intercepted some Boko
Haram criminals while
attempting to collect ransom
from relations of their
abducted victims leading to
the decimation of the
criminals and successful
rescue of two women and
three children unhurt.''
He said weapons
recovered from the
criminals include four gun
trucks, one fabricated
vehicle, two anti-aircraft
guns, one general-purpose
machine gun, two PKT
guns, eight AK-47 rifles and
two AK-47 rifles magazines,
one AK 47 rifle cover and
one Dane gun.
“The gallant troops of
Operation Fire Ball in the
various sectors of the
Theatre, have continued to
dominate the general areas
of operation and carry out
their tasks relentlessly and
professionally,'' he said.
Manufacturers move against
importation of pencils
I NDIGENOUS
manufacturers under
the body of Pencil
Manufacturers
Associations of Nigeria are
working with the Federal
Ministry of Trade, Industry
and Investments to stop all
forms of pencil importation
into the country.
This was the outcome of
a meeting of the
association, stakeholders
and officials of the Federal
Ministry of Trade, Industry
and Investments held in
Abuja.
In a release signed by the
Secretary of Pencil
Manufacturers
Association of Nigeria,
Engr. Ogwu Ajie and its
Chairman, Dr Mrs
Christy Obi-Keguna,
the body noted that it
was high time Nigeria
stopped the importation
SON against product cloning
— SALIM
THE
Standards
Organisation of
Nigeria (SON) has said it
would discourage the
registration of any product
having a similar business
name with an existing
brand to check fake and
substandard goods in the
country
The Director-General,
SON, Mallam Farouk
Salim, said product cloning
short-changes the
unsuspecting consumers
of their hard-earned money
spent on products, while
also bringing hardship on
the already impoverished
Nigerians.
The Director-General
stated this during a
courtesy visit by the Alaba
International Amalgamated
Traders Association to SON
office in Lagos.
The SON boss also
added that product cloning
makes traceability of
products difficult should a
product fail to meet the
minimum requirements of
the Nigeria Industrial
of pencils and called for
a blueprint to make
Nigeria pencils- sufficient.
The association also
opined that grants and
loans be made available to
the pencil manufacturers at
a single digit interest.
The body noted that it was
of national importance and
urgency for the
government to formulate a
standard of pencil
production from Standard
Organization of Nigeria
(SON), pleading the need
for special intervention
funds for members of the
association to be accessed
through the body.
The association pledged
the readiness of the
association members to
liaise with relevant
government agencies to
provide local content in the
production of pencils.
Standards (NIS).
He explained that going
forward, the agency would
discourage the registration
of any product having a
similar business name with
an existing brand that
hides under the names of
successful brands to shortchange
the unsuspecting
consumers.
“The issue of a trademark
cannot be handled alone by
SON, but going forward,
we are going to put a stock
of the products we
register and certify.
Anytime a new product
comes and looks similar
to another product
registered that is already
popular in the market, we
will try to discourage the
registration of that product
with such a name so that
other products would be
identified properly,” he
said.
Also speaking, the
Executive Chairman,
EDAN, Fabian Ezeorjika,
said there is an already
existing partnership with
SON to achieve a
substandard-free market.
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
BIRTHDAY: From left; Olori Janet Mba Afolabi; Celebrant and Asiwaju of Apomu Kingdom, Chief
Olaitan Alabi and his wife and the Alapomu of Apomu kingdom, Oba Kayode Adenekan Afolabi
during 80th birthday and 50th wedding anniversaries of Chief Alabi, which was marked with the
conferment on him as the life National Vice President of NACCIMA and public presentation of a book
titled: Standing Tall at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan. Photo: Dare Fasube.
CONVENTION: Yari, best replacement for
Oshiomhole — APC Aspirants Forum
By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA—AHEAD of
the planned
National Convention of the
ruling All Progressives
Congress, APC, aspirants
who contested the 2018
APC primaries into various
elective positions have
thrown their weight behind
the immediate past governor
of Zamfara State, Alhaji
Abdulaziz Yari to succeed
Comrade Adams
Oshiomhole as the National
Chairman of the party.
National Coordinator of
the APC Aspirants Forum,
Bashir Muhammed Yusif,
in a statement issued
yesterday in Abuja, said the
former Zamfara governor
stands a better chance of
taking APC back to winning
ways.
Yusif said the party needs
a genuine party man who
has had a stint running the
party before and at the same
time understands the
thinking and workings of
the executive and legislative
arms of government.
He said: “The moment the
APC is unable to produce a
reliable, knowledgeable
and hardworking executive,
the situation the party found
itself during the 2019
primaries may reccur.
“The 2019 experience was
a sad moment which no
genuine APC member
would want to see repeat
itself as we work towards
retaining our party’s
position at the national,
states and local government
levels.
“Now looking at the usual
zoning of Nigerian national
leadership, one may not
need to ask where the APC
party chairman is expected
to emerge from. As the
presidency is currently
being housed in the North,
it is obvious that the next
party’s presidential flag
bearer will definitely come
from the South.
Sequentially, the party’s
chairmanship will rotate to
the North, thus swapping
positions.
“In view of the above,
there is no point going
round scouting for who the
next chairman of the APC
will be but to beam our
searchlight on AbdulAziz
Yari, former governor of
Zamfara State if we truly
need to reposition our party
and bring it back to its
winning ways.
“We believe that as a
former National Assembly
Member, our members in
the National Assembly will
see him as their own.
“Yari was a former twoterm
governor and be rest
assured our governors
equally consider him as
their own knowing fully
well that governors are the
leaders of the party in their
various states and he was
in that position too.
“Yari was not only
governor of Zamfara State,
because his leadership
qualities, matched with his
knowledge on party issues,
he was made Chairman of
the Governors Forum.
“Governor Yari is a highly
detribalized person and
this is well known across
political circle. With the
nature of our current
sectional agitations, we
need him to come play the
card well for every zone,
section and state to feel
comfortable as they will be
carried along.’’
Amaechi begs Nigerians over hitches
on Abuja - Kaduna rail route
By Dirisu Yakubu
Lof
AGOS—MINISTER
Transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi, has
apologized to Nigerians
over the recent failure of
locomotives on the Abuja -
Kaduna rail corridor.
The Minister, speaking in
Lagos during the monthly
inspection of the Lagos -
Ibadan rail project in the
company of members of the
Joint House Committee on
Land and Marine Transport
and Marine Safety and
Education), observed that it
is worrisome that brand
new locomotives should
start developing problems
within a short span of usage.
He promised to dialogue
with the Chinese company
in a bid to make them recall
the locomotives as he
believes that what was
ordered for does not tally
with recent incidences.
He added that the
locomotives are under
warranty and “we have
called the Chinese to come
back for the locomotives that
are bad or have failed.”
While expressing
displeasure over the poor
performances of the
locomotives, Amaechi
assured Nigerians that
engineers were on top of the
situation to forestall future
occurrences.
Meanwhile, the Minister
has charged the China Civil
Engineering Construction
Company, CCECC to
speed up work as the
stations must start
operations in December
and must be commissioned
by President Muhammadu
Buhari in January 2021 as
promised.
On the Kano - Maradi,
Niger Republic rail line, the
Minister disclosed that the
positives far outweigh the
negatives as apart from the
rail corridor creating
employment, the project on
completion would make
Nigeria a destination of
choice of export for Niger
Republic’s goods being
that the country is
landlocked.
According to him, a direct
link from Maradi through
By Ibrahim Hassan
THE Speaker of Gombe
State House of
Assembly, Abubakar
Sadique Ibrahim, was
yesterday, impeached and
immediately replaced by
Abubakar Luggerewo.
The motion for the
removal of Ibrahim during
the house plenary was
moved by Shuaibu Haruna,
the member representing
Kwami state constituency.
Mr Ibrahim, who
represents Yamaltu West
constituency, was
Kano to Lagos will facilitate
trade as well as attract more
businesses to Nigeria.
Reacting to questions on
the coastal rail line,
Amaechi said the project
has been approved by the
Federal Executive Council
but the paucity of funds is
delaying its take-off.
On completion of the
Apapa axis of the rail line,
the Minister said the
Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation,
NNPC pipes at Ijora are
constituting a problem. “We
are talking with NNPC;
they need to move the
pipelines. When they move
the pipelines, we will
continue with the
construction.''
Gombe Assembly removes
speaker, 2 other principal officers
subsequently removed
when 16 of the 24 members
of the Assembly passed a
no confidence vote on him.
The new speaker,
Luggerewo is from Akko
Central constituency.
The house also removed
the majority leader, Samuel
Markus and replaced him
with Yerima Gaule
representing Kaltungo
East. The Deputy chief
whip, Yahaya Kaka, was
removed and replaced with
Saidu Mohammed,
representing Deba
constituency.
C
M
Y
K