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NEMA Resumes Air Ambulance Service

By
Koko Lawrence
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The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Air Ambulance service has resumed operations after successful routine maintenance and completion of all civil aviation requirements.

The agency disclosed this in a statement signed by Manzo Ezekiel, the Head, Press Unit, NEMA, on Tuesday in Abuja.

He stated that an official inaugural return flight was held, with Sadiya Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development and the Director-General of the agency conveyed from Abuja to Dutse on an official engagement.

He said that NEMA introduced its first air ambulance for emergency healthcare in 2014.

He added that the aeroplane, which was launched at the Trauma Centre, National Hospital, Abuja, was for quick transportation of patients with emergency cases.

Ezekiel recalled Capt. Ibrahim Mamman, the then Chief Pilot and Head of the NEMA Special Wing, as saying the project was part of the transformation agenda of the Federal Government of the time.

He quoted Mamman as saying “the air ambulance can be used to transport patients with critical and traumatic health situations from anywhere.

“As a matter of fact, the jet can go to anywhere in the world; it has a mile range of 3000 miles.”

He stated that operations of the air ambulance service were grounded in 2018 after it was due for routine maintenance and regulatory requirement.

He added that the repair of the aircraft was completed in 2021 and returned from France.

He said that this year, the present management finalised all regulatory requirements in returning the aircraft to its ambulance operations.

Authorities Mandate  Health Insurance For Nigerians

By
Olasunbo Okoromi
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The Director General/Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Health Insurance Authority, Prof. Mohammed Sambo, has said the new NHIA Act 2022, now makes health insurance mandatory for all Nigerians.

Speaking at its stakeholder’s forum, held at NHIA Lagos, Sambo in his presentation titled, The National Health Insurance Authority Act 2022: Critical areas of modification and strategy for implementation, said the NHIA Act was signed into law by President Muhammad Buhari on May 19, 2022, repealing NHIS Act 2004.

He added that it would give hope to 83m vulnerable Nigerians. He said the critical areas of modification were in nomenclature, NHIS to NHIA and the objective of the organisation should be to promote, regulate and integrate.

He added that the strategy for implementation of the Act was in the following thematic areas, legal and regulatory issues, administrative and financial issues, technical issues, policy and advocacy issues and cross-cutting issues.

The Deputy General Manager and State Coordinator of the Yaba State Office, Mrs. Catherine Tanzamado, stressed that the new NHIA Act 2022 would ensure that all Nigerians were covered with a basic minimum package of health services.

Strike: SSANU, Federal Govt. Negotiation Committee Meets Friday

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and National Association of Academic Technologists are set to meet with the Federal Government’s negotiation team led by Prof. Nimi Briggs on Friday.

Sources in the Federal Ministry of Education confirmed the plan to news correspondent on Sunday in Abuja.

SSANU and NASU, like the Academic Staff Union of Universities, are on strike following what the unions described as the failure of the government to meet some of their demands.

The strike by the unions commenced with a two week warning strike which started on March 27, 2022, while the extension of another two weeks commenced on Sunday, April 10, 2022, and it is still ongoing.

Some of the demands of SSANU include the inconsistent issue of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system, unpaid earned allowances, delay in the renegotiation of the FGN, NASU, SSANU agreements, and non-payment of minimum wage arrears.

Others include neglect and poor funding of state universities, non-payment of retirement benefits to outgoing members of the unions, and usurpation of the headship of non-teaching units in clear violation of conditions of service and establishment procedures, among others.

The unions like ASUU had also rejected the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.

Confirming the planned meeting to news correspondent in Abuja, the National President, SSANU, Muhammed Ibrahim, said, “I can confirm that we truly received invitation to meet with the Nimi Briggs committee on Friday. That is official and I can authoritatively confirm that to you.”

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, Ben Goong, in an interview with on Sunday, noted that the ministry would address journalists on Thursday in Abuja.

“The minister will break silence on the issue of strike on Thursday. He will be speaking at the State House. All the issues will be addressed,” he said.

Also, the National President, ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, confirmed that the government would meet with ASUU.

He, however, did not mention the specific day of the week.

“Yes, we are meeting this week,” he simply said.

ASUU Strike: Union, Federal Govt To Meet On Tuesday

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Academic Staff Union of Universities is scheduled to meet with Federal Government representatives on Tuesday over its prolonged strike action.

Speaking in an interview, President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke said the meeting was to discuss one of seven issues ASUU is protesting over,

“That is the issue of renegotiation,” Osodeke said, “the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.

“It is not just about wages. It has to do with the system, funding, the structure, the autonomy and other issues; and how to fund universities.

“The government has reduced it to just salaries alone. But if they had looked at the whole agreement and implemented it, we will not be talking about funding.”

Professor Osodeke suggested that if Tuesday’s meeting goes well, the strike action may be called off.

“We are willing to sign,” he said.

*ASUU’S DEMANDS*

ASUU embarked on a four-week warning strike on February 14.

On March 14, the union extended the industrial action by another two months to allow the government meet all of its demands. A 12-week extension was announced on May 9.

Since May 9, the union has remained on strike, vowing to persist until its demands are met.

The academics are seeking improved welfare, revitalisation of public universities and academic autonomy among other demands.

One bone of contention for the academics is the non-payment of university revitalisation funds, which amounts to about N1.1 trillion.

But the Federal Government has said it doesn’t have the money to pay such an amount, citing low oil prices during the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The agreement was struck in 2009.

Another is the issue of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

The academics have proposed an alternative payroll system, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).

ASUU Vows To Petition Professional Bodies Over AAU ‘Illegal Examination’

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Benin Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has petitioned Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State to the National Universities Commission (NUC) over what it insisted was an illegal examination.

The state-owned tertiary institution which is presently part of the ongoing nationwide strike action by the union had recently conducted its second-semester examination.

Speaking Monday in Benin, the zonal coordinator, Prof. Fred Esumeh said that the union will never recognize the outcome of the examination which was not conducted by the striking lecturers.

Esumeh said that going by the fact that the examination was written without the students being taught by the lectures, certificates from the school risked not being recognised by professional bodies anymore.

He accused the authorities of running foul of the law as a semester has 14 weeks as against the three weeks of lectures at the institution before the strike started resulting in some courses not being taught.

The coordinator charged: “This is wrong and we have told the university authorities. Left we no choice, we decided to petition the regulatory and professional bodies on the anomaly that is going in Ambrose Alli University.”

He said that the union intends to eventually petition the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria), Council for the Registration of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN), Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and other professional bodies are not to recognize certificates issued by the school.

The unionist added: “In line with our earlier threat, we have written to NUC to draw attention to the conduct of illegal examination by the authorities of AAU. NUC should not recognize the results of the examination. ASUU is still on strike. Lecturers at AAU were not part of the examination and will never recognize it. We intend to petition the different professional bodies not to recognize certificates from AAU.”

Prof. Esumeh who was joined by the chairmen of branches under the zone, said the union frowned at the poor funding and mismanagement of the university’s resources with the management’s inability to meet its obligation of payment of staff emoluments, hence a resort to irregular and selective payment of salaries.

According to him, the recent reduction in the monthly subvention of the university to an abysmally low N41.3 million from N270 million has led to the workers being owed 20 months of salary arrears from 2020 to date, with 15 months of unremitted sundry deductions to staff unions.

This, he noted had put the total amount the university owed the union members and associations at N4 trillion.

“The state government must of a necessity intervene at this point to clear the arrears of emoluments of workers of the university.”

Isa Pantani Chairs Committee To Review IPPIS, TSA, others over Irregularities

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Federal Government of Nigeria has inaugurated a Presidential Steering Committee to review Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS), the Treasury Single Account(TSA) and Government Integrated Financial Management System( GIFMIS) over irregularities.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, who is also the chairman of committee inaugurated it on Friday in Abuja.

Pantami said that the committee would be supervised by the ministry and other relevant government institutions.

He also said that the systems have technical challenges which needed to be corrected.

Pantami said the committee has been mandated to proffer solutions to the possible leakages inherent in the systems that were exploited by people to divert public funds.

“This technical committee has been mandated by President Muhammadu Buhari, through a letter requesting his approval to review some of the technical processes and systems deployed in government.

“This committee, will serve as a presidential committee with the mandate of ensuring the review of the strengths of these systems and the challenges or weaknesses.

“The committee is to advise the president on how to improve the systems particularly, if there are leakages that are being exploited by evil people.

“The issue came about on the July 19, 2022, when we had a meeting with the president along with other ministries where some technical issues and some challenges were discussed,” he said.

The minister explained that the process of deployment for IPPIS commenced in 2006, that of GISFMIS in 2012, while TSA commenced in 2015 accordingly.

He said that as at the time they were deployed, the provision of NITDA Act 2006 under section A of setting the standardisation of ICT deployment in federal public institutions was not followed.

He, however, said as a result of this, ”these three systems were not subjected to government certification and IT project clearance as encouraged by law and many other government policies.

“However, in spite of that, many achievements had been recorded by their deployment.

“For example, based on the report from the relevant institutions of government, the IPPIS saved the government over N120 billion, while TSA saved over N10 trillion for government.”

Pantami said these records showed that government had recorded some gains, particularly in the recent allegations on the system by people who siphoned money

“It is because of this that we must identify where the challenges are if any and see how these systems can be enhanced technically.

“So, that we will be able to consolidate the gains achieved so far and also improve on them to achieve many more successes.

“National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), looking at it’s mandate will serve as the secretariat.

“The approval and the directive has clearly mentioned that all government institutions that manage these three systems must give unlimited access to the committee to ensure very strong recommendations for approval,” he said.

The minister warned that any institution that fails to give access would be reported to President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said, ”a punishment is going to be recommended to the President for implementation.”

Members of the committee are NITDA, Galaxy Backbone, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning as well as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC).

Others are Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation as well as National Salaries, Wages and Income Commission.

The rest are Bureau of Public Service and Reforms(BPSR) and the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy(FMoDE).

The committee is expected to ‘cleanse’ the systems from the manipulation of some corrupt officials.

Group Reveals 7, 000 Illegal Private Schools in Plateau

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Plateau state chapter of the Association of Private School Owners of Nigeria (APSON) has disclosed that 7,000 illegal private schools were currently operating in Plateau.

Chairman of the association in the state, Solomon Musa, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Jos.

Musa, who described the situation as worrisome,  added that such development was bad for the growth of education in the state.

”As I speak to you, we have 7,000 illegal private schools operating in Plateau; I’m telling you this on my authority as the chairman of APSON in Plateau.

”These schools did not obtain any operational approval from government and yet they have been operating.

”Yes, we are complementing government’s efforts but this is a sad development for the education sector of the state

”And because we don’t deal with anything illegal, owners of these illegal schools are not members of APSON,” he said.

Musa described the recent withdrawal of operational licenses of all private schools in the state and the ongoing revalidation exercise, as a step in the right direction.

He explained that such move would curtail the proliferation of private schools in the state, hence ensure quality service delivery to the people.

”Education as we all know is the bedrock of every society, and no reasonable government will want to jeopardise the education of its future generation.

”To make things right, government decided to withdraw all approvals giving to private schools owners; we are to come for revalidation after which we will be issued  with a license to operate in the state.

”As an association,  we are supporting government 100 per cent because anything that has to do with education has to be done rightly

”In every society, it is the government that regulates all educational activities,  and so should not tolerate anyone that goes against its educational policies,” he added.

Musa, however, advised members of the association to key into the state government’s policy and avail themselves for the ongoing revalidation exercise.

Ibadan Varsity Commences 2022/2023 Academic Session

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Polytechnic, Ibadan (TPI) says the 2022/2023 academic session will commence on Monday, for  fresh and returning students.

This is contained in a statement signed by the Registrar of the institute, Modupe Fawale, in Ibadan.

According to the statement, a two-week registration for all students will commence on the same day and end on Aug. 29.

Fawale also said a one-week late registration with penalty would commence from Aug. 30 and end on Sept. 5.

“Other programmes include a two-day orientation for fresh students which will be conducted between Aug. 17 and Aug. 18.

“Lectures will commence on Sept. 5 and end on Dec. 2, while a three-week First Semester Examination will commence on Dec. 5 and end on Dec. 23.

“Marking and submission of examination results will hold between Dec. 27 and Jan. 13.

“The first Semester will come to an end on Jan. 27, after consideration of the results by the Institution’s Board of Studies, the highest decision making body on academic affairs between Jan. 25 and Jan. 26, 2023,” she added.

Fawale said that the second semester would begin on Feb. 6, 2023 while the academic session would come to a close on July 21, 2023,” the statement read.

Exploring Blue River Provincial Park, New Caledonia

By
Angel Gimalo
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The Blue River Provincial Park, also known by its official name Parc provincial de la Rivière Bleue, is an important nature reserve which is located in the Commune of Yaté, part of the South Province within the special collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific, New Caledonia.

Covering an area of about 9,000 hectares (22,239 acres), Blue River Provincial Park is among the most popular, most incredible, yet most visited areas of the small collectivity.

As it is not that far from the capital city of Nouméa with about 60 km (37 mi), the nature reserve includes the basins of White River, Blue River, Month of May River, as well as the artificial Yaté Lake.

Having the purpose of protecting and preserving the natural heritage that covers great spectrum of nature and wildlife of the island, the provincial park was created as such in 1980 with hope that the environmental awareness will be lifted to higher levels.

Being also part of the larger Upper Yaté Fauna Reserve, this park encompasses varieties of landscapes from New Caledonia, where visitors are able to witness beaches and coconut trees, that slowly change to red earth which contrasts to the lush greenery and most of the time clear blue skies.

One of the most impressive feature is the drowned forest with its hundreds of bleached logs that give the strange, petrified and quite eerie sight which was created with the construction of the artificial dam in 1958.

When moving with further exploration of the surrounding, one can not pass the relics of the past, as the area was a significant source for mining and forestry exploitation throughout its history.

Nevertheless, one of the greatest symbols from Blue River Provincial Park is definitely the Kaori Tree, specifically referred to as Agathis lanceolata tree, which is considered to be some 1000 years old and its height and width will make everyone feel very dizzy.

The flora is also enriched with maquis shrubland that overlays the peridotite rocks and also the unavoidable tropical rainforest that allures everyone to come in the park and spend as much time as possible.

Even though the flora is rich, the fauna is even richer due to the high rate of biodiversity, and the park is known to be one of the last areas where the kagu, or as it is sometimes spelled as cagou, an endangered bird which is nowadays a great symbol of the nation, can be seen in its real, natural habitat.

From the other faunal species the park also includes the crow honeyeater, notou, New Caledonian crow, and crested gecko.

Since there are plenty of opportunities for different activities, one of the more popular ones are the hiking trails, as the park has been designated as an area where motor vehicles in the bigger part of the park can not go, furthermore kayaking the lake and getting as close as possible to the petrified forest, meeting the wild kagus, and the establishment of the Maison du Parc that explains the history of the park.

In addition, there is also an exhibition hall with permanent display of park’s history, a library, a conference room, a shop, archives, and storage rooms.

In conclusion, a definite natural gem from New Caledonia, the Blue River Provincial Park is certainly a place where each visitor of the small French collectivity in the Pacific Ocean should see in person and get familiarized with the impressive flora and fauna the park holds.

Kebbi Settles Outstanding N456m WAEC Fees- Commissioner

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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0

The Kebbi State Government has approved the payment of remaining balance of more than N456 million to West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for the 2022 West African School Certificate Examination (WASC).

Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education in the state, Dr Muhammadu Magawata-Aliero disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital on Monday.

He said: “The Kebbi State Government has approved the payment of N456,596,000 to West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for the 2022 West African School Certificate Examination (WASC).

“This is in addition to N100 million paid to WAEC in April 2022, being deposit, thus, bringing the total payment to N556.5 million.”

The Commissioner recalled that the state government sponsored 30,922 candidates for the 2022 WASC at a registration fee of N18,000 per candidate.

Magawata-Aliero added that government had also approved N2.6 million cost of materials and extra supervision.

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