Abubakar confirmed AS IG OF THE NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE:

MD Abubakar, Police IG

The Police Service Commission, PSC, Thursday July 12, 2012, confirmed Mohammed Abubakar as the Inspector General of the Nigerian Police Force.

It will be recalled that Abubakar was appointed Acting Inspector General of Police on January, 2012 by President Goodluck Jonathan.In a statement issued then by Dr Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity,  the appointment  was the “first step toward  a comprehensive re-organisation and repositioning of the Nigeria Police Force to make it more effective and capable of meeting emerging internal security challenges.”

 

ANOTHER TRAGEDY IN RIVERS STATE; TANKER CATCHES FIRE- 95 PEOPLE DEAD:

Accident scene

About 95 people including children where reportedly killed today Thursday July 12, 2012 at Okobe in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State. Reports have it that 33,000 litre fuel tanker crashed into about four vehihcles and the tanker fell sideways, spilling it`s content. The tanker did not catch fire immediately, but did some minutes after the fall when the inhabitants of the area decided to use the opportunity to scoop some fuel from the tanker. This unfortunate incident left behind, sorrows, tears and blood in the homes of about 95 families. Rivers state police spokeman, Ben Ugwueggulam explained this day July 12, 2012 that a tanker filled with petrol fell in Okogbe and people trooped to the scene to obviously scoop the spilled fuel and suddenly there was fire which resulted in casualities. Kayode Olagunju, sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission in the state said “Ninety-three were burned to death on the spot. Two died later in the hospital (and) 18 people were seriously injured,”

MRS PATIENCE JONATHAN MAKES HISTORY:

                                                MRS PATIENCE JONATHAN, NATIONAL RECORD HOLDER 

                                                                

The wife of the present president of Nigeria, Mrs. Patience Jonathan was on Wednesday, July 11, 2012,  made a permanent secretary alongside 17 others in Bayelsa State by the Governor Seriake Dickson. According to the senior special assistant to the governor on media affairs, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, in the state`s radio broadcast, gave the reason for her appointment, The reason for the appointment of the first lady was that the First Lady was a teacher in the state’s civil service and has been on leave of absence since 1999 to join her spouse in his political service; first as a deputy governor, governor, vice president, then president. If not for the leave of absence, according to him, Mrs Jonathan would have risen to the status of a permanent secretary by now. With this appointment, Mrs Jonathan has obviously set a national record for herself as no first lady in the history of Nigeria has held two public offices.

P-SQUARE-BEREAVED:

Late Mrs. Josephine Okoye  
Popular Nigerian musicians, Peter and Paul Okoye popularly known as P-Square lost their mother Mrs. Josephine Okoye on July 11 2012 in India to an undisclosed illness.May her gentle soul rest in perfect peace.

P-SQUARE-BEREAVED:

Ajimobi gives condition for recalling 3,000 sacked workers

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State

IBADAN—Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, yesterday, said  he would recall the recently-sacked 3,000 workers if it was the consensus of the people of the state.

He said this in his office  at the inauguration of a panel set up to review claims of wrongful termination of appointment by some civil  servants.

The governor said: “We as a government will not on any occasion  sack any innocent person. It is unGodly and indeed, a sin against God and man.

“But, if anyone defrauded the system, has stolen and falsified his credentials and you say we should temper justice with mercy, you are inflicting great damage on the system which will soon destroy its whole fabric.

“But, I say once again, ours is a listening government.

“ If  this is the consensus of the good people of Oyo State that anyone who has stolen government money; anyone who falsified age; anyone who falsified certificates; anyone who is a ghost worker, we should leave them in the system, so be it.

“We will respect the wishes of our people, but I must tell you, if we do this, this state will not move forward.”

Ajimobi said the decision to implement the audit report set up by the immediate past administration of Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala was carried out to ensure that the Oyo State public service regained  its reputation as one of the best in the country.

 

ASUU will go on strike if…

ASUU`S Logo

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to go on strike if the federal government relents on its current drive to reform the sector.

The union which recently commended the efforts of the Federal Government in addressing the challenges facing University education in the country so far however  warned that the Union would not hesitate to go back to the trenches if the government relapses “on its current outlook” in tackling the dwindling fortunes of university system in Nigeria.

New President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Isa said made this remark when he led a team of former leadership and other members of executive on courtesy call on the Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Professor Mahmood Yakubu in Abuja.

Nasir who was accompanied by the immediate past ASUU President, Comrade Ukachukwu Awuzie and Awuzie’s predecessor, Abdullahi Sule Kano.

There has been relative peace in the University System base on the cogent efforts of the present Administration of President Goodluck Jonathan in full implementation of the FGN/ASUU 2009 Agreement.

Apart from restricting the intervention of TETFund to tertiary education, the Federal Government, according to ASUU has shown genuine commitment to the demands of the Union as contained in the agreement.

Dr. Isa noted that ASUU as an intellectual organization, believes in dialogue and until that is exhausted, strike would not be the next option.

He assured on adequate collaboration with the Federal government to ensure that the University is repositioned to compete favourably with other universities in the world, stressing that no country could develop effectively without education.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof. Yakubu, noted that the agency has taken steps to address the critical challenge of the dearth of qualified lecturers in the Nigeria University System.

He revealed that about 624 university lecturers sent for postgraduate training in overseas have completed their programmes and return to the country to boost the manpower in the system.

Besides, he said about 5, 800 other university teachers are currently undergoing postgraduate training both at home and overseas being sponsored by TETFund.

First Stakeholders’ Forum of the Oyo State Signage and Advertisement Agency (OYSAA).

Mr. Yinka Adepoju, Director General Oyo State Signage and Advertisment Agency (OYSAA), addressing stakeholders at the first Stakeholders’ Forum of the Oyo State Signage and Advertisement Agency (OYSAA) which took place in Ibadan, Nigeria recently. Below is the DG`s speech

``It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the first Stakeholders’ Forum of the Oyo State Signage and Advertisement Agency (OYSAA). I also thank you for your support and encouragement since the inauguration of this Agency. As you are probably aware, It is a New Dawn in Oyo State as the entire Outdoor Space which is directly under our control shall be totally re-planned and re-engineered for mutual profitability.

With this maiden interface today, I believe a partnership has been struck to continue to work together in harmony to realize the ideal International Standard and World Class Out-of-Home Advertising and Signage practice in Oyo State. The citizens of Oyo State deserve the best and the government led by our amiable and progressive Governor Senator Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi is determined to do just that.

At this juncture, it is pertinent to formally introduce the newly created Oyo State Signage and Advertisement Agency (OYSAA), which by the grace of God, was established by law, to regulate and control outdoor advertising practice in the State. It is now an offence punishable under law to practice outdoor advertising in the State without being duly registered by the Agency.

Our major goal is to transform the state in such a way that it will attract investors, advertisers in addition to promoting economic activities with a view to creating win-win situation for regulators and operators in Oyo State.

By the grace of God, as the pioneer Director General of OYSAA, the mandate I have backed up by law is to supervise an agency which among other functions will:

·        Control outdoor structures to be used for signage and advertisement, issue licenses and permits for the construction, placement of outdoor structures and promotional activities in any part of the State;

·        Protect the environment from adverse environmental impacts caused by visual blights;

·        Control the number, size and locations of Outdoor structures;

·        Ensure the Outdoor structures are sound and carefully designed, erected, modified, maintained or removed when no longer in use to avoid damage to lives and properties;

·        Ensure outdoor structures are compatible with surrounding land uses and environment and further ensure the beautification of the immediate surrounding and vicinity of the advertisement;

·        Ensure that our streets are well lit by providing street light poles on all major roads within the state; and

·        Control the pasting and display of posters and banners on public structures and highways.

Indeed, OYSAA’s vision is to be in the forefront and a role model in signage control, outdoor management, civic beautification and bumper harvest in terms of revenue generation to carry out developmental projects in the State.

As it is clearly stated in our previous correspondences, the deplorable state of many billboards and signs on our highways is something to worry about. We are not happy that a good percentage of billboard structures are displaying torn posters, some of them are already dilapidated, some are completely broken down while some are with faded posters.

You will agree with me that before now, the state of outdoor boards in Oyo State was nothing to write home about because of the indiscriminate way of erecting boards which had little or no consideration for order, public safety and aesthetic beauty of the environment.

In line with the Transformation and Restoration Agenda of the Governor Ajimobi led administration, what we are doing and by the grace of God shall continue to do is to change the face of outdoor practice throughout the length and breadth of the State. We cannot continue with the haphazard erection of billboards and signs of all forms as it were.

Permit me, however, to say that to achieve this novel trend, we need you as much as you need us and the way our program is structured is such that will not edge out any practitioner or advertiser of business. Meaning, there will not be wholesale destruction or removal of boards but well organized and effective sanitization in order to de-cluster our roads of cluttered billboards.

This thinking has already been demonstrated in the sanitization exercise the agency had carried out in the last couple of weeks with focus on fallen billboards, badly positioned boards and illegally placed billboards in various parts of Ibadan, the capital city. The next step that will be embarked upon concurrently as the sanitization team moves to other parts of the state is the enumeration of billboards and signs to determine what is left in terms of:

·        First Party Signage

·        Second Party Signage

·        Third Party Signage

·        Mobile and Kiosks Adverts

To drive this enumeration exercise, I am happy to inform you that, the Agency had organized one-week training exercise for 50 cadets of the YES-O seconded to the Signage Agency from the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Authority (OYRTMA). I am also delighted that the cadets have shown tremendous capacity for their new assignment as they have taken up the challenge of turning around the outdoor advertising scene in the State. Arrangements have been concluded to train another batch of YES-O cadets who will join our work force as Enumerators.

 At OYSAA, we see this assignment as a ‘silent revolution’ to make Oyo State outdoor space beautiful, decent and conducive, and I would like to solicit your support to join the Transformation Train in order to achieve an unparalleled success in this herculean task of turning around the outdoor scene in the State. This mission must be accomplished.

 The enumeration exercise will form the database for the Agency as a proper audit of all categories of signs and billboards which will detail out the advertisement on the structures, areas where the hoardings are located, condition of the structures and other related matters. 

So far we have discovered that majority of practitioners and advertisers have outstanding bills for 2 to 3 years i.e 2010-2012. We expect that such out standings will be immediately cleared by affected practitioners after this family meeting while practitioners will pick up registration forms in which pictorial sites list of all boards in Oyo State will be attached for registration purposes by the Agency. Any board that is not listed within the next 21 days shall be removed at the expense of the owner.

 Let me reassure Stakeholders and the general public that, with this new initiative, there would be provision of limitless opportunities for Outdoor growth in Oyo State and a level playing field for all who want to practice in the State.

Distinguished stakeholders of out-of-home media in Oyo State, the notice to put new erection or installation of billboards and signs on hold, which the Agency circulated recently, is to ensure that everybody is carried along in the actualization of our mandate as a new order of what the Outdoor Space in Oyo State will look like will be unveiled at today’s Stakeholder’s forum.

Like other regulatory agencies, our task is huge and challenging. This is why your understanding and support are important. On our part, we are ever ready to listen to your inputs on how best to achieve the Agency’s goal of creating a world-class signage and outdoor advertising environment in Oyo State. You will please note that any idea, contribution and suggestion that cannot be taken at this meeting for exigencies of time can be send to our Office as memoranda while such will be considered on their merits.

Finally, I would like to thank all the stakeholders for your collective and individual contributions. We are motivated by our mission and our vision. I hope we will have a productive and inspiring deliberation.``