AT LEAST THREE PEOPLE DIED IN EARLY BOMB BLAST IN KANO

At least three people were injured when a bomb exploded close to the Kano Central Eid praying ground around 9am on Monday.



The bomb was planted close to a spot where Federal Road Safety, Police and other security agents have a post.

An FRSC official, a Hisbah official and an official of a Kano state transport regulatory body were injured by the blast and are presently at the Accident and Emergency section of the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in kano.

Buhari loses 40-year-old daugther to sickle cell

Zulai buhari

Zulai, the first daughter of former  Head of State and a former presidential candidate, Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), is dead.

She died on  Thursday evening after delivering a baby in Nasara Hospital,Marafa Estate in Kaduna.

Nigerians only got to know the 40-year-old lady after her death.

Zulaiha, who was  born on December 5, 1972, studied at the Department of Economics Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

She left behind Amira, Moh’d and the two-day-old  baby girl.

 

Gunmen kill Chinese man, injure two others

An unidentified Chinese man was killed by gunmen near China Town along Oworonsoki Expressway, Lagos on Wednesday.
The Chinese man was said to be coming from Oriental Hotel, Lekki, when he was attacked around 10pm.
 PUNCH Metro learnt that the deceased was in his car with two Chinese ladies when some armed men engaged him in a high-speed chase.
According to Police authorities, the assailants caught up with the deceased’s car, shot and robbed him of his valuables.
The two women also sustained injuries as the pellets from the gun hit one of them in the neck and grazed the other.
The Police Public Relations Officer for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the incident to our correspondent on the telephone.
Braide said the corpse had been deposited at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, while the other two victims were responding to treatment.
“The Chinese man was rushed to a hospital but was pronounced dead soon after. But the other two ladies are responding to treatment. Investigations are ongoing,” she said.
Braide added that the identity of the Chinese man was still unknown

EKSU RESUMES AT LAST

This is to inform all student of ekiti state university(eksu)that the senate meeting which was held at the school today on 28-11-2012 has been concluded and senate has announced to all student to resume on 3rd of december 2012,and they are to comply to all requirements being posted on the school website

40 gunmen attack Abuja police detention facility

Forty gunmen suspected to be terrorists in the early hours of Monday stormed  the office of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Abuja, where  suspects  were being held.

Two policemen and one of the gunmen were killed in the incident, the first of  its kind  in the Federal Capital Territory which had in the past recorded three bomb blasts.

The blasts were  on  October 1, 2010;  June 16, 2011;  and  August 26, 2011.

At least 30 detainees, including  some Boko Haram members,  were said to have escaped during the Monday attack on  the detention facility.

But the police denied that terror suspects were among the escapees. They also said that 25 of the 30 detainees had so far been rearrested.

The attack occurred barely 24 hours after twin car bomb blasts at  the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State.

 The army authorities had on Friday  declared 19 Boko Haram leaders wanted and offered rewards of between N50m  and N10m for information that could lead to their capture.

A source in the police told one of our correspondents that the surprise attack on the detention facility, located around Abattoir, Garki in  Abuja was carried out around 2am.

It lasted for some minutes during which heavy weapons were allegedly  used by the gunmen.

 The senior police officer put the number of the attackers at about 40. “The attackers numbering about 40 came from the bush and attempted to overrun the facility but the valiant policemen on duty repelled them.” the source said.

According to him, one of the attackers was killed and two others arrested.

A mobile police officer,  whose name could not be immediately ascertained  and a police Inspector,  Fakat Zaremi,  were killed during the exchange of gunfire.

Emmanuel Domsing, a lawyer, said he was informed early in the morning that his brother, Zaremi,  was killed by the gunmen.

He said, “I was called that my elder brother was killed during the attack, but information is scanty on what actually transpired; the family is waiting for a formal report from the police.”

Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, visited the facility around 1pm on Monday. He  was briefed by the SARS Commander and the Federal Capital Territory  Commissioner of Police, Ade Shinaba.

Abubakar, then ordered a high-powered  panel headed by a Senior Police Officer to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Some senior military officers were also said to have paid visits to the facility to commiserate with the police on the attack.

When one of our correspondents visited the detention facility, security around the complex was tight as armed policemen turned back all visitors.

A photojournalist with Daily Independent, Jide Oyekunle, was arrested and detained  by the police for attempting to take pictures of the SARS office after the invasion by the gunmen.

JABU trains 620, produces nine first class graduates

Vice-Chancellor, JABU, Professor Sola Fajana
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Authorities of the Joseph Ayo Babalola University in Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State, on Monday said the institution was partnering with the state government to train 620 youths under the state’s empowerment scheme.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Sola Fajana, who stated this at a news conference on its fourth convocation ceremony slated for Friday, also said that the school had produced a new set of nine first class graduates this year.

Under the arrangement, he said the institution was mandated by the Osun State Government to train the youths in entrepreneurial skills that would be supervised and coordinated by the directorate of the state’s Youth Empowerment Scheme.

Fajana also explained that the university was partnering with the News Agency of Nigeria for the training and retraining of members of staff of government establishment.

He said the programme which was being coordinated by the Mass Communication Department of the institution would also lead to students/staff exchange in the practice of journalism.

He said, “The programme will develop the talents of the students and the teachers and provide a platform to reveal these talents in the form of demonstration, training workshop and exhibition.”

The vice-chancellor said nine of the 316 students of the school who would take part in the convocation ceremony on Friday had first class while 189 of them had Second Class Upper Division.

He said 94 of them had Second Class Lower Division while 24 graduated with a Third Class.

He said none of the graduating students was in the pass category in line with the directive of the National Universities Commission which discouraged the award of a pass.

Fajana said the multi-million naira Gate House donated to the school by the General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Dr. Daniel Olukoya, would be inaugurated on Thursday.

He also said that the foundation laying ceremony of an ultra-modern Senate building which Olukoya had agreed to build for the university would be performed immediately after the inauguration of the Gate House

Olubiyi Odunaro, the 53-year-old former employee of Hallmark Bank Plc., protesting against non-payment of his terminal benefit, on Monday suspended his 14-day hunger strike.

The   suspension of the protest followed spirited appeal by a representation from the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, and officials from the Lagos office of the Public Complaints Commission.

Senior Special Assistant to Fashola on Justice Sector Reforms, Lanre Akinsola, who led a team of legal, welfare and medical officials to the tent Odunaro had turned to his home on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Lagos, promised to intervene.

Akinsola said, “The attention of the Lagos State Government was drawn to the various media reports about the protest being embarked upon by Odunaro and it’s quite pathetic.

“Governor Fashola who was worried about his state of health formed an inter-ministerial committee comprising medical, legal and welfare officials and directed me to lead the team to  persuade him to end his hunger strike.

“As a responsible government we don’t want a dead casualty in our hands as a result of this protest. Once he ends this protest, we would first provide him medical service while the Lagos State Directorate of Citizens Rights would engage the authorities concerned in a comprehensive dialogue.”

Akinsola said the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, had given him his word on free legal services to Odunaro and other ex-workers of non-consolidated banks seeking the payment of their entitlements if the negotiations become unfruitful.

“We will mediate and talk to the right people and we believe reason will prevail in this matter and if not, lawyers from the Lagos State Ministry of Justice will work in conjunction with the lawyer of the group and ensure that justice prevails and everyone of them gets their entitlement,” he added.

John Ogunniyi, who led a legal team from the Public Complaints Commission, implored Odunaro to end the hunger strike.

He said, “The Lagos Commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission, Funso Olukoga, sends his word that you end this protest and go back home while we look into your complaints.

“We’ve listened to the complaints and we are going back to report to the commissioner and see the best we can do concerning it.

“We are making this appeal because of your health and the negative consequences it may have on you. The commissioner has given us the authority to ensure that the matter is resolved.”

After persuasion and engagement by the state officials and consultation with members of the Association of Ex-Staff of Non-Consolidated Bank, who had gathered at the site which lasted for about three hours, Odunaro who clocked 53 on Monday announced the suspension of the protest.

He said, “This struggle is not only  about myself; it’s about the right of over 14,000 ex-workers of non-consolidated banks who are ably represented here today.

“The Lagos State Government and the PCC have  given me and my people their word and I would hold on to it. My other colleagues too have appealed to me to give the state government the opportunity to play their part in this matter.

“In view of this, I announce the suspension of my hunger strike for two weeks to enable me to  go for medical treatment and allow the state government play its part in this debacle.”

President, Association of  Ex-Staff of Non-Consolidated Bank, Magnus Maduka, said, “We  will be leveraging on the clout of the state government and the promises of the Public Complaints Commission to get our  entitlements which we  have  been fighting for for about seven years.”

As soon as he announced the suspension, the medical team from the Lagos State Ambulance Service who  had been waiting for hours led him into an ambulance marked LA 167 A08 at about 3:09pm and took him to the Medical Emergency of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for medical attention.

You are here: Home / Education / Plumber’s son emerges FUTA’s best student

Plumber’s son emerges FUTA’s best student

November 27, 2012 by Sunday Aborisade, Akure 79 Comments

Nurudeen Adegoke
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Twenty-six-year-old son of a plumber whose mother is also a trader in Iseyin, Oyo State, Mr. Nurudeen Adegoke, has emerged the overall best graduating student at the 24th convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, on Saturday.

Adegoke, who read Mathematics, shone like a star at the occasion as he won other awards and had to shake hands on different occasions with special guests and other principal officers of the university to receive his prizes.

He told our correspondent that the road to his success was rough and challenging as he had to put in personal efforts to get himself through his degree programme at FUTA.

He said, “I really worked very hard. No unserious student can survive the rigour at the Mathematical Science department from where I graduated. I was very prayerful too.

“Right from my first day in FUTA, I was determined, focused and diligent. I was humble too because humility is very essential in anything one is doing.

“I was at the Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke, for my Ordinary National Diploma in Statistics. I got direct admission to FUTA, doing everything on my own.

“My dad is a plumber while my mother is a petty trader. I am really from a humble background. Being the first child of my family, I made up my mind to be serious and hardworking so that I could help my parents in taking care of the academic needs of my younger ones.

“I always had it at the back of my mind that I must pass very well if I really wanted my certificate to be useful to me and I was always prayerful and focused.

“I used to get involved in tutorials. I didn’t play with my academics. I am not sure I had any social life because I didn’t want any form of distraction,” Adegoke submitted.

He advised students to face their academics instead of engaging in activities that would not add value to their main reason of being in the university in the first instance.

The Chancellor of the institution, who is also the Emir of Lafia, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Isa Mustafa, described the five-year degree programme at FUTA as stimulating and intellectually enriching.

He congratulated the graduates for attending an institution with world-class academic curricular which made it the best university of technology in Nigeria.

He admonished the graduates to be entrepreneurial and creative and to tap from the vast natural endowments and economic resources in the country instead of looking for salary jobs years after graduation.

He said, “I exhort you to be lawful, peaceful, and God guided in your pursuits of livelihood. I beseech you to follow the path of honour, integrity and righteousness at all time.”

The pro-Chancellor, who is also Chairman of the Governing Council, Brig.-Gen. Raji Rasaki, said FUTA would remain focused in its determination to contribute towards the development of quality human capital to meet local and global needs.

He also pledged that the university would continue to intensify efforts to attract indigenous and foreign students at both undergraduate and post graduate levels by acquiring facilities that meet their demands.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola, said 15 out of the 1,960 students that graduated had a first class degree while 561were in the second class upper division.

He added that 998 graduates were in the second class lower division; 331 in the third class; while 55 of them graduated with a pass.

Daramola said the university agreed to confer honorary degrees on Lt. Gen Theophilus Danjuma and Prof. Daniel Mireku-Gyimah from Ghana because of their generous contributions to human capital development.

He reiterated his determination to “take FUTA to the market place” by focusing on policies and programmes that would lead the institution to a higher height of global recognition for excellence.

He said, “We are also going to harness, package and market the great potential of the university to be financially solvent.

“We are starting by focusing on completing all on-going projects, upgrading our entire infrastructure to international standards. It is a daunting task that requires a lot of reforms, system re-engineering and economic utilisation of human and material resources,” he added.

Daramola also explained that through the introduction of entrepreneurial training to the students, electrical and painting jobs that were usually contracted out were now being handled by the university’s works and services personnel with the active participation of students, saving the institution, millions of naira.

He commended the  Ondo State, Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, for his efforts when the university was in the process of acquiring one of the state’s housing estates near the campus for its centre for continuing education which is responsible for pre-degree programmes and short-time certificates.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who was represented on the occasion by the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie, charged the university to focus more on research which he described as a veritable tool for development.

Mimiko, who was also represented on the occasion by his deputy, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, pledged the continuous support of the state to the institution and provision of an enabling environment for the members of staff and students at all times.

NATURAL DISASTER IN JAPAN

Japan's tsunami dock washed up in US state of Oregon 7 June 2012 Last updated at 09:29 A huge dock torn from a Japanese port by the 2011 tsunami has washed up 8,050km (5,000 miles) away on the US West Coast after crossing the Pacific. The 165-tonne structure made of concrete, metal and tyres, and studded with starfish and barnacles, arrived on a beach south- west of Portland, Oregon. It has tested negative for radiation, but scientists say a host of invasive marine species may have hitched a ride. Police are guarding the dock while officials decide what to do with it. A plaque on the 20m-long (66ft) structure, which was first mistaken for a barge, shows it came from the port of Misawa in northern Japan. It has taken 15 months to drift across the Pacific to Agate beach since the earthquake and resulting tsunami shook it loose. Two other docks from the same port are still missing. The structure is one of a number of items that have washed up on north American shores. Experts expect a surge of debris in the coming months, with the bulk of it due in the winter. Danger to shipping? The senior senator for Oregon, Ron Wyden, has asked the body tracking the debris to redouble its efforts saying something as big as a dock could pose a danger to ships at sea. This April, the US Coast Guard used cannon to sink a crewless Japanese ship that drifted to Alaska after the tsunami. A month later, a Japanese owner of a Harley- Davidson motorbike swept away by the tsunami was amazed to find out that it had been washed up inside a container on a beach in Canada - about 6,400km away. Japanese scientists estimate that some 20 million tonnes of debris were generated by the earthquake and the incoming rush of water. Most would have stayed on land, and a fair proportion pulled out to sea would have sunk rapidly. But it is possible a million tonnes of debris is still afloat. A starfish native to Japan was among the marine life still clinging to the structure. John Chapman, a research scientist at Oregon State University said hundreds of other organisms, such as tiny crabs and algae, posed a "very clear threat". "It's exactly like saying you threw a bowling ball into a china shop. It's going to break something. But will it be valuable or cheap glass? It's incredibly difficult to predict what will happen next." Police have been deployed to stop people climbing on it. Traffic jams A spokesman for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Chris Havel, said two options were being considered for its removal. The dock could be towed off the beach and floated somewhere for disposal, or cut up on the beach. The plaque has been put in storage. "We're working with some salvage experts to get advice on whether it's even possible to move it, whether we have to wait for some certain conditions, like another high tide, or whether there's some other way to do it," he said. The owners of the port in Misawa have said they do not want it back. Meanwhile, local residents have been causing traffic jams in the beach car park as they come to see it for themselves. Kirk Tite, who was visiting the beach with his son, said: "It's kind of scary seeing this wash up here because we all surf. "If this crossed the Pacific.