na wa o

ochendo igwe, u no bi edo now, u be onitsha boy

Umuahia—ABIA State Police Command, yesterday, announced that its men killed three persons suspected to be kidnappers in Aba, the commercial city of the state, just as the Command has vowed to curb the high incidence of kidnapping and armed robbery in the state.
Meanwhile, the Command said its men has rescued a kidnapped victim, one Comfort Erondu of Umunevo, Nvosi in Isiala Ngwa South Council Area, who was rescued in a hideout in Ugba Uzo-Iyi Umuodochi, Nsulu in Isiala Ngwa North Council.

Displaying the bodies of the slain kidnappers before journalists at the Police Headquarters, Umuahia, Abia State Police Commissioner, Mr. Edgar Tam Nanakumo, noted that they have declared a total war on kidnappers because “the issue of kidnapping and high crime wave have given us serious concern and we have to put it to reverse.

We have to deploy more of our men in Ngwa area where most of these things happen. We want the people to celebrate the Sallah and Christmas with their eyes closed”.

Nanakumo said he has personally visited Aba and its environs to see how his men are carrying out the operation to flush out kidnappers and armed robbers, just as he said that he has warned them against mounting road blocks other than observation posts approved by the Inspector General of Police.

Narrating how the three kidnappers were gunned down, the Police Commissioner said: “For some time now, information revealed that a group of kidnappers were planning to kidnap a bank staff at Aba. Following this information, the Police mounted heavy surveillance on the gang, trailed and encountered them on 25/11/08, at about 2000hrs, along Opobo Road, Aba. In a fierce gun battle, two of the suspected kidnappers fell to the superior firepower of the Police”.

According to Nanakumo, one rifle, one locally made revolver, six rounds of 9mm and 14 loaded AK47 magazines were recovered from them. Also recovered from the wallet of one the slain suspects was a student identity card bearing the name ‘Okoro Ugwunna’ of Accountancy Department at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, as well as a mutilated driving license belonging to Mrs. Okorafor Julie, described by the Police as “kidnapped victim”.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/22784/45/

NYSC clears LG boss of certificate forgery
Thursday, 27 November 2008
ENUGU—THE National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has cleared the Chairman of Enugu North Local Government Area, Dr. Herbert Oji, of allegation of forgery of NYSC Certificate of Exemption. The Corps confirmed that the Certificate of Exemption issued to Dr. Oji in 1995 was genuine as it originated from its office, contrary to allegations that it was forged by the council chairman.

Mr. Eniola Olufunke Ambekemo, a staff of the NYSC, who disclosed this in a statement on oath he made before an Enugu High Court, said though, the form filled by Oji for exemption from youth service could not be traced by the Corps, the “Certificate of Exemption No. 077483 dated 25th January, 1995 in the name of Oji, Herbert Chikezie A.” was available at the NYSC Headquarters in Abuja.

“I have searched the records kept in the NYSC Head-quarters since inception of the NYSC scheme but cannot lay hands on the form filled by Herbert Oji in 1995 when he documented in NYSC.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/22792/45/

NOw candidates, i need to know the areas u want a help from me.post ur area of needs now with ur e-mail so as to send u ur personal solution cox urs might not be others

i think u have nothing to do as a yoruba man u r, always looking for a place of disco and dancing with waist bent

teissys@yahoo.com is not correct plz

maybe is a different person cox their names/usernames are not the same, i guess

some guys say that fatibombo as in fat girl or orobo girls do smell.babys is it true?

florra, are u from anambra? i wish to get to know u well ok

the guy one the third roll is the most sexiest, check out him, na new face

if i m the gir, i will forgive since there is always hope

help me tell am

AS the legality or otherwise of the N10bn fund raiser by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues to dominate national discourse, the nation’s electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday, said it lacks the constitutional power to sanction the party.

Also, INEC said some of its key officers that, conducted the 2007 gubernatorial elections that returned former Edo Governor, Mr Oserhreimen Osunbor as the winner have been invited to appear before an investigative committee set up to fish out those responsible for the alleged malpractices.

The N10 billion-fund raiser, which saw individuals announcing donations far in excess of the N1million threshold recommend as the maximum, an individual can donate as campaign funding in the Electoral Act, has led to calls on INEC to sanction the PDP.

But the Honourable Federal Commissioner for Information and Publicity, Barrister Philip Umeadi (Jnr) at a parley with journalists in Abuja, noted that, any move to sanction the PDP, even if the fundraiser were in breach of the nation’s laws would amount to INEC going beyond the powers conferred on it by the Electoral Act.

Umeadi explained that, whereas the Electoral Act stipulates the thresh hold of individual donations to political parties, no provision in the section of the Act stipulates appropriate penalties and the agency to carry out enforcement in the event of a breach of the relevant section of the Act.

He however advised Nigerians, aggrieved by the actions of the PDP to go to court, adding that, the Nigerian constitution empowers the citizenry to institute civil class actions in law courts.

According to him, “ with the PDP fund raiser dinner, it is important that I repeat this issue, we have complied with the provisions of law, which requires us, in terms of making rules and regulations, with respect to contributions which an individual can make to a political party.

“If you go to our regulation No 6 or there about, we made it clear that, the highest amount an individual can contribute to a political party is N1million and as far as we are concerned, and it is important to note this, the particular provisions of the law which prescribes all these do not contain any penal provisions in terms of which INEC is required to act” he said.

Umeadi added that, under the present circumstances, “ what it means therefore is that if any individual proceeds to donate N1.1 million, for instance to a political party, the public at large is entitled to go to court to challenge it, but we(INEC) can’t possibly do anything, because we at all times have to work in accordance with what the law tells us to do.

To critics that have accused it of looking the way, the INEC Federal Commissioner assured that, “ if the law had given us power to prosecute, we would gladly do that, but there is no such provision in the law. That is the position of the Commission with respect to that.

He disclosed that, the national Headquarters of INEC, has since raised an investigative committee to fish out some of its officials fingered for the massive rigging that, returned ex-governor Osunbor as winner.
Lamenting the indictment of INEC in the conduct of the elections, Umeadi said, “ we were sorely indicted, there were cases where we found in our ballot papers, NECON, NEC stamp, here we don’t use those stamps.

“We felt that, there must be a problem. We must have a problem internally and we have indeed set up a committee to look at it and then single out the individuals responsible for and they will be adequately taken care of internally” he added.

The INEC Federal Commissioner stressed that, the matter would not be swept under the carpet, saying, “ it is a very serious matter, we are not going to take it lightly.

Umeadi disclosed further that, it is at the stage of verifying the signatures for the recall of two legislators, both members of Adamawa State House of Assembly,from Yola South State Constituency, Honourable Ahmed Mahmoud and a member of the Federal House of Representatives, representing Zaria Federal Constituency, Honourable Jubrin Adamu.

Pressed for details on the out come of investigations into allegations of snatching of ballot box, during the 2007 gubernatorial elections, against Ondo State Deputy Governor , directed enquiries to the Police.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/22791/47/

if u need admission there or NAU, i will give u definitely without money ok. my friend is the HOD, law dept. call 08035446541 for ur admission.tell ur friends

Thursday, 20 November 2008
Admission into federal basic and tertiary institutions is causing worries to parents and candidates seeking placements for the 2008/2009 academic session.

The carrying capacities of universities, especially the public ones, are grossly inadequate for thousands of
Image
Prof Julius Okojie, Executive Secretary, NUC.
qualified admission seekers, whose hopes for higher education seemed to be dashed.

More than one million (1,054,043) candidates sat for the 2008 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Universities Matriculation Examination. Out of this number, less than 200,000 (20 per cent) are likely to be offered admission. Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde had said pointedly.

“We can only take just 200,000 because of the capacities of the universities. Every year, the number of candidates taking Universities Matriculation Examination (UME) keeps increasing, but the spaces are limited.

I can bet you the number will keep increasing. If care is not taken in the next five years, we will have four million candidates writing Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination and Universities Matriculation Examination.”

In a similar reaction, Prof. Julius Okojie, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission(NUC) used these words: “Every year, there is always the problem of access to education in the country. This year alone, over one million candidates are taking UME, but unfortunately, we have placements for only 200,000. Meanwhile, places in colleges of education and polytechnics are usually undersubscribed because everybody wants to go to the universities.”

Going by the pronouncements of Ojerinde and Okojie, over 800,000 candidates who sat for UME have been thrown out.

The introduction of Post-UME test/screening and Federal government policy on admission stipulating the number of students a university can admit (quota system), have worsened the admission situation.
Ojerinde, on Post-UME test scoffed: “One thing not pleasing to me is the way some universities conduct their post-UME tests. It has become a source of money to them, instead of a source of standardising the procedure. But not all of them.”

Image
UI students in protest recently
While acknowledging that there are some universities who still use JAMB’s Universities Matriculation Examination and they are using it very well, he said, if he had his way, “with time, post-UME test will no longer be necessary.”

At the 2008/2009 Technical Committee meeting on Admission to Degree-Awarding Institutions held recently in Kaduna, he decried “unnecessary dissipation of energy and waste of resources involved in the conduct of post-UME,” adding, “some state governments and universities had requested JAMB to use only the results from the UME conducted by JAMB for admission to universities for the new session.”

Ojerinde had warned universities against ignoring completely UME scores of candidates as such won’t be tolerated and urged them to lay bare their modus operandi for combining UME results and post-UME scores of candidates they had listed for admission.

In Nigeria today, we have close to 95 universities (conventional, technological, specialised, federal, state and private). About one million or slightly above make up the total Nigerian undergraduate population currently, with older institutions such as UI, UNILAG, ABU, UNN, OAU, UNIBEN, and others like LASU, UNIPORT, UNICAL, DELSU, BUK, UNIMAD, AAU, UNILORIN, UNIJOS, each alone having over 40,000 students.

Compared to when the total Nigerian undergraduate population was 210 in 1948, this explosive rise in both the number of institutions and of students is so phenomenal that it could not have been so readily predicted. In a population that exceed 140 million, those that can benefit from tertiary education (university, polytechnic and college of education) runs into several millions.

What will happen to the remaining 800,000 candidates, many of them qualified for admission? Sit for JAMB again and probably suffer the same fate, year in, year out?

This probably explains why there are so much desperation, manipulations, influence peddling, gratification, cutting corners, corrupt tendencies, all to gain admission into universities.

University authorities usually come out with two, three or even four admission lists for a new academic session. That of 2008/2009 has followed this familiar pattern.

The first is merit list, published in some national newspapers. This is followed by supplementary list which can come intermittently for candidates whose names did not appear on the merit list and asked to purchase change of course forms to fill vacancies still existing in the various faculties and departments.

Pressures are often mounted on the Vice Chancellors, registrars, admission officials, by parents and others who have connections in the society. Many candidates with the requisite aggregate score and even far above, but lacked access to the people that matter in the university may not be considered.

Vanguard Education Weekly closely monitored the admission process and what is happening across all the levels in the education sector.

Most principal officers including vice chancellors and registrars who spoke to Vanguard said they won’t compromise transparency, merit and integrity.

One of them said: “In this university, we don’t bend the rules, transparency is uppermost here, because I don’t know who is watching over me. We do what is right, and won’t compromise no matter the person asking for favour. We have a score which every candidate seeking admission must have.

Pressures come from people above but my personal integrity is at stake. We strictly adhere to the aggregate score as laid down by this university. I won’t sacrifice my position to satisfy the admission yearning of someone who did not have the required score.”

He advised parents and guardians whose children did not score the required aggregate mark for admission, to go back and encourage such children to sit for JAMB again and take their studies seriously.

Many parents and admission seekers are complaining about being denied admission. But they don’t realise that spaces are not just enough for qualified candidates. Some of them can be seen hanging around the universities, pleading and begging to be considered.

Admission into basic secondary education is also being plagued with complaints and worries.

Several months after entrance examinations and interviews were conducted into the 102 federal government colleges, otherwise called unity colleges, no admissions have been offered into the junior secondary school segment. Over 20,000 children sat for the common entrance while 19,000 were called for interview.

A fee of N3,500 was paid by a child for the examination. But up till now, the children are still awaiting results of the interview and their admission.

Chief M.C. Nwaru, a concerned parent asked how long will these affected children stay at home.

“The first term is almost gone. Result of the interview yet to be released for the children to resume. Government should speak out on the matter so that parents should not be in the dark. We’re tired of telling our children different stories about their resumption.”

Asked what he wants to be done, Nwaru answered: “They should release the results so that parents can prepare these children for resumption. Government must act fast to save the children from frustration as they are the future leaders of the nation. Further delay is not in the best interest of our educational development. All parents are worried.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/22183/79/

NEMISES caught up with a serving police constable in Delta State when a couple who came to a police station to report the snatching of their car at gunpoint spotted him as the very man who pulled the gun during the alleged robbery attack.

Also, a man was shot dead at a beer palour in Asaba and several other people including a pregnant woman were wounded as a trigger-happy cop went into shooting spree with his AK service rife.

State Police command’s spokesman, Mr. Charles Muka, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) confirmed the two incidents when Vanguard called him yesterday afternoon.

Our reporter gathered that the incident of car snatching took place four days ago. The couple had gone to Ekpan police station to report the robbery of their car at gunpoint on the highway when they suddenly yelled, “this was the man that pulled the gun”.

While he was being reminded that the man he was referring to was a serving police office, he continued to yell, “this is the man”. And when the wife of the man emerged later she chorused the same thing “na this man rob us.”

At this juncture, the constable was immediately arrested and taken to the state police command headquarters.

When contacted, PPRO Muka said, “Yes, we are investigating the case, the PC is now in our custody.”

The shooting incident took place at a drinking parlour in Asaba yesterday where the police Corporal said to be on duty in a broad daylight opened fire, killing a man during a hot exchange of words in the beer parlour. Many persons within the vicinity including a pregnant woman were also wounded.

According to the PPRO, “yes, he is under arrest”.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/22818/44/

A total of 45 school Principals have been removed from office as Principals and redeployed to the State Post Primary Education Board (PPEB) for collecting six N6000 from each student in excess of the approved levies, while 251 other principals also found to be involved in such ignoble act were sanctioned too but with lesser punishment.

In addition to the sanction, all the affected erring principals totalling 296 are to refund the various monies collected from students before 10th of next month.

Addressing a press conference in Asaba yesterday, the State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Elizabeth Uvoh-Gardner said that following a discreet investigation carried out, “The findings from the exercise revealed that the issue of illegal collections of money in schools was more global than we imagined.

“So far, a total of 296 Principals have been implicated on the illegal collections of money ranging from N250 to as high as N15,000 for a variety of purposes ranging from release of results to admission.”
According to her, “45 Principals were those who collected N6,000 and above per student for admission into either Junior School Class One (JSS I) or Senior School Class One (SS I) as against the N480 and N1,510 approved for the two classes respectively.

“This category of Principals are hereby removed from office as Principals; they should report to the PPEB for posting to the zonal offices of Permanent Secretaries of PPEB, while Vice Principals should lake over immediately until further notice when new Principals are posted.

“Those principals who collected three thousand and one naira to five thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine naira are to refund all monies and are hereby suspended from being Principals for a period of six months, while principals who collected three thousand naira and below are to refund all monies collected and are to be issued letters of warning.”

The Education Commission said that the action was taken to act as deterrent to others, noting that, “This ministry cannot continue to watch helplessly while a section of the education industry brazenly bleeds the already impoverished parents to death financially in order to enrich themselves and at the same time sabotaging Government’s good intentions for the people.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/22822/44/

Thursday, 27 November 2008
The Senate Committee on Education has warned that prospects of achieving the vision 20-2020 goals of the administration were endangered by the falling standard of education.

The Committee at a press briefing heralding the forthcoming education summit noted Nigeria’s ranking as the 18th country less favoured to achieve the 2015 goal of Education For All (EFA) by UNESCO.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Senator Joy Emodi flanked by a committee member, Senator Kaka Mallam Yale, disclosed that former Head of State, Chief Ernest Shonekan would chair the education summit next month aimed at articulating a legislative response to the falling standard of education.

The summit involving stakeholders from the sector would also involve members of the state Houses of Assembly and other stakeholders.

“The present UNESCO report showed that Nigeria came 18th to the last among the nations not likely to achieve that goal; meanwhile we have another goal to be one of the largest twenty economies,’’ Senator Emodi said in response to the UNESCO report on the Education For All (EFA) achievements of about 150 countries.

“If we don’t achieve education for all how are we going to be one of the major twenty economies in year 2020, it is not possible. Apart from that, the yardstick for measuring development is nothing but education, especially quality education,’’ Senator Emodi said.

Noting the repeated strike actions in the nation’s educational system and other problems that have plagued the sector, Senator Emodi said:

“The above scenarios call for serious concerted efforts by all stakeholders to design strategies for salvaging the situation and engineering Nigerian education to a path of recovery and proficiency,’’ Senator Emodi added.

“With legislative responsibility to allocate funds to education, the Senate Committee, in effect intends to use the summit to cause a comprehensive review of the Nigerian education system to identify and effectively resolve contending resource injection, and consequently facilitate the re-modeling of the education system to achieve national goals.’’

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/22793/42/

na true o

THE Lagos State government, yesterday, announced that the killer paracetamol, My Pikin, had claimed 14 new lives in the state, bringing the total death toll to 39.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) had on Tuesday declared that 25 deaths were recorded in different hospitals across the Federation. According to NAFDAC, 15 died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), eight at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria, and two at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. The drug was produced by Barewa Pharmaceuticals Limited, based in Lagos.

However, Barewa Pharmaceuticals, manufacturers of My Pikin have denied the allegation that their product was responsible for the deaths of 39 children.

Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, and Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, disclosed this at a joint press conference at Alausa, Ikeja, yesterday, saying the 29

deaths were recorded by LUTH and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja (LASUTH).
According to Dr Idris, they were preceded by symptoms including inability to pass urine, fever, puffiness of the face, vomiting, diarrhoea, cough and catarrh.

He attributed the possible cause of deaths to teething syrup, herbal concoctions, paracetamol overdose or poisoning.

According to him, the development was first reported last week when there was an upsurge in the cases of acute renal failure reported across various Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.

He added that the age range of those affected was between six months and eight years.
Idris said immediately the state government got the report, it swung into action to stop further circulation and usage of the drug.

His words: “After the first case was recorded, a lot of meetings were held between officials of the Federal Government, LUTH and the state’s surveillance team where samples were collected and mothers interviewed with a view to finding out what could be the cause of the problem.

“From investigations carried out so far, the possible cause is the teething syrup that mothers gave to their children, some herbal concoctions and some of these syrups contain paracetamol either in high doses or the productcontains improper chemical,” he said.

Idris then urged parents, especially mothers, to refrain forthwith from using the killer paracetamol, My Pikin teething mixture till further notice.

“We are also appealing to all public and private hospitals that all cases of renal failure should be reported to the disease control directorate of the Lagos State Ministry of Health,” the commissioner said.

On the current efforts to stem the spread, Idris said samples of the suspected materials had been sent for investigation by NAFDAC, surveillance activities was ongoing, while education of care-givers on possible causes and preventive measures commenced.

The state government, therefore, recommended that all children with inability to pass urine/or puffiness of the face should be immediately taken to the hospital for proper medical attention, while drugs should be purchased only from registered pharmaceutical outlets.

On the mop up exercise by the state government, Idris said efforts were already on to cleanse markets of the killer product, “and the effectiveness of the monitoring team is not in doubt,” he assured.

He added that the first thing a responsible government does in such cases was to set up a surveillance system to find out the cause and nature of the problem.

Idris, therefore, called for support and collaboration of all health care providers, stakeholders, media and general public to be vigilant and stop further usage or spread of the deadly product.

My Pikin not responsible for deaths — Company chairman

Chairman of Barewa Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Kola Okunlola, dismissed allegations by the agency that the teething mixture was responsible for the deaths of 25 children nationwide, demanding evidence of the allegation.

According to Okunlola, the company was surprised by the allegations of NAFDAC in the face of facts by some of the Teaching Hospitals disclaiming the reports by NAFDAC.

“The company does not only have NAFDAC licence to produce the drug, but it has produced thousands of the drugs for more than two years without complaints from users or NAFDAC. The company also said it has come out clean from routine inspections of its production facilities and products by relevant government agencies including NAFDAC.

“As a responsible corporate citizen of Nigeria and one that is involved in the protection and promotion of good health, we are shocked at the claims of deaths of children in some of the nation’s hospitals.

“We are, however, bothered that there are conflicting claims between NAFDAC and the teaching hospitals regarding the deaths and the cause of such deaths.

“For instance, the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee of the University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital has disputed claims that some children died in the hospital. We also note that the Chief Medical Director of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital has also disputed claims that the deaths recorded in the hospital were due to the consumption of a particular drug. As the CMD said, only a conclusive laboratory test will reveal the cause of such deaths

“As operators in the health sector committed to the promotion of good heath, we are shocked and sympathetic to the patients and their family. We are interested in the investigation of the cause of such deaths.

This explains why we instructed our lawyers to address a letter to NAFDAC, requesting a copy of the result of the tests.

“We hereby affirm our readiness to cooperate with NAFDAC and other relevant agencies to establish the truth in this case.

We also wish to allay fears about the reliability of our products. We are a responsible corporate citizen of Nigeria and have operated in the past years in compliance with the best of international standards to promote good health in the country and beyond,” the statement said.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/22798/41/

DEAR STUDENTS, I AND MY COLLEGE HAVE A SCHOOL AT IGUEBEN, EDO STATE HERE IN NIGERIA.
I REGISTER STUDENTS WAEC AND NECO WITH JUST N6500, MAKE UR O'LEVEL AT A SITTING NOW BY CALLING 08035446541.ITS REAL AND CHEAPER.ALSO JAMB FORMS AND REGISTRTION IS JUST N3000.WE PREPARE U FOR POST-UME AND ASSIST U IN ADMSIION. TRY US NOW

call me, i will help u ok.its a secret talk, 08080580000 and i will tell u who to meet at waec office ok

who would want me to acedemically uplift his magnitude,direction,performance,corrosity as a member of NUC, i have decided to be part of ur drama here but no junk mails/thread or i will leave never to come back but if cool down, i came with a lot of suprises ok