JAMB SHUTS 38 CBT CENTRES, PARADES SUSPECTSED FRAUDSTERS AS COURT CONVICTS 4 TO 3 YEARS IN PRISON

 

The joint admissions and matriculation board JAMB, has shutdown 38 computer-based test centres, across the country, which are currently involved in the registration of candidates for the 2020 unified tertiary matriculation examinations, UTME over allegation of fraud in sales of e-pin.

JAMB registrar, professor ishaq Oloyede while parading the masterminds of the fraud before officials of the Nigeria Security and civil defence corps, NSCDC and the Nigeria police, at the board's  headquaters in Abuja, also confirmed that four persons involved in extortion and other crimes have been convicted by the court 

The Registrar said centres affected centres are mostly in states like Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Katsina, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ondo, Oyo and Rivers. 

Other states with minor cases and technical challenges, which have only been asked to suspend registration for the moment are located in Adamawa, Enugu, Zamfara, Gonbe, Niger and Osun states

JAMB had accused some commercial banks of conniving with Computer-based Test centre operators to defraud unsuspecting candidates by charging them above the specified registration fees of N4,700

JAMB reminded CBT Centre operators that alleged irregularities by officials of the National Identity Management Commission that led to the suspension of the use of the National Identity Number, NIN, which it had declared as mandatory for registration by all intending  candidates in the 2020 UTME

Meanwhile, the Head of JAMB's  Public Affairs , Fabian Benjamin has confirmed the conviction to three years imprison of four persons in Nasarawa state, north central Nigeria.

Benjamin said the accused were convicted on the January 27, 2020, by a Magistrate Court in Lafia, Nasarawa State, where they pleaded guilty to the offence.

He said the four convicted are Ujaku Emem Samuel, who claimed to be a pastor and his wife, Peace Emem Samuel. Others are Opulani Joseph Sunupe and Umar Musa Sa’adu

SOURCE: Ait.live

ASUP disgruntled over unpaid salaries, sack of 200 Abia Poly staff and IPPIS Implementation delay

The academic staff union of Polytechnics, ASUP has described as barbaric the action of the Abia state government for disengaging two hundred staff, despite owing them between thirteen and seventeen months salaries

while threatening to proceed on nationwide strike should nothing is done on the matter and in other institutions where teachers have been sacked, also described the current constitution polytechnics governing boards as an error and irregularity as it runs contrary to the new polytechnic act

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, newly elected ASUP president  Anderson Ezeibo said the anxiety among poly teachers have been uncomfortable due to governments non-chalant attitude towards the renegotiation of 2010 FG/ASUP Agreement

On the contentious integrated payroll and personnel information system, IPPIS, ASUP said it is unfortunate that the sector specific framework agreement reached which  encouraged poly teachers enroll on the platform is yet to be implemented

On the crisis rocking federal polytechnic, Bida, ASUP president said the issues are been resolved and the ongoing strike by workers will be suspended before the end of next week

SOURCE:Ait

BENUE STRANGE SICKNESS: Igede Youths raise alarm, could it be coronavirus or lassa fever

Youths in gode, Benue state are raising alarm over a disease out break. Could it be CORONAVIRUS or LASSA FEVER? Read their statement

EPIDEMIC ALERT

IGEDE NATIONAL YOUTHS COUNCIL is hereby drawing the attention of government at all levels to a strange sickness ravaging a boundary settlement of Oye-Obi, Obi LGA of Benue State.

The sickness has so far killed four persons in two weeks. The four victims namely Happiness Ogbu, Onah Ogbedu, Andy Edu and Wisdom Agwo developed the same symptoms of Headache, Internal heat, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Stomach ache, Weakness of the body and swollen stomach and died alike. 

Our investigation revealed the health authorities in Oju have been briefed. Igede National Youths Council is calling on the Benue State government to as a matter of urgency do all within it's powers to arrest the situation. We are not resting on our part in the area of mass mobilization and awareness campaign on how to prevent it's spread. Our investigation reveals that about six more persons as at today, Wednesday, 29 January, 2020 are already down developing the same symptoms, some of them have already been moved to General Hospital, Oju. 

All members of the state assembly, national assembly, government appointees from Igede kingdom either with Benue State or Federal government as a matter of urgency are hereby called by the Youths Wing to rise up promptly and let's fight this dreaded sickness whose name we are yet to get from medical experts.

God bless Igede land.

Signed

Com. Andyson Iji Egbodo

President Elect,

Igede National Youths Council.

Group blast transperancy international, Nigeria over corruption perception index

Anti-graft agencies in Nigeria have been told not to be dettered and discouraged by the transparency international's corruption index, but to redouble their efforts in the fight against corruption in the country

 the call is coming from anti-corruption network, the initiative for leadership and economic watch in Nigeria whose convener  Convener of the group, Agbonkpolor Slendor also called on Nigerian citizens to see the transparency international's  corruption index report as a mere perception and not actual realities on ground

The group is also calling on the Nigerian government to put in place mechanisms for proper monitoring of the activities of certain National and international Non-governmental organisations in the country, some which appear to be inciting the people against constituted Authority

Transparency international Nigeria had release its perception index which reports that Nigeria is not doing well in the fight against corruption

KOBE BRYANT: Didier Drogba, Others Pay Tribute

TRAGEDY: NBA star Kobe Bryant tragically dies in California helicopter crash aged 41

It is reported five people died in the tragic incident in Calabasa

Kobe Bryant has died in a helicopter crash in California aged 41. The NBA legend was travelling with four people in his private helicopter when it crashed in Calabasas, 40 miles north-west of Los Angeles, on Sunday morning, according to multiple reports.

Five people are reported to have died in the accident. Vanessa Bryant, his wife, was not thought to be onboard. They have four children together – Gianna, Natalia and Bianca and six-month-old Capri.

A call for a downed helicopter went out at 10.01am, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. Firefighters attended the scene and put out the flames.

Los Angeles County Fire could not confirm who was on board or who the helicopter belonged to. Bryant has long been known to travel around California by his personal helicopter.

“We received a call just before 10am this morning of an aircraft down in the Malibu area, right off of Las Vergenes, essentially Calabasas,” fire captain Tony Imbrenda told reporters at the scene. “Some folks were out here mountain biking this morning, they saw an aircraft in distress, they went down into the hillside. This was a helicopter, it’s been confirmed it was an S-76 Sikorsky helicopter and unfortunately there were no survivors.”

The cause of the crash is being investigated, officials confirmed. 

Bryant is considered one of greatest basketball players of all time. He became a legend at Los Angeles Lakers, spending his entire 20-year career with the team, becoming a five-time NBA champion and twice being named finals MVP.

In 2018 he won an Oscar for best short animated film for Dear Basketball, a five-minute film based on a love letter to basketball which Bryant wrote in 2015.

SOURCE: Independent Premium Uk

UNICEF AND INTERNATIONAL DAY OF EDUCATION: Nigerian Pupils challenge Northern Governors on out-of-school children

A cross-section of pupils in Nigerian public schools in the 19 Northern states have expressed dissatisfaction with their governors over what they said is the near nonchalant attitude towards reducing the worrisome number of out-of-school children in the region.

The school children brought together by the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, used self-created pictures to describe several factors that have continued to militate against educational development especially in Northern Nigeria.

It was not a fine arts class, but an exercise put together by the UNICEF under the Girls Education Programme, GEP 3, to mark the 2020 International Day of Education.

Thousands of children have been out of school in Nigeria’s North-East and 12-year old Primary 6 pupil, Hawawu Hussain, filled with emotions, passionately presents her worries in a drawing.

The passion for girls education exhibited by 10-year old Tearth Glovaru, a Nigerian born Indian, caught the attention of everybody at the exercise.

Tearth, an only child is unhappy why girls should remain at home to hawk and do house chores, while boys are allowed to attend school.

Tearth shared his desires with UNICEF on how India and Nigeria can help save the girl from the forces militating against her education.

Away from Tearth, a pupil from the Yakassai Model Primary School in Kano Municipal, 12-year old Muhammed Salisu in Primary 6, did not hide his feelings about the dirty

environment around him and how it breeds mosquitoes which cause Malaria that makes children sick and unable to attend school.

Climate change and its devastation is disturbing to 12-year old Primary 6 pupil, Mhadija Yakub, who told AIT she is worried that girls like her are unable to attend school and get the best of life due to the negative effect of using firewood to cook

.

As UNICEF continues to create more visibility on the importance of education in Nigeria, it seeks increased commitment from government, religious, and traditional rulers in making sure there is continuity of initiatives aimed at keeping children in school, to complete at least basic education

Source: AIT NEWS

MINIMUM WAGE: Spain's new government raises minimum wage

Spain's new Socialist government under Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday brokered an accord with unions and bosses lifting the minimum wage 5.5 percent or €59.8 euros to €1,108 ($1,230) gross a month.

Spain's new Socialist government under Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday brokered an accord with unions and bosses lifting the minimum wage 5.5 percent or €59.8 euros to €1,108 euros ($1,230) gross a month.

"We have reached agreement to lift the minimum wage this year," said labour minister Yolanda Diaz, hailing a "very happy day for democracy in this country and for all workers."

The cabinet is due to approve the measure within days upon which the rise will take immediate effect and be backdated to the start of January 2020.

Sanchez' new administration, which has the support of radical leftist party Podemos, has also announced a 0.9 percent increase in pensions and a 2.0 percent increase in wages of civil servants.   

While unions saluted the minimum wage rise the president of the Confederation of Employers' Organizations, Antonio Garamendi, admitted that "we would have liked (the rise) to be a little lower," even if the figure agreed was below an initially mooted €1,167.   

The agreement was that the minimum wage would be set at €950 a month, payable in 14 installments to allow for the double monthly salary in July and December, a Spanish tradition that ensures there is enough funds to allow a holiday and celebrate Christmas. 

The latest rise comes on the back of Sanchez's pushing through of an unparalleled 22 percent hike last year.

The government has pledged over the coming four years to lift the level to 60 percent of the current average salary of €1,970  -- which would be currently €1,182.

Speaking at the Davos forum earlier, Sanchez said his government would still pursue "fiscal rigour" in targeting cutting the national deficit and public debt.

Spain's move comes weeks after Britain's conservative government pledged to increase the minimum wage by more than four times the rate of UK inflation from next year despite a warning by the British Chambers of Commerce that above-inflation pay increases could hit business amid economic uncertainty with Brexit days away.

SOURCE: The Local/AFP

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@thelocalspain

STUDENT KILLING: PLATEAU RESIDENTS REACT TO EXECUTION OF UNIMAID UNDERGRATUATE, ROPVIL DACIYA :

SOURCE: AITNews

THE EXECUTION OF ROPVIL DACIYA A TWO HUNDRED LEVEL STUDENT AT UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI BY BOKO HARAM ON TUESDAY HAS CONTINUED TO ATTRACT WIDE CONDEMNATION FROM RESIDENTS OF PLATEAU STATE.

 FATHER OF THE SLAIN STUDENT AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS CALL FOR URGENT MEASURES  TO STOP THE KILLINGS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE .

THE MOOD AT THE FAMILY RESIDENCE OF ROPVIL A NATIVE OF PANKSHIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF PLATEAU STATE WHO WAS ABDUCTED  WHILE RETURNING BACK TO SCHOOL IS THAT OF GLOOM AND GRIEF.

FATHER OF THE DECEASE  SAYS THE FAMILY HAS ACCEPTED THE SITUATION BUT WANTS GOVERNMENT TO ADDRESS THE RISING CASES OF INSECURITY TO SAVE THE LIVES OF MANY OTHERS.

OTHER  STAKEHOLDERS LAMENT THE  DASTARDLY ACT AND ONLY HOPES GOVERNMENT WILL TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE OF REASSURING NIGERIANS OF THIER SAFETY.

YUSUF GAGDI REPRESENTING PANKSHIN KANAM IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMISERATES WITH THE FAMILY AND SAYS  THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MUST RISE BEYOND LIP SERVICE TO GUARANTEE THE SAFETY OF NIGERIANS.

ALL NIGERIANS ARE ASKING FOR IS A SAFE HAVEN WERE PEOPLE CAN TRAVEL FAR AND NEAR WITHOUT FEAR OF THE UKNOWN.

JAMB Stops 11 Computer Based Centres from 2020 UTME registration

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has withdrawn the licences of 11 centres selling the e-PIN for registration for the 2020 unified tertiary matriculation examination UTME.

The centres were found to be charging candidates above the amount pegged by the board for the sales of examination instruments.

JAMB had fixed the cost of e-PIN for registration for N3,500 and the cost of materials for N500 while N700 for the computer-based test (CBT) centres –  totalling N4,700.

JAMB Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, who disclosed this during an interactive session with stakeholders at the headquarters of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC in Abuja on Tuesday, said the board discovered that some of the centres were selling the e-PIN for as high as N8, 000.

Oloyede said charging above the stipulated N4,700 for the 2020 UTME registration was illegitimate and would only destroy the nation; as it was an act of fraud and corruption.

Some of the centres whose licences were withdrawn for selling forms at N5,000 are; Federal Polytechnics, Mubi; Adamawa; and Adazi-Nnukwu ICT/CBT.

Others are New Kings and Queens Bayelsa, for selling at N5,500; Brightfield Secondary School Delta, for selling between N6,000 and N8,000; A-Pagen Consolidated Port Harcourt, for selling at N5,000 and Influencial School Port Harcourt, for selling at N6,000.

Also included are Emkenlyn Computers, and Nneameka Secondary School Anambra.

He said: “Many people make illegitimate money from the examination and we will be destroying the nation, if we don’t get things right.

“Prior to 2018, we sell form for N5,000; but the Federal Government considers so many things and felt the money was much and in 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari decided that the cost should be slashed; which brought the cost to N3,500.

“Also, prior to this time, there were unscrupulous people selling as high as N10,000. We now democratised the sale of the forms, to make it available so that it will not be possible for those selling to hoard the forms.

“We felt the banks are overcrowded so we decided to expand the sale outlet, to bring in mobile money operators to cover all the registered banks.

“The effects of the expansion is that some people are still penetrating the banks, thereby increasing the cost of the sale of form."

The registrar said the proliferation of tutorial centres was a major concern as most of the centres engaged in fraud and corruption during registrations and examinations.

In his remarks, the Commandant-General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Abdullahi Muhammadu, urged the board to limit the tutorial centres in the country.

Muhammadu urged the board to make sure that lists of certified tutorial centres were revealed to reduce infractions as it relates to examinations. 

He called on commandants in the various states to make integrity their watchword in order not to betray the confidence the board has in them as well as Nigerians.

Meanwhile, the NSCDC on Tuesday paraded two suspects arrested by the agency in Agbor, Delta State, for extorting candidates.

The principal suspect, Ambrose, 65, with his accomplice, were charged for selling the JAMB document at N5,500 at a business Centre owned by Ambrose. 

Commandant of NSCDC, Delta State, Dr Benito Eze, said the suspects were arrested when on a tip off, the  Corps' undercover operatives were sent to buy the forms in company of JAMB officials. 

Ambrose, when interrogated said he was acting as an agent to a CBT centre, explaining that out of the N5,500 collected from candidates, N4,000 is paid to JAMB while N700 is remitted to the CBT centre and N500 for transportation. 

The NSCDC CG vowed to prosecute the culprit to serve as deterrent to others. 

He said the suspects would be arraigned in court to face charges of criminal conspiracy and extortion of money from candidates.