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Bauchi Governor Awards N45 billion Projects Within One Year

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The Bauchi State Budget Monitoring and Public Procurement Agency says the administration of Governor Bala Mohammed has awarded projects in critical sectors of the economy worth over 45 billion naira within the first year of his administration.

Speaking with Government House Correspondents on the one year anniversary of the governor, the Chairman of the Agency, Engineer Joshua Sanga said the over seventy projects awarded followed due process and were issued with certificate of no objection.

Engineer Joshua Sanga pointed out that, the Agency is fully involved in the award of the projects and it will monitor them to ensure their execution in line with procurement act.

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According to him, the state has made alot of progress and compliance in the execution of project across the state and in all the identified sectors.

“Ideally each and every project in the excess of one million naira in the state ought to come to this office before even been awarded, we have to check the price, we have to check the award process, the procurement process, the right contractor was given the job or not and to ensure that the job is done.

” Since the advent of this administration, we have a record of over seventy contract awarded valued at about forty five billion naira and this is unprecedented as there is no government that came between ten to eleven months that awarded a contact of such amount in a short time”, he added.

The Chairman said the mandate of the agency is specifically in the areas of procurement of government projects, ensure that money budgeted for the execution of projects is judiciously used and to ensure the value for money is being driven from each and every project awarded by the government.

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Seventy to eighty percent of government money apart from paying of salaries goes to execution of projects so, the role of this office is price intelligence, we have to check prices to know weather its okay or we add or subtract where necessary to make sure there is value for every single Kobo.

“The other role of the office is also monitoring, once a contract is awarded and the job is being executed, its the role of this office to at least go out and check weather the job is done rightly, that is major the role of this office, budget monitoring, price intelligence and procurement of government projects”, he added.

He said to ensure execution of projects in line with international best practices, Governor Bala Mohammed has engaged the services of Engineer Emeka Eze, a former engineers who was Director General in the Bureau of Public Procurement to work out modalities of revamping the agency.

Sanga who noted that, being one of the key components of the state Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Programs(SFTAS), the agency has worked very hard with other relevant MDAs to achieve the desired objectives ,said that has qualified the state to access the grants worth billions of naira recently for the years of 2018 and 2019.

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The Chairman, while congratulating Governor Bala Mohammed for the remarkable achievements in the last one year, assured him of the total support of the agency for the success of his administration.

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Many Ladies Can’t Cook, Christian Movie Producer, Bamiloye Laments Scarcity Of ‘Wife Materials’

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The Founder of Mount Zion Faith Ministries, Mike Bamiloye, has expressed concern about young people who prioritise wedding ceremonies over preparation for marriage.

In a post on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Bamiloye criticised a trend of young couples rushing into marriage without adequate knowledge or skills.

He wrote, “I am so afraid of youths of this generation. Many are not preparing enough to enter into marriage. Many are very shallow in their knowledge of marriage. They prepare more for the wedding day, than for marriage. No deep studies on what marriage entails. They are too hasty and not ready to sit down and learn the principles of marital life.

“Many ladies are not qualified to be wives, even at 28. They can’t cook properly. They are used to fast food at the eateries, ice cream, indomie, and spagetti, plus boiled eggs and titus, and they spend six months studying the wedding gowns and the accessories for the bridal trails.”

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He further emphasised the importance of spiritual grounding, communication, and perseverance in navigating the challenges of marriage.

My dear sister is 26; she is still not yet wife material. She is beautiful, but she cannot cook. She is not spiritually strong in prayer. And she has a shallow knowledge of the word of God.

“How would she withstand the spiritual challenges that come against every home now? Too materialistic and with very little knowledge of home management. She spent several months preparing for her wedding day, but few moment to study what marriage life is. If love is blind at courtship, it is marriage that will open the blind eyes,” he added.

While condemning domestic abuse, Bamiloye encouraged couples to “sharpen the rough edges” and highlighted the need to address “red flags” during courtship.

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He added, “I am against abuse of women and wives. A man who beats or tortures his wife is an animal unfit to live among humans. However, we are now having too many breakings, separations, and divorces among children of God.

“No endurance, no respect, no patience. When things do not go as expected, it becomes incompatibility, and our youths, especially ladies, are being taught to walk out of marriage.

“So today, many young marriages are not fulfilled. Every marriage has its rough edges, but you have to sharpen the rough-edges.

“When you were in courtship, you ought to have noticed some little devilish behaviour in the young man, which the Holy Spirit was pointing to you as a red flag, but you were too much in love, too impatient to get into marriage. What then was the meaning of courtship?”

The PUNCH reported in November 2023, that the Christian movie producer similarly expressed concern about women who, despite appearing pleasant in church, display stubbornness, rudeness, and a lack of submission at home.

 

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FG Revokes 924 Dormant Mining Licences

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The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, has revoked 924 dormant mineral licences.

The Minister of Solid Development Minerals, Dele Alake, disclosed this information at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja.

The revoked licences include 528 exploration licences, 20 mining leases, 101 quarry licences and 273 small-scale mining licences.

Last November, the ministry revoked 1,633 mineral titles previously given to non-complying mining companies.

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The minister also promised to clean up the solid minerals sector for international competitiveness and urged all stakeholders who have acted wrongly in this sector to turn a new leaf.

But speaking at the briefing, Alake said the ministry decided after identifying a problem of licence racketeering among players in the sector.

He said, “In line with constitutional provisions, we ensured that adequate notice was given to the concerned parties through the official gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria no 227 which was published on December 27, 2023.

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“This notice gave all concerned parties 30 days to regularise their status including clarifications on what caused the licence to be dormant.

“In view of the above, which shows our adherence with due process and fair consideration and in line with the standard policy of use it or lose it, I hereby revoke the 924 dormant licences with immediate effect.

“These include 528 exploration licences, 20 mining leases, 101 quarry licences and 273 small-scale mining licences.”

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German Police Arrest 11 Nigerians For Dating Scam, Money Laundering

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German Police have arrested 11 Nigerian nationals suspected to be members of a Black Axe group behind a large-scale dating scam and money laundering.

The Bavarian police in a statement on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, said that the gang was involved internationally in “multiple areas of criminal activity” with a focus in Germany on dating scams and money laundering.

The police said the dating trick was a “modern form of marriage fraud”, adding that “Using false identities, the fraudsters for example signalled their intention to marry and in the course of further contact repeatedly demand money under various pretexts,”

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The police further said that the money was subsequently transferred to Black Axe in Nigeria “via financial agents.”

According to the authorities, in the process, the gang used a “commodity-based money laundering” scheme where products, often with a seeming “charitable purpose” were bought and delivered to Nigeria.

Police added that 450 cases of dating and love scams were reported in the Bavaria region in 2023 with the damages rising to 5.3 million euros ($ 5.7 million).

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The police said that the suspects, who all held Nigerian citizenship and were aged between 29 and 53, were arrested in nationwide raids on Tuesday, explaining that law enforcement agents swooped on 19 properties, including both homes and asylum shelters.

The police added that the Black Axe gang had “strict hierarchical structures under leadership in Nigeria” operating different territorial units, stressing that the group had a “significant influence” on politics and public administrations, in particular in Nigeria.

It was said that globally, the gang’s main areas of operation were “human trafficking, fraud, money-laundering, prostitution and drug trafficking”.

The police said that the action against Black Axe was the first of its kind in Germany.

 

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