The Warji community in Bauchi State has commended Gov. Bala Mohammed’s administration over execution of a 19-kilometre road project in the area.

Mr Aminu Barmini, Chairman, Warji Local Government Council, said this during a project facility tour, on Thursday in Warji.

He said the construction of the road linking the state with Jigawa, was a life-changing project that reduced travel distance time, opened up and enhanced economic activities.

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“Before the construction of this road, we used to travel to Gwaram in Jigawa for almost two hours but now, it is less than 15 minutes,” he said.

Barmini said the governor also initiated viable social and economic infrastructure development projects including the Warji General Hospital, erosion control and renovation of Primary Healthcare Centre, Miya.

Others are the construction of five-kilometre Burarana-Dabo road, construction of Dagu village head’s palace, Jumaat Mosque, among others.

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Also, Balami Samson, a contractor, said the 150-bed capacity general hospital would be completed within one month.

“All modern equipment is being used in the construction, and once completed, this hospital will go a long way in addressing the health challenges of the people in Warji,” he said.

Mr Usman Shehu, Commissioner for Information, said the ministry initiated the facility tour to monitor projects executed by Mohammed’s administration in the state.

The Benue State House of Assembly amended the law that renamed Benue State University, Makurdi, as Rev. Fr Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi.

With the reamendment, the university would now be known as Father Adasu University, Makurdi, instead of Rev. Fr Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi.

The latest amendment followed the debate on the report of the House Standing Committee on Higher Education during plenary in Makurdi on Thursday.

In a lead debate, the Majority Leader, Mr Saater Tiseer (APC/Mbagwa), said that the name Rev. Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi, was too long.

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The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the initial name of the university was Benue State University, Makurdi, before it was changed to Rev. Fr Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi, in December 2024.

The House also passed the bills for laws to amend the College of Education, Katsina-Ala, and the College of Education, Oju, to become degree-awarding institutions

The Speaker, Mr Alfred Emberga, who presided over the sitting, called on the Clerk of the House, Dr Bem Mela, to read the bills the third time.

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Emberga thereafter said that, having been read for the third time, they were passed.

The PUNCH had reported that the school, originally known as Benue State University, was renamed in December 2024 after Governor Hyacinth Alia announced the change during the institution’s combined convocation.

Alia, who is the visitor to the university, had said the move was to honour the late Adasu, who established the state-owned institution.

Alia said, “As a way of honouring the founder of this institution, our administration has sent an executive bill to the state assembly for this University to be named after the founder, Rev Fr Moses Adasu.”

NAN

Nurses and midwives at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso in Oyo State, on Wednesday, issued a 15-day ultimatum to the hospital management over the alleged neglect of their welfare and conditions of service.

The workers, under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital chapter, accused the management of repeatedly sidelining them whenever new benefits were approved for health workers in the state.

This was contained in a statement jointly signed by the Unit Chairman, Ojewumi Olutayo, and the Unit Secretary, Adedokun Foluwake, respectively in Ibadan, the state capital.

The workers noted that while their counterparts in other state-owned facilities had begun enjoying the new national minimum wage, workers of LAUTECH Teaching Hospital had been left out.

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They also cited delayed payment of COVID-19 allowances and enhanced hazard allowances as examples of sustained neglect, which they said had pushed workers into economic hardship and low morale.

“Our demands include, Immediate implementation of the new national minimum wage with effect from January 2025, payment of promotion arrears from 2018 to 2024, recruitment of additional nurses to ease the current staff shortage and renovation and proper furnishing of nurses’ stations and rooms.

“The situation has become unbearable, and if the State Government did not intervene in time, we will have no option than to embark on strike at the expiration of the 15-day ultimatum”, the workers warned.

They further argued that the persistent exclusion of LAUTECH workers from state-wide welfare packages could only be corrected if the government took over direct payment of salaries.

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The association warned that an industrial action in the hospital, which serves as the only state-owned tertiary health institution and referral centre for patients from Ogbomoso, Oyo, Iseyin, Okeho, Igbeti, Saki, Kisi, Otta, and neighbouring parts of Osun and Kwara States—would severely disrupt access to healthcare.

“The impact will be felt most by pregnant women, children, accident victims, and patients requiring emergency interventions.”

The association, therefore, called on Governor Seyi Makinde to personally intervene, appealing to his sense of fairness and justice to end what they described as a cycle of exclusion that had demoralised nurses and midwives in the institution.

The ultimatum by LAUTECH nurses reflects a wider pattern of labour unrest in Nigeria’s health sector, where disputes over wages, allowances, and poor working conditions persist.

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While Oyo State has rolled out welfare packages for health workers, LAUTECH staff claim they have been repeatedly excluded.

As the hospital is the state’s only tertiary referral centre, a strike could disrupt healthcare access for patients across Oyo and neighbouring states.

The dispute underscores systemic challenges in Nigeria’s healthcare system, including underfunding, staffing shortages, and welfare neglect of frontline workers.