Headline

Corps Member Executes N120,000 CDS Project In Bauchi Schools

Published

2 years ago

January 26, 2022

Mr Ugbo Kparetamisi, a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member posted to the department of Human Anatomy, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Gubi, Bauchi, has completed a Community Development Service (CDS) Project worth N120,000 in two Schools.

The project embarked on by the Corp member with batch number BA/21A/0384 included; renovation of toilets in both Gubi Primary and Junior Secondary School as well as Ruda Yausa Primary and Junior secondary.

Other things done in the two schools by the batch A corps member were; donation of waste bins, hand parkers, brooms and hand washing rubbers with taps.

Speaking during the inauguration ceremony of the projects in Bauchi on Wednesday, the state Coordinator of NYSC, Alhaji Namadi Abubakar, said that CDS project is one of the cardinal programmes of NYSC.

According to him, the corps member had his reasons for initiating and executing the personal project, adding that as far as NYSC is concerned, it expected corps members to touch lives positively wherever they are serving their fatherland.

He said that all the pupils and the staff in the two benefiting schools would feel the impact of the Corps member and his project would leave a footprint in their hearts just as his name had already been written in the good book of NYSC.

“I want to sincerely appreciate the schools for equally supporting the Corps member to carry out these projects.

“No corps member would live under the umbrella of NYSC without carrying out either group or personal Community Development Service projects.

“I sincerely commend Corps member Ugbo. His name is already in our good record book,” he said.

The state Coordinator however, called on other corps members to emulate the initiator of the project and called on the beneficiaries to make good use of the facilities.

Abubakar further explained that renovating a toilet is one of the things that bring cleanliness to schools, which he said, would help in preventing diseases.

Earlier Speaking, corps member Kparetamisi said he discovered that open defecation was rampant in his host community and decided to help in his lattle capacity by renovating the two school toilets.

The corps member, who explained that the project was centred on cleanliness, added that if the pupils of the schools could be taught the clean habit of using the toilets, sweeping and hand washing, they could as well take the habits to their various homes, thereby positively affecting the whole community.

According to him, the project would also help to eradicate or reduce to the nearest minimum health related diseases like Coronavirus, cholera, among others.

“I realised that the good government had provided water for the students of the community and it’s not proper if they still litter the surroundings with faeces.

“So, I decided to renovate the toilets and donate hand washing rubbers with taps, so that when they finish using the toilet, they can wash their hands and they can also learn good habits of sweeping, hence the donation of brooms, waste bins and parkers,” he said.

In their separate vote of thanks, the headmasters of the two schools, Mr Khalid Hassan and Malam Nasiru Yunusa, appreciated NYSC for providing them with the facilities through the corps member and promised to take good care of them.

Headline

UPDATED: Defence Chief, Nine Others Die In Kenya Military Helicopter Crash

Published

8 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Editor

A Kenyan military helicopter carrying top brass including the defence chief crashed on Thursday, police said.

President William Ruto convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council, his office announced after news of the crash emerged.

Defence forces chief General Francis Omondi Ogolla was among those on board the helicopter that went down in Elgeyo Marakwet county, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi, a senior police officer told AFP.

“The helicopter burst into flames after crashing and it had more than 10 senior commanders on board including General Ogolla,” the officer said.

“They were in the area on a security mission because there are KDF (Kenya Defence Forces) soldiers deployed in the region,” he said.

Earlier, there was no report of official comment on casualties.

“President William Ruto has convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council at State House Nairobi this evening following a Kenya Defence Forces’ helicopter crash this afternoon in Elgeyo-Marakwet County,” State House spokesman Hussein Mohamed said in a statement.

Ogolla, 61, was appointed Chief of the Defence Forces by Ruto in April last year after a stint as deputy.

Ruto told journalists last May that he appointed Ogolla despite him being among those who tried to overturn his narrow election win against opposition leader Raila Odinga in 2022.

“When I looked at his CV, he was the best person to be (a) general,” Ruto said, adding his decision went against the wishes of many people.

A trained fighter pilot, Ogolla joined the KDF in April 1984, rising through the ranks to command the Kenyan Air Force in 2018, a post he held for three years.

However, in a latest report, President Ruto said Ogolla and nine other senior military officers died in a helicopter crash on Thursday.

He added that only two survived the air accident.

“Today at 2:20 pm, our nation suffered a tragic air accident… I am deeply saddened to announce the passing on of General Francis Omondi Ogolla,” Ruto said.

AFP

Headline

Heavy Floods in UAE, Afghanistan, Pakistan, 135 People Killed

Published

10 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Editor

Around 70 people have been killed by heavy rains lashing Afghanistan over the past five days, the government’s disaster management department said on Wednesday.

Neighbouring Pakistan has also been hammered by spring downpours, with 65 people killed in storm-related incidents as rain falls at nearly twice the historical average rate, officials told AFP.

Dubai’s flagship Emirates airline cancelled all check-ins on Wednesday as staff and passengers struggled to arrive and leave, with access roads flooded and some metro services suspended.

Afghanistan was parched by an unusually dry winter that desiccated the earth, exacerbating flash-flooding caused by spring downpours in most provinces.

Disaster management spokesman Janan Sayeq said “approximately 70 people lost their lives” as a result of rains between Saturday and Wednesday.

Fifty-six others have been injured, he added while more than 2,600 houses have been damaged or destroyed and 95,000 acres of farmland wiped away.

Giving a smaller death toll last week, Sayeq said most fatalities at that point had been caused by roof collapses resulting from the deluges.

The United Nations last year warned that “Afghanistan is experiencing major swings in extreme weather conditions”.

After four decades of war, the country ranks among the nations least prepared to face extreme weather events, which scientists say are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change.

At least 25 people were killed in a landslide after massive snowfall in eastern Afghanistan in February, while around 60 were killed in a three-week spate of precipitation ending in March.

In Pakistan, heavy downpours between Friday and Monday unleashed flash floods and caused houses to collapse, while lightning killed at least 28 people.

The largest death toll was in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where 32 people have died, including 15 children, and more than 1,300 homes have been damaged.

“All the casualties resulted from the collapse of walls and roofs,” the spokesman for the province’s disaster management authority, Anwar Khan, told AFP on Wednesday.

Dubai’s giant highways were clogged by flooding and airport passengers were urged to stay away on Wednesday as the glitzy financial centre reeled from record rains.

Huge tailbacks snaked along six-lane expressways after up to 254 millimetres of rain – about two years’ worth – fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

At least one person was killed after a 70-year-old man was swept away in his car in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the country’s seven emirates, police said.

Passengers were warned not to come to Dubai Airport, the world’s busiest by international traffic, “unless absolutely necessary,” an official said.

“Flights continue to be delayed and diverted… We are working hard to recover operations as quickly as possible in very challenging conditions,” a Dubai Airports spokesperson said.

Climatologist Friederike Otto, a specialist in assessing the role of climate change on extreme weather events, told AFP it was “highly likely” that global warming had worsened the storms.

Headline

Germany Arrests Two Alleged Russian Spies

Published

11 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Editor

Two German-Russian men were arrested in Bavaria on suspicion of spying for Russia and planning blasts and arson attacks to undermine Berlin’s military support for Ukraine, German prosecutors said Thursday.

The pair, identified only as Dieter S. and Alexander J., were arrested in the city of Bayreuth in southeastern Germany on Wednesday, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

The main accused, Dieter S., is alleged to have scouted potential targets for attacks, “including facilities of the US armed forces” stationed in Germany.

Police officers also searched both men’s residences and workplaces on Wednesday.

They are suspected of “having been active for a foreign intelligence service” in what prosecutors described as a “particularly serious case” of espionage.

According to prosecutors, Dieter S. had been exchanging information with a person linked to Russian intelligence services since October 2023, discussing possible sabotage acts.

“The actions were intended, in particular, to undermine the military support provided from Germany to Ukraine against the Russian aggression,” prosecutors said.

The accused allegedly expressed readiness to “commit explosive and arson attacks mainly on military infrastructure and industrial sites in Germany”.

To this end, Dieter S. collected information about potential targets, “including facilities of the US armed forces”.

Fellow accused Alexander J. began assisting him in March 2024 at the latest, they added.

Dieter S. scouted some of the potential targets by taking photos and videos of military transport and equipment. He then allegedly shared the information with his contact person.

Dieter S. also faces a separate charge of belonging to a foreign terrorist organisation, as prosecutors strongly suspect he was a fighter of an armed unit of the so-called “People’s Republic of Donetsk” in eastern Ukraine in 2014-2016.

Germany has been shaken by several cases of alleged spying for Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, amid suggestions that officials in Berlin are too sympathetic to Moscow.

A former German intelligence officer is currently on trial in Berlin, accused of handing information to Moscow that showed Germany had access to details of Russian mercenary operations in Ukraine. He denies the charges.

In November 2022, a German man was handed a suspended sentence for passing information to Russian intelligence services while working as a reserve officer for the German army.

AFP