by admin | May 29, 2018 | Latest News, Lifestyle
As part of Democracy Day celebration, the Taraba State Governor, Darius Dickson Ishaku, has provided 30 tractors as well as several rice threshing machines, ambulances, Toyota Hilux vans and a cooling van to enhance primary health care in the state.
During the Democracy Day ceremony at the Jolly Nyame Stadium in Jalingo Tuesday, Ishaku reeled out his administration’s achievements during the last three years which included the construction of a Greenhouse where he said seedlings would be produced and distributed to farmers as out-growers.
According to him, the Dangote Sugar Industry had commenced operation after 13 years and that 3000 teachers had been recruited while 10,000 classroom furniture had been procured.
The Governor also boasted of empowering over 3000 youths and women in various skills as well as created the Ministries of Power and Mining. He also disclosed that two countries had approached Taraba for the supply of cocoa and sesame seeds.
He also promised to construct a sophisticated water scheme that would last 25 years with the capacity of providing 75 million liters per day.
Gov. Ishaku, who addressed a large crowd of supporters, however, stated that the provision of 30 tractors was due to the fact that the Tractor Hiring Unit(THU) in the state had failed to produce results hence the need to ‘change strategies’.
The Taraba Governor, whose policy thrust is tagged ‘Rescue Mission’, however, regretted that the only area where his administration had not touched was Tourism, which he attributed to the issue of insecurity.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Ishaku commissioned some township roads as well as flagged off others including the Abuja Phase one- NNPC road.
by admin | May 28, 2018 | Latest News, Lifestyle
The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jalingo, The Most Rev. Dr. Charles Hammawa on Monday condemned the attack on Secret Heart Minor Seminary Jalingo, where a priest was badly wounded with gunshot.
Hammawa who described the attack as regrettable urged government to be more serious in handling security issues in the country. “It is regrettable that as a church, we are only modeling the children to be good citizens of the country, but we are now being attacked unprovoked.
“We thank God no life was lost in the incident, though my priest Rev. Fr. Cornelius Koba was shot in the leg. This is one attack too many. Fr. Koba had only told the Fulani herdsmen to stop grazing on the school premises and they came after him in the dead of the night.
“For the Fulani herdsmen to attack us in Jalingo, is an indication that our security situation in this country has become extremely bad.
“The primary responsibility of government is the protection of lives and property and we will continue to call on the government to sit up,” he said. The Bishop explained that all the students that ran into the bush for safety during the attack which happened around 1 am today have all returned.
He noted that the school has been closed temporarily for one week to enable the children to go home and overcome the trauma before they can continue studies.
Rev Fr. Koba who was shot in the leg during the attack told journalists that the attackers stormed the Seminary in their numbers and head to his room where he was attacked.
“They also shot and brew the windscreen of my car. One of them opened fire at my window and destroyed my television set and other properties. “My offense is that I often ask them to stop invading our school for grazing and stop cutting down our trees to feed their cows.
“They came around 1 am and got a student whom they ordered to take them to my room. I came out and met them all armed numbering over five. As soon I came out one of them said to see him, kill him but one of them objected.
“They struck me with their sticks and when I fell down, one of them shot me in the leg and they left,” he said. The attack on the Minor Seminary in Taraba is coming less than a week after the mass burial of two Catholic Priests and 17 others in Benue State.
Police Public Relations officer ASP. David Missal confirmed the attack, saying “we are aware of the attack.”
by admin | May 21, 2018 | General, Health, Lifestyle
The Coordinator of Ngada Special Development Area in Taraba State, Rev. Joseph Nagombe has said the creation of the Special Development Area has saved the lives of over 100 women annually from pregnancy complications.
Nagombe disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Jalingo on Monday.
According to him from the medical statistics available to him over 100 women have been of pregnancy-related cases annually before the creation of the Development Area in 2017.
“For the past one year, we have not lost any woman due to complications in pregnancy because the people of the area can now access medical services for the first time since the creation of the world.
“Before the creation of the Special Development Area, the wife of the Governor, Anna Ishaku trained some traditional birth attendants in the area to handle cases of pregnancy.
“Many people in the area before now were not aware of anything called a hospital and were using crude ways of birth attendant and every year we do loss about 100 women during delivery, due to lack of medical attention during pregnancy,” he said.
He commented the Governor for the empowerment of 60 youths and women trained in various skills as well as the employment of over 200 people to work in the secretariat of the Special Development Area.
The Coordinator informed that he had started implementing the Strategic Development plan for the area by planting over 60 cocoa plantation and 500 palm trees for the economic survival of the area, adding that plans were on to ensure the financial independence of the Development area within the shortest possible time.
In the area of Security, Nagombe said they had employed 50 vigilante members to help police the area, adding that the construction of a police station in the area was on the way.
The people of Ngada in Taraba state were prior to their discovery by the wife of the Governor Anna Ishaku in 2016 not known by the government and were without any modern infrastructure.
by admin | May 21, 2018 | Education, Lifestyle
The Governor of Taraba State, Darius Dickson Ishaku has presented cheques amounting to Fifty-Seven Million Naira to one hundred and fourteen primary and secondary schools in the State to enable the schools to carry out some minor projects.
Presenting the cheques to the schools at a ceremony which took place in Jalingo yesterday, Governor Ishaku said the money was grant received from the World Bank under the State Education Programme Investment Project, SEPIP which took off in Taraba State last year.
The governor said the grants would enable the schools to carry out minor projects such as the renovation of classrooms blocks, constructions of desks and procurement of instructional materials.
Governor Ishaku warned that the grants were not intended to be shared as a national cake, stressing that the principals and headmasters would be held responsible in the event of any mismanagement of the funds. He, however, assured them that the judicious utilization of the grants would attract additional allocation.
Earlier in his address of welcome, the State Commissioner of Education, Mr. Johanes Jigem said the grants were part of the World Bank scheduled to enhance the development of Education in Taraba State. Mr. Jigem said other components of the Banks included training of teachers and deploying them to hard-to-reach and conflict-prone areas.
He made the disclosure that so far, three thousand teachers had been trained and deployed to the affected areas, out of the five thousand teachers earmarked for training under the programme.
The commissioner also stated that the grant to the benefiting schools was the first phase, adding that others would follow in due course.
by admin | May 17, 2018 | Latest News, Lifestyle, Politics
The Taraba State Governor, Darius lshaku on Wednesday received an award of TAA NDOLA (Father of Ndola) for his excellent leadership and grassroots development.
In his remarks at the occasion, the Governor urged Tarabans to imbibe the spirit of hard work and patience to build an enduring State.
He said Taraba State has all it takes to become greater considering its natural resources and tourism potentials. Hence, the need for the people to tolerate one another for the sake of peace and harmony.
The Governor who commended his wife, Barr. Anna Ishaku for championing the liberation course of the NDOLA people, charged them to accord her maximum support to enable her to initiate more life touching programmes for the benefit of all.
Ishaku thanked them for conferring on him the title as Taa NDOLA and challenged them to collect their permanent voters’ card to elect leaders of their choice in next year’s general elections.
Earlier in his remarks, Coordinator of the Ngada Special Development Area, Rev. Joseph Titus Nagombe said the relentless efforts of Governor Darius Ishaku in liberating the NDOLA people was responsible for the award as Taa Ndola.
Nagombe enumerated the Rescue Mission achievements in Ngada Special Development Area to include construction of secretariat, employment of over two hundred junior staff and construction of classrooms.
Others are the creation of NDOLA Ngada chiefdom, upgrading of Kurmi NDOLA Chiefdom and six districts in Ngada Special Development Area.
He also commended the Governor for the construction of Police station, installation of water pumps, approval and commencement of the Government Day Secondary School, Sunkuru and others.
He pledged the resolved of people of the Area to support him come 2019.
The ceremony featured, the presentation of plaque and certificate to the Governor and presentation of the book, Ndola People and Region in African History, written by Nagombe Joseph Titus.
by admin | May 14, 2018 | Latest News, Lifestyle
Troops of the 101 Special Forces Battalion deployed to Taraba state on Monday nabbed four suspected armed herdsmen caught grazing their cows on a farmland in Suntai Daji village of Donga Local Government Area of the state.
Parading the suspects in Donga, Commanding Officer of the Battalion, Lt. Col. Mutiu Dotun Olaseni, said the suspects Dahiru Dumba, Almajiri Nyako, Haryana Manga and Adamu Hassan were arrested while grazing on a farm belonging to a woman in the village, following a tip-off.
The Commanding Officer added that one AK-47 rifle with 30 rounds of 7.62mm Special Ammunition was recovered from the suspects.
“The troops also seized 285 cows found with them during the arrest.
The suspects are still under our custody and they would soon be transferred to the Army headquarters in Abuja,” he said.
Olaseni said the Army would continue to work tirelessly against any act that would cause the crisis in the area, adding that the seized cows have been handed over to the local government Council and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the area for safekeeping.
While reiterating the determination of the troops deployed to the area in ensuring the protection of lives and property, Olaseni urged the people of Taraba to avail the Army with genuine information that would assist in tracking down suspected armed bandits in the state.
Some of the suspects who spoke to journalists admitted to having committed the crime but pleaded with the Army to be lenient with them, saying they were carrying the AK47 rifle and the ammunition to protect themselves against external attacks.
They explained that the cows were not their own but belong to other people who entrusted them in their care on business grounds.
