BUK INFORMANT

  LATEST NEWS President Joe Biden of the United States used his first day in office to issue some executive orders undoing some of former President Donald Trump’s policies on climate change and immigration. Among the 17 executive orders and presidential actions Biden signed on Wednesday were the order to end a travel ban from countries including Nigeria, Eritrea, Yemen, Sudan and others. “There’s no time to waste,” Biden said before signing executive orders in the White House. “These are just all starting points,” he added. The order cancels the entry ban on citizens from over a dozen countries, including Eritrea, Yemen, Nigeria, and Sudan. The American Civil Liberties Union, a non-profit civil rights organisation, applauded the move calling the travel policy a “cruel Muslim ban that targeted Africans.” Critics had called the policy – one of the first moves by Donald Trump when he became president in 2017 – a “Muslim ban.” However, the ban was changed, in part due to legal challeng...

The Kaduna State University, on Friday, promoted no fewer than 12 lecturers to the rank of Professor while eight others to an Associate Professor's rank. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Prof. Abdullahi Ashafa in a statement, also announced the termination of the appointment of a lecturer over alleged sexual harassment. The lecturer fired, Dr. Idowu Abbas, was of the Department of Geography of the institution. The DVC said the university's Senior Staff Disciplinary Committee, chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) investigated the alleged sexual harassment against the lecturer before relieving him of his job. He noted that the report of the disciplinary committee was eventually presented at the 217th Management Meeting of the varsity he(Ashafa) served as Chairman on behalf of the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Muhammad Tanko, on Jan. 12. The management, he said, then relieved Abbas from the services of the university and directed that all student...

Wale Alabi Pens Chief Bisi Akande on 82nd Birthday Dear Father, Chief AbdulKareem Adebisi Akande, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing a great path that creates opportunities for others. As the father of our political family in Osun and Nigeria as a whole; your opinion, encouragement, wisdom in decision making, integrity and doggedness have tremendously helped troubleshooting problems and disputes, calmed serious whirlwinds, dismantled various political barricades and obstructions within the progressives' fold and government at various levels. Your strength, passion and determination to make sure progressives' vision come to limelight and retool Nigeria for better have come to fruition and are yielding positive result. Baba, you had taught us through actions and continued to show through deeds that love for all creations, fairness, justice across board, determination to achieve developmental goal without compromise and respect for dissenting views are pan...

The management of the University of Ilorin, on Friday, has announced a phased reopening of the institution for academic activities beginning from January 25 This was contained in a press statement by the institution’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Kunle Akogun, titled, ‘Phased resumption of classes’, on Friday. The statement read, “In furtherance to the virtual resumption of academic activities at the University of Ilorin on January 11th, 2021 and compliance with the directive of the Federal Government, the University management has announced a phased reopening of the institution for the formal resumption of academic activities beginning from January 25th, 2021.   “Our students and their parents are expected to strictly comply with the phased resumption schedule, as we intend to strictly enforce the timetable as itemized below: “Phase 1: 25th January 2021 – Return of students with outstanding 1st Semester examinations who will return home after their examinations.  “Phase...

No fewer than 10,000 security personnel have been deployed for the local government council election in Kano scheduled for Saturday Among them are 7,251 police officers, Kano State Police Commissioner, Habu Sani, disclosed on Thursday. Sani, in a statement by spokesman, Abdullahi Haruna, said the security personnel will be in all the 8,084 polling stations of the 747 wards of the 44 councils of the state during the election. "Adequate security arrangements have been put in place to ensure peaceful conduct of the election," he said. The police chief restricted the movement of vehicles, tricycles and motorbikes from 12:pm on Friday until 6:pm Saturday. "Except those on essential services, such as ambulances, fire service trucks, accredited pressmen/election observer vehicles." "No state government agency is allowed to participate in the election exercise, such as KAROTA, Hisbah, vigilante and Man O' War. "No person will be allowed to carry bag, handset, ...

•NEPAD, govt to spend $2bn to boost food security  •Plan, a product of consultations: Farmers’ body     Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Friday launched a 10-year Agricultural Transformation Plan, which is designed to ensure food security, generate employment opportunities, and reduce poverty rate.   The plan is hinged in six pillars of crop production, finance, livestock, access to market, value chain, and cross-cutting programmes, the Governor said at the launch of the document in Ilorin, the state capital.    AbdulRazaq said the document comes with measurable milestones to ensure faithful implementations by all the stakeholders involved. "It is a 10-year plan which is based on verifiable data gathered from field research and extensive consultations with various stakeholders and experts in the sector. The plan spells out the opportunities and challenges in the agricultural sector in the state, and identifies six pillars that are critical to ...