News
Maina: Court to resume hearing Friday
Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court will, on Friday, resumed hearing ‘in a suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against the Chairman, defunct Pension Reformed Task Team , PRTT, Abdulrasheed Maina, in Abuja.
The judge will also hear the trial of Faisal, the son of the former pension reformed boss, who is on trial on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering, the same day.
Besides, the case involving the former Governor of Adamawa, Murtala Nyako, and others will also come up before Abang.
Hearing notices to this effect had been issued to parties in the matters.
According to the EFCC’s Lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, he had been served with a hearing notice for Mr Maina.”
On June 17, that the EFCC had urged the Chief Judge of the court, Justice John Tsoho, not to reassign some cases, including Mr Maina’s suit, to another judge.
The anti-graft commission was reported to have applied to Justice Tsoho for a fiat to allow Justice Abang, the presiding judge in these cases, to conclude the matters.
The development followed the transfer of Mr Abang to Warri division of the court in a March 16 circular signed by Tsoho.
It would be recalled that Mr Abang was replaced by Justice D.U. Okorowo at the Abuja division.
According to reports, it is a common practice that whenever a judge is transferred before delivering judgment in a case he or she handles, the case will have to start afresh if another judge takes over.
Such case, however, can continue only where parties in the suit apply for a fiat, a provision of the Federal High Court Act that allows a presiding judge to conclude a matter irrespective of his or her new posting, apart from Section 98 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) that stipulates that a judge who begins a matter shall be allowed to conclude it in criminal cases.
The judge is then bound to come from his current division to hear the case.
The EFCC, according to a competent source at the office, had told NAN that since Mr Maina and his son’s trial, including Mr Nyako’s case, had gone far, it would only be good, in the interest of justice, for the judge to conclude the matter.
“Maina has been arraigned, we have called all our witnesses and the defendant (Maina) has opened his defence.
“So it will only be proper for the presiding judge to conclude the trial to guard against delay in justice,” the source who did not want to be named had said.
NAN
The Kano State Government has inaugurated a 14-member committee tasked with reviewing existing education policies in the state.
Inaugurating the committee on Thursday in Kano, the Commissioner for Education, Dr Ali Makoda, said that the committee was constituted by the Kano State Executive Council to assess the state’s education policies.
“This committee was originally scheduled to be inaugurated by the governor, but due to prior engagements, he has delegated the responsibility to me so that we can begin our work immediately,” Makoda stated.
The Commissioner outlined the committee’s terms of reference, which include reviewing the four existing education policies in the state to assess whether they align with the cultural and religious beliefs of the people.
“Evaluating the feasibility of implementing the policies, and making recommendations to strengthen the state’s education system.”
He noted that the four policies to be reviewed include the Kano State Girls’ Education Policy, Kano State Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Policy, Kano State Non-State School Policy, and Kano State Teacher Development Policy.
Makoda announced that the committee has been given three weeks to submit its report, and urged the members to leverage their expertise to produce recommendations that would enhance the state’s education sector.
In his response, the committee chairman, Malam Abdullahi Dutse, assured the commissioner of the committee’s commitment to work collaboratively to meet the expectations placed on them.
“Considering the diverse expertise of the committee members, I believe the government has selected individuals with the right skills to address the challenges facing education in the state. We will work diligently to provide the necessary report,” he said.
The committee’s members include Malam Abdullahi Dutse (Chairman), Prof Abdallah Uba -Adamu, Habibu Dan Almajiri, Alhaji Danlami Garba, Kano State Commissioner for Women, Children, and Disabled Affairs Hajiya Amina Abdullahi, and Isa Ahmad.
Other members are Prof Tijjani Naniya, Malam Kabiru Hanga, Munzali Mustapha, Prof Auwal Halliru Arzai, and Dr Bashir Aliyu -Umar.
The remaining include the representatives of the Emirate Council and Civil Society Organizations, and Ibrahim Bawa, Director of Archives and Publications, who will serve as Secretary of the committee.
The U.S. Deputy-Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell, has extolled Nigeria’s partnership in the successful repatriation of funds linked to forfeited luxury real estate and Galactica Star Superyacht. (more…)
President Bola Tinubu has congratulated six Nigerians named by President Joe Biden among the 400 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in the United States.
This recognition, established by former President Bill Clinton in 1996, is the highest honour bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers.
This year’s awardees, announced by Biden on Jan. 14, are employed or funded by 14 participating United States government agencies, Mr Bayo Onanuga, the President’s Spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
The Nigerian honourees include Azeez Butali, Gilbert Lilly Endowed Professor of Diagnostic Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa; and Ijeoma Opara, Associate Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences), Yale School of Public Health, Yale University.
Others are: Oluwatomi Akindele, Postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; and Eno Ebong, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biology at Northeastern University;
The rest are: Oluwasanmi Koyejo, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University; and Abidemi Ajiboye, Executive vice Chair of the Case School of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Case Western Reserve University.
Tinubu commended the awardees for their achievements in science, technology and engineering.
He noted that recognising the talents of the awardees underscored Nigerians’ vast potential to excel both at home and on the global stage.
Tinubu looked forward to the honourees sharing their multidisciplinary expertise to benefit Nigeria’s development efforts under the Renewed Hope Agenda. (more…)
Kano inaugurates 14-member committee to review education policies
U.S commends Nigeria over Galactica funds repatriation efforts
Tinubu congratulates Nigerian scientists, engineers on making Biden’s honour list
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