Senate Directs FG To Build E-validation Portal Against Fake Results

The Senate on Thursday directed the Federal Ministry of Education to build and maintain for all tertiary institutions in Nigeria, an e-validation portal, to enable employers and relevant authorities or organization within and outside Nigeria, to verify and validate academic result/certificate obtained from tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Starnews Nigeria reports that the decision was sequel to a motion by Senator Nicholas Tofowomo, the lawmaker representing Ondo South Senatorial District at the red chamber with the title: ”the urgent need to compel all tertiary institutions in Nigeria to subscribe to e-validation of results portal so that employers and relevant organisations within and outside Nigeria can verify the results of Nigerian graduates.

Senator Tofowomo noted that the use of fake results/certificates by Nigerians to work in the Ministry, Department, and Agency (MDA’s) and private organisations, and the use of same, to run for elective offices in Nigeria, is very disturbing and embarrassing.

The motion partly reads: ”Note that in Nigeria today, many unqualified and dubious people are riding to the corridor of power with fake certificate results even when the minimum qualification to run for the highest office of the land is a school certificate.”

”That suspected corrupt tertiary institutions’ personnel are aiding and abetting this evil menace which has become a source of embarrassment to Nigeria in the comity of nations.”

”More concerned that Thisday Newspaper, on December 4, 2019, quoted Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, the Executive Secretary of NUC that about 100 fake professors were uncovered in our higher institutions.”

After presentation, the motion was seconded by Senator Betty Apiafi (PDP Rivers West) with little amendments and the Senate resolved as follows:

i. THAT the Federal Ministry of Education should build and maintain for all tertiary institutions in Nigeria, an E-validation portal, to enable employers and relevant authorities or organization within and outside Nigeria, to verify and validate academic result/certificate obtained from tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

ii. THAT the Federal Ministry of Education should compel all tertiary institutions in Nigeria to subscribe to the E-validation result portal proposed in the (1) above, like the WAEC, NECO and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAM portals to verify, authenticate and validates results/certificates obtained from tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

iii. THAT all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and all employers of labour to use the portal as proposed in (1) above to check, verify and authenticate academic results/certificates brought before them in the course of employment/recruitment into respective offices.

Speaking with Starnews Nigeria in a telephone interview, the Ondo South Senator said the chain of fake degrees and school certificates being paraded by Nigerians in the political sector, ministry and industrial sectors respectively can not be overemphasised which hence his reason for the motion.

”Just as we have fake professors, so also we have fake lawyers, fake medical doctors, fake engineers and many others parading themselves with fake results.

”It is a recurrence national malaise because of the poor database in our institutions and lack of e- validation of result portal across our tertiary institutions. This is why I think this motion is urgently needed as a matter of public importance, Senator Tofowomo told Starnews Nigeria correspondent on phone.

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IPOB: Mefor’s Exit Can’t Derail Biafra Struggle – Umeano

An Onitsha based political analyst and activist, Chief Okey Umeano, has disclosed that the exit of Uche Mefor from the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, would not affect the focus of IPOB in actualising a Sovereign State of Biafra. Mefor, deputy to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, said nobody is indispensable in IPOB, including its founder.

Reacting to the alleged exit Mefor, Umeano reiterated that there is no permanent officer in IPOB.

He said: “People come and go and they have been coming and going. Uche Mefor cannot change the focus of IPOB. IPOB is the biggest movement in the world, and they are in so many countries.



“IPOB is stronger than Nnamdi Kanu and Mefor. Nobody can’t destroy IPOB, and the lingering crisis is a battle Nnamdi Kanu has control over. His intellect and ideas are greater than those sponsoring the fight against him and IPOB. If you were directly involved in a struggle, the information you are getting is greater than those of others.
“People leave in anger when you refuse to do what they think; believing that you are stubborn, but they don’t have all the information that you have.”

#orientdailynews

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C’River Govt Explains Why Calabar Carnival Will Not Hold



For the first time in 16 years, this year’s edition of Calabar Carnival, touted as the biggest street party in Africa, would not hold, the Cross River state government has submitted.
Recall that the carnival was introduced by the then governor Donald Duke in 2004 and since then it had attracted into Calabar thousands of fun lovers and tourists from all over the world every year.

But in an interview, shortly after flagging off the cultural village, Thursday, commissioner for culture and tourism, Hon Eric Anderson, disclosed that the decision to sacrifice the 2020 carnival was due to the scourge of the COVID 19 pandemic and the devastating effects of the endSARS protest hijacked by hoodlums.


“From March this year, Nigeria was hit by COVID 19 and Cross River was not left out. While we were trying to come out of the pandemic, the endSARS protest which was hijacked by hoodlums erupted.
“Among the state ravaged and looted, Cross River suffered the most. Tinapa is gone, Calabar International Convention Centre CICC, is gone. In all, over 120 properties were affected by that senseless destruction. This is a time of sober reflection for us. We have been badly battered.




“Secondly, we have not got approval from the Presidential Task Force on COVID 19 to organise the carnival, maybe due to the fact that hosting carnival at this point in time would break the COVID 19 protocols,” he stated.


Asked on the significance of the cultural village, Anderson said it was to exhibit Cross River state arts, crafts and culture to avoid them being swallowed by other people’s cultures which young people see as modernity.
He said, “We are just exhibiting our arts and culture.

It is a form of reassessment of heritage and every thing which makes us unique. That is why we have allocated booths for all the 18 local government areas of the state to exhibit what they have.
“It is going to be very competitive and prizes will be given for best cuisines and other things. This is to serve as motivation to our cultural and heritage department.”

#orientdailynews

DPO Killed My Father, Uncle, Labourer, Kept Their Bodies, The Man Tells Panel In Benin

A 41-year-old man, Smart Odojie Ofagba, on Thursday told the Edo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry for victims of SARS and related abuses how his father, a retired army officer, Mr Samuel Udojie Ofagba, was allegedly murdered by one Divisional Police Officer, Aisabor in Usenu Irrua in Esan Central Local Government Area of Edo State on March 9, 1999
Ofagba also told the panel that his uncle, Mr Abhulimen Ofagba and his father’s labourer, Kingsley were allegedly murdered alongside his father by the same police officer.

Mr Smart who was at than 20 years old when the incident happened, told the panel that one Kingsley who works with his father in his farm was accosted by the police officer when he was coming from a night burial and was taken to his father (Mr Samuel Udojie Ofagba) for identification.
Smart said when his father saw Kingsley, he identified him as one of his workers.

The young man who later broke down in tears before the panel appealed to the panel to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of his relatives and demanded N50million compensation.

Narrating his experience, he said his father (now deceased) asked Mr Kingsley, the labourer what brought him to his house that early morning in his native language but was stopped by the policeman for conversing in his tribe instead of English language that everyone could understand.

“So, the said police officer attempted to slap my father (now deceased) but he quickly held his hand and that one argument further led to the other which eventually landed them at the police station”, he said.

Smart said, his father, uncle and his father’s labourer were kept behind the counter and were told to come and bail themselves with the sum of N 40, 000 adding that they were only able to raise the sum of N 23,000 which the police allegedly rejected.

Mr Smart said he was later told by the Investigative Police Officer to come back the following day to see the DPO since it was already late in the day only for them to hear that they have been shot dead and their bodies dumped at the Irrua Police Division and labelled “armed robbers” by the DPO.
He explained that the police claimed that they engaged them in a shoot out with his men at Ewu junction, Irrua, and the police proceeded to produce a cut to size locally made barrel gun and 10 live cartridges alleged to have belonged to his late father and uncle.



He noted that to make the matter worse, their bodies were not released to the family for burial.

He prayed the panel to compel Mr Aisabor to lead him to where his father was buried so that he could exhume him and give him a befitting burial.

He also asked for the prosecution of officers who were remotely involved in the killings of his father, uncle and his father’s labourer.

He further sought for a public apology from the Nigeria Police Force for defaming his father, uncle and his father’s labourer.

Chairman of the panel, Justice Ada Ehigiamusoe (rtd), upon listening to the petitioner, ordered that the said Aisabor be summoned before the panel.

“This is the collective view of the panel that the said police officer named in the petition, one Mr Aisabor be summoned before this panel to answer to issues as contained in the petition”, Justice Ada said.

#orientdailynews

Crisis In Arthur Eze’s Family: Dunukofia’s Youths Intervene

Hundreds of Dunukofia’s youths stormed the castle of Prince Arthur Eze in Ukpo, Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State in the mid hours of 3rd December 2020, demanding the unconditional release of his two cousins, Prince Olisa Berlus and Prince Onyeka Eze who were reportedly under detention by the EFCC on the behest of the billionaire over the alleged crime of embezzlement.

Orient Daily gathered that the duo of Messrs. Olisa Eze and Onyeka Eze were members of the kitchen cabinet of the Ukpo born philanthropist and usually manage the bags of money he gifts people on daily basis.

The protesters were singing solidarity songs while brandishing placards with some of the following inscriptions: “Nobody is with your money Says Dunukofia Youth,” “Justice for two princes of Ukpo Kingdom,” “Princes Olisa Eze and Onyeka Eze are innocent,” and “Ozoigbondu, remember they are your brothers.”




One of the protesters blamed the billionaire’s Aide as the source of the Eze’s brothers’ ordeal.



“I don’t know whether he is using charms on Arthur. He believes everything he told him. He was the one that told Ozoigbonudu that they stole his money.”

However, a close relative to the family who spoke on condition of anonymity told Orient Daily that the case is a family issue that “people should learn how to mind their business…I advised the youths to go home and allow the Eze royal family to sort the matter out.”

He went on to say that Prince Arthur Eze was just trying to punish them for wrong-doings. He reminded the youths that “it is the same Arthur Eze that detained Olisa and Onyeka built a mansion for them.”

Similarly, another Ukpo native told Orient Daily that the youths are protesting because the two detainees are youth-friendly. “They usually come to help of Dunukofia’s youth when called upon.”

Attempts to speak with Prince Arthur Eze proved futile at the time of filing this report.

#orientdailynews

Insecurity: Ayade Donates Patrol Vehicles To Security Agencies, Reads Riot Act.



With kidnapping and other violent crimes increasing every passing day in Calabar, the Cross River state capital, Governor Ben Ayade has restated his determination to rid the state of criminal elements.

Ayade made the remarks in Calabar, Thursday, while donating 100 patrol vehicles and ten power bikes to security agencies in the state to fight all cases of insecurity.

He submitted that with the present precarious insecurity situation, he had made up his mind to prioritise security above payment of salaries and pension, and therefore launches what he code-named ‘Operation Akpakwu’ to rid the state of criminals and kidnappers.

“I have decided to allow security come first before salaries and pensions because I will no longer tolerate a situation where criminals and kidnappers take over the state under my watch.

“Going forward, any kidnapper in the state will have his house demolished and if he rents the house, then the landlord will have a case to answer.



” Let me also add that any person with a gun in his possession will pay heavy price for it. Today is the end of kidnapping in the state and I expect the cordon and search programme to be enhanced because we cannot afford to allow criminals overrun the state,” the governor said.

According to him, his administration has spent so much in buying both patrol vehicles and drones, all to control the security situation in the state, and therefore warned that he would not tolerate any security lapses “going forward.”

He also called on the federal government to absorb the disbanded ‘Bakassi Strike Force’ into the amnesty programme, noting that since the Bakassi militia “laid down their arms three years ago, the federal government has not done anything to give them a means of livelihood.”

The Governor said he was strongly of the opinion that incessant kidnapping and other criminalities would be the thing of the past if all would come together to fight the menace.

#orientdailynews

JOB VACANCY: Office Assistant at Sure Foundation Consult

Sure Foundation Consult is recruiting suitably qualified candidates to fill the position below:

Job Title: Office Assistant

Location: Enugu / Abakaliki Express Road, Enugu
Employment Type: Full-time

Key Responsibilities

Ensure smooth running of the office
Perform general secretarial duties
Requirements

Must be a female
WAEC/School Certificate with a minimum of 2 years work experience.
Experience as an office assistant or in related field.
Ability to communicate clearly.
Warm personality with strong communication skills.
Ability to work well under limited supervision.
Great communication skills.
Must be resident in Enugu
Must be proficient with Microsoft office (word,excel, Powerpoint and Internet research)
Honest, hardworking, intelligent and creative
Smart and teachable
The candidate should be minimum of 18 years
Remuneration
Fixed amount

Application Closing Date
12th December, 2020.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Application and CV to: [email protected] using the "Job Title" as the subject of the email.

#jobs

JOB VACANCY:Business Development Officer at Sure Foundation Consult


Sure Foundation Consult, a full-consulting firm currently based in Enugu, is currently recruiting suitably qualified candidates to fill the position below:

Job Title: Business Development Officer

Location: Enugu / Abakaliki Express Road, Enugu
Employment Type: Full Time

Key Responsibilities

Engaging certain bank branch managers for applicants
Touring southeast states to increase client base
Developing growth strategies and plans
Managing and retaining relationships with existing clients
Having an in-depth knowledge of business products and value proposition
Writing business proposals
Negotiating with stakeholders
Researching business opportunities and viable income streams
Periodic reporting
Job Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree
Minimum of 3 years experience.
Requirements:

Must be a male
Proficient with the use of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and internet search
Excellent communication skill
Smart
Honest, hardworking, intelligent and creative.
Application Closing Date
15th December, 2020.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Applications and CV to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the email.

#jobs