Cubinks NEWS

el-Rufai: Voting at his polling unit  BY NASIRU JAGABA  F irst of all, let me start by congratulating the Citizens of Kaduna State, for violence free election in the local government polls. The peaceful conduct of the citizens in Kaduna despite the happenings that had shown clearly the desperation of persons in the corridor of power to manipulate, overturn the result refused to give in to the chaos but rather responded with all sense of maturity and confidence in the sanctity of the ballot. Had Kaduna responded in similar desperation as shown by the institutional riggers, perhaps curfew would have been slammed in several areas which would have created the perfect cover for the malpractices to happen. The hate speeches and incitement from the top government officials in Kaduna state government did not end on the platforms for the campaigns alone but went further to reflect in the exercise that held. There are several accounts going round about thugs accompanyin...

Yams harvested for market By YUSUF GOJE T he Technical Assistant to the Honorable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on Quality Control and Standardization, Mrs Heather R. Akanni, has adjudged Nigerian yams to be of high quality, debunking claims by some section of the media that the first exported products of yam were rejected due to poor quality. She stated that: “Nigerian yams were not rejected because of quality, but due to the long period it took to arrive its destination, some of the products got spoiled along the way. Unfortunately, some of the media outfits only chose to harp on a baseless standpoint that they were rejected". She disclosed that, "the law banning yam export is being reviewed and presently at the second reading stage in the National Assembly”. In ensuring that our yams continue to meet the international standards, she said, clustering of farmers to ensure that only approved certified yam seeds were made available to them is...

Voters in Jema'a follow results to collation Centre at Kafanchan By Dangwa Danjuma   T wenty-four hours after closure of balloting in the Saturday May 12, polls in the state, Returning Officers in some of the LG areas are no where to be found. Cubinks investigations reveal  that election results for all the 255 wards of all the Local Government  areas would  have been collated before now, were it not for the absence of the runaway  Returning Officers. "The returning officers have left election officials, party agents with tensed voters stranded at polling units; and are nowhere to be found. In Jema’a, 5 wards namely Aso, Atukun, Badeh, Takau and Maigizo have turned in their results to the Local Government collation Centre and could not find the Local Government returning officer to receive the result",  fumed one of  the frustrated voters. Our Correspondent gathered  that the situation is not different in Birnin Gwar...

Citizens listening with rapt attention  By YUSUF GOJE C ommissioner, Planning and Budget Commission Kaduna state, Mohammed  Sani Dattijo has queried the rationale behind the proposed upward review  of the minimum wage, which he said compels even states that are not  viable to play ball. Making the assertion at the  recently concluded Citizens' Consultation forum on Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2019-2021  held in Kaduna, Dattijo said:"The minimum wage should be moved from the  exclusive to the concurrent list, even though Kaduna state is  healthier than most states, there are states that cannot afford the  increase in minimum wage. If this is not done, the increase in minimum wage will only be on paper but difficult to implement by many states, resulting in labor disputes". He stressed that the exclusiveness of this piece of  legislation which empowers only the Federal government to de...

Voters on queue to vote at a polling unit in the city centre D elay in the arrival of voter officials and materials as well as voter apathy adversely affected  the just concluded Kaduna Local Government elections. Cubinks' team of reporters, gathered that within the city centre most polling units did not commence voting until about 1:00pm. Voters who spoke to our Correspondent  blamed the poor turn out on poor publicity of the  voting process, leaving significant information shrouded in secrecy. Some of the challenges encountered by voters and officials, according to party agents include delay in activating the electronic voter  machines, absence of displayed register for voters.  Fundamentally however, remarked Kalu Ndukwe a Supervisor of one of the parties at Barnawa Clinic polling unit: "the processes is unlike the conventional elections, there is no secrecy in the ballot. Some ignorant voters are even bei...

Dr Saratu Binta Dikko-Audu: Chairperson Kaduna Electoral Commission A s at 11:35am voting in today's Kaduna L.G polls had not commenced in the city centre, as electoral officials and materials were still making their way to polling units in an election that was slated to commence at 8:00am.  At a polling unit, a party agent told Cubinks that the officials have not arrived but have information that they are on their way. Voters were seen around the polling area expressing dissatisfaction with the way things were going. "We hope that the lateness of the officials is not a ploy to disenfranchise voters because we are all determined to vote the candidate of our choice today", said one of the voters. It will be recalled in our coverage of the build up yesterday, we gathered that there are indications that many people will be disenfranchised. The absence of the voter list that ought to be displayed at the polling areas early enough for voters to iden...

An Election Officer Training Supervisors for the exercise  A Kaduna-based civil society organization, Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED), has vowed to watch out for under-aged voters and thugs in tomorrow's Local Government polls and hand them over to security agents. Convener of the coalition, Mr Yusuf Goje told Cubinks in an interview that as part of its social responsibility, CALPED had decided to team up with other civil society organizations "to own the electoral process by ensuring that it is hitch free and credible. "As part of our contribution to the democratic process, we are duty bound to join other stakeholders by making sure the right thing is done and by so doing democracy would deepen and Nigeria would be better off", Goje said, advising that all hands should be on deck to fish out thugs and under aged voters not only in tomorrow's local government polls but in subsequent...

Participants listening keenly during the engagement T ransparent and citizen-based democracy have been identified as a vital catalyst to good governance in Nigeria. Dropping the hint while speaking at a one day capacity building programme  for Open Government Partnership(OGP) Kaduna, State Team Leader, Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn(PERL-ECP), Mr Abel Adejo, disclosed that OGP is operating in no fewer than 75 countries in the world. " Kaduna is the only state in Nigeria operating OGP; the one of the very few  sub-nationals in Africa. In Africa Nigeria and Kaduna state were second to be registered in Africa", Adejo volunteered, tracing the origin of OGP in Africa to  2014 when Kenya and Tanzania keyed into the programme. While stressing that "transparency and accountability" remain the watchwords of open government partnership, Adejo informed that the initiative was not an abstract thing but essentially designed to benefit the people. Also spe...

Prof. Simon Iritwange Acting President Yam Farmers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria 'Farmers must access quality seeds for food security and sufficiency'                                                                            - Professor Iritwange P rofessor Simon Iritwange is the Acting President Yam Farmers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (YFPMAN)  and a Senior Lecturer with the University of Agriculture Makurdi, Benue state. The University Don exudes passion when issues concerning agriculture in the country are raised as was the case during the recently concluded 2-day strategic stakeholders meeting in Kaduna on the vital need for the production and even distribution of quality and improved seeds and seedlings in the country. He strongly be...