The Minister, Hajia Sadiya Farouq, who inaugurated the disbursement on Tuesday in Lokoja, said other beneficiaries under the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP) would also get their various package.

She said the programmes include: Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program (GEEP 2.0), Digitised Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), NPower and Home Grown School Feeding Program (HGSFP).

She said the NSIP remained a project that is consistent with the deliberate National agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari, to lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.

She said the GVG was designed to provide a one-off cash grant of N20,000 to some of the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians in the rural and peri-urban areas to ease them out of poverty.

The Minister, who was represented by the Director of Special Duties in the Ministry, Mrs Nadia Soso-Muhammed, said their target was to disburse the grant to 3,415 beneficiaries across the 21 local government areas of Kogi.

She noted that President Buhari through his deliberate social inclusion agenda, had directed that 70 per cent of the beneficiaries should be women, and 30 per cent youths.

She added that 15 per cent of the total beneficiaries would be allocated to the people with special needs and the senior citizens.

She explained that the GEEP 2.0, was in three categories: Trader-moni, Market-moni and Farmer-moni, in which beneficiaries would get loans ranging from 50,000 to N300,000 with zero interest depending on the category.

She stressed that the GEEP 2.0 was designed for the vulnerable and low-income Nigerians involved in commercial activity and capacity but never had opportunity to access loans.

She said about 1,142,783 potential beneficiaries had been registered across the 774 LGAs in Nigeria out of which 50,394 were from Kogi.

She added 14,404 out of the 50,394 registered in Kogi had been verified out of which about 3, 437 were enumerated and selected for payment in the first phase.

The minister said a total of 9.9 million children are currently being fed nationwide, adding that President Buhari had approved additional 5 million children to be included.

She commended Governor Yahaya Bello for his immense contribution and commitment which had ensured the great success the NSIP had recorded in Kogi.

Farouq urged all beneficiaries of the various programmes to use the grant and the loans to improve their productivity, create wealth, employment, and improve their living standard.

In his remarks, the Governor thanked the President and the Minister for all the various intervention programmes that the federal government had put in place for Kogi people and Nigeria at large.

The governor, who was represented by the Head of Service, Mrs Hannah Odiyo, thanked the Ministry for identifying with the people of Kogi during the flood disaster that ravaged the state.

He noted that aside partnering with the federal government on NSIP, he established healthcare programme, known as ”Bello Care Programme” which had been taken care of the health needs of the vulnerable citizens of the state free of charge.

The governor said that as ‘a pace setter’ he remained committed and not relent in setting the pace for others to follow in all aspects of the economy.

He urged the federal government to do everything within its power to make Kogi a disaster resilient state, so that it could withstand the incessant flood disasters.

Earlier, Hon Abdukareem Suleiman Onyekehi, the State’s NSIP Focal Person, said the programmes were huge and unprecedented, and meeting government’s aims and objectives towards eradicating poverty, and creating job.

Onyekehi, who doubles as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, said a total of 353,768 beneficiaries had directly and indirectly benefitted from the NSIP in Kogi State.

According to him, 12, 964 youths benefitted in the Npower Batch A and B, while over 26,000 are benefiting in batch C (Stream 1&2) with 30,000 monthly stipend.

The focal person added that about 200,000 public schools’ pupils are currently benefitting in the school feeding programme with the engagement of 3000 cooks in the state.

He further said that over 74,000 poor and vulnerable citizens are beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer who are receiving N10,000 bi-monthly, aimed at eradicating poverty in the state.

He, therefore appreciated the President, the Minister and the Governor for the laudable programmes.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the representatives of the minister and the governor presented the cash grant and other items to the various beneficiaries based on their categories.

Mr Ibrahim Arome, the Chairman of Persons with Disability in Kogi, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, thanked the the President, the Minister, the Governor and the focal person for the gesture.

Arome specially thanked the governor for the practical inclusion of persons with disability in the state, saying they have been involved directly in all the intervention programmes.

End

The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare on Friday received
the Excellence in Public Service Award from the Federal Government.

The award that was in recognition of his excellent contributions and commitment to the growth and development of sports in the country especially in the area of infrastructure development was presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Minister dedicated the award to his team, praising them for their commitment to his vision.

“This is not a personal award for me. It is for my team, the Permanent Secretary, Directors, my aides and all those working with me in the Ministry.

“Without their hardwork and commitment to this cause, this award would not happen. So this is for them all.

“It is a call for us to do more. So we will not slow down, the remaining months I have left in office is for more hard work.” He said.

Apart from ensuring the best podium finishes for Team Nigeria in recent international competitions, Sports Minister Sunday Dare has initiated programmes that have led to the rehabilitation of some of the nation’s sports edifices which had been neglected before his assumption of office in 2019.

President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Hon. Sunday Dare will depart Nigeria tonight for Portugal to sign bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on sports .

The MoU will be signed with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa appending their support.

This MoU is coming on the heels of recent agreements signed with Spain which borders on Sports, Criminal Matters, Extradition and Transfer of Sentenced persons.

However, this MoU with Portugal is slightly different because it bothers only on creating mutualism in sports; which will see exchange of technical-know-how, sporting equipment support for athletics and football development.

This is seventh bilateral Agreement facilitated by Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare since assuming office in 2019.

The Sports Ministry under Dare signed an MoU with South Africa on Youth Dialogue and development, an event that was also attended by Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari and the Executive President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa.

Also Nigeria Ministry of Sports, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Turkey on youth and sports development in the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.

Recently, Hon. Sunday Dare was in Spain, alongside President Muhammadu Buhari where the country also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Spain in the Spanish Capital city of Madrid and the lastest of a long list of mutually beneficial relationships is the visit to Portugal, which would open another chapter of bi-lateral relationship between Nigeria and Portugal in areas of youth and sports development.

Following the intervention by concerned stakeholders, former Nigerian International basketballers, well meaning Nigerians and a letter of appeal by Musa Kida on behalf of the board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation(NBBF), the decision of the Federal Government to withdraw from international basketball for two years has been rescinded.

Kida’s letter of appeal dated June 17, 2022 addressed to the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare, among other things apologised to Mr President and the Minister over the embarrassment the issues around the game and the conduct of some of its actors have brought on the nation, appealing to him to use his good offices to approach President Buhari for the reversal of the self imposed ban.

The appeal letter also gave key undertakings to immediately set in motion the process of the NBBF Statures review, and the reconciliation of all contending and aggrieved parties both home and abroad as well as commiting to work in tandem with the Ministry.

Following from the above, and in the overriding spirit of national interest, love for the Nigerian youth and the development of the sport, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the return of Nigeria to international basketball immediately.

In giving this approval, it is noteworthy that the laws of Nigeria must be respected and not subjugated to any other law and all those leading government organisations and sports federations must know that they hold such positions in trust for Nigeria and under the supervision of the Minister of Youth and Sports.

The Federal Government on Wednesday, retrained the independent monitors to ensure the effective implementation of all components of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) in Kogi State.

Speaking at the workshop in Lokoja, the Minister, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD), Hajia Sadiya Farouq, said the training was to re-orientate the participants to ensure better performance.

Represented by her Special Assistant on Monitoring and Evaluation, Mrs Damisa Dauda, the Minister urged the monitors to improve on their performance to ensure quality and accurate data.

According to her, the independent monitors’ unit was designed to monitor and report the activities of NSIP in their respective local government areas across the state.

”The National office of the NSIP through Consultants, is also monitoring the activities of the independent monitors and their performances.

”Please, help us to do your monitoring better as we need accurate data for proper and effective implementation of the programme,” she said.

She, therefore, advised the monitors to abide by the rules and regulations of the applications installed on their tablets, saying as any abnormalities would be detected.

She commended Kogi Government for givng the enormous support for the NSIP particularly the engagement and reorientation workshop in the state.

Earlier, Mr. Suleiman Abdulkareem Onyekehi, the NSIP Focal Person, Kogi State, urged the independent monitors to support and cooperate with them for effective monitoring and evaluation.

Onyekehi, who doubles as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, noted that the NSIP had had great positive impacts in the lives of the people and the had tremendously boosted the state’s economy.

”As far as we are concerned the NSIP is yielding the desired results in the state. We have increased beneficiaries in all aspects of the program,

”The number of beneficieries under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) was about 11,500 in 2019, but it has increased to over 74,000 now.

”The school feeding programme had 115,000 pupils in 2019, but has increased to over 258,000 pupils which have been revalidated by the National Bureau of Statistics in the state.

”Over 177,000 pupils have been successfully captured and are currently being fed in public primary schools across the state,” he said.

He added that over 14000 youths have been employed under the Batch C Stream 1, NPOWER program, while over 68,000 persons had been captured under the GEEP program for zero interest loan.

He thanked the governor for his commitment to supporting the programme wholeheartedly and always at the forefront of supporting President Muhammad Buhari’s welfare programmes for the people.

He further commended the governor for providing befitting office accommodation,, staff welfare, and logistics for the successful implementation of the NSIP in the state.

He urged the federal government to help States in terms of media coverage, utility vehicles for each of the component of the program for effective monitoring, and other logistics.

The Lead Consultant, North Central Monitoring and Evaluation of NSIP, Mr Tim Elebuna, said the workshop was to retrain participants to bring them to speed with the latest development around their monitoring and evaluation activities.

The NSIP was designed by the federal government to lift 100 million Nigerians out of abject poverty.

End

The Federal Government through the Ministry of Police Affairs, has sensitised stakeholders in the North Central on the activities of the inaugurated Police Public Complaints Committee (PPCC).

In his keynote address on Thursday in Lokoja, the Hon. Minister of Police Affairs, Dr Muhammad Dingyadi, said the campaign was to sensitize the good people of Kogi State and other States in the Zones on the existence and the mandates of PPCC.

According to him, PPCC is a direct response by the Federal Government to forestall reoccurrence of any violent anti-police protests such as the ENDSARS protests that befell the nation recently.

The Minister was represented by Bolarinwa Omoluabi, Director Legal Services of the ministry.

The minister explained that the PPCC as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari was inaugurated on April 7, 2021, to among other things bridge the gap between the police and the populace to engender sustainable confidence and mutual cooperation.

He noted that the first and second editions of the sensitisation campaign was held in Lagos and Sokoto States for the South-west and North-west geo-political zones, respectively.

He thanked the stakeholders for their commitment to the success of the ongoing police reform programme in the area of service delivery, respect for rule of law and human rights as well as deepening police-public relations.

”This initiative is in furtherance of President Mohammadu Buhari’s quest to attaining people-centred policing arrangements, which prioritize respect for citizens’ rights.

”It addresses genuine cases of infractions to promote inclusiveness in policing engagement with the public and to advance peace and security for national development.

”Our gathering here is to sensitize Nigerians on actions to take when their rights are trampled upon by Police officers in the cause of discharging their Constitutional responsibilities.

”The idea is to establish a permanent structure as a proactive mechanism that will help to effectively nip in the bud civil unrests with their undesirable attendant effects and disruptive tendencies.

”Provide the populace with the opportunities to channel their grievances on the perceived unethical conducts of Police Personnel to the appropriate quarters for necessary action,” he said.

According to him, the PPCC is composed of the Ministry of Police Affairs (Chair), Police Service Commission, National Human Rights Commission, and an NGO, CLEEN Foundation

Others are Nigeria Police Force, Police Community Relations Committee, Public Complaints Commission, and Police Inspectorate Department (Secretariat).

The minister stressed that the overriding objective of the PPCC is to serve’as-a platform with oversight on the activities of Police Personnel viz a viz their interaction with the public.

He reassured the public that the PPCC had been adequately briefed and prepared to discharge its duties dispassionately.

In his remark, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alkali Usman Baba, who was represented by AIG Zone 8, Ede Ayuba, thanked the minister for the cordial relationship between the police and its supervising ministry.

He further commended the minister for creating the PPCC platform through which the populace could utilise to report abuse of human right by police personnel.

The IGP urged the people to speak out their minds without fear, saying the police are their to serve the people as it is being funded by tax payers money.

In their goodwill messages; the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kogi chapter, Apostle Olaniyan Adebayo; and HRH Dr Muhammadu Maikarfi, the Maigari of Lokoja, enjoined the federal government to improve the welfare of police officers

The royal father urged the police officers not to feel bad whenever a petition was written against them, and admonished the public to convey their grievances politely without being insultive.

Also speaking, the Chairman, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Kogi chapter, Usman Samuel, said the establishment and full commencement of operation of PPCC was no doubt the answer many Nigerians have been yearning for.

”We believe that this committee is here to give the Nigerian Police Force a whole new look and further improve on the operations of its officers.

”In the wake of the recent clamor for strike by some officers of the Nigerian Police Force, I wish to crave your indulgence sir, to kindly put police welfare into due consideration,” he said.

Samuel urged the federal government to continue to do more and urgently about police welfare.

The general public can submit their petitions via https://ppcc.policeaffairs.gov.ng

ASA/BEKl

The Federal Government of Nigeria on Monday flagged off road improvement and erosion control projects in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

Speaking at the event, the Permanent Secretary of the Office of Ecological Projects, Dr Habiba Lawal, who was represented by the Director of Media and Publicity, Dr Joel Oruche said the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare played a prominent role in attracting Government’s intervention to Ogbomoso.

Dr Lawal also enjoined the people of Ogbomoso to cooperate with the contractor and engineers handling the projects for efficient and a timely service delivery.

The roads to be worked on are;
Adebayose Idowu-Dare Street, off Ado Alaamo; Olusegun Obasanjo Way; 1004 Theater Road; R.Bello Road and Muneer Ibrahim Crescent. All in Ogbomoso.

Over 200 youths and adults most of them from Ogbomosoland will be directly employed by the contractors involved in the projects and a lot more would benefit indirectly through the provision of ancillary and other support services.

In his remarks, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Chief Sunday Dare thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the projects that he had proposed and facilitated to Oyo State over three years ago.

Dare said facilitating the projects is the privilege of a lifetime and a dream come true.

His words: “I am thankful to God for this and to President Muhammadu Buhari. Contributing to the social well being of my people, leaving a legacy that transcends my time as a Minister and extends to generations yet unborn is priceless.”

The Minister promised to ensure that the youth of Ogbomosoland are not left out in the schemes of developmental programmes and are also fully integrated in all the initiatives of the Federal Government.

The Soun of Ogbomoso, who was represented by High Chief Otolorin Sobaloju, praised the Minister for being a worthy son and a proud representative of the people.

The High Chief said, “the people of Ogbomosoland and indeed Oyo State are lucky to have a son like Sunday Dare as Minister, his interest in the welfare of his people and commitment to bringing developmental projects to them stands him heads and shoulders above his contemporaries.”

Former Senator Ayo Adeseun also showered encomiums on Chief Sunday Dare for facilitating the building of the Pakiotan 80 bed capacity hospital, the youth vocational training centre in Ogbomoso, the renovation and equipping of the Okelerin Primary Health Centre and using his personal fund to roofing of the Sọun Township Stadium and serving as the co-facilitator of the Federal Polytechnic Ayeede.

Some of the other dignitaries present at the flag off include the former Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Rt. Honourable Olagunju Ojo, Representative of Soun of Ogbomoso, High Chief Aare Ago, Chairman of NSS, Ogbomoso Branch, Prof A.A Agboola, Chairman Ogbomoso Parapo and Alhaji Saka Bello Aremole.

The members of Medical and Dental Consultant Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Lokoja, has urged the Federal Government and relevant stakeholders to give topmost priority to health sector for quality healthcare delivery in the country.

The call was made on Thursday during the ”Time In Service Ceremony”, in honour of two MDCAN retirees; Dr Oyeniyi Oyewole and Dr Oluseyi Adeosun, as part of activities to mark the association’s 2021 Biennial General Meeting (BGM), tagged: ”Preparing Well For Retirement; Challenges & Solutions”, at FMC Lokoja.

In his remarks, Dr William Adeyemi, the MDCAN Chairman, FMC Lokoja, said the association was celebrating two of her retirees, a Surgeon and an Anaesthetist, saying, ”we are happy celebrating them today as a mark of honour and respect for them.

”It is a honour to have seen them worked and put their medical profession in practice in an excellent way, that is why we planned this ceremony for them today to appreciate what they have done”.

Speaking on challenges facing the health sector, Adeyemi noted that infrastructural deficits remained one of the major challenges facing health sector in Nigeria.

According to him, we have the manpower as most of the doctors, nurses and other professionals around have the capacity to carry out their best, but there are no infrastructures to work with.

”When you go abroad, you work with good equipment, and when you come back home there are deficits, so what do you do?

”You plan going back abroad to go and continue your work where you will be comfortable. These are the issues we are facing in Nigeria.

”We are hoping that with time there would be improvement in equipping most of the hospitals to meet the standard”, Adeyemi said.

In his remarks, Dr Olatunde Alabi, the Medical Director, FMC, Lokoja, said it was a beautiful thing celebrating two of their medical professionals at FMC Lokoja, who were retiring.

According to him, they have laboured and this is a day in which they have to be honoured, because everybody is happy with their contributions to the practice of medicine in FMC Lokoja and Nigeria as a whole.

He described the retiring consultants as men of sacrifice, compassion, and sincerity, who had contributed their best and rendered selfless services.

The medical director urged the upcoming medical professionals to learn by example as everybody’s retirement day would definitely come one day.

”So, we should learn from their own examples, because everybody is happy with them today, so that people can also be happy with you.

”They can come to FMC Lokoja safely without any hindrance after their retirement, and they are welcome any time”, Alabi said.

The Chairperson of the occasion, Dr Janet Ipinyomi, said she was quite impressed with the occasion being her first time of attending such, and congratulated the celebrants for successful years of service, saying it was very colorful.

”I will encourage all doctors to join the MDCAN once they become consultants because I don’t have the opportunity to be a member when I was a consultant here almost 20 years ago.

”But I am glad that the younger people have made a lot of advances in the profession”, she said.

In their separate comments, the two celebrants, Dr Oyeniyi Oyewole, a Consultant Anaesthetist and Dr Oluseyi Adeosun, a Consultant Maxilofacial surgeon both appreciated the effort of MDCAN and management of FMC Lokoja, for the honour bestowed on them in making the program a unique one.

”I feel very happy because I never expected this kind of honour.

”The event is very unique because they put it at the beginning of the MDCAN Annual General Meeting, and not isolated from it”, Oyewole said.

Oyewole advised the federal government to give health sector a top priority in Nigeria in order to reduce brain drain.

”If you consider what is happening now, I am not happy at all because professionals are going out of the country.

”I also got two different letters to come to Saudi Arabia, but I am yet to say yes or no to those letters.

”I want to believe in the next three to five years, I wonder if we are going to have somebody like us in the country again.

”So, that is the more reason the federal government should prioritise the health sector and make the first in its priority list”, he said.

He stressed the need for federal government to always do the needful as far as the health sector was concerned in Nigeria, saying, ”no doctor actually like strike because hospital is our second home”.

On the issue of retirement age, he urged the federal government to extend the retirement age of medical practitioners working in the hospital to 70 years so as to impact more knowledge on the upcoming doctors.

According to him, we are just training consultants and throwing them away; the number of Nigerians in European Countries and USA today are so many.

”If our hospitals are made comfortable even after retirement, I am ready to stay and train people rather than going abroad.

”Money is not everything though it is part of it; I am still agile and ready to impact knowledge at age 60”, Oyewole said.

On his part, Dr Oluseyi Adeosun, a Consultant Maxilofacial surgeon expressed his displeasure over the current trend of incessant strike associated with the health sector, saying ”it is frustrating and discouraging the medical practitioners”.

Adeosun noted that paralysing activities in the hospitals was not making the practice to be smooth, saying it was not so in the past when he was in university.

He stressed that the incessant strike was reducing the quality of the practice of doctors in this present days and making the health system to be going down the drain in Nigeria

He, therefore advised the striking resident doctors (NARD) to go back to the negotiation table and re-negotiate with the government on their demands.

”There is what we called, ‘Compromise Democracy’ where both parties will make compromise.

”We don’t expect government to give us all our demands, but the one Government is able to do, the NARD should accept it, and go back to work”, he said.

He, however urged the federal government to fulfill its own promises made to NARD, saying, ”you have signed documents which should be strictly abided to and actualised.

”The federal government should fulfill their promises in those documents so that the NARD can go back to work”, he said.

Adeosun also noted that the procurement of substandard equipment by Governments’ contractors for hospitals, was also a major challenge, saying most of the equipment are substandard and don’t last.

He urged the government to stop procuring medical equipment from Asian countries, but to patronise European countries and US who are known for producing quality, durable and long lasting equipment.

He added that the zeal and enthusiasm for doctors to work was no more there because of poor motivation, which had hindered the delivering of quality service to patients.

He added that the economic situation in the country, had made lots of doctors to be inclined in pursuing money, which had made many of them to abandon their core assignment

He advised government to motivate health workers by creating a conducive environment for doctors to work with adequate standard equipments to avoid brain drain.

”All these problems have reduced the quality of service that are being given to patients in this country”, he said.

The highlight of the occasion was the presentation of Award and a Scanfrost gascooker to each of the celebrants, presented to them by the MD FMC Lokoja, Dr Olatunde Alabi, and the Chairperson of the occasion, Dr Janet Ipinyomi.

End

Stephen Adeleye

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Kogi State chapter, on Thursday urged the Federal Government to give utmost priority to doctors’ welfare to ensure effective and quality healthcare delivery across the country, and avoid brain drain.

The state’s Chairman of NMA, Dr Omakoji Oyiguh, made the call at the 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Scientific Conference of NMA in Lokoja, with the theme: ”The Deteriorating Security Situation In Nigeria: Implications For Healthcare Delivery”.

Oyiguh stressed the need to ensure good working environment for doctors with better standard of living and quality of life, saying, ”our association has a role to protect the public in the access to quality healthcare delivery”.

He commended the management of Federal Medical Centre Lokoja (FMCL) for helping to improve service delivery and ensure good working environment for doctors, particularly the resident doctors in the centre.

According to him, it is not politically correct to employ doctors as federal government and again lack the capacity to institute the process for their payment, in a manner that resident doctors are employed and not paid for several months on the job.

”It is clearly not in the public interest and national security for the federal government to continue to create the environment for continuous brain drain, as doctors are frustrated to deliver on training and service.

”NMA in Kogi, will continue to support any effort to ensure that resident doctors are treated properly”, he said.

Oyiguh commended Governor Yahaya Bello, for giving approval for the implementation of Revised CONMESS 2014 for the state doctors, saying it had exited Kogi from the list of States having such welfare issues with their doctors.

The NMA chairman further lamented the increasing menace of kidnapping of medical doctors, which recently affected one of their members from hospital facility in the state.

”While the security agency will continue to do their work, it is now important for all citizens to become more proactive in community policing, particularly providing actionable intelligence.

He stressed the need for all doctors across the state to begin to participate in the community policing effort of government in their areas.

Also speaking, the former NMA National President, Prof. Michael Ogirima, urged the federal government to critically look and implement those points agreed upon with the Nigerian Association of Residents Doctors (NARD) in order to call off the ongoing strike.

Ogirima, who is the Provost the School of Health Sciences, Federal University Lokoja, stressed that the residents doctors were fighting a just cause, saying medical doctors needed to be well taken care of in order to be focused on their jobs.

He, however appealed to the residents doctors to answer the call of the federal government so that the masses would not suffer too much due to their industrial action.

The Key Note Speaker, Mr C.U. Ahanatu, the Deputy Director Operations and Intelligence, Department of State Service (DSS), Kogi State, urged the general public to minimise their media social activities, relationship with people and response to incidents.

He note that there was improvement in the security situation in Kogi State compared to other States, due to the strong synergy among the security agencies in the state.

End

The Federal Government has tripled the prize money award for Team Nigeria medallists at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Making the announcement Tuesday in Tokyo after Wrestler Blessing Oborodudu won Team Nigeria’s second medal of the Games, Director, Federation and Elite Athletes Department, FEAD of the Youth and Sports Development Ministry, Dr Simon Ebohdjaiye says the gesture is in appreciation of the impressive and historic performances put up by the athletes.

“The gesture is to drive home the point that the Federal Government rewards superlative efforts,” said the Director who praised the athletes for their massive exploits in Tokyo.

“Gold medallist will now be rewarded with $15,000 while silver and bronze medal winners will each get $10,000 and S7,500 respectively. The earlier award is $5,000 for gold, $3,000 for silver and $2,000 for bronze”.

Oborodudu who made history as the first Nigerian wrestler, man or woman to win an Olympic medal courtesy of the silver medal she won in the women’s 68kg freestyle will get $10,000.

Long jumper Ese Brume who officially won Nigeria’s first medal at the Games, a bronze will get $7,500 as a reward. Her medal is the first won in track and field since 2008 at the Beijing Olympics where Blessing Okagbare and the women’s 4x100m relay team won a silver medal each.

There are still three Nigerians left in the Wrestling event led by world number one in her category, Odunayo Adekuruoye. Also within the medal range is Chukwuebuka Enekwechi who will be competing in the men’s Shot Put final on Thursday.