HammerTimes News Online

Tag: #Service

  • Lagos Physical Planning Ministry hold session for better service delivery

    The Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development says it has held a brainstorming forum towards improving its services to residents of the state.
    A statement on Sunday by Mr Mukaila Sanusi, Deputy Director, Public Affairs said the Commissioner, Dr Oluyinka Olumide led the brainstorming session.

    Sanusi said the event which was tagged a day with the Honourable Commissioner and the Special Adviser held at GRA, Ikeja.

    The commissioner said the new year presented an opportunity to review business processes, eliminate bottlenecks and resolve overlap of functions among agencies in the physical planning sector.

    “It is paramount for us in the physical planning family to map out the best strategies to realign and improve the quality of our output while repositioning the ministry and enhancing the image of the Lagos State Government,” he said.

    He added that the physical planning family must focus on advocacy and strategic stakeholders management, especially with Developers, property owners, and built environment professionals as key stakeholders.

    The Special Adviser, Enterprise Geographical Information System (e-GIS) and Urban Development, Dr Olajide Babatunde who moderated the business process review, urged the ministry’s technical departments and agencies to collaborate for efficiency.

    He said to achieve the desired goal of sustaining the Lagos built environment, processes of government institutions in the sector must be streamlined, less cumbersome and result-oriented.

    The Permanent Secretary, Mr Oluwole Sotire thanked the Commissioner and the Special Adviser for the rewarding session.

    He said the session was helped to fix grey areas for better synergy among critical members of the physical planning family.

    Earlier, the guest speaker, Mr Abiodun Bamgboye, made presentation on social and emotional intelligence.

    Bamgboye, a former Permanent Secretary in Lagos State highlighted the value of transparency, empathy, effective communication, the reward system and clarity of purpose amongst others as essential factors in organisational and personal success.

    Heads of agencies in attendance including the General Manager Lagos State Building Control Agency, Mr Gbolahan Oki and his Physical Planning Permit Authority, counterpart Kehinde Osinaike presented business processes of their respective agencies.

  • Suspected insane man deals machete cut on congregant at deliverance service

    Pandemonium broke out in a church at Obosi, Anambra on Sunday as a man suspected to be insane dealt machete cuts on a congregant.

    “Preliminary information revealed that the man of God in the church claimed he could heal the insane man and started praying for him.

    “As the prayers were on-going, the insane man began to struggle with the pastor and other congregants and in the process picked a machete from the altar and wounded one of the members.

    “The insane man has been taken to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation and treatment, police spokesman in the state, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, stated on Sunday.

    He added that the man of God had been arrested, while the victim of the machete blow had been hospitalised and was responding to treatment.

    Ikenga noted that the relations of the insane man were also going through interrogation in the safe custody of the police.

  • Institutions: TETFund to disburse N683bn, highest since inception-Official

     

    The Federal Government has approved a total sum of 683.4 billion naira as the 2024 disbursement for beneficiary tertiary institutions across the country.

    The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, gave the breakdown of the disbursement at a Strategic Meeting with Heads of Beneficiary institutions on Friday in Abuja.

    He said that the disbursement was the highest since inception.

    Echono attributed the increase to the sustained efforts at expanding and increasing the efficiency of education tax collection from 2.5 per cent to 3.0 per cent in the year 2023.

    Echono said that the Fund had budgeted 90.57 per cent for Direct Annual Disbursement and 8.4 per cent as designated special interventions, from the total disbursement.

    “A stabilisation of 2.27 per cent is allowed to enable the Fund respond to emerging issues.

    “This is inclusive of the difference between actual collections and the projections made for November and December 2023 collections as requested and approved by Mr President.

    “Based on this approval, each University shall get, for the Year 2024 intervention cycle, the total sum of N1,906,944,930.00.

    “This comprises N1,656,944,930.00 as annual direct disbursement and N250million as zonal intervention.

    “Similarly, each Polytechnic shall getN1,165,355,235,comprising ofN1,015,355,235as annual direct disbursement and N150million as zonal intervention.

    “Also,each College of Education shall get N1,398,426,282.00,comprising of N1,248,426,282.00 as annual direct disbursement and N150million as zonal intervention,” he said.

    Echono added that the approved new intervention lines in the annual direct disbursement included the establishment of Career Centers/Unit, in all categories of beneficiary institutions as well as the Institution Based Skills development for Polytechnics.

    He also said that in response to popular demands from the Colleges of Education, the teaching practice allocation had been greatly enhanced.

    “For the Special Direct Disbursements, we have increased the allocation for the Special High Impact Programme (SHIP).

    “Also, the number of benefitting institutions have also been increased to two per geopolitical zone per category giving a total of 36 beneficiary institutions.

    “Other areas of Special Direct Disbursement are provision for Hostels using the Public/Private Partnership arrangement, innovation hubs, Disaster Recovery, Security Infrastructure, Completion of abandoned projects and many others,” he added.

    Echono, therefore, urged heads of beneficiary institutions on timely payment to contractors and vendors to aid proper completion of projects.
    He further appealed to heads of beneficiary institutions to immediately commence implementation as early as possible.

    Speaking on the challenges of brain drain in the sector, he canvassed for increased renumeration for lecturers as a way to keep them rather than them leaving the shores of the country.

    He, therefore, commended the National Assembly and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for increase in education tax collection while hoping they would help in achieving 1trillion education collection by the end of 2024.

    Declaring the meeting open, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, charged the various heads of institutions to redouble their efforts to achieve the renewed hope of President Bola Tinubu.

    Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Zubairu Abdullahi, Tahir also called on the unions to serve as constructive critics of federal government’s achievements.

    He, therefore, urged the unions to also serve as a watchdog in monitoring the implementation of the projects at the different institutions.

    Responding, the Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Prof. Idris Bugaje commended the federal government for the prompt release of disbursement allocation to beneficiary institutions.

    Bugaje, represented by the Director, Human Resources, NBTE, Mr Lawal Hafiz, pleaded for a review of the sharing formula in the disbursement to benefit the polytechnics sector more.

    Also, the Acting Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Chris Maiyaki, tasked beneficiary institutions on effective and efficient utilisation of the allocation. (NAN)

  • Police set to recruit 30, 000 youths

    The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is to recruit about 30,000 youths during a recruitment exercise scheduled to start on Monday.

    Solomon Arase, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, said this in a statement on Sunday.

    He said over 400,000 Nigerians had applied for the police constable job after six weeks of receiving applications.

    Arase said the recruitment exercise would start on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024 across all the states of the federation with educational and physical screening of candidates.

    The statement said Arase had advised the staff of the commission to brace up for the exercise in the bid to reshaping the perception of the Commission.

    “I admonish you to anticipate unprecedented challenges during this exercise. With over 400,000 applicants passing through your stations, each presenting an argument to join the Nigeria Police Force, the pressure will be immense.

    “Remember, you are the guardians of a process that not only holds inherent significance, but also paves the way for the forthcoming 30,000-man recruitment approved by the current administration.”

    Arase said the commission would open a Situation Room at the commission’s headquarters to monitor the transparency of the recruitment exercise.

    “Therefore, I implore each of you to exhibit your best behaviour, upholding the highest standards of discipline, integrity and honesty.”

    Arase warned that any staff found soliciting or collecting money from applicants or their families would be subjected to disciplinary measures including possible termination of employment.

  • Police Service Commission disowns trending recruitment invitation demanding N2,000 for screening

    The Police Service Commission (PSC) has disowned a trending social media publication requesting candidates seeking recruitment as Constables into the Nigeria Police Force to pay N2,000 for screening.

    This is contained in a statement issued by the PSC’s spokesman, Mr Ikechukwu Ani and made available to HammerTimes News Online on Tuesday in Abuja.

    According to Ani, the said publication is fictitious and misleading.

    He explained further that the PSC had earlier stated that the on-going recruitment was entirely free, from the registration to the conclusion stage which is the medical examination.

    He stressed that the decision had not changed, adding that  the PSC will never request for the payment of N2,000 to screen candidates.

    Ani warned hat the PSC would no longer tolerate any acts by fraudsters bent on compromising the recruitment.

    He, however, urged prospective candidates to ignore the misleading messages as the Police Recruitment Board was currently sending messages to successful candidates with detailed information on requirements for the screening.

    Ani assured that the PSC would ensure that the exercise was transparent, merit-based and it complied with the demands of the Federal Character principles.

    He enjoined candidates to resist the temptation to cut corners in an attempt to succeed as strict regulations had been put in place to protect the exercise.

  • NAN must deploy ICT to boost service delivery, revenue base – Bako

    Dr Danladi Bako, former Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, has called on the management of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to leverage ICT to improve its services and shore up revenue generation.
    He gave the advice in an interview with NAN on Sunday in Abuja.
    According to Bako, the legislature and executive arms of government can only offer the agency about 60 per cent of funds required to perform optimally.
    “In the past, the NAN bulletin was always on peoples tables. NAN bulletin was always filled with stories. We usually have them in NTA, Sokoto, Lagos and other locations, because we subscribed and we paid.
    “There were  others NAN offices in Africa countries like Johannesburg, South Africa, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, etc. So, you must device a way to begin to make money from your bulletin and other services.
    “People use to subscribe to NAN bulletin because they can find good stories; and not all good stories require money, but those good stories require creativity, skills and ability to  be updated on ICT
    “You saw what happened in the past five to 10 years; there are a lots of young people now who are so creative; these days, small children can operate your phone better than you,” Bako said.
    He encouraged the agency to get young staffers that are hungry to explore technology in the activities and service delivery.
    “It is regrettable that some staffers in the news agency are not hungry to explore, some of them are laid back.
    “If you ask me, I will first of all drill some of you for two weeks; the ones that survived will survive, the one that don’t survive will find alternative jobs elsewhere.
    “This is because there is competition in the industry and only those that are creative, innovative and technologically-driven can stand.
    “When I was going to register Multi Choice, I called DG of NTA, VON, and others . I told them that I am going to register a competition that will make them work harder.
    “This is because when Multi Choice comes with digital signals, it will make their own signals look like something for kindergarten. That is still what is happening now.
    “So, NTA must look for area of strength, access to capacity and ability to be able to sell until they meet up with global standard,” Bako said.
    He, however, ommended NTA for trying to improve its operation on a digital level and work to revamp their cameras.
    “Now, your selling point must be  three to four brilliant young boys of 28, who are ICT experts and hungry for news. Good and modern work tools is also very important. It makes the work easy,” he said. (NAN)

  • NAN must deploy ICT to boost service delivery, revenue base – Bako

    Dr Danladi Bako, former Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, has called on the management of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to leverage ICT to improve its services and shore up revenue generation.
    He gave the advice in an interview with NAN on Sunday in Abuja.
    According to Bako, the legislature and executive arms of government can only offer the agency about 60 per cent of funds required to perform optimally.
    “In the past, the NAN bulletin was always on peoples tables. NAN bulletin was always filled with stories. We usually have them in NTA, Sokoto, Lagos and other locations, because we subscribed and we paid.
    “There were  others NAN offices in Africa countries like Johannesburg, South Africa, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, etc. So, you must device a way to begin to make money from your bulletin and other services.
    “People use to subscribe to NAN bulletin because they can find good stories; and not all good stories require money, but those good stories require creativity, skills and ability to  be updated on ICT
    “You saw what happened in the past five to 10 years; there are a lots of young people now who are so creative; these days, small children can operate your phone better than you,” Bako said.
    He encouraged the agency to get young staffers that are hungry to explore technology in the activities and service delivery.
    “It is regrettable that some staffers in the news agency are not hungry to explore, some of them are laid back.
    “If you ask me, I will first of all drill some of you for two weeks; the ones that survived will survive, the one that don’t survive will find alternative jobs elsewhere.
    “This is because there is competition in the industry and only those that are creative, innovative and technologically-driven can stand.
    “When I was going to register Multi Choice, I called DG of NTA, VON, and others . I told them that I am going to register a competition that will make them work harder.
    “This is because when Multi Choice comes with digital signals, it will make their own signals look like something for kindergarten. That is still what is happening now.
    “So, NTA must look for area of strength, access to capacity and ability to be able to sell until they meet up with global standard,” Bako said.
    He, however, ommended NTA for trying to improve its operation on a digital level and work to revamp their cameras.
    “Now, your selling point must be  three to four brilliant young boys of 28, who are ICT experts and hungry for news. Good and modern work tools is also very important. It makes the work easy,” he said. (NAN)

  • NAN must deploy ICT to boost service delivery, revenue base – Bako

    Dr. Danladi Bako, former Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, has called on the management of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to leverage ICT to improve its services and shore up revenue generation.
    He gave the advice in an interview with NAN on Sunday in Abuja.
    According to Bako, the legislature and executive arms of government can only offer the agency about 60 per cent of funds required to perform optimally.
    “In the past, the NAN bulletin was always on peoples tables. NAN bulletin was always filled with stories. We usually have them in NTA, Sokoto, Lagos and other locations, because we subscribed and we paid.
    “There were  others NAN offices in Africa countries like Johannesburg, South Africa, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, etc. So, you must device a way to begin to make money from your bulletin and other services.
    “People use to subscribe to NAN bulletin because they can find good stories; and not all good stories require money, but those good stories require creativity, skills and ability to  be updated on ICT
    “You saw what happened in the past five to 10 years; there are a lots of young people now who are so creative; these days, small children can operate your phone better than you,” Bako said.
    He encouraged the agency to get young staffers that are hungry to explore technology in the activities and service delivery.
    “It is regrettable that some staffers in the news agency are not hungry to explore, some of them are laid back.
    “If you ask me, I will first of all drill some of you for two weeks; the ones that survived will survive, the one that don’t survive will find alternative jobs elsewhere.
    “This is because there is competition in the industry and only those that are creative, innovative and technologically-driven can stand.
    “When I was going to register Multi Choice, I called DG of NTA, VON, and others . I told them that I am going to register a competition that will make them work harder.
    “This is because when Multi Choice comes with digital signals, it will make their own signals look like something for kindergarten. That is still what is happening now.
    “So, NTA must look for area of strength, access to capacity and ability to be able to sell until they meet up with global standard,” Bako said.
    He, however, ommended NTA for trying to improve its operation on a digital level and work to revamp their cameras.
    “Now, your selling point must be  three to four brilliant young boys of 28, who are ICT experts and hungry for news. Good and modern work tools is also very important. It makes the work easy,” he said. (NAN)

  • NAN must deploy ICT to boost service delivery, revenue base – Bako

    Dr. Danladi Bako, former Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, has called on the management of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to leverage ICT to improve its services and shore up revenue generation.
    He gave the advice in an interview with NAN on Sunday in Abuja.
    According to Bako, the legislature and executive arms of government can only offer the agency about 60 per cent of funds required to perform optimally.
    “In the past, the NAN bulletin was always on peoples tables. NAN bulletin was always filled with stories. We usually have them in NTA, Sokoto, Lagos and other locations, because we subscribed and we paid.
    “There were  others NAN offices in Africa countries like Johannesburg, South Africa, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, etc. So, you must device a way to begin to make money from your bulletin and other services.
    “People use to subscribe to NAN bulletin because they can find good stories; and not all good stories require money, but those good stories require creativity, skills and ability to  be updated on ICT
    “You saw what happened in the past five to 10 years; there are a lots of young people now who are so creative; these days, small children can operate your phone better than you,” Bako said.
    He encouraged the agency to get young staffers that are hungry to explore technology in the activities and service delivery.
    “It is regrettable that some staffers in the news agency are not hungry to explore, some of them are laid back.
    “If you ask me, I will first of all drill some of you for two weeks; the ones that survived will survive, the one that don’t survive will find alternative jobs elsewhere.
    “This is because there is competition in the industry and only those that are creative, innovative and technologically-driven can stand.
    “When I was going to register Multi Choice, I called DG of NTA, VON, and others . I told them that I am going to register a competition that will make them work harder.
    “This is because when Multi Choice comes with digital signals, it will make their own signals look like something for kindergarten. That is still what is happening now.
    “So, NTA must look for area of strength, access to capacity and ability to be able to sell until they meet up with global standard,” Bako said.
    He, however, ommended NTA for trying to improve its operation on a digital level and work to revamp their cameras.
    “Now, your selling point must be  three to four brilliant young boys of 28, who are ICT experts and hungry for news. Good and modern work tools is also very important. It makes the work easy,” he said. (NAN)

  • Nasarawa State House of Assembly hails state internal revenue service, BPP on performance

     

    Nasarawa State House of Assembly, has urged the State Internal Revenue Service to generate more revenue into the coffer of the state of government in 2024.

    This is coming even as the House commended the performance of the service in the year under review.

    Hon Hudu A Hudu, the Chairman the Chairman House Committee on Finance and Appropriation made the call when the State Internal Revenue Service appeared before the committee to defend its 2024 budget in Lafia.

    He said that government would execute more projects if it has more money in its coffer.

    The Committee Chairman commended the service for generating revenue to the coffer of the state government and urged them to do more in 2024.

    He also assured of the committee support to the service to succeed.

    Earlier, Alhaji Ahmed Yakubu Mohammed, the Executive Chairman of the service assured of his readiness to generate more revenue to the coffer of the state government.

    He also appreciated the House and Gov. Sule for supporting the activities of the agency to succeed.

    The Executive Chairman also assured of its readiness to take the service to the next level of development.

    Also appeared before the committee to defend its 2024 budget was the management of the State Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) where the Chairman of the Committee, Hon Hudu A Hudu urged the Bureau to continue to follow due process in the award of contracts and execution of government projects.

    Hon Hudu said that if BPP continue to adhere strictly to due process, it would ensure transparency and accountability in execution of government policies.

    The committee chairman assured the bureau of support to succeed.

    “We will continue to support and partner with you in order to ensure transparency and accountability in government activities,” he said.

    Earlier, Mr Umar Alli Mohammed, the Acting Director General of the Bureau said that he would continue to ensure that due process is followed in the award and execution of government projects in the state.

    He thanked the assembly for always giving attention to the bureau to succeed.

    ” Our duty is to ensure transparency and accountability in the award of contracts and execution of government activities,” he said.

    The Acting Director General also appreciated Gov. Abdullahi Sule for prioritizing and taking the bureau to the next level of development.

    Also appeared before the committee to defend its 2024 budget was the management of State Pension Bureau led by its Director General, Alhaji Suleiman Musa Nagogo where he said that the bureau was committed to improve on the standard of living of pensioners in the state.

    The DG also appreciated Gov. Sule for prioritizing the welfare of retirees in the state.

    Hon Hudu A Hudu, the Chairman of the committee assured them of total support to succeed.

    He said that there was the need for adequate attention to be given to the state pensioners in order to improve on their standard of living.