YOBE State Executive Council has approved N1.9 billion as compensation for Boko Haram victims and for procurement of 6,000 metric tons of fertilisers for farmers.

Briefing reporters on the outcome of the council’s meeting at the Government House, Damaturu, the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Goni Fika, disclosed that the compensation is strictly for residents and communities whose houses, places of worship and other property were destroyed by Boko Haram members in the last two years.

“The disbursement of N187.5 million to the victims of

Boko Haram is strictly based on the SEMA assessments of damages done to houses, places of worship and other property in 2011 and 2012. This token will assist victims rebuild their houses and places of worship, though the lost lives in the four-year insurgency cannot be fully compensated by government, ” Fika said.

According to Fika, while the council approved N653.7 million for the construction of roads at three housing estates in Damaturu, it also earmarked N259.4 million for the payments of registration fees of government-sponsored candidates for the May/June 2013 West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO), adding that farmers would also benefit from the funds.

“As the planting season has commenced in the state, government also approved the sum of N787.5 million for the procurement and distribution of 6, 000 metric tons of urea, and they are to be sold at subsidised rates to boost farmers’ productivity and incomes,” Fika said.

IMO State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, Friday condoled with the families of the police and Department Security Service (DSS) men killed by unknown insurgents in Nasarawa State and donated N200,000 to each of the bereaved families.

Okorocha who paid unscheduled visit to the Inspector of Police, Abubakar Mohammed, and the Director General of the DSS, through their representatives in the state, Police Commissioner Muhammadu Musa Katsina and Director of SSS in the state, urged other well-meaning philanthropists in the country to show kindness to the affected families, regretting the unfortunate incident.

He urged the Federal Government to come up with a condition of service acceptable to all for the security operatives in the country in view of the increasing hazardous jobs they have found themselves.

Despite the problem, the governor urged security operatives in the country to remain resolute in the discharge of their duties.

Receiving them, Imo CP, Katsina and the state Director of DSS, said they would send Okorocha’s gesture across to their bosses for onward transmission to the affected families.

AN aspirant in next year’s gubernatorial election in Anambra State, Chief Udo Udeogaranya has said that he would build three state-of-the-art literary centres to immortalise the late literary icon, Prof. Chinua Achebe, if elected the governor of the state.

In a statement Friday, Udeogranya said the literary centres would be built in Achebe’s hometown, Ogidi; the state capital, Awka; and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

He said the centres would serve to sharpen the literary skills of Nigerian youths and also encourage them to emulate the late writer’s achievements in life.

He said his administration would also enact a public holiday in the state, to be celebrated every November 16, in the honour of Prof. Achebe and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, since both men shared the same day of birth.

“I believe in the promotion of human talents and encouraging the youths to eschew all sorts of societal menace, but rather become protégées of men like Achebe,” he said.

Udeogaranya appreciated President Goodluck Jonathan and his Ghanaian counterpart, Mr. John Mahama for attending Achebe’s burial ceremony on Thursday.

He added: “Indeed President Goodluck Jonathan has times without numbers expressed his deep appreciation of men and women who stands with noble ideals and have paid them respect to the last. This is worth emulation.

“Achebe in the mould of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu and many others, constantly sounds a reminder that Anambra State is a State endowed with rare human resource and therefore require urgent facilitation in all human developmental infrastructures to help harness these talents, a notion that my government, when elected into power will demonstrate passionately.

“If elected the next governor of Anambra State, my campaign organisation has endorsed my decision to set up Achebe Literary Centre in Ogidi, Awka and Abuja.”

DESPITE the Presidential directive to release some of the detained Boko Haram suspects, violence continue to erupt in Maiduguri, Borno

state, as three gunmen suspected to be members of the Islamic sect shot dead a trader (name withheld) and two of his children in

Pompomari ward of the metropolis at about 7.35am on Thursday.

The gunmen, according to an eyewitness and resident of the area, came in a tricycle and ambushed the trader and family members in the house, after the dusk to dawn curfew, before firing several gunshots into the heads and chests of three victims.

He said: “As we were preparing to go out after the 9pm-7am curfew, some gunmen burst into our neighbour’s house and started chanting God is great before they shot and killed the man and two of his children that usually assist him at the shops and house.

WIFE of Ogun State governor, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, through her UPLIFTing the Aged Welfare (ATM) Cards, has given out 500 free ATMs to senior citizens drawn from across the 20 local government areas of the state as part of her efforts to give a helping hand to the elderly people who, due to old age, can hardly fend for themselves again.

Speaking during the launching ceremony of the UPLIFTing the Aged Welfare (ATM) Cards at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto in Abeokuta, Mrs. Amosun said the cards would hasten and reduce the rigour and other challenges encountered during the distribution of food and commodities to the aged across the length and breadth of Ogun State.

She explained that the Welfare Card, which was donated by Ecobank Plc, was a continuation of the her UPLIFTing the Aged welfare package designed to make life more comfortable for the senior citizens in the state, saying the enlisted aged people could now access their monthly stipends through the Welfare Cards to purchase their food and other commodities without having to come down to Abeokuta, or workers travelling hundreds of kilometres to distribute those items.

Her words: “The Welfare Cards are in line with the proposed cashless policy of the state government to reduce handling of cash in the society. This would go a long way in uplifting the lives of our revered citizens and contribute positively to the development of our economy.”