The National Council of Women Societies (NCWS) yesterday took a critical look at Sunday’s massacre in Plateau State  and declared that it could no longer fold its arms and watch the lawlessness and continued terrorism which has left women and children as the greatest casualties.

In a statement issued by its national president, Hajiya Ramatu Bala Usman, the council noted that at a time efforts were being made to restore the nation’s battered image, some miscreants, hoodlums and evil men were dragging the name of the country in the mire.

While condemning the latest eruption of crisis in Jos, the women tasked security operatives to fish out the perpetrators of the crisis, no matter how highly placed.

They stressed that if nothing was done as a matter of exigency, Nigerian women would rise up, within the limits of civilised practice, to force the leaders to live up to their responsibilities because women were the major victims in the crisis, the statement said.

According to Hajiya Ramatu, “The National Council of Women Societies is again alarmed at the senseless massacre of defenceless Nigerian children and women in Jos, Plateau State, on Sunday.  Nigerian women cannot reconcile this latest mayhem where armed men invaded harmless communities in the early hours and opened fire on defenceless people.”

The statement further explained that as mothers of the nation, the council cannot understand the ugly and unfortunate development at a time efforts were being made to find a solution to the previous crisis.

“As in previous cases, we as mothers of the nation, condemn these senseless massacre on the Plateau.  All the security agencies should see this as a great challenge and urgently deploy their professionalism to bring this to an end. Their efforts would be in vain if the perpetrators are not unmasked and brought to judgment,” she said.

…It is a wicked lie - NCP

Contrary to recent media reports that Acting President Goodluck Jonathan's busy schedule delayed issuing of the letter of offer for the sale of NITEL/Mtel to the preferred bidder, New Generation Telecommunication Consortium of China, there are indications that certain powerful interests may be responsible for the delay to favour Omen International.

According to our sources, the delay may be a ploy to finding faults with the transaction in order to truncate the process and give the buying rights to Omen Consortium, who have allegedly contacted the financiers of the New Generation to withdraw their backing for as much as $1.5 billion.

Some GSM service providers have also been identified as part of the forces against the deal as the renewed operation of the NITEL/Mtel could crash telephone tariffs by as much as 60 per cent in the country. Also a governor in the South-South, who was allegedly linked to the power probe by the House of Representatives, is reportedly interested in Omen International bagging the deal.

However, the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, yesterday described the allegation as "a wicked lie," adding that there is no substance to the allegation.

According to a member of the NCP, Engineer Emmanuel Amadi, the letter of offer was only delayed because the council had not met and would be made available to New Generation Consortium when the NCP meets on Friday.

He said that New Generation won the bid on an offer of $2.5 billion for a 75 per cent stake in NITEL/Mtel, while the reserved bidder, Omen International Consortium, offered $956. 9 million.

The recommended reserve price for the sale of NITEL/Mtel, he continued, was $644 million and that the Technical Committee of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) on February 24, 2010, approved that the letter of offer "be issued to New Generation Consortium immediately".

He queried: "How can all of us in the NCP collaborate to do such a thing? It does not make economic sense that someone is offering $2.5 billion and you give it to another person offering $956 million: it does not make economic sense. What they are saying is far from the truth."

Amadi pointed out that it is only when the preferred bidder fails to pay that the reserved bidder will be called upon to take their place. He maintained that the NCP meeting scheduled for last week Monday was cancelled because of the busy schedule of the Acting President.

Apparently miffed on the recurrent Jos crisis, the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC), Brigadier General MI Tsiga has called on the state government to ensure the safety and protection of all corps members in the state.

The DG, who gave this charge through the Director of Publicity, Mr. E.O. Aiyedogbon, in a chat with LEADERSHIP yesterday, said that the agency is concerned about the security of the corps members in Jos metropolis and has been working with the Military, Police, SSS and the Civil Defence Corps to ensure that the corps members are secured.

The crisis which erupted as the agency started the registration of the 2010 Batch 'A', has attracted the attention of the public to the danger it could pose to the newly posted corps members to the state, many of whom probably may not have been acquitted with the metropolis.

Mr. Aiyedogbon said: "The Director General has contacted the commanding Officer in charge of Jos, the director of the State Security Service (SSS), the Police and the Civil Defence Corps, to deploy more staff to the camp and the Corpers' lodge, within and outside, to secure it by all means necessary. Even now, the Civil Defence have started patrolling the whole camp and environs."

"The NYSC is also consulting with the state government including the DPOs in Jos metropolis to keep their men at alert, while the traditional rulers are also being spoken to. The DG is looking critically into the safety of the corpers before the closing of the camp.

We are also concerned of the security of those on ground already and we are taking every measure to make sure they are secured."

The director said the agency only deployed 1,200 corps members to the state instead of 2,400 usually sent to each state. This is a measure to reduce the number of the Corp members posted to Jos metropolis.

He said: “The management has been helping the corpers who want to relocate to wherever they want and have also increased the registration days for those in that axis to seven days instead of the usual two days given to ensure that those that are skeptical have enough time to get to the camp and register."

He also advised the corps members to be security conscious and always put on their uniform whenever they are traveling for identification and protection.

The phenomenal achievements of the Shekarau administration in terms of service delivery in Kano State have been described as a miracle.

According to a press release signed by Yahaya Umar, the public relations officer of the state Ministry of Projects Monitoring and Evaluation, the  President of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams, disclosed this after going round some on-going and completed projects executed by Governor Ibrahim Shekarau-led administration.

Otunba Gani Adams, who was taken round the projects by the Commissioner of Projects Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr. Ibrahim Garba, expressed immense surprise over the transformation of the state.

Describing Governor Shekarau as an achiever, he stated that they used to have an impression that the South-West governors were more productive than their northern counterparts.

The factional OPC leader said that with what he had seen, this myth had now been shattered and called on Governor Ibrahim Shekarau to keep the flag flying, assuring that they are behind him.

Otunba Adams suggested that Governor Shekarau needs more publicity for the entire Nigerians to know his personality.

He said that his visit to Kano is a lesson to him, promising to intimate the South-West governors about these laudable achievements in Kano State.

Earlier, the Commissioner of Projects Monitoring and Evaluation, told the governor's guest that these achievements were possible due to Governor Shekarau's focused and purposeful leadership style.

He stated that his directorate was set up to ensure the timely and quality execution of projects as well as prompt payments to contractors.