Taraba governor declares state of emergency on education

Governor Agbu Kefas of Taraba has declared a state of emergency on basic and post-basic education in the state.

He made the declaration at an interactive media session on Saturday in Jalingo, saying his administration would ensure compulsory and free quality education for all.

The governor said the deplorable state of education had given him concern, adding that the administration would boost training and retraining of teachers in the state.

Mr Kefas promised to introduce motivations to enhance the welfare of the teachers.

He assured the people of the protection of lives and property, adding that security would be his top most priority.

The governor also promised to adopt Peer Review Mechanism in allocation of projects to local government areas, stressing that people would be allowed to choose their areas of priority in developmental projects.

“We shall consult the people of various local government areas to decide on projects that are good for them.

“They are the ones who voted us and as such, we should engage them in project locations. This would make us serve them better,’ he said.

College bursar jailed four years for N16.5m fraud in Taraba

Justice F.J. Agya of the Taraba State High Court, Jalingo, on Thursday sentenced a former bursar of Federal Government Girls’ College (FGGC), Ezekiel Oparinde, to four years imprisonment for N16.5 million fraud.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) confirmed the development in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Azuka Ogugua.

The commission arraigned Oparinde on a three-count charge for allegedly misappropriating funds belonging to the college.

The ICPC alleged that the bursar held private interests in two companies he awarded contracts running into millions of naira while in office.

The contracts were awarded between 2011 and 2014.

In his ruling, the judge sentenced the defendant to one-year imprisonment with an option of a N100,000 fine on counts one and two, and two years in jail or an option of N150,000 fine on count three.

Two Killed, others missing as students protest in Taraba

Two persons including a student of Abeda Holy Ghost Secondary School Peva have been confirmed killed by Special Forces while two others were declared missing during a protest by the students of the school in Takum local government area of Taraba state

DAILY POST gathered that students of the Holy Ghost Secondary School on Wednesday engaged in a peaceful protest against arrest and detention of their principal one Mr. Mathew who was accused of impregnating a student of the school.

It was learnt that the father of the impregnated student was said to have reported the principal to the office the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps NSCDC in Peva where he was arrested and detained.

A source who spoke to our reporter said the students after waiting in vain for their principal’s return for two days decided to mobilize themselves to the station where their principal was detained.

“While the students were going to the station where their principal was detained, we saw them in large numbers, you know the nature of students, whatever happened there between them and the officers we do not know but we discovered that there were heavy gunshots and teargas”

“The office of the NSCDC is close to a river, some of the students ran from the gunshots and fell into the water when they went back to the school, the school authority declared that three of the students were not back to the school from the protest”

“The next day which was Thursday, one of the students (a girl) was found dead in her uniform in the river, a situation that prompted another protest by the students, this time on Thursday, the protest was hijacked by some youths who were not happy with the death of the schoolgirl”

“The NSCDC seeing that there would be a crisis, they quickly called the Special Tax force that is deployed within the area to forestall crime and kidnaping, the Special Tax force arrived in Peva, they opened fire on the protesters, that was when a stray bullet hit a roadside mechanic and he died instantly”

“The two other students who were declared missing by the school authority have not been seen up to this time am speaking with you” the source disclosed on phone.

But, when contacted, Mr. Godwin Peter, the spokesman of the NSCDC Taraba State command told our correspondent on phone that he has not gotten details of the incident to confirm it to journalists.

Though, the police public relations officer Taraba State Command DSP. David Misar did not pick his phone to confirm the report, both the PPRO and the Commissioner of Police were in the area to ascertain the incident and calm the situation.

It was also reliably gathered that the police commissioner had engaged the locals and other security agencies in a round table discussion to calm the situation.

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