People, Places and Events
CAMEROON
American food aid
The United States has granted Cameroun two billion CFA francs (4.3 million dollars) worth of food aid to help relieve its drought-stricken northern province.The agreement to provide the aid, in the form of rice, beans and vegetable oil, was signed in Yaounde by Sadou Hayatou, Cameroun's Agriculture Minister and Herbert Miller, USAID Director in Cameroun.
Budget financed by own resources
President Biya has presented a budget to parliament which he said is financed entirely from the country's resources. According to Yaounde radio the 740bn CFA francs budget was one of austerity and continuity. He added that in the near future the country would take measures to develop a modern banking and financial system.Ratification of agreement with Britain
Cameroon's Ambassador to the United Europe. Kingdom, Ferdinand Oyono, and the Head of the Nationality and Treaty Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Derek Partridge, have exchanged instruments ratifying the agreements on the promotion and protection of investments signed between the two countries.According to the agreement, each country shall encourage and create favourable conditions for nationals of companies of the other country to invest capital in its territory and that such investment shall at all times be accorded fair and equitable treatment and full protection as well as security in the territory of the other country.
The government believes that the agreement and the legal guarantee that it offers will further increase the growing interest of British businessmen to invest in the country. It reinforces the strong economic and commercial relations already existing between Cameroon and the United Kingdom.
SIERRA LEONE
Call for food aid
President Siaka Stevens has called for food aid to fight drought. In his annual State of the Nation address he said Sierra Leone was suffering its worst drought in 15 years and needed emergency food relief. President Stevens criticised the International Monetary Fund for demanding harsh measures in exchange for financial support to Sierra Leone's battered conomy. "Sierra Leone is ready to co-operate with the IMF but not to the point of economic suicide, he said.He added that his government was ready to do away with subsidies only on a step by step basis. "Otherwise the country will be thrown into confusion" he went on. Sierra Leone earlier this year initiated discussions for a standby agreement with the IMF and in February devalued the Leone, the national currency by 58.33 per cent.
NIGERIA
Team off to pay school fees
Two teams comprising government officials in Ondo State have left for the United States of America (USA) to pay the school fees of the state's scholarship students abroad.The teams were led by the state commissioner for education, Professor Ojo Olofinboba.
After finishing their assignments in the United States, the teams are scheduled to visit Britain and some European countries, to settle the bills of government scholars in the various educational institutions in Europe
Bursary awards would also be paid for some students during the visit. Both teams were expected to be away for 10 days.
Students warn Govt not to Provoke them
Students of the University of Ife have alleged that Mr Lanre Arogundade, former president of the banned National Association of Nigeria Students has been taken into custody. The statement from the students at UNIFE was supported by a similar one from students of University of Lagos. The students claimed that Mr Arogundade was lured into detention with a phoney parcel slip.The student leader was said to have received a post office slip indicating that he was to collect a registered parcel at the University's postal agency. On getting there, the students said Lanre was directed to the General Post Office in the Metropolis, where, instead of being handed a parcel, the former president was told by some plain clothes security men that he was under arrest. Mr Arogundade, a final year student of Psychology at the University of Ife, was the president of NANS until early this year when he was succeeded by Mr Bubba Jodda of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.The students are particularly disturbed over the arrest because Mr Arogundade would be expected to start his final examinations in a week's time. The University of Ife students union has warned the Federal Military Government not to provoke them
Asbestos pose no hazard
Works and Transport Commissioner for Lagos State, Professor Akangbe Kenku, says there is no cause for alarm as the fears expressed over asbestos pipe were unfounded. "The major source of danger in asbestos, he said comes from inhalation of asbestos dust, it has nothing to do with injection. At any rate, you don't have injection by taking water from asbestos pipes.The commissioner said Nigeria is not the only country where asbestos pipes were being used in water projects. "There are many other countries using asbestos pipes. People also use asbestos roofing sheets, I want to say that what applies to asbestos pipes also applies to asbestos roofing sheets. If they are not dangerous, asbestos pipes too cannot be classified as being a health hazard," he said.
Professor Kenku said in the absence of cast iron pipes, his government had to abandon the use of PVC plastic pipes for the asbestos type because local plumbers did not know how to handle them. "A lot of our plastic pipes were damaged or got burst because plumbers did not know how to fix them right".
Exercise caution over counter trading
Federal Military Government has been urged to exercise caution in counter-trading with its crude oil.The advice was given in Lagos, by the chairman of the United Bank for Africa, (UBA), Mrs Bola Kuforiji-Olubi, at thecharter celebration day of the Rotary Club of Mushin.
Mrs Kuforiji opined that the counter-trade arrangements being made with various governments could relieve the foreign exchange burden but added, "one hopes, however, that this will not be counter-productive". The UBA chief executive expressed fear at the way thousands of Nigerians were being retrenched daily. According to her, jobless Nigerians were not at the on-going scenario on the desirability at otherwise of the IMF loan.
Pensioners demand wage increase
An appeal has been made to the Federal Military Government to increase the minimum wage of pensioners throughout the country from N62.50 to N125 per month.Making the appeal in an address presented at a conference of the Anembra State Council of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners in Enugu, the national president, Chief David Ike, said that inflation had rendered the minimum pension worthless. He noted that pensioners were subjected to payment and levies
He suggested that pensioners earning less than N125 per month should be exempt from paying income tax.
Chief Ike also urged the various state governments to allocate essential commodities to pensioners in every local government.
He drew the attention of each state government to the hardship being encountered by the new pensioners whose retirement benefits had not been paid.
Babangida in Paris
Chief of Army Staff, Major-General Ibrahim Babangida has left Lagos for Paris, France. According to a statement from the army headquarters, General Babangida's one- week official visit to France was at the invitation of his French counterpart, General Rene Imbot.General Imbot who visited the country last year, accompanied by his wife, toured some military installations during his one- week stay.
Don't return to civil rule now
The Sarkin Sudab of Wurno, Alhaji Shehy Malami, has objected to any idea of a return to civilian rule at the moment because "there were still a lot of problems facing the nation''.He said the nation needed discipline, unity and the economy was not yet out of the woods. He said only the military could instill and maintain the necessary discipline which could bring back the economy on its feet once more.
Alhaji Shehu told the New Nigerian that if the civilians were allowed to return each one of them would only be fighting for their constituency, whereas, "everybody's constituency at the moment is Nigeria and we should keep working for it".
Starvation is a threat to national unity
The chief Iman of Lagos, Alhaji Mohammed Liadi Alade Ibrahim has said that the current high wave of unemployment with the attendant starvation as a serious threat to national unity.In his Id-Fitr message delivered at the Obalende praying ground, he argued that the retrenchment exercise had created a cult among the lucky few who now seemed unconcerned about the unholy state of affairs.
"These times, hunger prevails in our society, high level of unemployment threatens our unity and yet the lucky few are complacent, he addressed.
Plan to muzzle press - Abiola
Chief Abiola has condemned the Federal Military Government's decision not to advertise in any other newspapers besides the Daily Times and New Nigerian.Speaking to newsmen after the Eid-el- Fitr special prayers at Lantoro, Abeokuta in Ogun State, Chairman and Chief Executive of Concord Press, Chief M. K. O. Abiola said the decision was aimed at killing private newspapers and muzzling public opinion. This apart, he said that the decision was nothing short of an attempt to close the only genuine avenue through which most Nigerians were expressing their feelings.
Chief Abiola, however, gave assurances that with or without government patronage, the private newspaper industry would not abandon the responsibility assigned to them by the 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Plantain to make bread
The Director of National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, Mr S. A. O. Adeyemi, has suggested the use of plantain as an alternative to wheat in the baking industry.He said this was not only less-expensive but could also preserve the scarce foreign exchange needed to purchase wheat.
Mr Adeyeme said this in a paper he presented at the beginning of a four-day seminar organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and industry, to discuss the modality for the production and use of composite flour in the baking industry.
Sierra Leone commends Ondo's EPI programme
The Sierra Leonean Government has sent a high-powered delegation to Ondo State to study the methods adopted by the state in the execution of UNICEF's ExpandedProgramme on Immunisation (EPI). The delegation was led by the country's Minister of Health, Dr Fasuluku Suku Tamba.Speaking at a reception held in honour of the delegation by the governor of the state, Commodore Bandele Otiko, Dr Suku Tamba said Ondo State was chosen because of the astonishing success it had achieved in the implementation of the programme.
Dr Tamba expressed gratitude for the hospitality extended to him and his entourage since their arrival in the state hinting that his country might adopt the same system used by the state in implementing its EPI programme.
NLC boss asked to quit
The leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress has been asked to quit office, if it cannot champion the cause of the Nigerian workers and the objectives of the congress.The call was made in Lagos by Mr Alphonus I. A. Okwese the General Secretary Of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUTENG).
He called on the NLC to evolve practicable alternatives to alleviate the present predicament of the Nigerian workers who are victims of the country's economic morass.
But where the leadership of the NLC cannot find a more economically advantageous alternative to retrenchment, Mr Okwese said, "It should quit if it does not know what to do".
He suggested that the NLC could obtain the necessary statistics on the country's related institutions, and then meet the Federal Government on more economically viable alternatives rather than make empty statements urging the government not to retrench the workers it cannot pay.
Evils of apartheid
The script of a proposed six-million dollar movie on the evils of apartheid, the first to be produced by a Nigerian, has been presented to the Chairman of the UN Special Committee for Action Against Apartheid, Retired Major-General Joseph Garba.Titled, "A Cruel Time", the film being produced by a Nigerian industrialist, Chief Harry Akande, portrays the racial situation in South Africa.
GHANA
Return of charter flights
A new company, Secaps Holidays Ltd has commenced operating charter flights from Accra to London. An advertisement in the local press announcing the commencement of the charter flights twice weekly through Lagos to London emphasised that the fares are the cheapest in West Africa.. The scheduled flight fare to London is around seventy thousand cedis but the organisers of the charter flights have promised that their fares will be twenty five per cent cheaper.
Charter flights were a common feature of what has been labelled by Ghana's present day leaders as "the decadent era".
New disease eye
Mr E. G. Tanoh, Secretary for Health has warned of a new disease called Forest Onchocerciasis which has been detected in the forest areas of Ghana.He said the disease is characterised by blurred vision and wrinkled skin and if not controlled it would affect about two-thirds of the country's population.
Mr Tanoh was speaking on his return from a three-day meeting of the National Onchocerciasis Committee in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
He said the meeting reviewed activities and effectiveness of programmes in eliminating black flies and their attempt to find drugs to combat river blindness.
No approval for new hotel licences
The Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) has announced that with immediate effect, it will not approve hotel licences to landlords in bank who convert their residential premises into hotels.According to Mr Emmanuel Ofosu- Yeboah, acting Executive Director, the move is not only to check the proliferation of hotels in the city, but also to instill sanity into the industry.
Mr Ofosu-Yeboah said the move would also help minimize the rampant ejection of tenants by some landlords, only to convert the premises into hotels which are usually sub-standard.
Teachers will be reinstated
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed that teachers who returned from Nigeria under that government's emergency quit order should be reinstated. They are however, to be placed on the minimum scale in the grade or, which they were before leaving the service and they would be made to serve a mandatory minimum period of five years before they would be considered for promotion.This was said at Mpraeso by the Kwahu District Assistant Director of Education, Mr Kwadwo Danso Wiredu in an interview with the Ghana News Agency.
He said the teachers would be reinstated at the start of the 1985/86 academic year in September by which time the GES would have known the number of vacancies to be filled. Mr Wiredu stressed that teachers who vacated their posts without serving their bonds would have to serve the remaining periods on re-engagement.
He pointed out that reinstated pensionable teachers would suffer loss of previous service for vacating their posts and those indebted to government through loans or embezzlements would have to make satisfactory arrangements for refund of such monies before they are considered
Japanese loan for port rehabilitation
The Governments of Ghana and Japan have exchanged notes in connection with a Japanese loan of 24m dollars. The loan is to be used to implement the first phase of a port rehabilitation scheme. An interest rate of 3.5% is to be charged on the loan, which is to be repaid over 20 years.New internal air fares
Ghana Airways has introduced new competitive fares on its domestic routes. These are in addition to the normal fares. They are in two categories, namely special week-day return fares and special week-end return fares.The special week-day return fares reflect a decrease of about 25 per cent of the normal fares and travels in this category must be performed between 7am on Mondays to 5pm on Fridays.
For the special week-end return fares, travels must be performed between 7am Friday and 12 noon on Monday. The new fares (returns) are; Normal Special Weekend Weekday
Accra/Kumasi/Accra €2,110 €1,585 1,405
Accra/Sunyani/Accra C2,756 €2,070 €1,835
Accra/Tamale/Accra C4,220 C3,165 €2,810
Two new timber bodies
A Timber Export Development Board (TEDB) and a Forest Products Inspection Bureau (FPIB) are to take over the functions of the Ghana Timber Marketing Board (GTMB), as part of a restructuring exercise of the Timber and Wood Products Industry. The two separate insitutions would share the dual role of the GTMB promotion, marketing and export of timber and wood products on one hand, and the supervision of their production and control the of forest utilisation on the other, for effective functioning. The Under-Secretary for Land and Natural Resources, Mr F Ohene-Kena said in Accra the TEDB would among other things, establish a marketing intelligence and statistics unit to analyse the unit's findings and projection and disseminate them "frequently and responsibly".The TEDB would additionally establish and export market development information system with offices in Europe and ultimately, other key markets as required, and would also advertise Ghana's timber especially the commercially unknown species to the world market and promote their sale
Bank of Ghana plugs loopholes
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr J S Addo has announced that the Bank is studying in detail, recent cases of bank frauds in the country, in a bid to identify the lapses in the system and plug the loopholes to forestall future frauds. In the interim all the banks have, in an attempt to curtail the incidence of such frauds, reinforced the measures of control and discipline in the system. The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr JS Addo announced these when he addressed the third annual general meeting of the Rural Bankers Association at the Kwame Nkrumah Conference Centre in Accra.Mr Addo said "in the case of the rural banks the Bank of Ghana is reviewing the policies of recruitment, training, supervision, bank charges and tax exemptions.
He said the Bank of Ghana was also reviewing the capital structure of the rural banks in view of the recent adjustments in the exchange rate of the cedi, in order to ensure that the financial strength of rural banks was adequate.
The governor stressed that the most important factor in establishing confidence in a bank was the quality of its management, and to achieve that he said each bank needed to evolve good training programmes for its staff and ensure that it retained the services of good experienced personnel.
Revolutionary answer to health problems
The District Medical Officer of Health for Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region has described the Government's Primary Health Care Programme as a revolutionary concept which could provide answers to Ghana's health problems.Dr Y B Smith said the PHC encouraged people to take the initiative to protect their health as opposed to the current practice of people rushing to go and see the doctor only after they were afflicted.
Dr Smith was speaking at a seminar organised by the Sunyani District Committee for the Defence of the revolution.
Burial of Dr Bannerman
Burial has taken place at the Osu Cemetery of Dr H. S. Bannerman, an Accra medical practitioner and chairman of the Greater Accra Consultative Council.The late Dr Bannerman was also a leading politician and member of parliament in the Second Republic. At the grave side to pay their last respects were PNDC members and secretaries, friends and relatives.
Earlier, a three-hour burial service was held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral where tributes were paid by the Ghana Medical Association, the Greater Accra Consultative Council, the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the Danafco Group of Companies.
Appeal to save Achimota hospital
An appeal has been made to drug- manufacturers, individuals and benevolent societies to donate generously to salvage the Achimota Hospital, from its lack of essential drugs and amenities.The hospital at the moment, lacks essential items like disinfectants, bandages, cotton wool and gauze for dressing wounds, ointments for skin rashes, eye and ear ointments and others.
The appeal was made by the Medical Officer in charge of the hospital, Dr Julius Sogbodjor.
Protection for fishery resources
A three-man British Fisheries Surveillance Team is in the country to help the government come out with a law which will protect the country's territorial waters and effectively control the fishery resources in the Exclusive Economic Zone (ECZ) of Ghana.The team, made up of Commander A. L. Horton of the British Defence Ministry, Mr M. G. Janning of the British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Inspectorate Division and Mr Brian W. Jones, a Principal Scientific Officer of the same ministry met its Ghanaian counterpart the Castle, Osu to work out the modalities for drawing up the Marine Law.
In 1970, many countries extended their territorial waters and as a result Ghana also extended her territorial waters to 200 nautical miles.
This action resulted in the creation of a vast marine environment under Ghana's jurisdiction. The problem now is how to police this vast area to discourage and avoid the high incidence of poaching in the country's territorial waters.
The terms of reference for the fisheries surveillance team is to establish the magnitude and value of off-shore fishing in the country and consider fishery management policies for the government for enforcement in the country.
The team will also consider the legal; and administrative framework within the fisheries protection law can operate.
Condemnation of apartheid
The Provisional National Defence Council has urged all peace-loving nations "and all those who believe in oneness and the spiritual value of man" to redouble their efforts to eradicate apartheid in South Africa. A statement issued in Accra to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the Soweto uprising called for the replacement of the "obnoxious system" with a non- racial and democratic society.The statement recalled with "undiminished sorrow and indignation, the gruesome and barbarous acts of unrestrained repression and brutalities unleashed by the heartless apartheid police against the innocent and defenceless school children and women of Soweto whose only crime was to say "no" to the introduction of Afrikaan as the official medium of instruction for blacks".
The PNDC renewed Ghana's condemnation of the racist regime and its obnoxious policy and re-affirmed her solidarity with "the struggling people of South Africa".
Kwabre Kroye Kuo inauguration
Members of the Kawbre Kroye Kuo of United Kingdom and Ireland are invited to the inauguration of their union on Saturday July 6 at 4 pm.The venue for the function is Camden Centre, Camden Town Hall, Bidborough Street, off Judd Street and Opposite St Pancras and Kings Cross British Railway and Underground stations.
Burial of Kofi Ayeke
Burial has taken place in Taviefe, Volta Region of Kojo Ayeke, a prominent member of the erstwhile United Party (UP) and the Progress Party and a stout defender of human rights.The late Mr Ayeke who together with Mr S. G. Anto resisted government attempts to liquidate opposition in the Volta region died at the age of sixty four.
Among the thousands of mourners at the grave side was Mr Victor Owusu, leader of waters to 200 the Popular Front Party (PFP).
Lotto millionaire
A 33-year-old small scale businessman of Koforidua has won C16,527,000. He is the highest winner since the National Lotteries was established in 1962. He staked C69,000 on 16-64 for the draw of Saturday, May 11.A ceremony at which the cheque for the amount was to be presented to Mr Essien at the premises of the National Lotteries in Accra however, had to be called off at the eleventh hour. The man did not turn up.
Another attempt at a presentation ceremony the next day went the same way and the talk was that George Ackah Essien wanted to keep his "treasure" a secret.
IVORY COAST
Cooperation agreement with Angola
Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and his Ivorian host Felix Houphouet-Boigny have signed a general cooperation agreement between their two countries at the end of the Angolan leader's two-day working visit to the Ivory Coast.The accord covers cooperation in the scientific, technical, economic and cultural fields. No details were immediately available.
Under the terms of the agreement, a joint cooperation commission to meet alternatively in Abidjan and Luanda will be set up.
No communique was issued after President Dos Santos' visit but sources said that he and his host held talks for more than two hours during which they discussed the situation in Southern Africa. The Angolan leader and his 43 member delegation have since left for home..
