By Suleiman Yakubu

Niger State Governor, Farmer Mohammed Umaru Bago, has observed that livestock farming plays a significant role in the economic prosperity and livelihood of the people of the state.
The Governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Comrade Yakubu Garba, made this observation yesterday while flagging off the 2024 Statewide Livestock and Poultry Vaccination for Cows, Goats, and Sheeps at the Livestock Improvement and Breeding Centre (LIBC) in Tagwai Dam Community of Bosso Local Government Area of the state.
He disclosed that livestock farming not only provides sustenance and income for countless families but also significantly contributes to the economy of the state, adding that it has become very imperative to periodically carry out the vaccination exercise for its unquantifiable benefits.
  The governor said the exercise was of utmost importance to the state, not just for our own health and well-being but also because the state served as a major source of dairy products for Nigeria.
He revealed that the vision for agricultural revolution and mechanisation in the state was rooted in the belief that modernising our farming practices, livestock activity, and investing in cutting-edge technology would propel us towards greater prosperity and self-sufficiency.
While commending and appreciating the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development for putting up the event, the governor also urged livestock farmers in the state to wholeheartedly commit to the vaccination campaign, not just for the well-being of their animals but for the overall success of the agricultural sector of the state.
Earlier in his welcome address, the State Commissioner for Livestock and Fisheries Development, Hon. Ibrahim Mami Ijah, said it was a new dawn for livestock farmers and pet animal owners in the state, given the attention of the present administration towards agricultural mechanisation in the state.
He said that the event was a demonstration of the governor's commitment to changing the narratives in terms of the livestock development sub-sector in the state, saying the governor's passion and unflinching commitment to utilising the state's vast agricultural potential and tremendous comparative advantages in animal production and grazing reserves for the development of the state remain unparalleled.
Hon. Mami Ijah further disclosed that the major policy thrust of the present administration in the state was to provide a sustainable economy through increased agricultural activities that guarantee profitability for the people.
While appreciating the governor for approving the purchase of vaccines for the exercise, he equally said they needed more and appealed to him to resuscitate and give more support to the livestock sub-sector to implement all its programmes towards achieving increased production in the state.    

By Suleiman Yakubu

Niger State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC, Comrade Idris Abdulkareem Lafene, has expressed his utmost displeasure over the sorry state of state-owned media organisations, including Newsline, Radio Niger, NSTV, and even the UK Bello Arts Theatre Hall.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a secretariat complex by the state chapter of Radio Television, the Theatre and Arts Workers Union, RATTAWU, called on the state government to look into the plights of these media houses to make them functional as they remained the voices of Nigerlites.
He congratulated the RATTAWU executives for initiating the project and pledged to support the leadership of the union morally and financially to ensure the completion of the project in good time.
The state chairman of the union, Comrade Isa Mahmud, while speaking with newsmen during the ceremony of the edifice in Minna, said the secretariat, which would have state-of-the-art facilities, would be constructed in phases, adding that the first phase was expected to cost the union about N150 million, while the second phase was estimated to cost about N150 million also.
Comrade Mahmud told journalists that the secretariat will have a conference hall, an ICT centre, and offices for both the chairman and other executive members of the union.
He said that his leadership initiative for the project was in fulfilment of the promise made during their inauguration on April 23, 2023, that before the end of his tenure in office, a befitting office secretariat complex would be built by the union.
The state chairman of RATTAWU disclosed further that the union, which has been in existence since 1978, has no secretariat to call its own, stressing that building a befitting secretariat for members' use was a matter of concern to him even though, on assumption of office, the union was so much indebted, but his leadership had passion and a dream to take the union to greater heights.
He said there was a need for him to have that dream fulfilled by embarking on the construction of the secretariat, and he expressed his profound gratitude to all those who stood by his executives to kick-start the project.
He specifically thanked the state government, the Speaker, the Niger State House of Assembly, and the organised labour in the state under the leadership of Comrade Idris Abdulkareem Lafene for all their support for the project and prayed that God would reward them abundantly.
The Speaker, Niger State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Barr. Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, on his part, applauded the state RATTAWU chairman and his executives for embarking on such a laudable project and pledged that the House will stand by the union to ensure the completion of the secretariat in no time.
He announced a personal donation of N1 million to the union in support of the project, promising that the entire House of Assembly would contribute a reasonable sum of money as part of their contributions to the project.
The construction of the state Secretariat of Radio, Television, Theatre, and Arts Workers Union, RATTAWU, by the Niger State Chapter of the union, named after the former Governor of Niger State, Late Abdulkadir Abdullahi Kure, will cost over N300 million naira.