Taraba: Church to tackle climate change by planting trees

By Stephen Osu Jalingo

Th e leadership of Christian Reformed Church, Nigeria (CRC-N) in Taraba has directed all its 17 regional councils in the state to plant at least 1000 trees yearly to curtail the negative eff ects of climate change. Th e position of the church leaders is contained in a N600m fraud: Court admits evidence against ex-Naval boss Th e Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja yesterday admitted in evidence, two documents tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against a former Chief of Naval Staff , Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, who is standing trial for alleged corruption. At the last sitting on June 14, there were arguments and counter arguments between Jibrin’s counsel, Y. C. Maikyau, SAN and counsel to the EFCC, Faruk Abdallah, on whether the documents tendered by the latter against the defendant is admissible or not. Th e documents are: the Appropriation Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2013 & 2014 on one hand and the the Appropriation Act of the National Assembly for 2013 and 2014 Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the other hand. Miakyau had argued that the documents sought to be tendered by the prosecution By Martin Paul Abuja Eminent jurist and constitutional lawyer, Professor Ben Nwabueze (SAN), has showered encomiums on Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, describing him as an impressive leader and a great hope for leadership in Nigeria. A statement signed Special Adviser (Media & Public Aff airs) of the Speaker, Turaki Adamu Hassan said Nwabueze spoke in Abuja at the public presentation of his new book titled: “Save Our Constitutional Democracy from Emasculation”. He said each time he saw and listens to the Speaker presiding in the House, it gave him hope that” all is not lost in Nigeria. “Having listened to your speeches, comments and the way you preside over the House, I am very impressed. It gives me hope that all is not lost in Nigeria.

We still have people who can be entrusted with the affairs of Nigeria”. On his part, Dogara, noted that for democracy to succeed in Nigeria, politicians, players and stakeholders must study the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to understand the limits of their powers. The Speaker argued that governance would be more effective “when every player in the three arms of government are clear on what powers the Constitution grants to their offices and where those powers end. “To be candid, majority of us do not even know what constitutional democracy means or entails. Some of us in the system have not even studied the Constitution”. Apparently alluding to the ongoing debate over the power of the legislature to input projects in the Appropriation Bill, Dogara said that “there should be proper understanding of the provisions of the Constitution, which was drafted along the lines of that of the United States. “We come to Nigeria, where, for instance, the executive, or the President determines the priority of the nation or of his government, but parliament can say no as representatives of the people”.

communiqué issued at the end of the 113th General Church Council and signed by the President of the synod Rev. Dr. Caleb Ahima. While calling for peaceful coexistence among the people of the state, the Church frowned at the indiscriminate felling of trees in Taraba and called for a rethink. Th e communiqué reads in part: “Despite our series of condemnation on the issue of indiscriminate felling of trees in the state, the dastardly act has continued unchecked We once again warn against the devastating eff ects of this logging and the indiscriminate burning of bushes, building on water ways and wrong disposal of waste which are on the increase in the state”. Th e Church Council, according to the communiqué, resolved to set up a committee to create awareness among traditional rulers and council chairmen in the state on the need to discourage these activities across the state and to monitor compliance. Blueprint learnt that with the discovery of special specie of a tree called madre, used by the Chinese, there has been indiscriminate felling of threes across the state and the wood exported to China.

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