NSE JALINGO BRANCH, INAUGURATES STANDING COMMITTEES

Four standing committees were inaugurated by the chairman of the NSE Jalingo branch Engr. D. U Adamu FNSE on Wednessday, December 7, 2016 in the Conference Hall of The Advanced Manufacturing Technology Programme (AMT-P) Jalingo at 4:00pm The committees are: Technical and carrier development committee which has Engr. Prof. Mohammed Dauda, FNSE as Chairman, Engr. Calvin Daniel Sati, MNSE-Member, Engr. Mohammed A. Suleiman, MNSE- Member, Engr. Anthony E. Daudu, MNSE-Member, Kamai Matthew, MNSE- Member, Engineering collaboration, Business luncheon, Annual dinner and Awards committee; Engr. D. D. Elisha, FNSE, Chairman, Engr. Tanko K. Audu, FNSE-Member, Engr. Prof. Mohammed Dauda, FNSE-Member, Engr. Daniel O. Akaalian, MNSE-Member, Engr. Ahmed I. Nyagdi, MNSE-Member, Engr. Wilfred Bala Gimba, MNSE-Member, Engineering Regulation Monitoring/Prevention, Investigation, Failure Analysis/ Environmental Pollution Monitoring committee; Engr. Tanko K. Audu, FNSE-Chairman, Engr. Buba Siam Musa, MNSE-Member, Engr. Likita Bwonsi, MNSE-Member, Engr. Richard Hiridus Jen, MNSE-Member, Engr. Jerome Pani, MNSE-Member. Development and Property Maintenance Committee; Engr. Daniel O. Akaalian, MNSE-Chairman, Engr. Luntsi J. Johnson, MNSE-Member, Engr. Godfrey Dame Andrew, MNSE-Member, Engr. Michael A. Adedayo, MNSE-Member, Engr. Timothy Nami, MNSE-Member.

On behalf of the Committee Chairmen, Engr. Prof Dauda Mohammed FNSE thanked the branch Chairman for the privilege given to them to serve in those capacities. The Inauguration was attended by Members of the NSE Jalingo branch and members of the Press.

Using Non -Edible Vegetable Oils for Fuel can Reduce Toxic Emmision Resulting from Use of Fossil Fuel

YELLOW OLEANDER SEEDS

 

Biodiesel has become more attractive recently because of its environmental benefits and the fact that it is made from renewable resources. Recently, there are researches designed to harness oil of non-edible nature for the production of the biodiesel. However, large amount of non-edible oils and fats are available. The term biodiesel, was first introduced in the United States in 1992 by the National Soy Development Board presently National Biodiesel Board (NBB), which has pioneered the commercialization of biodiesel in the USA (Ramadhas, et al., 2004).

The growing concern due to environmental pollution caused by the conventional fossil fuels and the realization that they are non-renewable have led to search for more environment friendly and renewable fuels. (Balusamy and Marappan, 2007). Among various options investigated for diesel fuel, biodiesel obtained from vegetable oils has been recognized world over as one of the strong contenders for reduction in exhaust emissions.

Worldwide, biodiesel production is mainly from edible oils such as Soyabean,

Sunflower and Canola oils that compete with the demand for human consumption. However, there are abundance of forest and plant based non-edible oils available in Nigeria such as Pongamia pinnata (karanja), Jatropha curcas (jatropha), Madhuca indica(mahua), Shorea robusta (Sal), Azadirachta indica (neem) and Heveabraziliensis (rubber). This has stimulated recent interest in alternative sources to replace petroleum based fuels.

 

Alternative Biodiesel Feedstocks Which Have Been Engine-Tested.

Scientific Name                          Common name             Plant type                             Plant part

Azadirachta indica                          Neem                          Tree                                        Seed

Balanites aegyptiaca                   Desert date                      Tree                                        Kernel

Brassica carinata                      Ethiopian mustard             Herbaceous annual                Seed

Calophyllum inophyllum         Polanga                              Tree                                       Seed

Camelina sativa                       Camelina                            Herbaceous annual                 Seed

Carthamus tinctorius                Safflower                           Herbaceous annual                 Seed

Corylus avellana                      Hazelnut                            Tree                                       Kernel

Eruca vesicaria ssp.Sativa         Rocket                               Herbaceous annual                Seed

Hevea brasiliensis                    Rubber                               Tree                                       Seed

Jatropha curcas                        Physic                                   Tree/shrub                              Seed

Linum usitatissimum                Linseed                               Herbaceous annual                Seed

Madhuca indica                       Mahua                                 Tree                                      Seed

Olea europaea                           Olive                                Tree/shrub                             Pomace

Oryza sativa                             Rice                                    Grass annual                         Bran

Nicotiana tabacum                   Tobacco                                Herb                                      Seed

Pongamia (Millettia)

pinnata/Pongamia glabra          Koroch,karanja                    Tree                                       Seed

Ricinus communis                   Castor                                   Tree/shrub                             Seed

Salvadora oleoides                   Peehl                                      Tree                                       Seed

Sesamum indicum                  Sesame                                    Herbaceous annual                Seed

Simarouba glauca                    Paradise tree                            Tree                                        Seed

Sterculia foetida                       Poon                                        Tree                                        Seed

Thevetia peruviana                  Yellow oleander                     Shrub                                      Seed

 

 

TARABA HOLDS LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

 

 

 

Elections into the 16 Local Government Councils in Taraba State took place yesterday. The exercise was expected to produce substantive members of the councils which include chairmen and councilors.

However, civil society organisations interested in monitoring the election complained that the state electoral commission was shrouding everything about the exercise in secrecy.

Campaign for the election peaked a few days ago with Governor Darius Ishaku joining street-to-street convoys of some candidates of the PDP in Wukari and Takum LGAs in his senatorial zone.

Friday was declared a work-free day in the state to enable the people, particularly civil servants to travel to their wards to vote. Gov. Ishaku also arrived Takum his home town last night in order to be able to vote in his ward. He had earlier appealed to the people of the state to conduct themselves in a very mature manner during the election.

The PDP, the ruling party in the state, APC, SDP, APGA, Labour Party and several others are contesting in the election. The Local Government Councils in the state are currently being run by caretaker committee appointed by the governor.

However, Uncertainty pervaded the air yesterday with stakeholders lodging several complaints over the way the Gombe State Independent Electoral Commission (GOSIEC) is planning the Local Government Councils elections today.

Ibrahim Yusuf, Chairman of Civil Society Organisations in Gombe State, while addressing newsmen, alleged that the State electoral body had all along kept its activities secret especially the recruitment of ad-hoc staff for the conduct of the election.

Earlier, a coalition of 10 opposition political parties in the state led by the all progressive Congress APC, had on Tuesday approached GOSIEC with a complaint that the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state was using Government machinery to twist the results of the election in their favour.

The Chairman of the Civil Society Organisations, while briefing the press, Thursday afternoon alleged that barely 24 hours before the election, all activities of the electoral body had been kept secret especially the recruitment of staff to oversee the conduct of the election.

According to him, “up till this morning, no list of these staff has been placed on their notice board and no official of the GOSIEC was on hand to make any explanation to us. We wrote them two weeks back including the National Orientation Agency (NOA) who also said they were not aware of anything. Nobody is just ready to respond to our demands”.

In their complaint letter sent to the State Governor, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, the Chief Judge, the Commissioner of Police, State Director SSS, Commander of the 301 Artillery regiment Gombe, State Commander of the NSCD and the press, the Coalition of the Opposition Political Parties alleged that GOSIEC had perfected plans to clear all the eleven Chairmanship positions and their deputies and the 114 ward counsellorship seats in the State in favour of the PDP.

The coalition stated that it had reliably gathered that the commission did not intend to provide ballot papers, election materials and other sensitive and non-sensitive materials in all the election units; that small or inadequate quantity of ballot papers will be provided in some selected staggered units throughout the State and that the recruitment of presiding officers, polling clerks and other electoral officials was shrouded in secrecy and geared towards returning PDP candidates.

The coalition of opposition political parties comprising, AD, DPP, PDC, PRP, ADC, UDP, ACPN, PPN, KOWA, PDM and APC noted that despite several complaints made individually and collectively to the electoral commission, it has not received any attention from the commission.

Such complaints, they explained were the unjustifiable and arbitrary imposition of payment of exorbitant non-refundable fees by candidates, refusal to publish register of voters preliminary to the conduct of the elections, refusal to employ the use of electronic card readers and wanton disqualifications and exclusion of candidates of opposing political parties from the election.

They therefore warned that, “The people will use available legal means to revolt against any injustice if the electoral body is not fair, unwavering and upright in the discharge of its responsibility to the people of Gombe State”.

Responding to the allegations, the Commissioner, Public Affairs and Education in the Commission, Mr. Kalagar Kudi Lubo said the Commission was fully ready for the election and that they have trained all the electoral officers, assistant electoral officers in all the eleven Local Government Areas as well as 2,218 presiding officers and supervisors for the elections.

He said the Commission had also acquired the necessary election materials such as ballot papers and all that will be used during the election. He said also that security personnel had been put on alert for the election and described allegation of lack of adequate preparation as mere assumption.

He also said that contrary to allegations, the election materials would be presented to the public on the eve of the election (Friday) by 10:00 am. “You are all invited; the security agencies will be here, all the political parties, all media that require monitoring the election will be here. We are going to share the materials and send to all the various polling units,” he stated..........THIS DAY NEWSPAPER

Taraba Local Government Area Councils Hold Elections

Election of Chairmen into the 16 local Government Councils commences in the State Today 25th February, 2017...........watch out for update

Yellow Oleander (Thevetia peruviana), The Alterrnative Energy Source: Origin and Taxonomy

Thevetia peruviana belongs to the order apocynales of Apocynaceae family. It is a native of tropical America: especially Mexico, Brazil and West Indies and has naturalized in tropical regions worldwide. In the native countries it is believed to be more than 2000 years old.( Azam et al., 2005) It is known as Yellow oleander (nerium), gum bush, bush milk, exile tree in India, Cabalonga in Puerto Rico, ahanaiin Guyana, olomi ojo by Yorubas in Nigeria. Inspite of the high oil content (67%) of its kernel (Azam et al., 2005) and favourable protein content (37%) in the oil cake, (Ibiyemi et al., 2002) it has remained only an ornamental, fencing or wasteland plant. The plant is an evergreen perennial shrub reaching a height of 4.5 to 6m with deep green linear sword-shaped leaves and funnel shaped (yellow, white or pinkish yellow coloured) flowers. The plant starts flowering one and a half year after planting and after that it blooms thrice a year (Balusamy and Marappan, 2007). Thevetia peruviana plants produce more than 400-800 fruits yearly depending on the rainfall and plant age (Ibiyemi et al., 2002). Almost all parts of the plant are poisonous and bear white coloured latex. The number of kernels per fruit and the oil yield are significantly different among geographical locations. The plant has annual seeds yield of 52.5 t ha^-1 and about 1750litres of oil can be obtained from a hectare of waste land (Balusamy and Marappan, 2007). Its kernel oil has a very good thermal stability, (Ibiyemi et al., 1995) and thus has a potential for various uses, ESPECIALLY, BIODIESEL

NSE JALINGO BRANCH VISITS COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE JALINGO AND THE TARABA STATE TRACTOR HIRING UNIT.

 

The visit started with COA Jalingo with a courtesy call on the Provost of the school where the purpose of the visit was explained by the Head of delegation Engr. Collins Awosika MNSE who briefed the Provost on a brief history of the NSE at national and branch level in the state and also emphasized the need for all the registered and register-able Engineers to do so and call on them to identify themselves with the branch so as to contribute their quota in the development of the college and state at large.

In her response, the Provost of the college Dr Mrs Elizabeth Wachab thanked the members of the NSE for their visit and promised to support the NSE in the pursuit and discharge of their responsibilities. She also promised to support all Engineers in the institution with Finances for their training and workshops/conference if funds are available.

The team later proceeded to the Engineering department where they were taken round the workshop by the HOD, Agric. Engineering Department, Mr. Mathew Kamai MNSE who lamented on the state of equipment in the workshops as most of the machines and equipment are obsolete. He further informed the team on the  lack of personnel in the Workshops to handle to machines/equipment.

Suggestions were made by the visiting team on how to put the workshop to proper use so as to generate employment and services to the youth and the public.

Some people suggested the training of youth on vocational skills in collaboration with the state Manpower scheme in order to create employment for the teeming youth.

The team later proceeded to the State Tractor Hiring Unit (THU) which began with a courtesy call on the General Manager, Mr. Dauda Buba Gassol who received them in his office. He was informed of the mission and vision of the NSE and also asked for collaboration between the Unit and the society in order to raise the standard of the unit as well as the state in general.

   The GM informed the team on the deplorable condition and lack of machines/equipment in the unit which has made the unit not to function properly. He also appealed to the team to forward the problems of the unit to the government.

The team was later taken round the facility to have a look at the condition of the machines. The management were encouraged to put a request to the government for resuscitation of the unit.

The team solicited for assistance from the unit in terms of training and support to its members during workshops/seminars and conference so as to build their capacity for better performance.

N1.6bn fraud: You have case to answer, court tells ex-governor Nyame

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Gudu, ruled on Tuesday, that  a former Governor of Taraba State, Mr. Jolly Nyame, had case to answer with respect to the 41charges of criminal misappropriation of the state’s N1.64bn preferred against him.

 

Justice Adebukola Banjoko, after dismissing the ex-governor’s no-case submission in a ruling, ordered him to open his defence.

 

The judge ruled that contrary to Dariye’s contention, the prosecution had with its witnesses and a number of documentary evidence tendered, made out a case linking him to the alleged offence.

She ruled that a prima facie case had been made out against Dariye warranting him to open his defence.

 

She fixed March 8 for the accused to open his defence.

 

Source: Punch