The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Group urges Ajaero, NLC to end power outage in Imo after Uzodimma’s apology

    Group urges Ajaero, NLC to end power outage in Imo after Uzodimma’s apology

    A pressure group in Imo State, Owerri Zone Awareness Coalition (OZAC), has called on President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, to intervene on the strike embarked on by electricity workers.

    Ajaero was reportedly attacked by thugs linked to Governor Hope Uzodimma’s aide, Nze Chinasa Nwaneri, on November 1, a development that prompted a solidarity strike by electricity workers, leaving the state in darkness in the past two weeks.

    Since the attack, power supply across Imo State has been deliberately halted by electricity workers aligning themselves with the plight of the labour leader.

    But, in a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Eke, OZAC implored Ajaero to reconsider the continuation of the strike.

    Expressing concern over the severe consequences, the group highlighted the economic downturn, collapsing small-scale businesses, and the precarious security situation arising from the prolonged power outage in the state.

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    While condemning the brutality inflicted upon Ajaero, the group acknowledged Governor Uzodimma’s apology on national television and the redeployment of the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Barde, as positive steps that should compel Ajaero to have a rethink and suspend the strike of the electricity workers.

    OZAC emphasised the immense hardship faced by Imo residents due to the extended power outage, coupled with exorbitant fuel prices reaching N700 per litre and skyrocketing living costs. It, therefore, urged Ajaero to reconsider his stance, recognising the efforts made towards meeting the NLC’s demands and emphasising the necessity of restoring electricity to alleviate the people’s suffering.

    In its plea, OZAC urged Ajaero not to exacerbate the predicament of those he champions by prolonging the strike.

    The statement reads: “Two of the NLC’s demands have been addressed, with ongoing investigations by the Inspector-General of Police into his assault.

    “The prevailing challenges in Imo State necessitate a balance between pursuing workers’ rights and mitigating the severe impact on the daily lives of the state’s inhabitants. Our plea underscores the delicate balance between activism and the responsibility to alleviate the broader hardships imposed on the people of Imo State.”

  • Fed Govt to charge triple ground rent on unoccupied houses

    Fed Govt to charge triple ground rent on unoccupied houses

    The Federal Government said it would begin charging triple ground rent on estates and houses left unoccupied after three months.

    It said in its bid to rectify the country’s housing deficit, it would be taking stock of all abandoned and unoccupied houses and estates in Abuja, its environs and other states.

    The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Dangiwa, said the present administration is passionate about completing all abandoned projects at all costs.

    The Minister made this known in Abuja, after a tour of three housing projects in Suleja Dikko prototype Public-Private Partnership (PPP) cooperatives, Gwagwalada NPH PPP and the Guzape Federal Housing Authority (FHA) estates.

    Dangiwa said his Ministry would interface with the owners of the buildings and they would be charging the triple ground rent if they insist on leaving the buildings unoccupied.

    He said the move would force them to either put it out for rent at whatever amount or sell them off because the country cannot keep saying it has housing deficits while it has a lot of empty house that are completed and left unoccupied.

    He said: “This administration is passionate about completing all abandoned projects at all costs, even if it means rescoping the projects and in the aspect of land bank, what we intend to do is use lands that the Ministry have in states, which is why we are tasking all our state controllers of housing to ensure they give us a catalogue of all of the lands.

    “Their are a lot of abandoned estates, especially here in Abuja and its vicinity. I think we also have a few in some other states, now we want to take stock of all those abandoned houses and interface with the owners and ask them, what do you want? Do you want to keep these houses? If you want to keep them unoccupied, the government would start charging you triple ground rent instead of the single ground rent that we charge.

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    That would force them to either put it on rent at whatever amount or sell them off because we cannot keep saying we have housing deficits while we have a lot of empty house that are completed and left unoccupied.

    “We have tasked the department of lands and Urban and regional planning in our ministry to take stock of those estates, to give us the names of the proprietors or owners of the estates, any estate that stayed more than three months unoccupied, then we would start charging them triple ground rent.

    “The three sites we visited have their different peculiarities, the one in Gwagwalada the contractors are ready to work but the Ministry couldn’t provide the funding so we are going to rescope the project. The one in Suleja is abandoned and dilapidated in most parts, we would sell them as they are, we can’t put money in those kind of buildings now because we have people willing to buy them and we would sell them at the price that we constructed them years ago, we don’t intend to increase the price.

    “The site at Guzape shows the power of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), they were built without government funding, which is what we want to emphasize on to ensure Nigerians are provided with decent and affordable housing.”

    On the aspect of the renewed hope mega cities in the pipeline, the Minister said: “The first phase of the 40,000 housing units across the Federation would commence in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), right now we are on the supplementary budget and within a couple of weeks, we would commence the ground-breaking of some of the houses we intend to construct, we intend to construct six mega cities, the renewed hope cities around the country, one in each geopolitical zone of the country.

    “We also intend to construct the renewed hope estates, in the remaining 30 states of the Federation, so depending on the outlay, we would commence the construction. We are also engaging Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with some of the developers who would provide funding and then we provide an enabling environment for that to happen. For the FCT, we are thinking of constructing about 10,000 housing units and the off takers are already on ground for the high earned, low and medium income earners.”

  • Senators Bamidele, Adeola donate N29m to orphanage homes in Abuja, Nasarawa

    Senators Bamidele, Adeola donate N29m to orphanage homes in Abuja, Nasarawa

    The Senate Leader,Opeyemi Bamidele and Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Adeola, have donated N24 million to 13 orphanage homes in Abuja and Nassarawa State.

    The gesture was made to commemorate the celebration of the World Orphans’ Day in Abuja.

    Making the donation at an event organized to mark the day by the wife of Senator Adeola, Mrs. Temitope, through her non-governmental organization, CHADASH, which dedicated to widows and orphans, the two senators donated N12 million each to the orphanages.

    Senator Bamidele also made an additional donation of N5million for CHADASH while other senators also made pledges.

    The benefiting orphanages include Gifted and Talented Orphanage, Facado Orphanage, Cherry Field Orphanage, Christ Bethel Orphanage, Dynasty Orphanage, and JKS Orphanage. Others are Shinning Star Orphanage, Queen Esther Orphanage, Maratha Care Children Home, Osaze Orphanage, Desired Orphanage, Purity Rose Orphanage and Gifted and Talented Home, Nassarawa.

    Senator Adeola who described himself as an orphan having lost both parents stated that there are many challenges and difficulties confronting orphans as they live in sour society adding that like himself, they usually don’t have biological parents to stand up for them when it matters.

    “I want to encourage all of us to be our brothers’ keeper in assisting orphans to properly fit into the society. I recall that even in political field I suffered discrimination as an orphan as some disputed my state of origin for political vindictiveness and may parents were not there to assert my indigene-ship of Ogun State. I am sure that the children before us are all Nigerians with various need and nothing must stop us from making them useful and productive members of the society,” he stated.

    While disputing official estimates of orphans in Nigeria put at 17 million, Senator Adeola said their number would be in the region of 50 million nationwide promising to always participate in any effort, at government and private levels to address the challenges of orphans.

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    Speaking as the guest of honour of the event which was kickstarted with a keep fit and awareness kilometer walk around Maitama, Abuja, Senator Bamidele stated that with the number of orphans in Nigeria outnumbering the population of many countries in the continent and elsewhere, there is need for proper government policies to address the needs of the orphans in addition to any private efforts by humanitarian and charitable individual and organizations.

    He commended Senator Adeola and his wife for always giving back to the society in various ways, stressing that Senator Adeola is known to be a giver even among his colleagues over the years as he is the “go to” man when you are in need.

    In her welcome address titled: “Caring for the Uncared”, Mrs. Adeola, said to be the first to ever celebrate the World Orphans Day in Nigeria with her NGO, stated that her organization is focused on widows and orphans in the society stressing that beyond giving funds and materials for orphans, important as that is, there is the urgent need for individual to donate/volunteer services and skills for orphans to improve their chances of competing in the society.

    She enumerated her NGO’s accomplishments so far to include commissioning of borehole, donation of cash, household and food items, equipping orphanages with laptops, empowering 1000 widows and vocational training, startup kits and grants for 120 widows adding that we can all invest our time, resources and talents in helping the orphans rebuild their young lives.

    There were different presentations by the orphans including display of karate training, musical rendition and the successful dressing of a doll by a paralytic Down Syndrome orphans who was taught the impossible skill giving her condition.

  • Anti-corruption group decries petition against FCTA

    Anti-corruption group decries petition against FCTA

    An Anti-corruption group, Coalition of Patriotic Youth against Corruption (CPYAC), Yesterday in Katsina condemned what it described as’’ fallacy’’, a petition submitted to House of Representatives Public Petition’s Committee against Mukhtar Galadima of Federal capital Territory Development control (FCTA)

    The condemnation which was contained in a briefing in collaboration with other groups.

    They said: ’’After investigation by our anti-corruption network, we found out that the said petition against Galadima is false and baseless and lack evidence, as such, we urge the House of Representative committee on public petitions to strike it out from their desks.

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    ‘’It’s the constitutional right of the FCT minister to allocate and revoke Certificate of Occupancy of any land that is undeveloped in federal capital territory Abuja without fair or favour.

    “The FCT minister has constitutional power to order development control to destroyed any illegal structure in Abuja regardless of the status of the occupants of the property, so attacking Galadima will not stop the restructuring in the FCT.

    “Nigerians must understand that Abuja is an Administrative environment not home settlement for individuals and FCTA has constitutional power to restructure it to compete with global cities.”

  • Policy on Nano-technology to be presented to FEC

    Policy on Nano-technology to be presented to FEC

    The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation would soon be presenting the National policy on Nano-technology to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for consideration and approval.

    This, the ministry, said is to quicken the national nano-technology development for economic diversification.

    Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Chief Uche Nnaji, stated this in Abuja at the 2023 World Science day for peace and development celebration.

    The event included a quiz competition for secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where Government Science Secondary School Pyakassa won a Million naira from the government for taking the first position.

    Chief Nnaji who was represented by his Technical Adviser on strategy and programmes, Prof. Martins Ike-munso, said that the world acknowledges Science and Technology’s pivotal role in the development of the nation.

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    He said: “Technology, which serves industrialization in Nigeria, as a cornerstone for achieving irreversible

    “In addition to above, the ministry has also developed the National Leather and Leather Products Policy, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on October 31, 2018, aimed at using STI to exploit the enormous leather potential in national development effectively; the National Policy on Methanol Fuel Production Technology, was approved by the FEC on October 23, 2019, when fully implemented will introduce methanol into the Nigeria economy; and the National Policy on Welding and Welding Related Fields, approved by FEC in October 2022, with focus on standards and safety that builds trust and ensures the quality and reliability of welders, processes, and materials involved in welding practices.

    “Furthermore, may I inform you that the ministry has developed the National Policy on Nano-technology, which will soon be presented to the Federal Executive Council for consideration and approval to quicken our national nano-technology development for economic diversification.

    “Due to the quest to commercialize our indigenous R&D in the country, we have designed an annual program called the Science and Technology Expo, which is strategically aimed at showcasing the use of science for technological inventions, innovations and majorly, the Research & Development (R&D) products and results of the FMST’s Agencies.”

  • Kwara to register scavengers

    Kwara to register scavengers

    Kwara state government is set to regulate operations of scavengers in the state.

    Accordingly, the state said it would soon commence the registration of scavengers for proper recognition “whereby individuals will have an identity code and uniforms for identification,” Commissoner for the Environment Mallam Shehu Usman said.

    The move, the commissoner said, is to ensure security of lives and properties of the people and also increase revenue drive of the state

    Mallam Usman said this at the weekend in Ilorin, the state capital during a meeting with the Association of Scavengers.

    He added that “the present administration under the leadership of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq is not comfortable with your operations, as it is causing insecurity in the state.

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    “Therefore, this ministry deems it fit to regulate your activities, through official registration, for efficient operation across the state.”

    Usman warned scavengers in the state to stay away from criminal activities and operate by environmental law, otherwise will face the full wrath of the law.

    Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Hajia Afusat Ibrahim, informed the association that their registration would close on the 31st of December, adding that full enforcement of the law would commence January 2024.

    Earlier, the association state Chairman, Mallam Musa Umah, appreciated Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for creating an enabling environment for scavengers to operate in the state.

    He expressed their readiness to comply and operate within the law governing their business, pledging to partner with government to sustain healthy living for Kwarans.

  • Abuja Airport incident: NSIB begins investigation

    Abuja Airport incident: NSIB begins investigation

    The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, has been notified and has commenced investigation into a serious incident involving a Boeing 737 with Nationality and Registration Marks 5N-BYQ belonging to Aerocontractors Airlines.

    This is contained in a statement signed by Dr James Odaudu, the NSIB Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, on Sunday in Abuja.

    Odaudu said there was no injury or fatality.

    “The incident occurred around 10:47am (Local Time) on 12th November, 2023.

    “The aircraft upon landing at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from Lagos and in a bid to exit runway via A4 had its nose wheel stuck in the grass verge with its fuselage on runway.

    “Consequently, the runway was closed pending the towing of the aircraft from the runway. There was no injury or fatality,” it said.

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    According to him,the NSIB, hereby, solicits information from the general public in form of pictures, video or recording evidences to assist in conducting a comprehensive investigation.

    He said the bureau could be reached through info@aib.gov.ng and NSIB_Nigeria on its social media platforms and on its emergency line +234-807-709-0909.

    ”The NSIB will appreciate that the general public and press respect the privacy of the people on board and not assume the cause of the serious incident until formal report is released.

    “The NSIB is a multimodal investigation agency charged with the mandate to investigate transportation accidents and serious incidents in Nigeria with the aim of identifying the probable causes and proffer safety recommendations that can prevent reoccurrence,” it said.

    The director affirmed that the bureau would release the preliminary report as soon as possible.

  • Quantum leap

    Quantum leap

    • Manufacturers groan as diesel price hits the roof

    For manufacturers, it seems it doesn’t just rain but pours. From lamenting about their spiralling expenditure on alternative energy sources in June, they have a new source of headache to contend with: the prohibitive cost of price of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel). From N1,030 a litre penultimate week, diesel price is said to have shot up to N1,300 – a quantum jump of some 26 percent all within a week. It’s simply frightening. Recall that the same manufacturers had in June had bemoaned their expenditure on alternative energy – particularly how this shot up from N77.22bn in 2021 to N144.5bn in 2022 – a whopping 87 per cent increase within a year.

    At a time of forex crisis, high interest rates and poor power supply, it is an unfortunate situation for the manufacturers as indeed any our hordes of small businesses to find themselves. Aside compounding their challenges considering that diesel is used to power their factories, the indirect impact of the development on transportation and other logistical costs are better imagined. Of course, the same could be said of households already hamstrung by the inflationary pressures. For the government and the operators, the current times are understandably, most challenging.

    Surely, the government cannot afford the option of doing nothing. In fact, something drastic has to be done if only to allow our manufacturers breathe. The situation, it must be stated, require neither simplistic solutions nor short cuts. They require bold plans. Ordinarily, the most frontal way to address the problem is for the Federal Government to ramp up power supply across the country to bring down the cost of operations. Given the sector’s disappointing performance in all of those years post-privatisation, the truth is that this is easier said than done.

    The other option is to turn to the railways system for mass haulage. Even that remains extremely under-developed for the nation’s industrial requirement. Even that, were it be in place, would not address the industries daily requirement of power.

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    There is yet a third option –for the government to introduce some subsidy of sorts at least to bring down the cost of the product. This is to the extent that the old subsidy regime is out of the question. Even here, the Federal Government cannot in fairness be accused of doing nothing considering that it had already removed the 7.5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on diesel for six months, effective October.

    The point bears stating that the organised private sector needs all the help that it can get. Aside merely keeping their factories running, the country, surely, cannot afford any further prospects of either output contraction or job losses at this time.

    Commendably, this government has shown great disposition to engage the organised private sector. It is surely the way to go. The expectation is that their concerns are not only heard through structured engagements but that factors that have the potential to further choke them as a collective are addressed promptly. Like the government did when it temporarily shelved the VAT on diesel, we expect no less in terms of fresh initiatives to mitigate those pains while they last.

    Need we again remind the government that the bulk of the current problems are self-inflicted? Isn’t it a shame that we produce crude yet import diesel and other white products to keep our economy running?  Ours is a country that boasts of four refineries none of which is working. Yes, we had the whole of the time, right from the oil boom years, to modernise the power sector, revamp our railways system and invest in road infrastructure, successive governments, for reasons best known to them, chose the path of inaction. It is the reason the country is paying such a high price. It is also the reason why all eyes are on the Tinubu administration to help reverse the course. It begins with getting the refineries working.

  • Foreign travel advisories

    Foreign travel advisories

    • Alarm over purported security threats stokes avoidable tension

    It is perhaps understandable that issuing of travel advisories by sovereign states to guide the movement of their citizens in foreign countries and safeguard their safety has become a regular feature of international relations practice in an ever-increasingly insecure and volatile world. The travel advisory and security alert issued by the United States government to its citizens in Nigeria on November 3 was in line with this routine tradition. In it, US citizens in Nigeria were warned of an elevated threat to major hotels in the country’s larger cities. Obviously actuated by the then pending governorship elections in Nigeria’s Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states on Saturday, November 11, the advisory, citing ‘credible information’, advised US citizens to “exercise vigilance” and “consider avoiding major hotels altogether in the days leading up to and during the elections”.

    On November 4, the United Kingdom followed suit when that country’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) issued a travel advisory advising its citizens against all but essential travels to Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states. But going even further, the FCDO equally admonished UK citizens against all travels to Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and the riverine areas of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River States.

    One problem with the over generalization involved in this kind of security alert is that even when one or two instances of violence have been witnessed in a given state, seldom do whole states in their entirety collapse into anarchy, violence and insecurity. It would thus be expected that travel advisories offer their citizens more specific and scientific derived information.

    Again, a number of states listed in the FCDO advisory have not witnessed any spectacular or extraordinary incidences of violence for some time now, and it is difficult to decipher what criteria informed their listing in the first place. In any case, no human community across time and space has ever been completely crime free, as they have routinely been vulnerable to varying levels of insecurity and even those countries issuing the advisories are not devoid of their own security challenges. It would be wrong and unfair, for instance, to rely on the not uncommon incidences of deranged lone gunmen shooting and murdering scores of innocent citizens in schools and other public places in some American cities to brand that entire country as unsafe and insecure in an arbitrary manner.

    These considerations most likely informed the response of the Federal Government to the latest US advisory with the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris Magaji, at a recent media parley in Abuja, describing it as unwarranted and one likely to create needless panic and undermine efforts by the current administration to attract investors to Nigeria. In the words of the Minister, “We understand the concerns raised by the US government in their recent travel advisory but believe that it is imperative we do not generalize isolated incidents across the entire hospitality industry.”

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    Stressing that the administration has prioritized the safety and well-being of visitors to the country, Magaji cited some of the measures taken by government to improve security in the country including enhanced intelligence gathering, acquisition and deployment of additional platforms, training and retraining of personnel and increased cooperation with international law enforcement agencies.

    In reality, this kind of response to such foreign travel advisories is unlikely to serve much useful purpose. Rather, government should see the advisories as a wake-up call to redouble its efforts to enhance and guarantee the safety and security of citizens and visitors across Nigeria. As we have always advocated, the security agencies can make much better and more efficient use of intelligence gathering and advanced information and communication technology to improve their operational performance and substantially improve the overall security situation in Nigeria.

    As for those countries which habitually issue publicized travel advisories to their citizens in the country, they should also consider according as much priority to proactively sharing whatever information they have with the country’s authorities in a non-sensational manner so that timely steps can be taken to nip anticipated dangers in the bud. It is also not out of place for the country’s security agencies to issue their own security alerts and advisories to guide both citizens and visitors in cases of the existence of established credible threats.

  • Africa and legacy of slavery, colonialism

    Africa and legacy of slavery, colonialism

    • By John Amabolou Elekun

    Sir: The history of Africa is a tale of exploitation, from the transatlantic slave trade that saw millions of Africans forcibly removed from their homelands to the Western capitals that continues to shape the continent’s destiny. The governments of America and Europe have played pivotal roles in both of these oppressive chapters in African history.

    The transatlantic slave trade, which lasted for several centuries, stands as one of the most horrifying episodes of cruelty in human history. European powers and American colonies ruthlessly exploited Africa’s human resources, forcing countless men, women, and children into brutal servitude. Africans were subjected to unimaginable suffering, as they endured forced labour, inhumane living conditions, and a loss of cultural identity.

    The legacy of slavery still lingers in Africa. It left deep scars in the form of fragmented societies, lost cultural heritage, and economic disparities. The wealth extracted from African labour and resources helped build the economic foundations of Europe and the Americas, while Africa was left economically impoverished.

    Neo-colonialism, a term coined by Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah, describes the continuation of foreign influence over former colonies’ economic, political, and cultural affairs, even after achieving nominal independence. American and European powers have maintained their grip on Africa through economic, political, and military means.

    Multinational corporations and financial institutions from America and Europe exert significant control over Africa’s economies. They dominate key industries, exploit natural resources, and shape trade policies in their favour. This perpetuates a cycle of economic dependency, leaving African nations with limited control over their development.

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    Foreign governments continue to play a role in African politics, often supporting leaders who align with their interests. This interference leads to political instability and a lack of true self-determination for African nations.

    The legacy of slavery and the ongoing struggle against neo-colonialism remain major challenges for Africa. However, there is hope for change. African leaders are increasingly recognizing the need for economic and political independence. Regional collaborations and efforts to reduce foreign dependency are growing, as nations work to reclaim their sovereignty.

    Acknowledging this history is essential, as it helps pave the way for a more equitable and self-determined future for the continent. Africa’s journey towards true independence continues, and the international community must support these efforts to break free from the chains of the past.

    •John Amabolou Elekun,

    Iju-Ajuwon, Lagos