The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • ‘My tribe played no role in my appointment’

    Minister of State for Environment Sharon Ikeazor has said President Muhammadu Buhari never judged her by her tribe or religion in appointing her as a minister.

    Ikeazor, who spoke at a reception organised in her honour by friends and associates in Abuja, said the President judged her solely on the mandate she was given at the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) and how she was able to execute that mandate, assuring that she will strive to deliver on her new mandate.

    The minister, who said the turning point her life was the Sosoliso air crash which claimed the life of about 60 children, added that she decided to join politics to help fight social injustice when nothing was done about the crash.

    Read Also: Pensioners applaud appointment of PTAD boss, Ikeazor as Minister

    She said: “I keep saying that the Nigeria of our dream is possible and we can achieve it. How was I able to achieve mine? I joined politics. Politics is life and life is politics. I left the law school in 1985 and followed my father’s footsteps. I didn’t get much satisfaction from law and I got into project management, consulting.

    “The Sosoliso air crash was the turning point in my life. 60 children died in a plane crash and you tell me it is an act of God? It was not an act of God, but pure negligence by those who operated the aircraft and the airport facilities. We protested and there was no action taken. No minister resigned and nothing happened.

    “We the women made up of Catholic Women Organisation and Muslim Women were protesting daily and nothing happened. It was then I decided that I needed a platform where my voice will be heard and I can make the difference and that platform was politics. Which was the most decent political party that I could join and maintain my integrity? It was the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) under President Buhari. Everybody thought I was crazy, but I was there for a purpose. Buhari was fighting social injustice and I was fighting social injustice.

    “I can stand here before you  today and say that President Buhari never judged me by my tribe or my religion. He only judged me by the mandate he gave me. I am glad that I was able to deliver on the mandate he gave me and I hope to deliver on the next one. Environment is life and so, we must sought out the issues in the environment. Desertification is there, erosion, flooding, climate change, we will work on it with all your support and prayers.”

  • Ngige: 60 per cent of 2019 budget to be rolled over to 2020

    Chances are high that about 60 per cent of the 2019 budget will be rolled over to the 2020 budget, Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige said on Thursday.

    “Part of the reasons why our budget has suffered is that once it suffered distortion down there at the National Assembly, the Executive is reluctant to implement it because they will feel that foreign items have been introduced into the budget,” he said.

    Ngige spoke when he resumed duty at the ministry alongside Minister of State for Labour and Employment Tayo Alasoadura.

    He said: “We have been warned that we must bring back the January/December budget circle. Therefore, the President of the Senate and officers of the National Assembly have, in one voice, requested from us that the budget should come in September and once they get it in September, they will give it to us in December.

    “So, we must do our part and what that mean is that parastatals themselves must submit their budget here and come and defend it. We are going to be serious about that because we hear of budget padding because parastatals invite Assembly members to come and carry padded things into their places.

    “We must stop that and we have to be serious about that any parastatal under this ministry that does that will be sanctioned so that we can live within our means and we can stay within what we have proposed for the work of the administration.

    Read Also: My immediate task is to put minimum wage issue to rest, says Ngige

    “Section 80 and 81 talks about the budget and how it can be used. If we do our work well, it will be a co-administered thing. We can set up committees and agreed on how it can be done so that it does not suffer distortion out there.

    “It is even appropriate that before we do down to the National Assembly to defend our budget, we should have met with our committee to agree on items or what you called budget lines are not supposed to be tampered with by the National Assembly.

    “The National Assembly can tamper with figures and amount because they have the power of the purse. But line items are not supposed to be tampered with because it is the ministry that does the planning of project, the scaling and the final plans as well as the financial implication.

    “The executive must take the lead by putting its house in order. So, I am sounding a note of warning that we must immediately start our budget planning to ensure that we submit it by September.

    “The call circular from the budget office will come, but before it comes, you can be doing your work because you already know that the 2019 budget has not been aggressively executed.

    “From the retreat we had, we now know that about 60 percent of it has to go back into the 2020 budget and rolled over. That was agreed and so, we can start our work ahead.”

    Ngige, who said he never lobbied to be reappointed as minister, said: “I am happy to come back home. A lot has happened within the last few weeks. Many people were busy here in Abuja lobbying to be appointed minister. But I was not around because I had to take my well-deserved vacation.

    “I travelled to Geneva on the invitation of a few of my African friends and from there I went on vacation in the United States of America. I came back a few days before the announcement of the new ministers.

    “The President reserves the right to make appointments because the constitution gives him that power. We are all product of the constitution. I have taken an oath to defend the constitution and I will discharge my responsibilities without fear or favour.

    “My reappointment and redeployment to the Ministry of Labour and Employment is an endorsement of the work  I have done here which is not personal, but collective. We have differences and I drive people because it is my nature.

    He said the disagreement between him and the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) shortly before leaving office was a family disagreement, which has been resolved.

    Alasoadura said he would have no reason to disagree with Ngige. He said having two ministers in a ministry meant that they must work as a team to actualise the programmes of the government.

  • Corruption, security, health top talks as ministers settle down

    Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola on Thursday urged officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to enhance internal security and embrace the spirit of transparency.

    Aregbesola spoke in Abuja during his familiarisation visit to the NIS headquarters.

    A statement issued by the spokesman of the NIS, Sunday James, reads: “On Thursday, 22nd August 2019, the Honourable Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aribesola, made his maiden official visit to the Headquarters of the Nigeria Immigration Service where he charged the Service to enhance internal security, facilitate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and imbibe the culture of transparency.

    “The Honourable Minister set out three main objectives for the Ministry of Interior under his watch based on the mandate given to him by President Muhammadu Buhari. These are Security, Economy and Transparency which he coded “SET”. Thus, he mandated agencies under him to improve security, economy and transparency in government business. He also expressed his commitment to making them “enhancers of internal security”.

    “He further disclosed that he was very impressed with the level of development he witnessed at the NIS. Some of these include the deployment of technology in the enhanced e-Passport, Technology Building, MIDAS and the Command Control Centre, where activities of NIS operatives at the borders are being coordinated. He thereby committed to supporting the NIS to achieve her mandate. According to him, he saw in the NIS ‘a Service that might be second to none in the sub-Sahara Africa in no distant time’.

    Read Also: Aregbesola tasks NSCDC on intelligence gathering

    “The Honourable Minister was earlier taken round facilities at the NIS Headquarters including the newly commissioned Migrant e-Registration Centre and the ongoing construction of Technology building after which he was briefed on the activities of the Service by the Comptroller General of Immigration Muhammad Babandede.

    “While briefing the honourable Minister, the CGI stated that NIS is an IT-driven agency that is committed to ensuring government business is done professionally.”

    Aregbesola, in a statement issued in Abuja by his Media Consultant, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, decried the internal insecurity bedevilling the country, the Minister said the Muhammadu Buhari government is open to more meaningful ideas that can help in the formulation of new policies in tackling all threats to internal security.

    He said: “We appeal to all of you with ideas. Nobody is a repository of ideas because nobody has the whole ideas on earth. We are appealing to you to share ideas, opinions, suggestions and strategies that can help us to remove, reduce and eliminate all the security threats facing our nation.

    “Besides the fact that the primary objective of every government is the security of lives and property as well as the welfare of the citizens, these can only be guaranteed if and when there are safety and security in the land.”

    Also, Minister of State for Health Olorunnimbe Mamora said the ministry would curb medical tourism and child mortality.

    Mamora also said the ministry would re-invigorate the structures on the ground and address the intra-profession rivalry among the health professionals in the country.

    Speaking to reporters during a reception held for him in Abuja, the minister stated that the new administration in the health ministry would continue from where the former minister stopped.

    He said: “Definitely, we have to do that (curb medical tourism) because we are complaining of not having enough foreign exchange and then the little we have; we are taking them for medical tourism.

    “We need to do things differently by way of reinvigorating the structures we have here. For example, there is what I call the minimum, which we need to put in place. We have good doctors, good health professionals.”

  • ‘Come pick Corps members from Lagos camp’

    The Lagos State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mr Sunday Aroni, has advised employers to prepare to pick corps members after their three-week orientation programme at the Iyana Ipaja camp on September 9.

    Aroni spoke on Thursday at the opening of camp for 2,016 Batch “B” Stream II corps members posted to the state.

    The state coordinator said his request is contained in the NYSC Act.

    “Your Excellency, permit me to seize this opportunity to inform the general public that the orientation programme will be ending on September 9. I, therefore, call on all employers of corps members to come to the camp on the closing ceremony day to transport and direct the corps members to their places of primary assignment, in line with the provisions of the NYSC Act,” he said.

    Read Also: NYSC DG restricts corps members’ movements

    Aroni also said that doing so would make the corps members, some of whom were new to Lagos, feel welcomed.

    “We are just dusting the old books. Most of them are strangers in the land and may miss their way. The best way to welcome them is to come here and pick them and take them to their places of primary assignment and drop them off at the end of the service year at the venue of the passing-out parade,” he said.

    The state coordinator urged Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to build a new orientation camp for the scheme on the already allocated land in Agbowa so that more corps members can be posted to the state.

    Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Director of Administration and Human Resources in the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mrs Basirat Iyabode Akinsanya, urged the corps members to be active in camp and make good use of the opportunity to acquire new skills.

  • Fayemi urges positive change

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has advised National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in the state to use their academic knowledge and professional skills to tackle the socio-economic problems afflicting the country.

    Dr. Fayemi said the mandatory one-year service was designed towards ensuring elimination of ignorance, mistrust and suspicion among Nigerians from different backgrounds. The governor said the scheme was also meant to unite the nation’s diverse multi-ethnic and religious groups.

    Dr Fayemi spoke yesterday during the swearing-in of this year’s Batch “B” Stream II corps members at the NYSC permanent orientation camp, in Ise/Orun/Emure.

    Read Also: Gov. Fayemi bans use of English Language during traditional events

    Represented by the Commissioner for Youth and Sport Development, Michael Awopetu, the governor advised the 1,451 corps members to always accept responsibilities and engage in productive activities that will impact on their host communities.

    He also advised them to take the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) seriously to make them self-reliant, creators of wealth and employers of labour.

    The NYSC State Coordinator, Mrs. Emmanuella Okpongete,  requested the assistance of the state government to complete the renovation of some dilapidated structures and construction of a lecture hall in the camp to bring it to a standard level.

  • ‘Anambra NYSC camp becoming too bad’

    The Anambra State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Kehinde Aremu, has said the temporary orientation camp in the state was becoming unconducive for corps members. He said the absence of power and water supply as well as decent accommodation continued to constitute serious challenges to the smooth running of the camp.

    Aremu spoke on Thursday during the swearing-in ceremony of this year’s Batch “B” Stream II corps members at Umunya NYSC temporary orientation camp.

    The state coordinator said the situation was worsened by the current construction work by the owners of the property as most camp activities were confined to small spaces.

    Read Also: Kwara NYSC camp not fit for human living, says AbdulRazaq

    “As you can see, today’s parade did not take place at the usual parade ground due to the ongoing construction work at the camp.

    “The same is applicable to lectures and morning devotions. We’ve now been boxed to a corner. It’s really inconveniencing,” he said. Governor Willie Obiano urged the NYSC to be patient with his administration to fix the facilities.

    The governor assured them that the permanent camp would be completed before the end of the year.

  • Wike: NYSC contributes to rural development

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike on Thursday praised the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for the positive impact it has made over the years.

    The governor spoke at the swearing-in ceremony of the Batch “B” Stream II at the NYSC permanent orientation camp at Nonwa-Gbam in Tai Local Government Area.

    The governor, who spoke through the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. George Nweke, said the scheme had made positive impacts in youth reorientation and nation-building.

    He noted that the graduate youth programme had contributed immensely to community and rural developments.

    Read Also: We’re ready to tackle insecurity, says Wike

    He said: “I am happy to state that the scheme has over the years impacted positively on the psyche of Nigerians and the nation, especially in the communities where the services of corps members are more evidently felt and appreciated.

    “Over the years, corps members have contributed to the development of the nation through initiation and execution of viable community development projects in the areas of education, agriculture, healthcare delivery and rural infrastructure.

    “These projects have impacted positively on the lives of members of the communities where they are executed and have given them a sense of belonging. You are, therefore, charged to also do the same by carrying out quality and quantity community development projects in your own time to positively impact the lives of the people you will be posted to their communities.”

    The State NYSC Coordinator, Chinwendu Chukwu, advised the corps members to make the best use of the rare privilege the scheme provides them to upgrade themselves mentally, emotionally and otherwise.

  • Oyetola urges hard-work, patience, humility

    Osun State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola has urged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members serving in the state to imbibe the virtues of hard-work, patience and humility during and after their service year.

    The governor advised prospective corps members posted to the state to complement the gestures of the NYSC and the government by being good ambassadors and advocates of peaceful co-existence in Nigeria.

    Oyetola spoke yesterday at the official opening and swearing-in ceremony of this year’s Batch “B” Stream II orientation course at the NYSC permanent orientation camp at Ede.

    Read Also: Oyetola warns youths against cybercrimes

    He advised the corps members to live up to the scheme’s objectives of fostering bridges of love, harmony and productive integration across the country.

    Oyetola, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prince Wole Oyebamiji, admonished the corps members to channel their energy, vigour and drive towards the achievement of national lofty ideals and aspirations.

    He warned them to abstain from drug abuse, advance fee fraud (419), kidnapping, robbery, cultism, violence and cyber-crimes.

    The governor, who described youths as the most productive segment of Nigerian population, added that the nation’s plans for the future cannot be actualised without the involvement and active participation of youths.

  • ‘Shell should stop exploration in Niger Delta’

    Youths under the umbrella of Oil Producing Communications of Niger Delta on Thursday staged a peaceful protest at the Unity Fountain in Maitama, Abuja, demanding that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) quit oil exploration in their land in two weeks.

    They carried placards, such as “SDPC stop operations in the Niger Delta;”“Sack MD Shell Now;” “Stop divide-and-rule among our people;”“SPDC obey court judgment,’’ among others.

    The protesters were, however, prevented by policemen from moving out of the precinct of Unity Fountain.

    They said they wanted President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene, adding that they would disrupt the operations of Shell in Niger Delta  if it failed to meet their demands.

    Read Also: ‘Shell JV, SNEPCo have paid $2b to NDDC’

    Led by Chief Hezekiah Odede from Okolo and Ayiba Shedrack from Azagbene in Bayelsa State, the youth said Shell owed families over N6.9 billion land rent.

    Odede said they mobilised youths in Abuja to impress on the authorities to know they were prepared for a showdown with SPDC.

    According to him, Shell has consistently refused to pay N600,000 per hectare to land owners where they have oil rigs, even after a court had ordered it to do so.

    He said Shell had been paying only N200,000 to some people, while many were left out.

    The chief said if the company failed to meet their demands in two weeks, the youth would disrupt oil exploration in the region.

  • PDP tenders results to justify Wike’s victory

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State on Thursday tendered results from local governments to the election tribunal to justify Governor Nyesom Wike’s victory.

    This followed a petition by candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Victor Fingesi.

    PDP’s lawyer Godwin Obla (SAN) said the results were from 356 polling units, adding that result sheets were from Obio/Akpor, Khana, Ogu/Bolo, Bonny, Akuku-Toru, Ahoada East, Opobo/Nkoro and others.

    According to him, PDP to tendered the results to prove that elections were held and results declared.

    Obla said since INEC’s and Wike’s witnesses proved that the election was conducted in line with the Electoral Act, PDP chose to show this through documentary evidence.

    Read Also: Court restrains AGF, RMAFC from deducting Rivers’ statutory allocation

    The lawyer, who addressed reporters after PDP closed its defence, said documentary evidence and oral testimonies by witnesses showed that the governorship election complied with the Electoral Act.

    He said: “On behalf of the third respondent, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I tendered 356 exhibits in support of our case. We feel satisfied that the requirements of the law have been fully met and that is why we decided to close our case today.

    “Don’t forget that the first respondent (INEC) called witnesses, the second (Wike), who is the candidate of the third respondent (PDP) also called relating to the subject matter. The interests of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents are actually the same.”

    ADP counsel Dolapo-Telle Attoni said: “The PDP presented from the bar a bundle of electoral documents they claimed INEC used in conducting the governorship election. They tendered results of about 356 polling units. We had asked for few minutes to study these same documents and also obtain Certified True Copy of the said documents which INEC declined.”

    The tribunal adjourned till September 16 for adoption of addresses.