The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Ex-INEC boss urges NASS to adopt electronic voting at plenary

    Attahiru Jega, Former Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday advised the 9th Assembly to adopt electronic voting for effective monitoring of bills and motions.

    According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Jega gave the advice at the presentation of the Scorecard of the 8th National Assembly sponsored by YIAGA Africa Centre for Legislative Engagement in Abuja.

    He said that the advice followed a study of the performance of the 8th assembly by a team of researchers who observed among other things that the technology used by the National Assembly had been there for 30 years.

    “ The National Assembly should adopt electronic voting on bills and motions; voting records should be available to members of the public on all National Assembly online and offline channels.

    “It is important for the National Assembly to maintain an updated open and accessible Bills Progression Chart to enable legislators, legislative aides and other stakeholders track or monitor progress of bills passage.

    “The National Assembly should maintain an accessible database of assented and gazetted legislation passed by the legislature.

    “ Our research also showed that the 8th assembly did more than any previous assembly in terms of introducing about 2,166 bills out of which 515 were passed and 21 were alteration bills.’’

    Jega said that the work was commendable but not enough to produce bills, adding that there was need to also pay attention to the quality of bills as many of them were not accented to.

    He said that the research showed that there was a room for improvement with regards to the quality of the bills produced.

    “There is need to pay attention to the quality of bills that are introduced so we strongly recommended an establishment of a mechanism for pre-legislative scrutiny,so that bills can be scrutinised.

    Read Also: Faulty leadership recruitment process, bane of Nigeria’s progress – Jega

    “Then a situation where a bill can go to the president and returned for inconsistencies or editorial work and so on will not even arise.

    Jega urged the Assembly to consider creating a Legislative Standards Committee , to oversee the pre-legislative scrutiny process and also establish a monitoring mechanism to monitor implementation of bills in MDAs.

    He also advised the it to entrench Pre-Legislative Scrutiny as a norm for all proposed legislations whether executive or private member bills .

    The former INEC chairman said with this, legislative proposals would be enriched as a result of consultations with practitioners, experts and all other stakeholders.

    He said that in order to improve the quality of legislative oversight ,the assembly should establish a minimum benchmark or targets for committees to catalyse activism and guide their performance level.

    Jega said that legislative committees should uphold the principles of integrity, professionalism, transparency and mutual respect in the performance of oversight functions.

    He also urged the National assembly to prioritise adequate funding for committees, which is pivotal to effective legislation and oversight.

    Jega also called on the assembly to ensure transparency and accountability for funds allocated to committees

    He also advised the assembly to establish constituency offices and where they exist, they should improve engagement of the offices, because research showed that legislators were not in touch with their constituents.

  • Customs seizes 1,072 vehicles, 19,000 bags of foreign rice

    THE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), announced on Friday it has seized no fewer than 1,072 vehicles from suspected smugglers since the closure of Nigerian borders with neighbouring countries.

    The Public Relations’ Officer of the organization, Mr. Joseph Attah said in Katsina that the vehicles were seized while trying to cross into the country through illegal routes.

    Attah spoke during a sensitization programme on the Border Drill Operation.

    He said that over 19,000 bags of foreign rice, 4,765 Jerry cans of petrol, two fuel tankers and thousands of ammunition were similarly confiscated as were 131 bags of NPK fertilizer.

    He said the fertilizer would have been used to make explosive device.

    Three hundred and seventeen suspects and 146 illegal immigrants were arrested during the period.

    Read Also: Why we raided Abuja hotel – Customs

    He pointed out that the closure had helped in ensuring security for the citizens as well as improved the nation’s economy.

    He said: “anytime you buy   foreign rice, you have empowered foreign farmers, while our farmers are suffering in spite of government interventions like Anchor Borrower, which is aimed at boosting rice production.

    “We are now like candle burning ourselves and lightening others.”

    He said the Border Drill Operation was designed to check the menace of smuggling and illegal immigrants into the country.

  • Auto crashes claim 278 lives in Edo, Delta, Anambra in nine months, says FRSC

    Two hundred and seventy eight road users were killed in accidents in Edo, Delta and Anambra States in the first three quarters of this year, according to the  Zone Rs 5 Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

    The Commanding Officer of the zone, Mr Kehinde Adeleye, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin that 1,492 people were injured in the accidents whose number he put at  492.

    One hundred and fifty seven  cases were recorded as fatal,  283 as serious and  52 as minor.

    The officer said that the zone had put machinery in motion to ensure a drastic reduction of road traffic crashes in the zone in the remaining months of this year.

    Read Also: Accidents: FRSC urges states to establish traffic management agencies

    He said the command would be collaborating with other agencies the ‘ember months’ to curb road traffic crashes drastically.

    The collaboration, according to him, will entail joint deployment of personnel and logistics to ensure that the roads were safe for motorists and other road users, especially in accident-prone areas on the highways.

    Adeleye said that the command had sought the intervention of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency and the Federal Ministry of Works to fix bad spots on the highways.

    He said the command had also been talking with governors in the three states, to repair failed portions of roads to prevent accidents.

  • Police boat, three others recovered from suspected kidnappers in Ogun

    By Kunle Akinrinade

    A boat snatched by suspected kidnappers from marine operatives of Ogun State Police Command at Ode Omi area of Ijebu Waterside, has been recovered.

    The boat was snatched on August 11, which coincided with Salah celebration, when the hoodlums abducted a Muslim cleric and two other residents.

    The recovery of the operational boat, according to the spokesman of Ogun State Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi was carried out by men of the command following the arrest of the suspected kidnappers few weeks ago.

    Oyeyemi, in a statement said: ‘’The kidnappers stormed the community on Salah Day through the river and abducted the son of the Chief Imam of the town and took them to the creeks. They equally seized a boat belonging to the marine police and escaped with it. The victims were rescued unhurt from their abductors few days later.

    Read Also: Police arraign 2 fuel attendants for allegedly stealing N100m

    ‘’ On August 21, policemen who have been on the trail of these hoodlums accosted them and three members of the gang were gunned down during an exchange of gunfire between them and the police , while two members of the gang were arrested alive.’’

    Oyeyemi added that four other boats were recovered when the police stormed the gang’s hideout.

    ‘’Having decimated the gang, the Commissioner of Police , CP Bashir Makama ordered the invasion of their hideout where four boats including the police boat earlier seized by the hoodlums were recovered.

    ‘’The boats have since been handed over to the marine police at Ijebu Waterside.’’

  • I kidnapped my sister to get N10 million from dad, with which to travel abroad— Undergraduate

    Fanen IHYONGO, Jalingo

    A 22-year old student of the Adamawa State University, Jalingo, Abdulbasid Umar, has been arrested for kidnapping his ten-year old sister, Amina Umar.

    The suspect was nabbed with his two accomplices, Sadiq Dalhatu Sani 21, and Abdullahi Habib, 27, whom he had hired to perpetrate the act.

    The Adamawa State Police Command in Jalingo on Friday paraded the three suspects alongside other kidnappers and armed robbers who were allegedly responsible for “series of kidnappings” in Gassol, Bali and other parts of Taraba State.

    Umar initially demanded the sum of N10 million as ransom from his father before he could release the victim alive. They later reduced the ransom to N4 million, before they were apprehended.

    Fielding questions from reporters, the principal suspect in the abduction of the minor (Umar), revealed that he abducted hisl sister “to make his father cough out N10 million so that he could travel abroad.”

    The suspect, a 100-level student of Computer Science, said: “My intention of kidnapping my younger sister was to get N10 million. My aim is to get the money and travel abroad,” he said.

    One of his accomplices, Sadiq Sani, a 300-level Geology student of the Modibbo Adamawa University, Yola, and Umar’s childhood friend, revealed that Umar had always sought his assistance for the accomplishment of such criminal acts.

    Read Also: Truck driver allegedly kills wife for reporting him to her mum

    Also paraded were the arms and ammunition, a vehicle and other accessories which the hoodlums used in carrying out the crimes.

    Police spokesman, David Misal, in a statement said: “The mastermind of the crime, Abdubasit Umar, who happens to be a biological brother of the victim (Amina Umar), had criminally conspired with other suspects and lured the innocent girl into a Blue Honda Hennessy car marked MKF 67JK Kaduna.

    “They drove her to Dove Hotel in Mayo Dassa, where she was held captive. The suspects contacted the family and demanded a ransom of 10,000,000 naira.

    “The kidnappers later accepted to collect the sum of N4 million. In the process of collecting the ransom at Wuro-Sambe, an outskirt of Jalingo, they were tracked down and arrested. The victim was rescued.”

    Misal added: “The Commissioner of Police, Taraba State Command, Alkassim Sanusi, wishes to reiterate the unwavering commitment of officers and men in fighting all forms of violent crimes and use this medium to seek the cooperation of all and sundry by providing information to the police that would lead to tackling crime and criminality in the state.

    “Parents and guardians are enjoined to watch over their wards and always ensure their movement to school and errands are secured in order to avert any possible act of kidnapping or related crimes.”

  • Heavy gridlock on East-West Road over repairs

    By Elo Edremoda, Warri

    There is heavy gridlock along the Effurun/Sapele/Okuokoko axis of the East-West Road, following ongoing rehabilitation on a failed section near the popular PTI Junction in Effurun, Uvwie council area of Delta state.

    Motorists and commuters may have to pass the night along the route with the traffic congestion stretching from Effurun-Sapele to the Okuokoko area of the highway.

    It was learnt that the repairs began late Friday morning.

    Pedestrians in large numbers thronged the expressway, some bearing luggage, others with their children and so on.

    Some disclosed that they had to alight from their vehicles because of the hours already spent on the traffic.

    At the DSC Roundabout, security operatives were seen trying to make a headway in the lockdown.

    The Nation observed the little bit of difference their efforts made, even as a tricycle (Keke Napep) rider suffered whips for disobeying their directives.

    The driver of a popular commercial transport line told this reporter he, alongside the passengers, had been held in the traffic for three hours.

    He said: “I am coming from Onitsha (Anambra state) and going to Warri. We have been here for three good hours.”

    A motorist, Mr Richard Dagbo, who claimed to be heading towards the Sapele Road area, stated while checking his wristwatch, “I got to this roundabout exactly 6:19pm but now it’s 8:47pm.

    “I have changed my mind about where I am going. I just want to turn around and go back home.”

    The rider of a Keke Napep, Christian Ovie, lamented that he had spent over four hours going to and fro the route. He complained that his passengers, after a long wait, resolved to walk so as to beat the hold up.

    Stating that the traffic was caused by the road repairs being effected on the said bad spot, he wondered why such works are not done at night.

    “My opinion is that the contractors should change. When they want to do a major route like this, they should try to do it at night, so that before daybreak, it will be ready for people to drive through. Not doing the road in the day time and inconveniencing people going to and returning from work,” Ovie stressed.

    A businessman, Liman, who sells at the Spare Parts Market, off the Effurun/Sapele Expressway said he trekked from his shop to the DSC Roundabout because of the gridlock.

    He urged the “project engineers” to hasten up in order to ease the traffic toll on road users.

    Efforts to reach the contractors to get details of the job were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report.

  • It’s too late for Atiku to resolve Kogi PDP crisis, says Adeyemi

    It’s too late in the day for  Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to resolve the festering crisis in the Kogi State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Director General of the Yahaya Bello campaign organisation, Senator Smart Adeyemi has said.

    Major PDP stakeholders in the state, including some aspirants in the  September 3 governorship primaries, have continued to bicker over the outcome of the exercise, which saw Mr Musa Wada emerge as winner.

    Some of the aggrieved aspirants have gone to court to challenge the outcome of the primaries, with one of the defeated aspirants, Senator Dino Melaye turning down an offer to lead the PDP campaign ahead of the November 16 governorship election.

    Worried by the development, Atiku had been meeting with interested parties in the Kogi PDP crisis, with the view to uniting the party for victory at the poll.

    But speaking with reporters in Abuja yesterday, Senator Adeyemi called on Atiku not to waste his time trying to resolve the crisis, saying that the situation in the Kogi PDP has gone beyond redemption.

    Adeyemi said: “My advice to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is that he should not waste his time and money. It is too late. I wish he did that six months ago.

    “The crisis rocking the Kogi PDP are fundamental. They are without planning, they are without focus and people have made up their minds in Kogi State.

    Read Also: Atiku Abubakar and Nigerian citizenship

    “How can you present the son in-law of a former governor who is also the younger brother of another former governor. Even if you are picking someone from the same zone, are there not other very competent persons from the zone?”

    Adeyemi said the PDP was already dying in Kogi as a result of attempts by just interrelated families to dominate political power in the state, stressing that a former governor, his son and his in-laws were seeking to convert the state to their private fiefdom.

    The campaign DG dismissed the widely held belief that the incumbent governor might lose the election to poor performance, saying that Governor Bello had preformed better than his predecessors who were elected on the platform of the PDP.

    Adeyemi said he accepted to lead the governor’s re-election campaign on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the conviction that the governor had recorded concrete achievements in terms of project execution and security in the state.

  • U-23 Nations Cup: Nigeria to battle Zambia, South Africa

    Nigeria’s Under 23 side will face Zambia, South Africa and Cote d Ivoire in Group B of this year’s U-23 Nations Cup holding in Egypt.

    The draw for the championship was held yesterday in Alexandria with host country Egypt pitched against Mali, Cameroon and Ghana in Group A. The championship proper which will hold from November 8 and 22 will begin with opening match on the 8th between hosts Egypt and Mali at the Cairo international Stadium.

    The Total U-23 Africa Cup of Nations is held every four years and showcases some of African football’s emerging talents while also acting as a qualifier for the Summer Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

    Read Also: 2019/2020: Quadiri, 17 others listed for CAF/FIFA competitions

    Former Egyptian forward Emad Meteab assisted CAF Director of Competitions, Samson Adamu to conduct the draw that divided the eight qualified teams into two groups of four teams each.

    Group A games will be played at Cairo international Stadium while Group B matches will be played at the Al Salam Stadium.

    The top three teams of the Total U-23 Africa Cup of Nations will qualify to represent Africa at the Summer Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

    Nigeria has made three appearances in the tournament emerging as champions in the 2015 edition. Cameroon and Ghana are debutants of the championship.

  • Akinrinade advises Obasanjo on letter-writing

    Former Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Alani Akinrinade has advised his former boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to adjust his style as a leader and statesman.

    He said the former president should desist from public letter-writing, in a bid to make a point, which is his fundamental right.

    Gen. Akinrinade, a hero of the civil war when Obasanjo was the Commander of the Third Marine Commando, said since his former boss has unfettered access to those in power, letter-writing may not be a good option.

    He also said whenever Obasanjo wrote his letters to the president, what came to his mind was how he handled similar matters when he was in the saddle.

    Acknowledging Obasanjo’s role in history, Akinrinade said statesmen should consult with those in power and offer constructive criticisms,  instead of going to the public.

    The former Army chief spoke with reporters in Lagos, ahead of his 80th birthday holding in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.

    Akinrinade said:”If I have an opportunity to advise him, I will say he should not write letters again. Each time he writes letter, the question I ask is: when he was there, how did he do it? He should not write letters again. He has access to them and he can give his advice, instead of writing.”

    The retired soldier lamented the pollution of the military by acts inimical to professionalism.

    He said there was no discipline in the Armed Forces,  adding that soldiers had been misused for businesses they were not trained for.

    Akinrinade urged Nigerias to stand for unity, saying that the country could be better.

    He, however, said the conditions for unity and harmony should not be ignored.

    Noting that Nigeria is a highly heterogeneous country, he said the basis for peaceful coexistence should be mutually worked out.

    Akinrinade frowned at the neglect of the 2014 National Conference report by the Buhari administration.

    He said it was curious that the administration that had ignored the report later set up an intra-party committee to discuss the possibility of true federalism.

    He said restructuring cannot be compromised again, stressing that it is the key to the resolution of the national question.

    Akinrinade, who assessed the 20 years of stable civil rule, said it could have been better.

    He said:”We have not found exactly the formula. My assessment is that we have done very poorly. We could do much better.”

  • 2019/2020: Quadiri, 17 others listed for CAF/FIFA competitions

    In a bid to have Nigerian Referees listed for the 2019/2020 CAF/ FIFA competitions, the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA) has picked 24 FIFA-badged referees after its FIFA fitness test conducted in Abuja.

    Six centre referees, and eight assistants referees were selected for male, while three centre and threeassistants referees made it in the female category.

    Disclosing this in Abuja, the NRA President Tade Azeez said the exercise became necessary to ensure Nigerians are listed to handle matches in CAF/FIFA competitions.

    The male centre referees listed are Quadiri Adebimpe, Udoh Ferdinand, Basheer Salihu, Abdullahi Shaibu, Abdullahi Abubakar and Nurudeen Abubakar, while the Assistant Referees are Usman Isah, Usman Abdulmajid, Abel Baba, Igudia Efosa, Peter Ogwu, Digbori Tejiri and Samuel Pwadutakan.

    The female centre referees who scaled through are Foluso Ayayi, Hannah Elaigwu and Madu Patience Ndidi while Bpsede Momoh, Mimisen Iyorhe and Nkwocha Hulda were listed as assistant referees. He said that the referees listed were those who completed minimum of 10 and maximum of 12 laps.