The Nation Newspaper

Category: Abuja Review

  • ‘Force can’t win Boko Haram war’

    ‘Force can’t win Boko Haram war’

    The Transcorp Hilton Hall, venue of the discourse on how to end the Boko Haram insurgency was filled, and the event started on time. More than 20 repentant former leaders of the sect were in the hall. The opening remarks by Egbeme Eniwoareke set the tone of the discourse.

    He said, “The Northeast region used to be one of the economically promising regions of the country. It was the bastion of commerce and trade with prominent local enterprises. The region drew in entrepreneurs, technocrats and bureaucrats from other regions in Nigeria. Its growing natural resource base increased its investment and industrial potential. In those days, the region enjoyed religious, cultural and ethnic harmony.

    “In recent times, this has not been the case, as vicious economic hardship has become the most pertinent public policy challenge in present-day Nigeria. The activities of this terror organisation, Boko Haram, have paralysed the economy of Northeast Nigeria. An estimated 2.5 million Nigerians are internally displaced as a result. Prior to the scourge of Boko Haram, Northeastern Nigeria had 68 percent poverty and about 28.5 percent unemployment (according to the 2011 report by the National Bureau of Statistics). With the current decimation of the region, it will not be a surprise if the next set of economic statistics places the region lower down the economic ladder.

    “But this is not a Northeastern problem. It is a Nigeria problem. We are a family and whatever happens to the least of us, happens to us all. The innocents who have suffered the scourge of Boko Haram in the North are ordinary Nigerians who wish to be left alone to face the opportunities and challenges of life on earth”.

    According to Eniwoareke between 2011 to date, the Federal Government has squandered about N3.6 trillion on security, funds that could have been spent on other human development indicators. He said what is more scary at this time is that with declining oil prices and the expected decline in foreign exchange revenue, Nigeria may not be in a position to spend as much on security given competing demands for resources. What will then become of the security situation in the North and across other parts of the country?, he asked.

    However, in his speech, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku said solution to the Boko Haram challenge must be the responsibility of northern leaders. According to him, the Boko Haram experience was not totally different from the Niger Delta militancy, which later culminated in widespread kidnapping and bombing of oil and gas infrastructures. He said further that moving around the Niger Delta became an issue at the peak of the insurgency as parents were continuously warning their wards on where and when to move.

    Kuku got the audience laughing with a story in which he was involved in negotiating for the release of a kidnapped Urhobo man. “The captors of the Urhobo man refused to listen to him, that he wasn’t an expatriate, that he was an albino. He was eventfully released after days in captivity when nobody came for him. He nonetheless got the beating of his life for eating all the food given to him. That’s how bad it was.

    “The result was that many things were lost as Niger Delta region became deserted. Nobody wants to come to the region again, even technicians working for oil companies were flown in jets from Lagos and back. It however got to a peak when we had to decide on how to end it all. We had to talk to ourselves, the youths of the region. Events leading to the beginning of the end of the militancy could be traced to the night of my wedding with everybody in attendance only for one person, who drove into the venue on a power bike asking to see me.

    “The story he told me that night changed the whole process. He said some hoodlums (pirates) killed a one-year-old baby on Benin River while forcing the mother to laugh at the killing of her baby. That was the height of it because it was a pointer that our struggle has become self-destructive, especially with the event on Benin River.  That is what is happening to Boko Haram today. It has become self-destructive. That Benin River event forced us to decide how to clean up the struggle because we lost control. Today John Togo is no more”.

    Kuku said the solution to the Boko Haram insurgency can be solved taking some lessons from the Niger Delta experience where community and religious leaders, youths and women groups were all involved in the intervention with the militant groups. He asserted that huge use of force cannot win the war with Boko Haram. According to him, for the insurgency in the Northeast to end, same groups of people from the region must be involved.

    “We needed somebody, one of our own at the top in government to tell the militants that government’s intention to negotiate is genuine. As a result we went everywhere, to all the camps, with our political and community leaders like Diepreye Alamieiyeseigha, Timipre Sylva, Papa Edwin Clark all playing key roles and at the end, we are where we are today. What it means is that peace can win a war while the use of force can’t work ultimately.

    “You will need people to talk to the agitators to have the needed truce. You have to look for someone who was a key actor in the Boko Haram activities, whose trust and confidence is widely accepted, genuine activists to drive the solution like the Amnesty programme. In the Northeast that is what is lacking because we have seen that Boko Haram has become self-destructive with foreigners taking centrestage. At the beginning of Boko a Haram, it was designed to dislodge President Jonathan but what do we see now, the entire region is threatened while the whole country is not spared as well. Boko Haram is a threat to the entire country; they refused to properly interpret what they want, unlike the Niger Delta militants. Militant actors of Niger Delta we all knew but Boko Haram we don’t know. Offers were made for peace for them to come out, even comrades in prison were met but nothing came out of it. It appears like the determination of the northern leaders to see the end of the insurgency is being compromised. For instance, many of the insurgents caught weren’t looking like Nigerians. Our porous borders is a major problem.”

    The robust question and answer session that followed drew emotions from the audience when a speaker described how the government of Borno State is now left with only four Local Government Areas out of 27, the rest having been taken over by Boko Haram. He said 32 of his relations have relocated to Niger Republic as internally displaced persons (IDPs) with six missing or unaccounted for.

    Another speaker wanted to know how intervention of the youths and the political leaders can be effective with a group that is waging a jihadist war with no difference between Christians and Muslims.

    The highlight of the discourse was the pledge by the ex-militants to donate part of their monthly allowance amounting to N30m to the victims of Boko Haram onslaught in the Northeast, while Kuku assured that the PAP would offer useful and effective advice to government on how to overcome the challenge.

    He however warned that it is up to the people of the region and their resolve to end the insurgency because they are the ones that know their terrain and the history of their region. He said no individuals would leave their own region to come over to defend the Northeast but that they would have to take it as a personal effort to defend their own land. He commended the the courage of the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) and implored the people to further encourage them.

     

  • Monarch cautions politicians

    The Ona of Abaji and chairman of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Adamu Yunusa, had urged politicians to avoid acrimony.

    Yunusa, who spoke when the FCT All Progressive Congress (APC) senatorial candidate, Senator Sidi Ali, the party House of Representatives candidate, Alhaji Zakari Angulu Dobi, and their supporters visited the monarch at his palace to seek for his blessings towards the general election.

    The monarch said any child who is going out to look something good either for himself or for the entire society, must surely go to seek for his father’s blessing irrespective of any background he or she comes from.

    “So I want to  appeal to all of you here to advise all your supporters to avoid any abusive or provocative comments that may ignite any violent reaction from opponent, as God gives power to who he wishes and take it anytime right from the day such person was born, “ he said.

     

  • Monarchs rally against post-election crises

    Monarchs rally against post-election crises

    Determined to prevent post-election conflicts in their domains, northern Christian traditional rulers met in Abuja to forge peace in the region, reports Sunday Oguntola

    They walked majestically to the hall, resplendent in their traditional attires. Not a few cast a fanciful look at the splendor they displayed. They had come from different clans, communities and environs. They are Christian traditional rulers from northern states in Abuja, the federal capital, for two reasons: One, according to the chief convener, Elder Olaiya Phillips, was to pray for peaceful polls next month.

    Two, according to the rulers, was to brainstorm how to prevent post-election crisis in their domains.

    Hell literally visited them in 2011 and many of them were determined not to allow a repeat of the orgies this time around.

    These were the moods last week during a parley by Christian traditional rulers in Abuja. The conference was organised by the Northern States Christian Elders Forum (NOSCEF) as parts of its strategies to arrest worsening insecurity in the north-east.

    Welcoming the royal fathers to the forum, Phillips, who is the chair of NOSCEF, stated that their coming together was imperative to forestall any possible backlashes from the forthcoming elections. He lamented the untold hardships and ruinations that many of their subjects and communities suffered in the past.

    Except they rise to do things differently and build bridges of peace and harmony, worse scenarios might be experienced in their communities again, he warned. He said: “We can all remember the scenes across the North following the last general election. The needless loss of hundreds of Christians and Muslims in post election violence is a memory that still feels raw.

    “I do not know if we will see a repeat of such reprisals following this year’s elections but as a community we should be prepared. And as community leaders, those here today should be ready for whatever events unfold.”

    He added: “You must speak up for your communities. You must be the ones to make sure that politicians understand. You must pray that the Northern Christian community is better represented at all levels of Nigerian politics following elections.

    “You must create and embody the forums of discussion between our community and Muslim community to settle disputes before violence occurs. You must make your communities understand that politics is not worth taking and losing life and limb.

    “You must provide the glue that our communities desperately need to hold our nation together, before the first blow lands or the first bullet is fired. We – the Northern Christian community – must make sure that whoever wins, the unity, secularity and integrity of our nation is preserved.”

    Phillips urged them to support “candidates that win elections in your communities and prevent post-election violence or crises.” This, he stated, must be their biggest preoccupation for the next few months until the incoming administration is stabilised.

    He added that the peaceful coexistence of political opponents and subjects with differing political inclinations should become their main objectives, stating that the more peaceful their domains are after the polls will indicate how much efforts and commitment they have invested after the parley.

    Phillips, a businessman, urged them to consider themselves as peace builders and agents of transformation. Royal fathers, he added, must ensure peace in their domains at all costs, stressing that the cost of allowing crises would be too much to consider for their communities and the nation.

    “We must provide the glues that our nation need to stay together. We must ensure that our communities remain one united entity regardless of our political differences,” he further stated.

    President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, commended the monarchs for coming together to work for peace in their domains. Lauding the forum, he said: “The more you know each other, the stronger you become. You are able to share challenges and be stronger than you used to be.”

    He bemoaned the spate of violence recorded after every election in the country, saying that all stakeholders, like the traditional rulers, must synergies to prevent such reoccurrence this time around.

    Oritsejafor called for the enthronement of a fair and just electoral system to minimise some of these backlashes, urging Nigerians to become committed to building a nation of equity and peace.

    Done with the niceties, the traditional rulers broke into groups to deliberate on why peace is always a challenge during election period and practical ways of working against breakdown of law and order.

    Rising from the closed-door deliberation, the traditional rulers resolved to build peace in their communities. They also vowed to accommodate all political leanings and work with candidates to prevent violence. They said they will mobilise their subjects to reject violence and candidates with such tendency, while also empowering them to peaceful choices.

    They also retired into a prayer session coordinated by the immediate former chairman of NOSCEF, Evangelist Matthew Owojaiye. Owojaiye challenged them to break down stereotypes and spiritual forces instigating violence in northern parts of the country.

    God, he said, has the powers to stop the devil in his track and restore peace to beleaguered regions. The monarchs raised their voices in utter supplication to God for peaceful elections next month as well as harmonious relations after the polls.

     

  • As campaign heats up

    As in the opposition parties, the campaign to secure the votes of Nigerians by the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reached a crescendo.

    The parties are coming up with variuos strategies to outsmart each other towards the February 14 and 28 elections.

    In these moves, there have been accusations, counter-accusations, and both sides have been engaging in blackmail, intimidation, thuggish acts and other illegal means towards winning the forthcoming elections.

    To get re-elected, President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo have hit the road and have since been on the campaign train since it kicked off in Lagos on January 8.

    They now hardly sleep in the Villa as they move to the battle field from one part of the country to the other to canvassing for votes.

    This developmeent, as expected, is taking its toll on the normal daily activities in the villla.

    Activities in the Villa are now at its lowest ebb with the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting now suspended. The only FEC meeting that has been held this year was on the 7th January just before the campaign started.

    Also before the campaigns, hardly can a week go by without a major function in the old Banquet Hall of the State House. But I can’t recall any one holding in the hall since the campaign started.

    Courtesy visits by variuos groups to the president in the Viilla have also drastically reduced.

    Variuos governors’ meeting with the president in the villa has also gone down.

    All these have, no doubt, reduced the number of vehicles and convoy that come to the Villa.

    For last week, four events were held to the knowledge of journalists in Abuja from last upper Sunday to last Saturday as the president’s campaign train hit the northern part of the country during the period.

    The events included thanksgiving service last upper Sunday, which Mr. President and his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, attended at the Aso Villa chapel.

    Immediately after the church service, President Jonathan held a private meeting with Daddy Showkey at his resident.

    Few minutes to 9p.m, journalists again were invited on that Sunday to cover a function at the villa. This time around, it was the official announcement of government’s reduction in the price of Petroleum Motor Spirit from N97 to N87 per litre.

    The President, last Friday, also attended the AgriFest 2015 at the Eagles Square, Abuja before jetting out to Bayelsa State for his sister’s burial and to Delta State.

    For a greater part of the rest of last week, the President and his team were outside Abuja campaigning for votes in Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Benue and Borno.

    For this week, the President is scheduled to take his campaign tour to Plateau, Kwara, Nassarawa, Adamawa, Taraba and Kaduna states.

    Just like most state house staff, who are around as the campaign train is going round the country, some journalists covering the villa, who have been labelled as ‘opposition journalists’, either by their constructive reports which those in charge see as unfriendly or through other parameters have been dropped from the campaign tours, are anxiuosly waiting for normalcy to return to the seat of power.

    They are counting the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the D-day, February 14th, 2015 when the campaigns for the number one seat would have come to an end and Nigerians will troop out to exercise their civic right.

    And my prayer, and those of many Nigerians, is for the elections to be peaceful, free, fair and credible, and for the candidates that will take Nigeria to a higher height in the next four years to emerge victorious at the states and national levels.

     

    Pilgrimage Commission glorifies God

     

    For a successful pilgrimage in 2014, the Nigerian Christians Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) and its leaders and staff held thanksgiving at the Aso Villa Chapel.

    They chose to do it on the first Sunday service that President Goodluck Jonathan worshipped at the chapel this year.

    The Executive Secretary, John Kennedy-Opara who led the management and staff on the thanksgiving, also announced his birthday anniversary, which coincided with the thanksgiving day.

    The Aso Villa Chapel Chaplain, Ven. Obioma Onwuzurumba led other pastors to pray for the commission, executive secretary’s birthday, the first family and the nation.

    The following day, the commission was led by its Board Chairman, Nicholas Okoh to submit the 2014 pilgrimage report to the office of the Secretary of the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.

    According to him, the Commission last year achieved 50 percent self-sponsorship and zero mortality as nobody died during the pilgrimage except minor ailments.

    He however noted that the commission was still facing some challenges.

    The clergy revealed that six northern states did not sponsor Christians in their states on pilgrimage in 2014.

    The commission, he disclosed, is partnering with the lottery commission towards raising funds for the commission and helping Nigerians go on pilgrimage.

     

  • Natives feast amid gloom

    Natives feast amid gloom

    Everyone knows the tall buildings, paved roads and streetlights. They know it is the federal seat of power, where people of means and power live. But who knows the native inhabitants of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)?

    Who knows the Amwamwa, Bassa, Egbura, Gade, Ganagana, Gbagyi, Gbari, Gwandara and Koro, all of whom claim to be the hosts of everyone who lives there or visits the 8,000 sq. km territory?

    But whether they are recognised and given their due or not, the various tribes came out to celebrate what they called their Heritage Day.

    They came with their women, drums, masquerades and hunters, among others, united under the Original Inhabitants Development Association (OIDA).

    They were determined to make themselves heard even if no one else bothered to look their way.

    It was far from a feast of frollicking. As the various tribes displayed their cultures, none lost sight of the fact that they are a threatened lot. The consciousness of marginalisation is strong, as is the gloom of being cheated and even the despair of cultures belittled and spited.

    When most Nigerians relocate to or visit Abuja, the natives are seen as a local set of people, forgetting that every community in the country has its own share of local people who are yet to catch up with the standards of the educated and professionals in big cities.

    When asked, most of the natives of Abuja will tell you that every other Nigerian has an ancestral home and community to call home but theirs have given way to beautiful edifice, which they are unfortunately not a part of.

    Although for years, they have been known to clamour for a form of independence in the form of a Mayoral status as is seen in different cities like theirs around the world, a ministerial slot, additional Federal Constituencies and Area Councils, they have come out more boldly in this era of campaign to make their demands and conditions as an option for voting.

    President of the Original Inhabitants Development Association (OIDA), Pastor Danladi Jeji, during their third FCT Heritage Day celebration in Abuja, said that he cannot reconcile the fact that although the natives have peacefully harboured the capital city of the country and visitors for 38 years, they still feel like hermaphrodites, and not sure of what they really are.

    He said that his people are not asking for what is not attainable in other states of the Federation but a simple chance to have a government that they can recognise as theirs and also hold accountable when things do not go well like in other states.

    He said, “I want to clear the air by saying that what the original inhabitants are clamouring is for the Nigerian government to assert the Nigerian constitution with a clear democratic structure for the people so that those representing us, when something comes we will be able to hold them accountable, as it is, this House of Representative and the Senate is not officially their by the law for the Original inhabitants.

    “We cannot reconcile the fact that Abuja, as it is, we are above five million people with only one Senator and two House of Representative members and Nigerians are also saying that the original inhabitants should hold them accountable. On what ground? Every state has a State House of Assembly except us, so matter how anybody gets there, we will hardly ever get the person to do anything that will satisfy the people because they have already tied us to a position.

    “How can I pass a vote of no confidence when I have no government, how can you pass a vote of no confidence on a hermaphrodite condition, the government has made the FCT look like neither a man or a woman, how can you pass a vote of no confidence on someone that is neither a man or woman.

    “Let anyone who desires to be the next Head of State notice that we are here, any political party that will recognise communities of the FCT is already coming to partner with us and that kind of person is who we can give our vote.

    “We are saying that the Nigerian government cannot divide us, God gave us this land and flesh and blood cannot divide us.

    “The Abuja Heritage Day is to showcase how accommodating the Original Inhabitants have been to all Nigerians, despite the fact that the system is trying to not know that we are existing. To insinuate that Abuja was a virgin land and people did not exist here is a very big error.

    “To say that the land was compensated for is a kind of derogatory word; it is not right. Now that we are in a democracy, it is very unconstitutional for the government to practice democracy and our people are marginalised in all ramifications.

    “People may say that Abuja is very beautiful but Abuja is very beautiful because the people have been accommodating, that is how the development has kept on going and the government continue to behave like we don’t even exist. The government is building Abuja in the wrong footing because the law stipulates that you don’t take somebody’s land until adequate compensation has been made even if it means relocating the person completely out of the place.

    “There are about 808 villages in the FCT, if as you say that the FCT is looking beautiful and 808 communities with almost 2 million inhabitants are still here, the idea is that the people have been accommodating but there is fear.

    “People say that when original inhabitants are settled, they sell of the lands to foreigners but i want to explain it this way, in the whole 36 states, all Nigerians have their ancestral lands that they can lay claim to and they can go to their states and have title ownership given to them to do anything with, the 2million Nigerians of the FCT cannot do that with their fathers land.

    “So now you are saying that because an original inhabitant decides to have land and sell it, he has committed the worst sin but all Nigerians can sell of lands in the 36 states and no one says anything.

    “36 states of the nation does not go to ask the Head of State to give them ministers, it is automatic in the constitution, now why will the Nigerian government say that they want to give us, Minister of the FCT? The issue is that the confusions in the constitution that operates the FCT is what comes into play.

    “We asking for it to be addressed, you can’t be dribbling Nigerians by saying that you are practicing democracy and telling people that you are not part of the democracy yet they are the owners of the place where the democracy is being operated from, this is pure apartheid in Nigeria which is not suppose to happen.

    “We will go with that head of state that will come and recognise a community here, campaign and demand for our vote.”

    An Original inhabitant and Director FCT Universal Basic Education Board, Adamu Noma who was also present at the heritage day celebration added, “We want to display that we the original inhabitants of the FCT have our culture to protect and showcase to the entire world, we are identifiable and our culture is very simple, accommodating and friendly to everybody.

    “With this event, our young children will see that we have a culture that can be emulated by everybody. Many people that have come to the FCT thought that there are no original inhabitants, today is the day for us to showcase that we have original inhabitants and we have a culture to be identifies with and we don’t want the culture to die, we want our children to continue with the culture even after we have gone because we want our culture to be sustained through this cultural events.”

     

  • Elections: Fed Govt buys 25 sniffer dogs

    As the general election approaches, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has bought 25 sniffer dogs from the United States of America (USA).

    The canines can detect any Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

    More of such dogs, according to the corps, are still being expected to assist 500 others to monitor security before, during and after the elections.

    NSCDC Deputy Commandant General (DCG) Operations, Evans Ewurum disclosed this in Abuja on NSCDC road map to next month’s election.

    Ewurum said security operatives have agreed that the Feb 14 election would be free, fair and credible.

    He said 60 thousand personnel will be deployed to monitor the election.

    The issue of Boko Haram, he assured will be over soon with what government is putting in place.

    His words: “there should be no fear about the Feb. 14 election. UNDP alongside the US are patnering with Nigeria in training and in other areas to ensure that the election is free and fair.

    “60 thousand officers will be deployed to conduct the election. 25 sniffer dogs from the US have been bought and these dogs can detect any Improvised Explosive Device (IED). More are still coming and they will assist the 500 sniffer dogs already on ground. Everystate  will have atleast 25 dogs for the election.

    “In no distance the issue of Boko Haram will be over. The polity should not be over hitted. We cannot disclose all our plans to the media because when Boko Haram are planning they do not go to the media.”

    Commandant General of NSCDC, Dr. Ade Abolurin who was represented at the event by the Deputy Commandant General (DCG), administration, Suliman Bello assured that there is synergy within other security agencies.

     

  • Canada supports Gwagwalada policing

    The High Commissioner of Canada to Nigeria, Mr. Perry Calderwood has congratulated Women Friendly Initiative (WFI) on the inauguration of the Community Security Support Group in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja.

    The project is aimed at contributing to the reduction in crime in the community.

    He said that the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), focuses on funding projects with long-term sustainable goals that enhance the local community.

    This was made known in a press statement signed by the Public Affairs Officer, Ezinne Uluocha.

    Calderwood said in the statement, “This project supports the effective participation of the community in decision making around local policing. This community-based policing approach is improving the security of women, men and children. I congratulate Women Friendly Initiative and the key stakeholders in Gwagwalada Area Council on their commitment to work together to improve the security of their community.”

    “She also stated, “The project by Women Friendly Initiative has brought together stakeholders from the Gwagwalada Area Council Security Committee and the local community for regular dialogues to improve relationships, raise awareness of security issues, and increase capacity in crime prevention.  The project builds on a successful 2012 WFI initiative in Kuje Local Government Area.  Both projects have received support from the High Commission of Canada in Abuja’s Canada Fund for Local Initiatives.

    “The Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) provides direct funding assistance to community groups, non-government organizations, people’s organizations, international non-governmental organizations, and government institutions for small projects addressing human rights, democratic development and transition, security, rule of law, and good governance, and strengthening economic governance.

    “The CFLI focuses on funding projects with long-term, sustainable goals that enhance the local community.  The program is widely recognized as making a significant contribution to development and capacity-building in Nigeria.”

     

  • Pump price reduction triggers reactions

    Following the reduction of pump price of fuel from N97 to N87, some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have expressed mixed reactions to the gesture, while some commended the Federal Government, some saying that the N10 difference is not enough.

    Among some of the residents who spoke with The Nation, Mr. James Omo, an educationist, commended the Federal Government for taking the step to make the reduction without waiting for the general public to rally or protest for it, but expressed fears over how long the price will last.

    Omo said the federal government is known to be habitually increasing the cost of living without minding the feelings of the people, and if the government now went out of its usual way to reduce the pump price of fuel, Nigerians should not celebrate too much, because anything can happen in future.

    “The government needs to be commended for reducing the pump price of fuel, but, to tell you the truth, I do not trust the Nigerian government. This is because if the reduction is coming now at the peek of election, I can boldly say that this is one of their campaign strategies and anything can happen after the election. Because with Nigerian government, anything that goes up, never comes down,” he said.

    Miss Jennet Chukwu, a civil servant said that although the reduction was long overdue, since the price of crude oil crashed at the international market, but that the N10 difference is too small to be celebrating about, saying that the Federal Government should have reduced it to N65 where the present administration met it, instead of N87.

    She said: “I must say that the N87 is still on the high side, because, even when crude oil was sold at over $100 per barrel in the past, we still bought fuel as low as N65. Now that it is less than $50 per barrel, they are reducing to N87 per litre. I do not see why we should be jubilating, because, it is as good as not being reduced.

    “It is obvious that it is because they want to have more things to use for their campaign, that why they removed the N10 and believed that they have done Nigerians a huge favour. If the government wants to prove to us that they really care about us, they should revert back to the N65 per litre, where they met it and they will gain the confidence of Nigerians.”

     

  • Ex-Minister hails efforts to revive school debates

    Ex-Minister hails efforts to revive school debates

    A former Minister of State for Education and Chairman of Advisory Board, Presidential School Debate, Nigeria, Professor Jerry Agada, has commended the nation’s efforts to revive the education sector and bring back the reading and debating culture.

    He said this at the bringing back the fading debate culture in schools, particular those at the basic education sector which took the center stage recently at the annual debate competition for primary and secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), organized by Mastering Debate Concept, held at Peoples Comprehensive School, Nyanya, Abuja.

    He blamed the fallen standard of education in the country on its dying reading culture among students and teachers saying there is need for governments, schools and students to redouble their efforts in resuscitating reading culture in the country.

    He said the Presidential school debates, is part of the global efforts to address the fallen standard of education in Nigeria and to encourage reading culture among its citizens, especially students. The former minister, who presented copies of one of his books to the participating students, commended the efforts of their teachers and the talents displayed by the students.

    He urged teachers to redouble their efforts in preparing students for such competitions.

    The competition which was in two categories, primary and secondary school and participated by over 23 schools, brought together students of diverse school backgrounds in the FCT environs to appreciate talents.

    Though the organisers of the debate had earlier cautioned the students who were drawn from the primary and secondary schools, on the conduct expected of them as the debate progresses but he warnings were thrown to the winds soon after the event started.

    Commenting on the performance of the students at the programme, observers at the event cautioned the teachers to learn to properly guide the pupils and not expose them to difficult words they may find it difficult to pronounce. Similarly, the students were cautioned on noticeable flaws like speech, pronunciation and so on.

    Organiser of the annual competition, Mr. Akinsola Olalekan, said the competition was a platform for expressing oneself, building intellectual capacity amongst students and exposing them to speech and public speaking, adding that it is a debate that is based on merit. He said the idea was initiated to groom school children for speech development, language control and general appreciation of the environment Schools that participated in the debate include, Glorious Stars International School which came 3rd in the primary school category, Darussalam Islamic Academy, which took second position and Mater Miser cordial Nursery and Primary school, which came first. Mater Misericordea school was crowned the overall champion of the event for adhering to most the guideline set for the debate For the secondary school category, Apex Star Academy, Peoples Comprehensive Academy and Hope International School came, 3rd 2nd and first respectively.

    Over 20 topics were extensively debated by the school children. Participating schools were, Yusrah Model Islamic Academy, Darussalam Islamic Academy, Busy Brain Nursery and Primary School, Better Choice Academy, St. Mary Nursery and Primary School, Kings International School, Sky Gold Academy among others.

     

  • Minister promises better health sector

    Minister promises better health sector

    The Supervising Minister of Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan has said Nigerians will access better and improved health care this year because the Yayale committee set up to look into all the conflicts and grievances of workers have concluded its assignment, and also the passage of the Health Bill will be fully implemented.

    Fielding questions from reporters in Abuja, Dr Alhassan said: “We are happy to announce that the committee has already submitted its white paper, a report we are confident will resolve most of the tensions in the sector and hopefully we will not experience any strike this year. The Health bill, which is now a Law will fly due to the various policies that were launched during the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan to improve health services in the country.”

    He said, “ We know we still have a lot to do to ensure that our health sector is recognised as one of the best in the world, but we are on track and are putting in place the right mechanism to move the sector forward.

    “With team work we eradicated Ebola which is still ravaging other African countries, we worked together with all health stakeholders at all levels of government to eliminate this from our shores. This is the kind of team spirit we are working to restore in the sector, one that is patient based and centered. Presently we have sent medical personnels to other countries to assist them battle Ebola, which is a plus to Jonathan’s intervention”.

    He added that a lot of good things has happened in the sector under this dispensation, numerating them, Alhassan said, “look at the way the country has drastically reduced polio from 56 cases in 2013 to only 6 cases in 2014. We are on the way to becoming polio free and getting our certification from the WHO because we have not recorded any new polio cases for almost a year, but we are not sitting on our oars, we have introduced various new vaccines to reduce infant diseases and deaths.”

    He said with the passage of the Health bill, the sector also received a boost saying, “the passage of the health bill is quite timely, because it would help in providing additional funds to the sector.

    This is even as oil prices has taken a down ward tip.”

    The minister was optimistic that the health bill would help cushion the effects of the hard times that the country will be experiencing due to the fall in oil prices.

    He said, “we know that various financial experts have predicted that hard times are ahead for the country, we are already working with all our stakeholders to see how we can adjust our projections to aid us in planning better. “when you talk of the reduction of maternal and infant deaths, the country has made a lot of improvements, we have introduced a lot of interventions both at the federal, state and local government areas to safe guard the lives of women and children”.

    Speaking on the intervention in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the health minister said that in 2014, the federal government launched the elimination of the mother to child transmission.

    “The government has already declared a zero tolerance policy to new positive babies, and this is a big commitment but we are determined to see it through. We also intend to test more Nigerians and also put much more persons on drugs, these are all plans that are in top gear, a distortion in the plan might not augur well for the country.”

    He called on Nigerians to cast their votes towards continuity and retain the Jonathan led government so as to reap the benefits of policies and strategies already on ground.

    On Malaria, Alhassan said that because of the huge funds lost to malaria, the government is investing heavily on preventive measures to curb the spread of the diseases.

    He said, “more people will receive mosquito nets, massive distributions of the nets will be done nationwide as well as introducing other preventive measures like spraying of the environment to kill the lavas among others. We have gone quite far in our plans to reposition the health sector, and I believe having a government that already understands the policies will go a long way in helping us achieve our goals.

    “We need continuity to sustain these policies, especially now, if you recall the government also launched the universal health coverage which is targeted at reducing out of pocket spending to the minimum. This has already started in ernest and the idea is to get a big pool that can cater for the health needs of women, children, elderly and the vulnerable persons. A lot of improvement and transformative changes are happening under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). We are not there yet but we are getting there.”

    On the issues of rehabilitating dilapidated hospitals and equipping them, R Alhassan said that so far most tertiary hospitals and Primary health care centers have been refurbished to provide better health care.

    He said, “we are working with the peril times we find ourselves, this government recently commissioned the trauma center to handle cases of bomb blast and traumatic emergencies. Now most of our secondary and tertiary facilities are doing transplants which in the past was not possible, we are tackling the issues of medical tourism head on. Most of the surgeries sought for by patients abroad can now be done conveniently here in Nigeria, and all these are due to the commitment of President, Goodluck Jonathan. Nigerians need to exercise their votes judiciously’.

    On the issue of strikes and disharmony among health professionals, the minister lamented that it was quite unfortunate.