The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Report

  • Marching orders to fraudulent cooperatives in Niger

    Unscrupulous cooperatives and financial organisations have got their marching orders in Niger State.

    The state government told them that the era of disappearing into thin air after taking people’s money has gone.

    Such fraudulent operators would be arrested and prosecuted, the government warned, adding that the monitoring mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that such fraudsters are exposed.

    The Head of Service, Yabagi Alhaji Sule lamented that a lot of people in the state have lost their money to fraudulent organisations and cooperatives while others have had stroke and died due to the shock received when news of the collapse of such financial institutions got to them.

    The state government made its position known at a meeting with stakeholders of the Nigeria Union of Teachers Social Security Scheme (NUT ENDWELL) held in Minna, the state capital, declaring that the state government would no longer condone a situation where schemes are formed and used to siphon people’s money.

    The Head of Service said that any individual or organisation found wanting would face the wrath of the law while warning the people to be cautious in whatever cooperatives or organisation they wish to put invest their money.

    Yabagi commended the NUT ENDWELL Scheme for seeking deliberate shift from the social welfare thinking to coordinated actions designed to protect the contributors from economic and social deprivation arising from retirement from formal jobs and sudden health challenges.

    In his address, the Niger state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Comrade Ibrahim Umar said the strategic plan workshop is meant to chart a new path for the organization and transform the NUT ENDWELL towards securing the social economic well-being of its members before and after retirement.

    He said that the NUT ENDWELL has 23,184 members drawn from primary, post-primary and other education agencies in the state, adding that the ENDWELL Micro-finance Bank has established a capital base of N100 million.

  • Geologist bags first Islamic title in Kwara

    Geologist bags first Islamic title in Kwara

    The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari has turbaned a retired professor of geology Jamiu Oyawoye as the ‘Baba Adini of Kwara state. The event was historic as the honour was the first in the annals of the about 50 years old state. Prof Oyawoye is also a prince of Offa town in Offa local government area of the state. He is equally reputed to be the first professor of geology in Africa.

    On the day of the coronation the court yard of the Emir’s palace was brimful with crème de la crème of the society, especially sons and daughters of Offa. Dignitaries at the ceremony were Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Sola Isiaka Gold; Vice-Chancellor of Summit University, Offa, Professor Oseni Bukoye Oloyede; Chairman, Transitional Implementation

    Committee, Offa Local Government Area, Hajia Iyabo Adisa-Ibiyeye; Chairman, Kwara State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Sports and Youth Development, Prince Saheed Popoola and Senior Special Assistant to the State Governor on Media and Communications, Dr Muideen Femi Akorede.

    The ceremony was also attended by traditional rulers such as Elese of Igbaja, Oba Ahmed Awuni Arepo; Elerin of Erin-Ile, Oba AbdulGaniyu Ibrahim Olusokun; Emir of Shonga, Dr Aliru Yahaya; Olosi of Osi, Oba Abdulkareem Adasofegbe Arowobeku; Elesie of Esie, Oba Yakub Babalola and Olukotun of Ikotun, Oba Abdulrazak Abioye.

    The arrival of the emir of Ilorin’s motorcade was hilarious and entertaining as palace drummers and trumpeters led the convoy accompanied by exotic cars of other custodians of tradition.

    It is in recognition of Oyawoye’s selfless sacrifice to the cause of Islam that Alhaji Sulu-Gambari conferred on the octogenarian the Islamic title.

    Apart from the academic realm where Oyawoye left his footprints, he has also made his mark in religion. He is known within the Islamic circle for his personal contributions to the growth and development of the religion. This, he does, through moral and financial support to Islam on one hand and organizations within it on another.

    The honoree, it was gathered, singlehandedly built a mosque for one of the foremost Islamic organizations, Jamaatul Nasril Islam, the project which has become a reference point.

    In a brief remark after the turbaning, the Ilorin monarch said the decision to bestow Oyawoye the title was to acknowledge his great contributions to the propagation of Islamic education and Islam in general.

    He said that the entire Muslim community was proud of the achievements of the octogenarian, which informed the resolve to confer on him the covetous title.

    Alhaji Sulu-Gambari said, “I salute you in view of your notable contributions in the development of Islam, the Kwara State Jamaatul Nasril Islam and Islamic education in Kwara State and Nigeria as a whole. You eminently deserved to be recognised for your landmark achievements.

    “The entire Muslim Ummah in Kwara State is proud of you for all your formidable achievements and express our delight for them. It is therefore our joy and pleasure to confer on you, Professor Muhammed Jimoh Mosobalaje Oyawoye, the title of Baba Adini of Kwara State.”

    In his acceptance speech, the new Baba Adini of Kwara described the title as a surprise and noted that it would spur him to work more for Islam. He recalled that his relationship with the emir was dated back in Ibadan when the Emir served as a jurist before his voluntary retirement.

    Speaking with The Nation, the Hajia Adisa-Ibiyeye, expressed delight over the conferment, saying it was apt and a clarion call for all to inculcate spirit of unity.

    She added that “actually, the entire community is very happy and pleased about it, and he (Oyawoye) is actually worthy of the title of Baba Adini of Kwara State, because as I know, he is very religious and God fearing man, and we are all happy to celebrate with him on this occasion.

    “The title is very apt at this moment, and it tells all of us that we should all come together and work in unity, and use religious as a pivot to draw everybody closer.”

    In his comment Prince Popoola observed that Professor Oyawoye has carved a niche for himself and assisted many people.

    “I feel so happy. Baba in Offa Local Government and Kwara State in general is not an ordinary person. He has assisted so many people and has done so many things for him to be remembered. I want to use this opportunity to thank our Emir for, at least, recognising the good that has come from our place in Offa.

  • Two decades of thirst

    Two decades of thirst

    They have neither school nor health facility, but should this community in the nation’s capital also continue to lack water?

    To residents of Rugan Hardo community, a rural settlement in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), denial of drinking water and basic health care means denial of life. For 20 years, they and their cows have drunk from the same stream.

    A visit to the settlement tells a sad story of a typical village like many others in Abuja that lack access to basic infrastructure. Water, they say is life, but this predominantly Fulani community is clearly short of the precious liquid.

    Majority of homes in the Rugan Hardo community, numbering hundreds were built with red mud. Village Chief, Hardo Mohammed whose house seemed to be the only structure built with cement bricks begged for government presence in the community, especially in the area of potable water, health and provision of schools.

    “Our biggest challenge here is water. The well here dries up. The nearest to having water is a stream but it is the same stream that our cattle drink from. So if we don’t go to the stream very early enough, like 5am, we won’t be able to access water.

    “We all know that it is not hygienic that our cattle drink from the same stream and we also drink from same stream. So we are begging the government to make a way for us to have access to clean and drinkable water. It will go a long way for us because water is life.”

     

    Need for school

    In this computer age where children of the elites make use of sophisticated gadgets for learning, the community still lacks access to education and academic facilities. The nearest school is some kilometers away from home. Their wards trek from the community daily to Gwarinpa, a suburb, which is about 45 minutes’ drive away from the settlement.

    “We have so many children in this community who need to go to school but we do not have schools here. We cannot even afford to pay teachers to have them come over to teach our children and you know it is inappropriate for our children to be wandering around because we all

    know that education is important. So if government can come to our aid, we will be excited and we will appreciate it.”

    Interestingly, this community is only a few kilometers away from the new train terminal in Idu, Karmo.

     

    Malaria Invasion

    Interaction with the community showed that aside from other water-borne diseases, malaria has been a major scourge. There are no primary health care centres around. The closest is Kuchingoro PHC which was recently commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, except for Gwarinpa General Hospital which is located around Gwarinpa Estate.

     

    Intervention

    However, intervention came to the community in the form of preventive measures to educate the rural settlers and orientate their pregnant women on what to do in the case of malaria infections. Teams from the Centre for Communication Programs Nigeria (CCPN) visited Hardo community to freely distribute anti malaria safety nets and interact with them.

    CCPN Senior Programme Manager, Yemi Abodurin said the visit was part of moves to celebrate the World Malaria Day and the group’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the residents of FCT, and they choose the Fulani community considering their poor access to medical care.

    “Every 25th of April, the world celebrates the World Malaria Day. One unique way for us as an organization to do our CSR is to visit a community and talk to them about malaria prevention, treatment and care and that’s one of the reason we chose this Fulani settlement.” He said, “We enlightened the people on causes of malaria and what they need to do to prevent them and if they are down with fever, they should take ACT for test,” adding that “For the pregnant women, we encouraged them to take IPTP, a preventive drug against malaria.”

    Expressing his gratitude, Hardo commended CCPN for their intervention and sacrifice to help the rural community. “I give glory to God for the opportunity and for the fact that I keep calling for the need to have hospital facilities and mosquito nets. Mosquitoes are a big problem to us and a serious challenge.

    “I understand that prevention is better than cure. We don’t want to wait until we are knocked down by malaria before we start taking preventive measure. Now we have safety measures and we want to utilise it. I appreciate you for coming here to distribute the safety nets free of charge and to safeguard lives of my people.”

    However, he added that, “Prior to now, just a few of us have been able to get mosquito nets because it is a rural community. We basically sleep like that and when we fall sick, we go to the hospital but now that we have the opportunity of having mosquito nets, we intend to make best use of it by sleeping under it.”

    It is expected that officials of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abuja Water Board and other relevant agencies will rise to their responsibility to end continuous hardship of the community and put an end to poor access to potable water in rural communities in the territory.

  • Clinton Bridge to be launched soon

    As the Abuja Airport reopens, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration has promised to ease traffic flow on that axis by completing and commissioning the Airport Road and the Bill Clinton Bridge soon.

    The trumpet overhead bridge links the Bill Clinton Drive with the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Expressway (Airport Road) and Gwagwalada-Giri.

    FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello in company of the FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, who paid an unscheduled visit to the project site, said that the opening of the strategic trumpet bridge would further reduce traffic bottlenecks along that route.

    The Minister assured that efforts would be re-doubled to ensure that the trumpet bridge with its loops and tangents are completed in good time and opened to the motoring public within a very short period.

    He said, “We have seen the progress of work and we will continue to provide you all the needed support and funds. Of course the Airport is going to be opened very shortly. So, it’s very important that you work towards your timeline, particularly the mid May timeline so that at least it can ease traffic flow.”

    A statement issued by the Deputy Director / Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the minister said: “The Bill Clinton Bridge on the Airport expressway is a very important project of the FCT Administration. It is meant to carry traffic in and out of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.  With the increased flow of traffic and movement, it’s very important for us to make sure that this very critical bridge is completed”.

    ”But overall, we are very happy with your work and I think this goes also to show that you are very important citizens of Abuja. You have basically constructed a significant part of the city and we look forward to when we will all come and just cut the tape to commission this project,” he stressed.

    Bello stated that when this administration came in, it was basically a hanging bridge but within the last few months, with proper funding and supervision, the contractors came back to site and they have done a very wonderful job.

    ”From your timeline, I understand a portion of the bridge will be operational within the next few weeks and subsequently within the next two or three months, the entire section will be completed including all the streetlights, road signage as well as all the drainage points and we will have a very beautiful bridge linking the city with the Airport,” he noted.

    He reiterated, “I’m so pleased with this and this is what we will continue to do in many sections of the city, trying to complete on-going infrastructure, so that we will truly get the benefit of being a mega city where everybody will move around without too much hindrance.”

    The Acting Director of the FCDA Engineering Services Department, Engr. Shehu Ahmad who took the Minister and his entourage round the project site revealed that the project which was awarded on May 7, 2009, and work commencement on May 13, 2009 is 95 per cent complete.

    The Director disclosed that the project comprises of the rehabilitation of the existing dual carriageways and its expansion to 10-lane carriageways inclusive of the service lanes on both sides.

  • Lessons from Taraba Council polls

    belonging to the All Progressives Congress, APC, thought the best thing to do was to prevent the elections from taking place since they were sure that their candidate was unpopular and would ultimately lose if the election were allowed to hold. They devised a trick to achieve that. They arrived early at the gates leading into the police station in Ibi where electoral materials were being kept and blocked it, insisting that the materials wouldnot be moved out to polling venues. And so, the elections did not take place there.

    When they were certain that it had become too late in the day to hold the elections, they vacated the entrance to the police station. At that point, the only option feasible was the postponement of the elections and the return of the materials to Jalingo. And that was what SIEC did. The incident which was condemned by many well-meaning Nigerians in and outside Taraba State, is a sad reminder of the stiff and unaccommodating attitude of our politicians to elections. That attitude is that all elections must end in their favour, otherwise, the process is demonised and truncated. That was what played out in Ibi on February 25. In case those who were behind those unfortunate events in Ibi haven’t realised yet, they need be told that they only succeeded in drawing back the hand of the clock and this will affect their council area in a negative way for a long time to come. Today, Ibi is the only council area still being administered by a care-taker committee.

    But besides that incident, the council elections were peaceful, adjudged as very free and fair by electoral observers and other independent groups that witnessed it. Governor Ishaku was commended by the monitoring teams(and there were many of them on duty that period) for creating the atmosphere that enabled the success of polling. The National Orientation Agency, NOA, in Taraba State even wrote a commendation letter which was addressed to Governor Ishaku. In the letter, the Agency’s Taraba State director, Dr. Robert Gulkawi, said the governor demonstrated through the elections a rare “spirit of sportsmanship.” Dr Dulkawi said NOA officers who covered the elections submitted reports to the effect that the process was “incontestably transparent.” This, Gulkawi said stood out the elections as hugely credible, unstoppably convincing and widely acceptable.”

    The contest was, no doubt, fierce with about ten registered political parties in the race. At the end of it all the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, won in all the 15 local government council areas where the elections were held. It was a well-deserved victory for the party. The victories were seen in many quarters as evidence of Ishaku’s ever rising popularity rating in the political firmament of the state. It was the people’s way of saying “Thank You” for the marvelous job he has done on the roads, at the Jalingo Airport, in the provision of water to the state capital and other towns and communities, in repositioning educational institutions and in renovating hospitals and equipping them with drugs to improve the quality of healthcare delivery and in stabilising electricity power supply in some areas of the state. The party’s victory was also a way of acknowledging the regular payment of workers’ salaries by the Ishaku administration and many other things that the government has achieved in less than two years in office.

    Those elected have already taken their seats in the various council areas. At their inauguration on Monday February 27, 2017, in Jalingo, Governor Ishaku urged the new council helmsmen to discharge their duties with humility and to ensure prudent application of resources. The event was witnessed by a cross section of PDP chieftains from all the council areas in the state. It was a happy ending to an exercise that people had feared would lead to unending crisis. Those fears failed to manifest. Rather, it further united the people behind the resolve to maintain peace. Some people, particularly, youths came out in their thousands in a solidarity rally with the Governor and the efforts he is making to put the state on the path of development.

  • From the Villa: Probing the kitchen cabinet

    Last Wednesday was definitely not a day the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayo Oke, will forget in a hurry.

    Like a bombshell, the news of their suspension spread like wildfire. That afternoon it went viral on social media in response to the press statement by the Special Adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, which announced the suspension.

    While Lawal was suspended over alleged fraudulent practices in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE), Oke was suspended over the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, to which the NIA had made a claim.

    The allegations leveled against Lawal included the Senate’s Ad-hoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East, headed by Senator Shehu Sani. alleging breach of Nigeria’s law in handling contracts awarded by the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE).

    It claimed that one of Lawal’s firms was awarded over N200 million contract to clear an ‘invasive plant specie’ in Yobe State.

    Lawal was accused by the committee of putting himself in a position of conflict of interests.

    Besides Lawal denying the allegations, a press statement by Hamidu David Lawal, who is the Managing Director of one of the firms under probe, Rholavision Engineering Ltd., which the SGF was connected to, had claimed that Lawal resigned as director of the firm and relinquished his shareholding in the firm as soon as he was appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation in August 2015.

    Apart from the statement also noting that the PINE contract came in 2016, a year after Lawal resigned from the company, it disagreed with the claim that over N200 million was paid to the firm.

    It explained that the firm only got N7.01 million contract for Consultancy Services from PINE.

    Lawal, who had severally claimed that he was not given fair hearing by the committee, was directed to appear before the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, alongside the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, for investigation by the Executive arm of government.

    That panel later wrote a letter to the Senate, clearing the duo of all allegations.

    But still worried that the Presidency had kept mute as Lawal refused to appear before the Senate Committee to clear his name, its Chairman, Senator Shehu Sani, had accused the Presidency of fighting corruption with double standard.

    According to him, while the Presidency was fighting corruption with insecticide in other arms of government, it was fighting corruption with deodorant in the executive arm of government.

    This matter was part of the issues that recently caused rift between the Executive and the Legislative arms of government, with the legislature threatening to stop screening of National Electoral Commissioners as its resolutions were not been respected by the Executive.

    But in a twist of events and to prove that it is not fighting corruption with deodorant in the Executive arm,  President Buhari last Wednesday named Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to chair another committee to investigate allegations against Lawal and the money linked to Oke.

    Even though some Nigerians have reservations about the ability of the executive to probe itself without any bais, others still think that the new probe is only intended to give Lawal and Oke soft landing.

    Responding to the suspension, the National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, Muhammedu Nalado described  it as demonstration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to anti-corruption fight.

    On the other hand, Senator Ahmed Makarfi -led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while calling for setting up of independent commission of inquiry to probe the matter, described the suspension as a ruse to deceive Nigerians.

    But the drama that played out in the Presidential Villa last Wednesday did not show that the government was handling the probe with kid gloves.

    Lawal, who normally crack jokes whenever he comes into contact with journalists in the Villa, was visibly shaken by the development.

    Apart from parrying all the questions from journalists who laid ambush for him before coming out from the Vice President’s office shortly after the suspension was announced, Lawal did not find the journalists’ presence exciting that afternoon.

    He did everything possible to quickly get away from the journalists’ ambush even though he managed to crack some jokes with them as he walked out from the Vice President’s office.

    But the newly launched Sagem MorphoAccess security gateway did not help matter.

    He was momentarily stucked with the scanner that refused to open for him to go out.

    The security personnel on duty had to ask him to step back a bit from the glass door for the machine to properly assess information in his identity card in order for the door to open.

    While the delay lasted with the machine, journalists did not stop bombarding him with questions one after the other, which Lawal also did not fail to parry.

    After the glass door opened and he got through it, he was further delayed at the entrance, as he had to wait outside for some time for his driver to drive his SUV forward.

    While waiting outside, journalists still did not spare him of questions concerning his suspension. He only got away when his driver brought his car to the entrance.

    But before he entered the vehicle, he had to muscle his way through journalists standing in his front. The black SUV hurriedly drove out of the Villa as soon as he entered.

    While Lawal was able to withstand and interact with State House correspondents, the case of the gentle and easy going Oke was different when he arrived the Presidential Villa few minutes after Lawal left.

    He could not withstand any contact with the journalists. The lobby and Vice President’s office area had to be cleared of journalists for him to gain access to the Vice President’s office. No journalist was allowed to hang around for the duration of the meeting.

    Only time will tell whether any of them will be left off the hook as the Osinbajo led committee is expected to submit report next week.

  • Minister directs reopening of Karu General Hospital

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Malam Muhammad Bello has directed that the 135-bed Karu General Hospital be opened for immediate use by the public.

    Bello, in company of the FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, inspected the health facility in Karu, a suburb of Abuja.

    Up and running, the Karu General Hospital is expected to take enormous pressure off the Asokoro District Hospital, Nyanya General Hospital as well as Maitama District Hospital.

    The Karu General Hospital was initially a 225-bed facility built by the FCT Administration with 40% of the hospital leased to the Primus Super Specialty Hospital (an Indian Hospital) for management.

    According to a statement issued by the Deputy Director / Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the minister further directed that the hospital should immediately commence General Out Patent Department (GOPD) services, Antenatal services as well as the mortuary be opened to the public, in addition to the Behavioral Medicine Unit that had since been operational in the Hospital.

    The Acting Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretariat, Mrs. Alice Odey-Achu and the Medical Director of the Karu General Hospital, Dr. Marcus Mamman led the Minister and his entourage round the entire secondary health facility.

    Meanwhile, the Minister paid an unscheduled visit to the Zuba Hospital where he instructed that the Hospital should commence operation by May 1, 2017.

    The Acting Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretariat, Mrs. Alice Odey-Achu who led the Minister round the Zuba Hospital assured that the Secretariat is ready to commence operation on that appointed date.

    She reiterated that everything needed to enable the Hospital commence services is already on ground and that they are ready to hit the ground running.

  • ‘To end crisis, Tiv, Fulani should intermarry’

    ‘To end crisis, Tiv, Fulani should intermarry’

    Neither tough talk nor troops nor grazing reserves have quelled clashes between Tiv and Fulani. But do not lose hope, says a cleric, intermarriage will do the trick. FANEN IHYONGO reports

    The crisis is so protracted, bloody and bitter that a solution must be found. Since the clashes are usually about grazing places and crop-farms, the authorities have tried to resolve it through grazing routes, but that has not scaled back the bitterness or the bloodbath. How about deploying troops to trouble spots? Even that failed over time. Both sides have also threatened each other, but that did not end the Tiv/Fulani crisis.

    There is one more idea, and it is as sure as night follows day, said a cleric, Sam Zuga, founder of the House of Joy International. Tiv and Fulani should intermarry, he said. In fact, he called the idea the final solution.

    Bishop Zuga is quite popular, ministering in his church’s branches in the United Kingdom, United States, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Togo, Tanzania and South Africa. So when he scheduled what he termed a mega crusade near Gboko, in the Tiv heartland, in his native Benue State, the large crowd that turned up was looking forward to his sermons, miracles and perhaps some healings. But besides the spiritual food they got, the gathering went home with a thought-provoking message, in the form of a drama, on how the Fulani/Tiv crisis would be finally resolved.

    Zuga’s panacea, coming days after over 100 Tiv persons were hacked to death by Fulani marauders in separate attacks, is for Tiv to reconcile with Fulani and marry them. He added that when the two ethnic groups inter-marry, the affinity of one family would not allow them unsheathe swords against one another.

    The Fulanis are mostly Muslims just like 99 percent Tivs are Christians. The difference in religion often hinders serious relationships, particularly wedlock, between members of the two ethnic groups. Now, Fulani militants have reportedly laid siege on over 10 local government areas of Benue State, including Logo, Katsina-Ala, Kwande, Ukum, Buruku, Guma and Gwer. Many Tiv communities in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states have been sacked by Fulani militias, after killing a staggering number of Tiv farmers in several attacks. Some Fulanis have accused Tiv youths of rustling their cows while Tivs accused Fulani herdsmen of allowing their animals to feast on their crops. Fulanis value their cows much as Tivs value their farms as means of livelihood. Continuous bloody clashes between the two have become a source of worry to all Nigerians including the government. But whereas Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has proffered “ranching” as the solution to end hostilities, Bishop Zuga has said “marrying Fulanis will be a final bus stop to the crisis.”

    “At the peak of the crisis between Tiv farmers and Fulani herdsmen, where all government and individual efforts have failed, God has instructed me to come to the rescue of my people with a final solution to the crisis,” he said.

    He said God, in the past, used him to put an end to many intra-communal and inter-ethnic crises, including the Tiv/Jukun crisis.

    “It will surprise many of you to hear that God used me to cause an end to the Ipav/Ukan crisis, Kusuv/Ikyurav-Tiev communal crisis and the Tiv/Jukun crisis, in which many lives and property were destroyed.

    “I had sent my team to offer free medical services in the Jukun area and the Aku Uka was impressed. He requested to see me. When I arrived at his palace in Wukari, the paramount ruler of the Jukun Kingdom stood up and gave me a rousing reception. He confirmed to me that no Tiv man on this earth, except the Tor Tiv III the late Akperan Orshi, has ever been honoured in his palace like me.

    “Aku Uka then promised me that his subjects (Jukun) will drop arms against my people (Tiv). Since then, Jukun and Tiv have not fought again.”

    Taking his sermon from John 19:21, the bishop said the Tiv land needs the kind of peace Christ gave to his disciples after his resurrection. He traced the major cause of the crisis to what he called “the dishonest lifestyle of some traditional chiefs” who he accused of collecting monies from Fulani and allowing their animals to graze freely in Tiv farms without the knowledge of their subjects.

    He said: “The criminal activities of our youths, caused by either poverty or their youthful exuberances, affect nomadic activities of the herders, which in turn negatively affect our farmlands.”

    Zuga, who holds the chieftaincy title of the ‘Mallam Salleh of northern Muslims,’ appealed to his Tiv people to continue to tolerate and accommodate the Fulani speaking people. He described Fulani as longtime brothers of the Tiv, who had lived in the past harmoniously with Tiv and shared things in common with them. He asked Tiv people to love, trust and have faith in Fulani that all shall be well.

    “A Fulani herder is like a shepherd in the Bible who would do anything, including sacrificing his dear life, to protect his cows from any attack.

    “Our people produce carbohydrate while Fulani produce protein. We get beef and mutton in exchange of yam tubers or grains. We all benefit from the barter trade.

    “It will profit us more if we seek peace; don’t attack Fulani; don’t rustle or attack their cows. To Fulani elites: “Stop arming your youths to attack and kill Tiv; herdsmen don’t destroy Tiv farms; all of you should forgive and forget the unhappy past; remember that you all share ancestral origin.”

    The drama showcased a wedding between a Tiv man and a Fulani woman to signify love, peace and unity and family tie. The actor and actress were seen clad in the Tiv and Fulani cultural regalia.

    During the event, Bishop Zuga grouped Fulani herdsmen into “armed and free herdsmen.” He revealed that God has asked him to peacefully drive away the armed and aggressive ones who have ravaged Tiv land.

    Recalling how God instructed David to use the stick and five stones in providing a solution, Zuga presented to the congregation, a T-shirt, card, tag, sticker and World Wanders Water (WWW), as products God has giving him the ability to produce as a final solution to the activities of the armed Fulani herdsmen including other criminal activities so that his people will be liberated.

    Preaching from Joshua 14:15, he said: “Tiv land shall be free from Fulani attacks for seven years.

  • ‘Solid minerals can solve Nigeria’s challenges’

    The case has been made that the answer to nearly all of Nigeria’s pressing challenges lies in solid minerals.

    A miner Alhaji Usman Adamu has said that with solid minerals, the country can provide jobs for youths, diversify the economy and shore up dwindling revenues. With the economic recession, depreciating value of the Naira, mass unemployment, rising rate of crime and the inability of the country to feed itself, Adamu said the nation’s hope lies in solid minerals, with which the country is richly endowed.

    “I am so sad seeing our country unable to feed its population,” Adamu said. “I’m so sad that the federal government cannot create jobs for millions of graduates, millions of skilled and unskilled youths. I’m highly worried that the Nigerian government had to take foreign loan to provide basic social infrastructure for its citizens, it is sad that most states of the federation even borrow to pay workers. I know almost all the states of the federation have mineral deposits to sustain themselves economically, so I wonder why we are rich in solid minerals, yet we are poor and hungry.”

    Adamu, known in the mining industry as Dan China, said, “The solution to the country’s economic crisis lies in its solid mineral deposits, the country will remain poor as long as the federal government refuses to make use of its solid minerals. In a nutshell, the wealth and prosperity of this country lies in solid minerals, not in crude oil. This solid mineral is available almost in all the 36 states of the federation; then what are we looking for? We have huge manpower advantage, we have land that is very rich in solid minerals, we have enough labour force, made of youths that are ready to work if you engage them. I have engaged thousands of Nigerian youths at my mining sites and they are very energetic and ready to work, but there are millions of other youths roaming the streets looking for who will engage them, and they are getting frustrated because they can’t find anyone to engage them.

    “This country will not find it funny if these unemployed youths take to crime out of frustration, the earlier the federal government engaged them in areas that will make them utilise their energy the better for this country, else the only option available for them is crime, which I don’t pray for”.

    Something else bothered Adamu. “I have noticed that while the federal government is talking of industrialising the country using the solid minerals, government is giving priority attention to most of the so-called foreign miners, I mean government is not ready to encourage its indigenous miners, we are labeled as local miners. Rather than giving mining licenses to these local miners to encourage them, government prefers to give licenses to foreign miners who mine these minerals and export them at will.

    “If care is not taken, government is taking the country back to the colonial days when our mineral deposits and other agricultural raw materials were exploited and exported to Europe.”

     

  • Garki market reopens after crisis

    Traders at the Garki International Market have expressed their delight at the reopening of the market after an agreement was reached with the market managers.

    The chairman of the market’s traders association, Mr. Chibuzor Anukam who spoke on behalf of the traders said the market was reopened last Thursday and business activities as long commenced.

    He said the traders have agreed to work with the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) in ensuring that only defaulters are disconnected.

    “We are happy that the market is reopened it is just to take the necessary steps so that what happened the other time will not happen. It is just the issue of light and we are going to help NEPA that they disconnect only those that owes,” he said.

    The General Manager of Urban Shelter Facility Management Company, Hamisu Jumare said the market was reopened after series of meeting with stakeholders.

    He said the management regretted the inconveniences the close had caused to shop owners adding that necessary steps have been taken to forestall future occurrence.

    “The market was reopened after an agreement was reached by the operators that there will be no vandalism and they will be law abiding and provide guarantors,” he said.

    The market was shut last Sunday after a clash between some operators over the disconnection of a block by officials of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).