The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Report

  • Kebbi, Dangote, farmers parley on sugar factory

    Kebbi, Dangote, farmers parley on sugar factory

    the Kebbi State government has set up a 12-member committee to dialogue with communities in Koko-Besse and Shanga local government areas of Kebbi State on the establishment of a sugar factory by Dangote Group of Companies.

    The committee accompanied by representatives of Dangote Group visited Koko Besse and Shanga councils, meeting with community leaders, farmers and residents.

    The meeting was to discuss and exchange ideas on the factory site, and determine how farmlands will be acquired by the group.

    The committee was headed by Alhaji Umar Abubakar Babuga, a former State Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), who explained to the communities the importance and benefits of the project. He also negotiated how the lands would be acquired for the project.

    “We are here to hear your views, and to tell you the importance of the project and negotiate how the company will acquire your lands,” he said..

    In his remarks to the occasion, Engr. Hamid Alsharif , who is the North West Sugar Project Coordinator of Dangote Group said the Sugar factory will be the biggest in Africa and will employ over 40,000 skilled and unskilled labour.

    He added that apart from employment benefit, the communities will also benefit from the corporate social responsibility of the company like schools, roads, electricity, and other human development.

    The District Head of Shanga, Alhaji Nasiru Abdullahi, Kwakwaten Shanga prayed for the success of the project, while a community leader in the area, who is also a farmer, Alhaji Umaru Dutsin Mari called on the company to adhere strictly to the terms of     land compensation to farmers.

  • Security agencies meet before polls

    Every arm of the security forces attended a crucial meeting ahead of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council elections, report GBENGA OMOKHUNU and VINCENT IKUOMOLA

    It was just as well that the council elections earlier scheduled for March 19 were pushed forward to April 9. Though the reason for the cancellation was to shore up ad hoc staff, it was soon found that security was also a big issue. For instance, after the polls were shifted, crisis erupted at Abaji, one of the councils where election was scheduled. Many said virtually all the parties were involved in the crisis.

    The minister of the FCT has called a comprehensive meeting of its Security Committee to forestall crisis in the forthcoming council elections in the territory.

    The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello who presided over the meeting said it was summoned to assess the security situation and keep the territory peaceful.

    At the meeting were Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, the FCDA Executive Secretary, Mr. Adamu Ismaila, Police Commissioner, Director of DSS, Commander Guards Brigade, Commander, DHQ Garrison, Com-mander, Navy Unit, Commander, NAF Camp, Commander, NSCDC, Commandant, FRSC, Heads of Prisons, Head, NDLEA.

    There were several other attendees including all the council chairmen, vehicle inspection officers, a traditional ruler, Ona of Abaji, who chairs the council of chiefs, among others.

    The Security Committee condemned the recent political violence in Abaji Area Council and promised to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to book.

    In a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary of the minister, Muhammad Sule, the committee warned that the political gladiators should not test the will of the security agencies in the FCT as anybody involved in the Abaji Area Council incident would surely face the full wrath of the law, because the situation, if not quickly checked, may degenerate.

    The minister at the meeting stressed that under no circumstance should the security agencies allow anybody to cause a breakdown of law and order in any part of the territory.

    “The security agents must fish out perpetrators of the violent attack and be made to face the full wrath of the law because nobody is above the law,” Bello emphasised.

    Speaking to the security agents, he said, “I urge you to arrest any of those involved in the Abaji incident and make example to others, even if the perpetrator is a sitting council chairman here, because the law is a respecter of nobody.”

    He reiterated that all the political parties, particularly contestants, must check their overzealous supporters and put their houses in order.

    While appreciating the support the security agencies have been giving to the FCT Administration, he assured that his Administration would continue to work very closely with them to make Abuja safer.

    Making contributions during the meeting, the FCT Police Commissioner, Mr. Wilson Inalegwu addressed the political gladiators stressing, “enough of rascality”.

    He informed the meeting that the suspects are now fugitives, because they no longer sleep in their houses but assured that the Police is on their trail; adding that they must surely be brought to book.

    It would be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), rescheduled the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Elections earlier scheduled for March 19.

    The elections  will now hold on April 9.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the FCT, Prof. Jacob S. Jatau, announced the rescheduling at an emergency stakeholders meeting

    Explaining the reason for the rescheduling the elections,  Prof. Jatau, said, “the Commission is committed to ensuring the conduct of free, fair and credible elections. It is also determined to deliver qualitative electoral services to Nigerians resident in the FCT.”

    The REC said that the Commission has reviewed its preparedness to guarantee the required results and, in keeping with its policy on transparency, decided to brief stakeholders on the challenge it has encountered in the recruitment of ad-hoc workers for the election.

    The REC said, “Over a period of time, the Commission has collaborated well and enjoyed a cordial relationship with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC): there is a challenge currently as the Commission has not been able to get the required number of corps members for the election scheduled for March 19, 2016.

    The REC said given this challenge, the Commission began consultations with the authorities of the university of Abuja to get the balance of the required number of ad-hoc workers which has been received but, “it is not possible to adequately train and deploy them for the exercise.”

    Prof. Jatau said, “In the light of this development therefore, the Commission has decided to shift the elections by three weeks. The new date for the Area Councils Elections in the FCT is April 9th, 2016. The tenure of the current Chairmen and Councilors will expire on May 17, 2016”.

    He called for the understanding and support of Political Parties and other stakeholders since the new date was still within the time allowed by law. He appealed to the media for greater collaboration in the area of dissemination of relevant information to the electorate.

    The stakeholders meeting was attended by the Commissioner of Police, FCT, Mr. Wilson Inalegwu; NYSC State Coordinator, Mr. Omotayo Adewoye; representative of Directorate of State Security Service Mr. Ilupeju Adebayo; and Administrative Secretary INEC, FCT, Mr. A.A Adamu.

     

  • ‘We can’t revoke Centenary City project’

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration has declared that it cannot grant the request by the promoters of the Centenary City project to revoke the development agreement between the Centenary City Plc and the administration.

    The request is untenable and unrealistic, FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello said.

    He made the point at the National Assembly during the public hearing on the Centenary project by the Senate Committee on the FCT.

    According to a statement issued by his Senior Assistant on Media, Abubakar Sani, Bello revealed that the Centenary City Plc  wrote the FCT Administration requesting for the revocation of a valid development agreement which was duly executed by the two parties as a pre-condition to access the over 1,200 hectares of land for the development of the city.

    He said, “The Centenary City Plc is seeking to operate a parallel authority within the FCT. If not, how do you explain a situation where by the company is asking for the cancelation of the agreement between us and them only to enforce a third party agreement signed between them and another government agency?”

    He reiterated that the project was a unique and well conceived idea which the administration is proud to be part of, insisting however, that the agreement clearly spelt out the obligations of each party in the project.

    The minister said the arrangement which the company is trying to implement was reached between it and the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) which was signed after the company had earlier entered into a pact with the FCT Administration which qualified it to embark on the project.

    He said the free trade zone status which the company is seeking to enforce did form part of the agreement between it and the FCT Administration.

    Malam Bello therefore insisted that the administration cannot allow another set of laws to regulate any part of the territory, stressing that the matter has been forwarded to the office the Attorney General of the Federation for legal advice on whether it is proper to have an entity within the Federal Capital Territory operating outside the the FCTA laws.

    He said while the administration remains committed to genuine efforts by investors to join hands in the development of the FCT, there is need for all the areas which are not agreeable to the FCT Administration to be further discussed so that the project can continue without any hitches.

    “It can be clearly seen that implementing the NEPZA agreement in the Centenary City would be tantamount to having two governments in one city,” the minister said.

    The chairman of the committee Senator Dino Melaye told the gathering that the meeting was called in order to identify the challenges that have hindered the smooth implementation of the Centenary city project.

    He said the project which was conceived as a land mark for the attainment of Nigeria’s one hundred years as a nation would be of immense benefit to the country which the Senate as an institution would all that is necessary to make sure that it is realised.

     

  • Obajana Road: Lawmakers to the rescue

    Some lawmakers have taken up the rehabilitation of the Obajana-Kabba-Ilorin Road. When work started last year started on the road from Kabba to Egbe, being ‘phase II’ of the rehabilitation contract awarded by the then Goodluck Jonathan administration, residents of Okunland located in Kogi West Senatorial District, had cause to be happy. The disrepair of the stretch had long caused them much grief.

    Apart from being cut off as a major link between the Southwest of Nigeria and the North, economic growth in the towns and villages along the road became stunted as motorists avoided the area like a plaque. There were cases of robbery, killing and rape cases experienced daily by local travellers who did not have other options.

    The then Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, while flagging off the rehabilitation of the Phase II of work on the road (estimated to gulp N8.22 billion) in April, 2014, explained that the 80km stretch of road will serve as a major economic artery to  Obajana Cement Factory, provide access to the nation’s premier Steel Plant in Ajaokuta, connect Kogi and Kwara states and also serve as a connector-highway that links the North-South Arterial route A1 (Lagos-Ibadan-Ilorin-Kaduna-Katsina) to the North-South Arterial route A2 (Warri-Benin-Lokoja-Abuja-Kaduna-Katsina).

    The project awarded to Messrs CGC Nigeria Limited, was scheduled for completion in three years.

    But the joy of the people was short-lived. Work indeed had commenced from the starting point at Kabba through the 10 kilometers stretch to Ayetoro-Gbedde while the quality and pace of work was well received by road users.

    However, within few days to the postponed February, 2015 presidential and national assembly polls, roughly one year after it was flagged off and half a year after the commencement of real construction work, CGC, the Chinese contractors handling the project, moved their equipment out of sites and did not return. It’s been 13 months since the contractors left site!

    Recently, members of the national assembly from Kogi West axis, unable to bear the endless wait on government and many years of unfulfilled promises by the Dangote Group, owners of Obajana Cement Factory, to reconstruct the road from Obajana to Kabba as part of its corporate social responsibility, resorted to self-help. The trio of Hon Sunday Karimi (Yagba Federal Constituency), Hon TJ Yusuf (Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Constituency) and Hon James Faleke, running mate to the late governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November, 2015 election in Kogi State Prince Abubakar Audu, it was gathered, in addition to reaching out to well-meaning indigenes, decided to pool resources and embarked on palliative measures that would breathe some life into the 46 kilometres stretch from Obajana to Kabba, which has not been in use for a decade.

    Hon Sunday Karimi said, “What we are doing is palliative job. The road has been completely cut off. We felt we can’t tar the road, so what we are doing is scraping, levelling, grading and compacting.”

    The federal legislator disclosed that the decision to engage a structural firm to work on the road and alleviate the suffering of the people living in that area was the discovery that the foundation of the bridge at Okebukun had gone bad and the rings holding it had broken amid fears that by the end of the next raining season, the bridge would collapse and the people cut off.

    He said the road to Obajana which hitherto was 20 minutes drive from Kabba now takes two hours explaining that the target of the legislators was to reduce the burden of long travel time as well as reopen the route to business activities and meaningful living for the residents whose only means of livelihood are farming and trading.

    He said work on the road was in  top gear and expressed hopes that it would be ready for use in April. He however relayed the worries of the residents that trucks from Dangote Cement, may return and spoil the road, adding that youths from the area have vowed to bar trailers from plying the road.

    “The problem is that the trucks spoiled the road and that bridge. The youths called our attention that they will not allow Dangote trucks to ply that road. We got accross to Alhaji Aliko Dangote through Hon Buba Jibril (Lokoja/Kotonkarfe Federal Constituency), and Dangote informed that they were almost at the conclusion of negotiations with the federal government that will lead to the reconstruction of the road from Obajana to Kabba. He told us what we are doing is unnecessary that they are coming to do stonebase reconstruction. But we know that story has been there for four to five years. If they start soon, we’ll be happy as part of the social responsibility that is expected of an organisation like that to start giving a little back to the people. But on our part, we can’t wait for them to fulfil their promises. It is an old story”.

    Karimi  explained that non-payment of certificates and intractable kidnap of expatriates in Kogi State have kept the CGC contractors away from the project site. He commended Senate President Bukola Saraki for his role in ensuring that funds were allocated for the road in the 2016 budget.

    A former member of the House of Representatives (Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu), Hon Duro Meseko, who is spokesman for Faleke, said:

    “Hon James Faleke and his other two colleagues, Hon Sunday Karimi and Hon Tajudeen Yusuf were moved by the pains of the people living along the road as well as commuters who pass through hell before navigating the pothole ridden federal highway. They felt it was their social responsibility as leaders and representatives of the people to help in making life better for the people. They wasted no time in taking the bull by the horn. Honestly, this to a lot of people is unprecedented.”

     

    • Agbana writes from Abuja

     

  • From bread hawker to baker’s ambassador

    From bread hawker to baker’s ambassador

    A confectionery has made ex-bread hawker Olajumoke Orisaguna its brand ambassador, reports VICTOR OLUWASEGUN

    The fairy tale continues apace. Former bread seller turned celebrity has been made the brand ambassador of Shirley’s Confectionery in Abuja. Olajumoke was presented with a certificate to that effect as well as the firm’s branded shirt at its office in Gwarimpa.

    According to Shirley’s Confectionery, its decision to adopt and unveil Olajumoke as their brand ambassador followed her unusual success story which has become a source of wonder and reference to many Nigerians.

    The story of the young lady is one that most Nigerians are familiar with, a Cinderella-like narrative of grass to grace, of sudden glitz and glamour.

    Amarachi Iwuanyanwu,  a director at Shirley’s Confectionery explained the decision to associate with Olajumoke.

    “We are delighted to inform you about our recent brand association with Olajumoke Orisaguna, a former bread seller who shot to stardom as a result of being at the wrong place at the right time. Now she has featured on CNN, Thisday Style magazine etc.

    “As a result of the unusual grass to grace story, Shirley has decided to make Olajumoke Orisaguna  as the brand ambassador to Shirley’s Confectionery.”

    The event  with took place in Shirley’s Gwarimpa, Abuja Offices had quite a number of media people as well as curious customers of the outfit who simply wanted to catch a glimpse of the sudden model.

    Wilfred, Marketing Consultant to Shirley’s said the purpose of the event was to celebrate something that is phenomenon and exceptional.

    He said Olajumoke’s story is inspirational and that Shirley’s believes in inspiration.

    Amarachi Iwuayanwu, who was at the event with Adaora Iwuayanwu, another director, denied exploiting Miss Orisaguna.

    “We’re not using this opportunity to exploit any situation, we are actually sympathetic and very happy with the grass to grace story of Jumoke. And why we thought it was necessary for Shirley’s to be part of it is that it traces back to what were actually selling.

    “We’re a confectionery shop and selling bread. We feel that out of every other brands that have adopted her as their brand ambassadors, we are more positioned to push her out to the world.

    “Now she is no longer selling Agege Bread, she’s dealing with Shirley’s Bread. The grass to grace story is also the Agege Bread to the Shirley’s Bread story.”

    The event which drew quite a number a crowd, featured photo sessions with the new model.

    Mrs. Orisaguna, who spoke in Yoruba expressed delight at the opportunity given her by the company. She said her story shows that whatever anyone is doing should be done with commitment as no one knows when his or her breakthrough would come.

    “I am happy with what God has done for me because where I am today is unexpected.”

    On her advice to those that are hawking as she was previously was, she said: “I want to tell them to work hard. People should not shy away from any job that comes their way. They should not say for instance that selling pure water is demeaning or that a certain vocation is not edifying. If I was lazy, I probably would not have been fortunate as I am presently.”

    Azuka Ojiuba, a staff of Thisday Newspaper who represented T Y Bello at the event, said they were happy that Mrs. Orisaguna’s unusual success is being recognised with the endorsement  and adoption of the lady as Shirley’s brand ambassador.

    Will Olajumoke remain humble and faithful to her husband in view of her new status?

    Ojiuba said she has been spending time with the Orisagunas and there is no indication that Jumoke would change.

    “She is still the real home girl that she is. Even when she gibes her husband food, she genuflects we don’t want to change who she is. We just want to give her good education and standard of living. She is still the same, she knows that people want to help her and that they love her. Her life has changed, but she has not changed.”

     

  • ‘Plateau schools 25 years behind time’

    ‘Plateau schools 25 years behind time’

    A tour of Plateau State schools exposes decades of rot which the government promises to reverse, YUSUFU AMINU IDEGU reports

    First, the bad news: Plateau State school infrastructure has been decaying for two and a half decades without any form of rehabilitation. This much was revealed by the state Deputy Governor Professor Sunny Tyoden after an inspection.

    Yet, it was not all bad news. Tyoden also lifted the spirits of the state residents. Things will change, he told reporters.

    “The standard of education in the state has not improved from what it was 25 years ago,” said the deputy governor who doubles as Commissioner for Higher Education.

    He said, “The state government, not satisfied with a report of the Transition Committee, also decided to embark on a tour which I undertook to see things myself and I came face to face with the reality of things in our schools.

    “To put it straight, our schools are in the state of total decay, the level of infrastructural decay is really disturbing; you would find out that in some of the institutions visited there is no additional value added to the schools in terms of infrastructure and manpower since their establishment 25 years ago.

    “Every system moves in line with the global standard; if you look at it carefully you will discover that education is moving in the direction of skilled economic base. But in our society we have relegated the position of knowledge and skills.

    “Government is so sad and concerned over this because in recent past, Plateau State was rated second best in the entire Northern Nigeria, but today Plateau State is rated second to the last in SSCE results.”

    But the deputy governor added, “Our government is on a rescue mission; we are going to give the education sector top priority, that was why on assumption of office   government released funds to rescue its university which was in total mess. Our university could not graduate their students 10 years after it commenced admission because their courses were not accredited due to poor lack of necessary facilities.

    “It will amaze anyone to discover that the state university had four vice chancellors in its 10 years of existence, there was no stability until we came in, that was why we brought somebody like Prof Attahiru Jega to head the council to stabilise the school.

    “We have been able to provide basic facilities and the NUC has recommended for the accreditation of the university. We shall give same prompt attention to our secondary and primary schools and we have already made provisions for that in our 2016 budget.

    “Apart from facilities, all our schools lack relevant teachers and  they have not recruited staff since the last 10 years. We are currently taking an inventory of the staff deficit across the state with hope of injecting required manpower who will engender quality in our academic programmes.”

  • ‘We need better, cheaper houses’

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Malam Muhammad Bello wants better houses for residents of the territory but he also desires affordable shelter.

    To achieve this, he called for a multi-disciplinary meeting of all professionals involved in the building industry.

    Bello made the call while receiving a delegation from the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) led by its President, Arc. Umaru Aliyu that paid him a courtesy visit.

    He reiterated that the call was necessary i order to enable professionals to brainstorm and ensure that sanity is brought to the sub-sector, thereby providing more housing delivery to the populace.

    Malam Bello noted that the industry is robust, with the capacity to provide ready employment to the teeming populace in the FCT, because of the diverse professionals and unskilled labourers involved from the conception to the completion stage.

    He expressed delight to meet professional bodies like ARCON that have contributed immensely to the development of the Federal Capital Territory, recalling that recently, he had a similar meeting with the Town Planners Association Nigeria.

    According to a statement issued by the Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the minister said architects, engineers, town planners, surveyors and builders should all come together to find a better way to fast track the entire process from the drawings, building plan approvals, setting out and the entire building construction process in the territory.

    The Minister decried a situation where houses are built in estates without giving enough space for greening, planting of trees and at least a garden at the backyard as well as space for children play area.

    Bello assured that the FCT Administration on its part would make the process transparent and friendly to all players in the industry.

    Speaking earlier, the President of the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria, Umaru Aliyu congratulated the Minister over his appointment.

    The President said that ARCON is assiduously working to eliminate quacks, which he noted have contributed in no small measure to the cases of collapsed buildings across the country.

    He stated that no registered architect has ever been involved in any case of collapsed building.

    The FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, the Executive Secretary of FCDA, Engr. Adamu Ismaila and some senior officials of the FCT Administration joined the Minister to receive the architects.

  • Council candidate wins court case

    A high Court has ruled in favour of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) chairmanship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Abdullahi Candido, striking out the case instituted by Amanda Pam over her disqualification from contesting the party’s December 16 chairmanship primaries.

    The court verdict also favoured the party and seven others.

    The party’s legal adviser and counsel to Candido, APC and the others, Mr. Yakubu Haruna said during a press conference that the court ruling has allayed fears that the party might not present a candidate during the forthcoming polls.

    In the case, the APC, INEC and eight aspirants were joined as defendants in a suit filed by Barrister Pam who was disqualified before the primary election, challenging the process that led to her disqualification.

    Haruna explained that the court struck out the case for lack of jurisdiction, adding that it was purely a domestic affair which the court does have the power to entertain.

    “Except she decides to go further we are ready for that, as we are, we are ready for election, no more distraction,” he said.

    He explained that the ruling will be pivotal to the success of the party’s candidate, Abdullahi Candido at the March 19 polls, adding that the court case was a calculated attempt to disturb the teeming party supporters.

    On his part, the Deputy Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in AMAC, Hon. Hashimu Angama, Barr. Amanda Pam still a party member and will always be treated as such.

    “We were never disturbed despite the case was in court, we went about our campaign because we believe in justice. With this ruling in our favour, that will give us more strength to go about the election process. We are ready to accept her in our fold at any time for us to work together for the success of our party, because she was trying to protect her interest,” he said.

  • Buhari, TSA and the economy

    Buhari, TSA and the economy

    Despite the huge revenues oil generated under  past administrations, the economy was in shambles when President Muhammadu Buhari took over last May.

    Although it was called the largest economy in Africa, it had minimal or no impact on the life of the ordinary man on the street.

    Infrastructural decay was the order of the day in the various sectors of the economy.

    The main reason for the poor state of the economy was traceable to the massive treasury looting and mismanagement in the country.

    The treasury, which was to hold resources for the commonwealth and benefits of Nigerians, was leaking from various points into private pockets.

    The situation was so bad that Buhari had to raise the alarm on assumption of office that he met almost an empty treasury.

    Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had to declare that it will take some time for the mess left behind by the 16 years rule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be cleared.

    Only time will tell how long it will now take to clear the mess and fix the economy for the man on the street to start feeling the positive impact of the CHANGE agenda of the Buhari administration.

    To stop the trend, several steps, however, have been taken by the new administration in the past ten months to patch the leaking treasury and block conduit pipes some fraudulent Nigerians have been using to siphon money into their pockets.

    The implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by Buhari, which is one of the measures taken so far, will be the main focus of this write-up.

    TSA is one of the financial policies being implemented to consolidate all inflows from all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the country by way of deposit into Commercial Banks traceable into a single account at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    The policy, which was aimed at reducing proliferation of bank accounts operated by MDAs and also to promote financial accountability among all organs of the government, was introduced under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    But due to lack of political will and other factors, implementation of the TSA was not thoroughly followed under Jonathan.

    Even with opposition from majority of the MDAs, Buhari ensured full compliance with the policy by the MDAs from the 15th of September, 2015.

    He then brought on board Mrs. Kemi Adeosun on the 11th of November, 2015 as the Minister of Finance to propel the TSA policy among other assignments.

    The London-born Kemi Adeosun, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of East London and a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Financial Management from the University of London, is also a member of the Institutes of Chartered Accountants, England and Wales, as well as Nigeria.

    She has worked with British Telecom Company, London, Goodman Jones, London, London Underground Limited, Prism Consulting, the Price Waterhouse Coopers, London.

    The Minister has also worked with Chapel Hill Denham Management and Quo Vadis Partnership.

    Her last appointment before becoming a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was serving as Commissioner of Finance in Ogun State from 2011 to 2015.

    One of her achievements in Ogun State was the implementation of TSA which saved the state billions of naira.

    Speaking with State House correspondents, Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun had said: “Look at the Treasury Single Account (TSA), I’m happy to report that Kaduna did and we did that in August, 2011 in Ogun State.

    “That was the first thing I did when I came into office and we moved from about N730 million to over N6 billion under these four years.

    “And I’m happy that people are now seeing the importance of doing things the way it should be in line with world best practice,” he added

    Adeosun has been able to transfer her professional skills in handling the TSA at the state level to the federal level in her over four months tenure as the Finance Minister.

    As at December 2015, TSA at the federal level has yielded N2.2 trillion.

    During a meeting with Nigerians resident in London in February, Buhari had said: “So we enforced TSA and by the end of December, coming to January this year, that is last month, we mopped up more than N2.2 trillion.”

    The implementation of the policy at the federal level has also streamlined the over 200 bank accounts been operated by the Federal Government and its agencies and parastatals.

    Before the implementation of the policy by the Buhari’s administration, most government agencies that generate revenue always made sure they retired all revenue generated as expenses and management cost, leaving nothing in the account. That practice has now been halted.

    Even with the support of the bankers committee for the policy, the commercial banks in the country have lost over N2 trillion worth of deposit with full implementation of the policy.

    Besides the achievements being recorded under the policy, it will not be out of place to scrutinize further the past records in order to trace ‘who’ and ‘who’ had been involved in diverting government revenues to private pockets.

    The roles played by the commercial banks under the past administrations, which might have aided such diversion, should also be looked into.

    All those indicted should be made to face the law as a way of deterrence to others.

     

  • 20 minors rescued from ‘forced labour’

    The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Kwara State command has recued 20 minors allegedly used as child labourers in Ilorin, the state capital.

    The command also paraded a farmer suspected to be using some of the minors for farming activities in Kaiama, Kaiama Local Government Area of the state.

    The farmer, Muriana Saliu, claimed that he employed the services of three of the minors for a fee.

    Parading the victims, the Comptroller, NIS in the state, Mrs. Abimbola Abiodun-Ojo said, “I have heard series of information from my officers working on the field, particularly Kaiama Local Government. We have had series of brawls with the farmers in Kaiama, particularly the Yoruba farmers. One of my officers was [so severely beaten up] that we had to rush him to the hospital. That was precisely February 2 this year.

    “Sixteen of these children were found working on the farm and we arrested them but unfortunately they went away with the machines and discharged the minors.

    “What I want to say is that we want these farmers to desist from employing underage; I mean minors, that is children between six and eighteen years. It is like they feel that is the only way they could get at us.

    “On Saturday morning, officers went for another mop-up exercise and they were able to get 20 of these boys ranging between the ages of 12 and 16. It was like a rescue operation because they had already conditioned their minds [that they will be given  motorbikes] in exchange for whatever they do. I have to tell you that 15 of these children are from Benin Republic, three Togolese, the remaining two are from Burkina-Faso. It is that bad. They bring them in through cajoling. One of them was learning how to repair automobiles before he was brought in from the Republic of Benin.

    “Definitely, the farmer is not the trafficker; he is the end-user. They use the minors in their farms. From investigations, Muriana Saliu has three of these boys and they have been able to identify him. We hope to get other farmers that are using the boys to do farm work.

    “What we noticed is that this is another dimension to child labour and abuse. The Kwara State Child Rights Act, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) Act of 2015 also frown at it and also the Immigration Act of 2015. I call these children minors because their intelligence is not yet developed. This farmer is not the only one guilty of the offence. I further interrogated him whether he has children or not and he said he has. But the children are in school.

    “Very soon they would be handed over to NAPTIP. It is the agency that will properly prosecute them as it knows much on how to handle cases of children. We feel that NAPTIP is a multi-disciplinary agency. By the time NAPTIP officers come from Abuja to take them, they will know what punishment to be meted out to the end-users and traffickers. This is a new dimension of smuggling and using these young ones for hard labour.”

    Saliu, who hails from Ilorin, said “I have only three out of these boys. They were brought to me by one Sambo. Sambo is from Benin Republic, who is engaged in farming activities in our area in Kaiama.”