The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Report

  • Skills transform Kaduna youths

    Skills transform Kaduna youths

    Before she enrolled into the Youth Empowerment and Skills Acquisition Programme (YESAP) sponsored by the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) 20-year-old Marry Adams had lost the hope of furthering her education. Why? Her parents could not afford it. Mother Luck smiled on her. She was selected for a six-month skill acquisition programme run by YESAP in Kaduna. She was among the 150 unemployed youths who graduated from the exercise.

    Mary told The Nation that while on the training, she was getting contracts, even employing two of her neighbours as casual staff. She was among the 20 who participated in the Catering and Event Management. Beaming with smiles, she said that with the training, her hope of going to the university has come alive again.

    She said:  “I am a secondary school leaver and I must say that, even though, we are just graduating today, I have benefited a lot from this YESAP programme. Initially, I lost the hope of going to the university because my parents are not financially buoyant; today, my hope has been renewed. While, we were still undergoing training, I had already started making cakes for my friends and family members at cheaper rates. When somebody has a birthday celebration, I use my already acquired knowledge to organise the event, plan for them and do little decoration. Before I knew it, other people started consulting me in my neighborhood for occasions.

    “So, as it is presently, I have two of my friends from the neighbourhood who beg to follow me whenever I have one event to manage or the other. In fact, they go telling people that, Mary is good in decoration and all that, because for each contract I get, they help me and they get their own percentage.”

    She commended the management of KRPC for the programme and urged the company to involve more youths, particularly young widows and orphans, adding that her first target after settling down is to sponsor herself to the university, since she now has a means of making money.

    Another beneficiary of the training, Manassehý Markus, who trained in auto-mechatronics, said he was lucky to be trained to detect faults in vehicles using a gas box.

    “I am happy that I have this knowledge today, and there is an already-made market,” he said. “The course has to do with using gas box to diagnose fault in cars, to know what is wrong with the car before taking it to the appropriate expert like rewire. This has become a lucrative business in Nigeria today, because all the cars sold in the market today are computerised”.

    Markus, who holds a National Diploma in Computer Science said, he intends to transform the knowledge he has gotten into economic fortune and improve on his life and that of his family. He also expressed appreciation to the management of KRPC, saying; “My message to KRPC is to appreciate them for this opportunity given to us, the youth. It is one way to take the youth off the street and drug. This is because when you have something doing that is putting food on your table, you will not bother to look for government’s jobs or mingling with bad friends. So, I want to encourage them to do more in this direction to reduce unemployment.ý”

    On her part, Ruth Amana said: “I have been under intensive training by consultants hired by KRPC and it has been worthwhile experience for me. I’m going to use what I have been taught to establish myself. I will start my own catering outfit. I want to thank the KRPC management so much. They have really turned my life and situation around because this is an opportunity that is very hard for many to get. I was chosen out of many people who were equally qualified. All I want to say is thank you KRPC,” she simply said.

    Addressing beneficiaries of the training at a elaborate ceremony at Umaru Musa Yar’adua Hall of Murtala Muhammed Square, Kaduna, the KRPC Managing Director, Engr Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, said the YESAP VI, was part of the company’s social responsibility to its immediate host communities. He disclosed that the company had in six years trained 675 unemployed youths and equipped them to manage their lives and support their family members. Mohammed said it has been the goal of the YESAP programme launched by KRPC in 2008, adding that, “the company has been working with reputable consultants to ensure that young people in Kaduna State and through Northern Nigeria have the skills and economic opportunity to build productive lives and contribute to nation building. Similarly, arrangements are being concluded for KRPC to partner with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to assist graduands in business set up, monitoring and performance tracking and to assist those that are progressing in their respective trades to access credit facilities and other form of assistance”.

    He however called on the communities to help protect the NNPC property in their locality in order to both enjoy the good relationship that exist between them. The 15 vocational courses include auto-welding and fabrication, Plaster of Paris, carpentry and woodwork, auto-mechatronic, auto-mechanic, auto-spray painting, fashion and textile design, screen printing, poultry and fishing among others.

    The Nation also gathered that, all the 150 beneficiaries were given starter packs and cash of N100,000 as capital to start the business. However, joy were written all over the faces of the graduates, ýas special guests and parents present at the occasion commended the presentations made by the youths during the exhibition of their work and products.

  • Left to rot

    Left to rot

    Residents of Shadadi community in the heart of Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory lack almost every
    infrastructure they need. Worse, they cannot understand why it seems the authorities do not care. GBENGA OMOKHUNU
    reports.

    Do not judge Abuja by the glitzy high-rise buildings, nor the paved roads and the flood of streetlights on its upscale districts. Not that far away, lie communities which look abandoned, if not totally forgotten. Shadadi is one such community. It is located near the Kuje Area Council headquarters, in fact, only about 2km away, but that has brought it no dividends of any kind. The residents have no paved roads, nor do they have water fit for drinking. When they fall ill, there is no health facility to get treatment.

    Two questions Shadadi residents have been asking are: why does Kuje council leadership not want to help us? Why are we abandoned?

    The chairman of the council Hon. Shaban Tete has been in office for more than a year but has not responded to any of the requests made by the community residents. The people said they felt neglected by the leadership of the council. Can they get anything good from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership? Past leaderships of the council also neglected the community. The people said they want potable water, access roads, primary health care, among others.

    As for electricity, the residents of the community were left in darkness for over 10 years, despite endless complaints and appeals to past administrations of the council. After waiting in vain, the residents, through community effort, paid what was necessary before they their power nightmare ended.

    Sine the only transformer installed in the community broke down in 2002, the council has not repaired it nor replaced it.

    Mallam Yakubu Dan, a native of the community, said it has been abandoned by every council chairman. He said there were so many things that are supposed to be put in place by the government, but are absent in the community.

    Dan said since Mr. Samuel Estu Lanto, a former chairman of the council from 1991 to 1993 left office as the council chairman, development has ceased in the community.

    According to him, Lanto executed some tangible projects, but were not completed, thinking that governance was continuous.

    “He was wrong. He expected that successive administrations would continue with the projects and complete them, but the reverse was the case, because, up until today, they still remained the same way Lanto left them, mostly in Shadadi.

    “Some of the projects are road construction, rural electrification and bridging of the river that separates Shadadi and Lanto people. The bridge was started and got to an extent that Lanto’s administration could not complete. Other administrations would have completed it, but since then, nothing has been done.

    “Also, the issue of electrification, if you look at the entire Kuje, other nearby communities have been given electricity, but this community was denied electricity for over 10years. We called on the government to come to our aide, but they denied us our desire, until we made community effort to do it ourselves. We drew electricity line from Pasalli community and mounted one transformer through the community effort since last year, until PHCN gave us the electricity this year.”

    Another native of Shadadi community, Mrs. Joy Shema attributed the neglect of the community to the fact that the only council chairman that emerged from that community belonged to an opposition party, saying that probably that was reason why subsequent chairmen of the council who were members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have refused to anything positive in the community to improve the lives of the people.

    “It may be political, because, the party which many people support in this community is the All Progressive Congress (APC) and also, probably because of the presence of the former chairman of Kuje, who also belonged to an opposition party, that is why they have taken the decision not to consider this community for anything, thereby punishing the people for no just course,” she said.

    “We pray that the present chairman, Hon. Shaban Tete will be different because democracy is not supposed to be practised way most political leaders are doing it, that because certain people are not in your party, you tend to punish them as a leader. A good leader is supposed to work more for those who refused to vote for him, so that he could prove them wrong and show them reasons why they should have supported him, so that he could win their trust in future,” she said.

    Bakare Ahmed a resident of the community who also spoke with Abuja Review said that, on different occasions, when they went to visit previous chairmen of the councils to let them know about their plights in Shadadi, they will get such response that the people did not vote for the government in power, why then did they desire his assistance in developing their community.

    “The way some political leaders see politics, is wrong. They believe that if you are not in the same party with them or you did not give them your vote, they have nothing to do with you. But that is the wrong way to practice politics. When Lanto was chairman, it was not everybody that voted for him in this council. In fact, out of the 10 councillors, his party produced only three councillors and the opposition produced the rest and but he did his best to work in all the communities.

    “To a large extent this community has been neglected totally since after his administration. But to my notice, since we have made a request to the present administration, we hope that things will change for the better in this community, may be this time, it will be our turn. I want to appeal to the present chairman to critically look into our matter and come to our

    aide, because people in this community have been neglected for too long.

    “This community needs health care centre, portable water supply and access roads. I am appealing to. Hon. Shaban Tete to come and rescue us from this prolonged neglect by his predecessors and not judge his performance on party sentiments, but his desire to impact positively on the lives of the people of Kuje, irrespective of their political or religious affiliation,” he said.

    According to findings, only few spirited Nigerians have been visiting the community to support them and also left their spirit through various means.

     

  • Finding feeders for national football teams

    All has not been well with the nation’s football. Whenever Nigerians put their hopes in the teams, they are rewarded with the greatest disappointment.

    The teams have not been able to reach and maintain their rightful places on both continental and global stages.

    The senior national team, the Super Eagles, are not defending the trophy they won two years ago in South Africa because they could not qualify for the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Equatorial Guinea.

    This was a rude shock to many Nigerians.

    The team, last year, also performed woefully at the 2014 FIFA World Cup championship in Brazil.

    While many sports analysts believed that the crisis that engulfed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) played a great role in the lackluster performances of the national teams in recent times, others felt that the problem has to do with the lack of talented youths to take over from the tiring old legs.

    To this latter group, the solution to the poor outings by the national teams is in age-grade football competitions that will discover strong youthful talents to feed the national teams.

    Even though there are some existing age-grade football competitions in the country, analysts observed that they have not achieved the desired impact over the years due to their poor packaging.

    Also some of the young talents that have been discovered in the existing age-grade competitions have not been allowed to grow.

    According to the sports analysts, most of the past national football coaches have not helped matters as they have, during their tenures, largely relied on the big names among the Nigeria’s foreign -based players to prosecute their matches.

    So, the opportunity to discover new talents to take over from the tiring legs in the national teams was not really exploited fully.

    Despite failing to go far in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and unable to qualify for 2015 African Cup of Nations, credit, however, must be given to the Super Eagles coach, Stephen, for giving more young home-based players the opportunity to prove themselves.

    Going back to the drawing board and to chart a new course, President Goodluck Jonathan before the commencement of the last Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the State House, Abuja, unveiled the President Cup to be competed for by teenagers in the country towards discovering talents.

    President Jonathan was decorated at the brief ceremony as the Grand Patron of the Cup by ex-international and football stakeholders, who initiated the football competition.

    Among the former players and officials in the delegation were Kanu Nwankwo, Peter Rufai, Taribo West, Emmanuel Babayaro, Garba Lawal, Austin Eguaveon, Shuabu Amodu, James Peters, Kadiri Ikhana, Manu Garba, Patrick Pascal, Anthony Chinasa and Kashimawo Laloko.

    Others include Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Gbenga Elegbeleye; President of Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick; Darlington Anyanwau; Musa Uja; Auwalu Shekarau, Ike Neliaku; Ambassador Richard Ubohekong, and the Directors-General of Nigeria Television Authority, Shola Omole; and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Ladan Salihu.

    President Jonathan said: “We remember how you put Nigeria’s name on [the map of] footballing nations…you brought glory and pride to our nation. We are happy with you and of course these efforts to come up with a template, a platform that you will use to build the younger ones so that you can groom them, you serving as their role model so that they would take after you and also take our country to a higher level, is quite commendable.”

    “So on behalf of the government of the country, we thank you for your sincere commitment to continue to drive soccer to project football in our country, so that we will continue to be on top.”

    He went on: “One thing that all Nigerians know that brought unity to this country is the game of soccer. Whenever you people are playing, those of us who watch do not know the difference between a Moslem and a Christian, we don’t know the difference between a northerner and a southerner or an easterner or a westerner.”

    “We also see ourselves as Nigerians and that is the story; you have done very well for this country, we believe the younger ones will emulate you and also do what you have done,” he said

    On his part, Sports Minister, Tammy Danagogo, who accompanied the ex-internationals, described the President Cup as a private sector contribution to football development which will hunt for teenage football talents through tournaments and nurture them for the use of national teams and other clubs.

    “You will recall that one of the cardinal highlights of our roadmap for the transformation of our sports is grassroots sports and some of the strategies for achieving grassroot sports development are the national schools sports festival, the President’s cup etc.” he said

    It is expected that this effort will not only turn around the round-leather game in Nigeria, but ensure that Nigeria maintain its top position at continental and global levels of the game.

    With this, it is also hoped that never again would Nigeria as a defending champion be eliminated at the qualifying stages and prevented from featuring at the next competition of any championship.

     

  • ‘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.

     

  • Expect better health sector this year, says minister

    Expect better health sector this year, says minister

    The Supervising Minister of Health, Dr Khaliru Alhassan has said Nigerians will access better healthcare this year because the committee set up to investigate conflicts in the sector has completed its work and things were looking good.

    Dr Alhassan at a briefing in Abuja: “We are happy to announce that the [Yayale] 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. Presently we have sent medical personnel to other countries to assist them battle Ebola, which is a plus to Jonathan’s intervention”.

    He added that a lot of good things have happened in the sector under this dispensation. 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.

    “The passage of the Health Bill is quite timely because it will help in providing additional funds to the sector,” he said. “This is even as oil prices have taken a dip.”

    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.

     

  • 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.”