The Nation Newspaper

Category: Southeast report

Threats to mother tongue, by experts

IT was all for the sake of the mother tongue. At the National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN), Aba, Abia State, linguists and other professionals who turned up to mark the World’s Mother Tongue Day, stressed why it seems native dialects are facing a certain extinction.

They observed that the lack of parents in speaking their first languages to their children may account for the low profile of indigenous tongues.

The 15th anniversary of the International Mother Tongue Day attracted linguists from different parts of the country, including other pro-indigenous language campaign groups whose aims were to promote native dialects otherwise known as the L1 (first language) and ensure that they do not die in the face of growing challenge from westernisation and urbanisation.

Some of the speakers blamed parents for failing to lay the right foundation for the kids to use their indigenous language as a means of communication at home, also blame teachers for discouraging the students from speaking their native language.

While they all agreed that there was more to do in order to sustain indigenous languages, they also countered a report that Nigerian indigenous languages, especially Igbo, would soon go into extinction.

They called on education authorities and curriculum planners to indigenous Nigerian languages compulsory in secondary and tertiary institutions.

Benjamin Elugbe, Executive Director, NINLAN, said, “Today’s programme is to celebrate the mother-tongue day in line with the United Nation’s programmes and activities. In Nigeria, we are joining the United Nations in Feb 21 to mark the world mother-tongue day.

We are a mother day institute because we are for Nigerian languages, so it seems to me that however modest it may be, we should mark the occasion and that is why we decided that instead of asking somebody to deliver a lecture and all that we decided to ask people to demonstrate to us how they speak their languages and to say a few things about their respective languages as well.

“So, on a day like this, we count it as very important to reemphasise on the need for people to promote their culture and languages in order not to let it die.

“If you don’t take care of your languages, you don’t encourage people. You will just allow English Language to come and take over and before you know it, a lot of languages will be dead and as big as Igbo is, it is under threat as well from English.

“Igbo is under threat because people are not using the language as they should. Languages including Igbo which are not being encouraged are not passing from one generation to the other. For a language to survive, it has to move from the grandfathers to the immediate parents and to the children who pick up the language from the home, but today, it is not like that.

“Parents think that their children must start English immediately and so they drop Igbo and feel that the child should start listening to and learning English because they must have what they called a head start in their schools; taking their children to an English medium nursery and primary school that starts with English instead of starting with Igbo and this is based on a false assumption that if they start with the igbo, they won’t do well in English and that they will not do well in Nigeria and all that. It is not true; this why Igbo is seriously under threat and you have to also say that even the Yoruba and Hausa are also under threat. But the truth of the matter is that Igbo is more under threat than any other Nigerian language as far as I know”.

On the assumption that speaking the mother tongue would affect someone’s proficiency in the command of the English language, Mr. Elugbe said, “Your mother tongue doesn’t stop you from knowing English as much as you want to and, like I said, the situation where you think that you will make your child a native speaker of English, he will end up not being a native speaker of English and his local dialect either. So, the child loses out on both counts whereas the child could have been a good speaker of the two languages as well as Achebe put it.”

On why the government and other agencies have done well in encouraging and promoting Nigeria’s indigenous languages, NINLAN Executive Director said, “I don’t think so. The English syndrome is working against the promotion of our national languages; our indigenous languages are suffering from the promotion of English language. If you take the National Assembly for a start and you look at the 1979 constitution; it said that you could address the National Assembly in any of the indigenous languages and English. But if you look at 1999, you will see that there is a witling down of this. Because both in the 1989 and 1999 constitutions, they have removed all this. They have even now brought in the fact that you must have School Certificate including English before you can contest for political positions, whereas in 1979, you could be a stack illiterate in English but you know your Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba, then will use translators to interpret to others what you are saying, but they change that insisting that you must have enough English knowledge to function inside the National Assembly. So, without saying so, they made the language of the National Assembly become English.

[Also], “when you produce a teacher of the mother tongue, you must give him a job. So that’s one of the angles from which the mother tongue can help teachers in the mother tongue get jobs immediately. You know that if you have a place that can produce people in Nigerian languages who can do what they like in their languages including even entrepreneurship which we are trying to promote now, you will see that we can make a significant contribution towards alleviating job shortage”.

A student of Girls High School, Aba Miss Emole Nnenna, said, “I feel so excited to be here today to witness everything that has taken place today. I learnt that we should be proud to promote our mother tongue and that we should be part of our languages because it defines our personality and singles us out from the crowd. Having being part of this programme, it has helped me to understand the need to be proud of my mother tongue and as a change agent, I am going to make sure that I pass the lessons I learnt today from this seminar to my family members, friends and other students in my school who were not opportuned to be here today,” she said.

On his part, the National President, Igbodum Foundation, one of the pro-campaigners of Igbo language, Comrade Kingsley Uche, said:

“It is not an impressive thing that people especially the Ibos don’t speak their language unlike other ethnic groups. Embracing our languages ensures the continued existence of a people. People especially the Ibos assume that anyone who doesn’t speak his or her language is not a learned person. They believe that people who speak the English language are more learned than people who don’t speak English and this has caused people to sidetrack their local language to embrace the foreign one.

“As a pro-Igbo group committed to promoting the language, we held a lecture, Igbodum lecture, on January 29 at Abia State Polytechnic, Aba. It is an annual event where speakers and renowned igbo speakers will come and deliver speeches. The basic reason for the event is to promote our local languages and to preach to the people, the need for every ibo man and woman including our children to embrace the culture of communicating with the mother-tongue.

“We also have the Igbodum Television where we run all our programmes using the mother-tongue to reach the wider viewing audience with the aim of ensuring that the Igbo language will be sustained among its people contrary to the speculations that the Igbo language will die in the next 10 years. It is part of our contribution in the promotion of the Igbo language including other activities too numerous to list out.

“I am advising parents, pastors and traditional rulers to try as much as possible to ensure that they devote their time to educate their children, congregation and their subjects, telling them the need to embrace their local language and not to allow Igbo language die like the Latin language,” he advised.

March 13, 2015
Aba first bishop’s remains interred

As the body of the late Valentine Vincent Egwuchukwu Ezeonyia was laid to rest in an underground tomb at the Christ the King Cathedral (CKC) Aba, Abia State, many wept. The departed priest was not just any other. He was the pioneer Catholic bishop of the Aba diocese and inspired many not just by his sermons but also his warm personality and philanthropy.

The diocese was created in 1990.

Some of the faithful described the death of the bishop as a loss not only to the Catholic community, but the world.

The cleric lived for people, his property everyone’s, The Nation learnt. People around him, it was said, tapped from his administrative and leadership proficiency. Some also added that the late bishop abhorred indiscipline and clannish acts.

Ezeonyia sponsored the studies of over 100 priests in universities in and outside Nigeria, increasing literacy among the clergy, among other advantages.

His love for aesthetics inspired the interior and exterior redesigns of the cathedral even though he also carefully retained the original structure of the church.

Over 45 bishops including Cardinal John Onayeikan of Abuja Diocese and the Titular Archbishop of Aquaviva and Apostolic Nuncio in Nicaragua, His Lordship, Rt. Rev. Fortunatus Nwachukwu were at the funeral. Over 500 priests and no fewer than 10,000 catholic faithful and others from different parts of the country and beyond witnesses the late bishop’s interment at Christ the King Cathedral Church, Aba.

President Goodluck Jonathan was represented by Minister of State for Education, Prof. Viola Onwuliri. Also there were former Labour and Productivity Minister, Emeka Wogu, Hon. Uzo Azubuike, former governor of Abia State Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and wife, former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, Abia State Governor Theodore Orji and wife Odochi, his deputy, Sir Emeka Ananaba and wife, Nyerere Anyim, Abia APC governorship candidate, Alex Otti of APGA, PPA flag bearer, Chief Chikwe Udensi, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of the PDP, an ex-broadcaster and Nollywood icon, Pete Edochie and other government functionaries in the state.

Bishop of Umuahia Catholic Diocese, Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji described the late bishop as a caring shepherd who identified with the poor.

Archbishop Ignatius Ayo Kaigama, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) said they would miss Ezeonyia’s counsel dearly.

Rev Fr. Ralph Madu, Secretary-General, Catholic Secretariat, said the Pope was saddened to learn about the death of Bishop Ezeonyia.

“I am very sad and I am depressed. For me, it is a personal loss because he was my very good friend. He loved me a lot. When we were doing the Blessed Tansi Campaign in Aba Diocese, he hosted, housed me and gave me all the facilities I required and at the end of it all, he made it possible for us to acquire a vehicle for our evangelization. He was a wonderful person.

“He was a very sympathetic person, very loving and hospitable. He was a human being who loved his fellow human beings. There was nothing he called his own; whatever he had, he left for other people to use. It is difficult to find a human being like that who never considered anything his own, giving every single human being access to whatever he had.

Edochie said, “I am asking the people of Aba to be patient, not to struggle so that God can bring them a good bishop that is as good as Ezeonyia. If they go fighting among themselves, it will be difficult for them. I have seen it happen elsewhere; it happened in Enugu, and Mbaise was even worse. Let them take it easy and through prayers, God will give them a new bishop”.

Godfrey Izundu Ezeonyia, the immediate younger brother of the late bishop, said,

“He was the head of the family. Of course his priesthood never took him away from supporting the family because we know that it is not by material support that we survive, we survive by spiritual impartation. We feel happy that he was a priest up to the rank of being a bishop till his death. It is a big help and blessing to the family, Nigerians and the world at large. He is a world man.

“He was born to be a priest and evangelist. He was so gentle, so kind and so understanding. The family misses him. Everybody in the family is crying over his death. My sisters here (present at the burial) are all crying because he was just heading towards being an emeritus (retirement), but now we lost everything even the silver jubilee he was about to celebrate, we couldn’t do it. We miss him a lot.

“We miss the advice he used to give to us and the spiritual food that he gave us.

“Well, I will say that those touched by his exit should take heart and be rest assured that he is now resting where we shall all meet at the last day. Let them follow the footsteps of the late bishop, meditate on his teachings, sustain the peace and love that he preached throughout his days as a priest. That way, they would have immortalized the late bishop’s legacies while he lived his life as a priest”, younger Ezeonyia admonished.

Governor Theodore Orji described Ezeonyia as passionate about the gospel of Christ and the spiritual needs of his congregation, stating that the pioneer bishop would be greatly missed.

A former governor of the state, Orji Uzor Kalu recalled his relationship with the late clergy and how shocked he was over the death.

March 13, 2015
Army uniforms intercepted en route to Kaduna

A large consignment of army uniforms heading for Kaduna State has been intercepted in Enugu State, the police said. A luxury bus-load of the shipment was said to have departed Aba, Abia State’s commercial hub en route Kaduna when the police in conjunction with the National Task Force (NATFORCE) intercepted it in Nsukka.

The security personnel said they were keen to unravel the mystery behind the shipment of the army consignment which consisted of camouflage uniforms.

Some of the questions to resolve include who ordered the consignment, who took the order, who would receive it, and for what purpose.

The driver of the bus was said to have tried to evade the men of the task force, and knocked down one of the cadets in the process. The bus hit a drum by the roadside which forced it to stop. The driver reportedly still refused to open the bus door until it was forced open by the task force men.

The luxury bus said to be marked Trade Union Congress (TUC) Federal Government Assisted Mass Transit with registration number KUJ745 XA left Aba on the fateful night but was intercepted at Amalla in Udenu Local Council of Enugu State at about 2.30am.

According to the Southeast command of the NATFORCE led by its director, Comrade Obinna Onyenkwelu, the luxury bus had on board 14 passengers, the driver and two conductors.

None of the passengers accepted ownership of the goods. All the passengers including the driver and the conductors were arrested and handed over to the Nigeria Police Area Command, Nsukka for interrogation and further investigation.

Items recovered from the luxury bus included 16 bundles containing army camouflage uniforms, bales of secondhand clothes and bags of substances suspected to be cannabis.

The driver of the vehicle, who identified himself as Philip Tsaku, aged 42, from Nassarawa State, on interrogation said he was not aware that the army uniforms were concealed in the goods.

He said he returned from Lagos the previous night, only to be asked to proceed to Kaduna after the goods had been loaded without his knowledge.

He said the waybill note was given to the conductor with phone numbers and names of the owners in Kaduna.

The conductor, who was identified as Boka Adamu, 37, said he was only given the way bill and not told the content.

Adamu said: “My duty is only that when we reach Kaduna, I will call numbers on the way bill and they will come and collect the goods. The owners of the goods paid for them at our Aba office.”

He also noted that they usually dropped goods in Kaduna, Zaria, Abuja and finally Kano, without knowing the contents of the goods.

As at the time of filing this report, the police were said to have made arrests in Aba and Kaduna following a tip-off.

The Director, Southeast NATFORCE, Obinna Onyenkwelu said his men would not leave anybody in doubt about its activities.

A similar arrest was made by the task force in June last year when its personnel intercepted items with 21 suspected terrorists.

March 13, 2015
Youths acquire skills in Anambra

That will they do after graduation? One option is to look for work. Another is to create it.

The youths chose the latter.

How?

While still at Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, they undertook to acquire skills so that upon graduation, they may not have to search for jobs in order to live.

The student union government led by its president, Comrade Nwaka Ezinne took the decision and immediately began to implement it.

The students came up with the idea of making soap, beads and tie and die, among other skills.

The idea was mooted by the SUG, Director of Socials, Comrade Ebeonwu Henry, which according to him was part of his election campaign promises.

Apart from the free skill acquisition, the body also bought two brand new buses for the institution’s management.

Nwaka told The Nation that the gesture was to help the school management to ease transportation challenges facing the students.

She said, “We are not satisfied with the issue of transportation of students from the main campus in Oko to Ufuma community campus and extension site.”

Furthermore, she said it was to complement the efforts of the management in providing adequate transportation to students.

On the skill acquisition centre, Nwaka said it was equally part of his administration’s efforts in keying into the entrepreneurial scheme of the polytechnic.

This, according to her was aimed at making students independent and self-reliant, adding that the programme would enable the participants learn new things.

For Ebeonwu, it was necessary that the students were taught to be self-reliant to ensure they survive the hard times..

The programme was declared open by the Rector of the institution, Prof. Godwin Onu, referred to by the students and management as Digital Rector.

Onu, however thanked and commended the students union government’s leadership for keying into entrepreneurial scheme, adding that such gesture was a true test of leadership.

He said, “What we are doing here today which is what the polytechnic suppose to do is to acquire skills so that at the end of your studies, you will be employers of labour”.

“We shall commission our skill acquisition centre soon for such training, we want to thank the SUG for this and for supporting the management in ensuring that students acquire skills”

“We shall continue to support you and I want to appeal to all of you to remain calm and law abiding” the Rector said.

He aslo congratulated them for buying the buses, adding that the students were able to do it because of the financial discipline inculcated in them by the school.

Onu told The Nation that the school would procure more buses in addition to the two presented by the students to augment those already in use.

The student’s gesture and their ingenuity did not end there. They equally procured three waste bins for the institution to complement the management’s efforts in maintaining a clean environment.

Members of the school management were amazed by the hard working students of the institution. The waste bins were bought by the federation of Ezeagu Student Union Association of the institution led by Andy Uchenna.

Uchenna told The Nation that the association appreciated the efforts of the school management so far, in making the polytechnic one of the best in the country in terms of cleanliness and aesthetic atmosphere.

The Rector said, “You have from out of the little you were given, carved out money to buy these waste bins; I want to thank you for this gesture. God will reward you and keep you safe”.

March 13, 2015
Police pensioners verification ends

A week-long verification exercise of police pensioners in the Southeast and Southsouth has ended in Enugu, with assurances from the handlers, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, (PTAD) that the biometric data capturing method would provide a more reliable and comprehensive database.

The verification programme was carried out by the organisation under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).

Speaking at the event which took place at the Senior Police Officers Mess, Enugu Director- General of PTAD, Mrs. Nellie Mayshak, said it was part of the transformation agenda of the Federal Government.

She stated that PTAD opted to bring pension administration closer to pensioners with a view to making life easier and bearable for them.

Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate is an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria established in August 2013 in compliance with the provisions of section 30 sub-section (2) (a) of the Pension Reform Act of 2004; now amended and restated in section 42 (1) of the Pension Reform Act 2014.

Mayshak hinted that the establishment was charged with the management of pensions under the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS) for the attention of pensioners not transiting to the Defined Contributory Scheme (DCS).

The D-G said, “What PTAD is doing is to have a more robust database that will give us a reliable and comprehensive data”.

She added that with the biometric data capturing method, everything about pensioners issues would no longer be stressful in the future.

The organisation, she said, inherited a non-comprehensive database from the former pension handler.

Chairman of War Affected Police Officers in the Southeast zone, Mr. Mathew Orji Udeh, a lawyer, had expressed happiness with the Federal Government for putting in place such a reputable outfit as PTAD.

He said his members were being verified because of the under payment complaint they lodged to the federal government some years ago.

According to him, after they were granted amnesty, following the “No victor, No Vanquished” agreement after the civil war, the former pension handler, went ahead to pay them pension as Biafran police officers, instead of treating them like their other colleagues, in line with the amnesty accord.

Udeh, however, expressed the hope that PTAD, would resolve the matter.

March 13, 2015
Jonathan has neglected Ndigbo

Chief Ralph Obioha, Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, speaks on the organisation’s challenges as well as President Goodluck Jonathan’s perceived disregard of the Southeast, in this interview with CHRIS OJI. Excerpts:actional chairman of Ohanaeze, Chief Gary Enwo Igariwey alleged that money was the underlying issue in the organisation’s crisis. What is your take on this?

Yes, on this we firmly agree with him. No one can accuse the Caretaker Committee of any financial underhand, whilst to the contrary it is the Igariwey era that has serious financial questions that remain unanswered. That is what informed the Elders Council to mandate the Caretaker Committee to conduct a detailed probe of the finances of Ohanaeze Ndigbo from 2009 to 2014 and a probe panel has been inaugurated.

Igariwey is raising this financial issue as a lame tactics to confuse his dilemma. How can he explain the documented collection of millions of naira belonging to Ohanaeze that is in black and white? How can he explain the disappearance of buses belonging to Ikenga Mass Transit, a subsidiary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo? How can he explain the over N300m in the Diamond Bank account of Ohanaeze that simply grew wings and disappeared into thin air. He has been given a chance to appear before the probe panel and explain his involvement in this sordid financial abuse of monies and assets of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. The issues are quite simple and all attempts to cause confusion and diversion will fail. Let Igariwey give account.

The Caretaker Committee issued what can be described as a directive on how the Igbo should participate in the elections.

The Igbo nation has been short-changed in the history of Nigeria and yet the Igbo have offered most in the building of this country. In the struggle for independence Igbo sacrificed most, in building up the country, Ndigbo embraced the spirit of one Nigeria by their presence in all parts of the country. But when it comes to leadership, the Igbo are regarded as a pariah, people who should not be allowed to be president of Nigeria. It was the coming of President Jonathan that informed the Igbo to mount a massive support for him based on the mistaken belief that the jinx of Igbo exclusion could be at an end if a minority is allowed to assume the position of president of Nigeria. But to the consternation of Igbo, the very president the Igbo massively supported four years ago could not see any return on our political investment as far as Igbos are concerned. In the past two years, concerned Igbo started to agitate that President Goodluck Jonathan is taking Igbos for granted.

At Ohanaeze Ndigbo meetings these concerns are raised pointing out that the infrastructure in Igbo land has completely collapsed and in fact the total mileage of the main axis of these roads is just under 400km, to cover the entire five states of the Southeast whilst a road of more mileage in just one state in the North is tarred and maintained. We raised [the issue] that the Second Niger Bridge seems to be a mirage, and that we cannot point to a single project that has been completed in Jonathan’s five years in power.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo raised a Reparation and Restitution Committee headed by Chief Mbazulike Amaechi and myself to dust up the Oputa Panel to bring about a closure on the deaths, injuries, destruction and marginalisation inflicted on Igbo before, during and after the representation sent to the president.

The neglect of Igbo land continued and remained unabated. It reached an alarming stage when the President in his campaigns in the North started peddling the promise that he will hand over to the North without any consultation with the very Igbo who massively voted for him. This action was echoed by Chief Edwin Clark and the patience of well-meaning Igbo people snapped and an open rebellion then started. The Igbos saw a clear picture that if we are tricked again into a blind blanket and all in one basket endorsement of President Jonathan this could foreclose any road map to Igbo presidency in the near future. The Igbo demonstrated good faith in their massive support of President Jonathan in ensuring his ascension to the Presidency at the demise of President Yar’Adua and affirmed it at the election of 2011. One would have thought that Jonathan would have contributed to our nation building by adopting options that will enhance the spirit of inclusiveness required for stable nation building. He should have considered how a twist of providence brought him to power and how the Igbos rightly calculated that twist of providence must be for a reason and that Jonathan should be supported.

President Jonathan had six good years to pay back but he did not. I had the privilege to have discussed with Chief Alabo Graham Douglas the disturbing observation the Igbo are feeling about President Jonathan and the need for him to urgently address them. Chief Graham Douglas assured me that he will pass the message. A president’s words are to be taken seriously. What I had expected from the president was to sacrifice any ambition to context for another term which would have stretched the term limit and raise the legality of that grey area. Considering the circumstance of his assumption of the presidency, a shift that if truth must be told belongs to the North and the same North showed an understanding to allow him for a continuation albeit with protestation. Jonathan would have affirmatively structured a political engineering that will have firmed the rotational arrangement that will have stabilised the Nigerian polity. He squandered an opportunity to have attained the status of the father of a new Nigeria. In that political engineering I have envisioned, President Jonathan would have groomed a Northerner from the Northeast with a Southeast Vice-President with a clear understanding that after eight years, the turn of Southeast MUST be established. The Southeast will then get a vice-president from the Northcentral who will succeed him with a vice from the Southwest and a national convention is established creating a stable nation moving forward and growing in unity, harmony and peace.

Is this picture you have created possible now?

It is up to General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) to play the Mandela of Nigeria by immediately grooming an Igbo man to take over from him after four years and engineering what I painstakingly narrated above. Nigeria is a potentially great country that has unfortunately been managed by inept and unfit leaders. God must be on the side of Nigeria, holding her out as a nation that will give the black man on this planet a place for them to excel once again as they did some 3000 years ago. It is not accident that Buhari has refused to give up after 3 attempts at the presidency and he continued to fight on, there must be a divine reason for such a determination.

What message do you have for Buhari in the event he wins?

To know that Nigeria is in a lot of problems, economically, socially and religiously. To start without delay addressing these multi problems with the best hands Nigeria has irrespective of tribe or faith, to tackle corruption and waste head on. To be transparent and get Nigerians to rebuild their country by themselves with help from friends who are sincerely friends. To expand the untapped opportunities that are abundant in Nigeria left to lie idle because of the easy revenue from hydrocarbons that rendered us indolent; to build up trust amongst us by being equitable to all; to address the injury and unfair treatment of Igbos in Nigeria; to restore the diminishing confidence of Nigeria; to restore the dignity of Nigerians as it was at independence and finally to maintain absolute allegiance to our constitution.

From your prediction it means that your vote will go to Burahi?

Answer: How did you come to that conclusion? Iadvised Igbos to cast their votes according to their choice and conscience. Casting votes are still by secret ballot and I shall cast my vote according to my conscience and choice.

Why is your committee suspicious of possible violence?

You may not be aware that each time violence occurs, it is the Igbos that suffer most. The reason is simple because the Igbos are the most dispersed in Nigeria, living in all nooks and corners of Nigeria. It is an unfortunate contradiction of our nationhood where Nigerians still see their fellow Nigerians as foreigners even when they were born there. These are all tasks facing Buhari when he wins. A fearless leader can, by his affirmative action, create a new Nigeria that will banish all these fears and distrust amongst Nigerians and the issue of people casting and making their choices in elections a simple matter that should not breed or create violence. Ohanaeze Ndigbo Caretaker Committee is praying for a non-violent election but due to our unfortunate history in the past, the committee owes a duty to advice Igbos to take precautionary measures for their safety everywhere in Nigeria.

March 13, 2015
Enugu-Abakaliki Road inaugurated

History was made as the 240km road linking Enugu, Abakaliki, Ogoja, Ikom and Cameroon was launched. The commissioning was performed by President Goodluck Jonathan who was represented by the Minister for Works, Mike Onolememen.

The road is a section of the Lagos-Mombasa trans-African highway. The rehabilitation and construction was flagged off in 2012, a federal project which cost over N32billion.

The project was consequent upon the International Court of Justice judgment of 2002 in the suit between Nigeria and Cameroon over the border dispute. A tripartite summit was held in Geneva on November 15, 2002 attended by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Paul Biya of Cameroon and Kofi Annan, the then United Nations Secretary-General.

The meeting resulted in the setting up of the Nigeria/Cameroon Mixed Commission and a decision was reached that Nigeria and Cameroon should embark on a multi-national highway and transport Facilitation Programme to effectively link Nigeria and Cameroon.

Following the agreement, Nigeria had to explore funding options with the World Bank and the African Development Bank in financing the project at a comfortable ratio of 9-1 between the donor agencies and the Federal Government, under the Nigeria-Cameroon Multinational Highway and Transport Facilitation Programme.

According to the Works Minister, Onolememen, the composition of the project included 80km Enugu-Abakaliki section rehabilitated by Setraco Nigeria Limited at a contract sum of N10b with funding assistance from the World Bank.

The 85km Abakaliki-Mbok/Ogoja junction section was rehabilitated by CCECC at a contract sum of N12.03 billion with African Development Bank funding assistance.

Also the 50km Mbok/Ogoja junction-Ikom section was rehabilitated by PW Nigeria Limited at a contract sum of N6.6 billion with World Bank Assistance while the 25km Ikom-Mfum/Cameroon border section was rehabilitated also by CCECC at a contract sum of N2.3 billion with African Development Bank assistance.

The main physical features, the minister outlined, include a new bridge built at a sum of N600m at KM 7 from Enugu to replace the old collapsing bridge and seven other bridges rehabilitated along Abakaliki-Mfum corridor to cater for the anticipated heavy trucks that would use the corridor.

Another unique feature of the road project was the inclusion of people-oriented social projects as part of the main road works contract. Under the arrangement, over 80 social infrastructure projects were built in 50 communities along the road corridor. Some of the social projects include 36 boreholes and hand pumps, three agricultural produce drying platforms, four cassava processing mills, one rice processing mill and five palm oil processing mills

Others include 6 market blocks, 8 new classroom blocks and renovation of existing primary schools, 2 new primary schools built in two communities, 2 town halls, 8 access roads and culverts linking communities and one dispensary.

With the Onolememen at the occasion were the Minister of State Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, The Enugu state Commissioner for Works, Goddy Madueke who represented the state governor Sullivan Chime.

March 6, 2015
Orji’s wife donates to church

The Deeper Life Bible Church Camp ground in Umuugo, Aba, Abia State, was the beneficiary of philanthropy from high quarters.

Wife of the state governor, Mrs. Odochi Orji who worshipped at the church, made a donation of N2m for the fuelling of its electricity generators.

Mrs. Orji also inaugurated two 230-KVA transformers which the state government donated and installed at the church’s Camp ground.

Speaking after the service, she said that the presentation of the transformers were in fulfillment of an earlier promise in last August when women held a prayer programme there.

Orji, who described her husband as a man with a listening ear and God-fearing leader, assisted in the provision of the transformers to help the church in its evangelistic works.

She used the opportunity to call on members of the church to vote for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates jostling for various positions at state and federal levels in the coming elections, warning them against voting “mushroom parties that will not fulfill their promises”.

“Politics is not for fighting. It is like a game; if you win, you go but if you fail you go and sit down, not fighting people and planning evil against other contestants. God will not forgive you,” she said.

The state overseer of the church, Pastor Chukwuneye Umeh on behalf of the church thanked the state government for the donation, adding that the transformers would go a long way in assisting them to advance the message of salvation and repentance which they propagate.

He also used the opportunity to remind the state governor that the church was still expecting his administration to fulfill promise of constructing and making motor-able the road leading to the Camp from the Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway.

The clergy further reinstated that the church was committed to helping to prepare men for heaven and to transform the lives for a better society through building their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

March 6, 2015
Monarch hails peace accord

he traditional ruler of Okahia in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State HRM Eze Okey Ananaba has praised the state police command for initiating a peace accord signed in Umuahia, the state capital, by party candidates.

The peace pact was to ensure a hitch-free election in the state, the state Police Commissioner, Habila Joshak said.

It was unclear whether the peace deal was inspired by a similar agreement reached earlier by presidential candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr Goodluck Jonathan and his counterpart in the foremost opposition party, the All Progressives Congress Party (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking at his palace when the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr. Alex Otti visited him, Eze Ananaba said the accord would have no meaning except it was enforced.

The revered monarch admonished politicians to shun violence, urging them to play politics with the spirit of sportsmanship.

He said, “What is of paramount importance to the traditional rulers is the peaceful conduct of the elections,” adding, there would be no meaningful development in an atmosphere of violence and rancour.

The monarch also called on registered voters in the state to endeavour to collect their permanent voter cards or PVCs in order to vote the candidates of their choice, urging them “to cast their votes according to their conscience on the day of the elections.”

Otti promised to run an all-inclusive and people-oriented government if elected into office.

He assured that his administration would ensure even development of the state, promising not to discriminate against any section of the state.

“I will give everybody a sense of belonging and there will be even development across the different parts of the state,” he said. “I will not discriminate against any person or section of the state, whether they voted for me or not.”

The former Diamond Bank MD beckoned on the monarch to sensitize his subjects on the need to get their PVCs and feel free to vote for the candidates of their choice.

“People should collect their PVCs and vote according to their conscience, he said, adding that they should not allow themselves to be intimidated by anybody.

Otti said that he joined the governorship race in order to redeem the people.

March 6, 2015
Mbaka predicts disaster

The last time, it was a lampoon of the president; now, calamity is said to loom over the land. CHRIS OJI reports on the latest pronouncement of Rev Fr. Ejike Mbaka, a Catholic Church priest in Enugu

There is another message from the fiery priest Fr. Ejike Mbaka’s pulpit: an impending catastrophe.

In a sermon in which he likened Nigeria to the biblical Nineveh, he posited that except there was general repentance, national disaster was ahead.

He took his text from the Book of Jonah in which the prophet was divinely instructed to go to sinful Nineveh whose doom would only be averted if Jonah warned them and they repented. An unwilling Jonah eventually washed up at Nineveh and delivered the message. Then, what? The people turned round.

“How do we apply it to us? My fellow Nigerians, disaster is coming. Those who are sleeping should wake. In a no distant time people will begin to run helter-skelter. That is our message today: disaster is coming. If Nigerians want to avert the disaster they will repent.

“When Nineveh heard the news they repented and sought the face of God. They did not pursue Jonah to kill him; even the men of God of those times did not criticize Jonah on his method of preaching…Today, the pope is crying on the gross corruption in Nigeria and gruesome injustice all over the world. And we Nigerian ministers are calm; we are painting a picture that there is no problem. If any person tells you that after the election there will be no more problem, that person is a liar. Let us all pray that even 14 February will come.

We are busy covering the sins of our leaders and thereby sinning against God. I cannot fool you, my children, I am telling you what God has told me. I’m just a messenger. When they send you to go and kill Fr. Mbaka, don’t accept to do it because you cannot withstand what it entails. Everybody has his own gift, so use yours and allow me use mine. Do you know that our sisters and brothers in the North now live in the bush? What if it happens to the East, and is there any assurance that it will not happen?

“I want to reiterate here that there is no one kobo of Buhari or Goodluck or Patience or Ekweremmadu in my house. Let God hear me and see me now. Nobody gave me one kobo, let everybody hear this disaster is coming.

What offence did the Ninevites commit that Nigerians have not committed? So if Nineveh was destroyed, what makes you think that Nigeria cannot be destroyed?

Let Nigerians listen to God and repent. We just go to church and come back. Nigerians are just church-goers not true Christians.

I am not partisan; I am just touched by the condition of the masses. How many government hospitals are working now? How many poor people have the money to go to private hospitals? Some men of God tell the people what they want to hear, not what God wants them to hear. And according to some people this type of men of God are good men of God.

I pity the Igbo man; where will they run to? Most of the Igbos build their factories in foreign lands and leave their home undeveloped. When disaster comes he will forfeit many of those things.

Kidnappers and [ritual murderers], you are also warned that disaster is coming to your camps.

It is only God’s mercy that is holding our country now. Unless we repent and ask God’s forgiveness and fast, it will be difficult to avert this disaster. Some people worship our fellow humans and offend God. Let’s seek God’s face now. There will be no safety anywhere except in God. God is not comfortable watching people dying on bad Nigerian roads. Anybody that dies on that road the blood is on that contractor. The sin in Nigeria is more than that of Nineveh. Our youths are unemployed and graduates still being fed by their parents. They told us that oil price dropped but before the drop in oil price, what happened?

“What did they do with the oil money? The money in the country is in the hands of few occult men and some of them are even boasting that they can buy anything even all the priests with their money. It is a lie; you can’t buy all the priests with your dirty money. And if you plan to attack the priests, the angels of God will strike.

When we talk about insecurity in Nigeria, has the government of the day provided security? The…Christians that were killed in Madalla church has the government compensated their families? Are you waiting until it becomes your portion? Those Christians are not worse sinners than us. As things stand right now, no political party will save us right. Those giving you bags of rice are buying your life with bags of rice. Those giving you bread to eat are fooling you because you are the owner of the bakery. Look at the quantum of corruption going on, and they tell us it shall be well, how? A leaking basket can never be filled up. A person who has nothing and suddenly he says his business is now politics and still suddenly he started building houses and buying property, he is also guarded by soldiers and policemen, such a person is an arch-criminal.

People of God should not sell their birthright. Anybody that is saying he did this and that for you but in the actual sense he did not do anything for you, don’t vote the person during the election. Those people telling me to shut up? It is because they have not been affected. We cannot be afraid of the so-called leaders who are not afraid of God. I will never be afraid of anybody who is not afraid of God.

“There is a malignant political cancer in the liver and kidney of our economy. We are still talking about unemployment and bombing here. But after this disaster, there will be light at the end of the tunnel.”

Rev Mbaka urged the congregation to pray and do charity works.

When the message came to Nineveh the president of Nineveh called on all citizens to pray and fast. They say they are constructing trains and building international airports while the poor people are hungry. Let them repair even the roads first before going to trains and airports. They are toying with the reality that God is not happy…the widows are suffering and they expect me to keep quiet. This is blackmail, and I will never keep quiet. The government officials visit foreign lands but they cannot replicate what they see there. The amount of money they raise for campaign is enough to develop another country altogether.

Unhealthy accumulation of wealth and banking them here and there is depriving the citizens of their better life. I encourage all men of God to open their mouths and tell them what God wants them to hear. Our representatives are thieves. The church fights for justice. God will make those wealth they are looting away come back to fight them.

Samuel was the one who anointed Saul and Saul was still alive when Samuel anointed David. Was Samuel contradicting himself? Jesus blessed Peter and made him the head of the apostles but the same Jesus told Peter “get behind me Satan.” Did Jesus contradict himself?”

The last time, it was a lampoon of the president; now, calamity is said to loom over the land. CHRIS OJI reports on the latest pronouncement of Rev Fr. Ejike Mbaka, a Catholic Church priest in Enugu

There is another message from the fiery priest Fr. Ejike Mbaka’s pulpit: an impending catastrophe.

In a sermon in which he likened Nigeria to the biblical Nineveh, he posited that except there was general repentance, national disaster was ahead.

He took his text from the Book of Jonah in which the prophet was divinely instructed to go to sinful Nineveh whose doom would only be averted if Jonah warned them and they repented. An unwilling Jonah eventually washed up at Nineveh and delivered the message. Then, what? The people turned round.

“How do we apply it to us? My fellow Nigerians, disaster is coming. Those who are sleeping should wake. In a no distant time people will begin to run helter-skelter. That is our message today: disaster is coming. If Nigerians want to avert the disaster they will repent.

“When Nineveh heard the news they repented and sought the face of God. They did not pursue Jonah to kill him; even the men of God of those times did not criticize Jonah on his method of preaching…Today, the pope is crying on the gross corruption in Nigeria and gruesome injustice all over the world. And we Nigerian ministers are calm; we are painting a picture that there is no problem. If any person tells you that after the election there will be no more problem, that person is a liar. Let us all pray that even 14 February will come.

We are busy covering the sins of our leaders and thereby sinning against God. I cannot fool you, my children, I am telling you what God has told me. I’m just a messenger. When they send you to go and kill Fr. Mbaka, don’t accept to do it because you cannot withstand what it entails. Everybody has his own gift, so use yours and allow me use mine. Do you know that our sisters and brothers in the North now live in the bush? What if it happens to the East, and is there any assurance that it will not happen?

“I want to reiterate here that there is no one kobo of Buhari or Goodluck or Patience or Ekweremmadu in my house. Let God hear me and see me now. Nobody gave me one kobo, let everybody hear this disaster is coming.

What offence did the Ninevites commit that Nigerians have not committed? So if Nineveh was destroyed, what makes you think that Nigeria cannot be destroyed?

Let Nigerians listen to God and repent. We just go to church and come back. Nigerians are just church-goers not true Christians.

I am not partisan; I am just touched by the condition of the masses. How many government hospitals are working now? How many poor people have the money to go to private hospitals? Some men of God tell the people what they want to hear, not what God wants them to hear. And according to some people this type of men of God are good men of God.

I pity the Igbo man; where will they run to? Most of the Igbos build their factories in foreign lands and leave their home undeveloped. When disaster comes he will forfeit many of those things.

Kidnappers and [ritual murderers], you are also warned that disaster is coming to your camps.

It is only God’s mercy that is holding our country now. Unless we repent and ask God’s forgiveness and fast, it will be difficult to avert this disaster. Some people worship our fellow humans and offend God. Let’s seek God’s face now. There will be no safety anywhere except in God. God is not comfortable watching people dying on bad Nigerian roads. Anybody that dies on that road the blood is on that contractor. The sin in Nigeria is more than that of Nineveh. Our youths are unemployed and graduates still being fed by their parents. They told us that oil price dropped but before the drop in oil price, what happened?

“What did they do with the oil money? The money in the country is in the hands of few occult men and some of them are even boasting that they can buy anything even all the priests with their money. It is a lie; you can’t buy all the priests with your dirty money. And if you plan to attack the priests, the angels of God will strike.

When we talk about insecurity in Nigeria, has the government of the day provided security? The…Christians that were killed in Madalla church has the government compensated their families? Are you waiting until it becomes your portion? Those Christians are not worse sinners than us. As things stand right now, no political party will save us right. Those giving you bags of rice are buying your life with bags of rice. Those giving you bread to eat are fooling you because you are the owner of the bakery. Look at the quantum of corruption going on, and they tell us it shall be well, how? A leaking basket can never be filled up. A person who has nothing and suddenly he says his business is now politics and still suddenly he started building houses and buying property, he is also guarded by soldiers and policemen, such a person is an arch-criminal.

People of God should not sell their birthright. Anybody that is saying he did this and that for you but in the actual sense he did not do anything for you, don’t vote the person during the election. Those people telling me to shut up? It is because they have not been affected. We cannot be afraid of the so-called leaders who are not afraid of God. I will never be afraid of anybody who is not afraid of God.

“There is a malignant political cancer in the liver and kidney of our economy. We are still talking about unemployment and bombing here. But after this disaster, there will be light at the end of the tunnel.”

Rev Mbaka urged the congregation to pray and do charity works.

When the message came to Nineveh the president of Nineveh called on all citizens to pray and fast. They say they are constructing trains and building international airports while the poor people are hungry. Let them repair even the roads first before going to trains and airports. They are toying with the reality that God is not happy…the widows are suffering and they expect me to keep quiet. This is blackmail, and I will never keep quiet. The government officials visit foreign lands but they cannot replicate what they see there. The amount of money they raise for campaign is enough to develop another country altogether.

Unhealthy accumulation of wealth and banking them here and there is depriving the citizens of their better life. I encourage all men of God to open their mouths and tell them what God wants them to hear. Our representatives are thieves. The church fights for justice. God will make those wealth they are looting away come back to fight them.

Samuel was the one who anointed Saul and Saul was still alive when Samuel anointed David. Was Samuel contradicting himself? Jesus blessed Peter and made him the head of the apostles but the same Jesus told Peter “get behind me Satan.” Did Jesus contradict himself?”

March 6, 2015