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From Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

 

About 53 universities in 12 West African countries will meet in Abuja next week to strengthen the implementation and impact of the African Centres of Excellence (ACE) project.

The four-day workshop will focus on the first phase of the World Bank-funded ACE project.

This was disclosed in a joint statement signed by the Senior World Bank External Officer, Mr. Mansir Nasir, ACE Communication Officer Mrs. Adebukola Olatunji and Association of African Universities’ Millicent Afriyie Kyei in Abuja.

The event will be attended by representatives from the ACE centres, World Bank, the French Development Agency, (AFD), the Association of African Universities (AAU), and NUC officials.

It will afford the institutions the opportunity to exchange information on their respective programmes, build networks and forge partnerships to ensure the successful implementation of the project.

ACE is a World Bank initiative that was first launched in 2014 with 22 Centres in nine West and Central African countries.

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The countries include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.

The second phase of the project tagged ACE II was launched in East and Southern Africa with 24 centres across Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

“Based on the initial successes, the World Bank and the French Development Agency in collaboration with African governments, launched the ACE Impact Project in 2018 to strengthen post-graduate training and applied research in existing fields and support new fields that are essential for Africa’s economic growth.

“Currently, there are 43 ACE, 25 new ones and 18 from ACE I, five emerging centres, one top- up centre in Social Risk Management and five colleges and schools of engineering.

“The new areas include sustainable cities; sustainable power and energy; social sciences and education; transport; population health and policy; herbal medicine development and regulatory sciences; public health; applied informatics and communication; and pastoral production,” the statement said.

The ACE project is aimed at promoting regional specialisation among participating universities in areas that address specific common regional development challenges.

It also aims to strengthen the capacities of these universities to deliver high quality training and applied research as well as meet the demand for skills required for Africa’s development.

It is the first World Bank project aimed at the capacity building of higher education institutions in Africa, established in collaboration with governments of participating countries to support specialisation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), agriculture, and health.

Our Reporter

 

Babcock University, the Isaac Delano Foundation and the Pan African University Press have instituted the Isaac Oluwole Book Prize for Yoruba Studies to recognise outstanding works and fiction that continue to uphold the legacy of Yoruba icons like Isaac Delano.

Isaac Delano committed his lifeworks to the proper documentation, preservation, presentation and teaching of the Yoruba language and culture as well as the essence of the existence of Nigeria in such works as The Soul of Nigeria and Notes and Comments from Nigeria.

Popular among his  over 40 works that border on history, literature, linguistics, biography, religion and sociology, are Owe L’Esin Oro, Atumo Ede Yoruba, A Modern Yoruba Grammar, Iran Orun, Josiah Ransome Kuti: The Drummer Boy who Became a Canon, Aiye d’aiye Oyinbo.

A statement by the organisers, said “It is a dream of theirs, like Delano, to promote and revive the socio-cultural, political and religious significance of Yoruba, and by so doing contribute to the stream of revivalist efforts geared towards the resuscitation of the African spirit, for it is in the language, culture and worldview that the spirit flourishes.”

The Delano Prize for Yoruba Studies, according to the organisers, not only encourages and welcomes diverse submissions that can (uniquely) contribute to the sustenance of the totality of the Yoruba people, but also, is especially aimed at scholars and young creatives whose endeavours contribute to the understanding and enhancement of (the) Yoruba.

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“At the moment, the Delano Prize for Yoruba Studies is worth $1,000, which will make it one of the most robust prizes for Yoruba Studies and the most prestigious recognition in the world for Yoruba scholarship,” the statement reads.

It further said that submissions will not only open to Yoruba people located in Africa, but to everyone with a shared Yoruba ancestry, as well as scholars of Yoruba Studies.

Key selection criteria include originality, creativity and innovativeness, contribution to Yoruba or Yoruba Studies and or potential to continue to conduct groundbreaking research on the Yoruba.

According to the organisers, submission opens from February 15 to May 30, 2020 while the winner would be announced in December 2020.

“It is our hope that, in so doing, the Delano Prize would be a solid and remarkable platform for the promotion and further development of Yoruba, in continuation of Isaac Delano’s legacy.’’

The Delano Prize for Yoruba Studies supervisory board comprises Dr Bola Dauda as chair, Chief Akinwande Delano, Professor Bola Sotunsa, Dr. Michael O. Afolayan and Dr. Olajumoke Jacob-Haliso.

 

Our Reporter

 

The Kogi State Universal Basic Education Board (KSUBEB) is partnering United Kingdom (UK) not-for-profit, Universal Learning Solutions, to eradicate illiteracy in public primary schools through teacher training.

The partnership has enabled the training of about 980 primary 1 teachers from all Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state in the use of Jolly Phonics, an interactive teaching tool that uses the synthetic phonics literacy teaching methodology

This training was facilitated with funding provided by Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) under the 2016 Teachers Professional Development Programme (TPD).

Another 750 Primary 2 teachers and 21 officials have also received further Jolly Phonics training to help sustain the implementation of the programme. The training held in Lokoja, Kabba, Ayingba, Nagazi, and Idah penultimate week.

Read Also: Niger SUBEB spends N404m on training

 

Dr Louise Gittins, Projects Director at Universal Learning Solutions, thanked the Executive Chairman of Kogi SUBEB, Alhaji Abdullahi Ndalayi, for his continued support and commitment to the project, noting that the chairman’s motto; “If there is  anything we should achieve, it should be that every pupil in our public primary schools is able to read and write in English before leaving primary school,” is very apt.

Chief Executive Officer of Universal Learning Solutions, Mr Gary Foxcroft, praised UBEC for recognising the veracity of Jolly Phonics and adopting it in government schools across Nigeria.

“UBEC has really recognised the tremendous impact that Jolly Phonics has been having on literacy levels in Nigeria’s government schools and has taken it on as one of their flagship programmes”.

He also congratulated the new teachers benefiting from the training and urged them to ensure that they teach the pupils consistently, using the skills gained from the training.

Jolly Learning Limited, publishers of Jolly Phonics through Universal Learning Solutions, donated pupils and teachers’ resources worth over N110m to Kogi SUBEB before the commencement of the project in Kogi State in 2017.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

 

It was thanksgiving and merrymaking for the 70-74 set of the Methodist Boys High School (MBHS), Lagos as they celebrated the 50th anniversary of admission into the school.

The anniversary featured a thanksgiving service and reception/awards on the school’s premises on Sinari Daranjo Street, Victoria Island.

Beyond the variety of food and drinks and music dished out by the Police Band, for the 70-74 set it was an opportunity to give back to teachers and pupils of the school.

Old boy and former principal of the school, Sir Oluwarani Olusoga Soewu, was one of six teachers honoured at the event.

His old age and being wheel-chair bound did not deter him from attending the event.  The 81-year-old was praised for his contribution to the school’s growth between 1965 and 1980 he served in the school – first as a Physics teacher (1965-1979) and then as a principal.

Other teachers honoured were Technical Drawing teacher, Mr. Onabowale Adewale; Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Tinuade Gbadamosi; Mathematics teacher, Oriola Olanrewaju; Late Mrs Omolabake Latunde-Dada; and the late wife of Chairman, Elizade Nigeria, Mrs. Elizabeth Wuraola Ojo.

Five indigent pupils were also presented with educational support grants of N100,000 at the event.  Olawale Odunfa, Adeyemi Joshua, and Joseph Iwara were among the five.

For the celebrators, the day was perfect, the disappointing performance of the generator serving the hall regardless.

Back in their school days, MBHS was located on a cramped piece of land on Broad Street, Lagos Island.  Nonetheless, it held fond memories for them as young boys.

Read Also: Bendel schools reunion founder visits Nigeria

 

Now mostly retirees, many said they still lived by the school’s motto, Non Sibi Sed Allis, which means “Not for himself but for others”.

Chairman, organising committee for the anniversary, Squadron Leader Abiodun Martins (retd), said it was nostalgic seeing many of his mates he had not seen in over 40 years.

He said the old boys were also happy at the state of their school, something alumni of many schools cannot boast of.

“It is a lot better than when we were in school.We just had a  tiny piece of land. But now they have many facilities. We used this occasion to give back to the school.  This time, we are focusing on indigent students,” he said.

Another old boy, Mr. Lanre Uthman, said the old boys had invested a lot to make the school what it is today.

“What the old boys are doing for the school is more than what the church is doing. All the old boys, both locally and in the Diaspora, are giving back to the school a lot,” he said.

On his part, Secretary of the Organising Committee, Mr Babatunde Adetula, said they were grateful that many in the set became successful.

“All of us now are something in the world. We are celebrating the fact that God gave us diversity. For this celebration, we had 24 people come from the U.S., UK, Kaduna, Abuja, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Osogbo to show you how diversely God distributed us.

And each and everone of us we all served in various capacities living according to our motto,” said Adetula, who retired as a Director from the Nigerian Copyrights Commission.

 

By Segun Omolayo

 

As we dwell some more on idioms, we must, again, urge writers to beware of errors received from supposedly impeccable mentors, bosses or role models because many errors today are enduring legacies of such lexical avatars.

And idioms are some of their greatest victims. In simple terms, that is how many idioms have evolved and ossified into their widespread distorted forms as we encounter them everywhere we turn.

We will make ourselves clearer still with a bizarre story of aping a supposedly infallible mentor. The fellow involved still insisted after a decade that his boss was right, even when the dictionary proved him wrong – all because his oga had long decreed undisputable errors to be exquisite knowledge.

Any surprise, then, that we have continued to see awkward twists as in the fresh set of idioms discussed below?

Not mince (your) words

That is the full English idiom, which has been freely appropriated, albeit wrongly, in:

Without mincing word, this culture cannot breed patriots in the people.

It is a faulty appropriation to say mincing word. The correct appropriation in the context of the statement is mincing words, not mincing word.

Never mind that the difference between the right and wrong is just the letter s dropped off in the faulty sentence. That small omission is a big difference, because the one with the s is acceptable, while the one without it is unacceptable, and it separates the tutored writer from the intuitive one.

To not mince (your) words is “to say something in a direct way even though it might offend other people” (“Pop” Errors). And here is the correct way to adopt it:

Without mincing WORDS, this culture cannot breed patriots in the people.

Line your (own)/somebody’s pockets

For whatever reasons, maybe inordinate creative liberty or sheer hubris or exhibitionism, some writers still distort this idiom as in the following statement:

Those in power see the positions they occupy as an avenue to enrich their pockets.

When you get too figurative, in the name of creative liberty, especially with idioms, which are themselves inherently figurative, you set up barriers to effective communication, just as you join the entrenchers and perpetuators of errors. “Pop” Errors says: ‘What they do is line their pockets.

The writer’s adaptation is from the idiom line your (own)/somebody’s pockets, which is “to get richer or make somebody richer, especially by taking advantage of a situation or by being dishonest”’ So, here is the correct way to express the all too familiar remark about those in power:

 Those in power see the positions they occupy as an avenue to line their pockets.

Come into its (one’s) own

This one, come into its (one’s) own, looks rather arcane and perhaps too up-market. Then, we had better learn it whole-heartedly once and for all. First, take a hard look at the statement below, in which the idiom has been mutilated beyond recognition:

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God gave us freedom on a platter of gold so that we could come to ours within a few years

According to “Pop” Errors, “Come into our own is God’s design for us.” It therefore asks: “Father forgive them (the mutilators) for they do not know what they do.”

“Pop” Errors’ angst is understandable, because the full idiom so mangled in the statement is: come into its (one’s) own. The book explains that “It is used to describe a situation in which one or something has “become fully effective . . . or recognized” (Oxford Dictionary of English/AmazonKindle, as cited ibid.).

So, come to ours is alien and unacceptable. To convey the message correctly, using the idiom, it must go thus:

God gave us freedom on a platter of gold so that we could come into our own within a few years

See the light of day

Distortions of idioms tend to come in a great variety – in bogus re-configurations, misinterpretations, bombastic misapplications and so on. Such is the variety of distortion in the sentence below:

Many believe that the impeachment move may not see the light of the day.

“Pop” Errors says: ‘It is reports (NOT moves) that usually do not see the light of day. To see the light of day is “to begin to exist or to become publicly known about” (citing Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).

If the message of the writer of the statement is that the impeachment move may not succeed, it is better to say so without using any idiom.

But if he must use an idiom at all cost, something like come to nothing or not come to anything may be more apt. To come to nothing or not come to anything is to be unsuccessful. Effortlessly, but with a greater communication effect, therefore, you could simply say:

‘Many believe that the impeachment move may not come to anything’

At somebody’s bidding

See what has been done to this idiom in the sentence below; hardly does the phrase obey the bidding in the statement bear any relationship with the original idiom from which it has presumably been adapted.

Between 1999 and 2007, it was obvious that only those who did not obey the bidding of the president during that administration were haunted by the anti-graft agencies.

Clearly, the above sentence must be re-constructed, with the proper idiom re-set, particularly to make it sound “educated.” Do somebody’s bidding is the genuine idiom, and for it to suit the sentence at issue, re-construction should run thus:

Between 1999 and 2007, it was obvious that only those who did not do the bidding of the president during that administration were haunted by the anti-graft agencies.

To do somebody’s bidding, is “to obey somebody”. Though the writer gets the sense of the usage right, he distorts the expression itself.

By Olalekan Okunbor

Nigeria’s duo of Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume will return to the track today  at the illustrious Meeting Haut-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Liév  as  the World Athletics Indoor Tour launches a new championship.

Amusan had featured in three Indoor Tour so far this year winning the last one in Berlin and she finished second in others but Ese Brume is competing in her third Indoor having finished second behind Germany’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh in two previous editions.

Amusan will be competing in the 60m hurdles which is one of three point-scoring events on the women’s programme – the others being the 1500m and long jump – and for the Nigerian she faces still competition from world champion Nia Ali of the United States who has an early opportunity to put right the mid-race power failure that allowed Alina Talay of Belarus to beat her in Glasgow as both were credited with 8.03.

Read Also: Tobi Amusan breaks 20-year record to retain title

Talay is not in Liévin but world indoor silver medalist and fellow American Christina Clemons, third in 8.04 at the weekend, and leading the standings from Talay by one point on 24.

In the long jump event, Brume will have to contend with Yaroslava Mahuchikh who won in Glasgow Indoor to earn the overall women’s high jump prize., while her compatriot Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk still needs to dot the I’s and cross the T’s to secure her pre-eminence in the long jump, where she is 18 points clear of Sweden’s Khaddi Sagna on 30.

Committed to ensure that youths in Lagos State received skills that will make them become employable and self-sufficient, the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) has partnered with the United States African Development Foundation (USADF to improve the lots of young people, writes ROBERT EGBE.

 

The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), in partnership with an independent American government agency, the United States African Development Foundation (USADF), is set to improve the lots of young people in Lagos State by providing skills for them to be able to take advantage of the employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in Lagos’ growing economy.

The agencies have agreed to contribute an equal share of $5 million, to pool $10 million over the next five years to ensure that 15,000 youths gain world-class training in selected fields of endeavours, under the “LSETF-USADF Employability Programme.”

On Wednesday, February 12, 2020, representatives from the LSETF and USADF met in Ikeja, Lagos to progress toward the actualisation of this lofty objective with the grant signing ceremony and public presentation to the 11 Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) saddled with the responsibility of implementing the training curricula. The VTCs were selected after successful completion of the due diligence and project development phases of the initiative.

The ceremony was the second step by both agencies to implement their strategies following their signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in May, 2019 in Washington DC.

The highlight of the mutually beneficial 5-year MoU will have both parties fund a Youth-led Enterprise Initiative, aimed at increasing market attractiveness of youths in Lagos to gain access to employment, create more jobs and generate income.

Through the partnership, both parties would provide the equal sum of $2 million annually for the next five years to train 3,000 youths between the ages of 18 and 35, yearly to gain globally competitive employment.

Mrs. Yetunde Arobieke, Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Lagos State, said the Lagos State government is taking deliberate steps to fulfil its promise to our young and productive population with the award of grants to the 11 Vocational Training Centres (VTCs).

“We hope that beyond the total number of youths who will benefit from this programme, many others will be inspired to embrace self-development based on the positive impact of this initiative.

“The expectation from the Lagos State government is high. So, I implore the VTCs, whom we are passing the responsibility for the successful implementation of agreed curricula that will equip our youths with relevant skills, enabling them to hold their own against their peers anywhere in the world to be committed,” she said.

‘With this partnership, we are confident that we would solve significantly the employability challenge that has rendered thousands of our youth unemployable and unable to fend for themselves’

Mr. C.D. Glin, USADF President and Chief Executive Officer said: “It is essential that the investments USADF make in Nigeria, alongside partners such as LSETF, to address youth unemployment prioritise entrepreneurship, job creation and placement, and income generation. “To the VTCs, I urge you to serve as guiding forces and mentors to these youth, impacting them beyond relevant skills as we demonstrate that perseverance, coupled with profitable skills produces great results.

“At USADF, we had always thought of working and bringing solutions to Africa; we found Lagos State already set and we can match and build on that momentum. We are taking the lead, guidance and operations of LSETF on how to further create entrepreneurship and employment opportunities.

“We also believe that partnership is about shared sacrifices and commitment, which we have entered with LSETF for the next five years.”

The Chairman, Board of Trustees, LSETF Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru said: “I thank the USADF for the confidence they repose in this strategic programme designed to tackle unemployment head on. This collaboration of both agencies indicates our common line of action, which is to create employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.

“Indeed, with this partnership, we are confident that we would solve significantly the employability challenge that has rendered thousands of our youth unemployable and unable to fend for themselves.”

The Acting Executive Secretary, LSETF, Mrs. Teju Abisoye, also echoed the same level of confidence about the success and impact of the initiative.

“This collaboration between both agencies is anchored on our shared commitment to creating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people. We are, indeed, confident that we would solve the employability challenge significantly. So, it goes without saying that our efforts and interventions will inevitably impact positively in the area of productivity on our local economy in Lagos and the Nigerian economy in general,” she said.

“I reiterate that the LSETF Board of Trustees, in providing oversight for the Fund will ensure strict adherence to our obligations and ensure that we provide the governance and accountability required for the sustainability of the programme”, a member of the LSETF BoT told The Nation.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs. Boladele Dapo- Thomas thanked the Lagos State government, the Ministry of Wealth Creation, the leadership of Lagos State Employment Summit and the Employability team for accepting the responsibility to tackle unemployment through a public-private partnership.

“I thank the Lagos State government for accepting the responsibility of providing the matching funds for this programme. Five million dollars is a significant amount of money to commit to project that supports combating youth unemployment. I want to thank the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment for its support and oversight of the Fund.

“Also, I salute the Employability Team at the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, led by Seyi Ladejobi.

The 11 awarded VTCs selected through a rigorous and diligent process include; Field of Skills and Dreams Academy, Intermarc Consulting, LoftyInc Allied Partners Limited, Decke Vocational Academy Limited, HoneyTreat Trade Academy, Mods Salon/Body Refinement Limited, House of Tara International, Universal Learn Direct Academy (UDLA), AGDC Employability and Enterprise Limited, OSC College of Fashion, and Jenniez School of African Interior Design.

Field of Skills and Dreams VTE Academy is a people-oriented initiative providing practical, vocational and entrepreneurship training to thousands of Nigerians to ensure their economic empowerment through hands-on training programmes. Courses under FSD include Domestic installations and Maintenance courses, Carpentry and Joinery, Textile and Fashion design and Hotel and Catering management, among others.

Intermac Consulting Limited is a financially inclusive ecosystem that promotes all the universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); providing tailor-made technical assistance to strengthen the stability of the financial system.

LoftyInc Allied Partners Limited is an enterprise development company that develops start-up teams, manages innovation programmes and facilitates impact projects in West Central Africa. LoftyInc’s work cuts across infrastructure, energy and social impact sectors (education, health care and agriculture).

Decke Academy is an organisation that provides excellent services to trainees and trainers, employers and employees, and offers corporate SME training to government and private sectors across an array of departments to meet the needs of today’s workplace. Courses offered include 2D and 3D design, Masonry, Photography, Interior Decoration, Maternal and Child Health, among others.

Honeytreat Trade Academy is a private vocational training institute in construction trade. It helps the youth, existing construction trade workers and artisans acquire perfect skills, competence, and certification in their various trades for better economic benefit.

House of Tara is a pioneer in the beauty and makeup industry in Nigeria and Africa as a whole and a trailblazer in the areas of retail, distribution channel management and education.

Mods Salon/Body Refinement Limited is a natural hair and skin-care treatment centre, with a specialty in treatment and styling of natural hair.

Universal Learn Direct Academia is a foremost building and construction trade institute providing courses which include masonry, construction, carpentry, domestic plumbing, domestic electrical, steel fixing and site supervision.

AGDC Employability and Enterprise Limited is a social enterprise set up as a Career Centre to create opportunities that give people access to a continuum of programmes and services designed to develop their competencies, employment skills and career awareness.

OSC College of Fashion is a fashion training school in Lagos, teaching pattern drafting, garment construction and sewing skills with international affiliations with globally recognised fashion schools.

Jenniez School of African Interior Design (JSAID) offers a unique and creative approach to design while incorporating conceptualisation, practical and business skills required to work in any interior design or decoration business.

LSETF, which was set up by the Lagos State Government in March, 2016, is mandated to tackle unemployment and promote job creation, entrepreneurship and skills development. To achieve its mandate, the Fund developed three core programmes as follows:

The Loan Programme which provides access to affordable funding for micro, small and medium-scale entrepreneurs. The loans programme does not require collateral from applicants. LSETF has already disbursed about N7.30 billion to 11,249 beneficiaries, who have, in turn, created nearly 100,000 jobs in their businesses as at December, 2019.

The Fund also partnered Access Bank PLC to launch LSETF-W-Initiative, a N10 billion fund dedicated to women-led enterprises.

Employability Programme was designed to provide young people with competitive skills through training and employment opportunity for trainees through partnerships with prospective employers. The LSETF partners the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to create 5,463 jobs out of which 2,689 have been successfully placed in jobs or self-employed.

Lagos Innovates was set up to provide a digital-enabled environment, infrastructure, funding and mentorship support to founders and start-ups, thereby sustaining Lagos’ status as Africa’s most vibrant tech hub. As part of this programme, the Fund has given out 127 workspace vouchers to start-ups and a loan to a Hub Operator as support to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the tech ecosystem.

All these activities are targeted at Lagos residents irrespective of gender, religion or ethnicity with a commitment to ensure at least 50 per cent of the beneficiaries are women.

From Yusufu Idegu, Jos

Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong has inaugurated the Plateau State Justice Sector Reform Team to drive and monitor the implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law signed into law in 2018.

Lalong said the smooth and effective dispensation of justice to the people is an important aspect of his government’s vision which believes in the rule of law.

He said: “Establishment of the Justice Sector Reform Team in the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Plateau State will address some of the vexed problems facing the Criminal Justice Sector. These problems, such as delay in the prosecution of cases, occasioned by the antics of defence counsels who often seek frivolous adjournments, stay of proceedings and interlocutory appeals to frustrate speedy trials, will be eliminated”.

The governor hoped that congestion within the Correctional Service facilities will also be curtailed. He urged the team to make the dispensation of justice seamless so that people will have no reason to resort to self-help or lose confidence in the courts.

Read Also: Lalong, SAN, others endorse community policing

Chief Judge Justice Justice Yakubu Dakwak, who chairs the team, said implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law has come up with solutions to most of the loopholes in the procedural laws, by entrenching provisions that limit the number and frequency of adjournments that may be granted in criminal trials, as well as abolishing the grant of stay of proceedings while interlocutory appeals are being pursued.

He appealed to members of the Team to use their positions as representatives of various frontline agencies to promote the dispensation of justice.

The first part of this interview was published last Sunday

 

You are referring to the issue of using security vote to pay salaries?

No! no! no!  It goes beyond that. Just like President Muhammadu Buhari asked the state governors: for those of you state governors owing workers their salaries, how do you sleep when you and your family members in Government House are well fed and you are aware that you have not paid your workers, who have family dependants, their salaries for as long as one year?

What was their response? Did they release funds? Did they simply play left-right wing politics with it? The right wing leader will say I will rather pay a contractor two billion naira contract debt instead of paying thirty thousand naira salary. So he chooses to owe salaries. That in itself is a statement of his values. So, what Hope has just done is to say between all the exigencies which the security vote represents, I think that in terms of priority, I cannot this month allow these people to accept the reality of taking 70 percent of a salary, which in the first instance is arguable if it can take the people home. At a time people are agitating for salary increment, implementation of new minimum wage and other adjustments, you find that even the old salary only 70 percent of it was being paid every month both by the former governor and the immediate one that Hope has replaced. It is about values. I do argue and it is a fact that government is about management of a set of biases. Governance is not value free; it is value driven. It is about bias. You consciously settle for policy choices which will favour a certain class of people and some other person, to that extent, will pay for the consequences of that policy. So, there are winners and losers. Who you seek to win as the outcome of that policy is a reflection of your values. For example when I was governor of Edo State, I consciously told the people that I will focus on my infrastructural project, particularly the urban renewal policy on the most deprived area of Benin City, not the so-called Government Reserved Area, where one person occupy an acre of land. I cannot recall constructing any major road in the GRA. I concentrated on the high density areas where about 20 people occupy a five bedroom building. All the street lights that I introduced in Benin, I did not put one in GRA. It’s a matter of priority. May be if I were to be governor forever I may come back to the GRA but knowing that I had only eight years I had to ask myself, who do I favour. I chose to favour the downtrodden.  I did the same in the choice of things we imposed taxes on. It reflected my bias.

I had this conversation with someone who said the present government of Lagos State should tar roads in Ikoyi Area since the people there pay higher tax, but I told him that it is the commoners that work for them, who are more in number, that actually need more roads in Mushin. So, it is actually a matter of values

Yes, it is all about values. But there is also what is called rewarding your shareholders. Who voted? The vote from Mushin if they are happy will far outweigh that of Ikoyi. So, a smart governor will take care of the area the votes are coming from. If you plant a flower, soon you will find out that it would bend towards the area the sunlight is coming. Governance is about bias but not in terms of Nigerian destructive primordial sentiments. Here we leave class issues and emphasise North, South, West, East, Christian, Muslim sentiments. These are the biases that Nigerians talk about, but the real bias, the class bias, is what excites me. My pain today is that our political conversations do not cover issues like this. When the northerners speak, you will think that the North is a class; when the South-west speaks, you will think that Southwest is a class. But within the Southwest, there are oppressors and there are huge army of the poor, deprived hungry people. When Ohanaeze speaks, you can see that it is not speaking for the forgotten, hungry, deprived man pushing wheelbarrow in Onitsha main market. You see the real Igbo oppressor oppressing fellow Igbo. When you get to what I call the new majority, the coalition of all minority groups, in each state within these minorities, some are more minor than others. But the political elites, whether cleverly or thoughtlessly, refuse to put these issues on the table. That is why, increasingly, the contestations centre around primordial sentiments which, as far as I am concerned, are dysfunctional.

Your counterpart in PDP, Uche Secondus and others went to the embassies of the United Kingdom and the United States to ask President Buhari to resign and for them to intervene by advising our president to govern properly. What do you think they want to achieve by that?

Well, they are yet to overcome the inferiority complex of people who were born in a former colony, the colonial mentality. Secondus still sees the British as the supervisor of Nigeria; the same thing for the Americans. That is the only reason he would run to them and say please my supervisor come and intervene. There is no better time for them to have done self- examination if they have the challenges we do have.  First, they are the least competent people to talk about whether we have a biased judiciary because they laid the foundation for all the challenges we are facing today as I explained to you earlier here concerning Supreme Court ruling in the past which awarded three oil-producing states to PDP. And it is the same PDP talking about one state that they didn’t even win and I have not seen any of them and their hired commentators and writers dismissing the argument that Ihedioha did not score one-quarter of the votes cast in up to two-third of the local governments. It is so obvious that it was a fraud on the part of INEC, a fraud sustained by the tribunal, a fraud upheld through a split judgment by the Court of Appeal and that mischief was corrected by the Supreme Court.

But people feel that the election was rigged and that as it stands now it seems it is the person that rigged more cleverly that wins finally?

As they say, once a matter goes to court, the burden of the judge is to make pronouncement on the bases of the facts before him rather than on all the facts relevant to the matter.

The only area that worries me is when I see tension between facts and law. For example, it was for me so irritating that so much time was expended arguing whether or not President Buhari had a secondary school certificate and you spent huge tax payers’ money to inquire into the case up to the Supreme Court.  What I believe should be of interest to an average Nigerian is whether Buhari won majority of the lawful votes cast. There is also the issue of how the president’s name is spelt. Do you think in a serious democracy a judicial system, the court will tolerate wasting its time; not that there is another candidate that came out to say I am the one that was voted for, my name is Muhamadu not Mohammed. Is it not clear that the main issue here is who won the election? So this matter can only come up if another candidate had said there is a case of impersonation, I am the person that won the election. But there is no such case. Why will our judicial system waste such valuable time, subjecting judges to go into irrelevant authorities to ascertain whether Muhammadu and Muhammad mean the same thing or in my case whether Aliu or Aliyu meant the same thing? The real issue is who won this election? There are many things that need to be eliminated in our judicial system so that our judicial officers are not over worked unnecessarily.

That was like what happened when somebody went to court in Bayelsa State over someone’s title. Is like the name of our National leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, (sorry I have to give a name, but I am sure he will understand). If our leader, for example, fills INEC form and say “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” and then another time he just writes “Bola Ahmed Tinubu” and then someone goes to court and say no, these are two different people. That was the kind of case we had in Bayelsa; that the man’s traditional title, which he added subsequently to his name; they now said that he was not bearing this name before he became a title holder because it sounded as if it was part of his name. Most people who do not know our national leader before, say people that are 10 years or 15 years old may actually think that his name is Asiwaju; in fact, most people just call him Asiwaju. This was what happened in Bayelsa and a court of law, presided over by people who know the truth, will be citing authorities relevant and irrelevant. Those are the kind of things I think the court should eliminate. The main issue should be who won the election not certificates or how a name was spelt. In history, the real great statesmen, were they professors? Leadership ability is different from intellectual paper qualification.

We have two contrasting stories; we have Kogi and we have Bayelsa. People believe that APC won Bayelsa but people are still asking questions about Kogi. You attended the inauguration of Kogi State governor for a second term, can APC explain what made the people to vote for a man who owed salaries for so many months and used intimidation mainly to win the election.

 

The issue of Bayelsa, I am happy you acknowledged it. Actually, that is the one that should have bothered people more. But there is something important about Bayelsa election that should have been amplified and celebrated; may be two or three issues. The first is that for the first time since 1999 an election was held in Bayelsa without a single gunshot fired. So, it is possible for someone to win and lose election in Bayelsa without gunshot; without anybody being hospitalised.

But Governor Dickson talked about someone being hospitalised, he accused APC of being involved in violence

Forget about Dickson. What do you expect from someone that lost? The only violence that was recorded, to the best of knowledge, was an intra-PDP fighting two or three days before the election. But you know Dickson could not overcome the pain of defeat. He has to learn to live with it. Number two, it was for me of interest that if you are familiar about the forces that control the politics of the state, it was more of a humble man against a less humble. It showed that the electorates can shift their allegiance from the party to the individual. It also shows a clear improvement to political awareness and a clear signal to politicians that a political party may be favoured in a state but if it fields a candidate that is not acceptable and the other party fields a candidate that is has more electoral appeal to the majority of the common people, that the ruling party may suffer a humiliating defeat. That was what happened in Bayelsa.  Those votes clearly were cross-party divide. For me, there were very positive interesting lesson to learn and to humble every political office holder. That yes, you may be the executive governor, but execute with wisdom because there is a rainy day and don’t yet laugh at the crocodile because you don’t know where the next river is. That is what happened in Bayelsa.

Now, I am surprised you said people thought we would not have won Kogi because the governor was not paying salaries. First, that is not correct. The governor, like most of the governors, had huge challenges in paying salaries. But to start with, he inherited a state that owed more than one and half years salaries as at the time he took over from the PDP government. Captain Wada owed his workers and it was Wada that was succeeded by Yahaya Bello. But the fact that he inherited that debt does not mean he does not carry the pain to inherit the liability.

But he didn’t do anything to improve it.  

Now, that was at the beginning. You must bring your narrative to a conclusion.  By the time the election took place the governor had managed to source resources to clear up all the salary arrears, such that he even paid the salaries of the month before the month ended. So, he has put the issue of salary payment behind him. But let me ask you, how did Governor Ortom, my dear PDP friend from Benue win re-election in the face of owing more than nine months’ salary arrears? And I can point out a number of states where the governors owe salaries and surprisingly even workers voted for them. One governor that if salary payment would give him perpetual tenure is the one they call Mr Alert. He is the Plateau State governor. Though he inherited arrears of unpaid salaries from his predecessor, Jang, he not only cleared the arrears but also restored the culture of paying salaries promptly before the end of the month and today Plateau people know him as Mr Alert. Otherwise, many state governors got re-elected in spite of salary payment burden. You see, this thing you call propaganda; some governors are good at polishing the same old plate and you call them gold while others are just being misrepresented. Yahaya was not favoured by the media. I am not saying everything was perfect but if you just study the media narrative, you will want to bye-pass Kogi but that is not true. He has for example paid January salaries and January salaries are the most difficult. Don’t ask me how I know. I was a worker. The major people that voted for him were workers who are praying that what happened to the state during Wada’s tenure will never happen again.

But people are saying that so many things went wrong and that APC government in the centre simply gave him money to win the election. But there were real violence in the election, especially the burning down of that woman Salome, without the government showing enough empathy even in the media. They said that was emblematic of the violence in the election and how he won.

Really, I don’t want to say so much about an issue I do not have all the facts but what I can say is that the situation in Kogi was not exactly the way it was reported.   For example, we had primaries there and it is one of those few states where after the primaries those who lost put it behind them after we had engaged them and they all worked with the governor without exception. All of that helped. Of course there are other undercurrents. You do not make one-sided analysis in order to have a clear picture of everything. You are only looking at the media perception, which, with respect I believe was substantially exaggerated in the case of Kogi. But what you may not know or you have probably not adverted your mind to is the fact that the main opposition, PDP, had its own internal challenges that the candidate that was declared rigged the election and that the favoured candidate was rigged out. If I tell you the story of how that rigging was done, it was so crude that you will agree that, even by the devil’s standard, it was crude. The result was that the leader of a well-established political family Idris Ibrahim said he had retired from politics, which means that he would not put his huge electoral value for PDP. Of course you can see that as a result of that, not a few electorates will refuse to vote for PDP because they felt offended that PDP imposed an unwanted candidate on them. If you take that into account and recognise that choice is not absolute, it is relative. It is comparing one thing to another. So, whatever that was the challenge of APC, the PDP had much more. Two, the people asked themselves what they actually got under the previous PDP government of Captain Wada. They cannot find it. So, you will need a holistic view to really analyse the Kogi matter. PDP was also substantially weak because of the way it handled its primary election.

By David Adenuga Bauchi

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF)  in collaboration with the European Union (EU) has renovated 40 dilapidated health care facilities in rural communities in Bauchi state.

Speaking at the handing-over ceremony of one of the health care centres in Lere community of Tafawa Balewa Local Government area , the Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Field Office, Bauchi, Mr. Bhanu Pathak, disclosed that his agency spent N40million in the renovation and upgrading of the centre.

Pathank added that UNICEF/EU   is spending $200, 000 (N73m) annually in Bauchi state in improving healthcare services to the people.

He assured the state government and the beneficiaries that UNICEF will deliver other equipment and clinical facilities to the health facility latest by June/July this year.

According to him, UNICEF is not only rehabilitating health facilities in the state, but also in collaboration with other partners supportive to medical supplies, noting that dearth of personnel is the major challenge of health facilities in the state.

The Executive Chairman of the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (SPHCDA), Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, revealed that Governor Bala Mohammed has approved  N10m each for the control of Lassa Fever, and routine immunisation exercise scheduled to commence  Saturday across the state.

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He explained that UNICEF has initially penciled down 162 PHCs for renovation but was reviewed to 107, out of which 40 have so far been renovated and handed over to the state government.

The district head of Lere, Alhaji Sule Mohammed,  appealed for renovation of the facility staff quarters to allow for  24 -hour service.

He also called for provision of electricity to the facility, saying they are temporarily using torchlight, candles or even handsets to offer services to patients at night.