The Nation Newspaper

Category: Uncategorized

  • Oshiomhole advocates judicious use of Ecological Fund

    Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday urged the Federal Government to make judicious use of the National Ecological Fund in the management and control of flooding across the country.

    The governor spoke yesterday while hosting the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Sani Sidi, who was in the state to appraise the damage done by floods in Etsako Central, Etsako East and Esan Southeast local government areas.

    He said the state government would collaborate with NEMA to provide a solution.

    Oshiomhole said the floods, caused by the overflow of the River Niger, are getting worse.

    He said: “We appear helpless and the Federal Government ought to do more than it has done. The situation calls for a more drastic response. The state government is doing all it can by providing relief materials, as well as deploying doctors and nurses to treat the victims.

    “We need to act fast because this is a national calamity. There are long term implications, as farm lands have been destroyed and domestic animals killed.”

    Sidi commiserated with the government and residents on their losses.

    He said: “Disaster occurrences and the number of people affected by them have risen significantly in recent years as a result of the impact of climate change and increased human activities. Similarly, economic losses from disasters, both natural and man-made, have escalated.

    “Nigeria is not immune to the negative impact of these developments. The wide-spread flooding, which occurred in 23 states of the federation in 2010, are a pointer to the growing intensity of climate change-related disasters.

    “This phenomenon got more intense last year and has become very alarming this year, as all rivers in the country have overflowed their banks. Many communities and local governments from Lokoja, Kogi, through Etsako West in Edo State down to Biase in Cross River State are presently under water.

    “As the rainy season peaks, we must prepare for more floods, because the weather has become unpredictable and extreme conditions, such as excessive rainfall, severe windstorm, heat wave and drought, have become more frequent with adverse effect on the economy, environment, agricultural production and food security.”

  • PPA seeks speedy trial of Kalu

    The National Chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Chief Ken Gbalokoma, has urged the Abuja High Court to expedite the trial of former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu for alleged corruption.

    In a statement yesterday in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, Gbalokoma said the “lackluster prosecution” of Kalu by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) gave the former governor the guts to join the presidential contest.

    He said: “If the EFCC had diligently prosecuted him, Kalu would have been in jail now, rather than on the soap box canvassing for votes. It is regretful that Kalu is taking Nigerians for granted by seeking to occupy the highest office in the land, despite the fact that he knows he has tainted credentials.

    “Despite plunging Abia State into a N27.3 billion debt, the former governor is currently seeking to be placed on a special monthly income from the state’s treasury.

    “I urge the Chief Justice of the Federation to prevail on the Abuja High Court trying Kalu to expedite the trial, so that Kalu would be sent to jail where he truly belongs to save the nation from further embarrassment.”

    Gbalokoma urged Nigerians to disregard Kalu, who he described as a “spare parts mentality politician”. He said there was no space in the PPA for Kalu.

  • Red Cross evacuates 200 flood victims in Asaba

    THE Nigeria Red Cross Society in Delta State has relocated over 200 flood victims to a temporary camp in Asaba.

    Secretary of the organisation Mr. Francis Agarivbie spoke with reporters yesterday in Asaba.

    Agarivbie said the evacuation was done in collaboration with the state government.

    He said some of the evacuated persons had been given mattresses and blankets.

    Over 1,000 buildings were last Monday destroyed by flood in Oshimili South Local Government Area.

    Agarivbie praised the state government for its timely intervention and appealed for the provision of speed boats to facilitate rescue operations.

    He said many people are still trapped in the flooded communities.

    The Red Cross scribe urged the state government to set up a clinic at the camp.

    He urged donor agencies, individuals and corporate organisations to assist the victims.

    Some of the victims said they lost everything to the flood and urged the state government to assist them.

    Mr. Philip Ukadike said: “It is not easy to lose all you have laboured for in life. I am appealing to the government to help us get back on our feet. We need relief materials, so that we can start all over again.”

  • SGF reopens debate on State of Osun

    CONTROVERSY over the name change by the Osun State Government raged on yesterday.

    Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Senator Anyim Pius Anyim said the adoption of the name “State of Osun” by the government is unconstitutional.

    Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who proposed the name for the Living Spring State, argued there was nothing unconstitutional in what his administration did.

    According to him, there is no section in the constitution that stipulates how the component states making up the country should be addressed.

    The constitution, he said, clearly specifies that Nigeria shall consist of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Aregbesola said the Statute Book is silent on where to put the state.

    Anyim’s comment was made during a courtesy/advocacy visit by the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora, when a member of the Committee, Ajiboye Famurewa, introduced himself as a lawmaker from “ the State of Osun.”

    “That is unconstitutional,” Anyim said, throwing the visiting lawmakers into laughter.

    The SGF went on: “Let me also say that, even though in a lighter mood, that the State of Osun issue should be a serious matter. And for me, it is a very serious matter.

    “We should not trivialise issues regarding our nationhood. More particularly as it could be interpreted anyhow to affect the unity of the country.

    “The constitutional name for each state should be upheld, more particularly by parliamentarians. Ordinary local politicians can try to politick with it, but not those of you who are to keep the country in shape and in firm stand.”

  • Stay away from Lagos, ACN warns criminals

    The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has warned criminals to steer clear of the state.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, ACN warned criminals that there is no room for them to operate in the state.

    The government, Igbokwe said, was committed to total policing of the state to safeguard lives and properties of residents.

    With the heavy investment the government has made on security, there is no hiding place for criminals in the mega city, he said, adding: “We note that it is natural that the nature of Lagos as Nigeria’s commercial capital and its most productive state has given fillip to criminal prospecting for an ideal state to perpetrate their noxious acts.”

    “We note that armed robbers, kidnappers, 419ers, ritual killers, petty thieves and all manners of criminals are hoping to tap into the expanding economic potentials of Lagos, but we want to warn them that the Lagos State Government is ready for them and will ensure that the state retains the relative peace it had been enjoying in recent times.”

  • Floods hit Adasu, Ogbeh, Aondoakaa, others hard

    The floods ravaging communities in Benue State as a result of the release of excess water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon is about to submerge a substantial part of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital.

    It was learnt that electricity transformers and the maintenance block in the teaching hospital have been submerged.

    It was also discovered that prominent indigenes of the state have lost property estimated at millions of Naira.

    At the hospital, Benue State Health and Human Services Commissioner, Dr. Orduen Abunku, said the facility was threatened by the floods which had scaled the fence and submerged some buildings.

    He said the transformers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) have been affected and that the hospital now relies on two generators for electricity supply.

    Prominent Benue indigenes, including former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Audu Ogbeh, former Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Mike Aondoakaa and the former Governor of the state, the late Rev-Fr. Moses Adasu, lost property estimated at millions of Naira.

    The late Adasu’s Covenant Clergy Retirement Home on the Beach Road and Covenant Projects Company on the Makurdi-Gboko Road were submerged.

    The floods also overran Ogbeh’s Makurdi home.

    Hundreds of bags of rice which Aondoakaa stocked in two warehouses on Ogbeh’s premises as raw materials for the Miva Rice Factory, have been destroyed.

  • PDP has run out of ideas, says ACN

    PDP has run out of ideas, says ACN

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has  called on Nigerians to brace up for tougher times ahead as  the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government has run out of ideas.

    In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said rather than address the  issues raised in its  criticisms  of the government’s  inept handling of the multiple tragedies and calamities the country is currently reeling under, the PDP has characteristically embarked on a flight of fancy and daylight hallucination.

    “ To accuse the Action Congress of Nigeria of politicising national disasters and calamities when it only criticised  President Jonathan’s lack of capacity, pro-activeness, and  co-ordinated response to these natural calamities and disasters depicts the paucity of the thought process of the party-led Federal Government, “the party said.

    The party said:“How can the attempt to draw the attention of Nigerians to the inept handling of the problems confronting the country be disparaged as attention seeking? How long did it take for any minister or high ranking government official to visit the scene of the flooding for  an on-the-spot assessment? Why would a President, just 15 minutes  away from the scene of the worst flooding  ever witnessed  in the country fail to visit for  immediate assessment? How many days after the disaster did it take the Federal Government to belatedly  take any action? Where are the concrete adaptation and mitigation measures  to prevent a future occurrence of  this disaster if it occurs elsewhere in the country tomorrow?

    “In other saner  climes  where a capable President and not a trainee President is in charge , the President would have made a stop over with pronouncements about support,relief materials and expression of sympathy for  the victims, the party explained.

    “While conceding that flooding is a global phenomenon,  it is quite unfortunate,  however, that  despite the huge sums the country has expended on attending international conferences on the impact of climate change, the Federal Government has been unable to come up with  concrete adaptation and mitigation measures to avert these disasters or respond in a co-ordinated, timely and robust manner whenever or wherever they  may occur, the party said.

    “The Peoples Democratic Party’s response is nothing but a recklessly rabid disposition to repel at all times any criticism no matter how constructive . We are not even sure whether PDP’s National Publicity Secretary Olisa Metuh and his ilk read or understood the whole point made in our statement which is that  only an incompetent and trainee government could have gotten Nigeria into the present mess ,the party concluded.

  • Fayemi: We’ll commission 10 roads, 100 schools in October

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has said 10 roads and over 100 renovated schools would be commissioned in October.

    Fayemi spoke on Wednesday on his monthly media chat, “Meet Your Governor”, which was aired on all radio and television stations in the state.

    The projects are to be inaugurated as part of activities marking the second anniversary of Fayemi.

    He said all the public schools undergoing renovation under Operation Renovate All Schools in Ekiti (ORASE) would be ready by October 2, when students resume.

    Fayemi said: “I am amazed at the pace of work going on in the schools and this speaks volumes to our commitment to revamp education and ensure that learning takes place under a conducive environment.

    “I have been receiving messages on the work we are doing in our schools. Our people are elated, they are happy and appreciate good things that are happening in the schools.

    “ANCOPSS, Old Students of Ekiti Parapo College and various communities have written to me to appreciate what we have done some of them pointing out that some of those schools have not been touched for over 40 years now.”

    Fayemi accused the local government workers’ union leaders of being used by politicians.

    He said: “We are carrying out a staff audit at the local government level to know who is the authentic local government worker. Do we continue to pay those who are not supposed to be in the system?

    “That exercise has been completed by the Local Government Service Commission and the report has been submitted to me.

    “I want the local government workers to return to work and I have assured workers that the genuine ones will receive arrears to the point of when it was supposed to have been paid.

    “The leadership of NULGE must withdraw the allegation (of illegal deduction of council funds) and they cannot do that by subterfuge and when they do that, we will go back to the negotiation table. I have my name and integrity to protect and I want them to be intact after I might have left office.”

  • Wait for Ojukwu’s Will, ex-Ikemba aide tells feuding family members

    A former aide of the late Igbo leader Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu yesterday cautioned the family against feuding over his property.

    Sir Azuka Okwuosa asked them to wait for the late Ezeigbo’s Will to be read or incur the wrath of Ndigbo.

    Okwuosa was supported by the late Ojukwu to become Nnewi North Local government chairman in 1994. He remained Ojukwu’s right hand man until his death.

    One of the grandsons of the late Sir Louis Ojukwu, (father of the late Ikemba) Dr. Ike Ojukwu, had reportedly accused the late Ikemba’s wife Bianca, of coming to take away her husband’s property.

    Okwuosa said the oracle of Nnewi would rise against anybody that insults the late Mrs Ojukwu over her husband’s estate.

    Okwuosa said Dr. Ike Ojukwu has no right to talk about the family, being a member of what he called the third generation in the family, when his father Prof Joseph Ojukwu is still alive.

    “I found what the young man is trying to do nauseating. It is to tarnish the name of the family and the reputation the family and the late Ikemba built for many years.

    “We expect the elders from both the family and community to call him to order; he should watch his utterances, we are not opposed to having issues in the family but where I will take exception is where Ojukwu’s name is being rubbished.

    “Dr. Ojukwu’s father is in a better position to call him to order. He claims that Emeka Ojukwu (Jnr) is in support of what he is doing, Emeka is an adult who can speak for himself. He should stop dropping names.

    “I want to believe that Ike Ojukwu was quoted out of context but if not, he is far from the truth on the issue of property. He is talking about five properties out of over 38”.

    “The late Ikemba Nnewi was instrumental to the recovery of those properties including that on 29 Queens Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos which was abandoned until he came back from exile in Ivory Coast, through the instrumentality of his lawyer, the late Chief Rotimi Williams (SAN)

    “During that period, none of these uncles came around and also during the removal of mourning cloth after six months by the family, none of these uncles was in attendance, some people have desecrated the land and it is a taboo in Igbo land to give quit notice to a widow.

    “Bianca has not finished mourning the husband. I found everything absurd, the family should go into sober reflection, they should wait for the will to be released, anybody who insults Ojukwu’s widow, Ndigbo will not take it lightly with him,” Okwuosa warned.

  • CPC to Jonathan: Maku ‘ll destroy your administration

    The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) yesterday advised President Goodluck Jonathan to be wary of his Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku lest he destroys his government.

    CPC was reacting to Maku’s recent comment that National Assembly’s resolutions were not binding on the executive.

    The party said the minister is in the league of: “talkative Information ministers” that have used the position as platform for self aggrandisement.

    According to a statement in Abuja by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Fashakin, CPC said Maku seems to have “penchant for stifling divergent opinions from the government he serves and invariably, his political party. It smacks of immaturity and political rascality for an appointed public official like himself to crudely lampoon elected representatives of the people, be it at the state or Federal level, just for the purpose of showing fawning sub-servience to his benefactor. Who does not know that the Senate resolution on the proposed currency restructuring was closer, than the Federal Government’s position, to the people?”

    The statement reads: “The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has noted the apology to the Senate by the Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, on his disparaging comment to the Upper Legislative house resolution on the introduction of the N5,000 currency by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Quite aptly, Senate President David Mark had referred to Mr Labaran Maku as characteristically careless in speech.

    “As a party, we have noted the trajectory of Mr Maku’s performance as a minister and quite convinced that he, being caught in self-denial of his past radical posturing, is desperately in search of an identity. It seems to us that his current demeanour is informed by the expediency of retaining his ministerial portfolio as against the far more important conscience-based position on the national discourse. In January, Mr. Maku had dismissed Nigerians’ aversion to the removal of the fuel subsidy by declaring that the removal was long overdue” and should have been done by previous regime. President Jonathan should be careful of this minister if he wants to have a safe landing.

    “This was dialectically opposed to his position as President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the University of Jos , when he stoutly opposed the subsisting government’s decision to remove oil subsidy and invariably increase the petrol pump price, by declaring the move as “a crime against the Nigerian masses and a war against the poor.”