The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Acting President

  • Insecurity: NEC sets up panel to decentralize Police operation 

    …Nigeria dealing with abnormal security challenges – NSA

     

    The National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday set up a committee towards decentralizing the operations of the Nigerian Police Force.

    This was disclosed by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno at the end of the NEC meeting chaired by Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Read Also:FG restates commitment to end insecurity

    He was with the Jigawa State Governor, Abubakar Badaru and Deputy Governor of Benue State, Benson Abuonu.

    Monguno said that the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, will head the committee with representatives from the six geopolitical zones.

    He also pointed out that Nigeria is currently facing abnormal security challenges.

    The security challenges, he said, can’t be completely tackled within a short a time.

    He also said that the improvements in the security situations in the country have nothing to do with the forthcoming general elections.

    Details Later…

  • Osinbajo, Magu meet in Aso Rock

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday met behind closed doors with the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.

    Magu arrived the Acting President’s office around 2.28p.m.

    Read Also: Osinbajo , acting DSS chief meet in Aso Rock

    The meeting was still in progress at the time of filing this report.

     

    Details Later…

  • Osinbajo, IGP meet again in Aso Rock 

    Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday again met behind closed doors with the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris.

    Idris arrived Osinbajo’s office around 6.35p.m

    Read Also:Osinbajo, Chief of Staff meet in Aso Rock

    It was the second meeting Idris was holding with the Acting President on Tuesday.

    Idris was still in the Acting President’s office at the time of filing this report.

  • Seiyefa, acting DG DSS meets Osinbajo 

    The most senior Director in the Department of State Service (DSS), Matthew Seiyefa, the Acting Director General on Tuesday met with Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Seiyefa, from Bayelsa State arrived the Presidential Villa in an official SUV at 4pm, clutching a file and was received at the entrance by the ADC to the Acting President.

    Read Also:Breaking: Osinbajo sacks DSS boss

    Shortly after, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, also arrived, and walked briskly into Osinbajo’s office.

    Magu, however was seen rushing out at about 4:40pm.

    Seiyefa, who came out of the Acting President’s office around 5p.m, left the Villa in another car.

    He was shielded from journalists.

     Seiyefa, MNI, who hails from Bayelsa State, was before his new appointment the most senior director in the DSS – Assistant DG.
    He was also the Director, Institute of Security Studies, Abuja.
    With about 34 years of experience, Seiyefa has served in different capacities, including the State Director in Osun, Akwa Ibom, and Lagos States.
    Seiyefa is also a member of the National Institute.

  • Yam farmers assure of increased production

    Nigeria is set for a bunper yam harvest, farmers have said.The Yam Farmers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria is promising increased yam production   to support  the Federal Government’s  yam export initiative.

    Its Acting President, Prof Simon Irtwange,  in an interview in Abuja, said farmers had been mobilised to increase their production to provide for consumption and export.

    Irtwange, who chairs the Technical Committee on Nigeria Yam Export Programme, said efforts were made to build the capacity of yam aggregators to buy exportable yams in large quantities from farmers.

    He said exporters, instead of going to markets, could procure  yams from the aggregators who  knew exportable yams’ standards.

    He said the committee was partnering the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, for the production of  exportable yams’ seedlings to boost the production.

    “I will not agree that export has anything to do with local production because not every yam variety can be exported.

    “The ones that are exportable are the ones that meet export standards. The export requirements include 2kg. yams that are slender and smooth, while the non-export yams are for consumption.

    “We have also encouraged yam production; this year, we would have more output than what we had in the previous year because farmers are now sensitised and they have gone into massive production. So, there will be enough yams for the local market and export,” Irtwange said.

    He said the association had selected the yam varieties it wanted to promote for export but getting the their seedlings was a major challenge.

    This, he said, was why the association was partnering the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, to produce the seedlings. He added that the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is also involved in the project.

    “After production, we have aggregators who will off-take the yams from the farmers and will aggregate for the exporters,’’ he said.

    Irtwange, who noted that over 20 per cent of exportable yams often rot away because of poor preservation techniques, said  aggregators would have cooling systems for the produce.

    “Concerning the aggregators, what we require from them is that they will have warehouses, they will have cooling systems and they will store the yams under the correct temperature.

    “Through that way, we can also give assurance of the quality of what we are exporting.

    “The assurance is that we have done the trials, we have learnt from our mistakes and we have put in place measures to correct all the drawbacks,” Irtwange said.

    According to him, the essence of the trials was to see where there are challenges so that the assocaition  can address them.

  • Buhari’s speech an anticlimax, says PDP

    Buhari’s speech an anticlimax, says PDP

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s Monday broadcast to the nation as a monumental anticlimax, saying the President missed an opportunity to calm restiveness and frayed nerves among the citizenry.

    In a statement last night, signed by the party’s Head of Publicity, Chinwe Nnorom on behalf of the National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said the speech failed to inspire confidence in the people.

    According to the PDP, the President’s speech failed to inspire confidence, despite the fact that Nigerians were expectantly looking forward to a robust speech that could imbue confidence in the capacity of the government to take on the challenges of governance.

    “However, rather than rekindle that hope and confidence, that speech delivered earlier this morning can most charitably be described as a monumental anticlimax.

    “The President and his handlers missed a golden opportunity to reconnect with the people through addressing issues that have direct bearing to their well-being and those of their children and dependents.

    “Indeed, the President’s speech did not contain anything new; just a rehash of statements that already had been made by both government and various leaders of thought across the country.

    “The PDP had cause to commend the then Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo for going round the country to engage with relevant stakeholders, which certainly was a better approach.

    “The PDP believes that rather than rehashing the worn out clichés about Nigeria’s unity not being negotiable, Nigerians would have loved to hear their President come out definitively to tell them what realistic measures his government intended to take to uproot the causes of perennial agitations and counter agitations that are now becoming a recurring decimal in our national discourse.

    “The party believes that instead of always mouthing the indivisibility of this country, the government should be seen walking the talk by instilling confidence in all the people across board that it belongs to all.

    “The casual mention of ‘elements of Boko Haram’, kidnappings, farmers versus herdsmen clashes’ etc, were also somewhat on the perfunctory side and do not imbue confidence”, the statement added.

    The PDP observed that the President returned to the country in a week that saw the closure of all public universities as a result of the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    “Yet, not even a whimper from our President. Has the future of the future leaders of our country sunk so low in the estimation of our current leaders that the issue was considered not important enough to command a mention in the President’s address?

    “To this end, the PDP once again welcomes the President back home and continues to pray for his total recovery as well as God’s guidance.

    “But we believe Nigerians deserve a richer statement from a President that was away from them for more than a hundred days during which a lot happened that should have elicited more than a mention in that speech”.

  • Attention, acting President Osinbajo

    Attention, acting President Osinbajo

    The days are evil, perilous. They are filled with stench while exhuming every indices of war, bloodbath and bloodletting; signs of bad omen.

    Old memories of injustices have been revived. Lost and past war sores have been reopened.  And scars now bear testimonies of previous adventures.

    War drums have been reinvented by the drummer boys and the moribund instruments of battle have been dusted, lubricated and set in motion once again.  Agitations of unquantifiable measures now stare us in the face while elders and supposed leaders of thoughts watch the tottering and sliding of our dear nation into anarchic and diarchic state.

    There is palpable fear of the unknown everywhere. Danger has become our companion and threats a way of life of the people. The shock in us all has been liquidated by our acculturation of abnormalities.

    Just recently, the world was jolted and brought to a standstill following the carnage visited on a group of worshippers on a Sunday morning, who had gone to worship their God and probably pray for more of his grace. In that singular incident, choreographed in Ozubulu, Anambra State, a dozen-plus was sent to their early grave for committing no other crime than attending a church service, where the source of money used in erecting such God’s edifice is still a subject of mystery.

    And what’s more?  Here and there the Fulani herdsmen harvest dead bodies like great farmers. While the Boko Haram insurgents mine dead bodies like oil wells here.

    And right here, a date – October 1 has been specially set aside by the Arewas as the D- day for the expulsion of Igbos from the North without rebuttal.

    And yet again, government has been running like everything is under control; losing no sleep and taking no actions whatsoever to reassure as well as reassert its promise of safeguarding lives and property as pledged during inauguration.

    I want to remind acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, that power,  I mean political power has since been dully and constitutionally transferred to him as the custodian of Nigerians. His silence and lack of action since the threats, quit notices, war songs and hate speeches from Prof. Ango Abdullahi, Junaid Muhammed, both  elders from the North and the host other threats to our corporate existence is highly regrettable.

    By now,  I had thought the Arewa youths would have been facing trials for that treasonable quit notice on fellow Nigerians for no just cause or better still, they would have rescinded their statement with unalloyed apology. Just as I have long waited in vain for a clampdown on the northern elders who openly backed their youths for issuing a notice on the Igbo without arrest.

    Meanwhile, the new and trending female artist behind the war song must be fished out and probably get locked up and eventually prosecuted for taking us through the Rwandan routes for her thirst for the blood of innocent Nigerians.

     

    • Gwiyi Solomon,

    Enugu.

  • Osinbajo lauded for classifying hate speech as terrorism

    Osinbajo lauded for classifying hate speech as terrorism

    The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has been hailed for his classification of hate speech as act of terrorism.

    A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Sebastine Hon said Osinbajo was “absolutely correct” in his position on the issue of hate speech.

    Hon, in a statement Thursday, noted that Section 1(2) of the Terrorism Act, 2011, has described ‘an act of terrorism’ as an act deliberately done with malice, which, amongst other things, is intended or can reasonably be regarded as having been intended to seriously intimidate a population or seriously destabilise or destroy the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country or an international organisation.

    He argued that there could be no better description of the current situation in Nigeria, where ethnic or cultural groups are issuing, willy-nilly organised and unguarded threats to other ethnic groups in Nigeria.

    “I personally must commend the Acting President for this timely proclamation, which only confirms and I dare say addresses my public statement a few days ago that the Federal Government must act fast to arrest our apparent, if not clear, descent to total anarchy, due to the avalanche of hate speeches flying over the whole place.

    “The 2011 Terrorism Act was amended by Act No. 10 of 2013, which upped the minimum punishment for terrorism from 2 years to five years.

    “I will ask the Federal Government to bring to bear the full weight of the law on perpetrators and their financiers or supporters – as Section 4 of the 2011 Act criminalises support for terrorism.

    “We must not permit, I say with all vehemence, our collective existence to be threatened for very narrow and selfish reasons,” Hon said.

     

  • Acting President; so far so good

    SIR: When President Muhammadu Buhari left to follow up on his medical treatment in London on May 7, the Vice President was again saddled with the onerous task of steering the ship of the nation. Section 145 0f 1999 constitution as amended empowers the vice president to assume the position of the president in an acting capacity upon transmitting of a letter to the National Assembly to that effect by the president.

    To act in this capacity in other climes will not be a big deal but in a nation such as ours, racked by differences in culture, religion and region, it takes a man with an unstinting loyalty and infrangible commitment to the corporate vision of an administration to remain focused. His unassuming disposition makes this task rather a simple one for him.

    The acting President demonstrated a rare example of loyalty when the issue of appointment of the  acting Chief Justice of Nigeria in to a substantive position came up, upon the expiration of the period allowed for acting in that capacity. Though,  pressure was mounted on him mostly by members of his constituency- the lawyers, to do the needful,  his  calm posture and subsequent consultation, before making such appointment, clearly showed his sagacity in dealing with complex state matters.

    Again just as Nigerians started to praise him to the high heavens for his performance, he was quick to remind them that he has not done anything, without the imprimatur of his principal.

    The Acting President has so far discharged his duties creditably well, despite the initial misgivings that trailed the content of the letter which purportedly conveyed on the Vice President the role of a coordinator of government activities. Few people tried to make mountain out of mole-hill on the semantics but this has however not impinged on his performance. The controversy was indeed not necessary since he regularly consults with the president for advice and directives.

    Nigerians can draw useful lessons from his leadership style as examples of how an immediate subordinate should work with his boss. Recall the experience during the administration of Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar at the beginning of the Fourth Republic. A repeat of such  squabble  now would have been very devastating in the light of the present tension , inflation and agitation in the land, coupled with the president’s ill health and subsequent prolong period of absence from office.

    Party leaderships should learn from this commendable and harmonious relationship in other to make informed decisions while suggesting running mates for their candidates.

    As the nation, eagerly awaits the return of the president, we expect seamless resumption of duty and more fruitful years of delivering democratic dividends to the critical mass of the nation.

     

    • Itaobong Offiong Etim

    Calabar.

  • ‘Change’ mantra not mere rhetoric, says Acting President

    ‘Change’ mantra not mere rhetoric, says Acting President

    THOSE taking the ‘Change’ mantra of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Governent for a joke are getting it wrong, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday.

    He said the mantra should not be seen as a mere rhetoric, pointing out that the policies of the President Buhari administration are anchored on the pillar.

    According to him the administration embraced a comprehensive and holistic approach to address the myriads of challenges confronting the country.

    Besides the challenge of economic diversification, the country was also grappling with the problem of infrastructural deficit, which would be needed for sustainable growth and development.

    The Acting President who spoke at the opening of the “Smart City Summit” organised by the Federal Ministry of Communications in conjunction with other stakeholders at the Transcop Hotel in Abuja, maintained that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) “hold the key to change and future prosperity”.

    He said the government has taken bold initiatives to change the narratives of Nigeria’s economic transformation by taking advantage of opportunities in the ICT sector.

    Prof Osinbajo said: “The Federal Government has big plans for the Nigerian ICT ecosystem. There is unrealised ability in other assets the nation possesses besides oil, which are capable of growth and development that can generate surplus, one of such is ICT.

    “ICT can lead to grand expansion of the economy that is needed to provide opportunities and benefits to many Nigerians. The key to change and our future prosperity lie in leveraging ICT in its entire ramification.

    “The Federal Government plans to establish innovation hubs across the country. In partnership with several major technology companies, the technology hubs will be fully resourced with infrastructure and capacity building tools.

    “Each hub will be designed to produce relevant innovative technology solutions to a wide range of business, commercial and government problems.

    “The government intends to create a reservoir of human capacity in technology that can be exported internationally.”

    The Acting President, who was represented by Communications Minister Adebayo Shittu, said: “the government plans to encourage innovative technologies to spearhead Smart domestic production, Smart Agriculture, Smart e-government & Health delivery, Smart Mobility, Smart Energy & Environment, Smart policing, and indeed Smart cities.

    “The Federal Government plans to come into the technology space and help transform the sector by providing the necessary infrastructure and enabling environment.

    “The government has developed and approved a new ICT strategic road map that would make affordable broadband access as an essential part of national economic planning in pursuance of the vision 20:2020 as laid down by President Buhari, in order to make Nigeria rank among the 20 global economy by 2020.

    “The Federal Government of Nigeria recognizes the urgent need to increase access to, and usage of, internet and broadband services in Nigeria. Going forward, the country’s ICT development blueprint and National Broadband Plan (NBP) would be implemented holistically for the next two to three years to address the obvious gap.

    “Efforts will be made giving the resources available, to increase funding for ICT infrastructural developments in next year’s budget to help drive all these initiatives”, the Acting President said.

    The Minister of Communications assured that Nigeria would not be left behind in taking advantage of the expert forecast that the number of smart phones connections in Africa will increase from approximately 79 million in the fourth quarter of 2016 to 512 million by 2018.

    He said the noticeable challenges of education and skill development, access to electricity, broadband connectivity and access to capital would be tackled headlong.

    The minister spoke of government’s plans partner with stakeholders and global brands such as Huawei, HP, IBM and HSH Global, among others, to address the challenges.

    Adebayo said that steps have been taken to establish ICT Development Bank, ICT University, ICT Park and Exhibition Centre and the Smart City Summit, to leapfrog the process of developing the country along other nations in Africa and the world.