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Tag: Africa

  • I respect Africa, Trump writes continental leaders

    I respect Africa, Trump writes continental leaders

    •Says Secretary of State Tillerson to visit soon

    President Donald Trump of the United States has sent a letter to African leaders, saying he “deeply respects” the people of Africa

    He also says Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will make an “extended visit” to the continent in March, his first in that role.

    The letter dated January 25 came as the continent’s leaders gathered for the African Union summit this weekend in Ethiopia’s capital.

    U.S. diplomats have scrambled for days to address shock and condemnation after Trump’s reported comparison of African nations to a dirty toilet.

    Trump has said he didn’t use such language while others present say he did.

    Many in Africa were taken aback by the comments after nearly a year of little attention to Africa by the Trump administration.

    On Friday, Trump met with Rwanda’s president and new African Union chair Paul Kagame at the World Economic Forum, calling Kagame a “friend.”

    The 55-nation continental body’s summit is expected to respond to Trump’s vulgar remark.

    An AU spokeswoman has said the organisation was “frankly alarmed” by the comments and a number of African nations have spoken out or summoned U.S. diplomats to explain.

    Trump, in the letter, claims  the U.S. “profoundly respects” the partnerships and values shared by the U.S. and Africans and that the president’s commitment to strong relationships with African nations is “firm.”

    The letter offers Trump’s “deepest compliments” to the African leaders as they gather.

    It notes that U.S. soldiers are “fighting side by side” against extremism on the continent and that the U.S. is working to increase “free, fair and reciprocal trade” with African countries and partnering to “safeguard legal immigration.”

     

  • Africa to witness economic rise in 2018 : UN

    Africa to witness economic rise in 2018 : UN

    Africa’s economy is expected to grow by 3.5 per cent in 2018, representing an increase of 0.3 percentage points from 2017, a United Nation’s official, has said.

    Speaking at the 30th AU Summit being held in Addis Ababa,  the Ethiopian capital, Vera Songwe, Secretary-General of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), said the growth uptick will be underpinned by strengthened external demand and moderate increase in commodity prices.

    She said the growth will also be supported by more favorable domestic conditions, including restoration of oil production in a number of countries and expected recovery in 2018 and 2019 of major economies, like Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa.

    She however, said the growth would not be enough for the continent’s rising population of more than one billion, 70 per cent of whom are categorized in the youth group.

    Songwe said: “adjusting for population growth, the projected economic growth remains inadequate for Africa to make significant progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the eradication of poverty and hunger.

    “Although poverty level is reducing, it is still intolerably high at an average of 40 percent for the continent. As Such, there’s need to upscale efforts at structural reforms, prudent economic management and promoting regional integration.”

    Nevertheless, UNECA projects the uptick in economic growth to continue for some time with 3.7 percent economic growth expected in 2019.

    SDGs are a universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states will be expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies until 2030

  • Africa: Shithole continent

    Africa: Shithole continent

    While discussing the issue of immigration reform in the USA with Congressional leaders, Donald J. Trump, the USA president wondered why people from Haiti, El Salvador and the “shithole countries in Africa” were being allowed to come to the USA. He later followed it up by asking Norwegians to emigrate to the USA. Why will anyone from Norway that has the highest income per capita migrate to the USA with all its crime, guns and racism? From the time of the pilgrims’ progress1607-1620 and particularly in the 19th century, it was the bedraggled, depressed, disadvantaged and the poor and fugitives including Trump’s grandfather who sought better lives for themselves and their descendants in America. Trump had earlier on said pointedly that when Nigerians visit the USA, they are reluctant to go back to their huts. This remark has generated heated remarks from Americans and the global community particularly in Africa because of the malignant racism implicit in the president’s comments.

    It is of course within the sovereign rights of the USA to determine what kind of colour of people it wants to have in its country. But it is not the right of the Americans to denigrate any country and a whole continent because of the colour of their skin. We know Trump was elected in reaction to the election of President Obama, the first Blackman to be so elected. It seems white Americans suddenly felt they were losing control of power. This was why a brilliant woman like Hilary Clinton lost election to this bumbling dotard of a president. The demographics of the United States are changing with the influx of Latin Americans mostly from Mexico and Central America. When added to the population of Afro Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and white women and college-educated young white men all inclined towards the Democratic Party, it is explainable why the white supremacists and their representative in the White House are fighting back. Donald Trump knows what he is doing. He is merely playing to his base and supporters by saying all these racist taunts including saying some of the white supremacists in Virginia were good people and calling on white policemen to shoot blacks before asking questions. If he has the power, Donald Trump will roll back the clock and cancel the civil rights of black peoples which people like Martin Luther King jnr. and Malcom X paid for with their lives.

    We must however give it to the United States that it is still a country of laws and no matter how powerful their president may be, he is still bound by the laws of the land. One thing should however now be clear to people in the so-called “Third World” that the leader of the most powerful country in the world does not wish them well and they should adjust their policies in reaction to that fact. They should ally with countries that wish them well and that respect their people. It is not that Africa has no alternative to the USA in terms of trade and technology. Our diplomatic relations and global diplomacy should reflect the reality of American disregard, disrespect and hostility to us based on racism. We should make it clear that from now on we would not be bound by any American inspired and induced United Nations sanctions targeted against countries like Iran, and North Korea that we have no quarrel with. Let Donald  Trump continue with his “America first” policy and isolationism while the rest of the world goes it alone and embraces the tested policies of multilateralism and globalization  for which China has come out ready to provide leadership.

    The other side of the coin is a clarion call to African and particularly Nigerian leaders to shape up or ship out. We do not have the luxury of time for non-performing government in the face of global and American hostility to us and our aspirations.

    I called a few friends of mine in the USA to sound out their opinions about what is going on. Incredibly as it may sound the Africans among them including Nigerians said they agree with Trump’s description of their continent as “Shit hole”. They blame the leaders of Africa for this insult. They said with the constant killings and civil wars on the continent and lack of development leading to young people fleeing the continent to die in the Mediterranean Sea, Trump’s insult is deservedly earned. The situation in Nigeria is particularly pathetic. Here is a great country brought down through inept and uncaring leadership that is silent when insecurity is enveloping the whole country. People are afraid to travel on the highways because of fear of being kidnapped by so-called herdsmen who have abandoned herding cows for kidnapping hapless human beings for ransom. Our government keeps quiet sometimes saying these are foreigners as if foreigners have the right to come into our country to kill us! People are being slaughtered, kidnapped and prevented from farming and the security forces are kept in the barracks doing nothing thus inviting chaos of people resorting to self-help and arming themselves against armed marauders whether indigenous or foreign.

    Of course we have problems in Africa and particularly in Nigeria. If Nigeria is not doing well, the entire continent suffers. We see the leadership of this continent slipping from our hands.

    Why did it take Geoffrey Onyeama, the foreign minister a whole week before summoning the American ambassador to tell him off and send a stiff message to his president? South Africa did that immediately Trump made the offending statement so did Ghana. If the president was slow to give a directive, the minister should have done his job and then reported to the president. The worst that could have happened is for the presidency to disown the statement. This is allowed in international relations but the original national anger would have registered where it mattered. Calling in the ambassador after the brouhaha had died down amounts to shame, humiliation and national weakness. Nigeria may be needlessly poor because of poor leadership, but we are a sovereign nation and our founding fathers fought for this sovereignty. We should not allow our current inertia to permanently damage our leadership position on the African continent.

    As for those of our folks abroad who say we, as a continent, deserve all the insults that Trump can heap on our heads, I remind them of the African proverb that says you do not point out to a man who has nine fingers that he has nine fingers. It is bad manners to point out the deformity of a fellow human being. Pointing this out could lead to irrational reaction. This is what President Trump has done to a whole continent. He can bar our people from coming to his country without insulting us. He must also be taught some history about how American capitalism was founded on the blood, tears and unpaid black slave labour for four centuries.

    In the world of diplomacy, reciprocity and etiquette are greatly appreciated and they constitute the grundnorm of international relations. This is what the current occupier of the White House has breached and he should be told that he is wrong and this should be done explicitly without ambiguity and redundancy.

  • Africa and theory of cosmos balance

    Labelled as ‘’Dark Continent’’ by the West many decades ago, Africa is still playing out this name considering the slow state of its development.

    What is Africa’s problem? Why are things not working? Why are people living in abject poverty eating below the breadline standard?

    Recently, a 15-year old boy died because his parents were unable to afford hospital bills. After five days under oxygen of N17,000 per day, he was withdrawn from hospital because there was no money to pay. Nothing kills in Africa like poverty!

    Now, how many young boys died daily in Nigeria due to imbalanced diet or lack of good medical attention? Yet, in this same Nigeria, some children have private doctors attending to them whether they are sick or not.

    Today, many young people are jobless where jobs are waiting for some. Was there a secret sin committed by those jobless? Young people are drifting about without hope? They are ‘perishing’ without vision for living. Darkness has become visible in Africa!

    Yet, after many years of self-rule, others still consider Africa as “Dark Continent?” Look at the disparities between the rich and the poor; look at the oppression by the few meted to the many; is it not so disturbing to see a high population of lowborn been sentenced into a life of perpetual enslavement? Is it not extremely worrisome to see some children being ‘born to rule’ while many others are being sentenced to serve as slaves.

    I got to a highpoint of angst and confusion about the disparities between the haves and the have-nots before Franz Fanon opened my eyes to see the deliberate attempt of the oppressors to destroy the oppressed in his book “Pedagogy of the oppressed”. Eric Blair made me to know that some animals are more equal than the others in his book “Animal Farm” and, through his book “The Prince’’, Nicolo Machiavelli, gave me insight into the perspective of the dictators that if leaders want to rule a people perpetually, they must not be educated.

    From books I understood the world is being structured to favour some people and disfavour some others. But, who did the structuring? Was it God or man? I got answer to this question few years ago when I learnt about ‘Cosmos Balance’. This subject stemmed out of a discussion concerning the said discrepancies between the Whites and the Blacks. I might not have been to Europe, America and Asia, but I learnt they have good roads, good hospitals and good schools. Nigerian roads are death-traps, the hospitals are mortuaries and the public schools look like poultries.

    ‘Cosmos Balance’ said the discrepancies between the White and the Black was God’s wisdom to create a balance in the world. Africa is rich in everything except in wisdom. Europe and other continents are rich in wisdom but are not as rich as Africa in other resources.

    Could one believe the theory of ‘Cosmos Balance’? With all the opulence in Africa – the fertile land, plenty mineral resources, rich vegetation, malleable climate, energetic population – ‘Cosmos Balance’ is saying: if Africa still possesses management cum leadership wisdom, the world would queue behind her. This theory sounds logical and convincing, if we support it with some other positions.

    Firstly, one old myth said the Whiteman covered his face with fingers without closing his eyes while the Blackman closed his eyes when God asked them to close their eyes at creation. This myth supports why the White seems to be wiser than the Black which is all what ‘Cosmos Balance’ is saying.

    But, it is not logical to say that God who loves obedience has favoured the disobedient White and disfavoured the obedient Black?

    Secondly, the Bible interpretation that traced the origin of the black race to ‘Ham’, the son Noah cursed for exposing his nakedness could be responsible for the trouble of the Blacks. If this was true, can we say God was racist? Considering the potential blessing of Africa vis-a-vis its backwardness, won’t one draw a conclusion that Africa is under a curse?

    But, God is not partial, neither is He a racist! The God of the White is the same God of the Black. What always happens is that God has respect for man’s choices. If Africa chooses to be backward there is nothing God can do about it.

    Truly speaking, Africa is blessed with all things except wisdom. But, wisdom is not a gift, it is an acquisition. May be, because of her surplus, Africa has not considered wisdom as ‘the principal thing’. Crisis is a precursor of wisdom. Pain is mother of gain! Suffering is the womb of success! Necessity is the mother of invention. Upon these principles, the White man began to seek for wisdom at all costs. Bad weather, volcanic eruption, land-shifting, sudden snow, hurricane, tornadoes and other natural catastrophic occurrences, etc. were the ‘necessities’ that forced the White to move out in search of solutions to their problems. They found that solution in slave trade and colonialism!

    But, instead for Africa to learn from slavery and colonialism, she has learnt nothing. Hence, it remains backward, still being addressed as the ‘Dark Continent’. Is it not appalling to remember that civilisation began from Africa, yet Africa remains in the dark? Africa ‘has been at ease’ for a long time. She has settled on her ‘lees’ or ‘dregs’, and ‘has not been emptied from vessel to vessel; nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore, ‘her taste remained in her; and her scent has not changed’.

    Africa wakes and sleeps with potentials, but has become so complacent. Africa doesn’t harness her resources to create wealth for her people. The solution to Africa’s problems will begin when she believes in herself and harness her God-given resources for the benefits of all her citizenry.

    Until we ‘kill’ corruption in Africa, life will continue to be hard for our people!

     

    • Adewoyin, a company executive writes from Lagos.

  • Africa to buy $3.9b private jets by 2025

    About 160 new private jets are to be delivered to Africa in the next seven years, industry data from Global Jet Capital, has revealed.

    The  data listed Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa as major players in the private jet business on the continent.

    The forecast value of the aircraft, was put at $3.9 billion for the seven years.  However, yearly, the projected cost of acquiring the private jets was put at about $500million.

    The global leader in financial solutions for private aircraft, revealed that the continent’s business jet market is set for significant growth.

    The company predicted that the African private jet fleet will grow by more than 25 per cent  by 2025, with 160 new aircraft being delivered to the continent.

    A key driver behind this growth, will be the southern Africa region which is expected to account for around a third of all the jets based in the continent.

    The total value of the jets to be delivered to southern Africa by 2025 is predicted to be around $1.4 billion.

    One of the biggest challenges to be met in realising these forecasts, is to have the financing solutions available to support aircraft acquisitions.

  • Rape of democracy in Africa

    The famous Roman author Pliny, had this to say about Africa: ‘ex Africa semper aliquid novi’ (Something new is always coming out of Africa). To me, something new came out of Africa again last week with the news that President Pierre Nkrurunziza of Burundi changed his country’s constitution to see him rule till 2034. His government adopted a plan in October to revise the constitution to enable him run for another two terms from 2020. To make a plan to rule for another 14 years when one has not completed the current term is novel to me. It will be recalled that the same Nkurunziza plunged Burundi into crisis in 2015 when he ran for a controversial third term that he went to win. The crisis generated by this tenure elongation claimed the lives of 2000 people in his country.

    Nkurunziza came to power in 2005 and if allowed to rule till 2034, he would then have ruled his small landlocked country for 29 years. To many observers, this should not raise an eyebrow in Africa where we had sit-tight African dictators like Mobutu, Eyadema, Omar Bongo, De Santos and Mugabe who between them spent 187 years in power. The trend is still being continued by rulers like the longest serving Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea who has already spent more than 38 years in power, Museveni of Uganda, Kigame of Rwanda, Kabila of DR Congo and Ngueso of Congo ( Brazzaville) who continue to extend their grip on power through dubious tenure elongation.

    All these African leaders and others who rule their countries as personal fiefdoms are not monarchs with divine right to rule, as they are supposed to derive their power through participatory democracy which they rape with impunity. There is no doubt that after almost six decades of independence in Africa, democratic practices are unfortunately still wobbling in most part of Africa. This piece is therefore an attempt to chronicle the unedifying travail of democracy in Africa.

    Immediately after the colonizing powers left the shores of Africa in the sixties, the political leaders who took over from them wasted no time in dismantling the democratic contraption left behind by the departing colonialists. The new African leaders introduced what they termed one party system of governance in which the state recognized only one political party. This system of governance had main apostles in Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Sekou Toure of Guinea, Omar Bongo of Gabon, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Kamuzu Banda of Malawi, and the leaders of Francophone African countries in West Africa exemplified by Houphouet Boigny of Ivory Coast who was the favorite of De Gaulle, the then French leader. These post-independence African leaders felt for selfish reasons that African countries at their formative stages could not afford the luxury of multi-party system as practiced in Europe and that there was no room for opposition in traditional African society. The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo countered them that by this view, they were portraying Africans as having no mental capacity to practice democracy. However, in countries where one party system of government was not practiced like Nigeria and Kenya at that time, elections were chaotic and opposition parties were harassed and emasculated. Our chaotic federal elections of 1964 and the rigging that characterized the Western Regional elections of 1965 buttressed this assertion.

    The above phase in governance in Africa gave way to governance by the military through series of coup d’état. The military in Africa from mid-sixties added to their expected role of defending the people against external aggression, the difficult task of political governance. In sub -Sahara Africa, the trend started in Togo in 1963 when the then President Slyvannus Olympio was overthrown and assassinated in a military coup. Before long, Africa took over from South America as a continent of the Generals. It was at this period that Africa had fiendish military dictators like Mobutu Sese Seko of DR Congo, Idi Amin of Uganda, Eyadema of Togo, Kerekou of Republic of Benin, clownish Bokassa of Central African Republic, Rawlings of Ghana and others.

    Nigeria also had his own heavy dose of military rule which covered almost 30 years of its existence as a sovereign nation. The military rule in Africa was so pervasive and appeared so entrenched that many leading political lights in Africa felt that military rule had come to stay in Africa. In Nigeria, one of the founding fathers of Nigerian independence, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in frustration suggested that Africans should adopt what he called ‘Diarchy form of governance’ in which the military would rule with the civilians. The reason usually given by these military despots for taking over the governance of their countries was that they were in government to save the people from anarchy and civilian dictatorship, but all of them usually ended up compounding the problems of their countries. During this period some countries in Africa such as Kenya, Senegal, Ivory Coast and some countries in Southern part of Africa escaped military rule but that did not mean that these countries enjoyed good governance.

    With its customary excesses and unsuitability for governance, the military of overstayed its welcome in the governance in Africa towards the end of 20th century. The outside world, especially Europe and USA used their leverages to call for an end to military rule in Africa. These countries outside Africa condemned military rule and threatened to cut off aids to any military regime in Africa. The African Union was forced to take a stern stand against military coups and military regimes were ostracized. African countries were encouraged to adopt democratic form of governance. This new era in governance in Africa brought joy and hope to millions of Africans and their well-wishers all over the world. Unfortunately, this joy and hope were short lived. Some African leaders in their characteristic despotic manners now devise means of truncating the new democratic dispensations. After getting to power through democratic means, they manipulate the constitutions of their countries to elongate their stay in power as it is currently been done by President Nkrurunziza of Burundi. Tenure elongations through dubious means, had been carried out in Uganda, Togo, DR Congo, Congo (Brazzaville ), Rwanda, and there was a failed one in Gambia by the illiterate upstart called Yahya Jammeh. A subtle attempt at tenure elongation in Nigeria was thwarted in 2003 by the National Assembly.

    There is no doubt that that we have bright spots in Africa where democracy seems to be thriving and such bright spots can be found in Ghana, Republic of Benin, Senegal, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia, but it is not yet ‘Uhuru’ for democracy in black Africa as a sizeable portion of the continent is still under the grip of malevolent dictators masquerading as democrats. As Tatalo Alamu wrote in his column last Sunday, we may hope for the ’emergence of new generation of African leaders who will drag the laggard continents screaming and kicking from the hell-hole of millennial suffering to the threshold of compulsory modernity’. I do not think that this hope will be realized soon, when we have people like Pierre Nkrurunziza of Burundi and others with the same mindset in charge of this misused continent.

    • Professor Lucas writes from Old Bodija, Ibadan.

  • Africa’s problems are civilisational

    SIR: Emmanuel Macron, the President of pilloried in the press for daring to speak the truth; the truth being that “Africa’s problems are civilisational.” His heavy critics, ironically, were African-Americans ensconced in the comfort of the U.S.A.; they should have just kept quiet and let us native Africans absorb the painful truth and chart a course to true civilisation.

    Macron was troubled by the tortuous migration trek that Africans embark to reach Europe and he wondered why home was no longer attractive to these young ones. Macron realised that family-size pressures in the heart of Africa means that young ones would always seek climes of greater opportunities in order to do even a modicum of remittance. When an African mother births seven or eight children in the countries where employment opportunities are few and far betwee, then the siblings in that family become desperate to go out far to seek means to alleviate sufferings at home.

    True civilisation is tied to true family planning and this in turn is tied to the well-being of a family; it is the uncivilised family who tries to out birth its neighbours in the midst of paucity of everything. Macron was absolutely correct.

    • Sunday Adole Jonah,

    Federal University of Technology, Minna.

  • Afe Babalola among Africa’s most influential persons, says Adams

    Afe Babalola among Africa’s most influential persons, says Adams

    • ABUAD founder backs OPC chief as Aare Ona Kakanfo-designate

    The Aare Ona Kakanfo-designate of the Yoruba, Gani Adams, has said the founder of Afe Babalola University in Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), is “one of the most influential people in Africa”.

    Adams, who toured ABUAD yesterday when he visited Babalola with his entourage, also described the eminent lawyer as “an illustrious son of the Yoruba nation”.

    The Aare Ona Kakanfo-designate described the ABUAD Teaching Hospital as a world-class health institution that can end medical tourism among Nigerians.

    He urged the hospital’s management to charge fees that poor Nigerians can afford.

    The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) coordinator said he was at ABUAD to seek Babalola’s advice as he prepared for his installation as the Aare Ona Kakanfo of the Yoruba on January 15.

    Adams said: “I came to seek elderly wisdom from Chief Afe Babalola, who is considered to be one of the most influential people in Africa.

    “He’s not only as legal luminary but also as somebody who has done a lot to unify the Yoruba nation.

    “I am here for his advice. He has taught me a lot about the history of the Yoruba race. For you to be put in an influential position and you don’t know the history of the Yoruba, you will not be resourceful.

    “He has taught me, even post-installation agenda, because it is one thing to be installed as the Aare Ona Kakanfo and it is another thing to perform in that position.

    “I am here to see an illustrious son of the Yoruba nation. I begged Baba not to relent on his efforts regarding the unity of the race. The Yoruba nation is great with about 250 million people across the world:  those in Nigeria are just 60 million; those in the Caribbean countries are about 100 million. In Brazil, with over 200 million people, the Yoruba are about 18 per cent of that population.”

    On his impression of ABUADTH, Adams said: “Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital will become a medical tourist destination with the kind of equipment I saw here. I can compare it with the one I saw in Germany.

    “Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital will ease the problems of health challenges in the Southwest and other parts of Nigeria.

    “I have just appealed to the management that it should allow the fee to be moderate. With the kind of equipment I saw there, I can imagine what a patient will pay for a medical check-up. We don’t need to check out again for medical check-up with what is in the teaching hospital.”

    Babalola said: “Everybody knows he (Adams) has been nominated by the Alaafin as the next Aare Ona Kakanfo. He came personally to give me my invitation to attend his installation. I am 100 per cent in support of the appointment of Gani Adams by the Alaafin.

    “If you followed the history of this young man, he has been very dynamic, highly focused. I think this is part of the characteristics that made Alafin to appoint him.

    “My advice to him is that he is holding a very sensitive position in Yoruba land, the position held by great people who made Yoruba a nation. He will continue to do what others before him did: think of making the race greater and to defend its cause.”

  • Nigerian varsities can rank as best with stable calendar – UNILAG VC

    Nigerian varsities can rank as best with stable calendar – UNILAG VC

    Nigerian universities can rank best in Africa, if we can have a stable academic calendar, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos ( UNILAG ), has said.

    Ogundipe spoke on Thursday in Lagos against the backdrop of incessant strikes by labour unions in the nation’s university system.

    According to him, there is need for everyone, especially the key stakeholders in the education sector to look inward to ensure that crisis which gives rise to strikes are managed effectively.

    “I make bold to say that universities, especially the first generation institutions in the country, can be ranked best in Africa if we can have a stable academic calendar.

    “There is need for everyone to look inward and manage the crisis in the system effectively so that our university system can be ranked among the best in the world,’’ Ogundipe said.

    He said that there was need for Nigerian Government too to take the running of universities and other related issues seriously.

    “If you want to run a university, you should go all out and do it in line with the best practices.

    “We are talking about the global ranking of universities, and here we are still grappling with the issues of strike.’’

    The UNILAG VC noted that such development do not speak well about the country as “lots of people around the world are reading and taking note of it’’.

    He explained that most of the facilities that would guarantee conducive teaching and learning environment were being handled by non-academic (support) staff that were on strike.

    Read also: UNILAG postpones candidates’ screening

    Ogundipe added that with the strike, their academic staff counterparts and others were now forced to adjust to the situation.

    “The strike has affected the operations of the university indirectly,’’ he said.

    According to him, issues of power and water supply, the use of laboratory and others have taken their toll on the operations of the university.

    “I am sure that the academic staff will be up to their assignments.

    “This group of staff is not on strike; the classrooms are open, lectures are going on since the inception of NASU strike.

    “Even, as we resumed on December 27, lectures have started in most faculties in Unilag.

    “The non-teaching staff has their grievances; the strike is a national strike and not a local one.

    “To this effect, there is little the university authorities can do,’’ the vice-chancellor said.

    The unions, under the aegis of JAC, had on September 11 declared an indefinite strike across all the federal universities over the non-implementation of an agreement they entered into in 2009 with the Federal Government

    The strike was suspended while dialogue continues between the parties, only to embark on another strike on Dec. 5.

    Mr Solomon Ugwoke, the National President of JAC, who also doubled as the president of SSANU, one of the striking unions, had stated that there was no going back on the strike.

    NAN

  • Stable government best for Africa — Jonathan

    Stable government best for Africa — Jonathan

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan says stable government is the best way of attracting development to Africa.

    He also added that Liberia is becoming a model of democracy in Africa and beyond, having attained “political stability’’.

    “Looking at the political history of Liberia, the country has passed through challenges.

    “They conducted elections and the (outgoing) president stayed for the complete two terms, and this president is about handing over to another elected president.

    “That shows that Liberia is now politically stable to be a good example of democracy. Democracy is being institutionalised in Liberia.

    Also read:  Liberia’s Presidential Re-run: Jonathan leads NDI Observation Mission

     “It will help the country because it shows that the country is stable and it will attract foreign direct investors

    “And for Africa, especially in the West African sub-region nit is a great achievement.’’

    “When I was in office, we tried to make sure that we stabilised democracy across the ECOWAS states because the issue of all kinds of unconstitutional government, we see that it is over in ECOWAS and Africa.

    “The Liberian situation will help us so much because it is another clear case of a country that has moved from some illegitimate government and crisis to an established and stable democracy.

    “This transition is critical because if we succeed, if Liberia succeeds, West Africa has succeeded, Africa has succeeded.’’

    Liberian voters have chosen a successor to outgoing President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, whose 12-year tenure as Africa’s first elected female head of state ends in January.

    Results of the delayed run-off election, due to be announced in three days, will determine who becomes the next President between ex-football superstar, Sen. George Weah and incumbent Vice President Joseph Boakai.