The Nation Newspaper

Tag: amnesty

  • Amnesty: Buhari won’t forsake Niger Delta – Dokubo

    Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Prof. Charles Dokubo, said on Friday that a terminal date for the Presidential Amnesty Programme was not a card on President Muhammadu Buhari’s table.

    Speaking at a foundation laying ceremony for a vocational training centre of the Amnesty Programme at Gelegele, Edo State, Dokubo gave assurance that President Buhari would not leave the Niger Delta behind in his determination for transform the country.

    “Our people should know that they are all part of the Amnesty Programme which was set up by the late President Yar’Adua, who brought the demands and aspirations of the Niger Delta people to the bare. He knew that for a long time we had not gained from whatever was produced in the country. So this was the vehicle to achieve the two aims of peaceful development and economic enhancement of our people. And President Buhari has promised that this programme will not end.

    “He said he will never leave the Niger Delta people behind because without Niger Delta it will be difficult to maintain Nigeria. So let us know the role we are going to play in the country. But the only way we can walk tall is to make proper use of the Amnesty Programme; brother helping brother, sister helping sister, husband taking care of family, so that we can all become one large family in the Niger Delta. I have come here to put my footprint on this soil, and then as I go, nobody will forget me here because whatever programme I carry out, I will never forget Gelegele.

    “The people of Gelegele must benefit from this project. Their children will be sent to school and there will be peace in the community. Amnesty is a programme by the federal government to assist those of us who need help in different parts of the Niger Delta. Nobody owns it; you own it. I was just appointed to administer the programme, and each one of us here has a role to play in the amnesty programme and also to benefit from it”

    The ground-breaking ceremony for the Amnesty Programme Vocational Training Centre (VTU), Gelegele, preceded the launching, earlier on the same day, of a vocation training centre at Kaiama, Bayelsa State, which was completed, fully equipped by Prof. Dokubo within a short period in office.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Insurgency: Amnesty doesn’t want Nigeria to succeed, says Defence HQ

    The Defence Headquarters yesterday said the Amnesty International (AI) had deliberately designed a plan to ensure that Nigeria does not win the war against insurgency and other security challenges confronting the country.

    The Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. John Agim, stated this at the headquarters 1 Division of the Army in Kaduna while addressing reporters on Operation Whirl Punch.

    The spokesman said the military operation had neutralised 14 bandits and recovered 422 cows and sheep since it began in October.

    He said the intention of AI with its “false” reports was to ensure that it perpetually made Nigeria incapable of confronting its security challenges.

    Agim said the latest reports from AI, which he claimed were recycling what happened in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, were deliberately designed to stop the United States of America (U.S.A) from selling fighter jets to Nigeria.

    He said: “The Armed Forces and other security agencies recruit Nigerians into the forces based on quota system. This means that every segment of Nigeria has its kinsmen in the Armed Forces and other security agencies. So, we have representation. Nobody will be happy if the military operates in his or her area and violates human rights of his people.

    “When international organisations, like the AI, talk about human rights violation in Nigeria by the military, it is not simply that they don’t want us to violate human rights; it is deeper than that. The intention is to ensure that they perpetually make us incapable of confronting our challenges. Out there, from 2014, because of the reports of AI, the U.S.A, for instance, invoked the Leahy Law, where it refused to sell arms to Nigeria to confront these security challenges.

    “We don’t manufacture arms in Nigeria. But when our foreign partners refuse to sell arms to us, it affects all of us. We are just lucky that we have a professional military comprising of people who are ready to lay down their lives for the country. Otherwise, the situation would have gone out of hand.

    “In April, we had a situation when the U.S accepted to sell us 12 Tucano aircraft. As soon as the international organisations saw that Americans were ready to collaborate with Nigeria, every month, AI sends out reports of alleged violation of human rights by military.

    “There are serious steps taken by the military and other security agencies to ensure that when we engage in any operation, we safeguard human rights. All our institutions in the country, from the junior to the highest, are taught laws on the use of arms so that you cannot go to any operation and do anything you like. Our service chiefs have human rights desks.

    “Also, in most of the operations, especially in the Northeast, court martial is established there. If you overstep, you will be punished. But do you see the reports showing that such efforts are being taken by the military? It doesn’t show.

    “Unfortunately for the media, which do not know what the intentions of this government, they follow and carry the reports.

    “If you read reports of AI, the one they have started publishing this year, they put what happened in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and they recycle it every month. So, you will see their reports and think the security agents have done something new. But if you take time to profile the report, you will discover that they are repeating the same thing.

    “I want to assure you that the military is a Nigerian military and this military is made up of your brothers and sisters. So, nobody will like to do anything wrong.

    “Go back and look at the report of Amnesty International; it is difficult to use it to trace anybody who has done something wrong. Whenever we are doing something, we invite them. But they will say they would not come. They never collaborate with us and they don’t even collaborate with Amnesty Nigeria.

    “I have come to the conclusion that they are not ready to work with the country to ensure we have a lasting peace.”

  • Amnesty Office empowers 150 ex-militants

    The Office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) at the weekend doled out costly equipment as empowerment starter packs for 150 ex-militants, who recently concluded their trainings on vocational skills.

    The Coordinator, PAP, Prof. Charles Dokubo, who distributed the equipment at Boro Town, Kaiama, Kolokuma-Opokuma, Bayelsa State, said the office introduced measures to stop the beneficiaries from reselling their starter-packs.

    Dokubo, who was received at the amnesty complex in Kaiama by drummers and traditional dancers, said in the last eight years, his office trained over 20,000 Niger Delta youths in different skills and vocations.

    While lamenting that many of the trained youths remained unemployed, Dokubo said to achieve lasting peace in the region, all stakeholders must work together to provide employment and empowerment opportunities.

    Insisting that such opportunities should be created for youths not captured in the amnesty programme, Dokubo noted that the region was relatively peaceful and ready to attract investors.

    He called on potential investors not to focus only in the oil and gas sector but to also integrate other agro-allied businesses.

    Dokubo said: “Under our great leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian government has made the region conducive for investments.

    “The new investments would stimulate the economies of states in this region and employment opportunities for several of the youths that have been offered skills under the amnesty programme.

    “The fastest and easiest way to guarantee lasting peace in the Niger Delta and the Gulf of Guinea is the provision of gainful employment for the teeming population of youths and women of the Niger Delta”.

    Dokubo said that the Federal Government invested heavily in training ex-agitators in the best schools and vocational training facilities home and abroad.

    But he noted: “However, we have also realized that it is dangerous to train persons and then leave them idle. The provision of jobs and empowerment for the youths of the Niger Delta must be a collective effort by all stakeholders such as federal, states, local governments, oil and gas multinationals and other service providers.

    “I urge oil and gas-producing companies in the Niger Delta to intensify their corporate social responsibility.”

  • Multiple subscriptions: Amnesty for ‘ghost’ shareholders

    It is one sore point on the capital market. And it came about because of regulatory failures and market bubbles of the past. But now, the issue of fictitious and multiple names on firms’ registers is being addressed. Capital Market Editor TAOFIK SALAKO reports that amnesty for shareholders with multiple and irregular names and accounts to harmonise them may be the way out of some of the market’s problems.

    His formal identities-national driver’s licence, international passport, national identity card and national voter’s card among others bear all his names – Okafor Olugbemi Audu (not real names). Mr. Okafor, a man of modest means but with eyes for bigger opportunities, was a keen player in the capital market boom of 2005-2008.

    One of the major challenges of the period was the huge level of oversubscriptions and the resultant allotment procedures that prorated allotment of shares to intending subscribers, with preference for small subscriptions.

    Typically, after waiting for three to five months, a subscriber that had sunk in N2 million for 400,000 shares at N5 per share in a public offer would get notification of allotment of 20,000 shares and a return cheque for N1.9 million.

    After two of such experience, Okafor learnt the trick on how to get his hands on the bigger pie of the raving public offers-multiple subscriptions in relatively small units. With the help of willing hands at his stockbroker’s office and the horde of target-driven marketers, he perfected the trick of multiple subscriptions by joggling his names in many forms with similar and sometimes different addresses and signatures.

    In the same public offer, he was Okafor Olugbemi Audu, Okafor Olugbemi, Olugbemi Audu, Okafor Audu, Audu Okafor and several other variants. He had all the evidences of payment and the certificates somehow found their way to him.

    In desperate search for funds, banks were quite helpful.    Other parties to an issue, including registrars, stockbrokers and issuing houses, were more interested in the success of their offer than compliance.

    The level of oversubscription was an indication of the dexterity of the parties, a major claim to publicise in the cheering media. Capital market regulators – Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) – lost the focus, less from the patriotic zeal to grow the market than surpluses flowing from public offers, which provided the officials with cozy bonuses and allowances.

    The complicity was almost all-inclusive. There were others that encouraged underage participation by using the names of their children to subscribe to the offers.

    But, there were genuine errors in names and signatures, which have not been corrected because of the existing stringent Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules.

    Yet, extant rules at the capital market disallow multiple subscriptions and direct participation by persons under the age of 18 years.

    The capital market rules, which lay emphasis on full disclosures and integrity of the disclosures, allow subscribers to request for additional shares under pre-allotted offers like rights issue and participation by minors through adult representation or trustees.

    No doubt, rules had been breached and lessons have been learnt. Many companies have surreptitiously been dealing with bubble assets related to the boom burst period through share reconstruction and cancellation. The market is left with the onerous task of addressing the foibles and drawing a closure on the past?

     

    A window of reprieve

     

    The Capital Market Committee (CMC) – a consultative working group of capital market stakeholders – has granted investors with multiple subscriptions, multiple accounts and irregular signatures a general amnesty to harmonise and lay formal claim to their accounts in a one-off reprieve aimed at addressing the negative leftovers of the previous bubble-burst era of the market.

    Investors have up till September 31 to step forward and claim their shares.

    The CMC, chaired by the SEC director-general, consists of chief executives of all registered capital market operators including, stockbrokers, solicitors, custodians, funds’ managers, issuing houses, rating agencies, registrars, reporting accountants, trustees and consultants among others.

    Other members include: chief executives of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS); NSE, Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS).

    Also on the list are: two members each from observer groups, which included Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Debt Management Office (DMO),  Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST), Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), National Pension Commission (PenCom) and FSS2020.

    The CMC was raised to serve as a medium for exchange of ideas among market stakeholders on how to continuously improve the market activities and regulation.

    It meets every quarter to deliberate on various issues affecting the market and other policy matters. At its 2018 first quarter meeting, the CMC reiterated its decision on the reprieve for rectification of multiple subscriptions and extension of the deadline till September 2018. “Therefore, we encourage all affected investors to come forward and take advantage of the window before the new deadline,” SEC’s Acting Director-General Mrs. Mary Uduk said.

     Faces of the ugly past 

    A report by an investigate committee set up by the CMC had confirmed the existence of multiple subscriptions and irregular accounts, popularly referred to as ‘ghost investors’ by many stakeholders due to their lack of formal identities.

    The introduction of Bank Verification Number (BVN) and biometrics as part of KYC has compounded the worries of claimants. The investigative committee – though restating the obvious – brought a coordinated formal acceptance of the problem of multiple subscriptions and other variants.

    According to the report, there were two groups of investors involved in multiple subscriptions. In the first group, categorised as Group A, are investors that joggled their names in different forms to enable them buy more than the permitted units of shares on offer. In the second group, categorised as Group B, are those who use non-existent personal or corporate names for the purpose of purchasing shares during public offers.

    The report admitted that in order to beat the limits that were essentially features of public offerings, including age, number of applications and allocation processes, several subscribers used fictitious names and various forms of their names to push through multiple allocations.

    Though the actual total value of such assets is unspecified, but almost all the stakeholders agreed it is quite huge and pervasive.

    After extensive deliberations, stakeholders agreed to adopt a non-prosecutory approach to resolve the issue. They, however, cautioned that the market must not be seen to be rewarding wrongful act and illegality of the perpetrators.

    President, Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), Mr. Patrick Ezeagu, whose group participated actively in resolving the multiple subscription issue, said stakeholders reasoned that many problems at the capital market revolved around unresolved issue of multiple subscriptions and unclaimed assets.

    He, particularly, noted the problems of unclaimed dividends and low enthusiasm by minority and retail investors.

    Many reports showed the use of non-existent identity to make multiple subscriptions to public offers as one major source of unclaimed dividend remains. Reliable industry sources had told The Nation that some three-quarter of the outstanding unclaimed dividends, estimated at more than N80 billion and millions of shares, belong to such fictitious investors.

    Unclaimed dividend is a vexatious issue in the capital market. While nearly every stakeholder has an angle to the reasons for the annual count of billions of naira in unclaimed dividend, there was a consensus on the need to resolve the underlining problems and institute a workable framework that reduces unclaimed dividend to the barest.

     Electronic dividend payment to the rescue 

    The adoption of electronic-dividend (e-dividend) payment system has helped to reduce unclaimed dividends as shareholders with bank accounts (with formal and regular names) have been able to claim their past and newly declared dividends.

    Under the e-dividend arrangement, the bank accounts of registered investor are automatically credited once the recommended dividend has been approved.

    The registration for e-dividend has enabled investors with backlog of unclaimed dividends to automatically trace and claim such dividends. A dividend warrant becomes statute-barred, that is, unclaimed and due for return to the originating company after 12 years. With e-dividend, registrars automatically revalidate and pay unclaimed dividend to the bank account registered under the e-dividend.

    Shareholders’ activist and one of the co-founders of Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA), Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo, who admitted to having such multiple subscriptions, said the concession was a welcome development and a more realistic way to deal with the problem of multiple subscriptions.

    He said: “It is highly welcomed because it was the situation then that forced several investors to spread their names. Whenever you applied for a little over 100 units, like 140 units, you would be allotted 100 units in that category, application for 250 units would be allotted 150 units and 300 units would get 200 units. Getting stocks to buy from public offers those days were extremely tough and you will not like to get a refund several months after the closure of the offer.

    “Therefore, investors came up with the idea of ‘spreading their names’ such that Gbadebo Omolaja Olatokunbo will be Gbadebo Olatokunbo and Omolaja Olatokunbo of the same address with slightly different signatures,” Olatokunbo said.

    Ezeagu said the consolidation of multiple accounts and formal identifications and processing of shareholders with confusing identities will not only help to reduce unclaimed dividend, it will also help to sanitise corporate registers and reduce cost of managing such registers by registrars.

    He added that the reprieve will eliminate distortions and enhance the liquidity of the stock market by unlocking such dormant shares to their owners.

    According to him, the reprieve, though tough for the market, may indirectly encourage disenchanted investors back into the market.

     Unveiling the real owners 

    To initiate the claim and process of consolidation, claimants are required to approach the relevant company’s registrar or their stockbrokers with verifiable evidence and identifications to prove ownership of such unclaimed dividends and shares. Such evidence include recognised formal identities, original proof of payments for the shares, transaction receipts from the parties to the offer, proof of residential or postal address, in some cases affidavits and indemnity and any other documents and legal validation that may be required in the process. Those owners, whose identities are established, would then be allowed to consolidate their accounts.

    After the expiration of the timeframe, all unclaimed dividends and shares traceable to the unverified and unconsolidated multiple subscribers and those with non-existent corporate or personal names, shall be forfeited and transferred to the Nigerian Capital Market Development Fund (NCMDF) to be managed transparently in a separate basket under clear guidelines.

    After the conclusion of this special resolution arrangement, anybody who engages in the wrongful act of multiple subscriptions for the same public offer shall be prosecuted while the market shall put in place adequate processes, leveraging on technology, towards detecting and identifying such cases of multiple subscriptions in the future.

    “Registrars have acknowledged that investors have started coming forward but there are challenges in the process,” Mrs. Uduk said.

    Those challenges, include multiple subscriptions of deceased investors and inability to provide all relevant documents. The CMC has set up a technical committee to seek input and come up with recommendations to address the challenges.

     Preventing reoccurrence 

    Bearing the brunt of the boom-burst era, capital market regulators and operators have been implementing several measures to address the loopholes in the ecosystem.

    Both the SEC and NSE have implemented rigorous recapitalisation and standardisation programmes that weeded out several weak operators and strengthened market operators as first level of compliance.

    More stringent KYC requirements, which include BVN and biometrics, are currently operational. Every broker-dealer is now expected to take all reasonable steps to ensure that all details of a client are genuine in line with KYC provisions.

    The ongoing automation of the market processes including, e-dividend, Direct Cash Settlement (DCS), electronic public offering, full dematerialisation and electronic allotment among others, are designed to enhance the integrity of the market system and remove distortions.

    When fully adopted, the DCS will move the stock market from the current stockbroker-mediated payment system under which proceeds of shares sales are remitted to the stockbroker for onward remittance to the investor to a new system under which payment will be made directly from the trading system to the investor’s bank account.

    The e-dividend ensures payment of dividends directly into shareholders’ bank accounts.  Dematerialisation of all share certificates converts all shareholdings into automated deposits under the CSCS, and the related electronic offer (e-offer) and electronic allotment (e-allotment) ensure that new supplementary shares are directly credited to the investors’ CSCS accounts.

    Association for the Advancement of Rights of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS) President Faruk Umar said the automation of the processes through initiatives such as the DCS will help to forestall untoward incidences.

    Dr. Umar said: “The DCS is a commendable initiative. We have lost money in the past through outright diversion or confiscation by bank; this should help to safeguard our money. It will also serves to authenticate ownership of shares since nobody can claim proceeds of share sale, unless through the direct cash settlement.”

    For those with multiple and irregular accounts, it is time to remove the veil and assert true identity. And for the market, it is a long-awaited closure. But in closing the blistering boom-burst era of the past decade, the market must be firm in forestalling reoccurrence and sanctioning infractions, going forward. Prospective investors must perish the hope of another amnesty.

  • Niger Delta youths seek increased funding for amnesty

    Niger Delta youth leaders at the weekend warned politicians against undue interference in the activities of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) coordinated by Prof. Charles Dokubo.

    The leaders also appealed to the federal government to adequately fund PAP to enable the scheme fulfil its mandate.

    In a statement under the auspices of the Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders (NDENYL), they alleged that the amnesty programme had been stifled by inadequate funding over the years.

    The leaders were drawn from the Urhobo Youth Assembly (UYA); Akwa-Cross Youth Coalition for Peace (AKCYCP); Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide; Itsekiri Youths; Kalabari Indigenous Movement (KIM) and the Efik Youth Council (EYC).

    In a statement by an IYC Spokesman, Daniel Dasimaka for the President-General of the NDENYL, Oweilaemi Pereotubo, the youth leaders declared that unless the PAP was adequately funded, the newly-appointed amnesty boss and anyone else that occupy the office would not deliver on their mandates.

    It said: “The Niger Delta Presidential Amnesty programme is one peace building programme that has helped the federal government tremendously to meet its financial targets.

    “Thus it is disheartening that it is not being adequately funded for the past three years.

    “We are therefore using this medium to call on the Federal Government to ensure the disbursement of all funds earmarked for the Amnesty Office.”

    It added:  “Our research shows that until his sack, the Gen Boroh led Amnesty programme had only received payment for the first quarter of 2017. What do you expect from a Man and office that has only received 2017 first quarter payment by almost the end of first quarter 2018? How can such a person and office perform optimally?

    “We are thus calling on the President to ensure the timely release of all funds due to the Amnesty Programme.”

     

  • Amnesty: ‘Dokubo’s plan to review contracts okay’

    The Niger Deltans for Accountability and Good Governance yesterday in Abuja backed the planned review of contracts and personnel audit by the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Dokubo.

    The group described as misleading insinuation that Dokubo abdicated his responsibility to one of his relatives, Ms. Hilda Dokubo, who is said to wield absolute power at the Amnesty Office.

    According to a statement signed by the spokesman of NDAGG, Claudius Egba, there exists a subterranean move to distract Dokubo from his vow to reposition the programme.

    Vowing to thwart the plot, Egba dismissed a statement by the Trained Agitators Forum as a hoax, noting that it was targeted at stopping the probe of contracts awarded by Dokubo’s predecessor, including directives that a personnel audit be carried out to determine the relevance of each staff.

    The statement reads in part: “First, we must clarify that there is no such group as Trained Agitators Forum. It is just a creation of some disgruntled contractors and enemies of the Niger Delta, who are not happy at the decision of the new Coordinator to review the huge and un-performing contracts awarded by his predecessor, Brig-Gen Paul Boroh (Rtd). They want business as usual but the new Coordinator assured us that he will never allow that and we believe him and totally support his decision to carry out a holistic review of the huge contracts awarded by his predecessor.

    “We have just met with Prof. Charles Dokubo, the new Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme and he assured us that he has not made any appointments since he assumed office. He has been working with the personnel he met on ground. We, in fact totally frown against that because we are aware that a number of the management staff that worked with his predecessor, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh did not live up to expectations. Some of them were even known to be very corrupt. We advised him to clean up the place even if it means doing away with most of the personnel in that office,

    “Secondly, the new Coordinator is lucky to have someone like Hilda Dokubo who, since the inception of the Amnesty Programme in 2010, has been involved in one way or the other with the Amnesty Office, offer him tips on how to succeed on the job. Though they share the same surname, Hilda and Professor Dokubo are not related at all. They are just maligning Hilda Dokubo in their bid to distract and possibly smear the new Coordinator.

    “We have our eyes on the Amnesty Office and we can confirm to you all that the new Coordinator has thus far shown that he is focused, disciplined and able to do the job that has been entrusted to him,” the NDAGG Spokesman said.

    Egba noted that Dokubo’s pedigree must have informed the urge by some ‘panicky contractors’ to sponsor a campaign of calumny against his person so as to distract him.

    “These contractors are very used to persons they can control and easily corrupt. But the Professor’s pedigree as an incorruptible scholar is giving them nightmares. They are now going about saying all sorts of negative things simply because the new Coordinator is not willing to pander to their usually corrupt dictates. They have to get used to the new order, a new Sheriff is in town.

    “We know all of them and we are not afraid to call them by their names. We are watching very closely, if they continue with their plot to defocus this new Coordinator, we would be left with no other option but to name and shame them. They are all contractors who want the rotten era at the Amnesty Office to continue. We will expose all of them and show Nigerians the relevant documents about their contracts if they do not stop forthwith from distracting Professor Dokubo,” Egba added.

     

  • Our Girls; Amnesty? Hollow apology?

    Our Chibok Girls are missing since April 15, 2014. We await the release of the remaining Dapchi girl-child, 14-year old, Leah Sharibu. We hear of talks with the other killer groups and amnesty ‘a la Niger Delta’.’ Is it possible that one day we Nigerians will again be free of fear, but at what cost to the threadbare treasury, left empty by the PDP and neo-APC mutants manifest by the PDP finally rendering a ‘nonspecific all embracing’ apology without facts or ‘pay-back schedule’? And is the APC innocent of ravaging Lagos and other states? And for how long will terrorists who perhaps temporarily ‘down AK47 tools’ be undeserving recipients of funds needed for 2.5+ million citizens in IDP camps?

    The amnesty raises a paradox. In the Niger Delta case, there was the citizen protectionist ideology of resistance to oil companies, the NNPC and unitary federal government which left the oil-bearing states wastelands. The Niger Delta targeted the ‘enemy’ – the Federal Government and oil companies. However todays’ terrorists have their ideology targeted directly ‘at the citizenry’ as an ‘anti-education, anti-development agenda’. They kidnap thousands and strap suicide vests on other people’s children, especially girls.

    By the same logic Fulani cow owners, or someone, has instilled in Fulani herdsmen and their protective militia, a driving ‘divine right‘ ideology of ‘’cow first’’ and ‘’free feeding’’ and ‘all Nigeria belongs to us’.

    Both Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen and their string-pullers have targeted ideology at citizens as ‘enemy’ and invade the farms of the highest, execute monarchs, soldiers and policemen seeking to ‘teach a terror lesson’. This makes all citizen targets.

    And under amnesty what is their intended reward for participating in the massive murder of citizens who by the way got no support and little or no compensation for being victims? Perhaps lifetime salaries for murderers like for National Assembly (NASS) leadership. Some of us hold the view that the Niger Delta blanket amnesty, without a truth commission, admission of guilt and some apology was self-defeating, and encouraged other ethnic groups to apply. And now we have come full circle as the financial tap will again be opened for Boko Haram to reap where they sowed suicide bombs and the Fulani herdsmen rampaged.

    Please note that the long bridge at the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway origin near the cow market is now a murderers’ den for victims’ broken down vehicles. If police cannot places patrols there, government must mount barbed wire to make the under-bridge area less porous. Recently a gentleman had his hand almost cut off by a machete cut aimed at his head.

    Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) passes through NASS, 5-10 years late? The federal government’s 2018 budget is still struggling to live. It is now renamed a ‘Premature 2019 budget’, or is it an abortion carried out by NASS!!

    The hollow ‘empty barrel’ apology, ‘full of sound and fury signifying nothing’, should be by parties in whatever power anywhere. Too few were credible and which one did not use thuggery and rig elections. But apologies are rubbish without a catalogue of the woes and a restitution particularly of what is left of their amassed massive loot to the public treasury. Rigged elections, budget thefts, anti-democratic decisions must stop in 2019 in favour of honest violence and thug-free elections.

    All hail the Ikeja Branch of the Lagos NBA. Other professional bodies should sign with them. No matter the good intentions of government, it must subject itself to scrutiny and exorbitant un-negotiated fees are counterproductive to re-election in 2019. The people have had their earnings halved in buying power and deserve defenders from the politicians’ ambitions for ‘trillion naira economies’ creating local post-colonial slavery. Politicians parade as consumptive parasites, running homes and offices ‘free’ on generators and 50-100/litres /day diesel, paid by budgets though the citizen cannot afford similar electric power substitution for their families. Can Nigeria’s political leadership forget the generator for one year and remember when they last bought fuel and serviced a generator with their own money. We do it daily!

    We booed Gowon and others for blocking Lagos roads for hours during state visits. And 40 years on, no lessons learnt. Shame!!!

    Ivory Coast’s electricity company – Compagnie Ivoirienne d’ Electricité (CIE) has a drone school to facilitate monitoring power grids with options for road transport monitoring, security, river flows and medical services.  Will Nigeria, as usual be late to this developmental technology and its introduction to help achieve the SDGs 1-17. The drone is a very cheap, locally-controlled satellite. Nigeria ignored developing its power grid for 50 years and its telephone system until the citizens were rescued by the cell phone. Will Nigeria be late to the drone dining table? Having seen the rubbish schools of Science and Technology best exemplified by the TV photos of the Dapchi school and seen the dilapidated tertiary science facilities and deficient curricular offered by colleges, polytechnics and universities.

    Teachers strike in Oklahoma, USA, over poor pay, poor facilities, insecurity. They should please visit Dapchi school- a hell-school on earth!

    Meanwhile the world buries Stephen Hawking, cosmologist, science populist theoretical physicist, black hole expert, with Sir Isaac Newton. Nigerians parents should teach their children about him and scientists should teach and demand ‘Hawking Essays’ from all their university students.  But will they? Probably not! Happy Easter Period.

     

    • NB: Uncover ‘I LOVE NIGERIA’ KNOWLEDGEABLE CANDIDATES for 2019 -SDG 16.

  • VAIDS: President under pressure to extend deadline as amnesty ends today

    As the tax amnesty under the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) ends on Saturday, some private sector players are said to be lobbying President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the amnesty period.

    An official at the Presidency, who craved for anonymity, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday that governors and company owners had called the President and Vice President to push for the extension of the programme.

    “We are expecting Mr President to make an announcement on the tax amnesty deadline by this weekend.

    “To be frank and honest, nobody knows whether the President will decide to extend it or not, but there has been calls by state governors and key private sector players calling for the extension.

    “However, it still remains unclear if the President will take the recommendation to extend it by another three months, since he had been advised otherwise by the Minister of Finance and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) chairman,’’ the source said.

    Meanwhile, the Adamawa state Commissioner for Finance, Mr Mahmoud Yunusa, told NAN that many of the states were in support of extending the tax amnesty past the March 31 deadline.

    “It should be extended because people are just beginning to buy into the programme. We see people coming up willingly to declare their assets and it shouldn’t end soon.

    “Nigerians deserve more time and I believe that some of them are still collating their assets to know their worth before doing so.

    “Also, some haven’t declared because they operate businesses without any formal documentation, so it will take time before they get their books in order.

    “So it’s my opinion that extending it for another six months would ensure better success,’’ he said.

  • Amnesty for repentant Boko Haram members and the audacity of victory

    I am an ardent follower of the cause of humanity. So, I will be unfair to myself if I view certain issues of humanity from the same narrow prisms like others. Invariably, it would mean my knowledge as a student of human rights and international humanitarian law, coupled with my researches and interactions with multiple conflict resolution experts across the globe is useless to me. I say this without haughtiness.

    In Nigeria, we know that Boko Haram terrorism was a creation of a few people sometime in 2009 in the North-East region of the country. But overtime, it developed into a true monster, a nightmare and a sour grape with unimaginable tentacles.

    It became a symbol of pains and sorrows in our national life. We lost our dignity in the comity of nations by the sheer freedom we allowed Boko Haram terrorists exhibit in atrocities and heinous crimes against humanity.

    I wept endlessly the day military authorities authentically established the existence of Boko Haram child-soldiers and teenage female bomb carriers they hypnotized into committing these satanic acts at designated destinations.

    But the Almighty God in His infinite mercies has through the Nigerian military shown us a today, which is far better than the yesterday’s years of turmoil under Boko Haram Haram Terrorism (BHT). If we believe in the existence of God Almighty and listen to our inner voice of conscience, we shall hear the truth and truly empathize with some Boko Haram insurgents.

    I believe other Nigerians also know that at the turn of 2015, Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) foot soldiers were in multitudes. And the recruitment of innocent Nigerians into this devilish sect was also done diabolically and frequently. Some were charmed; while others were forcefully captured and indoctrinated into the ideology of the sect much against their wish. They were threatened with death and all manner of intimidations into submission.

    The everyday cries and sorrows of Nigerians over BHTs sequel to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari sprouted from the huge reservoir of foot soldiers the terrorists kingpins had amassed. They declared total war against the rest of us. But I can comfortably and assertively say, we have a breather from this bile of terrorism that reigned from 2010 to early 2015. It is no longer ceaseless bloodbath, tears and sorrows as it used to be in the past.

    And I do understand that winning such war completely is beyond the force of guns and booths. The stick and carrot approach is also a veritable instrument in resolving such conflicts in most parts of the world. We must understand that artillery exchange of gunfire alone do not terminate wars, but dialogues on the dialogue table, with concessions on either side, assist tremendously in facilitating the process of peace.

    Therefore, I was taken aback, when loud murmurings greeted hints by Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed that the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) is tinkering with the possibility of granting amnesty to repentant Boko Haram insurgents. I read the deluxe of opposition to the idea, but found nothing or a point strong enough to cancel the idea of amnesty to repentant insurgents. But they were handsomely replete with baseless sentiments of either religion or ethnicity.

    I was almost weighed down. Analysts, commentators, mob attackers and critics left the core of the issues and dwelt on trivialities. We forgot easily that the orthodox religion we practice in Nigeria, whether Christianity or Islam all preach forgiveness of those who offend us. Not just that but also as a way of making our victory total.

    I am amazed at how every Nigerian places himself a professional or expert to advise government on every national issue. So, we were the least to remember that the guilt of some Boko Haram members is through vicarious liability by demonic indoctrination.

    Some of them who regained consciousness have willingly surrendered themselves to the Nigerian military. Yet others are still held by the goons of terrorism because they are skeptical about the fate that awaits them should they surrender. Invariably those who left this angle out, got it completely wrong.

    But we all know the severity of the Boko Haram scourge before now and the efforts at quelling it at the moment. BHT reached frightening dimensions long before 2015. The international community had already branded Nigeria a failed nation-state. We allowed it to breach our sovereignty to shameful limits; hence we could not defend our civilian population from the matching swords of rampaging terrorists.

    For instance, Boko Haram attempted to take over Giwa Barracks in Borno State, but succeeded in taking over the Police College Gwoza and palaces of some Emirs in the North. They deposed these Emirs, appointed new Emirs and foisted their emblems in every territory they captured. Nearly 23 LGAs in the Northeast were under the control of BHT at the turn of 2015.

    With the peace that has substantially returned, we embarked on an adventurous and humanitarian journey to the North-east in 2016. And in Maiduguri, we met the Shehu of Borno, a leader directly at the heat of the furnace of terrorism. He is a revered, very powerful and influential traditional ruler.

    We had a chat with him and the Shehu of Borno indeed confirmed to us that the situation was so bad that about eight of his Chiefs had to vacate their palaces and flee to hibernate with him in Maiduguri.

    But he was honest enough to inform us of the changed tides on terrorism by 2016. He was vehement that the Nigerian Army, under the leadership of the COAS and leader of the counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai, have succeeded in pushing the insurgents out of his domain.

    The Shehu of Borno confirmed that all his Chiefs have returned home and mounted their thrones. I went round the state to confirm same. At Kwajafa, the Chief also confirmed what the Shehu had told us.

    And apart from Borno or the Northeast, we are all living witnesses to hellish experiences of Nigerians with terrorists in Abuja. The Federal Capital Territory was so frightened by terrorists to the extent that even the Police High Command could not navigate its office premises without blockage for the fear of BHT. Even diplomats at the United Nations country office in Abuja were scared-stiff. But by 2016 all these vanished.

    The kidnap of the Chibok schoolgirls at that time was to crown the supremacy of Boko Haram over the Nigerian state. And our reactions only worsened the matter by demonstrating and trumpeting to the whole world our status as a failed state.

    What we cannot take away from the current efforts in our appraisal of the anti-terrorism war is that the BHTs have been decimated and defeated through the efforts of our military. No matter the pretenses, we cannot dodge this reality with the empirical evidence around us.

    Added to it, we must not lose sight of our humanity by acknowledging the fact that in the course of the military’s prosecution of this delicate war, it made enormous sacrifices more than what any of us can ever imagine, by even paying the supreme price. We cannot discuss the terrorism war anywhere without giving them the desired kudos and place in history for the selfless and patriotic service to our country.

    It is the Military’s commitment to this cause that even compelled Boko Haram’s return of the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls timely, without any bruise on either side, in sticking to the agreement reached on their release.

    Unfortunately, some of us believe more in the conspiracy theories. So, we are not prodded to first appreciate why it was convenient for Boko Haram to keep more Chibok girls for years, despite all the international and local pressures on them to return them, but why insurgents had to release the Dapchi girls almost immediately.

    That’s the fruits or potency of dialogue and forgiveness in war situations. It has extinguished the fire of vengeance and established the first test case of insurgents’ trust that the FGN can be gentlemanly enough to honour its promise of pardon to all repentant insurgents if those still hiding decide to lay down their arms . And more would lay down their arms.

    Consequently, there have been efforts by conflict experts across the globe having seen the level of success made by the current administration under President Buhari and the military to consider safe corridors for those who willingly lay down their arms. Some terrorists out of frustration and lack of escape have embarked on suidiced mission to end the war themselves and from investigations many still want to abandon their commanders but no solid assurance that the people could ever forgive their atrocities in a hurry.

    It therefore gladdens my heart to hear about plans by the Federal Government to offer an exit program to members of the insurgent group who are ready to lay down their arms. This should be seen more as a testament to our collective humanity as a people and the efforts of the Nigerian government to humble these evil men to a point where they have abandoned their ideology. . Already, many of the Boko Haram commanders have surrendered and many more are still willing to surrender. But they want to be assured of the sincerity and commitment to this promise by government.

    In essence, the planned exit program or soft-landing proposed by stakeholders is important to safeguard the lives of all innocent Nigerians or families dragged into the sect outside the main ideology which its core promoters had proclaimed. It’s permissible and practicable in any jurisdiction around the world and has worked perfectly well.

    Nigerians have seen this worked in the instance of the Niger Delta militancy. It is now the prime responsibility of the international partners and civil society organizations to work conscientiously and assiduously to ensure all parties keep to their bargain for disarmament through the amnesty. This shall quicken the death of terrorism and return permanent peace to our devastated and ravaged communities.

    Agbese is a human rights law researcher @ the Middlesex University London, United Kingdom.

  • Amnesty for Boko Haram provocatively premature

    PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari was not all threat when he received the Dapchi schoolgirls abducted and released by a more amenable faction of the violent Boko Haram sect. He had threatened those who were disposed to politicising what he described as security situation for selfish gains. But he was unhelpfully not specific. He also spoke of redeeming his pledge to rescue every Nigerian abducted by the sect, including some 112 Chibok schoolgirls still held by the sect. But, controversially, he also offered amnesty to repentant Boko Haram insurgents. Said the president: “While further efforts are being made to secure the release of every abducted citizen in Nigeria, the government is ever ready to accept the unconditional laying down of arms by any member of the Boko Haram group, who shows strong commitment in that regard. We are ready to rehabilitate and integrate such repentant members into the larger society. This country has suffered enough of hostility. Government is, therefore, appealing to all to embrace peace for the overall development of our people and the country.”

    Predictably, and much more than the threat to deal with those politicising security, the amnesty offer has become quite controversial. The controversy is healthy.  While some fear that the process — of rehabilitation and reintegration — has not always been impeccable, leading to some of the fighters rejoining their violent cohorts, others fear that granting amnesty to killers would send wrong signals to armed robbers, kidnappers and ritual murderers. The amnesty offer has, however, been in operation for a while, even predating the Buhari presidency. With no studies done yet to ascertain the efficacy of the measure as applied in the past, why would the government simply forge ahead with the questionable policy?

    The measure is not just opaque and dubious, it is even premature. The government said it had technically defeated the sect, whatever that means, and degraded it as a fighting force. Though it tried unlawfully to raise more money to fight a force it claimed to have defeated, it is not surprising that it is still seeking a welter of ad hoc measures to tackle an insurgency about which it does not have a comprehensive understanding. What is clear from the confusion is that there is no concise and coherent policy to end the insurgency. Quite apart from not showing proof that the country has learnt the appropriate lessons from the costly and sanguinary revolt in the Northeast, nor yet determine how to bring a closure to the crisis, the government is now embarking on a policy drive it has not shown any evidence it has thought  through.

    The government gives the impression that the final extermination of Boko Haram is imminent. It should press ahead and do what it promised. But importantly too, if it is not to open itself needlessly to allegations of being cosy with the sect in one form or the other, the Buhari presidency should develop a concise and practicable amnesty programme far deeper and more convincing than its present ad hoc approach suggests. It is difficult to resist the feeling that , sometimes, the government forgets it was elected into office and that it needs to carry the people along in its decisions, not only because democracy demands it but also because it needs various inputs from diverse sections of the society to fine-tune the policy. For now, the policy is premature, raises suspicion about the government’s altruism, and shows that no serious reflection whatsoever has been done upon the critical subject of how to deal with mass murderers.

    The scale of the destruction in the Northeast and elsewhere, the huge population displaced by the fighting and terror, the deaths occasioned by the sheer violence practiced by the sect, the initial connivance at the atrocities by regional elite, and the infrastructural damage caused by the sect, all suggest that at the end of the insurgency, a crime against humanity tribunal not dissimilar to the Nuremberg trials of post-World War II should be empanelled. By waving amnesty under the noses of insurgents, the government seems to be sending a cavalier message that the moment the insurgency ends, the country can return to its default mode. It will not, at least not easily. The problem of the Northeast is huger and deeper than the government has cared to admit. The government will require cerebral depth to be able to handle the post-insurgency period far better than it has handled the shooting part of the crisis.