The Nation Newspaper

Tag: amnesty

  • Nigeria gains N27bn through tax amnesty

    THE Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Babatunde Fowler, has revealed that N27 billion was added to the nation’s treasury in 2016 through the tax amnesty initiative of the service. Fowler made this known at the 44th Annual General Meeting of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria yesterday in Lagos, where he delivered the keynote address. According to him, the country celebrated the addition of N27 billion in 2016 to the national treasury, generated through the waiver of penalty and interest programme to taxpayers in default of payment of taxes between 2013 and 2015.

    Tax defaulters were allowed to pay the actual taxes owed while the penalty and interest were waived with the proviso that they declared their indebtedness, pay 25 per cent of the principal amount and also present a payment plan on the outstanding tax liabilities acceptable to FIRS. Addressing the theme of the AGM, which is tailored around ‘fresh thinking’, Fowler further stated that FIRS has embraced ingenious ideas that will strengthen the economy by bringing more revenue into the national treasury in the last 24 months. He said: “FIRS has been relentless in improving its operations in the last 10 years since it became autonomous.

    “With the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), it has embarked on expansive modernisation projects that are resulting and will continue to result in improved revenue earning for the national treasury.” He averred that another factor that had increased compliance considerably was the idea that tax payers could file tax returns at any FIRS office nearest to them. He also listed improved collaboration with the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation to ensure that MDAs remit taxes promptly through the implementation of the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), which facilitates deduction and remittance of Withholding Tax (WHT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) on all contract payments at source.

    FIRS, it was learnt, has also deployed online ICT solutions covering taxpayer registration, payment of stamp duties, payment of taxes online, receiving of electronic receipt after payment of taxes, filing tax returns online and online Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC) through electronic Tax Clearance Certificate (e-TCC), all aimed at bringing convenience to tax payers. Fowler also announced that tax payers who have registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as at April 30, 2016 can now have access to auto-generated Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).

    The FIRS boss also used the opportunity to publicise the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), which was recently launched last week by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo. “Under the programme, taxpayers in Nigeria and the Diaspora have a nine-month window to declare their assets and income and pay outstanding taxes bereft of penalty and interest. Such taxpayers will not be prosecuted,” he stated. Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, who was represented at the occasion by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde, urged AAAN members to emphasise ethical standards in the development of advert contents, saying the evolution of the global village concept does not translate to the equality of moral codes.

  • 100 amnesty delegates clinch IITH fellowship  

    A 100 delegates of the Presidential Amnesty Programme have been inducted as fellows of the International Institute of Tourism and Hospitality.

    The newly inducted fellows are the first tranche of delegates to conclude a month-long training at the International Institute of Tourism and Hospitality in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    The training explored the diverse opportunities in Nigeria’s tourism sector, while highlighting the nation’s rich cultural heritage as a solid base for fashion and catering businesses.

    Speaking at the induction ceremony, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig. Gen. Paul Boroh (rtd) described the training as expansive enough to integrate key elements of Nigeria’s social environment as unique selling points for targeted Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in the hospitality industry.

    ‘’I am optimistic that the delegates would make remarkable contributions to the growth of the nation’s tourism and hospitality industry. I therefore urge them to engage in activities that will help sharpen whatever skills they now possess and to put these skills to use in ways that will benefit them and society. Gen. Boroh was also firm in support of young people who strive on their own to acquire skills in vocations that have bearing on subsistence. He advised the delegates to be worthy ambassadors of the Amnesty programme and their families stating that society expects much from them.

    The event in Yenagoa attracted a large turnout of guests which included strong representations from the state government and the traditional rulers council represented by HRM King Alfred Diette-Spiff.

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson was represented by the commissioner for tourism development, Mrs Ebiere Irene Musa, who encouraged the delegates to take advantage of the opportunity given them by the government to do great exploits in the hospitality and Tourism sector. She said the delegates have been equiped with practical and theoritical aspects in the industry to compete with their counterparts globally.

    The training of Amnesty delegates in Tourism and hospitality at the International Institute of Tourism and Hospitality is considered by the Amnesty Office as a homegrown approach to tackling some development needs in the Niger Delta.

    This first set of delegates trained at the institute were empowered with business start up packs to enable them begin their own enteprise. While all 100 were duly inducted as fellows of the institute, a few others were recognised for outstanding performance with awards of excellence conferred on the deserving delegates.Another batch of 100 delegates is expected to be deployed to the institute soon for training with a projected one thousand completing training in Tourism and Hospitality in the next ten months.

  • FATE Foundation may seek FIRS tax amnesty for MSMEs

    FATE Foundation may seek FIRS tax amnesty for MSMEs

    FATE Foundation (FATE) may  seek  the extension of tax amnesty for Micro, Small, MediumEnterprises and new startups on account of the challenging economic environment.

    Last  year, FATE and other organisations got Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to free small businesses from tax burdens as it waved all outstanding tax liabilities against them up till the end of the year.  Following this, the Service granted a 45-day tax amnesty for businesses that had not paid taxes between 2013 and 2015.

    Executive Director, FATE Foundation, Mrs. Adenike Adeyemi said the  45-day window, which was to close on November 24, last year was extended to December 31 for SMEs

    FIRS Executive Chairman, Tunde Fowler, said  the agency realised N27.086 billion from the waiver of tax penalty, adding that FIRS introduced the programme  to allow defaulters regularise their relationship with the agency.

    Despite this, Mrs. Adeyemi said the heavy tax on pioneering small businesses could pose threat to earlier investments in the light of the declining economic growth.

  • Oyo Chief Judge grants amnesty to 22 prisoners

    The Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Muktah Abimbola, has granted amnesty to 22 inmates of Abolongo Prisons.

    He also sentenced three others to three months community service.

    The ceremony was in honour of an advocate of prisons decongestion and member of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, Prince Adetayo Adekunle.

    The Chairman of the Oyo Metropolitan Development Association, Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu, showered encomiums on Adekunle for the noble cause.

    Ladigbolu also charged the released prisoners never to go back to their vomit.

    In his goodwill message, the Deputy Comptroller of Prisons in charge of Abolongo Prisons, Oyo Mr. S. Esan, thanked the CJ for heeding the call for prisons decongestion.

     

  • Amnesty slams Australia as country begins UN human rights council bid

    Rights group Amnesty International slammed Australia on Thursday as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop prepared to launch a bid in New York for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.

    Amnesty International Australia said in a statement that Australia’s bid for the council “glosses over” the country’s issues with refugee, indigenous and asylum-seeker rights.

    Amnesty National Director, Claire Mallinson, said: “It’s not enough to talk the talk in New York, this government must must walk the walk at home.

    “Australia must demonstrate that it would be a principled, effective and accountable Human Rights Council member.”

    Bishop arrived at the UN in New York on Monday.

    Before leaving Australia, she said the country’s campaign for the council “reflects our commitment to working with other nations to find long-term practical solutions to complex human rights challenges.”

    Since 2016, three UN special rapporteurs who have visited Australia to report on racism, indigenous affairs and migrants, have denounced the government for not doing enough on those issues.

    Australia should take the actions recommended by UN experts, Tony Kenyon, president of Australian Lawyers Alliance, said in a statement released Wednesday.

    “As Australia seeks election as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, it must demonstrate its commitment to respecting human rights by implementing the recommendations of UN experts,” Kenyon said.

    The Australian government has been condemned by the UN, rights groups and even an Australian parliamentary inquiry for the detention and deplorable living conditions of refugees and asylum seekers in off-shore processing centres in the Pacific islands.

    Hundreds of detainees, sent to the camps by Australia after they tried to reach the country by boat, have been languishing on Manus Island and Nauru for more than three years.

    The government also has been criticised for not addressing the deteriorating conditions of Aboriginal and indigenous Australians, who are near the bottom across economic and social indicators.

    “The government continues its inherently abusive offshore detention regime, and oversees astronomical rates of indigenous incarceration,” Amnesty said.

    While making up only about three per cent of Australia’s 24 million people, Aboriginal and indigenous Australians make up 27 per cent of the prison population.

    The juvenile detention rate is 24 times higher for indigenous Australians than it is for the non-indigenous, and a report said the incarceration rate for indigenous women has risen nearly 250 per cent since 1991.

    Indigenous Australians also live 10 years shorter than the non-indigenous population, and indigenous infant mortality is twice as high when compared to the rest of the population.

    Employment rates are sliding backwards, with 48.4 per cent of Aborigines in a job in 2014 to 2015, compared to 72.6 per cent for others.

  • Amnesty programme’s budget increased by N35bn

    Amnesty programme’s budget increased by N35bn

    To sustain the new understanding between the Federal Government and the oil-producing communities of the Niger Delta, the Federal Government has released additional N35B to step-up the Amnesty Programme in the region.
    This was disclosed in a press statement by Special Assistant Media to the Vice President, Laolu Akande.
    Although N20B allocation had been approved for the Amnesty Programme in the 2016 budget, President Muhammadu Buhari has now raised the funds, and as appropriated, to N55B with a recent release of additional N30B. There is also a planned release of another N5B later.
    Currently, the Amnesty Office has now paid up all ex-militants backlog of their stipends up to the end of 2016.
    The release of the additional funds is coming after presidential level interactive engagements in the Niger Delta, where the Buhari administration has enunciated a New Vision for the oil-producing areas based on the presentation made by the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, to the President when he received leaders and stakeholders from the region last November.
    Subsequently, the President asked Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, to embark on a tour of the region that saw him visiting several oil-producing States in the country.
    Besides the monthly payment of about N65, 000 to N66,000 to the ex-militants, the funds would also go to the provision of reintegration activities under the Amnesty Programme including payment of tuition fees for beneficiaries from Niger Delta who are in post-secondary institutions at home and abroad, payment of in-training & hazard allowances and vocational training costs.
    There are also empowerment schemes and self-help, self-employment support funds, including provision of needed equipments by the Amnesty Office. Equally, the funds would also support the training of pilots, aviation engineers, technicians, and motor vehicles mechanics from the oil-producing communities.
    The Buhari administration reassured the Niger Delta communities of its unalloyed commitment to a faithful implementation of its promises made during the FG interactive engagement visits by the Vice President to different oil-producing communities
    Other promises made during the visits are currently at different stages of effective implementation, including the effective opening of the Maritime University, integration of illegal refiners under the concept of new Modular Refineries, resumption of all abandoned construction projects in the region, the Ogoni Clean-up, and several others.
    For instance the Maritime University is now on course to be opened before the end of the year as the presidency has already set the process in motion as announced on Friday. Other announcements are to follow as each of the commitments of the FG to the Niger Delta oil-producing communities reach advanced and implementation stages.
    Already there is an inter-ministerial group consisting of all relevant ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs of the FG, with the involvement of relevant State governments led by the Vice President that meets regularly to drive the different initiatives and ensure effective and ongoing implementation.

  • Amnesty for murderers?

    The death penalty issue is again taking centre stage with the report that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State is about to take decision on probable clemency on  cases of those on death row.  The battle between death penalty abolitionists and those for retention of death penalty have been long drawn and is not about to abate. Death penalty is imposed generally to curb heinous crimes, such as murder, to preserve the sanctity of lives. It remains controversial. The basic argument by death penalty abolitionists is that it negates the very essence of sanctity of life when the state takes the life of a killer while those for death penalty insist that a killer, by his deliberate action of terminating another person’s life, forfeits his own right to live.

    A secondary issue is the number of offences which attract the death penalty. On this, even many supporters of death penalty believe that the crimes which attract the death sentence can be reduced to those involving killing. Of the 41 offences which attract the death penalty in the United States, 39 involve murder and only two – treason and espionage – may not involve murder. China, which carries out the highest number of death sentence at an average of 5,000 per year till 2012 reduced the number of crimes attracting death penalty from 68 to 55 by 2011. However, studies show that prevalence of violent crimes often predisposes countries to impose the capital punishment as a deterrent. An example is the imposition of death penalty for armed robbery, and recently for kidnapping in Nigeria in response to escalating violent robberies and kidnap cases. Death penalty abolitionists also stress that because a death penalty once carried out is irreversible should make countries abolish the punishment to prevent the killing of an innocent suspect. Many contend, however, that that probability argument is self serving and cannot be enough ground for complete abolition of death penalty, irrespective of incontrovertible evidence of the gravity of the murderous violence visited on the victim. Death penalty is not revenge but retribution – reaping what killers sow.

    The world today is engaged in a titanic battle:  authoritarian application of law vs. liberal interpretation and application of law.  The liberals, parading under the fraudulent tag of human rights organizations, are becoming more and more of advocates for killers and other violent criminals. The so-called human rights communities do not preach against murder by individuals but are most vociferous in defence murderers’ right to life, when convicted, while completely discounting the victims’ equal right to life.  It is a fraudulent campaign and the name – human rights community, a misnomer.  The authoritarians, as advocates of rule of law and for wanting the provisions of existing laws enforced, especially with regard to violent crimes, are being projected in the public arena as mean hearted.  It is a propaganda tactics at demonizing those who insist that persons must face the consequences of the choices they make in their disdainful violation of the law. Death penalty is federal law in the U.S and is also applicable in 31 of the 50 states. The U.S. has executed 15,269 persons under death penalty, as at 2002, including 16 clergy, 12 lawyers and 19 doctors and since 1977 granted clemencies to 273 convicts. A feature of the duality of federal-state laws on death penalty in the U.S. was on display where Dylan Roof, a racist, who killed 12 African-Americans at the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015 was sentenced to life jail in  state court but convicted  on federal hate crime charges by a federal jury and sentenced to death under federal law.  More than two-thirds of the world population live under jurisdictions with death penalty law, including Japan, contrary to the erroneous impression being created by human rights groups that only minority operate death penalty.

    Lagos, and particularly Lagos megapolis, faces tremendous security challenges with the influx of all kinds of people into the state, requiring courageous application of the law. One of such recent traumatic challenges was the rash of kidnappings that literally brought the state prostrate before daring criminals. It was this situation which apparently compelled the state to pass the law imposing death penalty on kidnappers. It was a situational response. While conceding that the death penalty could have applied only to kidnappers whose victims got killed, it nevertheless indicates the state government’s sensitivity to the intolerable siege the kidnappers were imposing on the state. Lagos is seemingly being blackmailed in its efforts to create a people-friendly, orderly city.  Skill-less, homeless  vagrants from other states cannot be evicted without a chorus of discrimination, its plan for a census to know those living within its borders was shut down on the charges of being divisive and its tax regime is vilified as being punitive even as people clamour for municipal infrastructure befitting a megacity.

    Governor Ambode and the Lagos State government must be resolute in their  law and order pursuit. Having sent a strong signal to criminals in its anti kidnapping law, the governor cannot allow himself to be stampeded into granting underserved clemency to vicious criminals.  The state Attorney General and Commissioner for  Justice, Adeniji Kazeem, at a press conference on Tuesday, April 18, was reported to have indicated the state government’s readiness to determine the fate of those on death row in the state. Among these is the General Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly,  Chukwuemeka  Ezeugo  a.k.a  Rev. King, whose conviction for the  2006 killing of  one of his church members, a female, by dousing her with petrol and setting her on fire, was confirmed  by the Supreme Court last year. His case will be watched with keen interest as his die-hard adherents were already expressing confidence in his triumphant return. Kazeem was said to have recounted pressure from do-gooder persons and institutions, including the British High Commission, decrying some of the state’s legal stances and the notion among convicts “that even if we commit these infractions and they sentence us to death, they will never kill us”. That is the prize of indecisiveness in enforcing death sentences over the years by lily-livered governors.

    For the British High Commission, it is instructive to note that given the spate of repeat murders by convicted murderers let out on parole in liberal Britain, former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, was compelled to back ‘whole life’ without parole but for the European Union’s stand against this. Justice Minister, Jeremy Wright, had lamented: ‘ Reoffending has been too high for too long and we are introducing significant reforms’ in 2015 including  GPS satellite tags on paroled convicts for better monitoring. It was a situational response to multiple repeat murders by released convicts, including those  by Andrew Dawson, a 1982 murder convict who stabbed a 91-year old man to death weeks after his release (parole) in 2010 ; George Johnson, jailed for murder in 1986, released in 2006 only to batter to death 89-year old widow, Florence Habesch ;  David Cook, a 1987 murder convict  who killed his neighbor in 2011 on release from jail;  Ernest Wright, a 2010 repeat murderer and Desmond Lee, a gay who killed his lover, Christopher Pratt in 2009 on release from jail for the 1989 murder of his landlady.

    The growing violent crimes in the country demand forceful response from governments at various levels and state legislatures should experiment with impeachment proceedings against governors failing in their constitutional responsibility in refusing to sign death warrants of convicted felons.  However, a case-by-case review process can be put in place for death row inmates to determine possible mitigating circumstances which may compel commuting some death sentences to life jail, especially for offences where no life was lost. But for the callous killers, there should be no compromise, the position of weepers in Amnesty International and their local surrogates, notwithstanding.

     

    • Dr. Olawunmi is Senior Lecturer, Bowen University, Iwo.
  • Amnesty : Double payment to beneficiaries against government rules, says Boroh

    Amnesty : Double payment to beneficiaries against government rules, says Boroh

    The Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh, has said the old culture of double payment to beneficiaries in training is against the Federal Government’s rules and has been discontinued.

    Gen. Boroh, in a statement by Media and Communication Consultant Mr Owei Lakemfa, in Abuja, said hitherto, some beneficiaries who collected stipends, were also paid In-Training-Allowances while on the programme’s scholarship.

    He said: “What I met was a situation where an amnesty beneficiary, who is on monthly stipend, a sustenance allowance, was also being paid monthly In-Training-Allowance (ITA) which is also a sustenance allowance.

    “This amounted to double payment. It is against the financial regulations of the nation and international best practice.

    “But in changing the system, we had to carry out thorough biometric verification  to match the stipend beneficiary and the scholarship beneficiary receiving ITA.

    “While there are matches we have made and subsequently stopped the double payment, there are those we have not been able to match due to the fact that they used their ‘bush names’ in registering for the amnesty while using their real names in registering in the tertiary institutions.

    “For this category of beneficiaries, the necessary match will be made when we complete the biometric verification, and their double payment will be stopped.”

    Gen. Boroh, who is also the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, disclosed that the programme was in its final stage of integration and that stipend payment would be stopped for beneficiaries who had been trained and empowered.

    “We regard all beneficiaries who have benefited from the Amnesty Programme scholarship and have studied and graduated from various local and foreign universities, as people who have been trained and empowered.

    “To earn a degree is empowerment. However, the Presidential Amnesty Programme will continue to assist beneficiaries in their efforts to secure gainful employment,” he said.

    The presidential aide emphasised that the programme had a time line which would run out and that the process of weaning the two categories of beneficiaries from the stipend regime was part of the Amnesty Office’s  Strategic Exit Programmes (STEPS).

    He assured beneficiaries, who had outstanding training and empowerment or Type Training in Maritime or Aviation, that they would be completed in the on-going process of sustainably integrating all the beneficiaries.

  • Sylva seeks support for Buhari, Amnesty Programme

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Governor of Bayelsa State Chief Timipre Sylva has urged Nigerians to support the development initiatives of President Muhammadu Buhari for the Niger Delta.

    The APC chieftain spoke during a visit to the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh(Rtd) in Abuja.

    Sylva emphasized the importance of giving support to the planned development blueprint for the region which he said would ultimately improve the wellbeing of the people.

    He reiterated the President’s commitment towards maintenance of peace and stability in the region necessitated also on the continuity of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, clean-up of Ogoni  and related agencies by the present administration.

    He called on the youth of the area to eschew violence, discourage those still leaning towards militancy but rather join hands with the government to curb pipeline vandalism.

    He lauded the achievements of the Presidential Amnesty Programme in the last two years under the leadership of Gen. Boroh), noting that the region has witnessed significant increase in human capital development within the period under review.

    Gen. Boroh appreciated the solidarity support from the former governor describing him as one of the champions of the South South.

    He reiterated the federal government’s commitment towards the development of the Niger Delta region, peace and stability as well as sustainable reintegration and youth empowerment.

    He hinted the former governor on youth agricultural programmes embarked upon by the office for most of the delegates yet trained and the multiplier effect which will include a value chain of food sufficiency, massive job opportunities and wealth creation in the country.

  • Amnesty Office’s hanging billions

    Amnesty Office’s hanging billions

    he Presidential Amnesty Programme, a brain child of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, brought peace to the Niger Delta at a time when the region was becoming an embarrassment to the country at home and abroad. Revenue dwindled. Bombs went off like fireworks at oil installations.

    The first thing he did was to have the Niger Delta Ministry. First, he created the Ministry of the Niger Delta. He later followed up with a technical committee to review existing reports on the region. The committee, headed by an ex-President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ledum Mittee, recommended an increase of the derivation fund from 13 to 25 per cent. It also recommended open trial for one of the faces of the arms struggle, Mr Henry Okah, who was then in detention in Angola. Another of its recommendation, which led to the Presidential Amnesty Programme, is that youths in the region must be disarmed through a credible Decommissioning, Disarmament and Rehabilitation (DDR) process.

    The late Yar’Adua knew something urgent must be done to rescue the situation. Aside his love for peace, he also needed to save the country from international embarrassment the arms struggle had become. By then, there were reports of militants partaking in piracy activities on the Gulf of Guinea, a development which had seen the governments of Equatorial Guinea and Angola complaining to Yar’Adua at international meetings. Okah, I was told, was mentioned by the two governments as being responsible for the piracy activities against their countries. Okah was a leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which had claimed responsibility for many of the kidnappings and the attacks on oil facilities in the region.

    Fast forward to April 2009, the then president dissolved the board of the NNDC. Timi Alaibe, who was the Managing Director, however, got another job. He was appointed Special Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs. His major job, it turned out, was to midwife the birth of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

    Two months after Alaibe’s appointment, Yar’Adua breathed life into it. The late Yar’Adua recruited Chief Tony Anenih, Dr Koripamo Agary and Dr Ferdinand Ikwang, among others, to assure the agitators he was truthful about not victimising them after dropping their guns.

    Alaibe traversed the creeks persuading hard-line militant leaders to embrace the programme. He did not do it alone. He got Kingsley Kuku, the Arogbo-born ex-member of the Ondo State House of Assembly, who had worked with him as Special Assistant at the NNDC, to get Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), General Shoot-at-sight and many other leaders of the arms’ struggle to sign up to Yar’Adua’s offer.

    Okah, who had by then been repatriated from Angola and was standing trial for treason at the Federal High Court, Jos, was a major issue in the refusal of many militant leaders to accept the programme. But, because Yar’Adua wanted the programme to live, he agreed to drop charges against Okah and on July 13, 2009, Okah became a free man. Okah’s release did not go down with many in the military circle and elsewhere. It did not convince some militant leaders to embrace the programme until hours before the October 4, 2009 deadline.

    Between June 25 and October 4, 2009, I am told 20,192 militants embraced the programme by handing over arms in excess of 20,000. Others who did not hand over their weapons initially because of the fear of the unknown did before the deadline expired. Even after the deadline’s expiration, 6,166 more people, I understand, associated with it.

    Alaibe, who took on the task of managing the programme as the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, left to contest the 2011 governorship in Bayelsa State.  Yar’Adua’s successor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, saw no one else to continue other than Kuku, the man from the fringe of the Niger Delta, who had worked closely with Alaibe.

    Through the programme, over 30,000 ex-militants have been given a new lease of life. Through it also, not less than 2,000 students are abroad studying for one degree or the other. One of them is 21-year-old Gabriel Odidison, who is majoring in Business and Finance at Marist College in the United States.  I met him on a trip to Atlanta shortly after Jonathan was defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari. There are several others who have been trained as pilots, marine engineers, underwater welders and experts in various oil and gas fields.

    Sadly, the programme, which Buhari continued after assuming office, has not had it easy. The major problem is paucity of fund. Billions of naira, which belongs to the programme now overseen by Gen. Paul Boroh, have not been released. Because of this, ex-agitators are owed; school fees of students abroad cannot be paid and even some local trainings have had to be put on hold. I heard the situation is changing but more cash should be released to end the pains.

    My final take: The Presidency, which has been all over the Niger Delta in search of peace, must act fast. We must get the Amnesty Office its billions. Please don’t kill the programme. The consequences are unimaginable. The dreams of the likes of Odidison, who are the future of not just the Niger Delta, but Nigeria, must be kept alive and well.

     

    And Dear Efe Ejeba

     This is my first letter to you and will likely be the last. First, let me start by congratulating you on your win. In this time of recession, getting N25 million and a brand new Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) – after 78 days of snatched kisses, hugs and showering naked with grown women – is no mean feat. It is also no mean feat staying in doors for that long, with access to free alcoholic drinks, twerking babes and not lose it. I congratulate you, especially ‘based on logistics’.

    You may wonder why I am writing to you. Well, it is because you are a Warri boy and I know a bit of your story,  as gleaned from the social media accounts of the tales you told in the house. You are a street boy and clearly the one who needed the money most. You typify the Niger Delta story, where poverty walks on all fours, where a few corner the commonwealth and even use it to destabilise the society; and ensure the youth lose the sense to take back what belongs to them.

    There is the temptation to moralise about the Big Brother Naija show, but I will resist it; I leave that for your pastor. Instead I will offer some pieces of advice on what you should do with your life after the BBN house.

    My first advice is this: look for Katung Aduwak. He won the first BBN, which was hosted in Lagos, Nigeria, unlike yours which held in South Africa. Katung won the grand prize a decade ago.  Though you are a Warri boy and your family members are largely there, you and Katung, I understand, share the background of having lived in Jos, the Plateau State capital. Please get Katung to tell you how he invested his money and till date he remains on top. He never went back to where he was before the show. With the kind of money you have, the time has come for you to stop being a street boy. Your career as a rapper and entertainer should hit the top now. You should give MI Abaga and Oga Boss a run for their money.

    Aside Katung, you also need to seek time to have a hearty-to-heart talk with Ayo Makun, another Warri boy who we all love to call AY. If you do not know, he was your fan and mobilised support for you. Over the years, AY has shown that he knows how to invest money and get it back in multiple folds. If you are in doubt, ask for the figures from 30 Days in Atlanta and A Trip to Jamaica. You will also do well to ask for the figures from his popular AY Live comedy shows.

    My third advice to you, dear Efe, centres around girls. Not a few of them flock around cash. You have some cash now and more are bound to roll in and with this, the girls will look for you, even without invitation. The cash is the invite they need. They will confuse and convince you with their physique. Examples abound of entertainers with multiple baby mamas because they simply got convinced and confused by the babes. This is not a road you should travel.

    You also need to take a trip round major towns in the Niger Delta, such as Port Harcourt, Warri, Yenagoa and Benin. In these places, your business is not at the Government Houses. No. Your business is with the boys on the streets. You need to give them hope. Tell them your story and I believe they will learn from it.

    While avoiding any advice that will make me sound like your pastor – assuming you have one– you need God; you need his grace. This is not a race you can run alone. One with God is a majority, remember.

    Bye for now.