The Nation Newspaper

Tag: areas

  • Buhari: why I don’t rush to visit violence-hit areas

    Buhari: why I don’t rush to visit violence-hit areas

    Governor demands arrest of herdsmen carrying AK47

    The President told critics of his delayed visit to trouble spots yesterday that he has his way of monitoring developments instead of “rushing” to crises spots and “making noise”.

    President Muhammadu Buhari spoke in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, during his visit to assess the situation in the state and condole with victims of violence.

    No fewer than 200 people are believed to have been killed in communal disputes, herders/farmers clashes and others in the state.

    Many of the dead were buried in mass graves. Many are injured and hospitalised. Others have been forced out of their homes.

    The local government areas worst- hit by the herdsmen/farmers crisis are: Lau, Ibi, Gassol, Bali, Wukari, Takum and Sardauna where scores were killed in renewed violence at the weekend.

    Leaders of the violence-hit communities were at the Government House yesterday to meet with the President, who urged all Nigerians to embrace peace and live together in harmony so that “there could be meaningful development and not destruction”.

    “I am here (Taraba) to meet with the leadership of the state, to offer my condolences to those who lost loved ones and properties in violence.

    “People, sometimes expect me to rush out to the fields, to go and make noise.

    “But I have my ways of gathering intelligence. I get to know what is happening across the country without necessarily going to those areas.

    “I will be going to Benue and Zamfara after I return from Ghana to also condole with the people,” Buhari said.

    He urged traditional rulers in the state to step up activities in their various chiefdoms to foster peaceful coexistence among their subjects and to remain vigilant at all times.

    The President was accompanied by Minister of Women Affairs Hajia Aisha Alhassan , Minister of Defence Manir Dan Ali; Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed, some Service Chiefs and National Assembly members from the state.

    The delegation was received by Governor Darius Ishaku and state’s lawmakers, led by the speaker.

    President Buhari said he chose to visit Taraba first, before Benue and Zamfara states, adding that there were more killings in Taraba, Benue and Zamfara states.

    Ishaku said the state was delighted to welcome the President in its trying time.

    The governor noted that Taraba State was a “mini Nigeria”, with its over 80 ethnic groups and three religions to handle. “It is not easy to always balance things up here.”

    Ishaku said the state was  contending with a different breed of herdsmen who are militias moving around with AK 47 rifles to remove anything in their way, unlike the known herdsmen who had cohabited with the people for decades without skirmishes.

    “The problem is never between the locals. The local Fulani and other tribes blend without issues.

    “We have a new breed and specie of herdsmen militias who move around with sophisticated weapons; they are poised to remove anything in their track.

    “They must be arrested now before it degenerates to something we can not contend with,” Ishaku said.

    Opinion leaders from the warring ethnic groups insisted that justice and fairness must be seen to be taking their course and the rule of law allowed to prevail for peace to return.

    The President is also expected to visit Yoe State where 110 girls were kidnapped on February 19 and Rivers State where many people were killed in New Year’s Day attack perpetrated by the late Don Wayne.

    In a statement, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina said the President had urged the Armed Forces and other security agencies to compile comprehensive reports on the various incidents.

    “Having received and studied the reports, the President has decided to undertake an on the spot assessment of the various occurrences and to meet and console the communities affected.

    Adesina said: “From today, March 5, he will visit Taraba, and subsequently Benue, Yobe, Zamfara and Rivers states.

    “President Buhari has been receiving daily briefings, and has been in constant touch with the governors, and has been updated with situation reports.”

    The President has also called on all Nigerians, especially those in the affected areas, to cooperate fully with the security agencies to enable them curb the spate of crimes, bring those responsible to justice and prevent further occurrences.

  • Age and assets: No-go areas?

    It is certainly a curious piece of information that Chief Ricky Tarfa (SAN) allegedly refused to declare his age to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    At an Igbosere High Court, Lagos,  on May 17, according to a report: “A witness, Zakari Usman from the EFCC Special Task Force Unit testified that Tarfa refused to state his age seven times during his investigation for alleged obstruction of the agency’s operatives.”

    The report continued: “The witness testified that the assets declaration form issued to Tarfa by the agency had a column requiring age declaration in seven places, but the senior advocate left all the spaces blank. He said the defendant also failed to declare his assets contrary to Section 7(a) and (b) of the EFCC Act.”

    It is curious that Tarfa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, allegedly refused to state his age in a form that required him to do so. Was there something he wanted to hide by not declaring his age? Was there something his age declaration would have exposed?  Since age declaration was not optional in this case, why would a lawyer of his status act as though it was?

    It is also curious that Tarfa allegedly failed to declare his assets as required by law? Was there something to hide? Was there something that would have been exposed?

    It is interesting that, according to the report, “the prosecution also played a video in court, titled: “Rickey Tarfa’s refusal”, which allegedly showed the defendant’s alleged refusal to fill the form.”

    The case: “Tarfa was arrested on February 9, 2016, for allegedly hiding two suspects – Nazaire Sorou Gnanhoue and Modeste Finagnon, both Beninoise – in his Mercedes Benz Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), thereby shielding them from being arrested and obstructing justice. He was arraigned on March 10, 2016, and pleaded not guilty to a 27-count charge, which was subsequently amended to 26.”

    Further information: “The agency alleged, among others, that the lawyer offered N5.3million gratification to Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa of the Federal High Court, Lagos to compromise the judge.”

    It is interesting that Usman was quoted as saying the investigators “wrote a letter to GTBank, and information contained in the bank’s response showed the defendant’s date of birth as February 23, 1950.”

    The public may get to hear from Tarfa why he allegedly refused to declare his age as required, and why he allegedly failed to declare his assets as required. Before that happens, the information in the public space makes him look like a dodger.

  • Borno workers to return to liberated council areas

    Borno workers to return to liberated council areas

    The government of Borno State has directed civil servants in the 10 local government areas liberated by the military to return to work.

    The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Usman Zannah, gave the directive yesterday while fielding questions from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri.

    His words: “Governor Kashim Shettima has directed workers in the 10 liberated local government areas to return to work with immediate effect, following the return of peace to the towns.

    “Councils like Mafa, Magumeri, Dikwa, Konduga, Benisheikh, Askira Uba, Kala Balge and Kaga, among others, are free from Boko Haram and they are habitable. They were also rebuilt by the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Resettlement with the support of NGOs.

    “It is in line with this development that governor Shettima directed that salaries of workers must be paid in all liberated councils. We see no reason why workers should remain in Maiduguri when many have returned to their communities.

    “As you can see, we passed through Benisheikh, we are in Tomsukawuri now; we are moving to Metakorori and Ngamdu, and majority of the residents of these villages have returned.”

  • Create grazing areas, says don

    To stem the attacks by herdsmen across the country, the Head of Department, Pasture and Range Management, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Prof Jimoh Olanite, has called on the government to create grazing areas, where animals will be restricted and promulgate laws that would punish herdsmen that go out of the grazing areas.

    He made this call while presenting the report of a research titled: “Mitigating the impact of pastoral/nomadic grazing on the natural ecosystem and rural livelihoods in Yewa Division of Ogun State”.

    According to him, herdsmen have been living all over Nigeria for several years and inter-relating with the people of their host communities without being troublesome until recently.

    ”Increase in human population has caused an increase in farm size which has eaten into the grazing areas. In order to produce enough food to meet the human needs, these two increases are coming into closer proximity,” he said.

    “This rapid increase in human population has made people to believe that the herdsmen are intruders, who are not wanted, but the people failed to realise that on the other hand, we need the animals and the animal products to complete our protein cycle,” he said.

    For this reason, he added, the only solution is to find a way of accommodating them without causing problems for both parties.

    Olanite said research had shown that most of the herdsmen that cause trouble in the country were mainly the ones, who do not have definite places of abode, but only come to a locality and leave whenever they are through with their business.

  • ‘Our youths are impatient in all areas of life’

    ‘Our youths are impatient in all areas of life’

    You run into Dotun Akande at an interactive session for parents of children with Autism. Here, the banker turned educator shared a personal experience on how her son who is now in the university has survived autism and how the passion spurred her to save other children. In this interview with YETUNDE OLADEINDE, the woman who is also the overall winner of the 2015 Vlisco Award talks about the passion and the inspiration behind Patrick Speech and Languages Centre and Pure Souls Learning Foundation.

    When did the organisation begin? We started in 2008 and started with the centre for children with Autism before starting the Patrick’s Speech and Languages Centre. We discovered that there are so many families that could not afford to pay fees and that inspired setting up a foundation on their behalf. So we started sponsoring families for therapy.

    Did something personal inspire you to do this?

    Yes, my son did. He was diagnosed with Autism. After this, he was growing and we did therapy and he emerged and was emerging. He is now in the university. So it showed me that if you put them in an environment of love, put them in an environment that is filled with affection, care for them, they really would do well. We have been doing this for about ten years now.

    What were some of the challenges that you faced at the beginning?

    Funding and I would say that awareness that was the major challenge that we had at the beginning. Where do we go to? I remember when my dad came to the centre and saw tables and chair. He was surprised and wondered why we had so many chairs and if we had so many people that have children with Autism in Nigeria. Then I said ‘daddy, they would come,’ that a lot of people were hiding their children, but today we have a full centre and so many people are coming out. We have about 42 children and adults. Our oldest person in the school is 36 years. We have also seen a 49-year-old, even though the person does not stay in the centre.

    Would you say that you have overcome all the challenges?

    Can that happen? The challenges are still there. We still have challenges with awareness. A number of people are partnering with us because they see that we are doing something that is impactful. That we are touching the lives of families that ordinarily were hopeless.

    Let’s talk about two or three memorable cases that you have handled

    My first memorable moment case was one little girl that came to the centre. We tried for over eight months to try to let her release her words. Then she was the first that started using words like pass the ball. She actually made a sentence and she is now in a regular school. She graduated to secondary school and her parents never left the shores of Nigeria, meaning that it is possible to get help here. My second testimony is the thirty-six-year-old that is with us. He came to us at thirty-five and we had almost lost hope. My staff had actually dismissed the mother when she came and I ran out of my room to tell her to give us her son and we would see what we can do.

    Now, the gentleman from doing two quick puzzles can now do up to fifteen quick puzzles. So you see that cognitive skills are developing here. The elasticity brain is important and it continues to grow as long as we are alive. It continues to adapt to the environment and once learning comes, it stays. Another testimony was someone who came with no skills at all and now he plays the piano with great skills. Ore ofe is one of the best that we have at the centre now.

    Is the tuition free?

    Yes, it is free for those in the foundation. For some, we ask them what they can pay and whatever they can pay, we work with it. However, the most important thing is to get the parents involved. You must be involved in the activities, you must come to meetings, for project, programmes and this would help you to understand how to handle your children. However, the speech centre is where we get more of our funding. Some parents don’t pay at all.

    We also do some programmes, like the talent hunt concert which is a yearly event. The reason we do this is to make the parents to know that their children are not babies. We have one coming up on the 13th December. We are looking at the story of creation because it is talent hunt.

    This is the pioneer programme for parents. We are trying to let them talk about their problems and we can all find solutions together. We already have forms for this, if we cannot solve the problems individually, we can solve them collectively. We match them with someone in their support group and they support them as well as give them counselling. This gives them hope and shared experiences.

    Is there anything that you wish government would do?

    I wish that government would help us with capacity building for families. I also wish that government would help to train our doctors, help them identify the problem when the children are still very young. You can imagine the thirty-five-year-old that we are working with now and you can imagine what could have happened if we had met him when he was much younger. We would like the government to support sensitisation programmes for families and children. That is the best way to do this.

    At what point can this be detected?

    It depends on the type of problem that the child has. In Autism, the child cannot pick speech and the respiratory behaviour. But for the other disabilities, there are other ways in which to detect this. For the cerebral palsy, the child’s head is not properly placed by the time the child is three months, cannot walk, and cannot speak at the appropriate time. For ADHT, the attention is very short, and for dyslexia, cannot read, cannot write and cannot communicate.

    Did you go for training for all this?

    I had to go away for training abroad. I attended courses and I am still attending courses. I go out of my way to call friends abroad on updates and to clarify grey areas. I was in banking for 13years.

    How did you find banking?

    It was very stressful. There was money because there was money in banking at that time.

    You are also the overall winner of Vlisco 2015. What do you think made you to emerge as the winner?

    It was the work that we did. Somebody nominated me, that is how it works. Then we went to the polls and people voted for me. Autism won, it’s not Dotun that won.

    How has this affected you and what you do?

    I have been relishing. A lot has happened. They pamper me, do my makeup and bring fabrics and clothes for me. I look elegant and it’s been a beautiful experience. I have also met a lot of people in the process. I have met great people. I have met wonderful people doing great work in the things that you do. Sometimes you think you are doing a great job, then you meet other people who are doing something really great and you marvel. Now, you analyse what you are all doing and it inspires you to do more.

    If you had to advise women in public life, what would you tell them?

    My advice to them is that our days are numbered and everyone is watching. There is no way you can behave in a way that would discredit you, discredit your background and think it won’t be talked about. People are watching and we must be careful. Our youths should be patient. In all areas of their lives, our youths are not patient.  They are not patient in the work they do, in their relationships and the other areas. I am an employer and I know what I do to get results. Money is not everything; there is so much money cannot do. Unfortunately, we do not realise this. Until it gets to a point when we know that it is only God that propels this wheel that we are all pedalling. It is important that they should be patient and love their neighbours as themselves. It is not about me, me and me.

    What would you want President Buhari to do?

    Mr President should really come to the aid of families. Families are really suffering, especially those in the field of special needs. We have been trying to get Lagos State to give us land for our permanent site. You can’t even imagine the things that we would be able to do there. In the last ten years, we have been able to support the young ones, mentor them and make sure that the services that they are given are the right services. He should support centres like ours. We are an indigenous centre, the first centre for Autism in Nigeria.

  • Nigeria needs $3.7b to cover underserved areas

    Nigeria needs $3.7b to cover underserved areas

    About $3.7billion is needed to bridge the digital divide existing in the country inspite of the progress recorded in the telecoms sector. Communication Technology Minister, Dr (Mrs) Omobola Johnson, who disclosed this, said the money would be needed to reach the various underserved people in different parts of the country.

    Already, the government, through a study, has identified about 207 communities, which are yet to benefit from the telecoms revolution. These communities have been grouped into subsidy clusters across the six geo-political zones for  the government to  through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) design projects and strategy to bridge the gaps and ensure that everyone, irrespective of locality, is connected.

    According to her, each cluster has the requisite attributes of sizeable population, major towns, main economic activities, institutions and others, adding that these gaps are expected to be filled by 2018 and would allow about 40 million Nigerians to gain access to voice services.

    On the challenges to government’s efforts at creating digital citizens through pervasive spread of broadband, Dr Johnson, who spoke during the presentation of the report of a study carried out by the USPF in Lagos, identified the challenge of right of way (RoW), multiple taxation/regulation, encouraging the demand side by ensuring that people adopt technology, cost of access to infrastructure, and the challenge of local content among others.

    In her opening remarks during a sideline gathering facilitated by Ericson and a4ai at which a report was presented by Alliance for Affordable Internet (a4ai) during the Mobile World Congress, she said the $3.7billion funding will be required to provide the requisite infrastructure that will take services to the un-served and underserved areas of the country.

    Dr Johnson said the Federal Government’s decision to create Communication Technology Ministry underscored the importance the administration placed on the ICT sector as a veritable driver of the economy.

    Executive Director, a4ai, Sonia Jorge, said the success recorded in the country’s telecoms sector was driven by strong leadership and regulation of the industry, robust broadband strategy, effective competition, efficient spectrum allocation, 4niversal access to rural and underserved population, and infrastructure sharing, among others.

  • Nigeria needs $3.7b to cover underserved areas

    Nigeria needs $3.7b to cover underserved areas

    About $3.7billion is needed to bridge the digital divide existing in the country inspite of the progress recorded in the telecoms sector. Communication Technology Minister, Dr (Mrs) Omobola Johnson, who disclosed this, said the money would be needed to reach the various underserved people in different parts of the country.

    Already, the government, through a study, has identified about 207 communities, which are yet to benefit from the telecoms revolution. These communities have been grouped into subsidy clusters across the six geo-political zones for  the government to  through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) design projects and strategy to bridge the gaps and ensure that everyone, irrespective of locality, is connected.

    According to her, each cluster has the requisite attributes of sizeable population, major towns, main economic activities, institutions and others, adding that these gaps are expected to be filled by 2018 and would allow about 40 million Nigerians to gain access to voice services.

    On the challenges to government’s efforts at creating digital citizens through pervasive spread of broadband, Dr Johnson, who spoke during the presentation of the report of a study carried out by the USPF in Lagos, identified the challenge of right of way (RoW), multiple taxation/regulation, encouraging the demand side by ensuring that people adopt technology, cost of access to infrastructure, and the challenge of local content among others.

    In her opening remarks during a sideline gathering facilitated by Ericson and a4ai at which a report was presented by Alliance for Affordable Internet (a4ai) during the Mobile World Congress, she said the $3.7billion funding will be required to provide the requisite infrastructure that will take services to the un-served and underserved areas of the country.

    Dr Johnson said the Federal Government’s decision to create Communication Technology Ministry underscored the importance the administration placed on the ICT sector as a veritable driver of the economy.

    Executive Director, a4ai, Sonia Jorge, said the success recorded in the country’s telecoms sector was driven by strong leadership and regulation of the industry, robust broadband strategy, effective competition, efficient spectrum allocation, 4niversal access to rural and underserved population, and infrastructure sharing, among others.