The Nation Newspaper

Tag: blame

  • ‘Blame Africa’s failure on political class, academics’

    ‘Blame Africa’s failure on political class, academics’

    A former Ghanaian ambassador to United States (US), Prof Kofi Awoonor, has said Africa’s failure can be traced to its political class because most of the continent’s politicians were products of colonial masters’ dung-heap with voluble promises.

    The celebrated poet noted that the African university system also failed to be part of the solutions to the African malaise.

    Prof Awoonor spoke in Malete, Moro Local Government Area, when he delivered the first convocation lecture of the Kwara State University (KWASU).

    He said: “We must blame the politicians because they came out from underneath of the colonial dung-heap and made voluble promises. We followed them through the streets, mesmerised by the booming voices coming from the propaganda vans, the party songs and indeed the flamboyance of the flags swaying in the afternoon as we waited for the top man.

    “The African university’s failure to be relevant in the continent’s quest for answers to its long enduring problems is founded in a number of self-inflicted wounds and ailments which incapacitate it and prevent it from discharging its share of the historic promises it made to the people who keep it in wigs and gowns.

    “First, the African university has not developed the capacity to take a close look at its immediate environment. The African university seems to be inoculated against the social infections that afflict the rest of the nation. Because it believes that it is not part of the problem, it is not equipped to be part of the solution.

    “Our various communities are labouring under social burdens as a child abuse, environmental degradation, endemic illiteracy, breakdown of the family structure, juvenile delinquency and gansterism, urban poverty etc.

    “Where is the African university in this multiple complexity of unacceptable human conditions in our new republics? How does the African university relate to the state institutions that are supposed to address these problems?

  • Kwara United blame bad officiating for draw

    Kwara United blame bad officiating for draw

    Kwara United FC of Ilorin have blamed their midweek draw at home against Sunshine Stars FC of Akure on poor officiating.

    The team’s Coach, Jimoh Balogun, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, claimed that United were denied penalties in the encounter.

    NAN reports that with the defeat, Kwara United have suffered a second consecutive draw in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) 2013 season. Abu Azeez had put the home team in the lead with his 68th minute goal before the Ilorin side later surrendered the lead.

    Sunshine’s second half substitute, Josiah Christian, cancelled out United’s lead in the 78th minute of the game. “We were denied a lot of penalties in the game. This is why I’m tired of Nigerian referees,’’ Balogun said.

    He, however, admitted that the team missed a lot of chances that could have earned them victory in the first 45 minutes. The coach, however, assured their fans that the team would make up for the shared points in their next away match against Sharks of Port Harcourt.

    “The league is just two weeks old. So as time goes on, there will be improvements with every match. We assure our fans that what they want from us will be given to them. They want us to go continental and we are going to give it to them, but they should be patient with us,” Balogun said.

    Meanwhile, the coach of Sunshine Stars, Samuel Abimbola, has expressed satisfaction with the officiating of the match. He hailed Kwara United for putting up a good fight, saying: “I really respect them, but I give kudos to my boys for their calmness, even when we were down’’.

  • Blame vandals for poor telecom services, says Rep.

    Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Communications, Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, has said vandals are responsible for poor services rendered by telecommunications companies in the country.

    Ojo, who represents Ekiti Central II Constituency, spoke in Erijiyan Community High School, Erijiyan in Ekiti West Local Government at the inauguration and inspection of projects initiated and executed by him in conjunction with the federal government and corporate bodies.

    The projects are located across some communities comprising Ekiti West, Efon and Ijero Local Governments.

    They included the Digital Awareness Programme (DAP) initiated by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); MTN Foundation Learning Facility-200 units of MTNF branded students’ desks and benches and 20 units of MTNF branded teachers’ tables and chairs by the lawmaker; ICT project at Efon; 500KVA at Igbemo and some others.

    According to the lawmaker, “DAP is the initiative of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) designed to equip youths and the literate members of the communities with internet education for improving their ICT skills to enhance their economic opportunities.

    The lawmaker said the vandals whose presence is felt in all parts of the country had made the telecom masts and other support facilities their main targets, thereby creating disruptions in phone networks as witnessed lately.

    He stated, “The most challenging task affecting the telecommunications companies is the insecurity in the country; that is the attack on these base stations. At the end of the day, once you have a problem with a base station in Maiduguri, the effect is felt in neighbouring states.”

    According to him, only the prompt and decisive intervention of the federal government could reverse the picture and make the telecommucations companies improve on services.

    In his speech at the event, the executive vice chairman of the NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, represented by a national commissioner on the board of the commission, Mrs. Abiodun Olujimi, explained that a total of 230 secondary schools across the country benefitted from the programme.

  • Corruption: ‘Nigerians are to blame’

    The Archbishop metopolitan and Primate of Nigeria and Bishop of Abuja, (Anglican Communion), Rev Nicholas Okoh yesterday called on Nigerians to to see self objectivity as the only way for the country to develop.

    He said the corruption should not only be viewed from the corridors of power alone but from the people who have negative tendences towards their neighbours. Thus, we should look into ourselves”, he said.

    Rev Okoh spoke yesterday after he consecrated three bishops at the Cathedral of St Jude Ebute-Meta, Lagos.

    Consecrated are: Rev Simeon Borokini (Akure) Ven Geoffrey Okorafor (Egbu) and Ven James Odedeji (Lagos West).

    Rev Okoh urged Nigerians to avail themselves to the doctrines of the Lenten season for self denial and helping people with difficult situations.

    The cleric said: “This season, whatever we save from our fasting, we should give to the less-priviledged. It is a period we should dedicate more to the things of God and concentrate more on heavenly things to gain spiritual strength to serve God.

    “Let us forgive our neighbours and reconcile with those we have had disagreement with.”

    On the resignation of Pope Benedict XIV, he highly commended his good example and urged other office holders who cannot cope with their posts to step down and give chance to others.

    The well-attendend event by former Director-General of the Nigerian Security and Exchange (NSE); Dr Ndidi Okekere Onyinke; Nestle food chairman Chief Olusegun Osunkeye and Chief Judge of Lagos Justice Ayotunde Philips among others.

  • PDP to blame for Yoruba neglect, says ACN

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is exposing its folly by blaming the neglect of the Yoruba by the Jonathan administration on the ACN, saying the PDP has nothing but total contempt for the Yoruba in particular and Nigerians in general.

    Reacting to the allegation by Dr. Doyin Okupe that “the Yoruba in the ACN conspired against the Yoruba” to scuttle the election of a Yoruba as House Speaker, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday that ACN is not bound by the shifty and phoney zoning formula of the PDP.

    “If the PDP had indeed wanted a Yoruba as the Speaker, the party should either have won enough seats in the Southwest or used its majority in the House to push through its anointed candidate. Failure to ensure the election of its candidate is a reflection of the insincerity of the PDP about the zoning of the post to the Yoruba and the gross indiscipline in the party.

    “The last option open to the PDP would have been to support any other Yoruba for the post across party lines.

    “We, in the ACN, have capable members in the House to serve as Speaker. But the truth is that the ruling party wants a PDP member, not a Yoruba, for the post.

    “Therefore, we are not surprised that the PDP acquiesced in the defeat of its Yoruba candidate for the post of Speaker of the House. The PDP zoning formula is pivoted on convenience rather than principle, After all, the zoning was easily jettisoned to pave the way for President Goodluck Jonathan to contest as President,” it said.

    ACN said even if the PDP had not succeeded in giving the post of House Speaker to the Yoruba in accordance with its so-called zoning formula, it could have rewarded them with known choice ministries or other top appointments, instead of relegating the Yoruba into irrelevance.

    The party slammed the PDP for playing the ethnic card, and rejected the cheeky and devilish move by the PDP to pigeon-hole the ACN into an ethnic cocoon.

    “We are a national party and our spread attests to it. We have shown by supporting the election of Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker of the House that our agenda is not sectional but national, and we have no apologies to offer for that.

    “Let the PDP continue to wallow in insufferable arrogance and disdain for the electorate, by sharing posts before elections are concluded. It’s like sharing the parts of an animal that is yet to be killed. This is the stuff the PDP is made of, and this is why it is crumbling like a pack of cards,” it said.

  • IVORIANS BLAME DEFEAT ON COACH’S INEXPERIENCE

    IVORIANS BLAME DEFEAT ON COACH’S INEXPERIENCE

    UNNERVING silence swept through Abidjan and its neigbouring towns on Sunday as the Super Eagles of Nigeria trashed the highly favoured Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire.

    The game, which was apparently dominated by the Eagles, ended 2-1.

    The Eagles clinched the semi-final ticket in a highly technical game that left Ivorian fans, analysts and players stunned at the poor performance of the Elephants.

    A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who went round some viewing centres in Abidjan, observed that many fans sat speechless for the duration of the game.

    “What happened to the Ivorian team?,” a sports analyst, Anne N’guessan asked.

    N’guessan said the Elephants put up the worse performance since the commencement of the tournament.

    “Right from the blow of the whistle from the start, the Elephants were just trying to catch up with the pace of the Nigerians.

    “Our coach, Sabri Lamouchi, saw it, but he did not effect early changes to alter the rythm of play.”

    Fans, who were seen in groups after the game, said the Nigerian team was a better side in all departments of play.

    Bienvenue Yao, a fan said: “we were playing like one village team that the Eagles were using for training.

    “All our wings were clipped and we were completely absent.”

    NAN reports that the highly optimistic fans, who have a culture of combing the streets with the Elephants’ orange, green and white colours, quickly pulled off after the games.

    Salif Keita said he expected the Elephants to trash the young Nigerians, 4-0.

    “We were still stunned by the outcome of the game and by the beauty of the Nigerian side.

    “Our national team needs an overhaul from the coach to the players.”

    Unlike the aftermath of previous matches, roadside bars were empty but for a handful, who stayed back to analyse the encounter.

    NAN reports that viewing centres set up by telecom outfits and other companies were deserted at the end of the match.

    Meanwhile, Nigerians in Cote d’Ivoire took to the streets to celebrate, although cautiously.

    Jude Okafor, a businessman in Abidjan, said the Nigerian team was “impressive”, credting the coach, stephen keshi, for the finishing touch on the team.

    NAN reports that in Adjame, Treichville and Makori towns in Abidjan, pockets of Nigrians also took to the streets to celebrate.

    A source at the Nigerian Embassy said that the embassy had warned that celebrations in Abidjan must be low-keyed.

    The source said: “It is still a very sensitive environment after the crisis and Ivorians are crazy about football, so we must be careful.” (NAN)

  • Boko Haram: Jonathan should blame himself, says Obasanjo

    Boko Haram: Jonathan should blame himself, says Obasanjo

    Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched a fresh attack on President Goodluck Jonathan over the security challenge in the country.

    He says the President should blame no one but himself if he cannot address the Boko Haram crisis.

    Obasanjo, in an interview with the pan-African magazine, New African, accused Jonathan of mismanaging security issues engulfing the country.

    “If the president is the chief security officer of the country and there is a security problem, where do you go for the solution? And if that solution is not coming from the chief security officer, who has everybody and can mobilise everybody inside and outside to get a solution, then he has the responsibility to solve the problem. And nobody else should be blamed but him,” he said in the latest of his public criticism of the President.

    The Presidency had once hit back at Obasanjo after one of his serial criticism of Jonathan only for the former President to respond that no one could stop him from speaking his mind.

    Obasanjo, who spoke to the magazine ahead of the launch of his foundation, said Jonathan was solely responsible for the deteriorating situation caused by Boko Haram.

    The former President also responded to claims made by the Nigerian literary giant, Chinua Achebe, on the Nigerian civil war, particularly the alleged marginalisation of the Igbo in the aftermath of the war.

    He said: ”Maybe he (Achebe) is making those remarks because he is not living in Nigeria. If he were living in Nigeria, when I was the president of this country, an Igbo lady was my Minister of Finance, and an Igbo man was the Governor of the Central Bank. An Igbo man was one of the military service chiefs. The permanent representative to the UN was also an Igbo person. What more do you want?

    “For someone to say the civil war has not ended, 40 years after its conclusion, that person is living in the past.”

    Obasanjo had said in Warri last November that the Jonathan Administration was soft on Boko Haram and should adopt the Odi approach which he (Obasanjo) used when he deployed the military to Odi, Bayelsa State, during his tenure after youths in the area killed soldiers that had been sent to keep the peace.

    But in a CNN interview last month,Obasanjo appeared to have modified his position when he suggested that government was using excessive force against Boko Haram

    President Jonathan’s spokesman, Dr.Reuben Abati, did not take kindly to this and called Obasanjo a confused man.

    Abati in four tweets said:: “In November 2012 in Warri, former President. Obasanjo accused the federal government of being soft on Boko Haram. He recommended the Odi solution: genocide..

    “In Jan.2013, OBJ tells CNN goverment should adopt a carrot and stick approach to Boko Haram. Genocide and dialogue? Where exactly does he stand?

    “OBJ’s position on Boko Haram= Contradiction and Confusion writ large.

    “One report says OBJ is recommending a multifaceted approach to Boko Haram. This government certainly doesn’t need a lecture on that!

    “Jonathan administration has shown creativity and purposefulness in handling the Boko Haram challenge. Hence, the progress we witness.”

    Meanwhile, there were indications last night that the manhunt for Boko Haram leaders has shifted to Bama in Borno State.

    It was gathered that security agencies got intelligence report that some of the wounded leaders were being treated in Bama, a stronghold of the sect with many deadly cells.

    A top source said: “We have got intelligence tip-off that some of the leaders of Boko Haram, who were declared wanted, are being holed up in Bama.

    “We also learnt that a few wounded ones are also being treated in that town. We are on the trail of the sect leaders.

    “From what has happened in the last few days, the leaders of the sect are not prepared for ceasefire. We had this suspicion right from the outset. We have never relaxed for a day.”

    The Joint Task Force had in November 2012 placed a N290m ransom for anyone who could help to locate the leader of the sect, Imam Abubakar Shekau and 18 other leaders.

    On the JTF list are five members of the Shurra Committee (the highest making body of the sect) and 19 Boko Haram commanders.

    Those affected are five members of the Shurra Committee of the sect including, Imam Abubakar Shekau (N50 million); Habibu Yusuf a.k.a Asalafi (N25 million); Khalid Albarnawai (N25 million); Momodu Bama (N25 million) and Mohammed Zangina (N25 million)

    The Boko Haram Commanders are Abu Saad (N10 million); Abba Kaka (N10 million); Abdulmalik Bama (N10 million) Umar Fulata (N10 million); Alhaji Mustapha (Massa) Ibrahim (N10 million); Abubakar Suleiman-Habu (a.k.a Khalid) N10 million; Hassan Jazair N10 million; Ali Jalingo (N10 million); Alhaji Musa Modu (N10 million); Bashir Aketa (N10 million); Abba Goroma (N10 million); Ibrahim Bashir (N10 million); Abubakar Zakariya (N10 million); and Tukur Ahmed Mohammed (N10 million).

  • Pension fraud convict: Blame weak law, not the judge, says NBA

    Pension fraud convict: Blame weak law, not the judge, says NBA

    Justice Abubakar Talba who, earlier this week sentenced a former Director in the Police Pension Office, John Yakubu Yusufu, to a two-year imprisonment or a fine of N750,000 for the N32.8 billion pension fraud yesterday got the backing of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

    The NBA said the judge did the right thing as stipulated by law.

    The bar also advised government to accept the cease-fire offer of the Boko Haram “as doubtful as it may be” and urged government to declare a state of emergency in the educational sector with a view to arresting the declining educational standard.

    Addressing reporters in Abuja, the NBA President, Okey Wali (SAN), said the weak law on corruption ,and not the judge,should be blamed for the light sentence of Yusufu.

    He accused government for lacking a strong will to fight corruption.

    Justice Talba’s verdict sparked negative criticisms of the judge across the country.

    Wali said if the law under which the accused was charged imposed a maximum punishment of two years with an option of fine, then the judge should not be blame.

    He advised the National Assembly to review all obsolete laws in the country, especially the Criminal Penal Code enacted in 1914 by the colonial master.

    The NBA boss lamented that the Police lack investigation skills and rely only on confessional statements to prosecute over 90 per cent of criminal cases.

    He said: ”When there is a crime, no evidence is retrieved from the scene of crime because finger prints are not taken. No data bank for finger print. In civilized clime, once a crime is committed, the Police take over the scene of crime. We don’t have finger prints and forensic experts anymore. All we have is confessional statement.”

    On delayed trials, Wali said: “Trials are bound to delay when judges still take notes in long hand, yes, yes, writing from morning till evening. Technologically speaking, our courts do not belong to this century”.

    Reading from the the communique issued on the NBA Peace and Security Summit which ended on Thursday in Abuja, Wali said: “The police force should be fe-trained and re-equipped to be able to confront the criminal menaces.

    “It is becoming more evident with each passing day that the present military or armed approach at solving the problem of insecurity is not enough”.

    It identified corruption, inequitable distribution of income and social amenities, unemployment, tribal and/or ethnic allegiances, poor and ineffective educational system, poor leadership, religious and cultural intolerance, corrupt and ill-trained and ill-equipped police force, religious manipulations, and porous border entry points as causes of insecurity.

    Wali said further: “The political class should work hard to fulfil the expectations of the masses by providing good governance and avoiding corruption and loud and ostentatious living with ill-gotten wealth.

    “Government should take urgent steps to address the problems of excruciating poverty in the land, inequitable distribution of income and basic economic infrastructure and unemployment.

    “Governments at all levels should, as a matter of urgency, introduce scholarship schemes for the purposes of taking the loitering millions of children off the streets and into schools-possibly boarding schools-and thereby keep them away from the reach and influence of crimes of different shades and colours.

    “Government should put in place anti-reprisal mechanism whereby victims of violence and insurgency are quickly pacified and economically restored and rehabilitated.

    “Government should create a transparent and trust-worthy mechanism for dialoguing with insurgents as well as for addressing their grievances.

    “Government should display convincing strong will in fighting corruption and should avoid using the law enforcement agencies as instruments of blackmail or selective justice.

    “The heads of various levels of court in the land should treat corruption, security-related and kidnapping cases as of utmost public policy importance by designating some courts in their various jurisdictions to handle and determine such cases on the day-to-day basis.

    “Government should champion the move to get the National Assembly to amend the constitution and remove the immunity clause in order to underscore government’s seriousness in fighting corruption at all levels.

    “A moderated position between pro- and anti – state police proponents is recommended to the effect that the police force, both at the federal and state levels, should be made independent in terms of appointments, commands and operations and finances in order to eliminate the abusive uses to which the power holders have been known to put the police since Nigeria’s independence.

    “That the NBA would put in place appropriate machinery for monitoring and investigating impunity and executive lawlessness.

    “The EFCC Act should be amended to incorporate the fullness of the provisions of the first EFCC bill drafted by Justice Kayode Esho Committee which proposed that anybody exhibiting wealth beyond his visible means of income be made to account for his source of income.

    “The police force should be re-trained and re-equipped to be able to confront the criminal menaces of our present time.”

  • Blame Obasanjo for East-West Road — Orubebe

    The failure of the Federal Government in 2009 to release the approved budgetary allocation of N200 billion stalled the reconstruction of the East-West Road in 2009.

    The Minister of Niger-Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe who disclosed this at the University of Benin 7th Distinguished Faculty of Social Sciences public lecture series, during the week said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo released only 1.2 billion naira for the project.

    “In 2006, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded the East West Road contract for over N200 billion. This was a project that was awarded for N200 billion and what was released was N1.2 billion as against what was approved.”

    According to Orubebe, “The project was expected to have been completed in 2009. And a project of this magnitude requires a survey and detailed design that will take not less than one year. But because of the pressure, the President gave them only two weeks and they came back with what we call just ordinary base line survey.”

    The Minister added that “the contractors had no money. It was in 2009, when this project was handed over to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs that we had to spend in 2009 and 2010 to draw detailed design for this projects. There were no funding programmes for this project and later the detailed designs were completed in 2010.”

    Orubebe who assured of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government readiness to complete the East-West Road project come December 2014, said that the debate and unfair comments on the road has tainted his personality.

    According to him, “It is from 2010 we came to have financial grant for the East-West Road. Anytime I want to talk at the Federal Executive Council meeting, my colleagues either call me East-West Road or Niger-Delta. I stand here today to say this road must be completed because this is where the resources of this nation come from.”

    And when I come home, people who do not know how I struggle, people who do not know and care to know about how far we have gone, talk on the pages of newspapers and television and even in Abuja that government is not doing anything.”

    The Minister said he has decided to clear the air on the road project in the interest of the public.

  • Don’t blame Women’s League for Falcons failure — Onyedinma

    Don’t blame Women’s League for Falcons failure — Onyedinma

    Chairman of the Women Pro League (WPL), Dilichukwu Onyedinma, has said that the state of the Women’s Premier League WPL does not in any way affect the failure of the Super Falcons.

    Onyedinma was speaking in reaction to the opinion that the state of the WPL was responsible for the Super Falcons failure at the just concluded African Women Championship. NFF National Women team coordinator Aisha Falode believes that a better WPL would have translated in a better Super Falcons.

    The WPL chairman has, however, told futaa.com that such claims are false.

    “Yes, we can say the league is not in the best shape it should be and we are working at it- but is not enough to heap the blame of the failure of the Super Falcons on the WPL, “she said.

    “The players at the U-20 and U-17 level comprise only of local players and they have gone on to show us that they are the best in Africa. They have also made an impact in the world, so we cannot say that the WPL is to be blamed if the senior team fail, ” Dilichukwu told futaa.com.

    She has further promised that all is in place to make the WPL and enviable league.