The Nation Newspaper

Tag: BUHARI

  • Excitement as Cross River awaits Buhari

    Excitement as Cross River awaits Buhari

    During his inauguration as the third Governor of Cross River State in the fourth Republic, Senator Benedict Benyaushuye Ayade made a policy declaration that he was going to undertake the construction of a dual super highway running the length of the state and the construction of a deep seaport, (Signature Projects) and until recent some few skeptics still question the veracity and honesty of the governor.

    However, what matters now is not the wrong misrepresentations of those skeptics but the reality that preliminary works are not only ongoing but that genuineness of the well-conceived projects by Ayade has attracted the respect and a Presidential handshake from President Muhammadu Buhari who is coming personally to carry out the groundbreaking ceremony of the N700Billion of over 260 kilometers super highway from Calabar to Gakem, Bekwarra and to the famous Obudu Ranch Resort. The Funding architect is Public Private Partnership (PPP) based with 500Million Euros tabled by Broad Spectrum, a European based firm.

    All necessary arrangements have already been concluded for the revered President Muhammadu Buhari to carry out the groundbreaking ceremony billed for Monday, September 21, 2015 in Calabar, the capital city of Cross River State. One irrefutable reality which nobody can deny is that it is no mean task to win the confidence of a highly principled and anti-corruption crusader, number one citizen of Nigeria, President Buhari to consider Governor Ayade’s proposal and included it in his very busy schedule to come in person to perform the groundbreaking.

    The ability of Governor Ayade to have conceived and dream big with a clear vision supported by a pragmatic leadership, worked assiduously and propelled those abstract concepts into concrete terms no doubt is the very reason why in this dispensation the government and people of Cross River State have not only earned a special place in the very disciplined heart of President Buhari, but has become the first state in the south-south geo-political zone to be visited by the Nigerian number one citizen.

    As a man who before now has prepared himself sufficiently ahead of time to provide service to the people, Ayade came into government with array of development projects and programmes that will transform the socio-economic and political face of Cross River State. The dual super high way, the deep seaport, the Garment factory, refinery among others are carefully planned to turn around, 360 degrees the fortunes of the state and its people. The super high way whose groundbreaking is fixed for Monday, September 21, 2015 in Calabar will provide an easy access from the seaport up to the northern part of Nigeria, reducing the many man hours that presently are being wasted between Calabar seaport and the northern part of Nigeria, as well as the neighboring countries such as Niger and Chad.

    The road will drastically reduce the rate of accidents and the associated carnages, waste of human lives, maiming of persons and bringing a lot of sorrows to many families. Several persons have lost their lives on this road, while several million litres of fuel, kerosene and diesel have equally been wasted on that same road as a result of the bad nature of the road. Another benefit of the dual super high way to the people of the state is that it will greatly boost the economic profile of all the communities that lies along the super high way route

    Similarly, the deep seaport which is one of the two signature projects of governor Ayade is signed to accommodate mother vessels, when completed is expected to remove the hitherto blockage by evacuating the corridors that have always served as obstacle to bigger vessels from entering the Calabar seaport, forcing them to always anchored at Lome, transferring the goods to smaller vessels that can find their way to the Calabar seaport. The combined force of the dual super high way and the deep seaport will equally serve as a veritable boost to land lock countries like Chad and Niger Republics to evacuate their goods from the seaport through the super high way to their various countries, as well as northern Cameroon.

    The people of the state are very happy with the landmark achievements of Ayade and for specifically winning the trust, confidence e and respect of Mr. President to create time from his busy schedules for a groundbreaking in Cross River state.

    A former member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council and former chairman of the Military wing of the Petroleum Trust Fund, Gen. Edward Unimna, said it is a privileged treatment that Buhari is visiting Cross River State.

    “It is a very good pointer that the state is doing well. I must commend the Federal Government for this confidence reposed on the state. When President Buhari selected Ayade to accompany him to Cameroon, it was a clear indication that the president is happy with what our governor is doing and that the governor is working harmoniously with the Federal Government”.

    Reacting to the Nigerian number one citizen’s visit to Cross River State the former elected female Chairman of Obudu Local Government Council, Hon Cecilia Ally reasoned that the acceptance of President Muhammadu Buhari to personally come to perform the groundbreaking for the super high way is a very clear indication that Buhari is a father to all Nigerians. Hon. Lady Ally said that President Buhari has proven that he is accommodating both his political party, APC and   other political parties by coming to carry out groundbreaking on a project conceived and initiated by Senator Ben Ayade, a PDP governor. “Buhari has shown that he is a father to all Nigerians. Equally, Ayade has proven to us that we have a bright future before us under his leadership”. The former number one indigene of Obudu expressed her deep appreciation to Governor Ayade for creating and ensuring such cordiality between him and the president within a very short period in office, indicating that we have a very bright future before us, adding that through Ayade efforts, Cross River has become the first state in the south-south to be visited by the president.

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River, Chief Linus Okom, saidthe coming of the President, “makes the people of the state not to feel that they are in  the opposition party and that they are part of the family”.

    The former Commissioner Local Government, Chief Peter Ojie, said: ”It is a clear indication that the President is happy with what our dear governor is doing in the state with the array of people-oriented projects which he has packaged and by the grace of God would be a reality.”

    The immediate past Senator representing the Southern Senatorial District, Senator Prince Bassey Otu, hailed Buhari for his transparent leadership and for playing politics beyond party line.

    A plantain trader from the Central Senatorial District of the state, Mr. Boniface Osafung, expressed happiness that with the coming of President Buhari to carry out the groundbreaking ceremony, there is a clear indication that the road project is on course and that the super high way would be completed so they the traders and other Nigerians will heave a sigh of relief.

    A woman, who identified herself as Paulina Ubong, a whole sales garri merchant, said that she has never had any fear about Ayade because she had heard him speak and had also seen him work and the sincerity of the governor in bringing about projects that will have direct bearing in the lives of the common man, and thanked president Buhari for accepting to come and carry out the groundbreaking ceremony of the super high way.

    A motorist plying the route between the northern part of the state and Calabar, Mr. Godwin Atem Ogani, commended Ayade for his visionary leadership and for conceiving the signature projects.

     

    • Ulayi and Asha are media aides to Governor Ayade.

     

  • Ohanaeze youths to Buhari: revamp Enugu coal mine

    Ohanaeze youths to Buhari: revamp Enugu coal mine

    The youth wing of the apex Igbo cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has  urged President Muhammadu Buhari to revive the Enugu coal mine, which has been comatose for over four decades.

    The youths also urged the President to rely on Federal Character in his subsequent appointments.

    They equally condemned Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha for reportedly saying that “Igbos are the cause of their exclusion in recent appointments made by the President in a recent interview.”

    The remark was contained in a statement jointly signed by Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro and Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, the president and the secretary, respectively, after a meeting between the national executives of the group and  members of the Akwa Ibom State chapter of the organization. The meeting was centered on the need to foster  the wellbeing of the Igbos in the state.

    “We call on President Buhari to work towards fulfilling his electoral promises to Ndigbo especially the revamping of Enugu Coal Mine which has remained moribund for 43 years now. We are not happy with the interview credited to Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha. Instead of castigating the Igbos, he should use his position in the party to make the President  to make use of Federal Character in his appointments.

    Speaking, the Akwa Ibom chapter president, Mazi Emmanuel Ikechukwu-Jonathan, appealed to the Department of the State Services(DSS), to “release the report of its finding on the recent invasion of Akwa Ibom Government House by its operatives to calm the nerves of both indigenes and non-indigenes in the state.

    “The silence of the DSS after the raid is enough to put fears on those who want to invest in the state or currently doing business in the state. We are making this appeal because of our people who have invested heavily in the economy of this state as we don’t want anything that will create civil unrest because it is our people who will suffer most.

    “You know that any part of this country where there is civil unrest, it is the Igbos who usually suffer the damages because they are the highest in number in terms of the non-indigenes you will find in any state outside the South East. Currently the APC and the PDP are trading blames and you don’t know what may come out of such actions.

    The group sympathised with the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, over the accident he was involved in on his way to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to board an international flight.

    “We wish our in-law quick recovery from the injuries he sustained from that accident and pray God to continue to protect him in all his endeavours,” the group said.

     

  • Buhari: I’ll appoint ministers but technocrats do the job

    Buhari: I’ll appoint ministers but technocrats do the job

    President Muhamadu Buhari will appoint his ministers before month’s end as he promised although he believes technocrats do much of the job.

    In a 12-minute interview with France 24 Television during his state visit to France from where he returned yesterday, the President was quoted to have said: “The ministers are there to make a lot of noise; for the politicians to make a lot of noise. But the work is being done by the technocrats. They are there to provide the continuity, dig into the records and then guide us, [those of us] who are just coming in.

    “I think this question of ministers is political. People from different constituencies want to see their people directly in government, and see what they can get out of it.

     “As for the cabinet, I said we will have one by the end of the month, and time flies. The end of the month is coming too quickly for my liking. I will send the names to the national assembly.

    “We have a government but we don’t have a cabinet. I don’t know how you define that but we have a government and that is why I am here. Under this system, we have to have ministers and we are going to have ministers.

    [ad id=”403656″]On Military, Boko Haram: “The results of the re-organisation we carried out in the military are being seen. There is progress being done. Our main concern is the condition of the Chibok girls and how we can recover them.

    “We are occupied with negotiations and at this stage, it has to be confidential because we are not sure of the leadership of the Boko Haram- that we can talk with to get the girls released.

    “ We have to first identify that those who claim to be Boko Haram leaders are actually the leaders, and they know where the Chibok girls are and their present condition.

     “France is more hands-on in the Boko Haram issue because Nigeria is totally surrounded by former French colonial countries and France has maintained a strong relationship with its former colonies.

    On Naira

    “ I don’t think it is healthy for us to further devalue the Naira. This is why we are getting the Central Bank of Nigeria to make some modifications, in terms of making foreign exchange available to essential services.

     “Things like toothpick and rice, Nigeria can produce enough of those. We don’t need to use our hard currency on that but those who insist on buying toothpick from Europe and China, they can go ahead and buy foreign exchange.

     “The last time I was leader, I was in the barracks, this time I’m in the palace. It is so big and very expensive to maintain but it is there, it cannot be removed. I don’t think I am a different man but I am coming back in a different system. A better system because this is what works.

     “I was convinced in December 1991 when the Soviet union collapsed, that multi-party democratic system is the best form of government, otherwise it will be the same old problem.”

  • Gains of Buhari’s U.S. trip

    Gains of Buhari’s U.S. trip

    After President Buhari’s visit to the U.S., the Centre for Disease Control has shown willingness to partner with Nigeria to improve the NCDC.

    Awute said the NCDC and the National Blood Transfusion Service now collaborate as a fall-out of Buhari’s U.S. visit.

    He said the Architect i1000 equipment, which is a fully automated screening machine with a shorter turnaround time of four hours, would be made available to the country.

    The permanent secretary said: “Under this collaboration which is facilitated by the U.S. government through the CDC Nigeria country office and one of its implementing partners –  partnership for supply for Supply Chain Management,  Abbott will  install and maintain 1 No Architect i1000 machine at each of the three NBTS Zonal Centre’s located in Abuja, Ibadan and Jos. When the new systems are commissioned, the pilot centre’s will screen blood units pooled from other contiguous NBTS Centres as well as from nearby secondary and tertiary hospitals that partner with NBTS, consequently ensuring the availability of larger quantities of safe blood in a timely fashion.

    “This is an example of Nigeria’s continuing relationship relationship with the US government on health matters with special focus on International Health Security. The ongoing insurgency often results in mass casualties. Such medical emergencies, give rise to the urgent need for supplies of safe blood in adequate quantities. The collaboration and support to the National Blood  Transfusion Service in the deployment of the Architect i1000 machines for blood testing; will strengthen the National Blood Service to achieve her key mandate. Safe blood, saves lives.”

    Nasidi said the President’s visit to America has opened up opportunities for the country to access high possibilities of funding, research collaborations and networking with American institutions. He said: “Obama said we are free to explore that. In his response to Mr. President, Obama spent five to 10 minutes, talking about our achievements on Ebola. So, all we think we are going to do now is to consolidate on that gain – the great job that was done in Lagos, Port Harcourt. And one of the achievements is that as a follow-up to that, already the Director of the U.S. CDC has visited Nigeria to see which areas we can collaborate on and enhance support to us. He saw our facilities and I think he made a very wonderful speech that he is very impressed. We are now trying to key in on that, collaborate with U.S. FEMA, U.S. CDC and NIH and other necessary U.S. institutions to establish a very effective National Emergency Operations Centre which we are in the process of doing. Virtually, half of our new administrative building is Emergency Operations Centre and we just got back Nigerian professors who went to train in the U.S. for the operation of that centre. He was trained in the U.S. CDC as a follow-up – Obama promised to help Nigeria to strengthen these areas and as a result, somebody has already been trained at the highest level of health security training.”

    Dr. Osinubi believes that the gains of the President’s visit to the U.S. will show more when the ministry has a political head.

    “You know those kinds of changes are best felt when you have a minister in place.  Like when I was telling you about the place of the minister, I told you that the political head will work in line with his principals’ policies. So, once the President has indicated his policy direction in the area of health, then the minister has to run with that vision. Like we have a few companies coming into Nigeria who have come to say they want to work with the National Blood Transfusion Service in the area of blood safety. That is a fallout of the President’s visit to the U.S. The Abbot Group, one of the largest laboratory groups in the U.S. has also come and they say they want to work with the health ministry as to how to provide equipment in some of our laboratories. So, there have been things like that. But, for us, in the Hospital Services Department, when you have a sitting minister and they come like that and explained their mission, it will be his role to guide them in the direction of what the government wants to do and once that decision has been taken, the ministry has to run with it.”

    The absence of a minister has also made the ministry unable to put in place the National Tobacco Control Committee.

    Usoro explains: “In the absence of a minister, the permanent secretary takes over. This interregnum is a bit long but I think we have been coping very well in the absence of a minister. For instance, we have started the process of operationalising the National Tobacco Control Act. It was  signed by the former President on May 26. But, the Act says the Chairman of the National Tobacco Control Committee will be appointed by the Minister of Health. So, that was why we advised the permanent secretary to just take it easy. Apart from issues like that and other regulations that clearly say the Minister of Health, all other services have been running normally as if he was present.”

    With time, Awute said things will change because Buhari has shown the political will to turn the sector’s fortunes around. The people are really waiting for it. And the waiting should not be too long.

  • Buhari’ll be fair to zones on appointments, says Emerhor

    Delta State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the April 11 election, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, has urged the party’s members to remain calm for President Muhammadu Buhari to select those to serve in his cabinet.

    The APC chieftain was reacting to reports that the Department of State Security (DSS) had screened some ministerial nominees, including renowned economist, Prof Pat Utomi.

    Emerhor noted that the development had caused disenchantment among some people across the state, especially those in the Central and South senatorial district.

    This followed the view that federal appointments had always been to the advantage of the Igbo-speaking Delta North, where Governor Ifeanyi Okowa hails from.

    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele is also from the Delta North Senatorial District, like the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Ibe Kachikwu.

    Reacting to the outcry against what many residents called lopsided federal appointments, Emerhor assured that President Buhari was aware of the sensitivity of ethnic concerns in the state. The APC chieftain said the President would ensure balance in his appointments.

    According to him, the seeming delay in the appointment of the President’s aides and ministers was the result of his interest to consult and reach out to stakeholders to manage the peculiarities and sensitivities in various states.

  • FG may consider amnesty for Boko Haram prisoners – Buhari

    FG may consider amnesty for Boko Haram prisoners – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday that Nigerian authorities were talking to Boko Haram prisoners in their custody and could offer them amnesty if the sect hands over more than 200 schoolgirls abducted last year.

    Buhari added that he was confident “conventional” attacks by the insurgents would be rooted out by November — but cautioned that deadly suicide attacks, some of them waged by children, were likely to continue.

    “The few (prisoners) we are holding, we are trying to see whether we can negotiate with them for the release of the Chibok girls,” Buhari told AFP in an interview in Paris during a three-day visit to France.

    “If the Boko Haram leadership eventually agrees to turn over the Chibok girls to us, the complete number, then we may decide to give them (the prisoners) amnesty.”

    Boko Haram fighters stormed a school in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14 last year, seizing 276 girls who were preparing for end-of-year exams in an abduction that shocked the world.

    57 girls later escaped, but nothing has been heard of the 219 others since May last year, when about 100 of them appeared in a Boko Haram video, dressed in Muslim attire and reciting the Koran.

    Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has since said they have all converted to Islam and been “married off.”

    Buhari, who has promised to stamp out the group’s bloody six-year insurgency, said the government would not release any prisoners unless it was convinced it could “get the girls in reasonably healthy condition.”

    But he cautioned that negotiating with Boko Haram militants was fraught with difficulties.

    “We are trying to establish if they are bona fide, how useful they are in Boko Haram, have they reached a position of leadership where their absence is of relevance to the operation of Boko Haram,” he said.

     

     

  • No further devaluation of Naira – Buhari

    No further devaluation of Naira – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday ruled out further devaluation of the naira, saying it is unhealthy for the economy to devalue the currency further.

    Nigeria has been hit hard by the fall of global crude prices, and the Central Bank has imposed increasingly strict foreign exchange rules to save the country reserves and avoid what would be the third devaluation in a year.

    [ad id=”403656″]The naira fell to as low as 242 per dollar on the parallel market in July, versus the official rate of 197.

    It has lost around 15 percent against the dollar over the past year with an official devaluation in November and a de facto one in February.

    “I don’t think it is healthy for us to have the naira devalued further,” Reuters quoted Buhari as saying in an interview with France 24.

    “That’s why we are getting the central bank to make modifications in terms of making foreign exchange available to essential services, industries, spare parts, essential raw materials and so on. But things like toothpicks and rice, Nigeria can produce enough of those,” he said.

    In June, the CBN restricted access to foreign exchange for the import of 41 items ranging from rice and toothpicks to steel products and glass.

    The stringent restrictions have not gone down well with investors, who have called for a relaxation.

  • Sani to Buhari: Declare emergency in prison service

    Rights activist and Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial Zone, Mallam Shehu Sani, on Thursday urged President Muhammad Buhari to declare a state of emergency on the nation’s prisons’ service as part of the war against corruption.

    According to Sani, if the war against corruption must work, then the prison system must be functional to accommodate convicts.

    He said, “Where do you take those (corrupt persons) to be convicted to and where do you take those arrested to. It is the prisons.”

    He made the remarks shortly after delivering a lecture at the Prisons Staff College, Kaduna.

    Sani, who is also the president of the Civil Rights Congress, lamented the sorry state of the nation’s prisons, saying that there is the need for urgent intervention from the Federal Government to make the anti-corruption war meaningful.

    [ad id=”403656”]The senator said he would soon present a bill at the National Assembly for the reformation of the Nigerian Prisons Service system and announced a scholarship scheme for students of staff of Nigerian Prison Service.

    “The Nigerian Prisons Service needs an emergency intervention. I assure you that I will present your issue on the floor of the senate,” he said.

    He insisted that the anti-corruption war of the President Buhari’s administration can only succeed with functional prisons of the 21st century.

    “I believe that if the anti-corruption is going to make any meaning, we need to put these prisons in order. If we don’t do that, it means we are simply wasting our time,” the activist said.

     

     

  • Okorocha to Ndigbo: Don’t antagonise Buhari

    Okorocha to Ndigbo: Don’t antagonise Buhari

    Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has again appealed to the Igbo not to antagonise President Muhammadu Buhari over his appointments, but should continue to support the administration in the interest of national unity and development.

    Okorocha, who made the appeal while addressing journalists at the Government House, advised that the major preoccupation of Ndigbo presently should be how to strengthen the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the zone ahead of the 2019 general election.

    He said, “Appointments are the prerogative of the President and it should not be over politicized. Rather our prerogative should be how to attract projects to the Southeast. Our people should not antagonise President Buhari but come together under the APC as a national party and be in the mainstream of Nigeria politics.”

    Debunking insinuations of faceoff between him and other APC leaders, especially in the Southeast, the governor said that “we are one big family and we are working together to achieve the party’s campaign promises.”

     

  • Buhari: Boko Haram demands release of its bomb maker

    Buhari: Boko Haram demands release of its bomb maker

    Fed Govt ready for talks to free Chibok schoolgirls

    Government officials have met with the leaders of Boko Haram sect for talks on freedom for the abducted Chibok girls, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said in France.

    He however added that apart from ensuring that it negotiates with genuine leaders of the sect, the government rejected the condition given to it by the sect to proceed with the negotiations.

    The condition is for the release from custody of the main suspect behind the production of Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs).

    The President, who was rounding off his state visit to France, spoke during a meeting with the Nigerian community, who met with him under the auspices of Nigerians In the Diaspora Organisation (NIDO)

    Buhari said: “The issue of Chibok girls has occupied our minds and because of the international attention it drew and the sympathy throughout the country and the world, the government is negotiating with some of Boko Haram’s leadership.

    “It is a very sensitive development in the sense that first we have to establish who are the genuine leaders of the Boko Haram. That is number one. Number two, what are their terms? The first impression we had was not very encouraging,” he said

    He said: “They wanted us to release one of their leaders who is a strategic person in developing and making IEDs which have been causing a lot of havoc in the country by blowing up people in churches, mosques, market places, motor parks and other places.

    [ad id=”403656″]“But it is very important that if we are going to talk to anybody, we have to know how much he is worth.

    “Let them bring all the girls and then, we will be prepared to negotiate.  I will allow them to come back to Nigeria or to be absorbed into the community. We have to be very careful; the concern we have for the Chibok girls, one only imagine if they got a daughter there between 14 and 18 years and for more than one and a half years, a lot of the parents who have died would rather see the graves of their daughters rather the condition they imagine they were in.

    “This has drawn a lot of sympathy thoughout the world; that is why this government is getting very hard in negotiating and getting the balance of those who are alive.”

    Buhari assured the Nigerians that his administration was doing everything to improve on the state of the economy through provision of infrastructure in critical areas.