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Tag: BUHARI

  • Buhari must resist policy ambush, says NLC faction

    Buhari must resist policy ambush, says NLC faction

    •‘No to fuel subsidy removal, naira devaluation’

    The Joe Ajaero-led faction of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has advised the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to resist policy ambush as well as those pushing for oil subsidy removal and naira devaluation.

    The faction said oil subsidy removal and naira devaluation would amount to policy dictatorship contrary to the ruling party’s electoral promises.

    It spoke in a statement signed by its Deputy President and General Secretary of Textile Workers’ Union, Issa Aremu, in Kaduna yesterday.

    The faction cautioned the administration to be wary of some vested interests, who allegedly wanted to undermine his electoral promises.

    The statement reads: “NLC particularly rejects the call by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, for further devaluation of the naira, which is already in a free-fall of 18 per cent against the dollar in the past year. Market operators like Mr. Onasanya should not usurp the legitimate functions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the regulator through unhelpful policy dictatorship.

    “We hereby support the recently announced bold measures of the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, in managing the scarce foreign reserve through foreign-exchange restrictions on some frivolous imports. CBN should reject the least resistance of unhelpful option of further naira devaluation.

    “The existing currency devaluation has further eroded  the wage income of millions of workers (many with unpaid monthly salaries). Devaluation has also increased the cost of domestic production, fuelled price inflation and undermined the competitiveness of locally surviving industry, leading to loss of the few existing jobs.

    “The CBN ban on importers from using the foreign-exchange market for some frivolous 40 items ranging from private jets to rice, wheelbarrows and Indian incense, Geisha (canned fish) and toothpicks, to even eggs is welcome and commendable.

    “Nigeria, more than any nation, currently suffers huge capital inadequacy, with its foreign-currency reserves sharply fallen by some 27 per cent to $29 billion since the end of last September.

    “CBN measures aimed at capital application and capital control in line with its statutory objective will definitely enhance domestic production in place of unhelpful luxury imports. It will also save the nation the current capital flight averaging some N1.3 trillion ($6.5 billion) a year, (almost half of national budget) on avoidable unnecessary job-killing imports.”

    The statement added: “Central banks worldwide ensure public control of capital for development without which capital on the loose can finance underdevelopment, cocaine growing as well as finance terrorism as America painfully came to realise in the wake of 9/11.

    “Indeed, CBN should include African prints textile materials in its foreign exchange restrictions. Nigeria has comparative advantage in production of African prints. It is bad enough to illegally lift the ban on its import, but it’s worse that we spend scarce foreign exchange on what we can and must produce locally.

    “What Nigerians look forward to are urgent fixing of the existing refineries, passage of PIB, reorganisation and repositioning of the NNPC, reinvention of the downstream infrastructure of fuel production and distribution, an end to crude oil theft and mass decent jobs, not outworn outcry of removal of so-called fuel subsidy.

    “As we have seen with good management of fertiliser subsidy in the last dispensation under former Agriculture Minister, Dr. Adeshina Akinwunmi, there is nothing inherently bad with subsidy. The challenge of today more than ever before is domestic production of petroleum, instead of unsustainable wasteful imports. The Buhari administration should reject one-cap fits all policy dictate. No substitute to good governance and employment generation.”

  • Buhari‘ll perform, says Oshiomhole

    Buhari‘ll perform, says Oshiomhole

    Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday expressed optimism that President Muhammadu Buhari’s policies  would impact positively on Nigerians.

    Oshiomhole told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Auchi, Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State, that “Buhari has the political will to make things better for Nigerians”.

    He added: “I know that President Buhari will do better, because we had a meeting with him last week and he is very conscious that he became a President courtesy of the ordinary people, particularly the poor.

    “He is very committed at fashioning out policies and programmes – social infrastructure and physical infrastructure – that will impact directly on the lives of the average person.

    “So, I can assure you that the President is determined to ensure that he justifies the confidence reposed in him.”

    The governor urged Nigerians to be patient, adding: “There will be no quick fix measures because President Buhari inherited a treasury that is almost empty.

    “All the same, he has not come to lament that. But he has come to give a new hope, and we are more inspired now.”

    Oshiomhole urged Nigerians to support the President and his administration to deliver people-oriented programmes.

  • Rivers APC to Buhari: probe Wike’s tenure at Education Ministry

    Rivers APC to Buhari: probe Wike’s tenure at Education Ministry

    President Muhammadu Buhari has been called upon to probe the tenure of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike at the Federal Ministry of Education.

    The state All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman, Chief Davies Ikanya,  said this yesterday in a statement in Port Harcourt through his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Public Affairs, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze.

    The party supported Buhari’s move to investigate and recover billions of naira allegedly looted by the past administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

    Wike served in Jonathan’s government as Supervising Minister of Education and Minister of State for Education before resigning to vie as governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The Rivers APC said: “We receive with great joy, the news of the decision of President Buhari to go after the persons who stole Nigeria blind and virtually grounded the country’s economy.

    “For six years, we shouted ourselves hoarse that Jonathan’s administration was the most corrupt in the history of this nation and sadly nobody believed us, but the recent revelations have proved us right. If not by the grace of God and the resolve of Nigerians to vote out the visionless government, the ship of our nation would have been grounded by now.

    “The impending recovery of stolen funds and stoppage of systemic leakages are the beginning of the journey towards building the ideal Nigerian nation.”

    The party said the President should look into  the purchase of books for Federal Government institutions, the Almajiri School Scheme, the Universal Basic Education (UBEC) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) as well as the “commandeer” of 15 UBEC Toyota Hilux vans for governorship election campaign.

    The APC also want Buhari to probe the recent fire that razed only the Basic Education Section of the Federal Ministry of Education building in Abuja.

    “Although Wike has been unjustly declared Rivers governor by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), his immunity does not prevent him from being investigated. In any case, he will soon lose the immunity, when he is removed from office by the Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Abuja.

    “We passionately appeal to President Buhari to take the necessary action to bring Wike to book, to serve as a deterrent to others. We commend the governments of United States and Britain for supporting the APC’s government in its efforts to recover Nigeria’s looted funds, stashed in foreign banks by agents of wickedness,” the party said.

    The Rivers APC pleaded with Nigerians to see reason and support the administration of President Buhari in its efforts to clean the rot of the Jonathan’s administration and put Nigeria on a sound footing.

    It noted that the next three months might be hard, as predicted by President Buhari, but assured Nigerians that they were necessary steps for the good of the country.

  • Open letter to President Buhari

    Open letter to President Buhari

    SIR: Dear President, permit me to remind you that your victory at the polls following PDP defeat brought joy and great expectations to the common man. I hope you will live up to these expectations.

    May I also remind you that the respect Nigerians have for you as a person before now did not just start. It all started right from your days as the Military Head of State who gave Nigeria a direction. It has always been my expectations that you will invoke your discipline mantra of old to deal with the insubordination in the APC now. Some of us have always hoped that you will bring hope to the hopeless and helps to the helpless. Nigerians voted for the APC thinking that our public officers will for once imbibe the culture of change.

    I am compelled to write this open letter to you following recent happenings in the APC (a party of hope for the common man), the APC majority National Assembly and the leadership of the APC. You are the official leader of the APC in government and the fountain of hope for the APC. You know the hard work and energy you and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu put together to manifest the APC which eventually is the ruling party at the national level with majority states in Nigeria.

    As a party man and our President, the events happening in the National Assembly should interest you to the extent that you should not leave anything to chance howsoever. The emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President and Senator Ekweremadu of the PDP as the Deputy is not a good omen for both the APC and the presidency. The success of your administration is invariably that of the APC. That Saraki emerged Senate President with the open display of PDP support is enough sign to any reasonable man that he who pays the piper dictates the tunes. That again, Saraki should have the boldness to throw to the winds again the APC agreed positions of the leaders in the Senate is enough to accept the fact that the spirit of APC is in abeyance as far as Saraki is concerned.

    Sir, would you be surprised to hear that the PDP is ready to use some of these same faithless APC members to challenge the list of ministers you will soon present?

    I urge you in the name of God to name your ministers, advisers and assistants quickly. They will assist you handle this challenging situation. David Mark as Senate President was the pillar of the PDP in and outside the Senate while it lasted, the APC cannot secure for now such commitment from Saraki and some of its Senators. They cannot hold forth for the party now, yet no member of the Senate got to the senate as an independent candidate. Every elected member came to the National Assembly on the platform of a political party which by convention and law is supreme. It is wrong an for Saraki to continue to have alternative list for positions meant to be occupied by the APC leadership. This is a challenge to the authority of the party that brought him to the Senate, it must be resisted at this early time. The APC must be bold to discipline it members now with the help of the President.

    I wish to reiterate that whether anybody likes it or not, Tinubu remains the pillar of the APC in its formation and President Buhari would remain the pivot the APC should revolve around to consolidate.

    • Chief Barr Utum Eteng,

     

  • ‘How Buhari can succeed’

    ‘How Buhari can succeed’

    A Group, Youths Change Nigeria, has said President Muhammadu Buhari is the leader of Nigeria, not just of the All Progressives Congress (APC), hence it will be wrong to cloak him in a partisan toga.

    In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday, the organization’s National Leader, Mr. Seun Bobade, said the moment Buhari was sworn in as President on May 29th, he became the leader of all Nigerians, irrespective of their party affiliations.

    “We have been following the controversy over the comment purportedly made by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that President Buhari is not the leader of the APC. We watched the interview in which Alhaji Lai Mohammed made the comments, and we can say without equivocating that his comments have been taken out of context.

    “What we believe Alhaji Lai Mohammed said in that interview is that while President Buhari is a loyal party man and the product of his party’s primaries, it will be wrong for anyone to pigeon hole him as just the leader of the APC, because as President, he is the leader of Nigeria.

    “The President himself said that much in his inaugural speech of May 29th. The President said inter alia: ‘I would like to thank the millions of our supporters who believed in us even when the cause seemed hopeless. I salute their resolve in waiting long hours in rain and hot sunshine to register and cast their votes and stay all night if necessary to protect and ensure their votes count and were counted.

    “I thank those who tirelessly carried the campaign on the social media. At the same time, I thank our other countrymen and women who did not vote for us but contributed to make our democratic culture truly competitive, strong and definitive. I thank all of you. Having just a few minutes ago sworn on the Holy Book, I intend to keep my oath and serve as President of All Nigerians (emphasis ours).

    “We are therefore constrained to warn those who have been seeking to make a mountain out of a molehill over the comment purportedly made by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC to desist from their distracting game, unless of course they have an ulterior motive for pushing their jaundiced views,’’ the Youths for Change Nigeria said.

    It reminded Nigerians that in the United States, after which Nigeria has modeled its system of government, the President – at this time Mr. Barack Obama – is not seen and addressed as the leader of the Democratic Party but the leader of the United States of America.

    “It may be a different ball game in a parliamentary system, but that is not what our country is practising at this moment,” the organization said.

    Youth for Change Nigeria called for an end to unnecessary bickering and controversies that do not contribute positively to ensuring the welfare and security of Nigerians – which is the reason for the existence of any government.

  • Buhari condemns fresh Boko Haram attacks

    Buhari condemns fresh Boko Haram attacks

    President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the latest terrorist attacks on Borno and Yobe communities by the Boko Haram bandits.

    In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, the President said he was deeply touched by these mindless incidents of violence on innocent people during the month of Ramadan.

    He insisted that the terrorists are enemies of everybody, and enemies of humanity everywhere.

    Stressing that terrorists don’t represent any religion, he said that no sane people who believe in any god would destroy the lives of innocent people in cold blood.

    The pattern of their indiscriminate violence against innocent people, he said, showed that they represent nothing else but anarchy and devilry.

    The statement reads: “In what appears to be one of his toughest expressions of outrage, President Buhari reminded the terrorists of his uncompromising resolve to tackle them with all the resources at the disposal of his government.

    “Make no mistake about it: this government is ever determined to discharge its fundamental duty of protecting the lives of its citizens from physical threats from any groups bent on creating chaos, confusion, and on destroying social and economic life of the people”, he warned.

    President Buhari, who extended his sympathy to the families of the victims, also reassured all Nigerians that his government would never tolerate terrorist blackmail, and that security forces would confront the Boko Haram bandits to the last man.

    Describing terrorists as “cowards who lack any moral inhibition and any iota of humanity to reason compassionately”, he said that they would not find Nigeria a safe haven, because “they would be “hunted down without mercy and compromise.”

    Reiterating that security would be tackled by his administration with vigorous determination, he advised Nigerian to show more vigilance and be alert to the presence of suspicious people around them.

    “The terrorists are enemies of religion and humanity. No true believers in any God would target worshipers, holy places, or people who are fasting and other innocent Nigerians,” he stated.

  • Buhari: Presidency tackles PDP over 30 days appraisal

    Buhari: Presidency tackles PDP over 30 days appraisal

    The Presidency on Sunday faulted the call for prayers for the Buhari government by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which alleged inaction by the new administration in its first 30 days in office.
    The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement, said that Nigerians are already on the side of the administration and that the Buhari administration is on course.
    National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh in an earlier statement said that the enormity of the confusion surrounding the government and the ruling party in the last one month has made it imperative for Nigerians to pray.
    He said the success or failure of the Buhari administration would not only affect the President and his party but also the entire nation.
    Metuh made the call while giving a 30 day appraisal of the administration.
    Adesina said it requires scrupulous and painstaking planning to clean the PDP’s Augean Stable.
    “It is amusing to read what the National Publicity Secretary of the defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, considers a 30 days appraisal of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
    “He wants Nigerians to join hands in prayers for the government, so that things would begin to move. What he does not know is that Nigerians had long formed such coalition. They are hands in hands, and that was what gave victory to President Buhari in the March 28, 2015 poll.
    Stressing that the national life was devalued across all sectors under PDP, Adesina said: “it takes meticulousness and sure-footedness to repair all the breaches. This, the Buhari administration will deliver.”
    “Metuh talks of people round the President conniving with bureaucrats to syphon money from the treasury. This must be deja vu, as it was the pastime of the immediate past administration, and the enormity of the sleaze will be evident when stolen money, to the tune of billions of dollars, is recovered, and returned to the national treasury soon.”
    In his statement Metuh said PDP was deeply worried that the ” President who promised to unveil his cabinet two weeks after his inauguration, has not been able to decide on key appointments such as ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief of Staff and advisers in key sectors of the economy.”
    “This is more so as the delay has brought government business in ministries, departments and agencies to a dangerous standstill with coordination of important policies vested on ministers and the SGF now in tatters while the system drifts.”

  • Chekwas Okorie: Buhari should intervene now

    Chekwas Okorie: Buhari should intervene now

    Sam Egburonu, Associate Editor, spoke with Chief Chekwas Okorie, National Chairman of United Progressives Party (UPP) and a former presidential candidate

    I think APC has so far mismanaged the situation. I am not happy to refer to PDP as a political party that has anything to offer, but it managed similar situation better. As you know Tambuwal’s emergence as Speaker of House of Representatives against PDP’s decision was a similar situation, but as soon as it happened, PDP quickly embraced Tambuwal and the president then did not hesitate to congratulate him. The party went further to announce that what happened was a family affair.

    So, coming to the current development, I thought APC should have handled it better. President Muhammadu Buhari wisely decided not to be directly involved in who emerged the National Assembly leaders. So, he can easily work with the outcome of the NASS elections. But it is the party, the APC, that is continuously losing out.

    Having said that, I think the president cannot continue to be aloof because what happens to APC, happens to him. He should broker some truce between the APC and NASS leadership.

    Talking about options available to APC, I think the party should swallow its pride and accept the situation. Speaking as an experienced political party manager, if I were APC leaders, I will not convene a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at this point in time. This is because tension is still very high. Convening a NEC meeting that is supposed to determine whether Saraki and Dogara would be sanctioned is dangerous. It will hurt the party more than it would hurt the people involved. I say so because Nigeria is not well structured. The North has majority and so will ultimately dominate the NEC. So, it is their point of view on this matter that will prevail. In fact, I will be surprised if the NEC meeting convened by the national Chairman of the party at this point in time will not turn round to demand his resignation. Such a meeting at this point in time is dangerous and ill advised.

    I will rather suggest that the best option now is for President Buhari to be challenged to intervene in this APC internal crisis so as to bring about peace. A NEC meeting at this point in time will shock the convener.

     

  • Buhari sails between Scylla and Charybdis

    Buhari sails between Scylla and Charybdis

    Then the National Assembly crisis began, before the controversial elections that ruptured the party openly on June 9, there were discrete suggestions that President Buhari, by his refusal to lift a finger, encouraged the strong-arm tactics of the aspiring NASS leaders. His aides have denied this unflattering insinuation of complicity. More, there is no indication whatever that he connived at the insurrection, let alone participate in it.

    However, when the NASS revolt was at its sanguinary worst, scenario builders speculated that the president probably allowed the defiance in the legislature to mature in order to whittle down the influence of a few party leaders. Again, there is probably no truth in this, for, if anything, the president actually seems well disposed to the party’s proposed but defeated senate leadership. If the president feared being ‘encircled and emasculated’ by key party leaders, as some notoriously suggested, it is probably worse now considering how helplessly he stands the distinct possibility of being encircled and emasculated by influential party leaders in the legislature and elsewhere whose loyalty to the APC and trustworthiness no one can vouch for.

    In a cryptic subversion of his inauguration statement of belonging to everybody and nobody, President Buhari must by now have discovered that he has to belong to somebody, if anybody is to belong to him. If he is not to cede control of his party to unmanageable individuals intent on hijacking it for private reasons and probably unhealthy ambition, the president will have to begin to assert himself much more than he has thought possible under constitutional rule.

  • Abubakar Tsav: Buhari should remain neutral

    Abubakar Tsav: Buhari should remain neutral

    Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, spoke with Retired Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Tsav

    The APC is a group of defectors from the PDP who are desperate for power. Apart from President Muhammadu Buhari and a few others, the rest are selfish and greedy persons who are only interested in what they can grab for themselves.

    Buhari is wearing a white garment and is dining with gluttons who may soil his white garment with red and black soup. So, he should remain neutral as he presently is, otherwise they may drag him into this show of shame.

    Meanwhile, I commend Dr Bukola Saraki and support his stand in the interest of national unity.

    If the APC is a disciplined and democratically united party with interest of the nation at heart, they would not make any noise about this situation, but all they are interested in, is the monetary aspect of these positions.

    They have won the election but they do not know how to manage their victory as a result of greed.  I am sorry for President Mohammadu Buhari.