The Nation Newspaper

Tag: canvasses

  • Baba Peculiar canvasses prayers for president-elect

    Lagos-based prophet, Olakunle Hephzibah of the Christ Apostolic Church (Peculiar Situation), Lagos has called on Nigerians to support General Muhammadu Buhari with prayers to succeed when he mounts the saddle on May 29.

    The cleric, who is fondly called Baba Peculiar, told reporters that Buhari needs serious prayers to serve out his term.

    Hephzibah said: “Nigerians should pray for President-elect Buhari for him to succeed and serve out his term. We need to fortify him against forces of death and destruction while in office.”

    Buhari, he said, will lay the foundation for a solid nation after which the real chosen one for Nigeria will emerge to take over.

    The cleric tongue-lashed many parading themselves as men of God, saying many of them are fraudsters after survival.

    “Most of those parading themselves as men of God are fraudsters looking for what to eat. And this is why most of their predictions don’t come to past.

    “Many of them predicted that President Goodluck Jonathan would get re-elected and today we are all aware that they lied. God didn’t tell them anything, they were only telling the President what he wanted to hear,” he stressed.

    While saying it was not wrong for clerics to associate with politicians, Hephzibah warned that they must not become tools in the hands of politicians.

  • Body canvasses free, credible, polls

    An Igbo socio-cultural group, Ndigbo for Good Governance (NGG), has called for free, fair and transparent polls that to reflect the wishes of the citizenry.

    It urged candidates to embrace civilised politics of issues relevant to the people’s well-being and national development during  campaigns.

    The body decried violence, saying candidates should remember the Abuja peace accord entered into by their leaders and presidential candidates.

    In a statement by the group’s Coordinator, Mr. Chima Ebere Nwankwo, NGG, describing the elections as crucial for the survival of the country, enjoined eligible voters to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    It hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for nominating an Abia indigene, Col. Austin Akobundu (retd), as a minister and hoped that the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national vice chairman (Southeast) would perform well.

    NGG enjoined the Senate to confirm his nomination.

    The statement reads: “We condemn the political brawling and violence in recent times, despite the peace accord signed by parties’ leaders and presidential candidates. Violence is politically-dangerous, morally-wrong and socially- reprehensible. It is a step backward in nation building and has tainted our image, battered by insurgency in the Northeast.

    “We demand civilised politics of issues relevant to the people’s well-being and national development. We urge security agents to fish out perpetrators of violence and their sponsors and bring them to book to act as a deterrent to others.

    “We enjoin registered voters to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to ensure they vote for credible candidates. The elections are crucial for the survival of democracy. We advocate free, fair, credible and acceptable polls that will reflect the wishes of the citizens.”

  • SEC canvasses for incentives to boost commodity exchange

    SEC canvasses for incentives to boost commodity exchange

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has underscored the importance of incentives as part of measures to encourage active trading on the formal commodity exchange.

    Acting director general, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, said the apex capital market regulator would make a case for incentives for the commodity exchange to the Ministry of Finance. Gwarzo spoke when a team from the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) visited him. The NCX metamorphosed from the former Abuja Securities and Commodity Exchange (ASCE).

    Gwarzo said SEC would collaborate with the NCX in a bid to make the commodity market in Nigeria more vibrant.

    The Commission also assured the management of NCX of its support in its bid to get NCX bill passed at the National Assembly and to do all within its capacity to get the commodity market on sound footing.

    “Migrating from being stock exchange to commodity exchange is a major feat and we are very excited about it. On our part, we will reach out to the Ministry of Finance so that we can make a case on some of the incentives that can encourage trading on the floor of the commodity exchange. We are very confident of the success of the exchange as the prospects are very high but a lot of things need to happen and you need to do more in that regard,” Gwarzo said.

    He said the Commission was ready to support NCX whenever there is public hearing on its bill at the NASS, but advised the management of NCX to do its networking very well before then.

    Besides, Gwarzo also advised NCX to be well positioned for competition as there were other commodity exchanges, like AFEX that will soon be competing with it.

    Gwarzo said that SEC was very keen on the growth and development of the exchange largely because of its important role in the economy.

    He added that since circulars were issued to companies to ensure their shares are traded on the stock exchange, it made a lot of difference in market transactions in the secondary market. He assured that once the warehousing receipt system and all other things were in place in the commodity exchange, the Commission will collaborate in any other area to ensure a very active market.

    Acting managing director, Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX), Hajia Zaheera Baba-Ami, lamented the non passage of the 2010 Warehouse Receipt Bill which is one of the issues hindering the growth of the exchange.

    Baba-Ami also advocated for incentives like excise and Export Duty rebate to encourage trading on the exchange. She appealed to SEC to assist in talking to end users and processors, like Nestle Nigeria,   Guinness Nigeria and Cadbury Nigeria to purchase commodities through the NCX to deepen the market.

    She noted that there was the need for proper legislation to regulate commodity trading in Nigeria and enhance liquidity and sustainability of the commodity exchange, adding that there was the need to compel companies to trade on the exchange, similar to what obtained in stock market

    According to her, adequate legislation has made Commodity exchange in Ethiopia to be ahead of others in Africa and made coffee a major foreign exchange earner for that country.

    She however disclosed that the exchange with the assistance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is rehabilitating 22 warehouses that will assist in storing grains so that they are readily available to meet demands of processors and increase activities of the exchange.

     

  • Ebola: Union canvasses workers’ safety

    The global trade union federation, Public Services International (PSI) has condemned the preventable deaths of dozens of healthcare workers killed on the job by Ebola because they did not have the necessary tools and equipment.

    TheEbola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is the worst ever and the first to spill widely across several countries.

    PSI General Secretary, Rosa Pavanelli said: “We cannot accept pitiful excuses, whether from health ministers or donor agencies.  Health workers must have the tools to do their jobs.  All whose work brings them in contact with Ebola victims must have the protective gear.  Our members are dying because of unsafe working conditions, this is criminal neglect.”

    The leader of PSI’s West African Health Sector Unions’ Network (WAHSUN), Dr Ayuba Wabba, who is also the National President of the Medical and Health Workers Union (MHWUN) added: “We demand that Ministries of Health, the World Health Organisation and the West African Health Organisation to implement best practice guidelines for Ebola for all health facilities, including full and continuous supply of the needed equipment.

    “Establish policies and legislation to protect healthcare workers. Set up Ebola-specific information and communication centres in all national capitals, regions, districts and provinces to provide timely and accurate information to the public.

    “Intensify healthcare worker education on universal precautions and best practices for Ebola and other communicable diseases at all health facilities. Our unions will keep up the pressure, every day until our members no longer have to lay down their lives without cause, and until we are able to provide the quality care that is so urgently needed,” the union said.

    PSI said it would continue to support WAHSUN’s continuing leadership on behalf of the unions of health and social services workers of the region and their response to Ebola.

  • NLC chief canvasses workers’ training

    The Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero has called on unions and right activists to invest in human capacity building to advance their positions and interests in the context of engagement with employers and government.

    Ajaero, who is also the General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), made the call during the condolence visit of the NLC to the country home of the late Comrade Bamidele Francis Aturu in Lagos.

    He said: “The call was necessary because the only way to honour him for the vacuum created by his death is to promote human rights and labour movement through aggressive human capacity development.

    “Our call is necessary because Aturu, until his death, was not only our official lawyer; he was a very resourceful ally of the entire labour movement as a consistent comrade who committed his entire adult life to the struggle for a better society.’’

    He emphasised that Labour’s mobilising and organising capacity, for instance, can more ingeniously be utilised to advance its position and interests, in the context of engagement with other stakeholders.

    “I am of the view that labour and right groups must increasingly restate their relevance in the field of development, in the same way that both groups need to more clearly demonstrate a capacity to engender progressive policies, working in institutional arrangements with other relevant stakeholders, such as employers and government through capacity building for the movement not to die a natural death.

    “I am also of the view that an important area to consider as part of labour’s greater focus of development issues, should be human capacity building. This area is critical to the extent that it maps around all possible strategic and operational goals of trade unions”, he said.

    On why training should be a principal focus of labour at this time, Ajaero said: “I would like to answer by reiterating the substantive institutional context, which define human capacity building as the third transition phase of labour and development history.

    “This phase has several correlates that appear to render the trade union and its members vulnerable. And such features as casualisation, downsizing and outsourcing are common with this phase, which encompasses issue such as human capacity development that has consequences for the union, its members, the organisation and the country.”

  • Group canvasses for Doma’s governorship campaign

    A group, Nasaran Akwe Doma 2015, has called on former Nasarawa State Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma, to contest in 2015.

    The group said during Doma’s tenure, there was peace in the state. Its Chairman, Abubakar Akiri , yesterday in Lafia, the state capital, said the insecurity in the state is worrisome.

    He said: “We feel strongly that we should call on ‘Baba’ to yield to the yearning of the people to offer more services to the state. The people have realised that if given the mandate, he would perform better.

    “Aliyu Doma has the determination to promote peace, unity and fast track the overall development of the state.”

  • Ondo speaker canvasses state police

    Ondo State House of Assembly Speaker Mrs. Jumoke Akindele has supported calls for  state police.

    She said one of the ways to resolve the current security challenges is to allow states have their own police.

    The Speaker, who represents Okitipupa Constituency 2, spoke to reporters at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.

    She said: “The  current security crises rocking the country could be attributed to the absence of state police and the failure of intelligence gathering.

    “To effectively tackle the issue, we have to establish state police. It is only the people of a particular environment that know the thieves in their midst. If therefore, you send people to a place without the knowledge of that environment, as it is currently done in the country, we will not achieve the much desired result.

    “If, for example, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, which are currently experiencing the Boko Haram insurgency have their own police, it would be easier to checkmate the sect.

    “They would pay more attention and be more committed because their grandfather or mother could be the next victim.

    “We have been equipping the army, police and navy without result? What we need is state police for proper intelligence gathering.“

     

     

  • Don canvasses establishment of rubber manufacturing industries

    A lecturer, Prof. Sunday Ogunniyi, has called on the  Federal Government to establish rubber manufacturing industries in areas with large quantity of natural rubber and carbon black in the country.

    Oguniyi, a lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Ilorin, made the call in Ilorin.

    He said that since Nigeria was a major producer of natural rubber and carbon black, the country ought to be a leading manufacturer of rubber in the world.

    He recalled that Dunlop and Michelin, two leading tyre manufacturing companies in the world, were formerly leading producers of rubber and tyre in Nigeria.

    The professor expressed regrets that the two companies had wound up their operations in Nigeria and relocated to neighbouring countries due to dearth of back-up infrastructure.

    “The government must help to redress the situation by improving the supply of electricity in the country.

    “The government should also do everything possible to bring back these companies and even encourage new ones to start operation in the country,” he said.

    Ogunniyi decried the importation of second-hand tyres into the country, saying, “they constitute environmental nuisance’’

  • Scholar canvasses people-oriented laws

    Arenowned Islamic scholar Sheikh Dhikrullahi Shafi’I has called on the political class to make laws to suit the socio-cultural beliefs of the people.

    Sheikh Shafi’I said laws are meant to aid the well being of the people and if contrary, such laws should be discarded.

    The Mufti of Conference of Islamic Organisations (CIO) spoke on various issues during a Tafsir session in Lagos.

    According to him, the legislative and executive arm of government must recognise the supremacy of Allah as the ultimate lawmaker.

    He bemoaned a situation whereby man makes law that is anti-nature.

    He chided the Western world for promoting homosexuality and lesbianism, saying it is against the nature of mankind.

    Sheikh Shafi’I hailed the National Assembly (NASS) for not only resisting pressures from the Western world to endorse same-sex marriage in Nigeria but slammed a jail term on offenders.

    He called on the Lagos State Government to emulate the National Assembly in law formulation.

    According to him, the recently signed Cremation law by Governor Babatunde Fashola is against the nature of funeral.

    He expressed displeasure over the reason given by the governor when signing the bill into law.

    His words: “We cannot because of economic benefits throw caution to the wind. If because of some investors, we decided to make laws that is against the socio-cultural beliefs of our people, of what benefit is such law?

    “The fact that leaders of Muslims and Christians are against such bill should have made the bill end in the dustbin during the public hearing but government went on with it against the popular wish. This negates democratic value of which decision lies with the majority.”

    Burial of unclaimed bodies he said, is the responsibility of government.

    He urged government to live up to its responsibility.

  • Lagos canvasses review of law on death penalty

    The Lagos State Government yesterday suggested a review of the nation’s law on the death penalty and execution of condemned prisoners.

    Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, who suggested this, said it was time the country made up its mind whether or not it wanted to retain the death penalty in its statute books.

    Ipaye spoke to reporters during the monthly media briefing on Law and Order, held at Alausa, Ikeja.

    He said the death penalty has been a subject of debate without a decision taken on the matter.

    The Lagos Justice Commissioner urged that an investigation committee be set up on death sentence with a view to determining whether or not the death penalty has served as a deterrent to criminals.

    He said the committee should consider whether there had been an increase or a decrease in armed robberies during the period of moratorium by the governors, who suspended the execution of convicts on death rows.

    Ipaye said the outcome of the investigation would help Nigerians take a stand on the issue, which has put the country in limbo for some time.

    The commissioner, who admitted that penalty is part of the country’s law, said the governors have a right to be hesitant in signing execution warrants after convicted prisoners must have exercised their right of appeal to the Supreme Court.

    He said the governors also have a right to exercise their discretion in the granting of amnesty to the convicts under the prerogative of mercy.

    Ipaye denied media reports that under-age persons were kept in prisons across the state on the order of a magistrate’s court for 390 days.

    The commissioner, who insisted that the report was not true, said investigation into the matter showed that 115 persons were arraigned at the Special Offences Task Force Magistrate’s Court and that they were above 18 years, contrary to what was reported.