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Tag: citizens

  • Aregbesola @ 61: Citizens shower encomiums on governor

    The Mufasir il-lmam of Osogboland, Alhaji Maroof Ishola, has admonished  governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to  place the welfare of the people above their personal interest in their bid to succeed the incumbent governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. Ishola gave the admonition while delivering a sermon at the special prayer session organised to mark the 61st birthday celebration of the governor.

    Imam Ishola implored the contenders to see continuity as sacrosanct rather than personal interest, saying they (aspirants) should be very careful not to allow Osun slip out of the hands of the progressives. While calling for cooperation and love among  party members,  the cleric stressed that care should be taken not to allow the good job the outgoing administration of Aregbesola has done to be destroyed by those who don’t know the extent of sacrifices the governor has made.

    He held that the only way the Aregbesola legacies can be sustained and built upon is to allow peace to reign and support whoever emerges as the party’s flag-bearer.

    “You should all remember that Aregbesola has done so much for the people of the state and the party members, hence the need for whoever is seeking the coveted seat not to allow carelessness and ambition to destroy the good legacies that had been built by the present administration”, the cleric stressed.

    In his remarks, the Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, urged all governorship aspirants under the APC to remember that all that has a beginning must have an end as the expiration of his second term in office is near.He called on the contestants to remember that the move of the APC to rule over Osun has never been about the position of office but on the need to rescue the masses out of the drought which was visible in almost all the sectors as at then.

    “So the fact is that my coming into office was not about the affluence or power attached to the office, it was not about personal ambition to be called a governor,  it was about the genuine need to rescue our state from the shackles of retrogression which we met on ground.This is what I want my  party members to have at heart, you should not put your personal ambition ahead of the love for this state.

    Meanwhile, the Senator representing Osun East Senatorial District, Senator Babajide Omoworare has joined other well wishers to celebrate . The Senator congratulated the Governor for attaining another year in his journey through life under God’s infinite mercy and guidance, describing him as a symbol of good governance and exemplary leadership which is phenomenal and significant for development of humanity and democracy.

    Omoworare went further to pray that God will continue to guide the governor in his divinely given assignment to uplift the state and give him sufficient wisdom and grace for greater heights and success. “Mr. Governor sir, our own symbol of good governance and leadership, I join millions of your family and friends to felicitate with you on this day of yours, wishing you many more years of celebration,” the Senator said.

     

  • Citizens’ Rights to free ‘illegal detainees’

    SOME  Ikoyi Prison inmates believed to be held illegally will soon regain their freedom,  the Directorate of Citizens’ Rights (DCR) has said.

    The DCR Director,  Mrs Omololu Adesina, made this promise after visiting the prison.

    Over 500 inmates are said to be victims of circumstance,  with some of them not having lawyers.

    In a statement, Mrs Adesina said: “We met a number of inmates allegedly raided in different parts of the state. When the police arrest people and they are detained by the order of court, their parents or guardians may not know where they are.  When this kind of situation arises, it is the duty of agencies of government like ours to intervene and make necessary recommendations.

    “That is why our office collaborates with other agencies of the Ministry of Justice to defend the defenceless and offer non-custodian sentences where offenders plead guilty especially people that have no money to defend themselves.

    “Our office defends indigent citizens who have no money to employ the services of a lawyer. That is why our services are free of charge.”

    She said many indigent inmates could be in prison  longer than necessary if the  government did not come in through the directorate.

    Mrs Adeshina : “We are not condoning criminality.  We only don’t want them to be awaiting trial perpetually and

  • A call for citizens’ participation in governance

    SIR: The bane of under-development in Africa is explicitly traceable to poor leadership across all levels of governance. According to Chinua Achebe, “The problem with Nigeria is failure of leadership.”

    A few weeks ago, a member of the political class and former President of Nigeria, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, crawled out of his cocoon and released a bomb that validated Achebe’s long-standing position: “One problem that must be corrected is the problem of leadership. This is because our leaders lack focus, commitment, continuity and sometimes proper knowledge about economic and development issues; hence we have not been able to achieve meaningful result.”

    Citizens Participation in governance is a key factor and the sole reason why Africa is buffeted by bad and poor leadership.

    It can, therefore, be said that the citizenry of any nation is the final arbiter in governmental decision-making process of their various countries, as they hold the power to make or mar the leadership of these countries, through strong and robust participation in governance.

    In awakening citizens’ consciousness on this central and invaluable position they occupy in the society, Harold Lasky, a French political philosopher, declared: “exclusion from power is an exclusion from the benefits of power.”

    Unfortunately, citizens’ inclusion or participation in governance in these parts  is discouraged by the leaders’ attitudinal disposition and the manner political activities are run and handled.

    Largely, in Africa, elections into government offices have turned “survival of the fittest;” leaving governance in the hands of mediocrities and cronies of major political actors, as against meritocracy.

    Campaigns and elections here have become tainted with blood, kidnappings of major actors, and malpractices of all sorts, giving governance itself ‘an-integrity-muddled-status’ as well as decorating the leaders who engineer these asinine things with ‘Devil-like images.’It is on this premise that politics and governance are mostly labelled “dirty games;” requiring no decency by many citizens.

    But be that as it may, citizens’ participation in governance remains the panacea for bad and poor governmental representation in Africa and anywhere else. Democracy is “government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

    So, without equivocation and ambiguity, one can boldly say the profits of citizens’ participation in governance cannot be overemphasised, as it has proven to be one of the strongest tools in turning the tide any time the people are treated with levity.

     

    • Gwiyi Solomon,

    Abuja

  • Diagnosing citizens’ rights in Nigeria

    SIR: On May 29, a journalist Joseph Hir was beaten, allegedly by supporters of the Nassarawa state governor for writing a “negative” report about the governor. A month later, Yomi Olomofe, executive director of Prime magazine, and McDominic Nkpemenyie, a correspondent with Tide newspaper, were severely beaten and injured by a group of people at Seme customs border post in Lagos. The group was allegedly upset by previous unfavourable reports of their activities by the journalists. Recently, it was reported in a Human Rights Watch publication that camp officials, police and soldiers in IDP camps, raped and sexually exploited about 43 women and girls living in seven Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camps in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

    Records of Human Rights violations in Nigeria are still worrisome with increasing spate of extra-judicial killings, illegal arrests, unnecessary detention and torture, rape and assault of innocent citizens. Security operatives, other relevant authorities burdened with the responsibility to protect citizens’ rights, are culpable in violating the rights of many. There are countless cases of unreported Human Rights abuses, because victims are losing faith in the lack of determination by responsible government agencies, traditional and religious institutions, and individuals, who fail to protect victims. Women and children, are mostly affected and vulnerable to constant abuses even within their family.

    We stress the need for government to reaffirm its position of defending the rights of IDPs, persons with disabilities, women and children, indigenous peoples, minority group, press freedom and others at risk of discrimination or violence. Corruption and weak governance undermines the tenets of basic Human Rights for many Nigerians who live in abject poverty.

    Nigeria must be seen by key international actors as a country that is willing to address Human Rights abuses, as well as putting adequate and stringent measures in place to ensure that citizens’ rights are well protected.

    The decision by the Nigerian Army/government to establish human rights desk, including receiving documents, investigate complaints from individuals, organisations and institution on rights violation involving military personnel and the forwarding of report findings to the office of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) on human rights complaints in the country, is a welcome development. But more commitment needs to be done to ensure that issues of human rights abuses in Nigeria are effectively and timely addressed to reduce the plights of citizens whose rights are being abused, ensure that common people have access to justice and their rights respected.

    • Charles Iyare,

    Africa Network for Environment & Economic Justice, (ANEEJ), Benin City.

  • Buhari won’t allow death of citizens, says Presidency

    Buhari won’t allow death of citizens, says Presidency

    •President denies alleged mass starvation

    The Presidency yesterday maintained that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is leading a responsible government and will not allow lives to be lost in the country.

    The statement followed fears in some quarters that the government was not doing enough to save the lives of Nigerians presently facing humanitarian crisis in the Northeast and the crisis might degenerate to mass starvation.

    Millions of Nigerians, over the years, have been displaced from their communities by the onslaught of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

    The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, said: “It is a problem that the Buhari administration continues to handle with great sensitivity.

    “Since his coming to office, the President has fully mobilised state mechanisms to deal with the problems and this needs to be appreciated.

    “This notwithstanding, we are concerned about the blatant attempts to whip up a nonexistent fear of mass starvation by some aid agencies, a type of hype that does not provide solution to the situation on the ground but more to do with calculations for operations financing locally and abroad. In a recent instance, one arm of the United Nations screamed that 100,000 people will die due to starvation next year. A different group says a million will die.”

    He noted out that the Boko Haram terrorism and their occupation of communities and destruction of houses, infrastructure and means of livelihood have manifested in the decline of socio-economic activities throughout the Northeast.

    He added that it in turn negatively impacted farming, pastoralism, trade, exchange of goods and services and social interaction among the people and leading to the displacement of more than two million people, mostly women and children.

    “Consequently, there is death, there is hunger and there is poor nutrition. The displacement pattern as revealed by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) indicates that there are currently about two million people who are displaced.

    “Only about 20 percent of this is however in IDP camps. This much reduced numbers are in Borno in 13 formal and 16 satellite camps; four of such camps currently operating in Adamawa and about the same number in Yobe.

    “The larger number of the IDP population is living either in self-settled camps or with host communities,” he added.

    According to him, the affected states with active collaboration with NEMA and the recently inaugurated Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiative (PCNI) are deeply involved in efforts to cushion the humanitarian challenges, especially on food security and nutrition.

    “Through an ongoing arrangement, NEMA provides raw food items to IDPs at formal camps, self-settled centres, host communities and satellite centres. The states for their part provide condiments, firewood and maintain environmental quality of the IDP camps.

    “Beyond the IDP camps, government agencies are distributing food in host communities. The T.Y. Danjuma-led PCNI is currently doing this in Borno State at the time of writing,” he stated.

    Apart from the supply of food, he said the Federal Government, through NEMA and the PCNI, has made the provision of drugs to some major hospitals in the zone as a priority.

    “These agencies have also been deploying on continuous basis, medical teams and equipment to the Northeast to support the provision of medicare to the IDPs.

    “There are also search and rescue vehicles in service in the region as well as the deployment of a revolving fund at major hospitals in Maiduguri and Yola to ensure full treatment of victims of insurgents’ attacks and sick IDPs.

    “Government has also been providing skills and empowerment equipment to IDPs side-by-side with education for children in camps and the UN Safe Schools Initiative (SSI).

    “While the humanitarian situation in the Northeast is already complex and challenging, there is no doubt that the recent successes by the Nigerian military against the terrorists has come with it  the releases of thousands of people held against their wish in the forests.

    “The captives come to government camps famished, ragged, poorly nourished and mostly ill, released from the hunger and acute shortages of basic necessities of life on account of the effective sieges of Sambisa forest by the military.” He said

    The Presidency also welcomed the increasing humanitarian assistance, which kept complementing the efforts of the federal and state governments in the Northeast.

    Stressing that local and international humanitarian responders, including the United Nations (UN) have done an immeasurable amount of effort filling in the gaps wherever they existed, he denied the reports indicating that 100,000 or a million people would die because government was unable to provide care at the camps.

  • Senior citizens seek govt recognition

    Senior citizens have called on the Federal Government to give them “proper recognition”.

    They made the call at this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Senior Citizens Association of Nigeria in Lagos.

    National President Elder Ebenezer Akinbadipe said senior citizens served the country in various capacities, noting that it’s unfair for the government to neglect them.

    “We want the government to recognise us, let them put us in their programme as it is done in the United States. Government should carry us along with what it is doing for the country… Senior citizens deserve respect and care.”

    The National Secretary, Mrs. Ade Fagbemi, called on the government to have a welfare package for the aged.

    She urged the government to provide senior citizens with free medical services and free transportation and give them opportunity for social work.

    She identified some of the objectives of the association to include promotion of interaction among the elderly, make them self reliant despite the challenges of ageing, create awareness for elder’s existence and care, and to promote love among the elderly.

    In his lecture titled: “Tips on longevity without ageing”, Dr Samuel Oyegbile urged the elders to adopt a healthy lifestyle by eating fresh fruits and vegetables, avoiding fried food, getting adequate sleep, avoiding harmful substances and avoiding emotional stress.

    He added that they must also avoid injury or overexertion.

    “They must avoid exposure to harmful sun rays, avoid obesity, engage in physical exercise and fitness, and they must ensure steaming, boiling, poaching and slow cooking of food with low heat,” he said.

    He said elders must know and watch their blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol level, body mass index and their age.

  • Osun Assembly to citizens: be hopeful

    Osun Assembly to citizens: be hopeful

    OSUN State House of Assembly, under the leadership of Najeem Sallam, has urged Nigerians to celebrate this year’s Eid-el-Kabir with fervent hope, sense of gratitude to God and prayers for the three-tiers of governments to turn around the economy.

    In its Eid-El-Kabir message, signed by the Chairman, House Committee on Information and Strategy, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, the Assembly said the economic situation facing the nation required the support of all citizens.

    The Assembly added that great individuals as well as nations have stories of bumpy roads in their journey to greatness.

    It stressed that the resilient and indomitable spirit of Nigerians and sacrifice would pave the way for possibilities.

    Noting that it was understandable that the economic situation has taken toll on virtually every Nigerian, it said the efforts to turn things around should inspire hope and courage in the people.

    According to the statement, it was public knowledge that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has designed strategies to make Nigeria better than what it was.

    The parliament, which hailed Nigerians, especially the people of  Osun for their perseverance and patience in the face of the economic crunch,  said more patience and sacrifice were required.

    It called on the people to exhibit kindness, generosity and love, especially to the under-privileged as they celebrate the Eid-El-Kabir.

     

     

  • Scholars advise govt, citizens on road to peace

    HOW to achieve national and global peace was the issue when scholars gathered in Lagos.

    While speaking during a symposium tagged “National Integration for Global Peace” they agreed that  achieving global and national peace begins with the individual.

    While identifying essentials of bringing about global peace through a given national system, Dr. Douglas Anele, Associate Prof., Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos argued that national integration for global peace would remain elusive as long as the average man on the street could not agree with himself in bringing about a peaceful state.

    He stressed that disgruntled and hungry individual would find it difficult to identify with any cause that borders on integration of a nation for global peace. He, therefore, called on all tiers of government to put in place measures that will develop patriotic spirit in individuals.

    H also urged government functionaries to live and feel the pain experienced by the average citizen by denying themselves of free gifts. He said: “Government officials don’t feel the impact of power outage and fuel scarcity; they lack virtually nothing.”

    He concluded at the symposium organised by the Rosicrucian Order, Lagos Zone, that it would take such measures to develop patriotism in an individual, thereby encouraging him or her to eschew violence.

    Also speaking, the Provost Michael Otedola College of Primary Education Noforija-Epe, Lagos, Prof. Olu Akeusola, underscored the importance of education in bringing about an egalitarian society.

    He said: “Education has been regarded as a medium through which enlightenment is achieved. Therefore, the curriculum of our schools should emphasise moral education in different subjects taught in schools. These should include Religious Studies, Civic Education, Social Studies and Moral Instruction. Extra-curricular activities should promote moral discipline through songs, drama, poetry and arts. Leaders in different spheres of the society should lead by example and display high level of moral integrity.”

    In his paper entitled “Good Character: Panacea for Peace and Progress in Nigeria”, Akeusola identified stealing, greed, dishonesty, unhealthy rivalry and competition and covetousness as character traits hindering peace and progress in Nigeria.

    He identified trustworthiness, respect for others, sense of responsibility, fairness, care, performing civic duties as some of the traits needed to foster peace and progress in Nigeria.

    In his speech, Alagba Oladipo Yemitan said loss of Omoluwabi (good character) for “bereft of dignity and pride in ourselves and our country.”

    “The concept, virtues and values of an Omoluwabi need to be revived and embraced by Nigerians so as to be peaceful, lawful and progressive the way we should. We certainly need to revisit and re-invent it,” he said.

    Others at the event included Prof. Femi Otubanjo, consultant and politician and Prof. Friday Ndubuisi, Head, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos, Prof. Isaac Alaba, an Independent Consultant on Culture and Languages.

  • Lagos takes to citizens’ journalism model to engage citizens

    The Lagos State Government is to adopt citizens journalism strategy to further publicise its activities.

    Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Mr. Fola Adeyemi, stated this at the weekend after a two-day retreat for the second stream of Public Information Managers.

    The Communique of the retreat indicates that Public Affairs Officers would henceforth use this Communication model to disseminate information to the public especially among “the generality of Lagosians in the grassroots, who over the years have complained of inadequate information on Government programmes and projects.”

    It was also resolved that Information Technology tool should further  be utilized to disseminate the state Government programmes to the people due to its immediacy and diverse public at the local and international levels.

    Adeyemi said there’s the need to effectively disseminate the novel economic policies put in place by the Ambode administration, including the promotion of  24/7 economy.

    According to the Permanent Secretary, the theme of the  retreat ‘Public Sector Information Management in Challenging Times’ was deliberately chosen to equip officers with skills and Strategy  of communicating government activities to the diverse residents of the State.

    Among the facilitators at the retreat were Online Journalist Qasim Akinreti, and media communication expert Dr. Bolu Afolayan.

  • Citizens’ prayer

    Creator, we have come forth, when heaven lies at the tick of a bomb, when hell blazes in the spoken word. We come for hope and truth’s pure ray. We come to wish our strife away. Life was not what we prayed for under Goodluck Ebele Jonathan – it got worse every hour. It is still not we prayed for under Muhammadu Buhari, every second, it gets harder.

    Jonathan, the boy who had no shoes managed to snatch our dog-eared shoes from our feet. That self-confessed son of a poor fisherman came to snatch the few fingerlings we had in our nets. When we protested, he dished us tadpoles to eat and called it the rarest kind of nutritious fish. The one we hoped would accord us a breath of fresh air emerged to blow as another clean breath of fresh stench.

    We have grown from the era when our grief was of fuel subsidy to the era when our grief is of fuel scarcity. When Ebele baba removed that mythical subsidy we barely enjoyed. Fuel we used to buy at N65 sold at N141, N150, and N160. Under Buhari, we have bought fuel at N150 through N500 per litre. Now, our almighty Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu and company have pegged fuel price at N145/litre. Consequently, a decent meal has become the rarest luxury: vegetables and tubers, palm oil and vegetable oil, kerosene and gas, now sell at abominable prices.

    We cannot afford to fuel our cars: N3, 500 can no longer fill our vehicle tanks, we have to spend between N5, 000 and N8, 500 – or more when the fuel marketers decide to hoard fuel in order to sell it at a higher price. The price of public transport has gone through the roof. Yesterday, we spent N250 from Sango Ota to Ado Odo; today we pay N600 just to get there. Iyana Ipaja, Ikeja to Owode and Agbado respectively now cost N700 to and fro vis-à-vis the initial N300, on our worst days. It’s scarier for those of us who work on Victoria Island.

    Reluctantly, we keep faith in the incumbent regime, hoping President Buhari will remain a man of honour and keep his pledge to rid our lives of debilitating greed and corruption. But as we keep faith in Buhari, we remember how incumbent Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, taunted former President Jonathan’s bumbling oil subsidy and fuel price regime in 2014. Through spasmodic fits of politesse and duplicitous exuberance, he stated that: “Now we should be enjoying cheap fuel if the price of oil has dropped globally…If the price increases in the country when the price of oil goes up globally, then it should also reduce when the price of oil drops.

    “PMS price reduction by N10. Now they listen. Oil the raw material drop (sic) over 50%, N10 is just about 10%. Good try but Nigeria can get a beta deal,” Fashola subsequently tweeted. He has been discomfortingly quiet since the government increased pump price of fuel.

    Today, compatriots are saying that Buhari has forgotten his roots. They claim he has declared war on us whose fates he swore to protect. They claim that like Jonathan, he has chosen to wade deaf, against the storm and current of public opinion. But Camp Buhari would have none of that. Buhari apologists argue that his seemingly savage policies are fundamental to our healing as a people and a nation.

    Do not be deceived by the furor of our hastily conceived citizens’ protests on Facebook, Twitter and the streets of Abuja, we shall tire of the novelty of revolutionary slogans and mass actions very soon. Our backs shall remain against the wall. When Buhari’s policies bite harder, we will simply crawl into the walls like irritating wall geckos.

    Our labour leaders and columnists of note are quietly eating up their words in the wake of ‘crucial’ meetings with the ruling class. Soon, they will tell us to ditch the placards and save our chants till more auspicious hour. Whispers of currency shall smother our rant and the revolutionary cry. At the end, everything will remain the same. Our fates shall bend and break according to the whims of the ruling class.

    Thus we seek the comfort of your infinite mercies against the scourge of our merciless leaders. We pray that you repay our leaders in their own kobo. Dear author and finisher of faith, please rewrite our pitiful fates as the Christians pray. And even though “the pen has been lifted” as the Muslims say, please rework our fates as you do to your most favoured faithful.

    If our leaders are truly on the right path…if truly, they lead with honesty and unpretentious fear of you in their hearts, treat them as you would, your most favoured among humankind. But if they lead us with disdain and deceit in their hearts, treat them the way you treated Abu Ashram and the Abyssinians when they rose against Mecca.

    Afflict their mansions to tear down the comfort they build to our discomfort. Upset their bellies and purge them of the provisions they gorge like gluttons. As we spend our finest moments in darkness, make their access to light a luxury of the past. Reorder their fates that they too may go to sleep and rise in darkness. Make their wives hiss and fret for want of fresh air like our wives do. Make their kids and grandkids flail and choke in the grasp of unforgiving heatstroke, like our kids do.

    Bless them with noontime heat and bedtime heat even in the rains. And every time they seek from you the mercy they fail to accord us, treat their prayers the way you would, the wantonness of the gluttonous and accursed. Make their prayer points and praise-worship trail off in confusion. Smite their patronizing prophets till they become not much in sight.

    They pledge that money they save from anticorruption campaign and fuel subsidy removal would be used to improve infrastructure, agriculture and health sectors; if they fail to live up to their pledge, make their kids expire to indecipherable sickness and malnutrition right before their eyes, like peasant kids dying in agrarian communities for lack of infrastructure, balanced diet and good primary health care. Deny their trophy wives and newborns of oxygen and the best medical care as they deny kids of poor folk breathing their last, while their mothers are still pushing, in hospital labour rooms and corridors of death nationwide.

    Bless their kids with gifts of patricide and mindless violence like they do to our jobless youth for political gains, every day. Turn their swimming pools to raging deeps to drown their progeny and trophy wives, like the Oke Afa canal that claimed our poor, beloved folk fleeing from death, to their deaths, during the Ikeja bomb blast.

    Subject their lives and those of their loved ones to the elements of bad roads as they do to us. Blind their pilots’ to the safest course every time they flee our land for overseas medical checkup. Make their planes plummet to crash on humid rocks and plunge in the sea, as our beloved’s in the throes of bird-strike, and our dreams in the face of stillbirth.

    Let them not enjoy the fruits of their labour. Make their Ivy League-trained wards their sources of everlasting sadness. Make them the bad harvest of their inordinate lust for wealth at our expense. Despite their wealth, afflict them with the poverty of good health, peace and contentment. And for every one of them seeking our downfall, we pray: “Faja’alahum ka’asfin m ma” kulin.” Amin ya Rabbi! Amen! Ase Edumare!