The Nation Newspaper

Tag: closure

  • Maiduguri Airport’s closure and the people’s right to know

    Maiduguri Airport’s closure and the people’s right to know

    The Nigerian civil war was not a good period for most of the country’s nationals residing abroad, especially those in the countries that were sympathetic to the Biafrian cause. Even in some other countries that adopted siddon look attitude towards the unfolding events in Nigeria, the Nigerians among them were not all that comfortable. Reason: the Biafrian propaganda of genocide against the Igbo or eastern Nigeria arrested the emotions and sentiments of the outside world.

    Before anyone could shout Jack Robinson, innocent Nigerians resident abroad were labelled cannibals. They became unsafe not because they were guilty but because the Biafrian Propaganda machinery was effectively marshaled in both electronic and print media outside

    the country. Biafrian news broadcast on television was always accompanied with Gen. Odumegwu Ojukwu’s picture. For example, as an undergraduate at the prestigious Ghana International School of Jounalism, I saw hell together with my fellow Nigerian students. Unfortunately, we stayed at the International Students Hostel in Accra, which harboured about 50 foreign students from different parts of the world.

    Among the students in the International Hostel, studying at various tertiary institutions in Accra, were Biafrian students who along with their colleague friends succeeded in polluting the minds of most of our co-students in the hostel against other Nigerians in the hostel. Before long, Nigerians in the hostel became persona non grata. We were threatened to the point that the matter got the attention of the Nigeria High commissioner in Ghana, Mr. Victor Adegoroye, who had to intervene on several occasions to save our neck from the terror or propaganda war of our Biafrian brothers who felt, rightly or wrongly, that whatever the iniquity or stand of the federal military government in the ongoing war, Nigerians abroad must bear the brunt.

    In short, whether we like it or not, in the Nigerian civil war, Biafrian won the propaganda war. The federal military government relied on its military strength to do the magic, but before the die was cast, the Biafrian propaganda had earned the recognition of nations like Tanzania and Ivory Coast. In addition, Britain, the traditional supplier of arms to Nigeria, blocked the source and every other thing appeared to be conspiring against Nigeria who though was winning the war

    on the battlefield, was losing the propaganda war of Biafra based on effective information management. This placed Nigeria at a serious disadvantage as she was now compelled to embark on a sudden journey to tell the world Nigeria’s side of the story. Unfortunately, that was done too late.

    I have gone to this length in order to demonstrate the importance of information management

    and the right of the people to know what is happening, particularly when such affect them directly or indirectly. To deny the people the right to know what is happening around them is to give room for various interpretations and conclusions that are at variance with the good intention of the government. This brings us to the recent happenings in Borno State, which are causing ripples and building up possible conflict between the people and the Borno State Government on one hand and the Federal Government on the other. Because of absence of due clarification on the issues involved or mismanagement of same, gossips, aspersion, innuendos or outright misrepresentation of facts now characterise the issues.

    A story on Page 8 of the Daily Trust on June 28, 2014 titled Federal Government Shuts Down Maiduguri Airport, reads: The Federal Government yesterday shut down the Maiduguri International Airport, few hours to a scheduled airlift of 300 Muslim pilgrims who were on

    their way to Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj. Also, a character aircraft that brought the wife of Borno State Governor, Hajjiya Nana Shettima, which was expected to take back Senator Ali Ndume (Borno South) and a member of the House of Reps, Hon. Peter Biye and some Borno elders back to Abuja, was also forced to take-off empty.

    Our correspondents gathered from various sources that the airport was ‘abruptly closed’ following ‘orders from above’. Speaking to our correspondent last night, Senator Ndume said what transpired at the Maiduguri Airport was an insult on the Nigerian Senate, stressing that

    Nigeria was drifting to a state of lawlessness. ‘If they are talking about security, why did they allow the aircraft to land in the first place?

    “When I realised that many soldiers had taken over the airport, I had to call the Chairman Senate Committee on Air force, who in turn spoke with the Chief of Air Staff. At the end of the day, I found that the order was from the Chief of Army staff,” Ndume said.

    On the other hand, the Managing Director of Skynet Travel and Tours, Grema Terab, said their customers were subjected to psychological trauma. “We have completed arrangement with Max Air for the airlift of our clients from Maiduguri Airport. In fact, our passengers had been screened and we had completed all the necessary papers when a report reached us that the Airport was closed. As I am talking to you, our clients are now on their way to Kano by road so that they would be airlifted from Mallam Aminu Kano Airport,” he said.

    Similarly, on its Page 6 on July 15, 2014, the Daily Trust wrote in a story title Federal Government Reopens Maiduguri Airport for Sheriff: The Federal Government yesterday reopened the Maiduguri International Airport which was closed on June 27, for former governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State to land in Maiduguri with his personal aircraft. Sheriff said he was dumping the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but that he would make a formal declaration after the month of Ramadan and has nothing to do with the APC.

    The airport was abruptly closed when 276 pilgrims had been screened by relevant agencies at the departure terminal and were awaiting a Max Air chartered aircraft to convey them to Saudi Arabia for the lesser Hajj. “As a result of the closure, the pilgrims had to travel to Kano by road, even as on the same day, a chartered flight that brought wife of the Borno State Governor. Hajiya Nana Shettima, was forced to take off to Abuja empty even though Senator Ali Ndume was waiting to board it.

    Top military authorities announced that the airport was closed for security reasons. It was however reopened yesterday and Sherriff’s private jet with registration number 5NBMH landed at about 1:32 pm… Dozens of soldiers led by the Garrison commander of the 7 Division of

    the Nigeria Army in Maiduguri, Col. D.R Hassan, gave cover to the former governor, whose motorcade drove through the Airport Road, Bulumkutu, Damboa road and arrived at his private residence along Barracks road.

    Our correspondents report that the plane that brought the former governor took off from the Airport at 2:22 pm and credible sources said it would return today (Tuesday) to take Sheriff back to Abuja, after which the Airport will be closed until September 29…

    Meanwhile, Governor Shettima left Maiduguri by road yester to attend to his younger brother who had multiple fractures after an accident. Shettima was confined to Maiduguri since the closure of the airport and as well as withdrawal of soldiers from both the Government House and his convoy. Isa Gusau, the Special Adviser to Shettima on Communications, confirmed the development. The plane that brought Sheriff actually came back the following day to take him back to Abuja.

    In its reaction, the National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NCSIA) cautioned the Federal Government to avoid using Nigeri Security apparatus for persecution. In a press statement signed by the Acting Director of Publicity, Muhammad Qasim, NCSIA said the same airport was suddenly shut against Muslim pilgrims taking their flight to Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj, despite an earlier clearance to use the airport.

    “Apart from denying the pilgrims the use of the facilities, the Muslims are subjected to physical and psychological trauma as a result of their grilling by the Nigerian security apparatus. The pilgrims were subsequently forced to embark on agonizing travel by road to Kano,” the statement said.

    The NSCIA warned the federal government that it is perilous to use the security establishment to persecute Nigerians, and that a situation in which religious profiling is camouflaged as part of security measures does not bode well for the country. The council urged the federal government to exercise caution in the discriminatory use of military and aviation facilities in order to protect the political neutrality of the national establishment.

    “It is our belief that the federal government has enough powers constitutionally guaranteed to tackle its perceived enemies rather than denying Nigerians the use of public facilities under the guise of fighting insecurity,” the statement said.

    The council also called on the military authorities to protect and safeguard the credibility of the profession by not being partisan.

    No doubt, the Federal Government or the Military authorities reserve the right to take any action provided it is in the best interest of the nation, more so when it borders on security. However, much as such action is taken in good faith and in the overall interest of the nation, there is also the need for the people to know when there is a change in such decision or policy and why. Where information gap is allowed instead, it give room to various interpretations of government’s decision or policy with the government in some instances boxed into the corner notwithstanding its good intention.

    For example, people will like to know why the Maiduguri Airport that was closed for security reasons was suddenly opened for Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s private plane to land and take off with the same airport still closed to other users. In addition, people will also like to know why soldiers who were reportedly withdrawn from Government House, Maiduguri as well as from the convoy of the state governor, Kashim Shettima, was equally reported to have given cover to Senator Sheriff when he arrived in Maiduguri on the faithful day. These are cobwebs that need to be cleared to ward off unnecessary gossips and for the good name of the Federal Government.

    In any case, no one would expect the federal government, the father of all, to rub Peter to pay Paul.

     

    •Izekor wrote in from Maiduguri

  • ‘Closure of Abuja airport not out of place’

    ‘Closure of Abuja airport not out of place’

    The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodinma, yesterday maintained that the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja expected to start tonight is not out of place.

    Speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, he said that the closure of airports for maintenance is a normal practice across the globe.

    He said that potholes at the airport are already posing hazards to the use of the airport.

    He said: “This was done for obvious safety reasons. We have some potholes that are already seen as serious hazards. And don’t forget that that is  the only runway that lands our President, all the VIPs, and all the investors that come into this country.

    “So, at the last time, there was a technical audit by the FAAN in keeping with international regulations and they opened items on the country, component among them was the Abuja runway. So, we now had a series of meetings with the Minister of Aviation and the airlines and agreed that from today’s midnight to Sunday that Julius Berger will take enough time to repair the runway and commence navigation once again.

    “So, it is just for pure maintenance programme based on safety reasons and it is welcome by all of us,” he said.

    On alternative landing places, he said: “Well, all over the world, they know that we have one runway in Abuja. The next thing anybody can do is to look for the nearest airport close to Abuja, either Kaduna or Minna, and then choose whether it will make a better business sense to land there or not to fly at all.

    “And whatever may be the case between midnight today and Sunday, it’s not something anybody can cry about. All over the world, airports and runways are usually closed whenever there are obvious maintenance programmes that bother on safety. So, our own should not be an exception.”

    Also speaking on national carrier, he said:  “So, for us to have a national carrier, it is an airline that the government must own 100 per cent, and I doubt whether the government has the managerial and technical capability to begin to float an airline in an economy that is being privatized.

    “In this situation, what happens is that private people will own the airlines and government will continue to support and then they will carry our flag. It is important to see airline that is carrying our flag,” he said.

     

  • Protest over closure of drug market

    Chairman, Onitsha Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers Union, otherwise known as Bridge-Head Drug Market, Hon. Ugochukwu Nwosu, has warned the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) to stop inciting the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) against traders in the market.

    Nwosu spoke to the reporters on the threat by the Minister to relocate the market to a private site owned by an Onitsha-based business man. He claimed the traders had complied with NAFDAC seminars and workshops in which between N1,000 and N2,500 each was charged the over 7,000 traders in the market.

    He alleged that pharmacists were asking for a pound of flesh from the traders. He wondered why the pharmacists wanted to take over the sale of drugs from importers, after which returns would be made to owners. Nwosu described the proposal as “monkey de work, baboon de chop” and urged the Federal Government and good-spirited individuals to look into their plight as the attitude of the minister has turned into “witch–hunting.”

    NAFDAC had threatened to relocate the traders to a drug centre on the Onitsha /Asaba Express Way.

    Its former chief, Prof Dora Akunyili closed the market for months before the intervention of Governor Peter Obi when the traders pledged to meet the standards set by NAFDAC, which included fencing of the market with only two entry and exit points, well equipped office for NAFDAC and police officials, grouping of the market into four zones with a supervising pharmacist for each zone, uninterrupted power and water supply and provision of fire fighting facilities, among others.

    The leadership was on that before the threat by Chukwu, to relocate the market to another place, described by the traders as “unconducive and too small for over 7,000 traders of the market.”

  • Firms, clearing agents lose millions to warehouse closure

    Cargo handling companies, clearing agents and freight forwarders, lost millions of naira yesterday as the closure of the import and courier warehouses belonging to Nigerian Aviation Handling Company ( NAHCO) Plc and Skyways Aviation Handling Company Limited ( SAHCOL) entered its second day.

    The warehouses were closed by Nigeria Customs Service for failure by the companies to comply with proper documentation for the release of cargoes from the warehouses without paying the relevant duties and charges to the Service.

    There was heavy security presence around the cargo wing of the Lagos Airport, as heavily armed security operatives were stationed around the warehouses to forestall any attempt by operators to gain entrance into the facility, or constitute a breach of peace.

    Clearing agents and freight forwarders,  yesterday said they have  lost millions of naira to the closure of the import and courier bonded warehouses belonging to two cargo handling companies at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos .

    Most of the clearing agents and freight forwarders at the cargo unit, said the continued closure of the warehouses may have ripple effects on the facilitation of goods flown into the country, as scores of importers besieged the cargo wing to ascertain when the warehouses would be open.

    But, the Nigeria Customs Service, it was learnt, said the closure may extend for days until all knotty issues concerning proper documentation of cargo out of the warehouses, and the relevant duties accruing to the Service are sorted out.

    A source close to the Airport Command of the Customs, said meetings are still on-going with the relevant stakeholders, including NAHCO) Plc, SAHCOL, clearing agents and freight forwarders, as well as cargo airlines.

    A customs official said about the issue:” We are not sure when the warehouses will be open. But meetings are on-going today after the series of engagements of yesterday.

    “You will notice that our Federal Operations Unit personnel are on ground near the shut warehouses to ensure there is no break down of law and order, or possible breach of peace.

  • Reps order closure of Kogi Assembly

    Reps order closure of Kogi Assembly

    The House of Representatives yesterday ordered the closure of the Kogi State House of Assembly pending the report of its mediation in the crisis rocking the assembly.

    The lawmakers, in a letter directed the Inspector- General of Police Mohammed Abubakar, Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Ekpenyong Ita and other relevant security agencies to ensure compliance with their order.

    The October 30 letter was signed by the Deputy Chief Whip and Chairman House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee, Murktar Ahmed, to mediate in the Kogi State House of Assembly crisis.

    The same letter was also addressed to members of the Kogi State House of Assembly and the Clerk of the House.

    The lawmaker directed the Clerk of the assembly and other workers not to recognise any group of members or its leadership pending the outcome of the Ad-Hoc Committee’s mediation.

    It would be recalled that 12 members of the 25-member Kogi Assembly sat and ‘impeached’ the Speaker, Abdullahi Bello and other principal officers.

    The action of the lawmakers has been condemned as illegal.

    Analysts believed the group did not meet the mandatory two third majority members of the House to carry out impeachment.

    Ahmed insisted that full suspension of legislative business in the House has become necessary to prevent a breakdown of law and order in the state.

    A copy of the letter entitled: “Enrolled Order”, which was sighted by our reporter in Abuja, reads: “Having interacted with the various segments, persons and members of the House of Assembly and other stakeholders from Kogi State, it is clear that two groups of members of the assembly are claiming leadership.

    “Pursuant to Section 11 (1) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), it is the opinion of the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee to mediate in the House of Assembly crisis that by reason of the prevailing situation, the assembly cannot legitimately perform its duty without a breakdown of law and order.

    “It is, therefore, hereby ordered that: All members should suspend all and any official legislative function pending the outcome of the Ad-Hoc Committee’s mediation.

    “The Clerk of the House of Assembly and other supporting workers should not recognise any group of members or its leadership howsoever called, pending the outcome of the Ad-Hoc Committee’s mediation.

    “The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS) and all relevant security agencies are hereby ordered to ensure full compliance with this order.”

    Meanwhile, effort by the Kogi State Government to win over four members of the House in support of Bello from Kogi West was said to have been unsuccessful.

    Investigation showed that a meeting to allegedly coax the four members to support the government’s anointed Speaker was held about 10.30pm on Wednesday at Chief Jide Omokore’s home in Maitama, Abuja.

  • Workers lament closure of 850 firms

    Workers in the chemical and non-metallic products industry have blamed the poor state of the economy for the closure of 850 companies in the sector.

    National President of the workers under the aegis of the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), Comrade Boniface Isok, said more than 850 manufacturing companies closed shop, while some are now operating below production capacity.

    “The few factories that are in operation find it difficult to sustain production as the Federal Government allowed importation of all kinds of goods, thereby turning the country into a dumping ground. The adverse effect of this action is rendering the masses jobless and at the same time, boosting the economy of other countries by creating employment opportunities in those countries.”

    Isok, who spoke in Uyo at the unions delegates conference, last week, said government’s inconsistent policies have continued to hurt the economy, adding that the manufacturing sector contributes less than four per cent to the GDP compared to other countries, such as China that contributes over 15 per cent.

    He said the government should drive employment in the country, as the unemployment rate is high. He called for the abolition of contract labour and casualisation because it is modern day slavery.

    Isok appealed to the Boundary Commission to resolve all boundary disputes, saying hundreds of lives wasted on such issues were uncalled for.

    According to him, it has become necessary to draw the attention of the Federal Government to call on the commission to live up to its responsibility.

    Isok thanked the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Dr. Godswill Akpabio on his effort at ensuring that normalcy returned to Ariam in Abia State and Esa Ikwen, Ikot Okim and Abama in Akwa Ibom State.