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Tag: commissioner

  • Dickson was made commissioner for betraying Alamieyeseigha -Sylva

    Dickson was made commissioner for betraying Alamieyeseigha -Sylva

    A former Governor of Bayelsa State and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 5 governorship election, Chief Timipre Sylva, speaks on wide range of issues including misrepresentations of his personality in this interview with MIKE ODIEGWU.

    The Governor recently described you as a ‘guy man’. He has also said you plunged the state into huge debts. How much debt did you really leave? 

    Well, I wonder what (Seriake) Dickson mean by a ‘guy man’ but I think I am a typical Bayelsan. Dickson is just a disgrace to himself. Everybody knows that Governor Dickson is a bushman. I am not exaggerating because that’s who he is. He lacks self confidence, which is why he calls me ‘guy man’.

    You also raised the issue of debt burden. The figures are there.  I inherited debts from (former President Goodluck) Jonathan, who was governor. Now, what we did was servicing those debts. What I did was to take a bond to absorb the debts that I inherited. I took a N50 billion bond because we felt that if we serviced the loans alone in commercial banks it was costing us a lot. So, we took some of that loan and absorbed it in that bond and then we took some of that money from that bond to pay our contractors on the Brass Road and then we paid some money to the contractor on the Melfred Okilo Hospital. The bond was structured in such a way that it is a long term bond, so the tenure was longer so it could be easier for the state government to pay the interest rate and cope with it. So we were able to put all the loans that we inherited into that bond.

    Now, when I left and I hope that the Dickson administration will be sincere, I will never lie to Bayelsans, I have a commercial loan stock of N20billion which I was hoping I will be able to finish paying by May that year and I would have finished paying it if I was there by then. Now, the government of Jonathan owed contractors N111billion and by the time I was leaving the contractor debt rose to N207billion. Let us face it, contracts may have been given by the Jonathan administration and the term of the contract may have been given by the previous government. It is a continuous thing. You keep saying I owed so much; most of that money they were talking about was contractor’s debts. If they are truthful they will tell you. I am sure that if I take over today the contractor debts would have gone up to above N400billion. I would not go out and announce that Dickson owes so much that is for somebody that does not understand economics.

    The loan stock of N20billion that l owed, Dickson could have paid it off in the first three months because when he came in was when fuel subsidy was particularly removed. The first year I got into government I received N89billion from the federation account, the first year Dickson came, he received N191billion. Second year, I received N154billion, Dickson received N216billion. The third year I received N106billion, Dickson received N156billion. So what is he talking about?

    The PDP has continued to accuse you of using the security outfit codenamed Famou-Tangbe to maim and kill innocent citizens during your first tenure. Can you respond to this?

    Look, Famou-Tangbe was formed as a security outfit. He (Dickson) realised that there was the need for a specialized outfit. He himself has formed one and I can tell you and give you names. At least I know one name of somebody that has been killed by his outfit. I have pictures that I can show you; people that were killed, they do a lot of extra-judicial killings. The decision to form the security outfit Famou-Tangbe was taken in a security council meeting because we need to set up a specialized outfit to combat the rising wave of crime, especially coming at the time after militancy and a lot of these young men were out from the creeks and there was a rise in criminality in the city.

    So we decided to set up a security outfit in collaboration with the police. The name was not from me. The name was suggested by my then security adviser, Richard Kpodo. Famou-Tangbe is not my dialect. He thought that name was a better name even though I suggested ‘Instant Reaction Squad’. In the Security Council I was out-voted. They thought we need to have a name in the language spoken around and I also okayed it.

    That outfit was overseen by Pere Rich as my security Adviser but under the police. If any crime was committed by Famutangbe, Pere Rich is working with Governor Dickson and so I challenged him to arrest Pere Rich. As far as governor Dickson is concerned, it is just the name that is the problem. The name was not my suggestion and I am happy that he is now working with governor Dickson and I wish them well.

    Some people are asking what you forgot in Government House

    Anybody that ask that question is ignorant. I left Bayelsa State Government House unwillingly and all Bayelsans know the circumstances under which I left and since then no other opportunity has presented itself for me to re-contest for that office. This is the first opportunity that has presented itself since 2012 and so I don’t know why anybody will ask me if I forgot anything.

    I was disqualified by the power that be from contesting an office I was still occupying at the time. I think that was the most preposterous thing, the most unjust thing that has happen to Bayelsa State. Most well-meaning Bayelsans think this is the time for God’s justice to be done by bringing me back and that’s why you see this overwhelming support. I didn’t forget anything in Government House, the Government House is currently occupied by an usurper who came and use federal might.

    Today, when they now begin to shout about federal might, I wonder. Look at Bayelsa now, look at Yenagoa, do you see any army check point? Now, take your mind back to 2012, at this time, towards the election in 2012, we had over a hundred check points, manned by fierce-looking armed soldiers.

    Now, nothing of such is happening and yet they still want to scream because they are scared of their own shadows. I didn’t forget but I think it’s time for me to reclaim what is justly mine. Today, those people who barred me from contesting that election are no longer in office by the grace of God, so the Bayelsa people have the opportunity of choosing their rightful leader and that is why I am presenting myself.

    Your party, the APC dislodged your brother, Goodluck Jonathan from the Presidency. Don’t you think this alone might affect your chances at the poll?

    I don’t think this will have any impact on the election at all. Every Ijaw man should be fair to me and the APC. The former President set the scene for his exit from office by bringing the war to his home. He started the fire and he didn’t start the fire in any other place, he started it from his own home. Look, after I was removed from office, I went to exile I was arrested by all kinds of people, many times. They never even left me alone after removing me from office; they wanted to kill me; they wanted to jail me; they wanted to do everything to me. I was visited by a lots of elders from different parts of the country; elders from the west visited me; elders from the east visited me; elders from the north visited me and the one question on the lips of all those elders who visited me, ‘do you not have elders in Bayelsa State who can intervene between yourself and the President?’ And I have no answer to give them.

    He lost the election, the people of Bayelsa must move on in this country. Nigeria is not meant for us to lead forever, it was an opportunity, we led the country and now, it is  no longer our time so anybody who is still reveling  in that period is still leaving in the history. Please wake up, today is a new day and today there is an APC government at the centre led by President Muhammadu Buhari, the earlier we wake up to that fact, the better for us.

    The incumbent governor has always said that the election is not going to be about him or you but about the people of Ijaw and that PDP is an Ijaw party.

    In a way I will agree with the governor that the election is not about me or about him but it is about Bayelsans and about the Ijaw people. I agree with him about that but when you take it further then you can see the state of mind of the man we are talking about. He has a confused state of mind obviously. I had said in other fora that none of the parties, neither APC nor PDP is an Ijaw party, they are national parties. I was one of those who brought PDP into Bayelsa, he was not even a member of the PDP. He was a member of AD at that time and then later I think he became a member of the ANPP at a time, he was never even a member of the PDP. When I was in PDP, he was not even in PDP, he was just an interloper that joined to get the benefit. Has he worked for that party? Because as far as I know after contributing to the impeachment of Alamieseigha, he came here and as compensation, he was made a commissioner.

    That was how he came to the PDP; he was made a commissioner as a compensation for the role he played in the impeachment of Alamieseigha. Then he became a member of the House of Representatives because of his perceived loyalty to the former President and then a governor because they were the people who told all kind of lies to the former President and set him up against me. So, he became a beneficiary of lies.

    So, I can’t blame him because he doesn’t even really know what the PDP stands for. The APC is also a national party. There is nothing they can do for the Ijaw nation; the person who loves Ijaw people must take Bayelsa to the centre and this is what is going to improve the lots of Bayelsans.

    So, if we are talking of Ijaw patriot, I consider myself one as I think today that well meaning Ijaw people are quite happy with me because they believe that without me, there would have been no link with the centre, there would have been no bridge builder. Now, I have provided that link to the centre. I think that on the contrary, the APC is the patriotic party and I am the patriotic one. And I think that the Ijaw people should embrace the APC because this is our time to really get to the centre. We have to live in this same country whether our president lost the election or not. It is not the Ijaw people that lost the election because Ijaw people did not contest an election, I didn’t see Ijaw people on the ballot.

    Dickson and the PDP have always described you as being violent. How do you react to this?

    You see they always say that the cat wanted the apple and he jumped to catch the apple and couldn’t get the apple, then he consoled himself by saying ‘rotten apple’ and then he walks away. That is his only compensation because he just couldn’t get it.

    Now, let me tell you that even the outgoing governor did everything to join the APC. But you know the APC is not for people like him. The APC is not for bullies, Pharaohs and Emperors and so unfortunately we didn’t accept him and now he is saying rotten apple because he couldn’t get in. Maybe if he had gotten in, he would be saying by now that the APC is the greatest party. The APC cannot be a violent party, look at the streets today, just a few days, he himself instructed people to go out there and tear down my posters. Everywhere you go my posters are on the ground as if tearing posters means winning election.

    All the cases of violence have been perpetrated by the PDP. APC members have been violated in most wards, injured sometimes and we have to go out in our campaigns with extra security because of security threats.

    I fought militancy. On the contrary the outgoing governor is the violent one who perpetrates violence, supports it and, sponsors it.

    Every lawful tactics to remove him out of office will be used by the APC and of course Bayelsans cannot possibly take another four years of Dickson’s ineptitude. So he continues to blame the APC for everything.

    But the PDP said when you were a governor you underperformed and left a lot of abandoned projects including the airport project?

    That to me is the continuation of his frustration and paranoid. I came into government, there were a lot of projects, ongoing projects, and I did not call them abandoned projects. Every government starts a project and if they don’t finish such project, the incoming government finishes the project. Banquet hall was such a project, it was started by Alameisiegha. I furnished it.

    The treasury building was one of such projects, I finished it. The Judiciary building, the library I finished them. I can’t finish counting them; I could have said they were abandoned projects because a lot of those projects were not even touched by the Jonathan administration. They were started by Alameisiegha but were abandoned by the Jonathan administration but I came and I took off from the very beginning and completed all those projects. The way I left office nobody would have taught I would have completed all those projects because I left in the middle of my tenure. My tenure was truncated, I wasn’t given time to finish the projects. When Dickson leaves now, he will leave a lot of projects also uncompleted does it mean I will consider them abandoned projects because he did not complete them? He has abandoned his own projects now, which are the real meaning of abandoned projects. All the hospitals he has been building in Oporoma, in all places have been abandoned. He has abandoned the Isaac Boro road; he is the one that is abandoning his own projects.

     

     

  • Dickson was made commissioner for betraying Alamieyeseigha -Sylva

    Dickson was made commissioner for betraying Alamieyeseigha -Sylva

    A former Governor of Bayelsa State and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 5 governorship election, Chief Timipre Sylva, speaks on wide range of issues including misrepresentations of his personality in this interview with MIKE ODIEGWU.

    The Governor recently described you as a ‘guy man’. He has also said you plunged the state into huge debts. How much debt did you really leave? 

    Well, I wonder what (Seriake) Dickson mean by a ‘guy man’ but I think I am a typical Bayelsan. Dickson is just a disgrace to himself. Everybody knows that Governor Dickson is a bushman. I am not exaggerating because that’s who he is. He lacks self confidence, which is why he calls me ‘guy man’.

    You also raised the issue of debt burden. The figures are there.  I inherited debts from (former President Goodluck) Jonathan, who was governor. Now, what we did was servicing those debts. What I did was to take a bond to absorb the debts that I inherited. I took a N50 billion bond because we felt that if we serviced the loans alone in commercial banks it was costing us a lot. So, we took some of that loan and absorbed it in that bond and then we took some of that money from that bond to pay our contractors on the Brass Road and then we paid some money to the contractor on the Melfred Okilo Hospital. The bond was structured in such a way that it is a long term bond, so the tenure was longer so it could be easier for the state government to pay the interest rate and cope with it. So we were able to put all the loans that we inherited into that bond.

    Now, when I left and I hope that the Dickson administration will be sincere, I will never lie to Bayelsans, I have a commercial loan stock of N20billion which I was hoping I will be able to finish paying by May that year and I would have finished paying it if I was there by then. Now, the government of Jonathan owed contractors N111billion and by the time I was leaving the contractor debt rose to N207billion. Let us face it, contracts may have been given by the Jonathan administration and the term of the contract may have been given by the previous government. It is a continuous thing. You keep saying I owed so much; most of that money they were talking about was contractor’s debts. If they are truthful they will tell you. I am sure that if I take over today the contractor debts would have gone up to above N400billion. I would not go out and announce that Dickson owes so much that is for somebody that does not understand economics.

    The loan stock of N20billion that l owed, Dickson could have paid it off in the first three months because when he came in was when fuel subsidy was particularly removed. The first year I got into government I received N89billion from the federation account, the first year Dickson came, he received N191billion. Second year, I received N154billion, Dickson received N216billion. The third year I received N106billion, Dickson received N156billion. So what is he talking about?

    The PDP has continued to accuse you of using the security outfit codenamed Famou-Tangbe to maim and kill innocent citizens during your first tenure. Can you respond to this?

    Look, Famou-Tangbe was formed as a security outfit. He (Dickson) realised that there was the need for a specialized outfit. He himself has formed one and I can tell you and give you names. At least I know one name of somebody that has been killed by his outfit. I have pictures that I can show you; people that were killed, they do a lot of extra-judicial killings. The decision to form the security outfit Famou-Tangbe was taken in a security council meeting because we need to set up a specialized outfit to combat the rising wave of crime, especially coming at the time after militancy and a lot of these young men were out from the creeks and there was a rise in criminality in the city.

    So we decided to set up a security outfit in collaboration with the police. The name was not from me. The name was suggested by my then security adviser, Richard Kpodo. Famou-Tangbe is not my dialect. He thought that name was a better name even though I suggested ‘Instant Reaction Squad’. In the Security Council I was out-voted. They thought we need to have a name in the language spoken around and I also okayed it.

    That outfit was overseen by Pere Rich as my security Adviser but under the police. If any crime was committed by Famutangbe, Pere Rich is working with Governor Dickson and so I challenged him to arrest Pere Rich. As far as governor Dickson is concerned, it is just the name that is the problem. The name was not my suggestion and I am happy that he is now working with governor Dickson and I wish them well.

    Some people are asking what you forgot in Government House

    Anybody that ask that question is ignorant. I left Bayelsa State Government House unwillingly and all Bayelsans know the circumstances under which I left and since then no other opportunity has presented itself for me to re-contest for that office. This is the first opportunity that has presented itself since 2012 and so I don’t know why anybody will ask me if I forgot anything.

    I was disqualified by the power that be from contesting an office I was still occupying at the time. I think that was the most preposterous thing, the most unjust thing that has happen to Bayelsa State. Most well-meaning Bayelsans think this is the time for God’s justice to be done by bringing me back and that’s why you see this overwhelming support. I didn’t forget anything in Government House, the Government House is currently occupied by an usurper who came and use federal might.

    Today, when they now begin to shout about federal might, I wonder. Look at Bayelsa now, look at Yenagoa, do you see any army check point? Now, take your mind back to 2012, at this time, towards the election in 2012, we had over a hundred check points, manned by fierce-looking armed soldiers.

    Now, nothing of such is happening and yet they still want to scream because they are scared of their own shadows. I didn’t forget but I think it’s time for me to reclaim what is justly mine. Today, those people who barred me from contesting that election are no longer in office by the grace of God, so the Bayelsa people have the opportunity of choosing their rightful leader and that is why I am presenting myself.

    Your party, the APC dislodged your brother, Goodluck Jonathan from the Presidency. Don’t you think this alone might affect your chances at the poll?

    I don’t think this will have any impact on the election at all. Every Ijaw man should be fair to me and the APC. The former President set the scene for his exit from office by bringing the war to his home. He started the fire and he didn’t start the fire in any other place, he started it from his own home. Look, after I was removed from office, I went to exile I was arrested by all kinds of people, many times. They never even left me alone after removing me from office; they wanted to kill me; they wanted to jail me; they wanted to do everything to me. I was visited by a lots of elders from different parts of the country; elders from the west visited me; elders from the east visited me; elders from the north visited me and the one question on the lips of all those elders who visited me, ‘do you not have elders in Bayelsa State who can intervene between yourself and the President?’ And I have no answer to give them.

    He lost the election, the people of Bayelsa must move on in this country. Nigeria is not meant for us to lead forever, it was an opportunity, we led the country and now, it is  no longer our time so anybody who is still reveling  in that period is still leaving in the history. Please wake up, today is a new day and today there is an APC government at the centre led by President Muhammadu Buhari, the earlier we wake up to that fact, the better for us.

    The incumbent governor has always said that the election is not going to be about him or you but about the people of Ijaw and that PDP is an Ijaw party.

    In a way I will agree with the governor that the election is not about me or about him but it is about Bayelsans and about the Ijaw people. I agree with him about that but when you take it further then you can see the state of mind of the man we are talking about. He has a confused state of mind obviously. I had said in other fora that none of the parties, neither APC nor PDP is an Ijaw party, they are national parties. I was one of those who brought PDP into Bayelsa, he was not even a member of the PDP. He was a member of AD at that time and then later I think he became a member of the ANPP at a time, he was never even a member of the PDP. When I was in PDP, he was not even in PDP, he was just an interloper that joined to get the benefit. Has he worked for that party? Because as far as I know after contributing to the impeachment of Alamieseigha, he came here and as compensation, he was made a commissioner.

    That was how he came to the PDP; he was made a commissioner as a compensation for the role he played in the impeachment of Alamieseigha. Then he became a member of the House of Representatives because of his perceived loyalty to the former President and then a governor because they were the people who told all kind of lies to the former President and set him up against me. So, he became a beneficiary of lies.

    So, I can’t blame him because he doesn’t even really know what the PDP stands for. The APC is also a national party. There is nothing they can do for the Ijaw nation; the person who loves Ijaw people must take Bayelsa to the centre and this is what is going to improve the lots of Bayelsans.

    So, if we are talking of Ijaw patriot, I consider myself one as I think today that well meaning Ijaw people are quite happy with me because they believe that without me, there would have been no link with the centre, there would have been no bridge builder. Now, I have provided that link to the centre. I think that on the contrary, the APC is the patriotic party and I am the patriotic one. And I think that the Ijaw people should embrace the APC because this is our time to really get to the centre. We have to live in this same country whether our president lost the election or not. It is not the Ijaw people that lost the election because Ijaw people did not contest an election, I didn’t see Ijaw people on the ballot.

    Dickson and the PDP have always described you as being violent. How do you react to this?

    You see they always say that the cat wanted the apple and he jumped to catch the apple and couldn’t get the apple, then he consoled himself by saying ‘rotten apple’ and then he walks away. That is his only compensation because he just couldn’t get it.

    Now, let me tell you that even the outgoing governor did everything to join the APC. But you know the APC is not for people like him. The APC is not for bullies, Pharaohs and Emperors and so unfortunately we didn’t accept him and now he is saying rotten apple because he couldn’t get in. Maybe if he had gotten in, he would be saying by now that the APC is the greatest party. The APC cannot be a violent party, look at the streets today, just a few days, he himself instructed people to go out there and tear down my posters. Everywhere you go my posters are on the ground as if tearing posters means winning election.

    All the cases of violence have been perpetrated by the PDP. APC members have been violated in most wards, injured sometimes and we have to go out in our campaigns with extra security because of security threats.

    I fought militancy. On the contrary the outgoing governor is the violent one who perpetrates violence, supports it and, sponsors it.

    Every lawful tactics to remove him out of office will be used by the APC and of course Bayelsans cannot possibly take another four years of Dickson’s ineptitude. So he continues to blame the APC for everything.

    But the PDP said when you were a governor you underperformed and left a lot of abandoned projects including the airport project?

    That to me is the continuation of his frustration and paranoid. I came into government, there were a lot of projects, ongoing projects, and I did not call them abandoned projects. Every government starts a project and if they don’t finish such project, the incoming government finishes the project. Banquet hall was such a project, it was started by Alameisiegha. I furnished it.

    The treasury building was one of such projects, I finished it. The Judiciary building, the library I finished them. I can’t finish counting them; I could have said they were abandoned projects because a lot of those projects were not even touched by the Jonathan administration. They were started by Alameisiegha but were abandoned by the Jonathan administration but I came and I took off from the very beginning and completed all those projects. The way I left office nobody would have taught I would have completed all those projects because I left in the middle of my tenure. My tenure was truncated, I wasn’t given time to finish the projects. When Dickson leaves now, he will leave a lot of projects also uncompleted does it mean I will consider them abandoned projects because he did not complete them? He has abandoned his own projects now, which are the real meaning of abandoned projects. All the hospitals he has been building in Oporoma, in all places have been abandoned. He has abandoned the Isaac Boro road; he is the one that is abandoning his own projects.

     

     

  • UK deported 48 Nigerians, not 500—High Commissioner

    • States why immigration law can’t be waived
    • UK-Nigeria trade volume is about £6.1b

    The British High Commissioner in Abuja, Mr. Paul Arkwright said yesterday that only 48 Nigerians and not 500 were deported last week from the United Kingdom as illegal immigrants.

    There are about 250,000 Nigerians living legally in the UK, he said.

    About 168,000 others applied for visa in 2014-2015.

    He put the trade volume between Britain and Nigeria at £6.1 billion.

    Arkwright who was reacting to criticism of his country’s ‘unfair’ treatment of the deportees said they were indeed ‘fairly’ treated.

    He said: “The UK and Nigeria have an excellent commercial relationship with £6.1 billion worth of trade per year. We want the numbers of business people travelling to and from Nigeria and the UK to increase and so support the economies of both our countries.

    “Those who break the rules cannot expect to remain in the UK illegally but the UK is open and welcomes Nigerians who want to visit our country for business or leisure.

    “The links between the UK and Nigeria are deep and far reaching and rooted both in our shared past and partnership for the future.

    “Today up to 250,000 Nigerians are living legally in the UK, making a significant contribution and adding to the rich fabric of our society. Every year around 130,000 Nigerians visit the UK from Nigeria for both business and leisure. Nigerians who come to the United Kingdom in accordance with our well publicised rules will always be welcome guests.”

    He added, “In 2014-15 global demand for UK visas from Nigerian nationals was 168,000. Of these, 73% of visit applications were successful, a rise of 5% from the previous year. In addition, 50% of settlement applications were successful. We are also proud to provide a quick service: 95% of visit visas were processed within 15 days with an average processing time of 7.4 days.

    “So it has been disappointing to read, in a few isolated incidents, inaccurate media reporting of the UK’s policy concerning how we return Nigerians back to their home country when they have been present illegally in the UK.

    “This week some media reported that 500 Nigerians had been deported from the UK, arriving on one flight to Lagos. Nigeria’s immigration service confirmed to the media that number was incorrect.

    “The actual number was 48 – all of whom were people who had broken UK law by remaining in the UK when they had no right to be there, and who had been given full right of appeal, and had exhausted that legal process.”

    The High Commissioner said the UK will never allow those who have refused to play by the rules to stay as illegal immigrants.

  • Ayade appoints 28 Commissioners

    Ayade appoints 28 Commissioners

    • Assigns Culture and Tourism to self

    Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, Friday assigned portfolios to 28 Commissioners.

    Ayade who assigned himself to Ministry of Culture & Tourism announced the following commissioners to their respective ministries:

    Barr. Joe Abang    –                      Ministry of Justice
    2. Chief Offu Ebiregor Ayia    –  Ministry of ICT
    3. Engr. Dan Osim-Asu.      –     Ministry of Works
    4. Hon. Gabe Odu Orji.        –     Ministry of Water Resources
    5. Hon. George O’ben-Etchi.  –  Ministry of Solid Minerals
    6. Hon. Francis Etta          –        Ministry of Int’l Donor Corporation
    7. Mr. Oliver Orok.          –           Ministry of Sustainable Development
    8. Hon. Onoh Ulafor          –        Ministry of Local Govt Affairs
    9. Mrs. Rosemary Archibong  – Ministry of Information & Orientation
    10. Engr. Mike Eraye.        –        Ministry of Environment
    11. Victor Adugba Agwu.      –      Ministry of Special Projects & Special Duties
    12. Prof. Anthony Eneji.      –       Ministry of Agriculture
    13. Mr. Sunday Achunekang.  –  Ministry of Rural Transformation, Establishment & Training.
    14. Hon. Saviour Nyong.        –    Ministry of Transport
    15. Dr. Alice Alok Ekwu.        –    Ministry of Climate Change
    16. Mr. Edem O. Effiom  .      –   Ministry of Social Housing
    17. Hon. Godwin Ettah.        –     Ministry of Education
    18. Barr. Chris Nja.            –         Ministry of Gas Resources
    19. Mr. Asuquo Ekpenyong.    –  Ministry of Finance
    20. Mr. Asu Okang            –          Ministry of Youths & Sports Development
    21. Mr. George Ekpungu.      –   Ministry of New City Development
    22. Dr. John Inyang.          –       Ministry of Lands Development
    23. Mr. Peter Akan Egba.      –   Ministry of Commerce & Industries
    24. Mr. Thomas Udam.        –      Ministry of Power
    25. Mrs. Stella Ereme Odey.    –  Ministry of Women Affairs
    26. Dr. Inyang Asibong.        –     Ministry of Health
    27. Hon. Itaya Nyong.          –        Ministry of Petroleum Resources and
    28. Ntufam Edim Inok Edim.    –  Ministry of Infrastructure

     

     

  • Lagos, a melting pot, says Commissioner

    Lagos, a melting pot, says Commissioner

    •Ajugunle hosts
    Day of Tolerance

    Lagos is a melting pot for over 350 ethnic groups, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Mr Adeniji Kazeem said yesterday.

    The groups, he said, had continued to benefit from the socio-economic infrastructure provided by the government to achieve their economic goals.

    Kazeem spoke during the International Day for Tolerance jointly marked by the government  and the United Nations (UN).

    One of the country’s most ethnically diverse communities – Ajegunle in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government – was celebrated with a walk.

    The International Day of Tolerance was adopted by the United Nations 70 years ago.

    The walk, which covered major streets of Ajegunle, involved sensitisation of residents on maintenance of peace and tolerance in the community.

    Representatives of United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Citizen’s Mediation Centre (CMC), and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), such as Community Agenda for Peace and Youth Empowerment and Leadership Foundation, participated in the walk.

    CMC Director Mrs Oluwatoyin Odusanya, who represented Kazeem, said Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration would partner with security agencies to ensure peaceful co-existence in the state.

    Considering happenings globally, Kazeem said Lagos remains safe for residents and businesses.

    UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki Moon, represented by UNIC Director Mr Ronald Kayanja, called for more understanding among people of different tribes, cultures and beliefs.

    Ki Moon said: “Tolerance is much more than passively accepting the ‘other’, it is an obligation to act, and must be taught, nurtured and defended.”

    At the event were Ajegunle traditional ruler, Alhaji Ojora Adesina and representatives of the Hausa, Ijaw and Igbo communities.

     

     

  • Commissioner tours project sites

    Lagos State Commissioner for Housing Mr. Gbolahan Wasiu Lawal–Akapo has inspected projects under his Ministry.  He was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olatunji Odunlami and Special Adviser to the governor on Housing, Mrs. Mudirat Giwanson.

    He visited Lagos State Homes Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LagosHOMS) in Omole Estate, Igando, Oko–Oba, Agege, Chief Anthony Enahoro Housing Estate Ogba, Omole Phase 2, and Magodo.

    According to the commissioner, the tour was to familiarise him with the Lagos HOMS sites and to see the level of work done. “I want to see all the sites that we have, where construction works are ongoing,” he explained.

    In a chat with The Nation, the Commissioner expressed satisfaction with the level of work done so far, assuring that his future plan is to look at the projects left by the last administration, review and appraise and come up with a strategy to improve on what was met in order to  close the housing gap between the high earners and the low income earners because ‘’the high income earners can always build their own houses.

    The commissioner, who admonished all allottees and would want them to be calm  as they would have the opportunity to benefit from the state’s housing scheme, reiterated the commitment of the administration to put  in its best  to provide housing for the people of the state.

    “Lagos has a very large percentage of middle class people, we cannot afford to ignore them,’’ he said.

    Lawal-Akapo disclosed that there will be an analysis on where there are demands and where there are no demands for houses, and the ministry will come up with the right assumptions for the future, even as he said the government will come out with analytical facts in providing an appropriate housing policy for the people of Lagos State.

  • Gridlocks, insecurity ‘ll soon be over, says commissioner

    Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dr AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef has assured Lagosians that the major problems confronting them would end soon.

    He described the personalities in the state executive council as people with vast knowledge and great potentials, whose impact would begin to materialise in no time.

    He urged Lagosians to be patient with the Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration.

    AbdulLateef attributed the problems confronting the state to the high influx of people because of its unprecedented infrastructural development over the years.

    He said: “There is no state as attractive as Lagos, this has made the influx of people in the state at a monumental level higher than that of any other state in the country. Lagos is the only mega city in Nigeria, so if you develop infrastructure, you must expect that people will abandon those states without infrastructure for a state like Lagos, making the challenges of running the state enormous.”

    Expressing dismay at the rising crime wave in the Centre of Excellence, the commissioner said the state would embark on data gathering of all residents, institutions and organisations to ascertain those operating in the state.

    He said: “If you look at Lagos today, there are so many people coming in, even from neighbouring countries like Chad, Niger, Ghana among others and even beyond. We are not going to wait until an explosion is heard before we  address the issue of insecurity. We want to understand who and who is living in Lagos and where? That is why we want to embark on data gathering; we want to have a data of all churches and Mosques, social organisations, residents and all other institutions that operate in the state.”

    AbdulLateef also attributed the massive gridlocks encountered by Lagosians  daily to impatience.

    He said: “The fact that we don’t want to apply extreme force on Lagosians has given rise to this. Extreme force to obey law and order should be the last thing in a civil society. Lagosians should understand that what we practice is an inclusive government. Therefore, you should not disobey traffic rules and volunteer to control traffic. By doing these, we will see the gridlocks will be a thing of the past.  The Home Affairs unit will take it on itself to engage the people and make them understand what civil culture means.”

  • Kano winning war against polio, says commissioner

    Kano winning war against polio, says commissioner

    Kano State has employed 430 victims of poliomyelitis since 2013, Commissioner for Health, Dr Kabiru Getso, said yesterday.

    The state, he added, has also provided wheel chairs and tricycles to many other victims handicapped by the disease.

    He spoke with reporters yesterday in his office in commemoration of the World Polio Day with the theme: End Polio now.

    Getso declared that between 2012 and 2015, incidences of Polio reduced drastically in the state owing to government efforts.

    Giving the breakdowns, he said in 2012, Kano recorded 24 cases, 15 cases in 2013 and five cases in 2014.

    “This year, we only had one cases and that was the last one in July 24. With this data, I can say that we are winning the war against polio.”

    Reporting on what the state has been doing, he said: “During employments, we have a special quota for the disabled, particularly, people that are afflicted by poliomyelitis.

    “Kano state government has created slots for people disabled by Polio.

    “Just last month, the state government distributed some materials to people with different kinds of disabilities and victims of Poliomyelitis were among the people that benefitted from this gesture from Kano state government.

    “I can remember that wheel chairs and special tricycles were distributed to them. So, Kano State government is doing quite a lot to people that really disabled by this disease.”

    Noting that the fight Polio was far from over, the commissioner said there would still be more rounds of campaigns.

    According to him: “To ensure that this battle is convincingly won, the government has upgraded and is still upgrading primary and secondary health care facilities in the state to offer qualitative health services, including routine immunisation, which is a cornerstone in ending poliomyelitis.”

     

  • Kwara unveils list of 10 commissioner nominees

    Kwara unveils list of 10 commissioner nominees

    The Kwara state House of Assembly has unveiled the names of ten commissioner nominees for the state.

    Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed had last week forwarded the names of the nominees to the State House of Assembly for confirmation.

    The nominees are Engr Musa Yeketi (Asa local government), Engr Idris Garba (Baruteen), Taiwo Joseph (Ekiti), Aro Yahaya (Ifelodun),  Rasaq Sheu Akorede (Ilorin East) and Bolakale Ayo from Ilorin West local government area.
    Others are Demola Banu (Irepodun), Hajia Funmilayo Isiaka Oniwa (Moro local government) and Mahmud Babatunde Ajeigbe from Offa local government area.
    Reading out the names, Speaker of the House, Dr Ali Ahmad directed the nominees to appear before the House for screening on Tuesday next week.

    He said they are to appear for screening at 10 am.
    The speaker said the list of the nominees confirms with the constitutional provisions.

    Dr Ahmad subsequently constituted a five man ad-hoc committee headed by the Deputy Speaker Mr. Mathew Okedare to carry out interactive pre-screening exercise for all the ten nominees.
    He said the House would carry out its Constitutional responsibility without fear or favour.

    He urged members of the public to forward their issues, queries, questions and petitions, if any to the Clerk to the House Mr. Simon Ayodele Okedare on or before Sunday 18th of this month.
    The nominees according to the Speaker must complete necessary documentation latest by 4pm on Thursday, this week.

  • It’s tough to be a Christian in Nigeria-Ex-Lagos commissioner Ben Akabueze

    It’s tough to be a Christian in Nigeria-Ex-Lagos commissioner Ben Akabueze

    Ben Akabueze is the former Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget and pastor-in-charge of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Province 39. In this interview with YETUNDE OLADEINDE in his office at the King’s Court, he talks about accountability, corruption, ethical behaviours and grooming a new breed of citizens with the annual Kingdom Summit organised by his church.

    You operate in the house of God and the marketplace. Why do you think it is difficult for a lot of people to give effective leadership in church and find it difficult to operate the same way in the market place?

    Broadly speaking I would say that three things could be responsible for this. Number one is possibly ignorance. There are people who think it is okay and that is their own understanding of giving to God what is God’s and to Caesar’s what Caesar’s. They think that they can operate this way but they need to understand that that is not the correct thing to do. The second thing that is responsible is that in our own particular environment, corruption is so pervasive and not just so much as someone collecting bribe but so much that not giving people value for money are all forms of corruption.

    It has almost become the norm. You have the phenomenon that I call the normalisation of the abnormal. A lot of people just get swept in that daily tide and say that is how it is. The third reason is what I call personal responsibility and this is that in the reality, a lot of people are drawn by their own lust. When people fall into temptation, it is because they are drawn by their own lust. Whether it is the lust of the flesh, you have people who indulge in illicit sexual activities at work; they see members of the opposite sex under them as part of the pecks of the office. Then the lust for money and properties and these are the three categories responsible and at the summit, we would be addressing all the three areas.

    Could this all be because something is wrong with the system?

    It is totally abnormal that somebody works and at the end of the month, they do not get paid for one month, not to talk of two or three months. Now, we discuss it and it sounds somehow and when I am watching the TV and some governors say that we are only owing for a few months and not as much as the other , I get worried. It is totally abnormal that someone works and is not paid at the end of the month.

    A labourer deserves his or her wage. It is reprehensible that you do you do not pay someone the wage and if on that account, the person is drawn into sin, you are a partaker of that person’s sin. That is the system but at the end of the day, God has only one set of rules. He doesn’t have one for Nigeria and one for the other countries. And He is not going to judge Nigeria based on a different set of principles and so, we need to understand that at the end of the day there is something called if I perish, I perish.

    We ought to have found out that the call includes resisting things even to the point of dying. In Revelation, the word says, ‘They overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony’. It doesn’t end there; it says that ‘they love not their lives unto death’. So, that have not been paid is not a justification to set up a toll gate and start collecting money illegally. I have to do some legitimately, things to generate money, use legitimate things to generate income, even if it means that I would be down to eating one meal a day instead of our famous Nigerian three square meals. It is tough to be a Christian in Nigeria.

    There is so much emphasis on money in the marketplace today. Is there something we can do about this?

    The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil, not some evil, all evil. The people should be delivered from the love of money and the only thing that can deliver them is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the love for God supercedes their love for money but if their love for money supercedes their love for God, then there is a problem. Unfortunately, that is the trend here; you can see how many people in church whose love for money supercedes their love for God.

    What is the theme for conference this year?

    ‘Purposeful capital and leadership responsibility and impact’ and it is coming up from the 23rd to 25th of October 2015.

    First of all, the whole idea of a summit is to provide a platform to promote Godly principles in the marketplace. The broad definition of the marketplace here would include business; it includes the profession, it includes government and it includes education. These are sectors that are broadly categorised into the marketplace; pretty much every sphere of human engagement outside the church. What you find is that a lot of people tend to be different persons in church and in the marketplace.

    People tend to live what you call dichotomised lives, one person here and another person there but that is not how God intended it to be. Our faith is supposed to be our way of life and who we are. Who we are should not change whether we are at home, at work, in church or anywhere. Of course, the market place thus presents a lot of challenges to the persons of faith on how to live their faith in the market place and stand by those principles. Very often, the market place is run on principles that are opposed to Godly principles, principles embodied in ethics, equity, fairness, justice and morality.

    The point about this summit is to bring this to the fore. Sometimes, a lot of this people do these things out of ignorance. For instance, a lot of Christians do not understand that timeliness is a Godly principle. When you are not timely, in effect like a thief of other people time and this affect people.

    So the summit would provide a guide on this and teach these principles. It also provides a platform and then it is one thing to know the theoretical principles and another to understand the tactical applications of the principles. At the summit, it is not just about teaching and sharing the principles but practical examples of how people have applied the principles to their businesses in the marketplace.

    It is also about establishing an accountability platform that people subscribe to in the marketplace. And as more and more people do so, we would be able to see the fruits in the marketplace and we would have less of the phenomenon where you have more and more believers, yet our society is not better for it. The Bible tells us about 12 unlearned men who turned their world upside down or more appropriately right side up and yet there are so many of us and our impact is not felt like these 12 men because one of them departed and was subsequently replaced. When we begin to live our old Christian lives, our own lives would become the bible that others read. The Bible says that the followers of Christ were first called Christians in a place called Antioch.

    They were called Christians not because they labelled themselves Christians but the people who saw them and how they lived perceived that these ones had been with Christ. So if we say we are Christians, the people that encounter us in the marketplace would be left with the perception that these ones are true Christians and everything we do must reflect. Currently, this is not generally the case in our country.

    As we said, this is also a platform to create spiritual accountability. This is something specific that we are doing this year. We would be launching the Nigerian chapter of the Unashamedly Ethical (UE). Unashamedly Ethical is a global movement of Christians and people in the marketplace, mostly business owners and professionals who sign on to operate their business in an ethical manner with some ethical codes that derive from Godly principles.

    That means that that code goes beyond the usual ethical code in a world where people can hide behind some basic structures like if you got someone to give a bribe on your behalf and go home feeling ethical. With God, that would not be ethical and so we are launching this chapter, ask people to subscribe and when you sign on at the place of your business , you would have the sign in of UE and you are holding yourself out to the general public, that here, we operate these principles.

    So anybody who comes there would expect that every engagement with you would reflect these principles and where that is not the case, they can file a report to the UE that this is our experience with these people.

    Of course, there is no legal thing involved, we can’t charge the person; we cannot close the business but we can hold   them accountable and reach out to the person to find out what is happening. Sometimes, the owner may not be personally responsible, he may lay out the guidelines for operations but behind your back, your people may do something different. So when you get that feedback, you can go and fix whatever is wrong or whoever is out of order in your organisation.

    This year, we have quite an impressive pack of speakers, about  28 speakers.  It would be hard to find another conference that has an array of such length and breadth of speakers that you can attend free.

    Is  the  project  tagged  Unashamedly  Ethical open to all or  is  it  for  a  select few?

    The programme is the brainchild of the Kings Court, a parish of the RCCG but its about identifying the root cause of the cancer in the society and finally getting to a place where Christians take responsibilities for the decay in our institutions, the decay in our government and our family structure. It is not exclusively for those who have arrived but those thinking of building a foundation for their businesses. We have a number of young people who are building good businesses and they need to learn about the principles of success and how to do things the right way.