The Nation Newspaper

Tag: condition

  • Condition for Saraki to remain Senate president, by Oshiomhole

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole is insisting on Senate President Bukola Saraki’s removal. His time is up, he said.

    To retain the Senate presidency, he said, the only condition is for Saraki to return to the APC.

    Besides, the Senate President will be removed legally, Oshiomhole said yesterday.

    Oshiomhole, who spoke at a meeting with APC National Assembly members, said however that the party was not ready to welcome the Senate President back to its fold, insisting that Saraki will be removed legally as minority cannot preside over majority.

    The former Edo State governor asked those who have become judges to be prepared to challenge the impeachment of the Senate president in any court of their choice. He was apparently referring to the recent judgement of the Court of Appeal which says that the Assembly has a right to its independence.

    Some governors were not at the meeting. Oshiomhole also said they could not attend as a result of “communication breakdown”.

    He said: “Democracy teaches us that minority has the right to have their say but majority must have their way. So, if we have 56 senators and they have 49 senators, I insist that 49 senators cannot preside over the affairs of a house in which APC has 56 senators. And I ask them to tell us anywhere in the world where minority rules over majority.

    “Often times, we take flights to Washington and other places to understudy the American presidential system of government. Once you lose majority, without further ado, you step down.

    “So, I want to repeat, Sen. Saraki as president of the Senate will be lawfully and democratically impeached. It will not be illegally done. It will be done according to law and tradition.

    “Those lawyers who have chosen to sit as judges need to be reminded that lawyers are, at best, officers of the court and do not constitute the court. So, when Sen. Saraki is lawfully and democratically impeached, they will be free to go to anywhere they want to go and canvass the legality or the illegality of the action. It is not in their place to pronounce with finality as if they constitute the judicial arm of government.

    To Oshiomhole, Saraki should not keep the Senate president’s seat. He said:

    “I want to reassure the Nigerian people that we are committed to leading by example and that means absolute submission and obedience to the letters and spirit of the Nigerian Constitution and everything we will do, we will ensure that it is done according to law, including the impeachment of Sen. Bukola Saraki. There is no hiding place for him. I insist, his time is up.

    “The only way that, probably, he could have retained that seat is to decide to return but we will not be ready to welcome him. He must remain where he is and we will continue to ensure that he surrenders the presidency of the Senate to the majority party in the Senate – in line with the provisions of our constitution.

    “We have very many important issues, which require the National Assembly to deliberate on. Those issues that were pending when the two presiding officers hurriedly adjourned the deliberations of the House without exhausting the calendar.

    “The result is that we have serious pending issues that require deliebertaions by the National Assembly, including the issue of the apprval of foreign loans without which this year’s budget cannot perform; the issue of the INEC budget and virement of the budget.

    “Ours is to appeal to all of you that your commitment to the sustenance of democracy is enough to get you to do all that you can to get the National Assembly to reconvene so that these and other weighty national issues will be deliberated upon, appropriate decisions reached so that the Nigerian government is not shut down.

    “If we do not take those steps and government cannot spend money that should be appropriated, we run the risk of government shutdown. As members of the governing party, I believe you will do whatever is needed to be done to prevent a government shutdown.

    “I want to reassure you that we value you; all the stories about people being denied or that you would be frustrated out, I want to assure you that our party values experience; our party values knowledge; our party values loyalty and our party will do everything possible to reward loyalty and demonstrate that loyalty pays and we will not be ashamed to do so.

    “We are already doing so many things on our part, but, like they say, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. With time, all these shall come to pass and we would have kept our word as you have kept yours.”

  • Ortom gives condition for pilot ranching

    •Tribal leaders repose confidence in governor
    •Ortom has given all to Benue, says aide

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has said the state will accept the Federal Government’s proposed pilot ranching only if it conforms to the provisions of the Benue State Anti-Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017.

    Ortom, who spoke at NKST Central, Mkar, Gboko, while addressing pastors and the congregation at the 2018 Synod, said the idea of having many ranches in a particular area, which translates to cattle colony, was a good one, but Benue has no free land to donate for such venture.

    He said he was ready to give his all to put Benue and Nigeria on the global map in modern animal husbandry, but reaffirmed Benue’s position on ranching according to the provisions of its law.

    Orotm solicited the prayers and support of the church in addressing the security challenges in the state, saying he and his predecessor were working together for its peace and development.

    President of NKST Worldwide Rev. Dominic Anza reiterated the church’s resolution to stand with Ortom to entrench ranching in the state.

    He appealed to the governor to look into complaints arising from workers’ verification with a view to addressing genuine ones.

    Leaders of the ethnic groups in Benue State, under the aegis of Mdzough-U-Tiv (MUT); Idoma National Forum (INF) and Omi Ny’Igede (ONI), have passed a vote of confidence in Governor Samuel Ortom for his determination to ensure the smooth implementation and enforcement of the state’s open grazing prohibition law.

    The leaders also lauded troops of Operation Whirl Stroke and commiserated with bereaved families.

    A statement yesterday in Makurdi by the chairman, Chief Edward Ujege, lauded Ortom for his resilience in ensuring that the people’s will prevailed.

    The statement reads: “The forum of MUT, INF and ONI is deeply appreciative of Governor Samuel Ortom for consistently staking his neck to entrench modern ways of animal husbandry.

    “Ortom’s success in this regard will encourage and guarantee mass participation in agricultural activities, which is the main economic stay of our state, apart from the civil service.

    “In the face of persecution and lacklustre response from the centre, which ought to provide us security, our governor has chosen to stand with his people and we also stand with him.

    “Therefore, we the forum of MUT, INF and ONI, state unequivocally our support to the governor for his stance on the open-grazing prohibition law. He has chosen to stand with the people at this critical time, sacrificing his life and political comfort to ensure that the wishes of the people prevailed…”

    Ortom’s Special Adviser on Local and Chieftaincy Affairs, Titus Zam, has said the governor has given his all to the people.

    Zam spoke at Naka, Gwer-West Local Government Area, during the burial of the Director-General, Services and Administration (DGSA) of Katsina-Ala, Sarwuan Gabriel Atanya.

    According to him, Ortom’s commitment to the security of his people has proven that he is the leader to be trusted always, as evident in his signing the Anti-Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law.

    Zam described the late Atanya as a dedicated father and civil servant, who lived a peaceful, tolerant and persevering life, saying his character and impact on humanity, which endeared him to many, would be remembered for a very long time.

    President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) Terungwa Igbe described the deceased as a humble man, and urged the family to emulate his lifestyle.

    Chairman of Katsina- Ala council Mrs. Virginia Kpindi; Chairman, Civil Service Commission Prof. John Ortyoyande, ALGON Chairman and Chairman of Guma council Anthony Shawon, and Chairman, forum of DGSAs Apera, described the deceased as hard working.

  • NULGE gives lawmakers condition for re-election

    NULGE gives lawmakers condition for re-election

    The National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Anambra State has said members of the House of Assembly will only be re-elected in 2019 if they pass the Local Government Autonomy Bill.

    Labour leaders, under the aegis of Civil Society-Labour and Media Alliance in Anambra State (CiSoL-MEDAAS), protested at the Assembly complex yesterday.

    They said they would vote out any lawmaker who votes against the bill.

    Their leader, Elder Eloka Okafor, said they were at the Assembly ground to register their grievances at the lawmakers’ inability to adopt the bill despite the assurances they gave in their previous visit.

    He said of the 15 clauses, 13 were approved, including the autonomy of the Houses of Assembly, while the remaining two, which included that of local government autonomy, were dropped.

    He said: “We were here last week for an advocacy, urging the House to pass the bill, but were disappointed that the local government autonomy, which is one of the most important clauses in the bill, was not passed,”

    State NULGE President Comrade Jerry Nnubia urged the lawmakers to write their names in gold by being among the privileged ones who passed the bill during their tenure.

    The Deputy Speaker, Hayford Oseke, who received the lawmakers, said the lawmakers were not against the bill. According to him, the bill ws stepped down to allow for wider consultations and for public hearing, which, according to him, would happen soon.

  • NLC decries poor working condition in firms

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has spoken against the poor and unsafe conditions in which Nigerian workers discharge their duties.

    Speaking with The Nation, the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said: “We demand that a labourer, a pensioner deserves his wages. There must be dignity in labour. Let us collectively end corporate greed, let there be enough so that there will be shared posterity.

    ”Despite that the world has witnessed unprecedented accumulation of wealth in the last one decade, the workers that have created the wealth have remained in abject poverty, this must not be allowed to continue to happen.”

    He said the condition of workers in Nigeria was nothing to write home, adding that the working class was facing a lot of difficulties because salaries are not being paid in some states  and many companies as at when due.

    In a related event, the Chemical and Non-Metallic Senior Staff Association (CANMPSSA) has urged the Federal Government to speed up the diversification of the economy.

    According to the association, the  Federal Government should explore diversification of such sectors as agriculture, tourism, solid minerals, hospitality and others to buffer its foreign exchange earnings. Its President, Mohammed Abdul Gafar, who stated this in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, at the three-day Annual National Management/Industrial Relations Seminar and Entrepreneurship Skills Acquisition,  said the economy, which has defied all reasonable economic policies proposed so far, calls for more seriousness on the planned diversification.

    “The focus on crude oil as the major source of revenue for the economy has greatly incapacitated all other available sources of revenue in our country and, by implication, has affected our sector with the exchange rate of the naira to dollar rising astronomically,” he said.

    He reasoned that Nigeria, immensely blessed with skilled personnel, materials and natural resources, should not have been in the present precarious situation, but for lack of foresight of the past leaders.

    As a way out, the labour leader said the government should give priority to agriculture, which he said, has been a major source of revenue generation and raw material for manufacturing industries.

    “Efforts should be made to consolidate on massive production of cash crops segment of agricultural sector for exportation of agro-allied products to boost the revenue and increase the GDP of the country,” he stated.

    Gafar lamented that the effect of the present economic situation in the country has been devastating on the manufacturing sector, through the scarcity of foreign exchange, saying that government should march its words on backward integration with action.

    He noted that industries in the country have now embarked on various strategies to enable them remain in business, some which are detrimental to the workers.

    The CANMPSSA President said the union, as part of its contribution to resolving the problem, chose “Strengthening organisational performance in a depressed economy: chemical and non-metallic products experience”, as the theme of its seminar.

    He said: “Our challenge is that nobody in government is paying attention to the problem in the manufacturing sector. It is so bad now that we wonder how industries are coping. So, as workers, we believe that we can work together, create synergy that will stabilise our organisations and increase our productivity.”

  • Ajimobi gives condition for return of mission schools

    Ajimobi gives condition for return of mission schools

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has promised to hand over mission schools to owners who have genuine proposal for the development of such schools and proven commitment to education advancement.

    The governor made the promise in his address at the archdiocesan reception for the 34th council of Bishops at the Bishop Ayo Ladigbolu House, Molete, Ibadan, which was attended by bishops and archbishops of the Methodist Church.

    He said this in response to a request by the Prelate, Dr. Samuel Uche, for the return of mission schools to their original owners for what he called proper running of such schools.

  • Suspect gives condition to quit robbery

    Suspect gives condition to quit robbery

    •‘Give me loan to start business’

    AN armed robbery suspect, Ayodeji Bakare, 23, yesterday promised to stop robbery if he gets loan to start business.

    While being paraded by Commissioner of Police Fatai Owoseni at the Command’s headquarters in Ikeja, Bakare, on ex-convict, said: “I want government to give me loan to start business to enable me stop armed robbery.”

    The suspect was arrested by policemen attached to the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (SCID) in Yaba last Saturday at Ebute-Meta, with one locally made pistol and six live cartridges while robbing a passerby.

    Bakare, an aluminum fabricator in Alagomeji, Yaba, said he is a member of a three-man gang that specialised in robbing people with motorcycle.

    He said: “I am an armed robber. We are three in number and we used to do stop and search operation and the total money I have made in armed robbery is N500,000. I started robbing in 2014 when I came out from prison in 2013; I went to Ikoyi prison for some months after being arrested for robbing a whiteman of his phone in Ikoyi Club.

    “In prison, some inmates are bad and some are good. The bad ones learn bad things. I joined Eiye Cult in prison, they beat me and gave me water mixed with pepper. They later gave me orientation. When I was leaving prison, they gave me the name of an arms dealer who will give me gun. His name is Segun. You can see the Eiye mark on my body. I used to buy one bullet for N1,000.

    “We used to buy like 15 to 20 bullets. If my bullet finishes, I call Segun who is based in Cotonou.”

    On how he beats police and Customs checkpoints, he said: “When I collect gun from Segun in Cotonou, I enter motor that does not carry load. They don’t search motor that does not carry load. I have not married but I have a wife, she loves me. If I go to prison she will still wait for me because she waited for me the first time I went to prison.”

  • Bayelsa teachers seek better working condition

    Bayelsa teachers seek better working condition

    The Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr. Walton Liverpool, stirred a controversy at the Peace Park, Yenagoa, during the celebration of this year’s World Teachers’ Day. The teachers disagreed on some of the things he reeled off as achievements of the state government to improve the educational system.

    •A cross section of teachers at the World Teachers’ Day in Bayelsa
    •A cross section of teachers at the World Teachers’ Day in Bayelsa

    In unison, the teachers who attended this year’s celebration with mixed feelings, shouted in protest when Liverpool, the chairman of the occasion, claimed that Governor Seriake Dickson-led administration had provided school uniforms to Bayelsa pupils; sank boreholes in schools to provide potable water; conducted regular seminars and workshops as well as provided free school buses.

    The way the teachers reacted angrily, almost booing Liverpool, it was obvious that the government was economical with the truth in those areas. But none of the teachers disagreed with the SUBEB boss when he mentioned the construction of headmasters’ and teachers’ quarters and building of office blocks in schools as some of the achievements of the government.

    Other achievements that the teachers seemed to have agreed with were supply of desks, seats to schools; the college of education at Sagbama; overseas scholarship  programmes for students and regular payment of teachers’ and other workers’ salaries.

    Again, Liverpool incurred the wrath of the teachers. He tried to rehash the solidarity statements of the union and ended by saying, “the struggle continues”. Unknown to him, Bayelsa teachers are now more upwardly mobile, more enlightened and better educated and have done away with aphorisms conveniently adopted by politicians to keep marginalising them.

    So, the idea that teachers’ struggles are unending was quite infuriating, as openly expressed by the audience. They resisted it and raised their voices in demonstration until the Principal Secretary, National Union of Teachers (NUT), who is also a lawyer, Comrade Okoroafor Okechukwu, spoke a more popular language to them. He calmed the frayed nerves when he said: “teachers struggle ends today”.

    But the struggles among Bayelsa teachers seem endless.

    The state Chairman, NUT, Comrade Bokolo Tonworio, listed plethora of demands of Bayelsa teachers. He said the primary and post-primary teachers are yet to be paid the N18, 000 minimum wage arrears which nearly all other public servants had been paid. He lamented non-implementation of 2013/2014 primary school teachers’ promotion and inability of the government to conduct 2015 promotion exercise for primary school teachers.

    It was all knocks on the government for failing to pay promotion arrears arising from 2013 promotions and non-supply of instructional materials and statutory school records in the spirit of the emergency in education.

    Part of his worries is also that there are discrepancies between the “oracle-captured” and “non-oracle-based teachers” in the payment of monthly salaries.

    Besides, funding of examination and continuous assessments across the schools and recruitment of teachers into rural schools are part of the headaches in the system.

    But the teachers are not ungrateful. They thanked the government for declaring a state of emergency in education sector and pursuing it vigorously.

    The NUT boss commended Dickson’s government for prompt payment of teachers’ salaries; massive rehabilitation of educational infrastructure; restoration of scholarships at the secondary school levels; establishment of befitting teachers training academy, Bolou-Orua, Sagbama and supply of computer sets and power generating sets.

    He said the theme of the celebration, “Empowering Teachers, Building Sustainable Societies”, was apt as it emphasised the significance of teachers and underscores their critical position in the society and nation-building.

    “The business of teachers’ empowerment is the duty of all the stakeholders in the community. The union calls on all stakeholders to place the empowerment of teachers in the front burner of their policies and agenda.

    “The government should see the teacher as a veritable tool and medium by which the philosophies, ethos, norms, ethics, ideas and aesthetics will be transferred to the future.

    “Therefore, disempowering teachers is tantamount to creating a future of powerless and feeble citizens that will further perpetuate the dependency of Nigeria to our erstwhile colonial masters and deepening of corruption and socio-economic malaise”, he said.

    In his remarks, Okechukwu said the day was set aside to honour and celebrate teachers because of their pivotal roles in the society.

    He said: “For us in Bayelsa, this day is almost like one’s birthday. It is a day to encourage and recognise practising teachers. When you honour the teacher, you are motivating him.

    “The government of Dickson has been steadfast in the funding of primary and secondary education. It has been consistent, especially in the payment of salaries. But all has not been too well for teachers because of the discrepancy between oracle-captured teachers and persons not yet captured.

    “I don’t know why the discrepancy should exist. It is either that all of them go digital or they go manual to create equal playing field among the teachers. We want this dichotomy dismantled. We suggest that every teacher should be captured in the oracle.

    “The government has done very well in physical infrastructure but has not done well in supply of instructional materials and statutory records to schools. It is an impediment to effective teaching and learning in schools.”

    At the event, Governor Dickson was represented by his deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd), who was accompanied by the Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Talford Ongolo, Commissioner for Youths, Mr. Collins Cocodia and other members of the cabinet.

    But the governor later met with the teachers at the Banquet Hall where they feast. Dickson used the occasion to further reel off his achievements in the educational sector. He said his over N25 billion investments in the sector and the dedication of teachers yielded positive results.

    According to him, the state which used to be very poor in external examination was ranked 4th in the federation in the last Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination, (SSSCE).

    He said the report released recently by the West African Examinations Council, (WAEC), named the six leading states as, Anambra 65.92 per cent, Abia 58.52 per cent, Edo 57.82 per cent, Bayelsa 52.83 per cent, Rivers 52.73 per cent and Enugu 51.91 per cent.

    He said: “The development necessitated the declaration of a state of emergency in the sector and the government has invested N25 billion so far in the last three-and- half years to revamp the sector.”

    He enjoined the teachers to always do their utmost, stating that his administration will continually address their welfare as well as improve the infrastructure in the sector.

    Dickson, who praised teachers for their contributions to the growth and development of society, assured that in the next two weeks, the Teachers Training Academy would be inaugurated to train and re-train teachers to excel in their various professions.

    Describing the teaching profession as crucial in nation-building, the governor warned school principals against extortion of students under the guise of the National Examinations Council (NECO) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) fees. He further stressed that the government has been picking the bills for such fees to alleviate the plight of parents and wards.

    Responding, Okechukwu expressed gratitude to the state government for the prompt payment of salaries to workers, despite the austere times. He also praised government’s approval for the payment of arrears of N18, 000 minimum wages.

    He pledged the union’s total support for Dickson’s re-election bid to enable the restoration government to consolidate on its achievements.

     

  • Abdulrahman frowns at condition for Kwara Utd return

    Abdulrahman frowns at condition for Kwara Utd return

    Kwara United head coach, Tunde Abdulrahman has called on the management of the Harmony Warriors to review the condition stipulated in the letter indicating his suspension has been lifted which says he must win their next two away matches against Nasarawa United and Kano Pillars to keep his job.

    Abdulrahman told SportingLife that the conditions attached to his return stated in paragraph 3 of the letter sent to him and dated

    August 19, 2015 is not only demeaning to the football profession but also an affront on the contractual agreement he has with Kwara United.

    The former Kano Pillars and FC Taraba head coach told SportingLife that he would be willing to return to his duty post  today but that he does not accept that condition as expressed in the letter where his suspension was lifted.

    Abdulrahman said some issues must have to be ironed out before the club start given ultimatum when the factors responsible for his suspension has not been sorted till now.

    He told SportingLife:” I wish to clearly state that I am totally committed to returning to my duty post ‘immediately’ as directed by

    you. However, the conditions attached in paragraph 3 of your letter wherein I am expected to miraculously win two (away) matches by all means as security for my job, is not only demeaning to the football profession but also an affront on the spirit and letters of my contractual agreement with Kwara United FC and therefore not acceptable.

    “I must reiterate that football results are a reflection of a multifarious inputs from management and other critical stakeholders to assist the coach. It is blatant deviation from this that has been the basis of my complaints since assuming duty. It is against this backdrop that I will like to state that the interest of the team will be better served and my reinstatement will not be deemed a dangerous ambush to tarnish my professional reputation.”

    He further gave conditions for things to work very well in the club:”

    Guaranteeing my personal security and those of the players and match officials is key. I should be given freehand to professionally review activities of the team within the period I was away from the team with a view to suggesting measures for improvement. I will also like a meeting of all stakeholders be conveyed to trash out various issues ranging from internal bickering, accusations, reservations, complaints and counter accusations which was responsible for my initial suspension.”

    SportingLife recalls that Kwara United management under General Manager, Haruna Maigidansanma indefinitely suspended Abdulrahman on July 13, 2015 before the suspension was lifted on August 19,2015.

  • The African condition – 2

    Mercifully, Lesotho is a more civilised place of slightly over a million people, perhaps too civilised, because there are about 10 political parties there creating a sense of instability. Politics seems to be the only profitable business in Lesotho, therefore creating a feeling of hopelessness in the citizenry. I was in this country in the late 1980s as part of Commonwealth electoral monitoring group. I was amazed at the level of drunkenness, unemployment, sexual licence and prevalence of AIDS infection and consequent high mortality. Zambia, Malawi and particularly Zimbabwe are studies in political and economic regression. The story of Zimbabwe is one of the saddest on the continent. Here is a country whose people fought gallantly for their freedom and liberation from white settler regime. The regime of Ian Smith who had boasted “not in a thousand years” will there be majority rule in the then South Rhodesia was happily pushed aside by the fighting cadres of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) under the leaderships of Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo respectively. Hardly had victory been won when the two parties took on each other in a death grip with Robert Mugabe winning. This was the licence he needed to stay in power from the time of independence in the 1980s till now at the ripe age of 90. More galling is the fact that he has perpetuated himself in power and he is busy grooming his wife, who is half his age, as his successor and future president of the country. While engaged in this travesty of rule, he has watched the country’s economy collapse into Stone Age primitivity of people merely surviving and not living.

    When one moves to the Horn of Africa, the picture is the same. In Ethiopia the previous revolutionaries now in government have become reactionaries killing protesting students after rigged election. Somalia has disappeared, at least politically from the map and the country is a free for all for Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab and other terrorists high on khat and marijuana. Somalia has the distinction of being the first state to disappear as a political entity in the world. Eritrea that seceded from Ethiopia is locked in mortal struggle against its bigger neighbour over a tract of forbidden frontier. The Sudan is now divided into North and South along racial lines, and if Darfur in the South West of the country succeeds in its war of secession, it may add another division to a complex map. Yet the work of governance is left in abeyance while the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government with support from oil consuming India and China slaughters its own people. The chaos has spread into Chad, where Idris Derby, the typical African ruler refuses to give up power.

    West Africa is not better. Central Africa is even worse. The central Africa Republic and Congo Brazzaville have alternated between one brutal leader and the other. The Ivory Coast, the economic jewel of French speaking West Africa is coming out of the division arising from struggle for political power between Laurant Gbagbo and Al-Hassan Watara, between a Christian and a Muslim manifesting a malady afflicting the whole of West Africa. Guinea is afflicted by ethnic struggle between the Fulah and the Mandinka because of the problem of political succession. Nigeria the crown jewel of the continent is struggling against the tide of political instability because of problem of political succession.

    Yet Africa announced a few years ago, NEPAD- New Partnership for African Development. There has been neither partnership nor development. The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) that was supposed to ensure leaders abide by constitutional rules has been ignored.

    North Africa to complete the picture is not different. Morocco, with its Sharifian dynasty is modernising royal tyranny and Tunisia that first raised the flag of Arab Spring has just elected an 88 year old president. There has been no peace in Libya since Africa colluded with the West to murder Muamar Ghadafi, its late mercurial sit-tight leader. Now the country is partly occupied by ISIS with loyalty to Al-Baghdadi its murdering caliph somewhere in Mosul. Egypt tried some form of Islamic democracy under the Muslim Brotherhood President Muhammad Morsi before General Muhammad Al-sisi threw him out and the country has therefore murdered sleep. FIS (Front Islamique du Salut) is waiting for Algeria under its eternal leader Abdul-aziz Bouteflika to collapse.

    Nigeria has the biggest economy on the continent and has 25% of Africa’s population. Its 170 million people are poorly served by a conniving and corrupt regime at all levels. Its problems are compounded not only by the fissiparous tendencies of religious schism but deep seated ethnic animosity of one group against the other thus making national consensus near impossible. Leaders of Nigeria are oblivious of the fact that other Africans look up to them. Therefore if the country fails it will drag the entire continent down with her.

    It is really sad that just a few years ago, Africa was seen as the frontier of opportunity and economic growth. Like a mirage this hope of a happy African decade has disappeared. What this illusion has proved is that prosperity cannot be built on export of raw materials and minerals alone. Africans must add value to their God-given endowments. Secondly, Africans must be eternally vigilant about their self-serving and self-aggrandising leaders if the fruit of liberty and development is to come to them and to the generations of Africans yet to be born. There is also a need for massive civic education in Africa to prepare the citizens for their civic responsibilities and rights. Not only that, the place of the black man in the world needs to be emphasised. We are not living in a cocoon isolated from the rest of the world. We therefore have to march in tandem with the rest of civilised world observing the norms of civilised behaviour.

  • Bobbi Kristina condition remains unchanged

    Bobbi Kristina condition remains unchanged

    … after three weeks in hospital 

    Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown has been taken off her ventilator and her breathing tube removed as her condition remains unchanged at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, according to a family source.

    According to reports the 21-year-old has been given a tracheotomy to help her continue to breathe. The decision to remove her tube does not mean her family has made a decision about her life support, the source told the newspaper.

    Family on Thursday said Brown’s condition is ‘still critical’ and that the surgical procedure – which opens an airway into the trachea through the neck – was a normal one for coma patients.

    ‘The tracheotomy is a different place for the tube to go,’ the source told said. ‘Everything else remains the same. It’s a waiting game. The family is hoping and waiting.’

    According to the source, the procedure will also reduce the risk of infection.

    ‘She is still critical and we don’t know what the outcome will be,’ the source said. ‘No one is giving up on this kid.’

    However, Bobbi’s father, Bobbi Brown claims the relatives who have been giving media interviews about her medical condition do not have direct knowledge of her treatment.

    Singer Bobby Brown’s attorney asked media outlets on February 13 to stop speaking with family members unauthorized to discuss the condition of his daughter.

    She was found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub at her suburban home last month.

    Few details about the aspiring 21-year-old singer’s condition have been made public. Family members have said she is fighting for her life.

    ‘We continue to request privacy in this matter,’ Bobby Brown said in a statement. ‘We thank everyone that supports Bobbi Kristina and God is hearing our prayers.’

    Bobby Brown’s attorney said the relatives giving interviews about Bobbi Kristina Brown are not in communication with her doctors, and in particular asked media organizations to disregard cousin, Jerod Brown.

    The cousin said in an interview with Atlanta TV station WXIA this week that she remained on a ventilator and the family had no plans to remove her from life support.

    ‘This is a criminal investigation and we do not need this side show,’ attorney Christopher Brown, who is representing Bobbi Kristina’s father, said in a statement.

    Jerod Brown was also involved in disputed reports that Nick Gordon, who calls himself the husband of Bobbi Kristina Brown, cannot visit her at the hospital.

    Lawyers for Gordon said the cousin’s contention that Gordon was pursuing legal action to gain access to Brown was false. They said Gordon, who has kept a low profile since Bobbi Kristina Brown was rushed to a hospital, only wants to see her recover.

    ‘He remains in constant prayer for his companion and he hopes to be reunited with her soon,’ lawyers Randy Kessler and Joe Habachy said in a statement on Thursday.

    Police in Roswell, Georgia, are investigating the circumstances leading to Brown’s discovery in the tub on January 31.

    She had been in a car crash four days earlier, according a police report. The SUV she was driving spun out of control and hit a car on January 27, causing extensive damage to both vehicles and sending her passenger and the driver of the other car to the hospital, the report said.

    The other driver was listed in critical condition, police said, and one of Brown’s tires was punctured by a nail and appeared to have blown out.

    Police in Roswell, Georgia, are investigating the circumstances leading to Brown’s discovery in the tub on January 31.

    She had been in a car crash four days earlier, according a police report. The SUV she was driving spun out of control and hit a car on January 27, causing extensive damage to both vehicles and sending her passenger and the driver of the other car to the hospital, the report said.

    The other driver was listed in critical condition, police said, and one of Brown’s tires was punctured by a nail and appeared to have blown out.

     

    • Source: Mail of London