The Nation Newspaper

Tag: days

  • Brighter days ahead, says APC

    Brighter days ahead, says APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday asked Nigerians not to lose hope despite the difficult and challenging times the nation went through in 2017.

    It assured all that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was not asleep, but working assiduously to address the challenges facing the nation.

    APC National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun said Nigerians should collectively look to the New Year with renewed optimism and vigour as better and brighter days were around the corner.

    In his New Year message to Nigerians, Oyegun said the task before Nigerians was converting the country’s potentials to greatness, adding that with the right ethics, morality, attitude and priorities, the nation will get out of the current societal morass sooner than expected.

    He said: “Our great Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), welcomes all Nigerians to the 2018 New Year.

    “2017 was indeed an eventful, yet challenging one for many Nigerians. We thank Nigerians for their continuous support and prayers for the President Muhammadu Buhari administration and indeed the party. We urge Nigerians to collectively look to the New Year 2018 with renewed optimism and vigour. Brighter days are ahead of us.

    “Indeed, the collective task before us is converting our country’s potential – derived from size, demography, human, and natural resources – to greatness. While the task may seem onerous, it is achievable.

    “With the right ethics, morality, attitudes and priorities, we will get out of our current societal morass that has found expression in our economic challenges, bad politics, ethno-religious divisions and other negative aspects of our national life, sooner than sceptics believe is possible.

    “We are acutely aware of our current national challenges, particularly on the economy. However, we assure Nigerians that the administration is not asleep, but working assiduously to address these challenges and meet the expectations of Nigerians. We remain focussed and solidly committed to delivering on our party’s 2015 election promises which were largely hinged on curbing corruption, restoring the economy and the security of the nation.

    “Happily, the President Buhari administration is making good progress and already delivering on many front, such as restoring our country to its deserved standing among the comity of progressive nations; fighting corruption and repairing our value system; diversifying our economic revenue base, creating jobs and economic opportunities for Nigerians; bringing succor to the insurgency-ravaged North-East; reforming the oil, defence, pensions, and other critical sectors; creating a world-class transport system, among others.

    “We can only downplay the ramifications of corruption at our peril. Corruption has for long enabled its perpetrators to divert resources for delivering development to the citizenry and as a result bred discontent, which religious bigots and ethnic jingoists take advantage of to create insecurity and other societal malaise. Therefore, the solution is the enthronement and entrenchment of quality and accountable leadership in governance.

    “We should continue to support the administration’s development efforts for the country. The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) should be supported by all as a basis for realising social inclusion objectives, such as employment generation and eradication of poverty and inequality.

    “Such safety net initiatives as the Home Grown School Feeding Programme, conditional cash transfer scheme and N-Power will guarantee that the poor and vulnerable directly benefit from economic development.

    “Let us join in the effort to build a more vibrant nation that every Nigerian will be proud of. Let us join and support the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration in the ongoing of task of building a new Nigeria for our progress, peace, unity and prosperity.

    “Once again, our great party sends warmest greetings to all Nigerians on the occasion of the 2018 New Year.”

  • Buhari’s return: 12 days after

    Buhari’s return: 12 days after

    Those who thought President  Muhammadu Buhari would not make it back home from his London medical vacation must by now be wondering how they got it all wrong. Simple. Some of them were so sure of the President’s health status that they vowed to commit suicide if he ever returned to Nigeria.

    They did not realise that there is an unseen hand at work in human affairs.

    As if to underscore the futility of their calculations, there was talk of hyenas and jackals seizing the Villa. They would be evicted on the lion king’s return, the President’s wife vowed.

    That powerful imagery sparked a lot of reactions.  It carried the insinuation that a vicious cabal was at work at the Villa. The Presidency issued a strong denial, but it cut no ice with the cynical public that had come to believe that a cabal was indeed haunting the Presidency .

    Besides, a strange group, led by the eccentric musician, Charles Oputa, also known as Charly Boy (never mind the nickname; he’s 66) mounted a protest  to push its Buhari -must -return-or-resign battle. When nobody listened to them, they stormed the Wuse market to woo the traders to their cause. The traders detested that. They replied with stones and cudgels. Charly Boy and his followers were beaten, battered and bloodied. They fled the scene. Never to return.

    Then the President returned. That was on August 19. The reception was tumultuous. It brought back memories of the electoral campaigns that heralded Buhari’s victory at the poll two years earlier.   Excited residents lined the route from the airport, screaming: “Sai baba!”

    Buhari made a short broadcast that drew comments ranging from the  objective to the downright ridiculous. Some said it was short as if there is a rule that a presidential speech must always be long, full of anecdotes, clichés and unnecessary allusions. Others dissected the content and condemned the language.

    They said it was indecent of the President to say that “terrorists and criminals” must be “destroyed”.

    What is their problem if  they are neither terrorists nor criminals?

    I think Buhari made his point. The message was loud and clear. Anyway, has the President, taciturn and seen by many to be choleric, ever been a man of many words?  He said Nigeria’s unity was “settled and non-negotiable”. What is wrong in that? He never said apostles of “restructuring”, “federalism”, “regionalism” and all other ideological postulations should never air their views. No. Buhari only stated the position of his administration. In any case, do Nigerians agree on what “restructuring” is all about?

    The President met with security chiefs, apparently to find out why the Boko Haram insurgency seemed to have taken on a new vigour and kidnappers were having a field day, even as robbers remained unchallenged.

    He also met with governors and leaders of the major political parties, including the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Buhari called for a vibrant opposition. The Labour Party (LP) and the Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance Party (APDA) protested that they were not invited.

    A politician who wished not to be named, retorted: “LP? Yes; maybe. APDA? Do they think it is a town hall meeting or a village square gathering?” The Presidency replied that only the APC and the PDP had asked for the meeting.

    Among the few who did not attend the meeting was Ekiti Governor Ayo Fayose, one of the President’s most unrelenting critics whose vituperations have been condemned by many as a kind of hate speech. He had actually threatened to release 11 photographs of the President in a bad shape at a London hospital. Now, many are saying the governor may have been duped by the unknown photographers.

    But Fayose had an excuse for not attending the meeting.   He was in Ado-Ekiti, taking a chieftaincy title. Now His Excellency has added another one to his heavy bag of titles. You may wish to recall that the House of Assembly once met to proclaim him “the leader of the opposition in Nigeria”. Before then, he had conferred on himself the title “Architect of modern Ekiti”. He is also Ore mekunnu, friend of the poor, the Osokomole,” Ebora t’onje jollof” and “Inventor of stomach infrastructure”. Now in the kitty is Apesin of Ado-Ekiti.

    Even Idi Amin must be envious wherever he is now. At this rate, Fayose will soon shatter the former Uganda strongman’s record.

    The President replied critics of his long stay in London. He said mockingly: “In fact, some groups…asked that I should go back home. Indeed, I have come back home. I hope those who went there are not stuck there. I hope they will come back and join us.”

    Buhari last Thursday signed nine agreements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They cover the economy, security and the anti-corruption battle, among others. Some Nigerians are believed to have hidden their ill-gotten wealth in Dubai. Now they will have problems keeping such wealth. Among them are former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, seven ex-governors, some ex-ministers and businessmen.

    After a meeting with some ministers and Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele,  the President announced that the economy was picking up. Strangely,  there has been no contrary opinion. Is the recession over only in official circles?

    Of all the events that have occurred since Buhari’s return, none has been as controversial as the seemingly innocuous announcement that the President would be working from home because his office would need some renovation, having been run over by rodents.

    When the history of the Buhari presidency is written, there is no doubt that the deployment of the animal imagery to drive home some messages will be a strong theme.  The other day, we had the lion, hyenas and jackals. Today, rats have taken over the seat of power, forcing the President to be working from home. Talk about the audacity of rats.

    To his critics, the announcement that Buhari would be working from home was indicative of his state of health. If he was hale and hearty as being touted by his aides and associates, they reasoned, why should he be working at home just because some rats had invaded the office in his absence? Are rats not part of our common urban mess in which we have learnt to operate, with man and rat showing mutual respect for each other?

    From very serious discussions on security, patriotism and the economy, the subject has shifted to – of all things- rats and their powers.

    A Lagos rat poison vendor has mounted a small billboard to advertise his trade. The board has a green-white-green national motif with a big picture of a rat in flying posture, its hind legs firmly on the ground. On the board is the message: “Come talk to us before they chase you out. They chased out the lion.”

    Even in the animal kingdom, the rat has never been this elevated and celebrated. Now, the tortoise, with all its wiles and cunning, will be full of envy. The rat, a detested pest, has become the toast of the town, featuring in discussions in newsrooms, staffrooms and restrooms.

    The talk in juristic and law-enforcement circles, I gather, is that the rat would have been taken in for alleged treasonable felony if it had been in the days gone by when we had attorneys-general who were alive to their delicate duties, churning out decrees by the hour. Not anymore.

    Those who are sympathetic to the Villa have praised the authorities for the swift move to curtail what is being seen by political opponents as the growing influence of rats in the polity. Among them are those who warned that the nation lost billions of Naira to wharf rats who made huge containers of quality goods, including raw materials for factories, vanish at our ports, just like that. And now, there are Villa rats to which the President must cede his office – seat, table, flags and all.

    What is the world coming to, they are asking?

    Trust the Presidency. No rats will cross its red line and get away with it. Construction giant Julius Berger has been hired to dislodge them and renovate the office. A source who claims to have seen the contract has told me in confidence that the rats will be spared and discreetly relocated. The wisdom, he says, is to avoid a clash with animal rights activists, following intelligence reports that the services of Charly Boy’s “Our mumu don do” protesters may be procured to march on the Villa in a desperate bid to affirm the rights of the rats to a decent life.

    There is no bad situation without a redeeming feature. Now, those who draw up  the Villa’s yearly budget need no reminder that money must be set aside to keep rats, flies and ants away from the President’s office.

    Trust Nigerians, they have already found an avenue for jokes in all this. A friend sent me this: “Nobody should come and tell us that they spent N200 million for rat eradication at the President’s office. Price list for rat poison brands : N100 for rat bomb; N200 for Kill and Dry; N350 for Rat Roundup,  and N400 for Otapiapia. And if all that fails, dem dey sell two wild Ajaokuta pussycats, male and female N500 for Wuse market and they guarantee your money back if you even smell any rat after 24 hours of lodging them in-house.

    “I have said my own o.”

    As I see it, there is no need to groan and moan over the President’s plan to work from home. Must we carry placards over every issue, no matter how trivial? In any case, where is our sense of humour, the one that fetched us the enviable accolade of  “The  happiest people on earth”?

    Don’t we need it now that the times are so hard?

  • Thief to spend 14 days in prison

    A Wuse Zone 2 Senior Magistrates’ Court in Abuja has sentenced a 21-year-old man, Monday Yomi, to two weeks’ imprisonment for stealing a generator, valued at N85,000.

    Yomi, who lives at NEPA Junction, Apo District, FCT, had pleaded guilty to a two-count charge of criminal trespass and theft, and begged for leniency.

    The Magistrate, Aishatu Ibrahim, however, gave the convict an option of N5,000 fine, and ordered him to pay a compensation of N40,000 to the nominal complainant.

    She said the convict should either return the generator or pay the compensation on or before September 30.

    The prosecutor, Mr. Conatus Abah, told the court Abacha Ali reported the matter at Apo Police Station, on August 1.

    He said Yomi criminally trespassed into the complainant’s workshop at NEPA Junction, Apo, and stole his welding generator.

    The prosecutor said the convict admitted stealing the generator.

    He reportedly confessed he sold it for N8,000 to Agada, now at large.

    The offence contravened sections 348 and 287 of the Penal Code.

    The convict earlier pleaded with the court to pardon him, saying he was not in his right senses when he stole the generator.

  • Two get 10 days for causing disturbance

    A Minna Magistrates’ Court in Niger State, at the weekend, sentenced two men to 10 days’ imprisonment each for public disturbance.

    The police arraigned the accused, Bala Haruna and Mohammed Usman, for incitement and causing public disturbance, contrary to Section 114 of the Penal Code.

    The police prosecutor, Ahmed Ali, told the court a vigilance group arrested the men and brought them to the station, on August 12.

    He said they were accused of terrorising residents of Paida with long sharp knives.

    The accused pleaded guilty and begged for leniency.

    The Magistrate, Sa’adatu Gambo, ordered them to pay N5,000 each or serve 10 days each in prison.

  • Are dark days of Eighth Senate over?

    Are dark days of Eighth Senate over?

    The Eight Senate will mark its mid-term on June 9, having been controversially inaugurated on June 9, 2015.

    Two years in the life of a four-year tenured Assembly is half time; enough time to evaluate the trajectory and performance of the highest lawmaking body.

    In the field of soccer, half time is not only a period to rest awhile, it is also a period to look back at the performance of the team, a period to amend one or two pattern of play, and a period to  consolidate to excel and surpass in the field of play.

    A semblance of peace seems to have returned to the upper chamber after a troubling turbulent start on June 9, 2015.

    The emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki and Senator Ike Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy Senate President against the directive of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) threw the chamber into a revolting melt- down.

    Smooth legislative activity became the first casualty. Personal interest soared. Senators appeared oblivious of the world around them. Intrigue, scheming, wily and tricks became the rule rather than the exception in the chamber. Interest groups were formed and disbanded. Clandestine meetings and plots took the shine off legislative duties. It appeared everybody was for himself; nobody for the country.

    Like a group of spoilt children unmindful of the expectations of their parents, the lawmakers laboured to outwit and undo one another.

    The simmering leadership tussle in the chamber reverberated far beyond the shores of the Senate.

    Stakeholders were concerned that the country’s renascent democracy may be harmed. Distraught Nigerians felt cheated by those they gave their votes to represent them at the highest legislative assembly of the country.

    The seeming foot- dragging of President Muhammadu Buhari to step in when it mattered most did not help matters. The senate boiled. A series of attempts by concerned interests within and outside the chamber to broker peace failed. Legislation continued to suffer giving rise to the accusation of insensitivity against the lawmakers. Something was bound to give way, some thought.

    It may appear the dark days of the Eight Senate have been consigned to history. Saraki seems to have pacified and won over his troublers. The shrewd Kwara central lawmaker seems to have stabilised the senate and lined his colleagues behind him.

    The prevailing peace in the Senate did not come easily. Compromises and trade-off were made. Rejiging of committees to accommodate some arrow-heads of the ‘Saraki must-go’ instigators were hurriedly consummated. Some appointments which seemed to have been in line with the party mandate were made. First, boisterous Senator Kabiru Marafa, who carried the unenviable challenge of openly pushing for regime change in the Senate, was named chairman, committee on petroleum (downstream). With the appointment, Marafa literarily recoiled to his shield apparently to enjoy the fruit of his ‘hard labour.’

    The biggest loser in the political chess game was Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume who lost his plum position of senate leader to Senator Ahmed Lawan. Ndume was not only axed as senate leader, he suffered the indignity of being sent on suspension over allegation of failure to conduct due diligence in the matter of the purchase of exotic car for Saraki and certificate scandal of Senator Dino Melaye.

    Senator Samuel Anyanwu’s committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions blamed Ndume for not conducting due diligence before drawing attention of the Senate to the trending issue of purchase of a treated Range Rover.

    Ndume, who was handed a six-month suspension, cried blue murder. The Borno South cerebral lawmaker had tagged his ouster as senate leader as a legislative coup. He warned others, especially Ekweremadu, to watch their backs. Ndume put a spirited fight to save himself when he was dragged to the Ethics Committee. He told the committee he meant no harm to the duo of Saraki and Melaye. Ndume’s plea that he was merely drawing attention to issues that could tarnish the image of the Senate if left unclarified, did not convince the committee. When the hammer of suspension fell, the first of its kind in the Eighth Senate, Ndume was speechless. He has been stoic in his dealings ever since, savouring the bitter taste of suspension.

    Although the executive arm of government laboured not to be dragged into the Senate brawl when it lasted, recent events appeared to show that all may not be well between the two arms.

    It is rather curious that a government that controls near absolute majority in the Senate  fails to pull through its requests more often than not.

    Indication of some crack between the Executive and the legislature started with the controversial rejection of the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

    The celebrated altercation between the upper chamber and the Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali, followed in quick succession. The investigation of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, was no less notable.

    While the senate turned down the confirmation of Magu for the EFCC top job due to unfavourable security report by the Department of State Services, the upper chamber sent the Customs boss packing from its chamber for refusing to wear Customs uniform as directed by it.

    The retired army colonel was invited to explain Custom’s unpopular plan to check customs papers of old vehicles in the country. Like the ‘Ali Must Go’ of April 1978, Ali remained defiant damning the Senate to go to hell with its order for him to wear Customs uniform.

    The probe of the SGF over abuse of office for allegedly awarding mouth watering contracts to a company he has interest in under the Presidential Initiative for the Northeast (PINE), was another in the line of show of strength.

    The Senate did not only adopt the recommendation of its ad-hoc committee on mounting humanitarian crisis in the Northeast, it went ahead to resolve that Lawal should be relieved of his office as SGF and prosecuted. Lawal felt scandalised and fired back by telling the lawmaker that they were talking ‘balderdash.’ The SGF also accused the Senate of unfair treatment by not giving him opportunity to defend himself. Not to be outdone in its game, the senate mandated its ad-hoc committee to re-invite Lawal for questioning. Again, the SGF failed to honour the invitation. The Senator Shehu Sani led ad-hoc committee reaffirmed its recommendation that Lawal abused his office through the award of contracts. Senate concurred.

    In line with the senate resolution, Lawal was suspended to enable a Presidential panel of enquiry headed by no less a personality than the  Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, to valuate the Senate resolutions.  Observers believe that the Senate may have had its way on some of the issues, the Presidency will extract its pound of flesh at the appropriate time.

    One contentious issue that has dogged the Eight Senate and indeed the National Assembly is undue delay in passing the budget.

    The 2016 budget was almost truncated by intense rivalry between the executive and the legislature. The problem with the 2016 budget erupted when it was unceremoniously declared ‘missing.’ When the fiscal document was eventually ‘found,’ the allegation of padding crept in. The padding allegation consumed the chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumini Jibrin. The Kano State lawmaker was suspended for spearheading the padding and sundry allegations.

    The 2017 budget, on the other hand, took the two chambers almost six months to pass. The disclosure of details of National Assembly budget may be considered one major land mark achievement of the Eighth National Assembly. The leadership of the National Assembly, until this time around, has shunned agitations that it open up details of its budget. It is to Saraki’s credit that he has consistently promised to release details of the budget. When Saraki threw open the budget last week, it marked the first time since the country’s return to democracy that details of National Assembly budget is opened for the rest of Nigerians to see.

    Perhaps, civil society groups who were at the forefront of the campaign for open National Assembly budget should savour greater percentage of the credit for the budgetary milestone. One thing is still outstanding though. Full disclosure should be full disclosure.

    It ought necessarily to include the take home pay of individual lawmakers, allowances not excluded

    The Senate appears not to be lacking in passage of bills. In the last two years, it has passed not less than 36 bills. Some economic related bills initiated to grow the economy and lift the country out of poverty were passed.

    Some of the passed bills included Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act Cap.B2 LFN 2011 (Repeal and Enactment) Bill 2015; Public Procurement Amendment Act;  Nigerian Railway Corporation Act, (Repeal And Re-Enactment) Bill 2015; Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Bill 2015; National Centre For Cancer and Treatment (Est.) Bill; Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun and for Other Related Matters Bill, 2016; Forestry Research Institute Act Bill 2015; Soil Science Nigerian Institute Act Bill 2015; High Court of FCT Amendment Act Bill; Electronic Transactions Bill 2015; National Assembly Budget and Research Office (Establishment) Bill, 2016; JAMB Act (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (SB 245); Food Security Bill, 2016; Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Est. etc.) Act Bill, 2016; Defence Space Agency (Est. etc.) Act Bill 2016; Federal University, Wukari (Establishment, etc.) Act Bill; Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme Act Bill, 2016; National Institute for Cancer Research & Treatment (Establishment, etc.) Act Bill; North East Development Commission Bill (Establishment, etc.) Act Bill 2016; and the Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Education Institutions Bill 2016.

    Other bills are the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods Act 2004 (SB 55); Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service Bill 2016; National Poverty Alleviation Commission (Est. etc.) 2016; Air force Institute of Technology (Est. etc.) 2016; National Sports Lottery Act, 2005 Amendment Bill; Nigerian Peace Corps (Establishment) Bill; 2016 Appropriation Bill; INEC Amendment Bill; Ports & Harbours Reforms Bill; Credit Bureau Services Bill 2017; Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Bill National Inland Waterways Act CAP N47 LFN Repeal & Re-enactment; 2017 Appropriation Bill; The Nigerian Independent Warehouse Regulatory Agency Act; and the National Sports Commission Establishment Bill and the  Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIBG), which the chamber has just passed. Yet,Nigerians are still awaiting other land-mark bills that would change their lives for the better.

    It may not be a bad outing for the Senate, so far. It may do well to focus more on people-oriented bills and be more stringent in its oversight responsibilities to track appropriated funds. That way, the upper chamber may yet redeem its image that continues to hang in the balance.

  • So hard to think these days…

    To start with, the president would not die without telling me… (but) by staying in London and recuperating under the British health services, the president is putting more faith in their health systems and completely belittling what little is left of ours. I don’t like that.

    Honestly, I don’t know about you, reader, but I’m finding it harder and harder to think these days. Why? Just look around you. The sun is hotter than it has ever been in its history. My hair is all gone from worrying about where my next meal is going to come from, where the next fuel supply for my generator and car is coming from, when I will be able to sleep without worrying about robbers, kidnappers, ants inside my kitchen, and when the deuce my president is going to come home.

    Yes, it is hard to think around this house. With an absent landlord, sorry, president, the roofs are all leaking and the walls are crumbling from rising damp and political disloyalty bulging out the windows. The taps are dry and the wires all crossed and giving out sparks from all kinds of irreverence and disrespect. The house is filled with cockroaches flying left, right and right at your face in treasonable behaviour. At moments like these, you do need your landlord, in this case our president, if only to be able to give him all your complaints and watch him squirm under the weight of your worries while your own face wears the beatific smile of someone who has unburdened himself. Yep, you do need your president, sorry, landlord. Now, I think I’m a little lost with my metaphor.

    Seriously, why is no one explaining to me what exactly our president is doing in London? That is what has set me thinking today. His assistants all mouth what appears to have been rehearsed. You know why I know they are rehearsed? They all said the same thing. That is why they are all insisting he is still on vacation. It’s a little like the students caught in truancy instead of going to school and they all chorus that their vehicle broke down on the way to school. You can only catch them in their untruth if you ask them to give the particulars ‘of this breakdown’, individually.

    So, when I started to hear rumours like ‘the president is dead’, ‘the president is sick’, I refused to believe them because I thought they couldn’t be true. To start with, the president would not die without telling me. No, I am not necessarily his confidante… For another, he made me too many promises to even go getting sick on the job! So, I’m thinking that, perhaps, the president is getting tired of our duplicitous behavior. Obviously, reader, you can see I am doing a lot of thinking.

    Let me show you how seriously I have been thinking. Over the days, I have moved from wondering what the exact state of our president is to asking why he is still outside the country (even if on vacation!). Well, the thing I’ve concluded is that if he is recuperating from an illness as the more vociferous rumour mongers have claimed (you know there’s Amebo, and you know there’s the Amebo app!), then why can he not come and recuperate at home here? By staying in London and recuperating under the British health services, the president is putting more faith in their health systems and completely belittling what little is left of ours. I don’t like that. You cannot build faith in what you have by promoting someone else’s goods to the world.

    If, on the other hand, the president is on vacation in London, then he is still doing me a disservice. What is wrong with Ikogosi Springs that they cannot host the president? What is wrong with Obudu ranch with all its snow that it cannot play host to the first family? It played host to mine, and I think we are the One hundred and twenty millionth in the land. For that matter, what is wrong with my house that the president cannot use it for his vacation? I promise my toilets are clean. Look, look, look here, let’s talk man to man, err, woman; until I am told that London can muster more of what Mr. President needs in doctors or vacation homes than Nigeria can, I will not hold my peace.

          Have you noticed or have you not, that most organisms grow best only when they are challenged? Take me for instance. I think I’ve told you before that my teachers must have held some kind of meeting and come to the conclusion that I never learnt anything until I was punished. So it was that at every level of my schooling, I never met a teacher who spared me the rod, physically and metaphorically. I did not learn the Lord’s prayer until a pair of canes sat on my desk through an entire school day to my eternal shame and embarrassment. I never learnt the value of homework until I was paraded round my school for failing to do my homework, and many more such stories. I was quite the rebel against progress.

    I can bet you that a vacation home or hospital that will host Mr. President can move from Ground Zero of possessing nothing to the Eleventh Floor of having everything it needs under forty-eight (48) hours. The management will be challenged. The doctors and nurses’ professionalism will be challenged. The cleaners’ professionalism will be challenged enough to stop the chewing gum. Believe me, even the other patients will be challenged to do the needful and get well quickly. Mr. President is that inspiring. Most importantly, the hospital will be able to keep those things for good.

    ust imagine. If the people around President JFK of America in the 1960s had had only one option of flying him outside the country when the bullet struck him, the man would have died before the plane was ready. I know, I know; the man still died, but from bullet wounds not from someone failing to call the air ambulance quickly enough.

    Seriously, after doing a lot of thinking, I’m coming to the conclusion that our Nigerian leaders are not taking the country seriously enough and taking themselves too seriously. That is the problem. Each one of them thinks he/she is more important than the country.

         I have heard it said that one of the prerequisites of being a leader in Nigeria is that one must stop believing in anything Nigerian, including its hospitals or vacation homes. I don’t know how true this is or how true it is of our president but I understand that most Nigerian governors, Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Directors in the Civil Service, Corporate leaders, Tertiary Institution leaders, etc., all begin to treat their headaches outside the country the moment they get into those positions. In short, when they have no money or position, their faith in Nigerian systems soars; but when they have money or position, their faith bag empties. That means we have not moved an inch from where we were in the 1950s. How then do we want to get to the millennial ages where the rest of the world is waiting for us to catch up?

    Now, I believe that President Buhari is a very cautious individual and would not do anything he did not have to do. In other words, he would not have made his way towards London for any vacation or treatment if he did not have to go. I am peeved however that he has left the country guessing unnecessarily on this matter. More importantly, he has left the country for too long. Until I’m given an adequate explanation on this matter, I promise I will not eat or stop thinking, no matter how hard it is. I’m waiting, I’m waiting.

     

  • Fuel scarcity ends in few days, says NNPC

    Fuel scarcity ends in few days, says NNPC

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday assured that ongoing fuel scarcity in the country would be a thing of the past in the next few days.

    Its Chief Executive Officer (Upstream), Bello Rabiu, gave the assurance while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while giving an update on the supply and distribution situation of the product.

    Flanked by the Chief Operating Officer (Downstream), Henry Nkem-Obi; Chief Operating Officer (Refineries), Anibo Kragha and Group General Manager (Public Affairs), Garbadeen Mohammed yesterday, Rabiu said  the NNPC will soon flood the market with more petrol than the nation can consume.

    According to him, five vessels were already discharging products in various parts of the country.

    Aside this, he said private importers were also discharging at least 120 million litres of the product to complement NNPC’s imports.

    The only delay now, he said has to do with circulation of the products across the country using trucks as pipelines were still not in good condition.

    He said: “The plan going forward from today, we want to make sure that we give more than what is required in the whole country; the total requirement of the country is just about 1,300 trucks but our plan is to make at least 1,500 available everyday until this thing clears up.

    “So, we want to make sure that we saturate the market in a very short time and I think you can see clearly now that Lagos is almost cleared and Abuja is getting better. Other places will follow.”

    Rabiu said the country was spending about $1.8 billion per quarter to import fuel.

  • Ayade…How far 100 days after?

    Ayade…How far 100 days after?

    When on May 29 Prof Benedict Benyaushuye Ayade was sworn-in as the governor of Cross River State at the prestigious Calabar International Convention Centre (CICC), he left  no one in doubt that he was coming to government with the sole purpose of  serving the people.

    His vision as encapsulated in the inaugural speech is clear, captivating and precise as to the direction/path he intend to chart, the drive and passion he possesses, not unmindful of the hurdles on the way to success, he expressed his un-quenching determination to surmount such limitations and pilot the state to its divine allotted sphere of honour. In his inaugural speech, Ayade was passionate that as a people we have come to a point in history of possibilities/prosperity because he has come with the right ingredients to bring about a perfect pollination whose petals will spread abroad sweet scent that will enlivened and awakened and drive the state away from backwardness to greatness and the people from poverty to economically viable icons among the people of Nigeria and the world.  To achieve the desired goal therefore, it require that the people must collectively “rise to…full height to envision and carve out a better future” for themselves and the coming generations.

    Ayade’s subsequent utterances and actions from the day of his inauguration to his 100 days in office lucidly indicate that he is on course, never deviated or drifted away from the path which he has charted for himself by the grace of God to move Cross River out of doldrums of social, economic and political irrelevance to prominence and Cross Riverians from backbenchers in all sphere of existence to trail blazers in the comity of Nigerian States and beyond. Ayade had maintained in his inaugural speech that “In the new Cross River of our DREAM, there is a place and hope for everyone. There will be jobs for the youth and prosperity for the working class. The resurgent middle class shall find anchor for their roots and everyone shall find independence and pride in their work. The wages of honest labour shall liberate families from the jaws of hardship and no child shall go to bed with an empty stomach. Neither shall any mother be depressed by lack of access to Medicare for her children and loved ones. Brothers and sisters, this is our DREAM!”

    In 100 days, Ayade has made good his promise to provide jobs for our people with the conclusion of recruitment interview to employ 1000 persons for the Green Police and the Garment factory (500 each for a start), lifted the hitherto agonizing 13 years embargo on employment, started and sustained prompt payment of workers salary as at when due, concluded arrangement with a Dublin based Irish company, Affordable Buildings Concept International Limited for the building of 5000 Houses for the low, middle and upper income earners that would be provided with water and electricity, and provided an appointment by executive fiat to Mr. Ashie Osor who has been writing as a linage reporter with the Cross River State Newspaper Corporation since 2009.

    As part of effort to actualise his vision of creating employment opportunities for our people, within his 100 days in office, Governor Ayade has also been able to ensure that work on the garment factory is ongoing Inspite of the heavy rains, concluded arrangement with Irish Dairy firm for the establishment of an Ice Cream making factory, a Spanish company, Cavenco to establish a Dairy Farm to revitalize the Obudu Ranch Resort Farms. It is based on this reality that in his inaugural speech he specifies what this period expects from the entire people of Cross River.”This is what this moment requires. The capacity to dream! That is what will give real meaning to our belief. We must all strive to dream, to lift our eyes beyond the horizons of the present difficulties and visualize a better day! And we must all do this…from the hills of Obanliku to the thick forests of Boki and from the Creeks of Bakassi to the Cocoa plantations of Ikom, we must join hands to plant the trees of HOPE and water the gardens of liberty!”

    To bring to fruition his promise supported by the cooperation of the people tape on new ideas as well as technology to bring about total empowerment to Cross Riverians, Senator Benedict Benyaushuye Ayade has equally within his 100 days in the saddle concluded a pact for the establishment of a tractor assembly plant in the state, as progress of work on the governor’s signature projects in 100 days is clearly obvious. China Harbor Engineering, a globally renowned company is already carrying out preliminary work at the proposed Calabar Deep Seaport that will help to evacuate the corridors that have always prevented bigger vessels from entering the Calabar seaport, as they had to stop at Lome and then use smaller vessels to transfer goods by installment to Calabar. The project will also help service land lock countries like Chad and Niger to move their goods easily from the Calabar port.

    Ayade has already attracted a 500 million Euros from the Broad Spectrum Industrial Services, based on purely Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement with the government require to provide 25 percent Bank guarantee; just as a reputable Nigerian bank has already given its approval to the novel arrangement. When completed, the seaport is expected to generate an average N30 Million on monthly basis. In 100 days, surveying, plotting and excavation work is seriously ongoing on the over 260 kilometers Super High Way from the seaport to the northern part of the state. Advanced plans for the actualisation of the proposed state owned refinery; to send talented Cross Riverians to be train as pilots and other associated aviation courses, professions in Dublin with feverish vision to establish an airport in a located between Ogoja and Yala Local Government Areas of the state, have been laid.

    In his historic inaugural speech, Ayade explained: “And by ensuring that every foot is on the pedal, we aim to harness new ideas and technology to reconstruct our state, reform our schools to guarantee first class education for our youth and empower our citizens with the skills they need to engage a brave new world! Let me use this opportunity, to announce our signature projects; we shall undertake the construction of a dual carriage super highway from Calabar through Ikom and Ogoja to the Ranch Resort in Obudu”.

    Guided by the uplifting and immortal words penned by a global icon, Late Nelson Mandela that it always seems impossible until it is done”, Ayade sets out to lay a solid foundation as he has done in 100 days to bring about the restoration of hope to a once despondent people, checkmate hitherto raising spite of insecurity in the state as well as ensure a proper management and utilisation of our rich forests resources for the good of the people. To this end Ayade has in a 100 days set up a Five-man Security Committee headed by Brig. Gen Mannix Nyiam (Rtd) and code-named “Operation Skolombo” which has successfully reduced crime rate in the state to a negligible percentage. Provided the security committee with operational vehicles, attended and inspected the carry out of reconnaissance (recce) by the Officers and Men of the Armed Forces at Bakassi where several illegal settlements by militants were destroyed, thereby boosting foreign and international investors confidence in the state.

    Propelled by the unquenchable desire to bring about an attitudinal change favouring the employment of machineries/technology to enhance our production capacity, boost our economy and open a new vista of hope and opportunity directed at increasing our value chain as unambiguously stated in his inaugural speech, the Obudu born governor has within 100 days  in  office sponsored and signed into law the Cross River State Infrastructure  Development Law for a solid foundation for the development of the state, becoming the first state in Nigeria to do so. In 100 days, Ayade has sponsored a bill for the establishment of  Cross River State Sustainable Development Agenda Agency’ a bill for Social Housing Infrastructure Development to ensure every Cross Riverian, no matter his/her social, economic and political status is entitled to a decent house.

    He has equally sent a bill for a law to protect of our water frontiers; a bill to preserve our forests resources in accordance with the sustainable development agenda of the global community; a tax exemption bill to exclude the poor and the low income earners from taxation to ameliorate the conditions of the ordinary man in the state.  Out of a total of 15 bills before the current CRSHA, 10 are sponsored by Senator Ayade in 100 days in the saddle.

    In 100 days, Governor Ayade has  equally concluded an arrangement to build a brand new city to be called “Calas Vergas” in Calabar and 16 other modern estates in the 16 Local Government Areas where the dual super high way will pass as part of deliberate effort to lift the state infrastructure wise, draw oil magnets and other investors to Calabar and the sate in general and then boost the overall economy of Cross River and lives of the people.

    Outside the above stated achievements, the amiable governor has equally laid a rock-solid foundation that will turn the state into an economic hub in West Africa sub region  by sealing a pact with Chinese experts to generate a total of 90 megawatts of electricity from the Agbokim and Kwa waterfalls and the canalisation and channelisation of either Ikom, Itigidi and Calabar rivers, with each generating 30megawatts and the conclusion of plans to construct the Calabar Haulage City. Other significant achievements recorded by the Ayade administration within the short span of a 100 days in office include presentation of operational vehicles to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), restores the regular media parley with the press, restored the monthly impress to the press, provided the press with a brand new bus, restored the Correspondent Chapel to the Governor’s Office,, held meetings with members of  forests communities, and operators of quarries in the state plan to lift the ban on logging in the state and restore the concessional logging system, evacuation of refuse from our streets and introduction new refuse collection method as well as severally intervened on the Federal Roads to bring about palliative relief to the suffering motorists and other road users at Odukpani Junction and the Akpabuyo road.

    All that have been achieved and those successes in the offing, Ayade had in his inaugural speech as governor stated confidently that they were achievable and the journey and action of this visionary leaders in the past 100 days has clearly shown that they are indeed achievable with the collective support from the people in the future as they have so far done.

    “With our backs against the wall, we must dig deeper into the wells of our creativity and hew out a new pathway to greatness. In doing this, we must be guided by the immortal words of Dr Nelson Mandela that “ It always seems impossible until it is done”. Fellow Cross Riverians, we shall overcome the present bleakness and wend our way into the sunshine of a brighter day! As we clime this imposing mountain of hope, we shall widen our scope, broaden the horizon and sharpen our instincts for fresh and big ideas that will galvanise this great state to achieve its full potential and usher in a prosperous Cross River, where our people will live in peace and harmony with one another and with nature. We count on your prayers and support to achieve this.”

    Actually,100 days is actually an insignificant number out of 1095  or 1096 days in four years of a tenure, but to a great mind like Ayade, it means a lot and he has gone ahead to prove that by the achievements on ground.

    Bravo Ayade, Bravo the people’s Field Marshall, leader and commander of the poor and the down trodden in our society! Carry on!

     

    • Ulayi and Asha are media aides to Governor Ben Ayade

     

  • 500 days and still counting

    500 days and still counting

    We shall never be free of the burden of  bringing back the Chibok girls

    Thursday, August 27th, marked another tragic milestone in the evolving barbaric narrative of the Boko Haram terrorist insurgency that has, over the last five years, claimed thousands of lives, particularly in the North-East of Nigeria, and rendered the region economically prostrate.

    It was exactly 500 days that day since the extremist sect invaded the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, on the night of April 14, last year, abducting 276 girls who were preparing for their end-of-year Senior Secondary School examinations and carried them away in several trucks into the evil bowels of their Sambisa Forest fortress. But for about 57 of the abducted girls who were lucky to escape from their captors, nothing has been heard till date of the remaining 219 girls.

    That horrific incident shocked the entire world and exposed not only the depth of evil symbolised by the Boko Haram sect, which claimed to be waging a war against western education, but also the utter irresponsibility, insensitivity and incompetence of the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration. For one, it was simply incomprehensible how the insurgents could operate with such abandon and audacity in an area that had been placed under a state of emergency by the Federal Government.

    Even more exasperating was the inexplicable initial lethargic and unserious reaction of the Jonathan administration to the girls’ abduction. The administration only bestirred itself to act almost two weeks after the incident, and then only because of the international outcry that ensued. That squandering of valuable time is certainly a key reason why the insurgents were able to successfully spirit the girls away and their fate remains uncertain and unknown over 500 days after.

    The girls and their families heroically insisted on their obtaining western education despite the murderous threats of the Boko Haram barbarians. Unfortunately, the Nigerian State failed in its prime responsibility of providing them with adequate security to safeguard their lives. The sheer agony that the relatives and loved ones of these girls have been put through since the commencement of this ordeal can best be imagined. For, they have no way of knowing what fate has befallen the helpless girls. The parents of at least 17 of them have reportedly died during the ordeal. It is improbable that even if they are eventually rescued, the girls’ lives can ever be the same again.

    Messages of solidarity from across the world on the 500th day of their abduction show that the plight of the girls continues to haunt the global conscience. The Bring Back Our Girls movement deserves commendation for its tenacity in keeping the issue at the forefront of international consciousness. Even though it did not create the problem, the challenge and responsibility of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is to mobilise all the resources at the disposal of the Nigerian state to locate and rescue the girls. Luckily, the administration enjoys tremendous international goodwill and support, which it should draw upon to achieve this objective.

    ‘Even though it did not create the problem, the challenge and responsibility of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is to mobilise all the resources at the disposal of the Nigerian state to locate and rescue the girls. Luckily, the administration enjoys tremendous international goodwill and support, which it should draw upon to achieve this objective’

    Understandably, President Buhari has been cautious not to create the impression that he has a magic wand to find and bring the girls back home. It would be cruel and dishonest to raise the hopes of their loved ones on unrealistic premises only to have them dashed eventually. But no matter how bleak the situation looks, we must never give up hope of rescuing and returning the girls home. We agree with the sentiments of the Pakistani human rights activist, Malala Yousafzai who in a letter to the girls said: “…Today and every day, we call on the Nigerian authorities and the international community to do more to bring you home. We will not rest until you have been reunited with your families”.

  • Buhari made no promise on 100 days, says Presidency

    Buhari made no promise on 100 days, says Presidency

    The Presidency on Tuesday denied reports that President Muhammadu Buhari promised to achieve specific things within his first 100 days in office.

    It also claimed that the document tagged ‘One Hundred Things Buhari Will Do in 100 Days’ and ‘My Covenant With Nigerians’ did not emanate from the authentic channel of the campaign’s media department.

    The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu made the clarification while responding to the criticisms that followed the denial that the President made such promises.

    He urged Nigerians to ignore the claims from certain quarters that the president specifically made promises of achievements within his 100 days in office.

    The Presidential aide said that he never authorized or signed any document in this regard in his capacity as the director, media and communications of the Buhari campaign organization.

    According to him, what the public should be talking about in respect to President Buhari’s 100 days in office are milestones reached within the period under review, rather than achievements.

    He said: “We prefer to talk about milestones instead of achievements. Whether the milestones represent achievements or not, that is left for the people to decide. Milestones have been achieved which is important for the country”.

    On what the president said during his lecture at Chatham House in London, he said, “The president never promised anything to anyone. It is on record in that lecture at Chatham House they asked him a question relating to expectations and what he specifically would do in relation to certain documents that were flying around committing him to this thing or that thing within 100 days.

    “In that lecture- the video is already now viral on the web- he (Buhari) said ‘it contained falsehood and I am not going to be engaged in deceit. I will go in there, I will see what is there and then get the intelligence – the knowledge of things that are going on- and I will fully commit myself to serving Nigeria’”.

    “My point is that as the director, media and communications of that campaign, I was responsible for internal and external communications and these so called documents that are been flown around didn’t have my signature.

    “I didn’t fund them and I didn’t authorize them. From what President Buhari himself had said at Chatham House, he had no iota or knowledge of those documents. So, people cannot hold him to account on something to which he did not commit himself, ” Shehu stated.

    Responding to the question regarding the claim that the APC had posted the documents on its website, he said, “APC had a campaign in which there were so many centres of public communication and unfortunately there were some among those centres that were more or less on the loose. Yes, it was possible that things were being done without the knowledge or the usage of the proper channel of communication.