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Tag: ECOWAS

  • FG to deploy NSCDC special force to protect agricultural investments

     

    No fewer than 3,000 personnel of Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) Special Force known as “Agro-rangers” will be deployed to protect farms and agricultural investments in the country.

    The Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, said this on Wednesday in Abuja at a news conference.

    Dambazau said that the measure was meant to stem the tide of herdsmen/farmers clashes and protect agricultural investments in the country.

    He said that the armed NSCDC personnel would be specially trained in the act of protection and mediation in conflicts, especially as it related to ownership of farmlands and arresting cattle rustlers.

    “We know that the Police are being over-stretched in terms of maintaining law and order while the military is also battling insurgency.

    “So this falls within the purview of the NSCDC, this agro-ranger will be trained in the protection of agricultural assets and mediation in issues such as land disputes,” he said.

    He said the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has also been charged, especially with the new Immigration Regulations 2017, to ensure proper registration/monitoring of all foreigners, including foreign herdsmen who come into the country.

    The minister said that although Nigeria was a signatory to the ECOWAS Trans-human protocol which allowed herdsmen from the region into the country, all the necessary precautions such as registration and possession of valid travel documents would be enforced.

    He expressed optimism that all these measures would help in addressing farmers/herdsmen clashes and boost agricultural production as part of government’s plan to diversify the economy.

     

  • Why Security Council adopted resolution on Boko Haram crisis – Britain

    The UK Permanent Representative to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, on Monday  explained  why the Security Council adopted   a resolution on the Boko Haram crisis in the Lake Chad Basin, saying it  was a landmark development.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Security Council had on Friday  adopted Resolution 2349 (2017)  to bring attention to the Boko Haram crisis.

    Rycroft said:  “This adoption marks the start of the next chapter of our work on the Lake Chad Basin. Seeing a crisis first hand is a good start but it isn’t enough on its own.

    “It isn’t enough just to bring attention to its situation. We will fail the people of the region if we do not respond to what we saw; if we don’t take tangible action to bring real relief, real respite to the suffering, the hunger, the instability.

    “Through this resolution, we have made clear what action needs to be taken.

    “First and foremost, we need the countries in the region, the international community and the UN urgently to scale up their response to the humanitarian crisis.

    “If we act now famine can be avoided. But that means quickly dispersing money pledged at Oslo – every single dollar of the 458 million dollars pledged by donors, every single dollar of the one billion dollars pledged from the Government of Nigeria.

    “It means supporting the regional governments to lead a comprehensive and effective response to the crisis, building on the leadership they have already shown.

    “It means all in the region, including ECOWAS and ECCAS, addressing the root causes of the crisis – addressing economic inequalities, countering violent extremism, empowering women.”

    “Boko Haram exploits the poverty in the northeast, it exploits the men who view women as no more than objects, wives and cooks  without the prospect of a future,’’ he added.

    The UK envoy emphasised that the ideology of Boko Haram was unacceptable.

    “We also must avoid a protracted crisis  by better bridging the divide between humanitarian and development programming,

    “If we are to bring a conclusion to this crisis, we must also commend and support the countries in the region on their efforts to combat Boko Haram, including through the Multi National Joint Task Force.

    “They must sustain their momentum to defeat Boko Haram and Daesh.

    “You can’t defeat terror or build peace if you are committing or condoning the abuse of civilians. We all must hold ourselves to a higher standard than that,” Rycroft said.

  • ECOWAS advocates training for lawmakers

    The ECOWAS Parliament has advocated  inclusion of legislative practices and procedure in African universities’ curricula.

    This, it said, would help improve the quality of lawmaking and democratic process.

    Its Secretary-General, Dr. Nelson Magbagbeola, said the legislative processes of West African states needed to be harmonised as the region worked towards economic integration.

    He spoke in Lagos at a workshop on Comparative Parliamentary Practice and Procedure for Parliamentary Workers of ECOWAS Member States, drawn from three linguistic groups, namely Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone.

    It was organised by the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NLS), an organ of the National Assembly, in collaboration with ECOWAS Parliament and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF).

    Magbagbeola said the quality of legislative workers and lawmaking needed to be improved through specialised training, to equip African parliaments to discharge their oversight functions.

    “We want to encourage the universities to have curriculum on legislative practices and procedure.  It’s important that we are ready to sustain the democratic process.

    “Most of the officials in the executive arm of government are well trained. But there is asymmetric knowledge between officials of the legislature and the executive. It’s not easy to carry out oversight functions on people who know more than you do.

    “That is why we need to enhance the capacity of the parliamentary workers and the members of parliament. If a parliamentarian is not versed in financial reporting, how will he ask questions on oversight duties at ministries, departments and agencies? So we want to bridge that gap with this sort of training,” he said.

    The former Speaker, National Assembly of Burkina Faso, Prof. Melegue Traore, who was one of the resource persons, said the quality of legislation needs to improve if African parliaments must better control public policies.

     

  • Reps move to check smuggling, illegal emigration

    The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government to come up with stringent polices that would check illegal smuggling and emigration in the country.

    In a unanimous adoption of a motion by Rep. Rotimi Agunsoye (Lagos-APC) at plenary on Tuesday, the chamber said it was worrisome that the country’s land and sea borders had become quite porous.

    In the motion earlier, Agunsoye said that it was regrettable that the borders allowed unlawful goods and immigrants into the country.

    According to him, shops, markets and stores are adorned with smuggled goods, including clothing materials and food items.

    “Roads in the country have been taken over by smuggled cars and the anti-smuggling unit and other formations of the Nigerian Customs Services (NCS) are not able to stem the tide.

    “The NCS has failed in its duty to stop smuggled goods into the country.

    “The organization now resorts to harassing innocent citizens who have purchased vehicles and other goods off the shelves,” he said.

    The lawmaker said that the failure of government agencies to check smuggling of substandard and harmful goods was posing socio-economic threat to the existence of the country.

    He listed some of the smuggled goods as plastic rice, Genetically Modified Foods, expired drugs and high radiation mobile phones.

    The legislator regretted that foreigners who had gained entry into the country without immigration papers or whose visas had expired, were still in the country competing with citizens and enjoying tax payers money.

    He said that it was imperative for the country’s borders to be guarded and monitored to reduce the spate of smuggling.

    He also said that the NCS and the Nigerian Immigration Service were operating below expectation.

    Contributing, Rep. Emmanuel Orker-Jev (Benue-APC) pointed out cases where Nigerians had been killed by foreigners.

    He said that the herdsmen unleashing mayhem in the country had always been referred to as foreigners.

    Orker-Jev called for documentation of movement of persons across the borders in spite of the ECOWAS free trade zone policy.

    Rep. Nicholas Ossai (Delta-PDP) said that there was need to ascertain if the NCS and other services were well funded to do their job.

    He said that the Government of United States of America was committing enough funds to build border walls to enable security agencies checkmate movement of hoodlums.

    “What is the budgetary allocation for border monitoring?

    “If the executive has failed to do that, we are the representatives of the people and I move that this 8th Assembly should make provision of N1 trillion in the 2017 budget to guard our borders,” he said.

    The Deputy Speaker of the House, Rep. Yussuf Lasun (Osun-APC) described Nigeria as a very unique country.

    He said that the Yoruba race, for instance, had their kinsmen in Cotonou, Ghana, Liberia just like the Fulanis in Niger and up to Libya.

    According to Lasun, building walls will amount to disconnecting the people from their kinsmen in the neighbouring countries.

    He, however, advocated deliberate policies that would protect the economy and clearly differentiate between foreigners and citizens of the country.

    In his ruling, Speaker of the house, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, mandated the Committees on Customs and Excise and Interior to organise a public hearing on the matter and report to the house for further action.

     

  • Nigerian women, girls have paid heavy price for conflicts – Alhassan

    Nigerian women, girls have paid heavy price for conflicts – Alhassan

    Nigerian women and girls in recent times, have paid a heavy price for the myriad of conflicts that ravaged the country, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Sen. Aisha Alhassan has said.

    Alhassan made this known at a meeting with donors and partners on issues that bother on women and girls, at the sideline of the 61st Session of the Commission on Status of Women (CSW) at the Nigeria House in New York.

    “The emergence of extreme terrorism in Nigeria has introduced new dimensions to women and girls’ human rights violations.

    “The situation is further worsened by the humanitarian crisis generated as the internally displaced persons (IDPs) that resulted from the insurgency and the gendered nature of the problem is huge with over 60 per cent of the IDPs population being women and children.

    “Catering for the peculiar needs of this group remains a challenge in the post conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation process,” Alhassan said.

    She said the commitments of donors and partners groups have helped to advance the status of Nigerian women, children and the vulnerable groups.

    Alhassan said the gathering would help to explore how to make strong linkages and consolidate established relationships to help achieve the theme for the 61st CSW, which is to improve the productivity prospects of developing countries that are undergoing recession and decline in national income.

    “Reflections on the progress achieved since our last meeting should help in appraising the value added by the collaborative efforts channelled to different work areas.

    “It is important to examine the impact of investments and support provided since we last met in order to appreciate the transformation that is taking place in the lives of women and vulnerable groups in Nigeria on account of such partnerships.”

    She said the Nigerian women population held a strategic position in the socio-economic and political advancement of the country, regretting, however, that women were still confronted by negative socio-cultural beliefs and practices that shaped their choices and prevented them from contributing optimally to national development.

    The minister, however, said progress recorded through partnerships since the last donors meeting at 2016 CSW, had helped the implementation of strategic policy priorities in many key areas.

    “Working with UNFPA and UNICEF on the abandonment of female genital mutilation (FGM), 100 medical and health workers were trained and 75 ‘FGM Champions’ have also been equipped to conduct house-to-house visitation on the eradication of FGM.

    “Also with UNFPA support, relief materials were provided to the IDPs in the insurgency affected Northeastern States.

    “In collaboration with the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre, rehabilitation and reintegration arrangement is in top gear for the repair and rehabilitation of VVF survivors in Kaduna, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom and Katsina states.”

    “In the area of promoting economic empowerment of women and girls, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, which is one of the Social Investment Programmes of the Federal Government aimed at providing micro-finance to rural communities nationwide is being implemented by my Ministry in collaboration with the Bank of Industry.”

    She said under the programme, soft loans were given to rural women entrepreneurs like market women, artisans, farmers and women engaged in other small businesses.

    To further expand women’s economic empowerment, Alhassan said initial approval had been granted for a 250 million dollars World Bank project – Strengthening Women Economic Empowerment Programme – to boost government’s financial inclusion programme for grassroot women.

    “The African Development Bank, on its part, is setting aside the sum of five million dollars out of the 13 million dollars economic growth stimulation project in Nigeria for women.

    “UN Women has also supported the Ministry with the training of 600 women, who suffered various forms of violence as result of the insurgency in the Northeast, on skills and techniques needed to access loans from the National Women Empowerment Fund.

    “In the area of women’s political participation, in collaboration with ECOWAS and INEC, the Ministry is working on strategies for increasing women’s participation in politics with a view to creating entry points into political party structures and systems.”

    She said in collaboration with UNFPA and UN Women, the Ministry had undertaken humanitarian interventions in the Northeast through the provision of relief materials to IDPs in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe and Bauchi States.

    “The holistic rehabilitation and reintegration programme of the 24 recently released Chibok girls from the captivity of Boko Haram is being carried out in collaboration and with the support of UN Women and UNFPA,” she said.

    Alhassan also said the country recently revised and validated Nigeria’s National Action Plan on UN Security Council’s resolution 1325, in order to provide a more robust and strategic framework for addressing women peace and security concerns.

    She commended the donors and partners for their collaboration and commitments towards advancing the mandate of the Ministry by ensuring better life for Nigerian women, children, the physically challenged and other vulnerable groups.

     

  • Stop abusing ECOWAS protocol, agents told

    Importers and clearing agents at the land borders have been urged to stop abusing the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) to boost revenue and facilitate trade.

    Speaking with The Nation at Seme border last week,  the Managing Director, World Cargo Investment, Mr Adesope Aderoju, said ETLS was put in place by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to facilitate the integration of trade and commerce among citizens of the member states.

    Aderoju said the scheme was set up to eliminate barriers and promote free trade.

    ETLS, he said, allows goods manufactured in member-states of ECOWAS to move freely without payment of import/export duties within the region.

    “The scheme has been subjected to unbridled abuse, especially by some unscrupulous importers and Asian businessmen. These unscrupulous people bring in goods from China and other Asian countries, ship them into the sub-region and land such goods in ports of neighbouring countries such as Benin Republic, Ivory Coast, Ghana and even lately Liberia. They subsequently change the labels on these goods and smuggle them through the land borders into the country.”

    A source said the implications of this act are grave. Apart from the loss of huge government revenue, goods that find their way into the market in this manner gain unfair competitive price advantage over locally made products.

    Apart from the abuse of the ETLS, which is mostly perpetrated through the land borders, many importers also disregard the country’s import policy. They bring in variou sgoods, including those banned by the government through seaports.

  • Stakeholders agree on 24-hour services in Nigerian ports

    Stakeholders have agreed that the maritime industry should operate for 24 hours to facilitate efficient cargo handling and delivery services to consignees.

    The stakeholders reached the concensus in a communique issued at the end of a one-day Town Hall Meeting on Cargo Handling and Port Charges organised by Publishers of Business and Maritime West Africa magazine.

    “Pending the establishment of the proposed National Transport Commission or an appropriate regulatory authority, the Federal Government should set up an ad-hoc committee to verify and fine tune the current cargo handling practices and charges by terminal operators.

    “The Federal Government must urgently evaluate the benefits or otherwise of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), as well as the level of implementation of the Common External Tariffs ( CET) by ECOWAS member-states.

    “The Federal Government must have a rethink on the underlying philosophy of Nigeria’s trade relations with her neighbours;

    “There is need for regular stakeholders’ meetings where issues affecting the industry will be discussed,’’ the communiqué said.

    The stakeholders said that hostilities between port operators and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) should cease.

    They also suggested that extortion by field staff of government agencies must be checkmated.

    “As done in Ghana in August 2016, Nigeria must immediately stop the practice of shipping companies and terminal operators invoicing consignees for Terminal Handling Charges (THC).

    “Nigeria must review its application of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff.

    “Nigeria must enthrone a system of effecting refund of container deposits within five days of submission of application, even as any limitation period for refund submission must be eliminated,’’ the communique said.

    The stakeholders said the Federal Ministry of Works, Housing and Power must urgently fix all dilapidated ports access roads.

    They noted that all terminal operators should provide the required infrastructure as negotiated in the concession agreements;

    “Operators of off-dock terminals/bonded warehouses must upgrade their facilities, as a matter of urgency.

    “Nigeria must enthrone real-time Information Communication Technology (ICT) inter-connectivity in the maritime industry  to facilitate efficient operations.

    “There is need for Nigeria to adopt global best practices in the provision of maritime safety and security for safe and secured shipping in a cleaner marine environment,’’ the stakeholders said.

    The forum drew key stakeholders from both public and private sectors of the maritime industry, including various government agencies, organised private sector groups and banks.

     

  • Family drags FG to ECOWAS court over property demolition

    The Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS has adjourned till May 2, a case of human rights violation filed by Chief Damian Onwuham and 22 others against the Federal Government.

    Also joined in the case is the Imo State Government.

    Onwuham alleged that his rights and that of 22 other members of his family were violated following the demolition of his property worth more than N100 million by the Imo State Government.

    The demolition was allegedly carried out by “armed men’’ from the Imo State Security Network on April 12, 2014.

    The applicant claimed that the property was demolished on “the excuse that the applicant’s son is a suspected kidnapper’’.

    He also alleged that the son, Obinna Onwuham, was arrested by security men as a suspect in a kidnap case on Dec. 19, 2012 and had not been charged to any court for trial.

    He claimed that the action of the defendant had made him and members of his family destitute and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) without cause.

    The court on Wednesday dismissed the preliminary objection of the defendant and ruled that it had the jurisdiction to hear the case since it bordered on human rights violations.

    The Presiding Judge, Justice Friday Nwoke also ruled that the Federal Government was a proper party to the case because it was responsible for the behavior of its organs.

    He further adjourned the case for definite hearing.

    The applicant sought, among others, a declaration that the acts of the defendants constitute a trespass and N50 million as an order for general damages for trespass.

    The applicant also sought an order of N100 million for special damages being the total cost of building three new houses of the same or similar attributes, including household items.

    He also sought an order of N500 million for exemplary damages.

     

  • Senate lauds enhancement of powers of ECOWAS Parliament

    Senate lauds enhancement of powers of ECOWAS Parliament

    The Senate Wednesday hailed the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for enhancing the powers of the ECOWAS Parliament.

    The upper chamber resolved to congratulate the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government as well as well as the ECOWAS Parliament on the milestone.

    It also pressed for the amendment of the Electoral Act to empower the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct election to fill Nigerian’s 35 seats at the Community Parliament.

    The resolutions were sequel to a motion sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu Wednesday.

    Ekweremadu who is also a former Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, recalled that although the Parliament was established in 2000 sequel to the Article 13 of the 1993 Revised Treaty of ECOWAS, and ECOWAS Protocol A/P2/8/94 of 1994, the Parliament had existed only as a mere advisory body.

    He further recalled that while previous efforts to enhance the powers of the Community Parliament had failed, the 3rd Legislature of the Parliament, which he headed as the Speaker, championed a robust advocacy for the actualisation of this project, “including coming up with a Draft Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Powers of the Community Parliament to bring the institution to the international best standards”.

    The Deputy Senate President, however, regretted that despite the adoption of the Supplementary Act by the 46th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of the State and Government in Abuja in December 2014, the 47th Ordinary Session of the Authority had failed to sign, to bring it into force in Accra in May 2015, before the expiration of the 3rd Legislature.

    He commended the 4th Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament for continuing with the relentless efforts (take this out :towards) to enhance the powers of the Parliament, and described as a thing of “immense joy” to the peoples of West Africa, the “eventual endorsement of the ECOWAS Supplementary Act A/SA/1/12/16 by the 50th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in Abuja in December 2016”.

    On the implications of the enhanced powers of the institution, he said the Supplementary Act now bestows on the Community Parliament enhanced competences, (take out namely) such as involvement in the enactment of all Community Acts, adoption of the Community Budget, and powers of oversight function.

    Ekweremadu called on the Senate to note in particular the provision for the election of Community Parliamentarians by direct adult suffrage by Article 18 of the Supplementary Act provides, a situation, he said, called for the amendment of the Electoral Act of Nigeria to empower the INEC to conduct the election of the Nigeria Country Delegation into the Parliament when that Article comes into effect.

    Summing up the debate on the motion, which was was seconded by the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Senator Ibn N’Allah (Kebbi South), the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, described the enhancement of powers of the Parliament as “historic and very commendable”

    He added: “We want to thank all those that worked towards it, especially our own Deputy President of the Senate and the leadership of the ECOWAS Parliament.

    “This is something we should all be proud of. It is a victory, not only for the legislative democracy, but I think the coming together of the ECOWAS body to a more people-oriented and focused assembly. We charge the regional body to take advantage of this to ensure that they continue to work for the actualisation of regional integration”.

  • Varsities to support ECOWAS to implement agric policy

    Enhancing Capacities on International Agriculture Agreements for Development of Regional Agriculture and Food Markets (ECIATA), a regional project collaboration between agriculture universities in the subregion,  has pledged to support Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) member-nations to promote policies  that will boost food security.

    The main objective of the project is to strengthen the academic capacities of partner institutions on international trade agreements, which would enable them to enhance the institutional capacities of government ministries, agencies, regional bodies, farmers organisations, civil society and other relevant bodies on trade-related agriculture negotiations, agreements and policy implementation in support of regional agriculture and development of food markets.

    The universities include the College of Agriculture Education of the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana; University of Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia; Njala University, Sierra Leone, the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, and University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

    According to ECIATA,  West Africa region has major potential in terms of agriculture, livestock and fisheries, but  was facing  food security problems because of  challenges occasioned by  differing climate conditions, sub-regional disparities and local production deficits, a lack of market fluidity and little competition within production sectors.

    The group noted  that the  link between food security and the availability of foodstuffs requires that different sectorial policies have to work together to enhance the competitiveness of the agriculture sector and develop the regional food markets. Stepping up food security requires improving the competitiveness of the sector to improve production.