The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ezenwo Nyesom Wike

  • Wike vows conducive business environment in FCT

    Wike vows conducive business environment in FCT

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has reiterated the FCT Administration’s commitment to ensuring a conducive business environment in the nation’s capital for all stakeholders.

    The Minister said this in Abuja when he received the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mohammed Fouad on a courtesy visit to his office.

    During the meeting, Wike highlighted the long-standing positive relationship between Nigeria and Egypt, noting the presence and success of numerous Egyptian companies operating in Nigeria.

    He specifically mentioned Arab Contractors and their ongoing work on the vital Airport Expressway to Kuje road project, emphasizing its importance to the FCT.

    He said: “Ours is to make sure that our guests carry out their businesses without molestation, and create a very conducive environment”.

    Wike further expressed the desire to strengthen bilateral relations with Egypt in the Agricultural and vocational training sectors saying: “It will be our honour to see what we can do with Cairo in terms of partnership, particularly in the area of Agriculture and vocational training. It’s very key for us”.

    The Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, commended the FCT Minister’s outstanding work and significant infrastructure development in the nation’s capital.

    Read Also: EFCC arraigns 20 Filipinos, Chinese, Indonesian over cybercrime, plot to destabilise Nigeria

    The Ambassador specifically acknowledged the Minister’s recognition as “Mr. Project” and “Best Minister of 2024,” congratulating him on his achievements.

    The Ambassador, who was accompanied by the Managing Director of Arab Contractors, Nigeria Engr Mohammed Eldarous emphasised the long-standing presence of the construction company in Nigeria, highlighting its status as a Nigerian/Egyptian company with over 95% Nigerian employees, showcasing a successful example of bilateral collaboration.

    Ambassador Fouad also expressed his commitment to strengthening bilateral relations between Egypt and Nigeria, particularly in economic development and infrastructure expansion.

    He also noted the immense untapped potential between both countries and stressed their shared responsibility in driving continental progress.

    The Ambassador further highlighted the potential for cooperation between Abuja and Cairo, particularly in light of Egypt’s new administrative capital project. He acknowledged Nigeria’s pioneering experience in capital relocation and suggested a potential exchange of knowledge and expertise in urban planning and infrastructure development.

    He said: “As the biggest countries in the continent, I think we share the responsibility of enhancing our bilateral relations to take the continent further. I think there is a lot to learn from each other and share experience when it comes to urban planning and infrastructure expansion”.

    The FCT Minister also played host to the Moroccan Ambassador to Nigeria, Moha Tagma, during which discussions focused on strengthening diplomatic ties, exploring opportunities for collaboration between both countries and the construction of the new Moroccan embassy in Abuja.

    The Minister pledged the full support of the FCT Administration for the Embassy project, saying: “Just this morning, I directed the appropriate authority, the Development Control department, to liaise with you on the commencement of your embassy construction. You will be hearing from them any moment from now”.

    Wike also accepted an invitation by the Moroccan envoy to visit Rabat to discuss areas of partnership between the two cities and explore opportunities for cooperation.

    Reaffirming the FCT Administration’s commitment to the diplomatic community, the Minister emphasized the importance of ensuring diplomats can conduct their work seamlessly. 

    He highlighted the significant improvements in security and infrastructure development within the FCT, stressing, “Ours is to make sure that all diplomats carry out their business without any hindrance”

    At the courtesy visits were the Chief of Staff to the Minister, Hon Chidi Amadi, General Counsel, Barr. Salman Dako, Economic Planning Secretary, Arch. Ubokutom Nyah, and SSA on Legal and Multilateral Cooperation, Barr. Benedict Daudau.

  • Gov Wike and the dance of the spirit

    I struggle to reject the version of Nigeria as an abnormal country.  But certain incidents in the country have continued to insistently and adamantly push this feeling.
    If Nigeria were a nation structured to function like a decent country, someone like Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, the Governor of Rivers state should have been confined in a psychiatric or rehabilitation home.
    But I am not surprised Nigeria is an assemblage of complacent and easily contented people. So, we celebrate vicious leaders simply because they bow to our favoured affinities.  And no matter the aberrations’ they commit, we see them as flawless and faultless people.
    So, it is not enough that characters like Wike are straddling the land, by we are compelled to call them our leaders.  And so graciously and freely, they are polluting everywhere, with an odious aura of importance.  And for the wrong reasons, destiny compels us to worship them.
    Wike is very powerful and influential from a dubious perspective. Since I heard of Wike’s foray into partisan politics about two decades ago, his name has not been mentioned in pleasant circumstances’. His political sagacity recognizes only two things-the use of thugs and bribing his way to grab what he targets.
    He is so soulless and heartless that to sniff life out of anybody in order to realize his political ambition is very casual to him. I guess even the devil will learn some wisdom from Gov. Wike’s satanic antics.
    Wike remains the only Governor in the history of Nigeria to provoke protests in London. And it confounds that the protests were not for a populist cause embarked upon by Gov. Wike in his state or Nigeria. They were spurred by Wike’s felonious outing in Port Harcourt and Nigeria. So, London squawked in remonstrations.
    The James Moore group,  “UK Matters Most,” comprising hundreds of Britons marched to  #10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace to converse with Queen Elizabeth II through an epistle  as well as the Westminster Parliament  in London to  prevail on these top government officials to initiate action on Gov. Wike’s alleged $1 million bribe to the High Commissioner and consulate officials in the  British High Commission in Nigeria.
    And why were the British officials brought into public odium? Wike allegedly sought to compromise them in order to have the consulate officials manipulate observer mission report on  the just concluded 2019 general elections in favour of him and his party, the PDP.
    Each time I contemplate it, I visualize Gov. Wike writing and delivering a clean copy of the fabricated, false and misleading   report, indicting the Nigerian military, INEC and every force opposed to him and his party to the consulate officials.
    And Moore and other Britons were incensed at Wike and the Consulate officials for willfully attempting to mislead the UK Government about the involvement of the military in elections in Nigeria. Britons were angered by Wike’s attempts to tarnish the integrity and reputation of Great Britain.
    Dexterously, Gov. Wike plans his devilry very meticulously. When his plot to use UK Consulate officials to unfairly indict the military, he attempted to bribe the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Jamil Sarham and other officers to compromise the electoral process.
    Had soldiers accepted the bribe, Wike would blackmail the Army with the water-tight evidence. But Gen. Sarham disappointed Gov. Wike by rejecting the monitory inducements.
    Apparently, sensing that he was losing the war on tainting the image of the Nigerian Army, the “wicked,” Wike as some politicians call him, told some visiting officials of the British High Commission who came visiting that Gen. Sarham is plotting his assassination. But he had no shred of proof. If leaders like Gov. Wike are the only leaders we have in this country, then I  am ashamed of my country.
    Portrait of Wike in politics is unattractive. All his actions stinks and are repulsive. But since we have misapplied the interpretation of democracy to crazy limits, human beings like Gov. Wike are still parading and flaunting themselves as leaders of people.
    What legacy is Wike leaving in politics or Rivers state? It is the legacy of political thuggery, violence and killings in the name of politicking. I still recount vividly that in the build-up to the general elections, APC, the main opposition party in Rivers state lamented in several press statements about the silent elimination of its members. Now if PDP and Wike are not responsible for such criminality, should we believe APC silently eliminated its chieftains to blame PDP and  the government of Wike?
    We must learn to face reality and tell ourselves the truth. Gov. Wike’s prolonged battles to discredit the Nigerian Army has a history. If we remember, in the course of routine surveillance, sometime last year, soldiers of  6 Division,  Nigerian Army  busted Gov. Wike’s   illegal militia training camp at Nonwa Gbam (NYSC Orientation Camp) in Tai Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers state.  That was Wike’s peculiar style of preparing for an election he was a participant.
    Deputy Director,  Army Public Relations , Col. Aminu Iliyasu said in a statement that “The troops met over 100 recruits undergoing military-type of training.” Just imagine that massive number of trained and armed thugs are unleashed on River state, peace would have gone on permanent exile.
    But Gov. Wike came out parroting and rejigging the narrative; he felt nothing denying it as militias. He proceeded   to caricature soldiers over their Boko Haram counter-insurgency operations in the Northeast. No one can convince me Gov. Wike is normal.
    Are you not surprised that Wike said the militia camp busted by soldiers in Tai was  the training camp in Rivers state meant for “Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency Training programme?” Whatever it means, only Gov. Wike knows. But safety corps should be given hard core military training in this volatile state and no security agency was involved. Yet, Wike thinks the rest of Rivers people are not wise enough to know? So, when you say this sort of person is my leader, it weighs me emotionally.
    Gov. Wike should know we are not foolish. A Governor cannot train and arm thugs, but turn around to shout everywhere of plots to assassinate him. These attack dogs Wike harbors will one day, find reason to revolt against him.  It is childish and laughable to mouth that the Army or the Federal Government is after his life.  Wike should learn some leadership decency.  The leadership scamps he displays will not help him in the long run.
    Egbo, a public affairs commentator wrote from Trans Amadi, Port Harcourt.

     

     

  • Wike directs UBEC to release Anambra money

    Wike directs UBEC to release Anambra money

    The Supervising Minister for Education, Mr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, a lawyer, has directed the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to release the money belonging to Anambra State, still with the commission.

    He said Anambra was one state where the spending of UBEC funds was properly done and urged other governors to emulate Peter Obi by investing in education.

    A statement from the Office of the Media Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Valentine Obienyem, said Wike gave the directive during his visit to the state, where he joined Obi to launch the distribution of 25,000 computers, 450 50 KVA generators and buses to schools.

    He said Federal Government would replicate what Obi is doing in Anambra in unity schools, adding that each time he visits the state, he observes good governance.

    The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Suleman Dikko, expressed surprise about the high level of transformation in schools in the state, which he noted was contrary to the information peddled in some quarters.

    He spoke during Obi’s presentation of N525 million cheque to public and mission secondary schools for the provision of sick bays.

     

  • Minister urges contractor to complete National Library next year

    The Supervising Minister for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has urged the contractor handling the 12-storey library complex of the National Library of Nigeria to ensure that it is completed by the end of next year.

    The minister spoke yesterday in Abuja during an inspection visit to the site of the library complex.

    He said the Federal Government was committed to funding the project until it is completed to ensure that Nigerian students, academics and the public have access to library services of world-class standard.

    Wike noted that though the contractor handling the project was internationally recognised, he would still supervise the work alongside a ministerial committee established to ascertain that the contractor delivers the work on schedule.

    He said: “I am satisfied with the pace and quality of work. We shall, however, continue to monitor the contractor to ensure that he delivers the work on schedule.”

     

  • Minister inspects Benue projects

    Minister inspects Benue projects

  • Strengthening technical and vocational education

    Strengthening technical and vocational education

    The deliverables in the education sector have been pouring in for Nigerians over the last six months at a sustained tempo. In the recent past, no administration has made more positive impact on Nigerians as regards improvements in this sector than the Jonathan administration.

    To say that the quality impact of the present administration is most felt in the basic education sector is to merely emphasize the obvious. Beyond using basic education as a source of enlightening the teeming less privileged Nigerians, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has taken this sub-sector as a veritable tool towards addressing the employment and economic needs of the people.

    In the last seven months, the Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has been building synergy with international development partners to ensure that a workable framework is developed to achieve the administration’s goals as regards technical and vocational education.

    For the Minister and officials of the Federal Ministry of Education, the challenge of ensuring that the teeming unemployed Nigerian youths benefit from a government programme has gone beyond the realm of rhetoric. He had explained to implementing officials and stakeholders that the zeal with which the government is pursing the actualization of the almajiri and girl-child education programmes is the same zeal that will be used to achieve the goals of vocational and technical education programme.

    In January this year, the Minister of State for Education led the team of the Federal Government to fashion out modalities of implementing the technical and vocational education framework at the Highbury College, Portsmouth in United Kingdom. The essence of developing this programme was to ensure that technical and vocational education becomes relevant to the nation and is appreciated amongst the people, especially those seeking employment in an increasingly challenging economy.

    The focus of the minister in the technical and vocational education sub-sector is create a practical environment which would transform the existing the Federal Science and Technical Colleges into centres for the impartation of lifelong entrepreneurial skills into Nigerian youths to make them contributors to the nation’s economy by being employers of labour or qualified technicians with capacity required by existing companies.

    The Minister also indicated to the international partners at Highbury College, Portsmouth, the intention of the Federal Government to establish Technical and Vocational Centres of Excellence in parts of the country with the aim of serving as models to states and private proprietors on the need to promote this form of education to the benefit of the nation.

    Since that tour of the facilities of Highbury College, Portsmouth, officials of the Federal Ministry of Education and their counterparts at the United Kingdom based college have collaborated to ensure that a practical framework is put in place for the programme.

    On Tuesday, September 17, the Minister of State for Education and the leadership of the College met at the Federal Ministry of Education headquarters in Abuja to finalise the processes for the implementation of the partnership programme targeted at developing employment opportunities for Nigerian youths. The officials of Highbury College led by the school’s principal, Stella Mbubaegbu and Deborah See, Executive Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance presented a programme for enhancing the facilities and curriculum of the new Technical and Vocational Centres of Excellence. They also presented a training schedule for teachers and facilitators at the existing Federal Science and Technical Colleges.

    The Principal of Highbury College, Portsmouth had indicated that the school would bring its wealth of experience to bear as regards assisting the nation to build a viable economic base to tackle employment needs of the massive Nigerian youth population. She pointed out that even in the United Kingdom, vocational and technical education is now being encouraged as a source of employment generation due to the increasing drop-out from school by the youth.

    At that meeting, the Minister of State for Education stated that in line with the focus of employment generation for the youth through development of entrepreneurial skills, the Federal Government has started the process of establishing new vocational and technical education centres across the country.

    Wike said that new vocational training centres would be used as practical platforms to groom a viable workforce to develop the economy of the nation. He said that the new vocational and technical centres will train Nigerian youths in line with the employment needs of existing companies.

    “We are partnering with Portsmouth Highbury College to develop these new Vocational and Technical Colleges across the country because of the expertise of this school. We have been to the various campuses of the school in the United Kingdom and we are convinced that this partnership will achieve the desired result.

    “We are further committed to capacity building for our existing technical and vocational teachers to assist us achieve the goals of practically training our children to make them employers of labour, instead of job seekers”, Wike said.

    The planning process for the enhancement of vocational and technical education is over. Now, the Federal Ministry of Education has entered the implementation stage of the programme. The Federal Government has already started the funding of the revival of facilities, training equipment, workshops and laboratories in 22 existing Federal Science and Technical Colleges. This is a top priority.

    The additional investment in the provision of vocational and technical education training facilities underscores the significance that the Jonathan government attaches to the creation of employment opportunities for Nigerian youths. Aside the partnership that has been consummated with the Highbury College, Portsmouth, the Federal Government has a working relationship with the Korean International Cooperation Agency, KOICA, to develop the nation’s technical education sub-sector.

    The essence of the reform that has gone into this sector is to ensure that the existing and about-to-be established technical colleges in Nigeria transit from centres where theoretical learning take place to practical centres where Nigerian youths are groomed in viable technical trades which would empower them to be players in the economy of the nation.

    It goes without saying that the current economic realities in the nation dictate a more pragmatic approach towards transforming education into an avenue for resolving the development challenges of the nation. That is what the Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has brought to the table.

     

    Nwakaudu is the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of State for Education.