The Nation Newspaper

Tag: four years

  • Four years since

    •The remaining Chibok girls and other hostages with Boko Haram deserve total emancipation

    As expected, parents of abducted Chibok girls and many of the others released to the Buhari government in 2016 marked the fourth year of continued captivity of 110 of the girls on April 14. Muslim and Christian supporters in many Nigerian cities joined the parents to call on the Federal Government to step up activities to ensure the release of the children. Like most Nigerians, The Nation joins the families of the girls kept incommunicado for the past four years to demand their immediate release.

    Nothing has captured the gravity of the parents’ pain more than the observation of HannatuDaudu, mother of Saratu, an abductee still in captivity: “We need to know if they are alive or dead. If they are alive, let them come back to us. If they are dead, let us know so we can at least pray for them and then overcome this grief. It is better to know if our daughters are dead than being left in suspense.”

    Leaving over 220 parents to live each day in the last four years in suspense must have removed all meaning from their lives. Such situation is utterly dispiriting and needs immediate rectification. Even four years after the abduction, the over 80 girls reportedly killed in controversial cross-fire between the terrorists and security forces have not been given any verifiable closure.

    So far, the audit of Nigeria’s saddest tragedy since the civil war suggests that about 50 percent of the girls abducted four years back are still in captivity. In fairness, the Buhari government has made significant progress on two separate negotiations assisted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with the terrorists for release of a total of 103 Chibok girls. Had Buhari’s predecessor made 50 percent of such effort, the pain of Chibok girls, their parents, and the nation would have been much less than what it is today.

    Consistently, President Muhammadu Buhari’s words on this matter have been warm and encouraging: “We cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by the insurgents.”  He added in 2017, “We will continue to persist, and the parents should please not give up.”

    Although such good words from the president are soothing, the need for those words to be given adequate boost of action becomes more urgent day by day. It is crucial for the government to do everything necessary to bring smiles to the faces of the girls and their parents, as well as to Leah Sharibu, the only girl out of over 100 abducted early this year who is yet to be released by the second faction of Boko Haram, for failing to convert to Islam.

    We urge President Buhari to use his international goodwill to attract additional assistance on the matter. Given the evidence of past efforts negotiated by the ICRC, we also appeal to the international community to expand and intensify support to the government on efforts to ensure the return of all abducted citizens to their homes. Police and other security forces should not deny #BringBackOurGirls advocates freedom to express their desire that all kidnapped citizens are liberated from Boko Haram. This patriotic group has been playing positive role to keep the release of the abducted girls on the government’s agenda in the past four years. There is no reason to frustrate members of such organisation.

    With President Buhari’s unsolicited offer of amnesty to Boko Haram still on the table, leaders of both factions ought to take to the path of peace by deradicalising their members and returning to normal life. It is time for Boko Haram insurgents to renounce terrorism and join other citizens in building a peaceful and progressive Nigeria.

    In the meantime, the ball of bringing the remaining Chibok girls and Leah Sharibu back to freedom lies in the court of the government.

  • Four years not enough for Buhari, says Bankole

    Four years not enough for Buhari, says Bankole

    Former House of Representatives Speaker Dimeji Bankole yesterday said any economic reform to transform a nation can’t be designed and executed by a government in four years.

    Bankole said it would take at least seven years for an economic reform or policy to yield returns, and submitted that President Muhammadu Buhari needs time to fix the ailing economy.

    The ex-Speaker spoke on Sunday evening in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, while delivering the fifth anniversary lecture of the Ijebu News Xtra magazine.

    He added that the President is “doing a thankless job” to fix Nigeria.

    The magazine, published by a celebrity reporter, Dayo Rufai, had, as its anniversary lecture: “Ogun State: Stimulating Youth Enterpreneurship Potential in a Recession.”

    Bankole noted that the answer to recession is not in any textbook but in the willingness of Nigerians to make the right “sacrifices today for a better tomorrow”.

    “I feel sorry for President Buhari. He can’t solve the problem in four years. He needs a second term. No economic reform or policy can be formulated and implemented to produce the expected results within four years, it will take at least seven years.

    “He is doing a thankless job, now like the teachers. No magic or miracle about this, we have to do the work and the government needs support. It is a long distance race.

    “The question is what are you prepared to sacrifice? What risks are you going to take to make Nigeria better? We must make sacrifices to make the country work,” Bankole said.

    According to the former Speaker, technocrats sourced from the relatively stable World Bank can’t fit adequately or effectively as handlers or managers of the economy, which is volatile.

    He added that though he had not given up his ambition to seek an elective office, it would not take much away from him should he decide not to pursue the ambition tomorrow.

    Bankole said God has been kind and merciful to him, noting that he will remain eternally grateful to him, the people of Ogun State and Nigerians for giving him the opportunity to serve the nation.

    He urged the youth to make the right sacrifices, learn trade and leave a legacy people would be proud of.

  • Quadruplets for couple, four years after

    Quadruplets for couple, four years after

    For three years after they tied the knots, the fruit of the womb eluded Mr and Mrs Chidubem Igboji who live in Ebonyi State. In the fourth year, four bundles of joy came. It was if they were compensated for the years of great expectation, one baby for each.

    The years of waiting presented other challenges. Some family members and friends pressured Chibubem to dump his wife and marry another. He chose to stand by his wife. Soon fibroids were diagnosed for which his wife underwent a surgery. This led to more pressures on the man to send his away. Again, he stood his ground.

    His faith and patience paid off, but it was four years after. A set of quadruplets has come to them. Mrs. Igboji delivered the babies successfully at Mile Four Catholic Hospital, Abakaliki.

    The elated husband told our correspondent that he wedded his wife in 2011 and they have been having difficulties in child bearing added to pressures from his parents and friends who were telling him to marry another wife.

    He said, “We married in 2011 and in the same year, my wife suffered fibroids. So, we embarked on operation and began to wait for the fruit of the womb.

    “Last year my wife told me that she was noticing a sign of pregnancy which I told her to wait, not until four months when I asked her to go for ultra-sound. The report of that ultra-sound scan showed twins.

    “After some time, I asked her to go back for the ultra-sound which she did and the number started increasing geometrically and finally it was quadruplets.”

    He called on couples who are yet to bear children to trust in God.

    ”I saw hell in this period of four years because there was nothing people did not tell me; some asked me to marry another wife that my wife may not bear child. Even members of my family could not help matters; there mounted serious pressure on me to go for an option of another wife and I promised God that I will not do that.

    “Today, God has blessed me with this set of babies at once and am very grateful for what he has done.”

    Mr Igboji appealed to the state government and public spirited individuals to come to the aid of the family to cater for the children.

    Mr Igboji, a pharmacist noted that he would welcome any assistance from government and good spirited individuals.

    He stressed that taking care of a baby is not easy not to talk of four babies.

    “Children are government’s property entrusted to your care to take care of. You can imagine how it used to be for one to just nurse a baby let alone four boys at once. If government comes in, I will appreciate and I will be very grateful. Though I don’t have money but looking at these babies, I‘m fulfilled,” he said.

  • Four years of enhancing lives in Anambra

    Four years of enhancing lives in Anambra

    When in 2013 residents of a community in Anambra State suddenly discovered floating corpses on their river, it was volunteers of the Red Cross Society who helped to evacuate the bodies.

    Also, when a substantial part of the country was flooded a year before, it was personnel of the Society who delivered relief materials to victims of the disaster in the state.

    For the past four years, the Red Cross under the chairmanship of former Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Paul Obidigwe, has been saving and enhancing lives in the state.

    Since he assumed that position, the group has made some impact in the state in terms of responding to emergencies.

    During the 2012 flood disaster in the state, about 47 communities were submerged especially in Anambra East, Anambra West, Ogbaru and Ayamelum.

    Before now, the vice chairman of Red Cross in the state, Prof. Peter Katchy said the agency had responded to 65 emergencies in the state.

    Katchy told The Nation that Red Cross has about 14,000 volunteers in the state, noting that the volunteers of Red Cross are being used by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in such events.

    On Friday, Red Cross celebrated its world day in the state with the theme “seven fundamental principles” at its headquarters in Awka.

    To show the synergy existing between the state government and the group, the state Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, though absent, deployed the state commissioner for health, Dr. Joe Akabuike to the occasion.

    The state government used the event to remember what transpired in 2013 during Ezu-River tragedy, and the input by Red Cross in making sure that things were normal.

    Akabuike, while speaking with The Nation, said that Red Cross needs help in executing its numerous humanitarian services in the state.

    He said that Red Cross took it upon itself to make sure that the issue of cholera was a thing of the past when it broke out in Inoma community recently, adding that the state government would find it difficult without the collaboration with Red Cross.

    As a result, the state government has provided Red Cross with a well equipped ambulance for its humanitarian service.

    The commissioner further said that the Obiano administration had purchased 17 flying boats and six boat Ambulances for the Riverine areas to help in the humanitarian jobs especially in rural communities.

    Other things the state has done to help Red Cross, were setting up primary Health Development Agency to pilot primary health care in rural communities in Anambra.

    For the erstwhile Chief Judge, Obidigwe, the objectives of the Red Cross is based on seven fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality with its motto, through Humanity to peace.

    He said the seven fundamental principles are the core of all Red Cross and Red Crescent thinking, policies and action.

    Already, Red Cross had made Governor Obiano and wife, Ebelechukwu Grand Patron and Mother-General of Nigeria of the group, while the investiture would take place soon, on consent and approval by the Governor.

    Obidigwe, while speaking with the Nation, said Obiano has evolved virile, erudite and articulate strategies to change the fortunes of the people of Anambra State in order to achieve the much desired Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

    He said Red Cross is highly indebted to Governor Obiano and the people of Anambra state for their concerns during any period of disaster emergencies.

    Speaking further with the Nation, Prof. Peter Katchy, said there were problems being encountered by the agency during such periods like Hilux vehicles to access the rural communities.

    According to him, “we are saving lives in Anambra State, but our happiness is that the state government and individuals recognise that in this state, Red Cross does not believe in noise making because it is a voluntary assignment”.

    “Our members are suffering in making sure that things are got right, we are in every emergency in this state and despite not being appreciated by some people who do not understand, we are not going to be deterred in any way, it is service to humanity,” Katchy said.

     

  • Buhari: we’ll deliver 20,000mw in four years

    Buhari: we’ll deliver 20,000mw in four years

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday unfolded its power agenda should it presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, be elected.

    The party plans to generate at least 20,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity in four years to surpass Nigeria’s consumption level of around 15, 000mw.

    In a statement, the party’s Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) expressed dismay that the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan had only added 1.400mw to the national grid in four years.

    The statement by Mallam Garba Shehu, the spokesman of the campaign, quoted Gen. Buhari as saying that while he will not run a witch hunt government, he will not hesitate to deal decisively with cases of impunity and corruption.  No probe of any government official, he added.

    The statement also quoted Gen. Buhari as saying he is passionately concerned about the sorry conditions of our armed forces today who, despite huge budgetary allocations, have failed to effectively deal with manifest security threats, including the Boko Haram terrorism.

    “What he said at every given opportunity is that he is keenly interested in knowing what has gone wrong, if any, with the army that he knew. When he has access to them as Commander-in-Chief, he will like to hear from his commanders what problems they are dealing with so that they can be solved,” Shehu said.

    “In a democracy such as ours, all institutions of government, including the armed forces, are accountable. No country can achieve results in its counter-terrorism efforts when there is no transparency in the management of huge resources for the purpose. He (Gen. Buhari) will reinvigorate the armed forces and restore their rapidly evaporating morale,” he said.

    The APC Campaign Organisation accused the PDP of wasting billions of naira on non existent power, managing to add a yearly average of 87 megawatts of electricity, showing a massive failure to substantially raise generation and distribution of electric power despite promises and cash infusion of between $16 billion and $20 billion.

    Shehu said “nearly 16 years of PDP administration gave this country a miserly addition of 1,400 Mega Watts against the expenditure of more than $16 billion. That translates to 18.5 MW per annum”.

    He noted that “this abysmal power production and distribution, with its attendant socio-economic implications, is the most irresponsible thing a government can do to its people.

    It explained that the PDP has shown an “appalling lack of capacity to deal with just any problem confronting this country and the lack of vision and commitment to dealing with electricity supply was just one of the myriads of the others begging for attention.”

    “The only conclusion to draw from this is that the PDP is more interested in feathering the nest of importers of generators than in the wellbeing of Nigerian citizens and their businesses.”

    The organisation accused President Jonathan of massive corruption in the country’s agricultural sector, saying “President Jonathan has failed woefully in the agricultural sector, and all the self-praise of the administration on agriculture is simply a ruse”.

    It maintained that whereas President Jonathan had promised in 2010 to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice and wheat production by 2015, “the grim reality on the ground today is that Nigeria emerged as the world’s highest importer of rice in 2015, and a whopping $11 billion is spent annually by Nigeria to import rice, wheat, sugar and fish.”

    The statement added that according to the former Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Sarah Alade, Nigeria as at 2014 spends $4 billion on rice importation – that is about N600 billion annually on the importation of 2.1 million metric tonnes of milled rice.

    “This is after the Federal Government had approached the China Exim Bank for a loan of $1.2 billion for the financing of 100 large-scale rice processing plants with a total capacity of 2.1 million metric tonnes.

    “The troubling truth today is that Nigeria is nothing close to self-sufficiency in rice production and what we have at hand is a close web of corruption where government cronies stumble over each other to get import licences for rice.”

    “According to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, Nigeria’s wheat consumption as at year 2000 was about two million metric tonnes. But, by 2010, wheat importation to the country had risen to four million metric tonnes and Nigeria spends N635 billion annually on wheat importation.

    “Five years into the Jonathan administration, Nigeria spends even more than we did in 2010 to import wheat; yet the government continues to brandish false achievements in the agricultural sector – a situation that is completely at variance with what President Jonathan promised Nigerians in 2010, saying that his government would make Nigeria save N635 billion annually on rice and wheat importation.”

    The statement also faulted the government’s claim that local farmers now have unhindered access to fertiliser through the Growth Enhancement Scheme and described as “excessively labourious and technically difficult for the farmers to work through” are two bags of fertilizer throughout the entire farming season, “and government has not come out in one instance to tell Nigerians how much it receives as grants on fertiliser distribution to farmers from donor agencies.

    “The government will want to give us the impression that fertiliser is being given to farmers free of charge. But we know that what subsists is a 50 per cent subsidy per bag of fertiliser. Our farmers are being shortchanged under this so-called e-wallet arrangement because of lack of transparency.

    “We may be looking at another subsidy scam over fertilizer unless the Jonathan administration comes out clean to tell us how much it has received as grants over fertiliser and how it comes about the 50 per cent subsidy per bag of fertilizer.”

    While dismissing President Jonathan’s claims of achievement in the agricultural sector, the organisation said that “throughout the periods preceding the Jonathan’s administration, the contribution of agriculture to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was at 7 per cent, while under the so-called transformation agenda of President Jonathan, agriculture’s contribution to the GDP has been consistent at 5 per cent – an all time low.

    “In any case, food commodities are items Nigerians buy on a daily basis. If the Jonathan administration was sincere with the statistics it reels out on agriculture, why would the government buy pages of newspaper advertorials and TV commercials to force bitter falsehood of its achievements down the throats of Nigerians? The Jonathan administration has failed woefully in its agricultural policies and the facts are self-evident out there at those food stalls in our markets.

    “In 2015, Nigerians know they spend far more to buy food than they did in 2010. That reality, in itself, is President Jonathan’s scorecard in agriculture.”

  • Agbaje promises 150 housing units in four years

    THOUGH the All Progressives Congress (APC) has done well in the areas of security and the environment in Lagos, the ruling party’s best is not good enough for Lagosians, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Mr Jimi Agbaje said at the weekend.

    Agbaje, who unveiled security, health and education as his administration’s flagship policies if elected as the next Lagos governor of on February 28, however spoke of plans to do more.

    He spoke with media managers in Lagos in the company of his running mate, Alhaja Safirat Abdulkareem and some political aides.

    Specifically, he promised to facilitate the provision of 150, 000 housing units in the next fours, saying the 25,000 units built by the APC administration in 16 years was a far-cry from the housing needs of a cosmopolitan state like Lagos.

    According to him, a minimum of 200,000 housing units is required to meet the accommodation needs of the state’s estimated population.

    Urging Lagosians to choose between continuity as represented by the ruling APC and change as being offered by his PDP, Agbaje warned that it will amount to living in Fools’ Paradise for residents to be contended with the status quo.

    The PDP candidate, who promised not engage in the politics of mudslinging, said he was in the race to win and not just to participate.

    His words: “I have in my CV already a former governorship candidate. I don’t want to put in it a two-time former governorship candidate. I am in this race to win, not just to participate and we are serious about it. Lagos is moving, but moving very slow.”

    Agbaje spoke of plans to partner the private sector to retrain the army of jobless youths on vocations that would transform them to employers of labour, rather than seeking after white-collar jobs that are hard to come by.

    He also promised to ensure that five per cent of government’s procurement budgets are set aside specifically for the youths.

    On health, he said his administration will remodel the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to enable government provide only the premium on beneficiaries.

    Rating the APC government high for setting up the Security Trust Fund (STF), he promised to widen its scope beyond the metropolis.

    He also spoke of plans to overhaul the education policy and review the tax policies in the state if elected.