The Nation Newspaper

Tag: July

  • PTAD pays 237,306 pensioners for July

    PTAD pays 237,306 pensioners for July

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) said yesterday it has paid out N7,389,954,164.03 as July pensions to about 237,306 pensioners of Federal Government’s agencies under the Defined Benefit Scheme.

    PTAD added that it will transfer payment of pensions of retired Heads of Service and permanent secretaries, who fall under the Contributory Pension Scheme to the National Pension Commission (NPC) from January 2018.

    A statement from the management of PTAD said   98,362 pensioners, who retired from the Parastatals Pension Department (PaPD), 16,111 pensioners under Police Pension Department (PPD), 110,753 under Civil Service Pension Department (CSPD) and 12,080 under Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department (CIPPD) were paid.

    The statement said the directorate was committed to keeping its promise of making prompt payment to pensioners as at when due, stressing that PTAD is a Treasury Funded Agency and rely on financial releases from government to pay the workers.

    In a separate statement, PTAD said the payment of retired Federal Heads of Service and permanent secretaries, who fall under the Contributory Pension Scheme, will now be done by PENCOM with effect from January, 2018.

    It said while there are 217 retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries, 137 fall under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) and 80 are on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

    The statement added that by law, PTAD administers all pension matters under the Defined Benefit Scheme. PENCOM handles retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

    It added: “Under two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2016 and 2017 between both pension agencies, an agreement was reached for PTAD to pay the monthly pensions of retired Federal Heads of Service and as such, budgetary provisions were made in the 2017 Budget for payment of all 80 retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

    “Thus far, PTAD has been able to ensure that these senior citizens have received their pension entitlements till date and will continue to do so until December 31, 2017.

    “PENCOM has prepared the necessary guidelines for the payment of the retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries under the CPS.

    “This was a critical area the Executive Secretary of PTAD, Sharon Ikeazor, had earlier stressed a need for, to ensure smooth transition devoid of hitches which could negatively impact on pension payments.”

  • Coerver to train coaches in July

    The soccer skills teaching method COERVER COACHING, is back in Nigeria for the second year running with the Youth Diploma 1 course for Nigerians coaches.

    The professional certificate course will be held between July 6 – 8 in Abuja at the Premier International school.

    The Lagos leg will hold at the Lagos Preparatory school Ikoyi between July 10 and 12.

    A statement by Executive Director Search and Groom youth for Development Centre and representative of COERVER COACHING in Nigeria, Yomi Kuku, said:   ”In cooperation with the Lagos State Football Association (LSFA); under the “development through football” partnership status, there is a greater consideration for the 2017 training course to be held within the schools environment as we go into the next phase of our strategy to work with schools to officially adopt the COERVER COACHING method as a learning tool during extra-curricular activities”

    Technical Director and CEO of COERVER COACHING Netherlands, Rainel Woerdings, will lead the coaching team to Nigeria.

    Lagos State Football Association Chairman and First Vice-President of the Nigeria Football Federation Seyi Akinwunmi, has implored grassroots coaches to take the advantage of this huge opportunity right at their doorstep by registering to participate in order to build their own capacity to be able to function more technically and proficiently.

    The Chief Operating Officer of COERVER COACHING Mike Smith, said he is excited to return to Nigeria.  has revealed his excitement at seeing ”Coerver® Coaching return to Nigeria after the first ever training course was held in 2016.

    Mike said “Our Youth Diploma 1 course has been delivered in over 30 countries and has won acclaim from grass-roots and professional coaches alike for its innovative, practical material and the results that come afterwards in the development of skill, confidence and creativity in coaches and their players. There is clearly potential to significantly improve the football experience for young people across Nigeria, and it all starts with developing better coaches”.

  • July deadline for low-sulphur fuel remains unchanged, says NNPC

    July deadline for low-sulphur fuel remains unchanged, says NNPC

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is working to meet the July 2017 deadline  for switching from  fuel with higher concentration of sulphur to fuel with lower sulphur content.

    Its Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu,  said by changing to lower-sulphur fuel, Nigeria wants to start using fuel that creates less toxic fumes as against the current grade of fuel, which produces black smokes with its attendant environmental hazards for the country.

    The NNPC spokesman said the decision to embrace low sulphur fuel was borne out of the need to reduce toxic emission and further join countries that have taken similar steps.

    In an interview with The Nation, Ughamadu said the issue of refining and consuming fuel with low sulphur content is a global initiative and that Nigeria cannot be an exemption. He said NNPC has taken some measures to meet the deadline for conversion into lower-sulphur fuel.

    Parts of the measures, he said, include liaising with reputable environmental protection institutions to ensure proper certification of lower-sulphur fuel and enlightening consumers on the benefits to derive from using the product.

    Ughamadu said: “We, at the (NNPC), are  working with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Ministries of Industry and Environment and other institutions that have quality control as their primary goal.”

    He said fuel has to be examined and certified before being supplied to the market for consumption. “Though the process of converting to lower-sulphur fuel in Nigeria is ongoing, the Corporation is working towards meeting the July deadline set for its introduction into the Nigerian market,” he said.

    He added:“The decision by the Federal Government to change the fuel used in the country from the one that has higher concentration of sulphur to the one with lower sulphur, would bring about a  socio-economic growth. Besides the fact that the idea would help in reducing toxic fumes and improve the wellbeing of the people, it would also assist users and owners of vehicles and other equipment in cutting down wastage.”

    NNPC fuel imports accounted for over 70 per cent of the total fuel Nigeria consumes per day. Also, the Ministry of Environment and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) have declared their intentions to help NNPC achieve its goal of introducing fuel with lower sulphur into the market. The two institutions have promised to ensure a switch to 150 parts per million (ppm) gasoline and 50 parts per million (ppm) diesels. Parts per million, is a measurement used in measuring the quality of the fuel produced in the country. Based on this, Nigeria will be joining South Africa, which currently use low sulphur grade diesel of 50ppm.

  • Kebbi to conduct council poll in July

    The Kebbi State Independent Electoral Commission (KESIEC) has released the time-table for the next local government elections in the state.

    The Chairman of the commission, Hon. Aliyu Muhammed Mera, who disclosed this to reporters in Birnin-Kebbi, the state capital, said the election will take place in the 21 local government areas in July.

    He said this will enable the political parties, stake holders and the general public to make the necessary preparations for the exercise.

    He said nomination forms, contacts and other relevant documents pertaining to the election are available at the secretariat of the commission.

    The commission implored stakeholders to co-operate to make the election free, fair and credible. Mera said about 28 political parties are expected to participate in the  election.

  • July, my birth month, has been most unfair to me, laments Jemibewon at mum’s burial

    IT was a carnival like celebration at the country home of former military governor of the old Western State, Maj-Gen. David Jemibewon (rtd), in Iyah-Gbede, Kogi State last week, as the former two-time Minister of Police Affairs hosted the final burial rites of his late mother, Madam Rachel Emife Jemibewon.

    The late Madam Emife died on July 21 at the age of 106, prompting his ebullient son to express unreserved gratitude to God for giving him the grace to bury her. Yet he felt a tinge of sadness that “the only mum I have is gone.”

    While flawless white was chosen as the theme colour for the wake that took place in the evening of Thursday, light blue was the colour of the aso ebi (ceremonial uniform) worn by family members and guests on Friday for the church service, internment and the elaborate reception that took place at the expansive field of Jemibewon International Academy, a school owned by the Jemibewons, adjourning the family compound.

    Much later in the night after the wake, General Jemibewon danced in the midst of his friends and other dignitaries who came from all around the country, among them the former Ekiti State Governor Segun Oni and his wife; former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Mr Yomi Awoniyi; oil magnate Jide Omokore; popular lawyer and socialite Tunde Ayeni; the representatives of Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark; a former member of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Nike Omoworare; Mrs. Egbe Shina Peters nee Bello-Osagie and Segun Awolowo, among others.

    Also at the reception were two musicians from Lagos and Ibadan, who entertained the guests.

    Done with the burial ceremony that lasted three days, our correspondent engaged the former Adjutant-General of the Nigerian Army in an interview session where he went down the memory lane of his life, having just celebrated his 76th birthday a day before his mother passed on, on July 21. He attributed his success in life to nothing but providence.

    “I am grateful to the Almighty God for the efforts of my parents,” he began. “My dad who died in 1990 and my mum who died and was buried today, I say that I thank God and thank them. Because at the time I went to school, it was not too easy. In fact to the best of my knowledge, in the whole of this area, I was perhaps the first to attend a non-government school. I went to Offa Grammar School in 1955. And this being part of the north, most of the brilliant chaps in this area who went to secondary schools before going to the university attended government schools like Provincial Secondary School, Okenne; Junior Provincial Secondary School, Dekina, in the old Kabba Province; Government College, Keffi and Government College, Zaria were the few government colleges available. But of course, each province in the north had a provincial school. But because of the limited spaces in these schools, admission was restricted. So when I was in Standard 6 in 1954 in Ayetoro Gbede here, the year I should have taken exams into these government schools, the headmaster did not allow me to take the common entrance. The reason he gave was that by the time I finished secondary school, I would have become too old to go to the university.”

    But he said he happened to have an advantage not too many people had at the time.

    “The immediate younger brother of my father happened to be an employee of UAC and the headquarters of UAC in those days was in Burutu in the present Delta State. I don’t know how it happened, but I was sent to him. So I started school in 1949 at CMS Primary School, Burutu. But unfortunately, I was sick a year or so after. But because I could speak ‘broken’ (pidgin) English, which was what was spoken in the riverine area where I was coming from, I think they took it to mean that I was clever when in fact I was not.

    “When I was brought home, my father was not enthusiastic about sending me to school because the school in my village had just started. However, the teacher who established the school, Francis Ademola Fagbemi, who came from a place called Ekinrinade, in Ijinmu Local Government, which is my local government in the old Kabba Province, tried to convince my father. And when my father finally agreed, I was sent to school. So you could see that fortune played a great part in my life.”

    But equally important was the role played by his late mother, who he said struggled to ensure that he went to school as a boarding student; a luxury for young David Jemibewon.

    “Thirty-seven pounds, 15 shillings was not a little money at that time. That was the school fees for a boarding student, which I was. General Akinrinade was a year my senior. That is why I said that without the support of my mother, even though my father would have loved me to go to such a school, it would have been very difficult for him to send me to such a school. It wasn’t easy at all.

    The only thing we could produce here was tobacco, coffee and other farm products like yam. So knowing the effort my mother put to assist my father for the purpose of my schooling, I cannot but feel very touched by her departure. But we must show gratitude to God, for she lived for 106 years, and that until she gave up, there were no signs.”

    Jemibewon lamented the month of his birth, July, which he noted has turned to a time of mixed feelings for him in recent times.

    He said: “I was born on July 20, 1940. I celebrated 76 years on July 20. The problem I have now is that July is my birth month, but in the last two years, July has not been fair to me. My first wife died July 22. This year, on July 20th, we went to Lagos for the anniversary and my mother died a day later. So, I don’t know about July now, but there is nothing I can do about it.

    “While we were in Lagos for her first year anniversary remembrance, I had given the last born of my mother, who is a lady, instruction that she and one of the wives of my deceased younger brother should come down to Lagos to attend the event. Just the three of them. They left on that 21st. If Mama had showed any signs, they wouldn’t have left her. In fact, when they got to Lagos, those of us in Lagos were the ones that informed them that the Mama you left behind had gone to the great beyond.

    “So I am full of gratitude to God and my mum. It does not matter how old you are, if you end up going to hospital, it creates extra expenses and anxiety in the sense that we will be checking at the hospital daily to ensure that she is well taken care of and so on.”

    But he could not help but thank God for the long life He has blessed him with. At 76, the former military governor gyrated to the music played by the musicians on the bandstands as he exchanged banter with friends like a man of 40. Asked how he was able to keep such fitness, he said: “To start with, in the past, I used to be involved in exercise, playing squash. But I later had an accident and since then I have not been playing squash. So what I have been doing in recent times is to control the amount of food I eat. And I eat quality food.

    “In fairness, my wife is kind and makes sure that I eat the right thing. I know she is particular about getting the right kind of cook for me. You find out that some people say they have cooked in restaurants but in the end, it is a lie.

    “I have great sympathy for my wife because she brings in one cook today and maybe in another one month, we have to look for another. So I don’t eat much, and that keeps me fit. Not quantity but quality food. Unfortunately I don’t do exercise anymore.”

    However, he takes delight in music, and has been a good social dancer over the years.

    “I enjoy music a lot,” he said. “And the truth is that I do not have any preference at all. Maybe when I get intelligent people to talk to, I like having conversations. I used to write, but I am lazy now. But I have good friends and I thank God about that.”

    Do not ask him who his role models are or the answer you will most probably get is: “Maybe in the past, I might have had role models, but definitely not at 76. If at 76 I am looking for somebody to be my role model to motivate me, then it would mean I am already a failure. And what makes me pleased is that if I am associating with you and you are doing well, I feel very pleased for you.”

    If you want the general’s face to brighten up, ask him about his second wife, Chief Mrs. Dupe Jemibewon. His energetic and beautiful wife was all over the country home ensuring that all the guests were comfortable and well taken care off throughout the event days. He readily spoke about their love story.

    “I met her while I was a military governor. Back then, I had a lady friend but not the boyfriend or girlfriend kind of thing. One day, she came to say hello to me. Her sister was a classmate with Dupe, my second wife, and they are still friends till today. Through her, I met many ladies, but I particularly liked Dupe out of those many girls. I went to her house where I met them and I took interest in Dupe. That was how we started.

    “The intention was not to get married because I knew I was already married. But just after that meeting, I was on a programme on a radio station and during the programme, I heard a voice and I knew it was her voice. That voice, I don’t know how it happened. From hearing that voice, I started having a special likeness for her.”

    Having lived together for about three decades, Jemibewon still has good things to say about his marriage to Dupe. “It has not been easy for both of us because she also happens to be the first child of her parents. They are Catholics and like any parents, they would have wished she didn’t have to marry someone who was already married. But then it is not everything you wish that happens in life. That is the way I will explain it.

    “And since we started, God has helped us and we have had a cordial relationship. We have just one daughter. We thank God because we have been able to groom her well. She went to a Catholic university and made a First Class. What does anybody want again?”

    Reflecting on his foray into politics, he said: “I have found that while politics is supposed to improve our society, the way we operate politics here is almost anti-development. Let me tell you something quickly: I tried to go to the Senate. In fact, it was not my wish, but people came to talk to me. And I found out that to attain a political position in this country, you have to spend money. That itself breeds corruption, and, of course, I didn’t need it for various reasons.

    “There is a colonel here who wanted to go to the House of Representatives. He would have been the best candidate here if we really wanted the best material, but I told him that he should not waste his money. I told him that I have a disease and he suffers the same disease, which is the fact that we both have military background, and because we earn our salary legitimately, we don’t have the time to waste money bribing people to vote for us. And since I failed to go, my belief is that you my friend will fail.

    “I wish you were here then. Some people who did not vote for him still came back to say that they voted for him and wanted money (laughs). So I advised them that when they get money, reserve something for the future, even if possible, as members of a political party, establish a club where you can go socialise and so on. So if something happens and the political party does not exist again, since you have given a name to the club, that is not associated with the party but the basis of forming it was politics, you could continue to enjoy it.

    “But they will want to share money immediately money is given out. No reserve for the future. And some of the slogan for PDP were awkward. For instance, ‘PDP, power to the people!’ The youth say now, now, now, now. In other words, they don’t want to look into the future.

    “When I looked into all these, I told myself that to help people, known and unknown, born and yet to be born, it would be better for me to go into education. I am not a doctor, so even if I were to build a hospital, I will have to employ doctors and no doctor will be willing to come into this bush in a rural area. But I know that if people know me in this country and if they respect me, knowing that I come from this bush, and this place now is not even as bushy as it was when I went to school, so why don’t I just start a school here. So that is why I started a school.

    “Of course, many people tried to convince my wife that I must be mad to locate a school in my rural area. That I should have built the school in Abuja and on a daily basis, I would be carrying money in big sacks to the bank. But it’s true it has not been easy, because for every N3 I spend in the school, it is only N1 that comes from parents so far. There is no month I do not spend about N1.2m here.

    “But I do know that the future holds great prospect because I went to Offa Grammar School, and from the history of that school which we know, there were those who contributed six pence, there were those who contributed 1 shilling. It is through their magnanimous contribution and foresight that people like us became educated. Let me also leave something for posterity.”

    And what does he think about the present leadership in Nigeria? As usual, a quick thought and then a reply: “I think the leadership that we have there now has great foresight. But age is not on the President’s side. Even if he wants to work hard, nature is such that the capacity he had 24 years ago or 30 years ago is no more there. So I have great sympathy for him. But as to capability and ability for success, he has it. And I am very sure of that. I am sure and positive because I know him very well. He is a decent man. He is a man who does not tolerate corruption and he is hard working. But I have used myself to judge in the sense that the strength I had, my determination to succeed and do the right thing while I was military governor in Ibadan and now are different. I don’t have the energy anymore.

    “Even the people one would ask to come and work with one today are not the best materials, compared to 25 or 30 years ago. That is what I am saying. Even in your own profession, the quality has gone down. So in this country, quality has gone down in every sphere. If you are coming from Abuja and going to Lagos by road, you will see more than a dozen of signboards of universities. Now tell me why quality won’t go down, because to employ people into these new universities is still within the universities. So someone who shouldn’t have become a professor in the next five years goes to a new university and he is made a vice chancellor.”

  • Publish states’ July allocation

    SIR: I refer to the July 2016 allocation to all the states of federation which we heard was huge enough to pay so many months salary.

    Ironically, some governors have been deceiving their people about the status of the allocation in order not to pay more than one month out of about seven months being owed to workers. I want to say that Ondo State in particular  has gone on air to deny that she collected more than N9billion in July. Ondo State government has not paid workers this year at all. Even when the state resolved to pay workers one month during the strike action, only few workers benefited. We believe that the action of the governor is to continued to punish workers for voting President Buhari in the 2015 election. Workers are dying in Ondo State now after seven months of staying without salary.

    I therefore appeal to President Buhari to direct Federal Ministry of Finance to publish state allocation on the pages of newspaper from January to date to allow us know who is deceiving who.

    Honestly, state governors have resolved to kill all of us by collecting allocation on monthly basis from the Federal Government without paying workers, but spend the money on elephant projects.

     

    • Mrs. Kunbi Emaye,

    Okitipupa, Ondo State.

  • Let UTME hold in July, says KC ex-principal

    A former principal of King’s College, Lagos, Otunba Dele Olapeju, has urged the Federal Government to fix the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for July after the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO).

    In a letter to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, and the Minister of State for Education Prof Anthony Onwuka, Olapeju said the timing of the examination disrupts the academic calendar of secondary schools. He said holding the examination anytime other than July makes the SS3 pupils who register for the examination to miss classes.

    He said: “As Principal of King’s College, Lagos for six sessions, I had relentlessly advocated at every given opportunity that the timing of UTME was wrong and a gross disservice to the SS3 pupils, who account for more than 60 per cent of the candidates. But the arguments posited in my official correspondences to the ministry did not meet any favourable consideration.

    “Since the introduction of UTME and its conduct in either March or April every year, final year students of our secondary schools have been at the receiving end. They are made to skip classes searching different towns and countries for examinations centres either for UTME or post UTME. This situation got to a head in 2014/15 session, when some of the candidates had the dilemma of choosing between the WASSCE and post UTME, especially when some universities fixed their post UTME on a crucial date for WASSC Examination.”

    Olapeju also lamented that SS3 pupils are not allowed to complete their secondary education properly because they spend their final year writing examinations.

    “The final year for secondary education in Nigeria rather than being used to conclude the cognitive activities and curriculum of secondary education is often used for various examinations. The students of SS3 literally transform from being students into candidates, crisscrossing various examination centres. The 39 weeks available for learning in the final year class are unjustifiably used up in examination writing rather than real learning. Two out of the 13 weeks available in the first term of the session are consumed by end of term examination before the Yuletide and New Year activities. This is followed by another four weeks of studies interspersed with sporting activities, then two or three weeks for Mock Examination. Some of them also undergo trial testing by some examination bodies before UTME comes calling.

    “With UTME, most students often take a week off normal studies to go through the rigours of identifying examination centres and eventually sitting for the papers.”

    Olapeju argued that with the advancement of technology that has helped JAMB to release results in record time, the UTME can be moved to July and all post-UTME screenings completed before new sessions begin in October.

    “The Federal Ministry of Education must direct the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board to consider the needless pains and rigours our children go through and fix the annual UTME in late July when the students would have passed out of secondary school.

    This was the situation in 2011, when owing to the voters Registration and the national election, JAMB examination was conducted in July. Barely a week after, the results were released and the universities and other tertiary institution thereafter fixed their post UTME activities. It was that year that the performance level of the student became outstanding. The introduction of CBT was intended to achieve optimal speed in processing the result of the examination.

  • Road to July 29, 1966

    We have been plagued in the last two weeks with conflicting tales of what happened on and before the coup day, January 16 1966. While some are busy selling untruths, some claim they are refraining from speaking the truth in order not to bring the past to pain. But last week, Dr Tanko Yakassai, who partook of the recent ‘Dasukigate’ slush fund’ to the tune of N63m as a mark of betrayal of our children who deserve to know the truth about our past and those responsible for our prolong nightmare whimsically and weirdly claimed the only crisis in Nigeria  in 1966 was an isolated ‘quarrel between the wife of the AG leader, Chief Awolowo and the wife of the man who succeeded him, his deputy, Chief Akintola’  besides what he also described as isolated clashes between the supporters of Awo in Tiv land.

    In the run up to independence, our nation was hijacked by the three dominant ethnic groups, their political parties and their political leaders who believed whatever they could not get cannot be good enough for the rest of the country. The rivalry unfortunately was all about protecting advantages of each group and the relevance of their actors. As Trevor Clark Puts it, ‘they did not see the federation as a shared inspiration but a devise to be manipulated their own region’s selfish purposes’.

    In the pursuit of this objective each of the three dominant groups, tried to exploit the fears of minority groups located outside their own regions.  Awo and his AG succeeded more in this regard among minorities in the north and east because of their party policy which supported self-actualisation quest by minority groups, a policy violently opposed by the north and the east. Awo made inroads in the warring Tiv land and in fact reclaimed large part of Adamawa for Nigeria from Cameroon with massive deployment of AG lawyers. He and his party also made in roads among the Efiks, Ibibio and Anang minority groups in the east that wanted liberation from the domination of their more aggressively industrious Igbo neighbours.

    Ahmadu Bello who selflessly served the poor and the rich alike in the north, sent  a number of children below ages of 10 to a British school and awarded post graduate scholarships’ obtainable in best schools in the world did not believe Awo and his AG that labelled him a feudal lord could love the north more than the northerners. He saw AG’s forays into his territory as an attempt to humiliate him by encouraging insurrections among those he was trying to rehabilitate who ordinarily were slaves by virtue of having being conquered by his grandfather. He once according to Trevor Clark, wondered aloud as to why the Yoruba who cherish their own tradition and Obaship would try to set up subjects against their legitimate rulers in the north. Awo, Ahmadu Bello resolved must be punished even if it meant denying him the justice he guaranteed among the least of his subjects in the north.

    Awo in contrast to Zik and NCNC who up to 1959 advocated for a unitary system, also advocated in his ‘path to Nigeria freedom’, a federal arrangement based on major ethnic groups. Ibo political elite whose people like the Jews need space to move around saw Awo as a threat to Igbo survival. Demonisation of Awo by the Igbo elite therefore began with the succession crisis in Nigeria Youth Movement. The contest for the presidency of the body following the resignation of Dr. K A Abayomi, was between Ernest Ikoli, an Ijaw and Samuel Akinsanya an Ijebu man. Awo an Ijebu man supported Ikoli an Ijaw on principle since the constitution of the NYM made provision for the vice president to succeed the president. Zik and the Igbo members of the body supported Akinsanya an Ijebu man. In the election Ikoli won. Then Zik pulled out all Ibo members accusing Awo of tribalism.  And because Zik said so, his Igbo followers believed him…

    The 1951, election was based on representation and not on partisan organisation. The electoral process was therefore according to Trevor Clark ‘a single chain that united the region with the central house together from the above and therefore believed ‘It was erroneous for NCNC to claim winning the 1951 western region election’. What happened was that Akinloye and his other Ibadan successful candidates got a better deal from Awo and his AG than from Zik who had insisted on becoming premier of the west instead of appointing a Yoruba NCNC member.   Awo was labelled a tribalist who prevented Zik from becoming premier of the west by Igbo political elite.

    Again In July 1952, members of the central house were to be elected on regional basis among its members. The constitution recognised Lagos as part of West. But Zik who decided to contest in Lagos since he was based in Lagos lost because Dr Olorunnibe his fellow NCNC member refused to step down for him. Again   Awo was blamed for Zik’s misfortune and Ozumba Mbadiwe indeed went on move a motion to remove Lagos from the western region. Lastly Awo was also accused of crime against Zik and by extension against the Igbos for failing to stop an AG member of Eastern House from Calabar who initiated a petition that led to Walter Suton commission of Inquiry’s indictment of Zik over the ACB scandal.

    The coalition partners seemed to have resolved to cage Awo shortly after independence. The AG intra-party crisis of 1962  provided an opportunity to illegally declare state of emergency in the west, send Awo to detention, reinstate constitutionally removed Akintola to  power without election at the end of emergency period and went on to rig the 1965 election in his favour. Following widespread violence and total anarchy in the west, those who declared state of emergence because less than 10 Akintola supporters threw chairs inside the Western House refused to act even after the meeting of University of Ibadan students with the Prime Minister on the 16th of November 1965.

    The 1962 and 1963 census crisis had already strained relationship between Ahmadu Bello and Zik who was given a horse by the former while their intrigue and betrayal of the constitution lasted. By June 1965, Ahmadu Bello had replaced Zik with Akintola who also received from him a ceremonial sword when the two met at Pategi during a Niger canoe regatta. By May 1966, with Awo in prison, chaos and anarchy in the west, Zik humiliated and rendered impotent, and the military, the custodian of our constitution infiltrated by politicians, the coalition partners had shot themselves in the leg.

    For instance, while Brigadier Ademulegun who supervised the pacification of the Tiv land was Ahmadu Bello and NPC’s choice as a successor to departing head of the military, the preference of Major General Christopher Welby-Everard was Brigadier Babafemi Olatunde Ogundipe. Ironsi of Sierra Leonean father and an Umuahia mother often wrongly regarded as an Igbo man was ‘no more than a fall-back third candidate, as the ‘least well-equipped militarily or intellectually’. But Zik preferred him to the other two more competent Yoruba candidates. He therefore, along with Mbadiwe, Okotie-Eboh Matthew Mbu and Pius Okigbo lobbied for him. Balewa sent Maitama Sule who was flown to Kaduna to persuade the Sardauna and Isa Keita who did not trust the Ibos. Ironsi was promoted in April 1965.

    Questions have been asked as to why the coup plotters allowed the escape of Ironsi, their prime target before entering the venue of a party he attended along with other officers who were later killed. Questions have also been raised as to why Nwafor Orizu, contrary to the provision of the constitution failed to swear in the most senior surviving minister with an excuse that he was waiting for directive from holidaying Zik. And finally it was curious a General Officer Commanding, would after suppressing an insurrection insist on power being ceded to him to guarantee the safety of the surviving ministers, his employers.

  • Neconde’s July production hits 24,000 bpd

    Production from oil mining lease (OML) 42 operated Neconde Energy Limited, an indigenous oil and gas firm, has grown to 24,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July from 14,194 bpd in June.

    The oil asset situated at the Niger Delta basin is a joint venture owned by Neconde and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the exploration and production arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    OML 42 is one of the oil blocks divested by Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) Joint venture.

    The July production is a record output from the asset. The highest production on the acreage before July was in February 2015, when the output averaged 19, 700BOPD. Neconde took over the operatorship of the acreage in May.

  • Fed Govt, states, LGs share N490.2b for July

    • ECA grows to $2.257b

    The three tiers of government of the federation got a shock to their finances yesterday as they recorded a drop in the allocation they shared for the month of July from the Federation Account.

    At the end of the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja yesterday, N490.222 billion was shared by the federal, states and local governments for July lower than the N518.533 billion shared in June.

    After deductions and refunds were made to the collecting agencies of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), N411.866 billion was shared by the three tiers of government with the Federal Government pocketing N202.111 billion (52.68 per cent); states went away with N102.513 billion (26.72 per cent) while  local governments received N79.033 billion (20.60 per cent). The balance of N28.209 billion was shared among the oil producing states under the 13 per cent mineral revenue derivation formula.

    The sum of N71.947 billion was shared as Value Added Tax (VAT) with the N10.792 billion or 15 per cent; states received N35.974 billion or 50 per cent and local governments got N25.181 billion or 35 per cent of value added tax (VAT) proceeds. N6.409 billion exchange rate gains was also shared by the three tiers of government.

    N6.330 was refunded to the Federal Government by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) furtherance to the decision to compel the NNPC to refund what it withheld from the Federation Account in the past.

    The reason for the drop in what was shared for July was attributed to the “shut-down and shut-in of production for maintenance and emergency repairs as well as the declaration of of force majeure by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)” as the major issues that negatively impacted crude oil revenue. Also there was revenue loss of $22.53 million as a result of the drop in average price of crude oil from $65.76million in May to $61.27million June, this year.

    Addressing reporters at the end of the meeting, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance,  Mrs. Anastasia Nwaobia said the accruals into the Excess Crude Account (ECA) increased  slightly to $2.257 billion.

    Also speaking, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Alhaji Ahmed Idrissaid  there will be no exceptions or exemptions of any government agency from remitting all their proceeds to the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

    Idris said the Federal Government is coming up with the guidelines for government agencies to comply with on their remittances to the Federation Account.

    He insisted that all agencies were already complying with the directive. The TSA,  he said will allow the Federal Government to know how much it has in its account to enable it control and manage its revenues.