The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kwara State

  • Auto crash claims Anambra FRSC boss

    The Anambra State sector commander, Federal Road Safety Corps Mr Sunday Ajayi is dead.

    Ajayi was said to have died in an auto crash Saturday morning around Agbor, Delta State.

    According to sources, the Sector commander was on his way from Kwara state, where he attended a relation’s wedding.

    “He died on the highway leading to Agbor approaching Asaba the Delta state capital.

    A message from the Corps Whatsaap group in South East, said, “His driver, a senior marshal, Raji survived and is in the hospital but Sunday couldn’t make it. May his soul rest in peace.

    Read Also: FRSC, group hold campaign

    “Ajayi who participated in the FRSC football competition yesterday and handed over prizes was full of life before his untimely death.”

    The FRSC flag at the command headquarters in Awka, was seen lowered possibly as symbol of respect for his death.

    The command’s Public Relations Officer, Ufiem Egim confirmed the report, but said the command was yet to come up with a formal report detailing the cause of his death.

    It would be recalled that Ajayi had noted that speed was responsible for more than 50% crashes on Nigeria roads.

    His words, “This is more noticeable during ‘Ember Months’ when there are higher commuter movements across the nation (before, during and after the end of year festivities).”

  • Saraki as Kwara State?

    My constructive engagement with my brother, the Senate President, BukolaSaraki on  governance issues of our dear state, certainly predated my emergence as the governorship candidate in February 2019 election under the Labour Party (LP).  The Senate President, Saraki was recently reported that he “would start off setting (sic!) salary arrears owed certain category of workers in Kwara State from next week”. He reportedly announced the news during the PDP monthly stakeholders’ meeting at the ‘Charity House’ in Ilorin, Kwara State.

    I expected to no avail, Senator Saraki to refute this this singular unacceptable undignified news about workers’ pay credited to him. I agree with the received wisdom that the “greatest truth is honesty, and the greatest falsehood is dishonesty.” The civil servants of the great pioneer state of Kwara created in 1967 are   certainly not Senator Saraki’s domestic staff. Even for his domestic staff, he is not at liberty to pay salaries long due at his pleasure “from next week”! Paradoxically too, he is neither the defaulting governor nor local government chairman. Salary payment is not an act of political and petty partisan charity to workers by any individual. On the contrary, Kwara State government headed by Governor Fatai Ahmed and the local government chairmen as defaulting employers must immediately pay all workers’ entitlements failing which they should resign as elected officials of the state.

    We dare not hail charitable wage-defaulters no less than we must offer solidarity for the unpaid workers. The 1999 constitution envisages salaries and pensions as legitimate earnings for services rendered by workers for the state. Relevant labour laws legitimize these constitutional provisions with sanctions for non-compliance. The 1999 constitution recognizes the state not an individual or “a leader” (ascribed or earned). Former President Barack Obama long warned Africans against big men who trample under state institutions! Democracy remains government of the people by the people, for the people not of one single individual for himself and by himself!

    Before “next week”, is the senator aware that some unpaid workers were long dead? At the same forum, the state governor, Ahmed reportedly blamed his inability to clear the backlog of salary arrears on drop in the federal allocation to the state and the refusal of the federal government to release the state’s last tranche of the Paris Club refund. But does the drop in federal allocation affect his own salaries, emoluments, huge security votes and expensive travel budgets through chartered flights?

    Does the non- release of Paris Club affect the payments of emoluments of his commissioners and advisers and waste of resources on projects of dubious developmental value?

    The down side of the good two term governance of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State was crisis of salary payment. But it was gratifying to read that throughout his tenure, he did not collect salaries!

    Governor Ahmed must for once just consider the plight of that worker whose salary was not paid for one to seven months or criminally paid at whimsical reduced rates. For the worker who is a sole breadwinner, the family support has collapsed.  Food is difficult to find to feed the children with all the implications for malnutrition. Some kids are withdrawn from school on account of non-payment of school fees while the next Sallah or Christmas cloth will necessarily elude the children. We pray that the family of the workers not paid is not sick either. Many workers have passed on due to lack of out- of-pockets money to treat preventable diseases like malaria, pneumonia or auto accidents. Since the breadwinner cannot meet expectation, depression has logically replaced love within many working households.

    The options before a worker not paid in a state without social security and comprehensive Medicare like Kwara State are better imagined. Non-payment of salaries makes work ever precarious. President Muhammadu Buhari commendably asked the wage defaulting governors and their patrons: “How do you get sleep at night when your workers are not paid as at when due”? The point cannot be overstated: Wages are amount of remuneration that a state and local government or any employer is required to pay workers for the work performed during a given period not “later next week”. Nigeria currently faces a crisis of governance with respect to payment of legitimate salaries and wages of workers. It is unacceptable that in 2018, some state governors shamelessly argue against N30,000 minimum wage – N1000 per day for an average of working family a man, his wife and four children,  $80 dollars per month, compared to monthly minimum wage of $200 Nigerian workers earned in 1981. Nigerian workers are no “working” beggars. South Africa just announced its first monthly minimum wage of $206. I   salute the governors who agreed with organized labour, organized, private sectors and the federal government on the new minimum pay of N30,000! Conversely the governors who are opposed to minimum pay must resign. They are   unfit to be in the office based on 1999 constitution which accepts the principles of negotiated minimum and living wages.

    I commend the CBN under Governor Godwin Emefiele. He rightly pointed out that increased minimum pay is a necessary condition for Nigerian economic recovery. At its recently concluded   Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja,  the CBN communique reads that “…. given the negative output gap, the proposed increase in the national minimum wage would stimulate output growth due to prolonged weak aggregate demand arising from salary arrears and contractor debt”. Both Lagos and Kano states are leading on the ranking of GDP and ease of doing business. It’s not surprising because the two states relatively pay good salaries and promptly too! Good wage is smart economics for nation-building, through improved effective demand and eradication of income poverty. Nigeria.

    President Buhari commendably set up the new minimum wage committee and gave it free hands to operate. The president should urgently push for a speedy legislation on a new negotiated minimum wage of N30,000 for Nigerian workers by the National Assembly. Non-payment of good pay amounts to what I call economicide, (systemic destruction of lives on account of lack of means of live hood). Its time Nigeria treated wage-related crimes, non-payment, low payment, wage-diversions (so-called ghost payments) and politicization of wage payments as economic crimes!

    All faiths underline the importance of prompt remuneration for working men and women. Prophet Muhammed (PBH), said: “Allah said, ‘I will be the opponent of three on the Day of Judgment:…and one who hires a workman and having taken full work from him, does not pay him his wages, on the Day of Judgment, Allah The Exalted will be the opponent of those types of people. Hence, the employers who hire workers then delay their wages for a month or two or three must fear Allah.

    The Prophet also added: “Pay the labourer his wages before his sweat dries”. “You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the LORD and it becomes sin in you.

    According to Pope John Paul II, ‘A just wage for the worker is the ultimate test of whether any economic system is performing justly’.

     

    • Aremu mni, is Labour Party governorship candidate in Kwara State.

  • Thugs disrupt TraderMoni scheme in Ilorin

    Hoodlums invaded the Mandate Market in Ilorin, Kwara State, today and scared away petty traders and TraderMoni agents, disrupting the disbursement of money to beneficiaries of the scheme.

    As early as 9am, the hoodlums, some of them wearing ‘PDP Atikulated T-shirts’, stormed the Mandate Market, insisting that the TraderMoni scheme could not be conducted, because the Senate President Bukola Saraki’s father donated the land to the state government to build the market.

    It was not clear whether they were sent by anyone or whether they were mere party zealots, working on their own.

    According to witnesses, including Bank of Industry (BOI) officials who were at the market to supervise the enumeration and disbursement of the N10,000 collateral free loans, the arrival of the mob at Mandate Market caused some uproar.

    The thugs also intimidated the petty traders who had lined up to participate in the programme.

    Many of the traders were palpably annoyed and refused to leave the market. Calm was restored with the intervention of the police.

    At the Ipata Market, where enumeration and disbursement of the TraderMoni loans were also going on, market leaders reportedly rebuffed pressure from some officials of the state, urging them to shun the enumerators. The programme went on without incident.

    Officials of the Bank of Industry told newsmen that enumeration had been going on in the two markets in Kwara State in the last few days, without incident until today.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is expected in the markets on Friday December 7 .

    TraderMoni, which is part of the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) under GEEP, is designed to assist petty traders across the country expand their trade through the provision of collateral and interest-free loans from N10,000.

    The loans are repayable over a period of six months at which point the traders on repayment will receive a fresh N15,000 loan, which rises to N20,000 when repaid.

    The microcredit scheme, which has since been formally launched nationwide and the FCT, is expected to reach two million petty traders by the end of the year.

  • Kwara UPN condemns vote buying

    As the 2019 general elections approach, Kwara State Chapter of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) has condemned the act of vote buying.
    The Chairman of the party, Mr Abdulrazaq Badmus, told our reporters on Wednesday in Ilorin that vote buying was tantamount to mortgaging of the future.
    ”We are appealing to the electorate that they don’t have to mortgage their future or their rights.
    ”The influence of money in election should be discouraged in Nigeria because any politician that spends to be voted for, will recoup the money at the end of the day, and it is still the voters that will be at the receiving end,” Badmus said.
    The UPN chairman said that his party is one for the masses and would not gain support of the electorate with money.
    ”UPN doesn’t have money to spend to buy votes, but we are a party for the masses.
    ”We want to introduce the agenda of the then UPN as well as the core cardinal programmes of the party,” he said.
    Badmus said the party’s campaign would be issue based, centering on how to provide social amenities and services that are lacking in Kwara State like good roads, free education and qualitative health care, which the party founder, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was always agitating for.
    NAN

  • Unilorin student commits suicide

    A-27 year old student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) simply identified as Adigun Olawale Emmanuel has reportedly committed suicide.

    The late Olawale was said to have failed in his final year project last session and was made to repeat the current one before his death.

    The deceased, from the Faculty of Agriculture, was believed to have died after he drank a pesticide, Sniper.

    It was gathered that he had a grade of Second Class Upper Division but that with the failed project he would necessarily have to drop to Second Class Lower Division.

    In a social media note left behind, the deceased indicated that he had been accused of ‘copy and paste’, in research his works.

    Some neighbours claimed the deceased had been subject to depression since he failed to make the last graduation list of the institution.

    The incident happened on Thursday night at Oke-Odo, a student-populated area in Ilorin, Kwara state, but the corpse was only discovered on Saturday after neighbours noticed a foul smell oozing out of his room. When the door was broken, his bloated body was found on the floor.

    Read Also: UNILORIN explains slight fee hike

    Checks indicated that the deceased had communicated his intention to end his life to a female friend who however pleaded with him to have a rethink and face the challenge like most other men in life.

    Records from his social media interactions, the deceased had uploaded a picture of the Sniper on his WhatsApp page at about 5.14 pm, some two hours after he had lamented online about his situation to his friend.

    He had opened the conversation at about 3.39 pm when he said in short statements: ‘same research work. He said I did copy and paste. Ever since then, things changed from bad to worst. Am in a deep mess @the moment. My life don tire me. I feel like dying. I wish I can sleep and not wake up again”.

    His friend however responded with words of encouragement, “Don’t give up bros, it gets better”. And as if he had accepted the admonition, the deceased had then responded, “I pray so, Thanks a lot for your concern. I appreciate a lot. May God continue to bless you. Amen.”

    Having uploaded the Sniper picture, his friend apparently became frantic and pleaded with him not to take any wrong step. The friend said: “Wale abeg, calm down. Abeg You In the Name of God. Nothing Happen wey God no know about ooo please don’t do anything stupid ooooo”.

    When contacted, spokespersons of both the university and the Kwara state police command, Kunle Akogun and Ajayi Okasanmi said they were yet to be briefed about the incident.

    Okasanmi promised though, to get in touch with the appropriate quarters on the development.

  • NSCDC arrests five hawkers of SIM cards

    The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Kwara State has arrested five suspects for allegedly hawking SIM cards and registering patrons without being accredited to do so.

    The NSCDC Commandant in the state, Mr Adeyinka Fasiu,  told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Ilorin that the suspects were arrested within Ilorin metropolis while selling the cards.

    Fasiu said that the suspects were arrested by NSCDC surveillance team during a routine patrol.

    He said that two of the suspects confessed to the crime, saying that they were new in the business.

    “The suspects led our officers to their alleged leader who they claimed  supplied them the SIM  cards,’’ he said.

    The commandant said illegal sale of SIM cards had become a popular trade, adding that many  had been using the cards to carry out criminal activities.

    Read Also: NSCDC apprehend three kidnappers in Niger

    He also said that the command signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU ) with the Nigerian  Communication Commission (NCC) to halt usage of such  cards.

    “Their  (NCC)  enforcement team in Abuja came to me and requested for us to work together to reduce usage of  such   SIM cards and sale  by  road side hawkers.

    “We had an agreement and since then, we have been working together to put a stop to the act, ” he said.

    Adeyinka  advised residents  to refrain  from buying unregistered and registered SIM cards from road side hawkers.

    He advised them to always visit accredited shops for the purchase of  the cards to ensure their biometrics details were captured.

  • Offa robbery: Police diverting attention from case of extra judicial killing – Saraki

    The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has accused the police authorities of diversion in the alleged extra judicial killing of a prime suspect in the April 5, 2018 Offa robbery incident in which 33 persons were killed by the bandits.

    Police had reported that the suspect, Michael Adikwu had died in detention in prompting Saraki to demand inquiry into the circumstances that led to the suspect’s death.

    In response, the police authorities have said that the death of Adikwu would not in any way stall the trial of the remaining suspects.

    Police investigation had linked Saraki to some of the robbery suspects who claimed that they received empowerment from the President of the Senate and that they were in the past, used by Saraki to disrupt elections in Kwara State.

    But in a statement on Friday by his media Adviser, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the President of the Senate said that the response by the Police was a mere diversionary tactic.

    According to him, the action of the police was aimed at evading the serious issues of human rights abuse, extra-judicial killing and politicization of criminal investigations.

    Read Also: Saraki has personalised Senate, says Ndume

    The statement clarified that when mentioned in his statement on Wednesday that he had been vindicated, Saraki was not referring to the outcome of a case which is just about to commence.

    Rather, the statement said he was pointing to the belated admission by the police that Michael Adikwu, the prime suspect, had died in custody, a fact that was initially denied by the police when he (Senate President) raised it a few months ago.

    He alleged a cover up by the police in the mishandling of the investigations and politicisation of the process, adding that the police authorities have continued to make inconsistent statements and committing more blunders.

    The statement said, “The police, while reacting to our disclosure that the prime suspect had died in custody, caused their spokesman, Moshood Jimoh, to respond that: ‘Michael Adikwu is in police custody in one of the South-west states…helping in the investigation’. The same Police have equally documented the claim that the suspect died during arrest. What a contradiction!

    “It is surprising that the Police which initially allowed the said Adikwu to grant interviews to several national newspapers while in custody, refused to inform the public that the suspect had died until the Attorney General of Kwara State mentioned it on November 21, 2018 in the course of his address to the High Court in Ilorin while applying to amend the charge sheet”.

    Saraki urged President Muhammadu Buhari to institute inquiry into the death of Adikwu because it has several implications for the country’s legal system and its engagement with the international community.

    This, according to him, was necessary, in view of the consistent allegations of human rights abuse and extra judicial killings against the Federal Government by the international communities and foreign rights organisations.

    He recalled that the international community has consistently cited issues of human rights abuses and extra judicial killings by Nigerian security forces for refusal to sell weapons to the Nigerian government in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgents.

    “One of the key issues those of us who have been engaging with the international community on the need for them to support Nigeria in the fight against terrorism in the North-east region through supply of arms, provision of training and other technical aid has been confronting is that of the flagrant abuse of human rights and extra-judicial killings by our security agencies.

    “This is an instance of what these international partners complain about. The Presidency should make a point that the present government does not tolerate human rights abuse, extra-judicial killing, politically-motivated criminal investigation and refusal to comply with global best practices by security agencies by instituting an inquiry into the case of the death of this suspect”, Saraki added.

    The Senate President called for diligent prosecution of the Offa robbery case so that justice can be done to the innocent victims of the April 5 attacks, the suspects facing trial and the state whose peace was disturbed by the sad incident.

  • Offa robbery: Reps launch investigation into death of key suspect

    The House of Representatives is to investigative circumstances of the death Michael Adikwu, a key suspect in the Offa, Kwara State robbery attack that claimed scores of lives seven months ago.

    The Committee on Police Affairs, Human Rights and Justice that was mandated to carry out the investigation is expected to uncover the Issues and questions as to when the suspect died, how he died, why the Police denied the facts of his death, at what point the Police leadership discovered the death of the suspect and why the police are covering up the facts.

    In addition, the Committee is also expected to unravel issues of human rights abuse, extrajudicial killings and manipulation of criminal Investigation by the police.

    The decision of the lawmakers followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance by Zakari Mohammad (PDP, Kwara), who noted how shocking was the disclosure by the Police that Adikwu, the principal suspect in the unfortunate bank robbery in Offa, Kwara State that occurred on the 5″“ of Aprii;2018 is dead.

    He said: “The Police initially confirmed to the Attorney General of Kwara State through the Police Public Relations Officer Moshood Jimoh that the principal suspect was alive and in custody and was helping the police in the investigations of the robbery that led to the killing of 22 people and recovery of firearms that were carted away.

    “Of concern however is that it took the police so long to make the disclosure about the death of the principal suspect after denying its veracity as was reported in the media.

    Read Also: Absence of principal suspect stalls Offa robbery trial

    “It is equally worrisome that there have been inconsistencies in the various statements by the police and a possible cover up of this extra-judicial killing with the aim of tarnishing the image of some innocent individuals for political p poses.

    “It is common knowledge that it is the constitutional duty of this hallowed chamber to take action wherever such level of irresponsibility and recklessness of an important law enforcement agency such as the Police have arisen in the course of investigations into a vicious crime”.

    The Committee has four weeks to carry out the assignment and report back for further legislative action.

  • Offa robbery: Saraki seeks inquiry into death of key suspect

    …Says he has been vindicated

     

    Following eventual disclosure by the Police that Michael Adikwu, the principal suspect in the deadly bank robbery attacks in Offa, Kwara State, on April 5, 2018, is dead, the President of the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Wednesday asked the Presidency to institute a judicial inquiry into the reported death of the principal suspect in the April 5, 2018 Offa robbery attacks, Michael Adikwu.

    Saraki said that the inquiry should be constituted to determine “how and when’ the suspect died.”

    Read Also:Saraki has personalised Senate, says Ndume

    The Senate President in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, noted that the new disclosure by the Police has vindicated his earlier claim that the suspect had been murdered in police custody and that the investigation was politically motivated to implicate him (Saraki), Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed and a few others.

    He stated that the inquiry would help to thoroughly examine and interrogate how the investigation into the robbery incident was conducted by the Police and whether the investigation followed the normal process and comply with global best practices.

    He added that the Police needed to confirm why it took them so long to make the disclosure about the death of the principal suspect after they categorically denied it at the time he (Saraki) disclosed the information and it was reported in the media.

    Saraki said, “It should be recalled that when we mentioned it that the principal suspect had been murdered and that investigation into the Offa robbery attack was politically motivated and targeted at implicating me and other individuals, the Police Public Relations Officer, Moshood Jimoh  said: ‘Michael Adikwu is in Police custody. You know that he is the one that led the killing of 22 people. The fire arms that were carted away, he is helping the police in the investigation to recover them. There is a state in the South-west where they kept him. I can’t mention the state. It is in one of the South-west states’.

    “The fresh facts have now thrown more light into why there had been inconsistencies in the various statements by the police. The Police initially told the Attorney-General of Kwara State that the principal suspect was alive and they only later reluctantly disclosed that he died in the course of arrest. How can a suspect confirmed to be in custody now be said to have died in the course of arrest? This contradiction shows a deliberate attempt to cover up something.

    “It is obvious that the Police have orchestrated the information they give to the public on the Offa robbery only to tarnish the image of the Kwara State Governor and myself. We are calling for a public inquiry to probe the issues of extra-judicial killing, the cover-up of this killing with the aim of framing up some individuals for political purpose and politicizing of criminal investigations. The facts need to be laid bare.

    “The inquiry may help to further document and define the terms of handling of suspects in police custody and how to prevent extra-judicial killing of suspects, for whatever purpose. There is need for transparency in investigations into all cases and our methods should comply with global standards. We should discourage situations where police politicize investigations and deliberately set out to frame some individuals.

    “With the facts on ground, the issues that should be unearthed by the inquiry include: When exactly did the suspect die? How did he die? Why was the police denying the facts of his death when they knew he had died? At what point did the Police leadership knew of the death? Why are the police covering up the facts? We believe the answer to these questions will help the country to address the issue of human rights abuse, extra-judicial killing, manipulation of criminal investigation to achieve political end, deliberate attempt to cover up some facts and how skewed investigation of crime can impact on successful prosecution of suspects,” he added.

    Saraki noted that now that the Police have commenced prosecution of the remaining suspects in court, there should be diligent and prompt prosecution so that justice can be transparently done to both the victims of the Offa robbery and the accused persons.

  • Kwara bans public schools from collecting illegal fees

    The Kwara State House of Assembly on  Wednesday banned public primary and secondary schools in the state from collecting unauthorized fees from pupils and students.

    The house gave the directive after considering a report of the House Committee on Education and Human Capital Development on alleged collection of illegal fees.

    The alleged fees, the assembly said were being collected by headmasters and principals in public primary and secondary schools in the state.

    Reading the resolution of the house after rising from the committee, the Deputy Speaker, Chief Mathew Okedare, who presided over the plenary mandated the authorities of each school to refund the money collected.

    The lawmakers directed headmasters and principals who collected above approved fees from students to refund the money before the end of the first term.

    It directed the State Teaching Service Commission and the State Universal Basic Education Board to sanction the affected headmasters and principals and to communicate the sanction to the house immediately.

    The house called on the teaching service commission and other stakeholders in the Education Sector to be alive to their responsibility at all times, especially monitoring and supervision of public schools.

    The state Commissioner for Education, Hajia Bilikis Oniyangi, had suspended some principals over alleged collection of illegal fees from students.

    NAN