The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai

  • Nigeria still can’t feed itself, says Buhari

    President Muhannadu Buhari has said that, Nigeria is still facing the challenge of feeding itself and providing raw materials for industries through agriculture.

    President Buhari who stated this on Saturday at the opening of the 40th Kaduna International Trade Fair, however said that, the challenge remains, despite agriculture contributing 25.5 per cent of the Nigeria’s GDP and 50 per cent of its labour force.

    Kaduna International Trade Fair is a 10-day an annual event organised by the Kaduna Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA), where both local and international business ideas and inventions are showcased.

    Represented at the occasion by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelama, the President however identified creation of  a strong linkage between agriculture and industry as a sure way of bringing about sustainable growth by creating new jobs, improving value addition.

    READ ALSO: I’ll base appointment of new ministers on merit, spread — Buhari

    According to the President, “Nigeria has continued to face the challenge of meeting domestic food requirements, providing raw materials for the manufacturing sector and export.

    “Therefore, creating a strong linkage between agriculture and industry is a sure way of bringing about sustainable growth by creating new jobs, improving value addition.

    “The move will also create wealth for farming communities, improve manufacturing output and enable roll-out of infrastructure around farming communities which will industrialise our country in the long run.” He said.

    The President also described state governments as key allies for successful businesses in the country, adding that, their commitment is required for businesses to succeed.

    “For instance, we rely on state governments to provide access to land, act as mediators in conflict prevention and resolution, link local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to the supply chains of processing companies.

    “States also provide the needed infrastructure to link farms to processing plants and markets, and above all, provide a conducive environment for businesses and their host communities to thrive.

    “I am glad to say that we have such a partner in the Kaduna State Government.” He said.

    Buhari however assured that, the Federal Government under him will continue to engage KADCCIMA and the organised private sector to catalyse investment and improve the ease of doing business.

    n his own speech, Kaduna state Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai while congratulating KADCCIMA for 40 years of successful trade fair outing and organisation of the private sector to contribute to national development, assured that, his would continue to build the needed human capital by equipping teeming youths in the state with skills for entrepreneurship development.

    The Governor, who was represented by the Deputy Governor-elect, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe enumerated the successes of the state through its investment friendly environmentEarlier, President of KADCCIMA, Hajiya Muheeba Dankaka, described the 40th edition of the fair as unique, considering KADCIMA’s 40 years of contribution to the development of Kaduna State and the country.

    She however commended the Federal and the Kaduna State Government for promoting the growth of the private sector in the state through various business-friendly policies.

  • Open letter to students

    The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufa’i, at a forum, spoke about his political activism as an undergraduate student of Quantity Surveying at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in the mid 1970s. As the largest university in sub-Saharan Africa, el-Rufa’i said the size of students’ population was one of the greatest sources of pride for those involved in political activism.

    Rating ABU higher in scholarship, el-Rufa’i said ABU, then, was the only university in the whole world that offered honours in Quantity Surveying. The closest competitors, according to him, were two polytechnics in the United Kingdom. The University of Reading joined the league much later. The quality of scholarship was highly rated; researchers and students from all over the world jostled for places. Only those who could not secure places in Nigeria went abroad for studies.

    Today, a ranking of the top 8,000 universities in the world, which was done last year, showed only five Nigerian universities in the first 100 in Africa.  Our top universities are: University of Ilorin (55th in Africa, 5,846th in global ranking), Obafemi Awolowo University (61st in Africa, 6,265th in global ranking), University of Ibadan (63rd in Africa, 6,396th in global ranking), University of Jos (74th in Africa, 7,000th in global ranking) and University of Lagos (79th in Africa, 7,246th in global ranking).

    There are over 60 quality universities in the State of Massachusetts only. The United States (with roughly twice Nigeria’s population) has a total of 5,758 tertiary education institutions, an average of 115 per state. One private university, Harvard University, has an annual budget that exceeds the 2011 investment in education by Nigerian government, and Harvard’s endowment funds were worth $37 billion in 2008.

    Our recycled politicians who enjoyed better education in the 60s went on to destroy the education bequeathed to them by the generation that came before theirs. How many political office holders enroll their children in tertiary institutions in Nigeria? So why would anyone want to campaign for recycled politicians and recycled political parties?

    Over the years, we have had politicians come to gain power; then after wielding the power, they forget the masses and leave our education to go worse than they met it. We are trained in schools with outdated curricula, while our peers in the world over are already miles away into the future. Everything we’ve got is still a knowledge in antiquity.

    Finland has the best education in the world and that does not mean that they are better humans than us. But, when visionary leaders are at the helms of affairs, all other things work. Moreover, for any country to grow, its education must be structured to reflect the modern realities.

    Sometimes, I feel the 1960s and 1970s were the future, especially when multinational companies always come begging to employ students in Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH). Getting scholarship was at their fingers tips. What then has gone wrong with our education is a question that cannot be answered unless the present crop of students collectively begin to take our future in our hands and take it out of the hands politicians who appear not to have meaningful plans for the country.

    They only remember us when it is time for election. I guess we have been the fooled! They come months to election, share rice, money and others items in exchange for our future, and then we continue to chant Aluta.

    Aluta has never helped anybody; union leaders are only fighting for their pockets and selfish reasons. We should also know that the crumbs these politicians give us are just short terms benefit; why not we look at the long-term benefit. They give voters N2,000 and embezzle N2 billion meant for the development of education. If we continue to collect money for vote, we have no right to question politicians because we have taken our share of the national cake.

    What should be done is to ask them what they have done in the last four years. If you want to save our nation, take them to your colleges and show them the sorry state of the facilities there. Students should know that our future is not guarantee in this country. But, politicians choose us as the best option to mobilise young people for their (re)election. We must wake up from this.

    As student, Joshua Wong led a revolution when he was 17 years in Hong Kong, created a political party at 21. He was 18 when Fortune Magazine listed him as one of the greatest leaders in the world.

    Nigerian students, we should never be fooled by the little crumbs from politicians, don’t let them short change us. Don’t allow any union leader to come cajole us to join thugs for election; they are only after their interest. If anyone loses his life, he lost everything and his family loses too. They get power steal our money and use the stolen wealth to send their children to private schools that cannot be afford by the poor. If you help the wrong person to gain power, it would be another four years of pain.

    Students, let there be a paradigms shift in 2019. We can make difference in governance; we have the power. Now is the time for all of us to collectively join hands together and build a new Nigeria.

    God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria.

     

    • Emmanuel is a student of Yaba College of Technology, Lagos
  • Ignore NUT strike, send pupils to school – El-Rufai to parents

    Ignore NUT strike, send pupils to school – El-Rufai to parents

    Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has urged parents and guardians to send their children to school irrespective of the NUT strike action, noting that the second term has resumed and teachers are ready to teach.

    Addressing a world press conference in Kaduna on Tuesday, El-Rufai said that the strike was aimed at scuttling the ongoing education reforms, adding that the scripts of the 43,000 applicants who applied for teaching job has been marked and the result of the 25,000 teachers to be recruited would soon be released.

    The Governor, who spoke through the Permanent Member in the state’s Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Shehu Sani Othman, said that the state government has opened attendance registers for teachers across the state to check those who are absent from their duty post in accordance with civil service rule.

    El-Rufai reiterated that the strike action embarked upon by NUT is illegal, adding that he has directed education secretaries and school administrators to take count of teachers who resumed and those who did not for necessary actions. He, however, warned against politicising the educational reforms embarked upon by his government to protect the future of over 2 million pupils in the state.

    According to him, “Parents and guardians should send their children to school, the second term has begun already. The list of successful candidates who sat for the aptitude test for the recruitment of 25,000 primary school teachers would soon be released. The scripts of the over 40,000 applicants who sat for the examination has been marked and data entry is ongoing.The date for the oral interview will be announced as soon as the result is ready.”

    El-Rufai further stated that teachers who complied with government directive in some schools across the state were being chased out by NUT officials and sending pupils home, thereby, disrupting teaching and learning. He called on teachers in the state for their own interest, disregard NUT strike action and return to work.

    On National Industrial Court order, obtained by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) restraining the government from disengaging any teacher until the determination of the substantive suit before the court, Othman said that the unqualified teachers were sacked before the ruling.

    “Schools are supposed to resume academic activities on Monday, January 8, but the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has directed its members to embark on indefinite strike same day over ongoing reform in the education sector. Among steps taken to reposition the sector was the competency test organised by the state government to determined the effectiveness of teachers in which 21,780 failed and were disengaged.

    “NUT’s main agitation was to allow the affected teachers, who have no business in our schools having failed the competency test to continue to teach. But the Nasir el-Rufai government insisted that teachers that cannot pass primary four examinations must not be allowed near its schools if the future of over 2 million pupils in the state must be protected.

    “In fact, the NUT officials have gone as far as closing down Local Government Education Authority offices in some local government areas. The state government will not accept NUT’s use of force to drive away teachers in their lawful duty post. This is very disturbing because it is against Civil Service Rule to stop government official from discharging his/her official duty.

    “We are, therefore, informing union leaders and erring teachers that government will take appropriate action in accordance with the provision of the Civil Service Rule.”

    Reacting, Kaduna state Chairman of NUT, Mr Audu Amba, said he was not aware of any harassment of teachers by NUT officials.

  • 2019: APC can’t lose sleep over Atiku against Buhari – El-Rufai

    2019: APC can’t lose sleep over Atiku against Buhari – El-Rufai

    Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has said that, All Progressives Congress ( APC ) is waiting for the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to come and contest the 2019 presidential seat against President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that, they cannot lose sleep over Atiku’s ambition.

    El-Rufai also said that, Atiku lied by saying he financed the APC campaigns in 2015. He however challenged the former Vice President to prove his claims.

    Kaduna State Governor stated this in an interview with the Hausa service of the Voice of America (VOA), which was monitored in Kaduna on Wednesday.

    Also featured in the short interview on the VOA Hausa service programme ‘Democracy Today’ were the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar himself and former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, who has since declared intention to contest the presidential ticket under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    When asked about his intention to contest in 2019, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar simply said, he has not made up his mind, saying that, “when I decide, I will let the world know”.

    But, Sule Lamido in his reaction to Atiku’s return to PDP said, they were happy to have him back, and that, he is not threatened by Atiku’s return.

    According to Lamido, “We are happy that former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is back to PDP. PDP made him and that he is back to the party is our joy. Not only him, in fact, we want others who left the party like the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki and former Governors to come back”.

    Asked whether he is not threatened by Atiku’s return, Lamido said, he is not threatened, but his prayer is that, best Presidential candidate will emerge for PDP. “If our interest is to see the progress and development of Nigeria, then, we should also prayer that everyone who left should return home”.

    However, El-Rufai while tongue-lashing Atiku said, “We in the APC were aware from onset that Atiku was going to leave APC back to PDP in the December and we thank God that, he left in November.

    “Atiku had seen that, we in the APC, especially the APC Governors had resolved to support President Muhammadu Buhari to run again in 2019. That is why he left APC, since he was only looking for where to contest for presidency.

    “Even in the 2015 APC primary election, Atiku didn’t come second, he was floored by Kwankwaso. So, even if President Buhari decides not to contest, Atiku knows that the APC ticket is not sure for him. Majority of the APC Governors have endorsed President Buhari as our candidate for 2019.

    “And we thank God, God has continued to improve the health condition of the President. Each time I see him, I thank God and I still pray that God continues to give him sound health.

    “So, by 2019, we are waiting to see Atiku contest, we are waiting to contest against him and see what happens. But, I cannot lose sleep because Atiku wants to contest, because by God’s grace, this is the reign of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Agreed, in politics if you lose even only one person, it should worry you, but the utterances of the former Vice President that, APC used his money, who did he give the money to? For me, I know those that supported us with their money and property that we used during election, and I never heard the name of Atiku that he brought a dime. If Atiku said he brought money, who did he give? Let him come and say it and how much did he give and what was it used for?

    “And in fact, if Atiku brought money, I ought to know, because I am part of the leadership of the party and during campaign, myself and former Governor Rotimi Amaechi were at the centre of the presidential campaign. Therefore, we are supposed to know. So, let him mention whom he gave the money and how much?

    “Asked about large number of APC members who are likely to follow Atiku to PDP, El-Rufai said, “Sure, we know that, we cannot rule out the possibility of some greedy people following him, those that are following material things. But, if people will consider how we can work for the progress of our country, everybody knows that you cannot compare Atiku with President Muhammadu Buhari”, El-Rufai said.

  • El-Rufai to NASS: I don’t share public funds like you

    El-Rufai to NASS: I don’t share public funds like you

    Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has fired back at the House of Representatives and its Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara over the National Assembly budget controversy, saying, he doesn’t share Kaduna State money like NASS shares public funds.

    The House of Representatives had on Tuesday descended heavily on Governor El-Rufai for challenging them to make their budget public, saying that what El-Rufai himself declared was not his security votes, but Kaduna State Security budget, daring him to publish his personal security vote like they have published the Speaker’s salary’s pay slip.

    Meanwhile, El-Rufai in reaction to the National Assembly members said, he does not have security votes; aside the security budget of the state he earlier published, which according to him is properly expended and accounted for.

    El-Rufai however faulted the legislators for what he called ‘unnecessary distraction’ to a simple request for a transparent National Assembly budget.

    In a statement he issued through his spokesman, Samuel Aruwan in Kaduna on Thursday, El-Rufai also faulted the salary pay slip of Hon. Yakubu Dogara, saying, “the figures in the pay slips presented for the Honorable Speaker are in stark contrast to the declaration by The Economist regarding the earnings of NASS members. One of the claims cannot be right”.

    Talking about security votes, El-Rufai said, contrary to general belief, he does not have a security vote. “The Kaduna State Government has presented details of its security budget. What was presented represents the only security vote for the entire government. As the figures show, there is no security vote for the Governor of Kaduna State.

    “This may be a shock to those used to the notion of security votes as barely disguised slush funds, but we do not operate such a system in Kaduna. Our budgets specify what is voted as assistance to security agencies, and its expenditure is properly recorded and accounted for. These are not monies given to or spent by the governor.

    “If the leaders of the NASS have security votes allocated to or personally collected by them, they might wish to disclose such. Our security spending does not operate like the NASS system of sharing public funds in such an opaque fashion that even NASS members do not know how their entire budget is broken down or what the leadership gets as its ‘running costs’.

    “The figures in the pay slips presented for the Honorable Speaker are in stark contrast to the declaration by The Economist regarding the earnings of NASS members. One of the claims cannot be right.

    “The House of Representatives has responded with predictable tetchiness to a simple and clear demand that details of the National Assembly budget be made public. It is inconceivable that an important institution, vested by the Constitution with representation, lawmaking and oversight powers, has for at least seven years ignored the imperative to set an example of transparency, despite being severally urged to do so.

    “Despite the rush to personal attacks on a matter of public policy, we cannot allow the enthronement of the republic of distraction. It is important that everyone who is interested in protecting and advancing democratic discourse should stay focused on the issue. It is strange that persons entrusted with high office will justify their abdication of the responsibility to be transparent in such cavalier fashion. We don’t believe that most of our esteemed legislators will construe a demand for transparency as aimed at undermining the National Assembly.

    “However, notwithstanding the intemperate response of the spokesman of the House of Representatives, the demand that the NASS budget be made public will not go away. It is not personal, and there is a strong civic constituency that is demanding it. The sooner all of us in public life recognized that the game has changed, and that segments of civil society and indeed everyday citizens of Nigeria, are much more aware, astute and advanced than the state of our politics, the better for our democratic health.

    “Since the NASS began conceiving its budget as a single-line item, how many legislators, not to mention other citizens, have seen the details of the budget? Can anyone recall seeing the spending patterns and details in any published audited accounts of NASS recently? By contrast, all state governments present their audited accounts to their state Houses of Assembly as required by law. The federal statutory agencies that NASS cites as not having their budgets reflected in the National Budget submit details of their budgets to the NASS for review and approval.

    “How, in the 21st Century, can we have any national institution that is comfortable with not being subject to any oversight, audit or external scrutiny. The constitutional principle of checks and balances was not introduced for purposes of idle luxury, but to ensure that every institution exercises its power in an accountable manner.

    “We reiterate our call for the NASS to download and analyze our budgets and actual spending which are all publicly available. In Kaduna State, the state government has been a net creditor to the local government councils, some of which cannot pay salaries without assistance by the state government. We do not retain local government funds nor impose contracts on them. Our policy announcements in this regarded were widely reported and appreciated.

    “The spokesman of the House of Representatives may wish to respond to what is written, rather than what is imagined. The KDSG statement of Monday, 10th April 2017, clearly stated that N100bn is bigger than the capital budgets of many states. That is a statement of fact.

    “In dragging the memo Malam Nasir El-Rufai submitted to President Buhari seven months ago into this matter, the spokesman of the House of Representatives betrays no recognition that it is the conduct of those that leaked private communication that bears condemnation.

    “When NASS hopefully eventually releases its budget details, the public will be hoping to see specifics on personnel costs, overheads and capital expenditure. Rather than restrict the budget details to only 2017, the current leadership of NASS should fulfill the obligations of transparency by releasing the breakdown of the NASS budget since 2015. That way, Nigerians, including members of the NASS, will get to know what the budget of that institution is.

    “The NASS leadership has been promising ad infinitum to publish the breakdown of the opaque, one-line budget. It should simply do so. Prompt release of the 2015 and 2016 breakdowns, along with the proposed figures for 2017, would be a good way to start.

    “As things stand today, even if Malam Nasir El-Rufai refrains from further commentary on this matter, the genie is already out of the bottle. The public will not accept a secretive NASS, or any other branch of government for that matter,” the Governor said.

     

  • El-Rufai earns N470,000 monthly, Security vote N4.55bn

    El-Rufai earns N470,000 monthly, Security vote N4.55bn

    Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai on Monday revealed his monthly salary, allowances and security votes in response to a challenge from the Speaker House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara.

    According to a pay slip made available by El-Rufai’s media aide, Samuel Aruwan on Monday, the governor earns N470, 521.74 monthly after total deduction.

    In February 2017, the Kaduna State Government paid the Governor a net salary of N470,521.74, with the following details:

    Income
    Basic Salary; N185,308.75,

    Hardship Allowance; N370,617.50,

    Gross Pay; N555,926.25,

    PAYE; N85,404.5,

    Total Deduction; N85,401.51,

    Net Pay; N470,521.74.

    The Governor’s security votes for the 2017, which includes procurement & Installation of CCTV Cameras for Monitoring and Surveillance, Procurement of Geo-position Interceptor and location of GSM UMTS System to Check the Trends and Intercept/locate kidnappers’ GSM calls and Procurement of Drones/Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is N4.556bn.

    El-Rufai last week requested the National Assembly (NASS) to provide further details on its opaque N115 billion (One Hundred and Fifteen Billion Naira) 2016 NASS budget.

    Dogara responded to the governor’s allegation that the National Assembly’s budget lacks transparency by challenging him to make public his salary and security votes.

    According to El-Rufai, the 2016, NASS budget for its 469 members is larger than the capital budget of Kaduna State, with close to 10 million inhabitants.

  • Southern Kaduna: Indigenous security agents aiding crises – El-Rufai

    Southern Kaduna: Indigenous security agents aiding crises – El-Rufai

    The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has said that, his government is planning to have all security agents indigenous to the troubled southern part of the state, posted out of the zone.

    The Governor said, rather than help, as expected of them to resolve the crises, the security agents who are indigenously from the zone had added to the problem.‎

    He said the state government is working on ensuring that all security agents in the zone‎ who are indigenous are posted out while those from other states are brought to serve in the area.

    El-Rufai while speaking at a peace meeting with religious leaders in the state house, Kaduna on Thursday said, Southern Kaduna zone has been in crisis for over three decades, but unfortunately without anyone being prosecuted for involvement in the crises.

    El-Rufa’i, however, said that, his government has hired 50 lawyers to build the capacity of the state’s ministry of justice and to enable it prosecute those suspected to be behind the crises both now and in the past.

    The Governor reminded the clerics that the state has been experiencing crises in the past 38 years saying, even during Makarfi which people said was peaceful, the state went through not less than eight crises and that, during Yakowa, there were 16 different skirmishes.

    He said, this indicates that the crises have nothing to do with the faith or the ethnic group of the political leader in the state, but that his government has been able to identify impunity as one of the factors fuelling the crisis in the state.

    El-Rufa’i, however, said his government has taken note of the major causes of the crises and has started implementing ways of dealing with them by ensuring the prosecution of culprits, the presence of security agencies and the re-orientation of the citizenry.

    He said suspects have been arrested and that it is only when people see that those behind the crises are being punished that they will desist from further participation in acts that will lead to conflict.

    The governor explained the reason for the suspension of work on drainages in the state capital as well as major towns in the state, saying some contractors were using the project to commit the government into extra expenditure.

    ‎He said the contractors through these acts, had got the state indebted to the tune of N1 billion as against the N450 million it initially voted for the project. 
    The governor said the drainages were being constructed to maintain roads and while the project lasted, many youths were able to secure employment and many businesses were boosted through the patronage of workers at the sites.

    He said some of the contractors given the jobs, however, went berserk and started building drainages where they were not assigned and  even where there are no roads.

    The governor said some of the contractors even went beyond their agreement and started doing drainages even on roads that belong to the federal government thereby  incurring further costs to the state government. “We have made some mistakes, but we will correct them,” he stated.

    He, however, expressed happiness with how the religious leaders in the state have spoken about peace ‎and urged them to put into action the suggestions they have made at the forum and harped on the need for them to remain sincere while dealing with the members as he reminded them that, they will stand before God one day.

    “If you deceive the government or the governor, you cannot deceive God,” he said.

    El-Rufai said his government is trying to repair within four years what has been wasted in the last 16 years and that the task has not been easy.

    “What would take 20 years is what we are trying to do in 4 years. Most of us don’t sleep as we are working round the clock”, he stated.

    He described the religious leaders as shock absorbers saying they cannot afford to fail the nation due to the sensitive roles they are playing to ensure the unity and progress of the country.