The Nation Newspaper

Tag: militancy

  • Militancy: DHQ handovers Joint Maritime Training Centre to Navy

    Militancy: DHQ handovers Joint Maritime Training Centre to Navy

    …To improve specialised skills of security forces

    In order to enhance specialised skills of the Armed Forces and other security services, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Thursday handed over the Joint Maritime Security Training Centre (JMSTC) to the Nigerian Navy (NN).

    This move was as a result of the threats to the maritime domain especially the creeks, back waters posed by militants in the Niger Delta and the riverine communities of Lagos and Ogun states.

    Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin while handing over the centre to the NN said it would ensure a more efficient management of maritime assets and capabilities in line with similar institutions such as the United States Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School (NAVSCIATTS).

    Represented by the Chief of Defence Training and Operations, Maj.-Gen. Ahmed Mohammed, Olonisakin expressed hope that the JMSTC would become a centre for excellence in maritime security for the West African sub-region.

    “The idea of establishing JMSTC was mooted in the wake of thr increase in sophistication and types of crimes in our maritime domain. It was conceptualised by the DHQ and the British Military Advisory Training Team (BMATT) and the centre was established in 2009 with the mandate of enhancing the human capacity of personnel of the Armed Forces in littoral and riverine operations.

    “It is a unique training institution in the sense that it is the only centre of its kind in Nigeria where security personnel are trained to acquire specialised skills in order to operate in the maritime domain.”

    Continuing, the CDS said though the centre has done well in the past eight years, a recent assessment conducted by the DHQ showed that for better utilisation, it should be administered and controlled by the NN, which has expertise in maritime matters.

    He said: “It is therefore expected that the NN would ensure the vision of training personnel from other services and security agencies continue woth the same tempo.
    “I strongly believe that the centre would be better repositioned to effectively carryout its duties in line with the objectives of establishing it.

    “The centre was handed over to NN because it is better positioned to control and bring necessary assets within its purview to take it to the next level.

    “Every asset in the centre has been handed over fully to the navy.  We expect the navy to review what they have seen on ground. If there are observations and other things they think need to be done to upgrade the centre, they will forward to DHQ for necessary actions.”

    In his remark, the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas who was represented by the Chief of Training and Operations, Rear Admiral Adeniyi Osinowo assured that security forces would continue to receive quality training in waterman ship, boars handling, weapon handling and underwater warfare to enable them address challenges in the nation’s wsterways and the creeks.

    Ibas said plans were on to ensure that access to the training was expanded to accommodate other agencies and services that haven’t had the opportunity.
    He assured the CDS and other stakeholders that the concept would not change, adding that the NN would improve the quality of training to enhance manpower to address contemporary issues.”

    Earlier, the Commandant, JMSTC, Captain Alexander Bingel said over 3,000 military personnel and officials of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been trained since the establishment of the centre.

    At the event were the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Naval Training Command (NAVTRAC) Rear Admiral Ifeola Mohammed, Chief Staff Officer (CSO) Western Naval Command (WNC) Rear Admiral Thaddeus Udofia, Commander, NNS WEY, Commodore Mohammed Nagenu, Commander, 465 Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Hospital, Air Commodore Benjamin Okunola, and representatives of the British and United States military.

  • ‘Militancy affecting our operations in Niger Delta’

    The Managing Director of West African Gas Pipelines Company (WAPCo), Mr Walter Perez, says militancy is affecting smooth operations of the company in the Niger Delta.

    Perez spoke at the inauguration and handover of Ajido Health Clinic, Badagry.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the clinic was built by the company for the Lagos State government.

    The managing director said supplies to other countries, such as Ghana, Togo and Benin had been affected by militant activities in the Niger Delta, adding that the issue was being addressed.

    Perez said the clinic, which cost over N80 million, was part of the company’s social project for communities where it operates.

    “This is not the first time we are building clinic or schools in our host communities.

    “We have built markets, boreholes, toilets and schools, depending on the needs of the host community,” he said.

    Perez appealed to the residents to make use of the clinic, saying the company would do more for them.

    The traditional ruler of Ajido Kingdom, Aholu Topon Toyiagai, hailed the company for the project.

    “We, the people of Ajido and its environs, express our appreciation for the honour done to us.

    “As Oliver Twist, Ajido wants more of people-oriented projects that will improve their living standard.

    “Today, history is being made and the entire citizens of Ajido at home and abroad are appreciative of this laudable gesture,” he said.

    Inaugurating the clinic, Dr Olufemi Onanuga, the special adviser on Public Health to Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode praised the company for the gesture.

    He said adequate personnel would be deployed in the clinic for  operations.

    Onanuga urged other companies to emulate WAPCO’s good gesture.

  • Clark, Niger Delta leaders reject return to militancy

    Clark, Niger Delta leaders reject return to militancy

    Stakeholders in Niger Delta want restive armed groups in the region to call off their planned resumption of violent attacks on oil and gas installations in the region.

    Some militant groups, during the week, threatened to resume bombing of oil and gas facilities as well as violent engagement of the nation’s military forces, citing alleged reluctance by the federal government to keep its most recent promises to the people of the region.

    But some of the critical stakeholders of the region, who spoke to The Nation in Warri on the matter, expressed the view that violence would not give the desired development, peace and clean environment to the people, the seeming unwillingness of government notwithstanding.

    While the Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) believes the federal government is doing its homework on the issues at stake to ensure enduring results, the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) and other stakeholders say the solution does not lie in   violent engagement.

    The Coordinator of PANDEF’s secretariat and member of its Central Working Committee (CWC), Dr Fred Mulade, said there would be no need for any violence as the body was properly engaging government, adding that there were fruits from the engagements, more of which would become tangible soon.

    “We had a general assembly in Uyo on March 30 and we had a robust discussion and as I am talking to you now, the federal government has set up the Inter-Agency Committee which is looking into our 16-point agenda and their 3-point agenda and see how they can develop a work plan for the development of the region.

    “Quite a good number of these boys have called me and I have had cause to explain to them that what we are doing is to see that there’s benefit for everybody and you know when things like these happen, you need to really sit down and plan properly so that you don’t repeat the mistake they made in the past.

    “PANDEF is trying as much as possible to see that the federal government is engaged, although there’s not been any full blown dialogue yet, at the smaller levels we are ensuring that the right thing is being done and that’s what we’ve been telling them that there’s no point in returning to the creek or resorting to any disturbance at this stage, we have moved beyond that.

    “What we keep telling them is to be patient because it really takes time for things to work out and by the grace of God things have started working out; we’ve started working with the federal government to develop a work plan for the region,” Mulade said.

    Also, President of the IYC, Eric Omare, urged the threatening armed groups to jettison their plans of returning to militancy, noting that the process of getting justice had gone beyond arms struggle, adding that the best option available to the people of the region to perpetuate their engagement with government and demand for even more than government had promised.

    “What we should do at this point is to remind government and to ask that they should fulfil their promise. It has not got to the point where people should resort to violence because government has failed in its promise to the region. I don’t think calling for or threatening violence now is necessary, we have not gotten to that level, but we’ll continue to remind government and demand that they fulfil their promises to the region and also do more,” Omare said.

    Also calling for calm and new thinking in the struggle for the development of the oil-rich region, environmental activist and the Secretary of the Egbema/Gbaramatu Community Development Foundation (EGCDF), Comrade Sheriff Mulade, charged both PANDEF and the federal government to play their roles and assure the people of the region of sincerity and desired development by starting to take vivid steps towards all demands.

    “For now, they have no reason to resume hostilities in the Niger Delta because we need peace for development. The next line of action for the leaders of the region is constructive engagement; our leaders should continue to speak, under the umbrella of PANDEF, on behalf of the people and continue to engage government, forget about selfishness and stomach infrastructure they had been engaged in and come out openly to discuss on behalf of the people of the Niger Delta, irrespective of ethnic backgrounds.

    “Government, on its own, should come out with concrete action plans, not mere policy statements, to show that they are ready and start implementing some critical plans as demanded by the people. We are not expecting this government to do magic, but we want to start seeing concrete steps to show that they are ready,” Mulade said.

  • ‘Oil subsidy scammers nurturing vandalism, militancy, crude oil theft’

    The oil subsidy scammers, who benefitted immensely from fake importation of petroleum products are nurturing vandalism,  militancy, crude oil theft and the unwarranted disruptions in the sector, to the level being witnessed, especially in the Niger Delta.

    The disclosure was made yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, by the Convener of the Second Edition of the Save Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry (SNOAGI) Roundtable, Dr. Brown Ogbeifun.

    The roundtable was organised by the African Initiative for Transparency, Accountability and Responsible Leadership (AFRITAL).

    Project SNOAGI was launched last year, as a veritable platform for bringing stakeholders together to interact, brainstorm and make prescriptions on how to improve the efficiency of the oil and gas operations, thereby assisting government in bringing sanity to the sector.

    Ogbeifun said: “Most of the motherless US Dollars,  British Pounds, Euro and Naira found in wardrobes, farms and soak-away pits are definitely primary or secondary products of mismanaged oil funds, which might explain why the oil industry has witnessed gross underdevelopment.

    “The revelations emanating from the Malabu oil deal, the brazen cash withdrawals from oil money accounts to pursue non-value addition to the good of our hydrocarbon development are indeed very sad.

    “There is no doubt that there has been lack of investors’ confidence in the oil industry, as policies and laws that would have protected their investments are not seriously addressed.

    “The issues of over regulation through multiple regulatory agencies, multiple taxation, global and local oil politics have made it an intractable possibility for Nigeria to reach it’s optimum productivity.”

    The convener also stated that Nigeria was ripe enough to be self sufficient in producing all the necessary derivatives from crude oil.

    Ogbeifun noted that compounding the parlous state of the oil and gas sector came the sabotaging of the pipelines by the militants, which he insisted almost crippled operations in the sector.

    He said: “Paradoxically, we export our crude oil and create refining capacities for other economies, at the detriment of the Nigerian state. Why must we continue to export our mineral resources in exchange for finished products in the oil and gas industry?

    “Our leaders have consistently displayed lack of political will to drive the transformation imperatives to a logical conclusion. That is why we are still talking of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), 17 years after it started its journey.

    “No country treats its critical reforms the way we do. Not passing the PIB has led to losses in trillions of naira, loss of investment opportunities, inability to realise our optimum capacity utilisation and the inability to end gas flaring, which was to have ended in 2008.

    “The PIB might not be a perfect document, just as it is all over the world. All we need is an enduring dialogue process and the will of steel by government to drive the process to its logical conclusion. No matter the drawbacks, the PIB contains many sections that would have greatly enhanced the hydrocarbon potential of Nigeria.”

    The convener also stated that mediation was very effective in the resolution of knotty conflicts, while pleading that the ongoing dialogue process between top officials of the Federal Government and Niger Delta militants/leaders should be sustained.

    He noted that while government was seeking solutions to all the challenges in the Niger Delta, all parties should sheathe their swords,  show good faith and respect for one another, declaring that no meaningful development would take place in an atmosphere of chaos and anarchy.

    Ogbeifun added that the pronouncements of the Federal Government’s top officials on the setting up of modular refineries in the Niger Delta and the open confession that the crude oil and gas-rich region deserved a better deal, showed that there were still honourable men in the corridors of power in Nigeria.

  • NLNG’s dividend to govt dips 50% on oil price, militancy

    NLNG’s dividend to govt dips 50% on oil price, militancy

    The financial performance of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited dipped last year on global low oil prices and heightened militant attacks in the Niger Delta.

    While the fomrer started since late 2014, militant attacks peaked early last year resulting in bombing of pipelines including a major gas supplier to NLNG.

    According to the 2017 facts and figures presented to reporters in Lagos yesterday by the management of NLNG led by the Managing Director, Mr. Tony Attah, the company dividend paid to the Federal Government from last year’s operations was $356.1million compared to $1.043billion in 2015, $1.390billion in 2014 and $2.769 billion in 2012.

    The various taxes paid by the firm also plunged. The company income tax (CIT) and education tax (ET) in 2016 dipped to $323.27million from $2.170billion in 2015 and $1.402billion in 2014. Also pay as you earn (PAYE) dropped to $31.322million in 2016 as against $42.842million in 2015 and $46.903million in 2014. However, value added tax (VAT) was higher last year at $24.598million compared to $20.156million in the previous year, $23.976million in 2014 and $165.483million in 2012.

    Attah said since the inception of the company, over $90billion has been generated as revenue, while $15 billion has been paid to the Federal Government as dividends. Also $5.5 billion has been paid to the government in taxes and $13billion for feed gas purchase.

    The NLNG chief said the firm is moving with its plan of developing Bonny – its host community – into Nigerian Dubai. The 25-year development master plan expects Bonny to become mini-Dubai by 2040. Accenture Group is doing the thinking with NLNG on how to actualise the goal, he said.

    Attah also reiterated the need for the National Assembly not to proceed with the proposed amendment of the NLNG Act. According to him, such a step will cost Nigeria a lot of investments and jeopardise future investments by NLNG including Trains 7 and 8 expected to bring $25billion investment, increase the firm’s capacity from 22 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 30mtpa, create 18,000 jobs and push up domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)  supply capacity from 250 tonnes to 1.0mtpa.

    Besides, he explained that the primary aim of the National Assembly to amend the NLNG Act, which was to compel the gas company to pay the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) levy, does apply because NLNG does not produce gas. It only buys gas just like a fertiliser or petrochemical company, he added.

    The NLNG management, it was learnt, has been meeting with the relevant committees of the National Assembly to explain these facts to them and also make them see the entire scenario from the same lens as the gas giant.

  • Militancy: Osinbajo to interact with Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers communities

    Militancy: Osinbajo to interact with Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers communities

    Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, is set for an interactive visit to oil communities in the Niger Delta starting tomorrow.
    His first port of call is Delta State to be followed by visits to Bayelsa and Rivers at later dates.
    The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, said yesterday that the VP’s planned trips are a testimony to the readiness and determination of the Buhari administration to comprehensively address the Niger Delta situation.
    During the visits, according to Shehu, the Vice President will hold talks with leaders and representatives of the oil-producing communities.
    He said: “The Buhari presidency is fully committed to having an effective dialogue and positive engagement that will end the crisis in the oil-producing areas, and believes that these visits would further boost the confidence necessary for the attainment of peace and prosperity in the areas and the Nigerian nation in general.”

  • Militancy: Youths decry silence among Niger Delta governors

    Youth leaders in Niger Delta have criticised governors from their region for not doing enough to complement the efforts of the Federal Government in resolving the region’s crisis.

    The leaders, who spoke yesterday in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, after an emergency meeting at Ijaw House, urged the governors to evolve an economic plan to rescue the region from poverty and militancy.

    The leaders, who met under the aegis of Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities Leaders Council (NDENLC), described as unacceptable the silence of the governors and their nonchalant attitude towards some burning issues of development in the region.

    The meeting was attended by the leaders of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, Udengs Eradiri; Urhobo Youth Council (UYC), Terry Obieh; Urhobo Progressives Union (UPU), Esimaje Aweni; Ibibio Youth Council (IYC), Imo Okoko; Efik National Youth (ENY), Capt. Bassey Henshaw, among other leaders from Anioma, Ogoni, Edo and other areas.

    Eradiri, who addressed reporters after the meeting, said: “The governors in the Niger Delta should do more internally to resolve the militancy in the region. They should set up an economic plan to take the region out of poverty. We are saying this because liberation itself cannot come externally; it must be internally driven.

    “What are the Niger Delta governors doing on their own to end the crisis? Everybody is just waiting for the Federal Government. Governors in this region must meet, engage stakeholders and begin to resolve the problem.

    “The country is facing an economic crisis. What are our governors doing to come up with an economic plan to take this region out of poverty and militancy? As we speak, the condition in the region is getting out of hands. There is widespread poverty; criminality goes up everyday.

    “We are suffering more from what is happening in the region. All our youths are unemployed and things are getting from bad to worse. So, we call on the governors to provide economic, political and developmental leadership so that when we are talking about the Federal Government, we would have started our own.

    “We are too rich to be poor. We talk about diversification through agriculture. What are our governors doing in that area? We can use rice cultivation, fish farming and cassava to change the economic situation in the country.”

  • Oil communities pledge support to end militancy in Niger Delta

    Oil and gas host communities in the Niger Delta region have disclosed commitments to support oil and gas firms to end militancy in the oil producing states.

    The communities, under the aegis of Oil and Gas Host Communities Association, said beyond dialogue, it was ready to initiate development and empowerment programmes that would engage the aggrieved youths.

    In a statement issued by the association’s spokesperson, Franklyn Nneji Monday in Abuja, he stated that most youths had to engage in militancy due to joblessness and destruction of their ecosystem.

    He condemned situations where reasonable revenue of the federal government was sourced from the region, yet the host communities remained poor and under-developed.

    Nneji said: “The association wants to ensure that people of the host communities are adequately engaged and empowered. This is for the interest of the people, the oil and gas companies and the nation at large.

    “The major cause of insecurity, youth restiveness and militancy is idleness, lack of what to do to earn a living. Youths of the host communities are roaming the street without anything to do to support their existence, it may be difficult for them to be employed but the surest way for them to be engaged is though self-employment, but then, how can they be self-employed without technical and financial support?

    “The oil and gas host communities association will therefore identify the people of the Host Communities and harness their potentials to ensure that they are adequately engaged and empowered.”

    The association informed that in order to achieve their mandate, it would encourage formal education among the host communities, source for available amenities for people of the host communities and encourage entrepreneurship among the people.

    “The oil and gas host communities association will make this possible by liaising with the necessary organs of government, multinationals, oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria and also ensure that all conflicts are resolved through dialogue. It is a new approach to bring peace,” Nneji added.

  • Militancy: Buhari gets fresh demands from new group

    Militancy: Buhari gets fresh demands from new group

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday got fresh demands to restore peace in Niger Delta.
    The President, a fortnight ago, got a 16-point demand from Niger Delta stakeholders, under the aegis of Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), led by the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass in Bayelsa State, King Alfred Diete-Spiff and Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clarke.
    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo got the demands, on behalf of the President, from Niger Delta Peoples Congress (NDPC) at the State House in Abuja.
    The group was led by King Diete-Spiff.
    From the excerpts of the presentation, signed by Congress Secretary, Prof Benjamin Okaba, the group said it was in the Villa to reaffirm earlier submissions and to prioritise the concerns and place them in clearer perspectives.
    It reads: “This is premised on our objective assessment of the anxieties, sentiments and myriad of reactions from the key drivers and players in the crises across and outside the region that immediately trailed the meetings.
    “We are very confident that our modest contributions, as articulated below, would constitute the panacea to the age-long crises in Niger Delta.
    Among its demands, NDPC said:
    •“The fundamental concern is political reconstruction and fiscal federalism. We are persuaded to uphold that the nation practises true federalism with legitimate and acceptable division of power among the constituents (the centre and regions) and the principle and practice of ownership and management of resources by the constituents. The derivation principal should allow the different unit annex and control its resources and pay appropriate and agreed tax to the centre.
    •“Demilitarisation and peace/confidence building: We are persuaded to request the Federal Government to stop further invasion of the region under any guise; release unconditionally all freedom fighters from detention and deploy political solution to the issues surrounding the leadership of the agitators/freedom fighters; cause multinational corporations not only to relocate their operational bases to the region but more significantly create a minimum of 6,000 jobs for the teeming population of unemployed and restive youths of the region; cause the resumption of academic activities at the Nigerian Maritime University at Okerenkokom in Delta State and establish similar institutions in other parts of the region.
    •“Funding interventionist agencies: Cause the release of over N800 billion outstanding allocations yet to be paid to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). We request the building of more refineries (modular type), petrochemicals and other petroleum-related industries to add value to the crude oil and gas produced in the region.
    •“Environmental and human right protection: To drastically reduce the current state of environmental degradation and threat to life occasioned by the activities of the multi-national corporations in the region, we recommend that the Federal Government should urgently cause the appropriate agencies and co-operations to begin the comprehensive remediation (clean-up, etc) of the Niger Delta environment affected by oil spill; provide medical facilities and attention to people suffering from ailments associated with oil and gas activities; prompt the legislative process for the review of the nation’s laws on Environmental impact and give stiffer penalties to defaulters; cause the immediate implementation of all laws stopping Gas flaring in the region; cause the establishment of Internally Displaced Persons camps for the re-settlement of displaced persons at Bakassi, Gbaramatu, etc.”
    Addressing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, two members of the delegation, Mike Oloyebo and Hendricks Okpokeme, shed light on the fresh demands.
    Oloyebo said: “This is Niger Delta Peoples Congress. King Diete-Spiff and other leaders, a 38 member-delegation, came again to represent the aggrieved people because you can’t be finding peace without taking about the problem of the boys in the creeks.
    “That is what we have come to inform the Presidency. I am very sure the aggrieved people were represented in this meeting. We don’t have any political affiliation to any other group. We have come genuinely concerned to solve this problem once and for all.”

  • Militancy in Oyo schools

    SIR: The destructive tendencies of Oyo State public school pupils, as first witnessed in Ibadan few months ago, when upon a rumour that the state government plans to sell public schools went berserk, protesting in some streets of the state capital making unprintable words against the governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi and promising hell if the policy is implemented have become a source of concern for many well meaning citizens of Oyo State and silence is no longer golden.

    Criminal activities was equally evident in the destruction of some schools in Oyo Township by irate youth, who were said to have failed in their promotion exams and asked to repeat, few weeks ago. The violence which took place in about three schools in Oyo East Local Government of Oyo  State was said to have led by hooded pupils, brandishing dangerous weapons, and charms, did not only destroy some properties, school buildings were equally burnt and a student lost his life. The devastation caused by the irate pupils caught the Oyo community napping.

    The above two instances of nefarious activities of students in secondary schools portend a grave danger for the future of Oyo State. Various factors are responsible for the ways things are turning out amongst our youths in Oyo State and indeed Yoruba land.

    First, society has lost its relevance in child upbringing. Individualism has crept into our sociology unlike in the past, when the upbringing of children and even their educational were done communally. Two, parents too have lost their hold on their wards. Economic difficulties in the nation have crippled purchasing power of Nigerians and to feed children in some houses or provide for their needs has become a task. Besides, financial problem, some parents are irresponsible. Third, religious organizations such as churches and mosques that used to inculcate morals into the children through religious teaching are gradually abdicating their roles in the proper upbringing of children. Fourth, schools which in the past shaped the future of children morally, academically and disciplinarily have become shadow of themselves. The blame for this can be laid on the doorstep of teachers but most importantly on our government. Many of today’s teachers are not well equipped educationally to be able to impact knowledge into the pupils.

    Last but not the least is the attitude of successive governments on educational sector. Poor funding of educational sector by various governments is a national malaise. Many schools are not conducive for learning. Although, governments are building classrooms but they are not equipping it. Facilities that can encourage and entice pupils are no longer there.

    Besides, incessant strike which is an outcrop of non-payment of salary by the government has added to the woes in our educational sector and turned our children into menace on our streets. It is no longer news that many pupils prefer to do menial jobs or riding commercial motorcycles than to go to school. All these portend danger. Although, the case is different in privately owned schools across the state, but how many pupils are in private schools compared with public schools?

    My position is that Almajiri are in the making in Oyo State with the way things are going. And this is a warning to all and sundry, including those who have the ability to send their wards to good private schools at home and abroad. The task of shaping the fate of our pupils who are on the way to perdition should be all encompassing, not a task for government only, or that of teachers or parents. This is because if the trend is not checked, the menace that they will constitute will be too much to handle. Boko Haram, Niger Delta Militants and all other miscreants are terrorizing not their enclaves but the whole nation.

    Our elders say we do not leave a notorious child for tiger to devour. The blame for the rot in our schools and among our pupils predated Ajimobi’s administration. Nonetheless, his government should embark on realistic and pragmatic educational policies to restore our elementary education on the path that will make our pupils future leaders and not future Almajiris and terrorists.

     

    • Adewuyi Adegbite

    ayekooto05@gmail.com