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Tag: Muhammadu Buhari

  • ‘How Buhari’s anti-corruption fight can succeed’

    A renowned legal luminary, Professor Muhammed Tabi’u has urged President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to strengthen his war against corruption, so as to ensure probity and accountability in governance.

    Professor Tabi’u, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who is an expert on Islamic Law at Bayero University, Kano, gave the advice during a session organized by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in Kano, to inspire young people on leadership.

    He said there are many honest people in various sectors of government who have not been incorporated into the campaign to ensure accountability in the country.

    “In improving probity in Nigeria, the (federal) government needs to widen the scope of those who are on the side of probity because there is a large number of people for instance in my own area of work, the justice system. You find that there are many honest judges of integrity who against very difficult situation are doing their jobs,”

    Read Also: Second term: Buhari needs fresh hands -Ojikutu

    “But there are feelings out there that they are also being targeted and stigmatized and therefore they are not incorporated on the positive side to put pressure on the others to accept and believe in probity,” he noted.

    However, Professor Tabi’u, who spoke about his life story with the audience, comprising students, activists, teachers and journalists, encouraged young people not to see leadership as a one-man show, but as an avenue that would accommodate everyone and appreciate their contributions.

    “People must commit to activities that make impact on the society. Every leader that succeeds must have stakeholders who have contributed to his success as a team,”

    In his remarks, Malam Yunusa Zakari Ya’u, executive director of CITAD, maintained that, Professor Tabi’u was invited to develop the mindset of young people on the concept of leadership.

    “We want to shift focus of success from the number of cars you own to the impact you make on the society. Success is not a family inheritance but something you achieve through work hard and determination,”

  • Ikeja NERC Forum

    One of the commendable things that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has done is trying to find workable answers to the intractable question of indiscriminate billing of electricity customers by the electricity distribution companies (DisCos). Without doubt, these companies inherited some of these debts (otherwise known as ‘crazy bills’)  from their parent company, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). But then, it is only people who were living in outer space that would say they never knew this problem was there before. Unfortunately, the DisCos have been behaving as if they were in outer space all through that period, with their insistence on customers paying these cooked-up bills.

    Of course some electricity customers may be owing the amounts on their bills. But then, countless others have been contesting these debts, over which most of the DisCos are punishing electricity customers who insist they would not pay the rather bogus debts, by cutting them off the national grid.

    I am one of such victims. Having tried unsuccessfully at some private/official levels to get justice, I decided to approach the Ikeja NERC Forum around December 18, last year, in line with the Federal Government’s directive, about two months after I had been supplying my own electricity. I was told it would take about two to three months to get to my turn. My petition, with reference number IFO/2956/2018, was necessitated by my inability to vend (recharge my electricity card after exhausting the initial 100 units that came with my prepaid meter). That was precisely on October 29, last year.

    I was invited for hearing on April 11. Ikeja Electric’s (IE) representatives were also at the Forum and, when my case was called, the three-man panel ruled that Ikeja Electric must make it possible for me to vend ‘with immediate effect’ after the DisCos’s representative said they were yet to reconcile my account ( four months after submitting my petition!). I saw this was fair enough and therefore did not want to waste time since the ‘substantive suit’ was yet to be heard.

    However, when Ikeja Electric representative told the panel that it was late for me to be connected on that day (April 11) because it was almost past their official closing time, it was resolved that this be done the next day. Knowing the DisCo I was dealing with, I did not go to their office the next day to ask that I be allowed to vend, in line with the NERC Forum’s ruling. I went to their office at Akowonjo, Lagos, on April 15, and I must say I was not disappointed. They asked me for a copy of the ruling, which I think was superfluous since their representative was at the Forum hearing. An institution with a sense of fairness ought to have a mechanism to relay such message appropriately. But, because their operations are steeped in bad faith, they feigned ignorance of that ruling. The question I asked the lady who asked for the ruling was whether they would wait for a copy of the ruling if they had been asked to immediately disconnect a customer? That is where I have problem with Ikeja NERC Forum. It should have known the kind of DisCos we have and should have given me something to present at the IE office. Moreover, it should have a way of monitoring whether its rulings are complied with, and promptly too, especially like my own case where the Forum said I should be allowed to vend immediately and that has not come to be five weeks later, despite my mail to the Forum to this effect. All cannot be said to be well when I have a ruling that is useless to me five weeks after. If one spent four years to learn how to get mad, then how many years will he have to demonstrate insanity?

    *One other thing I observed in the course of my dealings with the Forum is that it hardly replies mails. Interestingly, this is one of the things it is supposed to sanction DisCos for once customers are able to provide satisfactory evidence that they had contacted the DisCo before making the Forum a last resort. At least I witnessed two or three cases on April 11; where some customers claimed they wrote letters to IE without having any reply. The evidence the Forum asked for was the written letters or emails to that effect.  I don’t know why the forum does not reply mails, but my guess is that it is probably not well funded or short-staffed. I apologise if I am wrong; but this is the kind of conclusion one is at liberty to draw when one made about 10 calls within three days (Wednesday to Friday, last week) to such a critical body without being dignified with a response. As a matter of fact, I decided to send email again to the Forum on Thursday when I started suspecting that my calls were being deliberately avoided.

    If you ask me, I do not think two NERC Forum branches are enough for Lagos; the state has the largest concentration of electricity consumers who also know their rights and would want to defend them. Perhaps one more can be added to facilitate justice delivery. Justice seems to be coming too slow from the axis because of the huge number of complaints the panel has to decide. My petition was in the cooler for about four months before it was heard!

    The power, works and housing minister, Mr Babatunde Fashola, and the Buhari government generally deserve commendation for setting up NERC Forum. It is about one of the very first genuine attempts by any government in the country to address the vexed issue of crazy bills that signposted the power sector for decades. Indeed, one has to give the credit to the government for the various steps it has taken to deal with this issue, the latest being the capping of the bills that DisCos can give in the absence of prepaid meters, which took effect this month. Before now, successive governments and the power sector players seemed to be rubbing each other’s back. Remember the humungous amount the sector, which said it did not have money to procure meters (one of its most basic tools) gave the Goodluck Jonathan administration for electioneering in 2014/15. I recall also the encomium that the then President Olusegun Obasanjo showered on the then National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) when it said it had successfully raised its monthly revenue from about N2billion to N6billion around 2003. This was at a time power supply was very low. What one would have expected a truly democratically elected president to do was to ask NEPA’s chief executive the magic he did to make that kind of money which was not matched by any improvement in power supply. That is the fraud that the power sector has been for years. It had been a kind of ‘dog carried it and thief took it’ (aja gbe ole gba) relationship between successive federal governments and the players in the inept and corrupt sector.

    But nothing in this piece should be taken to mean that Ikeja NERC Forum is ineffectual. May be I am just one of the few persons that are not able to enjoy the fruits of government’s expectation in setting up the body. I have always tried to restrain myself from using this medium to vent my frustrations with IE. But then, it is about six months ago that I did something like that on this page. Six months after; it is still all motion, no movement. I tried to follow the process laid down by government and indeed allowed it to run its full course. But, characteristically Nigerian, it seems people steeped in their old iniquitous ways would just not want to change.

    So. I had to use this medium again. After all IE too has been using what it has to keep me off the national grid for over seven months. But the company must know it has invited the wrong person into the ring. I have supplied my own electricity for seven months without a hitch; at least I have been having electricity when I need it; no power failure, not for one day. I had been told it would be a long, tortuous journey by the time I was starting the battle and I kitted myself well for it.

    However, if funding is NERC Forum’s problem, it is important the government addressed the issue if the purpose of its establishment is not to be defeated. Otherwise, there is need to monitor the activities of the bodies nationwide. It is one thing for the government to desire something; it is another for those in charge of implementation to buy into the idea. I do not want to give any verdict yet on Ikeja NERC Forum, but if I could get a ruling asking IE to let me vend, at least pending the resolution of my matter with the company that is before the Forum, and that is yet to happen, five weeks after, something is wrong. If this can happen to someone like me who has a voice; I can only imagine what millions of voiceless Nigerians are going through in the hands of shylock DisCos that are hell bent on reaping where they did not sow. That is the essence of ‘cap’.

     

  • PHOTOS: Buhari, wife perform Umrah in Saudi Arabia

    President Muhammadu Buhari performs Umrah (lesser Hajj) at the Masjid Haram (the Grand Mosque) in Makkah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

     

     

  • President Buhari leaves Madinah for Makkah

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday evening arrived in Makkah from the city of Madinah, Saudi Arabia, where he began the initial leg of his Umrah engagements in the Kingdom.

    The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja, on Saturday morning.

    He said: ”After the evening prayer at the Holy Prophet’s Mosque on Thursday, the President was ushered to the grave of Prophet Mohammed where he said prayers for the nation, his family and himself.

    ”He was seen off at the Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Madina International Airport by the Governor of the Madinah Province, Prince Faisal Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.”

    Read Also: Buhari off to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj

    Shehu further disclosed that the President was welcomed at Makkah by the Regional the Governor, Prince Khalid Bin Faisal Al-Saud.

    Also at hand to receive him were the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Justice Isa Dodo (rtd), the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Amb. Ahmed Rufa’i Abubakar and officials of the Nigerian Consulate in Jeddah.

    ”After the reception, he immediately went ahead to commence the Umrah rites Friday evening,” the presidental aide revealed.

    President Buhari had on May 16 left Abuja for Saudi Arabia following the invitation of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, the king of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to perform the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage) in the Kingdom.

    The President, who is expected to return to Abuja on May 21, had last performed the Umrah in Saudi Arabia in Feb. 2016.

    Umrah is an optional but recommended pilgrimage to Makkah that can be made at any time of the year.

  • FEC to hold final session on Monday

    The last meeting of the current Federal Executive Council (FEC) has been slated for Monday.

    President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to dissolve his cabinet ahead of his inauguration for second term on May 29, the day his first term also ends.

    Already, the valedictory session of the cabinent has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 22.

    The foregoing were disclosed at the end of the Thursday extraordinary FEC meeting  presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the absence of the President, who is in Saudi Arabia for the lesser hajj.

    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting which went into the night, the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, accompanied by his colleague Ministers of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and  Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammed Bello, said that the council approved N1.8 billion for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the buildings of the Railway village in Agbo, Delta State.

    He also revealed that the sum of N743 million was approved for the procurement of security and safety deficiencies as well as incidence laboratory for Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

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    He said the total sum for the procurement included taxes with a completion period of 12 months.

    Sirika also said  that the contract for the procurement of pavement marking machines was also approved by the council at the cost of N391.8 million.

    “This is a visual aid for pilots for safe operations around our airports,” he said.

    Another approval granted by the council, according to the minister, is the sum of €1.1 million, for the purchase of a total radar coverage track on system reconditioning.

    He said: “This contract went to the manufacturer of the equipment for 1,187,960,000 Euros, equivalent to N414,543,760.23 excluding taxes and it is for seven months completion.”

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),  who also briefed newsmen said that the council approved six contracts worth N2.6 billion for the FCT.

    “The FCT got approval for the award of contract for the construction and equipping of materials testing laboratory in Abuja and that contract is in the sum of N616, 278, 844.19 with a completion period of five months.

    “That laboratory already is under construction, so basically it is just to equip the laboratory and is going to test all the items that go into the construction of roads and buildings,” he said.

    Bello further said cabinet approved another contract for a temporary access road in the central area of the territory.

    “The second contract was for the provision of an access road to link very key anterior roads in the Central Business District, that is Ahmadu Bello Way and Sani Abacha Way, all in the FCT, in the sum of N670,347,909 with a completion period of six months.

    “The third memo was for the award of contract for the design of engineering and solid waste treatment plant and transfer stations in the FCT, and it is a consultancy project awarded in the sum of N473,798,934, to be completed in 12 months.

    “These transfer stations are meant to serve the waste management value chain so that before you get to the final dump site, solid waste is separated according to the various grades, and that makes it easier for recycling.

    “As you know, now we have what is called waste to wealth, and that will create a very important economic system for people who will invest in it,” he said.

    He said another contract awarded for the FCT was that of engineering design of expandable main sewage treatment plant at Kango and Associated Trunk lines at the cost of N511,528,689.

    The FCT also got approval for the final design of engineering infrastructure and production of tender documents at the cost of N202,410,378.45.

    He stated that another N143.7 million was approved for the final engineering design of infrastructure and production of another tender document for Sector Centres E and F in Phase 111 of FCC, Abuja.

  • IMN extending its terror activities beyond Nigeria – CSO reacts to burning of US, Israeli flags

    ItThe Coalition in Defence of Democracy and Good Governance has condemned the burning of the American and Israeli flags by members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), better known as Shiites in Abuja.
    The Shiites ablaze the national flags of the US and Israel during a massive protest in Abuja on Friday.
    The protesters, who converged on Wuse market junction, described both countries as enemies and oppressors of the people of Palestine.
    Abdullahi Musa, secretary of the academic forum of the movement, said the flags were burnt to show anger against the countries over their “oppressive tendency” against Palestine.
    But reacting, CDDGG IMN was extending its terror activities beyond Nigeria.
    According to a statement by Gabriel Ajibili, Executive Secretary, the recent burning of the flags of the United States of America, as well as that of Israel by members of the IMN, was an indication of a more significant threat in the pipeline as posed by the IMN, whose history is replete with violence, aggression and complete disregard for constituted authorities in the country.
    The statement called on the authority to designate IMN as a terrorist organization in the interest of peace and tranquility.
    The statement below.
    The Coalition in Defence of Democracy and Good Governance views such act as highly provocating and an attempt to drag Nigeria into a diplomatic row with the United States of America and Israel.
    The IMN has clearly shown to the world that it is indeed a violent organization with backing from an international network that continues to fund its activities and consequently dictates to it acts to carry out such as burning of the flags of the United States of America and Israel.
    The Coalition in Defence of Democracy and Good Governance condemn in its entirety the actions of the IMN and calls on the relevant security agencies to throw their searchlight on the IMN to identify their sponsorship network.
    The Coalition in Defence of Democracy and Good Governance states in unequivocal terms that the IMN by its recent actions is indeed acting on behalf of some interest groups that are bent on seeing the disintegration of Nigeria.
    These interest group having identified the IMN as a violent and extremist organization have decided to discreetly carry out their plot to destabilize Nigeria as evident in the posturing of the IMN in Nigeria in recent times.
    The Coalition in Defence of Democracy and Good Governance condemns the burning of the flags of the United States of America and Israel by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and views such as acts of terrorism.
    The Coalition in Defence of Democracy and Good Governance consequently call on the United Nations to act swiftly in the overall interest of Nigeria by designating the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, a terrorist organization.
    The United Nations would wish to note that the history of the IMN in Nigeria has been replete with acts of terrorism that have led to the death of hundreds of innocent Nigerians. The IMN has also continued to harass and intimidate innocent Nigerians through their nefarious activities.
    The Coalition in Defence of Democracy and Good Governance views the threat posed by the IMN in Nigeria with great concern and therefore states that unless urgent steps are taken, the terrorist activities of the IMN might consume Nigeria and by extension sub-Saharan Africa.
    The Coalition in Defence of Democracy and Good Governance believes that the time to act is now by designating the IMN as a world terrorist organization as there is sufficient evidence that suggests the IMN is acting on behalf of an international conspiracy by burning the flags of the United States of America and Israel.
    The Coalition in Defence of Democracy and Good Governance states that the urgency of now requires the United Nations and other critical stakeholders in the act of ensuring the entrenchment of peace all around the world to take proactive steps in addressing the menace as posed by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria.

     

  • FG may degrade Enugu airport – Minister

    The Federal Government says it may downgrade Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu from handling international operations because of its inability to expand the runway.

    Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, made the disclosure at the 6th Aviation Stakeholders Forum in Lagos on Friday.

    Sirika said that there were some developments around the airport that posed security and safety threat to flight operations, adding that effort was on to address the challenges.

    Read Also: EFCC intercepts $2.8m at Enugu Airport

    According to him, the state government decided to situate its free trade zone, market and radio mast too close to the runway which is against international safety standard.

    “We have some issues there and I have met the governor three times to discuss the issue.

    “As you approach Enugu, there is a market there, there is an abattoir and at the end of the runway, there is a free trade zone and as you know, Enugu is the Kaduna of the east.

    “A lot of passengers from the eastern part of the country travel through Enugu airport.

    The minister said that unless the market and the mast were removed, the government would have no option but to discontinue international flights into the airport.

    He said that the government was committed to ensuring that all ongoing projects across Nigerian airports were completed before the end of the year.

    He added that the government would also ensure that Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu airports obtained the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) certification.

    Sirika also disclosed that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari had completed 130 of the 157 projects it initiated in aviation sector within three years.

    He explained that agencies like the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) and Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) had recorded a lot of progress during the period.

    According to him, the new terminal projects in Lagos and Kano will be completed before the end of the year, while the Lagos project would be delivered earlier.

    The minister explained that the airport was over stretched over the years because of the increasing number of passengers that traveled through the airport.

    “Lagos airport was initially designed and built for 200,000 people but now accommodates and processes 8 million passengers which is grossly inadequate.

    NAN

  • Atiku, PDP to tribunal: Why we don’t want Bulkachuwa

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the last presidential election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have made public reasons for their opposition to the involvement of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa in the hearing of the petition.

    Atiku and the PDP are, by their petition, challenging the outcome of the 2019 presidential election,won by President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Their reasons for seeking Justice Bulkachuwa’s exclusion from the five-man panel, scheduled to hear the petition is contained in a fresh motion filed on Thursday by Atiku and the PDP.

    They claimed that Bulkachuwa’s husband – Honourable Adamu Mohammed Bulkachuwa – and her son – Allyu Haidar Abubakar -are members of the APC.

    Atiku and the PDP stated that while her husband was elected as Senator for Bauchi North Senatorial District on the platform of the APC in the last general elections, her son contested the last governorship election in Gombe, as candidate of the APC, but lost.

    They equally stated the Justice Bulkachuwa has prejudged the outcome of their petition, when she said, in her speech at the inaugural sitting of Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) on May 6 this year, gave the impression that the last elections were well conducted.

    Atiku and the PDP have therefore called on Justice Bulkachuwa to withdraw from the hearing of their petition.

    In the motion, Atiku and the PDP are particularly praying for “an order that His Lordship, the honourable Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, (President of the Court of Appeal) and the Presiding Justice of the Panel hearing petition No: CA/PEPC/2019 be recused from further sitting or participating in the proceedings in this petition and be replaced by another Justice of this honourable court to sit in his place to hear and determine the petition.”

    They said the grounds on which the prayer is sought, include that “Honourable Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa (President of the Court of Appeal) and the Presiding Justice of the Panel hearing the petition against the election of the 2nd and 3rd respondents (Buhari and APC) is the wife of Honourable Adamu Mohammed Bulkachuwa, a prominent card carrying member of the 3rd respondent and the Senator-elect for Bauchi North Senatorial District on the platform of the 3rd respondent in this petition, which is also the 2nd respondent’s political party.

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    “Honourable Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa (President of the Court of Appeal) and the Presiding Justice of the Panel hearing the petition against the election of the 2nd and 3rd respondents, is the biological mother of Allyu Haidar Abubakar, a prominent card carrying member of the 3rd respondent, who was a gubernatorial aspirant in Gombe State at the last general elections, on the platform of the 3rd respondent.

    “Being the wife and mother of prominent card carrying members of the 3rd respondent as aforesaid having a common interest with the 2nd and 3rd respondents in the subject matter of this petition, there is every likelihood of bias if Honourable Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa remains the Presiding Justice/member of the panel hearing this petition.

    “At the inaugural session of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, while delivering her inaugural speech, Honourable Justice Bulkachuwa stated as follows: ‘Elections are held in Nigeria every four years into elective positions. No matter how well the election is conducted there are bound to be complaints…’

    “By making that remark, it would appear that Honourable Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa had already prejudged the presidential election as “well” conducted and that this petition is one of the complaints that come up “no matter how well the election is conducted”.

    “Justice must not only be done, but must be manifestly seen to have been done.”

    The PEPT had, at its last sitting on May 16, 2019 ordered Atiku and the PDP to communicate their objection to Justice Bulkachuwa through a formal application.

    Lawyer to Atiku and the PDP, Livy Uzoukuwu had, at the last sitting of the tribunal, raised the issue orally during a meeting he sought and was granted with members of the tribunal in Chambers.

    Proceedings of the tribunal were suspended midway on May 16 to allow for the meeting in chambers demanded by Uzoukwu.

    When proceedings resumed over an hour later, Justice Bulkachuwa, who is the tribunal’s Chairman, said since the issue was already in public domain, it should be addressed in the open court, with the PDP and Atiku raising it formally through a motion, to which the respondents are entitled to respond.

    The panel adjourned till May 22 this year for hearing of the motion.

     

     

  • Terrorism, kidnapping threat to regional progress, says Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari has urged Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member-countries to harmonise their security plans in order to contain and prevent the spate of crime and criminality within the region.

    The President blamed the increasing spate of the criminality in the region to porous borders and closeness to the Sahel.

    He regretted that the crime rate was consuming lots of the region’s resources.

    President Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.) at the 16th Annual General Assembly meeting of West African Police Chief Committee (WAPCCO), noted that transnational crime is a threat to regional peace and hindrance to progress and integration.

    He said: “The meeting has come at a time when a lot of synergy between and among ECOWAS member-states is needed in the fight against crime and criminality in the West African sub-region.

    “The challenges of insecurity posed by corruption, terrorism, communal clashes, herders-farmers conflict, trafficking in drugs, arms and humans, kidnapping for ransom, armed banditry, proliferation of arms and light weapons, money laundering and other transnational organised crimes are some of the vices threatening the regional peace, progress, integration and development.

    “The porosity of our territorial borders and proximity to the Sahel also makes us vulnerable to all sorts of illegal criminal activities and other threats to peace and security in the sub-region.

    “The activities of the Boko Haram terrorists affecting Nigeria and the Lake Chad basin countries, such as Chad, Cameroon and Central Africa, have created new humanitarian problems with the displacement of people from their communities, posing serious security threats to the region.

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    “It is imperative for member-states to coordinate their security plans and activities to enable law enforcement and other security agencies contain and even prevent these vices.”

    On efforts to tackle crime across the country, President Buhari said: “Nigeria in the last four years has taken drastic measures and spared no effort in its dissolve to fight corruption and its quest to defeat Boko Haram.

    “We have led vigorous military campaigns against the terrorists by reorganising the multinational joint task force which has dislodged them. Working with our regional and international ally, we have denied them safe haven within and around the sub-region.

    “We have also strengthened legislation against terrorism and corruption while equipping the anti-graft agencies in the country to be able to carry out their mandates.

    “These measures have yielded more dividends in reducing financial crimes and acts of terrorism in some cases, curbing the rate by which they occur.

    “The fight against crime and criminality is vast and resource-consuming transcending national, regional and global levels.”

    ECOWAS Commission’s President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said corruption, bad governance, poverty, unemployment make insecurity to thrive.

    Brou, who was represented by Gen. Francis Behanzin, described terrorism in the region as the most fatal scourge.

     

     

  • ‘Southwest’s support for Buhari wise and progressive’

    An Osun State-based social group, Ifesowapo Kajose Society, has described the Southwest’s resolve to work with other zones to actualise President Muhammadu Buhari’s and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s second term as wise and progressive.

    A statement by its President, Mr. Samuel Jegede, said when it is time for the Southwest to provide national leadership for the country, the zone will count on other zones to return the goodwill.

    According to him, the six Southwest states – Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti – have the resources to lead Nigeria.

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    He, however, cautioned Ogun State to step aside when it is time for the zone to produce the country’s leader because “it has benefited more than the rest in the past and therefore, as a matter of equity and equality, only Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States must have a shot at the presidency”.

    Jegede, who congratulated Buhari for returning to power, warned him against being distracted from focusing on the country’s challenges, including insecurity, economy, energy among others, and proffer solutions to them without further delay.