The Nation Newspaper

Tag: national assembly

  • National Assembly management intervenes in union crisis

    The management of the National Assembly yesterday intervened in the crisis rocking the leadership of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN).

    The union’s national leadership, last week, dissolved the executive of its National Assembly chapter over alleged non-remittance of N158 million check-off dues.

    It constituted a caretaker committee to run the chapter.

    But the National Assembly chapter’s executive denied the allegation.

    It said: “No chapter is complying with the provision of the PASAN constitution as regards check-off dues due to its obnoxious nature.”

    The executive also faulted the resolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC) on which it was purportedly dissolved.

    But the management of the National Assembly, in an internal circular by its Director of Personnel Management, Dr Ishaya Habu, said it was considering the contentious issues in the crisis.

    It urged all parties to maintain status-quo, pending the resolution of the issue.

    The management warned that any party that conducts itself in a disorderly manner would face the full wrath of its rules.

    The internal circular, titled: Re: Dissolution of National Assembly PASAN Chapter Executive, reads: “The management of the National Assembly is in receipt of all communications on the above subject matter and is considering all issues involved in the crisis.

  • Endorsement of Sen. Adeyemi for another term

    When he was elected as a senator representing Kogi West at the red chamber of the National Assembly, he did live not any one in doubt that his election to represent his constituency was a fluke.

    His contribution on various national issues has endeared him to all Nigerians for articulating such views to the admiration of not only his colleague but to those of opposition parties at the national assembly.

    Sen. Adeyemi has touched the lives of ordinary Kogi West electorate by ensuring the provision of social infrastructure like the building of lock shops, health clinic in rural areas, building of theatre hall in his constituency.

    Recently, he donated ambulances to some hospitals and cottage health institutions around Kogi State, including outside area that are outside his constituencies.

    The people of Kogi West would not forget his doggedness in ensuring the rehabilitation of Kabba-Egbe-Omu Aran roads which last seen any construction for the past sixteen years.

    Sen. Adeyemi has seen to the rehabilitation of Ajaokuta Steel industry to ensure the sustainability of generating revenue from non oil sector and industrialisation of the nation economy.

    Senator Smart remains our preferred candidate to be re-elected for the third term as senator during the next assembly election come 2015.

    He has the right to contest for another term because his aspiration is guaranteed and protected by the constitution of the

    Federal Republic and that of the PDP, we believe that the value of experience acquired could not be compromised unlike the position of the executives where two terms of eight years is enshrined.

    We hope that with this endorsement he would still continue to make the constituencies’ focal point in realisation of their dream of progress, peace, unity and development in all facets of lives.

     

    Bala Nayashi

    Lokoja, Kogi State.

  • NILS, CSOs seek more women in National Assembly

    NILS, CSOs seek more women in National Assembly

    Until the number of women legislators in the National Assembly and Houses of Assembly increases, gender-based bills will continue to be difficult to pass, the National Institute of Legislative Studies (NILS) has said.

    The institute noted that the number of women lawmakers in the country, which is only seven per cent, is inimical to the interest of women and other vulnerable groups in the country.

    NILS Director-General, Dr Ladi Hamalai, who gave the figure yesterday in Abuja, regretted that the small number of women lawmakers was causing the failure of gender-based bills across the country.

    She spoke at an advocacy training programme for civil society organisations (CSOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs), organised by NILS in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Democratic Governance (for Development (DGD).

    The expert said there should advocacy for an increase in the number of women in the next elections to solve the problem.

    Hamalai said: “The low participation of women in politics, just seven per cent, is unacceptable. It is what makes it almost impossible to pass bills that are gender sensitive.

    “There is need for advocacy for more cooperation between female legislators and CSOs, especially those involved in women issues.”

    She urged women parliamentarians to engage CSOs and other organisations involved in the cause of women.

    In her presentation, a former director in the Presidency and Executive Director of Gender Awareness Trust Dr. Lydia Umar said the adoption of an increased quota by political parties is the quickest way to achieve a significant increase in the number of women in politics.

  • Northern delegates take battle to kill conference report to National Assembly

    Northern delegates take battle to kill conference report to National Assembly

    There are plans [to kill the final report of the National Conference.

    Northern delegates met at a highbrow hotel in Abuja at the weekend to ensure that the report does not see the light of day.

    The conference, which ended abruptly last week, is to review and adopt its report on August 4, preparatory for presentation to President Goodluck Jonathan.

    A former Senator, a woman, “is the arrow head” of the conferees who met and resolved to “seek the understanding” of senators and House of Representatives members from the North to scuttle the report.

    The senator, a source said, is “peeved that the South would gain some mileage if the report of the conference is implemented as proposed”.

    Part of the strategies adopted at the meeting, the source said, is to “aggressively pursue enlistment of support of Northern members of the National Assembly to scrutinise the report to ensure that portions considered to be against the interest of the North are blocked from being ratified.”

    The meeting, said to have been held on Friday, was said to have lasted till the early Saturday.

    Delegates who attended the meeting were mandated to use the opportunity of the annual recess of the National Assembly to reach out to the lawmakers.

    Although the conference made some landmark resolutions, it failed to agree on derivation and revenue sharing formula.

    The conference advised the federal government to set up a technical committee to resolve the issues.

    Local government administration, state police, derivation principle, land tenure, state creation, pilgrimage and alleged new constitution almost broke the conference.

    As disagreement simmered, some Northern delegates were pointedly accused of working to break the conference.

    Northern delegates were particularly uncomfortable with the resolution to have local government administration transferred from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislate list.

    They also bickered over the recommendation to empower states that desire it to create their own police.

    Part of their argument was that most Northern states cannot afford to fund state police.

    Some of the Northern delegates also expressed concerns over the resolution to create additional 18 states, with a special one for the southeast zone.

    The most contested conference report was the Devolution of Power report. Its committee was co-chaired by former Akwa Ibom Governor Obong Victor Attah and former Inspector General of Police Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie.

    Coomasie, leader of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), led Northern delegates to the conference.

    Most of the recommendations made by the Committee on Devolution of Power were adopted by the conferees but derivation principle was contentious.

    To resolve the issue, the conference secretariat allowed time for mediation by leaders of the six geo-political zones which resolved that the derivation benchmark be raised to “not less than 18 percent”.

    The leaders also proposed that five per cent of the Consolidated revenue fund should be set aside for reconstruction of insurgency ravaged North east geo-political zone, with a proviso that the fund be made open to every state where terrorists caused destruction, beginning with the Northeast.

    Northern delegates opposed the generalization of the fund and insisted that the five per cent insurgency fund should be specifically Northeast, Northwest and Northcentral geo-political zones.

    Southeast and southwest delegates said that the fund should take care of every state where terrorism had occurred.

  • External loan to fight Boko Haram a hard sell

    External loan to fight Boko Haram a hard sell

    If proof is required to show how and why Nigeria has been misgoverned, last week’s request by President Goodluck Jonathan to the National Assembly to be allowed to borrow one billion dollars from external sources is indisputably the most convincing. Writing to the National Assembly, the president had reasoned: “You are no doubt (familiar) with the ongoing and serious security challenges which the nation is facing, as typified by the Boko Haram terrorist threat. This is an issue that we have discussed at various times. I would like to bring to your attention the urgent need to upgrade the equipment, training and logistics of our Armed Forces and Security Services to enable them more forcefully to confront this serious threat. For this reason, I seek the concurrence of the National Assembly for external borrowing of not more than $1bn, including government to government arrangements, for this upgrade.”

    Predictably, the request has stirred controversy. The government apparently banks on the fact that everyone will be so worried by the security situation in the Northeast and elsewhere that the country would be compelled, if not blackmailed, into granting quick and easy approval. In particular, the presidency hopes that no one in the National Assembly would like to be seen as standing in the way of equipping and motivating Nigerian troops in the anti-terror war. But if approval is secured as fast and as easy as the presidency hopes, it would be a mockery both of legislative processes and citizen involvement in governance. Both civil society and the parliament should press the government for full explanations on why the Jonathan government thinks the nearly one trillion naira it has budgeted for defence this year is inadequate, and why an estimated 10 percent only is allocated for capital spending.

    Importantly too, the government needs to provide adequate proof it has not been profligate with public funds. In my opinion that proof would be difficult to provide. For instance, rather than offer proof of prudence in the use of public funds by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, especially as it relates to the chartering of aircraft for the use of its minister, the government has engaged in vexatious subterfuge. Then there is also the about $20bn the former Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, alleged had not been accounted for by the Jonathan government in the past few years. All the government has said through the Minister of Finance is that only about $10bn or $12bn is yet to be accounted for. Let the government find the missing money and take one billion dollars out of it for the purposes it is seeking authorisation.

    By every yardstick, the Boko Haram war cannot be compared with the Nigerian Civil War. While the current anti-terror war has lasted for about five years, it only assumed the dimension it has become in the last two or three years. Conversely, Nigeria’s finances were so well managed during the civil war that no penny was borrowed from outside the country. There is nothing to show that the Jonathan presidency has managed the finances of the country and run the military efficiently to guarantee that in borrowing more money we would not be throwing money at the problem. For instance, the government wants more troops, and has begun a recruitment exercise, yet it could spare troops to seize newspapers from vendors in parts of the country, while it also needlessly deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and other security forces to police election in only one small state, Ekiti.

    Reports from the Northeast do not indicate that the government has managed the Boko Haram war as efficiently as Nigerians have demanded. Giving the government more money other than for developmental needs would amount to an indefensible waste. In his justification for the loan request, the Coordinator of National Information Centre, Mike Omeri, offered this trite argument: “Even the United States goes for this kind of facility. For any country involved in such military expedition, not just the Boko Haram issue, but engaged in a number of military exercises, its stock will deplete. Every country must restock to reinforce its capability.” He also tried to link the request with the need to expedite action in rescuing the abducted Chibok girls. No one is convinced. The schoolgirls have spent more than three months in captivity because the government approached the problem wrongly and incompetently. The public should not be made to underwrite the government’s wastefulness and slothfulness.

    If the Jonathan government cannot explain where the $10bn missing money has gone, nor bring the wasteful Petroleum minister to account, nor give infallible proof it is capable of running the military efficiently, it should not be allowed to commit the country to more debt or be allowed to blackmail us with the rising spectre of insecurity. What the country needs is probably not more money, but more sense in managing its affairs and the many challenges confronting it. As the May 1970 lecture given by Chief Obafemi Awolowo at the University of Ibadan shows inferentially, the quality of Nigerian ministers and public servants has declined horribly. Their arguments, appreciation of issues and understanding of the social contract are so elementary that it is not surprising the country is plunging into more mess by the day.

    The Awolowo lecture in reference showed how, without external borrowing, Nigeria financed the civil war. The late sage estimated that in terms of the ‘calculable and visible cost of the war’, about three hundred million pounds sterling was spent, and it was made up of two hundred and thirty million pounds sterling in local currency, and seventy million pounds sterling foreign exchange. In his opinion, the country shunned external borrowing in order to save ‘national honour and pride, and (avoid) corrosion of our sovereignty and self-confidence.’ The question today is, where is our national pride and self-confidence?

    It is not certain how the National Assembly will treat the Jonathan request for foreign loan to prosecute the Boko Haram war, but Nigerians must urge their lawmakers to ask Dr Jonathan to instead plug the leakages in the military itself and especially in the NNPC. Enough money has been declared missing or embezzled to finance more than five Boko Haram wars. At any rate, it must be remembered that when Nigeria financed its civil war without foreign loan, the size of its military concomitantly grew from less than 20,000 before the war to about 250,000 after the war. A proper audit of the current personnel strength and finances of the military may even show that it is unnecessary to engage in any recruitment exercise. If Dr Jonathan can’t run Nigeria, and can’t get the people who can do it to join him, and can’t muster the patriotism, vision, and determination to do what is right, he should step aside rather than seek to commit the country to fresh debt and insolvency.

    Boko Haram war is the creation of this generation; it must not pass the financing of it to future generations. One stupidity, if my readers will forgive this coinage, is enough for one generation.

  • ‘Construction procurement law could save lives, costs’

    ‘Construction procurement law could save lives, costs’

    About seven years ago, the National Assembly enacted the Public Procurement Act to sanitise the procurement process in the building and environment landscape. The effect of the Act is hardly felt in the industry as building collapse and shoddy construction contracts are all over the country. The need to involve professional bodies, such as the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), formed the focus of a two-day forum in Gombe State. MUYIWA LUCAS writes that other recommendations were made to develop the built environment.

     

    To avoid construction catastrophe and failed projects that have been the regular feature of the built environment in the country, quantity surveyors have been urged to see themselves as professionals at vanguard of construction procurement management. They should, therefore, master the Public Procurement Act and guidelines. Quantity surveyors, as professionals, should also endeavour to guide the procurement process when they are involved.

    Experts that gathered in Gombe State for a two-day seminar, also reiterated the need for practitioners, especially quantity surveyors and bid assessors that recommend bidders that do not have the lowest bid amounts to always justify their recommendations based on convincing comparative rate analysis rather than the old-fashioned system of discarding bids using the band of ±5 or ±10 per cent variance from consultant’s estimate.

     

    Flawed implementation

     

    A quantity surveyor and lecturer, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi (ATBU), Anwalu Sani Sheu, while analysing public procurement guidelines in the country, disclosed that non-composition and inauguration ofthe National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP) as stipulated in the Nigerian Public Procurement Act of 2007, remains a challenge.

    According to him, the exclusion of quantity surveyors from the proposed membership of NCPP, would pose a further challenge when the body is constituted. He blamed this on some stakeholders, especially politicians and government officials, whom he said are reluctant to adjust to the new paradigm shift by employing some tactics to manipulate the procurement process, especially during bid evaluations to favour some bidders.

    Challenges

    Experts at the forum also identified challenges facing the public procurement practice to include lack of capacity by many procurement officers, improper procurement planning in many Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and lack of a national integrated procurement plan.

    NIQS lamented that discrepancies between budgetary appropriation and actual release of funds is another major constraint facing the sector. Others are late release of available funds and subsequent mopping up of funds at the end of the financial year. These were all adjudged to be inimical to the efficient and effective procurement of construction works which usually have project cycles of over six months. Besides, many states and local governments have not domesticated the Procurement Act while those that have were yet to implement it properly despite the huge funds spent on procurements.

    Past President, Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria (ACEN), Nurudeen Ranfindadi regretted that many MDAs were still not conversant with the procurement guidelines. This is believed to be a major reason for the annulment of many procurement processes or reversal of contract awards by the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), due to non-adherence to prequalification guidelines and wrong interpretation of the contentious issue of award of contracts to the lowest bidder.

    Stakeholders are also of the opinion that faking of technical and financial capacities, bribery and under-pricing by bidders abound, leading to compromise in quality delivery, disputes and excessive cost and time overruns of projects. These developments have continued due to the non-enforcement of penalties, or poor enforcement where it is done, and the inability or reluctance to prosecute cases of infractions in public procurements which has become systemic.

    Public procurement is also believed to have suffered financial problem given the alleged stringent control of advance payment funds by banks under the guise of protecting the financial guarantees they provide while on the other hand, they charge contractors high interest rates for releasing the same funds as credit lines provided

    The NIQS, in a communique jointly signed by Secretary, Professional Development and Library, NIQS, Dr. Ejike Bedford Anunike, and Jide Oke, General Manager, Marketing and Communications, said the Act, if well implemented, could ensure economic growth through transparent procurement procedure.

    “The Nigerian Public Procurement Act of 2007 has the capacity to ensure economic, efficient, effective and transparent public procurement. This is a sine-qua non for enhanced national development and economic growth if judiciously implemented,” the communique read.

    Such observation may not be far from the truth because after seven years of a supposed implementation of the Act, corruption, conflicts of interests, fraud and irregularities still afflict public procurement and these have stunted national development and economic growth either through siphoned public funds or poorly planned and executed procurements.

     

    Way forward

    The experts have charted a roadmap to rejuvenate public procurement landscape. Some of the recommended measures include the inauguration of the National Public Procurement Council (NPPC). The membership of this council should include a quantity surveyor, who is an expert in construction procurement and cost management.

    Also, the capacity of the procurement departments /units of all MDAs should be enhanced through intensive training of existing procurement officers and massive employment of quantity surveyors as procurement specialists to strengthen capacity in the area of construction procurement. This is adjudged complex and usually outside the knowledge of procurement officers.

    The Public Procurement Act should specifically clarify the issue surrounding conflict of interest in public procurement by identifying ways of addressing them through training, advisory services and enforcement mechanism. For example, it is being argued that proper procurement plans that will ensure early multi-level and multi-sector consultations must be put in place at the onset.

    Equally, value management, which is a powerful tool for enhancing value for money spent should be integrated into the public procurement cycle and value management report made compulsory for major procurements just like environmental impact assessment is for major projects.

    BPP and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were also advised to work out suitable standard guidelines for the management of advance payment funds by commercial banks, while the list of non-performing, sanctioned and blacklisted contractors, consultants and suppliers should be displayed on BPP’s website for ease of reference by MDA’s and other interested parties.

    Also, quantity surveyors were advised to seek more knowledge and specialisations in mechanical/electrical (M/E) and security services as it is in the United Kingdom due to massive increase in their content in modern infrastructure projects.

  • National Assembly praises Schneider’s power initiatives

    The National Assembly has praised Schneider Electric for its efforts towards developing sustainable manpower for the power sector.

    The commendation came during the legislators’ tour of Schneider Electric’s Isaac Boro Energy Training College, at Grenoble, France. The visit was organised by the National Assembly to enable members to assess students being trained at the centre.

    On the trip were Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta, Senator James Manager and his House of Representatives counterpart, Warman Ogoriba.

    Others include  Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty programme, Kingsley Kuku and  President/Chief Executive Officer of Schneider Electric English West Africa, Marcel Hochet.

    Manager and Ogoriba praised the firm for the quality of training received by the students, describing it as a huge contribution to fast-tracki the development of the sector.

    Manager said: “We are very happy and extremely confident with what we have seen here today. Schneider Electric has taken three unique firsts in the history of the programme. They are the only company to name a training center after a Niger Delta icon. They have committed to employ 15 of the students immediately and have also committed to assist in placing the rest with their strong network of partners.”

    In his welcome address, Hochet said: “Schneider Electric is committed to providing a sustainable developmental platform as evidenced in various initiatives with the Federal Government, National Power Training Institute of Nigeria and LECAN. We are happy to receive honourable members of the National Assembly to our training center and to showcase our innovative solutions which are visible in our operations.”

  • ‘I want to be Urhobo voice in National Assembly’

    ‘I want to be Urhobo voice in National Assembly’

    Masheni Johnson is a House of Representatives aspirant in the Ughelli-Udu Constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview with MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE, he reflects on the plight of Urhobo in Delta State and their quest for a sense of belonging.

    How long have you been participating in the affairs of the constituency?

    I have been participating in the constituency politics since 1999. So, I am old in Delta politics. But I am only just coming out to contest for election.

    Why are you going to the House of Representatives?

    I am going there to be the voice of the Urhobo nation. I observe that after the death of Senator Pius Ewherido, the voice of Urhobo people have not been heard at the National Assembly. I am also going to the House of Representatives to see that I bring government close to my people. As at today, the government is very far from my people. I am going for the House of Representatives because having asked one or two questions without getting the right answers. I have probed into the activities of those representing us at the House, on what have they done and how its affect the lives of my people. Coincidentally, I was having a meeting in Ughelli and I asked a simple question because that was when the National Assembly commissioned the constituency projects. I tried to find how many projects they have commissioned in the constituency. I discovered they have not really done much. So, the question that would come to mind will be what happened to the constituency allowance and what is it being used for?

    Since there are other contestants in the APC, what is the assurance that you will get the ticket?

    There are other contestants. In Delta politics, some people believe you cannot win election unless you have a lot of money. But over time, we have been able to build structures, and we have engaged our people on issues. Now, the orientation is changing; they are now aware that in the past they were used and dumped after collecting money. When they go to them to demand the dividend of democracy, they tell them that they have been settled. Now my people are no longer looking for who will give them money and abandon them. They are looking for someone that they can send to the House as their messenger. So, I have presented myself to be their messenger and their voice. So, in the selection process and by the grace of God too, we are also consulting.

    Don’t you think the PDP will use the power of incumbency against you in the election?

    The power of incumbency will not count at this juncture. I must tell you that those who served one term in the House do not always return. Ughellli North, Ughelli South and Udu Federal Constituency have never returned a sitting member of the House. From 1999 to the present moment, those who have served as in the constituency end up serving for only with one term. The record shows there has been no purposeful representation. When you are elected, you have to perform. As long as you did not perform, my people are ready to stop you. The power of incumbency to a large extent will not stop me.

    Your party is always accused of imposition. If this plays out again and you fail to get its ticket, what will be your reaction?               

    Yes, there is this allegation that that our party imposes candidate on the people. We need to know again that this same APC also means well. When they imposed a candidate, they have their reason too. The candidate may have supported the party one way or the other. And the question I keep asking people is that is all the people that the APC imposed, are they not credible? I am not in support of imposition, because I am ready to go to battle it out in the primaries with anybody. But when the issue of imposition arises, I will do all within my power to see that I participate.

    What is the assurance that people at the grassroots will support you?

    First and foremost, so many people have been urging us to come forward to participate in grassroots politics. But we have to accept the request at the appropriate time. So far, so good; we have been on ground. We have the Masheni Movement in the three local governments within the constituency. This has become a household name. We have been able to put that in the minds of the people. At the grassroots, we are on ground. As I speak today, I am the only House of Representatives aspirant in the constituency that has a formidable campaign organisation.

    How has government fostered   infrastructure development in your constituency?

    The government has not done much in my constituency. The developments you can see on ground today are not commensurate with the resources that the state gets from Federal Govern-ment. We see this as a deliberate act to shortchange the people. My people have been in the opposition. They deliberately punish them because of their political affiliation. So, if you go to Udu, Ughelli North and South, there is no development. It is the only place you go to and see the least Okada rider that operate there is an OND holder.

    Following the disagreement just before its convention, the APC still has some reconciliation to do within its ranks. What should the party do to bring everybody together?

    In every election, the loser always comes up to cry foul; except what we have just witnessed in Ekiti, where someone will lose an election and would gladly have a warm handshake with the winner. My advice for the aggrieved parties is that they should see this as a sacrifice. They should see it as a way of moving the party forward. It is the real wish of the people that has prevailed. I also advise the new national chairman to harmonise the party. That someone is angry and wants to leave the party is uncalled for, if they tow this line, it means they are not democrats. As democrats, they should be prepared to win or fail.

  • ‘National Assembly is Nigeria’s stabilising force’

    ‘National Assembly is Nigeria’s stabilising force’

    Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) has said the National Assembly, as an arm of government, has stabilised Nigerian democracy since 1999.

    Ndoma-Egba addressed reporters yesterday in Abuja on the Democracy Day celebrations.

    The senator noted that the National Assembly, particularly the Senate, had always gone beyond its constitutional responsibilities to intervene at critical times to stabilise the polity.

    He said: “The National Assembly, the symbol of democracy, did not exist during the military interregnum. And because of the several military interventions, the National Assembly was dissolved and we didn’t have the opportunity of consistent growth, like the other two arms of government – the Executive and the Judiciary.

    “So, you must look at how we’ve fared against this background. For almost 30 years that we didn’t exist, we didn’t grow any capacity; we didn’t grow any facilities, because we didn’t exist. So, in the last 15 years, in fact, when democracy returned in 1999, we started from the scratch again, as it were, trying to build facilities, trying to build capacities.

    “Now, stability has been the consistent feature of the National Assembly. That’s a major achievement that this Assembly has achieved. We are now growing capacity.”

  • Group protests to National Assembly

    Group protests to National Assembly

    A group, Solid Women Initiative for Development Worldwide (SWID),  has called for the immediate release of the schoolgirls abducted from Chibok, Borno State.

    Leading a protest to the National Assembly yesterday, SWID Founder/President, Lady Queen Ezike, said the abduction of over 200 schooolgirls by the Boko Haram sect “is highly irreligious, a cowardice act and a crime against God and humanity”.

    The activist hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for attracting multi-national intelligence support and deploying military technology for the search and rescue of the abducted girls.

    She said: “We cannot but urge you to keep doing all that is humanly possible to ensure the safe return of the Chibok schoolgirls. Our hearts go out to the families of our future mothers, who have not seen or heard from their innocent daughters close to 40 days now.

    “The prayers of millions of well-meaning people all over the world are with you, our dear daughters. Your abductors will not go unpunished. Posterity will not forsake you.

    “The challenge might seem unsurmountable, but it is surmountable, especially with God by your side. Do not relent. We will keep praying to God Almighty to crown all your efforts with success.”

    Senator Chris Anyanwu, who represented Senate President David Mark, said the current insecurity called for the concerns of all Nigerians.

    He urged Nigerians to adjust their ways of life by becoming more alert to the happenings around them.