The Nation Newspaper

Tag: national

  • National Bureau of Statistics wrong on Sokoto

    National Bureau of Statistics wrong on Sokoto

    SIR: The National Bureau of Statistics publication ranking Sokoto State at the bottom of development in Nigeria is far from true reflection of the state. The indices of development include state of critical infrastructure and the living standard of the population.

    At the inception of Wamakko administration, aggressive efforts were geared towards renovation and construction of schools across the state which resulted in increase in enrollment of boys and girls into schools. The abolition of discriminatory school fees encouraged more pupils into all schools up to tertiary levels. Governor Wamakko’s administration established a State University that has started admitting students in various faculties completed. The institution has not operated from any temporary site, but stands on its foundation site. Education is a veritable tool of fighting poverty. The youth are now empowered through education. The state has scored high in this direction.

    On the area of health care delivery services, the administration provided necessary facilities and equipment to existing hospitals, motivated the health care workforce. The drug revolving scheme was introduced to afford citizens access to free medical care. New hospitals have been constructed across the state that medical services are now available to the masses. There are free medical services for children 1-5 years and pregnant mothers. More medical personnel have been recruited. More indigenes have been trained or are being trained to meet the manpower needs in the health sub-sector. The state paid fully its counterpart funding to international donor agencies in the health sector.

    Sokoto State is in the front runner of providing grassroots mobile medical surveillance system where well equipped medical vans penetrate every nook and cranny of the state to treat patients free, detect outbreak of diseases and are ready hands to transport critical cases to tertiary institutions in the State capital, Sokoto for adequate treatment.

    Moreover, the first phase of the School of Midwifery at Tambuwal is at advanced stage of completion. This is to complement the efforts of the College of Nursing , Sokoto and School of Health Technology , Gwadabawa to provide manpower needs of the health sub-sector.

    Over 600 roads have been constructed across the state. These roads have opened inter and intra community intercourse which helps in evacuation of farm products to desired markets. The administration has constructed much irrigation farming system which benefits the farmers thereby increased their output. The farmers are busy all year round and so their earning capacity.

    Sokoto State is one of the major beef producers in the country. The administration has provided much grazing reserves for cattle herders. More veterinary hospitals have been constructed with adequate supply of drugs to take care of the health of the animals. The herders testify to relief from animal diseases and good health of their animals that are being transported to other parts of the country. The herders now make more money from their sales which stave off poverty.

    The administration has constructed over 2000 housing units which are being allocated on owner/occupier basis to civil servants. This is in addition to 30-40 houses constructed in each local government. More have been earmarked to be constructed against 2013 fiscal year.

    Through the department of rural roads, rural water and rural electrification so many rural areas are now opened up to modern amenities that cottage industries are springing up everywhere to benefit the youth who now combine farming with commercial activities in the rural areas. Life is much better for young men and women in the rural areas. These are signs of improvement in the standard of living.

    The state government through the Skills Acquisition Programme has trained over 12,000 youths across the state in various trades such as plumbing, electrical fittings, tailoring, carpentry, soap making, brick laying etc. They are equipped, on graduation, with tools and cash to set up their own trade.

    One wonders how the National Bureau of Statistics arrived at its conclusion.

    • Mohammed S. Umar

    Sokoto

  • A national carnival of violence and killings

    A national carnival of violence and killings

    Nigeria now seems to be cavorting in a carnival of violence and senseless killings. Apart from the cataclysmic months that preceded the civil war, it is doubtful whether in a very long time Nigeria has had intensely dramatic days as it witnessed in the first two days of this week. Forgive the hyperbole. But on Sunday, suicide bombers, perhaps two of them, audaciously attacked the prestigious Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, in Kaduna State killing about 17 people and wounding scores more. AFCSC is not just prestigious, it accommodates the Infantry Centre and School, the Nigerian Army Peace Keeping Centre, and the Armed Forces Command Staff College. Only recently, it also became the home of the Nigerian Army Counter Terrorist and Counter Insurgency (CTCOIN) Centre.

    While the country was still reeling from the audacious bombings, and also counting the physical, psychological and reputational cost of the Sunday attacks, gunmen believed to number about 40 attacked the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) facility in Abuja for reasons that are still unclear. In the attack, about 30 detainees were freed – though 25 were rearrested – and two policemen were killed. SARS is the dreaded police outfit robbers feared the most. Yet, the facility was attacked in the early hours of Monday. If the Jaji attack was audacious, the Monday attack in Abuja was even more so, considering how that number of gunmen organised and stormed a law enforcement facility in the federal capital.

    And while the country was still wondering in bewilderment at the two very bold affronts to the security establishment, a different group of bandits of indeterminate number on Monday evening stormed Auchi, a town in the northern part of Edo State, and attacked a police station, three banks and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) office. The attackers completed a triangle of mayhem that shocked Nigerians and silenced the town for hours. Now, everyone is getting a depressing sense of how unsafe the country has become, and how utterly naked we are in the face of lawless and maniacal groups.

    This feeling has been building up in the past two years or more. It became so bad last month, given the regularity of the killings strangulating the country, that Hardball, in a piece entitled “Sitting comfortably on a powder keg” made the following observations on October 18: The list of killings is endless and growing. Kidnapping is the order of the day, and highway robbery has made travelling by day or night an ordeal. The police are hardly able to compose themselves in the face of the massive lawlessness permeating the country; and in spite of the notable effort of the police leadership to inculcate discipline and higher degree of responsibility in policemen, officers have also affronted the law with embarrassing industriousness. What is obvious is that there are no realistic and practicable ideas from the federal government to arrest the dangerous lurch towards apocalypse. More than this, it is also indisputable that beyond general initiatives, which have neither been proffered nor tested, the structure of the country is simply too weak and even inoperable to stabilise a country of more than 250 cultures, rapidly expanding population, varying and competing religions, and intolerably high youth unemployment…

    The country is not only in ferment, it is seething. It is time the government recognised that these problems will not go away on their own accord or succumb to exhaustion. It will have to be more proactive, imaginative and aggressive to arrest what seems like a looming apocalypse. Of all the problems besetting the country, from Boko Haram to police killings, and from herdsmen versus farmers’ deathly struggles to boundary conflicts, and from communal wars to the gory sport of indiscriminate lynching and kidnapping, the government has solved none. Worse, there is nothing to show that these problems are receiving the intelligent attention that gives hope the country would overcome its afflictions soon. This must be the worst powder keg any nation can sit on.

     

  • LASG renovates National Stadium Knock-up Hall

    LASG renovates National Stadium Knock-up Hall

    THE Knock-up Hall of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos which will be used for the table tennis event of the 18th National Sports Festival has been installed with “Fibre Elastic Zinc,’’ to enhance its illumination.

    A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who visited the venue on Monday reports that the development is coming less than a week to the commencement of the Games. NAN observed that part of the roof and the sides were being removed and replaced with the fibre-elastic zinc.

    NAN also reports that the edifice, which could not serve as an effective training venue for players or host competitions because of its poor lighting, now has those problems solved by the Lagos State Government.

    Nasiru Bello, National Coach, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), explained that the upgrade was sponsored by the Lagos State Government, as part of its arrangements to host the festival. Bello said fibre elastic zinc, which is a modern technology, would provide good illumination in the hall for players who would participate in the event.

    “The fibre elastic zinc is a new technology that foreign countries use in their sports halls and now, the Lagos State Government has taken advantage of the festival to upgrade our facility. This has automatically changed the face of the hall and players will be happy to play in a clearly visible environment, without stress, unlike what we experienced in the past,’’ he said.

    Bello commended the Lagos State Government for the good work, noting that the NTTF had been crying out against the poor lighting of the edifice.

    “Lagos State has done well for the NTTF and I thank God for the festival because it provided the platform for this good development, which has been one of our lingering needs,’’ he said.

  • National Stadium Lagos designated as car park

    The National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, was on Tuesday confirmed as one of the places to be used as car parks during the 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos. The festival, tagged “Eko 2012’’, will hold from Nov. 27 to Dec. 9.

    The Secretary, Transportation and Logistics Sub-committee for the Games, Omoua Oni-Okpaku, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. Oni-Okpaku said that the premises of the edifice, which was in a dilapidated state, would serve as a parking lot for the Teslim Balogun Stadium, though users would pay an undisclosed sum. She, however, said that dignitaries and Team heads would not pay for using the arena.

    NAN reports that prior to the arrangement, the users of the stadium paid N100 as entry fee.

    Oni-Okpaku added that the parking lot for the Onikan Stadium would be at the Muson Car Park, under the bridge, opposite the Army Officers’ Mess and the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS).

    “This is to prevent traffic congestion in and around the venues before, during and after the competition,” Oni-Okpaku explained.

  • ‘North must key into national agenda’

    President of Conference of the Northern States’ Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (CONSCCIMA), Dr Ahmed Rabiu, yesterday urged state governments and other stakeholders in the North to key into national agenda.

    He said this would enhance accelerated development of the region.

    Rabiu spoke in Kano when he delivered a lecture at a forum organised by an online non-governmental organisation (NGO), Ra’ayi Initiative for Human Development.

    He was optimistic that the future of the region would be bright, despite the numerous challenges it is facing.

    Rabiu said: “There’s hope for the North. We are only troubled. But we must key into the national agenda, taking advantage of programmes, such as the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment (SURE). Unfortunately, we are lagging behind because of lack of information.”

    The academic noted that the elite in the region were using media for their selfish interests instead of the development the region needs.

    A renowned columnist and blogger, Dr Aliyu Tilde, blamed the region’s backwardness on educated northerners.

    He said they ought to show the way for the others.

    “They, unfortunately, think like those who have never gone to school. They think like roadside tea sellers. Yet, we can never run away from Western education; it’s now the yardstick for gauging development. And the North will never develop until the educated ones lead the way,” Tilde said.

     

  • ‘National Assembly can’t create states now’

    ‘National Assembly can’t create states now’

    One of the most cerebral Senators recently told Senate correspondents reasons why he is opposed to the creation of new states.

    How would you address the perception of those who want more states on the basis that it brings government closer to the people?

    Where is the evidence? Tell me out of the 36 states of Nigeria if you conduct a referendum now about the impact of government in their current states versus where they were coming from let us know whether there will be a positive affirmation. This is a country where we don’t do enough research. In most regions of the world the public sector, government is the largest consumer of research. This is the kind of question that the Federal Government should seek answer to through research. What do we have a National Bureau of Statistics for? Go and conduct a public poll and present facts and figures before the Presidency, before the Federal Executive Council, before the Economic Council, before the National Security Council and speak on the basis of evidence devoid of any political colouration. We are not doing enough research.

    You moved a landmark motion on the looming danger of bankruptcy in states and the need for fiscal evaluation. What informed your decision to move the motion? The basic consideration for the motion is largely driven by the reality that Nigerians live in states and in local governments and states and local governments are the areas where demands are being made on government for service delivery. Be it infrastructure, be it health services, education, rural roads, they are where people feel the impact of government. Those decisions are taken at the community level. I looked at resource distribution in Nigeria and I realized that the bulk of the resources of the country need to move closer to the people. I wanted to point the attention of Nigerians to the reality that the commonwealth of Nigeria is not servicing majority of Nigerians. That is the essence of the motion.

    The Senate unanimously adopted the motion as moved, but some of the states that were classified as near bankrupt claimed they are not bankrupt. How did you take the reactions of some states to your Bill?

    For me, I don’t engage in opinion peddling. Everything I’m saying is evidence based. So if anybody is saying that that is not the true position his or her state let them produce the evidence. The information that I used came from Governors Forum. It is not my data and I would imagine that no other forum is a better advocate of interest of states more than the forum that was voluntarily established by the governors to advocate for them. The forum conducted this research I only picked a publication of the research and subjected it to levels of analysis and exposed it to the public for Nigerians to know what is going on. So this is not an opinion of Senator Adetunmbi. It is the evidence provided by no less a forum than the Governors Forum to say that they are in distress and that their resources are not coping with their responsibilities, which is largely eroded by their ballooning wage bill and a growing cost of maintenance, the cost of governance at the expense of capital projects and service delivery to millions of Nigerians that reside in the states. You all know that most states, in addressing this resource gap resorted to heavy domestic borrowing and commercial credit. There is hardly any Nigerian state that does not owe banks as we speak. They are also exposed in the capital market where they raised bonds to do things that appropriations coming from the Federation Account and from their internally generated revenue cannot handle. Basically, resources from internally generated revenue and the Federation Account largely for most states are used for wage bills and overhead. For most of their capital projects they borrow either commercial lines of credit or bonds and I stand to be corrected.

    The motion threw up national debate, would you say that it achieved its purpose?

    We cannot continue to balkanize in the name of bringing governance to certain people. Evidence has shown that the three regions were better managed. The four regions were more prosperous. The more states we have, the less the state is able to deliver services. I attended a public school far away in Ifako-Ekiti where I spent the first 17 years of my life in Ekiti State. The first 17 years of my life I spent in the village, St. Michael’s Anglican Primary School. All my siblings, six of us, went through that school. That school is a shadow of itself to day. What we are saying is that the creation of states has tended to stretch the resources that are meant for development to cater for bureaucracy and to pay the wage bill of the civil service whose productivity is on the decline. That is the situation of the country today. In that type of scenario, tell me, does creating more states make sense? If 36 states are groaning under the burden of depletion of funds from the federation, would it be better if we had more than 36 states from the same commonwealth? You set up new Government Houses, new legislatures, new local governments, then you have more Senators, more House of Representatives members coming from areas that were under existing jurisdictions and they are enjoying that same level of representation. People may have legitimate reasons to call for creation of more states, but definitely majority of these requests are frivolous and they are reckless and therefore not in the best interest of Nigeria.

     

  • National Assembly’s interference illegal, says Mamora

    A former Senate Deputy Minority Leader Olorunnimbe Mamora yesterday criticised the Ad Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives for suspending legislative activities of the Kogi State House of Assembly.

    He said the decision may be meddlesomeness in the affairs of the Assembly.

    In a telephone conversation, Mamora noted that an intervention by the National Assembly must be friendly and in consonance with Section 305 of the Constitution.

    According to him, any interference should be on insecurity and public order in the affected state.

    Mawora also said such intervention must be on finding amicable solution to a crisis.

    According to him, any matter which violates Section 92 of the Constitution – which stipulates that impeachment of the Speaker of a House of Assembly must be carried out by two-thirds majority of members – could only be reversed by a court of competent jurisdiction.

    The former lawmaker noted that an intervention by the National Assembly should be friendly.

    Emphasising that the National Assembly lacks the power to suspend activities of any Assembly, Mamora said the federal legislature is only empowered to make laws for an Assembly during a state of emergency in such state.

    He explained that since no state of emergency has been declared in Kogi “care must be taken not to give the impression of meddlesomeness”.

    Mamora added: “My understanding is that it is within the context of the declaration of a state of emergency in a state that the National Assembly can legislate for a House of Assembly, as it was the case in Plateau and Ekiti states. What exists in Kogi Assembly is just a skirmish, as it was the case in Ogun State… The National Assembly did not suspend the House activities.”

     

  • National Assembly shuts down Kogi Assembly

    National Assembly shuts down Kogi Assembly

    The National Assembly yesterday intervened in the crisis at the Kogi House of Assembly following the impeachment of Speaker Abdullahi Bello last Tuesday.

    The House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc Committee on the crisis that followed the impeachment ordered the suspension of plenary at the Assembly pending the outcome of an investigation into the matter.

    The Assembly replaced Bello with Lawal Jimoh of the Okene 11 constituency.

    The committee was in the state to investigate the crisis.

    It said it would not recognise either of the two lawmakers claiming to be the Speaker until the end of the investigation.

    The committee, therefore, suspended legislative activities at the Assembly.

    The committee’s Chairman Mukhtar Mohammed Ahmed spoke in Lokoja, the state capital, after a meeting with both groups in the Assembly.

    He said the committee had the approval of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to tighten security to forestall law and order at the Assembly.

    The lawmaker explained that plenary would remain suspended until the committee submits its report to the National Assembly.

    He assured that the committee would do a thorough job.

    Ahmed urged members of the Kogi Assembly to cooperate with the committee, adding that the Constitution allows the committee to take over the affairs of a House of Assembly, if it has an unresolved matter.

    The lawmaker explained that the National Assembly’s concern on the matter was in the process of the impeachment and not what led to the removal of the Speaker.

    He said the document specifying how the nation should be governed must be protected.

    There was a mild drama at the Assembly yesterday when a supporter of the embattled Speaker was accused of signing the impeachment notice and abandoning the matter.

    Gabriel Daudu, who was said to be among the movers of the impeachment motion against Bello, alleged that the new Speaker, Lawal Jimoh, from Adavi Constituency, signed the impeachment notice in his house.

    But another member, Abdullahi Lawal, denied the allegation. He said a private house is not an assembly complex.

    The lawmaker said he could not have done such a thing.

    Thirteen members from Bello’s camp and three of Jimoh’s supporters attended the meeting with the committee.

  • National broadcast? Press release would have been sufficient

    National broadcast? Press release would have been sufficient

    Some five or so weeks after many communities across the country were overwhelmed by flood, President Goodluck Jonathan has finally taken what seems to his government urgent steps in ameliorating the effects of the unprecedented disaster. He had earlier sent a technical committee to assess the damage and to prepare an interim report. After deliberating on the report and having presented it to those he described as stakeholders, the president yesterday morning announced through a national broadcast the provision of N17.6 billion to tackle the problem. The money is to be shared among the 36 states and a few relevant federal agencies involved in disaster management. In the broadcast, the president sent word he would be visiting some of the affected communities, while a team of financial heavyweights has also been constituted to raise more money for the purpose.

    It is not exactly clear why the president felt a national broadcast was in order merely to announce the provision of N17.6bn to the 36 states. Was it to lend seriousness to the disaster or to give an impression that the problem required such attention that only a broadcast could convey? If the president thought the problem grave enough, should he not have visited a few of the ravaged communities immediately he returned from addressing the 67th General Assembly of the United Nations late September? The president is of course at liberty to apportion his time as he deems fit, but there are not many Nigerians who would have objected to their president visiting some of the flood-ravaged states. And judging from the enormity of the problem and its urgency, and the rather disproportionately niggardly sum the president has set aside for the task, a common press release announcing the federal government’s contribution would have been more than sufficient.

    In the 20 paragraphs broadcast, the president said virtually nothing about the even more frightening cataclysm of impending food shortages, nor of how it would be mitigated both in the medium run and in the next planting season. It is bad enough that weeks after the flood, he is still proposing a visit to affected communities. But his refusal to say something concrete about what he intends to do both to tackle a possible food crisis and to ensure the availability and distribution of seedlings for the next farming season, and his inability to acknowledge the threat food shortages could pose to national security at a time of sundry and ubiquitous terrorist threats, is truly befuddling.

    The president is probably unable to gauge when a national broadcast is appropriate. Yes, he was expected to let his countrymen know what he wanted to do on the flood problem, but if he must make a broadcast, they also expected him to talk stirringly about the October 1 massacre of some 40 students at the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State, and to also visit the school and the host community. Nigerians also hoped he would say something quite deep about the University of Port Harcourt students who were lynched near their school, and then pay the four grieving families a visit and swear that such would never happen again under his watch.

    Instead, Dr Jonathan has offered us an unappealing and needless broadcast, and has found it difficult to correctly judge when to stir himself sufficiently to hit the road. He is a top politician, and he is president of the country upon whose shoulders all our troubles, hopes and disappointments rest. He should not be told how to discharge the responsibilities of that great office or when to mollify the pains and sorrows of his people.

     

     

  • Tight security at national awards’ Abuja venue

    Tight security at national awards’ Abuja venue

    Security was tight in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), yesterday, ahead of the conferment of national honours on 149 eminent Nigerians.

    President Goodluck Jonathan will preside at the ceremony slated for the International Conference Centre (ICC), which was put under watertight security last night.

    Globacom Chairman Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr. will get the second highest national award – the Grand Commander of the Order of the Nigeria (GCON).

    There are 148 others on the awards list, including top government functionaries, businessmen, politicians, public servants and others.

    Major hotels in Abuja were fully booked yesterday, as some of the awardees arrived in the capital city.For better security management, each of the awardees has been restricted to two guests.

    The venue and its environs were combed yesterday. Vehicles were barred from the complex.As part of the security arrangement, accreditation of the awardees was done at the Agura Hotel, about one kilometre from the Conference Centre.

    Besides the deployment of policemen and gadgets at the centre, a 24-hour security surveillance was mounted last night with multi-purpose security vehicles.
    A security source said: “We have decided to strengthen security heavily within and around the ICC because of recent challenges facing the nation. We do not want the event hijacked in any manner.

    “We have also restricted all the awardees to two guests as part of crowd management. If you are not connected with the event, we won’t allow you into the centre.”
    Some of the awardees were complaining last night that accommodation had not been provided for them.

    One of the awardees said: “I have not got accommodation. Some of the officials said the government was trying to cut cost.“They have forgotten that some of us got these awards on merit. We are not moneybags who could afford the high cost of accommodation in Abuja.

    “Also, some of us are not used to Abuja.“Although there used to be a token of N100,000 per awardee for feeding during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, no one has made any money available to us.”

    Ebonyi State Governor Martin Elechi has directed public and private sector establishments in the state not to shut down their operation as a mark of honour to him over the national award of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) to be conferred on him today.

    Elechi gave the directive following reports that some market associations, business organisations and public servants planned to storm Abuja for the ceremony.

    In a statement, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Dr. Onyekachi Eni, said though Governor Elechi acknowledges the right of the people to celebrate the national award which he described as a honour to the state, he urged them to remain at home and do so in a responsible manner.

    “Those who had already arranged for mass transit buses to go to Abuja are hereby urged not to embark on the journey because of the cost and the risk associated with such mass movement. The governor appreciates the people of the State for their outpouring of love and support.

    “Though again the governor acknowledges the right of the people to celebrate the national award, he has, however, urged the people to remain in the State and do so in a responsible manner,” Eni said.

    Eni said three representatives of the forum of founding fathers, youth and women organisations and the Christian Association of Nigeria, had been invited by the government to witness the ceremony in Abuja.