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Tag: Nigeria News

  • Ex-UACN chief seeks better designs

    Former Managing Director  UACN Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran has  stressed the need to re-engineer home designs and construction to achieve maximum efficiency.

    He said the trend in urban dwelling in leading cities across the globe since 2011 is that “the era of mac-mansion (big structures) is gone” as a result of limited land supply and the spiraling construction costs.

    He spoke at the ground-breaking ceremony of Fiona Lawton Apartments, an upscale estate in Lekki, over the weekend.

    He said: “The reality on ground has made it necessary  to optimise living and maintenance costs and  this is reflected in the significant reduction in the average sizes of dwelling apartments in such cities as New York (39 square meters) London (46 square meters) Paris (36 square meters) and Hong Kong (15square meters) in the last few years.”

    Ogunniran, who is the Managing Director of  Eximia Realty Company Limited, said his objective is to create a unique and innovative platform to deliver real estate solutions by addressing emerging living models tailored to contemporary urban lifestyles.

    On what informed his market segmentation, Ogunniran said: “Our deduction from empirical analysis is that there is a reasonably significant market for micro apartments designed to suit the Nigerian lifestyle preferences in Lagos and a few other cities. We are set to tap into that opportunity through our ‘uniquely crafted living spaces’ based on the concepts of ‘Compact, Comfortable and Convenient Dwelling.’’

  • El-Rufai: Beyond the show

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has some explaining to do. After grabbing the headlines when he took his six-year-old son, Abubakar, to Capital School, Malali, Kaduna, a public school, to begin his primary education, on September 23, El-Rufai has questions to answer.

    True, El-Rufai has been commended publicly for putting his son in a public school, but he has also been criticised publicly for allegedly playing to the gallery.

    Senator Shehu Sani, who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the eighth National Assembly, told reporters in Kaduna that the governor’s action “was simply a 2023 political stunt set up for the media and people who live outside Kaduna because those who reside here know what public primary schools look like.” What do public primary schools in Kaduna State look like? Why did El-Rufai put his son in that particular public primary school?

    Sani said: “It is not because I have political difference with him, no. But whoever lives in Kaduna State knew that what the governor did with his son by enrolling him in a public school was just a comedy…He would have done better by upgrading schools in Kaduna. You cannot spend N195million in a particular school and then take your son and the media to that school and think you have done anything different.”

    Is it true that the El-Rufai administration spent N195 million to improve Capital School, Malali? How was the school improved? Why was the alleged cost of the improvement so high?

    Sani added: “I know that the children of former Governor Ahmed Makarfi attended this same Capital School. I also know that other public officials’ children go to that school too. So if you are not being cunning, deceptive and comical, you would have allowed all your children to enroll in public schools. Public school doesn’t mean primary schools alone; there are public secondary schools and public universities.”

    How many children does El-Rufai have? How many of them are in school? How many of them are in public schools? Abubakar was quoted as saying:  “I am sad that I will miss my old school, my friends and my teachers. But I have to help my father keep his promise.”  Which school was he talking about?

    El-Rufai wants to seen as a man who keeps his word. In a state broadcast in December 2017, he had promised to enroll his son in a public school when he is six years old.  At the time he made the promise, he was two years into his first four-year term as governor. He had said: “We are determined to fix public education and raise their standards so that private education will become only a luxury. As we make progress, we will require our senior officials to enroll their children in public schools. And I will by personal example ensure that my son that will be six years of age in 2019 will be enrolled in a public school in Kaduna State, by God’s grace.”

    His first term ended in May 2019. It wasn’t certain that he would still be governor of the state in September 2019 when he put his son in a public primary school. El-Rufai was re-elected governor for a second term, which is why he was able to grab the headlines the way he did. What if El-Rufai had not been re-elected? Would he still have put his son in a public primary school?

    El-Rufai’s words to journalists after the show at Capital School, Malali: “I made that commitment because I believe that it is only when all political leaders have their children in public schools that we will pay due attention to quality of public education. I went to a public school like this. In fact, the school I went to is not as good as this one, but here I am, because of the quality teaching I got.”

    He added: “My intention is to ensure that all our public schools offer quality education, and so we are encouraging all our senior public servants to send their children to public schools. Once the public schools are improved to a point they are nearly as good as or even better than private schools, no one will waste his money taking his child to private school.”

    What is the cost of primary education at Capital School, Malali? Who are the parents of the children in the school?

    In January, El-Rufai had publicised how his administration reformed the state’s education sector. While playing host to the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Ms Amina Mohammed, he said his first-term administration inherited 4,200 public primary schools that were in a bad condition. He also said that in 2015 he had inherited enrollment rate stagnant at 1.1 million pupils, with about 50 per cent of pupils taking lessons on the floor because of lack of furniture.

    He said: “In our effort to improve teaching quality standards, the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) had in June 2017 conducted a Primary Four competency test for teachers.” According to him, 21,780 out of 33,000 teachers that sat for the competency examination failed.  He stated:  “As part of our education reform programme, we sacked the failed teachers and recruited 25,000 new teachers…We have also expanded access to education by making the first nine years of schooling free for boys and the entire twelve years of primary and secondary education free for girls. This has led to increase in School enrolment from 1.1 million to 2.1 million almost doubling the number of pupils in the State.”

    In a tweet on his education sector reforms, El- Rufai had said: “After a review of the cost and analysis of the demographic trends data as it relates to overcrowding in the classrooms, we decided to build multi-storey school blocks with more classrooms to accommodate 30 to 40 pupils per class. By January 2017, about 500 of the schools had been rehabilitated at the cost of about N6 billion. Our investments have contributed to the total overhauling of the education sector. We have introduced a Schools Rehabilitation Programme to provide decent classrooms, furniture, water and toilet facilities.”

    But El-Rufai needs to respond to Sani’s remarks and other remarks that call into question his dramatic appearance with his son at Capital School, Malali.

  • NATA gets Life Grand Patron

    Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association (NATA) Ejigbo Branch has appointed the Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, Monsurudeen Bello as the Life Grand Patron.

    The appointment, NATA said, is in recognition of Bello’s selfless service to the people of Ejigbo, and his contributions towards the progress of the association.

    Bello, popularly called OBE, was honoured during the inauguration of the executive of the association.

    A plaque was presented to him by NATA’s state Deputy Chairman Olusegun Aikhomo Mayegun.

    Mayegun said the honour was also an appreciation of the council boss for bringing an end to the misunderstanding between members of the association.

    OBE, who was represented by the Vice Chairman, who doubles as Supervisor for Health, Dr Olatunde Olusunmade, thanked the association for honouring him.

    Olusunmade said the administration’s giant strides can be felt in areas of infrastructural development.

    “At the moment, Kashimawo Alimi Street beside NNPC bus stop is being rehabilitated. The project would be completed before the end of the year. This would reduce traffic gridlock at Jakande Gate. Dauda Ilo Road in Ejigbo and Junction Road in Oke-Afa are also under rehabilitation, while Adebayo Oyelana has been rehabilitated and in good condition,” he said.

    Olusunmade urged NATA members and residents of the council to support OBE for another term.

  • Pupil Abubakar El-Rufai

    The media was awash last week with stories and photographs of the enrolment of Abubakar, the six year-old son of Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai in one of the state’s public primary schools.

    Some of the photographs showed El-Rufai, his wife and some security aides taking the little boy to school to have him formally enrolled. El-Rufai was also seen in one other picture sitting in front of the headmaster with his son on his laps. There was another picture showing Abubakar in the classroom sitting on the front seat with one other pupil presumably to clear doubts, as to the authenticity of the enrolment exercise.

    A very excited El-Rufai said the move was informed by on-going reforms to revamp public schools in the state and make them more competitive.

    “We are determined to fix public education and raise their standards so that private education will become a luxury. As we make progress we will require our senior officials to enrol their children in public schools”.

    He further explained the exercise was in fulfilment of a promise he made two years ago that his son who will be turning six years in 2019 would be enrolled in a public school as a mark of personal example. The enrolment was therefore to fulfil that promise and bolster confidence in our public schools.

    Ostensibly, the overall objective is to bring up public schools to offer quality education comparable with what obtains in private schools. And when this is achieved, the lure to have children in private schools even in the face of prohibitive costs would have been substantially stymied. The society will be better for it.

    Given the scandalous neglect our public education system has suffered over the years with parents preferring private schools with accompanying exorbitant fees, El-Rufai’s example would seem a step in the right direction. For one, it is an admission of the inherent dangers in the continued neglect of our public education system resulting in the lowering of standards. For another, it is a veritable statement to the effect that the poor quality of education offered in public schools would have been substantially reversed were our leaders to be sending their children to such schools. Again, he seems to be sending out signals that the quickest approach to reversing the criminal neglect of public education is for leaders to begin sending their children to such schools. With that, they will see the need to pay adequate attention to the debilitating challenges that have reduced our public education system to former ghosts of themselves.

    The scenario is that of vicious cycle of neglect-dilapidated buildings; lack of teaching and learning materials, lack of seats with pupils sitting on the floor in some states and poorly motivated teachers. All these accentuate general loss of confidence in the quality of services emanating from such poorly organized schools. If any modicum of public confidence is to be restored to the public education system especially at the primary level, the starting point is to substantially address these systemic deficits.

    That appears the point El-Rufai was underscoring. And he is not alone in this. He is making a very bold statement that public schools can be trusted to offer quality education. He is saying that public schools can be substantially upgraded to offer educational services that compare very favourably with what obtains in private schools. He is saying that the comatose state of public education system is consequent upon its neglect by governments and once that is reversed, standards will substantially improve. That goes without saying.

    Incidentally, this rot is not peculiar to the education sector as the same malfeasance permeates the entire fabric of our national life. The health sector where our leaders prefer medical tourism abroad to fixing our hospitals is a serious case in point. The discrimination, profiling and stigmatization of our citizens abroad in search of elusive greener pastures are also on account of the squandering of our collective patrimony and wrong priority setting by visionless and rogue leadership.

    If much of the resources this country is bountifully endowed is gainfully deployed to productive engagement, the nation would have been high up in the rungs of the ladder of development. And its domino effect would have been evident in all sectors of the national economy. So the deficit El-Rufai seeks to remedy in his state’s public education system is a general cankerworm afflicting all spheres of our national life. And it will require the right dose of therapy, commitment and visionary leadership to have them substantially redressed.

    El-Rufai has dramatized that rot in public schools in Kaduna and seeks to shore up public confidence in it by enrolling his son in the system. If he considers that school good enough for his son, there is no reason other citizens of the state cannot have confidence in the quality of education it offers. He wants us to believe in the capacity of that school to offer quality education. We have no reason to nurse the feeling that the school is not in a position to offer quality education. For it is inconceivable that the governor would just send his son to that school as a ‘guinea pig’ just to score some point.

    Yet, we have not been told how many of such schools exist presently in the state, the state of facilities provided to ensure quality education and whether the school is just a prototype the governor intends to replicate in other parts of the state. He should have gone further to provide additional information on other children of his; where they are currently pursuing their education careers. All these would have been helpful in the overall assessment of the outing especially given the media blitz and fanfare associated with his son’s school enrolment.

    Opinions differ as to whether El-Rufai should have made a public show of the enrolment or have it done privately. There are also issues with the retinue of officials that accompanied him to the event including his wife, its psychological effect on the pupils and whether cheap political point is not at the centre of it all. It would have made better sense for the mother of the child to have privately enrolled him in the school without the fanfare and drama we were treated to. All these tend to cast serious doubt on the purpose the outing was intended to achieve.

    Even then, disclosures that the governor spent N195 million to upgrade that school which had before now, been the choice of the affluent including a former governor of the state detracts substantially from whatever point El-Rufai intended to score. What seemed to have emerged from this is that Kaduna Capital School where the child was enrolled had even before now been considered somewhat elitist. That school is severely handicapped in serving as a gauge for the quality of education offered in Kaduna public schools. And that raises the question of the indecent haste in making public show of the enrolment when no substantial improvement seems to have been recorded in upgrading the standard and quality of teaching and learning in the state’s public schools system. It would have made better sense if the governor had come up with a list schools upgraded and revamped to offer comparable education with the one in which his son is enrolled.

    It is possible to contend that this is the first phase of the upgrading and that subsequent efforts would be made to bring all public schools in the state to the standard of the one under focus. Then, he should have waited for substantial improvement to be recorded in the entire education system before going to town the way he was seen last week.  And with mounting criticisms from the state against the dramatized enrolment, we are left with the inevitable conclusion that there is more to that enrolment than ordinarily meets the eyes.

    It is not just coincidental that the drama is coming on the heels of the flooding of the streets of Kaduna and Abuja with campaign posters of El-Rufai for the far-flung 2023 presidential elections. Suspicion is high that vaulting political ambition is at the centre of the attempt by the controversial governor to portray himself as a man of the people.

    He has not dissociated himself from the posters. And that gives further fillip to the suspicion that vaulting partisan political ambition is at the heart of all that drama. We will live to see how that ambition will serve the collective interest of our federal contraption.

  • Nissan recalls 1.2m vehicles

    Nissan North America is recalling 1,228,830 model year 2018-2019 Nissan Altimas, Frontiers, Kicks, Leafs, Maximas, Muranos, NVs, NV200s, Pathfinders, Rogues, Rogue Sports, Sentras, Titans, Versa Notes, Versa Sedans, Infiniti Q50s, Q60s, QX30s and QX80s.

    Also being recalled are model year 2019 Nissan GT-Rs& Taxis and Infiniti QX50s, QX60s, Q70s and Q70Ls.

    The back-up camera and display settings can be adjusted such that the rear view image is no longer visible and the system will retain that setting the next time the vehicle is placed in reverse.

    The lack of an image in the back-up camera display increases the risk of a crash.

    Nissan will notify owners in phases, and have dealers update the back-up camera settings software free of charge.

    The recall is expected to begin October 21, and all affected VINs should be activated by November 11.

  • Long overdue

    • We welcome the suspension of the Jonathan-era auto policy

    If there is one thing to be said of the news of the suspension of the controversial National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) by the Muhammadu Buhari administration, it is that the measure has been long in coming. Tall in ambitions and a surfeit in good intentions, never perhaps has a policy been so clearly wrong-headed.

    Proceeding on a flight of fancy, it sought to compel local auto manufacture even when the basic infrastructure are neither present nor the marketing environment readied. To serve the quest, the struggling middle class, most of who had been reduced to buying fairly used foreign imports, had to be slammed with a duty hike plus a punitive levy of 35 percent to acquire one vehicle. The assumption – again misguided – was that this would ultimately boost the patronage of locally assembled cars, while discouraging the importation of fairly used ones.

    As it turned out, neither happened. No thanks to the duty hike and the levy, the cost of the imported used vehicles shot through the roof while Nigerians, desperate for cars, headed for neighbouring ports where import duties and port charges were friendlier. With cars meant for Nigerian market diverted to neighbouring ports, activities at our ports dwindled and so was revenue.

    Meanwhile, the so-called local operators on whom the government had pinned its hope for the revival of the auto industry failed to rise to the challenge. The operators, no sooner after, returned to their pastime of importation of fully built cars even as the few that ventured into limited assembly found out that the prices of their products were beyond reach of those they were meant to serve – and this in an environment where consumer credit is not readily available, except for corporate entities.

    To remedy perceived lacuna in the policy, the eighth National Assembly in 2017 passed the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) Bill only for President Buhari to withhold assent. The bone of contention was the “pioneer status” granted to manufacturers under the bill – a provision which the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) found disagreeable. Whereas the Bill provided for a 10-year tax holiday for manufacturers, this was found to be contrary to the provisions of Pioneer Status Act which limits the tax holiday to three years, subject to an extension of one or two years.

    This is where the country is today. The suspension of the policy should provide ample opportunities not only to review the flawed assumptions inherent in it but also to enable fundamental corrections to be made. It goes without saying that the policy must not only be sound and pragmatic, it must cater to the interests and aspirations of every stakeholder in the industry.

    Surely, the auto manufacturers as primary drivers of the policy can do with all the incentives that the government can give to ease their pains and ultimately help bring down their cost of production; the dealers and consumers united in their joint quest for an enabling infrastructure of credit without which the industry can never be sustainable. The policy will, hopefully, terminate the current obsession with the quest for a wholly Nigerian car in a country where the manufacture of ancillary auto parts like batteries, windscreens, tyres have remained a tall order. If merely for the humongous amounts of foreign exchange spent on importing auto spares, the policy should seek a more effective partnership with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) on the wide range of auto parts to save scarce foreign exchange and as a launch pad for the local auto manufacturers. We expect that the policy will help bring activities back at our ports. To be sure, the current stiff auto tariff regime does not pretend to serve the local auto industry, the economy or even the ordinary citizen, but the neighbouring ports. It should recommend a drastic downward review.

  • Optics is everything

    Amidst the Brexit chaos in the United Kingdom, that country’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson often resorts to optics for political brace. His actions project him as a crusader for the preference of a majority of Britons – the electorate had voted 52 percent to leave the European Union against 48 percent ‘remain’ in a 2016 referendum – up against the parliamentary elite who are throwing in bricks at every turn to upend that preference. Yet, he would not be dissuaded easily. He postures as having a handle on the crisis, which otherwise seems to be spinning out of control and threatening to drown him. And he is soldering on.

    Last week, Johnson was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly where he marketed his vision of post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’ to the world community. He had vowed to take his country out of the EU “do or die” by October 31st, but legal roadblocks may effectively tie his hand. As the prime minister delivered his address to the UN assembly across the Atlantic on Tuesday, 11 justices of the U.K. supreme court ruled his suspension of parliament “unlawful, void and of no effect.”

    But Johnson is positioning himself as not to blame in the event of failure of Brexit as scheduled. His messaging portrays him as being victimised for determining to deliver the people’s choice, as in saying: ‘I badly want to give you the Brexit you voted for, but I am being frustrated every inch of the way by parliament.’ The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in a report last week said if opinion polls are to be believed, his message resonates with the public. Although the prime minister had planned to use his New York trip to cement ties with United States President Donald Trump, he returned to London immediately after his General Assembly address to face off with his country’ lawmakers. Reports said it was an eerie encounter, as he dared opposition leader Jeremy Corbin to call a no-confidence vote on him. He also tagged a parliament act forbidding him from exiting EU on October 31st without a deal a “surrender bill.”

    Africa has its own master of optics in President John Magufuli of Tanzania. Since coming to office in 2015, he has cut the image of a no-nonsense, waste-cutting, goal-getting and corruption-mauling populist leader who walks his talk. They call him ‘The Bulldozer,’ as he relentlessly takes down privileged impediments to developmental goals he sets for his country. And there are indications he’s made some headway for Tanzania. He is also regarded beyond his country as a Spartan role model on a continent plagued by corrupt and indulgent leadership. Only that he’s carried on at the cost of pushing back the frontiers of liberties that democracy ordinarily affords.

    Talking about optics, Magufuli has stopped lavish celebrations of Tanzanian independence day since he took office. Rather than expend public funds on the December 9 yearly event, he has been ordering environmental cleanup on that day while redirecting money that would have been spent on celebrations into providing social services. I am not sure if he still does so four years after, but when he started out he personally joined in the environmental cleanup. Nothing beats visuals of a country president being zestfully hands on at digging out filthy debris from clogged drainages alongside the people he leads.

    To further cut governance costs, the Tanzanian leader introduced other austerity measures. Among them, he banned overseas travel for officials, directing that diplomats in Tanzania’s embassies abroad should stand in for the country at any meeting requiring government representation. Reports said Magufuli himself has not travelled outside East Africa since becoming president; he has only visited neighbouring Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, while his farthest journey has been to Ethiopia. He is on record saying he skips foreign travels to save money. A report by his country’s central bank early in 2017 showed the government saved $430million by limiting foreign travels between November 2015 and November 2016.

    Magufuli’s optics have been so powerful that despite the relatively minimal stature of his country in global affairs, he is widely regarded as an African icon, such that #WhatWouldMagufuliDo? trends on Twitter as citizens of other countries measure the actions of their own leaders against potential responses of the Tanzanian president.

    We can do with some optics in governance in Nigeria. And when Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai took his six-year-old son to be enrolled in a public school in the state capital early last week, it was good optics to a high degree. The governor said he was enrolling little Abubakar into primary one at a public school in fulfillment of a promise he made in 2017. “I made that commitment because I believe it is only when all political leaders have their children in public schools that we will pay due attention to the quality of public education…My intention is to ensure that all our public schools offer quality education, and so we are encouraging all our senior public servants to send their children to public schools. Once public schools are improved to a point that they are nearly as good or even better than private schools, no one will waste his money taking his child to private school,” he said.

    Objectors, many of them out of partisan bias, have however second-guessed the governor and accused him of propaganda. They said it was cheap that he took along news crews to an event that should be a routine parental engagement. Others discerned sheer opportunism, since other children of el-Rufai schooled abroad. And really, it isn’t that anyone could unarguably foreclose such motives as have been alleged. In a 2010 feature piece in the New York Times, Ben Zimmer wrote that: “When politicians fret about the public perception of a decision more than the substance of the decision itself, we’re living in a world of optics.”

    But Zimmer also cited Canadian bi-linguist and then editor of The Suburban, Quebec’s largest English-language weekly, Beryl Wajsman, who wrote in a 2007 column for Canada Free Press that “the ‘optique’ (French term roughly equivalent to ‘optics’), as it is called in very politically savvy Quebec, is everything.” This is a principle that applies no less to the el-Rufai school enrolment act.

    If el-Rufai had not sent his children to a public school until now, the whole message is that his government has been working on the system to now inspire sufficient confidence in every cadre of society. If every other government leader at the state and federal levels across the country does likewise, we would be making a major headway with the public education system nationwide. Thus, the symbolism of the Kaduna event was aptly captured by little Abubakar’s mother, Ummi el-Rufai, when she said inter alia: “By the time we start attending public hospitals and sending our children to public schools, the system will get better.” You could bet that the public school system in Kaduna State will get qualitative and quantitative boosts from the el-Rufai act that ordinary state residents will savour for some time to come.

    It is optics of this kind that we need for all-round improvement in the quality of leadership in this country. Imagine the impact on the Nigerian healthcare system if our leaders would walk into public hospitals and submit to examination by local doctors, rather than scurry abroad for treatment of headaches and other slight ailments. Imagine if they travel long distances over land on the dilapidated road infrastructure, rather than hop about in aircraft to engagements even short stops away from their power cocoons. Imagine if their daily upkeep is from their take-home packages and not budgetary items in government overheads. Imagine if they’re connected solely to the national power grid with no generator backup.  Imagine if they snake through traffic gridlocks in urban centres without the routine traffic being diverted for their sake or sirens blaring off other road user to make way for their unimpeded passage. It is when they experience first hand what every other citizen experiences that we could hope for empathetic governance that would make things better.

    • Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.be for conversation.

  • BREAKING: DSS releases Chido Onumah

    Operatives of the Department of State Security Services (DSS) have released journalist-cum-activist, Dr Chido Onumah.

    Onumah was picked up hours ago on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from a trip abroad.

    Sources close to the coordinator of AFRICIMIL confirmed he has been released.

    Details shortly…

  • Group recommends Service Chiefs, Nigerian troops for national honours over efforts on the war against insurgency

    In recognition of their unwavering sacrifices in flushing away Boko Haram terrorists, the Save Humanity Advocacy Centre (SHAC) has recommended special national honours for the Nigerian military, especially the Service Chiefs.
    The group made this recommendation as part of its message to mark Nigeria’s 59th Independence on Tuesday in Abuja.
    In a statement signed by Executive Secretary, Comrade Ibrahim Abubakar, the group hailed the Service Chiefs for turning the tide since taking over the helms of affairs in 2015.
    The SHAC reckoned that the serenity and relative peace being enjoyed on another Independence Day may have been different if not for the bravery, sacrifices and efforts of the Nigerian troops and its leadership.
    According to the Centre, no territory is under the control of Boko Haram terrorists, made possible by the dedication and commitment of the Armed Forces.
    Therefore, Save Humanity Advocacy Centre believes mere compliments are not enough – hence a national honour should be reserved for the military top shots as well as the gallant troops in the frontline.
    Read full remark below.
    Nigeria had witnessed unprecedented security challenges since 2009 when the Boko Haram group took up arms against the Nigerian state with a violent campaign that initially targeted security agencies and security installations in North-East Nigeria.
    The Nigerian Authorities treated the menace with kid gloves until it turned into a monster that has haunted us in the past ten years with so much aggression. Lives have been lost, properties destroyed, legacies destroyed, and in some instances, generations of families erased.
    Yes, as stark as the details are, it is the harsh reality that befell us as a people and as a country that we must live with for generations to come — the years of the locust that almost brought Nigeria to its knees.
    The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria is one episode that would make a best-seller anytime because of the quantum of destructions and setbacks that it has brought. It somewhat reminds us of the civil war era that some of us have refused to let go because of the emotional and psychological impact it had on our collective psyche as a people.
    If the truth must be told, the Boko Haram insurgency has had psychological, economic as well as physical impact on the people of North-East Nigeria. The activity of Boko Haram insurgency also had various implications on women and girls.
    For instance, the year 2013 marked the time Boko Haram began to use women and children as pawns in their nefarious activities by abducting them. The terrorist group on May 15, 2014, stormed Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno state and kidnapped without resistance over 200 college girls. In a related account, the terror group on May 2013 carried out a mass assault on a police barrack in Bama, Borno state in which they captured 12 Christian women and children.  Most of these women and girls abducted by Boko Haram experienced sexual violence, including rape, torture, and also murder.
    Also, children’s exposure to armed hostilities affected their mental health. Wives whose husbands voluntarily or forcefully joined the ranks of Boko Haram were not only left disheartened but also abandoned to fend for themselves with their children and were also vulnerable to isolation and “traitor” label by community members.
    Boko-Haram terrorist activities indeed crippled the economy of North-East Nigeria to a large extent. Its horrendous activities made the area so vulnerable to criminals and political thugs to dehumanize the political environment, thus making the area almost ungovernable.
    We must admit that like many terrorist groups, Boko Haram evolved from operating based around opportunity and availability to that of a drive based around politics and circumstance.
    Boko Haram activities in the North East has led to the mass displacement of persons especially in Borno State as the state accounts for the highest number of internally displaced persons since Boko Haram took up a more violent approach to their agitation.
    Successive governments made efforts towards arresting the situation with little success recorded and the Nigerian Military has been up and doing in ensuring that the territorial integrity of Nigeria is preserved with various strategies towards curbing the activities of Boko Haram.
    We all know that the Nigerian Military has made enormous sacrifices towards containing the activities of Boko Haram terrorists since 2009. They have toiled day and night for peace to reign supreme in Nigeria. They have also been victims of the nefarious activities of Boko Haram terrorists.
    We must admit that their sacrifices have been worth the while in the sense that they have lived up to expectations and deserves our commendation because they have stayed true to the ideals of the unity of Nigeria.
    That our democracy and independence has been preserved is a function of the efforts of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and as such we must admit that they deserve every form of commendation there is in the country. They have displayed an unalloyed commitment to the entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria, and they have stayed true to these values despite the difficulties they have experienced in the course of the discharge of their duties.
    We must admit that but for the sacrifices and the efforts of our soldiers committed to the fight against terrorism in Nigeria, we would have been talking about a different situation. Special praises must go to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for providing that sterling leadership that the Armed Forces indeed requires.
    The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre on this auspicious occasion of the 59th Independence Anniversary of the country states that the Nigeria of our dreams is still possible with the commitment exhibited by the political authorities in the country.
    The Service Chiefs so appointed since 2015 have also risen to the occasion in ways too numerous to mention. They have led by example, and they have also displayed that true Nigerian spirit that has translated into the various successes recorded in the fight against terrorism in the country.
    This much we admit and this much we appreciate, and as such it behoves on the relevant authorities in the country to carry on initiatives that would see to the psychological upliftment of the morale of our soldiers that have been fighting day and night towards preserving the territorial integrity of the country.
    This is cognizant of the fact that today as we all celebrate the 59th-anniversary celebrations of Nigeria; it is on record that no Nigerian territory is under the control of Boko Haram terrorists. Let us make no mistakes about this fact which has been made possible by the dedication and commitment of our Armed Forces.
    The question on the lips of everyone is how can we repay these individuals that have dedicated and rededicated themselves to service to fatherland? How can we show our appreciation?
    We must all agree that words are indeed not sufficient to express our gratitude because in the past ten years, the foundation of Nigeria was threatened and our Armed Forces have been up and doing especially since 2015, the year that saw to the beginning of a new phase in the war against insurgency in Nigeria.
    It is, therefore, the considered opinion of the Save Humanity Advocacy Centre  that as a token of our appreciation to the ever-loyal and dedicated troops battling terrorism in North-East Nigeria, all the soldiers that have been involved in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria be given a step promotion.
    We believe that such gestures, though not commensurate with their day and night sacrifices, it would be nonetheless worth the while.
    We must not also forget the Service Chiefs, who have continuously provided that leadership that translated to the various successes recorded in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria. That no Nigerian territory is under the control of Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorist is indeed a testament of the commitment of the Service Chiefs to protecting our nascent democracy and ultimately the territorial integrity of Nigeria.
    They have indeed done well. So they deserve our commendation on this auspicious occasion of our independence day celebrations. The Save Humanity Advicacy Centre  also advocates that the various Service Chiefs are awarded National Honours in appreciation of their invaluable contributions to the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria and the enormous work done so far in northeast Nigeria.
    Again, words might not be sufficient to appreciate the Service Chiefs because Nigerians and as well as the international community are appreciative of their efforts thus far and that we are once again celebrating our independence anniversary is a testament.
    We can’t but thank the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for providing that political will needed to confront the Boko Haram terrorists. Nigerians are indeed grateful to the Commander-in-Chief for leading the war against terrorism in Nigeria and ensuring that no Nigerian terrorist is under the control of Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorist in line with the promise he made upon assumption of office in 2015.
    It has been indeed an eventful journey in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria. And that our Armed Forces are in full control of North-East Nigeria is and would remain a welcome development that all well-meaning Nigerians should be proud of.
    Thank you all, and God bless Nigeria!

  • Senate moves to block financial leakages

    The Senate has vowed to block revenue leakages in public finance as a way of consolidating funds for needed social and infrastructure development.

    Chairman Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola gave the indication at the weekend during the inaugural meeting of the committee.

    Adeola, according to a statement by his Media Adviser, Kayode Odunaro, in Abuja, said the move would also help in reducing annual budget deficits in the country.

    He insisted that frequent lamentation of “no fund, no fund” for crucial capital projects in budget would be minimised if the Committee carries out proper oversight work on all revenues generating agencies excluding the crude oil sales.

    Adeola said: “As the nation approaches its 59th Independence Anniversary, we as a committee of the Senate are challenged to do the right thing to ensure that the government gets all its revenue for needed capital projects.

    “We want to move away from the frequent complaints of “no fund, no fund”

    “The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and many other government agencies generate huge sums of money but in most cases the funds are not applied according to the Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act,” he said.

    Adeola urged the committee to brace up for the task ahead, which would require the invitation of all revenue generating agencies to ascertain trends in their efforts over the years as a way of charting a new course and correcting anomalies where necessary.

    He added that there is need to look into such revenue heads as the pre-shipment inspection and how it is applied among other revenue sources of government, beyond crude oil and taxes.

    The Senator representing Lagos West said the finances of the country would improve significantly through blocking of leakages and seeking new revenues sources.

    He said that the Committee would explore the possibility of an annual international finance lecture on current trends to be addressed by successful Ministers of Finance – both at home and abroad and other financial experts – as a way of addressing financial challenges in Nigeria.

    READ ALSO: Senate to pass Petroleum Industry Bill in 2020

    He however told his members that the first task of the committee in the 9th National Assembly is to “quickly work on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper(2020-2023) referred to it by the Senate with a deadline preparatory to the presentation of the 2020 Appropriation Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly.”

    Members of the 17-man committee in their contribution lauded the choice of Adeola as the chairman of the important committee of “baking the national cake’’ based on his cognate experience in similar positions at the Lagos State House of Assembly for 8 years and later as chairman of the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee with oversight on all Federal Government agencies.

    Members of the committee present at the meeting included Senator Teslim Folarin (APC, Oyo Central), Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South), Senator Uche Ekwunife (PDP, Anambra Central), Senator Nicholas Tofowomo (PDP, Ondo South), Senator Ayo Akinyelure (PDP, Ondo Central) and Senator Abubakar Danladi Sankara (APC, Jigawa North West) among others.