The Nation Newspaper

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  • Udom: I didn’t bribe judge

    Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel has denied allegations he bribed the tribunal Chairman, Justice W.O. Akanbi, to influence judgment in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Akwa Ibom Northwest senatorial, Chris Ekpenyong.

    Senator Godswill Akpabio of the All Progressives Congress (APC), now Niger Delta Affairs minister, is challenging Ekpenyong’s victory.

    Emmanuel’s denial followed an allegation by Leo gave $1.4 million to Justice Akanbi to secure justice for PDP.

    Ekpenyong, in an interview, accused the governor of trying to subvert justice in favour of Chris Ekpenyong and PDP.

    Read Also: Akwa Ibom Assembly confirms 19 Commissioner, 2 Special Adviser nominees

    He said: “Justice W. O. Akanbi, who many thought was a righteous judge …$1.5 million from Governor Udom Emmanuel and has recruited another judge to join in the justice-for-sale scam.

    “Akanbi has clearly jettisoned justice in preference for Udom’s Greek gift, since, according to him, he (Akanbi) has only two years to retire.”

    But Governor Emmanuel, through his Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Uwemedimo Nwoko, false, and asked Ekpenyong to substantiate his allegation with fact or face legal action.

    He said: “We state without …that there is …no  truth in Leo Ekpenyong’s …allegation. Governor Udom Emmanuel does not know and has never met with Justice Akanbi or any other judge in the panel…

    “It is… most uncharitable …for Leo Ekpenyong … to attempt … to disrepute the sterling reputation of…Emmanuel.”

    Nwoko, who described Ekpenyong, as “a serial blackmailer”, recalled that he had in time past blackmail Senator Akpabio, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices (and other related offences) Commission (ICPC), adding that “Akpabio succumb to his blackmail and paid him handsomely.”

    Nwoko said Ekpenyong should produce evidence within seven days and publish same in three newspapers or face the full weight of his action in the court.a

  • Fair riposte or plain toxicity?

    The Atiku Media Office’s reaction to a story in The Nation, over the probe of a N50 million “donation” to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), speaks of nothing but toxic politics.

    To start with, what is OOPL without controversial “donations”?  The library — First in Africa! — came to life by “donations”, to the cause of a sitting president and Oil minister; who sat not unlike Big Brother that watched all, as states, oil aristocrats and blooming flowers of the economy, out-did themselves to “donate”.  And don’t you ever think those “donations” were not free and democratic!

    Now, it’s another “donation”, to the same OOPL, on the virtual eve of a major election.  Now, the Atiku Media Office claimed that particular donation, of $140, 000 (changed to N50 million) was to the not-for-profit OOPL, which funded research to promote peace; and whose chief promoter, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, had developed himself, after a stint as military Head of State, writing books and midwifing local and international seminars for peace, progress and development — applause, applause!

    But it so happened that one of those books, My Watch, had dismissed Alhaji Abubakar Atiku — and in unprintable words to boot! — as perhaps the most undesirable scoundrel to have gained public office as Obasanjo’s Vice President from 1999 to 2007.  For all of these, Atiku never sued for libel, to defend his honour.

    But then, came the 2019 elections, and Atiku the Devil suddenly became Obasanjo’s newly minted Atiku the Immaculate — and viola, a N50 million “donation” made it to the till of OOPL!

    Well, the EFCC alleges it was hush-hush slush money to illicitly skew the outcome of the election.  But Atiku Media has come out to say it was a “donation”, facilitated by an Atiku in-law, who definitely is no outlaw, by his legitimate “donation” — fair enough!

    In any case, it is ongoing investigation and it’s Atiku Media Office’s words again EFCC’s.  Let each party bring out its facts; and let the pubic decide who is true and earnest.

    Still, the Atiku camp appears to have dire problem with a newspaper breaking legitimate news, simply because it has some problems with the optics of that news.

    It lashes out in blind hysteria, not unlike a trapped Samson, after its Philistine traducers: “May we also add that whenever the EFCC wish to come up with mischief, they fly their kite in The Nation.  That is now a pattern.  It should be clear to Nigerians that the Presidency, APC, the EFCC, the FIRS and The Nation are now working together as five fingers of the same leprous hands.”

    Nice try!  — Except that it sounds like the impassioned piece of an infantile propagandist, crunching plagiarism that everyone knows (God bless the late Bola Ige!) and expecting everyone to applaud its crude and callow show!

    Still, neither bad grace nor vulgar abuse should stall a rather interesting development in the gripping Obasanjo-Atiku continuum, of hated foes turned doting lovers, in the most dramatic of settings!

    On the contrary, this crude piece of communication only underscores what appears a disturbing toxicity in Atiku’s politics.  Yet, what it needs to project, at least among right thinking and decent citizens, is fair riposte, rendered in polite and cultured thinking and language. But alas!

    Still, it is good The Nation published the Atiku reaction.  After all, as the Bible says: by their words, we shall know them!

  • ‘Why Ugwuanyi recruited Forest guards’

    The need to restore Enugu to its enviable position as one of the most peaceful states in the country led to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s decision to begin the deployment of guards to the forest, it was learnt on Wednesday.

    Officials of the state government said the governor was worried stiff by the spate of killings and kidnapping in the last few months.

    “He was so concerned about the situation that he put in everything into getting a solution. The recruitment of forest guards and the purchase of vehicles and other equipment to facilitate the work will allow the people to sleep with their two eyes closed again,” an official added yesterday.

    The state became the first to commence the implementation of deployment of forest guards to stem an upsurge of insecurity.

    States in the Southeast had agreed to recruit and deploy guards in the forests.

    Enugu as one of the safest in the country, recently experienced a spate of kidnapping and killings necessitating Governor Ugwuanyi’s action

    A meeting hosted on Tuesday by the governor with top officials and security chiefs in attendance, was used to finalise the new security plan and the endorsement of 1, 700 Forest Guards.

    Read Also: Insecurity: Enugu to deploy forest guards

    At the meeting were also members of the House of Assembly led by Speaker Edward Ubosi, the 17 local government council chairmen and the director, Department of State Services (DSS).

    .The meeting also approved the purchase of 260 security vehicles, one for each of the 260 wards. There will also be 260 motorcycles made available for all the wards while communication gadgets will also be provided.

    It was learnt that the state government will establish the ministry of security affairs to coordinate the activities, supervise intelligence gathering and interventions within the new Enugu State security architecture.

    Methodist Church Prelate Dr. Samuel Uche applauded Governor Ugwuanyi’s effort  to sustain the state as one of the most peaceful.

    Dr. Uche hailed the recruitment of 1,700 Forest Guards by the government.

    He hoped they would be “specially trained and equipped with arms and ammunition to fish out miscreants in Enugu State.”

    Speaking when he led leaders and members of the Church on a visit to Ugwuanyi, the Prelate said:  “Enugu is growing astronomically and spiritually” and described the governor as “a man of peace, a good man, a trailblazing governor and lover of people, who ensures serenity, tranquility and equability”.

    He is “an ecumenical and friendly governor”, he added, and prayed for God to strengthen him and “grant you unending wisdom to govern your people aright”.

    He also prayed against the security challenges in the state and the country, asking God “that the activities of these bandits will stop henceforth in Jesus Name”.

    Yesterday, opposition political parties under the auspices of the Conference of Political Parties, CNPP, gave kudos to the governor.

    The group also lauded the removal of Enugu State former Police Commissioner Suleiman Balarabe

    The political parties said: “our governor is highly determined and committed to nipping in the bud the monstrous activities of these hoodlums, who are terrorizing our people, especially in the rural communities”.

    In a statement, the state Chairman and Secretary of CNPP, Hon. Adonys Igwe and Chief Cesar Mbaonu, the body said the decision by Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu to remove the police commissioner brought a huge relief to the people of Enugu State

  • EFCC begins probe of $16b power spending

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday detained two top officials of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), the company which supervised execution of the $16 billion failed power projects.

    The officials are Head of Finance Marvel Emefiele and Head of Compensation Eze M. C. Odigbo.

    They are expected to account for the N850 million earmarked as compensation to communities where components of the power project were sited

    Others in EFCC’s net are Managing Director of Pivot Engineering Mr. Richard Ayibiowu and the Managing Director of Chris Ejik Nigeria Limited Mr.  Christain Ejik Imoka.

    Detectives are on the trail 18 more suspects including two former governors, a former chairman of a bank and a former chairman of an airline.

    About 15 more companies are also on the EFCC radar, it was learnt last night.

    There are fears that some of the suspects might have secretly relocated abroad.

    President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly wondered how $16 billion was spent on power and there is no electricity generated.  He subsequently ordered a probe into the expenditure.

    A source in the anti-graft commission said: “The NPDHC officials are being detained by the EFCC, following their alleged involvement in bogus payment and diversion of about N850million compensation to communities where the components of the power projects were sited.

    “Investigation revealed that approval was granted for the payment of N84billion to the communities where transmission lines of the power project are meant to be laid.

    “Investigators discovered that there were serious issues arising from the payment of the compensation to the communities.

    “Though about N50billion compensation was said to have been paid to the communities, the contractors were said to have been prevented from working by the communities over non- payment of the same compensation which the NPDHC records claimed had been paid.

    “Emefiele was said to have approved the payment of N850million as NPDHC Head of Finance while Odigbo, Head of Compensation reportedly effected the compensation to the communities. The two officials are being quizzed over the propriety of the matter.

    “The Managing Director of Pivot Engineering, Mr. Richard Ayibiowu, is being detained over alleged payment of N350million to the communities.  Part of  LOT 8 of the power project, Ihiala /Orlu Transmission Line, was not executed by Pivot Engineering due to the alleged claim of hostility by the communities while about N350million was on record as paid to the same communities.”

    Read Also: €150m probe: Detectives comb Obasanjo Library

    “The Managing Director of Chris Ejik Nigeria Limited, Mr. Christain Ejik Imoka, is being detained over controversial payment of N500million contract LOT 14, which ought to include Lekki-Ajah Transmission Line, which was not executed. But money was paid to that effect.

    “The detained officials allegedly failed to honour previous invitations from the commission.”

    The source said: “We have invited about 15 companies implicated in the mismanagement of funds meant for the power projects. One of the firms got four contracts but was only able to put in place 30 per cent of the construction. The firm also claimed that it imported certain materials since 2013 and lying in Onne Port without clearing.”

    The Nation exclusively reported on Sunday that the EFCC was set to grill suspects linked with the failed projects.

    Many salient issues were raised for investigation by the 6th House of Representatives Committee, headed by Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, currently the Minority Leader of the House.

    The issues raised by the Elumelu Committee are as follows:

    • All NIPP payments were made without following Due Process
    • No meaningful progress was made in the execution of power contracts
    • Officials rushed to pay contractors in full even before engineering design for the projects have been completed and approved
    • NIPP contracts were not only overpriced in comparison with PHCN contracts, they were also wide off the mark
    • Widespread evidence of systematic over scoping of projects in order to inflate costs both in PHCN and NIPP
    • NIPP Distribution EPC contracts were awarded at costs averaging about 10 times the norm when compared to PHCN contracts

    The Elumelu Committee was set up by the House on January 31, 2008 to look into how much was spent on power projects.

    In its report, the committee said about $13.278billion was spent on power projects between 1999 and 2007.

    The committee recommended termination of 13 contracts and review of 10 projects.

    About 15 contracting and consulting companies were asked to be investigated by the appropriate agencies.

    The report reads in part: “From the oral and documentary evidence, it was clearly established that the total expenditure in the power sector during the period 1999-2007 was US$13, 278,937,409.94billion.

    “Indeed, had the supplementary budget of the power sector in 2007 been implemented, the expenditure could then have been over $16billion reported by the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    “There are also unfunded commitments to the tune of US$7.265billion for NIPP projects as at May 29, 2007.

    “There is another US $1billion for PHCN capital projects awarded between 2000 and 2007, which have been captured in the 2008 Appropriation Act.

    “Additionally, the total commitment of the NNPC and its Joint Venture partners(of which the Federal Government, through the NNPC has an average of 51% interest) towards  IPP power plants, gas sources development, gas transmission and metering of JV IPPs, PHCN power plants and NIPP power plants, according to the submission of the acting GMD of the NNPC is US$7billion, out of which about US$1.62billion has been expensed, leaving outstanding commitments of over US$5.5billion out of which the Federal Government will provide about US$3billion.

    “Recognition of these unfunded commitments would bring the total (funded and unfunded) FGN expenditure commitments in the power sector to over US$24.5billion between 1999 and 2007.

    “From the assessment done during the Committee’s tour of the project sites, it is safe to conclude that no meaningful progress was made in the execution of power contracts.

    “It is curious and quite strange that officials rush to pay contractors in full even before engineering design for the projects have been completed and approved.

    “NIPP contracts were not only overpriced in comparison with PHCN contracts, they are also wide off the mark when viewed against comparable power stations in several parts of the world.

    “A comparable review of the cost of power installations in varied regions of the world such as South Korea, Saudi Arabia, U.S.A, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico and Chile showed that $10billion could have built plants to produce between 5,000 to 6,000 MW of electricity. But this amount failed to do so in Nigeria.

    “Unfortunately, all NIPP payments were made without following Due Process. In its place, a process called ‘Waiver of Due Process Certification for Payment’ was adopted in flagrant disregard of Due Process Policy, thus paving the way for dubious and highly risky payments to contractors and consultants by the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

  • Facebook group donates supplies to low-income schools

    The Concerned Parents and Educators’ (CPE) Network, a Facebook group of over 100,000 parents, teachers, school owners and others, has donated school supplies to low-income schools ahead of the new academic session.

    The CPE, under its low-income schools support initiative, handed over classroom furniture, bookshelves, books, and educational toys to leaders of low-income schools’ association, the Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED) on Tuesday at Edumark office in Ilupeju.

    Presenting the items donated by members, CPE Founder and CEO Edumark Consult, Mrs Yinka Ogunde said the donation was to help schools serving low-income communities augment their needs.

    Mrs Ogunde also handed over N50,000 donated by two CPE members to AFED leaders to be given to a school with great need.

    “We got N25,420 from a member and about N23,000 from another member but we have rounded up everything to N50,000. We want it to go to a single school that truly needs it.

    “On behalf of the CPE, we are presenting this token to a school serving low income areas – children in very poor communities,” she said.

    Mrs Ogunde said, unlike previously when she thought low-income schools, which are usually unapproved should be shut, she had come to realise that they – with charges as low as N2,500-N5,000 per term – play important roles especially in places where there are no public schools or the available ones are overstretched.

    “There are so many challenges that schools serving low-income communities face that we do not know about. Where do you think those street hawkers go?  Some AFED school owners actually feed some of these children without collecting any money from them.  The school fees most times is less than N5,000.  Some even charge N2,500 per term. And that is why CPE is actually supporting them,” she said.

    Responding to the gesture, CEO Alphasea Consult and former national AFED President, Mrs Esther Ifejola Dada, who acted as intermediary between CPE and AFED, said the beneficiary schools from the six districts of the state were on hand to receive the items.

    The beneficiary schools were:  Abari Nursery/Primary School, Agege; Emirene Nursery/Primary School, Ebute Metta; David of God Our Rock Nursery/Primary School,  Laketu, Ikorodu; Yala Nursery/Primary School, Oshodi; Best Legacy Nursery/Primary Sch, Epe; and Future Stars Private School, Shibiri, Ojo.

    Thanking CPE, Mrs Dada said: “It is not about how much we are collecting but the passion and zeal they have for children roaming about the streets.  Don’t forget the statement by Awolowo that the children you fail to train today will be a problem you tomorrow. “

    Mrs Dada told The Nation that AFED would ensure that under the initiative, all needy AFED schools across the state are reached.

    On his part, AFED National President, Mr Orji Kanu praised Mrs Ogunde for her passion for education and support to AFED.

    “She is just telling us she is impressed with all we are doing and she has made promises to throw in her weight behind this.   So we say thank you.  The Nigerian child will be happy with you,” he said.

    Orji noted that the N50,000 would be presented to an AFED member whose school was demolished in Yaba.

  • How tuition-free school impacts Lagos slum community

    A school in the slums of Bariga, which started three years ago to train children for stage shows, has metamorphosed into the only regular school offering basic education to the community. SAMPSON UNAMKA reports on how the school is the bright spot in the community which lacks basic amenities.

    But for Bright Achievers School, there would have been no primary or junior secondary school in Isale Akoka, Bariga Local Council Development Area (LCDA), a fishing community in Lagos State.

    Founded by Seun Awobajo, with the sole objective of creating a seaside cottage theatre group to groom young talents in the community eight years ago, the group later turned into a school three years ago, offering basic education for free to the children during the day, while training them in art, poetry, dance, music and stage drama in the evening.

    Awobajo told The Nation that he started teaching the children after discovering some of them were not literate.

    “When we opened the cottage theatre, a lot of children wanted to learn how to dance, sing, engage in art and learn poetry. But, unfortunately, some of them were not educated and preferred fishing to going to school.  They preferred playing around or scavenging on the dump hill, picking empty bottles and selling stuffs than going to school,” he said.

    Awobajo explained that their failure to attend school was because there was none in the community of about 15,000 people.

    “It is not that they do not want to go to school; it is because some of them cannot afford the fees and even the public school is about three to four kilometres away. So, for a child to go to school he or she has to spend a minimum of N400 per day, which is a disadvantage to them.  They also don’t want to go to a far place but could not cope in their art academy. So I asked my team to start a free school here and convert the early section of theatre to free school. Then from 4:00pm till night every day and also weekends are for theatre arts,” said Awobajo.

    Bright Achievers School which started with 27 children now has over 140 children in the nursery, primary and junior secondary school (JSS1-3) classes.

    There are 15 teachers who teach across all classes.  Awobajo said some of the teachers have requisite teaching qualifications, like the National Certificate in Education (NCE); others are degree holders, while two have second degrees. Regardless, he said they get trained monthly – thanks to a foundation, which upgrades their skills for free.

    “Some of the teachers have National Certificate in Education (NCE), Bachelor of Science Certificate (BSc) and two Master’s students.  We also have volunteers who come from the community. But it is compulsory that every teacher with BSc must go for teacher training every month.  We send them to Learning As I Teach Foundation (LAIT) where they train teachers to be 21st century teachers”.

    Save for the cleaner, who earns N15,000, teachers in the school earn between N18,500 and N23,000.

    With the children paying no tuition fees, Awobajo said he depends on friends and well-wishers or his personal funds to run the school.

    He said: “For now we are still hoping to get some financial aid.  But since we started we have not had any financial support or aid yet. And l have been worried if we will be able to sustain this. We have had series of fake promises from the government. Former Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode promised and did nothing about it; and Bariga Local Government Development Council Chairman has promised and also has not done anything.  I asked a couple of my friends to support me and contribute a thousand naira a month and to get 10 of their friends to contribute a thousand a month and yes; we struggle to pay them and we struggle when I go broke.  I sometimes take from my personal bank account and get some money from my friends.”

    Like most structures in the community, the building that houses Bright Achievers School is made of planks.  The structure is basically a large rectangular hall that is partitioned into classrooms, crèche and space for storing drums and other equipment used for theatrical performances. The floor within the building is sand, like it is without.  The roof has no ceiling boards and fans hang down from the ceilings by long poles.   The school does not have its own toilets but shares the two communal makeshift toilets built by the community over the Lagos lagoon.

    With its facilities, Bright Achievers School does not meet the criteria for formal approval by the Lagos State Ministry of Education.  However, seeking approval for the school is not Awobajo’s immediate priority but impacting lives with the little resources he has.

    “Of course it is not government approved yet but it is going to be, we shall one day work towards it,” Awobajo said when asked about the school’s approval status.

    He continued: “I am not too concerned about the approval.  I am more concerned about the impact.  I have a lot of children here who have not been to school before and we are still learning the basics.  The Lagos State laws of getting school approved come with requirements about infrastructure that have to be in place.  I cannot wait until I gather such money to help my community.   I have to start with what I have.  I hope that one day Mark Zuckerberg sees us; or Dangote will use us as their Corporate Social Responsibility.  Am using this opportunity to beg well-meaning Nigerians to come and support us.  It is becoming very cumbersome.”

    Despite being a free school, getting the children to learn is not a tea party.  Awobajo said he has to be creative about stimulating their interest in education.

    “I practically go door to door to pick the children.  There is some enticement I do through dance and sometimes in the evening I put up a show; they all gather they want to be involved.  I ask them to read they can read ,I ask them little questions they can answer, then play with them and then ask them to come the next day over to the school some of them are scared but we make the teaching fun and our approach is fun. Every Wednesday is sports, from 11am and there are different sports we engage in and these activities happen for two hours at the field.”

    Thirty-seven of the children attending Bright Achievers School also live with Awobajo.  The 28-year old Creative Arts graduate of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) said the children remind him of his own childhood and how he was raised by strangers.

    He said: “I finished from University of Lagos.  But I remember vividly that I was raised by those who were not my parents.  They picked me up in a gas accident at the age of two or three.  I did not know they were not my parents until the age of nine when I was getting to JSS 1. So from all my primary school education I was bearing somebody else surname but they kept on looking for my real parents because of the location and they could trace it.

    “So they changed my name when I was entering JSS1.  They traced my family and it was really worth it.  I was told I lost my father.   Some weeks to my wedding I met my biological mother. It has really an interesting journey growing up in this community in Bariga.  I discovered that there was so much that needed to be done and if they can do that to me, not knowing me from anywhere, I feel the burden to do more than they did.  I have 37 children who live under my roof currently and I am responsible for their accommodation, feeding and upkeep.

    “Some of their parents are not in Lagos; some incapacitated; some are late. I do not like calling it an orphanage or disabled home.  These are just children from the community and they need help .It is an open thing and it is a privilege that they gave me and I feel like doing more. Just imagine any of them can be president tomorrow it will natural for him or her to do the same and make the world a better place”.

    Pupils, parents teachers speak

    Thirteen-year-old Misturah Abdul Rahman is a JSS 1 pupil of Bright Achievers School.  The daughter of a sand seller and trader she said she liked the school because they were well taught.

    “I have been a student of Bright Achievers since last year, I was attending Ansar ud deen Nursery and Primary School. I moved from my previous school because my primary school teacher informed me about the examination going on in Bright Achievers, when I wrote the exam I passed and qualified. So he said if I’m interested in the school I should tell my parents. Ansar ud deen does not have a secondary school and I live in this community. I like this school because the teachers here teach students well. They behave well in the sense that they take their teaching seriously unlike in Ansar ud deen. I live in Bariga here with my parents, My dad is a sand seller, my mum is a trader and after school hours I go to my work place, where I learn hair dressing,” she said.

    Another JSS1 pupil, Kehinde Mafimisebi said he was attending a public school before changing to Bright Achievers School.

    I started second term in JSS1 here.  I used to attend Eletu Odigbo Junior High School at Abule Oja. I prefer Bright Achievers to my former school because they can teach.  At Eletu Odigbo we were too many in the class so when they are teaching you, and you are in the back you would not understand what the teachers are teaching.  But here you can comfortably hear what the teacher is teaching. In Eletu Odigbo they do not give us assignments but here they do. My father is late and my mother has stroke and since the school is free it is good for me,” he said.

    Ilori Aduragbemi, a JSS2 pupil does not live in Isale Akoka but does not mind trekking the distance to the community to attend the school.

    The 12-year-old said: “If I had an opportunity to rename Bright Achievers, I will rename it ‘small but mighty’, because as you can see the school is small, but as small as it is, what they teach us is mighty.  They take us out for excursion; we have been to African Artist Foundation AAF and other places. My father is a military man, and my mum is a trader. I don’t stay in the community, I trek down from my home to school.”

    One of the volunteer teachers is a medical doctor and psychologist who does not wish to be named.  The graduate of Madonna University and UNILAG, said he was directed by the Holy Spirit to the school to offer his skills for free.

    He said: “Actually, I am not doing it for the money. I have other things that will fetch me money.  Surely, since it is a free school they might not have enough money to pay me.  In fact, I work in places to augment myself.  I am doing this because I derive more joy in doing it.”

    The teacher, who teaches, counsels and offers free medical services to members of the community called on the government to support Awobajo’s project to take more children off the streets.

    “The governmental system we have in Nigeria does not support much of the humanitarian work we have around.  What I expect the government to do is to assist more, in taking more children off the street and support this Initiative anyway they would, creating more social amenities for the community, providing potable water for the community, providing sound health care.  There is no hospital near this community, so most people that fall ill are sent to me to treat, and send recommendations of drugs to me. So the government should do well in making the community a better place and it will help the school,” he said.

    Chairman of the school’s Parents Teachers Assocation Mr Gbenga Balogun said it had done a lot to educate many children who would have been fishermen or scavengers.

    Balogun said: “Most of the children in the environment, before go to the waterside to catch fish; they also go to the refuse dump to pick refuse but as soon as the school commenced in this environment, parents withdrew their children from schools outside this area. Even, children told their parents they want to go to this school and that they do not want to pick refuse. They left their former ways of life and came to this school and, by the special grace of God, the school is doing fine and most of the children are doing fine.”

    He added that because of the school, the pupils and their parents began relating with one another.

    Awobajo’s appeal

    Awobajo is happy about the school’s modest achievements.  But he lamented the lack of government’s presence in the community.  He appealed to Nigerians to support the community and the school. He expressed the desire to get potable water for the community and good toilet for the school.

    He said: “My next target in this community is to take away this floating toilet because those are the same toilet we all, including the students, make use of, and there is no water it the community.  They cannot drink this water; it is for bathing .We have to go and fetch water from a public borehole which is very far away.  We need a good pipe-borne water in this community. Basically health-wise our immune system is God.

    “We are the government.  We are in a country where we have to produce your security yourself, water, road and accommodation. The government is losing, if you put the infrastructure in place you get tax; now you are not putting infrastructure and you get no money. So, I will rather appeal to my fellow Nigerians to come and support what we have here in Bariga.  It is called Bright Achievers School.  You can come and support nothing is too small, nothing is too big. A thousand naira a month will go a long way.”

  • Sanwo-Olu promises to support education

    Lagos State Governor Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has restated the desire of his administration to support education from basic to tertiary levels.

    This, the governor noted, was exemplified by the creation of Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), an institution established nearly 25 years ago, with a mandate to train teachers at the basic level.

    He spoke during the fourth convocation of the institution on Thursday, last week.

    Sanwo-Olu, who was represented at the event by the Special Adviser on Education, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, praised the founding fathers  of the institution, particularly the late Michael Agbolade Otedola, under whose tenure as governor the college was established.

    He said: “As you are aware, this college was established in December 1994 to train teachers for the primary schools in Lagos State and beyond. I am glad to note that this institution has, to a large extent, achieved this purpose as teachers produced in this college have been found worthy of the certificates issued to them through their performance at the basic level of education across states of the federation. It is therefore pertinent at this point to acknowledge the vision of the founding fathers of the college.

    “Let me use this opportunity to assure you of the continued support of the government to strengthen the capacity of the college to improve significantly on its achievements. We are also committed to enhancing the status and prestige of the teaching profession through adequate reward for their efforts and recognition of exceptional performance.”

    Sanwo-Olu, who congratulated the graduands, admonished them to see their NCE certificates as a ‘symbol of communal trust’ to inspire the next generation of leaders.

    “As you return to the society, I want you to think of how you can re-invest the skill you have acquired here into making the society a better place,” the governor added.

    The Provost of MOCPED, Dr Nosiru Onibon, noted that 2,805 part-time and full-time students, cutting across 2013/2014; 2017/2018; and 2012/16 sessions, took a bow from the institution.

    Onibon urged the government to fast-track the proposed upgrade of  MOCPED to an open and distant learning (ODL) branch institution.

    “I am proud to announce to you that with all moral and financial support that the state government has been giving this college, we can successfully transmute into a full-fledged open and distant learning (ODL) university. We already got the approval of the immediate past executive council of the state on this. I am proud to say that our accrediting agency- National Council for Colleges of Education  – has at various times visited us and had attested to the fact that  the college has the capacity to metamorphose into a university of education.

    Since he came on board last year, Onibon noted that MOCPED has improved on information and communication technology (ICT) delivery, made classrooms more conducive for teaching and learning; commencedcomputer-based test for some general courses, ensured uninterrupted academic calendar, and turned out the first set of teachers certified by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria.

    Others, he said, include clearing backlog of students’ results, creating a digital library to complement the traditional one, remitted all salary deductions, engaged in human capacity development initiatives and paid three-month promotion arrears, among others.

    Onibon said the institution  still faces some challenges ranging from increase in monthly subvention, offsetting over N800 million debt, prompt release of capital expenditure, improving road network, slow release in capital expenditure, fulfilling the college master plan, having a more befitting main gate, perimeter fencing, drainage system, as well as landscaping, among others.

    Onibon thanked the government for giving MOCPED a Governing Council comprising technocrats who have been directing the institution aright.

    He thanked the graduands and the academic board on whose shoulder rests the responsibility of academic programmes.

    The event also witnessed presentation of awards to some distinguished personalities. They include:  Oba Babtunnde Olaogun Ogunlaja, Aladesoyin of Odo-Noforija; Chairman of Lagos SUBEB, Dr GaniuSopeyin, among others.

  • Weep not for Igbo

    Our nation fell into the hands of political tricksters, economic swindlers and young men who wanted to be rich without working during Babangida’s reign of deceit in the mid-eighties. As government self-serving commercialisation and liberalization policy ceded ownership of thriving public enterprises to favoured members of the military junta and their fronts who were never groomed for such challenges, such enterprises collapsed and our nation was turned to major importer of labour of other societies. From Abacha all through the current fourth republic, it has been bare-faced stealing by those who have access to government funds directly or through tax waivers to fund importation. This was the genesis of wealth acquisition without work in our nation. It is therefore not a surprise that a whole generation of Nigerian youths between ages of 20 and 40 that are today involved in drug trafficking and cyber fraud grew up in an era of wealth without hard work and age of lawlessness.

    Now the chicken has come home to roost. Other countries are now insisting we cannot export lawlessness into their nation. Ghana our neighbor, South Africa we helped to liberate from apartheid minority rule, Malaysia whose palm oil revolution we supported through donation of oil palm seedlings and Saudi Arabia, spiritual home to many Nigerian Muslims and now America , source of N23b annual diaspora remittances are asking us to put our own house in order.

    If importation of fake and substandard drugs and goods, drug trafficking and setting up and running businesses illegally and other criminal activities are tolerated in Nigeria, putting an end to such criminal activities became a campaign issue for South Africa president, Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa in the recently concluded South Africa election. Many of our youths convicted for drug related offences are on death row in Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Malaysia. Last week, it was the turn of the US to remind us that people cannot get rich without working in their country.

    Of the 80 people the US authorities indicted for wire fraud, romance scams and business email compromise crime and for swindling millions of dollars from U.S. businesses and individuals, 77 were Nigerians with 74 of Igbo extraction. As a people that prefer to play the ostrich, reactions of Nigerians and the representatives of government have only reflected this hypocrisy. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Nigerian in Diaspora Commission chief, doesn’t want few bad eggs to spoil the name of Nigeria. She has therefore urged “those accused in Nigeria to voluntarily turn themselves in to American authorities to clear their names”, adding that Nigeria should extradite the defendants “if relevant international treaties between the two governments are invoked.”

    On his part, a concerned Igbo commentator, Fredrick Nwabufo in a piece titled ‘The Igbo have a problem’ which has since gone viral in the social media blames everything on “Igbo culture that glorifies ‘’money’’ crime – ‘’ego mbute’’ – the culture of money grubbing and worship, as the-be-all and end-all of everything. He therefore wants his Igbo compatriots to “stop celebrating people of unknown fortune, name and shame those with illicit wealth in our communities and upbraid them instead of giving them chieftaincy titles and front-row seats in church”.

    Both are wrong. Dabiri trivialises our tragedy as a nation.  Stereotyping by Nwabufo also deprives us the important lesson from the tragedy that has befallen our nation.  We currently have over 50m Nigerian youths who believe it is possible to be rich without work. This fallacy has been reinforced by various institutions of society. Our orthodox churches that promise salvation through sales of grace, the Pentecostal prosperity prophets that have replaced Christ’s message of salvation in heaven with message of prosperity through miracle and our young artists that celebrate nothing but vanity, money, women and sex. Our youths neither read in order to be able to articulate the problems of our nation neither do they vote during elections except in BBN realty show which celebrates decadence, sex, and an illusion of life of leisure without work for winners of N60m in a game of chance similar to the miracle the churches and other institutions of society promise.

    Fredrick Nwabufo has no need for self-contrition. If out of the 21 Nigerians on death-row for drug peddling in Indonesia, 20 are Igbo  from his Anambra State, if lynching of Igbo citizens in Asia occurred in 2013 over alleged criminality, if some armed robbers of Igbo origin launched an attack on a bureau de change in Dubai, and if Nigerians are a pariah in South Africa partly due to the activities of some Igbo drug cartel”, it  was not just because of Igbo culture which by extension is also now the prevailing culture in our society, it is precisely because the Igbo excel more than others in whatever they set their eyes on. As Ahamdu Bello put it, if you employ an Igbo man as a labourer, he will strive to become the head of labourers. As for glorification of ‘’money’’ crime – ‘’ego mbute’’ – the culture of money grubbing and worship, as the-be-all and end-all of everything”, show me one ethnic group in Nigeria where that has not replaced culture of hard work, perseverance and selfless service to one’s community. All  those Igbo youths whether in Ghana, South Africa, Singapore of America  where they are currently undergoing persecution and prosecution,  have tried to do is outdo the rest of their Nigerian compatriots  in what has become a dominant Nigerian culture.

    Indeed no one should weep for the Igbo nation. Rather we should weep for ourselves. What we are faced with is a national plight and all of us are going to suffer the consequences. Diaspora remittances put at about N23b will be affected. Unfortunately, immediate victims are recipients who are mainly old and elderly people. The real estate as well as the capital market will also be affected.

    And as part of the price we have to pay for not putting our own house in order, South Africa which is currently investigating about 6,000 Nigerians is excluding Nigeria from her free entry visa lottery.

    With the latest American action, the rest of the outside world, concerned about the criminal activities of some of our youths will most likely start to tighten the noose against us. With Ghana and America deporting our youths, with lynching going on in South Africa, beheading in Saudi Arabia and with a generation of Yoruba and Igbo youths at home who want money without work now exploiting the herdsmen/farmers  crisis to visit terror on their own people, our harvest basket is full.

    The challenge is not just for the federal government but the state governments who have failed to provide security for their people despite collecting between N4b andN10b as security vote every year, the bulk of which is said to go into upkeep of political thugs and for destabilising their own political parties.

     

  • Climate change: Living in ignorant bliss

    Most Nigerians probably say “what concerns us about climate change?” I can understand this especially when we have many existential problems that are of immediate concern to us while the problem of climate change appears to be something not in the imminent physical horizon. Our problems are legion as the mad man of Gadara said. But this does not excuse our non-participation in saving the only planet where we and others call home. We are also victims of climate abuse and degradation and unfortunately we Africans and poor Asians and Latin Americans are the least technologically prepared to bear the burden and consequences of environmental degradation and climate change. In other parts of the world, individuals are being called upon to reduce their carbon footprints through responsible minimization of individual emissions. One of the constituent colleges of the University of London is presently considering abandonment of beef in order to reduce their individual and collective contribution to greenhouse gas emissions arising from the methane cows belch into the air! Some are taking to vegan lifestyle and eating more grains than animal products. We can join the rest of the world not necessarily through our cuisine and change of diet. We can of course ride bicycles than drive cars for short distances. If we have to use our automobiles we can attach catalytic converters to filter the carbon from our vehicle emissions. When I drive in Nigeria and I see rickety vehicles belching huge smoke into the atmosphere, my heart beats skip some beat wondering why such irresponsible behaviour does not attract sanctions or correction of the apparently ignorant offenders. I hope one of our overpaid and over indulged legislators would bring a comprehensive bill to save our environment and to show the world that as a responsible member of the international community, we want to join in the struggle to reverse environmental degradation and save the planet. The first thing we can do is to have a population policy that says no man should have more than two children. Emphasis and the onus on population reduction and control must be on the man not the women. This will not go down well with the religionists but we must force it down their throats.

    We can do more. We need to stop the slash and burn agricultural practice by which we clear virgin forest whenever we farm. This leads to deforestation and reduction of the very forest that acts as carbon sinks and source of the oxygen we breathe. We need to teach this subject in our schools so that children can be made aware of the global problem. We do not have the time to waste and prevaricate about what to do. Scientists say we only have 11 more years to reverse global warming or else it will be too late. Burning bushes every year and burning refuse contributes to the problem. Instead of burning refuse we should make them into composts since most of our refuse are bio-degradable. The plastics that are not should be collected and recycled. We should use less plastics and try to replace plastic packaging with papers that do not litter our streets and find ways into our oceans and rivers to destroy aquatic ecology and kill and poison fishes on which we are increasingly dependent for our protein intake. Anyone who lives in Lagos like me and those people who live in our urban  areas like Kano and Ibadan  would have noticed the constant smog that tends to hang over our cities particularly during harmattan arising from smoke mixing with dusts and blanketing most our cities. It is not neuro surgery or rocket science to see the linkage between this and the increase in respiratory diseases such as asthma among our children and adults. People are being choked and are not able to breathe because of the unnecessary burning of forests, refuse, tyres and plastics, yes plastics thus poisoning our urban and even village environment!

    Some years ago, the European Union banned the export of tropical wood from countries such as ours. Unfortunately this law has been obeyed in its breach. Trees are still being felled and exported abroad as raw timber or timber products in the mad struggle for foreign exchange. Sometimes trees are felled for firewood for cooking. This is very sad for a country that is the largest burner and emission of natural gas that could have been piped into homes to replace wood and kerosene as sources of energy for cooking. Here we are wasting irreplaceable natural asset while polluting the atmosphere. Yet some of the technologies involved in converting natural gas to power urban transportation and domestic cooking have been around for a long time but because of the availability of petroleum products and hard wood we have taken the least line of resistance in our energy source and use. We need to clean our act. This is not only in our energy use but in the way we live. We are just too dirty the way we manage our wastes. We do not know we can separate our wastes into separate garbage bags, one for biodegradable wastes and the other for recyclable wastes; we simply lump everything together or even in extreme cases throw our wastes including human wastes unto the streets or into the gutters. This eventually contributes to flooding when the unseasonably heavy rains caused by global warming come. It can thus be seen that all our problems are bound together and if we think the problem of the environment does not concern us we shall learn our lessons in a very hard way.

    These enumerated problems are just a few that we can tackle at the local or national level and find beneficial solutions to. If we are unable to find solutions to them on our own, we can link up with international organizations such as the following UN bodies: The Earth System Governance Project (ESGP); Global Environment Facility (GEF); Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); World Nature  Organisation (WNO) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from which  assistance and funds can be sourced for all kinds of amelioration strategies to add our own quota to the struggle for environmental enhancement. Recently, Ethiopia planted one million trees in one day to reverse deforestation in their country. We used to have a program of tree planting particularly in the north of our country. One wonders what has become of it. This is an area in which we can deploy our millions of rural folk to participate in the greening of our country. In this way the rural population will go through a learning curve in environmental education and they would not likely cut trees again. In Germany it is illegal to cut trees. Trees are living things and their lives should not be summarily ended just because one has a saw or a cutlass. If one wants to build a house one can design it to avoid unnecessarily cutting down all the trees in the neighbourhood.

    The same mistake took place a decade or so ago during the military regime in our country when some young misguided military governors decided to cut down the neem trees in our cities. This happened in Kano, Ibadan and Maiduguri. The trees lining the avenues were felled and replaced with street lights many of which were so fragile that they were blown off by the first rain that fell after their installations. How on earth should anyone cut down trees in the desert of Kano and Maiduguri? Even in lush Ibadan this should not have happened.  No attempt has been made in Ibadan to lighten the arid and harsh urban environment by greening the city. Thanks to Raji Fashola, former governor of Lagos who during this civilian regime tried to green the environment of Lagos. Only the knowledgeable people gave kudos to him for his efforts. The hoi polloi Of Lagos were heard to deride him by saying “Na only tree we go chop?” I am sure history will be kind to him on the account of his environmental concern. I hope his effort can be copied by other state governors and even by the federal government. If there is need for urban expansion into the adjoining forest it must be supervised by a resuscitated forest rangers. We used to have them as forest guards in the old Western Region. Imagine if we had them, he criminal herders and other criminals inhabiting our forest would not have had an easy chance. We also need to watch the kind of fertilizers we use in order to prevent poisoning our soil. We must bring back sanitary inspectors and urban health people to radically supervise our uncontrolled public nuisance and wastes disposal. All these measures will not be easy and it will need considerable investment on public education for our people to buy into a program which at the end of the day will be in everybody’s interest and all these will need people to run and as the cliché goes, there are jobs in green policies and there is money to be made.

     

  • A judge as butcher!

    His name is Butcher and he is a judge in the commercial court in the United Kingdom (UK). The judge has become popular in Nigeria, especially in government circle, where he is seen as more of a butcher than a judge. Literally, a butcher cuts up and sells meat in a shop. But this is no such butcher.

    From the bench, he ordered Nigeria to pay a firm, Process and Industrial Development Ltd (P&ID) $9.9 billion for breach of agreement. Since the arbitral award, officialdom has been running from pillar to post trying to explain how the country found itself in this multi trillion naira judgement debt. The $9.9 billion award is equivalent to N3.24 trillion, which is nearly half of this year’s N8.83 trillion budget.

    So, you can understand where they are coming from if those close to power are complaining. Like everything Nigeria, we brought this undeserving judgement on ourselves. We had all the time in the world to stop the case from getting this far, but the government did nothing. As usual, they decided to play politics with a mater that is not political and which should have been handled with all the seriousness it deserved.

    It all started on January 11, 2010 when the Ministry of Petroleum Resources signed a gas supply and processing agreement with P&ID. The deal was for the firm to build and operate an accelerated gas development project at Adiabo in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State. The deal went awry, with P&ID accusing the government of reneging on its obligation after the firm entered into negotiation with Cross River State for land for the project.

    At this stage, there was still time to settle the matter amicably but the politics then did not allow that. The late President Umaru Yar’Adua was then battling for his life in hospital and the hawks around him grounded the machinery of government. They did not allow the man to transfer power to then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan before he was admitted into hospital. Perhaps, if the right thing had been done then, the nation would not today be struggling to wriggle out of this humongous debt.

    Arbitration is an alternative dispute resolution, it is not like a court where the parties have to argue to no end in order to prove their cases. At arbitration, all the cards are laid face up. The parties come out plainly, as everything is written in black and white, and admit their fault unlike the court scenario where all manner of lies are told in order to cover up the truth. Since it knew it had a strong case, P&ID resorted to arbitration.

    At the arbitration tribunal comprising Lord Hoffmann, Anthony Evans and Nigeria’s Bayo Ojo (SAN), former attorney-general and minister of justice, Nigeria argued that P&ID’s failure to acquire land for the building of the gas processing facilities was ‘’a fundamental breach of the agreement’’. According to it, no gas could be delivered until this is done. The tribunal rejected Nigeria’s argument and upheld P&ID’s request for damages.

    What should be the damages became a contentious issue among the members. Hoffmann and Evans calculated it to be $6.597 billion, but Ojo, in his minority report, put it at $250 million. The matter also came up before the United States (US) District Court in Columbia and the US District Court of Appeal which ruled in the petitioner’s favour. But can a sovereign country like Nigeria be bound by the decisions of these domestic courts?

    Yes, says P&ID, which claims that Nigeria is bound by a treaty to pay up having waived its right to immunity as a sovereign nation when it signed the agreement. In its application seeking the enforcement of the award, the firm said: ‘’The final award is governed by the New York Convention. So, Nigeria’s status as a foreign sovereign does not deprive the court of jurisdiction to confirm the award”. Justice Butcher agreed and the rest, as they say, is history.

    The law, we are told, does not help the tardy. Nigeria’s indolence has put it in this awkward position. Our nonchallance of yesterday is costing us a fortune today. Apparently just waking up from slumber after being slammed with this multi trillion naira award, Solicitor-General of the Federation Dayo Apata said the court lacked the power to give such an order against a sovereign state. Speaking legalese, he said what is actually being touted as “default judgement is default entry”.

    ‘’Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), a defendant has up to 60 days to answer to a petition filed against it.  Where no response is entered for the defendant, the court clerk, upon application by a petitioner makes a default entry, which in this case was made on June 5, 2018’’, he added. Well said. But why didn’t the country follow through the plan to pay the firm  $850 million in 2015?

    What stalled that arrangement? If the firm agreed to accept $850 million four years ago and we refused to pay up after entering into that agreement, who then do we blame today for the multi trillion naira award slammed on us? The government and its officials, of course. There is nothing they can say that will absolve them of blame. They have let Nigerians down at a time it mattered most. This is not how to defend our sovereignty.

    This is not the time to grandstand or play to the gallery. Those talking from both sides of their mouths should watch it. A court has confirmed the arbitral award. We should just go back there and sort things out. We should be spared such statement as ‘’we know the implication of that judgement and its impact on monetary policy. That is why the CBN is going to step forward and very strongly too to ensure we defend the country and defend the reserves of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’’.  How do we do that when they have our balls in their hands?

    Did Nigeria default in its pact with P&ID or not? If it did, is the arbitral award justified or not? Justice Butcher may have butchered us with his verdict, but can we blame him for doing his job? The fault is in us and not in him for upholding the scale of justice.