The Nation Newspaper

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  • UDUS student attacked

    A 100-Level Law student of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), Aliyu Saleh, has been attacked by hoodlums.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that Saleh was on his way to Bakassi Hostel last Wednesday, when the assailants attacked him with machetes around 11pm.

    The victim was walking along the snaky and often lonely Faculty of Veterinary Medicine road that leads to Bakassi Hostel where he resides.

    Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, Saleh narrated how his attackers cashed in on the porous security at the aforementioned route to unleash mayhem on unsuspecting students.

    He recalled how he decided to stroll out of the Bakassi Hostel at nightfall to make some calls, owing to poor network within the hostel, before the hoodlums intercepted him and made away with his mobile phone as he made to return to his hostel.

    Said Saleh: “At around 10:30pm, I left my room at Bakassi Block B, to go and make some calls as well as read because of bad network. So, I took that straight road connecting Bakassi with the main road where the new Faculty of Veterinary Science was built close to the signboard at the edge of Bakassi Street.

    “After the calls, I made to return to the hostel. Then, I realised a motorcyclist with two other passengers pulled up behind me. One of the passengers disembarked while the two others stopped close to the sign board.

    “Another guy who I initially thought was a fellow student came behind and enquired what the time was and I answered him. In a flash, the guy pounced on me trying to drag my phone. I fought back and before I could say ‘Jack’, a machete landed on my left shoulder.

    “I raised alarm as I took to my heels.  I then alerted some securities officials who also gave them a hot chase. Unfortunately, my attackers escaped using their motorcycle.”

    He thanked the security officials who thereafter rushed him to the school clinic for first aid, before he was later transferred to university’s teaching hospital for proper treatment.

    Aliyu further advised students to be very vigilant while walking at night around the school premises.

    He said: “To fellow students I would say, if they are going for any affairs whatsoever at night, should walk in group. Once you don’t trust a person at night, keep your distance, because it seems these criminals are not only after mobile phone, but lives.”

    One of Aliyu’s intimate friends, Sheu Shamsudeen, also a 100-Level law undergraduate drew students but particularly management’s attention to the growing insecurity on campus.

    “And for students, avoid walking alone during the dark hours of the night, walk in groups,” he recommended.

  • Sundry Misusages XXVII: Oblivious . . . plus more

    Still so many hurdles to scale on misusages! The reason is, anywhere you turn, you encounter egregious mangling of standard usage. Yet, when you mangle usage, you mangle meaning. That should make correct usage the spirit and soul of any language. Usage embeds the character, personality, essence, excitement, depth, unique feel and beauty of language. So, when you master usage, you are filled with the spirit and soul of the language concerned (You know what it means to be spirit-filled in Christendom!) It’s so that we may fill you with the spirit of correct usage that we converse on more pitfalls to avoid in this edition. 

    Oblivious

    Communicators advise us to use adjectives sparingly because they require deft and accurate handling to share precise meaning. But for the prestige of it most likely, a lot writers indulge in using adjectives cavalierly, even when they could find other ways to express their thoughts more intelligibly. It is bad enough to be careless in your use of adjectives but it is worse not to understand their correct usage. Such are the pitfalls in the following statement:

    While this extreme condition persists for the citizenry, both the outgoing government and the incoming one seem either oblivious of this fact or are incapacitated to act.

    Here is what our writers’ companion, “Pop” Errors, says about the statement: “There is nothing egregious here, but just a little nuance of usage. The adjective oblivious is usually used in two ways: oblivious of; and oblivious to. When used in the former form, it connotes a state of unawareness of something, and in the second form, a state of not taking cognisance of or not considering or almost ignoring something. The writer is commenting on the excruciating socio-economic miseries of people during the transition from one administration to another government-in-waiting. Against this background, it may be illogical and untrue to say both are not aware of the parlous situation. It seems, therefore, that the ace columnist (specimen’s source is a newspaper column) has the second sense of oblivious in mind, suggesting that they are aware but are simply not addressing it for now. In other words, the expression oblivious to seems more appropriate from the drift of the columnist’s thought. We leave the debate to aficionados of English grammar. What is important for us here is to master the two forms of the usage of the adjective oblivious.” To avoid any doubt, we restate the statement with the correct usage inserted, thus:

    While this extreme condition persists for the citizenry, both the outgoing government and the incoming one seem either oblivious to this fact or are incapacitated to act. 

    Offspring

    Quite often, many write their own rules, leveraging entrenched lexical mindsets. The erroneous attitude seems to be: just add s whenever and wherever you need the plural sense of anything. Yet there are exemptions and there are exemptions. The correct application of the noun offspring is such an exemption, which has not been observed in the following:

    All those that are shielding Maina and his cohort from facing the full wrath of the law should know that their offsprings, relatives and friends will need a pension at old age.

    “Correct usage is offspring, not offsprings. In singular or plural form, offspring is offspring, meaning “a person’s child or children,” “an animal’s young”, or “the product or result of something.” What is more, offsprings does not exist in the English language” (“Pop” Errors).  To avoid any doubt, let us insert the correct usage, thus:

    All those that are shielding Maina and his cohorts from facing the full wrath of the law should know that their offspring, relatives and friends will need a pension at old age.

    Onset/Outset

    Here is one usage with which many a writer does not say what they mean. A scrutiny of the following statements will bear this out most vividly.

    (a). . .Let me say from the onset of this piece.

    (b)…In the face of the seeming silence of the Federal Government on the plight of the girls at the outset of the abduction, it took the patriotic act of some Nigerians . . . to draw global attention to the issue. . . .

    Specimen (a) is the way a writer started an edition of his newspaper column. ‘Onset cannot be an appropriate usage for the beginning of a newspaper article, unless it is declaring war. Correct usage is outset. Outset is used to refer to “the beginning or start of something” good; onset is also used to refer to “the beginning of something,” but “especially something unpleasant” (Oxford Dictionary of English/AmazonKindle). There is nothing unpleasant in a newspaper column, even if seen as an event’ (“Pop” Errors). So, correct usage regarding (a) above is:

    Let me say from the outset of this piece . . .

    Specimen (b) is the flipside of (a). In other words, (b) exhibits the reverse error of (a), misusing outset and comically confusing the noun with onset. The explanation of (a) shows obviously that onset is the correct usage in (b), not outset, “because abduction is clearly an unpleasant development.” Thus, correct usage in regard to (b) is:

    In the face of the seeming silence of the Federal Government on the plight of the girls at the onset of the abduction, it took the patriotic act of some Nigerians . . . to draw global attention to the issue. . . .

  • YABATECH, group partner on ethics training

    To achieve improved productivity and effectiveness for its workers, Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) in conjunction with Global Women Investors and Innovators Network (GWIIN), recently engaged 80 selected academics and non-academic members of staff in Work Ethics, Etiquette and Leadership training.

    The objective of the training was to assist YABATECH to gain competitive edge with workers being exposed to a range of tools and approaches that support good governance, ethics, professionalism and effective leadership qualities.

    The workshop was designed to expose participants to modules relating to innovation, business development and enterprise.

    During the two-day programme at G International Institute Training Centre (GIITC) in Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos, facilitated by Staff Development and Training Department of the College, the founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GWIIN, Dr. Bola Olabisi, buttressed the main purpose of the training which was to re-train, re-skill, re-tool and take advantage of current and emerging opportunities.

    The participants were divided into seven groups that brainstormed on case studies/scenarios and proffered solution.

    Day one of the workshop focused on work ethics and authentic leadership qualities, making sound decision and values and integrity.

    On the second day, the participants l earnt about the code of conduct for personal development, social etiquette, and the art of fine dining with regards to the do’s and don’ts; dignity and a sense of what is appropriate in a cosmopolitan society; as well as composure and sophistication.

    Certificates of participation were awarded to attendees after the workshop.

  • Xenophobia: The ultimate culprits

    Just as you reserve the right to walk a stranger out of your house, you reserve the right to demand the exit of foreigners from your country. It is the prerogative of the South Africans to dictate who can or cannot be allowed residence in their country. That the Nigerian government helped them in their struggle against Apartheid does not, in any way, invalidate that right. So, in demanding that Nigerians leave their country, the South Africans have done nothing wrong.

    The inundation of different countries of the world by Nigerians, as economic refugees, is a direct consequence of the irresponsible and anti-human policies of a series of kleptomanias, masquerading as leaders that ruled Nigeria over the years. Their total destruction of the Nigerian economy triggered the mass-exodus of Nigerians to different countries of the world, where they are resented, and sometimes, hated, and periodically attacked, like in South Africa.  So, as we fret about the attacks on our compatriots and the looting and torching of their businesses in South Africa, we have to realize that, by extension, the real culprits for these are the irresponsible, grasping and corrupt rulers that ran aground the Nigerian economy.

    Usually, the resentment, anger and disgruntlement of the general public are readily directed at the immigrant community. The immigrants are easy targets for scape-goat; they are blamed for the host country’s woes: unemployment, economic downturn, crime, etc. Not surprisingly, the South Africans are blaming Nigerians for taking their jobs, and being drug dealers, thieves, fraudsters, etc., – although many South Africans are involved in the same illicit businesses. The killing of Nigerians and the looting and burning down of their businesses and properties by South African mobs have reached horrifying extremes. It is estimated that about 150 Nigerians have been killed and Nigerian businesses and property worth millions of dollars destroyed in these periodic xenophobic attacks on Nigerians. Over all, the South African government has not demonstrated any commitment to the protection of Nigerian lives and property, or to bring the attackers to book.

    South Africa has a history that gloried in violence. Consequently, it is a very violent country. The taking over of the breathtakingly beautiful country and the subjugation of the Black owners of the land by Dutch settlers demanded justification and glorification of gratuitous murderousness and unspeakable brutality. Later, as Blacks South Africans rose in revolt against White supremacist tyranny, they also celebrated bloodcurdling violence, including “neck lacing” – the hanging of a petrol-socked tire over the neck and shoulder of alleged Black agent, spy or informant of the White Apartheid government and setting him ablaze. As a testament to the country’s culture of violence, some notable Black South African leaders openly endorsed “neck lacing” as legitimate punishment for suspected Black spies of the Apartheid regime. With no institutional racism to fight and no quisling to neck lace, they turned their violence and brutality on Nigerians, and other African immigrants.

    They have reasons to resent and hate Nigerians in their country. For centuries, they became accustomed to Whites being successful and in control. It is new-fangled, and thus, unacceptable to them to see successful and wealthy Nigerians in their midst. It is a sentiment summed up in the notice issued by the South African owners/taxi association against African immigrants, “These people drive expensive cars, and they have churches, businesses in every street of South Africa. They have everything that we as citizens don’t have.” In addition, they are irked by the boastfulness, general lawlessness and conspicuous consumption of Nigerians. Nigerians are also big spenders, and, understandably, women snatchers. One of their stated gripes against Nigerians is that they (Nigerians) “take our women”.

    As expected, most of the 800, 000 Nigerians resident in South Africa are unwilling to return to Nigeria, at least, in the short-run. Even, with the call on them to return home by the Nigerian government and the provision of free air fare by Air Peace, only a little more than 600 of them have, thus far, indicated interest to return. With the prevailing anti-Nigerian sentiment not abating in that very violent country, it is very likely that periodic attacks on Nigerians will continue. The blaming of national problems that are glaring indicators of failure of governance on the immigrants must be salutary to the government of Cyril Ramaphosa. Not surprisingly, the government of Ramaphosa has not only failed to protect Nigerians, but has, on some occasions, stoked the anti-Nigerian sentiment.

    The Nigerian government has very limited options in dealing with this international dilemma.  Reprisal actions on South Africans and their business interests in Nigeria are not viable options. Very few South Africans live in Nigeria. Secondly, attacks on South African businesses in Nigeria will be most disadvantageous for Nigerians. They are major employers of labour; attacks on them will worsen our already terrifying unemployment problems. It will also undermine Nigeria’s credibility as a secure foreign investment destination; it will dissuade prospective foreign investors from investing in Nigeria.

    It is bad leadership that destroyed the economy of our country, and sent Nigerians swarming into different countries of the world as economic refugees. In these countries they sojourn to escape the economic miseries in their home country, they are resented, and, as in South Africa, sometimes, hated and murdered. So, by extension, the blame for the attacks on Nigerians in South Africa rests squarely on the series of amoral and rapacious rulers that reduced Nigeria to economic boondocks.

    • Ezukanma writes from Lagos.

  • Mugabe: What legacy?

    After addictive medical trips to Singapore apparently in search of some immortality,   Robert Gabriel Mugabe (RGM) on September 6, heaved the last breath.  If he was mortal after all, what then remains of the legacy of the first sit-tight prime minister of liberated Zimbabwe, who in 1987 transformed into an executive president? This was also a frequently asked question while alive. He was born in 1924 in Kutama in the then British colonial possession: Southern Rhodesia, (now Zimbabwe). He was imprisoned together with some of his comrades in Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), later ZANU PF, between 1964 and 1974 for leading an armed resistance against British colonial rule.

    In prison, he lost the only son from his first Ghanaian wife, late Sally Hayfon (who died in 1992). He died at 95, some two years after he was pressured out of power in November 2017 replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man he had fired as his deputy. One clear legacy of RGM is longevity in life (by destiny) and power (almost by subterfuge and dictatorship). Robert Mugabe shared in common, long life with freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela who despite 27 years’ incarceration by accursed apartheid regime died in South Africa peacefully some few months after 95th birthday, precisely on December 5, 2013.  Kenneth David Kaunda, (Zambian President from 1964 to 1991) also known as KK, born same year with Mugabe on April 28, 1924, remains the only standing nationalist of his era! Liberation fighters like Samora Machel of Mozambique were not as lucky in longevity. He died in a plane crash, at the behest of South African racist regime on October 19, 1986, at 53 years.  Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana 1909-1972, was the first liberator to audaciously lower Union Jack in 1957. He died at 63 of what Amilcar Cabral at Nkrumah’s state burial called “cancer of betrayal” in an historic speech in Conakry on May 14, 1972. A year later, Cabral (precisely on January 20, 1973) was also brutally killed by agents of the Portuguese imperialism at the prime age of 48 years. The second legacy of Mugabe is leadership-by- controversy, disputation and notoriety (almost-in that-order). My reflections over the years on Zimbabwe under Mugabe (what I dubbed Mugabedom!) can make a chapter in the next revised edition of my Reflections  on Africa and Global Affairs  (2015) and  Friends, Comrades and Heroes (2015). They include Mugabe @ 80 (March 2004), Mugabe As History (APRIL, 2008), Zimbabwe For Beginners, (June 2008), Mugabedom, Not Yet Zimbabwe – (August, 2013), Robert Gabriel Mugabe (RGM) for Beginners– (August, 2013) and No Lessons from Zimbabwe (2017).

    While alive (just as it’s is now after his death), Mugabe once polarized the African continent and indeed the world. Either you’re   for him (in support of the so-called land reform through land grabbing from the historic white land robbers) or against Zimbabwe under him for denying free and fair elections. The combined imperial forces of UK’s Tony Blair/ America’s George Bush who concealed their racist uncritical support for few white land owners opposing land reform while remaining  hard on politics of free and fair elections gave Mugabe the ready excuses to repress his people and under-develop Zimbabwe. After death, there is a disputation as to whether Mugabe who died in faraway Singapore with better medical care was truly a liberator or another duplicitous African big man, with one set of rule for himself, family members, party members and miserable standard for his people. Following the crisis that trailed rigged elections in 2008 (Mugabe actually lost to opposition MDC), he declared that Zimbabwean crisis was “an African crisis” arguing that the success of Zimbabwe is the success of Africa. Yet he effortlessly dammed the same Africa Union (AU) following the latter’s suggestion for election postponement when opposition MDC alleged insecurity. Mugabe pointedly said the continental body has “no right to dictate to us what we should do with our constitution, and how we should govern the country”.  Former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, aptly described the ugly repressive events in Harare under Mugabe as manifestation of tragic leadership failure. The worst legacy of Mugabe is sit-tightism in office with drab speeches which often lacked substance like most boring speeches of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.

    Mugabe came to power in 1980 in a popular election contested by notable nationalists like Joshua Nkomo. My findings show that in Nigeria, from President Shehu Shagari in 1980s to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, as many as 10 Heads of States had witnessed Mugabe’s serial self-inaugurations, sorry self-successions. If Mugabe were to be a British Prime Minister through sit-tight game, the British would not have known such prime ministers as Sir John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Prime Minister David Donald Cameron and Theresa May. Mugabe came to power almost same time Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher came to office. Of course if Mugabe were to be a Chinese, Li Xiannia,    Yang Shangkun, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin Hu Jintao and incumbent Xi Jinping could not have been presidents of the fastest growing economy in the world compared to impoverished Zimbabwe. Mugabe came to power when Ronald Reagan was in power.  The two “Bushes” namely George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton met and left him in office. Indeed President Barack Obama was in the college in the 80s when Mugabe was already a president. By Mugabe’s design, Obama completed two terms in office before he completed his 7th tenure! If Mugabe were to be a South African, there would not have been a Nelson Mandela to succeed him! We would have been crudely denied a global moral authority on freedom, democracy, reconciliation and peace that Mandela represented. Since Mugabe came to office, as many as seven presidents have emerged in South Africa. Certainly Mugabe was not Nelson Mandela. He was a man with selective sense of justice. He   once accepted to be happily knighted in the 90s by the Queen under Lancaster House constitution. Paradoxically after almost 40 years in power, Mugabe’s selling point until end was still colonialism, not open unemployment as high as 80 per cent, multiple digit inflation and imaginable currency devaluation, dollarization and unprecedented human drain/ human flight in modern Africa!

    Whatever his legacy is, blessed are the dead, because Robert Mugabe would no longer be suspected of some African failings. The burden is on the living who must deepen democracy, generate wealth, overcome inequality, create mass decent jobs and banish poverty.

    • Aremu, is member National Institute, Kuru Jos.

  • Ganduje: Saving the north from shame

    Sir: Why must the children of the Hausa-Fulani be left to become a burden and to some extent security threats to the society? While other Nigerian children are found in classrooms with better chances of a better future, northern children are only found roaming the streets begging in the name of being almajiris in their numbers. Such negligence was responsible for the snobbish and demeaning perception against the Hausa-Fulani’s by our southern brothers.

    Truth is, here in the north, we have the elite that have received the best of care and free qualitative education from the collective resources of the Talakawas, which propelled them to their present exalted positions. Unfortunately, they rendered such rights and privileges comatose to the detriment of the great majority.

    No state has any justification to allow children of school age to be roaming on the streets, not to talk of becoming almajiris. It is therefore a good omen that Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has summoned the political will to enforce free and compulsory basic and secondary education in his state, which has a significant concentration of out of school children.

    Ganduje was conscious of the fact that public schools, especially at primary and secondary level has been neglected and rendered ineffective for too long which was the major factor that gave birth to the proliferation of all sorts of privately owned primary and secondary schools in the country.

    To defeat these challenges and ensure the smooth take-off of the free education scheme, the governor has constituted a committee to take inventory of all existing public primary and secondary schools in the state.

    So far, 1,180 public schools have been indentified and designated for the take off of the scheme, while N 200million is to be set aside for the monthly up-keep of these schools. Governor Ganduje had declared that the sum of N 2.4 billion is expected to be expended annually for the maintenance of these schools.

    Already, N 381 million has been paid for the sewing of 800,000 school uniforms and accordingly distributed to the 779,000 primary and secondary school new intakes. The state government has also, released the sum of N350 million to complement the federal government home grown school feeding policy in the state. To discourage the apathy towards the girl-child school enrollment, the state government has disbursed the sum of N 40,000 each to the indigent parents of 31,000 girl-children towards preparing them to commence school this season.

    With all these interventions, no parent has any reason not to send his child to school. To demonstrate the seriousness of the state towards implementing the free educational scheme, about 100 school age children that were found roaming around in the guise of almajiris were recently arrested. Surely, Governor Ganduje is determined to save the north from shame and perdition.

    • Mohammed Isa Bilal, Jos, Plateau State.

  • Why we prefer female, by ‘One chance suspects’

    Three suspects have been arrested for their alleged involvement in “one chance” criminal operations.

    The suspects, James Awaji, Abel Obinna and Sunday, were arrested in Abuja by operatives of the Special Tactical Squad and IGP Intelligence Response Team.

    The suspects revealed that they prefer female victims.

    Giving reason for the preference of female, the suspects explained that “men drag too much.”

    One of the suspects specialized in giving his car out on rental and gets return from those who go out for one chance operations.

    One of their victims who did not want to be named narrated her experience with the suspects.

    She said: “I just closed from work because I work around the NNPC towers. Usually, the drivers that ply that route carry mostly footballers who are just returning from training at that time of the day. So, when I flagged them off, I assumed the passengers were also footballers who had changed from their training kit.

    “They picked me at about 5:30pm around the NNPC towers area and drove round to different spots. While I was in the car, when I started suspecting and attempted to escape, I noticed that their car lock was disabled.

    “The one who sat in front with the driver reclined his seat to pin me down. With that, I found it difficult to move out of the vehicle. They dropped me off around 9pm at Maitama express after they had beaten me and dispossessed me of all my belongings.

    “They injured my eye but I managed to register the number plate of the vehicle in my head despite the pain. It was the number plate that I ended up using to commence my own investigation when I recovered.

    “I went to search for the number plate online and proceeded to the relevant authorities who ended up directing me to the Police. It was that number plate that was used to trace them.”

    The suspects also took turns to narrate the various roles they played in the alleged crime.

    James Awaji, 33 who uses his car for rental purposes to those who deal in one chance crime said he was an ex-convict.

    He said: “I was arrested in the past and charged to Gwagwalada court for similar offence but I got a good lawyer who freed me. I was arrested because I gave my friend my car. My friend used the car for one chance. I was not part of their last operation. When I used to go out for the operation, I make about N50,000 to N100,000 daily and my usual route is Berger to Wuse.

    Speaking on how they operate, he said: “We don’t like to carry passengers from motor parks. We look for isolated areas or places along the road where it looks like the passengers are desperate for vehicles.

    “We prefer to carry women because they are calm and always carry handbags. I don’t like male passengers because they drag too much. We don’t use guns or knives. We only use stapler. We open and close the stapler to make sound like gun just to scare our victims.

    “I rented out my car to my friend. The first operation, they came back with N50,000 as my returns. The second week, they gave me N20,000 and I got N15,000 in the third week.”

    Also speaking, Abel Obinna said: “I used to do one chance before but I retired and travelled home to Enugu where I went to acquire some properties but when I noticed that things were not moving well for me again, I relocated to Abuja again.

    “I rented the car from my friend and after each operation, we share the money amongst ourselves. We usually use the proceeds from the crime to sustain ourselves.”

    Sunday on his part said he was new in the business. “I am a newcomer. I asked James for money when I was broke but he told me he didn’t have. He, however, asked me to follow him out. It was while we were out that they picked a lady and robbed her.”

    Reacting to the rate of one chance operation, the Force Spokesman, DCP Frank Mba said efforts are being made to reduce the rate of crime in the country.

    He also stated that two of the suspects have history of being charged to court.

    Giving security tips, Mba said: “If you are a commuter in FCT, Lagos, and other cities where one chance operate, please avoid using unpainted taxis as much as possible

    “When possible, avoid taking vehicles from unauthorised parks. Also, let your instinct rule you. If you are not comfortable, step back. If the car is unduly tinted and unpainted, it could be a red flag. If a vehicle does not care about your direction and the amount you are willing to pay, it is a red flag.

    “If one of the occupants of the vehicles step down for you to enter, it could be a red flag but also know that some of the syndicates have females.”

  • Falana warns against illegal agreement with foreign countries

    Human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has warned Nigeria against entering into what he described as illegal agreements worth billions of dollars with foreign countries that may be challenged and set aside.

    Falana was speaking at a news conference in Abuja on the decision of the people of Western Sahara to challenge the “illegal” importation of tons of phosphates and other natural resources from the their country into Nigeria by Morocco.

    He said that Nigerian government must be weary of agreements and treaty it signed with Morocco as such violates the rights of the Saharawi people.

    He disclosed that none of the treaties and agreement signed between Nigeria and Morocco is enforceable in the country as the Nigerian government has not deposited same with the National Assembly to adopt and enact them into law as required by section 12 of the Nigerian constitution.

    He warned on parties entering into such agreements to immediately cancel them and “respect the human rights of the people of Western Sahara to enjoy their natural resources as recognized by article 20 and 21 of the African charter on human and peoples rights.”

    He said: “We are going to start with Nigeria because currently, tons of phosphates are being imported into the country from Western Sahara on the basis of illegal agreements entered into between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Morocco as well as certain companies. We are warning such parties and we are alerting them of the decision of the people of Western Sahara to defend their rights to their resources.

    “The government of Nigeria has not; until now deposited any of the bilateral agreements entered into with the Kingdom of Morocco with the National Assembly. By virtue of section 12 of the Nigerian constitution, no treaty or agreement between another country and Nigeria can be enforced without same being adopted and enacted into law by the National Assembly.

    “We are warning the government of Nigeria that is still battling with the award of $9.6 billion by an artibtration tribunal in the United Kingdom. We are drawing the attention of Nigeria to the illegal agreements worth billions of dollars that may also be challenged and set aside.”

    Addressing the news conference earlier, former National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and National Coordinator of the Nigerian Movement for the Liberation of Western Sahara, Dr. Dipo Fashina said the movement was “determined to bring to book, all companies in Nigeria currently receiving phosphates stolen by the Kingdom of Morocco from Western Sahara to produce fertilizer.”

    Fashina said that the legal option was one of the many steps to ensure that Nigeria does not continue to be a receiver of stolen goods ad make profit from such “unholy theft”.

    Read Also: Shiites have right to practice faith – Falana

    He said “this Movement supports the development of Nigeria, but not with stolen resources. We insist that although our country needs fertilizer, but not that produced with the blood of our brothers and sisters in Western Sahara. About this, we are definite.

    “This   principle is planted in the Nigerian culture of  non-exploitation of other peoples and defender of colonized peoples as we did in the struggle for the liberation of countries like Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe,  Namibia and South Africa.

    “Nigerians are freedom-loving peoples, not accomplices  of leaders of a country like Morocco who against all known tenets of African brotherhood, religious obligations and social justice, would invade and occupy a member country of the African Union, dehumanize its people and plunder its resources which it sells to European Union (EU) countries and companies in Nigeria.

    “We put all those dealing in stolen Western Sahara natural resources including their fishes on notice that they cannot continue to do business as usual. After giving this notice to the Nigerian companies dealing in stolen Western Sahara resources, we will picket them across the country and bring them before our courts.

    “This also includes super markets selling sardines and fishes from Morocco because   92 percent of these fishes are stolen from the Western Sahara coast.”

    Fashina said the Moroccan monarchy and leadership should be called to order and brought to book for gross human rights violations in Western Sahara, while the consent and permission of the Saharawi people through the SADR government must be secured before the natural resources of the country is utilized or traded in any form.

    He also asked the African Union to defends its member SADR by giving  Morocco a timeline to vacate Western Sahara and if it fails, to expel  and impose stiff sanctions against it as we did to Apartheid in South Africa, while the United Nations should  expand the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to include human rights violations so its Mission can protect the Saharawi people.

    He also wants the Moroccan government prevailed upon to vacate the parts of Western Sahara it is occupying and allows the Saharawi people, like other Africans and peoples of the world to freely govern themselves and develop their country without any interference.

  • BREAKING: Governors meet over N614bn bailout deductions, others

    The over N614 billion bailout deduction is expected to dominate discussions at Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) Wednesday evening meeting.

    The meeting is slated to start any moment from now in Abuja.

    Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had hinted on the plan to deduct from source the bailout handed out to 35 states as budget support facility.

    Ahmed had said that deduction will commence in September 2019 during a Public Consultation Forum on the draft 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework in Abuja.

    The federal government gave the conditional budget support facility to the states through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2017.

    Read Also: Analysts discuss N614b bailout funds for states

    It was to enable the states to meet their financial obligations to civil servants and pensioners.

    The money was provided at a nine per cent interest rate, with a grace period of two years.

    Ahmed had said the repayment will be taken from the affected states’ allocations during the next Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting this month.

    She said the refund is not going to be treated as revenue to be used to fund the 2020 budget.

    According to her: “It was a loan that was advanced by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the states.”

    She added that because the payment was made by the CBN, the recovery process is for the loans to be deducted from the FAAC allocations of the states and remitted back to the CBN.

    Ahmed said the process will not require a consideration of the fiscal strategy paper (FSP) implementation but to ensure the states stayed on the path of fiscal sustainability.

    “This will not be a condition for the deduction. We will deduct direct at source and remit to the CBN,” she said.

    It was gathered this has not have gone down well with the governors who are determined take a common position on the issue at the meeting.

    Besides, the NGF meeting is coming ahead of the 97th National Economic Council meeting slated for Thursday 19th September 2019.

    Those in attendance are: Babatunde Sanwo-Olu (Lagos); Samuel Ortom (Benue), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi),  Sirake Dickson (Bayelsa), Abubakar Badaru, (Jigawa), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Emeka Ihedioha (Imo), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Aminu Masari (Katsina) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara).

    The Deputy Governors in attendance are Nasarawa and Kaduna.

    Details shortly…

  • Task force nabs 71 miscreants in early morning raid at Oshodi

    Operatives of the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit (Taskforce) on Wednesday morning arrested 71 miscreants around railway-line in Oshodi as part of efforts to rid the State of criminal elements, especially those operating at notorious blackspots across the metropolis.

    In a statement, Chairman of the Agency, Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Chief Superintendent of Police, who led the enforcement team in the early morning raid, stated that the crackdown is in line with the determination of the Task Force to curtail the activities of hoodlums who rob unsuspecting members of the public.

    He disclosed that some of the culprits were in possession of illegal substances suspected to be Indian hemp and other dangerous drugs such as Codeine, Skunk and Tramadol.

    The Chairman reiterated that all identified blackspots across the State would be continuously raided and arrested suspects would be fully prosecuted if found guilty, stressing that the present administration has zero-tolerance for all forms of crimes and criminality.

    According to Egbeyemi, “Lagos State is the most populous in Nigeria as well as its economic heartbeat as such, the State government is committed to providing a conducive environment for both local and foreign investors”.

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    He, however, revealed that while 13 the 71 suspects were released after a thorough screening by the Chairman,  the only underage male among them was transferred to the Lagos State Correctional Centre for proper rehabilitation.

    Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu has directed that the raid must be a continuous exercise in line with the State’s policy aimed at eradicating activities of miscreants and cultists disturbing innocent residents.

    An underage boy, Hamed Gilani, who was referred to Lagos State Correctional Centre disclosed that he ran to Lagos from one of the neighbouring States after his parents separated.

    According to Gilani who is 11years old, “I ran errand for those bigger miscreants and I was lured to be smoking Indian hemp when I started sleeping among them under the bridge at Oshodi”

    Another miscreant, Suraju Ademola, confessed to have been sleeping along railway line under the Oshodi bridge for over 7 months.

    He confessed further to be part of those criminals who attack and rob innocent members of the public of their valuables on Oshodi bridge both early morning and night.