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    Satellite is another infrastructure that can help speed up the Federal  Government’s broadband ambition because of its ability to reach the rural areas.

    Incidentally, the country has a satellite, the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat), which could help bridge the gap.

    NigComSat said it has taken a new approach to the delivery of satellite connectivity solutions by establishing an eco-system of Virtual Internet Service Providers (VISPs) which will operate using the digital  Business Support System (BSS) PortaBilling, provided by PortaOne. This will  deliver the service to key markets – such as government, defence, maritime and enterprise.

    VISPs will rent data channels from the NigComSat orbiting satellite and then rely on the PortaBilling self-care portal to manage their tariff plans and subscribers. PortaBilling will carry out all service monetisation, ie: service activation, charging, invoicing and payment collection. So, a VISP does not need to purchase or implement any infrastructure, and the only action required on the VISP side is to install the customer’s equipment.

    The low entry barrier enables nearly local firms, such as system integrator, utility or even a supermarket chain to become an internet service provider (ISP). It will have major effects in several key markets, in particular for small office or home office (SOHO) that will benefit from better satellite connectivity.

    The Managing Director/CEO, NigComSat, Dr Abimbola Alale, said PortaBilling, a robust and flexible solution, will address the common challenges ISPs face in the country.

    She said: “It will also aid profitability, market readiness and a need for technology, which evolves with the market because PortaOne offers a license, unlimited in terms of number of subscribers or resellers. This helps to maintain a low and predictable  Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).”

    She expressed gratitude to PortaOne team’s agile development work done on the project to integrate with other elements of the solution such as online payment through REMITA.

    Based in Canada, PortaOne is a leading software developer of service provisioning and billing systems for modern telecommunication companies – across the globe.

    The CEO of PortaOne, Andriy Zhylenko, said flexible convergent digital BSS is a crucial tool which will enable NigComSat to succeed via monetisation of an innovative service and better customer experience.

    “At the heart of PortaBilling is an open architecture that will integrate seamlessly with NigComSat’s value-added services. The two will work smoothly together to create cutting edge solutions that will meet the needs of today’s customers,” Zhylenko said.

    He said PortaBilling will make internet access more abundant and affordable by building a vast network of VISPs in the country. PortaBilling would further enable prepaid satellite internet access across the country by improving revenue collection and reduction of leakage for VISPs and NigComSat.

    Zhylenko said: “Since the entry is simplified and the operating costs are minimal due to fully automated service provisioning and charging, new ISPs will be able to appear in regions where they did not exist before. As a result, the overall end-user experience will be improved and there will be more healthy competition.”

    The Executive Director, Technical Services at NigComSat, Kazeem Raji, expressed satisfaction with the full open architecture of PortaBilling, which enables the firm to tie it into various back-office and VAS system.

    “A true partnership approach where we are empowered to decide on how and who performs the integration within our system,” he said.

  • The limitation of court cases

    The general trend is to campaign for free and unhindered access to the court, as a veritable means of resolving disputes.

    This is indeed the focus of Section 6(6)(b) of the Constitution when it states that ‘the judicial powers vested in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section shall extend to all matters between persons, or between government or authority and to any person in Nigeria, and to all actions and proceedings relating thereto, for the determination of any question as to the civil rights and obligations of that person’.

    Which is why it is often said that the court is the last hope of the common man, if at all this can still be relied upon as the truth, in the light of all that we experience nowadays.

    In practice however, the right of access to court is not automatic, as over the years, the courts themselves have developed some rules that must be fulfilled by all potential litigants, before they could be granted access to the court to ventilate their grievances.

    Lawyers describe it as condition precedent, or at times they robe it in the technical term of jurisdiction, as was aptly captured in the famous case of Madukolu v Nkemdilim, that you can only approach the court when there are no features in your case that may disqualify you or prevent the case from being heard. The Supreme Court held as follows, in that case:

    “A court is competent when:

    (a) It is properly constituted with respect to the number and qualification of its members;

    (b) The subject-matter of the action is within its jurisdiction; and

    (c) The action is initiated by due process of law and any condition precedent to the exercise of its jurisdiction has been fulfilled.”

    These pre-conditions are conjunctive and the non-fulfillment or absence of any of them automatically robs the court of the jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit. One of these conditions is to be sure that the case is not caught by limitation of statutes or that it has not been barred or prohibited by any existing law.

    Generally, a statute of limitation is a law passed by the legislature to set the maximum time after an event, within which legal proceedings may be initiated.

    When a case is not initiated within the time stipulated, then it is considered dead in law, save in few exceptional circumstances, such as where the cause of action is continuous or is a subject of pending litigation.

    The principle underlining this concept is that no one should be vexed in perpetuity, especially in civil and private causes, where the litigant may be held to have waived or slept upon his rights.

    The objective of such law is to require diligent prosecution of claims so as to provide finality or predictability in legal matters and to ensure that claims will be resolved while evidence is still available and fresh.

    Limitation laws, where applicable, void a person’s right to seek redress for a wrong and the plaintiff is regrettably but unavoidably left with a bare and unenforceable cause of action. This is not so in criminal matters however, as it is against public policy to waive or prohibit the prosecution of crimes.

    The concept of limitation was well explained in the case of Mercantile Bank of Nig. PLC v. FETECO (Nig) Ltd., wherein the court held thus:

    “A Statute of Limitation of action is designed to stop or avoid situations where a plaintiff can commence action any time he feels like doing so, even when human memory would have normally faded and therefore failed. Putting it in another language, by the Statutes of limitation, a plaintiff has not the freedom of the air to sleep or slumber and wake up at his own time to commence an action against a defendant. The different Statutes of Limitation which are essentially founded on the principles of equity and fair play will not avail such a sleeping or slumbering plaintiff. He will be stopped from commencing the action and that is a just and fair situation. A plaintiff who suddenly wakes up from a very deep sleep only to remember that the defendant had wronged him, can, I think, be rightly ‘greeted’ by the defendant with the appropriate limitation statute, waving same to him as a basis for redress …”

    The statutory limitations placed upon court cases come in varying forms, depending on the nature of the subject matter of the case. The Limitation Laws of the various states across the country are very similar in their contents and application. Let us now examine the cases one after the other.

    Contracts

    Under and by virtue of section 8 (1) of the Limitation Law of Lagos State, the following actions will not be brought after the expiration of six (6) years from the date on which the cause of action accrued –

    (a) actions founded on simple contract;

    (b) actions founded on quasi-contract.

    This is very common in daily transactions where two or three people agree together to do certain things upon certain conditions, for instance for sale of goods, to render one service or the other, or a contract of employment, etc.

    This section extends to recognisances, penalties, or forfeitures, interests and even an action for an account.

    So, if a person covenants to supply goods to you upon payment, and he fails to deliver the said goods after payment, you can only claim your rights against him within six years of the time when he failed to deliver.

    The same thing applies to loan transactions and other simple contracts or quasi-contracts, all of which can only be enforced within six years of the accrual of the cause of action, that is the period when the breach occurred or when your right matures.

    Now, it can be very painful to watch a debtor escape payment of his indebtedness just due to the negligence or carelessness of the creditor.

    Agreed that many people are not aware of this law, and even when they are aware, there are several hindrances, such as culture and religion, both of which forbid strife and prolonged dispute. Indeed, it is commonly said in Yoruba tradition of South-West Nigeria, that you don’t drag yourselves to court and expect to become friends thereafter.

    Most people love to avoid the hostilities and animosity associated with court proceedings, especially when everything is exhumed, in order to undo one party against the other.

    Repeatedly however, the courts have maintained the position that ignorance of the law cannot be an excuse against its enforcement, as in that case, almost everyone will plead ignorance and no law will ever be effective to hold society together predictably and peacefully.

    So, if your boss suddenly terminates your appointment, you have only six years to challenge the termination or make any claims that you consider yourself entitled to, under the contract of employment.

    If you paid for a car and it is not supplied as agreed after payment, you have six years within which to make any claim in respect of the said car, after which you are deemed to have forfeited your rights absolutely.

    Tort

    A tort is a civil wrong for which a remedy may be obtained, often described as damages. It involves some form of breach of duty that the law imposes on everyone in the same relation to one another, as those involved in a given transaction.

    The bottlers of all manner of soft drinks or even water, are all well aware that their customers believe that the contents of those bottles are good and suitable for consumption.

    It is a duty of care that they owe to all their customers and indeed the whole world. However, if you are unlucky to buy a bottled drink that contains a dead cockroach or a fly and you were not careful to examine it before opening and guzzling it and your health became threatened thereby, then the law permits you to seek damages against the bottler for a breach of duty of care. It is however not a right in perpetuity.

    To this end, section 9 (1) and (2) of the Limitation Law of Lagos State provides as follows:

    “(1) This section applies to actions claiming damages for negligence, nuisance, or breach of duty (whether the duty exists by virtue of a contract or of a provision made by or under any enactment or independently of any contract or of any such provision), where the damages claimed by the plaintiff for the negligence, nuisance, or breach of duty consist of or include damages in respect of personal injuries to any person.

    (2) Subject to the provisions of this section, no action to which this section applies will be brought after the expiration of three years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.”

    Where you have been battered or assaulted by any person physically, where your reputation has been injured through a false publication, where your neighbour has placed the silencer of his generator right beside your bedroom in such a way that you can hardly sleep at night or where you have become the object of unwarranted ridicule on social media, you have only three years to ventilate your claims before any court, otherwise you may remain silent on it forever.

    In summary, whereas the court is open to all persons to make one claim or the other, law will only and always act in favour of the diligent litigant.

    It can be truly frustrating to be driven away from the doorstep of the court, but it is more embarrassing not to be aware of the established limitations statutorily placed on the right of access to court.

    They constitute part of the compulsory checklist of any aspiring litigant, before approaching the court for any judicial remedy.

    In the first piece of these series, we examined the limitation of causes of action as it relates to contract and tort. We shall proceed to examine other subject matters.

    LAND CASES

    Land is one of the most durable assets that one can ever aspire to possess, given that it is permanent in nature and it is an enduring investment.

    Though the value may vary from time to time, but it is not subject to permanent waste and it can thus be passed on from one generation to another. That is why it is often termed ‘Real Property’, which cannot be destroyed.

    The most notable danger to this precious asset however is trespass, most oftentimes by the same vendor that assigned the land in the first place.

    Many people struggle to save money to be able to acquire just one plot of land and upon acquisition, they start the next process of savings to be able to build it, so we have the ugly scenario whereby many plots of land remain vacant and unoccupied, leaving room for criminal trespass by land speculators, squatters and thugs alike.

    In law, there is a possibility that you may lose your land due to your own negligence or carelessness.

    Under and by virtue of section 16 of the Limitation Law of Lagos State:

    “16 – Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) and (3) of this section, no action will be brought by a State authority to recover any land after the expiration of twenty (20) years from the date on which the right of action accrued to the State authority, or if it first accrued to some person through whom the State authority claims, to that person,

    (2) – The following provisions will apply to an action by a person to recover land –

    (a) subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, no such action will be brought after the expiration of twelve (12) years from the date on which the right of action accrued to the person brining it or, if it first accrued to some person through whom there are claims, to that person,

    (b) If the right of action first accrued to a State authority, the action may be brought at any time before the expiration of the period during which the action could have been brought by the State authority, or of twelve (12) years from the date on which the right of action accrued to some person other than the State authority, whichever period first expires,

    (3) For the purposes of this Law, a right of action to recover any land which accrued to the Republic or to the Lagos State before the commencement of this Law will be deemed to have been exercisable by an appropriate State authority on the date on which it first accrued to the Republic or to Lagos State, as the case may be.”

    From the above provisions, anyone who desires to claim any interest in land can only do so through the court within twelve years of the accrual of the cause of action.

    Ordinarily, the period of limitation begins to run from the date the cause of action arose, so long as the claimant is under no legal disability which may postpone the application of the statutory limitation.

    The best mode of calculating the actual period of the accrual of the cause of action is to probe into when the wrong was committed, as for instance when the trespasser entered upon the land, when the land was sold or when construction started on the land.

    This of course does not affect claims for a declaration of title to land which is based purely on customary law, which in most cases is predicated on traditional history spanning many decades, often referred to as ‘time immemorial’.

    What this simply means is that you cannot acquire land and go to sleep.

    Where it is impossible for one reason or the other to develop the land immediately, you have to work out convenient strategies of monitoring the land, the most common of which is to engage local security men to occupy a make-shift structure on the land.

    In such a case, be sure to issue out an official receipt of the temporary occupancy, even if the occupier is not actually paying. In addition to this, you may also consider developing friendly relations with a trusted member of the family that sold the land, or partner with a security man in the neighbourhood, constantly loading his phone with credit so he is encouraged to call you very often, to give situation reports constantly.

    Alternatively, you may engage a local farmer, if the land is located in some undeveloped area, or give it out to religious organizations for their programmes, provided you are careful to document the transaction.

    In the eyes of the law, twelve years is long enough for anyone to challenge any trespass to or interference with land, after which it is reasonable to conclude that the original owner is no longer interested in or has waived his rights over the land. The problem in most cases is that some people acquire land without disclosing even to their spouses, such that in the case of any eventuality like untimely death, the family may not be aware of the existence of the land at all, or by the time they get to know of it, the right has become extinguished by statute.

    ADDENDUM

    Cross-River State House of Assembly Moves to Outlaw Land Use Act:

    It was reported in the news last week, that the Cross-River State House of Assembly has commenced the process of passing a Bill that will confer rights of ownership of land directly on the indigenes. Their infallible reasoning is that:

    “The use of overriding state interest in land allocation exercised by the governors means that they own land in trust for the people. But examples show that communal laws safeguarding communal land rights are relegated and the Land Use Act becomes the instrument of appropriation and dispossession of communities’ lands. It must be noted that once the purpose of land acquisition by government ceases to apply, land ought to revert to the communities.”

    You can never fault this, so I support the move by the Cross Riverians. I had stated in a previous piece on this page that Nigerians should rise up to challenge the Land Use Act and strike it down, being a defective piece of military legislation designed to snatch land from our people. In that piece, I had opined that:

    “In a country like Nigeria where so much dependence is on mines and minerals, including gold, oil and gas, there has been a lot of disputes and court cases on ownership of land. This is the spirit behind the theory of compulsory acquisition of land, where government has perfected the style of divesting traditional ownership of land from the people and then turn around to re-allocate same to others, under the guise of overriding public purpose, which has now been extended to commercial development of estates. This is what the courts must tackle and resolve on the side of the people, as any purpose that does not bear general utility value, such as land acquired for building schools, roads, hospitals or such other public infrastructure, should not in any way count as ‘overriding public purpose’. How do you take over land, acquire it compulsorily and then turn around to allocate the same land to a private company, who then develops a layout plan and begins to sell the same land to members of the public, who are not part of the land-owning family? The original land owners and their coming generations are then thrown into the streets and at times rendered completely homeless. It is injustice of the highest order, which must stop. How do you rob Peter to pay Paul?”

    This is the mischief that Cross-Rivers State is seeking to cure with its proposed legislation and all people of good conscience should support it.

    Ownership of land in most cases is by traditional history and such an item should not be elevated to national prominence as to insert the Land Use Act in the Constitution so that it cannot be amended or repealed. Government cannot seek to dispossess the people of their customary inheritance with one hand and then transfer it to total strangers with the other.

    In some cases, these strangers apply for land under the guise of agricultural or even educational purposes only to turn around later to commercialise same and turn it into commercial or residential estates.

    Some years back, the Lagos State Government took the bold initiative to challenge the federal government in respect of its control of inland waterways, by promulgating its own municipal law to regulate its inland waters, wherein it repealed the National Inland Waterways Authority Act.

    This was upheld by the Court of Appeal in a recent decision, leading to some memorandum of understanding between the two tiers of government.

    I urge other States to follow the courageous initiative of Cross-Rivers State and return land to the people, the rightful owners.

    When the federal government moved the seat of power to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, virtually the whole of Ikoyi land became vacant.

    In a very smart and bold move, the Onikoyi Royal family, ably (and rightly) supported by the Lagos State Government, moved to the court to claim back all land vacated by the federal government. That is how it should be; namely that the policy of compulsory acquisition of land should be abolished outrightly, but if at all, the land should revert to the original owners, once the purpose of acquisition becomes defeated, abandoned or outlived.

    If section 2 (2) of the Constitution, wherein it is stated that “Nigeria shall be a Federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory” is true and correct, then we should not maintain any regime that allows the government to oppress the people over their land.

     

    • To be continued next week

  • Businessman docked over alleged N14m ”spiritual” scam

    A 32-year-old businessman, Chinedu Okoye, who allegedly obtained N14 million from a man to solve his ”spiritual problems”, on Monday appeared in an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, Lagos.

    Okoye is charged with conspiracy, obtaining under false pretences and perverting the cause of justice, to which he pleaded not guilty.

    The Prosecution Counsel, Insp. Ingobo Emby, told the court that the defendant committed the offence between March 1 and April 24, at Plot 3508, Dominic Obiajiku St., Devine Estate, Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos.

    Emby said that the defendant fraudulently obtained N14 million from Mr Obiora Elefobiri, that he would provide spiritual solutions for him, a representation he knew was false.

    READ ALSO: Businessman docked for allegedly defrauding Senator of N33m

    “He did not provide the spiritual solutions, but converted the money to his personal use,” the prosecutor said.

    Emby said the defendant also conducted himself in a manner likely to pervert the cause of justice by aiding the escape of his elder brother, Arinze Okoye, a suspect under investigation in a case of conspiracy and fraud.

    According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened the provisions of sections 97(1), 287, 314(2) and 411of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    Magistrate M.O. Ope-Agbe admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N17 million with two sureties in like sum.

    Ope-Agbe adjourned the case until Oct. 16 for mention.

    (NAN)

  • Visitor ‘rapes’ host’s daughter

    The police in Lagos have arrested a 34-year-old man Innocent Ifunayachi for allegedly drugging and raping a teenage daughter of his host.

    The suspect was said to be a family friend and had visited the family at their Bariga Lagos residence on September 11.

    He was said to have met the 14-year-old victim eating noodles and laced the staple with dried Marijuana when the teenager left her meal to get him a drink.

    The teenager was said to have returned to her meal and eaten it not knowing that it had been drugged.

    She was said to have lost consciousness afterwards and he allegedly took advantage of her.

    Similarly, the police arrested 24-year-old Dayo Maker for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl and threatening to do same to her younger sister.

    Read Also: Police arrest ‘fake’ EFCC official in Lagos

    Maker, a resident of 26, Oresegun Street, Ilaje Bariga, was said to have conspired with one Kazeem Bello, 26, to rape the victim last November. The victim was said to have become  pregnant after the incident and was delivered of the baby five weeks ago.

    Although the girl never told anyone how she got pregnant following threats from Maker, it was gathered that she opened up to her family when the suspect threatened to rape her younger sister.

    According to police spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), the suspects were arrested by detectives attached to the Family Support Unit (FSU) Bariga.

    He said the 14-year-old victim was taken to the hospital for treatment and forensic examination.

    Elkana said efforts were on to arrest Bello, who is currently at large, adding that the suspects in custody would be charged to court.

  • Gbajabiamila visits Katsina over security challenges

    The Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, has visited Katsina State to access the level of insecurity with a view to finding lasting solutions.

    Gbajabiamila disclosed this on Monday when he visited Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari.

    “We are here to see what is happening on the ground, discuss with the governor and proffer possible solutions to the problems.

    “Nigeria is one country, a state alone cannot deal with this, there must be something which we can do to assist.

    He said that no one can assist the state by just seeing reports in the media.

    “We have been to Zamfara and Borno States, the situation is almost the same everywhere we go.

    Read Also: House of Reps set for agenda, reforms -Gbajabiamila

    “The issue of kidnappers is the major problem here, though things have now subsided because the governor has done so much,’’ he said.

    Responding, Masari said that the porosity nature of the nation’s borders also contribute to the level of insecurity challenges in the country.

    He said that drug abuse and trafficking was mostly accompanied by arms trafficking.

    “Our legislators need to do some legislation to address the situation otherwise criminals will continue to move from one country to another,’’ he said.

    He said that the government identified that the bandits were neglected for several years.

    “It is a signal for us to do the necessary, and what is necessary is education.

    “We will give the people living at the grassroots good education that will afford them to earn a living by way of learning some trades.

    “I believe, you cannot be a good cattle rearer without good education,’’ Masari said.

  • Tribunal upholds election of Gov. Makinde

    The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ibadan on Monday, upheld the victory of Gov. Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Adebayo Adelabu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had filed petition against Makinde in the March 9 Governorship election in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Adelabu and his party APC challenged the declaration of Makinde by INEC as the winner of March 9 governorship election in Oyo State.

    Makinde polled 515,621 votes to defect his closest rival, Adelabu who had 357,982 votes while PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are also respondents.

    The petitioners said that Makinde was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes, adding that election was marred by over voting and failure to comply with the provision of Electoral Act.

    Adelabu, therefore, prayed the tribunal to declare him the winner of the election, adding that he scored the highest number of lawful votes or alternatively, the tribunal should nullify the election and order a re-run.

    The Chairman of the tribunal three-man tribunal, Justice Muhammed Sirajo who delivered the unanimous judgment said the testimonies of the ward and local government agents, called by the petitioners could, not be relied.

    According to the tribunal, the agents were not speak the truth but and only relied on what they were been told by the polling units agents

    He said that 32 pieces of evidence, out of the 69 witnesses called by the petitioners were hearsay because the petitioners were ward and local government collation agents while the remaining 37 were polling unit agents.

    Sirajo said that the petitioners called 69 witnesses and tendered 4,164 exhibits while the respondents called 15 witnesses, adding that said the testimony of an eye witness must come from the polling units agents who witnessed all that happened from the beginning to the end during the election.

    The tribunal said that the petitioners also failed to tender necessary documents that would assist members of the tribunal in proving ballot paper accounting.

    Read Also: Seyi Makinde: A child of circumstance

    He said that it was not only the responsibilities of petitioners to tender documents but also to prove that the alleged irregularities in the election substantially affected the outcome of the election.

    Sirajo said that the petitioners failed to prove that the respondents were not validly elected by majority of lawful votes.

    “The petitioner failed to prove the allegation of non-compliance, non-accreditation, over voting and corrupt practices that would warrant the tribunal to nullified the election,“ he said.

    Sirajo, who said that the petition lacked merit and stood dismissed, awarded N200, 000 cost against the petitioners..

    In an interview, the counsel to the petitioners, Mr Akin Oladeji, said they would decide on next line of action after studying the judgment

    (NAN)

  • Xenophobia: 320 Nigerians to return from South Africa on Tuesday – Mission

    Nigeria Consul-General in Johannesburg, Godwin Adama, says 320 Nigerians have been registered to be evacuated from South Africa on Tuesday Sept. 17.

    Adama disclosed this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, while giving update on plans to evacuate the second batch of Nigerians.

    The consul-general, who said that the flight would be leaving South Africa around 6 pm on Tuesday, added that the number of Nigerians willing to come back home following the attacks had increased to over 1000.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first batch of 187 Nigerians willing to return were transported back home from South Africa on Wednesday Sept. 11.

    The envoy said the evacuation process was difficult, adding that proper documentation was ongoing to transport those willing to return home as number keep increasing daily.

    “More Nigerians are still coming to register; delay was due to compilation of names and in order to .tell the airline operators about our arrangement.

    “We register over 100 intending returnees every day and as we talk now, they are over 1000; they are increasing every day.

    “Already, we have 320 names so far registered in the manifest and the next evacuation will be tomorrow, Tuesday at 6p.m.,” he said.

    The envoy also said that the flight had to be scheduled for Tuesday to ensure hitch-free flight.

    Read Also: Xenophobia: The man who ignited the fire

    “We also wanted to ensure that we have more than enough passengers; we do not want more seats to be empty as previous evacuation.

    “We have liaised with the authorities now; we have held joint meeting with the host immigration service and other protocol. So, we are all on the same page,” he added.

    The Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, had volunteered to release aircraft, free of charge, for evacuation of Nigerians willing to return home following the xenophobic attacks.

    “Air Peace is willing to support the Nigerian government’s efforts in this matter by deploying our aircraft to evacuate Nigerians back home,” Onyema said.

    NAN

     

  • Xenophobia: Ramaphosa apologies to Buhari

    South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday apologised to President Muhammadu Buhari over xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.

    Many Nigerians had lost their lives and properties due to the increasing xenophobic attacks in the country.

    Two Special envoys from South Africa delivered Ramaphosa’s message to Buhari during a closed door meeting in Aso Rock.

    One of the special envoy, Jeff Radebe briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.

  • Obasanjo, others urge Africa to learn from global trends

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other stakeholders at a security forum on Monday stressed the need for Africa to carefully study global trends with a view to learning and positioning the region at an enviable height.

    They spoke in Abeokuta at the Second Intellectual Fiesta on Africa’s Development.

    The theme of the programme, which was organised by the Centre for Human Security and Dialogue, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), was  “Emerging Developments in Europe and North America: Lessons for Human Security in Africa.”

    Obasanjo, who was a special guest at the event, noted in his opening remarks that the world had become a global village with interdependence consequences.

    While urging African countries to take keen interest in developments in Europe and North- America, the former president warned that the region must not copy or sheepishly follow the process in such socio-economic, political and cultural trends.

    ” We have to study the trends to take the things that could be beneficial to us and discard things that are inimical to our development, ” he said.

    A communique issued at the end of the dialogue noted that recent developments in Europe and North- America, particularly in education, health, politics, economy and culture had ongoing and potential impact on Africa’s development.

    It particularly noted in Europe and North-America the growing self-centrism, America-first, Brexut, growth of rightist movements, protectionism and dissolution of trade deals.

    The communique said Africa must take a cue from Europe and North- America where huge investment was being committed to education considered as a potent pathway of improving human security.

    “Such investment, among other benefits, will ultimately contribute to reducing terrorism and violent extremism in Africa,” it said.

    It recommended that Africa should stop paying lip service to the concept of self reliance but should take practical steps to ensuring self reliance in food and nutrition by engaging and encouraging interested citizens in agribusiness.

    The communique, which noted that Africa was not paying due attention to “the Trumpian phenomenon” called for an observatory committee to monitor its impact on the world order and develop a coping strategy.

    It recommended that Africa should initiate and improve on policies which place emphasis on youth development and employment.

    Read Also: Presidency tackles ex-Vice President Atiku over Obasanjo

    The communique also stressed the need for human security policy at the national and regional level while harmonising efforts of agencies involved in human security that currently operate in silos.

    “Although we should feel concerned about issues relating to market economy and liberal democracy, Africa should define the form of governance that is contextually relevant to the African setting and not assume that what is working in Europe and North America will work for us.

    “Africa should stop putting the responsibilities of its challenges on the colonialists.

    “The international community does not owe Africa respect but Africa has to earn the respect through defining for itself the type of development that is contextually beneficial to individual countries and the continent,” it added

    NAN

  • ‘NYSC didn’t post Corps members to religious organisations’

    THE Ondo State secretariat of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has denied posting its members to religious organisations, especially churches.

    Its spokesman Bankole Simeone made the clarification on Sunday in Akure, the state capital.

    He said the NYSC secretariat in the state was responding to the trending “fake story” on the social media to clear its name.

    The spokesman stressed that the secretariat would not go against the established policy of the scheme.

    Simeone said: “The NYSC in Ondo State has observed with dismay the fake news trending on the social media about a purported allegation that the secretariat has posted some corps members to religious organisations, especially churches.

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    “Ordinarily, one would have ignored the report as a figment of the writer’s imagination. But as a responsible corporate citizen, we do not treat any matter regarding or relating to our esteemed and patriotic corps members with levity.

    “The story is not only untrue but mischievous, misleading and contains fallacies capable of tarnishing the good image the secretariat is enjoying in the public eye.

    “Ondo State cannot work at crossroads with the directives or policies of the National Youth Service Corps scheme where it is clearly stated that no corps member should be posted to religious organisations.

    “We have never done so and we do not intend to compromise on this very sensitive posting policy.

    “I wish to state categorically that apart from the four key areas, which the policy is clear and unambiguous about, other areas we serve because of their voluntary nature of assignment are non-governmental and cultural organisations.”

    Simeone added that any posting done in error or contrary to the established policy would be reversed immediately it is brought to the notice of the management.

    He advised the public to disregard the purported allegations in the social media report.