The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian Newspapers

  • S’Africa’s envoy heads for Nigeria on peace mission

    SOUTH Africa has finally decided to reach out to Nigeria and other countries worse-hit by xenophobic attacks in its territory.

    President Cyril Ramaphosa has despatched his envoy to Abuja to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to explain his country’s commitment to “Pan African unity and solidarity”.

    He would also speak on steps taken to end the attacks on foreigners and to bring perpetrators to account.

    The attacks and killings have strained the relationship between the two countries.

    President Buhari sent a special envoy to express the Federal Government’s displeasure.

    Also at the weekend, Zimbabweans booed President Ramaphosa during the funeral of former President Robert Mugabe.

    On Sunday, President Ramaphosa’s spokesman Khusela Diko said three envoys would visit Nigeria and six other countries.

    He added that the envoys would deliver the president’s message regarding the attacks on foreign nationals and destruction of property.

    They will also reassure fellow African countries that South Africa is committed to the ideals of pan-African unity and solidarity.

    Besides, the envoys will reaffirm South Africa’s commitment to the rule of law.

    Diko listed the other countries for visitation as Niger, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

    They will brief the governments about steps being taken by South Africa to halt the attacks and to bring the perpetrators to book.

    Nigerian citizens are fleeing South Africa following the wave of deadly xenophobic attacks.

    After private airline Air Peace volunteered to fly people back home for free, a flight carrying 189 Nigerians landed in Lagos last Wednesday.

    Another batch of 320 Nigerians is due for evacuation tomorrow, the airline’s management confirmed on Sunday.

    One-time External Affairs Minister Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi has urged the Federal Government to sue South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the attacks.

    He called on Nigeria to file complaints against specific South African officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for aiding and abetting the xenophobic attacks.

    To ensure the return of the second batch of Nigerians, a Boeing 777-300 belonging to Air Peace and its crew will depart Lagos in the early hours of tomorrow for the Oliver Tambo International Airport in South Africa.

    Air Peace Chairman Allen Onyema told The Nation that the airline was working with the Nigerian High Commissioner in South Africa, which he said confirmed the ongoing profiling of Nigerians willing to return.

    According to him, the airline was ready for the operation, noting that efforts were on to deploy a bigger aircraft with a capacity for 367 passengers to bring more Nigerians willing to return home.

    He said the High Commission had prepared over 350 Nigerians for the flight.

    The Air Peace chairman, however, hopes that the immigration hurdles  that forced the airline to return half-full during last week’s evacuation, would not play out again.

    Read Also: Buhari sends emissary to Ramaphosa

    Onyema said the carrier would be willing to deploy a bigger aircraft if it is sure that the affected Nigerians would scale relevant immigration hurdles set by South African authorities.

    He said: “Air Peace is fully mobilised for the next batch of evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa. We did not suspend flights; we only waited for the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa to prepare the next batch. The idea is not to fly a half-full aircraft, which would make us incur more costs.

    “We are fully set for Tuesday. Our aircraft and crew will leave about 4 o’clock and get to South Africa about 9 o’clock for the operations. We hope about 350 Nigerians are ready so that we will fly enough passengers, not to leave the aircraft empty.”

    Also, bookings to South African Airways have reduced significantly since the xenophobic attacks started.

    Checks with travel agencies in Nigeria revealed that the airline has suffered drastic reduction in flight bookings since the attacks increased.

    A senator representing Enugu East Senatorial District, Chimaraoke Nnamani, yesterday called on the Federal Government to create a rehabilitation programme for Nigerian-returnee.

    He urged well-meaning Nigerians, corporate and charity organisations to join in the rehabilitation efforts.

    The lawmaker commended the management of Air Peace for the prompt intervention to rescue fellow citizens.

    In a statement he issued in Abuja yesterday, the senator said he was particularly touched by the patriotism and uncommon spirit of brotherhood exhibited by Onyema and his team.

    South Africa has been hit by a new spate of violence for the past few weeks. At least 12 people, including 10 South Africans and two foreigners, have reportedly been killed.

    South Africa is host to some 274,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from African countries, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

    Xenophobia-related attacks are common in South Africa, where foreigners are blamed for taking up employment that should have been taken by locals.

  • ‘Pesticides affecting farmers’ produce

    A consultant to the World Bank, Prof. Abel Ogunwale, has urged government to take steps to control the flow of chemical pesticides to save agribusiness from financial losses.

    Ogunwale said farmers who use pesticides or fertiliser on their crops risk reduced yield or their produce being damaged or destroyed.

    Pesticides are chemicals used in agriculture to control pests, they are among the range of measures farmers take to protect their crops.

    Ogunwale said the use of substandard, fake and counterfeit pesticides has serious implications for farmers, saying such agro-chemicals not only fail to take care of pests, but also inflict damage on crops and the environment. They also result in losses to farmers because of lower yields.

    Aside from revenue loss, Ogunwale said substandard pesticides have negative consequences for end users as well.

    According to Ogunwale, fertile lands require special care to ensure high productivity, resistance to pests and diseases, and maintenance of the soil biodiversity.

    He urged the government to step up efforts to properly regulate the sale and distribution of farming inputs used for soil fertility and pest control.

  • Glo data raid?

    What’s this — looking a gift horse in the mouth?  Or a compelling friendly fire?

    08054504169 is one of Glo’s dedicated media lines, powered by the telco with N10, 000 airtime monthly, even if the beneficiary subscriber also tops up with between N3, 000 and N5, 000 every month, depending on his consumption of voice calls and data.

    This month, however, an account that has never dipped to N1, 000 before top-up is hitting a trough of N849.35 — and further down.  But the subscriber cannot top up — no thanks to what appears the telco’s raid on his credit balance, purportedly for data auto-renew.

    From August 30 (when the subscriber’s N2000 monthly data subscription from July 31 to August 30 lapsed), Glo has auto-renewed the data plan four times: August 30 (to expire September 29); Sept. 6 (to expire October 6); Sept. 8 (to expire October 8); and Sept. 13 (to expire October 13)!  Still, 08054504169’s data consumption has not radically flared!

    All of these transactions can be confirmed in Glo’s text message communication with 08054504169.

    In other words, a data plan that hitherto lasted one month, for the last three years at least, now started lasting days — the longest, this data tornado month of September, lasting from August 30 to Sept. 6: seven days!

    In an especially swift and triumphant raid, Glo even declared a one-month plan over in two swift days — from Sept. 6 to Sept. 8!  Glo, we hail o!

    The other renew, from Sept. 8 to Sept. 13, lasted five days — complete with the “huge 934.2 bonus data” (Glo’s exact words), that comes with auto-renewal before data plan expiry.

    So, between August 30 and September 13, Glo has grossed N8, 000 (pre-September, a comfy bill for a four-month data plan) — and only Glo knows how many days that last renew would run out, before it cones raiding again!  So, an account that was well over N10, 000 on August 30 is down below N1, 000, on purported data alone!

    The most annoying thing is before the September 8 “renewal”, the subscriber chose to cancel the auto-renew plan, as the Glo text requested.  But alas!  Despite sending “cancel”, Glo still renewed and deducted!

    It was then a furious subscriber that yelled at the Glo customer service line to complain.  Though the prompt and polite female voice, at the other end, admitted Glo got the “cancel” text, she said once data had been transferred, no reversal could be effected; and no refund made, even if the error was Glo’s!

    It’s also amazing how the Glo customer service, virtual or physical, only seem to listen to themselves.  Both on the customer service line (twice) and face-to-face at the Cele Glo centre, on Apapa-Oshodi expressway (once to complain on this issue), that attitude — and it’s very annoying — is that the customer is always wrong; and Glo is too structured to be at fault.  That’s very dangerous thinking for any business.

    There would appear a glitch in the Glo network, particularly its billings for data.  The management had better check it out, admit its fault if it is wrong, and re-credit subscribers already wrongly billed.

    Otherwise, the telco would stand legitimately charged for subscriber-fleecing.  Even if the NCC is slow to sanction, subscriber-fleecing is no strategy to grow sales and expand the network.  Rather, it’s a fast track to contraction and ruin.

    A word is enough for the wise.

  • AIICO gets Executive Director

    The Board of Directors of AIICO Insurance Plc has appointed Mr. Olusola Ajayi as Executive Director, its Head, Strategic Marketing & Communications Department, Segun Olalandu, announced in Lagos.

    In a statement, he said it follows the approval of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

    Olusola is an experienced business leader with over fifteen years’ leadership positions in management consulting and insurance in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. He joined AIICO in 2009 as head of the Business Strategy and Transformation teams.

    In 2013, ‘Sola assumed leadership of the retail life insurance business, and has led the transformation of the agency business, by deploying cutting-edge solutions and enabling capabilities which has resulted in significant growth in the company’s annual premiums and asset under management (AUM).

    Prior to joining AIICO, he worked at the prestigious consulting firm Accenture (Lagos) in the Financial Services market unit, before joining Deloitte Consulting (London, UK). As a business consultant in both firms, he supported/led business transformation initiatives in Strategy, Process Optimisation and Technology Deployments.

    In this new position, he will oversee the group retail division, with a mandate to drive growth across the group retail businesses and retaining AIICO as an industry leader.

    Mr. Olusola currently serves as Chairman of the Board of AIICO Multishield Limited, the Group’s Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO). He holds an MBA from INSEAD and obtained his first degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos. Sola is a certified Project Manager as well as a Senior Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria.

  • The Cow and Cowry

    IN the beginning was the land, and the land was with the people and the land was god. No one up till today, in spite of the sophisticates of technology and commerce, has been able to do it in. It has duelled men and with men, and men with it, and there is no effort that people ever made that was without the land.  When we fly, we come down to it alive, lame or dead; or when we paddle through roaring waters, we berth for peace. When it is all over, it has never lost appetite to swallow and digest the end of all flesh.

    It is the light of society even when we try to make light of it. Out of it we feed, on it we walk, from it we fly, for it we war and worry. Also, we make routes and in Nigeria, it has had its own tumults called the herdsmen and farmers.

    With a new government policy, it seems we are making peace with the land. It is perhaps the cowry, the mystique to cow the herd. When the idea was first propounded, the earth shook. They called it RUGA, and the storm was the name, not the idea. Or shall we say the name was the idea. RUGA is an Hausa word, and if it meant anything to those who did not like it, it was that the Hausa-Fulani in high places wanted to take over southern communities.

    Who would not think so when the whole idea was to call them RUGA in Kano and call them RUGA in Sapele or Onitsha. Did the locals not have their language? It came across as a hegemonic gambit and frowned at by those who did not call farm or cattle in the Hausa language.

    Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was at the head of another project known as the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), and had to scramble to dissociate himself from RUGA. It became a name-tainting gamble to stand in Abuja and be tarred with the RUGA brush. Not I, said the vice president as though an echo of the bird in Wole Soyinka’s Death And The King’s Horseman.

    RUGA signified a ranch, but once you called it RUGA, it was a Hausa-Fulani ranch. Language can make the difference between war and peace, joy and suffering. It is a project of power. Literary and political theorists like Michel Foucault call it the rhetoric of discourse. It was language nationalism, and it is a sentiment that can change a meek man into a warrior.

    So, President Muhammadu Buhari cancelled it. So the Osinbajo project, working with others, became the saving face. But it was a project the north wanted, and the north only. Another man who had to confront the bear is the governor of Plateau State who is also the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum. It became clear that Governor Simon Lalong would have to expand his affairs as governor to the tempest of the region.

    But Governior Lalong now abides as governor in a relatively quiescent time, having confronted the apocalypse of the herder’s menace. He had set a template that made Plateau an oasis when others burned. Then the template fell into error from sabotage and it quickly found it feet after many dead. His solution, an envy and copycat of some neighbouring states, makes a case for him to lead his fellow governors at this time of unease in his region. As they say, cometh the hour, cometh the man.

    As one of the key figures working on with the vice president on NLTP committee, he had to bring the experience of the mechanics and politics. When he agreed on bringing ranching to his state, some forces opposed because they saw it has Fulanisation. But what he was doing was to revive a dead project long before he became governor. In fact, the existence of reserves dated back to the military era, to the colleagues of Jeremiah Useni, who got flunked in the last governorship polls.

    He had set up a 12-man committee headed by Prof Ochapa Onazi and members that included traditional rulers, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), as well as civil society organisations. This group recommended ranching. They were to revive the eight reserves in the state. But it turned out the army had appropriated the lands and only two reserves at Wase and Kanam survived the onslaught.

    The new project will encompass not only cows but also hens, goats, cocks, pigs, et al. It is a new way for peace, if we are ready for it. What this means is that herders don’t have to go about from place to place. Their cows will not moo into farms and munch the riches.

    If this works, it will be a historic shift. If the herders see their nomadic life as not only economic but also cultural, the NLTP project is fundamental, at least in the north. So what happens to the cattle and the argument that the cow cannot survive anything but a nomadic life. Obviously, it made no sense. The cow can be sedentary. It can sit, mull and moo.

    The cow will not mystify the grand poet John P. Clark, who in his famous poem, Fulani Cattle, wondered “what secret hope or knowledge/ locked in your hump away from man/ imbues you with courage/ so mute and fierce and wan/ That, not demurring nor kicking/ you go to the house of slaughter?”

    With Prof Osinbajo and Lalong working together, shall we not see this as the first major seed in putting to an end the suspicion? We still need to know the details. How is it going to be funded? Governor Lalong says it will be piloted by the federal government but it is essentially a local affair. Ironically the whole story started in the Jonathan era, and it had budgeted N100 billion. The Plateau State Governor clarified that the Buhari administration did not allocate N100 billion towards the dream.

    Peace is the first condition for prosperity. Governor Lalong with his colleagues just launched a mall in Kaduna as part of the effort to turn the north into post-crisis place. But Lalong knows that this is no easy venture. His experience in Plateau knows that to reconcile, you must watch. If he has been able to do it in Plateau, he has the challenge to do it all over north, especially with the bandits abroad in bushes and highways. the goons are rattling Governor Masari of Katsina State who heads the committee whose report is expected soon on security.

    The northern crisis has lingered too long. Lalong seems poised for success. So are all Nigerians.

     

    The Old man at Sea

     

    TO be old in Nigeria is to bleed and die alone. That explains the pensions system. It is tragic that most states are not interested in the lives and welfare of our senior citizens. Barely a third of the states pay pensions in the country. Rochas Okorocha, for all of his noise and flamboyant talk, has not been able to deny the charge that he did not pay pensioners when he was in office, even though he still would not yield government properties. For 77 months most of them did not get paid. Governor Emeka Ihedioha is undergoing a biometric investigation of those who are really elders. Preliminary report shows that there are ghost old men and women. Governor Ihedioha wants to know them and start payment immediately.

    His team is taking the data and combing everywhere. Old men should not be taken for granted. Gone are the days of communal joy when the old depended on the young. The rise of the city with individualism has alienated our senior citizens. They can hardly feed or enjoy healthcare. Hence the playwright, Tennessee Williams noted in his play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, that “you can be young without money, but you cannot be old without money.” Kudos Ihedioha.

  • Council chief inaugurates road, streetlight

    THE Ifako Ijaiye Local Government Chairman Apostle Oloruntoba Oke, has assured residents of his commitment to safety of lives and zero tolerance for crime and criminality in the local government.

    He spoke on Friday at the commissioning of streetlights on two major roads, launched two school buses and inaugurated one of the roads constructed by his administration.

    Oke, while commissioning the streetlights on Barrister Kunle Fadipe Street (formerly General Hospital Road), off College Road, Ifako, stated that his administration took a decision to illuminate the  area to prevent incidences of bags and cars snatching, as well as armed robbery attacks on unsuspecting members of the public under the cover of darkness.

    He said, “Besides this road being host to one of the foremost secondary hospitals in the state, we decided to light up this road, to arrest cases of  bags and cars snatching, armed  robbery attacks in the area. It is our believe that with this area well illuminated especially at night, it would not only complement the illumination done by the state government on the Jonathan Coker/College Road, and with this entire area fully illuminated, residents and commuters would feel safer.”

    Launching the two 49-seater capacity school buses for pupils of the council, after inaugurating the streetlights, the council boss said; “the reason for the project was to further boost education and relief parents and guardians especially of public school pupils of the burdens of having to provide transport for their children/ward”, adding that his administration would continue to give education the desired priority.

    He said the buses, which would ply the two entry points of the council, which is Agege and Ishaga, would not discriminate between pupils of public or private schools.

    At Moshalashi Alao Street, where Oke commissioned both the road and streetlights, he said it’s the fulfilment of his electioneering campaigns to the people of the area, saying that; “the whole essence of governance is to give people what they want and motivate them to perform their civic obligations to the government.” He added that  in a couple of weeks, the ongoing road construction in Eyiowuawi Street, would  be delivered while pledging to also work on Omomo Street and others as soon as possible.

    The Baale of Ibari, Chief  Akeem Muraina, who amongst other residents  lauded the chairman for living up to his promise and their expectations, pledged to ensure the safety of the facilities put in their domains.

     

  • Group seeks reconciliation in Ondo APC

    Ahead of next year’s governorship election in Ondo State, a group, Continuity For Good Governance (CGG), has called for peace and unity among All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwarts.

    The group is championing the second term bid of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN). At its stakeholders meeting in Ijapo, Akure , the state capital, the group appealed to party members  to embrace unity.

    It urged party loyalists to chart a new course for the development of the party and the state.

    A communique by its Director of Publicity, Prince Kayode  Ehinlanwo, said the party cannot afford the continuation of rancour and disharmony  amongst APC gladiators.

    The group said: “As a matter of fact, nobody can deny the narrative of unprecedented infrastructural developments across Ondo State, and the regular payment of salary and pension to the retirees, in spite of harsh economic realities.

    “The ongoing industrial revolution in Ore and other parts of the state will create more jobs for our youths and increase the state IGR.

    “We are not saying that those who show interest to be governor are not qualified. They are all qualified. Some are even qualified to be President, but all cannot be governor at the same time. More so, when we have a preforming governor in place.

    “We, therefore, appeal to our leaders across the state to prioritise the interest of our people  and join hands with Mr Governor to move the party and the state forward.”

    The group also implored Akeredolu  to take charge of the party and bring every member, irrespective of their backgrounds or groups, together in the interest of the state.

    It added: “We implore Akeredolu as the leader of the party to bring his arbitrating expertise and ample humility into play, to pacify the aggrieved and assure loyalists.”

    The group urged the people to keep faith with Akeredolu.

    It said: “Akeredolu means well for the overall development of the state. He has integrity and he is a Governor whose words are his bound with total commitment to his oath of allegiance to govern the state with excellence.”

  • Community protests blackout

    RESIDENTS of Orile Agege in Lagos State have staged a protest at the Ikeja Electric (IE) Plc office in the community.

    The protest, according to the residents, was to get their issues resolved following a power blackout in the community since June 30.

    The residents said a transformer serving Alonge Street, Ajiboye Crescent, Oshikalu Estate and parts of Lagos Abeokuta Expressway, had its cable stolen last June and since then the areas attached to the transformer have been in total darkness.

    They claimed that IE asked them to pay N1.7 million to get the cables fixed, but could only raise N900,000. They called on government to come to their aid.

    The aggrieved residents while expressing their displeasure over the blackout disrupted activities in the IE office for several hours; they raised pla cards with such inscriptions as  “We are tired of ghost customers attached to our transformer, why are you still operating like the failed PHCN”, “IE Orile-Agege undertaking: stop this xenophobic attack on our transformer .”

    The leader of the protesters, Damilola Olorunto said the problem began June 30.

    “We just woke up that Sunday morning and there was no light. We assumed it was the normal blackout but after 24 hours, I went to the transformer and discovered that some cables were not there, so I called for the IE officials here in Orile Agege to fix the transformer as I always did, but getting there, they told us that the transformer has been vandalized and cables stolen.

    Read Also: Lagos lawmaker makes case for renewable energy

    “Normally when transformer is vandalised, the cables are cut, but at our transformer, the cables were loosened at both ends indicating that it wss an expert work. I am an electrical engineer, so I know well about cables.

    “After six weeks we were told that the total amount for the stolen transformer cables was N600,000 and that we should raise the money by paying what is on our bills. When the money raised was over N400,000, we were told by the IE to pay double of what was on our bill for them to come and fix the transformer. We rallied round again and the money raised was about N592,000 but they later changed the amount and told us it was N1.2m they were expecting from us.

    “We (some of us in the affected communities) went round to beg residents affected to pay but by three weeks ago, we were told its N1.9m that we should raise, at this point , I told them at the IE that there was no how we could raise such money because they had not even given us light in almost three months. I also wondered if it was residents responsibility to go round houses to collect bill’s for IE. At some point the IE officials told us to pay N1.7m to get it fixed.  All together we have been able to raise almost N900,000 and yet the light is not fixed.

    “We were given a list that we have 159 customers on the transformer but going round we discovered that 64 houses are not on the transformer, including a demolished building that was billed over N2m, abandoned buildings and empty land.  We have also been to the IE office in Ponle, Egbeda but nothing has been done.”

    He lamented that business cannot go far in the community, saying they buy fuel at least N500 everyday.

    “We are here for this protest because we want to escalate this issue to the highest authority to resolve it for us. We have tried our best but it seems our best is not enough and the IE are not ready to shift grounds. If we have raised N900,000 without using light for almost three months, they should listen to us and restore our light,” he said.

    A resident in Oshikalu estate, Princess Adesanya begged government to intervene.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Police arrest ‘fake’ EFCC official in Lagos

    RESIDENTS of Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area, Lagos State have been advised to pay attention to their environment to avoid environmental disasters.

    This was the crux of the message of Hon Joseph Kehinde, member representing Alimosho Constituency 1 to his people at the constituency stakeholders’ meeting held at the council head-office in Ikotun, Lagos.

    Chairman of the LCDA, Chief Mrs. Morenike Adeshina Williams, party dignitaries in the community, traditional rulers and other community stakeholders attended the meeting.

    Stressing that the meeting is to “re-orientate ourselves on the need to properly handle our environmental challenges to rid Lagos of its recurrent waste challenges,” Joseph craved the co-operation of all stakeholders in the community, while promising that all the issues espoused and solutions suggested will be tabled before the House of Assembly and governor to prepare the 2020 budget.

    Read Also: Police deploy detectives as gunmen kill six in Kaduna

    A brief video detailing some of the nagging challenges of the community spanning health, education and the environment was also shown, to demonstrate the MPs familiarity with his constituency.

    Speaking on behalf of the traditional rulers in the community, the Elegbe of Egbe, Oba Ashimiyu Olorunfemi called the attention of the authorities to the dilapidated state of the Ikotun-Egbe-Ejigbo road, which he says causes constant gridlock and untold hardship to road users.

    He also condemned the reckless one-way driving of some motorists, which constitutes risk to life and called on the police authorities to rise up to the challenge.

     

     

  • Ihedioha: I have done my best in 100 days

    Imo State Governor Emeka Ihedioha reiterated his commitment to repositioning the state.

    In his address at an event to mark his 100 days in Owerri, the state capital, the governor said he was on course.

    He said the Imo Growth and Strategic Development Agenda plan (G-SDP), a two stage development horizon of a five year economic blueprint conceived by the  Transition Technical Commitee, provided the roadmap for the economic growth and development of the state.

    The governor promised pursue focus on an economic growth and Strategic human capital development, agriculture and food security, infrastructure, industrialisation and job creation as well as security and environment.

    Ihedioha said within 100 days in office, “the State Internal Generated Revenue, IGR, increased from all time low of about 300m in July to 600m in August.

    He added: “This was as a result of transparency and accountability in the governance process with the signing into law, Executive Order 005 known as Treasury Single Account which consolidated all government revenues  under one account.”

    “Imo State is now on track to join open Governance partnership which now qualifies it for performance based grants of the World Bank and other multinational development institutions.”

    Ihedioha said he has paid workers salaries in the State, the backlog of local goverment workers and recalled  unjustly suspended directors, reversed some undeserved promotions and sponsored officers for capacity building programmes.