The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerians

  • Nigerians urged to shun corruption

    Nigerians, especially Christian faithful, should desist from corruption, religious bigotry, inter-tribal conflicts and other practices capable of eroding the peace of the country, President of the Christ Apostolic Church Worldwide, Pastor Abraham Akinosun, has said.

    Akinosun, who spoke at the 19th convocation ceremony of the church’s Theological Seminary in Lagos, urged pastors and other ministers to work harmoniously for the peace of the country.

    According to him, the church is instrumental to the growth of any country, and Christians can only contribute their quota when they live selflessly. The cleric, who lamented that cultism, child labour, hooliganism, rape, murder and kidnapping has contributed to the destruction of Nigeria’s image, said clergymen have a role to play by preaching against these vices.

    By so doing, they would be fulfilling the purpose of their callings, which is centered on preparing people for heaven, and at the same time contributing to the country’s socio-economic growth, he added.

    The cleric urged the graduates to make holiness, humility, love, prayer and soul wining their priority, for in doing so, they would succeed in their ministries.

    Akinosun said: “There are many immoralities in our society today – poorly trained children, cultism, kidnapping, corruption, lack of integrity among leaders, corruption, and crave for material acquisition among Christians. To check these, pastors and other ministers of God have a crucial role to play. They need to go the cities, villages, hamlets and other areas to propagate the gospel. By so doing, they would turn the hearts of many people to God.”

    Lagos Coordinator Pastor Ayo Olaniyi said theological education should be re-defined to accommodate academic, spiritual and physiological training, saying by doing this, pastors would live a purposeful life.

    According to him, purposeful ministers are scarce in Nigeria today because many people are bereft of the knowledge of God. This, he said, is evident by the decision of some ministers to cut corners to survive.

    “Our goal is to provide purposeful, diligent and heavenly-bound ministers, not minding what the society has turned itself to. We are committed to raising people who would transform the society, though the instrumentality of God,” he added.

  • Five Nigerians win AIG scholarship

    •2018/19 applications open

    Five Nigerians and one Ghanaian have won the Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG)’s fully-funded scholarship  programme.

    The winners are Emokiniovo Akpughe (Nigeria), Efosa Trevor Edobor (Nigeria), Abdul-Fatawu Z. Hakeem (Ghana), Chukwunonso Iheoma (Nigeria), Oluwapelumi Simpson (Nigeria) and Emmanuel Taiwo (Nigeria).

    According to a statement from AIG,five scholarships  are made available every year to outstanding West Africans from all backgrounds who are passionate about the public sector, to study for Master of Public Policy degree at the Blavatnik School of Government (BSG), University of Oxford.

    After graduation, the AIG Scholars are expected to return home to apply their learning experience as change agents in the public sector.

    For the ainugural edition, the AIG is sponsoring a six person bringing the total number of AIG Scholarships awarded in the year to six.

    ”We are pleased to support our six AIG Scholars in their aspiration to acquire the skills and experience that will enable them elevate their capabilities and contribute meaningfully to the development of their nations,” said Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, AIG Founder and Chairman. “These outstanding, young Africans will return home after their studies as high-performing public servants.”

    In June 2016, AIG signed a partnership with the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, based on a shared vision of improving the world through good governance and public leadership.

    Under the partnership, AIG will fund five scholarships for graduate study at BSG over the next five years.

    “AIG’s vision is to be a catalyst for public sector transformation – we work with governments, academic institutions and other partners in order to achieve this goal,” said Ms. Chienye Ogwo, Chief Executive Officer of AIG. “We believe that real economic growth in Africa can only be sustained on the backbone of a dynamic and vigorous public sector. Enhancing competencies, therefore, is an indispensable lever for the achievement of this transformation.”

  • Nigerians must rise to the challenge of governance, says Ofeimun

    PROLIFIC writer, poet, and social critic Odia Ofeimun has said the only way Nigeria can experience good governance is for the masses to be actively involved in how the country’s affairs is being run.

    Ofeimun spoke at the maiden lecture of the Department of Political Science of Lagos State University. The lecture had as theme: ‘Constitutionality and the redress of military overhang in contemporary politics’.

    He said: “The only way to run a political party that is not corrupt is for each and every one of us as adults to pay a subvention to a political party we are a part of. Nigeria is conservatively about 170 million people.  In a state like Lagos with conservatively 20 million people, if only five million of the 20 million are giving one naira monthly to their political party, there will be money enough so that they will not need to steal. Then you will have enough money to fight election riggers because we all know our leaders have stolen enough money to run for elective offices.”

    Acting Head of Political Science department Dr. Odion Akhaine, noted that the country is experiencing social disorder because the very tenets of moral is deficient.

    “To be sure, background conditions embrace societal pacts, elite consensus and moral codes, all which coalesces into a compact, in other words, the basic law of society. This is lacking in our political environment and thus constitute an immense omission.”

  • ‘Government should restore confidence in Nigerians’

    ‘Government should restore confidence in Nigerians’

    Convener of the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform (CODER) Ayo Opadokun, in this interview with MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE, explains why government must restore confidence in the people and tackle other urgent challenges facing the country.

    The Britain administration has been criticised for non performance. What is your assessment?

    I sympathised with Nigerians for understanding of the situation. I believe that people have good reasons to be unhappy with the situation. But, I also understand from my knowledge of the state of the country, when President Muhammadu Buhari took over power, that the degeneration in the living condition of our people and state of poverty had become so worrisome. Perhaps, if the last administration had remained in power for another six months, only God know what could have happened. As for President Buhari and state of the economy,  it is a fact that the measures being put in place have yielded immediate positive dividends. I think the government recognizes this fact and sympathized with Nigerian people, who are clamouring for a better deal. Therefore, economically, I think they need to think outside the box, to rescue the situation. That is not unmindful of the fundamentals that were not within the control of the Buhari’s government. It was not the Buhari’s government that instigated the upstaged agitation of the Niger Delta Avengers, that totally brought about the only mean of foreign exchange to the nation to the lowest ebb. When they broke pipes, they made it impossible and difficult for the economy to proceed as it ought to be. If that is the major means of the earning of our foreign exchange, the consequence could only be imagined. To make matters much difficult again, Nigeria operates a money economy as a result of the dubious, irresponsible and criminally minded economic policies of past administrations; Nigeria was only exporting crude oil which is responsible for over 80 per cent of its earnings. The price is controlled by the international market and whatever happened is due to market forces which Nigeria could not determine. So, we can understand that why such consequences are being faced by Nigeria each time the price of oil goes down at the international market. The recession that we are in now, I just want to sustain the hope of our people, what they claim is being done with 2017 budget, if it is judiciously implemented, perhaps we shall see Nigeria will be gradually lifted from recession. There are some Nigerians in the Buhari’s administration that can deliver and are already doing so. The Lagos State government for instance has been able to strike an anchored with the Kebbi State government to the extent that we now have the LAKE Rice. I can only image that if they continue and what Dangote Conglomerates are bout doing in rice, the Abakiliki rice production, I believe that matters of domestic food supply will be well tackled.

    What is your personal assessment of Buhari?

    The Buhari we used to know as military head of State can no longer be said to be the same Buhari. One can understand that there is a difference in age when he first came on board in December 1983 and he came back 2015. So, one can understand the gap. My first from all that I have seen is that perhaps he is no more in control of his government. What has happened over the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) is an indication that perhaps President Buhari is no more in control of his administration and he has a divided Presidency. We are all being treated as nonentity as a result of the disastrous consequence we had in the rejection the nomination of Magu by the Senate, in respect of one panel headed by the Attorney General of Nigeria (AGN). What this means is that Buhari did not do enough background check on Magu before he nominated him. That is an indictment on his leadership. Secondly, it does not help his image, that the Presidency sent a name to the Senate and yet, another arm of the Presidency went ahead to write very pretentious and dubious report on the nominee of the President. They should not imagine that some of us are fools, the AGN is part of the divided Presidency and you are asking him to the report of your divided Presidency. That is one part of the story, again when I look at the way President Buhari has handled security matter and people being beheaded, people being killed massively who say they are herdsmen in some instances like in Benue, Adamawa, Taraba and Kaduna, it is like ethnic cleansing. They will set fire to the homes of the indigenous owners, when they try to escape, they shot and kill them or slaughter them like fowls. They carried out this heinous act for many months until the belated action of the General Officer Commanding the First Division of the Army came to the rescue of the people of Southern Zaria. They have been telling us that they are on top of the situation, being in there normal rhetoric. The most important function of government in any modern state is the protection of lives; if it get to a situation where people had to resort to self help them government must have lost value.  You can understand the kind of agony some of us undergo because of the need to bring about decent society. The current republic we are in did not come so easy, some of us paid with their lives. Some paid with their blood, some with their liberty, and some with a lot of sacrifices. Because of our dedication to the restoration of democracy in Nigeria, we fought better living condition for our people. There is no doubt we have had a raw deal with the Nigerian Army generally. When they are not there directly, it is their agents, accolades, loyalists that they have sponsored. So, they are still in control and have done so much damage to our country.

    The President anti-corruption stance has been criticized as one-sided. Where did government get it wrong?

    Let President Buhari be reminded that the only worthy consideration he presently enjoys from both the international and the domestic community is the significant view that he has established commitment to fight corruption, as a marathon runner rather than a relay-racer. No doubt, his government economic policy measures have not produced expected positive results. We remain within the bracket of war ravaged areas of the world in spite of our being the 8th largest exporter of crude oil for almost 25 years. We exported averagely 2 million barrels per day at 100 USA. Yet Nigeria’s Human Development Index statistics and our GDP analysis is within that of countries like Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Burundi, Congo etc. Thus, Buhari should appreciate that throwing out Magu, the leader of the Anti graft agencies to be so humiliated by the Senate leadership cadre whose membership are being prosecuted for criminal offences by the EFCC is counter-productive and unhelpful to the president’s image.

    Buhari gave many former governors and other politically exposed persons an undeserved platform to vent their anger against a productive public officer. Who else will want to be so vilified for helping Nigeria to tackle the menace that corruption has caused all of us. That the Nigerian state cannot provide any commensurate social services and infrastructure is because of corruption.

  • ‘Only 20 per cent of Nigerians receive mails by post’

    ‘Only 20 per cent of Nigerians receive mails by post’

    ONLY 20 per cent of Nigeria’s over 180 million population receive mail at home, the Post Master General and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) Mr. Bisi Adegbuyi said yesterday.

    Adegbuyi, who spoke at a stakeholders’ forum in his office in Abuja, said a number of measures are being taken to increase the number of inhabitants that receive mails at home in Nigeria.

    According to him, part of the measures being taken was the adoption by NIPOST of an innovative global addressing system known as “what3words.”

    The new platform, which is a ‘Roadmap to Posting the Post to Posterity’, will as well improve delivery services in preparation for the take-off of Nigerian e-commerce, Adegbuyi asserted.

    He explained that Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy and most populous country with approximately 184 million inhabitants is the seventh country to adopt what3words, and the third in Africa, as the system is already being used for mail deliveries in Mongolia, Sint Maarten, Cote d’Ivorie, Djibouti, Tonga and Solomon Islands.

    He said: “Nigeria’s poor addressing system means that only 20 per cent of its inhabitants receive mail at home. Seventy-nine per cent of homes and businesses cannot receive deliveries to the door, and the remaining one per cent receive their mail using one of the 478,000 P.O. boxes throughout the country.

    “A postcode system does exist, but only five per cent of mail gets properly addressed with the postcode, hampering the efforts of NIPOST to improve its quality of service”.

    Determined to improve this situation, he said NIPOST has set itself the target of increasing home delivery to 70 per cent within the next two years and 90 per cent by 2020 through the Mail for Every House Initiative (MEHI), adding that the organisation further adopted “what3words” to help achieve the goals.

    Speaking about the e-commerce edge of the innovation, Chris Sheldrick, CEO and Co-founder of what3words said with a rapidly growing e-commerce ecosystem, Nigeria is a very exciting country to be working with.

    “Postal services have a critical role in building a strong economy and NIPOST are firmly focused on the future, and are taking steps to modernise and grow their capacity and range of services”, he said.

  • Courtesy instructors for Nigerians?

    SIR: I once wrote to Ian Nelson the national marketing manager of 7UP Bottling Company Plc, as an undergraduate of the University of Ibadan. I needed scholarship at the time. He swiftly cabled a reply. Even though the company didn’t offer me a scholarship with reasons, I was and am still happy, that a representative found time to reply me. That letter, as I write this essay, is still with me.

    Ian Nelson is a non-national. Do Nigerians bother about negative letters? Do we take courtesy seriously?

    I secured an appointment with the head of a Chamber of Commerce recently. He asked the personal assistant to usher me in. I met him typing on his computer system. Surprisingly, he asked me without suspending his work to drone on as he was listening. How can anyone ever work and listen to a visitor at the same time? Listening is a conscious effort which abhors distractions and entails the locking-of-eyes. I saw that executive in my mind’s eye as a disrespectful man. Even though one isn’t obligated to approve anything, people should master the art of impression management.

    He said we should plan a training programme. His thoughts were in synergy with mine. I phoned him later to say I would be in the public cafe. He asked me to give him one hour. I went to the cafe and waited for three hours. He never bothered. He stood me up. One month later he called me to blast me out of the water for being childish. Even if he didn’t call me, I should call him or should have called him. Who should be angry? Me or this fellow? How he raved! Addressing me as a childish person for not calling him for a month because he didn’t get back to me?

    We behave like some gerontocrats and appropriate to ourselves unnecessary airs of importance. A person who stands you up should say sorry barring any untoward occurrence. They should know the importance of value, culture, tradition. And of respect for people which isn’t negotiated, but is an entitlement.

    Whatever happened to our knowledge of social studies, civics and history? * Could it be that the subject today isn’t important today as is maths and science? The reason we find it hard to salaam and courtesy? Our level of accountability to people and systems is horrible.

    This is a national emergency that needs to be handled quickly. Where do we go from here?

    • Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

  • 262 Nigerians deported from Libya

    262 Nigerians deported from Libya

    Not fewer than 262 Nigerians were on Wednesday  returned from Libya .

    They distraught Nigerians were brought back aboard a chartered Libyan Airlines  aircraft with registration number 5A-LAR.

    The aircraft landed  at 10 pm at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

    The returnees consists  108 males, 135 females, eight children and 11 infants.

    They were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Nigerian Embassy in Libya.

    The returnees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) , the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.

    Also on ground to receive them were officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

    Addressing newsmen, Alhaji Mustapha Maihaja,  the Director General, NEMA, said the agency in collaboration with the IOM was working to ensure that Nigerians stranded in Libya are brought back home.

    The Director General who was represented by Mr Suleiman Yakubu, Zonal Coordinator, South West, NEMA, said both the federal government and state governments had initiated various programmes to rehabilitate and reintegrate the returnees into the society.

    He further advised Nigerians, especially the youths not to be lured into the quest for greener pastures, adding that there was enough opportunities in the country.

  • No evidence of killing of 97 Nigerians- Ministry

    No evidence of killing of 97 Nigerians- Ministry

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wednesday said there is no evidence that 97 Nigerians have been killed by Cameroonian Gendarmes.

    Rather, the ministry said that the 97 figure being bandied “was also an accumulation of figure of all the Nigerians that have lost their lives in previous incidents in the Bakassi area since 2008.”

    This was as the House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs resolved to initiate a legislative framework for 10-year development plan for the development of Bakassi area of Nigeria.

    Speaking before the Hon. Nnena Elendu- Ukeje headed House committee on Foreign Affairs probing the matter yesterday the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Olusola Emikanolaye, who represented the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama said though the Cameroonian authorities are yet to get back to Nigeria on the issue, independent investigation has shown that such killings did not happen.

    However, he noted that the incident started following the deployment in July 2017 of a new Divisional Officer (DO) to Idabato sub- division of Cameroon to administer the Bakassi General Area.

    “On assumption of office the new DO commenced the imposition of of new taxes on the residents after a meeting with all the Chiefs.

    “Accordingly, all men engaged in fishing and other business activities in the area were to pay N55, 000, women. 30,000 and churches N50, 000 per annum.”

    “Furthermore, taxes in packets of fish were raised from N200 to N1, 000 whole other were to pay N1,000 per head for goats slaughtered by them.

    “The sanctions placed on the residents for violation of the tax rules include seizure of their boats and enforcement to pay double the amount of the initial tax. This accounts for the N100, 000 which was hitherto heralded in the news and initial reports as the amount of the tax to be paid by Nigerians.”

    On the development fund, a member of the committee , Daniel Reineiju said the fund should be drawn from major revenue generating agencies and channeled to provision of critical infrastructure and resettlement of the affected people in Bakassi.

    But other members of the committee while buying into the idea were concerned about how to ensure accountability for the resources provided within the 10-year period.

    Chairperson of the committee Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, stressed the need to ascertain the authenticity of the N35 billion said to have been released to the Cross River State government for the development of Bakassi.

    According to her, the state government should account for the huge funds as captured in the reports presented to the Committee.

    While stressing the need for accountability of the resources within the proposed agency, Elendu-Ukeje said the Nigerian government should be more responsive to the needs of the Bakassi people.

     

  • Nigerians spend $5b anually fueling generators, says Dogara

    Nigerians spend $5b anually fueling generators, says Dogara

    •Fashola backs Renewable Energy Fund

    House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara has decried the power situation in the country despite the government’s huge investment over the years.

    According to him, it was the pathetic power situation that has forced Nigerians into committing $5b annually running generating sets.

    Describing the situation as unacceptable, the Speaker pledged the resolve of the House to work with the Executive towards finding a permanent solution to the power generation and distribution challenges

    He said the House would review some of Nigeria’s energy laws in order to provide an appropriate legal framework that will facilitate the exploitation of renewable energy to the benefit of the economy.

    Dogara spoke during a public hearing on three power sector reform Bills. He said: “Power is arguably the single most important driver of the national economy. Our industries and factories need electricity to run; and so do our offices, homes and businesses.

    “It is estimated that Nigerians spend about $5 billion yearly to fuel their generators. This is an unacceptable situation and the House of Representatives stands ready to support the Executive arm of government to put a stop to this state of affairs.

    “We can only be self-sufficient in the energy field when we combine all of our energy resources such as wind, solar, hydro, biomass, bio-fuel, landfill, sewage gas, solid waste, geothermal energy, ocean energy etc”.

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola aligned with the proposed establishment of Renewable Energy Fund in Nigeria, saying there is a need for holistic review of the legislative frameworks governing the power industry.

    Represented by Louis Edozien, Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry Power, the Minister however submitted that the fund be used as equity participation in renewable energy projects, and should exclude the Commission as a player, which regulates the sector.

    He also proposed that the fund should be managed by the NERC in addition to allowing the Commission to determine the remuneration of its staff as a technical and institutional monitor of the power value chain.

    “There is no doubt that establishment of a dedicated fund to renewable energy us a sound and pragmatic policy. It is however important, in our view, to critically review the provisions relating to the operation of the Fund as provided in the bill,” Fashola said.

    On the amendment of the 12 years old Power Sector Act, Fashola said the Act was able to trigger transformation of the Nigerian power sector from a State monopoly to competitive electricity market.

    “What is needed to ensure that the Act continues to provide an enabling legal framework for the power sector is holistic review.

    “This is a review that will take into consideration the effectiveness, or otherwise of extant provisions in the light of our experience in the last one decade.

    “Any amendment of the Act at this stage ought to take into consideration lessons learnt and challengers encountered in the course of implementing the provisions of the Act.

    “The amendment is also expected to address some fundamental issues that are militating against the power value-chain.

    “It is also important that the provisions that will be introduced will assist to strenghtem the framework for power sector reform.

    “For all the foregoing reasons and in order to ensure that maximum traction is gained from an amendment of the EPSRA, it is our humble position that we use the opportunity of this present bill to consider an exhaustive review of the bill”.

    In its presentation, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) noted that the Commission is duty bound to publish its audited account, in two national dailies without the mandate of the Minister.

    While the Commission opposed the establishment of another agency, it  proposed upward review of penalty from N20,000 to N500,000 for failing to publish the audited accounts.

    The Commission also stated that cooperation of State governments was required in its investigation of the recurring accident in the power sector as a preventive measure.

     

  • Presidency to Nigerians: ignore Dasuki’s claim on Boko Haram

    Presidency to Nigerians: ignore Dasuki’s claim on Boko Haram

    The Presidency yesterday denied claims by former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), which maintained that the Goodluck Jonathan administration cleared the Northeast of Boko Haram terrorists to make elections possible in 2015.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the remark was untrue and should be dismissed.

    According to him, the claim was another attempt to rewrite the history of Nigeria.

    He said: “The superlative claims by the former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki that the Goodluck Jonathan administration cleared the Northeast of Boko Haram terrorists to make elections possible in 2015 is untrue and should be dismissed as an attempt to deceive Nigerians with blatant lies.

    “The claim as contained in a new book by a journalist is just another unfortunate attempt by inglorious Nigerians to rewrite the history of our country in such a way as to cover the sins of the past.

    “We will have to read the entire text to offer a full and adequate response.

    “As a public relations goon for the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, the author did not surprise anyone by dismissing the acclaimed success of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in the fight against Boko Haram, claiming that this government simply took the glory for the achievements of the previous government in the war against terrorism.”

    Shehu said: “For those interested in the facts, as at the time elections were held in March 2015, a number of local government areas in Northeast were completely under the control of Boko Haram – to the extent that elections in those areas had to be moved to safe areas. The residents of areas, such as Gwoza, Banki, Kukawa, Monguno, Bulumba, Baga, Gamboru Ngala, Dikwa, Mafa, etc., were able to vote, not in their hometowns but in refugee camps in other parts of Borno State, under special arrangements made by INEC.”

    He explained that many residents of the Northeast have returned to their homes as Boko Haram was eradicated from their areas since the Buhari administration came into power.

    According to him, institutions such as schools, police stations, markets and courts have been re-established or in the process of being re-established in many of the areas.

    The presidential aide said despite Dasuki’s attempt to rewrite history, Nigerians could not have forgotten the embarrassing stories of failed weapons that plagued Nigeria’s military during the previous administration.

    He noted that under the previous administration, there were cases of unserviceable weapons, expired ammunition and fake armoured vehicles, which caused untold grief to valiant armed forces on the battlefield, with arms exploding willy-nilly and guns failing to fire.

    “It is for trespasses like these that the Buhari administration is determined to get to the bottom of the $2.1 billion arms procurement scandal and ensure that no single one of the culprits goes scot-free,” he stated.