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Tag: poor

Labour backs conditional cash transfer for the poor

… condemns renewed bombing of pipelines in Niger Delta

Organised labour has thrown its weight behind the proposed conditional cash transfer, a programme modelled after the social security schemes of developed countries by the Federal Government.

National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) General Secretary Comrade Issa Aremu, who clarified the position of organised labour – Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) – said the unions supported it and would collaborate with the Office of the Vice President.

At the 40th Day prayer for his late wife, Hajia Hamdalat Abiodun in Kaduna, Aremu praised the Muhammadu Buhari administration for setting aside N500 billion for direct social transfers in the 2016 budget before the National Assembly.

“The Office of the Vice President as directed by the President, must work with NLC and TUC to realise this objective. There is a link between support for those who are losing out in this country’s callous market rat race and economic growth.

“The organised labour movement is ready to assist the Federal Government to make this programme a success. The conditional, legitimate transfers should serve as the basis for a national comprehensive social security programme for Nigeria. As a worthy investment in our country’s human infrastructure, not stomach infrastructure, it is as important an investment as physical infrastructure,” he said.

Aremu praised President Buhari for looking at the faces of about 70 million poor Nigerians, who are living on less than a dollar per day and making them to access national resources as a matter of right, not of abuse as some corrupt politicians do on the eve of elections.

Aremu, who praised the school feeding programmes of some state governments, including that of Governor Nasir el-Rufai administration in Kaduna State, reiterated his call for gender mainstreaming in Nigeria.

“It is time we intensified the advocacy for gender mainstreaming. Governments and corporate organisations must mainstream women in the families, at workplaces, government and society at large,” he said.

Also, NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, condemned the renewed blowing-up of major oil and gas pipelines by suspected militants in the Niger Delta region, adding that the issue of national security should not be taken lightly.

“Pipeline vandalism is highly condemnable. This should not be allowed to happen in a civilised society,” he said, pointing out that oil and gas pipeline vandalism will contribute largely to the air and water pollution of the region and reduce the revenue base of the country.

Wabba said pipeline vandalism is a threat to national security, saying that the issue should not be taken lightly. He advised the Niger- Delta militants to engage in dialogue with the Federal Government rather than confrontation in resolving issues.

He urged the Federal Government to sustain the amnesty programme as it would serve as a means of addressing some of the challenges in the region. “I hope that the renewed blowing-up of major oil and gas pipelines is not as a result of the ongoing probe of some political leaders in the region.

“Our call is that the government should remain focused in its fight against corruption and it should not be tired by whatever pressure. We also want to appreciate what the security agencies have been able to do in terms of protecting the pipelines in the region. They should put in more effort to contain the crisis,” Wabba said.

He assured Nigerians that NLC would give its support to the Federal Government to protect important installations in the region and the country at large.

The NLC President led the social, religious and political leaders to the prayer that held at the Aremu’s residence in Kaduna.

The prayer session also had in attendance: Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Justice Wale Abiru of the Court of Appeal, Abuja; General Zarmani Lekwot, Major- General Lawrence Onoja; as well as Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu of PENCOM and Alhaji Aliko Dangote, both of whom were represented.

January 29, 2016
Tackling poor rice yields

Lack of quality rice planting materials is responsible for poor yields. Stakeholders are canvassing supply of high quality crop planting materials to small-scale farmers for maximum yields, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

For a rice farmer in Lagos State, Abdul Ghaniyu Alabi Ojolowo, accessibility to high quality rice is the key to achieving better food security and escaping poverty.

This, however, depends on several factors, including good seeds. For most of the farmers, birds eat some of the crops, leading to losses sometimes. Others lack proper drying facilities, which force them to dry the rice on bare ground, which contaminate it with stones. This lowers the quality of the rice.

The cost of pesticides they use to spray the rice to control diseases, such as wilt is expensive. The other reason farmers are not making headway in yields is that they don’t have access to high yielding varieties for planting.

A trained accountant, Ojolowo, who went into rice farming after quitting his job with a private firm, maintained that although the business is well-paying; there are a number of challenges. When he decided to take on the venture, he got some basic lessons in rice growing and relied on the advice of elders in the business. Later on, he got in touch with Lagos State Rice for Job project and was exposed to modern rice cultivation practices.

As far as rice is concerned, Ojolowo noted that no one could expect domestically grown rice to be competitive. He has confirmed this from his experience. A certain portion of the population prefers imported rice than buying domestically grown rice.

But for the Deputy Managing Director, Kewalram Chanrai Group and Director, Spring Field Agro Limited, Mr Victor Eburajolo, farmers can only boost their livelihoods by exploiting agronomical practices that improve their yields using improved seeds, pesticides and fungicides. He believes rice production can pull a lot of Nigerians out of hunger because 60 per cent of the nation’s arable land is good for farming.

While local production has been on the decline, Eburajolo wouldn’t want rice importation to continue under any guise and so canvasses national efforts to equip and empower local farmers.

To this end, he is in support of the government boosting local rice production and reducing imports of the commodity.

This attitude, he noted, is motivating the private sector to embark on aggressive and sustained interventions to make Nigeria a food basket, thereby reducing rice importation. For him, governments and private investors’ partnership should enrich rice farmers to deliver good produce.

However, Eburajolo contended that farmers can only boost their yields by planting high-quality hybrid seeds, and using the recommended amount of fertiliser.

Currently, the average rice yield nationwide stands at about three tonnes per hectare, which is far lower than the international average of six tonnes per hectare. This is attributed to low hybrid seed uptake amongst the smallholder farmers.

Part of the blame goes to poor access to quality certified hybrid seed by small-holder farmers. To bridge this gap, Eburajolo said his organisation is partnering with RiceCo, a subsidiary of United Phosphorus Limited of the United States to produce rice dedicated fertiliser and rice hybrid seed as a way of boosting food productivity in the country.

He said RiceCo was founded to meet the specific technology needs of rice farmers, stating that his company is encouraged to go into rice production by the government’s pledge to create an enabling environment for agriculture to be transformed into a viable business.

International Operations Director, RiceCo, Pinky Ghosh, expressed concern that farmers are not making enough money from rice cultivation. This is as a result of not using quality seeds and farm inputs.

As part of the benefits of the partnership, Ghosh said her organisation will work with Spring Field Agro Limited to enable smallholder farmers’plant hybrid rice seeds and good management practices to boost yields per hectare. According to her, an improved quality of rice is the key to bigger farm incomes and taking the crop to new and more profitable markets.

For years now, she said her organisation has been producing hybrid rice seed and dedicated fertilisers for use by local communities.

Experience, she added, has shown that a little capacity building can change the situation within a very short period.

In addition, she said farmers need advice on modern farm technologies that will help to expand the production cycle and increase their rice production and profit.

She said improving on milling is the way forward for the industry. More efficient mills, she noted, will trigger higher productivity and usher in quality improvements at the farm level.

Ghosh said her organisation has done a lot combining field experience, scientific research and innovative thinking to solve the most challenging crop protection problems domestically and around the world. From small rice mill with traditional rice production machine to state-of-the-art rice production machines and modern rice reprocessing system, she reiterated that her organisation is determined to transform rice production to reduce importation.

According to her, the organisation’s innovative portfolio of products helps produce cleaner fields, healthier crops and more abundant yields. With more than 330 million acres of rice grown around the world, she said the company is dedicated to helping growers satisfy the growing demand for the world’s most essential food. While accelerating food production has brought more farmland into play, this however without a matching increase in crop yields.

The Head Africa, United Phosphorus Limited, Mr Nishant Pahuja said his organisation is using seeds as conduit for moving new varieties, giving farmers access to more productive, yield-enhancing traits.

Pahuja said his organisation uses rice seeds to boost nutrition, with bio-fortified varieties that elevate micro-nutrient levels.

Typically, he observed that the severe droughts have decimated crop yields. Since climate change-induced droughts have also had a major impact on food production, Pahuja added that his company has produce drought resistant species that can survive for a long time without water. Director of International Regulatory Affairs, RiceCo, Martin Poveda said the organisation is committed to making an impact on the world shortage of food by improving the quality and quantity of rice and help make it available when and where food is needed. He said the company develops, markets, and supplies rice-specific herbicides to maximise grain production and operational efficiencies. RiceCo, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee,United States, is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Phosphorus Limited (UPL).

UPL is a global crop protection, chemicals and seeds company, headquartered in Mumbai, India. UPL and its companies have a combined market capitalisation of approximately $2.5 billion. This provides RiceCo with a wide variety of resources to continue our goal of being the premier provider of products and services to the rice industry. So far, the Nigeria has released more than $1 billion to boost local rice production and to reduce imports of the commodity. The money, to be spent through the Presidential Rice Initiative, is to be availed to rice farmers at a single-digit interest rate of nine per cent per annum.

Some of the money will go to building 200 artificial seed multiplication centres for production of rice seeds.

Under the Presidential Rice Initiative, the money is meant to strengthen the capacity of banks in agricultural lending to farmers and entrepreneurs in the value chain as well as reduce rice importation.

The Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said in Abuja that large-scale rice farmers would empowered to ensure the successful implementation of the Presidential Rice Initiative. Nigeria, which is Africa’s largest rice producer, plans to raise production to 300,000 metric tonnes a year. This will reduce its imports by 15 per cent and cut costs by $342 million a year. Estimates are that the demand will be 35 million tonnes by 2050.

Meanwhile, several ministers of agriculture from Africa will meet in Kampala early next month to discuss rice research and development, production and policy.

The meeting, known as “the 30th Extra-Ordinary Session of the AfricaRice Council of Ministers”, will appoint a new Director General for AfricaRice Centre.

The meeting will be held from February 6-8 and more than 50 dignitaries are expected to attend. Of these, 25 will be ministers of Agriculture or their representatives.

“Africa consumes a total of 11.6 million tonnes of milled rice per year, of which 3.3 million tonnes are imported. As many as 21 of the 39 rice-producing countries in Africa import between 50 and 99 per cent of their rice requirements,” states the International Rice Commission (IRC).

In a related development, a group of Thai Investors have disclosed plans to build $4 million rice city in Calabar.

Managing Director, Thai-African Corporation Limited, Mrs. Pantipa Dhanagon said the rice city will be completed in six months. Mrs. Pantipa Dhanagom, said the scheme will be a rice seedling center with the best rice seeds to be grown in the area.

According to her, the project will provide a training center and a one-stop service for out-growers in Nigeria and other African countries.

January 29, 2016
Airtel CEO: let’s help the poor

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, has called on Nigerians, including corporate organisations, government and NGOs, to support the less privileged.

Ogunsanya made the call yesterday at the premiere of Season 2 of Airtel’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, Touching Lives, where the company showcased its interventions toward less privileged individuals, people and communities.

He said: “If we all support just one programme in our immediate communities, it will make a huge difference in making our country a better place for all.

“At Airtel, we believe that to be a great company, we must first and foremost be a good company; and we are very much committed to earning our social licence – the love and acceptance of the various communities and people we serve,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, the Vice President’s wife, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo, hailed Airtel Nigeria for its steadfast support to the underprivileged in the society.

The premiere of the Airtel Touching Lives Season 2 was held at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

The Season 2 is a 13-epidose programme, which features 24 emotion-evoking stories. It is anchored by popular On-Air-Personality, Wana Udobang.

January 18, 2016
The poor get helping hand in Gombe

Concerned about the alarming number of widows and orphans as well as other less-privileged people in the society, the Women Fellowship International of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) launched an endowment fund to empower the less-privileged persons, especially widows and orphans. Vincent Ohonbamu reports

The number of widows keeps increasing. Orphans and other less-privileged people in the society are not faring better either. This situation is enough to make some well-meaning Nigerians lose sleep.

In this regard, the Women Fellowship International of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) has launched an endowment fund to empower the less-privileged persons, especially widows and orphans.

President of the Women Fellowship of ECWA, Mrs. Florence Dada said during the launch at ECWA Theological Seminary School, Kufai in Billiri Local Government Area of Gombe State that the initiative was borne out of their concern for widows and other women who are less-privileged within the Women Fellowship and the desire to contribute towards improving their well-being.

She expressed optimism that the fund would go a long way in impacting positively on the lives of the women and other beneficiaries.

She said some of the beneficiaries would be taught some skills after which they would be established with the basic items or tools of the skill they learnt to enhance their trade while those who need capital outlay to start or improve their businesses would be given some cash as part of the efforts to ensure that beneficiaries’ lives were improved upon.

“The need for empowerment and skills development of members of the fellowship cannot be over-emphasised. This is needed now more than ever before due to the alarming number of widows with corresponding number of orphans and the less-privileged in our churches and society nowadays.

“This is in tune with the saying that ‘better teach a person how to fish rather than give him fish always. It is in this regard that a committee went out to mobilise and garner support from public-spirited individuals to help in raising funds for this objective and to have adequate money to assist the needy ones,” she said.

Continuing, the leader said: “This year’s International Women Conference which brought together over 10,000 women from within and outside Nigeria was equally designed to equip women with lessons from the Bible on how to take up and live up their responsibilities of moulding the society, starting from their various homes.

“We have a responsibility to God because as leaders, we are supposed to lead our women in the way of the Lord.

“We are supposed to teach them the right way because many of them are like trusts; they have been given to us as trust by God.

“And whatever the type of life they live, we have a role to play in order to ensure that they live Godly lives, have Godly homes and bring up their children in the fear of the Lord Almighty.”

Mrs Dada said the theme of the convention which was “For I am Persuaded…” was extracted from Romans 8:38 was aptly chosen because persuasion is what every woman needs to pull through difficult times–economic hardship, poverty, insecurity and all forms of difficulty.

She said the choice of the Northeast as the venue of the event was to enable those of them from other parts of the world experience the atmosphere and then pray harder for the restoration of peace and an end to the security challenges bedevilling the sub-region and the country.

Contributing, the ECWA President, Reverend Jeremiah Gado said: “Coming to the Northeast is to glorify God for His guidance and protection and also to honour the women who defy the menace of insurgency to honour activities outside their domain.

“I urge you to continue caring for the widows and orphans in your midst. Strive to be role models to your children and wards whom God has graciously put under your care.

“Be patient with your husbands and with one another. Be encouragers of your pastors and other ministers. Intensify your prayers for us all and the country as well.”

In his contribution, the Director, ECWA Christian Education Department, Reverend Jen Tivkaa Moses said the meeting was designed, among others things, “to sharpen women for effective ministry and higher productivity in their roles as wives, mothers and role models in the society.”

He, therefore, urged women not to allow themselves to be distracted in any form due to lack of adequate planning but focus on the purpose for which the programme was organised.

Gombe State Governor, Hassan Dankwambo, who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Charles Iliya described the conference as historic, saying the most important role to be played by women is prayers for peace, unity and development of the country.

He said his administration was conscious of its task of protecting lives and property of which the woman is part of and that it would continue to do its best to ensure that people enjoy their stay in Gombe. There were goodwill messages from wives of Deputy Governors of Gombe and Kaduna states and prominent traditional rulers in Northern Nigeria, including the Emirs of Kano and Bauchi which were delivered by the traditional ruler of Billiri, the Mai Tangle, Mr. Abdu Buba Maisheru, Chairman of Christian Traditional rulers in Northern Nigeria.

January 5, 2016
Still on the N5,000 stipend for poor
SIR: I write to appeal to the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration to reconsider its campaign promise of paying N5,000 per month to unemployed youths as welfare.

There is that adage that says, don’t give a man fish if you want him to prosper; it is better to teach him to fish so that he can provide for himself in future.

I would rather suggest the administration establish a special industrial development fund to fund establishment of factories all over the federation using the six geopolitical regions as developmental area. The import of this is that the money will still go back to the people, but in a way they are sure to enjoy if for a very long time.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for instance has published the list of 41 products it has removed from access to its forex window without immediate plans for the commencement of production of these products in the country. What the CBN has done is publish additional products for smugglers to add to their list. This must not be allowed to happen, for every finished product imported into Nigeria, whether legally or illegally, was produced with the labour in the producing country while our own youths remain unemployed due to no fault of theirs but because of lack of correct policy framework for creation of employment.

The only sectors that can quickly mope up the huge population of unemployed Nigerians are the manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

The amount of money needed to establish a medium scale manufacturing or agro-allied industry is between $30 – 50 million and these can each employ between 200-500 workers directly with multiplier effect of 3-5 person per employee.

Our businessmen are mostly traders and government contractors who are not willing or don’t even have this kind of money to invest in the manufacturing sector where return on investment will not come back immediately unlike in trading. Even when they have the money, they prefer to invest in properties. Our people don’t like taking risk.

Government needs to come in by partnering with foreign technical partners to establish factories with the Federal Government providing generous incentives. The foreign partners would be expected to run the factories for a minimum period of five years during which technological and managerial skills for running the factories would have been transferred to our people and the equity contribution the Federal Government sold off on the stock market and money returned to the federation account; that way jobs would be created all over the federation.

We need to go to Europe to bring in companies that can help us establish tomato/ tomato paste industries all over the northern states where the climate is conducive for its cultivation. The same with companies from Asia to come and establish rice farms and rice mills here. We need the Chinese to help us establish factories for woven fabrics, plywood board, kitchen utensils even toothpick. We need at least 10 factories in each of the six geopolitical regions every year as a means of creating immediate employment for our people.

Attention must be given to Ajaokuta Steel Company. This is a sleeping giant that must be woken up. Directly, Ajaokuta can employ 600,000 Nigerians and with a multiplier effect of up to five per employee.
- Taju Adetoro,
Calabar.
December 28, 2015
Rising costs and the poor

John Hembe works in one of the service providing companies in Lagos. He recently rented an apartment in the suburb and was gradually sourcing furniture and other household appliances to make it comfortable for living.

In the course of this, he had visited some electronic showrooms to window shop in the hope that as soon as he received his next salary, he will make up his mind as to whether to purchase a television set or not. In some of the places he visited, he was attracted by the price tags on some of the plasma television sets such that he had concluded that his dream for one will become a reality at the end of the month.

And as soon as he received his pay, he did not waste time to rush to that showroom with the hope of returning home the same day with one. But that hope turned out a mirage. He was taken aback that prices of the items he had seen the previous week had been jerked up by as much as 30 per cent. Unable to believe what he had seen, he approached one of the showroom managers and the following conversation ensued.

“Sir, I was here last week to look at the prices of your plasma television sets. But now, I just discovered they have gone up. It looks like it is because of the Christmas that you have just suddenly hiked the prices”

Manager, “Sorry sir, it is true our prices have gone up but they have nothing to do with the yuletide. I am sure you know of the exchange rate situation. We import these items and their prices depend on what the dollar sells”

“But there has not been any significant change in the exchange rate in the last one week retorted Hembe in utter disappointment. Well I have to leave since the amount I have can no longer buy the type of plasma television I want”

With a sorry for the inconvenience from the manager, Hembe eventually left the showroom without purchasing a television set.

The above captures very vividly the lot of many Nigerians in the last one month or so. The price of everything has substantially increased making life a lot more difficult for many. Not only are jobs being lost on virtually regular basis, state governors have threatened to cut salaries and allowances or in the alternative reduce their workforce. Before now, the rate of unemployment has been at an all time high.

When you juxtapose the high rate of extant unemployment; the job losses that are now on the increase against the rising cost of goods and services, you can figure out the debilitating economic situation in which many Nigerians have inevitably been entangled. The matter is not remedied given that for every Nigerian that is gainfully employed, he has about five other mouths that feed from his meager salary. The current pass has been largely blamed on two factors.

The first is the fall in oil price to an all time low. For the first time in so many years, oil price in the international market has fallen below S40 per barrel. And since our governments depend on a mono cultural economy to funds their activities, the drop has resulted in serious policy dislocations on account of their inability to provide public goods and services. The state governments were so mired in a seemingly irretrievable mess a few months back that the federal government had to lend them money to offset salaries and allowances. Despite this, the situation is far from being over.

The next factor fingered is the alleged mismanagement of the economy by the regime of President Jonathan. The revelation of billions of Naira that were alleged to have gone out of our common till illegally is said to be part of the unwholesome practices that put this country into the current predicament. The argument is that if those monies had been meaningfully deployed to service the people of this country, some substantial progress would have been recorded. This argument is plausible since development is all about availability of resources and their effective utilization and deployment.

There is little doubt that one of the issues that have held this country down over the years has been the mismanagement of our common patrimony by some rampaging buccaneers masquerading as leaders. For so many years, this country was in plenty in terms of the monies that accrued to it from oil sales. For many years, this country was yearning for visionary and purposeful leadership to husband its resources and guarantee the future. But for those numbers of years, the locusts were really on rampage. What we witnessed instead was the unbridled looting of those resources by the ruling elite such that has prevented any meaningful development from taking root. Our leaders reveled in mindless ostentation and insatiable acquisition for wealth.

They have had to carry on as if the oil in our shores is inexhaustible. But suddenly, the tea party is over. We now hear of threats to cut down on the minimum wage, reduction of the labour force and all that. We also hear new tunes on the issue of fuel subsidy removal. We are now being plainly told that the so-called subsidy will have to go and Nigerians will have to pay more. They are already paying as much as N150 per litre of fuel in many parts of the country including parts of Lagos. Even those who had been in strident opposition to fuel subsidy removal are now singing a different song. And one begins to wonder what has suddenly gone awry.

There is also the issue of electricity tariff. The last time I checked, the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC was protesting the hike in electricity tariff which it put at 45 per cent. Though the regulatory body had indicated its intention to adjust the tariff, it made so much noise convincing the people it has abolished the fixed charge of N750 per month. It spoke so much on the abrogation of the fixed charge that many electricity consumers did not realize they were going to pay as much as 45 per cent more.

Given the prime role fuel and electricity play in every economy, a hike in their prices will lead to a corresponding increase in the prices of goods and services. Governments are also talking of raising their internally generated revenue to stay afloat. This is okay provided they are not such that will lead to strangulating taxes on the people. For now, it is difficult to fathom which other public goods and services will be affected by price increase. Every indication points to harder times ahead.

The new regime promised change. It has said it loud and clear that it intends to turn around the economy to deliver on its mandate to the people. It has moved on to get all those alleged to have fleeced this country dry to face the wrath of the law. It also intends to engage 500, 000 teachers nationwide and pay some allowance to unemployed post NYSC members. Ostensibly, all these are targeted at ameliorating the debilitating hardship ravaging the country.

But the soothing effect of these measures will pale into insignificance in the face of the biting inflation and the jerking up of the prices of the goods and services provided by the government. It would appear Buhari is in a hurry to get efficient pricing for goods and services provided by the governments. That may well be. But in doing this, it will amount to a monumental risk to put the lives of the toiling masses at great jeopardy.

If this economy has been mismanaged, the common man is not the cause. There is a tolerable limit the common man can be stretched all in the effort to have a quick fix to years of mindless plundering, misrule and looting by those Vilfredo Pareto called circulating elite. In verity, this country needs to part way with its decadent past. It needs to gets things alright so that the future of this country can be guaranteed. We need change. But change can be both negative and positive. The kind of change we desire is not one that comes with the notion that we can pay for all the sins of the past in one day. Those for whom the change is designed must be alive to savor its benefits. It must go with a human face.

December 28, 2015
A ministry for the poor

A cleric in Plateau State is having more impact on the needy through giving rather than preaching, reports YUSUFU AMINU IDEGU

She seems to have a natural call to serve, not just to preach or teach. In Plateau State where she is the shepherd of the Tina Bawa Ministry International, Rev Mrs Tina Bawa feeds and clothes the poor. Outside the state, she has reached out to people in need, visiting and comforting displaced by the insurgency in the region. Her budget for the poor is well over N10m in some cases.

Bawa said, “Ministering to people [alone] will not bring salvation because it is obvious that these poor people need immediate help. You should be able to provide their need. Running a ministry is not about exploiting the poor, it should also be about helping the poor and lifting them out of their situation, that way they will appreciate the word of God better,” she said.

Not long ago, she held a four-day free medical outreach at the IDPs camp at Zawan Commercial College Jos to offer medical assistance to thousands of displaced people who ran from Borno, Yobe and Adamawa to take refuse in Jos.

Now on the anniversary of her husband Dr Godfrey Bawa Shitgurum’s 58th birthday anniversary she gathered the needy once again to help them, with her international collaborators lending a big hand.

The event took place at Quan Pan Local Government Area of the state.

Such is her impact that various communities around Kwande know her husband’s birthday and look forward to it. On this year’s anniversary over 5,000 people gathered at Kwande Primary Health Care Centre for the free medical programme organised by Mrs Bawa, although about 3,500 persons beneficiaries were targetted.

She brought 40 wheelchairs, sufficient drugs, children’s clothing and wrappers for aged women.

Mrs Bawa said her organisation also collaborated with her husband’s foundation called “Peter Bawa Foundation” on the outreach.

She said, ”I was too burdened in 2007 when I saw that apart from ministering to the people through the Holy Ghost [there was] the need to reach out to people medically also. So by 2002 we did a little bit of it, the ministry started in 1999. So by 2004 we all went out to do medical mission. We did medical outreach in the daytime and then in the evening we brought the gospel of Christ to the people.

“Since 2004 we have been in to full medical mission working with a team of medical professionals from every field of human needs on the medical outreach, with most of them volunteering and some coming from the United States of America and some of my friends within who believe in the vision. We come to treat major cases; when we have cases of surgeries we referr them to big hospitals for treatment and the ministries pay the bills.”

She said the current effort focused on eye checks, diabetes, HIV, hepatitis, malaria, typhoid among others.

“I observed that our people are not being cared for by the government, the government health centre in this village was in bad shape when we came in the last two years, we had to renovate the structures,” she said.

November 10, 2015
Forum sends SOS on poor roads

Woeful Southeast roads have inspired an urgent message to the Federal Government from an organisation known as Southeast Assembly Forum in Anambra State.

The forum made up of people who contested legislative positions in the last election sent a Save Our Soul (SOS) message to President Muhammadu Buhari on bad federal roads in the zone.

•A section of Port Harcourt Road, Aba

The organisation in Awka listed the roads, some of which are: Oba-Arondiuzogu-Okigwe Road, Onitsha-Enugu Expressway and Aba-Port-Harcourt Expressway, among others.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo states.

The group said that if those roads were fixed by the president, they would boost economic activities in the zone, ease transportation of commodities and equally reduce road mishaps.

The group hailed the president on the anti-corruption fight, assuring him of their support in ridding the country of sleaze.

Furthermore, they described the appointments of ministers by the president as demonstrating equity and statesmanship, adding that the names from the Southeast were indeed the best.

Some of the people who attended the meeting in Awka were Comrade James Chikwendu (Chairman), Ifeanyi Justin Okeke (Secretary General), Hon Bright Benson (PRO), Hon Frank Ndibe (Organising Secretary).

Others were Hon Ifeyinwa Kalu (Abia Secretary), Chief Uche Anakor (Anambra Coordinator) and Hon John Agha (Enugu Coordinator), Dr Ejike Ogoegbunam, among others.

They appealed to President Buhari to urgently come to the assistance of the region in rehabilitation of federal roads there.

“These roads,” they said, “have become impassable for many years as a result of lack of maintenance from past administrations, and many lives have been lost on the roads.”

November 6, 2015
Kwara residents lament poor federal roads

Nearly all federal government roads in Kwara State are in disrepair. Motorists and commuters have a hard time on them.

Some of the roads urgently calling for attention include Ajase-Ipo-Offa-Erin-Ile, Olooru-Bode-Saadu-Jebba along Lagos-Kaduna high way, Ilorin-Kabba and Kishi-Kaiama all in Irepodun, Offa, Oyun, Moro and Kaiama local government areas of the state.

Touched by this unsavoury development, groups under the aegis od Offa Descendants Union (ODU) recently lamented the dilapidated status of the Ajase-Ipo-Offa-Erin-Ile road.

The road connects Kwara state with Osun state in the South west.

Secretary General of ODU, Mrs. Wosilate Mccarthy during the 80th anniversary of ODU recently to urge the federal government to release fund for the rehabilitation of the six kilometre road to ameliorate suffering of the vehicle owners plying the road.

The ODU chieftain, who said that the people were concerned about the present condition of road, added that business owners had suffered loss resulting from damage and destruction of their goods and vehicles, especially during raining season.

The organisation, which commended efforts of the state government at rehabilitating the road in the past, said that several letters of appeal had been written to the concerned authorities over the nagging problem.

As if that is not enough, two sons of Offa community who are members of the Kwara state House of Assembly, Prince Saheed Popoola and Alhaji Hassan Oyeleke (plaintiffs) have dragged the federal government and the firm handling the rehabilitation of the road to court for abandonment.

The name of the company is Preconsmith Construction Limited.

In their writ of summons filed by their counsel, John W. Irogu averred that the abandonment of the road by the contractor after the collection of substantial part of the contract sum is wrong.

The plaintiffs have sought for the following reliefs: “A declaration that the said intentional abandonment of the said road has caused the people of the state including the plaintiffs undue hardship since the road has become practically impassable and a declaration that the federal government has failed to use the power of his office to compel the contractor (2nd defendant) to execute the contract upon which a huge sum of money had been received a long time ago or to bring the contractor to book for such failure.

The lawmakers had also sought for “an order declaring the abandonment of the road by the contractor as illegal and wrongful and an order compelling the construction firm to return to site to complete the road project.

“In the alternative an order compelling the federal government to use its power to either compel the contractor to execute the contract or bring the company to book for its failure to so execute.”

Leaders of Bode Saadu community in Moro local government area state have also expressed serious concern over the deplorable condition of Bode Saadu-Jebba road.

District head of Lanwa community, Alhaji Saad Gambari, said that the road which is the only major road that links northern states of Nigeria with South west, had gone intolerably bad.

Alhaji Gambari said that many lives are being lost on daily due to poor state of the road, adding that criminal activities were rampant.

•Bad portion of Bode-Saadu-Jebba road

The road traverses communities of Bode Saadu, Iyana Oloko, Ayekale, Sabo-n-gida, Araro, Lakanla, Kanbi, and Jebba.

The community leader also appealed to federal government authorities to fix the deplorable road in order to make life bearable for them.

He said that “the situation of the road is terrible and government has not showed concern to the road despite our frequent request and plea to the federal government. The road is causing a lot of problem to the communities involved like frequent armed robberies. Asthmatic patients that live by the side of the road are also affected by the dust especially during the dry season.

A number of people have lost their lives as a result of these developments. We are using this period to call on the federal government to come to our rescue as a matter of urgency.”

The president of Jebba Descendants Union, Alhaji Yusuf Abdulkareem agreed that Jebba-Bode Saadu road is a federal government road, urged the state government to intervene and give palliative measures that could help the condition of the road.

Alhaji Abdulkareem said the condition of the road deteriorated three years ago, adding that “a construction firm brought total to the road last year to work on it and to our surprise they could not do anything on the road and they disappeared with their equipment immediately after the general election.”

The representative of the communities in the state’s House of Assembly, Mathew Okedara,representing Lanwa, Ejidongari constituency, said that he bought grader to grade the road when the condition was becoming unbearable, adding that he had informed Federal Emergency Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) both in Ilorin and Abuja office without any response yet.

November 3, 2015
Emmanuel’s wife’s love for the poor

In fulfilment of her promise to turn the fortunes of the less-privileged around and show love to the vulnerable in the state, the Wife of Akwa-Ibom State Governor and initiator of Family Empowerment and Youth Reorientation Programme (FEYReP), Mrs. Martha Udom Emmanuel, visited destitute homes, children’s homes and prisons in the state where she made donations as well as encouraged the inmates.

At the Lutheran Children’s Home, Ikot Otong Nsit, Nsit Ibom Local Government Area and the St. Anthony’s Destitute Center, Uruan Street Uyo, she donated food and relief materials to the inmates.

Represented by the wife of the Speaker, Akwa-Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr. Ememobong Uko, the Mrs Emmanuel urged the inmates of the various care centres to imbibe the dakkada spirit of believing in their greatness, being obedient to their care givers, respect for the elders as well as fear and honour God in order to become good and worthy citizens.

Mrs. Emmanuel also advised the inmates to be of good behaviour, believe in God, cultivate the ‘I can do mentality’ and look into the future with great hope, adding that God, in his grace, will strengthen and make them great and productive citizens.

She advised the inmates against indulging in unruly behaviour that could be inimical to their future, noting that the government would not rest on its oars in ensuring that every Akwa-Ibom child achieves his highest potential.

Mrs Emmanuel thanked the care givers and members of staff of the various homes for their continued love for the inmates, saying that she was impressed with their living conditions.

In appreciation, the outgoing father in-charge of St. Anthony’s Destitute Centre, Rev. Fr. Anthony Ekong appreciated the governor’s wife’s benevolence towards the home, stressing that for the past 10 years that he has been in charge of the centre, he has not seen such philanthropic gesture. He prayed God to reward the Governor and his wife and guide them in the discharge of their duties.

Also speaking, the incoming father in-charge of the centre, Rev. Fr. John Adei appreciated Mrs. Emmanuel for her donations. He described the visit as being providential because he is barely in office, yet the governor’s wife greeted him with donations to the inmates. Fr. Adei said he was marvelled by the magnanimity of the Governor’s wife, promising to use the items donated judiciously and for the benefit of the inmates.

At Eket, the morale of inmates of Eket Prison was given a boost as the wife of the governor made donations and engaged them in some soul-lifting discussions.

Represented by the wife of the Hon. Commissioner for Health, Mrs. Nelly Ukpong, Mrs. Emmanuel said her visit was part of the social responsibilities of her pet project to touch lives. She implored the inmates not to give up on life, irrespective of the situation they may have found themselves in.

She also urged the inmates to imbibe the dakkada spirit of believing in their greatness, stating that life behind bars does not mean that they cannot be productive citizens again.

Earlier, the Chief Superintendent of Eket Prison, Agomo Ibezimako expressed his gratitude to the governor’s wife for her benevolence to the inmates of Eket Prisons. “Your visit to us is not unexpected. When we realised that you have begun a tour of destitute formations in our state, we became hopeful that you have included us in your itinerary, and that you will visit us before you exhaust your list. By your coming here today, our hope has not been dashed. We are most grateful to have you,” he said.

Also visited was the Motherless Babies’ Home, Idung Iniang, Eket, where the governor’s wife donated items.

Mrs. Emmanuel thanked the Matron of the home, Mrs. Tom Bush for dedicating her life to taking care of the motherless, praying that God will reward her labour of love.

In appreciation, Mrs. Tom Bush thanked Mrs. Emmanuel for her kind disposition towards the home, saying that within four months in office, her impact on the socially-disadvantaged people has already been felt. She prayed God to sustain her and the Governor.

Among the items donated to the inmates were bags of rice, beans and tubers of yam.

Others were gallons of palm and groundnut oil, cartons of indomie, pillows, mattresses, toiletries as well as cash.

On the entourage were wife of the Hon. Commissioner for Culture and Tourism Mrs. Emmanuel Ibiok, wives of members representing Nsit Ubium and Nsit Atai State Constituencies in the House of Assembly, Mrs. Uduak Onofiok Luke and Mrs. Dorcas Mark Esset, among others.

October 30, 2015