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Tag: Professor Attahiru Jega

  • Tinubu appoints Jega as adviser on livestock reforms

    Tinubu appoints Jega as adviser on livestock reforms

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Professor Attahiru Jega as Presidential Adviser and Coordinator of Presidential Livestock Reforms.

    This is part of President Tinubu’s

    move aimed at addressing Nigeria’s long-standing challenges in the livestock sector.

    The appointment was announced yesterday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, in a post on his verified X handle, @aonanuga1956.

    Read Also: Young Nigerians in politics (4)

    “Breaking: President Bola Tinubu appoints Professor Attahiru Jega as Presidential adviser and coordinator of Presidential Livestock Reforms”, Onanuga wrote.

    Jega, a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and a respected academic, is expected to lead the administration’s efforts in modernizing livestock production, resolving farmer-herder conflicts, and boosting the sector’s contribution to the economy.

    The appointment underscores President Tinubu’s commitment to comprehensive agricultural reforms aimed at ensuring food security and economic diversification.

    Professor Jega brings a wealth of experience in governance and policy implementation, and his leadership in this role is expected to drive sustainable reforms in Nigeria’s livestock industry.

  • Faulty leadership recruitment process, bane of Nigeria’s progress – Jega

    Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, on Wednesday in Kano, identified faulty leadership recruitment process, as a major factor that has retarded Nigeria’s progress for quite some time now.

    According to him, if the trend is allowed to persist, Nigerians will continue to live under the mercy of the so-called elite, whose major goal is to promote ethnic chauvinism, religious bigotry and parochial interests.

    This was the assertion  of Professor Attahiru Jega, who was the Chairman of the 15th Annual Conference of Fulbright Alumni Association (FAAN) held at Dangote Business School, Bayero University, Kano, from 16th to 18th April, 2019, with the theme: Economic Growth, Development and Security in Nigeria.”

    Professor Attahiru Jega, described the theme was apt, considering the systematic challenges of economic growth, security and development encountered by Nigeria.

    According to Jega, the theme would provide a veritable platform for generating ideas that would address these challenges.

    However, Jega expressed dismay, stressing that no matter how bright ideas and solutions are generated, they can only be addressed, if the country addresses the prevailing endemic leadership and governance crises.

    He contended that the recruitment process of leadership in Nigeria has been handed over to those, who do not have the love and interest of the Country at the expense of the masses.

    How can we have a purposeful leadership that will drive the necessary changes in Nigeria? , he queried.

    Jega, therefore, submitted that scholars, traditional rulers, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders have daunting challenges of addressing this menace, so that Nigerians would view election, as a glimmer of hope and weapon that they can use to change the bad leadership and governance in the country.

    In a keynote address, the Vice Chancellor of Kogi State University, Anyingba, Professor M.S Abdulkadir, said developing economies, like Nigeria can achieve economic growth, development and even stability, only in a socio-political and economic setting, devoid of violence, insecurity, terrorism, ethnic cleansing and so on.

    Represented by the Director of BUK Press, Professor Habu Mohammed, the VC, advocated that soldiers and policemen fighting guerrilla wars against the insurgents should be properly trained, as well as provided, with modern and sophisticated weapons.

    The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, William Stuart Syminton, who was represented by the Cultural Affairs Officer of the United States Embassy in Abuja, Mr. Sterling Tilley, said Nigeria and the United States had an age-long relationship adding that through Fulbright scholars, the United States understood popular culture and languages of Nigeria.

    Also Speaking, the FAAN President, Professor Adogba Okpaga, said the Fulbright programme is the most profound cultural and exchange programme ever instituted by the American government.

    He said the Fulbright programme, as at today had almost 300,000 people from over 140 countries in the world, with participants from both United States and other countries in the world.

    He explained that Fulbright Alumni Association held its first conference at the University of Ibadan in August 2000; and since then, it has been holding annual conferences.

    Earlier in his address, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Muhammad Yahuza Bello, welcomed the participants to Bayero University, Kano, adding that it was his fervent hope that the assembled Scholars, would rub minds and come up with strategic thinking to find solution to these intriguing questions.

    ”As a nation, what are the mistakes we have made? What are the opportunities we have lost? And what is that thing which we did not do well he queried?

  • Senators, Reps, INEC chiefs join plot against Jega

    Senators, Reps, INEC chiefs join plot against Jega

    •Plot to pit commissioners against Jega
    •Commission chair summons RECs for evaluation meeting on Wednesday

    Some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the National Assembly have launched a bid to pit top officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against the commission’s chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega.

    It is the latest of alleged moves by the party to destabilise INEC as the nation prepares for the March 28 and April 11 elections.

    The plot, The Nation gathered, will see several officials, including commissioners, confront Jega on official matters   with a view to creating a crisis of confidence in the agency, and distracting its attention ahead of the polls.

    A meeting to perfect the plan took place recently  at a posh hotel in the Asokoro District of Abuja.

    Present at the dead of the night meeting discussion were several influential members of the National Assembly and some INEC officials.

    They were said to have reviewed mainly Jega’s ‘uncompromising attitude’ on the use of card readers and the Permanent Voter Cards (PVC).

    The PDP does not want both to be used during the elections.

    It was gathered that some forces in the party got the National Assembly members to meet the INEC officials on how to frustrate Jega.

    Some INEC commissioners were card-carrying members of the PDP before their appointment, according to sources.

    A source familiar with the development said:  “Some forces are working desperately to break the rank of the commission before the general election. I think some past officials of INEC are part of the plot.

    “What they are planning now is to cause disaffection between Jega and his team in order to show that INEC is not ready for the general election.

    “If they force Jega out before the poll, the nation will lose because the credibility of the general election would have been lost.”

    An INEC director said the meeting was an open secret.

    But he said Jega remains unmoved and is focused on conducting free and fair elections.

    “We got a phone alert about the said meeting but since Jega has nothing to hide, we did not respond to the move,” the INEC director said.

    “What is important is that we are focused on how to conduct free and fair polls.”

    The Abuja meeting may have been an alternative to the initial move to sack Jega.

    Top members of the PDP including the president’s confidant, Chief Edwin Clark, and the president’s campaign organisation had openly demanded Jega’s sack for allegedly working against the interest of the party and its flag bearer.

    The call was roundly condemned across the country.

    Only last Thursday, APC senators alleged at a press conference in Abuja that there was a plan by the federal government to send Jega on terminal leave this week even when his tenure will end on June 30.

    Asked about government’s position on Jega’s fate last Friday, the acting Minister of Information, Edem Duke, only said Jega’s exit will “take its natural course.”

    However, an INEC national commissioner told The Nation that contrary to the permutations of the anti-Jega forces, his tenure will end on June 30, 2015.

    He said Jega is not contemplating going on terminal leave because he is not a career civil servant who is about retiring from public service.

    “There is so much ignorance about the exit date of Jega. He is expected to leave office on June 30 and he will complete his tenure two months after the general election.

    “ Jega is also not contemplating going on any terminal leave because this is not an assignment you retire from. The position of INEC chairman is that it will be irresponsible of him to abandon his duties for a strange terminal leave which he is not supposed to enjoy any way.

    “Jega is not even drawing his salary from INEC in order to remain impartial and avoid being compromised.”

    He said there is need to explain these perspectives to enable Nigerians appreciate the fact that some people are just out to distract INEC from its electoral duties.

    Meanwhile, INEC chairman has summoned all the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in the 36 states and the FCT for a meeting to evaluate the preparation for the general election.

    The meeting might review the distribution of the Permanent Voters Cards(PVCs), the status of the training of ad hoc staff for  the use of Card Readers and logistics for the election.

    It was learnt that Jega invited the RECs for a session on Wednesday in order to get an update on the preparation for the poll.

    INEC has about 27 days to put everything in shape. This is why Jega is meeting with his team to avoid any slip.

    Any REC with unresolved challenges can now feel free to draw the attention of the commission to these problems before the D-Day.

    A document released by the Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman, Mr. Kayode Robert Idowu, said the commission  might conduct mock election to test-run the card readers at least two states in each of the six geopolitical zones in the country.

    The document said: “The Card Reader units have been broadly subjected to simulation Quality Assurance, Integrity and Functionality tests and INEC has full confidence in their performance for election purposes.

    “The device has also been subjected to Performance and Conformance Test, both locally and in Texas, United States laboratories by the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Research Centre and found to be of the highest quality grade. Besides all these, and with additional time resulting from the rescheduling of the 2015 general elections, the Commission has directed that Stress Test be conducted on the Card Reader device in mock election scenarios – two states in each of the six geo-political zones – ahead of the new election dates.”

    The commission is poised to  release the list of the 12 states for the  mock election on or before Wednesday.

  • PVC and INEC

    PVC and INEC

    •The abysmal handling of the distribution exercise is unacceptable, and all eligible voters must be satisfied

    It is amazing that barely four months to the next general elections, we are still grappling with the rudiments. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the leadership of Professor Attahiru Jega has grasped for answers why in a key state like Lagos, most potential voters cannot obtain their permanent voter cards. Last week, the state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola,  observed that only 4.8 million registered voters appear on the electoral umpire’s voters’ list. Yet, he noted, in the 2011 elections, Lagos recorded about 6.2 million voters.

    It is ironic that in the most populous state in the federation, the number of voters should shrink, and it did not only shrink but by a shocking 1.4 million voters.  Consequently, the Lagos State governor gave INEC an opportunity to redeem itself by declaring   November 7 as public holiday to enable civil servants in the state collect their PVCs. In spite of this grace, INEC officials did not show up in most parts of the state. The following day, they turned up in a few areas, but most of the local governments had either scant operations or none at all. In fact, nine of the about 20 local government areas could not perform the exercise, by INEC’s own admission.

    This has led to uproar of criticisms from the opposition that the electoral umpire was playing mischief with the process and setting up the general elections for fraud in favour of the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). We are shocked that, in spite of the warning and admonitions that the INEC has received in the past four years, the commission has bungled the voters’ exercise. Most persons who visited designated centres to pick up their permanent voter cards discovered that when their names appeared on the list, they could not obtain the cards, and in other cases there were no names in the list that matched theirs.

    It was a colossal disgrace.

    In the first place, for a state like Lagos that records new residents almost by the day, INEC should still not be enmeshed with figures around 6.2 million of four years ago. Tragically, the numbers fell, and it presented the numbers almost as fait accompli until the opposition cried foul. It was then it advanced the argument of technical problems at the backend. It did not appear to be working on it, otherwise it would have articulated that problem as it released the 4.8 million figure.

    This is an INEC that has worked itself in the past four years through a number of elections as dress rehearsals for 2015 elections. Within that period, it has conducted elections on local government, senatorial and gubernatorial levels in Delta, Yobe, Ekiti, Ondo, Osun and Anambra states. There have been reports of sloppiness and even, as in the case of Anambra State, a tragic fait accompli signifying incompetence.

    But the case of Lagos State and others, including Rivers State, raises questions about the integrity of the electoral body. It is unacceptable for the INEC to continue to use inefficiency as an excuse to disenfranchise the majority of people in elections. The charge of partiality is the worst tar an electoral umpire expects to be tarred with.

    By its bungling, it is hard for the disadvantaged party not to feel a victim of some subterranean dealing. All eligible voters ought to get their PVCs, and there is no alternative to that. If it means the INEC has to overhaul its operations and tweak its style to accommodate them, it is worth it.

    Electoral chicaneries often start with the voter’s list, and once it is wrong there, it cannot end well. And once a party feels shortchanged, the consequence for the polity is often ominous.

     

  • A suspicious order

    A suspicious order

    The attempt to compel INEC to award printing of ballot papers to the Mint could compromise the 2015 election

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s directive that the printing of ballot papers for next year’s general elections be handled by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) apears curious. He instructed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should ensure that the expertise of the Mint be tapped to build up internal capacity in handling such sensitive materials.

    No sooner was the directive issued than the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, made the move to sell the idea to INEC. He went to the commission and got its chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, to give his consent. This could be a landmine that would haunt the 2015 elections. The CBN boss then dissolved the NSPMC management committee, with its managing director and the two executive directors forced to retire and new ones appointed.

    Mr. Joseph Ugbo, an engineer, is the new managing director, while a former special assistant to the CBN governor, Mr. Umar Masanawa, is the new executive director, finance and strategy. With the CBN governor himself an appointee of the president as chairman of the Mint’s board, the takeover is total, thus making the president’s directive curious.

    While acknowledging that the President and others who advocate that such printing jobs should be handled in the country by the foremost security printing firm in order to combat the scourge of unemployment and build up the national pride is not totally misplaced, the danger should be noted as outweighing the benefits.

    Elections have always led to combats and instability in the system. It sometimes leads to overthrow of presumably democratically elected governments. They have sometimes portrayed Nigeria as a country where anything goes. The 2007 elections, for example, led to an outcry not only nationally, but internationally. All the external observers indicated that the elections fell below even national standards.

    Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Materials were in short supply, logistics was a nightmare, and officials perverted the process. The sincerity of the Federal Government has been called to question in recent times. In the Ekiti and Osun elections that showed that the electoral commission could have turned a new leaf, the security forces showed that they take instructions from the Commander-in-Chief. Now that the president wants the Mint to print sensitive materials, the integrity question is being raised to another level.

    Can a company fully owned by the Federal Government, whose board and management are appointed by the president be trusted with faithfully producing ballot papers? And, where it does, would it be seen as having done so?

    It is unfortunate that the president’s directive is a clear detraction from the powers of the commission as derived from the constitution, the Electoral Act and INEC Act. The process of electoral reform that produced the 2010 Electoral Act was largely informed by a quest for an independent electoral commission. By the Act, the commission is believed to be more politically and financially independent than it was previously.

    But, by now deciding to issue directives to the commission, the president is acting ultra vires the provisions of these laws. If the president is allowed to get away with this action, he could begin to aggrandise his power more than envisaged by the extant laws.

    Had the Mint performed optimally and above board over the years, the order might not have been so suspect. In 2012, about N2 billion was said to have been stolen. Some old officials of the Mint have been taking their turns to answer to charges at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Some officials of the CBN were also alleged to have received slush funds from Securency International Pty of Australia. The maladministration of the Mint has, over the years, led to steady decline in performance. There was an 85 per cent decline in its Profit After Tax between 2009 and 2012 and a N215millin loss last year.

    We call on INEC to resist this attempt to hijack its powers. Professor Jega and his team owe the nation a duty to ensure that the reforms are given effect.

    It is patriotic to expect that capital flight is halted. South African firms should not be encouraged to continually attract profit from Nigerian government parastatals. But this is the way to go in the future when confidence has been fully reposed in the commission. By then, INEC could establish good relationship with the Mint. By then, the management would have been tested, the competence would have been demonstrated and integrity would have been established.

    Before the hope of all Nigerians could be invested in the Mint, it ought to be tested in by-elections. The general elections include the presidential, governorship, Senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly polls. It is too heavy to place all these on a wobbling company.

    This is one situation that calls for disregard of a presidential order in the country’s interest.

  • Jega and security

    Jega and security

    We support the call by the INEC Chairman that hooded men have no place during elections

    Professor Attahiru Jega’s assurance that never again shall the “unknown security official” be a feature of the nation’s electioneering process comes as a soothing relief. As the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) pointed out, the practice in the recent Osun State governorship election was a deviation from the norm and an attempt to rob the process of transparency, fairness, honour and integrity. These are qualities every electoral system is expected to have to be adjudged in line with global standards.

    Following the Delta Central Senatorial election and the Edo and Anambra governorship polls, the electoral commission had come under heavy criticisms by domestic and international observers, the media and political activists, for falling short of expectations. As usual, materials arrived late at the polling units, officials were poorly trained and remunerated, while INEC officials were easily compromised by desperate politicians. The commission then promised to return to the drawing board before the Ekiti and Osun polls.

    As key stakeholders have pointed out, the commission largely lived up to its promise in conducting the elections in Ekiti and Osun states on June 21 and August 9, respectively. Yet, it was pointed out that there was confusion in coordinating the activities of security agents drafted for the assignment, while some displayed open partisanship. The three arms of the military- the Navy, Air force and Army were made to send troops, while the Police and Nigeria Civil Defence Corps also deployed officers, men and materials, ostensibly to ward off trouble makers.

    For the first time in the history of elections in the country, the Department of State Security (DSS) also played a visible even if detestable role as its men were seen menacingly armed and pointing guns at innocent citizens. Worse still, the men were masked, thus making it difficult to differentiate them from hoodlums who could have procured the military uniform. The use of hoods, now common with the Boko Haram insurgents, was first noticed as some gun-toting men accompanied the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) candidate on his campaign. It was condemned. But, the practice continued as, a few days to the election, some of the men were seen at the Osogbo Township Stadium where they refused organised Labour that had booked its use for a rally entry.

    Then, on Election Day, some men wearing masks turned up at strategic nooks and crannies of the state, threatening the same peace they had apparently been deployed to secure. In a nocturnal raid on the eve of the Osun election, prominent members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had also been picked up for no justifiable reason, with some released three days after the election. In none of the abductions was any reason adduced for the action.

    The defence put up by the service’s spokesperson, Ms. Marilyn Ogar, is not only ludicrous but an indication that the high command might have instructed the men on the field to align with a particular party. Her linking the APC to attempted rigging is an indication that she knew more than she volunteered and her men would gladly do anything to pervert the process. This trend must stop.

    The introduction of hooded security men on Election Day is a dangerous development as we earlier pointed out in an editorial after the election. It is commendable that Professor Jega has come out boldly, not only to condemn the development but assure that the commission would not accept them for future elections.

    We call on the INEC chairman to insist that the security functions during polling can only be coordinated by the commission. This is the practice in many parts of the world today. Part 1, Paragraph 15 of the 1999 Constitution as amended saddles the electoral commission with the power to “organise, undertake and supervise all elections to the offices of the President and Vice President, the Governor and Deputy Governor of a state, and to the membership of the Senate, House of Representatives and the House of Assembly of each state of the Federation.”

    We also call on the National Assembly to accord priority to reforms needed to restore honour to the electioneering process. Six months to the 2015 general elections it is to be noted that the needed fund, legislative cover and administrative rules should be made expeditiously available to empower INEC perform its role without fear or favour. The electorate needs time to get familiar with the rules and the terrain.

    Hooded security men must be removed from the scene; the military has no business participating in elections. It is a civil responsibility with which the Police and Civil Defence should be saddled while the military men should be left with tackling the more damaging threat posed by the Boko Haram insurrection.

  • Funding INEC

    Funding INEC

    The Federal Government has no excuse for underfunding the electoral commission barely seven months to elections

    The warning by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Electoral Matters that the capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could be compromised by poor funding deserves the serious attention of the Federal Government, the civil society and the general public.

    The committee’s chairman, Mr. Jerry Manwe, said that the committee found out that the electoral body would require N120 billion to conduct the 2015 elections, whereas all that has been made available to it is N45 billion. The huge difference, he explained, could precipitate logistics crisis if not resolved early enough.

    Manwe echoed the fears expressed by the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, in his earlier interface with the National Assembly. We find the alarm worrisome given the fact that the next general elections, including the presidential, governorship and legislative at federal and state levels are due in another seven months. The electoral commission ought to have the fund now to enable it prepare for the polls.

    Although the N120 billion appears huge, all the commission is required to do is convince the legislature that due diligence has been followed in its computation. It is curious that the House is crying out now after the Appropriation Bill had been passed. Mr. Manwe is calling for a supplementary bill before it is too late. While at this stage there appears to be no alternative, we are surprised that the House that had been interfacing with the commission did not deem it necessary to call the attention of the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office to the potential landmine during the defence of the budget by government agencies.

    It appears that the financial independence for INEC that Nigerians had fought for and won is being eroded so soon after the amendment to the Electoral Act in 2010.

    The ghosts of the heavily compromised 2007 elections are still haunting the process. Also, owing to late preparations, the first elections conducted in 2011 had to be aborted mid-stream. A repeat of these faux pas would be unacceptable in 2015. The electoral commission has been handed a mandate to improve on the recent Ekiti State governorship election; anything less would be unacceptable to Nigerians who are too eager to prove to the international community that they are capable of designing and conducting flawless elections.

    During the budget preparation, the House Committee on Police Affairs, too, had pointed out that poor funding of the police could hinder adequate security arrangement for the elections. The committee said, from the estimates submitted by the executive in a year leading to general elections, the budgetary provision for the police had decreased by more than N1 billion. It said this could precipitate a strike action when the men in uniform would be required to protect the integrity of the balloting process.

    We find it difficult to accept that the Federal Government needs prodding to appreciate these booby traps. While we acknowledge that we live in difficult times, when security challenges occasioned by the insurgency in the north east is causing so much pain and making a huge demand on scarce resources, it must be noted that deepening democracy is one of the most serious challenges of the moment. It would take sustenance of democracy to guarantee professionalism of the armed forces and safeguard the nation’s territorial integrity.

    The recent Ekiti election has also brought to the fore the need to strictly adhere to the constitutional provision investing in INEC the power to “organise, undertake and supervise all elections to the offices of the President, Vice President, the Governor and Deputy Governor of a state, and to the membership of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the House of Assembly of each state of the Federation.”

    We hold that this provision presupposes that INEC shall be in charge of all arrangements, including security, associated with the conduct of elections. The commission has a security department that ought to liaise with all the security agencies involved in deploying men for the elections. It ought to make request for the number of men required from each of the agencies. A situation where each security outfit decides the number and calibre of men deployed without the input and control of INEC is indefensible and unconstitutional. It was such a situation that led to the wanton abuse of power and privileges by the armed forces personnel deployed for electoral duty in Ekiti on June 21. The responsibility of the Inspector-General of Police and service chiefs should be limited to designating a very senior officer to work with the security department of the electoral body. This is the system that has served the electoral system in India so well.

    All that Nigerians want is the delivery of free, fair and credible elections that accord to international standards and show that progress has been made in the democratic march. This cannot be guaranteed in a situation where the electoral umpire is underfunded.

  • Jega needs God to succeed, says cleric

    The general overseer of Citadel of Mercy Igando, Apostle Paschal Goodnews, has called on Nigerians to pray for the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega.

    The INEC boss, according to him, has been handed a herculean task of conducting a free and fair election across the country, adding that he will need divine intervention to deliver.

    He stated that the forthcoming elections would be tough and heated, saying that any attempt to toy with it could throw the nation into a deep crisis.

    ‘’As we speak, tension is building up in various spheres in the country. Such tension which is both political and economic in nature is like a time-bomb and requires extreme caution and proper conflict-management by those in authority.

    “Dark clouds are gathering over the nation and all Nigerians need to join hands in prayers and cry out to God for divine intervention to pull the country out of the brink of disaster,” Goodnews submitted.