The Nation Newspaper

Tag: result

  • ‘PDP’s call for result selfish’

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday rejected the call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the result of the inconclusive Osun State governorship election to be announced in its favour.

    In a statement, the party said: “The All Progressives Congress (APC) hail the Osun electorate; Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); security agencies and stakeholders over the conduct of Saturday’s inconclusive governorship election in the state, which was largely peaceful despite some reported irregularities.

    “While we continue to improve on our electoral processes, particularly correcting some irregularities witnessed in Saturday’s election, the APC commends the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, which has continually exhibited its commitment to ensuring that elections are more peaceful, transparent, credible and acceptable.

    “This is a departure from the situation under past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administrations where the people’s will was subverted and elections were manipulated. We hereby reject the PDP’s baseless calls that the inconclusive Osun governorship election is announced in its favour.

    “In the leadup to the rerun election, we call on the Osun electorate, party supporters and members to remain upbeat and focused on the task of consolidating on the APC Change administration in the state by voting for the victory of our candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.”

    The statement was signed by Mr. Yekini Nabena, the Acting National Publicity Secretary.

  • Ogunbiyi rejects Osun pdp primary result

    A leading governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi ,yesterday rejected the result of weekend’s primary which gave the ticket to Senator Ademola Adeleke.

    According to the result, Adeleke edged out Ogunbiyi by seven votes.

    But Ogunbiyi said he would get the result reversed through the party’s internal mechanism.

    He said: “The outcome of that primary has been a subject of concern to a great majority of our party members who have been disappointed, disillusioned and confused by the conduct of the exercise and the results.

    “Some of the major issues, which compromised the integrity of the exercise and made the results clearly unacceptable, include the non-adherence to the clear provisions of the electoral guidelines and unfortunate manipulation of the accreditation, voting, sorting and counting of the votes cast by delegates at the primaries.

    “Consequent upon these infractions, therefore, the votes attributed to me at the end of the voting exercise were much lower than what I actually scored as valid votes.

    “I have, therefore, resolved to use the internal mechanism of the party to seek an immediate redress of this clear case of injustice, which is contrary to the spirit of transparency and justice being propagated by the new leadership of our party, led by the National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.

    “While this process is on, I wish to use this opportunity to thank leaders and members of our party who stood by me before, during and after the Primary elections.”

    Ogunbiyi expressed appreciation to co-aspirants who stepped down for him and the delegates from the 332 wards who voted for him.

    He assured them that “the mandate, which was freely given to me by majority of the delegates, will be reclaimed by the special grace of God”.

  • Poor result

    •It is disappointing that states are not taking advantage of the Federal Government’s incentives to improve health care delivery

    It is a novel and commendable initiative by the Federal Government of Nigeria working through the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) to accelerate health care delivery nationwide.  But the first-year experiment has not been salutary; no thanks to lethargy in most of the state governments of the federation.

    According to a release by the FMoH, “In 2016, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGON) disbursed $1.5 million each to all the 36 States and the FCT as supplement to their health budget. The intervention funds are to be utilised towards the goals of improving the lives of mothers and children in Nigeria under the Save One Million Lives Programme for Result (SOML-PforR). Anticipated disbursements will be based on improvements from baseline as measured by national surveys.”

    In other words, the rationale for the initiative is to support states and the FCT to improve maternal, newborn and child health care. The technique is to do a baseline survey in the opening year (2015) based on five indicators:  HIV Counseling/testing during ante-natal care; Full Vaccination; Contraceptive Prevalence Rate; Skilled Birth Attendance and Insecticide treated Nets use by Children under five years old.

    With cash disbursed to states, these indicators are surveyed again at the end of one year (2016) to check improvements in performance made by each state.

    Going by the result published by the FMoH in national newspapers this month, only about 11 states and FCT showed marginal improvements from their 2015 baseline. As a result of the security challenge in the Northeast, especially Borno State, representative data could not be gathered to draw reliable conclusions in that state.

    However, in all other states of the country, not one made up to 50 percent improvement over one year. Indeed, only 12 states, including the FCT made positive gains based on the above-mentioned five indicators.

    Twenty-four states were in the red, depreciating from their 2015 baseline in spite of cash donation of $1.5 million provided for this specific purpose.

    The best performing states, according to the survey result, are: Zamfara, Adamawa, FCT, Katsina, Yobe, Cross River, Kwara, Rivers, Benue, Bayelsa, Kogi and Edo.

    The laggards are: Jigawa, Ogun, Abia, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Kebbi, Plateau, Ebonyi, Nassarawa, Oyo, Ekiti, Delta and Akwa Ibom.

    We know that no survey is perfect and devoid of a certain margin of error, especially in a country as vast as Nigeria and lacking in the right technological architecture for large area surveys. It is expected that the survey techniques will improve as the years go by. It is also noteworthy that some prime states like Lagos, Anambra, Oyo and Enugu did not make the cut in this first year.

    We believe that any state that conscientiously deployed $1.5 million in the specific area of health care stipulated by this project is bound to record tangible improvements. Maternal and child health issues have been subjects of prolonged debate in Nigeria over the years with little or no improvements recorded. The statistics are dire as far too many women are lost during child birth in Nigeria and an unacceptable number of children still die before age five.

    We think this result-based method of improving the health care system in Nigeria is commendable and we urge the FMoH not to be discouraged by the mass failure of states, so to speak, in the first year. They should relentlessly pursue their goal while improving the methodology.

    We urge the FMoH to increase awareness of this initiative to engender more competition and improvements. It may also consider improving the cash support as time goes on. We hope that this scientific data-based and result-oriented approach to social development would be brought to bear on other important areas.

  • US, UK monitors validate INEC’s final result

    US, UK monitors validate INEC’s final result

    •Anambra election in percentages 

    The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) yesterday validated the final result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Anambra State governorship election.

    Along with the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI), the international organisations partnered with the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) on a project called Watching the Vote (WTV).

    They used a parallel vote tabulation (PVT) methodology to compare the results.

    In a verification statement issued after incumbent Governor Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was declared winner, the observers said the win percentage estimate for the parties tallied with INEC’s results.

    For the APGA, the observers estimated 52.1-57.7 per cent, while INEC declared 55.4 per cent.

    The other ranges are: All Progressives Congress (APC), 20.4-24.8 per cent (INEC, 23.4), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 15.8-19.4 per cent (INEC, 16.6) and the United Peoples Party (UPP), 1.0-2.2 per cent (INEC, 1.9).

    The observers said: “The INEC official result is consistent with the YIAGA WTV estimated range.

    “Had the official results been changed at the ward, local government area or state collation centres, the official result would not have fallen within the YIAGA WTV estimated ranges.

    “Because the official results fall within the estimated ranges, governorship contestants, parties, and voters should have confidence that INEC’s official results for the Anambra 2017 gubernatorial election reflects the ballots cast at polling units.”

    On their observations, YIAGA said the management of logistics was poor in rural areas, with INEC officials arriving by 7.30am at only 28 per cent of the polling units on average.

    According to the group, it was possible to see how a voter’s ballot paper was marked in 14 per cent of the units; however, 92 per cent of the units were properly set up.

    YIAGA said 13 per cent of polling units completed accreditation and voting by 2pm, while 82 per cent of them completed the process by 3.pm.

    YIAGA’s findings are based on reports from 243 polling units from a representative statistical sample of 250.

    INEC officials, YIAGA said, arrived at 28 per cent of polling units by 7.30am on Saturday.

    Only 75 per cent of the polling units were open as at 10am, while almost 98 per cent of polling units had card readers, YIAGA said.

    The group said APC agents were at 89 per cent of polling units; those of APGA were at 96 per cent of the units; while those of PDP were at 87 per cent of the units.

    YIAGA said the card reader functioned in 77 per cent of the units, adding that one in four persons was allowed to vote even without the authentication of fingerprints.

    The group said there were attempts to intimidate, harass and influence the polling officials at four per cent of the units.

    YIAGA said its data centre received 36 critical incident reports, 14 of which were card reader malfunctions and six of which were cases of vote buying or bribery.

    On vote buying, YIAGA said: “The secrecy of the ballot remains a cardinal feature of democratic elections. Evidence abound that the secrecy of the ballot in this election was undermined in some polling units.

    “This created an opportunity for vote buying. There were also cases of bribery of election officials. These acts occurred in the presence of security officials who made no arrests or attempts to abate the illegality.”

    The group said the delay in the collation and announcement of results at the collation centre raised unnecessary suspicion among key stakeholders.

    It urged losers to accept the results and to show political maturity and maintain peace.

    It urged INEC to address the challenges in distribution of materials and training of ad-hoc staff, among others.

  • Update: Osun bye-election result

    Update: Osun bye-election result

    Final collation of results of Saturday’s bye-election for Osun West Senatorial district has commenced at the office of  the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Already the official result of  Iwo Local Government has been announced with the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Mudashiru Hussain  polling 12,205  votes, while Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had -12,547 votes.

    Other official results of the election conducted in ten council areas  are as follows :

    Ede North APC 2,784     PDP 18,559

    Ede South APC 2,096     PDP 13,406

    Ejigbo        APC 12,229    PDP9,723

    Irewole     APC 8,952       PDP9,096

    Ola-Oluwa APC 5,316      PDP5,618

    Ayedere     APC 5,360      PDP5,789

     

     

  • Stakeholders blame WASSCE result on inadequate learning facilities

    Stakeholders blame WASSCE result on inadequate learning facilities

    Education stakeholders in the FCT have urged the three tiers of government to improve learning facilities in schools to boost academic performance in the country.

    The stakeholders made the call on Sunday while reacting to the release of the November/December West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

    The result announced by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in Lagos on Friday, showed 38 per cent credit pass in English and Mathematics by candidates who sat for the examination.

    In a telephone interview with the News agency of Nigeria (NAN), Prof Ndubuisi Ibenyi, Parents/Teachers Association (PTA) Chairman, Ezza Mgbo Federal Government Girls’ College, Ebonyi State, said that under-investment in education had affected the standard of education in the country, leading to low pass rates.

    “ I have been always saying that the standard of education in Nigeria is falling; so it may not be surprising to hear that such poor result.

    “ It is a reflection of the total decay in the education sector.”
    He said that as PTA Chairman, he was aware that the facilities for learning were inadequate.

    Citing the non-availability of staff quarters in his school as an example, he noted that teachers covered long distances to get to school.

    According to him, such a situation impacts negatively on the performance of students.

    He, therefore, suggested increased funding to the education sector as a way of arresting the poor performance currently being experienced there.

    Corroborating Ibenyi’s view, Mr Olatunji Jekayinfa, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Desk Officer, National Mathematical Centre (NMC), said that the poor performance recorded in the Mathematics and English, subjects indicated poor infrastructure provision in schools.

    Jekayinfa said that the poor performance was not only about the students but also on the part of those who teach them.

    According to him, once students are given the right instruction in the right learning environment, they will perform better.

    He expressed concern over the observed lack of seriousness on the part of the students, adding that the impact would have been less if the right learning environment and infrastructure were in place.

    Meanwhile, Mr Shittu Obassa, a parent, observed a slight improvement in this year’s WASSE results compared to last year.

    Obassa appealed to state governments to improve teachers’ welfare by paying their salaries promptly and training and re-training them, thereby boosting education quality.

    He stressed that the education sector required a lot of investment to ensure that the future leaders of the country were adequately trained and skilled to deal with the challenges of nation-building,

    “I am appealing to the government to make education top priority by ensuring that the budgetary allocation to education is in line with the UNESCO recommendation which is 26 per cent of the national budget.

    “It will go a long way toward improving the quality of education in the country,’’Obassa said.

  • Kashamu slams calls for cancellation of Ondo result

    Kashamu slams calls for cancellation of Ondo result

    •Urges Jegede not to challenge result

    The senator representing Ogun East, Buruji Kashamu, has slammed calls for cancellation of the Ondo State governorship election result.

    In a statement in Lagos yesterday, Kashamu said the outcome of the election was more of a referendum on outgoing Governor Olusegun Mimiko, than the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He said the result was a true reflection of the wish of the electorate.

    Kashamu advised the PDP candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, not to challenge the result because the facts were clear enough.

    “My good brother, Mr. Jegede, who Governor Mimiko is trying to use as a pawn in this game narrowly won his polling booth by one vote but lost his ward and local government. So, how could he be said to have stood a chance of winning the election?

    “The truth is that the people had since turned their back on Governor Mimiko. They did not want a third term for Mimiko under any guise. Civil servants are being owed six months’ salary.

    “On the eve of election, he told them he would pay them if they voted his candidate.  So, he had the money and did not pay? What does he take the good and sophisticated people of Ondo State for?

    “Besides, after being in office for eight years, Mimiko took Jegede from the same Ondo Central Senatorial District where he hails from as his successor. Who does that? Not even in cosmopolitan Lagos can such happen! So, the tell-tale signs were there for everyone to see.

    “Instead of putting the interest of PDP above his personal interest and supporting a fellow party man in Jimoh Ibrahim, who is an experienced and tested hand from Ondo South Senatorial District, he fought to get him out. His eyes are clearer now that he lost everything.”

    Kashamu said the governor’s inability to court the old PDP members who he displaced was also a factor that made him lose.

    He accused him (Mimiko) of deceit and betrayal of those who helped him, especially in his first term, including the Governor-elect, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

    On claims there was heavy voter inducement, the lawmaker said no party could be absolved of the act, adding:  “If you paid N500 or N1,000 and another person gave N2,000 or N3,000, you are as guilty as the person you accuse of the crime.

    “Even if anyone blames voter inducement on poverty, again it is a heavy indictment on the Olusegun Mimiko-led eight-year administration.

    “That does not have anything to do with the Federal Government. He has been the chief executive of an oil-rich state for eight years.

    “The question should be what did he do with the resources? The people were simply tired of his legacy of corruption, lies and deceit, and rejected him at the poll,” Kashamu said.

  • Jegede: we’re studying result

    Jegede: we’re studying result

    Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Saturday’s election  Mr Eyitayo Jegede, said yesterday he is still studying the outcome.

    He said: “it is too early to decide on what to do as a person. My party the PDP, will decide what to do. We are still consulting with those that matter so as to know the next line of action.”

    The runner up in the election said: “I know we have won the heart of the people and I should thank our people for standing by us and for their show of love and their steadfastness.”

    ‘We are studying the situation and in the fullness of time you will know what the position of the party is.

    “The events that led to the election are known to you and I. We had 48 hours to prepare for the election. I was cleared by the court on Wednesday and had only Thursday to campaign and on Saturday I had to go for election.

    “Our request for postponement of the election was denied by INEC for reasons that we are yet to fathom and these are the things in the next few days we will have to review.”

    Chairman of the PDP Clement Faboyede said ‘the party will meet tomorrow (today) with all the stakeholders and our decision will be made public.

    “we thank God for the litigation processes and for the way we came out victorious and our heart desire candidate for PDP was cleared to contest the election few days to the election when there was no time for campaign.”

  • INEC seeks probe of Rivers’ ‘fake poll result sheets’

    INEC seeks probe of Rivers’ ‘fake poll result sheets’

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called for thorough investigation of the production of fake result sheets in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

    The legislative rerun elections in the state have been fixed for December 10.

    Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi said yesterday: “The commission has heard the news about the arrest of nine people with fake result sheets in Port Harcourt.

    “INEC wants to appeal to security agencies that the culprits should not just be arrested, they and their sponsors should be prosecuted.”

    It was reported that the police in Rivers had arrested a syndicate involved in the printing of fake result sheets purportedly to be used in the rescheduled rerun elections.

    The report added that the director and personnel of the printing press, Help-Mate Consult, in Port Harcourt, allegedly involved in the printing of the fake result sheets were arrested by the police.

    Oyekanmi said INEC had no relationship with the printing press and its arrested director on the production of the fake results sheet.

    He denied the allegation that the production of the fake election result sheets was with the connivance with INEC and a political party to rig the December 10 election.

    “INEC will never connive with any political party to do such a thing to destroy the credibility of our elections.

    “Our system is too strict and complex for anybody to successfully do such a thing. It is not easy to break into the process,” he said.

    He, however, said that the commission, having successfully conducted elections in Edo and other places, would do what it could to make the election free, fair and credible in Rivers.

    INEC had last week announced the plan to conclude the pending re-run election in Rivers on the December 10.

  • Low WAEC results: Minister reads riot act

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Malam Muhammad Bello has challenged school principals in the FCT to ensure that from next academic session, all secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory attain at least 50 per cent success in the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO).

    Bello who gave the challenge during a meeting with school principals in the Territory said that the 30 percent success recorded in 2016 WAEC and NECO in FCT schools is no longer acceptable.

    The minister who was represented at the meeting by the FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye insisted that students must achieve at least 50 per cent or the principal will be penalised.

    According to a statement issued by the Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the Minister warned that the FCT Administration will no longer accept excuses of poor infrastructure or inadequate teachers; saying that school principals must do everything to ensure that this situation is changed.

    He said it is unthinkable that the FCT with the largest concentration of the elite, which should be setting the pace for other states, is now turning out a measly 30 percent success in very critical examinations as WAEC and NECO.

    “The mandate I will give you that goes with sanction; for this new session, every principal must be determined that for WAEC and NECO in 2017, any principal that does not achieve 50 percent success should just quietly leave that school because the principal is going to be removed. If you don’t achieve 50 percent success in WAEC and NECO 2017, you are no longer fit to be a principal in FCT and I mean it. That is the minimum that we want for every school and you must work towards it,” he stressed.

    The Minister added, “We want the success rate to change. That is very important. We cannot be gathering students and at the end of their final year, all they will have is three credits. I don’t know whether you are proud as a principal that in your school, the success rate is five percent. I want principals that will be determined to say in my school, things must change.

    Infrastructure or no infrastructure, resources or no resources, I want to put myself as a sacrifice and change things.  That is what I want to do before I leave the service. I want to be known to have done something good for Nigeria.”

    Bello also warned principals to desist from charging illegal fees of any sort when provisions have already been made through the FCT Secondary Education Board to run these schools; emphasizing that principals who persist with this ignoble act would also attract heavy sanctions from the FCT Administration.

    His words: “My mission is not to come and make you sad; but the situation is bad and you know it and we are ready to tackle it. But you must be up and doing too and that is why I said I must call all the principals and talk to you to do the right things. That is what this Administration is about. We are ready to put the right things in place. We are ready to work for Nigeria. But we want people that will join us to do this. That is why when you come to FCT today, it is not business as usual and we want to send that message down to our institutions.”