The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sacrosanct

  • INEC to parties: Sunday’s deadline for primaries sacrosanct

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) warned political parties yesterday that Sunday’s deadline to conduct primaries to pick candidates for the 2019 elections and resolution of disputes remains sacrosanct.

    INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee Solomon Soyebi said “the resolution was made at the end of the commission’s weekly meeting on Thursday in Abuja’’.

    He said 89 of the 91 registered political parties that gave notice of their intentions to conduct primaries as required by the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) had commenced and were at various stages of the process.

    He added that “INEC wishes to restate that the conduct of primaries and resolution of all disputes arising therefrom must be concluded on or before Oct. 7 as earlier published in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 general elections.

    “The last day for submission of lists of sponsored candidates (Form CFOO2) and personal particulars (Form CF001) remains Oct. 18 for Presidential and National Assembly and Nov. 2 for Governorship and State Houses of Assembly.”

    Soyebi restated that the commission would only accept list of candidates submitted by the National Chairman and the National Secretary.

  • ‘Governor’s mandate sacrosanct’

    ‘Governor’s mandate sacrosanct’

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Ben Onyechere, has said the election of Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is sacrosanct while the judgment ousting him is “oppressive and conspiratorial”.

    He said the judgment, instead of correcting a perceived wrong, had become an avenue for somebody to take power through the backdoor.

    In a statement, Onyechere said: “The mandate given to Governor lkpeazu is sacrosanct as it is recognised by law. No court can unilaterally upturn it with the excuse bordering on the date of issuance of tax certificates.

    “The quest to hasten the annulment of Ikpeazu’s election is the greatest misnomer in our democracy and an affliction to the sensibility of Abia electorate.

    “Voters are right and are protected by the constitution. The onslaught of the business mogul of Abia extraction, who resides in Lagos and Abuja, is an affront on the state and must be resisted at all costs.

    “In a civilised society, the workers of the tax office should be questioned and told to explain the procedure they followed before issuing the tax certificates.”

  • LASG: Planning laws remain sacrosanct

    LASG: Planning laws remain sacrosanct

    Lagos State said it would enforcement Physical Planning and Urban Development laws to stem the tide of unwholesome practices in the building industry.

    The Commissioner for Physical Planning, Urban Development, Mr. Wasiu Anifowoshe, made this known at the stakeholders’ meeting organised by the state’s Physical Planning Permit Agency (LASPPPA), under the theme, ‘keying into the benefits of City Development for Urban Sustainability.’

    Anifowoshe urged the people to always build their structures in accordance with approved building plans so as to avoid disorderliness and haphazard development in the communities, adding that Lagos State, as a fast growing megacity, is poised to ensure liveable and sustainable environment through constructive engagement of all stakeholders.

    The General Manager of the Physical Planning Permit Authority, Mr. Toyin Abdul, Convener of the stakeholders’ meeting, said the essence of the parley was to deliberate on physical planning and development issues, with a view to obtaining feedback from the stakeholders through interactive session. He said the sporadic urban growth in Ojo area has necessitated the preparation of Development Guides and the expansion of  Lagos –Badagry Express way as well as production of Badagry master plan which has spelt out some key projects such as health facilities, up-grading of schools, waterfront  development to mention a few.

    He said it is time to ensure total compliance to planning laws and regulations, saying procrastination to do the needful can no longer be allowed. “Let us learn and build in conformity with physical development plans’ law and regulations. We cannot continue to procrastinate as delay could be dangerous”, he warned.

    Unfolding government’s efforts to expedite development permit in the state, Abdul stated that 20 District Offices were created across the state, with Ojo local government included. Besides, to ensure easy retrieval of the development plan, the agency is working out a software code known as “LASPPPA Soft”, aimed at detailing recording of development permit. This is in addition to ease complication of approved building plans for gazetting, in collaboration with the Physical Planning Research and statistics Department.

    At the interactive session, Directors from the various Departments took turn to enlighten the gathering on the activities of their Departments and the process of obtaining necessary approvals and permits. The Building Materials Testing Laboratory Agency was also at hand to sensitise the people on activities it also stressed the need for people to subject the building materials to testing so as to ensure of the quality of materials being used for construction. This according to him would stem the incidence of building collapse.

    Responding to the issue raised by the Ojo market leader on the markets removed to pave the way for the expansion of Badagry Express road, he appealed to the market association to be patient with the government saying that removal of such markets was for the good of all. “Your socio-economic life will improve, your property will attract more value and transportation will become easy and affordable,” he explained.

    Responding to complaint by the Bricklayers’ Association on low patronage and preference of foreign artisans to their Nigerian counterpart,  Anifowose  said the building industry is very competitive and for the bricklayers to occupy their right position in the building industry they have to upscale their skills and register under a builder adding that the best person would always get the job as nobody would patronise anybody whose competence was in doubt.

    However, a group of professionals in the built environment  appealed to the government to create space  for facilities such as the General Hospital and burial ground in the Ojo master plan, while the Community Development Associations sought government assistance  in securing land to execute Community  development projects.

  • NASS: Party supremacy sacrosanct

    NASS: Party supremacy sacrosanct

    SIR: The emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as the President of the 8th National Assembly on June 9, came to many with shock and disbelief. What indeed shocked many including this writer was the way

    and manner Senator Saraki against all known political decency and in defiance of respect for the office of the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria and the political party he claims to belong

    entered into an unholy alliance with the opposition PDP to emerge as President. His action has in many ways demonstrated or rather shown him as one that can sacrifice anything to get into power.

    This is very dangerous for our democracy.

    What further baffles me and all others who follow this NASS crisis was the purported rejection of the party’s position on the principal officers of the Senate and the House by the duo of Saraki and House Speaker Yakubu Dogara. The party leadership was right by coming up of with the list of people from the Unity Forum to serve as principal officers to compensate them over the unfortunate but ugly incident which the election of Saraki came to represent. As both the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari accepted Saraki and Dogara as leaders of the National Assembly, they in turn have no choices then to accept the list sent to them by the party if really they are interested in the unity and progress of the assembly and by extension the progress of Nigeria.

    Yes in a democratic setting such as ours, one is free to aspire for any position but then there is a limit to which one can go in the process of pursuing such aspiration. What Bukola did on June 9 was akin to forcing Nigerians to swallow their vomits. Nigerians overwhelmingly rejected PDP at the poll by voting President Muhammadu Buhari massively; by entering into an alliance with the PDP, the Like-minds Group in the Senate was telling Nigerians to go to hell; as such they must not be allowed to get away with it. APC must act now and forcibly instill discipline in minds of the party men. APC must ensure party supremacy now before it gets out of hand.

    The problem of the PDP started right from the day it failed to tell former President Jonathan to respect the agreement he signed on single term; therefore APC must learn from the PDP’s mistake. Indiscipline and lack of respect for party supremacy as well as impunity was largely responsible for the PDP’s disgraceful exit. Let no one be made to be above the party.  If APC is ready and willing to remain as a party to be reckoned with in future, it must sanction Saraki and all his like minds in the APC.

    Hiding under the cover of protecting or safeguarding party unity by burying the offence committed by Saraki and Dogara and their like minds can only do more harm than good to the interest of the

    party. I commend the position taken by the Progressives Governor’s Forum for standing firmly by the party decision over NASS leadership crises.

     

    • Rayyanu Bala,

    Lafia, Nasarawa State.

  • June 17: How Sacrosanct?

    ONE of the shortcomings of Nigeria will shoot to the fore by June 17, when the country will still be hooked on analogue broadcasting, and be counted among the odds. This is as supposed to an African country like Tanzania, which had since 2013 gone digital, far ahead of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) switchover timeline, just so it could hit the ground running.

    Tanzania may be the first country to do so of the five members of the East African Community. Others, including Kenya, have since gone through test run and expected policy rows that could enhance its preparedness. Nigeria, it appears, is yet to take any reasonable steps, save for scramble for radio and TV licensing fees ahead  that appears the most important. And it would take the NBC two years to assuage its thirst for income acquisition. We all must wait  after all, waiting, they say, is part of business.

    In South Africa, the country’s state of readiness was presented to a Joint Portfolio Committee on Communication and Telecommunications and Postal Services in Parliament on March 10. The delay was attributed to disagreements about the use of a control system in STBs, which some free-to-air broadcasters had suggested would negatively impact on their content.

    Why I like this development is the fact that you have to start a process to be able to know some of the challenges that may be peculiar to your country. In Nigeria, the NBC has spent the last 10 years talking to itself, and like a Yoruba proverb goes, when you spend 20 years preparing for madness  how long more do we have to run naked in the streets?

    It is sad that in all the dozens of sensitive national matters begging for attention, the issue of Digital Transition, will be added to the onus of the MuhammaduBuhari’s government- and if you care to know, as a FRESH project. The outcome of this, you and I already know.

    Still on South Africa, the relevant department has already begun engaging entities on aligning plans to the Cabinet’s approved policy. Sentech is almost ready to distribute a digital signal, while the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is gearing up to provide universal service coverage and new channels. The government will provide free STBs to more than five million poor households and prioritise distribution to border regions areas of the country, to avoid and minimise signal interference with neighbouring countries.

    Eleven days to go, and the excuses by NBC is expected, being the regulars from a typical Nigerian agency. It is 10 years already since the 2005 ITU conference in Geneva, where the switchover date was announced to its 193 members, consisting of 70 private members. And it is a shame that most upwardly mobile citizens are not well-acquainted about what this project is all about, let alone the ordinary man on the street.

    NBC’s Director General, EmekaMba, attributed the faults to funding  his words, like never before, was emphatic: “We do not have the required funding that will help us achieve a national digital switchover now,” but give it to him, because he and his men are FULLY ready as regulators  of course in terms of planning. But I dare say you don’t know how ready you are, until you are indeed ready to go. Regretfully, the NBC is banking on mere blueprint, when over the past years it has been giving assurances that the country will meet the June 17 timeline.

    The country is still waiting for funds to buy STBs and transmitters, while we can imagine how much funds might have been committed to the supposed preparations, including its purported alliance with four countries that have concluded their digitalisation process.

    While South Africa’s Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi, admitted that her country would not meet the deadline, it is consulting with the Cabinet on the digital signal switch-on date. And that might not just be a political statement. In March, the Cabinet approved the final amendments to the broadcasting digital migration policy, which unlocks the project to enable its implementation. It also agreed that the government must provide free Set Top Boxes to five million poor households that have television sets.

    Meanwhile, as this country and others in the continent are already dealing with expected teething problems, the NBC is making excuses in the 12th hour, saying that delay is needed to drive consumer awareness and work out modalities to checkmate anticipated excesses of pay TV operators.

    There is no doubt that the basic focus of the NBC at the moment is to promote income-spinning licensing operation, under the guise of seeking broadcast services that will fill the expected large spectrum.

  • NLC: election timetable must be sacrosanct

    NLC: election timetable must be sacrosanct

    •Union to reconcile aggrieved members

    THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked the Federal Government to ensure that the election timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) remain sacrosanct, adding that the polls must go ahead as scheduled.

    The congress assured that it was determined to bring back its members who were aggrieved as a result of the just concluded delegates’ conference, which elected a new leadership.

    It has, therefore, set up a reconciliatory committee to dialogue with them with a view to avoiding a division within the congress.

    In a communique by its President, Ayuba Wabba and General Secretary Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson at the end of a National Administrative Council (NAC) meeting in Abuja, the Congress asked the Federal Government to take urgent steps to shore up the value of the naira and cushion the declining purchasing power of the workers

    The NLC also frowned at the trend among state governors to owe workers’ salaries for several months, praising the Ebonyi State chapter of the Congress for embarking on an industrial action to protest the backlog of unpaid salaries.

    The communique reads in part: “The NAC-in-Session acknowledged with relief, the vigour and momentum the Nigerian Armed forces have garnered in recent times in the fight against insurgency.  It called on the Federal Government to do the needful to encourage our troops and sustain the momentum to ensure a complete routing of the insurgents.

    “The NAC-in-Session examined the state of the economy and its impact on Nigerian workers. It was pained by the heavy burden that has been saddled on the worker.

    “NAC-in-Session condemned in very strong terms the vogue among state governments to owe workers salary in excess of eight months.  In response to this ugly, trend NAC-In-Session set up a task force to drive Congress intervention and actions in redressing the anomaly.

    “The NAC-in-Session noted with concern the devaluation of the Naira, which has drastically eroded the purchasing power of the worker and made nonsense of the N18,000 minimum wage. It urged the government to quickly come up with measures to shore up the value of the Naira and also to cushion the effect of eroded purchasing power of the worker.

    “The NAC-in-Session resolved to set up a Reconciliatory Committee to woo back the dissatisfied contestants in the just concluded 11th Delegates Conference of the NLC.

    “THE NAC-in-Session noted with concern the spate of protest calling for the removal of INEC Chairman.  It stated that the current elections timetable must be seen as sacrosanct and, therefore, any acts capable of threatening the sanctity of the election dates must not be tolerated.”

  • CBN: cash-less extension to other states in July sacrosanct

    The planned extension of the cash-less policy to five states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from July 1, is sacrosanct, Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Tunde Lemo has, said.

    The cash-less policy, which began in Lagos in January last year is billed to be extended to six more states ( Rivers, Kano, Anambra, Ogun and Abia as well as the FCT) in July 1.

    Lemo, who is responsible for driving the policy, said the additional states were chosen because of the large volume of cash transactions in some of their major cities.

    He said: “Recall that we started this programme actually in January last year and we are only just continuing. We are only just moving to phase two, so we have learnt all the ropes in phase one in cash-less Lagos and we believe we are ready to roll out to other six locations in Nigeria.

    “We are actually working in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee. We have a subcommittee headed by the MD/CEO of UBA, who is the cash-less champion among the bank CEOs and together with the other institution like the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) and others, we are working very hard to ensure that we dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s. I can tell you that we already have our road map and we are not going to shift the implementation date of the phase two, which is July 1, 2013.

    “We are ready to roll out to the six other states and there would be no change in date. We are not shifting the goal post. We have a roadmap, which is being followed and we are fully prepared,” he said.

    He said the previous challenge of the cash-less policy was connectivity.

    “ we have over 150,000 Point of Sales (PoS) machines in Lagos area where we had the cash-less Lagos. However, only 25 per cent of them are active largely because we don’t have General packet radio service (GPRS) and connectivity alive in some of the clusters and because of that, it has affected the rate at which those machines are used,” he said.

    Lemo however, said these challenges are being overcome. He said: “We believe very much that it is getting better because we monitor the transactions on daily basis and we are beginning to record large volume and value of transactions done under the Point of Sales (PoS). We are not even looking only at the PoS as a major of channel for cashless; we are now looking at all the other major channels for cashless. We have the mobile telephone, which we will use to drive the cashless policy.

    The cashless policy is aimed at reducing the dominance of cash in the system. It specifies penal charges for individuals and corporate organisations that want to withdraw or lodge cash above the prescribed limits.

    Under the policy, the banking watchdog pegged the daily cumulative cash withdrawal or deposit limit for individual accounts at N500, 000 per day and N3 million per day for corporate accounts.