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Tag: security

  • IBM chief advises banks on technology, security

    IBM chief advises banks on technology, security

    COLLINS NWEZE

    The Vice President, IBM Tivoli Storage, Software Group, Steve Wojtowecz has advised banks to adopt efficient and quality banking software despite high cost of such acquisition to achieve enhanced banking security.

    Wojtowecz, who spoke on the benefits of the Edge 2014 conference recently held in Las Vergas, United States, said the event was meant to show clients and associates, IBM’s technological inputs in today’s world, that banks should ensure that people responsible for data applications are highly efficient as that remains one of the first steps to banking security.

    He said the cost for acquiring software will be upset in a matter of months from efficiency, arguing that securing efficient and seamless software remains the best option for banks, telecommunication firms and other operators remains the best way to maximise output.

    “Efficient banking software is costly but data storage is also very important. Buying software is relatively inexpensive compared to the benefit one gets,” he said.

    He said banks should have several layers of security and authentication so that should one layer fail, the other can continue.

    The IBM chief said fraud prevention and detection can be for different reasons. “There are many mechanisms a bank can implement to limit fraud, because preventing it is very difficult. Limiting fraud is the best case option at the moment. What they are trying to do is that there is authentication, taking the multifunctional applications to where you can. Anything from fingerprints, to extremely strong password could be helpful,” he said.

    “I think banks change their applications because as the business changes, the software have to change to support the users. So, it might be because of the person working in the bank, or the bank customer,” Wojtowecz said.

    He explained that a change of application can also be to support a bank employee, the consumer of the commercial bank, financial institutions for real estate, or stock exchange. “So, when companies change their applications, they do so for the user to meet a particular need. Despite the reason for such action, I know it is very hard to throw away an application,” he said.

    Wojtowecz said when developing banking software, it is important to think of certain things. Firstly, the application must have the capacity to put a data at the right place, and continuously as the data is generated.

    He said companies can sometimes create a level of software, with much smaller software, depending on the level of virtualisation needed. “Sometimes you have software-defined storage, sometimes you have software-defined environment, and software-defined networks,” he said.

    According to him, there is need to understand the language software speak even as they also have to interconnect. He said the banks always want software with higher utilisation which is also costly.

  • Education commissioners seek security in schools

    Education commissioners seek security in schools

    The State Commissioners for Education Forum in Nigeria has called on the government to provide adequate security in schools, especially in the northeast, until the Boko Haram insurgency is fully crushed.

    They also sympathised with the parents of the abducted Chibok girls urging them to be patient with the Federal Government as it makes efforts with the international community to rescue the girls.

    A statement by chairman of the forum, Prof Offiong Offiong, also urged all concerned should intensify efforts in securing the release of the abducted Chiboks girls without any further delay.

    Offiong, who is also commissioner in Cross River State, said: “The forum urges provision of adequate security in all our schools to prevent future reoccurrence of this unfortunate act as it appears no student is safe in the country until this insurgence is crushed totally. Accordingly we enjoin all parents of the girls to exercise patience as the federal government in collaboration with her allies carries out rescue mission and the girls are safely back to the comfort of their homes.

    “This, indeed,, is a trying period for the nation’s education sector and the casualties of this dastardly act are not the girls alone, though they are directly the victims; not the parents alone, who have been waiting endlessly for the news of the release of their daughters and not the Borno State Government alone.

    Although this inhuman act was perpetrated on its soil. We are all collectively victims as Nigerians because the victims are Nigerians, they are our children and our jewel, the future mothers of the nation. All hands must be on deck to ensure their release.

    “The forum is, particularly, worried over the plight of education in the northeast geopolitical zone in general and Borno in particular. The need to restore law and order in the region has become more urgent chiefly as there is a high rate of out- of-school children there. Continuous closure of school gates against our children in the region due to insecurity would continue to adversely affect the future of education in the north east and Nigeria as a whole.

    “It is against this background that the forum welcomes the assistance offered by the nation’s international friends towards ensuring the release of our children. We cannot afford to wait helplessly as our children our being degraded.”

  • ‘Obiano ‘ll win security battle’

    ‘Obiano ‘ll win security battle’

     A prime member of the Peter Obi administration, Chief Dubem Obaze, in this interview with NWANOSIKE ONU, speaks on various issues in Anambra State, including Governor Willie Obiano’s crackdown on criminals and the proposal at the National Conference to scrap the local government councils. Excerpts: 

    Since the end of the Peter Obi administration in which you served as a commissioner, some of your former colleagues returned to the farm. What are you doing now? Do you have a farm?

     I do, (laughs), I am from Ogbaru; we all have farmlands, as a matter of fact, but I am also still helping out politically whenever I can.

    Considering the crises in communities, what should town union  Presidents-General do to ensure peace?

    Well, as you know, I just came back from giving a public lecture to the presidents-general of our communities. Among the things I discussed were peace and security because without peace there will be no progress. I am not the serving commissioner for local government or Special Adviser on town union matters who will be in a better position to know what the issues are on ground. However, my advice, like I told them up there is that, were there is no peace, there can’t be progress, is the same thing for the state, if there is problem in communities in Anambra state, if there is problem in some states in Nigeria, there is problem in Nigeria.

    On the security that Obiano is tackling headlong, what would be done to sustain it?     

    I believe he is going to sustain it. I believe so, because if you know Chief Willie Obiano, you will know that he is somebody that can remain focused for a very long time. He is an accountant, also an auditor. You know auditors have the capacity to look at papers for months and audit them. So, I believe he can sustain that and it is also very important that he does, because that’s the only way he will work.

    During your tenure as commissioner, there was this arrangement with communities to act as an informal fourth tier of government. What informed that idea?

    Well, it was to get development to the grassroots. Everything is local, every development is local but unfortunately our local government areas are not functioning the way they should. When I said that, I mean national and not just in Anambra state, I think we have some of the best ones that are functioning. The whole idea is to take development to the people directly and the local government is the people that have the capacity and capability to do that, because you can’t sit in Awka and know what is happening in all the communities in Anambra state. So, you better be in a deal with the presidents general of these communities who will tell you what is happening there. If you use them to impact that development, it will be more sustainable and the people will have that sense of belonging, especially if they generate projects that government will do for them.

     There appears to be this unhealthy rivalry between town union Presidents-General and traditional rulers. What should be done about this?

    It is urging the presidents-general especially to as much as possible carry the traditional rulers along. If you see most communities where there is peace, there is respect for the traditional rulers there. Then, the traditional rulers will also respect the presidents-general and they will find it very easy to work, for peace and harmony. But the important thing is for both of them to realize that it is for the good of the community; once they don’t personalise it, even if both quarrel, as far as they are working for the progress of the community, there is nothing to worry about. But in most cases, if you look deeply, you will found out that somebody is trying to corner the community’s money or cheat them.

    Why did you choose to partner with the community leaders rather than councilors and local government chairmen?

    We were also working with them through the local governments. But, you will found out that the councilors were not the most experience persons in the community. When you go to Anambra communities, you have retired Architects, Engineers, teachers and journalists, we have all kinds of quality people that are living in the villages and if you can tape into those people, most times they are ten times more experienced than those councilors. So, if you get all of them to work together and get the result then it will bring back the success of Anambra local government system.

    Does the present administration intend to adopt that approach?

    I think with the continuation of the same government, I don’t think Chief Willie Obiano will do any other thing totally different from what Mr. Peter Obi was doing, apart from adding the ones he intends to add, like oil and gas and again in agriculture which is the major thing, but you know agriculture will be very successful because Mr. Peter Obi had done an elaborate network of roads and this is the second stage of it. Also, on security where Obi did the groundwork, Chief Obiano is taking off from where Obi stopped.

    On the proposals at the National Conference that the local government councils be scrapped, what is your take?

    I don’t agree that the local government should be scrapped. It needs strengthening, not scrapping. If you can get quality people to become local government chairmen, there must be some kind of control, supervision and oversight functions. If you take Anambra State, for example, most of the success of Obi’s administration is in our communities: light, water, roads, etc, so if you say you are scraping the local government it does not in any way make any sense.

    Another day, they will be talking about scraping the state and we will have a unitary government. We are talking of bringing government closer to the people here in Anambra. There is a law we are trying to create, a fourth tier of government and if the town unions will actually serve as a fourth tir of government. So, when we are talking of brining government to the people, some people are talking of scraping the ones that are there? Will it be somebody that is Awka that will make decisions about Anambra west? It doesn’t go well or you will be here and know what is happening in Anaocha or Ogbaru? You can’t possibly do it. The man in Anaocha or Ihiala is better equipped to discuss and know what the problems in those areas are and we promptly handle them. If what they need is more funding and if there is need for them to be funded, we will look into it and monitor the project.

    Any regrets as a commissioner?

    I regret nothing. I am only thankful to God for giving me a great opportunity to serve. I have absolutely nothing to regret.

    How were you able to manage town union issues?

    I asked a lot of questions, I listened attentively and calmed down people. Like I said during the lectures, I gave to ASATU members. Most of these problems can be solved with a phone call. It can be solved with a visit, can be solved with my brother, I am sorry. It can also be solved with my son don’t do this again. I told them that they are powerful but it takes a very powerful person to know that you are powerful and not use that power. Peter Obi did a lot of that, that’s why we have peace in Anambra today. He used to get out of the way for other people to pass and I would ask him, Your Excellency why would you do this? And he said, No, I am still the governor, the fact that I left the road for somebody to cross does not stop me from being the governor. It is when they now come to my seat to sit down, that’s when you will know I can fight. But other than that, there is peace is Anambra, he didn’t quarrel with anybody. He left successfully. So, managing those communities then was the matter of listening to them, making phone calls when it is necessary and ensuring that some problems do not escalate into violence.

    You wanted to succeed Obi and all of a sudden, the whole thing changed. What actually transpired?

     (Laughs) Well, you know power belongs to God and He also chooses whoever He wants. That is my take on that. Our party chose Chief Willie Obiano, after all the series of issues and problems and we are thankful to God that He allowed us to have an APGA candidate as governor of Anambra State as a successor of His Excellency Governor Peter Obi. I can assure you that if it wasn’t managed well in the last minute, it would have been another story.

    Victor Umeh or Maxi Okwu, which way do we go?

     I am not competent to comment on that but let me tell you that APGA is one united family, we cannot be separated. You know one time in Imo state they said they had APGA- PDD, APGA – APGA, they have APGA –LABOUR but the unifying factor is that, there was an APGA in all of them. What I see in Anambra state is that, there are some of us, that are APGA at heart and APGA is bigger than any one person, we will stand one united and indivisible party.

     The state governor, Secretary to the State Government and Speaker of the House are from Anambra North; are you comfortable with that?

    Let me tell you that our governor is of course duly elected. The speaker has been the speaker for two years before the current governor was elected and it was not coincidence. Obi was governor for four years (central), Rtd Hon. Anayo Nnebe my good friend was speaker for four years and he is also from central. So, the speaker does not have any problem because she was elected before we knew that governor will come from Anambra north. So, you won’t say because the governor came from North that you are going to throw her away. The SSG who happens to be my elder brother, he was the number three man in the United Nations. He is the most competent administrator we can afford. He took a cut off his 60% to 70% of his salary to serve in Anambra state and if you can get that kind of person, I don’t care where that person comes from, at some point, we must choose competent, integrity and choose quality over quantity. If there is a better person to serve as SSG, is not necessary to start checking if the person is from West, North, South and East. He is the best person for now.

    Has Anambra North senatorial zone been represented very well in the Senate?

     Yes, we have our sister there, Senator Margery Okadigbo. She has done well. However, I believe APGA producing a senator will do a whole lot better. Look at our people in the National Assembly, they are doing fantastically well: Hon. Uche Ekwunife, Hon. Afam Ogene and Chris Azubogu. All of them are doing well, they are serving very well. You can’t say that of other parties that are representing Anambra State. We have fantastic senators in other places like the Senate president, David mark; we thank God we have him at this time. He is helping Mr. President to stabilise things. We have Aminu Tambuwal, a young man doing very well.

    Are you going to contest for the Senate in 2015?

    Am I contesting for senate 2015? (Laughs) You see, such things require a lot of consultation. They require talking to your leaders, the people. The only thing I will tell you is that my party has zoned the senatorial seat to my zone, which is Onitsha and Ogbaru axis.

    Are you under pressure to context?

    I am not under any pressure but I will consult my people first (laughs).

     

  • Security: Ogun commissioner calls for vigilance in communities

    Security: Ogun commissioner calls for vigilance in communities

    Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu has underscored the need for communities to be vigilant at all times, particularly now that the country is facing security challenges.

    Olaniyonu gave the advice in Abeokuta, in a lecture he delivered at a programme of the Junior Chamber International, with the theme: “Effective policing; the key factor to a crime-free society.”

    He emphasised that ensuring security is a collective responsibility of all, urging Nigerians to get the law enforcement agents promptly informed of any suspicious activity that could threaten the security and peace of a community.

    “We must all be vigilant at all times and get the Police informed of any suspicious move that is inimical to the security, and consequently, the peace of our community. That is why I am an advocate of community policing, where all of us, consciously police our environment. We must realise that members of the Nigerian Police and neither spirit nor omniscient. Thus, we provide them with information that can truncate the moves of men of the underworld.”

    While urging Nigerians to have attitudinal change and repose enough confidence in members of the Nigerian Police Force, the Commissioner tasked the law enforcement agents to also see their profession as that which is sensitive and deals with lives and well being of the populace. He, therefore, called on the Police High Command to rid the force of bad eggs and take necessary steps to launder its image in the mind of the populace.

    To do this, he called for orientation programmes, seminars and trainings to re-orientate the policemen to see themselves as public servants and trustees and not masters or rulers of the public.

    Olaniyonu also enjoined government to provide essential amenities for the populace in terms of education and employment generation as well as improve on the funding of the police force to motivate them and enhance their welfare packages, saying all these would go a long way to smoothen police-public interaction.

    Corroborating the position of the Commissioner, the state Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, emphasised the need for the people to be security conscious and vigilant in their day-to-day activities.

    Adejobi added that members of the society needed to assist the Police by giving out information that could help in nabbing people with criminal tendencies.

    Earlier, the National President of the Junior Chamber International of Nigeria (JCI), Mr. Eniola Egbek-unle, said that security of lives and property is one of the basic needs of every Nigerian, stressing that the intervention of the Police was important to maintain law and order in the society.

  • Failure of government, security and legitimacy

    THE abduction of about 90 girls by Boko Haram in a boarding house in North East of Nigeria, and the decision of some of the parents to search for their daughters, in spite of the dangers inherent in that effort, is a clear sign of a lack of confidence in government ‘s actions on the search and that is that is also a potent sign of failure of government. A government, anywhere and by definition must be able to guarantee the security of lives and property in its territory and must have the confidence and trust of its citizens in carrying out this onerous and legitimate duty. If citizens usurp this major duty of any government, then they are questioning its authority and legitimacy to protect them and that again can lead to a breakdown of law and order as well as the machinery of governance. On the global scene, a similar situation to the Nigerian one is slowly but surely evolving in the stand off between pro Russia rebels in Donetsk in East Ukraine who seized government buildings and refused to vacate them, even with the presence of federal troops sent from the capital Kiev to dislodge them. The Donestk rebels are challenging the authority of the Kiev government and provoking it to attack them in the very good hope that this will make Russian strongman President Vladmir Putin fulfil his promise this week to use force to protect Russian lives in Donetsk, just as he did when he invaded an annexed Crimea very recently. On the other hand the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation- NATO – through its Secretary General was doing its own sabre rattling on Ukraine. The SG announced that NATO has more planes in the air and more ships on the high seas to deter Russia on the Ukraine crisis. The Nigerian government and the Kiev government in Ukraine have a lot in common in their handling of these two crisis and that is impotence in confronting the challenges they face on this matter. In Nigeria the government is just unable to stop Boko Haram killing innocent lives in N E Nigeria and the the terrorists struck in Abuja during the week killing 79 people and causing the president to pay a visit to the gory site and postpone his planned visit to Ibadan for an important political rally. Yet one needs to look at the available resources and strategies of these two beleaguered governments to appreciate why they seem so powerless in asserting their authority in their environment as expected of any government worth its salt. We start with Nigeria which is facing an insurgency in the NE of the nation where Boko Haram has committed some of the worst atrocities known to mankind in killing sleeping school boys in their dormitories, bombing transit passengers at bus stations and now kidnapping school girls from their dormitories. The government has created state of emergencies in the three states most affected namely Yobe, Borno and Adamawa but this has not lessened the fury and horror of Boko Haram and one can indeed expect Northerners to constantly pray like the ancient Europeans once prayed on the approach of marauding Norsemen and Vikings that – From the fury of Boko Haram good Lord deliver us. Yet Nigeria has a vibrant army with a reputation of getting its duty done according to its history and pedigree. So why the pervasive security inability to contain Boko Haram or eliminate its threat altogether? Ostensibly the tempo and success of Boko Haram bombing has increased because a high security chief boasted that Boko Haram terror should be over by April this year when the president changed his security chiefs recently. To me however the major challenge facing the military over Boko Haram is the vastness of the land mass of the North East of Nigeria from which six states had been carved out and the inaccessibility of the Cameroon Mountains spreading from Gwoza to Mubi and beyond, which Boko Haram has turned into a veritable hideout and a terrible danger zone from which the frustrated parents of the captured school girls have now gone to retrieve their daughters in the face of evident government incapacity to rescue them from their Boko Haram captors. The poor government security performance in this abduction episode has been complicated by inconsistent statement by the military on the number of girls freed leading to a retraction which has created a global credibility problem for the Nigerian military. Evidently Boko Haram is conducting a guerrilla warfare against the Nigerian army which is used to regular warfare. Admittedly it is difficult for the army to know when and where Boko Haram will strike next. But the military needs to get intelligence by penetrating Boko Haram cells and anticipating their raids. Secondly and most importantly it can ask for US aerial military support and drones to bomb the mountain forests in Gwoza and beyond to snuff Boko Haram out of its mountain hideouts. This was what the US did in the mountains of Afghanistan after 9/11 in 2001 to drive Al Quada out of its mountain hideouts when the US discovered that Al Qada leaders including Bin Laden were hiding in those mountains. The government must carry the fight to Boko Haram in its hideout and show evidence that it is capable of maintaining the territorial integrity and peace of the Nigerian nation by eliminating its threat swiftly and efficiently or be ready to carry the stigma of inability to protect the lives and properties of its citizens, which unfortunately is its global sovereign reputation at present. Indeed this is the only way this government can save face especially with a highly concerned APC, the opposition party which asked its governors not to attend a security meeting of all state governors called by the President of the republic. By their reported decision not to attend the President’s security meeting they have distanced themselves from failure of government of the day in securing the Nigerian state and that is a major challenge for the ruling PDP as the much touted 2015 elections approach, with the Boko Haram terror dangling dangerously like the famed sword of Damocles over the neck of the incumbent Jonathan presidency. The government in Kiev like that in Nigeria is also trying to redeem its security record to be worthy of that name as expected by its citizenry but it faces an uphill task in its contiguity to Russia the super power of the region trying to create a bi polar power world, long since the demise of the former Soviet Union. The diplomatic laxity of the US over the Syrian crisis and the lack of the enforcement of the red line drawn by the US in punishing the Assad regime in Syria has emboldened Russia to annex Crimea and now move towards the dismemberment of a sovereign state like Ukraine. Very soon the US and its hard working Secretary of State John Terry will realise that Russia is using democracy to buy time and secure the security of Donestk rebels in Ukraine. Although a deal was struck in Geneva, Switzerland with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier, the rebels have said they did not give their mandate to Lavrov to sign any deal for them and that they are not leaving the occupied government buildings in Donestk. John Kerry reminds me of a certain British PM Neville Chamberlain from 1937 – 1940, who flew back to Britain from Germany after a meeting with Hitler waiving a piece of paper and saying he had ‘secured peace in our time’ just before Hitler reneged and started the Second World War after signing purportedly not to invade Poland. I think the message of NATO on the readiness of its ships and planes is more relevant than the diplomatic chicanery that Russia has used to befuddle the US Secretary of State to be busy negotiating with a Russian Foreign Emissary whose principal and boss is speaking the language of war. Unless NATO goes through on its deterrent threat of military preparedness to protect Ukraine from dismemberment through Russia, any agreement with the Russian Foreign Minister will not be worth the paper on which it is written. This is because Mr Putin is ready to use force to undermine the legitimacy and authority of the Kiev government and he can only be stopped by an equal, immediate and opposite force which only NATO, if it has the stomach for it, can provide, and not any diplomatic negotiations between the US Secretary of State and his wily time buying Russian counterpart Sergey Levrov.

  • Security forces foil attack on town

    The police in Bauchi State have said a combined team of security forces on Wednesday foiled an attack by gunmen on Misau town in Misau Local Government Area.

    Police spokesman Haruna Mohammed told reporters in Bauchi yesterday that the gunmen stormed the town around midnight in three Hilux vans.

    Mohammed said the security forces who were on “red alert,” engaged the assailants in a gun battle, which forced them to retreat.

    “The gunmen were forced to escape with bullet wounds and we are on their trail.’’

  • ActionAid flays Nigeria’s govt on killings

    ActionAid flays Nigeria’s govt on killings

     

    ActionAid, Nigeria has called on the government to stop the killing and maiming of innocent citizens.

    The anti corruption agency said in a statement Thursday that “far from being part of the solution, government at all levels is, in fact, part of the problem.”

    The release read further: “Organised violence and acts of terrorism have been on the rise throughout the country. This year alone, over 1,500 people have been killed and hundreds more maimed and abducted.

    The release quoted the Country Director of the civil the group, Dr. Hussaini Abdu, to have said the Nigerian politicians are “more concerned about party politics than the security of the Nigerian people.

    “The government has the power – and the responsibility – to galvanise national action and bring state officials and other members of the security sector together to solve the ongoing security problems, but they refuse to do so.”

    Abdu stressed further that terror cannot be addressed in this divisive atmosphere. Politicians must shelf their differences and come together to build a national consensus on the challenges facing the country.

    “Poor government policies have further endangered the lives and security of Nigerians, especially the poor and vulnerable people. The FCT Government’s policy mandating the centralisation of transport parks, for example, directly contributed to the high number of deaths and casualties in the Nyanya attack.

    “Had the buses and people not been concentrated in one area, it would be less of a target and, in the event an attack still occurred, have resulted in fewer victims. This is a very basic risk assessment that they failed to do or, alternatively, did not care to heed. This Government policy has not only pauperised vulnerable people in Abuja, it has continued to expose them to huge security risks.”

     

    He frowned at the nature of the security in the country which he believed are in favour of the privileged.”Security efforts the government does make are heavily concentrated on protecting the privileged. For years we have seen state institutions and structures being heavily guarded while the less privileged are left to be the victims of ever-increasing attacks. This disparity is unjust and must be immediately and appropriately addressed. Across the country, the mindless killings have been in locations where poor people reside. In Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and other states, it is poor and vulnerable people living in the fringes that are being killed, while our leaders remain under heavy protection of security agencies.”

    Abdu, on behalf of ActionAid urged the government to “put party politics aside and come together to build a consensus on how to effectively address the growing security situation across the country.  Security for all Nigerians, they state, must be the government’s number one priority”, he concluded.

  • Group, police sensitize community on safety, security

    Group, police sensitize community on safety, security

    A non-governmental Organization, Justice for All (J4A), lastweek took its campaign on safety and security to Agege community in Lagos State.

    The event, fourth of its kind tagged Agege Safety Community Initiative (ACSI), is organized yearly to avail stakeholders the opportunity to interface on the improvement on the security and safety of the community.

    Government officials, security operatives, traditional leaders, civil society organization and residents were in attendance at the event to seek a common ground in proffering lasting solutions to the challenges plaguing the community.

    Speaking on the need for the community to work hand in gloves with the police, the Division Police Officer (DPO) of Isokoko, Amaechi Oliver urged the residents to support the police.

    “We urge you to help us perform better in our duties in ensuring safety of lives and properties. The people always have the fear to report suspects to the police thinking their identity would be disclosed and the accused may come back to haunt them.”

    The DPO assured the confidentiality of informants saying the police need the people to succeed in the quest to stemming the rate of criminal in the locale. “Police would not disclose your identity for helping us perform better”, he said.

    On a lighter mood, the Officer said: “You are supposed to respect the police more than the clergy. Police are more important than the clergy because they would be in charge to usher-in qualified humans into the heaven.

    He allayed the fear of the residents over the impression they have of the police, that they should “see the police as individuals who have signed up to protect them.”

    The five-year pilot programme supported by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID) kicked off in 2010 has yielded positive results according to the Programme Coordinator of j4all, Ms Ajibola Ijimakinwa.

    “This is the fourth edition of this event, we held the first meeting at the Agege Local Government; then the second one was held at the Oba Ologba Palace. The third meeting was held at Ayobo Motor Park and what we have realized is that people have been coming out to talk about issue within their environments”, she said.

    She also stated further that: “These are the issues we took back to the partnership and the various stakeholders that are involved to address. We have been able to talk about gender and domestic violence in the community and the reports that we got from the police station on the issues that involved violence rape increased within that month.

    “This showed there was a lot of impact of the sensitization we did on the people especially the women and children in reporting cases of gender based violence”

    Speaking on the challenges being faced three years down the line, she identified drug abuse related task as the main crux of the initiative.

    “It’s not been easy for one of the working groups dealing with drug related issues as the stakeholders have not been able to take drastic steps to tackle the menace. We have not really been able to get that buy-in to arrest the situation”, she revealed.

    Blessing Abere is one of the local consultants working with J4All in Agege LGA; she described the experience as far as eye opening. “The experience has been eye-opening in the sense that you find out that what you think are community problems and priorities are really not. It is when you get to go in deep, interact with them that you begin to know what their real concerns are.

    “For instance, before the partnership was able to narrow down the areas to work with, we did a survey within the specified areas to find out what the community issues were. We were able to find out through the survey that issues like gender based violence; defilement of young children; domestic violence; youth involvement in crime and lastly the issues of drug abuse were on the increase.

    “Drugs abuse is a very peculiar issue because drugs are sold there. It is however tougher for us to crack down the perpetrators because most of the people who transact business there do not reside in the area. They come during the day, transact their business and go. So also, most of the end udders don’t reside here, so it’s like a clearing house. As a result, it’s been difficult to pinpoint people we can reach out to”, she concluded.

    A member of the youth working group, Owodina Yakub also spoke on the activities of the initiative in Agege. “We try as much as we can as youths to solve the problems of our mates.”

    As regards unemployment which is the main source of criminal acts, Owoduni said: “We have been able to change the orientation of our youth from running after white collar jobs that are not available through acquisition of skills. They have realized that they cannot really get the job they are looking for because of the level of unemployment and very limited available space. They have decided to acquire skills through which they can get their means of livelihood.”

    He however identified source for fund to start up business through skills they have acquired as a major challenge. “After learning the vocation, they face the problem of how to source for funds to get themselves established.”

    The event is expected to go a long way in making Agege community violence-free as all hands are on deck to that effect.

  • ‘Jonathan will tackle security’

    ‘Jonathan will tackle security’

    An Abuja-based lawyer, Azubuko Joel Udah has urged Nigerians to be patient with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as he battles to free the country from the clutches of terrorists.

    Udah, a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), while speaking in Abuja, said there is no better way to address the Boko Haram conundrum than the carrot and stick approach the president adopted.

    He said by setting up a committee to dialogue with members of the dreaded Islamist sect, the president is moving towards the amnesty direction, adding that this will be successful only if the insurgents are ready for dialogue and are prepared to lay down their arms.

    “Those accusing the president over Boko Haram are those who want to destabilise this country. The president’s approach remains the best, as any other option would have led to chaos, anarchy, killing, maiming of innocent persons,” he said.

    Udah who designed the Amnesty programme which brought peace to the Niger Delta, maintained that the president is on course and Nigerians should give him the opportunity to perform.

    Udah said the proper thing the northan elders should have done was to meet with the president and proffer solutions on security, not giving him an ultimatum.

    He said the president who is the Commander-in-Chief deserves some respect from all Nigerians.

    “If they (the elders), who have distinguished themselves in various professional callings, had gone to the president for a closed-door meeting, the president would not only have listened to them; he would have tapped from their wealth of experience,” Udah said.

    On the National Conference, he said it came at the right time when every group is agitating for one thing or the other.

    He described the conference as a masterpiece which gives opportunity to all groups, be it religious, professional or ethnic, to talk.

    On the security situation in Southeast, Udah who is contesting Abia-North Senatorial seat, said that the zone is now stable, especially Abia State, adding that this has been made possible because the Governor, Chief Theodore Orji is security-conscious.

    “My governor is the best governor today in the area of security, because he takes professional advise. He is meticulous and well-organised when it comes to security matters. Because he takes advise, Abia State that was almost taken over by armed robbers, kidnappers and militants have since regained its lost glory.”

    “The governor worked assiduously with stakeholders in security matters to ensure that the state is safe for indigenes, visitors, foreigners and investors. You can see the presence of security agents like policemen, soldiers and undercover operatives all over the state.”

    It will be recalled that Udah, as the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG in change of Zone 6, with headquarters in Calabar, Cross River State, had sent a memo to the then Inspector-General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, on the need to grant Amnesty to militants.

    Okiro sent the memo to the late President, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, who later had series of meetings with leaders of the militants, and eventually granted them amnesty.

  • FOOD, KEY TO NATIONAL SECURITY

    FOOD, KEY TO NATIONAL SECURITY

    One of the greatest challenges to our country’s general wellbeing, as shown by the recent ill-fated Nigerian Immigration Service’s employment fiasco, is youth unemployment. Many have appropriately described it as a time bomb. Clearly, the greatest tragic consequence of unemployment is hunger. And as the cliché goes, a hungry man is an angry man. In local parlance, we say, man must wak. So, unless something is urgently done about unemployment, especially at the youth level, our country is staring at its own Armageddon. Discussing this national emergency with a friend, who has invested in chicken farming, he lectured me on the immense potentials and challenges of that sector.

    According to him, if only the Ministry for Agriculture, the Bank of Industry, the Bank of Agriculture and other key interest groups could put their thinking cap, that sector is enough to dwarf the touted 1.5 million employments that the present federal government claims to have generated. My friend gave a clinical comparison of the chicken value chain in a country like Brazil and compared it with his practical experience in Nigeria. From his analysis, while there is standardization in the production chain of chicken in developed countries, the reverse is the case in Nigeria. He gave a practical example, that while the drum-stick eaten in restaurants across cities of Europe and America are substantially similar, you find different sizes, and of course lower quality, in the ones eaten in Nigeria. He said that the landing cost of an imported chicken parts, is about half of the cost of the locally produced, despite the added cost of transport. He ticked off the extra costs that make local production uncompetitive, and proffered solutions to those challenges.

    No doubt, I was impressed with his analysis of the challenges and potentials of an improved chicken value chain, and I told him so. In fact, I told my friend that he has a patriotic responsibility to our country seething in angst of youth unemployment and the nihilistic insurgency, to share his ideas with the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, and possibly other key drivers of the agricultural sector. Well, that is if the Honourable Minister is not already satiated with his well advertised, but truly impressive award as Forbes African Person of the Year? But why should he, considering that President Jonathan’s administration is faced with perhaps the greatest security challenge in the history of our country, since our last unfortunate civil war.

    As a matter of fact, there is little doubt that the greatest inducement to the armed challenge that our country is facing in the North Eastern states and increasingly now in the Middle Belt states is poverty. The poverty index in the affected states is abysmally higher than the equally high poverty index in other parts of the country. This critical state of affairs is daily made worse by the exponential youth unemployment, from where the armed bearing militants are easily recruited. And according to the Honourable Minister who has shown impressive excitement in the discharge of his duties, despite criticism from the press, agriculture is the key to the unemployment challenges facing our country, and I add, the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East and the menace of the Fulani herdsmen in the North Central

    The United Nations, World Bank and other multinational development agencies have confirmed inexorably the connection between poverty and insurgency. In a recent interview with this paper, the Bornu state Governor, Kashima Shetima was sport on this connection, when he said: “there is a lot of correlation between the poverty that has engulfed the North Eastern region of Nigeria and the Boko Haram insurgency. Because the World Bank described the Northeast portion of Nigeria, the Republic of Chad, the Republic of Niger, and the Darfur region of Sudan as one of the poorest places on Earth. Hence the emergence of militant organizations like the Janjaweed militia and the Boko Haram in the Northeastern region. And I believe once we engage the youths, once we create jobs, this madness, this nihilism will evaporate”.

    Those who try to play down this connection are merely playing the ostrich. And unless we act very urgently, the entire country may soon be engulfed in an insurrection by the youths, whose patrimony has been criminally wasted by decades of irresponsible leadership. Of course, the quickest and the only realistic way to go, is agriculture. Otherwise we will continue to suffer our country’s peculiar contradictions of national economic growth, without corresponding impact on the populace. Indeed, according to Goldman Sachs, Nigeria ranks amongst the next 11 emerging markets group, even when it also acknowledges that about 100 million of its population is living on less that $1.25 a day. Also, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, 60.9 percent of Nigerians in 2010 were living in absolute poverty, up from 54.7 percent in 2004. This staggering increase in the poor, regrettably amidst ‘plenty’, may explain the unlimited supply of canon fodders to the Boko Haram madness.

    Speaking to a Financial Times Publications Limited publication, Dr. Adesina put his enthusiasm in historic perspective thus: “We were not looking at Agriculture through the right lens. We were looking at Agriculture as a development activity, like a social sector, in which you manage poor people in rural areas. But Agriculture is not a social sector. Agriculture is business. Seed is business, fertilizer is business, storage, value added, logistics and transport – it is all about business.” He added that “Agriculture is the future of Nigeria”. After listening to my friend, speak on the potentials of the chicken business and how and why the stakeholders must come together to improve the value chain, I have become an enthusiast.