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Tag: Southeast

  • Southeast APC blames PDP for fuel scarcity

    Southeast APC blames PDP for fuel scarcity

    The Southeast zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the weekend blamed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the fuel shortage across the country.

    At an interactive town hall meeting yesterday with the party members at Egede, Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, APC’s Southeast Caucus spokesman Osita Okechukwu said Nigerians were paying for the sins committed by the former PDP-led Federal Government.

    The spokesman noted that the former ruling party failed for 16 years to either fix the existing refineries or build new ones.

    He said: “We are paying, unfortunately, for the sins of the PDP. I remember vividly in 2010, when Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, then Finance Minister and Coordinator of the Economy, announced to the whole world the award of $23 billion Greenfield Refineries to a Chinese company. The refineries were to be located at Bayelsa, Lagos and Kogi states. There was jubilation nationwide. If they had completed the refineries, we won’t be talking of scarcity or astronomical increase in fuel pump price today. They squandered the money and put Nigerians in harm’s way.”

    Okechukwu assured that APC would fix the rot in the Petroleum sector but said one year was not enough to fix a refinery or build a new one.

    The party’s zonal spokesman said the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, had assured Nigerians that the Federal Government would fix existing refineries and enter into partnership with the private sector to build new ones.

    He urged Nigerians, who might be getting tired of the excuses for the fuel crisis to be patient.

    Okechukwu said: “We can’t stop pointing out the unconscionable wreckage the PDP unleashed on our economy in the last 16 years. The wreckage keeps on popping up at each junction, despite the efforts being made to suppress it. For instance, how can one fail to point out why Enugu Coal remained moribund, when the fact on the ground shows that in 2012, N923 million; in 2013, N1.7 billion and in 2014, N1.1 billion was budgeted for 3D Seismic Study Survey for Enugu and Gombe Coal and the money ignobly squandered?

    “How can’t we stop reminding ourselves of the sordid past, more so when the crude oil price, which used to cushion and cover the PDP gross corruption track has, since the inception of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, nosedived? A barrel of crude oil hovered between $90 and $100 in most of the period under review; now, it hovers between $30 and $40. PDP’s sins bleed in every facet of our lives – dilapidated roads, poor power supply, collapsed social infrastructure and state of uncertainty.

    “Our elders admonished us that before we find solutions to the rain beating us, we must first remember where, when and how the rain started.

    “For us, yesterday is not gone. President Buhari’s score card is that he has triumphed in taming corruption and containing insecurity. Revamping the economy is next in line with the 2016 budget.”

    Asked about the alleged selective nature of the war against corruption and the secrecy over recovered looted funds, Okechukwu said: “Can the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) probe Mr Osita Okechukwu for looting Enugu State’s fund, when I was neither the governor nor a contractor in Enugu State? They are probing Chief Sullivan Chime and cohorts because they presided over the commonwealth of Enugu State.

    “The secrecy of the recovered fund is strategic. A seasoned rabbit hunter cannot shout or beat his chest after discovering one or two holes. He has to be reticent, if he wants to capture the rabbits because the rabbit under the ground habitation has, sometimes, more than seven exit holes. Methinks the rabbit-hunter model is what President Buhari adopted.”

    Okechukwu urged Nigerians to join the monitoring of this year’s budget implementation.

    The APC chieftain also advised Nigerians to go through the budget, when it is passed, and identify their areas of interest and monitor such areas for effective implementation.

    He noted that the President would not spend any money not budgeted for, in line with the 1999 Constitution.

    Okechukwu said President Buhari had raked in N3 trillion via the Treasury Single Account (TSA), adding that Nigerians should monitor how the ministers, heads of departments and agencies executed the budget.

  • Southeast APC supports Buhari’s foreign trips

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Southeast has defended President Muhammadu Buhari’s foreign trips.

    Southeast Leadership Caucus spokesman Osita Okechukwu said: “We of the Southeast leadership caucus of APC fully support President Muhammadu Buhari’s frequent trips abroad.

    “For us, Buhari is acting nobly as any good father, whose family is not only deadly broke, but whose house is on fire. He is running helter-skelter to save our country; this is not the kind of task to delegate. As a father of a broken house, he has no alternative except to run to friends and well wishers in a desperate bid to salvage our country.

    “We are hopeful of Mr. President’s intending visit to China, as projects like revamping of Enugu Coal, we understand is one of those topping the agenda. Nigeria needs economic diplomacy now more than ever before.”

     

  • NACA takes HIV/AIDS campaign to Southeast

    NACA takes HIV/AIDS campaign to Southeast

    The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) has embarked on an aggressive enlightenment campaign to create awareness on HIV/AIDS and other prevalent diseases. The programme was tagged “Free Multi-disease Outreach.”

    The campaign aimed at curbing the spread of AIDS which has been on the increase recently due to emergence of other health challenges in the country.

    At the launch of one of such exercises in Njikoka Local Government Area in Anambra State, the Director-General of NACA, Prof. John Idoko who was represented by Mr. Moses Rock, attributed the recent rise in the spread of AIDS to lack of priority.

    Speaking, the Project Coordinator of Anambra State Agency for Control of AIDS (ANSACA) who was represented by Miss Ngozi Welumkalu commended NACA for the initiative, pledging the state’s effective collaboration with the agency.

    On his part, the Igwe of Abagana in Njikoka Local Government Area, His Royal Highness (HRH), Igwe Mbamalu Okeke praised the Federal Government for providing Medicare at people’s doorsteps, promising that the traditional institution will do its best by educating and mobilising the people to access the free services.

    In his remark, Public Health Coordinator, Mr. Igwe expressed appreciation to the organisers of the programme, adding that the exercise has injected a new lease of life in the health sector.

    Commenting, a facilitator of the programme, Mr. Cosmos Nnabude said the outreach became imperative in order to bridge the gap between low income earners and affordable access to Medicare. He pleaded with rural dwellers to make optimum use of the programme which focuses on general health issues.

    Highpoints of the programme were free testing for HIV/AIDS, blood pressure, blood glucose, BM assessment, de-worming, free distribution of drugs and insecticide-treated nets, among others.

  • Federal roads: Death traps in Southeast

    Federal roads: Death traps in Southeast

    For the first time in the history of Aba North and South Federal Constituency, the lawmaker representing the zone visited some federal roads to have firsthand information about their level of dilapidation. SUNNY NWANKWO reports that the lawmaker’s three-day inspection of the roads and some project sites in Aba presented a grieving situation

    It was not a pleasant moment for the lawmaker representing Aba North and South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Rotarian Ossy Prestige penultimate week.

    His three-day tour of Federal Government roads and some project sites in Aba and its environs presented a grieving situation. The roads, in particular, were in deplorable condition so much so that he could not hide his resentment over government’s inertia to enhance the well-being of the people.

    For an on-the-spot assessment of the nature of the roads, the lawmaker visited Asa-Ohabiam-Port Harcourt Road; Enugu-Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway, Aba-Ikot- Ekpene Expressway, Ovom-Azumini and Akpu-Aguwa-Pepple Street road gully erosion project site which is yet to be completed many years after the Federal Government had awarded contract for the ecological problem to be fixed, among others.

    Speaking with newsmen at the end of the tour, Prestige, who was visibly worried about his experience, said he didn’t know that the dilapidation of the federal roads and some other infrastructure was that awful. He was also surprised at the level of decay of other project sites he visited; including Ariaria International Market.

    Bothered about the negative impact the state of infrastructure in Aba would have on the economy of the state if drastic measures were not taken to address the situation, the lawmaker said he was going to invite members of the House Committee on Works to Aba as part of his efforts to further push for urgent attention of the Federal Government to the plight of Aba residents.

    He also reiterated his commitment to ensure that Aba was given a facelift, even as he said that business and economic activities would be rejuvenated in a city that was once noted for its ingenuity and interest in small and medium-scale enterprises.

    He said: “It is unfortunate that people who have represented the zone in the past left it to degenerate badly to the extent that people were forced to leave the city for neighbouring Akwa-Ibom State and other Southeast states where they feel is more conducive for their businesses.

    “When I moved the motion about the deplorable nature of roads in Aba at the floor of the House, I never knew that it was this bad. You are all witnesses to what we saw at Port Harcourt Road, Ariaria Market, Aba-Ikot-Ekpene Road, the Azumini and other places that we visited.

    “It is a clear pointer to the fact that there was the urgent need for accountability on what the constituency fund for Abia North and South was used for over the years. And to further push for the need of my constituents to be heard and their problems solved, I would be proposing for a visit to Aba by members of the House Committee on Works for them to see things for themselves. By so doing, they will appreciate that what I have been saying about Aba is not a fallacy but the truth; that Aba is in dire need of infrastructural development in order to bring back its glory.”

    Some of the residents who spoke to journalists described the visit of the lawmaker as apt; stressing that it was the first time a representative of the zone would come and feel the pulse of the people he is representing.

    They expressed the hope that the lawmaker would deliver to them the dividends of democracy for which he was elected.

  • Southeast right activists fault military over threat to protesters

    Southeast right activists fault military over threat to protesters

    The Coalition of Southeast Human Rights Organisations yesterday deplored the warning issued by the Army to pro-Biafra campaigners to stop their protests.

    The coalition said the people have a right to campaign for self determination provided they do so in a peaceful manner.

    The activists faulted the military’s threat to clamp down on the protesters.

    The coalition, in a statement in Onitsha, said: “The stern warning or riot act so issued is totally misguided, vexatious, shallow, dubiously intended and constitutionally incoherent.

    “The stern warning or riot act was also grossly misdirected, as it ought to have been directed to the Boko Haram terror insurgents who have severally disclosed their intention to violently destroy the country’s existing socio-legal system and put in place radical Islamic theocracy.

    “Till date, the IPOB pressure group and millions of its supporters have not used or advocated violence.

    “We see the stern warning or riot act as a clear declaration by the Nigerian Army of an intention to commit crimes against humanity by indicating its readiness to deploy and use brute force to ‘suppress’ ongoing peaceful and non violent processions involving the IPOB pressure group and its teeming supporters.

    “From the body language of the Nigerian Army, it may most likely stage-manage or create group violence, arson, vandalism and damages to property so as to find grounds to deploy and use brute force as well as justification of same.”

    The statement was signed by Comrade Aloysius Attah for Anambra State Branch of the Civil Liberties Organisation; Emeka Umeagbalasi for International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law; Comrade Peter Onyegiri for Center for Human Rights & Peace Advocacy; Comrade Samuel Njoku for Human Rights Club (a project of LRRDC); Comrade Justus Uche Ijeoma for Forum for Justice, Equity & Defense of Human Rights; Comrade Chike Umeh for Society Advocacy Watch Project; Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq., for Anambra Human Rights Forum; Comrade Alex Olisa for: Southeast Good Governance Forum; and Eze Eluchie, Esq. for PADDI Foundation.

     

  • PMB’s cabinet: More pains for Southeast

    Finally, President Muhammadu Buhari has dispelled any iota of doubt about his ill feelings towards Ndigbo. Those who thought that his announcing about 50 national security and strategic appointments with nary one Igboman good enough to be listed was not premeditated would be wiser now. But in announcing his cabinet midweek, he has shown that there is indeed no love lost between him and the Igbo nation.

    Yes, all ministries are equal in status, but do not be fooled, some are more strategic and if you like, ‘juicier’ than others. Consider the top dozen: Justice, Defence, Finance, Interior, Works/ Power, Petroleum, Transportation, Education, Agriculture, Communication, Health and FCT. Not one of these did the President allow an Igboman; not by any chance! Imagine Ngige for Labour and renowned scholar and former VC, Prof. Anwuka, as under-minister for Education!

    The point must be made, however, that this is the first time in Nigeria’s history that appointments have been so vindictively and provocatively skewed against a section of the country. Even the military was sensitive enough to maintain a healthy balance all the time for the sake of national unity. This is a dangerous precedent for our yet fragile nationhood. But more remarkably, PMB by this mindset demeans his presidency and ultimately, his legacy more than he harms Ndigbo. It looks like a solid cabinet, regardless of this flaw.

  • Investigate customs officers in the Southeast, group urges Buhari

    The Campaign for Democracy (CD) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali, to investigate the alleged corrupt activities of his officers in the Southeast.

    The group urged Buhari to overhaul the leadership of the NCS for alleged impunity and abuse of office.

    A statement by its Chairman Dede Uzor. A. Uzor, said the current crop of officers have dented the image of the NCS, adding that urgent intervention by the Presidency was imperative to save the traders from further harassments and extortion.

    The organisation alleged that the activities of these officers was responsible for the continued rise in the prices of essential commodities as traders are compelled to inflate prices because of the bribe given to the officers at the road blocks.

    The statement reads: The traders have lost over two billion naira in the last four months to extortion and indiscriminate seizure by the officers who waylay them at every entry point.

    “The activities of these men have become worrisome to the CD, given its grave consequences. At every checkpoint, which is scattered all over the place, each lorry pays between N20,000 to N50,000, depending on the goods it was conveying, though they have all the requisite papers.

    “Most disturbing is the fact that the impounded goods still find their ways to the market because the wives and relatives of these officers own some of the biggest shops in the markets, which they stock with the seized products.

    “This is not a mere allegation, but a serious issue that should be investigated, and those indicted be punished accordingly. We are urging the President to extend his war against corruption to the customs officers serving in the Southeast. He should as matter urgency, set up a taskforce to monitor their activities.

    “The impunity of these officers cannot be compared to what is obtained in other zones and this explains the high rate of seizure of goods.”

    When contacted on the allegations, Controller of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone C, David Dimka, responded thus: “since you are in Owerri, you can do your investigations and find out the truth”.

  • Ugwuanyi laments poor hospitals in Southeast

    Ugwuanyi laments poor hospitals in Southeast

    Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has decried the poor state of hospitals in the Southeast. He lamented that the ill-equipped hospitals could not meet the health demands of the people.

    The governor spoke when the management of Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited, Chevron Oil Company and Agbami co-ventures, visited him at the Government House in Enugu.

    Ugwuanyi said when completed, the diagnostic centre being built would reduce the people’s craving for foreign medical attention.

    He appealed to the group to help the zone by establishing a befitting hospital to promote health care delivery.

    Ugwuanyi also requested the group to establish a modern library to facilitate learning and encourage research, even as he hailed them for building a chest clinic complex at the District Hospital in Enugu-Ezike.

    He said: “I am convinced that you are a worthy partner that has touched our hearts and the lives of our people. May my good Lord reward you.”

    Representative of Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited, Mr. Stan Otuonye said the group was in Enugu to inaugurate the chest clinic complex it built at the Ogurute District Hospital.

    Otuonye noted that the group had built 24 chest clinics in different parts of Nigeria.

  • ‘How long shall Southeast, Delta suffer criminality?’

    ‘How long shall Southeast, Delta suffer criminality?’

    FIRST, I must congratulate all my brothers, the governors of the Southeast and Delta who assumed office almost three months ago. I have followed your programmes from your first day in office and I can boldly say that there is hope for our people. I have no doubt whatsoever that you will justify the great confidence our people have placed in you with a masterful performance. My brother, Governor Rochas Okorocha who has been there earlier than all of us, I congratulate you too on your second coming. I have no doubt that you will finish strong! Igbo bu Igbo, ekenem unu!

    Ladies and gentlemen, this may well be our finest hour as a people… the turning point in our march to greatness that must tip the scale of progress in favour of our people. I say this with every sense of responsibility because, recent experience has shown that living in an increasingly dangerous world, the only panacea for economic growth and development is a safe and secure environment.

    Our World

    Ladies and gentlemen, our world has never been an easy place to live in. Through the ages, humanity has always been blighted by one concern or the other. Sadly, most of mankind’s greatest anxieties were caused by man’s own hands. I speak of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade, I speak of Apartheid South Africa, I speak of the World Wars and finally I speak of the present climate of fear, brought upon us by terrorists. To bring the matter closer home, I also speak of our home grown headaches – Boko Haram, kidnapping, violent armed robbery, child trafficking and other petty crimes that rob us of a deserved peace of mind.

    Speaking about mankind’s never-ending struggle for a better world, the great French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the author of The Social Contract, observed in 1762 that “man is born free, and everywhere, he is in chains.” Ladies and gentlemen, man is in a different kind of chain today. Although we have made steady progress from the era of the divine monarchies of Europe that inspired Rousseau’s timeless quote, to modern democracy with its many freedoms, our chains are no less heavy than they were. Strangely, from pre-history to the many wonders of science we have today, man remains the sole architect of his own fears!

    The Peculiar Challenges of the South East & Delta

    Years of ferocious assaults on cities and communities in the South East and Delta by successive robbery gangs and kidnap cells have driven meaningful investments away and stifled the economic growth of the region. In Anambra State in particular, we have experienced waves of gang rules in the commercial city of Onitsha that were so dominant that constituted authorities felt helpless under their brutal onslaught. The story is very much the same across the states in the region and Delta State. It may vary in degrees from one state to another but this region has had a most troubling crime history for far too long. The time has come to wipe this dark history away!

    Ladies and gentlemen, we have assembled here today to interrogate our circumstances; to ask ourselves hard questions and to set for ourselves a common agenda. The pertinent question we must ask ourselves is how long? How long shall the South East and Delta State and other contiguous states bear the brunt of brazen criminality and meaningless brigandage? How long shall our people’s well known enterprising spirit be driven away to nourish distant lands while our homeland wallows in squalor? How long shall we continue to fall to the barrel of a gun pointed at us by our own brothers, friends and kinsmen who are caught up in violent crimes?

    The Anambra Story

    Ladies and gentlemen, the economic survival of our people depends on how well we answer these questions. In Anambra State, we have made bold efforts to answer these questions. We have fought and won the war against crime and criminality. We have driven kidnappers, armed robbers and drug barons out of our cities and communities. With the sustained efforts of Operation Kpochapu, Operation Sheba and other tactical initiatives, with the committed vigilance of the officers and men of the Anambra State Police Command and the solid support of the Nigerian Army, the Navy and the Department of State Security, we have cleansed Anambra State of criminals. With the tremendous support of the Vigilante Groups under the professional care of the retired former Commissioner of Police in Delta State, we have routed kidnappers and armed robbers from Anambra State.  We have freed our social and economic space for businesses to thrive along with leisure. We have cleaned up the state and flung open our doors to investors, attracting substantial investments to the tune of $2.4bn in the past 17 months. All around Anambra, there is a new sense of freedom among our people. But our freedom cannot be complete until our neighbours begin to experience a new atmosphere of liberty. Recent experience has shown that a security threat in one location is a security threat to the surrounding regions. So, our freedom over crime will remain incomplete, so long as the armed robbers and kidnappers we drive away from Anambra State can find safety anywhere in this region.

    Fellow Nigerians, our recent experience has shown that any meaningful effort to address security threats will miss the target if it does not involve an entire region or an economic block. There are so many instances where contiguous states that are blighted by a common security threat have pulled expertise and resources together to overcome it. For instance, Nigeria is currently working together with Cameroun, Niger and Chad to overcome the threat posed by Boko Haram in the North East. We must therefore work together to overcome the challenge of insecurity in our region.

    Winning Together

    Fellow Nigerians, we must fight this war together, win it together and enjoy the economic and social benefits of victory together. We cannot afford the consequences of a prolonged failure in this regard in an emerging Nigeria with clearly demarcated regional economic blocks. From the concentration of businesses in specific locations in the country that, it is saddening to see that 55 years after independence, Nigeria has yet to make the expected leap out of the regional economies of the pre-and- post-independence era. It is indeed disheartening to note that our national economic planning has left some regions scratching for survival while others are in full bloom. But there is no time to indulge in unproductive excuses or ring our hands in blame. If we cast a look backwards to where we are coming from, we shall remember that we have overcome greater adversities in our march to the present day. We shall also remember that any economic setback we have suffered as a people will take only time and planning to overcome. Indeed, we shall be better than our fathers. And the time to make that happen is now!

    An Eastern Economic Agenda

    Ladies and gentlemen, I must not fail to remind us that the time has come to set an Eastern Economic Agenda. The shrinking of spaces for migrant people across the country calls for a robust economic and social agenda that will make our people less vulnerable to increasing hostilities around the world. There is a strident call by History on every leader from this region which we cannot ignore. Posterity looks onto us to build a befitting economy for the South East and Delta State. And for us to even contemplate anything of that magnitude, we must first find a lasting solution to insecurity in the region. This all important Conference is therefore an economic call to arms. We must all rise to wage a successful war on insecurity as a precursor to economic prosperity and greater fulfilment.

    Brothers and sisters, as we settle down to the business of the day, I would like to remind you that in the words of the great Nelson Mandela, “it always seems impossible until it’s done.”

     

  • ROBBERY, KIDNAPPING KINGPINS IN TROUBLE, SAYS IG

    ROBBERY, KIDNAPPING KINGPINS IN TROUBLE, SAYS IG

    Police Inspector General Solomon Arase declared yesterday that the force is poised for  battle with kingpins of  armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism and other social vices in the Southeast and Delta state axis.

    He said the police will collaborate with governments at that level to deal with crime syndicates in the area.

    Arase made the pledge in Awka at a South-East/Delta State Security Conference 2015 with the theme “Security, Bedrock of Governance.’’

    The crime syndicates, according to him, are operating highly organized networks which must be crushed.

    He was confident that the conference would identify ways to replicate the successful security concept being employed in other climes.

    He also called for sustainable regional security framework, joint operation, funding and the political will by the various levels of government within region to make the approach work.

    Arase lauded Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra for organising the conference. The governor said the time has come to stand up to  all the crimes and criminalities that have stunted economic growth for decades in the region.

    Describing security as the panacea for rapid economic growth and development, the governor observed that mankind’s greatest worry has always been how to ensure a safe and secure world.

    Said he: “Our world has never been an easy place to live in. Speaking about mankind’s never-ending struggle for a better world, the great French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the author of The Social Contract, observed in 1762 that “man is born free, and everywhere, he is in chains.” Ladies and gentlemen, man is in a different kind of chain today.

    “The pertinent question we must ask ourselves is how long? How long shall the South East and Delta State and other contiguous states bear the brunt of brazen criminality and meaningless brigandage? How long shall our people’s well known enterprising spirit be driven away to nourish distant lands while our homeland wallows in squalor?”

    He recalled that there was a time Anambra State experienced waves of gang rules in the commercial city of Onitsha that were so dominant that constituted authorities felt helpless under their brutal onslaught.”The story is very much the same across the states in the region and Delta State. It may vary in degrees from one state to another but this region has had a most troubling crime history for far too long. The time has come to wipe this dark history away!” he said.

    In his remarks, Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, described security as the “bedrock of good governance.’’

    On his part, Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, asked investors from the region to come home and create jobs to reduce the prevalent crime in the area.