The Nation Newspaper

Tag: States

  • Police chiefs for 21 states

    Acting Inspector-General of Police Suleiman Abba has approved the posting of new Commissioners of Police (CP) for 21 states.

    They are: Usman Yakubu (Nasarawa), Isaac Gabriel Achong (Akwa Ibom), Paul Okafor (Kogi), Hyancith Dagala (Benue), Idris Faruk Umar (Jigawa), Salihu Garba (Kwara), A. K. Shodipo (Oyo), Abubakar Marafa (Osun), Clement Adoda (Borno), and Kayode Aderanti (Lagos).

    Others are: Usman Baba (Delta), Dan Bature (Rivers), Karma Hosea Hassan (Anambra), Titilayo Busari (Cross River), Valentine Ntomchukwu (Bayelsa), Taiwo Lakanu (Ekiti); Ademola Omole (Taraba), Olusola Emmanuel Amore (Niger), Adejoh Gabriel Adaji (Adamawa), Ishaku Barau (Kebbi) and Wilson Inalegwu (FCT).

    A statement yesterday by the Force spokesman, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said the exercise was in line with the determination of the police authorities to reposition the Force for improved service delivery.

  • Ebola: Southeast governors hail Fed Govt, states

    Ebola: Southeast governors hail Fed Govt, states

    Southeast governors have hailed the Federal and state governments for containing the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    Rising from a meeting, presided over by its Chairman and Abia State Governors Theodore Orji, the forum also sought a cargo section at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu.

    Other governors at the meeting were Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Martin Elechi (Ebonyi) and Anambra State Deputy Governor Nkem Okeke.

    Through their chairman, the governors told reporters that they would convene a meeting of the elders in the next three weeks to discuss various issues affecting the zone.

    They expressed happiness over the befitting burial given former Information Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili.

  • Dangote to resuscitate rice farming with N165b in five states

    Dangote to resuscitate rice farming with N165b in five states

    Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) signed, at the weekend a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to invest $1 billion (about N165 billion) for the establishment of fully integrated rice production and processing operations across Nigeria.

    President Goodluck Jonathan presided over the signing ceremony.

    The MoU and the planned investment are a response to the reforms of the President’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) launched in 2011.

    Following the launch, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development worked with various stakeholders to ensure increased investments in agriculture with emphasis on private sector investments.

    Dangote has acquired farmland in Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, and Niger states, totalling 150,000 hectares, to be used for the commercial production of rice paddy.

    As part of the project, Dangote will also establish two modern  large-scale rice mills each with a capacity to mill 120,000 metric tonnes of rice paddy, bringing the total capacity to 240,000 metric tonnes.

    The company also plans to double the capacity within two years.

    With this installed capacity, the project will become the largest single investment in rice production in Africa.

    The rice plant is estimated to produce 960,000 metric tonnes of mill rice, representing 46 per cent of rice imported into Nigeria.

    President Jonathan hailed DIL Chief Executive, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, for building a strong industrial base in Nigeria.

    He said: “It takes a lot of hardwork, commitment and discipline to achieve the feat, accomplished by Aliko Dangote. Today is a great day for Nigeria, and this investment is worth the risk. The country is capable of producing rice that can feed the whole of West African sub-region”

    On Nigeria’s porous borders, the President vowed to end the high spate of smuggling in the next 12 months.

    He cautioned that the days of smugglers were numbered and that the Federal Government was determined to install electronic surveillance equipment that would depend less on human manipulations and interventions.

    Jonathan assured Dangote that his investment would be protected.

    Dangote hailed the government for evolving a policy that has made Nigeria an irresistible place to invest.

    The foremost industrialist urged other Nigerian entrepreneurs to join the train for making the country a haven for investments.

    Dangote said: “Our goal of making Nigeria a net exporter of rice will be achieved faster by this significant investment. I congratulate the Minister of Agriculture and his team for the very strong demonstration of public-private sector partnerships and collaboration to drive significant transformation in Nigeria’s agriculture sector.”

  • States can sue Senate over council enlistment, says LASIEC chair

    States can sue Senate over council enlistment, says LASIEC chair

    Chairman of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), Justice Abdul-Fatai Adeyinka, said the state government could go to court to compel the Senate to list the new councils created, if the Senate fails to enlist them.

    Justice Adeyinka stated this while welcoming members of the Ogun State Independent Electoral commission (OGSIEC) who were on a visit to the LASIEC for an interactive meeting on the conduct of referendum for the creation of additional local governments.

    He reiterated the constitutionality of the state governments to create new local governments, stressing that the provision was affirmed by the Supreme Court ruling in a case between the Attorney-General of Lagos State and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

    LASIEC Permanent Secretary, Yinka Jeje, emphasised the need to be apolitical in carrying out a referendum for the creation of additional councils, so as to make the exercise credible and acceptable to the generality of the people.

  • 2015: Jonathan takes battle to APC states

    2015: Jonathan takes battle to APC states

    His taciturn response to his alleged interest to run in 2015 notwithstanding, every sign seems to suggest that President Goodluck Jonathan is poised to neutralise all real and perceived forces standing in his way for re-election, writes Assistant Editor, Remi Adelowo

    For President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the battle to make a clean sweep of the 2015 general elections may have begun in earnest.

    Still basking in the euphoria of its candidate’s victory over the incumbent Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the June 21 Ekiti State governorship election, PDP leaders expectedly want more, say sources within the party.

    With Ekiti State now in its kitty, credible sources disclosed that the President’s strategists have come up with what is referred to within the circle as a ‘fool-proof plan’ to ‘capture’ more APC-controlled states in next year’s general elections.

    States being targeted, The Nation’s findings revealed include Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Oyo, Edo, Kano, Adamawa and Nasarawa. The strategies to be deployed for each of the states vary depending on their distinct political peculiarities, it was gathered.

    The Lagos’ Action Plan

    Following PDP’s victory in Ekiti State, optimism that the party can pull an upset in the 2015 Lagos governorship election has hit a rebound, with some of its stakeholders saying that with the right candidate and massive propaganda on the perceived shortcomings of the ruling APC, victory may just be possible.

    On the part of the Presidency, there are strong indications that some of the sentiments that came into play in the 2011 general elections, which ensured victory for Jonathan would be put to test again next year.

    Sources revealed that the PDP intends to capitalise on the huge population of the Igbo, Ilaje and the Ijaw, three sections of the state’s population where the President appears quite popular to neutralise the Yoruba and Hausa votes.

    But the party leaders, according to informed source, have one big dilemma: picking the right candidate with the requisite qualifications and pedigree that can turn the party’s dream into reality at the polls.

    While the APC parades many governorship aspirants aiming to succeed Governor Babatunde Fashola, the PDP still cannot boast of A-list aspirants about eight months to the election.

    Until he was appointed as the Minister of State for Defense, a few months ago, the party’s former governorship candidate in the 2007 election, Musiliu Obanikoro, was considered as the frontrunner for the 2015 race. However, his ministerial appointment, with the alleged brief to use the position to advance the PDP’s planned onslaught on the South-West zone, may have put paid to his alleged governorship ambition.

    The absence of a strong candidate, according to sources, is said to be giving PDP leaders both in the state and the national level a cause for concern, as time, they reckon, may be running out in thrashing out the issue.

    In picking its candidate, two things are being considered. First, is the issue of religion, with opinion divided on whether the party should allow the APC to pick its candidate first before the PDP holds its primaries?

    The second issue is the zoning formula to be adopted, even as some of the party leaders believe that Lagos being a cosmopolitan state, zoning may not play a crucial role in the average electorate’s voting choice.

    This line of reasoning, say sources, may have informed the alleged desperation of the Presidency and the PDP leadership to draft Mr. Jimi Agbaje, the man perceived to be popular, as the party’s 2015 governorship candidate.

    In the last couple of days, several meetings have been held in Lagos and Abuja to iron out some of the thorny issues considered as obstacles to the realisation of the party’s victory in 2015.

    Ekiti template for Osun

    Following PDP’s victory in Ekiti, leaders of the party are also fancying its chances in the August 9 governorship election in Osun State.

    Beside the alleged planned heavy militarisation of the state before, during and after the polls, which will involve the military, Police, Department of State Security (DSS) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSDC), The Nation gathered that hawks in the party are also toying with the idea of instigating the arrest of many notable APC leaders before the election.

    The Presidency’s estimation is that if the PDP wins the election on August 9, Jonathan’s chances in the 2015 presidential election will receive an additional boost.

    Capitalising on division in Ogun APC

    The protracted division in the Ogun State chapter of the APC seems to be sweet music in the ears of the President’s party members.

    A few weeks ago, there were reports that the Presidency held talks with a former governor of the state and Ogun APC leader, Chief Olusegun Osoba, who has been at daggers drawn with the incumbent governor, Ibikunle Amosun, over the control of the party, to defect to the PDP.

    But while Osoba is reportedly not keen in joining PDP, the President’s supporters are still exploring the possibility of persuading him to work for Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election.

    And with the Labour Party (LP) having also established a presence in the state and also rooting for the President, PDP leaders are hopeful that winning the state or in a worst case scenario, securing a one-third of votes cast at the presidential poll should not be a difficult task.

    Crisis in Edo and 2015

    Findings have revealed that the current political crisis in Edo State is a script written by some PDP leaders from the state to soften the ground for the President in next year’s polls.

    Prior to the crisis in Edo State House of Assembly, some APC leaders, led by a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu, had defected to the PDP. And just a few days ago, Prince Osama Erediauwa, an Executive Director in Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s office and son of the Oba of Benin, Omo Noba Erediauwa, joined the PDP, a development that reportedly thrilled PDP leaders in Edo and Abuja to no end.

    The President’s camp is hopeful that with this series of defections to PDP, coupled with the fact that Edo is in the South-South zone where the President also comes from, the state is there for the taking for Jonathan in 2015.

    Kano as a battleground

    Boasting the second highest voting population after Lagos, Kano State has been identified as strategic for the President’s re-election bid.

    This scenario, posit analysts, may have informed the appointment of Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau as a minister by President Jonathan.

    Early this year, Shekarau, a former governor of the state and chieftain of the APC, defected to the PDP following his former predecessor and now successor, Rabiu Kwankwaso’s move to the APC.

    Shekarau, based on the Presidency’s calculations, is expected to play a key role in the President’s campaign in the North-West state.

    The expected big battle for Kano in 2015, say sources, also allegedly informed the recent decision by the Federal Government to discontinue the N446.3billion theft charges against Mohammed Abacha, son of late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.

    The withdrawal of the case, which has attracted local and international condemnation, is seen by political pundits more as a political move rather than a humanitarian gesture.

    That the Presidency is not taking Kano lightly in its 2015 game plan can also be seen in the appointment of another Kano indigene, Aminu Wali, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. With this development, Kano is perhaps the only state in the country boasting two substantive ministers manning strategic portfolios.

    PDP bent on Adamawa

    The ongoing impeachment plot against Governor Murtala Nyako is also alleged to be part of the plan to ensure a landslide victory for the President in 2015.

    The plan is that with Nyako out of the equation, a PDP governor would then be installed; a development the party intends to take maximum advantage of during the presidential poll.

    Nasarawa in the picture

    If the plot to remove Nyako succeeds, attention, according to sources, would likely shift to Nasarawa State, which has an APC governor but a PDP-dominated House of Assembly.

    Early this year, speculation was rife that the state governor, Tanko Al-Makura, will be impeached by the House, but the alleged plan failed, following the governor’s alleged reapproachment with majority of the lawmakers. But sources said during the week that the plot may be resurrected if Nyako is successfully removed within the next one or two weeks.

    With these schemes, it is clear that for the Presidency, the battle for 2015 has indeed commenced. How far it can go however remains a matter for conjecture.

  • Ex-governors and their states’ coffers

    The smile of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregard the external rules of order and right which heaven itself ordained” – George Washington, first president of United States.

    In basic science, I was taught that a taproot is one of the most important roots that a tree needs for its nourishment. Apart from making a tree to erect properly, it forms a base from which other roots sprout; it makes the tree impervious to strong wind and taps soil nutrients a tree needs to survive.

    Being a chief executive of a state for four or eight years as the case may be, a governor functions as a tap root of some sort. Since he is in the best position to know the details of the finances of a state, the direction a state should navigate. And where there are leakages, the governor finds ways of blocking such. He is in better position to initiate policies and frameworks that will ensure the sustainable development and growth of the state even after he may have left office.

    However, when a chief security officer plunders the resources of a state, such action brings retrogression to the state and makes it worse. For tapping into the state resources, the governor constitutes himself into a poisonous taproot that kills the tree (state) instead of supplying it nourishment.

    I have the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in Akwa Ibom State to thank for the controversy the retirement law in the state generated. The union attracted attention to the obnoxious law and kept it in public view and most importantly exposed some other states where such laws had secretly been passed in the past. But for that patriotic act, one would never have known that such a law even existed.

    The bill, titled Governors and Deputy-Governors Pension Law 2014, just shows how greedy and gluttony can political office holders in Nigeria can be. The law sought to provide N100 million health benefit for governors and N50m for deputy governors in Akwa Ibom State, among other provision.

    It is an open-secret that some governors live like kings. They drive choice cars; have lunch in the most exquisite restaurants, travel in first class flights to the finest of countries, shop in expensive store abroad, and spend like oil sheiks without thinking about the economy of the state they govern. They did not even give a thought to the standard of living of the people that elected them.  Isn’t it absurd that after all these and the loots they committed while in office, some governors still want to go away with their states’ treasuries as they leave office.

    Considering the fact that a few states can actually sustain themselves economically without the monthly stipend from the Federal Government, it is worrisome that governors would think of such laws that legally drain their states of the of much-needed funds for development.

    Though, Akwa Ibom State government bowed to public pressure and killed the obnoxious bill, several states are guilty of it. The bill empowers a former governor to earn the same salary as a sitting governor. Three-hundred percent of his basic salary would be paid as furniture allowance. It also made provision for eight police officers and two SSS operatives. After retirement, the governor gets entertainment, car maintenance, house maintenance and utility allowances with personal assistants.

    The law as it was passed in Rivers State provides for former governors and deputy governors to be paid 100 percent of their basic salaries, two houses in any location and three cars replaceable every three years. The law which was titled’ Rivers State Governor and Deputy Governor Pensions and Fringe Benefits Bill 2012’ also entitles former governor and deputy governor of the state to 300% funding for furniture, 20% for utility,10 % for entertainment and free medical care for them and their immediate families.

    In Kwara State, the law was passed in 2010 when Senator Bukola Saraki was at the helm of affairs. The bill was tagged Kwara State Public Office Holders Pension Bill 2010 ( KWHAB15) and provided for allowances, fringe benefits, and basic salaries of governors and deputies. After leaving office, governors and their deputies are to get accommodation in Abuja, a month vacation outside Nigeria, 300 per cent furniture allowance, free transport and house maintenance allowance. The duo are also entitled to domestic staff, free medical care for their immediate families, security, personal assistants, car maintenance, entertainment and 20 per cent utility allowance,  amongst other provisions too numerous to mention.

    These are retirement provisions for individuals in a country where, according to the World Bank report of 2013, 112 million citizens live below poverty line. Little wonder then why there is widespread poverty across the country when states receive huge sums monthly as allocation from the federal government. Bauchi and Benue states have also passed the law.

    With this retirement benefits, a clinic could be built and equipped to cater for the medical needs of a local community. A primary school could be built and a skill acquisition centre could as well be established. Part of this money could be given to a local farmer to enhance his operations. An artisan could be provided with the right equipment.

    The financial implications of these bills on the future of Nigerians yet unborn cannot be quantified.

    This is why I liken these governors to taproots that kill the tree.

     

    Philips, 500-Level Information Technology, MAUTECH

  • ‘Creation of more states’ll hike administrative cost’

    ‘Creation of more states’ll hike administrative cost’

    A former Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters to Second Republic President Shehu Shagari and a delegate to the National Conference in Abuja, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, has said additional states will increase the cost of governance.

    Yakasai, who spoke with our reporter in Kano yesterday, noted that the creation of more states would be tantamount to adding more burden to the Federal Government’s huge financial load.

    The former adviser said he was uncomfortable with the existing 36-state structure, adding that it consumes a large chunk of the nation’s revenue.

  • Fed Govt, states, local govts share N683.8b

    •Excess Crude Account swells to $3.7b

    The three governments in Nigeria shared N683.898 billion for May.

    Addressing journalists in Abuja at the end of the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Jonah Otunla, said the distributable statutory revenue for May was N582.934 billion with an additional N35.549 billion proposed for distribution under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

    Otunla also disclosed that the country’s Excess Crude Account has increased from $3.6 billion in April to $3.73 billion in May.

    To arrive at the total distributable figure for May, he said  the sum of N159.688 billion was sourced from excess non-oil revenue as well as proceeds from Value Added Tax (VAT).

    The gross revenue of N844.032 billion was realised for the month of May which was higher than the N584.151 billion received in April by N259.881 billion. Revenue for the month under review grew because of the bulk payment of $1.2 billion made by Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) and the upward review of estimates by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited and other companies.

    However, Otunla noted that oil production was affected negatively by theft, repairs and maintenance of ruptured pipelines.

    The net statutory allocation to the federal, state and local governments was N567.824 billion with the Federal Government pocketing N271.340 billion or 52.68 per cent, states got N137,627 billion or 26.72 per cent, local governments received N106.105 billion or 20.60 per cent while the oil producing states got an additional N52.751 billion under the 13 per cent Derivation Fund.

  • Nigeria’s top 10 federal revenue receiving states

    Nigeria’s top 10 federal revenue receiving states

    Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has listed Nigeria’s 10 highest revenue receiving states based on the federal allocations in 2013.

    The states, according to her, earn more than the annual budgets of some neighboring countries.

    The allocations are as follows:

    Akwa Ibom N260 billion,
    Rivers N230 billion,
    Delta State N209 billion,
    Bayelsa N173 billion,
    Lagos N168 billion,
    Kano N140 billion,
    Katsina N103 billion,
    Oyo N100 billion,
    Kaduna N 97 billion
    Borno N94 billion.

    Okonjo-Iweala gave the breakdown of the allocations on Sunday at Babcock University’s 12th Convocation at which she delivered a lecture with the theme: ‘Transforming Nigeria economy: Opportunities and Challenges’

    “These were the allocations that all these states got last year, so the question is what did they do with it? Analysis shows that many Nigerian states receive revenue allocation which are larger than budgetary allocation of neighbouring countries such as Liberia which is $ 433 million, Gambia $210 million.

    ” So you see that our top 10 states receive more money than these countries and therefore you should be asking what is this money being used for?”
    Okonjo-Iweala said.

    She noted that some states use their allocation better than others adding that “that is why we can actually see what they are doing with their infrastructure, education, while others do not”.

    ” We should also ask ourselves what is the role of our state government and local government in supporting our transformation? We know from the constitution that provision of public services such as health, education, agricultural services and so on are all on a concurrent list and therefore are joint responsibilities of the federal state and local governments.

    “However it is not often that you hear people asking what has your state done? Most of their attention is turned to the federal government so we also need to ask what do our state and local government do with the resources they get?” Okonjo-Iweala stated.

  • ‘States may run into financial crisis this year’

    Many states may run into financial crisis this year, should the revenue accruable to the federation account suffers same draught like last year, Niger State Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Kpako Bello has stated.

    The commissioner, who spoke Thursday in Minna during the media highlight of the state 2014 budget presided over by Commissioner for Economic Planning, Alhaji Yahaya Dansalau, said some states may find difficult to pick their bills in the new year if federal receipts continue to dwindle.

    Citing the state, the Commissioner said that with 82.4 % of the state Budgetary projection fund from the federation account allocation “it will be difficult to survive should anything go wrong with the inflow of revenue from the center”.

    He further said that aside from the 11.3 percent to be raised from bonds, the state internal generated revenue is 6.3 percent which cannot sustain the state for a month.

    The Commissioner explained that if care is not taken this year, many states would be thrown into unprecedented economic crisis as a result of the failure of federal government revenue agencies to remit revenue to FAAC for sharing to the three tiers of government.

    “The last three months of last year were really turbulent for states because most times, we gather in Abuja for days without anything to share.

    “If we are not careful in the next few months, we will not get anything to share, we were in Abuja two to three days ago but there was no money.”

    He however said that the state is puting in place policies aimed at cushioning the effect of any distortion of the revenue flow from the centre this year, “Last year, we never envisage the kind of crisis that happened.”

    Bello blamed the drop in the income of the national tresury majorly to Oil thief, which he said now carried out in large scale” at source, thief at point of sale as well as after sales of the Oil”.

    His words, ”  We have reasons to believe what the Governor of Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi said over some missing money but its just that we were not bold enough to come out and support him. The figures may even be more than what he said was missing because oil theft is now carried out from source, at the point of and after sale”.