The Nation Newspaper

Tag: The Nation newspaper

  • On APC’s near fall in Kano

    SIR: There was a huge sigh of relief in certain quarters of Kano when APC finally won the supplementary governorship election on March 23, after a rerun in 28 out of the state’s 44 Local Government Areas. Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje won the election to secure a second term after receiving a total of 1,033,659 votes, beating PDP’s Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf with a margin of 9,210 votes.

    On February 23, APC beat PDP in Kano, giving President Muhammadu Buhari over 2.4 million votes and winning all three Senate seats and 24 for the House of Representatives. It was a clear victory that was incontestable, and no complaint emanated from opposition parties. The governorship and state assembly elections on March 9 were however a different story. By whatever means, the PDP won some state assembly seats and gave the state governor a good run for his money. What could have accounted for this shocking result?

    Some observers however attributed PDP’s performance to absence of the Buhari factor. Others ascribed it to the dollar scandal that had rocked Governor Ganduje – thanks to his enemies. Yet others thought it was the political prowess of former governor Rabiu Kwankwaso. Buhari factor really played a significant role in APC’s victory in Kano. And after his victory many people didn’t care to vote again. The dollar videos indeed also affected Ganduje negatively. But if Kwankwaso’s popularity couldn’t help PDP in the first elections, how could it in the second?

    It really didn’t. Recall that PDP was forcefully taken over by the Kwankwasiyya apostle last year which he refashioned along a particular line of thought. Some followers of the group, which operates in a cult-like manner, are known to be political schemers who know how to win elections either fairly or otherwise. Some of these veteran schemers were allegedly unleashed to by all means win the elections for PDP on March 9.

    However, live coverage by FM stations exposed some of unwarranted behaviors of some politicians that day. As one of those who listened to the radio all day, we heard how women were mobilized and bribed with amounts ranging from a paltry N20 to N5000. How items like cooked rice and beans, a local snack called “awara,” sachets of pure water were distributed to induce voters. Some reports alleged several cases of multiple voting, as voter cards purchased from poor voters were issued in various centers to supporters of a particular party. The schemers allegedly connived with compromised INEC staff who allowed their supporters to vote repeatedly.

    We also heard how rowdiness was deliberately caused by youths who realized their party was losing, how they broke or snatched ballot boxes leading to cancellation of votes at some polling units. Vote buying was also so rampant and on a scale unprecedented in Kano history. Seeing what was happening and to earn money, some women were also reported to have declared their votes for sale and gathered in groups waiting for buyers.

    It was under this circumstance that PDP produced the good result. And if truth must be told both parties are suspected to have rigged the election, the first during the election proper and the other after realizing it was done for. In any case, hasn’t rigging become the normal way of winning elections in Nigeria today?

    So after realizing it was taken unawares and beaten by foul means, the other side decided to get even. After all, a desperate problem required a desperate solution. And a tit for a tat is a fair game any day. However, after seeing how grave the situation was, INEC opted to cancel results from several polling units. Thus Kano emerged among six states that had their elections declared inconclusive.

    Arguably, it was the best option that would ensure fair conclusion of the governorship election. Both parties were given another chance to prove their mettle in an atmosphere that was conducive. That APC finally won the rerun governorship election proved that it is the dominant party in the state. With all the 27 National Assembly seats and 27 out of 40 state House Assembly seats in its kitty, APC is definitely the majority party in Kano.

    It would therefore have been unfair and a situation that is prone to conflict if a minority party with only 13 members in the state assembly had won the governorship. This was a party that was deserted like a plague by virtually all its prominent stalwarts. They were people who could have used their influence in localities to make PDP win some seats genuinely.

     

    • Ado Umar Muhammad, Kano.

  • ‘Sports vital to education’

    A school owner, Mrs Udenwa Obi, has said  education is incomplete without sports.

    Speaking at the eighth biennial inter-house sports competition of her school, Headstart Private School, Isolo, Lagos, Mrs Obi said sports help pupils to develop physical and mental toughness.

    ”We count it a great privilege to be witnessing yet another sporting event. Education is incomplete without sports, it is an integral part of learning that stimulates mental and physical toughness, hence it is essential for today’s youthful generation.

    ”Participating in organised sports offers the chance for the youth to enhance their physical and social skills. Sports offer children a change from the monotony of their daily life to a more healthy and active life,” she said.

    Chairman of the occasion, Mr Segun Babalogbon, who spoke on sportsmanship, urged the pupils to learn to win or lose with dignity.

    ”With sportsmanship, it makes us to unite, come together and cheer one another up. Sport must be honoured with honesty, sincerity and fairness. If you fail, you have to be strong and strive hard,” he said.

    The event featured march past, picking balls, tiny tots, filling the bottles, dress to school, lime and spoon, filling the basket, sack race, tire race, high jump, relay race, 100m, 200m, chubby race, taekwondo, among others.

    Blue House emerged winner of the competition with 20 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze medals.  Red house came second with 16 gold, 20 silver and 17 bronze medals, while yellow house came third with 13 gold, 12 silver and 16 bronzes medals.

  • Youths must see climate change as an opportunity, says director

    Director of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment Dr Pete Tarfa has urged youths to see climate change as an opportunity for  growth and national economic advancement.

    Tarfa made the call at the Accra International Conference Centre in Ghana, when he met some Nigerian youths’ delegates attending the ongoing International Climate Change Development Initiative (ICCDI) in commemoration of the Africa Climate Week. The theme was:  ‘Africa climate week is a race we can win’.

    Six youth delegates from Nigeria attended the event. They are: Babatunde Enitan, Abiodun Adekoya, Rukayat Odebiyi, Moses Eboigbe, Prosper Egeonu and ‘Seyifunmi Adebote.

    “One thing I want Nigerian youths working in the area of climate change to do is to open their eyes to the many opportunities that surround climate change,” Tarfa began.

    He continued, “Before now, we used to see climate change as a tragedy, a woe, and something to be scared about. Today, there are a lot of opportunities that climate change has brought.

    “As young people, you should begin to see how you can create jobs from climate change – in the area of renewable energy, solid waste management, writing, advocacy, creative expressions like literature, poem or music, just to push out the message of climate change.

    “One major problem we have in Nigeria is deforestation, most women in the local communities cook with firewood and some of them are dying because of the effects of smoke on their health. Young people can partner private companies, creating innovative clean cook stove solution. Those products can be sold to the huge market in Nigeria. That way, you make money and impact lives. I want to see Nigerian youths who have understood climate change to look out for opportunities in the areas renewable sources of energy to provide power for the millions of people off-grid. Waste management is another big issue in Nigeria, single-use plastic recycling, architecture and many other aspects.”

  • Expert seeks drug abuse prevention inclusion in curricula

    Founder and Executive Director, Global Initiative on Substance Abuse (GISA), Dr Martin Agwogie, is seeking improved efforts towards mitigating the effect of substance abuse among youths from secondary to tertiary levels by ensuring that authorities include it in the curricula.

    According to Agwogie, this is necessary because of the frightened report on the just-released National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health in Nigeria, in which one out of seven Nigerian youths between 15 and 64 at least use one substance.

    This, Agwogie fears, is higher than the global average of 1 out of 20 according (United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) world drug abuse.

    Agwogie stated this on the sideline of the one week training for practitioners on the universal prevention curriculum (UPC) for substance use disorders organised by GISA, in collaboration with Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme, in Lagos.

    He said: “Globally it (substance abuse) is one out of 20, but in Nigeria it is one out of seven which means there is a problem that we need to collectively address as a nation, community, parents and individuals.”

    Read Also: NGO expresses concern over rising cases of drug abuse

    Agwogie, who is also the National Co-ordinator for Universal Prevention Curriculum on Substance Use disorders for Nigeria, also added that prevention can only be done through evidence base, a kind of method he said is uncommon in Nigeria.

    “This is the reason we are having this training, to equip people in different sectors in providing or acquiring prevention skills and to be able to prevent the use of substance.

    “It is a training using the United States government developed material for substance use prevention. We are training practitioners, who will provide evidence base prevention for substance use.

    “And how do we do this?  The curriculum is in different tracks and the practitioner are trained according to their specialisation,” he explained.

    Agwogie, however, added that prevention should target age bracket so that the trained personnel will be able to flow with them and through this the target audience would receive the message that would help wade off substance of abuse.

    “Moreso as they develop both physically, cognitive, morally, emotionally and socially, there is also the need to also build their intrinsic motivation that will last longer.

    “That is why we have different tracks like school base for school environment, family base for family, work place for offices and community base tracks among others in order to prevent substance use in the as well to reach out to all individuals nationwide.

    He, however, warned against the passing of wrong messages to people through scare tactics, saying it has aggravate most cases of substance abuse.

  • Firm ties refinery construction to full downstream deregulation

    Petrocam Nigeria Limited has said it would build a refinery in-country only when the Federal Government fully deregulates the downstream sub-sector of the oil industry.

    The Chief Executive officer of the firm, Mr. Patrick Ilo, stated this at the opening of the firm’s 10th retail outlet in Abule Ado, Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Lagos. Ilo said the company as part of its strategic plans in the country would leave a footprint in the retail and refining segments of the petroleum industry.

    The firm is an arm of Petrocam International, a South African based oil trading firm with branches in some African countries.

    Petrocam, Ilo said, is waiting for the right atmosphere to invest in crude refining business. He said: “We at Petrocam Nigeria are presently not engaging in the building of refinery in the country. We are looking forward to a situation when the subsector would be fully deregulated since the industry is partially deregulated now.

    “Deregulation is key to establishment of refineries in Nigeria because it would open up the space wider for operators wishing to invest in crude refining with a view to ending importation of petroleum products such as premium motor spirit (PMS), diesel and kerosene. What operators are advocating is a system, which would allow open entry and open exit and that can only be achieved when the subsector is fully and not partially deregulated as currently practised in Nigeria.”

    According to him, the issue of allowing the Federal Government to fix the selling price of fuel at N145 per litre would be a thing of the past when the sector is fully deregulated. He said marketers would be at liberty to determine how much they would sell their products as against a situation where they would be compelled to sell fuel at a modulated price.

    The firm’s outlet, Ilo said, is increasing by the day, ditto the consumers of petroleum products in the country, adding that the development informed the decision of the company to continue to spread across the country.

    He said the supply of electricity is falling, adding that the development made Petrocam to build solar power to operate its outlets and also provide power to the communities where the stations are built.

    He added the company is customer-centric, which among others are the firm’s selling points.

    Petrocam started operation in Nigeria as an oil trading firm years ago and later moved into fuel retail services.

  • Osun records hike in forestry revenue

    The Osun State government has recorded 120 per cent increase in revenue from the forestry sub-sector, raking in N22 million in March against the N10 million in January.

    The Chairman of the Committee on Forestry, Prof. Bayonle Olorede, stated this during the presentation of the panel’s report to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola on Tuesday in Osogbo, the state capital.

    Olorede said the committee blocked some areas of leakage, which led to the increased revenue for the government.

    He said the committee came up with 17 recommendations, which if implemented, would assist the state to actualise its set objectives in the forestry sub-sector.

    Part of the recommendations is the appointment of a forestry consultant, who will be given a target to effect the needed change that will reposition the sector. It also listed the qualities that such a person should possess

    Describing forestry as a critical revenue generation sector, Olorede hailed the Oyetola’s administration for working assiduously to improve the revenue base of the state.

    Read Also: Osun records hike in forestry revenue

    He said: “We are happy to inform the governor that the state revenue on forestry had increased with over 100 per cent.

    “The revenue rose from N10 million to N22.5 million between January 2019 and March 2019, showing tremendous improvement in the revenue base of the state compared to what was recorded in 2018.

    “Two out of the 17 recommendations in the report are very important to the quest to sanitise and improve on the revenue potential in the sector,” he added.

    Oyetola expressed delight with the outstanding performance of the committee

    He said the committee was inaugurated to sanitise the sector; block leakages and promote efficiency and accountability.

    Oyetola said his administration remained resolute to bring out the best in all sectors to drive up the revenue profile of the state.

  • Cashew trap

    From the Nigeria Cashew Exporters Association came yet another saddening news, about one of the contradictions that define the Nigerian nation: the kidney-shaped nuts from last year’s harvest, that should have been exported since January, are still stranded at the ports! Shipping of the nuts has been delayed due to the gridlock at the Lagos ports.

    President of the association, Tola Fasheru, who made this known, said about 50,000 tons of the nuts valued at about $300million are still in containers on trucks waiting to enter the ports or wharves. According to Fasheru, “there is a palpable lack of synergy among the port operators and this is affecting the business of our members.”

    It is regrettable that a country whose government is daily making clarion calls about diversification of its revenue base could allow a thing like this to happen. One would have thought that such a country would leave nothing to chance in its efforts to get additional income from other sources, instead of relying solely on crude oil, with its attendant vagaries at the international market. It is akin to a situation where the government is calling on Nigerians to go into farming for exports and yet is not giving them enough encouragement.

    Read Also: ‘Nigeria cashew exports may fall’

    Expectedly, this experience is already having demoralising effects on the cashew exporters, especially as they have had to default on their contractual agreements with their foreign buyers who are now walking away from them to do business with their counterparts from more serious countries. More worrisome is that the situation is going to make a mess of meeting the output target of 260,000 tons of the nuts for the current season (February to July).

    Fasheru made the point when he said that “not one single cashew exporter is in the field now as he is owing on contracts and as a result has no money to operate with”.  This sad experience also has the danger of making the planned raising of the annual production output to 500,000 tons by 2023 a mission impossible for the country, the sixth largest cashew producer.

    The gridlock and inefficiency, as well as corruption and other vices at the nation’s ports keep having deleterious effects on virtually all sectors of the economy. We wonder how many other groups or bodies are passing through what the cashew exporters are experiencing at the ports in silence.

    We therefore call on the Federal Government, once again, to expedite action on its efforts to bring efficiency back to the ports. We can only imagine what the country has lost to the present state of affairs at the ports – not just in terms of economic costs but also environmental pollution and social dislocations. Nigeria is probably one of the few countries where the ports could have suffered such a long period of neglect, leading to this monumental crisis, that we now have in our hands. It is this crisis that has led to importers finding ports in neighbouring countries like Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, among others, more attractive to do business, at a huge cost to the country’s economy.

    We have said it before; and it bears restating: that Lagos ports are inadequate to cater to the country’s needs. So, the government must redouble efforts to make ports in other parts of the country functional. This will lead to more efficiency at the Lagos ports, relieve Lagos roads of the large number of heavy duty vehicles that are daily shortening the lifespan of the roads apart from causing a nightmare to pedestrians and motorists in the state. The government would also do well to accelerate its rail development programme so that much of the cargo now moved by road could be transported by rail to their respective destinations.

  • Shell bags Most Impactful Local Content Company award

    Shell Companies in Nigeria have emerged the International Oil Company with the most impactful Local Content Initiatives in the upstream category at the 2019 edition of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    Shell beat other competitors ,Total and ExxonMobil to the second and third positions respectively at the second edition of the fair organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

    The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, who presented the award, singled out Shell Companies in Nigeria for exemplary support to local vendors and suppliers in the oil and gas industry, which, he said, enabled greater participation of Nigerians in the service value chain.

    Read Also: Shell unveils $15b five-year investment plan

    Receiving the award, Managing Director of The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, described the recognition as an important acknowledgement for the impressive work Shell companies continue to do in Nigeria content development.

    He said: “This award is a strong recognition of our leadership in the Nigerian content development space. Nigerian content development remains a very important step in our growth aspiration as Shell Companies in Nigeria roll out the next phase of major projects.”

    Shell’s Nigerian Content Development Manager, Olanrewaju Olawuyi, described the NOGOF award as well-earned given the pioneering initiatives and strides by Shell companies in Nigeria which he said had put the oil and gas industry in the hands of Nigerians. “We are motivated by the award to continue to pursue in-country value addition in the oil and gas sector as this aligns with the government’s aspiration in local capacity development.”

    The NOGOF award is a confirmation of the leadership position of Shell in local capacity development in the oil and gas industry. In 2018, Shell Companies were named the Local Content Operator of the Year at the Annual Oil Industry Achievement Awards Dinner of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN,) an association of indigenous technical oilfield service companies in the upstream and downstream sectors.

  • 19-year-old arrested for stabbing, robbing pastor in Abuja

    The FCT Police Command has arrested Isaac Agbo, 19, for allegedly robbing and stabbing a pastor of Assemblies of God Church.

    The suspect, who was in company of his friend, allegedly went to the home of Pastor John Jonathan at Karmajiji, Abuja and robbed him.

    The suspects, who were resisted when they got to the pastor’s house, stabbed him with a knife and fled.

    According to the police, the pastor was stabbed in the back and is recovering at an undisclosed hospital.

    Addressing reporters on Wednesday in Abuja, the Commissioner of Police in charge of FCT, Bala Ciroma, said recent measures put in place by the command has led to smashing of notorious criminal syndicates, arrest of hardened criminals, recovery of dangerous weapons and other exhibits.

    The CP, represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Criminal Investigation Department, DCP Salisu Gyadi, said 84 other suspects were arrested for crimes.

    Read Also: Housewife accused of stabbing worker

    The command also recovered 25 vehicles from a gang of nine, phones, locally fabricated rifles, knives, cutlasses, daggers, hammers, axes and other weapons.

    Twenty-three packs of solution used as intoxicant, 43 bottles of cough syrups containing codeine, hundreds of Exol tablet and hundreds of Dizapam tablets were also recovered.

    Narrating how Agbo was arrested, the CP said: “On February 8, at about 2030 hours, a report was received of a robbery in progress at the home of one Pastor John in Karmajiji, Abuja. Police operatives moved to the scene and met the pastor in a pool of blood. A locally made pistol and dagger were abandoned by the robbers while they were escaping.

    “In the course of trailing the robbers, Isaac Agbo, 19, of Games Village, Abuja, was arrested and he confessed to the crime. He said when they got to the pastor’s house, they met resistance. Consequently they stabbed the pastor at the back and ran when he raised the alarm.”

    The CP said Agbo’s accomplice, one Ibrahim, is at large, adding that efforts are on to arrest him.

    The command also apprehended a gang of four suspected armed robbers, who specialised in snatching cars and receiving stolen cars.

    The suspects, Ibrahim Abubakar, Usman Bala, Abubakar Sani and Murtala Mohammed, specialise in stealing and snatching cars at shopping malls.

    On how they were arrested, the CP said: “They had an accident around Federal Secretariat in Abuja after snatching a car. They tried to escape, but the police, who were pursuing them, nabbed them. The suspects confessed having stolen a Honda Accord EOD at a shopping mall at the Central Area, a Mercedes Benz at Jinifa Plaza, also at the Central Area, a Mercedes Benz ML at Next Cash and Carry and three Toyota Camry pencil light models.

    “According to the suspects, they used a knife or gun to dispossess their victims of their cars, snatching their valuables before leaving. The suspects confessed that Murtala Mohammed and one Danjuma, who is at large, were the receivers of the stolen cars. The receivers sell the cars somewhere in Kebbi State and usually forge new papers for the vehicles.”

    The police boss said efforts are being intensified to arrest Danjuma and recover the stolen vehicles.

  • Negotiate with facts, union tells members

    Members of the Academic Staff Union of Colleges of Education (COEASU) have been advised to be armed with facts when they negotiate with either the institution’s management or the government.

    Such an action, the union believes, wouldconvince the management on the union’s ability.

    And if management or government remains adamant, COEASU will be left with no option than to go on strike, the union added.

    The union spoke during its 50th Southwest Zonal Delegate conference hosted by COEASU of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Oto-Ijanikin.

    COEASU National General Secretary Comrade Taiwo Abolaji Olayanju said in line with 21st century, ‘’negotiations should come before war’’.

    Olayanju, who is the Chairman of the COEASU Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos, continued: “We also want to tell our members that when we come to the negotiation table with the government or management, they should not come with bare hands but facts. When you confront the government or management with statistics to back up your agitation, a reasonable government or management will bow to superior argument.

    Read Also: Ndigbo to negotiate with other nationalities

    “We don’t believe in locking up the gates (of our campuses). We can fight the management but the idea of resorting to protests and shutting up the gates is one of the issues we are going to deliberate upon during this congress.”

    Olayanju recalled the suspension of COEASU’s strike with the Federal Government last November over some of the latter’s unfulfilled promises, saying the action aimed at giving the government some time.

    “There is a difference between ‘suspending’ and ‘calling off’ the strike, Olayanju stressed.

    “Suspension allows you to give a benefit of the doubt (to the government) to actualise your desires.  We have had some understanding with the government with respect to issues of arrears. When it comes to money, it is easy (for governments) to promise but difficult to fulfill. So, if in the end, we realised governments are simply paying lip service, we easily go and remove what (suspension) we hung there.”

    Earlier, AOCOED Provost Dr Aina Ladele charged her colleagues to remain committed to a culture of research. She craved the leadership of the union to exercise caution with their management in view of lean resources.

    “As we (COEASU) agitate, I enjoin us to display maturity,” ‘Ladele appealed.

    “No college of education nationwide is sufficiently funded, yet we have to meet the demands of COEASU, other unions as well as other competing needs of the institution. We know the challenges will always be there. We also enjoin you to ensure quality teacher education is not compromised. Besides, the very senior colleagues should not shy away from the task of mentoring the upcoming ones, while the younger lecturers too should be flexible to being mentored.”

    She praised AOCOED COEASU as well as other unions for ensuring that the 37 academic programmes of the college were fully accreditated by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) last year.

    The host Chairman Comrade Ige Ajayi listed some achievements of COEASU AOCOED to include ‘’attaining the 65-year age retirement; putting a stop to quota system; reintroduction of committee-based system for union’s activities, constitution of advisory council for the executive, as well as accessing of pension funds by retired colleagues, among others.

    According to Ige, COEASU AOCOED is desirous that the congress address issues, such as life salary for chief lecturers, revival of all programmes that serve as internally generated revenue (IGR) for colleges, and addressing epileptic power supply.

    COEASU Federal College of Education Osiele Chairman Comrade Akin Akinyele, one of the delegates, lamented that his chapter still grapples with unpaid cooperative deductions, and unpaid peculiar academic allowances, lower cadre migration,  and unchallenged condition for promotion,

    “I have been promoted from Lecturer 1 to Senior Lecturer since 2017, yet I am still being owed promotion arrears as well as annual increase. That is not fair,” he said.