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  • 2016 Rising Tide Foundation/ALOD and The Nation Essay Winners

    We are pleased to announce the results of the 2016 Rising Tide Foundation/Network for a Free Society/African Liberty Organisation for Development (ALOD) and The Nation Essay Competition.

     

    We received 634 entries from 22 countries across the Africa; 548 were qualified and sent to our judges comprising academics and professionals. They chose the best 80 entries for another round of assessment, out of which 25 entries went to the final round of assessment.

     

    The following criteria were chosen for grading the entries:

    • Evidence presented – 30 per cent
    • Analysis of the evidence – 30 per cent
    • Originality – 15 per cent
    • Grammar and style – 15 per cent
    • Structure – 10 per cent

     

    The majority of participants showed better understanding of the theme above 60 per cent level. The top five contestants scored 70 per cent to win the contest.

     

    The winners and their prizes are announced as follows:

     

    1st – George Ayittey (Platinum Prize): $1,000 and scholarship to the Liberty and Entrepreneurship Camp at St. Paul University, Limuru, Kenya from July 14-17, 2016

    (Linus Okechukwu Unah ,Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria)

     

    2nd – Anthony Fisher (Gold Prize): $700 and scholarship to the Liberty and Entrepreneurship Camp at St. Paul University, Limuru, Kenya from July 14-17, 2016

    (Hamzat Oluwasheyi Joshua, Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria)

     

    3rd – Franklin Cudjoe (Silver Prize): $500 and scholarship to the Liberty and Entrepreneurship Camp at St. Paul University, Limuru, Kenya from July 14-17, 2016

    (Gift Chatina, Business Administration, The Malawi Polytechnic, Malawi)

     

    4th – The Nation CAMPUSLIFE (Media Bronze Prize): $300 and scholarship to the Liberty and Entrepreneurship Camp at St. Paul University.Limuru. Kenya from July 14-17, 2016.

    (Christopher Kilatu, Land Management and Valuation, Ardhi University, Dar Salaam, Tanzania)

     

    5th – Rejoice Ngwenya: (Media Bronze Prize): $250 and scholarship to the Liberty and Entrepreneurship Camp at St. Paul University, Limuru, Kenya from July 14-17, 2016.

    (Thabiso Mondlane, Finance with Accounting, University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa)

     

    We also have 7 consolation prizes of $50 each.

     

    Winners should please get in touch with Adedayo Thomas at essay@alodpolicy.org or telephone number: +234 802 223 9554

  • Tears as The Nation man Uyoatta is buried

    It was an emotion-laden ceremony attended by family members and journalists as the remains of Uyoatta Eshiet, the Akwa Ibom State Correspondent of The Nation, were interred yesterday.

    Friends and well-wishers wept when the brown coffin bearing the body of the late journalist arrived at his family’s compound in Afia Nsit Urua Nko, Nsit Ibom Local Government Area.

    The late Uyoatta died on April 13, after an illness.

    A mass was conducted by clerics of the Living Faith Church (aka Winners’ Chapel).

    They prayed for the late Uyoatta and the children he left behind.

    The clerics urged sympathisers to examine their lives, have more intimacy with God, live a holy life and be prayerful, if they wanted to make heaven.

    The eldest son, Daniel, described the late Uyoatta as an easy going man who could hardly hurt a fly.

    Daniel said: “I don’t know exactly where to start from because it is just too frustrating and disheartening. Just two years after losing a precious jewel, and still going through the process of healing, you had to take away the second pair of my precious jewel.

    “Dad, after all the stress you went through, depriving yourself of the basic necessities of life, just to meet those of my siblings and I, without even reaping the fruits of your labour, death took you away.

    “Death! Why now, when he was just about to start reaping the fruits of his labour? I feel like I’m dreaming and someone needs to wake me up from this nightmare. But every time I think about it, it all keeps getting real that I and my siblings are left alone. It tears me up inside, knowing you won’t be there to see your children become what God destined them to be in life.”

    Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel, in a condolence message to the family, described the late Uyoatta as a great loss to the state and The Nation.

    Represented by Information Commissioner Aniekan Umanah and Chief Press Secretary (CPS) Ekerete Udoh, the governor noted that by Uyoatta’s death, the family, community and the state would miss his services.

    The governor urged Christians to avoid taking the wrong direction but allow God to dictate their affairs because they would account for every deed in the hereafter.

    The state’s Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Chairman Patrick Albert described the deceased as a good natured person whose contribution to journalism would always be remembered.

    The NUJ chairman, who also said the late Uyoatta distinguished himself as a humble, gentle and respectful journalist, added that everything in life was driven by something.

    But he said until something is driven by God, there would be misadventure.

  • Miscreants rob The Nation man

    Miscreants rob The Nation man

    A graphic artist with The Nation was on Sunday night robbed by hoodlums at Oshodi bus stop in Lagos.

    Olalekan Ayeni was on his way home when the miscreants pounced on him.

    Reliving his ordeal, Ayeni said: “Around 11pm on Sunday, as I was waiting to board a bus at Oshodi, going to Toll Gate, some men, numbering about six, rushed at me. It was raining so there were not many buses and I had been standing there for quite some time. As I boarded the bus, which had just arrived, they started running after me and shouting Ara won ni! (He is one of them)’. Then they started to pull me back from the bus.”

    Ayeni said he was confused by their statement, adding that with one leg still inside the bus, he protested his innocence. Others about to board the bus merely watched as Ayeni struggled with the assailants.

    “One of them held me by the belt while the others tried to pull me completely off the bus. They were well-organised because as they were attacking me, another man was being subjected to a similar fate,” he said.

    “As they clawed at me, they also tried to dispossess me of my bag but I refused to let go of it. I then used the torchlight I was holding to hit one of them on the forehead and he let go of me, so I was able to escape.”

    Ayeni said he did not know he had been dispossessed of his valuables until he was inside the bus with the other victim.

    He lost N28,000 worth of items including his handset and wristwatch; the other victim lost his wallet and money.

    Ayeni recalled that he was robbed in the same area last November.

  • The Nation’s Ololade wins Quill Award

    The Nation’s Ololade wins Quill Award

    The Nation’s multiple award-winning Associate Editor Olatunji Ololade at the weekend won the CSR/ Industry Reporting category of the Promasidor Quill Awards held in Lagos.

    He was also a runner-up in the Child and Nutrition category, with another  entry: I Do Not Want This Child.

    Ololade’s entry: Sorrowful song from the valley of Iva, published on September 19, last year, was adjudged the best in the CSR and Industry category, which had Seun Akioye, another award-winning The Nation reporter, as nominee, with the  entry:Endangered Treasure: 800 Year-Old Nasarawa Salt Mine at Risk of Extinction.”

    Also, an ex-CAMPUSLIFE reporter from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Kemi Busari, won Online Reporter of the Year category with his entry: Ours is a forgotten generation, published on Thevendornews.com.

    The overall prize  went to The Guardian’s  Ajibola Amzat, with his entry: Home Away. He succeeded The Nation’s Taiwo Alimi, who won the prize last year. Amzat’s entry also won Best Report on Children and Nutrition.

    Other winners include The Punch’s Tobi Aworinde and Tunde Ajaja (Education and Future Writer categories ),Leadership’s Nurein Kolawole (Photo category) and Nigerian Pilot’s Daphne Uduneje (Brand Advocate category).

    For being the overall winner, Amzat will be sponsored for multi-media journalism training at Thomson Foundation in United Kingdom (UK). The cost of the four-week training will be borne by Promasidor Nigeria Limited.

    The company’s Managing Director, Mr. Oliver Thiry, praised the contestants for the quality of the works submitted in all categories of the awards. He stressed that there was no reward that could adequately compensate the effort of journalists in educating the public.

  • Ogbemudia: I read The Nation as a religious book

    Two-time Governor of the defunct Bendel State and former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, has said The Nation is the authoritative newspaper in the country.

    Dr. Ogbemudia, who spoke with our reporter in Benin, the Edo State capital, said he loved to read the newspaper as a religious book.

    He said: “I want to thank workers of The Nation. The typeface is first class; the language is Queen’s. Thirdly, the typographical error is minimal. You can read and not find any. The little ones you find are the overlooking of issues by the proof reader, who probably is overworked and perhaps underpaid.”

    On the demise of the Benin monarch, Oba Erediauwa, the former governor recalled that his most memorable moment with the late monarch was in 1966, during the first coup.

    Ogbemudia said they were to serve on a committee set up to examine the military and civilian unrest after the coup.

    But the former governor said he met the late monarch once in Kaduna, when the military struck again.

    He said: “At that point, I was the Brigade Major of the First Brigade and I had a role to play. When he came to Kaduna, he told me he was appointed secretary of the committee to look into the military-civilian unrest. I saw him in the evening, but we never met again because that night, another group struck and we had to find our away. I was later posted to Benin.

    “I saw him many times (in Benin) and I discussed with him many times because he was the first graduate to become an oba in modern times. He had much to offer and he did offer. Whenever you went there to discuss with him, unless you were properly prepared, he would defeat you.

    “I knew the oba since he was a prince. When I was appointed Military Governor of (the defunct) Midwest State, by that position, I was a member of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) and Oba Erediauwa at that point was secretary of that council.

    “Every time the council met, I was happy to see him. Each time I had any complaint, I went quietly to his house to see him and he was helpful. A little after the SMC, he was promoted to the permanent secretary. At the position, he was useful to me when we were working on how to establish the Medical Centre in Benin, which later became the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH). He even made a grant to us. When he retired, he became a commissioner in the government that succeeded my administration as commissioner for Economic Development. Thereafter, he was installed the Oba of Benin Kingdom.”

     

  • The Nation vs Senate: CJ refuses to withdraw fiat

    The Nation vs Senate: CJ refuses to withdraw fiat

    Chief Judge of the Federal High Court Justice Ibrahim Auta has refused to withdraw the fiat directing Justice Mohammed Yunusa to deliver judgment in The Nation suit against the lawmakers.

    The Senate urged Justice Auta to withdraw the fiat for the case to begin afresh before a new judge, Justice Jude Dagat.

    Justice Yunusa adjourned for judgment before he was transferred to Enugu Division.

    Rather than withdraw the fiat, Justice Auta asked the Senate to raise any objections it might have before Justice Yunusa.

    Justice Dagat, therefore, directed that the file be returned to Justice Yunusa.

    Yesterday, counsel for Vintage Press Limited (publisher of The Nation), Mr Wahab Shittu, told Justice Dagat about the fiat.

    He sought an adjournment for Justice Yunusa to deliver the judgment.

    Senate’s lawyer Dr George Ogunyomi said Justice Auta responded to their letter in which they asked him to withdraw the fiat.

    “Justice Auta replied and noted our complaint. He said we are free to raise the issues before Justice Yunusa,” he said.

    Justice Dagat said he could not adjourn to any date since he did not know when Justice Yunusa would return to Lagos.

    “Since there is a fiat, the file is hereby remitted to Justice Yunusa for further action,” he ruled.

    After Justice Dagat took over the case, the plaintiffs applied to Justice Auta for a fiat to enable Justice Yunusa return to Lagos to deliver the judgment rather than the case starting de novo (afresh). The fiat was issued.

    The applicants (Vintage Press, The Nation Editor Gbenga Omotoso and a Correspondent Imam Bello) prayed for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Senate from summoning them or compelling their appearance over a story.

    The Senate, last August 4, invited Omotoso and Bello over the story: Motion: 22 APC northern senators ‘working against Buhari’, published last July 30. The Senate wrote again last August 11 threatening to invoke Section 89 (1) (D) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to compel the applicants to appear.

    Justice Yunusa made an interim order of injunction restraining the respondents from issuing a warrant to compel the applicants’ attendance before a Senate committee set up to investigate the publication.

    The Senate, in an April 7 letter to Justice Auta through its lawyer, Offiong Effiong Offiong (SAN), asked Justice Auta to withdraw the fiat because the plaintiffs “failed to duly effect service of the originating processes” on it.

    According to Offiong, his client’s rights to justice would be “seriously compromised” if Justice Yunusa went ahead to deliver the judgment, adding that it must have “escaped your lordship’s attention to ask for comments from the other parties” before the fiat was issued.

    But, Shittu urged Justice Auta not to withdraw the fiat, adding that Justice Yunusa was entitled to examine the Senate’s pending applications and proceed in whatever manner he deemed fit without the case having to start anew.

  • Abia schools embark on warning strike

    Primary and secondary school teachers in Abia state have embarked on a three days warning strike to press the state government to pay them their arrears of salaries ranging from three to four months.

    The Nation observes that primary school teachers in the state are being owed salary arrears from February while their counterparts in the secondary school system are owed since January.

    The primary and secondary schools in the state were scheduled to reopen on Monday April 18, 2016, but was shifted one week ahead generally believed to be a delay tactics by government to enable

    source for funds to pay the teachers.

    On Monday, April 25th after one week, the schools resumed with the arrears still pending, which forced the leadership of Nigerian Union of Teachers [NUT] in the state to order the teachers to embark on a

    three day warning strike to press home their demand.

    However when this reporter visited the Abia state secretariat of NUT at Awkuzu Lane Umuahia, the chairman of the union, Comrade Chizobem Akparanta, was said to be away from the office.

    Reacting to the development, the Head Teacher of Amuzukwu Primary School 11, Mrs Joyce Emele, told newsmen in her School that the NUT ordered teachers to stay away for three days as the beginning of a

    warning strike.

    Mrs Emele said that after the three days warning strike, “If the state government failed to do something about the arrears of salary then the union told us that they may have no choice than to embark on an

    indefinite strike”.

    Emele corroborated the report that Primary School teachers were owed three months salary while secondary school teachers are owed four months including promotion and leave allowance.

    At Amuzukwu Girls Secondary School, the Principal, Mrs Ijeoma Nwoko, said the NUT held an executive meeting the previous day and continued the next day with a general meeting where the decision of what to do would be taken.

    Nwoko said that she could not attend the meeting because of the on-going renovation in the school which she had to supervise, but sent some of her staff who she said were yet to return to give her feedback on the outcome of the meeting.

    She said, “We have resumed normal classes. We came to school yesterday and today, but NUT had an executive meeting yesterday and informed us of a meeting today. My own staff that went for the meeting have not come back to brief me”.

    At the Methodist Girls High School, Umueze, the principal Rev Chinyere Iroegbu said the school is in session because it is under the control of Methodist Church and not under government control, having been returned to them by government.

    She however clarified that all government staff that are still in the school who are being paid by government would have no choice than to join their counterparts in the system if there is strike by the NUT.

  • Policemen, others arrested for ‘armed robbery’

    The Police in Lagos have arrested some of its personnel including one Sergeant Victor Omorokai, who allegedly hijacked a 20 feet container at the weekend in Ogun State.

    Also arrested were three civilians, including a supposed buyer of the container laden with auto spare-parts.

    It was gathered that the policemen numbering four, all attached to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti-Yaba, on Saturday night blocked the container with their Sienna car.

    The Nation gathered that they pretended to be officers on duty and flanked the heavy duty vehicle down.

    As soon as the driver stopped, they were said to have pointed a gun at him and his conductor, ordering them out of the trailer.

    The suspects were said to have detoured the container to Abbatoir, where they contacted a prospective buyer who came and inspected the goods but did not buy.

    Unknown to the suspects, the trailer conveying the container had a car tracking device and was being monitored by its owners.

    It was learnt that a distress call was made to the police informing the agency about the incident and notifying it that the trailer had a tracking device.

    “The police then started monitoring their location as they were moving and tracked them to Agege. Three police units made of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Safer Highways and the Okokomaiko Police Division were deployed.

    “The teams blocked the various entry and exit points. The suspects contacted another buyer and was moving towards Okokomaiko when the police stopped the container.

    “At first, they pretended they were policemen who arrested the truck but when they saw that they were in trouble they started shooting. While three of them managed to escape, Sergeant Victor Omorokai was arrested. Three civilians have also been arrested in connection with the crime,” said a  police source.

    The Nation gathered that an Inspector was among the fleeing suspects and that the case was transferred to SARS for discreet investigation.

    Confirming the arrest, the state command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos said: “They (suspects) were trailed to Okokomaiko where they were arrested. The case is still under discreet investigation.”

  • Robbers snatch The Nation man’s camera, cash

    Robbers snatch The Nation man’s camera, cash

    A photojournalist with The Nation, Rahman Sanusi, was on Saturday robbed around Chicken George Bus-Stop on Palm Avenue, Mushin, Lagos.

    He was returning from an official assignment around 11pm with Sola Ogundipe, Health Editor of Vanguard when the incident happened.

    The robbers, who were on a motorcycle, snatched his bag from him.

    He said: “They were two on the motorcycle. One was riding while the other operated. Myself and the health editor ran like babies in the rain. We chased them as they sped off towards Palm Avenue but we couldn’t meet them. I fell on my knees thrice.”

    Sanusi said his Canon 60D camera with 18-55mm lens, Canon 18-300 zoom lens, Canon flash gun, an 8GB flash drive, one camera battery charger, two Nokia phones, N23,600 cash and his identity card were in the bag.

    “When I discovered my bag had been snatched, I shouted thief! thief!! thief!!! and ran after them but they zoomed off. I am glad we weren’t shot dead. The camera is worth over N500,000. I stay in Sango. The reason I did not go home from the assignment was because I was scared I may be robbed since it was late. I didn’t know what I was avoiding would eventually happen to me. I couldn’t sleep throughout the night. As I speak, I can feel pains on my legs. I have been in this job for over 37 years and I have never experienced such an incident. As I walked to the office, I cried like a baby but I was at the same time grateful my life was spared,” he said.

    The incident, Sanusi said, has been reported at the Ladipo Police Station.

  • The Nation vs Senate: CJ directs judge to deliver verdict

    Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, has issued a fiat directing Justice Mohammed Yunusa to deliver judgment in The Nation’s suit against the Senate.

    Justice Yunusa had adjourned the verdict before he was transferred to Enugu Division.

    Vintage Press Limited (publisher of The Nation), Editor Gbenga Omotoso and a correspondent, Imam Bello are the applicants.

    Through their lawyer Mr Wahab Shittu, they sued the Senate and National Assembly.

    A new judge, Justice Jude Dagat, took over the case, but the plaintiffs applied to the CJ for a fiat to enable Justice Yunusa return to Lagos to deliver the judgment rather than the case starting de novo (afresh).

    The applicants are praying for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Senate from summoning them or compelling their appearance over a story.

    The Senate, last August 4, invited Omotoso and Bello over the story: Motion: 22 APC Northern senators ‘working against Buhari’, which was published last July 30.‎

    The Senate wrote again last August 11 threatening to invoke Section 89 (1) (D) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to compel the applicants to appear.

    But Justice Yunusa made an interim order of injunction restraining the respondents from issuing a warrant to compel the applicants’ attendance before a Senate committee set up to investigate the publication.

    ‎He barred the respondents, their members, committees or agents from summoning the applicants or their agents before any Senate committee.

    In the fiat issued on February 10 and signed by the CJ, he directed Justice Yunusa to return to Lagos to deliver the judgment.

    It reads: “In exercise of powers conferred on me by virtue of Section 19 (3) of the Federal High Court Act 1973 and all other powers enabling me in that regard, I, Ibrahim Ndahi Auta (OFR), Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, do hereby order that the judgments in the civil suits listed in the shedule of this order which were pending before Hon. Justice M. N. Yunusa formerly sitting in the Lagos Judicial Division, be delivered by Hon. Justice M. N. Yunusa sitting in the Lagos Judicial Division.”

    The four cases listed in the schedule are Alhaji Jibrin Okelewu vs IGP, Vintage Press Limited vs National Assembly, Songhai Energy vs Maersk and Valueline Securities vs Bishop David Oyedepo.

    In an application filed last December 1, the Senate prayed the court not to deliver the judgment but to extend the time within which it “may” file and serve its counter-affidavit.

    The Senate sought an order striking out the suit for want of jurisdiction and prayed the court to set aside the proceedings, its orders and decisions.

    In a supporting affidavit, Clerk of the Senate’s Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions Committee, Freedom Osolo, said the National Assembly’s inability to respond to the suit on time “is not deliberate but is due to the non-service of the aforesaid process of this court on the second respondent”.

    In its preliminary objection, the National Assembly sought an order striking out the suit for being “premature, pre-emptive and speculative”.

    It argued that the applicants were attempting to prevent the lawmakers from carrying out their constitutional duties by filing the suit.

    But, the applicants said the Senate’s motion was an abuse of court process because it had ample opportunity to defend the suit.

    Shittu averred that the court adjourned the case severally to enable the respondents file their defence, but they “deliberately failed and neglected” to do so.

    Besides, the applicants’ lawyer said the respondents were served with the processes, which were acknowledged with an official stamp, according to affidavits deposed to by the court’s sheriff.

    According to the proofs of service exhibited before the court, the suit was received by the Office of the President of the Senate last September 1.

    The National Assembly was earlier served last August 27 through the Office of the Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly.

    The applicants are claiming that the National Assembly was attempting to gag the press through intimidation and by demanding that they disclose the story’s source.

    But, in its counter-affidavit, the Senate said the letters to Omotoso and Bello were “mere invitation”.

    It said the National Assembly “is not a law enforcement agency that can impede or prohibit the rights of the applicants”.

    The case has been adjourned till May 5.