The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has set aside a $2 million Project Development Facility (PDF) for agro entrepreneurs to transform their innovative ideas into bankable investments, the body has said.
The USAID Nigeria Expanded Trade and Transport Programme (NEXTT) Export and Business Development Promotion Team Leader, Mr Bob Ezumah, told The Nation that the programme would work with development partners and financial institutions to enhance agribusinesses.
He said NEXTT would support agricbusinesss and other investments on the Lagos-Kano –Jibiya (LAKAJI) axis.
The PDF provides seed funding to for feasibility study for bankable ideas and investments.
He noted that the major challenges facing agro businesses is funding, adding that the programme would train entrepreneurs on investment projects’preparations and analyses n to attract investments.
He said the project has also partnered with commercial banks, leasing companies, private equity and impact investors willing to provide necessary financing.
He said it is up to the agricultural entrepreneurs to develop the sustainable and realistic business models that encourage investment.
To be competitive in the marketplace, he said farmers’needs should integrated into the chain of production, from farm to fork, adding that USAID was facilitating this integration, enabling producers and rural industries to better connect with agricultural trade and market opportunities. Around the world, he said, businesses struggle to access the finance they need to expand.
He said: “The US Agency for International Development’s Development Credit Authority (DCA) is working to address this by providing partial credit guarantees to mobilise financing.”
With these additional resources, he said, lenders can take on additional risk, and small businesses benefit from additional access to credit.
He said NEXTT supports the government’s efforts to expand trade in the Economic Community of West Africann States (ECOWAS) sub-region and beyond, and improve trade efficiency so that trade, particularly in agricultural products, can provide inclusive economic growth and development.
Meanwhile, the Project Director, Cashew Adding Value to Africa, Prof Kola Adebayo, said lending to the sector is the least of total lending by the banking sector.
He said commercial banks were yet to understand the agricultural sector, citing poor recovery rates, high risks and relatively high administrative costs as some of the reasons for low lending to the agricultural sector.
He called on financial institutions to get more engaged in understanding the peculiarities of the agric system to provide the much-needed financial assistance to smallholder farmers.
He said rather than allow rural farmers to continue to engage in subsistence farming, they should be supported to approach agriculture as a commercial venture to enable them to benefit from their toil.
He also stressed the importance of agricultural extension workers in agricultural production chain, saying that technical information on the right use of chemical fertilisers and insecticides was crucial to the attainment of food security if it was made available to farmers at the right time.
Tag: votes
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USAID votes $2m for entrepreneurs
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NUJ poll: The Nation man solicits Akwa Ibom NWC’s votes
A top contender for the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) presidency, Waheed Odusile, yesterday solicited the votes of members of the Akwa Ibom State NUJ Council.
Odusile, who addressed reporters at the State Press Centre in Uyo, the state capital, promised that if given the opportunity to lead the union, he would propose that journalists in the employ of federal and state governments be treated as professionals and placed under a special media salary structure.
Odusile, The Nation Managing Editor and columnist, was accompanied by the leadership of the NUJ Lagos State Council, led by its Chairman Deji Elumoye.
The Nation man said if elected, he would propose a law that would make it illegal for media owners to owe journalists salaries.
He said: “We will propose to the government that all journalists in the employ of governments, either in the state or Federal government, should be treated as professionals. They should be accorded a special salary structure to take care of what they are doing.
“What we are asking for is simple: we are saying, ‘let us have a minimum salary structure that should be paid to the Nigerian journalists’. Once we are able to achieve that with the government, we will be able to negotiate in our private organisations.”
Odusile also vowed to fight quackery, if given the mandate to lead the union.
The member of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) said there is need to correct the image of the profession in the eye of the public.
He said: “We will eradicate quackery. Journalism should not be an all-comers’ affair. For you to become a journalist, we are saying come and train. We are saying journalism is a profession. Let it so be recognised as a profession. There is need for us to restore our dignity.”
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Buhari on votes, security and economy
Last week, this column pushed the argument for a national upgrade to electronic voting, as an important legacy,for the incoming administration.
So, I was excited when I subsequently read an interview bythe President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari,where he promoted the fundamental connection between votes, security and the economy.In the president-elect’s interview,published by The Nation on Friday, April 17, the General said: “If Nigerians have the confidence that their votes counts, then they will mind their business and I assure you that there will be much security in the country. But when people feel that they are abandoned, then they will resist.”
The import of the assertion by the incoming President on accountability of votes, is that electoral brigandage is substantially at the root of the insecurity in the country, and I guess the majority of Nigerians will agree with him. Indeed, when votes fail to count as a routine, we have the entrenchment of the undesirable. Many who have the competence and capacity to serve, take the back seats, out of fear, arising from the recurrent insecurity that pervade electoral malfeasance. So, electoral violence ensures that those with requisite competence are relegated to the background, while those with the capacity for violence are promoted, as they are found useful during every election cycle.
Pushing the argument further, where electoral brigands hold sway, best-class Nigerians do not have the opportunity to serve, as they will not get elected. As footballer pundits willsay, the second or third elevenis allowed to play, at the expense of the first 11. So,those who get foisted on the people, are officials with limited capacity; who will concentrate all their time and energyon protecting and expanding political privileges, rather than growing and expanding the human and economic capital, that aggregates to improvement, in the quality of life of the people,and the society.
Furthermore, with a limited world-view, the charlatans thrown-up through electoral sleaze, find it difficult to appreciate the far reaching consequences of their actions. So, whether as law makers or members of the executive branch, electoral malfeasance throw-up those who would rather make laws to increase their welfare packages, even when there is not enough money in the state or national coffer. That perhaps explains the incredible appropriation of nearly all the resources of the nation for recurrent expenditure. As rightly observed by the President-elect, “There must be more money available for infrastructure, for investment in getting the factories back, employment and getting goods and services for the population”.
Accordingly the General in that interview, said: “I think the worst thing is the lack of accountability and the terrible budgetary system. Imagine that over 90 per cent of Nigerian budget is on recurrent. How can you sustain development in a developing country like Nigeria with only 10 per cent of your income?” Of course, it is important to remember that the present federal government, led by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had offered similar lamentations, about the sheer absurdity of having nearly all the national resources eaten-up by human termites, masquerading as leaders; but failed to effect the necessary changes.
So, the president-elect must watch out, for an unwilling or aided regression to that to era of good ideas, without the will to effect thenecessary changes. While it is urgently important to plug all the loopholes, through which our national economy haemorrhages, it also abundantly important that the national economy is expanded and grown, to accommodate the high expectations of Nigerians. Of course, the greatest hindrance to an expanded national economy is poor supply of energy, which include electricity and other forms of fuel. Resolving the Nigerian energy quagmire, will perhaps be the greatest challenge for the in-coming administration, and it is of utmost importance, that,it does all in its power, to get it right.
General Buhari in that interview, also lamented the dearth of national economic engines, like the Nigeria Railway, Nigeria Airways, and Nigeria Shipping Line among others. He argued that “some big companies that employ a lot of Nigerians and give them training facilities” have suffered similar faith as the crude oil which “rose to about $140 and has crashed to about $50 now”. He noted that “the important thing in a country with a huge population of youths, with more than 60 per cent of them under the age of 30 who are unemployed, is job creation”. For the General, “you need these institutions to give jobs and training to Nigerians”.
While there will be arguments whether or not, we need to recreate mega state-monopolies, as in the past; there is no doubt that we need such economic expansion, as the president-elect envisages, to gain employment opportunities, for our teeming unemployed youths.
Part of the obvious strategy which the All Progressive Congress (APC) government, must as of urgent necessity adopt, is to grant legal empowerment to states, to exploit the minerals and other natural resources within their geographical areas. The insane status-quo, where many states endowed with natural resources operate as poor church-rats, because a law incongruous with federalism, has placed all the mineral resources in the country, in the hands of the Federal Government, must change.
As this column has persistently argued, Nigeria can only make the expected progress, when we have the courage to federalise, income and wages. Therefore, creating economic opportunities in all geo-political zones of the country, and indeed in all states, is not a mere political favour. It is rather a safety valve, to forestall the invasion of the political and economic space of the locals.Comparatively, the regrettable xenophobic war taking place in South Africa, will not solve the economic challenges of the South Africans. Truthfully, what will save local jobs and political space, is economic regeneration across zones.
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Enhancing votes accountability
The 2015 general elections have shown what our dear country could gain from an efficient electoral process. From the results, the fears of those opposed to the use of the card reader is well founded. With the use of card readers, Nigerianshave been able to eschew any landslide victory for those who are in control of the security agencies or who could buy the officials of the election management body. To a large extent, the card reader squarely placed the voter in the vortex of who wins or loses elections. Going forward, what Nigerian must do, is to consolidate on the gains of accountability of the votes.
From hindsight, the run-up to the general elections exposed the worst fears of our political elites; whose fame and fortune at elections,are tied to unscrupulous process. I am referring to pseudo-democrats, who operate in fear of one man one vote.While the card reader did not prove to be perfect, Nigerians have been able to get results reflecting substantially the will of the electorate. The next step if Nigerians wish to consolidate the democratic process, is to introduce electronic voting. Any person who opposes that transition, I can say without equivocation, is clearly an anti-democrat, regardless of any pretences.
To that effect, members of the national assembly who hitherto opposed electronic voting, must turn a new leaf, in the interest of our country. As many of the current members of the national assembly may now realise, Nigerians are determined to gain control of the electoral process. Those who were able to win elections for the next legislative assembly must show gratitude to the electorate,by supporting a more efficient andtransparent electoral process.For the incoming executive administration, a bill to approve electronic voting, should be one of her first bills to the national assembly; after all, but for substantial electoral accountability, there is no way an opposition could win an incumbent.
So for the incoming administration, supporting a more efficient electoral process, would amount to showing appreciation to the Nigerian voters.While Nigerians would be expectant of economic gains from the administration, a more enduring legacy would be to promote the culture of accountability at all levels of governance.I am confident that the beneficiaries of the enhanced accountability of votes, would appreciate that the greatest benefit they can give to their electors is to support greater accountability. So while the expectation for economic miracle would be high, the more important task is to ensure that those elected, henceforth realise that they owe their positions to the electorate.
In this regard, it is important to forewarn that any attempt to derail the electoral gains would be foolhardy, as it will surely backfire. As the recent election showed, the demography of Nigeria, places the youths as the majority of the Nigerian electorate. The import is thatconsidering the impatience of the youth, any attempt to derail the endless possibilities that accrue from an accountable electoral process may be resisted with every ounce of youthful energy. What they will strive for, would be a more efficient process, and the incoming administration owes that to the youths, and indeed to all Nigerians.
As the recent elections also showed, part of the challenge of the current system, is the few attempts by some of the incorrigible election riggers to manipulate the election, using the result sheets. Such possibility will be eliminated by the electronic voting system. Again, the recent election has put a lie to the fears expressed before the polls, that Nigerian are not literate enough to use modern technology. I believe that the same pleasant surprise would await Nigerians, if they embrace the electronic voting system. What the incoming administration should strive to do, is to ensure that the improvement is put in place as early as possible, so that it would be test run, well before the 2019 general elections.
Again to facilitate the accountability of votes, it is important that Nigeria honestly and tenaciously follow through with authentic national census. The incoming administration must resist the urge to allow the hawks around it, to seek to manipulate the process, for immediate gains or to just show off that they are now in power. It is important to remember that apart from the traditional socio-economic benefits of a proper census, a cleanhead-count would substantially help to eliminate foreigners who pass off, as Nigerians. It will also help to deal with the complaints of under-aged voting, or similar vices associated with the old system of doing things.
Having consolidated on permanent voters register, it is important that efficient continuous voters’ registration is adopted. If that is done, election management will seize to be an ad hoc process, at every election cycle. Again those who have complaints against the voters register, should use the interregnum before the next general elections to see through their complaints, if it is genuine. With a successful transition from one political party to another through the ballot box, Nigerians have shown that our democracy is maturing, and all patriotic efforts should be made to consolidate on that.
With the successful national and state wide elections, it is important to extend the democratic process to the local government levels. The shameful exercise were only the party in control of the state, wins all the chairmen and council seats, in a stage-managed elections, must now stop. If we insist on allowing the local government as a third tier of democratic government, then we must embrace democracy at that level also. The recently elected state governors and legislators, while holding their heads high as the authentic preferences of the electorates, must also hold genuine democracy high,at the grassroots.
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‘Votes must count in Akwa Ibom’
Uwem Ankak reflects on the malpractices that married the recent presidential and National Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom State and warns about the danger of rigging in the next Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections.
For almost eight years, the people of Akwa Ibom have been under the suffocating influence of Governor Gods’will Akpabio, who, in active connivance of the federal might, had subjugated the people to a dizzying and unbearable level of mental and emotional torture, self doubt and humiliation in the name of governance. They persevered, prayed and hoped that someday and somehow, and by some touch of providence, they will have a Daniel come to judgement and free them from the internal slavery which they are subjected.
The few daring ones who attempted to voice their concerns and raised a voice in protest are either in a permanent silent mode or have traumatic tales to tell. Make no mistake, Akpabio and his goons are no respecter of persons or institutions. Ask Obong Victor Attah, the ex governor, whose regime gave Mr Akpabio the leeway to state and national limelight, and you would be regaled of what he went through in a state he can, at best, be referred to as one of the founding fathers. Chief Don Etiebet, undoubtedly, a veritable face of the Akwa Ibom people, whose company offered Mr Akpabio a job and was one of the referees for his march to governance as a state commissioner, has unpleasant tales to tell. For Obong Attah, I am sure he won’t forget in a hurry the humiliating experience he got while going to attend the burial ceremony of Chief Tony Emenyi, the pioneer State Chairman of the Peoples democratic party. The ex-governor advance party was waylaid and barricaded on his way to Oron and was forced to turn back. The man had to beat a hasty retreat and went home. Talk of the Machiavellian principle of having to eliminate and decimate your godfathers to have a safe rule.
But, this duo and a couple of others like Wing Commander Sam Ewang, a former military Administrator of Ogun State; Chief Ime Sampson Umanah, a well-known businessman and philanthropist, and a former deputy governorship candidate; General Edet Akpan, a former Director General of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), were lucky to be alive to narrate their tales of woes. Others, like Chief Paul Inyang, a PDP chieftain in the state; Chief Robert Obot, the Okuibom and head of the Ibibio traditional and chieftaincy institution; and more than 180 were not that lucky. They are cold, six feet beneath, in the grave! These are incidences that Akwa Ibom people would not forget in a hurry. No arrest, prosecution or even a reprimand have been recorded. The perpetrators have tacit support of the state as demonstrated by the lopsidedness in the way those cases were handled. And this is about deaths, attempted deaths, kidnapping ( a strange phenomenon our people never knew, even at the height of militancy in the Niger Delta), cultism, rape, child theft, etc.
If the people were frightened of untimely deaths, they were overwhelmed by the quantum of financial recklessness in the state. Apart from the published accruals to the state from the federal account, the income from internally generate revenues has always been, in the almost eight years of Mr Akpabio’s reign, in the realm of speculation and gossip by the citizens of the state. An insight into the way the administration spends the state funds could be gauged by the comment of the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who, in a convocation speech at Babcock university, Ogun state, told an astonished audience that Akwa Ibom State had not spent up to 10 percent of its revenue from the Federation in the development of the state. Every Akwa Ibom person knows this truth to be absolute. For those who follow the uncommon transformation series on television across Nigeria, and who may have been hoodwinked by the aesthetics and colouring of that programme, you would have noticed that since 2009, you have been watching the same pictures with different narratives and from different angles.
You probably must have seen the concentric flyover, few kilometres of roads, e-library, underground water drainage (…IBB road, Uyo and other places were flooded during the rain last week), Ibom Tropicana, completion of airport (started by the Attah administration), Ibom power plant which the previous administration had commissioned a section, etc. These were projects you were seeing in the uncommon Transformation series since 2009. After that, the major project you will see would be the football stadium in Uyo, the one aptly tagged ‘ The nest of champions (really?) The ongoing project, I will like to add charitably, are the specialist hospital, which contractors have moved out of site for non payment, the Uyo – Ikot Ekpene highway, a less than 22 kilometre stretch. Decorations, roundabouts dots a few places. But, the most debilitating is the debt profile of the state, put conservatively at about N600b. Adams Oshiomhole, Edo state governor gave an insight some weeks ago on the state of debt and a state which is moving steadily to a debt slavery.
In all these, the Akwa Ibom people have not seen any industry, even at cottage level, which the administration has built. The few ones which the late Dr Clement Isong, former governor of old Cross River State sited in now Akwa Ibom State such the Battery, Biscuit, Ceramic, Qua Steel mill, Paint Industry are moribund and we are told, have been sold out to the brothers and cronies of the state governor. It is on record that, in the eight years of the Akpabio Administration, no economic enhancing projects have been initiated in the state to help the teeming population of university graduates who daily pound the streets of Uyo, with forlorn faces without any hope or access to social safety nets.
Rather, what we see are white elephant and entertainment spots like the Tropicana (a cinema house), an e-library which are not even equipped for the benefit of even those who need it. But, this is a state who earned over five trillion naira from the federation account in the last eight years! This sum is almost equivalent to the revenue that accrues to all the five eastern states of Nigeria! In Anambra state alone, we have seen a state that not only established Orient Petroleum, but made the environment very conducive for one of the biggest brewing companies in the world to establish a plant! In the neighbouring Cross River State, big businesses are pouring in also, and thanks to the former governor Donald Duke (another president Nigerians desire), the world biggest electric company is building a plant there. There are farm settlement and international processing plants everywhere. It is today the hub of fruit juice business in Nigeria today.
In Akwa Ibom State under this present regime, we have seen a state that drove away a refinery project, Amankpe Refinery. This a project that some well-meaning indigenes of the state put together in far-away United states of America and was frustrated from take off. This company should have delivered more than 5,000 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs. The full story of the botched Amankpe refinery would be told to the world sooner than later. Nigerians would be shocked to know how pettiness, selfishness in government drove away a multi billion dollar project and denied its citizens the opportunity to earn a living, and ultimately benefit from the value-chain the business would have provided.
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Sports for votes
For his efforts in sport development in the past six years, some young professionals here and abroad last week promised to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan in last Saturday’s presidential elections.
The youths at an elaborate ceremony at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, maintained that Jonathan has reformed sport in Nigeria and brought it to winning ways.
Besides laurels and medals to Nigeria at the federal level under Dr. Jonathan, the youths also recalled that he inspired many laurels that were won by Bayelsa State when he was the governor and deputy governor of the state.
To ensure that there is no downturn in the achievements in the sector in the next four years, they said their votes will go to Jonathan.
Reeling out the achievements of the president in sports, the Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo said no former president or head of state in Nigeria achieved Jonathan’s feat in sports.
He formally presented a book at the occasion chronicling the achievements of the president.
The book by Sola Ojewusi was titled:’GEJ Sport Vision Group: A Special Tribute to Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.’
Part of a chapter of the book titled ‘A performer’s advent’ reads: “In 2013, for instance, apart from the Super Eagles winning the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) for the third time after a nineteen-year hiatus, the U-17 team, Golden Eaglets, again conquered the world, making history as the first team to win the cup a fourth time.”
“Before the year ended, Super Eagles confirmed their place at the next World Cup in Brazil, becoming the first African nation to do so with a hard-won victory over Ethiopia.”
“2014 followed with resounding successes by the national athletic teams conquering Africa in junior and senior categories before proceeding to make us all proud at the Commonwealth Games.”
“It was also the year of great soccer feats by Nigerian women teams at the Under-20 World Cup and the African Women Championship..
“For the first time in a long, long time, Nigerians can celebrate again, they can rush into the streets to celebrate long-awaited victories. Our flags, long absent at moments of sporting honours, were seen waiving again, with pride and with glory as the nation began to win again,” it stated.
As the event was going on at the Eko Hotel and Suites, which coincided with the final match of the 2015 African Youth Soccer Championship, the crowd went haywire when it was announced that the Flying Eagles of Nigeria beat their Senegalese counterpart to win the championship.
Winning the championship that Sunday earned the Flying Eagles a record seventh African Youth Championship success.
Gold medalist, Blessing Okagbare, who spoke through Skype in a documentary at the event, maintained that President Jonathan has been more than a coach to the sports sector in the past six years.
The youths at the event, coordinated by the former Super Eagles captain Austin Okocha, gave their word to the President that they would vote for him in the election so that the laurels and trophies would continue to come to Nigeria.
While the youths felt that by voting for President Jonathan they were voting for sports development, the President believed that votes from the sector should be for him because of his record in the sector.
Even though the electoral system does not allow for identifying and tracing of votes to individuals and groups in order to ascertain who they voted for, the President, no doubt, felt that the election should be payback time for him from the sector because of his support for sports.
Jonathan and Presidential election result
Despite reports by some groups predicting victory for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in last Saturday’s election, President Goodluck Jonathan on the eve of the election still urged all political parties and candidates to accept the outcome of the elections.
This statement by the President in a national broadcast has not only shown him again as a simple man, but also given credit to his claim that he has not lost sleep due to the election, where he was contesting for second term in office.
While also advising Nigerians that elections should never be mistaken for war or opportunity to set fellow citizens against each other, he said that no political ambition can justify violence or bloodshed.
It is hoped that this call will really be heeded by parties’ supporters in order to take Nigeria’s democracy to a higher hieght.
Once rigging and manipulation are kept out of the system, most Nigerians will definitely welcome the outcomes of the March 28th elections.
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Polls: Jonathan, Buhari in last minute battle for votes
•Security alert nationwide
•President threatens prosecution of advocates of interim government for treason
The two leading candidates in Saturday’s presidential race, President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday commenced the last lap of their campaigns, reaching out to the electorate in different parts of the country to canvass for votes.
General Buhari spent time with groups of the physically challenged in Lafia, Nasarawa State to give them words of encouragement while President Jonathan inagurated a N2.5 billion fly-over in Kano and named it after the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero.
He later visited Daura, Katsina State, Buhari’s hometown for a whistle stop.
The various security agencies, meanwhile, are busy perfecting their arrangements for the elections.
Reports from across the country said Nigerians have been stocking their homes with food items and other needs ahead of the elections.
Buhari at the Lafia meeting with the physically challenged told them to refuse to be discouraged by their conditions.
He promised to appoint a federal ombudsman for people with disabilities to combat discrimination against them.
The Ombudsman, according to him, will take care of rehabilitation, employment of disabled persons and participating in public life, among other assignments.
He narrated the stories of the late American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Professor Steven Hawking, astrophysicist of Cambridge University, England both of whom he described as very outstanding people who not only fought incredible physical disability but became known throughout the world “because of their determination, will power, incredible resolution.”
Of Roosevelt, Buhari said: “he was crippled in both legs with polio and throughout most of his adult life was consigned to a wheelchair and had to be helped to bathe, to get into bed, to get out of bed, to dress and to be wheeled into his office or to address a political meeting. Roosevelt won four consecutive presidential elections, led the Allied Powers in the Second World War to defeat Hitler’s Germany and imperial Japan.
“His most significant achievement on the domestic front was to start massive public construction works to build roads, bridges, dams which employed millions of Americans and helped to alleviate the economic depression following the Great Crash of 1929. Roosevelt is regarded as the greatest American president of the 20th century. He overcame disability and proved to his countrymen and the world that physical challenges could be circumvented with the right spirit.”
He said Hawking, on the other hand, was “just walking around in his university compound when he collapsed on the ground and had to be helped to his rooms. Eventually, he was diagnosed as suffering from a motor neuron condition.
“In spite of this disability, can’t walk, can’t talk, can’t eat on his own, he wrote a masterpiece doctoral thesis and is now a professor in Page 1 astrophysics and is even improving on Einstein’s theories. He can only nowadays communicate by using a speech generating device operated by a small sensor in his cheek. He is completely physically incapacitated but because of his indomitable spirit, he keeps on living, teaching and engaging in research.”
Buhari said physical disability, therefore, should “not be the end of our usefulness.”
The APC in Yobe State yesterday held a grand rally in Damaturu, the state capital, to spread the Buhari- for- president message.
Governor Ibrahim Gaidam said at the rally that Buhari was advised not to attend because of the insecurity in the area.
The governor said contrary to rumours that he was not on good terms with Buhari, the insecurity of the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway accounted for Buhari’s absence at the rally.
He said he was amused by the “fabrication of falsehood” by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party that Buhari’s absence at the rally was due to the alleged sour relationship between him and the APC presidential candidate.
Gaidam said the APC standard bearer remained the candidate with proven integrity.
“Buhari is a straight forward person, whom Nigerians will benefit from under his leadership,” he said,
He called on Nigerians to come out en mass to ensure victory for the APC during the forthcoming elections.
President Jonathan on a visit to Daura threatened that those advocating interim national government in the country would be arrested and prosecuted for treason if they did not desist.
He paid a courtesy call on the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Farouk, and said he had built 28 Almajiri schools and a federal university in the state.
He had earlier in the day inaguarated a N2.5 billion flyover built in Kano by the federal government, he promised that if reelected as president, he would correct everything that has gone wrong in the country and the PDP.
He said the decision to name the fly over after Alhaji Ado Bayero was because he “was not known for controversy, he never played with his throne.” He held that office with extreme dignity, he gave colour to that office. He brought dignity and respect to the office. He left us but we live to continue to remember him.”
The election delay has hurt the economy, which has been battered by the global oil shock, creating investor uncertainty and an urgent problem for whoever wins.
With tension building up ahead of the election credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s at the weekend downgraded the economy further into junk territory, blaming falling crude prices, political instability and Boko Haram.
Security on polling day remains a major concern after the military authorities asked for the postponement of the elections from February to enable them deal with the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast.
The opposition does not want soldiers deployed during the polls for fear that they may be used to rig in favour of the ruling party.
Nnamdi Obasi, senior researcher at the International Crisis Group, said Boko Haram is still able to carry out its threat to disrupt elections, which it views as “un-Islamic”.
“Its fighters may not be able to seize new territory but they could certainly still send suicide bombers to public places, including polling centres,” he told AFP.
“In many parts of Borno State, the security situation is still tenuous and displaced persons have not returned or settled down well enough to participate in elections.
“Elsewhere in the region, the polls will go but very much in an atmosphere of unease and insecurity.”
Last Friday, suspected cultists unleashed terror on Port Harcourt killing no fewer than eight persons in different parts of the Rivers State capital.
Five persons were allegedly shot dead by the cultists at a popular bar close to Amadi-Ama roundabout.
A report said the incident occurred at about 11:30 p.m. Among those killed was a lady.
Eye witnesses said that three corpses, which were not identified that night were kept outside the bar till morning, and expended bullets littered the vicinity of the drinking bar.
The warning by Police Inspector General Suleiman Abba that voters should steer clear of polling booths after casting their votes has provoked sharp reactions from several quarters including the APC which asked Nigerian to ignore the warning which, according to it, is not backed by the law.
The army and the police have stepped up security around the country with attention being paid to public buildings. More than 68.8 million people are registered to vote in the elections.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chair Prof. Attahiru Jega said on Monday that 67.8 million cards or 98.5 percent of cards had been sent out – up from 66.5 percent a week before February 14 – but some 20 million had not been collected.
A further delay has been ruled out, with Jonathan’s mandate due to expire on April 30 and a formal handover of power set for May 29.
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‘No votes for Jonathan in Ondo’
The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Isaac Kekemeke, has said Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s meetings with various stakeholders will not produce votes for President Goodluck Jonathan.
The governor has been meeting with rulers, youths, teachers and political leaders, among others, on the need to vote for the PDP’s presidential candidate.
Speaking at a meeting in Idanre Local Government Area with members of the Forum of Ondo State Stakeholders, Kekemeke said the people would work and vote for the APC’s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
Chairman of the State Stakeholders’ Forum, Segun Ojo, said members of the group would work for Buhari.
“In Ondo State, APC has the chance of taking over the state; the people are already fed up with the PDP. This is a government that has not paid workers for two months. How will Mimiko convince the workers to vote for PDP?”
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First Lady seeks women’s votes
The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has urged women to vote for her husband, President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking yesterday in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, during a rally to mobilise women support for Jonathan’s re-election, she said it was only her husband that could take care of their interest.
Mrs Jonathan said past governments restricted women to the kitchen, but President Jonathan changed the status quo by appointing them into leadership positions and empowering them to take care of the home front.
“Goodluck set up Youwin programme for the women so that they can get money to trade and take care of their children. He also set up Sure-P to create employment for youths and women as well as taking care of pregnant women in the hospital till delivering period at no cost. Jonathan is the only one that can take care of women effectively,” she said.
According to her, APC and its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has nothing to offer because he was there before and could not offer any change. She added that the APC presidential candidate is old and should give way for the younger ones.
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APC alleges plot to use religion for votes haul
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged a plot by desperate politicians to circulate leaflets in mosques and churches, using religion as a tool to win votes.
Its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement in Lagos yesterday, said the plot was in line with the track record of those who have consistently used religion to divide Nigerians to feather their political nest.
‘’They are hoping that by further inflaming passion with the highly emotive issue of religion, they can revive their shriveling political fortunes. That is why they have devised the latest strategy of pitching Christians against Muslims through the circulation of satanic leaflets. Nigerians should not be taken in by this cheap plot,’’ the statement said.
The party reminded Nigerians of the most recent attempt to use religion as a tool to win votes, when Vice President Namadi Sambo said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has more Muslims than the APC, and that the APC vice presidential candidate was a pastor who runs 5,000 churches.
It added: ‘’It must baffle every right-thinking Nigerian what the vice president stands to gain by his resort to base instincts. It is more baffling against the background of the fact that it was his party, the PDP, that first labelled our party, the APC, as a Muslim party.
‘’Not even when the APC elected a Christian as its National Chairman, supported by many party officials who are also Christians, did they back off from their incautious claim. It did not occur to them that our party is more religiously diverse than they have sought to portray it to Nigerians.”
APC said it had been campaigning on issues of relevance to Nigerians, including how Nigerians would be put back to work, how the citizens would be better protected, how they would be weaned from their forced dependence on electricity generators and how the party’s governors have delivered the dividends of democracy in their states, those on the other side have been trading in negative and inciting campaigns of the most primitive kind.
‘’We ask Nigerians to disregard anyone peddling religion as a tool for securing votes in any part of the country. Faith is a personal thing to individuals and no responsible government will seek to use religion to divide the people,’’ APC said.