The Nation Newspaper

Tag: war

  • Boko Haram: U.S. plans to send advisers to front lines of war

    The US military assistance to Nigeria in the fight against the terror sect, Boko Haram, is receiving a boost following the Pentagon’s mulling of a plan to send dozens of Special Operations advisers to the front lines of the war fight against the insurgents.

    The New York Times, quoting military sources, said the planned deployment “is a main recommendation of a recent confidential assessment by the top United States Special Operations commander for Africa, Brig. Gen. Donald C. Bolduc.”

    “If it is approved, as expected, by the Defense and State Departments, the Americans would serve only in noncombat advisory roles,” the paper said.

    It will be the closest the Americans would be to the battle now being waged by Nigerian troops supported by soldiers from Niger, Chad and Cameroon against the insurgents in the Northeast.

    President Obama currently relies heavily on Special Operations forces to train and advise local troops fighting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and to carry out clandestine counterterrorism missions.

    About 50 American commandos are said to be advising fighters battling the Islamic State in eastern Syria while dozens of others in a new, secret kill-or-capture unit are hunting Islamic State militants in Iraq.

    Besides, the Pentagon has offered to send American advisers with Iraqi brigades on the battlefield instead of restricting them to bases inside Iraq. Dozens of American commandos are conducting surveillance missions in Libya and counterterrorism missions in Somalia.

    The NYT quoted Jennifer G. Cooke, Africa director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, who visited Nigeria last month as saying: “Rather than entangle U.S. combat forces on the ground, help build the capacity of regional forces to tackle their countries’ security challenges.

    “Training and advising and perhaps imparting the lessons we learned the hard way is a good thing,” he said.

    President Muhammadu Buhari has embraced American assistance, ending several years of tense relations that sank to new lows in 2014 when the United States blocked the sale of American-made Cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria from Israel, amid concerns about Nigeria’s protection of civilians when conducting military operations.

    Groups like Human Rights Watch alleged that the Nigerian military has at times burned hundreds of homes and committed other abuses as it battled Boko Haram and its presumed supporters.

    In December 2014, Nigeria canceled the last stage of American training of a new Nigerian Army battalion that was to take the lead in fighting terrorists.

    The suspended training is however about to resume with Nigeria providing the ammunition according to Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the State Department’s top diplomat for Africa.

  • Psquare on war path with brother, Jude Okoye

    Psquare on war path with brother, Jude Okoye

    Few years back when the Okoye’s got embroiled in an internal feud, many thought the issue was dead and buried. It appears they were wrong, as a fresh round of hostility ensued Tuesday.

    While the initial ‘beef’ bordered on a purported split. This time, Peter, one of the twins, is claiming that he will no longer do business with their elder brother and manager, Jude.

    Peter  noted that although he has issues with Jude, he remains loyal to his singing partner and twin brother, Paul.

    He said via his Twitter handle: “I don’t have a problem with Paul but the management. My loyalty for Psquare and the fans still remains 100%. A manager is been employed by the artiste not the other way round. #truthBeTold,” he explained in a series of tweets.

    The singer also issued a disclaimer stating that whoever does business with North Side Entertainment on behalf of Psquare does so at their own risk, stating that he had nursed the problem for four years and was fed up.

    “Please, who so ever makes any transaction with North Side Entertainment or Jude Okoye on P-square’s behalf does so at their own risk. #warning. Family business can be a pain in the a$$,” he further tweeted.

    Reacting to his younger brother’s rants, Jude Okoye, Wednesday morning, pleaded with fans to pray for Peter as, saying only God could rescue him.

    Apparently irked by Jude’s comment, Peter replied; “You said I need prayers! Bro you need GOD!”

    He also insists that Psquare is not breaking up, while justifying his decision to make it a social media affair.

    “Some ask why on social media. Do I have a choice! Insisting you must remain Psquare’s manager? And that your decision is final? #Psquare4ever,” Peter wrote.

    However, his team mate, Paul, has kept mum on the issue.

  • ‘Military winning war against terror’

    The military says it is winning the war against terrorism despite challenges.

    The General Officer Commanding (GOC), 7 Division, Maiduguri, Brig.-Gen. Victor Ezugwu, who addressed reporters in Maiduguri, said: “We are winning the war. We are bringing the war to conclusion, soon.”

    He said Nigerians must support the military to sustain the success recorded. His words: “We want everybody to help us support the peace emerging.

    “Peace is more enduring and gratifying for us in Borno and other parts of the Northeast.”

    Ezugwu hailed Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) that partnered the military toward the success of the counter-insurgency operation.

    Said he: “I thank monarchs and NGOs, who are stakeholders in the fight against insurgency.

    “Their information, support and advice have increased the relationship between the military and the authorities in our areas of operations.”

  • The anger, incoherence and impotence of a “concern citizen”: the raw underbelly of the war on corruption

    The anger, incoherence and impotence of a “concern citizen”: the raw underbelly of the war on corruption

    Absolutely unedited and uncensored, here is the text of one reader’s response to my reflections on the need to bring the rule of law into a fruitful union with justice in last week’s piece in this column. The only thing I have done to the text as received is to bracket it from the brief comment that I shall make on it by placing it in italics in its entirety. Here it goes:

    Prof as we used to call you guys with too much english knowledge in my days at 9ja Uni ive been reading with rapt attentions 4 some weeks now your dialogue about president buhari’s method in Fighting the anti graft war .Haba! Prof yoruba adage says ina esusu kijoni lemeji meaning once bitten ttwice shy why can’t you these grammar people 4 once consider that itvis you this so call elite that are destroying and using your so call classroom and pen knowledge to continously making this God blessed nation called Nigeria becoming a laughing stock to comity of nations . Why on earth are you ppl always talk of rule of law and human right in defence of those that need not to be prosecuted but stone to death haba! Prof you ppl hv now rven gone yo the extend of quoting the word of God lopsidedly in other to buttress your so call heartless heart please permit me as i really don’t want to personalise this write up but i cry for my beloved Nigeria whenever i read most of you people write ups sir where was the rule of law when God killed all the stiffnecked israelites and refused to let them get to the promised land bcos of their bresking God’s law where wss rule of law when God removed and eventually destroyed the first king of israel Saul when he broke God’s commandments have yiu all forgotten what happenrd to the guy that try to right the ark of God when King David was taking it from obededium house and were been instructed by God yhat nobody should torch it under any circumstances ive million and one example sir in the same bible you people started quoting arbitrarily to support those heartless animals called looters  to me they aren’t looters but murderers . Haba prof! Some people in a country that has no light no pipeborne water no hospital no no jobs for the semi demi illetrates that our so call glorified nursery schools called university are year in year out graduating with their only paper certificate shared 2.1 billion dollars among less than 100 people and you people are still talking and debatinga about whether their fundamental human right  or rule of law was or wssn’t follow. Sir with all respect in that America yiu are sir have you not hear of guetsmala bay prison in cuba? Thank Godvive lived there fir several years , in England am here right now have yiu not read about our MP some 2 or 3 years ago that went to jail for ordinary misapproptiating less thsn 5000 pounds? Not stealing o just may be claiming some ridicuolous 2000pounds over yheir imprest or for their mortgage thats agsinst the law of the land. Sir for all my years hrre in uk i never saw one article written to support them for being a good crook is only in Nigeria you see all sort of educated misnormals wasting english language if i may borrow from one of my olden days proffessor here in england he always wonder why we nigeria always waste english by speaking or writting in big grammar i remember then jokingly i usedvto tell him that people used such big english to defend  themself after embezzling public funds but today i think am right.Sir with all respect you peoplecshould remember that thats hiw you started condeming the same buhari in 1984 as head of state until you playrd into the hands of the real sabotouers and never allow yhr man to lay us a good foundation in Nigeria all is now history brother but unfortunately 33years after you people have started again with your big english and rule of law snd humam unright orvwhatever yiu call it but to before warn is to be fore harm  .God bless . Pst Dele  from London

    The anger, the rage of the writer of the text is all too palpable. The text was set to ME by email and I am addressed by my professional title, “Prof”, but the real addressee is a plural group identified as “yiu ppl” (you people). To the writer, we are all heartless people defending looters who are not “ppl” but animals that should be “stone to death”. Now anyone with even minimal literacy skills that read my pieces on the looters would have immediately understood that I was far from defending them, but this is of absolutely no importance to our raving interlocutor; I am guilty, I am one of the “heartless” “ppl” only because the term “rule of law” appeared in my robustly anti-looters pieces. The writer also finds me guilty of defending the looters for using “big enlish” but this a lesser charge or even a merely additional crime to the unconscionable evil of using the term “rule of law” in my writings on this matter, a matter that is of life and death importance for our absolutely irate compatriot. I ask Palladium especially but everyone else reading these words to please take note: the fury of the person who sent this text to me is so deep that it is almost elemental; moreover, it is shared by tens of millions of Nigerians at home and abroad.

    But beyond the anger, there are the incoherence and, above all else, the impotence. These are the things that I wish to reflect upon in this short commentary. The incoherence is of course at its most obvious in the complete absence of punctuation in the text; but it is not this technical register of incoherence itself that I wish to draw the reader’s attention to. Rather, it is the emotional and mental incoherence that the ‘punctuational’ incoherence produces that worries me. I call this order of emotional and mental incoherence strategic and tactical: merely by spotting the term, “rule of law” in ANY writing whatsoever, the writer of the irate text lost the ability to distinguish between “opponents” and “defenders” of looters, an inability, in other words, of the capacity to distinguish between potential allies and actual powerful backers of the looters, especially in the judiciary. I confess that this not only worries me tremendously, but it also frightens me, so much so that I have had to dig deep into my intuitions regarding what we can learn from experiences from all over the world in periods of volatile social ferment such as the one Nigeria now faces in this war on corruption and looters. This observation leads me to the last issue that I wish to reflect upon in this piece. I wish to express this as carefully as I can since it is at the core of all my reflections in this piece.

    In all parts of the world in periods when extremely volatile mass resentment against deep and wide social injustice is rampant, the strategic incoherence that makes it impossible for the millions of the aggrieved to distinguish between their potential allies and their real enemies reflects a deep sense of powerlessness, a political impotence in which raving incoherently against the prevailing order of things replaces the necessity for individual and mass action against the prevailing (dis)order, injustice and misrule. I suggest that this is the source of the kind of emotional and mental incoherence of the writer of the raging diatribe against anyone talking of the rule of law when, to him or her, the looters should all be “stone to death”. Let me be very clear about this point: to the writer of the irate text, Buhari and his administration will do the work that is necessary to bring the looters to justice; anyone and everyone seeming to question Buhari’s war, his tactics or lack of tactics, is an enemy. And so from the UK or from Kontangora, the cries go up: leave Buhari alone to do what must be done for us, for Nigeria! But when has it ever happened in the history of revolutionary periods that without the intervention of the masses themselves acting through their own organizations and as individuals, when has it ever happened that badly needed change and reforms come exclusively from the ruler(s)?

    In conclusion, let me say that this point about the necessity of mass action to bring the looters to justice and recover the loot from them is a point, a declaration that I have made again and again in this column in the last few months. I shall keep making it as long as the delusion remains that Buhari alone will deliver justice. Thus this is a call for action, a peaceful but determined intervention of our peoples for justice and restitution. One would have thought that as a ruling party that places so much propaganda value on “change” the APC itself would have called for this mass intervention in support of its intentions – if they are genuine. I end with a call to the writer of the diatribe against “yiu ppl” using “big english” to forget us and march, protest, and demonstrate for restitution of the stolen loot and punitive justice against the looters. If and when he or she does that, some of us using “big english” will join him or her. And we will prevail, Insha Allah!

     

    Biodun Jeyifo                                                                                                                 

    jeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

     

  • War movie: Army seek partnership with filmmakers

    War movie: Army seek partnership with filmmakers

    Unlike the Nigeria Police, whose activities are common in Nollywood films, the Nigerian Army only enjoys references  in war-related and historical movies – the military thinks with their subtle war against insulgents, there is need to partner Nollywood filmmakers on movies that will endear the military to the people.

    Major General Rogers Ibe Nicholas, Chief of Civil/ Military Affairs, Nigerian Army Headquarters revealed that this is part of the new focus of the military under the leadership of Major General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, Chief of Army Staff.

    The army chief made this known at the unveiling of the movie, 76, set against the backdrop of war and nation building. The movie which stars Rita Dominic, Chidi Mokeme and Ramsey Nouah among others is an Adonis and Tonye Princewill production which was inspired by events around the botched 1976 coup d’etat.

    Interestingly, Princewill who is the Executive Producer of the movie, disclosed that the execution of the movie was done with approval and support from the Nigerian Army. He revealed that the army made available the facilities at Mokola Barracks, Ibadan, where the movie was shot.

    The Major General said, “With every regime come different concepts and ideas. So with the coming of Maj Gen T.Y Buratai as Chief of Army Staff, he has a vision which is to have a professionally responsive Nigerian army in discharge of its constitutional mandate. And part of that is to develop a military/ civil relationship that will close the gap between the military and the civilians. That is what we are trying to do. The issue of people not having channels to complain is now a thing of the past. Right now, we have a human rights desk in our office. We are collaborating with the National Human Rights Commission and the Nigerian Bar Association.”

    “We welcome and encourage any filmmaker who wants to do a movie on the insurgency war as long as it is within the confines of the law. Interested participants can come up and we will look into it and collaborate.”

    Asked about funding, the army chief said, “When we are collaborating with a filmmaker, it means that there is counterpart funding for it. This means that it is a two-way traffic, not that the Nigerian Army alone will fund such movies. If you come up with a proposal and you think that it will be beneficial to the Nigerian Army and indeed, Nigerians as a whole, then we will be ready to look into it.”

    Adonis Productions is already considering the challenge thrown by the Nigerian military. Princewill who is also the patron of the Nigerian Association of Movie Producers expressed his willingness for collaboration with the Nigerian military.

  • Anti-graft war: I support total cleansing -Iwanyanwu

    Anti-graft war: I support total cleansing -Iwanyanwu

    The nation’s political space is occupied by people who have no business in governance. This was the position of Chief Chyna Iwanyanwu, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in this interview with Vincent Ikuomola. Excerpts 

    You belong to a political party whose 16 years rule has been tainted with corruption; do you think this present government is on the right path in the fight to eradicate this cankerworm?

    On the anti-corruption, I am telling you on authority that no single man can change the country; it is only Nigerians, with the help of God that can change the country. Nobody has the monopoly of the wisdom, capacity to do it alone. In Mexico, if you go after drug barons, they will run after you too. Some of these people we are talking about have looted billions of naira. They will fight you through the judiciary and presently, let us not be too dramatic because what we are doing is name them and shame them and that is not enough. It is either we recover our money or send them to jail. We have to be systematic; else, the moment he catches Metuh and sends him to jail, the Igbo people will say it is tribalism. Bode George went to prison and they rolled out drums to bring him out but if it’s a governor, we will say it is tribalism and this shows that we don’t have a nation yet. We are a nation of nations and we are saying the time has come for us to put this country first.

    Out of every 12, there must be a Judas. On the anti-corruption; Dignity, discipline and anti-corruption are absolutely necessary and I am in total support of the body language, but I am talking about the implementation. I have challenged Buhari and APC, It is wrong to give the impression that everybody in PDP is corrupt and everybody in APC is an angel; if you execute it like that, you will fail.

    The other side of the coin, there were people who were corrupt in PDP and they decided to join the other party. They stole money and also helped institute this president and they are still there. It is not the question of the school you attended or the party you belong to; what I want is a holistic anti corruption and systematic anti corruption. I would prefer we get the institutions right rather than the government spending 75 percent of its activities on anti corruption. The president would have taken over EFCC chairmanship because that is not the job of government, rather, the wellbeing and welfare of majority of the citizens and that can only be done through an economic roadmap and template which we have not seen. If we continue to pursue these people who are getting angry, we will in turn get angry one day and start pursuing the president. I advice that he should be very systematic about it but I am in support of total cleansing.

    Look at the girl who came to testify that Metuh gave her money to invest; she is the daughter of my good friend and I never imagined that she would have ever seen that kind of money. So, what I am saying is that corruption is bad but it basically started from the Army and they went unpunished. During Yar’Adua’s tenure, was there corruption but during Obasanjo’s would you say that there was no corruption? Will you say no corruption is going on now?

    With what is going on in PDP, will you still say you are a member of the party?

    Do you know that without PDP members, APC wouldn’t have won the election? And what drove them out of PDP? They are the devils and it is only a matter of time that they will get exposed. PDP does not smell, politics in Nigeria smells irrespective of the party. I am a proud member of PDP and the change that happened in Nigeria is the beauty of democracy and it shows Nigerians have the final way.  Politicians may have their say but Nigerians will always have their final say. All that is going on now, some of us preached against it and refused to be associated with it and the consequence is that we were sidelined but it is going to happen by force because when your publicity secretary is not there, when the court has removed your national chairman, when your board of trustee chairman has run away and your president has collapsed, what else are we talking about? Do you know that there is God? Mrs. Jonathan who was worshipped by people also reminded those people that there is God.

    Will PDP come out of this?

    It is possible for them to come out if they change their leadership but if they don’t, it is goodbye. But I won’t join APC.

    Don’t you think the current anti-corruption revelations speak of the level of moral decadence in the country?

    I agree that there is decay in values but those of us who have remained strong are still available. I went to court to see Olisa Metuh; he was shocked, so also those around him. He was shocked because he took my position from me but God knows best. We are saying the time has come for total reengineering and it is the responsibility of all of us.  The political space is occupied by people who have no business in governance. Governors are those who help God to look after God’s most important creation and the most important creation is man not bridges. Leaders must have conscience and partner with God irrespective of the religion.

    At what point did we miss it and what do you think is the way out of the wood for the country?

    Education is key and it is not just school education, the family has a role, religious institutions have a role. I am telling you on authority that the kind of discipline we had really helped us. We must account for whatever we have. So, contentment, satisfaction was our watchword. If you steal at that time in the unity school, you are gone forever.

    The environment we were brought up is such that everybody was equal. Equality and rights were the key issues then; there were no privileged students but now, we have privileged Nigerians. We now have injustice and political injustice is the worst form of injustice. On when it started, I can tell you that every government in Nigeria has some good aspects and some bad aspects but we have leaders who are not Nigerians.

  • When Buhari’s war can succeed

    Every nation has its share of patriots and traitors. They manifest in human vessels as the forces of good and evil, which define the character of a nation. When patriots are in control, a nation prospers with dignity: when traitors are in charge, the people are destroyed. The Nigerian corruption scenario has become a global case study of how a nation can be a stark contradiction of lack in the midst of plenty.

    Over the course of the last three weeks, the barrage of claims and counter-claims coming from those being tried for corrupt practices in the arms procurement scandal shows that our great nation had been under the yoke of traitors for years. This is why a change in the status quo in virtually every sphere of our human endeavour is an imperative, if Nigeria is to emerge as a strong socio-economic force in the near future.

    Like Rev. Chris Okotie said at his Household of God church on Sunday, 17 January, 2016: “I urge Nigerians to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign which aims to rid this country of the People’s Democratic Party’s legacy of a government of the corrupt, by the corrupt, and for the corrupt.” Indeed, there is a great need to support the present government in its corruption battle and nation building efforts. Since Nigerians voted for change, we must begin that great process individually and collectively with a change of attitude for the better by being genuine patriots, knowing that only all-inclusive change can transform Nigeria.

    It is a mirage for us to expect any dramatic change from President Muhammadu Buhari’s government if we remain detached from this anti-corruption war. Moving the nation forward is a collective task and not the solo effort of any particular leader or political party. Every Nigerian has a role to play in the quest to move the nation forward. We cannot appoint a leader as we always do and leave him to his own devices. We must hold our leaders accountable; we must compel them to walk their talk. Whatever President Buhari and his party promised must be delivered if they are to govern with peace of mind.

    If our elected leaders go off tangent at any stage or become complacent, it is the duty of Nigerians to call them to order. Once our leaders know that they must deliver on their promises or get sacked at the next polls or even impeached, they’d sit up: That’s one of the duties of patriotic citizens. This anti-corruption tsunami is a wake-up call to over-ambitious politicians and office holders, and an admonition to government to sustain the momentum. Everybody must become an anti-corruption fighter.

    Corruption is a global scourge, and pen thieves abound everywhere; look at the tsunami sweeping through FIFA headquarters for an attestation of this. But what differs between the Nigerian scenario and other climes like Europe and zero-tolerant nations like North Korea are obvious. For a start, those nations do not celebrate ill gotten wealth; neither does their economic legal system exculpate culprits with weak punitive measures. The economic system does not operate an open door policy which makes the perpetration of economic and financial crimes as easy as a, b, c. Neither do ex-convicts bask in the klieg-lights and media glory of social soirees with men and women in government. The populace ensures this.

    Demanding the heads of looters will not impede corruption, not if the system celebrates them. To realistically begin to curb corruption, plugging the channels that looters exploit is the best step forward. Rev. Okotie also posits that re-ordering the value system is the foundation upon which a corruption-free and equitable Nigerian society can be built. Let’s start there. Reports have it that CBN is to publish the list of suspected looters: They should also publish details of contracts and expenditures.

    Over and above the anti-graft battle is the need to rally together a united front and a cohesive nation at this time of low morale and an obvious national economic downturn: The corruption racket has taken a toll on the nation and the challenges of instability making rounds in the nation are the drumbeats of discontent; the Boko Haram insurgency in the north, the militancy in the south-south, Biafra agitations in the east, kidnappings across the nation, serial murders and ritual killings, proliferation of arms and IED’s and trafficking and laundering.

    As the anti-corruption war heats-up, still languishing at the back end of all these socio-economic crossroads is a traumatised nation with citizens who need a chance at redemption from the numerous challenges that coxswain their opportunities at attaining their best potential. This is what must go alongside the corruption battle and economic restructuring; reconciliation of old troubles.

    In closing, let President Buhari heed Okotie’s admonition never to relent or compromise because Nigerians are behind him. Your Excellency, Mr. President, you must fight to make Nigeria right. You have no choice. But your fight against corruption, injustice and for the rule of law must be fair to all. Unlike your predecessors, you must finish strong and leave a great legacy. Then, indeed, Mr. President, will your fight be right for Nigeria as indicated by the Pastor-politician

     

    • Elakhe, a member of the Fresh Democratic Party (FRESH), wrote in from Lagos.

     

  • Anti-corruption war: Perpectual injunctions shielding high-profile persons will be vacated — Sagay

    Anti-corruption war: Perpectual injunctions shielding high-profile persons will be vacated — Sagay

    The Federal Government is putting in place measures to remove perpetual injunctions stopping the trial of former Plateau State Governor, Chief Joseph Dariye, and other high- profile persons in the country.

    Also, the government has identified and educated a group of judges to handle anti-corruption cases, with a view to enable them demonstrate a high level of expertise and further fast-track the hearing and adjudication of cases relating to misappropriation of public funds among others.

    The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, disclosed this yesterday in Lagos, during the 2016 January Members Evening, a programme organised by the Institute of Directors (IoD) of Nigeria.

    While delivering a paper titled: ‘’Integrity and the Administration of Criminal Justice Law in the Fight Against Corruption,’’ Sagay said the idea would help in speeding up the trial of politically corrupt individuals among other people convicted of gross financial malpractices.

    He said the government is interested in probing high-profile looters who have stolen several billions of naira, and not those who stole, for instance, millions of naira or chickens.

    He said the Supreme Court has left one out of the eight  high-profile corrupt cases the government is investigating on technical grounds.

    According to him,  problems such as incompetent prosecutors,  filing of preliminary injunctions by lawyers prosecuting the cases on behalf of his clients, especially past and present public officers,  frequent adjournment of cases, among others, have stalled the efforts of the government to bring corrupt people to book in Nigeria.

    He said there cannot be more than five adjournments in the life of a case, observing that anti-corruption cases were found to have been adjourned severally, with negative implications on Nigeria that lost several billions of naira to corruption.

    Sagay said cases are being delayed for two, three, five years or more, due to frequent filing of preliminary injunctions and adjournments by some legal practitioners.

    ‘’ A group of judges, with proven expertise in the areas of trial and adjudication of corrupt public officers, has been identified and educated by the government to handle anti-corruption cases. The fact that the judges are selected does not mean others are corrupt.

    “When cases are delayed as a result of preliminary injunctions, or adjournments, it is either the person that is standing trial is dead, or the judge presiding over the case has retired. When this happens, another judge is bound to take up the case. This results in another round of delay,’’ he said.

    He said some Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SANs) threaten and intimidate judges, arguing that the development is not healthy because it hinders expiation of judicial matters.

    ‘’ Some SANs specialised in the area of intimidating judges. When that happens, the accused becomes politically rehabilitated. The result of all these is what we refer to as ‘prosecution fatigue’, he said.

    The former Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Benin, said there are many civil servants in Abuja who cannot explain how they got money to build their houses.

  • Winning polio war

    Winning polio war

    OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA writes on efforts by Dangote Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Fondation and other organisations to rid the country of polio and obtain WHO certification by next year.

    A bold step was taken last Wednesday towards total eradition of polio in the north, nay the country as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Dangote Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates, four northern states of kaduna, Sokoto Yobe and Borno, USAIDS and the Ministry of Health.

    The first point of call for Alhaji Aliko Dangote, chair of the Dangote Foundation and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation after arriving at the Kaduna Airport was  the Rigasa Environmental Site. That underscores the seriousness of the trip by the duo. Rigasa Environmental Site is one of the surveillance sites in Kaduna, where samples of sewage water are taken for laboratory analysis in Ilorin, Kwara State or Maiduguri in Borno State.

    At the venue, the duo  witnessed  how the Environmental Surveillance officer, Haliru Usman, took samples and conveyed same by road to either of the laboratories by road. Alhaji Dangote told him that his, “allowances will be improved on, to ensure safe and quicker transit of the sample, and quicker results.”

    Dangote Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), led by Alhaji Dangote and Mr Gates in late 2012 in Kano, and mid 2014 in Bauchi, entered into MoUs with northern states to build a systematic state-wide approach to strengthening routine immunisation and by extension, a significant part of the primary healthcare system.

    According to  Dangote, “This polio eradication journey began out of a chance conversation I and Bill had several years ago in New York.” And that has really paid off as Nigeria is now on the radar of World Health Organisation (WHO)  for Polio free certification.

    Nigeria is moving out of polio endemic countries, and northern part is where the virus is still being recorded for sundry reasons, including insecurity, especially in Borno, and leading to cases of missed children. Since this drive to eradicate poliomyelitis, three countries—Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan—remain endemic reservoirs of Wild Polio Virus (WPV).

    Poliomyelitis is one of the leading causes of acute flaccid paralysis among individuals aged over five years years in developing countries. Supplementary immuni-sation activities (SIAs) are aimed at delivering potent oral polio vaccine (OPV) to children aged over five years, using various teams to vaccinate children at homes, on the street, at transit points, and at health facilities. However, in some cases this strategy is fraught with challenges.

    It took Alhaji Dangote immunising his grandchild in the glare of the Kaduna public as part of efforts on polio vaccination campaigns and improved vaccination coverage in non compliant communities in the northern part of the country. The visit of the duo to Kaduna is part of endgame strategy for polio eradication.

    Kaduna State has made tremendous progress in interrupting poliovirus transmission over the years. The risk of polio transmission is very high in Kaduna State, based on the Nigeria National Emergency Operational Center risk categorisation of 2014, and has 13 local government areas (LGAs) at very high risk. In November 2012, Kaduna State recorded 15 WPVs (second highest to Kano, which had the highest number of cases in the country), all within the 13 local government areas at very high risk. Although the last WPV case in the state was in November 2012, the state recorded recovery of another WPV type one during environmental surveillance in April 2014, in ZariaLcal Government Area, and reported recovery of one circulating vaccine derived poliovirus (cVDPV) during environmental surveillance in week 23 from Rigasa in Igabi Local Government Area  and intermittent recovery of cVDPV from two environmental surveillance sites in Zaria Local Government Area from week 24 to week 47 of 2014, is an indication of low population immunity.

    As Kaduna remains  a business hub of the northern region, and much progress has been made in the polio war, the duo feel confident to further engage four more northern states and also expand the immunisation to capture other childhood diseases.

    In a ceremony at the Kaduna State Government House, Alhaji Dangote, Gates, and U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, joined governors from Kaduna, Sokoto, Yobe, and Borno to launch an ambitious new partnership committing political and financial resources to strengthen and sustain routine immunisation programmes that will save more lives and keep Nigeria polio-free.

    The launch of the new understanding served as an opportunity to review successes and lessons learned from existing programmes in Kano and Bauchi states.  To extend these efforts, the governor of Kano State signed a fourth-year extension to the state’s existing MOU.

    Health Minister, Prof Isaac Adewole represented by the Minister for State, Prof Osagie Ehanire congratulated the states and partners on making a significant investment in immunsation.  “These are tough financial times in Nigeria, but the health of children cannot wait.  The country has an ambitious plan to introduce new life-saving vaccines over the next several years, and today’s commitments will ensure we can get those vaccines to the children who need them most.”

    He said, ‘’Through the MoUs, the governors commits to effective governance, leadership, and financial accountability to reduce child illness and death from diseases such as measles, pertussis, and hepatitis through increased routine immunisation in their respective states. The other partners will bring the financial and technical support needed to operationalise the programme’’.

    All signatories pledged to improve routine immunisation coverage in northern Nigeria systematically and sustainably, where vaccine coverage rates are low.

    “These agreements strengthen our partnerships with Nigerian states working to provide health services to all their citizens,” said Dangote.

    “Building on their recent success in eliminating polio from the region, Nigerian governors have and will continue to play a vital role in establishing a legacy of sustained commitment to routine immunisation,”he added.

    The objective of the MoU is to reach 80 percent of the target population in the signing states with the necessary life-saving vaccines by December 2018 to prevent common childhood diseases and ensure a polio-free environment.  To achieve this, key components of the programme include the operationalisation of the ‘Primary Health Care Under One Roof’ policy that will see a single management body oversee the program.  The implementation of regular audits and reports will ensure transparent funding and financial discipline is paramount during implementation. Contributions towards the costs of the programme by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dangote Foundation, and state governments will be staggered across three years: 30 percent in year one, 50 percent in year two, and 70 percent in year three with the states taking progressive responsibility for financing immunisation services.

    “These commitments will improve immunisation coverage and help provide reliable health services in Nigeria.  The states will be able to reap the full return on their investment through the number of lives improved and saved, and communities will remain protected from vaccine-preventable diseases for years to come,” said Gates.

  • WAI Brigade joins anti-corruption war

    The War Against Indiscipline (WAI) Brigade has pledged the support of its members for the Federal Government’s campaign against corruption and indiscipline.

    WAI Brigade Lagos State Commander, Comrade Gabriel Adeoye, said this at the organisation’s annual patron investiture programme in Ikeja, Lagos on Saturday.

    He called for a nationwide sensitisation for attitudinal reorientation to help check anti-social behaviours.

    Adeoye said: “The endemic level of corruption and indiscipline in Nigeria is worrisome. The reports all over the nation are discouraging and only a very determined government can reverse the trend.

    “To achieve this, the government needs the support of the entire nation as well as dedicated organisations like WAI with gallant presence in all local areas.”

    He said the crusade against corruption could be made effective through aggressive enlightenment programmes, punishment of offenders and national commendation for exemplary behaviour.

    Adeoye added: “The War Against Indiscipline in the ‘80s was a classic example of orientating the people towards fresh cultural reorientation and attitudinal renewal.

    “In inculcating discipline in public places, Nigerians learnt to queue at bus stops, petrol stations, banks, shops, and even water taps.

    “The WAI Brigade volunteers are ready and committed to assist the Buhari administration in this crusade. It will not happen overnight, but it is achievable.”

    The commander enumerated the achievements of the Lagos State command in the last one year to including the monthly sanitation exercise enforcement, collaboration with the police, training of officers, creation of new departments and annual camping programmes.