The Nation Newspaper

Tag: war

  • What if anti-corruption war is political?

    What if anti-corruption war is political?

    After observing the on-going anti-corruption crusade by the Buhari-led federal government, it strikes me to note that attitude-wise, Nigerians have neither grown up nor changed. We seem condemned to revolve in cycles. As it appears, it must be an unexciting task to lead this nation as president. For a long time, the consensus was that the biggest trouble with Nigeria was corruption. It was why our nationals were treated with suspicion in foreign countries. It was why certain financial services like Paypal were not available to us as a people. We did not exactly like the image it created about us and longed for a leader who would rescue us from its grip. It was in this situation that we elected Muhammadu Buhari to do for our nation what it seemed we could not do by ourselves. Few months into the task though, we have begun to cry foul.

    The newspapers and online media are awash daily with accusations and counter-accusations on the anti-corruption war. Many – especially those in the heat of the war – complain that the war is political. In other words, if they were not politicians or at least did not constitute any political threat to those in government, they would not have been under probe. This is a familiar argument in political circles irrespective of who is in power. While one should not be distracted by such anemic counter-claims, one should be disturbed by the divide that seems to exist on this matter even among ordinary Nigerians. When we join the politicians to complain that this war is political, what are we saying? Most of these arguments revolve around unimportant factors. They say for example, that if their political parties were the ones in power, they would not have been prosecuted. Their prosecution is therefore not because of what crimes they are alleged to have committed but a punishment for losing election. Sometimes they say they are not the only ones who embezzled public funds; there are others too who ought to be prosecuted.

    A clear analysis of these arguments would reveal that they are just the desperate attempts of a drowning man trying to save himself. To begin with, why does the war seem to focus more on politicians? It is because the sort of crimes alleged to have been committed could only have been committed by those who had access to political power. Outrageous contracts can only be awarded by those in political offices in charge of such. Public funds can only be diverted to private accounts by those who are entrusted with them. Secondly, would they have been “targeted” if they were not occupying or likely to occupy political office in the future? May be not, but it seems to be more logical and morally strategic to focus on such people. The damage already done to this country is so huge that it is a matter of emergency, even if it cannot be undone, for it to be avoided in future. And if people who caused such damage are still likely to access opportunities through which more harm may be done, they should be a priority in the war. Thirdly, they claim they would not have been investigated if their political parties were in power. And that is why Nigerians voted out their political parties so that room would be created for them to be held accountable. Fourthly, they claim that there are others too who ought to be prosecuted as well. That is correct, but is it their duty to dictate to the anti-corruption agencies what sequence to follow in the prosecution? Obviously not!

    On a general note, the war against corruption not only may be political, but should actually be political. These crimes are alleged to have been committed by those who had political privileges which they abused. The institutions that were manipulated are political institutions. They are using political means to escape prosecution. The anti-corruption agencies are established under the political authority of the Nigerian state. The laws they use are passed by politicians. We elected a politician as president to recover the loot and sanitise the institutions. And it will take great political will to do the job. Why then, do we pretend that the anti-corruption war should not be under some political influence?

    Let us be sincere as a people. If what we want is a reduction in corruption, then we must focus on the result and minimise these vain arguments that cripple – rather than strengthen – the war. If these guys did not compromise in the first place, who would be talking about what method to use in sanitising the corroded system?

     

    • Msonter, 400-Level Medicine and Surgery, BSU

  • ‘Anti-graft war brings hope’

    A Don and head of the Mass Communication Department of the Imo State University, Prof Victor Kogah has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption fight will brighten Nigeria’s growth prospects.

    He said the anti-corruption campaign would raise the country’s integrity rating before the international community.

    “Today, it is easy for the international community to do business with Nigeria without fear. His anti-corruption war would raise the integrity rating of Nigeria before the international community.

    “President Buhari’s anti-corruption stance has instilled fear in Nigerians and many are afraid to offer or collect bribe. Even the ministerial nominees are already aware of Mr. President’s zero tolerance for corruption and that it would no longer be business as usual.”

    He noted that proceeds from the anti-graft war would be ploughed back to strenghten Nigeria’s infrastructure needs in the areas of road, electricity and others.

  • War against counterfeits getting complex, says Odumodu

    THE Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said the war against fake and counterfeited products is getting more complex, adding that it remains committed to winning the war.

    Its Director-General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, who spoke in Lagos while unveiling four new logos, said the development invalidated the agency’s previous certification.

    The logos unveiled are Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP), SON’s Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP), Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS) Mark of Quality as well as Nigeria Quality Award.

    Odumodu said the war against fake, adulterated, counterfeit and sub-standard products across the country is getting complex, adding that despite this, SON is recording results.

    “We need to step up efforts and, indeed, up our game in the on-going campaign to clean the vast environment of life-endangering products. Let me say first and foremost, that our efforts over time have been geared towards attaining one goal: providing safety of lives and property through standard and quality assurance of goods and services. In doing so, we need to continually innovate, think of new ideas and flow with the tide. We equally need to close gaps we have noticed in the system,” Odumodu said.

    The SON chief however, gave a six-month ultimatum to manufacturers and importers to key into the agency’s new regulation or pack up, adding that all certificates issued by the organisation to operators have been invalidated following the launch of new quality logos.

    “The four logos are part and parcel of our efforts to provide comfortable cover and umbrella to members of the nation’s business community, which of course, include manufacturers, exporters and importers as well as franchise/brandowners of products made overseas but imported into Nigeria,” Odumodu said.

    However, President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs, who was at the event,  pleaded with the agency to give the manufacturers more time to adjust to the new measures, adding that some products already on the shelves have life span of two years.

    He said the launching of the logos was, indeed, a challenge for manufacturers to maintain standard, admonishing consumers to be conscious of the products they patronise.

    He commended SON for setting a target to reduce the level of substandard products to 10 per cent by the end of the year, adding that this would make life better for Nigerians.

    The Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Alhaji Ajiya Mamman, represented by a Director in the ministry, Mrs Tawa Awobokun gave kudos to SON for its efforts in curtailing fake and substandard products from overwhelming Nigerians and helping to improve the quality of products and services in the country.

    She said: “I am commending SON because facts and figures have shown that the agency is saving our time by avoiding taking a cosmetic logo change approach. SON’s underground efforts for improving quality of products and battling substandards, by developing quality infrastructure like test labs, metrology, accredited labs, harmonisation of standards, public awareness, building of human capital both staff and stakeholders through world class training will give a firm foundation for the certification schemes, award and fortification of standards to thrive.”

     

    “We are proud and happy to be associated with these four new logos retooled for better efficiency in enthroning quality and the fortification standards for flour and flour products. We therefore call on all stakeholders, manufacturers, exporters, importers, service providers, SMEs, the media, trade associations and industries to fully key into these initiatives. When we make effort to fight substandards by aligning and cooperating with this re-engineered schemes, award and standards; we will secure genuine businesses from being overtaken by inferior products thereby saving thousands of jobs, we will improve the quality of life of Nigerians, we will protect our life and environment, we will produce products and offer services that the world will jostle to buy, we will improve our chances to compete in the global market, we will ultimately change our world to one we can be proud of.”

  • Anti-graft war: Standing the test of crime

    For 16 years, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ruled Nigeria like a party that was principally inspired by the ideology of corruption. Like a disaster destined to happen, the party embarked on a ’voyage of no discovery’ and it was as if the gods were angry! Now, the rest as far as the derailed, tired and expired party is concerned, is history!

    Everything considered, the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC)’s festival of champagne-popping and glasses-clinking is not misplaced even as war on corruption as one of its cardinal promises is not unwelcome. But everything in life has a price attached to it; meaning that for the next four years, APC will be in the eyes of the storm. It also means that the party may choose to make things better or leave the stage even worse. With the former option, President Muhammadu Buhari has got a lot on his plate. He’s got to do a lot within a very short period of four years to bequeath to Nigeria a country that works. So much might have been achieved by the president’s ‘body language’ but, as we know, assumptions don’t count in governance, especially, in a situation where schemers whose corrupted hearts have lost the capacity to cry are not prepared to give up.

    In any case, it is music to the ears that the president has promised to wage a real war on corruption that has already driven the country from the position of decency into the abyss of normlessness. But Buhari’s capacity to tame the lion has never been in doubt. He is a man of impressive intellectual gifts, extraordinary moral courage and profound spirituality. As things stand, the president is the symbol of progressive politics in Nigeria. He is the new wine in a change wineskin who comes into presidential office with characteristic modesty, moderation and the primacy of public interest.

    In his Goodwill Message to the Second Plenary of the 2015 Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Buhari describes corruption as the ”main reason why a potentially prosperous country struggles to feed itself and provide jobs for millions”. Needless to repeat that corruption is symptomatic of Nigeria’s nationalized malaise and epitomizes with merciless severity, the physical decay and the loss of innocence bedevilling her geo-political, socio-economic and ethno-religious contiguities. It affects our daily lives, lowers compliance, distorts the level-playing field and can affect how we interface with the people. When corruption takes over the affairs of a country, standards get compromised and values become eroded easily; quality of service and infrastructure is reduced and budgetary pressures, both on public and private establishments increase insanely. This monster drains a country’s tank of joy, prevents initiatives, stifles growth, harasses destiny and transports problems to a tomorrow that is even far away.

    Corruption is as generic in dimension as it is legion in operations. Civilian sleaze! Spiritual morass! Executive deception! Legislative graft! Electoral treachery! Judicial trickery! There is geriatric corruption (as in government being piloted by old and tired hands); and there is psychological chicanery (like the providentially endowed Niger Delta region where indigenes produce more but eat little). We have monarchical deceit (as in the case of a former president trying to unconstitutionally perpetuate self in power); and there is ethnocentric speciousness. We have professional corruption and there is public service venality. The list is endless!

    We can indeed talk nineteen to the dozen at synonymising, synchronizing, replicating, rationalizing, even politicizing meanings, extra-meanings, anti-meanings, or counter-meanings for this cankerworm. The bottom-line is that it is a global disease which dates back to the Adamic Age. Remember Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Abraham and Hagar the Egyptian, Esau and Jacob, David and Bathsheba, Ananias and Sapphira, Sanballat and Tobiah, and Judas, to name but a few.

    In 2002, Germany’’s Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping was replaced for taking payments from a Public Relations “consultant with links to the arms industry. In 2004, Alain Juppe, former French Prime Minister, was barred from holding public office for a decade after he was found guilty of corruption. Geoffrey Robinson was suspended for three weeks from the British House of Commons over a £200,000 payment from a company owned by Robert Maxwell, a Labour tycoon. Jacob Zuma did not escape the cruel fangs of this heinous crime.

    On the home front, Nigeria, as we speak, competes favorably with less-endowed countries like Guinea and Guinea Bissau on the Corruption Perception Index. Incidentally, she also ranks as one of the eight countries in the world with the highest rate of trafficking. That is why former President Olusegun Obasanjo deserves commendation for his achievements in his anti-corruption campaigns, notable among which was the establishment of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.  But, a more important arm like the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, has been in sleeping mode.

    Incidentally, the judiciary has become so bastardized that only the rich and the powerful can access justice. The poor and powerless can go to blazes! Have we for once asked why Obasanjo’s ship of anti-corruption war didn’t get to the dock before berthing? As a matter of fact, it is not that Nigerians are sinners or that civilized countries are saints. The difference however rests with the rewards and sanctions. For instance, the way China deals with corruption leaves nobody in doubt as to where the country stands in its anti-corruption war. But, in Nigeria, it is a different ball-game. In the world we live, when a president told a stunned people that he’d not fight corruption by putting the people behind bars, the people could only marvel at their leader being a poor student of history and International Relations.

    The onus therefore lies on APC and President Buhari to learn from history and be methodical in preventing Suharto, Marcos and Sese Seko from resurrecting as Nigerians. And, in doing this, that war must be, and seen to be total, not selective.  APC must avoid the corruption of “lopsided” appointments but must courageously and creatively identify solutions that reinforce peace and justice. In particular, President Buhari must neither play politics to the detriment of policies nor consider doing the needful as a crime. He should understand that posterity, not any transient powers, will hold him responsible for the success or otherwise of the enormous responsibilities bestowed on him by providence.

    As a ’converted democrat’, Buhari may also need to be reminded that a society without values is a sterile society. Put bluntly, one way of measuring the competence of a progressive party is in its serving as an apostle of laughter where sorrow seems prevalent and succour where soreness appears imminent. Unfortunately, however; and sadly so, majority of Nigeria’s political actors are unfeeling in attitude and perfidious in disposition. They are none but mere jutting men camouflaging as democratic heavyweights. They smile with unequalled certitude but revolt inwardly with unenviable exactitude! That has been our lot in Nigeria! Of course, that is why we always gauge the worth of our religious leaders only by the sonorousness of their voices, the flashiness of their cars and the fatness of their bank accounts.

    A successful and an effective war on corruption demands sanctions that can serve as deterrents. It demands retraining, retooling and re-kitting of our law officers. It involves a reform and a review of relevant laws which must not see government only barking but also biting. Where the existing laws are weak, let them be strengthened; and where they are currently inactive, let them be activated.

    • Komolafe writes from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State.
  • War against pollution is total, says Lagos

    War against pollution is total, says Lagos

    The Lagos State government has said its war on pollution remains on course. It said the campaign will not respect any race, creed or religion, in its efforts to enthrone a safe environment.

    The General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA),Adebola Rasheed Shabi, who spoke duriing a public enlightenment campaign for auto mechanics, at the Mega Auto Part Accessories Traders Association (MAPATA) office at Ojuelegba branch, reiterated government’s zero tolerance on pollution.

    He said all flouters of its laws on pollution should be ready to face the full wrath of the law.

    Educating MAPATA members on all the forms of pollution barred by the government, the LASEPA chief said they range from air, noise, soil to underground pollution caused by indiscriminate disposal of used oil.

    He also spoke on the law restricting public smoking.

    Shabi said the approved noise level in the state during the day is 55 decibel, while night time noise level is 45 decibel.

    He said these laws were enacted  to promote public health and well-being, adding that the hazards inherent in noise pollution include insomnia, depression, partial or full deafness and high blood pressure, among others.

    Shabi said underground pollution of water bodies could lead to untimely death through terminal diseases. It could also come through the consumption of contaminated fish and marine foods by spent oil indiscriminately disposed into the drains, which finds its way into the sea.

    He said such could cause terminal diseases.

    The agency, he said, is not happy closing down firms, worship centres and others, but that noise level allowed by the state must be adhered to for the well-being of other residents.

    He, therefore, urged members of the association to key into the government’s vision of a cleaner environment for all residents.

    Shabi, while speaking on the restriction on public smoking, said, the law forbids smoking in public. He urged the association to have designated areas for smokers, saying it is a crime to smoke and disturb non-smokers.

    Responding, MAPATA Chairman Gozie Nweze, thanked the agency, promising to spread the non pollution gospel to all its members. He said the association will do all it could to key into the state’s vision on environment.

  • NAFDAC intensifies war against fake drugs 

    NAFDAC intensifies war against fake drugs 

    As the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) increased the tempo on the war against fake and adulterated drugs in the country, it said the incidence had been reduced to 11% in the North East.

    This war, the agency said, would be intensified with the return of peace in the region.

    During an audience with a sub-committee set up by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Maidugiri for the celebration of the institution’s  22nd convocation and 40th anniversary, the Director-General of the NAFDAC, Dr Paul Orhii,  yesterday in Abuja said:  ”Even in the North East where we thought that there were many security challenges, we have reduced it (incidence of fake drugs) just by 11 per cent.”

    Orhii also told the delegation that with encouragement from local pharmaceutical industries and the help of cutting edge technologies, the NAFDAC had been able to fight counterfeit medicines.

    “With this, we have been able to reduce the incidence of counterfeit medicines and antimalarial drugs from more than 64 per cent in 2008 to 20 per cent in 2012 and today we have achieved a feat that nobody thought was possible by reducing it to 3.6 per cent.”

    According to Orhii, the NAFDAC became the first regulatory agency in the world to use a TruScan that enables users to underscore and identify counterfeit medicines and also the first country in the world to implement the mobile authentication service.

    He regretted that with the sophistication in printing technology, it has become impossible even for the most sophisticated pharmaceutical security expert to identify counterfeit medicines just by looking at the drug.

    He told his visitors that with the efforts of people like them developing new molecules and turning new medicines, the NAFDAC we would completely eradicate fake medicines in Nigeria.

    Responding, the leader of the delegation and Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Maidugiri, Isa Hussain,  said:“We have identified the NAFDAC as a very important stakeholder in our institution and wish more collaboration.”

    In a related development, the NAFDAC boss  commended the review and production of the National Policy on Food Safety and its implementation strategy to help minimize the incidence of risk associated with physical, chemical and biological hazards in food and water in the country.

    He said this yesterday at the National Food Safety Management Committee (NFSMC) stakeholders’ meeting held in Abuja.

    He said: “With a National Safety Food Policy in place with a functional secretariat, Nigeria will be seen to have come on a par with other countries that had long ago streamlined and unified their food safety laws and subsequently benefited immensely from the implementation.

    “An effective, result-based programme implementation needs funding. The developed work plan has identified that line ministries, its department and agencies are required to provide budgets for food safety. We understand that the development partners have formed a committee to support the implementation of the activities of the policy to avoid duplication of activities funding.

    “I have not heard of food related poisoning in the country for the last three years. We believe that at the end of this donor meeting, all hands would be on deck to ensure that food safety system in Nigeria is on a par with the international best practices. I, therefore, encourage all stakeholders to draw up any available resources to support food safety.”

    In his welcome address, Acting Chairman (NFSMC), Mr. Fubara Chukwu, said millions of people had fallen victim of contaminated food.

    He said, “It is a wake-up call to all Nigerians to reflect on our general attitude to food safety, personal hygiene, environmental sanitation in our homes, neighbourhood, and public places and work towards ensuring improved hygienic and healthy environment.”

  • 9/11 and Nigeria’s war on terror

    As the world marks the 14th anniversary of the most deadly terror attack ever known which claimed the lives of 2,996 persons, it is critical for us to look inwards and correlate the events of that day to the acts of terrorism, particularly, religious extremism that has been on the rise in Nigeria since the beginning of this era.

    It is an undeniable fact that the four coordinated terror attacks by Al-Qaeda, a radical Islamic terrorist group on September 11, 2001, gave a new dimension and perspective to the concept of terrorism and gave credence to the fact that the world is indeed at war with itself.

    Prior to the September 11 attacks, which caused a devastating twin destruction on the World Trade Centre in New York City and the headquarters of the United States Department of Defence known as The Pentagon, the world had handled the issue of terrorism with kid gloves. With the attack however, countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Personnel were trained and sent on courses on how best to detect and nip terrorism in the bud. Despite these actions, terrorism grew in leaps and bounds with religious extremism as the basis for such which run contrary to the tenets of morality and dignity of the human person.

    Presently, terrorism is probably the greatest challenge besetting the human race as terror groups now use sophisticated and cutting edge technologies to perpetrate their inhuman activities.

    Nigeria, the giant of Africa and world’s most populous black nation has, since 2002, experienced an upsurge in terror activities, no thanks to the increased activities of the deadly Islamic sect, Boko Haram which has now gained global prominence as one of the deadliest terror groups in the world. Terrorism which was a little known before 2002 has become a vicious problem in Nigeria. It thrives because it is financed by those who have access to public funds as they now get foreign support from groups that share the same vision and mission statement.

    Particularly, the Boko Haram sect is said to be financed by major trans-border terrorist groups in Somalia, South Sudan, Egypt, Al-Qaeda, ISIS and Al-Shabaab as well as wealthy individuals within and outside the country.

    These increased funding of the Boko Haram sect has led to increased sophisticated weaponry at their disposal such that they are now well able to compete and sometimes defeat gallant soldiers.

    The activities of the sect took a new dimension with the bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja in August 2010, killing 23 people in the process. The effrontery with which they attacked the UN house was a clear indication of a group that was ready to go all out to achieve its aims and send message to the international community that they are a force to reckon with.

    Through to it, the activities of the sect has become a night mare for successive governments in Nigeria as the group has expanded it horizon to neighbouring countries of Cameroun, Chad and Niger and have covered more grounds than one would have imagined.

    It is estimated that the sect killed and maimed over 17,000 people since 2009 including over 10 people in 2014 alone. The rate at which the number of those killed increases has made Nigeria to be branded among the top five most terrorized nations of the world in recent rankings.

    From the foregoing, there can be no doubt about the fact that drastic measures must be taken to checkmate the excesses of this sect that is threatening our peaceful co-existence as a united country.

    With increased activities of the sect, government has had to allocate more resources to combat the menace and with retrogressive consequences on economic growth and national development.

    Perhaps the low level of education in the Northern part of the country could be attributed to be a contributory factor to the growth of the sect over the years as the terrorist group preys on the disillusioned Muslims of the north who are jobless and with little opportunities.

    The challenges posed by the Boko Haram sect are beyond the ordinary eyes and the solutions are scarce. Successive governments have tried. Their efforts have failed to yield any positive outcome.

    It is high time we looked away from militarism alone. Military force and power have proven to aggravate rather than alleviate or eliminate the danger. Hundreds of billions of tax payers’ monies have gone down the drain in the fight against the sect and rather than see positive results in the form of reducing their activities, more deaths and deadly attacks are recorded. Hence, there is the need to change the manner of approach.

    The giant stride of this new administration at nipping in the bud the activities of the sect is commendable. Team work rather than individualism is one of the ways at which the war against terror can be won. Hence liaising with neighbouring countries facing the same threat from the sect and the international community is a step in the right direction. Help from the international community must not be focused on military assistance alone. The sect seems to be enjoying the media attention that it presently receives. Efforts must be made at ensuring basic primary education and the ability to read and write for people to understand some basic things themselves and halt their evil education in the north.

    It is unfortunate that 14 years after the world’s biggest act of terrorism, the trend of terror seem to be on the increase. As we look back to the events of that day and to many of the events in the country that have claimed the lives of fellow country men and women and as we eagerly pray and hope that those being held captive especially the Chibok girls would be released soon, it behoves on us not to lose faith that the war on terror in Nigeria and indeed the world at large is a war that can be won with the right mentality.

    The world is sick but it is the occupant of the world that made the world to be sick. So if we can cure ourselves of our sickness and embrace peace and tolerance for one another, the sickness of the world would be cured and their lies our solution

     

    • Philip, a youth advocate and social commentator, writes from Delta State
  • Buhari: why the war against corruption must go on

    Buhari: why the war against corruption must go on

    The President Muhammadu Buhari administration yesterday reiterated why there will be no let-up in its fight against corruption.

    “It is a fight for the soul and substance of our nation, a moral battle for virtue and righteousness in our land,” Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday.

    He spoke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, during the second plenary meeting of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN).

    The ceremony was also attended by Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.

    Osinbajo, who attended the first plenary meeting during the electioneering campaign, represented President Buhari yesterday.

    [ad id=”403656″]Apart from barefaced theft of public funds, corruption has also been cited as the main reason for poor policy choices, the prevalence of poverty in the midst of plenty and waste of resources in the country.

    Buhari said: “Corruption in our country is so endemic that it constitutes a parallel system. It is the primary reason for poor policy choices, waste and, of course, bare- faced theft of public resources.

    “It is the main reason why a potentially prosperous country struggles to feed itself and provide jobs for millions.

    “The hundreds of thousands of deaths in the infant, maternal mortality statistics, the hundreds of thousands of annual deaths from preventable diseases are traceable to the greed and corruption of a few. This is why we must see it as an existential threat. If we don’t kill it, it will kill us.”

    On security, the President said: “We are on course to militarily rout Boko Haram and make them incapable of taking and holding territory.” He added that suicide bombings in some parts of the Northeast were the desperate acts of the terrorists to create a sense that they are still in play.

    He noted that “with vigilance and good local intelligence, we will make those cowardly acts practically impossible.”

    On the economy, the President told the Bishops: “We must change the paradigm of thinking about our economy and the ultimate good of the majority. While we create an enabling environment for free enterprise, we must reason, plan and budget with the understanding that almost 2/3 of our people are extremely poor, and must be helped first to survive and then to fully participate in the economy of the nation.

    “We must create safety nets for the very poor and vulnerable while ensuring that social spending is also a direct investment in the economy.

    “We must invest substantially in relevant education, teacher training and vocational and entrepeneurial training.”

    The President praised the bishops, noting that he had “always been impressed with the social consciousness exhibited by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference”.

    He also recalled that their “bold critical interventions at various crucial moments in our national journey have helped to caution, admonish and ultimately stabilise the polity”. “This is as it should be. This nation belongs to us all; leaders in every sector owe it to this generation to contribute in building a good society.”

    He asked for prayers adding: “for us elected into government, we have since set about the daunting tasks before us, with vigour and commitment in the full assurance that by the grace of God our country will become safe, secure, prosperous and virtuous”.

    President of the Conference, Most Rev. Igantius Kaigama, the Archbishop of Jos, praised the Buhari administration’s commitment to the fight against corruption and praised the formation of a Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption.

    According to him, “the President is dead right that if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us.”

    He also prayed that God will give Nigeria a new heart.

  • Navy declares war on oil thieves

    Navy declares war on oil thieves

    •145,000 litres of stolen crude oil set ablaze in Rivers
    •Four illegal refineries operators arrested

    The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS), Pathfinder, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, seems to have declared war on illegal refining sites, following its destruction of illegal bunkering and refining sites in the state almost two weeks ago.

    The naval personnel, who had been combing the creeks  to prevent the activities of the illegal bunkerers and refiners, were offered N600,000.

    The Commander of the NNS Pathfinder, Commodore Shuwa Mohammed, told reporters yesterday in Port Harcourt that four suspects, who were arrested and would be handed over to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

    “Ironically, while setting the refinery ablaze, four out of the fleeing oil thieves came back and offered us a bribe of N600,000 to leave the refinery.

    “The four suspects were subsequently arrested and would be handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for investigation and prosecution,” he said.

    Mohammed said despite the renewed efforts by the naval high command to stop oil theft, the government should also sensitise of Nigerians  rather than destruction alone,” he said.

    During an aerial surveillance, many artisanal/illegal refineries, hidden under the mangrove forest, were sighted, with the environment polluted.

    There are over 33,000 creeks in the Niger Delta. NNS Pathfinder  monitors more than 1,000 of the creeks and waterways.

    Mohammed said the mop-up was aimed at ending the colossal damage done to the environment by activities of the oil thieves, who he said had been puncturing pipelines to obtain crude oil illegally.

    The commander, who was represented by the Base Operation Officer, Commander Chidi Ejiofor, said there would be no hiding place for oil thieves and pipeline vandals.

    Mohammed said: “The mop-up ordered by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas, is part of a series of operations lined up to end incessant crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in Rivers State.

    “During the aerial surveillance, many new illegal refineries were sighted, which prompted troops’ mobilisation.

    “In the course of our operations, an illegal refinery with 15 storage metal tanks, loaded with 145,000 litres of stolen crude oil, was set ablaze in Buguma, Asari-Toru LGA of Rivers State.”

    He also stated that more than 50,000 litres of illegally-refined diesel, stored in 10 cooking tanks, was also destroyed.

    He noted that a metal badge and dump, with the capacity of storing thousands of litres of petroleum products, were also destroyed.

    Mohammed maintained that more ilegal operators  who had fled the sites upon sighting the naval personnel, would soon be apprehended and prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.

    He noted that in spite of the renewed efforts by the naval high command to stop oil theft, sensitisation was key to end the illegal activity.

    The commander said: “It is difficult to maintain 24-hour presence in all the creeks and oil facilities, especially considering the shallowness of some of the creeks, making them near impossible to patrol.”

     

  • Unemployment, war… Concerns as Nigerians, Syrians, others invade Europe

    Unemployment, war… Concerns as Nigerians, Syrians, others invade Europe

    The influx of asylum-seekers migrants from Africa and troubled Syria into Europe is giving Europen nations some nightmares. Eupean governments are divided on how best to manage the crisis. 

    Two days ago, about 40 people drowned off the coast of Libya after a vessel carrying 140 people deflated, causing panic on board. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said the victims include Nigerians, Somalis and Sudanese.
    The death toll for migrants from Nigeria and other African countries drowned in Mediterranean Sea since the beginning of this year is already worse than the death toll for Titanic catastrophe.
    More than 1500 people have died in its waters since January, comparing with 96 for the same period of time in 2014.
    A record 50,000 migrants hit Greek shores in July alone. They were ferried from inundated islands to the mainland by a government already floundering in financial crisis and keen to whisk them north into Macedonia, whence they enter Serbia and then Hungary.
    Hungary said it had recorded 165,000 entering so far this year. Countless others may have crossed its borders without registering.
    Determined to stem the tide, Hungary is building a 3.5-metre (11.5-foot) high fence along its border with Serbia.
    At the weekend, the Budapest parliament adopted measures the government says will effectively seal the frontier to migrants as of 15 September.
    But, Austria and Germany threw open their borders at the weekend to thousands of exhausted migrants from the east, transported to the frontier by a right-wing Hungarian government that had tried to stop them but was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people.
    Left to walk the last yards into Austria, rain-soaked migrants, many of them refugees from Syria’s civil war, were whisked by train and shuttle bus, first to Vienna, and then on by train, to Munich and other cities in Germany.
    By early evening on Saturday, about 6,000 had arrived in Munich and nearly 2,000 more were expected on two trains due after midnight, said Christoph Hillenbrand, head of the Upper Bavaria regional administration.
    Last Thursday, Germany and France ordered the European commission to come up with a new “permanent” and binding regime for spreading the refugee load around all of the 28 countries in the union. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May want nothing to do with the scheme and have absented themselves from the policymaking, carping from the sidelines.
    Last Friday, the prime ministers of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic told Paris and Berlin to get stuffed, arguing that west European-style multi-culturalism is nothing but trouble and that they have no intention of repeating the same mistakes.
    The commission has already done what Berlin is demanding. On Wednesday, its President, Jean-Claude Juncker, will unveil proposals obliging at least 22 countries with a combined population of almost 400 million to absorb 160,000 people from Italy, Greece and Hungary, which are struggling with influxes from the Middle East and Africa.
    The all-powerful busybodies of Brussels are relatively impotent when it comes to immigration.
    The seven countries of central Europe and the Baltic are being asked to take fewer than 30,000. It should not be a problem for big international cities such as Warsaw, Prague and Budapest. But the east Europeans is retreating into parochialism, digging into their national bunkers while nursing resentment at what they perceive to be German bullying.
    Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is the cheerleader of the “Europe is useless” chorus, but Robert Fico, the Slovakian Premier, and President Milos Zeman in Prague are not far behind. Ewa Kopacz, the Prime Minister of Poland, sounds more moderate, but she looks likely to lose an election next month to the nationalist right. Her hands are tied.
    When Europe’s leaders last met to grapple with the crisis, in June, they argued until 3.30am and dispersed without agreement, bringing Matteo Renzi, the Italian Prime Minister, to lament: “If this is Europe, you can keep it.”
    Things have worsened considerably since then. Governments are floundering, pirouetting on policy in response to front-page pictures of tragedy on a Turkish beach, engaging in a blame game which, coming on top of five years of division over Greece and the euro, is exposing major divisions.
    If the euro proved to be a fair-weather currency whose structures and rules buckled and nearly collapsed in a storm, the same is now evident on immigration. The system is flimsy, not fit for purpose in an emergency.
    There is no “European” immigration policy or regime. There is a mish-mash of national policies, a patchwork of systems and criteria which are contradictory, incoherent, fragmented. Italy is very far way from Finland, not only geographically, but when it comes to immigration and asylum. France and Germany have quite different historical approaches to integrating newcomers. Sweden and Denmark are neighbours with a close shared history, but their immigration policies are chalk and cheese.
    National governments guard these prerogatives jealously. “Europe” in the form of the European Union (EU) authorities in Brussels has minimal say over policy-making. Almost all power here lies with heads of national governments and interior ministries.
    Yet, in this crisis, Brussels-bashing has become routine, the cheap and easy option for shameless national leaders acting unilaterally, blocking every suggestion that comes out of Brussels and then blaming it for the ensuing chaos.
    Orbán proved the point in Brussels last week. “Europe” had failed, its leaders had irresponsibly created this mess, their response was “madness”. He has put up a razor-wire fence on the border with Serbia and announced he was fast-tracking legislation to establish a zero-immigration regime within 10 days, with the army deployed on the border.
    Brussels cannot stop him because these powers are national. If need be, he said, he would put up another fence on the border with Croatia, a barrier between two EU countries. On Friday, Brussels shrugged and said it did not like this, but could not do anything about it.
    Cameron responded to growing international and domestic pressure for Britain to take more refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war and other conflicts by saying that the United Kingdom (UK) will fulfill its moral responsibilities.
    In a marked shift of tone, as Europe’s human rights watchdog criticised Britain for failing to offer shelter, Cameron spoke of how moved he was by the picture of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy, whose body was washed up on a Turkish beach.
    Speaking at a Hitachi train plant in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, the prime minister said: “Anyone who saw those pictures overnight could not help but be moved and, as a father, I felt deeply moved by the sight of that young boy on a beach in Turkey. Britain is a moral nation and we will fulfill our moral responsibilities.
    “We are taking thousands of people, and we will take thousands of people.” his remarks stopped short, however, of a specific commitment to take more refugees. Cameron said he will keep the issue under review, a stance that gives Whitehall time to work out a scheme with the Home Office, local councils and international agencies.
    Cameron said Britain had already stepped up to meet the challenge of the refugee crisis facing Europe by assisting in the rescue mission in the Mediterranean, spending 0.7 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on international aid and donating money to fund Syrian refugee camps in the Middle East.
    He insisted, however, that taking more refugees was not the only answer to the problem. “We need a comprehensive solution, a new government in Libya, we need to deal with the problems in Syria.
    “I would say the people responsible for these terrible scenes we see, the people most responsible, are President Assad in Syria and the butchers of Isil (Islamic State) and the criminal gangs that are running this terrible trade in people. And we have to be as tough on them at the same time.”
    The Btritish prime minister’s intervention came as he faced growing domestic and international pressure, including from within his own party, to start to take the numbers already being taken elsewhere in Europe.
    The Scottish first Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, accused him of adopting a “walk on by on the other side” approach after he said on Wednesday that the UK would not take any extra refugees.
    Harriet Harman, the interim Labour leader, has called on Cameron to convene an emergency meeting of Cobra cabinet committee to coordinate the government response.
    The Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, stepped up her criticism of his refusal to accept more than a few hundred refugees. “It is shameful, utterly shameful, that our prime minister is just turning his back,” she said.
    “My problem with the prime minister’s response is that he only wants to talk about the things that he will do to help far away, but he won’t actually do anything here at home. We have a responsibility to act.”
    London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, became the most senior Conservative to call for more action, saying it was Britain’s moral responsibility to take those fleeing persecution. But he said the UK must not become a magnet or pole of attraction for “economic migrants”.
    Johnson said it was time to look harder at resolving the Syrian problem. “No one would say non-intervention is working,” he said.
    The chancellor, George Osborne, speaking during a factory visit in Sunderland, said: “There is no person who would not be very shocked by that picture – and I was very distressed when I saw it myself this morning – of that poor boy lying dead on the beach.
    “We know there is not a simple answer to this crisis. What you need to do is first of all tackle Isis (Islamic State) and the criminal gangs who killed that boy.”
    In a letter to Cameron, Harman urged him to adopt a four-point plan to help more refugees. She urged him to:
    •Agree now that Britain will take more refugees, both directly from Syria and from the southern European countries where most refugees have arrived.
    •Convene an urgent meeting of EU leaders next week to agree a process for resolving the immediate refugee crisis on Europe’s borders.
    •Convene an urgent meeting of Cobra so that a cross-government plan can be agreed and implemented. This was now a problem spanning beyond the Home Office, affecting transport, small business, tourism and local communities, she said.
    •Bring together a summit of local authority leaders to agree a framework on what more can be done locally to support refugees and asylum seekers.
    She added: “We are all proud of Britain’s historical role of offering a sanctuary to those fleeing conflict and persecution. We are an outward-facing, generous-hearted nation, not one that turns inward and shirks its responsibilities. I know you will not want to be the prime minister of a government that fails to offer sanctuary while our neighbours are stepping up to respond.”