The Nation Newspaper

Tag: war

  • Asaba: Memories of war

    “The stupid neither forgive nor forget.  The naïve forgive and forget.  The wise never forget but forgive.” —Thomas Szasz

    As the Asaba community both at home and in the Diaspora, prepare for this year’s memorial ceremonies in honour of the victims of the October 7, 1967 massacre in the town, it is perhaps an opportunity for a sober reflection on the unfortunate civil war, focusing particularly on Biafra’s controversial thrust into Midwestern Nigeria on that August 9, 1967 – a thrust which saw Asaba, Benin and a host of other towns fall in quick succession, but eventually tragically got lost due to a strange quirk of fate.

    In retrospect, one cannot but agree with Gen. Alexander Madiebo that “despite the unfortunate development in the course of the campaign, Biafra did the best thing at the time to have undertaken the campaign”.  Rationalizing the operation, Madiebo explained among other things that “we did it not to conquer Nigeria but to force her to bring the war to an end and start negotiations.  It also relieved pressure on our own troops in the northern sectors of the war, particularly Nsukka from where the enemy withdrew the bulk of the troops with which they initially fought back.”

    What many people did not know at the time is that it was the then Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, according to Ojukwu, that sold the idea of the operation to him, having noticed a chink in the federal armour on the western flank of the River Niger.  In fact, six years later in 1973, Israel achieved a decisive victory in her fourth war with Egypt, adopting the same strategy.  Recall that in the Yom Kippur war, which the Arabs surprisingly launched against the Jewish state on October 6, 1973 while the latter was relaxing and celebrating the Holiest Day in the Jewish calendar, Egypt and Syria launched an elaborate attack featuring 5,000 armoured tanks on the Egyptian side and about half as many on the Syrian side.  Within three days of fighting Israel’s first line of defence had crumbled.  Besides the stunning collapse of her Bar-Lev-line in the Sinai Desert reputed to be the strongest fortress in the world, a sizeable percentage of her legendary air force had also been destroyed by Soviet-made ground-air missiles, while the enemy continued to blaze away in high morale.

    The Israeli Prime Minister, Mrs. Golda Meir, a woman known rather to be a stoic, wept openly seeing the heaviest casualty figures ever in Israeli history.  But the war suddenly took a dramatic twist as from October 9, when the Israelis took over the initiative and launched a counter –offensive, after noticing a chink in the Egyptian armour across the western bank of the Suez Canal.  Crossing the canal under cover of night using Pontoons, an Israeli general fresh from retirement deftly ferried troops and heavy armour across the water, established a bridgehead and swiftly advanced towards a nearby expressway to Cairo, the Egyptian capital, thus cutting off a huge chunk of the Egyptian army in the forward lines.

    Simultaneously, the same scenario was being replicated on the Syrian sector, where a column of Israeli troops was advancing along Damascus highway.  By the time the Israelis got to a shelling range of both cities, sensing clear disaster, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt called Moscow which reached out to Washington, and Henry Kissinger, America’s secretary of State, collaborating with the UN, effected a ceasefire on October 24, leading to the ultimate Camp David Peace Treaty signed by Israel and Egypt in March, 1979.

    Similarly, in the Nigeria scenario, in 1967, if the tempo and progress of Biafra’s robust trans-Niger campaign had not been compromised and stalled and Lagos and Ibadan were captured or seriously threatened, Gowon possibly would have had no choice but reach out to Ojukwu for a ceasefire. In the inevitable negotiations, the enforcement of the Aburi Accord being Ojukwu’s sole agenda obviously would have had a smooth ride and nobody would have faced all this restructuring wahala today, because as Ojukwu had to explain later in BECAUSE I AM INVOLVED, “the concept, Biafra, was a deliberate line drawn for a persecuted people to have a beacon of hope, a line drawn so that a fleeing people can hope that at least once they reach there they would have love and succour…  The philosophy was that of self-defence… an attempt to found an alternative base to continue the combat against neocolonialism.”

    Looking back now, what surprises some of us now in our 70s is not so much the bungling of the noble trans-Niger operation as the discriminatory attitude of the federal troops towards the Midwestern communities.  Apart from the gruesome decapitation of Col. Henry Igboba, whom they reportedly found in the Benin prison, no other atrocity was committed in the Edo area, unlike in Ika Ibo area, especially at Asaba where hundreds of able-bodied unarmed men were lined up and shot dead.

    Did Asaba deserve this savagery considering its contributions towards the evolution and development of Nigeria?  Asaba is the hometown of frontline nationalist Dennis Osadebay, the first premier of Midwestern State and a former opposition leader in the Western House of Assembly.  Osadebay once acted as Nigeria’s Governor-General.  Asaba is the birth place of Chief S. I. O. Odogwu, the renowned industrialist and large-scale employer of labour.  The historic Asaba Institute as far back as 1895 had raised people like Obed Azikiwe, the father of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe who was among the architects of our independence.  At a point in our history, Asaba was the hub of Nigeria’s telecommunication system.  Had the inimitable economic instincts of Sir George Goldie prevailed, given its unique location, Asaba would have been the capital of the country.  And today, besides the generation of Odogwu et al, Asaba has produced a host of young entrepreneurs who believing that “economics drives politics” have developed venture capitalist conglomerates with tentacles in vast areas: engineering, finance, oil services, mining, healthcare etc.

    A good example is Alban Ofili-Okonkwo, a former governorship candidate and an advocate of robust private sector in Nigeria.  Incidentally, Ofili-Okonkwo is the arrowhead of this year’s remembrance ceremonies in Asaba, with the theme “Remembrance and Forgiveness”, and featuring a colloquium with a profound theme: In Pursuit of Rebirth – all geared towards Asaba’s resurgence.  The highlight of the event will be the presentation of the latest book on the Civil War.  Entitled “The Asaba Massacre – Trauma, Memories and the Nigerian Civil War,” the book was written by two distinguished scholars, Professor S. Elizabeth Bird (Anthropologist) and Professor Fraser M. Ottanelli (Historian) both of the University of South Florida.

    Let me conclude this piece with a parody of a Balewa/Johnson/Moynbee exhortation: “War avenges the dead on the living; the vanquished on the victors. The nemesis of war is intrinsic. Nigeria is large enough to accommodate us all, in spite of our differences. Let us therefore strive to achieve a federation in which the people  of the north and south work together for the common good; a country in which sectional groups do not confront each other in bitter hostility, but provide a framework in which North and south can act together to assure the security of all. The glory of war is moonshine”.

     

    • Nzeakah is a former newspaper editor.

     

  • Civil servants and anti-corruption war

    Sir: The story of Nigeria’s several predicaments as well as current battle against corruption will at every point of the tale borders on the ‘whims and caprices’ of civil servants and politicians who have always been a part and parcel of the colonial, military and civilian rule.

    A civil servant in the most basic term must be a career bureaucrat employed on merit and whose institutional tenure should survive different regimes of state or federal government leadership. Therefore, a civil servant is expected to impartially implement policies and laws of government to ensure transparency and integrity in taking decisions that affect the everyday lives of citizens in areas of education, housing, health, transportation and so on.

    On the other hand are politicians who have been variously described as individuals and persons who are professionally involved in politics, be it a candidate for elective office or holder of an office – legislator, senator, statesman etc., chief executives of public service agencies who are nominated by political parties through the influence of their ‘party bigwigs or godfathers’ to head government agencies also fall into the category of politicians.

    Arguably, the civil service has some of the brightest brains that can accelerate change – positive or negative – but the economic misery in Nigeria today makes it almost impossible to discern any significant change in the verve of civil service employees. They seemingly live each day as it comes without any predictable future for either themselves or their children. In our clime, the obedient and forthright civil servant does not have the capacity to pay his or her own bills, let alone those of his children who attend public educational institutions. House rents, school fees, transport fares and even the unavoidable costs of feeding for survival have eroded hard earned incomes that have remained stagnant despite pleas, consultations and threats of industrial actions.

    Some civil servants and other ‘straight’ citizens brought up in the old school fashion of integrity, honesty, dedication, commitment, service and contentment have resorted to prayers. They now fill the various churches that have sprung up in every nook and cranny of the land.

    Unfortunately, so many Nigerians seem to ‘deliberately’ take no notice of the fact that the large scale and brazen depletion of the commonwealth of this great nation might have been checkmated if the civil servants had hope for their future and those of their off-springs; if they were sure of a certain tomorrow for their lineage; if they earned a wage that could make them ‘take a risk’ of not creating ways of earning income that would ensure their house rents are rarely unpaid; if they had conviction that the pensions they accrue in the course of their work will see them through a few years in retirement.

    The war against corruption will certainly succeed, only if there is conviction for a civil servant that ‘joy cometh in the morning’ if he resists a pilferer or political office holder who seeks an unjust take-away of a chunk of our commonwealth.

    Until there comes a time when hope is restored to the civil service and its ‘servants’ have assurance of a fairly predictable economic future for themselves and their families, the fight against corruption will continue to face resistance despite the number of policies being put in place by those who work night and day to make Nigeria great again.

     

    • Subomi Olumide,

    Palmgroove, Lagos

  • I don’t want to see another war, says Obasanjo

    I don’t want to see another war, says Obasanjo

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned against the present tension in the country degenerating into a war situation.

    Obasanjo spoke while responding to the wave of violent agitation in the Eastern part of the country for Biafra republic led by Nnamdi Kanu, Obasanjo in an interview with Newsweek Magazine in London.

    “Those who fought in the war in Biafra will not want to fight any other war,” he said adding that “I have fought one war too many in Nigeria; I don’t want to see another.”

    While noting that the army’s “heavy boot” response to pro-Biafra sentiment is “not the solution,” he also said that the secession craved by IPOB is not the way forward either.

    To resolve the crisis, Obasanjo said there was nothing wrong with President Muhammadu Buhari meeting with Kanu.

    “I don’t see anything wrong in that [Buhari meeting with Kanu]. I would not object to that; if anything, I would encourage it,” Obasanjo told Newsweek.

    “I would want to meet Kanu myself and talk to people like him, people of his age, [and ask:] ‘What are your worries?’ Not only from the southeast but from all parts of Nigeria.

    “We need to satisfy the youth in job creation, in wealth creation, in giving them a better, fulfilled life, in giving them hope for the future,” Obasanjo said adding that  “There’s no easy way out.”

  • A war without casualties

    Where are the casualties of Nigeria’s noisy war against corruption?  A war without casualties cannot be a war properly so called?  The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu may well be aware of the oddity of a war without casualties. Perhaps this is why he declared during a visit to The Nation headquarters in Lagos on September 7:  ”We’re now going to declare total war on corruption. It is our responsibility to crush corrupt practices in this country.”  This suggests that before now the war against corruption wasn’t total or was near total.

    What does “total war” mean in this context? A report said: “He described the biggest challenge to the Muhammadu Buhari administration’s anti-graft crusade as “corruption fighting back”. “It’s real and they (those fighting back) have all the money,” he said. Magu said there were no fewer than 125 high-profile corruption cases still “hanging in court.”

    Does “total war” mean the completion of prosecution? Why are these high-profile cases up in the air? As long as high-profile corruption cases remain unresolved, public confidence in the war against corruption will remain uncertain.    Magu’s visit shed light on the slow pace of prosecution of corruption suspects. The report said: “On the delay of such cases, Magu blamed it all on Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), who he said were used by rich and powerful suspects to frustrate cases.”How can 31 SANs go to court to defend one (suspected) looter? Sometimes judges are intimidated. Why should 31 SANs appear for a suspect? We need to ask questions,” Magu said.”

    The report continued: “He said such lawyers adopt several strategies to delay cases, some of which have spent nearly 10 years in court. “They abuse the court process, file all kinds of applications and go on appeal, which goes up to the Supreme Court and back.

    They adopt different technicalities and delay tactics. Sometimes they provoke the judges and write petitions against them. “But I don’t control the judges. We don’t have control over what happens in court. Our role is to investigate,” he said… “We investigate better than any other law enforcement agency in this country, including the police,” he said.”

    Two months after he became acting EFCC chairman, Magu on January 20, 2016, described corruption as “deliberate and calculated wickedness” against the country’s existence, meaning against the people, during a visit to the headquarters of The Nation in Lagos. “The impunity is too much,” he declared. Then he painted a picture of personal pain. He said:”Sometimes I shed tears in the morning before I go to the office. It is just unbelievable; the rot is terrible.” When the arrowhead of the anti-corruption agency is overwhelmed to the point of tears by the sheer scale of confirmable corruption, it is a telling statement about the place of conscience in the anti-corruption war. The fight against corruption is ultimately a fight for conscience, and a fight against the enemies of conscience.

    A portrait of corruption in the temple of justice was painted by no less a person than the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption War (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), in an interview. Sagay said: “When we talk of the judiciary, we are talking of judges. As far as I am concerned, the judiciary is not the most blameworthy. That is the truth of the matter. The most blameworthy are senior lawyers – a number of senior advocates who have made it a speciality; who have developed particular skills to kill corruption cases so that their clients, after many years of delays and frustrations of prosecution, end up going away with their loot. And such lawyers, of course, share in the proceeds of crime. They get a part of the loot and that is why you see them buying private jets and so on. That amount of money from the proceeds of crime has completely blunted their consciences and they are as active as the accused persons – the looters – in trying to protect the loot because part of the loot now belongs to them by association.”

    Sagay added: “What I am saying, therefore, is that this is where it starts. These are the people who carry huge sums of money behind chambers to judges. They are the ones who corrupt judges. Really, if the struggle is going to be effective, we have to mark down the lawyers who are behind all these, not just judges. In fact, there are some retired judges too that are in the game. They are called consultants and they carry huge sums of money to their juniors they left behind in the judiciary and use their influence to get them to simply abandon justice and do the bidding of corrupt persons. It is a very serious situation. But, as I said, the very first port of call would be the lawyers that are behind it. Right now, they are doing it without control; they are doing it without consequences…”

    It is thought-provoking that these two major anti-corruption warriors, Magu and Sagay, accused senior lawyers of working against the anti-corruption war. If it is the case that senior lawyers are frustrating anti-corruption efforts because they gain from the ill-gotten gains of corruption suspects, it means that such lawyers are no better than those accused of corruption.

    The accusation against senior lawyers who play the unflattering role of justice delayers in the war against corruption is too serious to be trivialised. Magu said during his latest visit to The Nation head office:  ”Corruption is the worst developmental problem we have in this country. We need more support. This fight is for our collective good. We should not allow ourselves to be purchased to the detriment of our co-existence. We need to mobilise everybody. Let’s do it together.”

    Those who behave like friends of corruption are enemies of society. Those who behave like enemies of society deserve to be condemned by society. Magu reportedly said he “duly handed over the list of high-profile cases as requested by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami (SAN).” The public expects convincing action by the authorities to show that the war against corruption is a war properly so called.

  • Hate speech as harbinger of war

    SIR: Unless urgent steps are taken to address myriads of discordant tunes now dominating our socio-political space, the country may be fast gravitating towards war. We have in this country witnessed how a small gang led by late Mohammed Yusuf in Borno State which constantly gushed out vitriolic criticisms against the state government degenerate into the hydra-headed monster called Boko-Haram today.

    Our government is obviously deficit of the proactive approach in forestalling crises situation; ours is always at the reactionary side. For instance when Boko-Haram abducted Chibok girls, the government then dismissed it as a farce. It took the concerted efforts of civil society groups both home and abroad to galvanize it to the reality of the situation.

    Today many separatist groups have sprung up clamouring for secession, organizing and mobilizing supports from both local and abroad; still we feel they are pursuing their fundamental rights to self-determination.

    With quit notices generously released and retrieved at will across the two sides of the divide of the Niger, we carry on as if everywhere is just bright and right.

    Now with hate-speech being elevated to songs concurrently rendered in Hausa and Igbo lyrics against themselves, are we not on Rwanda’s gory lane? As tribal animus is gradually being entrenched in the fabric of our consciousness, should we still pretend as if nothing is wrong? Must we wait until we are trapped in the looming conflagration?  Recession, hunger, unemployment and even marginalization can be controlled and managed, but certainly not war.

    It continues to baffle my imagination, when l see a Nigerian like Femi Fani-Kayode championing the course of hatred in the country. Many have wondered what could be his mission and reasons for such actions. We understand, the party that he served as its election publicity committee chair lost at the centre during 2015 elections but won at some of the federating units. Why should a man who has benefitted so much from this country be the one fanning embers of disunity and acrimony? If he truly hates this country this much, why did he serve as a minister during Chief Obasanjo’s administration? What has suddenly gone awry in the structure of the country that he did not see when he was in power?  We can recall that he was so loyal to his boss and was irrefragably committed to the unity of this country to the extent that, he could not brook any dissenting view from anybody, no matter how highly placed. Was it a case of one not being able to talk while eating? Now that someone has decided to talk long after the meal, of whose interest and for what advocacy should we ascribe this to?

    May we stroll along memory lane; we could draw a remarkable analogy thereafter. In 1930s, Adolf Hitler’s publicized anti-Semitic views inflamed a universal hatred against the Jews in Germany, culminating in the infamous Holocaust.

    Events that built up to the 1967-70 civil war among many factors were aggravated by hate-speeches churned out by the then Radio Biafra which urged Easterners to see Northerners and indeed Nigeria as their enemies.

    In 1993, a broadcast station called Radio Mille Colline sponsored by Hutu extremists launched a massive verbal attack against their Tutsi brothers and the corollary pogrom that followed reportedly claimed more than 800,000 lives in Rwanda.

    Since Radio Biafra has been resurrected and repositioned as a major platform for dissemination of animosity, the proposed bill by the Minister of Interior, Abdurahman Dambazau against hate-speeches is a step well directed.

     

    • Itaobong Offiong Etim

    Calabar, Cross River State.

  • Rice millers back war against smuggling

    The Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) has promised to provide information to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to curb the smuggling the product.

    The association will also support the Federal Government’s value chain programme on local rice cultivation, milling, processing, and production.

    Its Chairman, Board of Trustees, Mr. Peter Dharma, made these pledges in Kano, at the association’s inaugural meeting.

    Noting that Nigerians had, over the years, been losing enormous resources to the smuggling of food items into the country, he said “Our association will work closely with the regulatory and policy makers to ensure standards in local rice milling.”

    He also stated that the association would support research into renewable energy source, which, he said, RIMAN will recommend to its members in the near future.

    Speaking on the occasion, NCS Area Commander Mr. Yusuf Abba hailed RIMAN’s plan, noting that it would yield benefits to the country.

    Abba, who was represented by the Deputy Comptroller, Enforcement, Mr. Ago Hyacinth, said smugglers should no longer be allowed to sabotage the economy.

    A director at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mallam Muhammed Munir, said the Federal Government’s injection of money into the sector would facilitate employment for citizens.

    The association at the inaugural meeting discussed the various issues on rice production in the country.

  • X-raying the diaper brand war in Nigeria

    X-raying the diaper brand war in Nigeria

    Pampers, owning 60 per cent of the diaper market share, is a brand hinged on functionality, affordability and availability. With the largest distribution network and a N4.8 billion plant, Pampers is seriously defending its market leadership position. To increase market share, its manufacturer, Procter & Gamble (P&G), has added Pampers Baby Dry and Pampers Premium to the product portfolio.  P & G is taking its competitive drive ahead of the market by exploring below–the-line promotion, engaging moms with product towards experiential marketing.

    Pampers is the dominant brand in this market, however, the competition is daring. Therefore the brand keeps defending the current market by using advertising, maternity wards engagement and promotions. In addition to this, Pampers must expand total market by promoting product-brands and expand market share. For a leader to protect its position against challengers, it requires innovation, choices, price cuts, expansion distribution channel, and intense promotional efforts. Pampers has a lot to do.

    Huggies is a major competitor of Pampers. The Huggies brand sells intrinsic value, driving a unique proposition that goes beyond form and functionality. For Huggies, functionality is the basics, while the “feeling” is the product. Huggies sells “self-esteem” to moms as a product. Huggies flew over Physiological Needs in the Maslow’s Hierarchy and offers the baby “class” and the mother, “pride”. As a blogger puts it: “Huggies babies were more posh… a thing of class”. Because of this, those who use Huggies have so much affinity for the brand and they are always pleased to show off the diaper at every opportunity.

    These moms are proud to change their baby’s diapers in the public, they paid for it! Huggies is a nicher and a strong brand in this market. It is therefore exposed to less threat. Huggies does not control this market and it cannot be controlled by it. The target of the brand is a segment of the market with a strategic profiling: middle-upper class, business-professional moms. As long as Huggies remain a quasi-luxury brand, they would keep buying. Huggies’ brand statement: “let the second hug come from us” has said enough that all you get is a diaper that emote. As a nicher, Huggies is an end-user specialist and is focused on wallet share, rather than market share. The concept is “having 100 per cent of few pockets rather than having one per cent of many households”.

    Molfix is a low-cost diaper brand, produced by Hayat Kimya Nigeria Ltd. Molfix is cheaper and significantly offers quality products. It is also presently competing with Pampers in terms of national distribution and is positioned as a challenger. To be able to challenge the market leader, Molfix invested $100 million dollars into production, erecting an ultra modern diaper/tissue factory in Agbara Industrial Layout, Ogun State – a facility that was inaugurated on June 1, 2017.

    The challenger brand is expected to choose general attack strategies as well as specific attack strategies. In terms of price strategy, Molfix is doing well in offering lower prices for quality products. The best way to challenge a leader is to drag it into a price war, while initiating backward integration to cut cost. With the cutting edge technology of Molfix, plus the fact that the company generates its own power, cost of production is lower and there is more control on pricing. This is competition!

    Luvs have been introduced into Nigeria through the online shopping stores. The brand was created in 1976 in the United States, as a premium diaper. Presently Luv is being positioned as the cheapest anti leaking diaper. Nigerians are yet to understand this product and it is not being promoted to the mainstream. The positioning of Luvs in the market is yet to be understood. There is another product being merchandised online, Chocco Diaper, a product imported from India.

    Forecasting the future

    P&G’s new brands – both the Pampers Baby Dry and the Pampers Premium – could have raised the cost of production. We should also note that cost of raw materials rose as a result of forex instability. For the leader, the proposition of “low-cost efficient brands” must have been challenging. Euro-monitor’s research shows that Pampers had loses in volume and value last year but was able to keep 60% of the market share. Pampers will soon be attracting new users; new moms who had no previous experience of diapers. Frequency of use is another approach to increasing volume; the demographic of moms who reuse diapers will offer low volume. Thus, the Leader will less likely explore price cut; the brand is an asset for market share expansion.

    Huggies will always remain what it is – a diaper that hugs tight, and makes the mother proud. The manufacturer, Kimberly-Clark, will eventually extend Huggies rewards to Nigeria. And the brand may soon be involved in events, sponsorships and promotions. Nichers are exposed to two threats – the fact that a Follower may clone the product-brand of the Nicher and also the fact that the Leader may expand its product portfolio to include that particular niche. What happened to Alomo bitters was that new entrants came into the niche it pioneered. That was possible because the Nicher did not defend the niche; there was no promotion, no advertising and no events. Huggies will take steps to become synonymous to the niche and grow its wallet share. When you leave a gap, others come in to fill it.

    Molfix has taken a bold investment decision, and it can only continue to be daring. The brand is engaging moms on social media and may soon initiate promotions that will drive loyalty and frequency of use. Obviously, Molfix refrains from being a Follower – unlike Techno is to Nokia and Infinix is to Samsung. Being a Follower is also a strategy but a Challenger is a brand ready to take Market Leadership. In challenging the Leader, the manufacturer of Molfix will eventually start promoting its hygienic pad, Molped, as the Leader also has product line for hygienic pads. Expect some event sponsorships and celebrity endorsement from the Challenger.

     

    Conclusion

    Competitiveness will bring new product developments, choices for consumers and prosperity for humanity. The diaper market will grow bigger in potentials and value, due to urbanization and globalization. Change is what is constant and the future is full of uncertainty. As P & G set out in 1950s to change the culture, converting cloth-diaper to disposable diaper, so also more brands are setting new trends with new products. However, culture is setting the pace for innovations in the 21st century, and we can only expect smart diapers!

  • Agency declares war against illegal mast installation

    Agency declares war against illegal mast installation

    The Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) has declared war against illegal installation of masts, towers and other appurtenances of telecommunications in the metropolis.

    Its General Manager, Mr Babajide Odekunle, told reporters that the agency would embark on a state-wide regulatory inspection and standards compliance audit of such infrastructure.

    According to him, the exercise is geared towards ensuring orderly development of urban infrastructure in the construction and operation of telecommunications infrastructure deployed by telecommunications, tower operators and mobile network operators.

    Odekunle said: “Removal of abandoned and non-compliant masts and towers: So far, we have started the activity around Ikeja and its environs and about 95 masts, towers have been decommissioned; the agency has also set up a task force named ‘Zero tolerance on non-compliant mast and towers on Lagos Island’, which is saddled with the responsibility of combing Lagos Island to discover substandard as well as illegal or unpermitted masts, towers.”

    He explained that  the task force constituted two weeks ago has identified over 20 masts and towers that either did not meet acceptable standards or were erected illegally, adding that about eight have been decommissioned.

    According to him, the agency is also planning to establish zonal offices in Badagry, Epe and Ikorodu to strengthen its monitoring and compliance activities.

    “Inter-agency cooperation with Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC) and Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK) is already established in order to serve the citizens of the state better.

    “The Agency would like to encourage the public to be their brothers’ keeper by giving timely and adequate information on any suspected activities around their neighbourhood that relates to digging of roads/pathways, erection of mast, towers either on the ground or on the rooftop, laying of cables, pipes etc. Be that whistleblower by contacting us,” he said.

    Odekunle said the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration placed premium on the safety and security.

    “Therefore, any institution, individual found to be perpetrating acts that is against the tenets of acceptable guidelines of government agencies, would be prosecuted accordingly,” he said.

  • Senate not sabotaging anti-graft war, says Uzodinma

    Senate not sabotaging anti-graft war, says Uzodinma

    •Senator fires back at ex-Milad Umar

    The Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff and Marine Transport, Hope Uzodinma, yesterday faulted an allegation by a former Military Administrator of Kaduna State, Colonel Mohammed Dangiwa Umar (retd.) that senators were attempting to sabotage Federal Government’s anti-graft war.

    The senator said the allegation was reckless and “un-statesmanly” of the former military administrator.

    He expressed surprise that a respected public figure like Umar made such sweeping remarks about the National Assembly without having the facts to back up his claims.

    Uzodinma said it was unfortunate that Umar was allegedly being used to malign the integrity of the Senate to satisfy the Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Bala Usman.

    The senator accused the NPA chief, who he described as Umar’s daughter’s best friend.

    He added that Ms Usman was allegedly frustrating the current Senate investigation into the disappearance of over 282 containers from the ports without a kobo paid to the Federal Government as revenue, among others.

    Uzodinma took issues with Umar in a statement in Abuja.

    The statement said: “I have a lot of respect for Col Umar. In fact, I see him as a nationalist; but on this one, he goofed.

    “While appreciating the relationship between the NPA’s MD and Col Umar’s daughter, I still felt that the statesman in him should have moved him to look at the issues on the ground very dispassionately without bias.

    “Honestly, I still don’t understand why the Senate is being blackmailed for performing its constitutional role. A petition was written to my committee by a company, which said it imported rice and paid the relevant duties to the Nigeria Customs Service. Then, when the rice came in, the Customs seized the containers. So, we discussed the petition at the committee’s level and decided to = forward a letter to Customs.

    “In the letter, we said we received a letter from this company alleging maltreatment and we implore you to look at the merits or otherwise through your internal mechanisms.

    “We never directed the cargo to be released anywhere in the letter. I still have a copy of the letter and the reply from the Customs. Col Umar would have even spoken with Col. Hamed Ali of Customs to verify this before rushing to press with a fiction.”

    On Calabar Channel, Uzodinma said: “We are not investigating Calabar Channel dredging now.

    “The issue of my interest in Niger Global is neither here nor there because I had long been a businessman, even before venturing into politics. And the company was incorporated in 1995, long before the contract was awarded to it in 2004.

    “As at 2004, I was not a senator; I was a businessman. Immediately I aspired to the Senate in 2011, I resigned my chairmanship of the company.

    “So, we are not even investigating NPA on Calabar dredging; we are investigating infractions in the import-export cycle where vessels would come into the country and offload goods and return without a dime paid into government coffers.

    “How should this investigation not excite any patriotic Nigerian? Why the sustained blackmail from the stable of the NPA, whose MD has refused four invitations of the committee to appear before it to answer to these alleged infractions?”

  • Govt urged to engage hunters in insurgency war

    The Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in Borno State has urged the Federal Government to engage hunters in the counter-insurgency campaign.

    CJTF’s legal adviser the Mr. Jubrin Gunda, who spoke during an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri, said practical measures were necessary to check the attacks and promote peace in the society.

    “Hunters and other vigilance groups should be co-opted in the anti-insurgency campaign. They should be allowed to work in their respective localities.

    “Re-introduction of military sector commands in Maiduguri and environs is imperative toward enhancing security, protection of life and property.

    “There is also a need for proper coordination and joint patrols by military, police and CJTF members to check the menace, even as it is desirable to provide the CJTF with modern weapons, ammunitions, training and motivational support to boost their morale,” he said.