The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Yemi Osinbajo

  • Erosion: Buhari to declare state of emergency in Anambra

    The people of Orumba North and Orumba South in Anambra have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency to the unending erosion disaster in the federal constituency.

    They made the request in Abuja on Friday when the traditional and town union leaders, led by the member representing the federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Rep Ben Nwankwo, visited Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    The lawmaker told State House Correspondents after the meeting that the disaster was beyond the capacity of the affected communities and the state to handle.

    He said that the disaster required urgent intervention of both the federal government and international agencies.

    “We are here on a triple mission; the first is to commend the federal government of Nigeria through the Vice President on their very gargantuan input toward the burial of (late) Dr Alex Ekwueme.

    “The second mission is to notify them of the war going on in Orumba North and South between erosion and the people as to who owns the land.

    “While there is Boko Haram in the North East there is `erosion Haram’ in the South East particularly in Anambra state.

    “The Agulu-Oko-Nanka, down to Umunze is the deepest gully erosion in the country and we have notified the Vice President of this situation; about 100 houses have caved in and hundreds of people rendered homeless.

    “They are squatting at various places and we are asking for international intervention especially in the area of survey, risk assessment, mapping and ecological engineering.

    “But most importantly, the site in-toto should be declared ecological emergency to give it the attention it rightly deserves so that the international community should be able to come into it, otherwise the next two years there will be more disaster.’’

    Nwankwo said that the third plea was to ask the federal government to upgrade the two federal institutions in the area to degree-awarding institutions.

    They are the Federal Polytechnic, Oko in Orumba North and the Federal College of Education, Technical, Umunze in Orumba South.

    He explained that the request was to ensure that both institutions did not continue to produce manpower that would not be utilized by the industry.

    The lawmaker stated that the request was trendy and international adding that more than 13 countries had such polytechnic universities.

    Nwankwo commended the President in the onerous task of fixing Nigeria.

    The Rep said that the declaration of the erosion emergency was not essentially a legislative process but one that could be started by the executive.

    He said the communities had properly situated it with the executive domain and promised that when the leadership tabled it before the National Assembly, it would receive positive attention.

    Nwankwo said that the legislative instrument that would back the request was already before the National Assembly.

    The traditional ruler of Oko, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, added that the erosion situation in the region had continued to grow worse with every rain and called for urgent help by the federal government.

    “We are pleading and praying and urging the government to do everything possible to start work on it with international help.

    “It is beyond the community, beyond the state even beyond the federal government but it can initiate the process of getting outside bodies to assist.

    “We are in the great danger of losing the whole communities and beyond; whatever the media can do to help to urge everybody to come to assist and to save our souls we will appreciate it,’’ the monarch said.

    NAN

     

  • On-shore/off-shore dichotomy: Osinbajo, Emmanuel meet in Aso Rock

    …Warns against inflammatory statements

     

    Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel on Thursday met behind closed-doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The meeting followed the alleged inflammatory statements by some political leaders on the onshore/offshore dichotomy occasioned by the report of the Governor Nasir el-Rufai-led Committee to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on restructuring.

    Some of the recommendations of the report of the Kaduna State Governor committee on fiscal federalism and restructuring, centering on onshore/offshore dichotomy had not gone down well with some stakeholders from the oil rich region.

    Although the Federal Government claimed it had addressed grey areas relating to the sharing of Federation Account Allocation to littoral states as it concerns crude oil revenue.

    But Governor el-Rufai-led committee had recommended in the report presented to the party leadership, that “to promote the unity of the country and ensure that states are more financially empowered to deliver services to their residents, as well as ensure no one feels disadvantaged, the committee recommends that the Federal Government should expeditiously review derivation to reflect areas of consensus which are adoption of ‘state control of resources and pay FG,’ upward review of the current formula in favour of states and adoption of similar derivation formula in favour of solid minerals and power generation.”

    Reacting to the development while speaking with State House journalists, Governor Emmanuel said it was irresponsible for people who had no business with oil generation in the country to make sweeping statements that could jeopardise the polity.

    He said that he was bothered about inflammatory statements coming from people with little knowledge about oil and the economic implications.

    He said, “The Vice President is the Chairman of the National Economic Council so once you see a forward looking governor like us coming to have a discussion with him, you know it has something to do with the economy.

    “Whatsoever robs off in the state must also play part in the country especially a state that I run as the largest oil producer in this country today even though I mean as you all are aware, I don’t even have a dimple to show for it but at least we must do our best to make sure we contribute significantly to economy of this country, and probably also use this opportunity to tell those who do not understand few things not to make certain comments that would not allow this country to run the way it should run.

    “I hear people making all kind of comments at times somebody who doesn’t even understand, who has never seen crude oil before will come and tell you about onshore/offshore all those things is dead and has been buried, so let those people not just make inflammatory statements that will cause problems.

    “But by and large it has been a good meeting we discuss the entire economy of the nation I am also looking forward to a whole lot of happenings within this period because I can see our economy should move much faster, yesterday the oil price was well over $73 a barrel, this is a good sign of an economy that should get into a boom very soon.”

    He was optimistic that the nation’s economic recovery would move faster following Tuesday’s positive jump in price of crude oil at the international market.

    The governor said the country should capitalize on the new oil price to step up economic recovery and move the country beyond present level of development.

    He said, “Our economy should move much faster; yesterday the oil price was well over 73 dollars per barrel; this is a good sign of an economy that should get into improving very soon.

    “The Vice President is the chairman of NEC and once you see a forward-looking governor like ours coming to have a discussion with him, know that it is 100 per cent about the economy.

    “Whatsoever rubs off in the state must also play part in the country, especially a state that I run as the largest oil producer in the country today even though  as you all are aware I do not have a deep to show for it.

    “But at least we must do our best to make sure we contribute significantly to the economy of this country,’’ he said.

    On flood in Akwa Ibom state, the governor stated that the administration had tackled that but noted that erosion was a major concern because of the damage caused by the ravine.

    He said the state was playing politics of development which isolated it from the kinds of politics seen in the rest of Africa.

    He said, “We are more particular about development; look at the quality of leaders we have been bringing out since 2003 till today; look at the profile of the leaders and it is a clear direction that we are out for development.

    “We are not out for some of the propaganda that some other states play and we are not out for deceit; we are out for the truth and the truth stands out; I think we have done well,” he stated.

    Read Also: Ekweremadu briefs Osinbajo on Senate invasion

  • Ekweremadu briefs Osinbajo

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu yesterday briefed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the invasion of the Senate.

    After meeting with Osinbajo, Ekweremadu told reporters: “I am sure you are aware of the Senate invasion today and we have to come and brief the Vice President because the President is not in town, so it was appropriate for him to know what transpired because we are in a democracy; we are all in one government and it is the responsibility of the President or the Vice President to ensure that there is law and order in the country.

    ”And once we have this kind of major development it is important that he is briefed at the earliest opportunity. Since the Senate President is out of the country, it is my responsibility to come over and brief the Vice-President.

    ”He has sympathised with us over what happened and he is going to join forces with us to ensure that we get to the root of the matter to make sure that this will not happen again.

    ”For us it’s a threat to our democracy, the invasion of the parliament is not acceptable to any person, it’s not acceptable to me, it is not acceptable to the Vice-President, it is not acceptable to my colleagues, I believe it is not also acceptable to the President.

    ”So those who acted this script must be on their own. All we need to do as a country is to ensure that this is forestalled and I want to appeal to the media to help us discourage this kind of brigandage so that people have to behave in a very responsible manner.”

    The Senate, Ekweremadu said, was on top of the situation.

    He said: “And we are going to continue tomorrow (today). Having suffered suspension, does Omo-Agege have a legal right to enter the chamber? It was a breach of the law for him to force himself into the chamber.

    ”As I said, police are still investigating; we are going to find out the details of those who aided him to come in and then some of them I believe have been arrested and we will get to the root of the matter.” he said.

  • Value-laden

    Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands –  1 Samuel  8: 7

    This biblical quote (above) epitomizes the subversive praise of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, as he acted for ill President Muhammadu Buhari, in those testy times of the administration.

    Tiny David had just slain Giant Goliath, the Philistinian.  Sensation-craving Israelites, like present-day Nigerians, just went berserk!

    But that was subversive in King Saul’s troubled ears, and the resultant David-induced paranoia would prove fatal for the eventually ousted king; and near-fatal for the young man, David, himself.

    Like the Jews of old, many aNigerian just yakked, with impressive innocence, at the great vice-presidential strides — no crime.

    But with some spiteful lobbies, that praise was a deliberate ploy, to goad Prof. Osinbajo into new vanity, and put a wedge between him and the president.

    That would have re-played the ugly Obasanjo-Atiku presidential feud, that all but crippled their second term (2003-2007).

    Was Osinbajo taken in by all the razzmatazz, friendly or fiendish?  If he was, he didn’t show it.

    Besides, watching President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo at the 10th Bola Tinubu colloquium in Lagos on March 29, the body language was clear: neither Saul nor David; absolutely no vanity or paranoia — just one seamless, self-reinforcing “kingdom”, primed for, in Jeremy Bentham-speak, the greatest happiness of the greatest number.

    Indeed, the duo would appear the political equivalent of another famous scriptural quip: Paul planting, Apollo watering, grace sprouting!

    At that colloquium, Osinbajo-in-Buhari established a clear nexus between fighting corruption and freeing hitherto stolen resources for human development — and gave logical reasons why folks must continue to talk about it.

    Geez, could leadership be so simple and unobtrusive, when not poisoned by empty conceit and tragic ego; and when the thrust is the people’s welfare, not the crust of personal glory and solo riches?

    Perhaps if President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar had struck such a working ethos and work chemistry; and if both were perceived non-venal and as clean as the whistle, the decayed polity wouldn’t have logically metastasized under President Goodluck Jonathan, which made the Buhari Presidency such an imperative.

    That returns the subject to the nexus between corruption and crippling under-development, with its attendant mass poverty.

    Prof. Osinbajo made a graphic and telling point, citing the Jonathan-era  ”strategic alliance” heist at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), from which Nigeria allegedly lost US $3 billion (about one trillion Naira).

    From the equivalent of that trove, allegedly pocketed by the thieving lobbies that cut the deal, the Buhari presidency is now proposing to fix the following ongoing crucial roads nationwide: Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road, 2nd Niger Bridge (which a NAN source says is now over 40 per cent completed), Enugu-Port Harcourt road, East-West road, Sagamu-Ore-Benin road (though in all fairness the Jonathan government fixed a stretch of that road), Kano-Maiduguri road, Abuja-Lafia-Akwanga-Keffi road, and the old Lagos-Abeokuta expressway, passing through Ota-Ifo-Wasimi, all in Ogun State.

    But the occasion was not really for physical infrastructure, which stats nevertheless the vee-pee’s speech ran through.  It was rather to showcase the Buhari government’s comprehensive investment in social infrastructure, despite depleting resources.  That policy is driven by the Vice President.

    The theme, “Investing in the people”,  was therefore a vivid feedback on the state of the Buhari social safety net programmes, to a select gathering, with the president himself in-situ.

    Personal testimonies, which often pushed the house into a frenzy, underscored how those social infrastructural stats had positively impacted on citizens — the lowly, the vulnerable, the disinherited and the abandoned, for whom “government” had for too long been nothing but a loud abstraction.

    The social investments are captured under a quad of programmes, being implemented concurrently: Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) with the street lingo of “market moni”, the N-Power Programme, split between graduate volunteers and trainees, all aimed at stemming high unemployment and the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), which beneficiary testimonies sent the hall thundering with cheers.

    CCT — of N5,000 monthly — is for the society’s poorest and most vulnerable.  It is a classic welfare state’s direct intervention in cash; and it is on in 21 states so far (with the remaining 16 waiting to follow, if you add the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja).

    Thus far, 297, 973 households, harbouring 1, 033, 294 Nigerians are current beneficiaries, according to Dr. Temitope Sinkaye, the national coordinator of the programme.

    GEEP is in the realm of entrepreneurship, driven by a hub of trade cooperatives.

    Of GEEP, Mrs Toyin Adeniji, its coordinator quipped: “GEEP is the largest and most ambitious microcredit scheme in the history of Nigeria, providing interest-free loans of N50, 000 to N250, 000 to over 300, 000 Nigerian micro-enterprises (market women, traders, artisans, youths and farmers).  It is a direct effort of the Federal Government to break the multi-decade jinx of economic growth without shared prosperity at the base of the pyramid.”

    A couple of “market moni” beneficiaries were also there to testify to its impact on their business bottom line.

    The most graphic testimonial of the day came from the NHGSFP, the school feeding programme, with one of the beneficiary pupils, a girl from Akwa Ibom, cooing “O, my God! O, my God!”, to show her relish for the daily menu, again sending the house into a rapture.

    As at February 2018, 7, 487, 441 pupils in 22 states have been beneficiaries, 75, 333 cooks have reportedly been empowered and 26 states “have completed food safety and hygiene training, as well as medical screening for cooks.”

    But the most telling, in terms of tactics and strategy against joblessness, would appear the N-Power Programmes.  N-Power volunteers, with a stipend of N30, 000 a month, are an immediate counter to graduate unemployment.  N-Power volunteers are integrated, as quality manpower, into CCT, GEEP and NHGSFP.

    N-Power training, code-named “N-Power Build”, is a strategic programme to train top-notch artisans, in seven key areas: automobile, carpentry and joinery, welding and fabrication, electrical installation, masonry, plumbing and pipe-fitting, and painting and decoration, vital areas where current skills levels are at best sloppy.

    A corollary, N-Power Junior, is being grafted into the regular school system to target young Nigerians from ages 6 to 18 in skills like coding and computer programming, computer hardware repairs; and 2D and 3D animations, including scriptwriting for films.

    As the Vice President proudly rendered his account, in front of his beaming and cheering principal, something was crystal clear.

    If the Nigerian top two had always reinforced themselves, in integrity and brilliance, our country would never have been in this hole.

    It’s all about value-laden leadership.  That is the sane path to tread.

  • Bayelsa vows to sue Fed Govt over $1bn ECA funds

    The Bayelsa State Government on Saturday vowed to sue the Federal Government if it refused to deduct the 13 percent derivation component of the $1bn Excess Crude Account Funds (ECA) it planned to withdraw to tackle insecurity in the country.

    He state Governor Seriake Dickson earlier demanded that the 13 percent derivation component of the funds should be deducted and deployed in the oil-producing states to address the peculiar  security challenges in the region.

    The state government was said to have formally presented its position to the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who is also the Chairman of the National Economic Council.

    The State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said in a statement that the government remained adamant on its request.

    Iworiso-Markson quoted Dickson, as explaining that withdrawing the $1bn without deducting and paying the 13 percent derivation to the oil-producing states would amount to arm-twisting them  to make double contributions to the security funds.

    Read Also: Bayelsa creek communities threaten showdown with oil firm

    He said: “The governor said that wholesome withdrawal of the funds inclusive of the 13 percent derivation would mean that the oil producing states would be making double contributions because  they would be contributing their allocations like all other states and then the 13 percent derivation constitutionally provided for, to address security and other pressing needs in the states.

    “Dickson had earlier called the attention of the Vice President, Osinbajo, to the position of the State Government on the proposed withdrawal of the ECA funds last December.

    “The governor had stressed that while Bayelsa was not opposed to the withdrawal of the funds to enhance national security, “the utilization of the funds involving the armed forces, intelligence services and police must cover every part of the country”.

    He added: “The Bayelsa State Government will approach the court to enforce deduction of the 13 percent derivation component from the $1 billion ECA funds which the Federal Government claims it  plans to withdraw  to tackle insecurity.

    “We have held meetings with the Vice President, President Yemi Osinbajo, on this issue. We even backed it up with a formal letter to the President through the Vice President which was taken to Abuja by His Excellency, the Deputy Governor and delivered by hand to the Vice President to underscore the importance we attach to the issue in question.

    “Our position remains the same: while the state government is not opposing the planned withdrawal of the funds for security and indeed the general well-being of the society, it would be unfair and unjust to pull out the funds without releasing the 13 percent to the oil- producing states.

    “An arrangement that compels a group of states to contribute twice to the fund while their counterparts contribute only part of their statutory allocation cannot be said to be just. The constitution is clear on this and we shall approach the court to advocate our position.

    “For the purpose of emphasis, Bayelsa has formally notified the Vice President who is Chairman of the National Economic Council on this matter.

    “That Bayelsa is in support of the withdrawal of the funds to improve the capacity of the Armed Forces and Security Agencies to protect Nigeria and her citizens is not in doubt but we are insisting that the right thing must be done.

    “Governor Dickson had earlier demanded the constitution of a committee of the Governor’s Forum to work with the Chairman of the National Economic Council and heads of the security agencies on the items listed to be procured with the ECA funds.

    “He said that Bayelsa like all other states of the federation would like to know what component of these security procurement would directly benefit the security architecture in the state (Bayelsa State).”

    “He had said that only such an arrangement would suffice in addressing the widespread fears already expressed by various bodies and individuals in the country”.

  • MOSOP wants Buhari to address injustice, marginalization in Ogoniland

    The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately address the injustice and marginalisation in Ogoniland, in order to put an end to the neglect of many years.

    MOSOP on Thursday in Port Harcourt, through its Publicity Secretary, Fegalo Nsuke, also expressed displeasure over the Federal Government’s inability to commence the clean-up of Ogoniland and the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the environmental assessment of Ogoniland.

    It noted that with the August 4, 2011 submission of the UNEP report to the then President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, it was expected that almost seven years after, the actual clean-up of Ogoniland ought to have started, considering the assurances given by President Buhari and the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, during his last visit to Ogoniland about two years ago.

    Ogoni people in the four Local Government Areas of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme declared that they were not happy over the inaction on the Ogoni clean-up and other recommendations in the UNEP report.

    The umbrella organisation of Ogoni people said: “At the inception of the administration of President Buhari, we (Ogoni people) had anticipated some relief for the Ogoni people, not only because the new President had during his campaign in 2015 pledged to ensure the clean-up of Ogoniland and fully implement the recommendations contained in the UNEP report, but we expected that the clean-up would open discussions on crucial issues affecting the Ogoni people, especially the political right to self determination.

    “We had hope that President Buhari’s integrity, based on what we had heard about him and his uprightness, would not be compromised. We were actually optimistic of a renewed commitment to resolving the Ogoni problems.

    “We were sure that President Buhari was aware that in over 30 years of oil exploration in Ogoniland, an estimated $81 billion had been generated from the area, excluding the huge gas potential of Ogoniland, the revenue from the two seaports, two refineries, a petrochemical complex and two power stations in the area, but Ogoniland has no water, electricity, roads and other social amenities.

    “The Ogoni experience clearly shows the injustice in Nigeria. The shame is that rather than address the injustice, the Federal Government of Nigeria is attempting to deceive the world about the true situation in Ogoniland. Today in Ogoniland, some villages bury as many as 13 persons in a week, because of pollution caused by exploration and exploitation of crude oil and gas since 1958.

    “The Federal Government of Nigeria is not bothered about the pathetic situation in Ogoniland, but still pushing for resumption of oil production in Ogoniland, over 25 years after Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) was sent packing from the area. Nigeria government’s primary interest is the Ogoni oil and not the safety and future of the people.”

    MOSOP also stated that it was demanding justice, fairness and equity peacefully and non-violently, while noting that the peace-loving Ogoni people were being pushed to the wall.

    It maintained that Ogoni State was not negotiable, stressing that the new state would deliver social equality and justice for the people, thereby allowing Ogoni people to set their priorities and developmental needs.

    The umbrella organisation of Ogoni people assured that the determined people of Ogoniland would never surrender to an oppressive Nigerian government.

    It will be recalled that the renowned environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight other Ogoni activists were hanged at the Port Harcourt Prisons on November 10, 1995, during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha.

  • Osinbajo advocates compulsory health insurance scheme for citizens Insurance

    The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday advocated compulsory health insurance scheme for citizens to enable all to access quality and affordable health care services.

    He advocated this at the “Civic Innovation Lab: Launch-pad for social innovators’’ in Abuja.

    Osinbajo noted that the present National Health Insurance Scheme although useful, was unable to pull resources together to cater for the health needs of others not yet enrolled.

    He said that government was investing in education and health care and had supported states with N1.91 trillion.

    He, however, added that while such sector funding lay in the states only a functional and all-embracing national health insurance scheme could provide adequate health care for citizens.

    The Vice President also advocated that undergraduates should be exposed to internships in government administration to enable them to acquire the experience for future leadership roles.

    He also said it was difficult to find role models in governance but said there was the need for the nation to agree on a set of values which could direct the course of governance.

    He said that one thing the nation needed to get right was integrity as with integrity more than 50 per cent of the nation’s problems would have gone.

    According to him, the nation is endowed with enormous resources and creativity which could be harnessed for the country’s good with leadership that had integrity.

    The Vice President noted that people went into politics with the notion to use it to make money by stealing adding that by and large such objective affected everything, including political judgment.

    He stated that most of the problems in the country centered on corruption due to lack of integrity and called for change of attitude.

    “If 70 per cent of our resources went into where they were supposed we would not be where we are today,’’ he stated adding that no society could survive on the greed and theft of others.

    He said “integrity pays and is the only thing that works for progress’’.

    He stated that those who could be trusted were more easily open to having business deals with others adding that integrity was a business issue rather than a moral issue.

    “I think that many people understands that Nigerians are one of the most creative people in the world; many people know that we have one of the best minds but people are worried when it comes to integrity issues ,’’ he said.

    Osinbajo stated that the most difficult lesson he learnt since becoming the Vice President was that it was difficult to get things done in the our environment.

    “I think there is a huge gap in a stated objective and getting it done’’ and the reason for that is because we are not paid on timelines, efficiency or productivity in a positive sense.

    He noted that the people who work around him, being young people, had brought in more efficiency than others.

    Osinbajo admitted that youth employability was a major challenge but the problems had to do with the kind of training people got.

    According to him, many suffer the double jeopardy of the training being inadequate as well as advanced technology including the artificial intelligence that had taken away a lot of jobs.

    He described the scenario as complicating but added that the advantage the youth had was that technology could help much in unraveling the problem.

    He said that the government’s N-Power was basically to engage graduates without jobs and to train them in employability task skills.

    “The best type of investment we can make is to push people to that kind of training in spite of your academic qualification,’’ he said adding that in self-improvement a lot of collaboration was needed.

    He said there was the need to change the way of teaching in institutions to embrace creative reasoning, collaboration, the use of technology and others.

    He noted that there were few platforms for people to interact with government adding that the civic lab was an excellent example of bringing people with innovations that had social relevance to have link with the government.

    He said that government had interest in the Civic hub to also find out how to resolve problems in the system.

    He said that the administration recently organized the Aso Villa Demo Day as an innovation challenge for the youth adding that another one involving students across the country had begun.

    Osinbajo stated that besides, government would open innovation hubs in six Nigerian universities beginning with the University of Lagos, to enhance creativity in partnership with the private sector.

    He added that an innovation hub existed in Yola, Adamawa, aimed at solving the humanitarian challenges in the North East.

    Osinbajo advised the youth to focus on self-development and strong values noting that with that they could stem the mediocrity seen in government.

    He advised the youth to deemphasize tribe or religion as such things did not help to develop the country in any way noting that agreeing on certain values would offer mentorship to the youth.

    The Vice President said that effort should be made to educate the young people adding that it was also the highest investment the youth could make on others.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Nigeria on path of resurrection, progress -Osinbajo

    Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Sunday in Abuja, assured Nigerians that Nigeria was on the path of resurrection and progress, as Christians the world over celebrate this year’s Easter.

    Osinbajo gave the assurance when he spoke with journalists shortly after the Easter Sunday Service at the Aso Villa Chapel, to mark this year’s Easter celebration.

    According to him, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ implis that the country is moving out of its present challenges to a greater hope and peace.

    He said, “the resurrection of Jesus Christ is also a strong and powerful message to the nation.

    “The message is that, our nation is on the path of resurrection, it is on the path of progress, it is on the path of elevation.

    “We are moving out from all our challenges and we are going to a place of greater hope, peace, prosperity and abundance for all of us.”

    The Chaplain of the Aso Villa Chapel, Pastor Seyi Malomo, who delivered a sermon on: “The Temporary Hour of Darkness”, also assured that “Nigeria is going to rise again”.

    He said that the resurrection of Christ signified that darkness could only reign but for a while.

    ”Darkness only reigns for a while, no matter the problem we are facing, just as Jesus only laid in the grave for three days, all these will be over,” he said.

    He called on all Nigerians to emulate the life of Jesus Christ who sacrificed his life for the salvation of mankind.

    He said: “In terms of sacrifice, we have to emulate the life of Jesus Christ. He sacrificed for mankind. And we are liberated and celebrating because he paid the sacrifice.

    “We are all called to do our role in giving that sacrifice that will bring the liberation and the greatness of our nation.”

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that various songs were rendered during the occasion to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. NAN

  • There’s a campaign to tarnish my image – Jonathan

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said there is a campaign to tarnish his image.

    The former President, who is currently monitoring the presidential runoff election in Sierra Leone, made this known on his official and verified Facebook page, saying the campaign will be unleashed by faceless and Identified persons

    This is coming less than a week after Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, made startling revelations that the former President shared N150 billion two weeks before the 2015 election.

    “We saw from the presentation of the minister of finance that N14 billion was spent on agriculture in 2014, transportation N15 billion, so the total spent on infrastructure in those three years were N153 billion and in two weeks before the elections, N150 billion was essentially shared.”

    Jonathan in his reaction said, “It has been brought to my attention that while I am away promoting democracy in Sierra Leone, a campaign will be unleashed against me to falsely impugn my name using both faceless and identified persons” he wrote on Facebook.

    “When I was in power I said my ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. Even out of power, I continue to hold that belief”.

    “What I will say however, is that no matter how far and fast falsehood has traveled, it must eventually be overtaken by truth”.

     

  • Gates, Dapchi and human capital development

    ON Thursday, during a special National Economic Council (NEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, governors from the 36 states or their deputies, the billionaire philanthropist and Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr, Bill Gates and Africa’s richest entrepreneur, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the grim realities of the Nigerian nation sinking deeper into economic gloom if nothing tangible is done in terms of heavy investments in its vast human capital was echoed by everyone and anyone who mounted the podium. Whilst representatives of the development partners rolled out discouraging and, sometimes, heart-wrenching figures to buttress their arguments that we have, indeed, failed to invest in Nigeria’s greatest asset for a technologically and knowledge-driven future—its people, the pictures painted by the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Ajewole and his counterpart in the Education Ministry, Alhaji Adamu Adamu, confirmed the ‘blunt’ depressing facts which Gates was to later reel out to the audience.

    One after the other, the various speakers rub the facts on our faces. Nigeria, they say, has the highest figure of out-of-school children in the world and presently without a functional investment in human capital. The country is also rated as “one of the most dangerous places to give birth, with the fourth worst maternal mortality rate in the world, ahead of Sierra Leone, Central African Republic and Chad”, in addition to the crying fact that, statistically, one in three Nigerian children is chronically malnourished. Those were the words of Gates even if they are the notoriously true. And, in spite of all the efforts presumably being made by the government to change the narrative, Nigeria remains a low income country no thanks to policies that are incapable of guaranteeing a ‘foundation for sustained prosperity” with the vast majority of its people barely living from hand to mouth. No picture could be grimmer than this I guess.

    Some would ask: what has all these got to do with Dapchi, a town in Yobe State where 110 girls were criminally abducted and, eventually, heroically returned earlier this week? Well, a lot. In my mind, Dapchi, like Chibok, is a metaphor for all that is good and bad about Nigeria. Since the abduction and return of the girls, Nigerians have been at their mischievous best in interrogating the matter. When I speak of the scary figures, statistics and data being rolled out to justify why Nigeria needs to do more in the area of investment in human capital, what those in authorities do about it would depend on their beliefs. For example, all the pontifications by Gates and the other partners may come to naught if the government views the figures as concocted or an attempt to smear its image and bring it into disrepute with its teeming supporters. On the other hand, the government could decide to sift through the messages no matter how distasteful they seem to be and kick start the process of investing on its future assets, the people. It’s all about the belief that would an action or inaction!

    And that is where Dapchi comes in because the abduction affects a key factor in human capital development for an economically sustainable future—education especially that of the girl-child which is already at an abysmally low figure in some communities. It is sickening that, in returning the girls in commando style back to their anguished parents, the insurgents were said to have strictly warned the Dapchi parents to stop, forthwith, the idea of sending their children to learn what they perceived as “Western education”, adding with irritating glee that the entire saga was not “terrorism but just to teach us a lesson!” Now, that should scare anyone that can make some sort of sense out of all that was said in the Banquet Hall of Aso Rock that day. When bandits enjoy the liberty to scare the hell out of hardworking parents whose only ‘crime’ was sending their wards to acquire the kind of knowledge that would place them at a competitive advantage in the foreseeable future, then we all need to get worried, don’t we?

    Listen to Gates: “The most important choice you can make is to maximise your greatest resources, the Nigerian people. Nigeria will thrive when every Nigerian is able to thrive. If you invest in their health, education and opportunities—the “human capital” we are talking about today—then they will lay the foundation for sustained prosperity. If you don’t however, than it is very important to recognise that there will be sharp limit on how much the country can grow.”

    And so, in looking at the long term effects of the madness going on in the North-East and some other parts of the country, we must admit that we may just be digging craters that would doom our future prospects especially with the silly rants and the shockingly inhumane attitudes some of us have displayed in expressing our opinions on the Dapchi abduction. In saying this, I must admit that this government didn’t help matters in its shoddy handling of information flow surrounding the abduction, search and subsequent return of the girls. When the government, through its officially-recognised spokespersons, started bandying different figures on the number of girls that were returned by the bandits, the negotiation that took place before they were taken back to their parents, why it didn’t insist on the return of the Christian lady that refused to succumb to the blackmail of converting to Islam, how five or four of the girls died in captivity and if ransom was paid or not, it goes without saying that the government created a veritable ground for mischief makers to make bankable permutations of what they tagged a stage-managed abduction drama. Pity.

    While conceding that certain things just didn’t add up in the many stories flying around concerning the Dapchi girls, I also believe that many of the commentators on both sides of the divide are far gone in their political coloration of events of such nature thereby making objective reasoning a near impossibility. Those Dapchi girls, we must remember, are just part of the lucky few that survived in a country described as ‘one of the most dangerous to give birth” with “one in three children chronically malnourished.”