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Tag: Yemi Osinbajo

  • Outrage over deadline on cattle settlement project

    Governors were calling for calm on Thursday, following the anger that trailed a 30-day ultimatum issued by some youths in the North, who said the Federal Government should implement the controversial cattle settlement policy before July 3.

    The Northern Governors’ Forum called for calm but the Ohanaeze Ndigbo urged its members residing outside the Southeast to defend themselves.

    Besides, some legal giants dismissed the ultimatum as illegal and of no consequence.

    Addressing reporters in Abuja on Wednesday, the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, attacked Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for dissociating himself from the policy.

    Suleiman threatened that the hitherto unknown group will resort to a line of action after the expiration of the ultimatum on July 3. He did not specify the action, but the CNG also threatened to expel all non-northerners in the North if the president failed to do its bidding.

    In a communique, the group criticized former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his Islamisation and Fulanisation remarks.

    Part of the communique reads: “Accordingly, we remind the nation that so long as the Fulani would not be allowed to enjoy their citizens’ right of living and flourishing in any part of this country, including the South, no one should also expect us to allow any southerner to enjoy the same in northern Nigeria.”

    But, the 19 Northern state governors cautioned the group to refrain from provocative comments following the suspension of the implementation of the controversial cattle settlement policy.

    The governors urged the CNG to engage stakeholders on a better way forward.

    President Muhammadu Buhari suspended the implementation of the multi-billion naira Ruga project aimed at ending incessant herders/farmers’ clashes following public outcry.

    NGF Chairman and Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong called for total restraint by the coalition.

    In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, the governor also urged the coalition to allow the government handle the matter, assuring it that the government will come out with a solution that will be beneficial to all.

    Read Also: Why Buhari suspended cattle settlement project

    The statement reads: “With the ensuing development following the announcement of the suspension of the Rug: resettlement initiative by the Federal Government yesterday, it has become pertinent for me as Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum to make clarifications on the true position in order to calm nerves.

    “We have acknowledged the varied responses that have been coming in throughout the hours after the announcement of the suspension, which we see as part of the beauty of democracy which allows citizens to participate in shaping and moderating the functions of government with regards to matters of public interest.

    “Meanwhile we urge all stakeholders and all shades of interested parties, especially from the North, to remain calm and air their views democratically and decently while allowing the government chance to handle the matter.

    “In the meantime, we are happy to announce that we are reaching out in engagement with major stakeholders in the matter, particularly in the North, after receiving the position of the leadership of the Coalition of Northern Groups with the hope of getting the public to fully understand the whole concept and the wisdom behind the decision by the government.

    “We acknowledge here the Coalition’s concerns and, in particular, its decency in urging the northern people to remain civil and resist the temptation to be drawn into anything untoward.

    “We are reassured that the leadership of the Coalition is genuinely and responsibly concerned with the betterment of the whole nation and with the well-being of the Northern region and people, in particular, and that it will continue to work for calm and understanding.

    “We assure everyone that at the end of the day, what is coming out of the suspension would tum out to be more beneficial and in the best interest of the whole nation. We are working on a complete package that comes with multi sectoral and multidimensional benefits that would serve the interest of all both in the short and long terms.

    “We once again urge for understanding and cooperation from all.”

    Ohanaeze warns

    The Ohanaeze Ndigbo issued on Thursday a fresh call to the Igbo to be ready to defend themselves wherever they are.

    In a statement, Ohanaeze Ndigbo President-General Chief John Nnia Nwodo, said: “My attention has been drawn to a broadcast by Abdul Azeez Suleman, speaking for a Coalition of Northern Groups in which he had the audacity to give the Federal Government an ultimatum of 30 days to rescind its decision on the suspension of its Ruga settlements policy. Abdul went further to threaten the expulsion of southerners resident in the North at the expiration of his dateline if the Federal Government does not rescind its suspension decision.

    “This irresponsible, unlawful and provocative outburst reminds me of the quit notice from Northern Youths two years ago.

    “Ohanaeze insists that the Ruga policy is an Islamisation and Fulanisation policy. It is a violation of our constitution and Supreme Court decisions on the Land Use Act. Its suspension without cancelation leaves the Federal Government still in violation of our laws.

    “The threat to evict law abiding Nigerians from their places of abode in Northern Nigeria is treasonable and obviously like the gun trotting herdsmen will go unnoticed by our federally-controlled law enforcement agencies. Let Abdul, the Federal Government and others like them take notice that Ohanaeze has no objections to all Igbo in the North returning home so long as all Northerners in the East leave the East and we dismantle the federal structure imposed on us by the military and return to autonomous federating units.

    “The nepotism exhibited by this Federal Government, her duplicity of standards in law enforcement, her undisguised Fulanisation policy is repugnant to rule of law and good governance. We will no longer tolerate any further threats from these Northern war mongers.

    “After all, who should be the aggrieved under the circumstance?  The millipede that has been marched is whimpering, but the person that marched it is complaining that his foot has been soiled.

    “The South that is bearing the yoke of oppression from cattle herders are trying their best to co-exist with their aggressors, yet it is the aggressors that are threatening further mayhem. This cannot be. I call on all Igbo to be ready to defend themselves; enough of these threats!”

  • Osinbajo, Kukah, Abiodun: Religion has become divisive

    VICE President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday lamented that religion has often been deployed to create division, spread hate and unleash violence on one another.

    Osinbajo added that notwithstanding the negative use of religion, it still remained a veritable tool for a national and global development, stressing that the Federal Government would continue to use the mandate given by the people to cater for the welfare of the citizens.

    The vice president spoke during the Ninth Toyin Falola annual international conference at Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun state.

    The conference, put together by the institution, had “Religion, the state and global politics”, as its theme.

    Osinbajo, who was represented by the Registrar, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, also noted that religion in Nigeria has not been properly understood.

    The vice president, who described the theme of the conference as germane to the prevailing situation in the country, said: “The Interface between religion and the state was limited to issue of secularism, secularisation and separation of power between state and religion.

    “Contemporary scholarships have, however, noted that religion covertly or overtly, places more role in human and societal lives, than previously acknowledged.

    “Religion is a veritable tool for a national and global development.

    “On the other hand, religion has often been used or implicated as a divisive factor, often employed as instrument to spread hate and unleash violence over one another.

    “It is therefore expected that this conference will make its finding available to the federal republic of Nigeria for the improvement for the welfare of all.”

    Also speaking, former President Olusegun Obasanjo said many Nigerians wish the country well daily but expressed concern that there are also others who want to leave Nigeria on the supposition that they were not getting the best out of it.

    Obasanjo, who was the distinguished guest of honour, said the country may not move forward if it continues to lose its identity to diversity.

    The elder statesman who presented a paper titled: “Towards a re-unification of the sacred and secular: religious interventions in politics,” declared that both religious leaders and politicians are linked together.

    He said: “You can’t take one and leave the other. You can’t take politics and leave religion and you can’t take religion and leave politics, they are together.

    “It ought to be that way, politics without religion, I don’t know what you would call it; they both affect the welfare and the well-being of all of us as we live in life.

    “As far as religion is concerned, there are two issues; diversity and identity.

    “We are so badly handling our diversity that we are losing our identity. As long as we are doing that, we are going nowhere.

    “The management of diversity must be right, religion, politics and ethnicity are parts of our diversity which must be well managed.

    Read Also: PPP key part of economic plan, says Osinbajo

    “When you mismanage diversity with impunity, it is particularly annoying. It can lead to what we may not want it to lead to.

    “I don’t know of any Nigerian who doesn’t wish Nigeria well, but, I know many Nigerians who are unhappy and want to leave Nigeria.

    “Our issue is so because, what they expect from Nigeria they are not getting it. The role of religious leaders and religion is to lead but, lead them also to also to let politicians learnt a best lesson.

    “God is a Nigerian because, what we have gone through in Nigeria and what we are going through, probably, Nigeria should not be on the map of the world. That’s why I say God is a Nigerian.”

    In his keynote address, the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church, Bishop Kukah, who spoke on Caesar and God: Prophetic engagement of the state in Africa, said religion has failed in Africa.

    “Only in Nigeria we can go to war because of religion, We are not going to go to war because, of no water ; we are going  to go to war because, we don’t have road . BUT, we are not going to go to war because we don’t have decent housing, we are not going to go to war because of lack of salary, we are not going to go to war because of injustice, but we can go to war in the name of God.

    “Nigeria seems to be like a polygamist who is married with two wives. Somehow, Christians are complaining that they are treating Muslims better; Muslims are complaining that they are treating Christians better.

    “But, nobody is complaining whether religion is getting its due. But essentially, my argument is that, unless religion through some of us who are leaders and practitioners find itself rescued from the clutches of politics and politicians the wrong notion will continue as it is in Nigeria. Somehow religion will be a problem.”

    To Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, religion in Nigeria has become a divisive, when it should have been a unifying factor.

    Abiodun said the effects of mismanagement of religious beliefs have made Nigerians to see one another as different, divisible units with varied worldviews, rather than seeing themselves as one entity of humanity.

    He said: “In the past, we have always assumed that religion and the State are two different entities. But recent events have continued to lay bare the fact that the connections between religion and the State are increasingly relevant.

    “We have continued to see demonstrations that most of peoples’ actions and commitments are derivable from their religious beliefs.

    “If we have to talk about security, peace, co-existence and even, socio-economic development, we cannot divorce religion.

    “In recent times, the global community has been confronted with acts of terrorism which have been tied to religion, whether rightly or wrongly.

    “What is more confounding is the fact that these acts of terrorism are also supposedly sponsored by politicians against the state, and, or by the government against another government.

    “In Nigeria, we have had more than our own fair share of acts of violence which some quarters have tied to religion, and even the state.”

  • Presidency orders agencies to release data to JTB

    THE Presidency has directed personal data collecting agencies to release all relevant individual records to the Joint Tax Board (JTB).

    Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo gave the order on Monday in Abuja at The Go-Live ceremony for the new National TIN Registration System. He ordered that “all agencies critical to the optimal success of this initiative, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria InterBank Settlement System (NIBBS), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), are hereby directed to provide the fullest co-operation to the JTB especially in the release of the relevant individual records.

    The vice president gave the order after the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Mr. Tunde Fowler, said the service  was yet to take delivery of taxpayer data from organisations such as the CBN via the NIBBS, and NIMC, adding that the ceremony will reinforce the need to work together as one to promote the Economic and Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) of Mr. President.

    Read Also: Presidency: no going back on cattle settlements

    He said:“ So we will like to thank them in anticipation of their commitment to release the required data to JTB. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, the Federal Government paid all outstanding PAYE tax liabilities owed by Federal MDAs (ministries, departments and agencies) from 2002 to 2016, totaling N135.8 billion to the various state governments in May 2019.”

    He said the Federal Government gesture will encourage state governments to also promptly remit all Withholding Taxes and VAT due to the Federation Account.

    Speaking on The Go-Live project, Fowler  said: “Tax authorities are poised to change the financial profile of Nigeria and particularly, lay a strong financial foundation to fund government at all tiers beyond aid, grants and borrowing.”

    He added that new realities are driving the desire of the JTB to ensure that the identification of individuals and corporate bodies in the country is achievable.

    “It is not only important that these records are available, it is equally important that the records are credible and reliable and that they are accessible under a secure environment, online real-time,” he said.

     

     

  • Presidential election dispute: Atiku, PDP get 10 days to call 400 witnesses

    THE Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) has allocated 10 days to the petitioners – Atiku Abubakar and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) – to call the 400 witnesses they plan to call to prove their case.

    The PDP and its candidate in the last presidential election are, by their petition, challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Party (APC).

    Respondents to the petition – the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Buhari and the APC – have equally been allocated six days each to call their witnesses.

    The allocation of days to parties in the case was agreed yesterday at the tribunal’s pre-hearing session where the scheduling of the hearing process was equally agreed.

    At the beginning of yesterday’s proceedings, the petitioner’s lead lawyer Livy Uzoukwu said Atiku and the PDP planned to call 400 witnesses to prove their case.

    Uzoukwu said although the petitioners proposed 400 witnesses, they would make do with the number they could call within the period prescribed by law.

    At that point, the tribunal’s chairman Justice Mohammed Garba said the law, Paragraph 16(3) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, 2010, provides 14 days for the petitioners to conduct its case.

    Following the information from the tribunal’s chairman, lawyers representing all the parties, sought a break of about 30 minutes to work out how to proceed during the hearing of the petition.

    When proceedings resumed later, Uzoukwu said: “We have agreed that instead of the 14 days that we have to call our witnesses, we will take 10.

    “The respondents have agreed to cut their 10 days to six days for each of them. Evidence-in-chief for what we call ‘ordinary witnesses’ will take five minutes.

    “Cross-examination of such ordinary witnesses will take 10 minutes; evidence-in-chief of expert/subpoenaed witnesses, 10 minutes; cross-examination of same category of witnesses, 20 minutes and re-examination of all witnesses, three minutes each.

    “Objection to documents will be indicated at the point of tendering and the address on it will be reserved till final address but will be isolated from the main address.

    Read Also: Atiku sues Buhari’s aide Onnochie for N2.5bn

    “Parties are to prepare the schedule of documents to be tendered, file them and exchange them among themselves.”

    Uzoukwu also told the tribunal that it was agreed that the respondents should file their final address within seven days of close of evidence, while the petitioners should file their final reply addresses within five days after they have been served with the respondents’ final addresses.

    The petitioners’ lawyer added that it was also agreed that the respondents should, within three days of being served with petitioners’ final address, file their replies on point of law, where necessary.

    INEC’s lawyer Yunus Ustaz (SAN) noted that “proper foundation” must be laid for documents for which parties have not agreed on their admission.

    Lawyers to President Buhari and the APC, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and Charles Edosomwan (SAN) confirmed that what Uzoukwu said was an actual reflection of what all the parties agreed to.

    Olanipekun said it was suggested that during the hearing session, proceedings should start at 9.30 a.m and end at 4 p.m, with an hour break between 1 p.m and 2 p.m.

    He said parties equally agreed that trial/hearing session should begin on Thursday.

    Justice Garba averred that the beginning of the hearing session would be dependent on outcome of the proceedings scheduled for Wednesday.

    The tribunal scheduled ruling for Wednesday in an application by the petitioners, requesting that a motion filed by the APC to strike out of their petition, be heard afresh.

    Atiku and the PDP claimed that they were not heard by the tribunal and had no opportunity to file a counter-affidavit and written address in opposition to the motion, when it was heard by the tribunal on June 11.

    They added: “The petitioners/applicants desire to be heard in response to the third respondent’s motion filed on May 15, 2019, seeking to strike out the petition.”

    Lawyers to the respondents, who opposed the application, argued that the petitioners, having failed to file any response to APC’s application within the time allowed by law, could no longer complain.

    INEC, President Buhari and the APC argued that the fresh application by the petitioners was an abuse of court process, on the grounds that the petitioners had appealed, at the Supreme Court, the June 11 ruling of the tribunal, which they sought to be set aside by the tribunal.

    They further argued that the motion by the APC, having been heard and reserved for ruling, the petitioners had lost the right to be heard on the issue again.

    In the motion, which the petitioners are seeking to be heard afresh, the APC wants the tribunal to dismiss the petition or, alternatively, strike out several paragraphs that were not supported by facts and laws.

    APC also wants the tribunal to remove 10 states from the list of states where Atiku alleged that electoral malpractices took place in the February 23 presidential election on the grounds that the petitioners failed to disclose the specific polling units where the alleged infractions, which they claimed, took place.

    The party said the PDP and its candidate were thereby “making their claims imprecise, nebulous and vague”.

    It also asked the tribunal to strike out paragraphs in the petition, where allegations of act of thuggery, arrest, intimidation and conversion were made against Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, the Army, the police and several other individuals who were not joined as defendants in their petition.

    The APC equally applied that the claim by Atiku and the PDP that President Buhari was not educationally qualified to stand for the presidential election be expunged from their petition because it is a pre-election matter which the tribunal has no jurisdiction to adjudicate upon.

    Also, the ruling party urged the tribunal to strike out the petition on the grounds that it failed to comply with the mandatory provisions of paragraphs 4 and 7 of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2010 and Section 134 of the 1999 Constitution.

    The APC similarly faulted the petition “for being incompetent and in gross violation of sections 2 and 24 of the Legal Practitioners Act”.

    It urged the tribunal to strike out the petition together with the list of documents and list of witnesses to be relied upon by the petitioners.

     

     

  • Osinbajo’s office not supervising ‘Ruga’ settlements, says Presidency

    The Presidency on Friday explained that the establishment of Ruga settlements is not being supervised by the Office of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, contrary to claims reported in sections of the media.

    The Ruga initiative, according to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Laolu Akande, is different from the National Livestock Transformation Plan approved by State governors under the National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    He said that NEC on January 17, 2019, approved the plan based on the recommendations of a Technical Committee of the Council chaired by Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, with State Governors of Adamawa, Kaduna, Benue, Taraba, Edo, Plateau, Oyo & Zamfara as members.

    Read Also: Ruga settlements: Youths protest in Benue

    Laolu said “The National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) 2019-2028 is a programme to be implemented in 7 pilot states of Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba and Zamfara (as decided by NEC in January), being States in the front-lines of the Farmer-Herder crises. Afterwards, six other States have indicated readiness to also implement the plan. They are Katsina, Kano, Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, and Edo states.

    “The plan has six pillars through which it aims to transform the livestock production system in Nigeria along market oriented value chain while ensuring an atmosphere of peace and justice.

    “The six key pillars include:

    • Economic investment
    • Conflict resolution
    • Justice and peace
    • Humanitarian relief and early recovery
    • Human capital development and
    • Cross-cutting issues such as gender, youth, research and information and strategic communication.

    “In all the Federal Government will not impose on any State government regarding its land.” he added

  • Osinbajo highlights investment opportunities in Nigeria’s challenges

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday in New York said the huge development challenges facing Nigeria and the rest of Africa were “excellent opportunities for groundbreaking investments and innovation”.

    He stated this as a guest at an interactive session hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a think-tank.

    In his opening statement on the topic “Nigeria’s Economic Prospects”, the vice president hinged his discussion on four areas including population, and environment with respect to climate change.

    He identified the other two areas as production especially agriculture, manufacturing and technology as well as security, and the challenges of terrorism, violent Islamic extremism, social exclusion and resource conflicts.

    Osinbajo noted that what happened in the four areas in the continent in the coming years would impact positively or negatively on the fortunes of the world.

    He said, “The doomsday scenario is as follows: Africa’s population grows exponentially, food production is not able to match population growth, a rise in transhuman conflicts due to shrinking vegetation and water.

    “Lack of jobs and opportunity for a large  poorly educated youth population, leading to aggressive illegal migration, vulnerability to extremism and, the creation of a convenient breeding ground for extremist groups and a terrorist  launch pad to the rest of the world.

    “A horrifying situation indeed, and possible if in the next three decades Africa drops the ball on these four indicators.

    “Neither Africa nor the rest of the world can afford to have these scenarios playing out.”

    Osinbajo stated that being the most populous nation in the continent, Nigeria had a critical role to play in those four areas.

    According to him, it is not an exaggeration to say that as “Nigeria goes, so goes Africa”.

    The vice president said although the challenges were huge, they were excellent opportunities for “ground-breaking” investments and innovation by both local and foreign players.

    “So take population,  the mere fact that we will become the third  most populous nation in the world by 2050 and the 14th largest economy, means a huge market.

    “When we opened up our telecoms sector for private investment 18 years ago, many thought, ‘yes, they have a large population but not a large enough middle class to buy and use mobile phones’.

    “They were wrong. MTN and Econet took the plunge, and today market penetration for mobile phones is 114.9 per cent, which technically means almost everybody has a phone,” he said.

    Read Also: Osinbajo heads to U.S, meets Pence

    The vice president said Nigeria was trying to replicate the same feat in the power sector by opening it for investment in end-to-end power supply.

    According to him, Power Africa, a USAID project, has made a commitment of 110 million Dollars between 2018 and 2023.

    The fund is meant to provide transaction support to the entire electricity value-chain covering gas supply, distribution, transmission and generation activities, he explained.

    “With our population, and a market-driven power sector, the next few years promise exciting prospects.

    “This is also the case with other infrastructure. We are embarking on the largest investment in infrastructure in our history, welcoming private investments in  concessions and projects like rail, roads, airports, and other infrastructure.”

    In agriculture, Nigeria boasts of the ninth largest stock of arable land in the world, and has become a world leader in cassava,  yam, sorghum, and millet production, he said.

    He added that the country was on the verge of self sufficiency in paddy rice production, seeing greater interest  in agriculture and the agro-allied value chain.

    Osinbajo emphasised that besides the export market, the country’s population presents a massive and lucrative domestic market.

    “Carlos a major Mexican vegetable farmer came to Nigeria to do vegetables for export and found he was making far more money servicing the domestic market,” he said.

    According to him, challenges in other areas such as manufacturing, environment, climate change and security were investment opportunities waiting to be explored.

  • Inching towards order on Apapa Ports roads

    For over 32 days, the Presidential Task Team battled to restore sanity on Apapa Ports road in Lagos. Two days to the expiration of its deadline on Wednesday, the gridlock remains, but the team reckons that it has done the groundwork for its removal. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports.

     

    BEFORE the Presidential Task Team on Restoration of Law and Order in  Apapa (Traffic Gridlock) swung into action 32 days ago, the threat of truckers overrunning bridges and roads in that part of Lagos was real.

    That threat is  gone today, courtesy of the task team, which has left no stone unturned since May 27 in the discharge of its Raindate of clearing the Apapa  ports roads of all trucks.

    During his visit to Lagos at the weekend, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo could not hide his admiration for the team. He assured the public that the Mile 2 end of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway would soon be cleared to ease traffic.

    According to him, the remediation of the ports falls within what could be classified as the short, medium and long term. All these, he said, were receiving attention as the government is committed to ensuring an intermodal system that would see trains  evacuate cargoes at the ports  to the relief of road users.

    Between 2017 and last year, Osinbajo circled Apapa in a chopper twice, but on Saturday, he drove, for the first time, from Mile 2, through the bad portions of Berger/Sunrise/Coconut bus stops to Tin Can and from there, via Liverpool,  to Ijora/Wharf roads. He also inspected the Tin Can Trailer Park and the Lilypond Truck Terminal close to Marine/Wharf road.

    This is unprecedented in the life of this administration. As head of the task team, he is happy that members have been cooperating with the Vice Chairman, Kayode Opeifa, former Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, to transform Apapa.

    Osinbajo, accompanied by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Managing Director Hadiza Usman and other government top brass, was taken round by Opeifa.

    Osinbajo said: “I am quite pleased with the scope of work done. I think the most important thing is what we are trying to do right now. We will improve the infrastructure In the port areas and the call up system so that there’s no pressure within the ports”

    The initial two weeks deadline, given the team expired on June 12, and it was extended till June 26, to ensure the completion of the job.

    Over the years, the government has tried to restore  sanity in Apapa. But the series of efforts to do so, which started in 2011, have failed.

     

    What’s in a name?

     

    What’s in a name? Plenty. Stakeholders believe that the difference in the government’s intervention in Apapa this time begins with the name.

    Hitherto, the government believed in the use of task force to whip the  truckers into line. But did it work?

    The reality is that task forces have been short in bringing the much-needed relief to Apapa. Rather, they have compounded the crisis, stifling growth and development and deliberately foisting a situation close to anarchy on Apapa.

    To Tunde Olaosun, a logistics expert, what happened in Apapa in the past, was man-made confusion. He may be right. From Berger Underbridge to Tin Can, is a world of its own. A world dreaded by truck drivers. A world where crime and sleaze walk and the law and its enforcers propagates their own terms.

    Speaking in the same vein a chieftain of the Amalgamated Transport Union Operators in Apapa, who asked not to be named, said: “Task forces, headed by officers of the Nigerian Navy were regularly established, but each end up becoming worse than their predecessors. Each ends up complicating the already compounded situation. The situation is so bad that they now brazenly extort money from us and our drivers. To allow a 20- foot container we pay as much as N65,000, and N120,000 for a 40-ton trailer. They collect this daily. And this is just to get us to the road. You pay more if they must guide your truck, in which case, they sit with you in the truck.”

    Opeifa said what the team met on May 23 was “an urban shanty.” The government, he said, guided by the failures of the past, deliberately avoided the word force to describe the name or terms of reference.

    He said: “By naming it a task team, members of the committee, which are drawn from all Ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs)  within Apapa, such as; the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), NPA, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing (FMPWH), the Lagos State Government, truck owners and operators, licensed customs agents, freight forwarders, the police, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) came together to bring creative solutions to bear on Apapa.

    “After a month of intense work, the team has restored law and order in Apapa, and sanity which took flight especially on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway axis over a decade ago is now back,” Opeifa said.

    According to him, transport unions, area boys and some military personnel turned the 10-lane dual carriage road to a truck park, an extortion field, or ATM plaza, with trucks moving in all directions against traffic despite the deplorable condition of the road and perennial flooding as a result of collapsed drainage channel.

    He said over N35 million was at play daily in the black economy that developed round the jungle that Apapa had become. But the cartel, he said was busted.

    He alleged that the “cartel of extortionists” is run by navy officers comprising task force operatives, adding that they turned their ad-hoc assignment of controlling traffic and maintaining the law into money-making ventures.

    Opeifa said the team’s squad  is headed by Hakeem Odumosu, a Commissioner of Police, assisted by Commander of MOPOL 41, Bayonle Sulaimon an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).  Traffic control has also been taken away from the Navy, and given to LASTMA.

     

    Never this bad

     

    Opeifa insisted that the traffic situation in Apapa was never this bad until 2015. Though it started rearing its head at  the turn of the millennium, traffic congestion had always been limited to the activities of  petroleum tankers, which surfaced whenever there was fuel crisis.

    He said Apapa’s situation gradually went from bad to worse from 2015 when LASTMA was  withdrawn after the killings of some of its operatives.

    The situation was compounded by the ports and terminal operators’ dwindling handling capacity and a deterioration of the road infrastructure, which made Apapa practically inaccessible by the truckers that lay siege to it.

    The absence of a traffic controlling agency, Opeifa insisted, was the greatest undoing. According to him, it left truckers to their own devices resulting in the blocking of all access roads and bridges, with spill over into the heart of the city.

    Noting that  the team has done a lot in the last one month, he said trucks have not disappeared from the Marine Beach/Ijora Bridge because of the ports’ inability to handle empty container return and other deliveries with the right of way to the place.

    Opeifa believes the team’s job was not to proffer lasting  solution to the gridlock, but to create an enabling environment for such solution.

    According to him, the team’s  main task is to restore law and order, that eliminate extortion of money and make Apapa and environs free of gridlock.

    He said: “We have restored law and order to the area. We have stopped the issue of extortion levelled against the military task force earlier set up for management of traffic in the axis.

    Pointing out that the economy cannot be shut down, Opeifa said what Apapa and environs needed was sanity.  Port activities, he said, must go on alongside all efforts to sanitise the area and sustain all initiatives put in place to make it liveable.

    He said once the roads were repaired, they would improve access on both carriages as all the 10 lanes would be fully in use.

    “Once this is achieved, the backlog of trailers on the road at Mile 2, Kirikiri and Ajegunle would be reduced and moving in and out of Apapa would be greatly enhanced.”

     

    Things are getting better

     

    But drivers are  happy with what the team has done. A driver, Sulaiman Bello, who arrived in Lagos from Katsina on Wednesday, said he was surprised he made it smoothly to Lilypond on Saturday and was called to approach the port to load.

    “Before now, I paid between N65,000 and N120,000 to even approach the Tin Can Island Port. We pay some faceless people who we may not even see again once we paid and you dare not pay as they wield huge cudgels menacingly and do not care to damage anything in your vehicle. I was surprised that  I paid only N1000 at Lilypond for parking and no molestation whatsoever. I thank the government for helping us flush out these people,” he said.

    Auwalu Aliu and Abubakar Idris, who came from Kano a new wind was blowing in Apapa, adding that it should continue.

    LASTMA General Manager Olawale Musa said  rickety trucks were a major challenge to port operations.

    He said 70 percent of the down time at the port was usually caused by the break down of such trucks, adding that there are also instances where trucks are denied access at the gate because of non- compliance with safety regulations.

    NSC’s Executive Secretary Mallam Hassan Bello said the agency and the NPA had met with ship owners and terminal operators to address the demurrage and granting of more days of grace to importers.

    Shippers, he said, had agreed to increase their days of grace from five to 15, and terminal operators, three to eight days.

    These new reforms according to Bello, were sacrifices made by these groups to help decongest the port and assist the Task team in its national assignment.

    “If these new regimes fully come into play, the pressure on importers to return their empties would be reduced and the roads would be better for it,” Bello added.

    NPA’s Traffic Manager and a task team member, Victor Oginni, said Apapa Port Terminal Limited (APTL), Greenview, Eko Support, AP Miller Terminal (APMT) Apapa Bulk Terminal Ltd (ABTL) ENL Consortium, Tin Can Island Container Terminal (TCICT), Josepdam Terminal Five Spar Logistics and Sifax Port and Cargo have pledged their commitment to decongesting the ports roads.

    He said pending the start of the electronic call up in August, its manual counterpart was now in use.

    NPA, he promised, would ensure that the era of Apapa gridlock becomes a thing of the past. Will it? Time will tell.

     

  • Apapa gridlock: FG committed to building new sea ports – Osinbajo

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has assured that the federal government is committed to its plans to build new Sea Ports across the country to decongest the highly congested Apapa Port in Lagos State.

    Osinbajo, who visited Lagos on Saturday morning and went on inspection tour with Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and other top government officials to Apapa and other areas in the axis locked down by perennial vehicular gridlock, stated this after the inspection while addressing the press.

    The Vice President said the government has decided to clear the trailers and tankers on the road so that there can be easy access to the port, adding that there is considerable improvement in the Apapa congestion after enforcement of presidential order in Apapa. “The Mile 2 end is the axis where we think that there are difficulties. But we think that in the next couple of days, it will be resolved, especially with the opening of the Tin Can Island trailer parks and the palliative work that is ongoing all the way to Mile 2 which Hi-tech is handling. And we should be able to resolve that congestion in the Mile 2 end.

    Read Also: Photos: Wike receives Osinbajo in Rivers

    “And you will see that the entry route to the port has been cleared. So, we need to understand that there are short term and mid to long term solutions. One of the mid-to-long term measures is to decongest the cargo traffic coming into the port. We need to understand that this is a port that was designed to take 34 million metric tonnes daily but is currently taking over 80million. With this, it is obvious that there is need to find alternative quickly. And to expand, where that is possible, of course the Lekki Port is an ongoing project which will be a great help when completed because it will support the Apapa and Tin Can ports. Also, we are dredging the Warri Port, which are aimed towards decongesting the traffic into an out of the Apapa and Tin Can ports are done effectively.”

    He added that the Lagos-Kano rail is also starting from the Apapa Port, saying “we expect that we should be able to get cargo out of the Apapa Port using the rail than to take cargo out of the port using the hinterlands. And some are using badges at the moment. So, I can tell you that there are different approaches towards getting better movement in and out of Apapa.

    The Vice President was accompanied by the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the General Manager of Nigerian Port Authority, NPA, Hadiza Usman, Lagos Head of Service, HOS, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola and others. They were conducted around the axis by the Vice Chairman of Presidential Task Team on the Restoration of Law and Order in Apapa, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, who narrated the achievements recorded since commencement of the enforcement.

  • Extreme poverty in Nigeria worrisome, says Osinbajo

    Worried by the living standard of Nigerians, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that the problem of extreme poverty keeps awake at night.

    He was responding during the question and answer session moderated by the Chairman of Metis Capital Partners, Hakeem Bello-Osagie, at a dinner and interactive session with Faculty Members at the Harvard Business School (HBS) on Tuesday in Lagos.

    Prof. Osinbajo spoke alongside Srikant Datar, a professor of Business Administration at the HBS and Bayo Ogunlesi, an indigenous investment banker.

    He said: “I think what keeps me up at night has to do with extreme poverty; the issue is that the largest number of those who vote for us are the very poor.

    “The promises that government makes to them is that their lives will be better and obviously they are looking at their lives being better in the shortest possible time.

    “I will like to see Nigeria being an industrialized nation in the next 10 years; a very strong middle class and most people living above the poverty line.’’

    According to him, some government policies take into account those on the rung of the financial ladder with a focus on agriculture and making credit facilities accessible to farmers to achieve self-sufficiency.

    He said that many farmers in the country had been lifted out of poverty by this administration.

    A lot of attention had also been given to the Social Intervention Programmes (SIPs) which factored in the provision of cheap credit to petty traders at the bottom of the pyramid.

    The vice president told his audience that Nigeria was open to business with its various potentials and urged Nigerian investors abroad to look homewards.

    He said: “If you are going to do business anywhere in Africa, it has to be Nigeria. This is where you have the energy; you have the drive. We are already seeing that kind of activity; business people will always be driven by profit.

    “Talent will always go in the direction where it is best rewarded; one can’t afford to be sentimental about that. As people see that the environment is getting better for business, they will come back; the opportunities for making huge profits are here.

    Read Also: Lawan meets Osinbajo, says mandate bipartisan

    “Practically everything we are doing in to ensure that there is an environment for business to thrive. People are leaving but people are coming back.’’

    The vice president said that the Federal Government, through the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) was encouraging local manufacturers, adding that the government was looking at natural economic clusters and had set up shared facilities and power.

    He said a lot was going on in the agro-allied sector and of course, resolving the power challenges.

    “In the next few months, we will unveil a plan that deals with most of the critical issues in the power sector,” he said.

    On climate change, Osinbajo said that the momentum was in favour of renewable energy and Nigeria was doing a lot of investment in renewable energy; solar power and opening up opportunities.

    Prof Datar said he was particularly proud of Osinbajo as an academic in governance, adding that academics provide enabling environment for good governance.

    He pledged HBS’s support in providing needed support for human capital development in Nigeria and proffering solutions to tackling Nigeria’s infrastructure challenges.

    Ogunlesi said that the era of depending on government for infrastructure was gone, adding that the Federal Government had no business running infrastructure, citing airports as examples.

    Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, who gave the vote of thank, called for urgent action to tackle the high poverty rate, especially in the Northwest.

    He also advocated for a committee on girl-child education to boost enrolment in schools and uplift their living standards.

    At the event were Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, United States (U.S.) Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, immediate past Trade and Investment Minister Okechukwu Enelamah, and the former National Planning Minister Udo Udoma, among others.

     

  • Presidential humour

    Last week Tuesday night was another opportunity for the high and mighty in the country to take time off tight schedules and listen to rib-cracking jokes.

    The occasion was the dinner and gala night for the maiden June 12 Democracy Day celebration at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

    The hall, arranged to seat 500 guests, was filled to the brim about an hour to the start of the dinner.

    What made the occasion more special was that it was attended by world leaders, who were in Abuja for the main Democracy Day celebration billed for the following day.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, was at his best and didn’t fail to thrill the guests.

    His jokes, when the dinner was drawing to an end, made the guests, including the world leaders, to laugh intermittently.

    The laughter in the well-decorated hall was almost out of control as some guests not yet through with their meals, almost choked.

    Some of them immediately had dampened red eyes due to the impact of the jokes.

    Read Also: Osinbajo meets presidential team on Apapa gridlock today

    Osinbajo’s jokes started when he was asked to propose a toast to the President and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    When he got to the podium, he first took his time to observe protocol and recognise the special invited guests in the hall.

    When he finished that, most guests in the hall who expected him to go straight to the assignment of proposing the toast, were disappointed as some of them had started picking up their glasses filled with soft drinks.

    Osinbajo veered off by first delivering rib-cracking jokes that could rival, if not better, those of big names in Nigeria’s humour and entertainment business.

    His jokes centred on the major ethnicity in Nigeria, including Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Edo.

    He said, “Let me tell you a story about an Edo man, who invited his friends to the burial of his mother. After lowering the coffin into the grave, the family members then put some yams, some rice and some meats into the coffin in line with tradition.

    “His Hausa friend from Zamfara State asked him why did he do that, saying: ‘Why did you put food into the coffin?’

    ”And the Edo man said: ‘According to our tradition, the dead go on a long journey and they need all the food that they can get on that long journey.’

    “The Hausa man from Zamfara State was very impressed, so he brought out a N100 from his pocket and put it inside the coffin and said: ‘When the food finish, buy some more.’

    The hall immediately erupted in laughter.

    Osinbajo went on: “But listening right behind him was a Yoruba man, who saw what the Hausa brother has done.

    “He took out N50 and said: ‘Mama,  have this in case the N100 is not enough’.

    The guests in the hall again started another round of laughter.

    Not done with the jokes, Osinbajo said “Then Okechukwu, their Igbo friend, came out and brought out his cheque book.

    The didn’t wait for Osinbajo to finish the joke before bursting out in laughter.

    But the Vice President went on by saying “And he wrote a generous cheque of N200,000.

    “He dropped it in the coffin and then took the N150 in cash as change.

    Another loud round of laughter erupted as the guests kept clapping for the Vice President.

    Osinbajo added “Then he said: ‘Nwanne, withdraw when you reach there. You know say na dangerous journey. When you meet armed robbers, them no go take your cheque. Travel well ooo,  Mama.’

    The guests again burst out laughing and clapping for the Vice President at the same time.

    (2) Waiting game

    There appears to be an ongoing waiting game for the list of the next Federal cabinet members to be made public.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had directed ministers in the last cabinet to submit their handover notes to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, latest 28th of May, 2019.

    Since inauguration of the second term tenure on the 29th of May  2019, not a few Nigerians have been expecting constitution of a new cabinet.

    It is also on record that some state governors, who ended their tenures last month, just like some ex-ministers, have been abroad cooling off and thanking God for ending their tenures well.

    But some ex-ministers have continued to be regular faces in the Villa and all functions of government as if in a sort of waiting game.

    There is also no doubt that some of the ex-ministers and cabinet members had great roles to play in the 29th May 2019 Presidential inauguration and the June 12th Democracy Day celebrations and had to remain visible around the government.

    But others appeared to be hanging around the corridor of power waiting and praying to be in the next cabinet list.

    One of them was even quoted to have declared in an interview his optimism of making it to the next cabinet.

    He may be in for a surprise as most leaders are full of surprises and don’t like their actions and decisions to be preempted by anybody.

    This set of the ex-cabinet members may also have to wait a bit longer to realize their ambitions as the Senate and House of Representatives have embarked on recess till 2nd of July, 2019.

    Unless there is a special arrangement, these ex-ministers would have to wait for the next three weeks to know if they would be in the next cabinet as the Senate usually screens and confirms ministerial appointments.

    But surely, the waiting game will soon come to an end and everybody can rest.