By Chinelo Obogo

As Nigeria battles a cholera outbreak in 30 states, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NDDC) has said it might declare an emergency in the country.

Daily Sun reports that from January 1 to June 11, 2024, there have been over 1,141 suspected and over 65 confirmed cases of cholera, resulting in over 30 deaths reported from 96 Local Government Areas in 30 states. This is according to the NDDC.

The Lagos State Ministry of Health also said it has recorded 350 suspected cases of cholera in 29 wards across multiple LGAs with 17 confirmed cases and 15 fatalities attributed to severe dehydration caused by delayed presentation.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), children are the most susceptible to the disease and these are some very important tips it has provided on how to prevent cholera outbreak in schools:

Drink safe water

All students and school staff should drink safe water from a source that is chlorinated at appropriate level of Free Residual Chlorine (FRC).

Promote handwashing

Schools should promote supervised handwashing with soap at key moments of the day: entrance; after playing; after using the toilet; before eating; before leaving...

READ MORE: https://sunnewsonline.com/five-unicef-approved-tips-to-prevent-cholera-outbreak-in-schools/

In the ever-evolving landscape of Nigerian entertainment, 22-year-old Kogi state-born Ilebaye Precious Odiniya, affectionately known as “The Gen Z Baddie,” emerges as a captivating force. 
 
Her journey from obscurity to the spotlight is a testament to her unique charm and authentic personality. 
 
As a prominent figure in the BBnaija universe, she has left an indelible mark on the hearts of fans. This is the story of a Gen Z sensation who’s redefining the rules of fame.
 
A Glimpse into Precious’s World
 
Born with an irrepressible spirit, Precious Odiniya embodies the quintessential Gen Z mindset—fearless, authentic, and unapologetically herself. Her early years were marked by curiosity and a zest for life that would later become her trademark.
 
BBnaija Stardom
 
The spotlight beckoned to Precious when she entered the Big Brother Naija house. Her presence was magnetic, capturing the essence of her generation. Although her journey in the BBnaija world may have been brief, her impact was lasting. Precious’s unique blend of wit, humor, and authenticity earned her a devoted following.
 
The Gen Z Advocate
 
Beyond the glitz and glamour of the BBnaija stage, Precious Odiniya is an advocate for Gen Z causes. Her platform has become a vehicle for raising awareness about issues that matter to her generation—mental health, social justice, and climate change. She uses her influence to empower and educate her peers.

Read more:
https://politicsnow.ng/the-rise-of-gen-z-baddie-ilebaye-from-obscurity-to-global-spotlight/

The Ondo State House of Assembly has commenced the process of impeaching the state’s deputy governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

At least 21 of the 26 lawmakers in the State House of Assembly have already signed the impeachment notice, which is a petition that details the offences the deputy governor is accused of committing.

The allegation against the deputy governor bothers on financial misappropriation of intervention funds to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal


He was alleged to have allocated N300 million to buy a bullet proof Sports Utility Vehicle for his use from the fuel subsidy removal palliative money.


How a deputy governor can be impeached

To impeach a deputy governor, a notice in writing must be signed by not less than one-third of the members of the State House of Assembly alleging gross misconduct.

Ondo State House of Assembly has 26 lawmakers. 21 of the lawmakers have already signed an impeachment notice of the deputy governor.

The next step will require two-thirds of the House of Assembly to vote on whether to investigate the allegation against the deputy governor. So far, the lawmakers against Aiyedatiwa are more than two thirds.

Read More: https://politicsnow.ng/aiyedatiwa-steps-to-impeach-a-deputy-governor/

Over the past fortnight, the Nigerian media has been consumed by the tragic loss of Mohbad, a rapidly emerging Nigerian singer. His untimely passing has sent shockwaves through the entire Nigerian music industry and exposed the darker aspects of the music label scene in Nigeria.

PoliticsNow will delve into the life and journey of this talented artist whose promising career was cut short by fate.
Amidst the grieving, numerous Nigerians are clamoring for a thorough investigation to uncover the circumstances surrounding the singer’s untimely demise. The Nigerian police have already conducted an autopsy, and the nation eagerly awaits the release of its findings.

Many are also demanding accountability, calling for the apprehension of Naira Marley and Sam Larry as they believed that their alleged mistreatment of the singer led to his tragic end.

MohBad, whose real name was Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba, was born June 8, 1996, in Lagos. He was a multi-talented artist, excelling as a rapper, singer, and songwriter, with humble beginnings rooted in his family.

His parents, Pastor Joseph Aloba and Mrs. Oladimeji, instilled in him the values that would shape his journey.

His educational journey took place in Lagos, where he completed his Primary and Secondary education, obtaining his first school leaving and SSCE certificates.

MohBad’s passion for music ignited at a young age, and he worked as a carpenter to finance his early musical endeavors.
MohBad’s rise to fame began with the release of unofficial tracks that gained traction within his community and online platforms.
This journey took a significant turn in 2019 when he signed with Marlian Music, a label founded by Naira Marley.
Joining Marlian Music was a pivotal moment for MohBad, propelling him into the limelight. His hits such as “Ko Po Ke (KPK)” featuring Rexxie, showcased his growing prominence.

In the Nigerian music industry, MohBad stood out for his unique blend of pop, Afrobeat, and hip-hop, and his fans revered him for his skills as a lyricist and songwriter.

In 2022, MohBad released his debut album, “Imole,” which enjoyed tremendous commercial success. The album featured popular tracks like “See My Benz,” “Kimi,” and “Ronaldo,” solidifying his position as a leading figure in the industry.

Following the success of his hit song “Ponmo,” featuring Naira Marley and Lil Kesh, MohBad released his debut album, “Light EP,” in the fourth quarter of 2020. In 2021, he received five nominations for The Beatz Awards, a testament to his growing influence.
MohBad’s collaborations with renowned Nigerian artists, including Davido, further cemented his status as a sought-after talent in the industry.

However, in February 2022, he faced legal issues with the NDLEA (National Drug Law Enforcement Agency) due to the possession of illegal substances. Amidst these troubles, MohBad parted ways with Marlian Music in 2022 over unpaid royalties.

Read More: https://politicsnow.ng/mohbad-tragic-end-of-a-rising-star/

There is a storm in the polity over subterranean plots by some political hawks in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to woo ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to the party and get him fielded as the party’s 2023 presidential standard-bearer.

The move is facing stiff resistance from some presidential aspirants of the party, who described it as insensitive to the feelings of those who had been labouring to make APC a household name.

Their position nonetheless, the Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Professor Ango Abdullahi, described the move as ironic and self-indicting, saying it is an admission of failure by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

According to Professor Abdullahi, it is ironic that those who drove out Jonathan in 2015 will now turn back to beg him to join them.

“What an irony! These are people, who kicked out a president for various reasons and here they are now admitting that they have failed and that they were wrong in kicking Jonathan out of office in 2015 and so, they are now asking him to come and help them.

“Isn’t that the irony of the whole thing? Here I am saying, ‘you have failed and I kicked you out,’ and then after some time I say, ‘I beg you, come back and take over, I am sorry for kicking you out in the first place.’ That is the meaning of the whole thing,” he stated.

The plot also drew cautious reactions from Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leaders, including Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, former Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, and former National Chairman of the PDP and Kaduna State Governor, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

They spoke as details of how some APC stakeholders convinced President Buhari to buy into the Jonathan project emerged last night.

Sources said if the plan sails through, Jonathan will serve for one term and hand over to his vice, a northerner from the North-East geopolitical zone.

Presidential aspirants, others kick

One of the presidential aspirants of the party from Benue State, Chief Moses Ayom, advised the former president not to bow to the pressure to join APC and seek its presidential ticket.

According to him, those putting pressure on Jonathan to do so are heartless and insensitive to the plight of others.

“I advise him not to cave into the pressure of the wicked, who are heartless and insensitive to people’s plight,” he stated.

Another presidential aspirant, Ihechukwu Dallas Chima, said the APC was on its way to extinction.

“I see the APC is on the pathway to extinction and as such, little effort can be made to call the leaders of the party to order.

“If after seven years of APC’s existence as a party, persons who don’t mean well for the party will decide to bring a former president that Nigerians rejected at the polls to come back after seven years to fly the party’s flag, then this is really a negative development.

“As an APC chieftain and presidential aspirant for the 2023 presidential election, I use this opportunity to tell the leaders of our party to rescind that negative step,” he cautioned.

Tinubu Support Group weighs in

On its part, the Tinubu Support Group, TSG, said everyone was welcome to the race because the more the merrier, but noted that it is not enough to drop the name of the president in order to win the ticket.

Head of Media of TSG, Tosin Adeyanju, said the APC could not afford to pick a candidate who is not popular.

Asked to respond to Jonathan’s planned move to the APC, Adeyanju said: “The more the merrier. We welcome everyone to the race. Alhaji Ahmed Bola Tinubu is a democrat, who believes in a democratic contest.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/04/storm-over-plot-to-draft-jonathan-as-apc-flag-bearer/

By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor

The leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, on Tuesday dismissed all chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as lacking in integrity.

Adebanjo said this while fielding questions on Arise Television. The interview was monitored by TheNiche.

Adebanjo who dismissed claims that former President Goodluck Jonathan only appointed the Afenifere old guards in the person of Chief Olu Falae and himself into the 2014 Constitutional Conference dismissed the claim as hogwash.

Adebanjo asked, “Were we the oldest people at that conference?”

Explaining what happened, Adebanjo said, “Let me make this clear. Jonathan asked people to come under several categories. I and Olu Falae were chosen by Jonathan as elder statesmen. Go and look at the records. But because they (Southwest APC chieftains) were spiteful of the Conference, they didn’t have the details. They wanted to confuse everybody at that time on the Conference we have been agitating for to reform and restructure the country to federalism.”

Accusing former Lagos State governor, who is a chieftain of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, of duplicity, Adebanjo said Tinubu had already jumped on the restructuring bandwagon before APC came on board.

“But because he has this false claim that he wants to be president by aligning with Buhari, he (Tinubu) couldn’t say anything straight. When they announced the Conference, Tinubu said, oh, it was a diversion – a diversion for a conference he has been shouting about since he came in that there must be National Conference for us to change the Constitution to federalism as against the fraudulent one imposed on us?

“But because he had a parley with these people, he said, oh no, it was a diversion. And they said that restructuring was number one in their (APC) agenda but when they came in, their chairman then, Chief John Oyegun, said restructuring was not their priority. Their priority is now corruption.

“The inconsistency and the lying of APC members is clear throughout their career. Their word is not their bond. You cannot rely on any of them. There is no person of integrity among them from the President downwards. They don’t keep to their words. They don’t understand what a gentleman’s agreement is. So they are reaping the fruits of inconsistency and disloyalty amongst themselves.”

Adebanjo said Chief Bisi Akande’s controversial biography was an attempt to ingratiate himself to Tinubu.

“He (Akande) is the apron string of Tinubu now. He is now coming up to Tinubu to claim that he is the only champion of his cause. They knew all the agreement they had before and when they see now that Buhari is trying to renege on them, Akande is trying to tell Tinubu, I am the only one who is championing your cause. They know all the evil that they are doing. But Buhari has let them down.

“That is why even when claiming to be a partner in government, they don’t know what is going on and they are now disputing the terms of the agreement. That shows you how genuine and sincere their cooperation was ab-initio. There is no sincerity there.

“The government is now saying, this is not what we agreed to and you are carrying on for five years and up till now, you have not broken out. If you know that is not the agreement, why are you still there when all the evils are being done to the people of the Southwest? They are killing us and committing all manner of atrocities and there is not a word from APC, not a word from Tinubu, not a word from Akande. All the kidnappings, killings, etc., in the Southwest, only the Afenifere was talking and shouting about it. Tinubu kept mum and APC kept mum and they claim to be leaders of Yorubaland.

https://www.thenicheng.com/theres-no-person-of-integrity-in-apc-from-buhari-downwards-says-ayo-adebanjo/

[b]Abaribe says some elements in govt are in cahoots with people destabilising Nigeria
Insists not designating bandits as terrorists makes FG complicit in their atrocities
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe is a quintessential lawmaker. All you need to do to gauge the mood of the opposition is to talk to him. As the Senate Minority Leader, he knows his responsibilities and has performed them to the hilt. The former Deputy Governor of Abia State, an economist by training, was first elected into the Senate to represent Abia South Senatorial District in 2007.

Intelligent, debonair, yet intrepid, Abaribe is an interviewer’s delight. He hardly parries any question. On Monday, November 16, IKECHUKWU AMAECHI sat down with the 66-year-old lawmaker for two hours in his National Assembly office. As usual, he pulled no punches. It was a “state of the nation” interview. There were no off-limits. He spoke about the PDP, APC, the Buhari government, IPOB, his relationship with Nnamdi Kanu and several other issues.[/b]

What is it like being the Senate Minority Leader?

It is nothing different from what I have always been as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The only thing is that because in the way we conduct the Senate business, I lead the minority side which in a parliamentary system is called the opposition side and the Majority Leader leads the government business side in parliamentary language.

But in the presidential system, it is simply called the majority side and in the way we also arrange our business on the floor, most of the motions that are raised by the majority have to be supported by me because usually, when there is a motion, there is a supporting voice before the President of the Senate asks the opinion of the rest of us and then can hit the gavel.

So, that is basically what it is. But, in terms of our work on the floor of the Senate, ordinarily, once you are in the opposition or minority, your job is to scrutinize the position of the government as espoused by the majority. But sometimes, our interests also coincide. But our job is actually to be carefully scrutinizing what comes, looking for flaws, pointing them out, making counter motions on our own that we feel are in the best interest of the public and of course, being there for ordinary Nigerians who depend on us to see through what goes on.

One of the things that people tend to see happen is that they expect us at all times to be very combative, because the assumption, of course, is that the majority side will always back the government position because they come from the same party and they are the same set of people.

Would you say that the opposition (PDP) has creditably performed the role of holding the government accountable?

Yes, we have. Most of the time, it is not everything that should go by voice vote. So, any time that we do things by voice vote, the ruling is always in favour of those that are in the majority party. But sometimes, we make it very well known the divergent ways we are looking at particular issues but we can get overruled.

For example, on the matter of the Federal Government and the incessant loans that they have been taking, we have always stood resolutely against it but because most of our members who come from the majority party feel that it is meant for whatever government programmes that they have, they always feel persuaded by the government’s argument and not what is in the best interest of Nigerians today and the future generation of Nigerians.

In the almost three years you have been the Minority Leader, what is the most challenging moment you have faced?

I think the most challenging moment was when I introduced the Bill for us to follow the Constitution as set out in Section 271 which stipulates that the National Assembly should set up a Military Service Commission whose job will be to ensure that the dictates of Federal Character is applied in the military. It is there in the Constitution.

When I brought the Bill, I was so surprised how people in the majority, my colleagues, rather than see what we were doing as a patriotic duty of ensuring that the dictates of the Constitution are followed actually opposed the Bill, claiming that it was going to take away some phantom powers of the President.

In other words, they looked at it basically as a challenge to the authority of the President, which it was not.

That day, I felt so bad and I actually wanted us to go ahead and do a division on the floor of the Senate but after we consulted and discussed, they said they wanted to make some input into it so that we can adjust it to whatever realities they wanted, I decided not to push the matter.

Which was why, when we got to the second point again which had to do with the sanctity of elections and the transmission of results at source and the same scenario came up again and people didn’t want us to do transmission of results by electronic means, claiming that the country was not ready, we just said no, let us test this.

What I can get from these two experiences actually is that it is about time in the National Assembly in this electronic age for us to stop voice vote. I think it is too anachronistic. People should now vote electronically. What that helps us to do will be that wherever you are, you will have to vote. Your interest will have to be covered because you are supposed to be representing people.

Of course, the counter argument is that if we let people vote from anywhere they are in the world, then most people won’t bother to come for debates and look at issues on the floor of the Senate. And that is important, because at the point that you stand up to participate in the debates and counter debates, some clarifications, harmonisations and changes are made on the floor there and then. But if you are outside, and you just have to vote yes or no, you may not get the rich experience that comes from being on the floor.

So, that is what the proponents of the continuous voice vote on the floor feel.

Does that tendency of your colleagues not to look at issues from the broad national perspective that will serve the common good rather the narrow party perspective worry you?

Obviously it does but the point really is that all of us being political animals, we probably will not see everything in the same light. Even nationally, we won’t be able to see things in the same light.

And I will just give you a very graphic example of that. Since the inception of this government, we have been sitting on that floor and shouting that we have a group of terrorists in this country running all over the place, killing, maiming, burning villages, destroying people, taking over lands and we have always said, if you don’t designate these people as terrorists, what exactly is it that you call them?

But of course, you now have the other school of thought that says they are just bandits, and then, you have some people who say, if you don’t pay them, they won’t be able to lay down their arms.

It means you are looking at something nationally and you are inputting your own view which is dramatically different from the views of other people. But I am glad that gradually all of us are coming to the same realization because on the floor of the Senate recently, there has now been this growing call to designate these people as terrorists, exactly what we have been saying since 2016.

People are gradually getting to realize the danger that we put ourselves by pretending that all is well whereas we have a raging ground war in which most of the Northeast, Northwest and North Central has been devastated. I am glad that we are all on the same page now in the National Assembly but the government still seems to foot drag on calling a spade a spade.

In your view, does government’s inability to heed the call of the National Assembly and make the appropriate designation make them complicit?


One of the suggestions is that it makes them complicit in what is going on because when you talk about crime and when you want to apportion blames, somebody who has the ability to prevent a crime but refuses wilfully, in the face of the law, is an accomplice.

And when you are an accomplice, what does that mean? It means that you are part of what is going on. So, that I think is a reasonable deduction to make. And what we call on government to do is that they should come out clearly and make Nigerians know that they are not part of the terrorism because right now, the impression created by this seeming inaction is that some elements in the government are in cahoots with these people destabilizing the country.

The impression out there is that the 9th National Assembly is the most subservient to the executive. Do you agree?

I don’t think that I should be the person to make an assessment of my colleagues and me. I think the assessment should be done from an external person. I am doing my own job. What I don’t like, I stand up and say no, this is wrong. I have been doing so consistently and I have been mobilizing my colleagues and we have always made the case.

I think maybe at the point that we started, what we started to do was misconstrued because the 8th National Assembly seemed to be at daggers drawn with the executive, I never felt so. I always felt at that time, because I was part of the 8th NASS and we were the people making the case that the relationship between the executive and the legislature is not supposed to be cozy. It is supposed to be wary because the way we look at things is not the way the executive looks at things. And so, we could not have expected the relationship to be chummy. What one would expect is that people respect their boundaries but everybody gets his or her own job done.

But what then happens when that kind of relationship leads to friction?

So, if that leads to friction, then of course, there are ways of resolving frictions within a political milieu. If it is in terms of a law, you can always test it in court. If it is in terms of amendments, we can always amend what the executive has proposed. If it is in terms of passing what the executive brings, in order for it to be in the best interest of Nigerians, we can always get that done. But because what we are doing is actually something that has to do with the interest of our people, naturally, there will always be different ways of looking at something.

So, when we started in the 9th Assembly, I think the idea was that if the executive claims that they could not perform or do anything because of the strident opposition from the legislature, let us give them the leeway so that they cannot cover their deficiencies by blaming the legislature for putting stumbling blocks. That is what I think happened in the 9th Assembly.

That was misconstrued by a lot of people, including the executive to the extent that they now felt that anything they bring must pass. But of course, some didn’t.

Many Nigerians don’t see the wisdom of the Senate approving a loan request from the President before asking him to submit the details that should include the conditionality, as it happened the last time. Shouldn’t it have been the other way round?

We see that argument. Which ought to come first? Actually, we ought to know beforehand the conditions under which such loans are sought. The reason why we (opposition) were opposed to the loans is that some of them have such nebulous titles that it makes you wonder exactly what the loan is being taken for.

Just check all the loans, you will see things like taking a loan to improve the quality of teachers, for instance. There is no way you can benchmark whatever that kind of open goal can do. We had the loan for improving NTA and things like that. We queried it. We said what exactly do you need all this for?

When a country is in dire straits as we are in right now, the first question is; what are your priorities? Which are the quick wins that will help you in solving your balance of payments, help you in stabilizing your currency, see how you can halt the drift, etc.

That seems not to be the case?

Exactly! What do we find? It is just the same old, same old. Okay, we want to build this and that and each and every one of them if you subject them to proper analysis, you won’t be able to get that return on investment that you need.

You take, for instance, the issue of trade, the argument that has now become a recurring decimal because in the 8th Senate, I remember that I had confrontation in front of the Shehu Sani committee that was in charge of local and foreign debts, with the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, about the same thing, which is, trying to get a loan to build a railway outside of Nigeria and then within Nigeria, just getting a loan to rehabilitate what we already have.

And I remember that in 2017 or thereabout, 1 queried it and Minister Amaechi and I had arguments over it then to the extent that he even went to Awka, where he was giving a lecture and started saying that if they put my name and his side by side, who will know who is Igbo and who is not, which was not the argument.

So, I am glad that when he came to defend his budget this time, he was confronted by Senator Danjuma Goje, Hon Pat Asadu and others talking about the same thing. And you look at the kind of argument that are being made; oh, we are doing it because of trade. And you ask, what type of trade does Niger Republic as a country generate for us to borrow and pay on their behalf? Just think about it.

Meanwhile, they are all French speaking part of the CFA and they already have agreements with Togo on the use of the seaport in Lomé. So, what is it that we are struggling for to say we want to build a rail line in order to take goods from Nigeria to Niger?

Of course, you know that is not the reason for the rail line to Maradi. The issue is simple. There is this whole thing about Niger and the President of Nigeria and some people are just pandering to those kind of sentiments.

So, think about it. From 2017 to 2021, we are still arguing about something we ought to have finished with at that time because the 8th Senate rejected it. But what did they do? They waited till the 9th Senate to bring up the issue again. But I am not sure that the committee will accept that because as we continue, no matter how much you borrow, there will be payback at a particular time. Somebody must pay – ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren.

Usually, statesmen, when they are running their countries, you don’t leave inter-generational debt. Whatever you do in your generation, you don’t try to say, let my grandchildren pay. That is not a worthy legacy to leave for your people.

When you are in dire straits as a country, first like I said, look at yourself. Those things that you know are frivolous and are not necessary, are beyond your reach at this time, you cut them out. There is an adage that says that when you are in a hole, you stop digging first. Otherwise, if you continue to dig, you continue sinking in deeper and deeper into the hole and we seem not to follow that wise saying because just ask yourself, there was a report last week of spending that was done on palliatives.

And the question is, how could people have said that they spent N58 billion in two months as if we don’t know what a billion is? A billion is a thousand million and you spent N58 billion in two months doing what?

They said they used it on poor Nigerians. So, there is a level of sleaze that is going on that is mind boggling. And if you say, okay, give us or show us how this was done, where, they also have no idea.

That sounds contradictory. Isn’t one of the biggest achievements of the Buhari administration their ability to slay the dragon of corruption as they claim?

READ Senator Abaribe's response to the question and the full interview
https://www.thenicheng.com/level-of-sleaze-in-buharis-govt-mindboggling-abaribe/

On Saturday, October 30, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held its National Convention in Abuja.

But even as the country’s main opposition party was yet to make up its mind where to zone its elective offices, former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, took the bull by the horns with his emphatic declaration that he will contest whether the party zones the presidential ticket to the South East or not.

That dramatically changed the political calculations not only in the PDP but the entire Nigerian political landscape.
Then on November 7, Anyim received the 2020 Zik Leadership Award in Lagos.

But before the awards, he exclusively sat down with IKECHUKWU AMAECHI for one hour in a no-holds-barred, frank and blunt interview, dissecting the problems of Nigeria, the issue of insecurity, the Igbo question, his tenure as Senate President and why he believes the presidential cap fits him.[/i]

Your party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), just had a successful national convention. The newly elected chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, said its success signals the party has come back. Do you share that sentiment?[i]

Of course, I do. The last national convention has actually marked a rebirth of the party and the new leadership is properly elected and properly composed to take the party to a new height.

There are some people who say that while it is true that you succeeded in having a successful national convention, the big elephant in the room still remains the zoning not of party offices but the presidential ticket. Don’t they have a point?[/i]

Well, let me answer you the way I said it recently. Zoning or no zoning for me is really not a matter of politics but a matter of equity.

And for someone like me who has come forward to aspire, zoning or no zoning, I will run. So, I don’t see zoning or no zoning being a challenge to the party.

The candidates should run on their own steam but for purposes of equity, we should know that constitutionally, we recognize the fact that there should be Federal Character.

However, let me say that when the PDP set up a zoning committee, the party was specific that the mandate of the committee was restricted to zoning the party offices. So, the issue of zoning the elective offices could come later. So, whether the party will still zone or not, I don’t think it is any issue whatsoever. It wouldn’t affect the fortunes of the party in any way whatsoever.

I decided to contest the 2023 presidential election not because I am from the Southeast but because, first, I am a Nigerian politician who has been in government and who understands what the problems are and so can find solutions to them. I am also that Nigerian Politician that is at home in every part of the country – North, East, West and South.

So, it is really not a matter of zoning. I think for 2023, Nigerians should look forward to the best that can refocus the country, reposition the country and build consensus and heal the wounds. So, I think certainly, zoning wouldn’t be a serious challenge.

In other words, you agree with those who are saying that come 2023, competence, rather than zoning should be the watchword?[i]

Sure! I do, because if zoning promotes mediocrity, it is not helping the system. It doesn’t certainly help the nation. However, that is not to say that when you zone, you won’t get competent people from wherever you zone to.

The first issue to resolve and agree on is competence, capacity, capability and ability to run an effective, efficient and inclusive government. And what we are saying is that even when you zone, you should be able to find such a person from where you are zoning to.

You took most people by surprise when you declared your intention to vie for the PDP presidential ticket at the convention ground in Abuja. What informed your decision to travel that route?

I have been in government and I have been around for some good number of years. I have followed the political processes in the country and I have played active roles and I believe that most Nigerians know me very well. So, it is the time I decided to step forward to declare my intention but that is not the time I started to nurse the aspiration.

But it is strategic to come out at a time best suited for the move. Remember that sometime early last year, my posters were all over the internet and I issued a press release disclaiming the posters. I said I did not authorize them. And the reason why I didn’t authorize them, which is true, is that it was too early into the life of the new administration to distract them with campaigns for a new tenure. And I did say that less than two years into the new administration, it will be a distraction for the governance of the country for anybody to talk about aspiration to succeed a government that had just been elected.

So, I think the time I stepped to the plate is the due time. It is the appropriate time to declare that intention.

[/b][/i]Why do you want to be president of Nigeria? What should Nigerians expect from an Anyim Presidency?[b][i]

I aspire to be president of Nigeria because I believe that by my experience, what I know about Nigeria, my very deep knowledge of the country, I will be able to run an inclusive government that will build consensus, restore peace, refocus Nigeria and make the country a place that all of us will be proud of.

So, I believe that the challenges of today are actually a matter of leadership and I will provide that leadership. I will give every segment of this country comfort. I will provide a leadership that will understand how to wield our diversities into an asset. I think that management of our diversities is actually central to the success of the country and I have interacted with various segments of the country. I have participated in running government that affected every part of the country and I know the needs of our diverse groups and I know how to put it together and do a policy thrust that will build a Nigeria of our dream.


[/b][/i]But you will admit that your aspiration will remain a pipe dream if the PDP deliberately zones the presidential ticket to any other zone other than the South East. Some people believe that the body language of the PDP tends to suggest that it is looking towards the North.[b][i]

When we get to the bridge, we will cross it.

[/b][/i]You have talked about your being in government, which is true. You were a Senate President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Whenever the APC government talks about the “16 ruinous years” of the PDP, you should be part of that alleged dubious legacy. Has the APC any merit in their claim that the PDP misgoverned this country?[b][i]

I am sure they are no longer saying so. They are rather wooing PDP members to join them. And whenever they succeed in getting any PDP member to join their party, they celebrate it. So, they have reversed themselves and I don’t have anything to add other than to say that they have effectively reversed themselves.

If I join APC today, they will be happy and they will celebrate it. If the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, joins APC today, they will celebrate it to the moon. So, they have reversed themselves and I don’t have anything to add.

READ MORE: https://www.thenicheng.com/my-presidential-aspiration-accepted-across-nigeria-anyim/

Patrick Okedinachi Utomi, popularly known as Pat Utomi, is a man of ideas. A professor of political economy and a management expert; Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria; politician and a former presidential candidate; founder of Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL); founding member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Utomi is passionate about Nigeria.

But he, like many other well-meaning Nigerians, feels disappointed the way the country has turned out.

In this exclusive interview with IKECHUKWU AMAECHI and EUGENE ONYEJI, Utomi, who insists that Nigeria is not a democracy because elections have not done the job of determining what the will of the people is, gives the two main political parties – APC and PDP – a very hard knock even as he says, “I don’t know how Buhari governs Nigeria.”[/i]

Nigeria celebrated her 61st independence anniversary on October 1. Would you say the country has met your expectations?[i]

I guess that is a rhetorical question but I am almost confident there is no Nigerian you ask that question who will answer in the affirmative. But the degree obviously will differ in terms of how or how not it has met their expectations.

To be fair, I have been one of those very passionate about the Nigerian project all of my adult life. Nigeria is the one thing that animates me. And I don’t have apologies for being passionate about Nigeria. I was born into it, so to speak.

I was a very young person when Nigeria became independent. I had goose bumps even as a child being involved in Independence Day activities.

As a young student activist, I have been drawn into Nigerian issues because there is the famous issue of my 18th birthday. I didn’t realise it was my birthday until about 8.30 pm because we had been demonstrating around the country. All the universities except University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) had actually been closed at the time because of protests at the anniversary of the Kunle Adepeju killing at the University of Ibadan and of course, at Nsukka, there was certain reluctance because of the civil war and many people had lost years and so many mature students just wanted to graduate, didn’t want to bother with what was going on elsewhere when ABU, Ife, Ibadan had all been shut down because of students’ protests.

So, we founded a group called the Students Democratic Society (SDS). They protested against the students union at UNN at the time. And so, while we were protesting on February 6, 1974, the Vice Chancellor granted us alternative platform, just rally so that the students can come together and discuss the issues.

So, at the Margaret Ekpo Hall where the entire student body had, literally, gathered that night, there is this gentleman, we used to call him Chairman P, who got up to speak and he said, “Today, February 6, 1974, will be remembered as the day when people who were physically demobilised after this civil war were finally mentally demobilised ….”

And February 6 is my birthday. That day was actually my 18th birthday and I was just remembering at 8.30 p.m.

So, that speaks to the nature of the passion through which we have come. And we were very involved students. We wanted to be part of national policy. And my personal contribution as a student leader was forcing a discussion of Nigeria’s foreign policy by challenging the Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Nanven Garba and his responding to my challenge and coming to Nsukka to debate us.

Joe Garba and I in a very dramatic turn engaged on the question of Nigeria’s role in Angola in 1975. He had agreed on a date for the debate but three days before the day the debate was supposed to take place, the Head of State, Murtala Muhammed, was killed in a coup on February 13, 1976. Nobody expected Garba to come, I was despondent, people who said I was just making mouth on campus said now I had excuse.

I didn’t know what to do. I went to Enugu, to Governor Atom Kpera’s office and everybody was just looking at me. All the telephone lines in the country had been cut off and the Garrison Commander in Enugu said to me, “Why don’t you go to the airport. If he has to come, it must be through the airport, it won’t be by road.”

So, I had no choice than to go to the airport. And a Nigerian Police jet just landed and there he was and we started heading to Nsukka. And the whole campus just went totally crazy.

So, that was the kind of commitment we had as young people. When we talk about Nigeria as great, as giant of Africa, we actually believed it and we wanted to see it happen and we worked towards it.

So, it should be understandable that many of us feel disappointed the way Nigeria has turned out.


With the picture you just painted, what do you make of today’s National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)?[/i]

I have actually discussed this subject severally in the past and interesting enough, part of how that conversation has gone in my recent engagement with it is from when young people began to protest and say look at Europe, a 39-year-old had just become President of France, that is Emmanuel Macron at the time, look at the young men popping up in Italy, Austria; the young ladies popping up in the Scandinavia but back home, Nigerian elders have refused to give us a chance.

But for a completely different reason, I went to see General Alani Akinrinade and he raised the issue and said, “You know, young Nigerians are complaining that young people are taking over in Europe,” but he said, “You know, most of those young people taking over in Europe were formed for leadership in the students unions. They started as student leaders. Unfortunately for us in Nigeria, our young people did not have the opportunity of developing those leadership skills as students because we the military and the politicians that followed us destroyed the students’ union movement in Nigeria.” These were General Akinrinade’s words.

And so, the youths have lost the opportunity of the grooming that the students union movement should ordinarily give them. Now the characters who run around, calling themselves student leaders are neither students nor leaders.

General Akinrinnade can be an extraordinary guy when you meet him. He is very profound in his thinking. Sometimes, you just say waoh! And I share in the sentiments he expressed.

It is very sad that after our time, students’ union movement in Nigeria was destroyed by soldiers and politicians and that has denied our country the possibility of grooming leaders who are truly leaders in understanding that leadership is selfless, it involves selfless giving of oneself for the advance of the common good of all. If you are in it because you want to get a Prado Jeep, as many of them seem to be doing these days, you are not a leader.

If you cannot become passionate about your shared humanity, and are driven only by more narrow interests, you are not likely to be able to change the world because young people are in a very good stage of idealism. You know what is said about young people, when you are 18, if you are not a Marxist, something is wrong with your heart. But if you are 40 and still a Marxist, something is wrong with your head.

How did we get it wrong? Some people point at the January 15, 1966 coup, but Nigeria is not the only country to have experienced coup. Others have since moved on. Where did the rain start beating us?[i]

It is not a one-cause thing. Several things happened but that coup was a critical part of the problem, not necessarily the event of the coup but in the military entering the political arena in Nigeria.

How do you mean?[/i]

The reason lies in what I will call the dangerous alchemy of soldiers and oil. Why is it a dangerous alchemy? You see, Nigeria was a very carefully crafted federation. In that federal arrangement, there were checks and balances of sorts from the conventions of engagement. When the military intervened, we can argue about the motives of the young officers from here till tomorrow, people playing it any way it is convenient for their own positions, but nobody who really knew those officers will doubt that they were driving some ideal, misguided or not.

The consequence was that the military entered political life and came to the realisation that, it should have been obvious but it wasn’t to the people who were intervening at the time, the nature of military rule with the hierarchy of the army was such that it was a centralising structure.

So, people can accuse Aguiyi Ironsi, for example, of moving from a federal structure to a unitary structure, but when he was shoved aside, it still continued in that direction because it was a very simple logic. The General is at the top, Colonels at the middle and the Privates are at the base and in the hierarchy of the army, a General says jump and a Colonel says, how high sir and so on down the line.

And so, the General at the centre appoints a Colonel a military governor and the Colonel is not going to question what the General asked him to do.

So, why is it a dangerous alchemy of soldiers and oil?[i]

It was about that same time in our nation’s life that oil became a more significant revenue source. So, not only did the General at the top have all the powers to do virtually all he wanted to do and not be questioned by the Colonel who is running the state, there was now revenue coming into the state coffers that the General or the Colonel had no need to recourse to the people to pay taxes because the control the people exert on government comes from the fact that they pay taxes.

In those days in the 1960s, one of the most dramatic scenes everywhere across Nigeria was of tax collectors chasing citizens and they will be running. So, the government stopped bothering people with taxes. And the gift of oil and the hierarchy of the military distorted the way things could flow especially because there was a weak intellectual content later down the line.

Under the first phase of military rule – Gowon, the civil war and all of that – you also had another factor, the brilliant permanent secretaries of that era were significantly products of the London School of Economics – the Philip Asiodus, Allison Ayidas, etc., and the London School of Economics with Professor Harold Laski as the main driver of the ideology of governance that flowed out of LSC, and remembering the history of LSC, which came out of Fabian Socialism, members of the Fabian Society under the LSC founded the Labour Party.

So, with their mindset, there tended to be this dirigiste inclination of state control. Compound this dirigisme with the fact that oil revenue were now aplenty and the government merely driven by the ideologies of these permanent secretaries argued for government occupying the commanding height of the economy – the language of the time.

And so, the General who needed to occupy the commanding height of the economy simply altered the revenue allocation formula and nobody questioned him, he could do anything he wanted. And we went from the regions collecting say revenue like oil and sending 50 per cent to the centre to the Federal Government collecting 100 per cent and sending an increasingly diminishing amount to the sub-nationals and at a point in time, even the oil producing states were getting less than 0.05 per cent of actual revenues from oil because Kalu Idika Kalu, who was Minister of Finance at a point in time, while speaking at one Concerned Professionals event, broke it down and by the time you took out the special funds for Ajaokuta, Aladja, Alscon, Abuja – the so-called Four As – and you share what is left, what actually was getting to oil producing states was less than 0.05 per cent of revenues from crude oil at a point in time.

And there is another consequence that mindset creates. It creates a mindset of obsession with revenues. Everything in Nigeria became about revenues and how to share these revenues. Every quarrel was about who was getting more of these revenues.

Now, what the ideology of the time failed to recognise and this is the biggest bane of Nigeria’s development, is that revenues do not make you rich. What makes you rich is production. And so, the more we battled and shared, and the more revenues we got, the poorer we became.

A typical example is the argument made about who is producing, who is getting more, all the fight over should derivation be 25 per cent, 13 per cent, this or that.

Now, I will give you an illustration. In the 1960s, only two levels of government were involved in fiscal transfers – the national government and the sub-nationals – that is the regions or states as they became later. Local governments were not involved. They were the convenience of whoever wanted to create them. So, for convenience, the governments in the South ended up having about twice as many local governments as governments in the North. It was not a problem. It didn’t affect fiscal distribution. It was just for administrative purposes.

But by 1976, when the Dasuki Commission under the Obasanjo military government, borrowing from the traditions somewhere in Eastern Europe and Brazil, local governments became part of fiscal transfer system and the local governments, the third tier of government, were entitled to about 20.9 per cent of distributable funds – the so-called FAAC account. That is a huge amount of revenues.

And who were the powerful people around? They were the young Colonels in the army and each of them wanted his village to be a local government. And of course, the majority of the powerful young officers were from the North and we ended up with 774 local governments and now nearly 500 of that are in the old north

So, that is a huge revenue shift but the North has become poorer and people are wondering, what is going on? Nobody is remembering that they are getting a lot more revenue. So, why are they getting poorer and poorer? It is because we didn’t think through the logic of wealth. When the North produced in the early 60s, the quality of life was much better than when they started waiting for revenues to be allocated.

They abandoned production and became poorer and you can show it in simple terms in everyday life.

Why is it so? Why will people get poorer even when they are getting more revenue? Isn’t that a paradox?[/i]

It is called the lottery effect. Find me any poor person who won a lottery and ten years later, I will show you he is poorer than he was when he won the lottery. There is a current Nigerian case in the UK. I heard the story somewhere.

A Nigerian lady that was living in Peckham London, who won a couple of million pounds in a lottery. And the first thing, her pastor shows up and collects tithe and all the members of her church who had problems showed up also and then she went and bought a house in the St. Johns Wood and moved. But four years later, she sold the house and moved back to Peckham.

And this is not a new thing. If you go and read the economic history of the world, you will see it. Spain is a classic example. At the height of its economic glory, the elite of Spain were spending like drunkards, enjoying the good life that accrued from gold being shipped back to Spain. But the small countries around them, the Netherlands of this world, Switzerland of this world, were busy investing in their youths to be more productive.

A couple of generations down the line, these countries are far wealthier than Spain. So there is no magic. Everything that happens, if you know enough, you will know that this is where we are headed. I could tell you 30 years ago that Nigeria will be where it is today. It is not that I could tell you, I wrote it down. Go and read what I wrote 25 years ago, all this mess in Nigeria, I said it will happen, almost like a prophet, I went close to saying how it will happen, not because I am intelligent. Other people who were smarter than me thought it out and I just basically came to that understanding.

Robert Kaplan wrote the “Coming Anarchy” around the time of return to civil rule in Nigeria and I read it and said, this is what is coming. I bought copies and sent to my friend who was the DG of SSS, General Babangida got a copy, and General Aliyu Gusau got a copy. Everything Kaplan predicted has happened.

I used to host this monthly breakfast meeting at the Lagos Business School and in one of the early ones like about 20 years ago, we had among those in the house a chap called Brown with the IMF Country Office in Nigeria.

And I was making remarks about revenue allocation in Nigeria and I said look at how Botswana has cleverly saved revenues from Diamond exports into a future fund. In my view, what should make sense, because revenues from crude oil are meant for Nigerians of all times. God put it in the ground not for this generation alone but Nigerians forever. If we spend it all now, our children will curse us. Can we take a portion of this revenue, put it in our budget process, probably not more than $25 from each barrel and then everything above the $25, we put in a stabilization fund.

If oil prices were to crash to $8 as it were under Sani Abacha, the difference between that $8 and the standard level we are normally committing to the budget, we will take from the stabilisation fund and ensure that it doesn’t matter that the price of crude oil is now $8, the funding of the budget will still be the same constant $25 a barrel. So everything above $50 goes into the Sovereign Wealth Fund, the so-called future fund.

After I finished, this IMF guy came to me and said, “Why is your country a mess with people like you?”

So, these ideas have been around like forever. There is no rocket science about them. We have expressed them in the past and that is what is haunting us today.

So, why is it that when people who profess these ideas go into government, they do entirely the opposite? Is there anything in government that makes people forget what works?[i]

I don’t think we have had enough of people who know go into government. Let us be fair and frank. We have not. And I will tell you how I raised that issue once.

I was giving a talk at a Lagos Business School programme focusing on higher education in Nigeria and I was talking about the fact that in the early 1960s, there was a commission on higher education in Nigeria set up by Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and chaired by a British educator from Oxford called Sir Erick Ashby and Sir Ashby made the point that the quality of higher education in Nigeria that time was as good as the very best in the world. He said it was actually harder to get into University of Ibadan than it was to get into Harvard University in 1961.

One young lady in the class, one of these millennial, could have none of that. She said, “You people have come again. It was always good before in Nigeria. It is now bad. If it was so good, how come those of you who got that education have made such a mess of the country?” She thought she has scored a home run and it seemed like it.

I said to her, you are right actually that that quality of higher education should have made a difference but truly, those who got that education, have they ever run Nigeria? The truth is no. At a point in time, they got so frustrated and most of them left Nigeria. Once in a while, you get one tired one amongst them who has taken enough humiliation from the system and they say, come and be minister of this or that and all the guy is praying is to recoup enough to go into nice retirement. He forgets all his ideas, he doesn’t care. He just wants to survive in the system.

READ MORE
https://www.thenicheng.com/nigeria-unable-to-rise-to-its-potentials-because-it-hasnt-had-leaders-in-power-pat-utomi/

President Muhammadu Buhari has less than two years in office. Indeed, he has about 19 months from until May 29, 2023 when he is constitutionally required to hand over to the next president chosen through the ballot box.

He has spent 77 months in office. And he cannot elongate his tenure because the Constitution bars him from serving more than two terms.

It is good for every administration to take stock as it inches closer to the lame duck corridor.

What has been done? What is left to be achieved? Answering such questions honestly ensures that an administration leaves office on a high note.

On Tuesday, the administration rose from a two-day mid-term ministerial performance review retreat in Abuja with Buhari tasking ministers on project delivery and directing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, to convene quarterly coordination meetings on nine priority areas.

He not only directed ministers and permanent secretaries to redouble their efforts and work in synergy toward total delivery of targets to improve the livelihood of all Nigerians, but also instructed them to ‘‘ramp up implementation’’ of their mandates along the nine priority areas, stressing the need for synergy between fiscal and monetary authorities to keep the economy on the trajectory of growth.

Buhari urging ministers and permanent secretaries to work towards achieving “total delivery” of targets to improve livelihoods means that he believes that his administration has achieved so much in the last 77 months.

Therefore, now that it is on the home stretch, all that needs to be done is to ramp up implementation.

Obviously, the president was impressed by what he heard from his ministers when the retreat went behind closed doors on Monday.

‘‘The retreat provided an opportunity for us to undertake an objective assessment of our stewardship in line with the contract we signed with the Nigerian people to deliver on our electoral promises,” Buhari crowed.

‘‘From the assessment report and discussions at this retreat, I am glad to note that progress has been made towards the achievement of our objectives.

‘‘The independent performance assessment report presented on day one of the retreat indicates that significant progress has been achieved in the delivery of the ministerial mandates,” he concluded.

Many who thought that because he had recently sacked two ministers, the retreat would be another opportunity for him to shake hands with other non-performers, get rid of them, and bring in fresh faces to take the administration to the finish line were disappointed.

Those Nigerians were naïve to expect a president who looked them in the face and boasted in his nationwide broadcast to mark 61st independence anniversary that no administration since 1999 has done as much as he has in six years to discard with the services of those prodigies that helped him create his fantasy land.

“A lot has been achieved in the last six years on many fronts: in infrastructure, social care, governance, Nigeria’s image and influence in Africa and the international community.

“But critics misdiagnose incremental progress as stagnation. Since coming to power, this administration has tackled our problems head-on in spite of the meagre resources. No government since 1999 has done what we have done in six years to put Nigeria back on track,” Buhari boasted.

That amounted to telling a barefaced lie with a straight face because available data shows the exact opposite.

But the retreat was organised to amplify that claim rather than stocktaking. It was not a time of introspection. It was time to ululate. An avenue for chest-thumping. And Buhari did that brazenly.

He does not take responsibility for anything, certainly not for security where he has exclusive preserve as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, even as he appropriates the few islands of success in the national ocean of failures.

That is why he said in his October 1 speech that “in particular, security is a bottom to top undertaking. Joining hands and hearts together would enable us to secure ourselves and our country.”

But, what, in reality, is Buhari’s scorecard?

He listed the priorities of his administration to include building a thriving and sustainable economy, enhancing social inclusion and poverty reduction, enlarging agricultural output for food security, attaining energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products, expanding transport and other infrastructural development, business growth, entrepreneurship and industrialization, access to quality education, affordable healthcare and productivity, building a system to fight corruption and improve governance, social cohesion and security.

So, in which area has the administration excelled?

Buhari came to power through propaganda and outright lies and wants to continue wheedling the unwary with his cocktail of fibs.

The truth, however, is that there is hardly any of these priority areas where his administration has recorded a sterling performance even if the yardstick for measuring success is reduced to Buhari’s very low standards.

For instance, unless for someone coming from the moon, no honest Nigerian can say Buhari has built a thriving and sustainable economy in the last six and a half years. If anything, the economy is in a shambles.

It takes an enervating level of impenitence for this administration to lay claim to enhancing social inclusion and poverty reduction in the 77 months it has been in office.

All pretentions to the contrary notwithstanding, there is hardly any Nigerian that can claim to have been lifted out of poverty because of the policies of the Buhari government. Instead, the government’s half-baked fiscal and monetary policies flung open the gates of penury and extreme deprivation. Nigeria under Buhari’s watch has more poor people than ever before, and governance continues to be dogged by inefficiency and waste.

Social disparity, which encourages divisiveness, has never been this wide and more Nigerians have been thrown into poverty since the advent of the Buhari presidency than at any other time since after the civil war in 1970 and that explains the unprecedented level of social anomie and complete breakdown of social bonds.

It is unconscionable for Buhari to claim that his administration is chaperoning the country towards attaining energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products.

Despite all promises in 2015 prior to the election that brought the All Progressives Congress (APC) to power, Nigeria is still importing refined petroleum products, spending trillions of naira in subsidy and nowhere close to attaining energy sufficiency in power.

Of course, it will be ridiculous to claim power sufficiency with 3,000 megawatts of electricity serving an estimated population of over 200 million.

It is laughable for Buhari to claim that his administration is enhancing access to quality education when university students recently lost one academic session due to industrial action by lecturers.

How can the government boast of “quality education” which its high priests, including the president, consider not good enough for their children? Their lack of confidence in their “quality education” is the reason why all their children study in Europe, North America and Asia.

The same goes for healthcare and productivity. Many Nigerians opt for self-medication because healthcare is no longer affordable and Buhari himself has made health tourism an essential element of his annual calendar in the last six years.

Nigerian doctors are queuing up at every foreign embassy in Lagos and Abuja seeking visas to run away from their own country.

It is equally laughable for him to lay claim to improving governance and creating social cohesion as well as security for all.

Nigerians have never been more insecure in the last 50 years, and the level of division because of Buhari’s gross mishandling of diverse ethnic nationalities is the antithesis of social cohesion.

His policies have stifled business growth, entrepreneurship and industrialization.

He has also failed to build a system to fight corruption, as many Nigerians argue, with good reason, that graft thrives despite the fabled fight being waged against it.

As Dr. Christopher Kolade, Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, aptly noted in his October 31, 2019 interview with TheNiche, “The only person that doesn’t know we are fighting corruption is corruption itself.”

Even what could have been achieved in raising agricultural output is blunted by the unmitigated violence visited on hapless farmers by terrorists, making food security a mirage.

Not only that, as Premium Times newspaper noted recently, “Despite its professed commitment to developing the agricultural sector, and indeed investment in the sector, agriculture has grown at the weakest rate under the Buhari administration than any other government since the return of democracy in 1999.”

According to the online newspaper, while the sector grew at an average of 15 per cent in the past five years under Buhari, it grew by 133 per cent under the Obasanjo administration; 19.1 per cent under President Umaru Yar’adua and 22.2 per cent under Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

Read more: https://www.thenicheng.com/buharis-nine-priority-areas/

By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor

When Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), announced on Thursday that it had zoned the position of the national chairman of the party to the north, many Nigerians were surprised.

Before the dramatic turn of events, the body language of the party had led many to conclude that they planned to retain the chairmanship in the south while the presidential candidate in the 2023 elections will come from the north.

Most of those who jostled for the chairmanship seat, including Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former governor of Osun State, are all southerners.
On the other hand, many of those rumoured to be nursing presidential ambition, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, are northerners.

Even when the party constituted a 44-member Zoning Committee headed by Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, ahead of the National Convention scheduled to hold October 30 and 31, the committee met twice last week in Enugu but was unable to reach a consensus on the subject.

That was when the PDP Governors Forum stepped in.

A source privy to the behind the scenes intrigues that finally took the chairmanship seat to the north told TheNiche on Saturday that even the governors could not arrive at a consensus and opted for election in a bid to break the impasse and save the party from implosion.

According to the highly placed source who pleaded anonymity, northerners were fully mobilized to wrestle the presidential ticket from the south.

But the governors saved the day for the prospects of a southern presidential candidate.

While the ruling APC controls 22 states, the PDP is in charge of 13. The remaining one state, Anambra, is led by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Narrating what happened, our source said: “When the 44-member zoning committee could not agree, the governors stepped in and held a meeting on Wednesday night at the Akwa Ibom governor’s residence in Abuja.

“It was a marathon meeting and the governors elected on the platform of the PDP wanted to achieve a consensus on the contentious issue of party leadership but it was not possible and they opted for election.

“After the defection of three PDP governors to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the party now has 13 governors under the umbrella of the PDP Governors Forum chaired by the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal.

“Of the 13, five – Tambuwal (Sokoto State), Samuel Ortom (Benue State), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi State), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa State) and Darius Ishaku (Taraba State) are from the north while the remaining eight are from the south – Oyo, Enugu, Abia, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Rivers, Bayelsa.

“When it came to voting, Tambuwal who presided over the meeting as the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, abstained. But three of his colleagues from the north – Bala Mohammed, Ahmadu Fintirin and Darius Ishaku voted that the chairmanship should be retained in the south.

“But the whole eight Southern PDP governors voted that the chairmanship seat should go to the north. They were joined by Ortom. So, when the votes were tallied, nine governors were in favour that the seat be zoned to the north while three favoured that it should be retained in the south with one abstention.

“That was what happened. Rather than the 44-member zoning committee, the governors decided. They were the jinx breakers. They only communicated their decision to the committee members who met on Thursday and just announced the decision of the governors.

“That shows how powerful the governors are. They are the major power brokers in the two dominant political parties because they are the major financiers of the parties.”

On Thursday, at the reconvened meeting of the zoning committee in Enugu, Ugwuanyi made the announcement.

But TheNiche gathered that even if the governors didn’t tilt the presidential balance to the south, ten members of the zoning committee from the north had already agreed to support the south and vote for a northern chairman.

 Ugwuanyi said other positions within the National Working Committee (NWC) will be swapped between the north and the south.
He also emphasized that the committee was not asked to decide the zoning of the presidential ticket.

“The mandate of the committee does not include zoning of offices of the president, vice president, and other executive and legislative offices of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The decision of the committee to zone the offices of the party does not in any way affect the same executive and legislative offices in Nigeria. The zoning of offices on PDP has traditionally been between the North and the South of Nigeria.

“The decision of the PDP zoning committee is in line with the constitution of the party on zoning, and rotation of party, and national offices in the interest of justice, equity and fairness. Consequently, the current offices being held by officers in the southern zone of the country, namely south-west, south-east and south-south zone should swap places with offices currently in the northern zone of Nigeria namely north-west north-east, north-central zones,” he told journalists.

With the resolution to zone the seat to the north, our source disclosed that there is a possibility that the convention may be postponed to enable the PDP put its house in order.

Since the announcement on Thursday, there has been deafening silence from some northern power brokers who are believed to be interested in running for the presidency.

The idea of postponing the convention may also be to reach out to those aspirants in order to pacify them.
Our source said the process of healing has already started.

“Southern party leaders are already reaching out to their northern colleagues to appease them. The message is simple and straightforward – there is no victor and no vanquished.

“The governors stepped in to save the party from imploding. The decision to zone the chairmanship to the north was taken to ensure peace in the PDP and secure the unity of the country.”

Most southern PDP leaders who spoke to TheNiche said it would be manifestly unfair to retain the presidency in the north after eight straight years of a northern president.

“This is not about political party. It does not matter whether the incumbent president is a member of the PDP or APC. PDP constitution has a rotation clause and power rotation has always been between north and south and the fact remains that President Muhammadu Buhari is from the core north. Equity, justice and fair play demand that after eight years of his presidency, power should gravitate to the south,” one of the leaders said..."

Read more https://www.thenicheng.com/exclusive-2023-presidency-how-governors-saved-the-pdp-from-implosion/

The Nigeria at 61 Peter Obi special interview.

EXCERPTS:

"My main agenda is to ensure peace in Nigeria. We need the unity of this country. We need a country with law and order. Most importantly, we need a country that will start being productive, start creating jobs, start employing and giving hope to its citizens. Presently, what we have is a case of hopelessness."

"A father must leave a better place for the children. That’s why he sacrifices to make life better for them. That is what leadership should be. A leader should be able to bequeath the future generation a better society than he met it. If he is not building that better society, he is not a leader."

"Societies are changed by leaders and subsequently by the followers, especially when they insist. If the leaders are visionary, they can drive the process. But Nigeria is in a double crisis; the leaders are problematic, the followers are problematic. So, it’s a double crisis. The followers are not insisting on the leaders doing it right. In other places, they would have insisted on leaders who would do it well."

"Leadership is not one person. When you talk of political leadership, people think it is the president, governor or local government chairman. That’s not it. It is the body, the collection of all of us. So, when you aggregate all of us, you find out that the greater number which is above 60 per cent of the class, are incompetent and don’t have the capacity. They shouldn’t be there at all."

Read the full interview:
https://www.thenicheng.com/exclusive-over-60-of-the-political-elite-are-incompetent-dont-have-the-capacity-shouldnt-be-in-leadership-peter-obi/

“I never said I was a pauper. And people knew. I was not a pauper before I became governor. Before I became governor, I was a director in several financial institutions and some other quoted companies by virtue of my investments.

“I had thriving businesses and the businesses were not folded up because I wanted to be governor. They were there. They were all going concerns. All people need to know is that if there is anything you have seen, investigate it properly, ask valid questions and you will be provided with the right answers.

“What I want people to concentrate on is this: if you see anything that you think is suspicious that belongs to Peter Obi, investigate it properly, most especially, get to the source of the wealth. So, if you see an account belonging to Peter Obi, please investigate the source of the wealth. That’s most important."

**Read the full interview in TheNiche on October 1

https://www.thenicheng.com/exclusive-i-was-never-a-pauper-before-i-became-governor-of-anambra-state-peter-obi/

Fashola replies SERAP, says: 'I can't find names of alleged corrupt contractors from our record'

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN has responded to the Freedom of Information request by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) saying that “the Ministry has searched for the requested information on details of alleged contractors and companies that collected money for electricity projects and failed to executive any projects, but we could not find it from our records.”

Mr Fashola’s response followed SERAP’s suit number FHC/L/CS/105/19 filed last month at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos. The suit is seeking “an order for leave to apply for judicial review and an order of mandamus directing and/or compelling Mr Fashola to provide specific details on the names and whereabouts of the contractors who collected public funds meant for electricity projects but disappeared with the money without executing any projects.”

However, in the letter dated 27th January 2019 but which SERAP said it received at its office on 7th February 2019, Mr Fashola said, “We have searched the Ministry’s record and the information you applied for is not held by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing (Power Sector).”

The letter signed on Mr Fashola’s behalf by Mrs Shoetan A. A, Director (Legal Services) read in part: “I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 4th January 2019 in which you applied for request to disclose details of alleged corrupt contractors and companies that collected money for electricity projects but failed to execute any projects. The request has been handled under the FOI Act.”

Responding, SERAP in a letter dated 8th February 2019 and signed by its deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare said: “The public expectation is that government information, when in the hands of any public institutions and agencies, should be available to the public, as prescribed by the FOI Act. The FOI Act should always be used as an authority for disclosing information rather than withholding it.”

SERAP’s response to Mr Fashola read in part: “Indiscriminate attempts to limit disclosure of information of public interest such as the details of the names of alleged corrupt contractors and companies that SERAP is seeking, will undermine the government’s expressed commitment to transparency and accountability.”

“We believe that the predisposition by all public institutions and agencies including the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing should be to grant access to public information and not to implicitly deny it. Indeed, disclosure, not secrecy, is the dominant objective of the FOI Act. This objective would be defeated if there is public perception that public institutions and agencies attempt to shield information of public interest from disclosure or abdicate statutory responsibilities.”

“Although we have filed a case in court for remedial action and seeking an order to compel you and your Ministry to release the information requested, we urge you to take proactive steps to obtain the information from any other public institution or agency that may be holding the requested information, and to send to us the information without further delay. Your Ministry should not wait until the court makes it decision to compel you to disclose the requested information.”

“Proactively releasing the information to SERAP and publishing it widely will strengthen the proper implementation of the FOI Act, promote accessibility and openness in government as well as show that the government will not shield the affected contractors and companies from accountability.”

“SERAP believes that it should be the practice of your Ministry and indeed other public institutions and agencies to hold and keep records of public information including on names of alleged corrupt contractors and companies with the expectation to release any such information when requested.”

“SERAP believes that even assuming that your Ministry has faithfully searched for the information requested and that the information is not held by your Ministry as claimed, your Ministry should still have taken steps to approach and request from other public institution or institutions that may be holding the requested information, in line with the provisions of the FOI Act.”

“SERAP believes that your response implicitly amounts to a refusal by your Ministry to provide the information requested, as allowed under the FOI Act.”

“We note that your Ministry has a responsibility under Sections 1(1)(2), 2(2)(3)(4), 5 and 9 of the FOI Act to record and keep information about all its activities, operations and businesses, including on the specific names and details of alleged corrupt contractors and companies in order to facilitate public access to any such information.”

It would be recalled that SERAP had last month sued Mr Fashola over “failure to disclose specific names and details of contractors and companies that allegedly collected money for electricity projects but failed to execute any projects, starting from the return of democracy in 1999 to 2018.”

The suit followed SERAP’s Freedom of Information request dated 4 January, 2019 giving Mr Fashola 14 days to publish “the names of all contractors and companies that have been engaged in the power sector since the return of democracy in 1999 to date, details of specific projects and the amounts that have been paid to the contractors and companies, details on the level of implementation of electricity projects and their specific locations across the country.”

The organization said: “publishing the names will make it hard for contractors and companies to get away with complicity in grand corruption. The citizens have the right to see that the Freedom of Information Act is enforced where there is an infraction of the right to information or a threat of its being violated, in matters of public interests.”

A human rights and anticorruption non-governmental organization based in Lagos is seeking highly qualified lawyers for the position of Legal Adviser in its Litigation and Legal Advice Unit.

Education, Related Skills and Knowledge: Applicants must have at least: 7 years post-call litigation experience and knowledge of the anticorruption and human rights fields; a strong commitment to human rights, transparency and accountability; demonstrated ability to think legally, analytically, strategically and effectively; excellent written and oral communication skills in English; capacity to appropriately plan and prioritize and to manage multiple demands efficiently; ability to defend and explain complex issues and positions to staff and to advocate on these positions externally; and strong interpersonal skills to work collaboratively within and outside the organization.

Salaries and Benefits: Competitive but subject to experience

Interested applicants should please submit a letter of interest, resume, and a short writing sample to: NGO Vacancy lagosngovacancy@gmail.com

Application Deadline: Please apply immediately or by 10 January 2019

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to President Donald Trump requesting him to demand from President Muhammadu Buhari during his meeting with him this week “a comprehensive looters’ list and to exercise your constitutional powers under the Presidential Proclamation 7750 to instruct the US Secretary of State to temporarily ban those named on the list and their family members from entering the US, pending the final determination of the cases against them.”

The organization also urged President Trump to “use Presidential Proclamation 7750 to ban those indicted for allegedly stealing some public funds $2bn to buy 12 helicopters, four fighter jets and ammunition meant for the fight against the terrorist group Boko Haram. The imposition of temporary travel bans on senior public officials and others complicit in grand corruption is a preventive and not punitive measure.”

Presidential Proclamation of 2004 allows the US Department of State to deny visas to corrupt foreign officials, their families and friends.

In the letter dated 29 April 2018 and signed by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni the organization said: “Applying the Presidential Proclamation 7750 would be very helpful to Nigeria’s efforts to fight grand corruption and end entrenched culture of impunity of perpetrators in the country. It would also facilitate equivalent visa bans in other globally desirable locations as well. Limiting the abilities of suspected kleptocrats, their families, and friends to enter the US and enjoy their loot abroad will provide a significant crimp in their lifestyles.”

According to SERAP, “Imposing targeted anticorruption sanctions against those accused of grand corruption in Nigeria would help to deter corrupt behaviour by high-ranking public officials. Such sanctions would not violate due process and presumption of innocence principles, if the reasons for the sanctions are communicated to those that may be affected. Also, the cases of those found not guilty of corruption can be revisited, since the proposed travel suspension would be temporary until the final determination of their cases.”

The organization said Trump should “apply the Presidential Proclamation 7750 as an instrument of foreign policy to promote targeted anti-corruption sanctions in Nigeria, just as the US has for many years applied targeted sanctions, including imposing travel restrictions on or freezing the assets of those accused of terrorism. Our request meets the requirements of Proclamation 7750 because grand corruption in Nigeria including the alleged stealing of public funds meant to fight Boko Haram, has had serious adverse effects on U.S. foreign assistance goals in the country and undermined the stability of democratic institutions.”

The letter read in part: “Proactive initiatives to combat global corruption have always been in the best long-term interests of the US. Therefore, your application of targeted anti-corruption sanctions would reaffirm US commitments to the global fight against corruption, help to supplement Nigeria’s criminal justice system, and be entirely consistent with the US obligations under the UN Convention against Corruption. Nigeria has also ratified the Convention. SERAP believes that pervasive corruption is at the heart of the insecurity, under-development and extreme poverty in the country.”

“SERAP hopes that you will exercise your constitutional powers to promote transparency and accountability and reduce corruption in Nigeria. Presidential Proclamation 7750 of January 12, 2004 underscores the importance of legitimate and transparent public institutions to world stability, peace, and development.”

“The Proclamation notes the serious negative effects that corruption in countries like Nigeria has on the United States efforts to promote security and to strengthen democratic institutions and free market systems and reiterates the importance to the United States and the international community of fighting corruption.”

“Significantly, Proclamation 7750 underscores that it is in the interests of the United States to act to restrict the international travel and to suspend the entry into the United States, as immigrants or non-immigrants, of certain persons who have committed, participated in, or are beneficiaries of corruption in the performance of public functions. Section 5 provides that, ‘Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to derogate from United States Government obligations under applicable international agreements.’”

“SERAP notes that Presidential Proclamation was made pursuant to the Constitution and the laws of the US, including section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. Section 1 allows suspension of the entry into the US, as immigrants or non-immigrants of public officials or former public officials accused of grand corruption, which has or had serious adverse effects on the national interests of the United States. It also covers the family members and friends of such public officials who are beneficiaries of the proceeds of corruption.”

“SERAP notes that the Nigerian government in 2016 published details of the recoveries, which showed that the Nigerian government successfully retrieved total cash amount N78,325,354,631.82, $185,119,584.61, £3,508,355.46 and €11, 250 between May 29, 2015 and May 25, 2016. Also released were recoveries under interim forfeiture, which were a combination of cash and assets, during the same period: N126,563,481,095.43, $9,090,243,920.15, £2,484,447.55 and €303,399.17.”

http://serap-nigeria.org/serap-to-trump-demand-looters-list-from-buhari-ban-suspects-from-entering-us.ngo/

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to “immediately withdraw the clumsy, arbitrary and selective looters’ list, released last week, as the list would seem to serve a political objective or carry out political agenda.”

The organization said: “This kind of action can only diminish the government’s ability to fight corruption, frustrate its oft-expressed goal of a transparent governance, allow suspected perpetrators—whether from the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP)–to escape justice, and ultimately, deny victims of corruption justice and effective remedies.”

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed had on Friday released a list of some of those who have allegedly looted the nation’s treasury. The names in the list revealed were mostly PDP chieftains who are currently being tried for corruption and financial crimes.

Reacting, SERAP in a statement today by its executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni said: “The authorities should withdraw the looters’ list and come up with a comprehensive list as ordered by Justice Hadiza Shagari last year. Allowing the published looters’ list to stand will undermine the credibility of the government’s claim to fight corruption, and signal to Nigerians that it is not serious to satisfactorily address the allegations of grand corruption under the former government of President Goodluck Jonathan and involving those close to this government.”

According to the organization, “If Buhari is truly interested in vindicating the rule of law and the proper administration of justice, his government will do well to genuinely obey Justice Shagari’s judgment ordering the authorities to ‘tell Nigerians the full names of all suspected looters of the public treasury past and present.’ Few things would go farther in fostering and nurturing our system of constitutionalism, democracy, and the rule of law.”

The statement read in part: “This politicized list comes at a time when the government is promoting itself as a beacon of transparency and accountability, and a model for other African countries to follow. The authorities ought to have resisted the temptation to put out this shambolic list and instead obeyed the spirit and the letter of Justice Shagari judgment. What is at stake is not just the rule of law, but also the larger question of whether the government is really serious to fight grand corruption and combat the impunity of perpetrators, regardless of who is involved.”

“The government cannot pick and choose which judgments it wants to obey even though the judgments at times may be highly unsettling. The judgment ought to have been fully obeyed and implemented even if the government would step on toes and make some politicians—whether in APC or PDP–uncomfortable.”

“For the government to impose this list on Nigerians, which would seem to serve as an expedient means to an end that disregard the orders by Justice Shagari is more than a violation of law; it is a breach of trust with the Nigerian people. If disobedience of court orders becomes the norm, the ship of government would become anchorless and adrift in a sea of treacherous uncertainty that could lead to a beachhead on the land of tyranny.”

“If Buhari is to renew his commitment to fight corruption regardless of whether it involves politicians from his own party and the opposition, something more than a propaganda list and hypocritical conduct is needed to restore citizens’ confidence in the ability of his government to deliver on good governance. That something more is a restoration of the rule of law.”

“Our courts, interpreting our Constitution and legislation, stand as the living symbol of the rule of law. But persistent disobedience of court orders by this government has magnified its lack of respect for the rule of law. Persistent disobedience of court orders is profoundly, dangerously wrong, and a distortion of democratic principles, and ultimately, an assault on the very concept of the rule of law and judicial integrity.”

It would be recalled that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abukabar Malami SAN had last year disclosed President Buhari’s directive to all relevant agencies to compile documents on names of all looters with a view to fully enforcing the judgment of a Federal High Court ordering the government to release to Nigerians information about the names of high ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered.”

The judgment delivered in July last year by Hon Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari following a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/CS/964/2016 brought by SERAP ordered the government to tell Nigerians the circumstances under which funds were recovered, as well as the exact amount of funds recovered from each public official. Mr Malami made the disclosure during a meeting at his office with a delegation from SERAP in October last year.

It would be recalled that the SERAP suit followed disclosure last year by the Federal Government of funds recovered from some high-ranking public officials and private individuals.

In her judgment delivered on 7th July 2017 Justice Shagari agreed with SERAP that “the Federal Government has legally binding obligations to tell Nigerians the names of all suspected looters of the public treasury past and present.” Joined as Defendants in the suit are the Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Muhammed and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture. The same day that the judgment was delivered Mr Malami told reporters in Abuja that government was in agreement with the ruling and would carry out the order as long as it does not amount to sub judice.

Justice Shagari also granted the following reliefs: A DECLARATION that by virtue of the provisions of Section 4 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, the Defendants are under a binding legal obligation to provide the Plaintiff with up to date information relating to the following: 1. To widely disseminate including on a dedicated website information about the names of high ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered since May 2015. 2. The circumstances under which stolen public funds were returned.

http://serap-nigeria.org/serap-to-fg-withdraw-clumsy-arbitrary-looters-list.ngo/

Following the release of 105 abducted Dapchi school girls, Nigerian on Twitter have reacted, saying the abduction saga was a new strategy of stealing money.

According to Opeyemi Babalola (@CACCOTI), it is terrible how some people are playing politics with thw lives of the citizens. Imagine the abracadabra in #DapchiGirls saga, some parents will suffer psychological trauma for the rest of their lives. Some girls will have phobia for military uniform.

Below are some tweets

http://www.schoolsnaija.com/2018/03/nigerians-on-twitter-react-to-release.html

Nigerian Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, today reportedly returned 105 of the 110 girls kidnapped from Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, on February 11, 2018.

Confirming their return, the Presidency, through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said “Yes, the girls are being transported to safety. We will give details later. We thank God.”

The girls’ were released a week after President Muhammadu Buhari visited the school. Buhari had during the visit reassured parents of the abducted schoolgirls that the Federal Government will not rest on its oars until their wards are safely brought back home.

The militant group, who came in nine vehicles around 7pm and left the school with the girls by 9pm, also returned the girls in nine vehicles.

http://www.schoolsnaija.com/2018/03/breaking-boko-haram-returns-kidnapped.html

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has released the results of 1,502,978 candidates who sat for 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The board disclosed this in a statement signed by its Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the board released the results after viewing all CCTV footage during the conduct of the examination and also after considering reports from its supervisors who monitored the exercise.

The board stated that a total of 1,652,825 candidates registered for the 2018 examination, adding that the results of 112,331 candidates were yet to be released.

It noted that “out of the number yet to be released, 350 are results of blind candidates which would be released soon, while 111,981 results were being withheld for further screening.”

The board stated that the figure excluded foreign candidates whose examination was scheduled for April.

http://www.schoolsnaija.com/2018/03/finally-jamb-release-results-of-15m.html#more

As candidates anxiously await the release of the 2018 UTME results, which JAMB said would be released yesterday, March 19, candidates have taken to social media to express their frustrations and curiosity.

One of the candidates, Chukwu Daniel Uchenna, said "#JAMB the curiosity and anxiety you have instilled in the young ones is quite unbearable right now. You should not have released any batch of the #UTME results if you weren't ready to maintain the pace still in this year, and at your level of advancement. So, I say make i ask - has snake swallowed the rest of the results or the computer been completely swallowed?

http://www.schoolsnaija.com/2018/03/viral-has-snakes-swallowed-our-results.html

Following a Freedom of Information request by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), the Federal Government has agreed to publish details of spending and locations of projects on water and sanitation for periods covering 2010—2016, as well as details of allocations to the 36 states of the federation.


SERAP had last week asked Engr. Suleiman Adamu, Minister of Water Resources to “explain why Nigeria’s water and sanitation infrastructure have continued to deteriorate and millions of Nigerians have to resort to drinking water from contaminated sources with deadly health consequences, despite the authorities claiming to have spent trillions of naira of budgetary allocations on the sector since the return of democracy in 1999.”

Responding, Mr Adamu in a letter with reference number FMWR/LU/S/374/I, and dated 12th March 2018 said, “The Federal Ministry of Water Resources will work hard to provide SERAP with the details of spending, and the information requested as they relate specifically to Water and Sanitation projects from 2010 to 2016.”

Mr Adamu also said, “The Federal Ministry of Water Resources was demerged from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2010. A copy of your letter will be forwarded to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for action on the other years before 2010.”

The letter signed on behalf of Mr Adamu by P.C. Mbam, Acting Director (Legal) of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources also stated that, “For emphasis sake, we advise that SERAP should send a separate request directly to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for the period (1999-2010) outside the purview of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources’ projects. Please accept the assurances of the Honourable Minister’s warmest regards.”

Reacting to the development, SERAP deputy director Timothy Adewale said in a statement today, “We welcome the firm commitment by Mr Adamu to explain to Nigerians what exactly have happened to trillions of naira budgeted for water and sanitation across the country between 2010--2016. Mr Adamu’s commitment is refreshing, especially coming at a time many public institutions and ministries such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are rejecting public requests for information and making information on the spending our commonwealth harder to access.”

SERAP’s reaction read in part: “While the NNPC has been a vocal opponent of the Freedom of Information Act, Mr Adamu can become the public number one advocate and defender of the law if he makes good his commitment to publish the information requested without delay. We hope the NNPC and other ministries, agencies and departments can take a cue from the speed with which Mr Adamu responded to SERAP’s request, and his expressed willingness to embrace both the letter and spirit of the FOI Act, in terms of transparency and accountability.”

“We hope that Mr Adamu will act promptly as promised but we will keep our legal options open should he renege on his commitment.”

“When the information is finally released as promised, it will be an important step towards reversing a culture of secrecy and corruption that has meant that high-ranking government officials continue to look after themselves at the expense of the well-being of majority of Nigerians, and development of the country.”

“We also appreciate Mr Adamu’s clarifications on the role of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and will be sending the Minister Audu Ogbeh an FOI request very shortly to seek explanations from him on how public funds meant for water and sanitation were spent for the periods 1999--2010.”

It would be recalled that SERAP in a letter to Mr Adamu dated 2nd March 2018 claimed that, “Many toilets in public offices are out of order because of lack of water while millions of Nigerians remain desperate for water in their homes, often resorting to contaminated sources and drilling their own boreholes that can become easily mixed with sewage, with negative environmental impacts, and devastating for people’s health.”

SERAP’s letter read in part: “We are concerned that millions of Nigerians do not have access to clean and potable water and adequate sanitation. There is no water to show for the huge budgetary allocations and purported spending and investment in the sector since the return of democracy in 1999. Successive governments have failed to improve affordability of water for millions of low-income Nigerians, thereby denying them access to water.”

“Contractors handling water projects are reportedly engaging in schemes like the deliberate use of substandard pipes, among others, to make profit, leading to loss of water. This dearth of water also affects sanitation. The large number of broken down water facilities across the country has hindered effective water supply to the citizens.”

“We urge you to use your leadership position to provide within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter detailed information on the spending on specific water and sanitation projects and their locations carried out by the Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development for the following years: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 (1999-2016); as well as details of allocations to the 36 states of the federation.”

http://serap-nigeria.org/breaking-news-contaminated-water-fg-agrees-to-publish-details-of-spending-locations-of-projects.ngo/

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged “the Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari to emulate the example of Senate President Bukola Saraki and make a clear public commitment that the Governors’ Forum and all governors will take immediate steps to abolish double emoluments laws for former governors and deputies in their states.”

Saraki yesterday disclosed how he inspired the passing of the bill by the Kwara State House of Assembly to suspend payment of pensions to former governors and their deputies when they hold a public office and called on other state assemblies to take a cue from Kwara and pass similar laws in their states.

This followed SERAP’s request to Saraki on Tuesday urging him to “use his leadership position to sponsor a resolution in the Senate that would call on other states to abolish payment of double emoluments to ex-governors and their deputies.”

SERAP in a statement today by its deputy director Timothy Adewale said, “Governor Yari should show leadership by example by starting the campaign within the Governors’ Forum to abolish double emoluments laws from his own Zamfara State, which has passed laws allowing former governors to receive pension for life; two personal staff; two vehicles replaceable every four years; two drivers, free medical for the former governors and deputies and their immediate families in Nigeria or abroad; a 4-bedroom house in Zamfara and an office; free telephone and 30 days paid vacation outside Nigeria.”

According to the organization, “Following the positive engagement and intervention by the Senate President on the matter, it is now indefensible for the Governors’ Forum to remain indifferent to the issue of double emoluments for ex-governors and their deputies. We urge Governor Yari to speak out strongly against double pensions laws and encourage his colleagues to urgently take measures to abolish such laws in their states for the sake of millions of Nigerians who deserve good governance and sustainable development.”

The statement read in part: “By providing the necessary leadership on the matter, Governor Yari will be sending a powerful message to his colleagues that public function is meant to be exercised in the public interest. Such public commitment and action to abolish double emoluments laws would also be entirely consistent with article 19 of the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party.”

“Given the strong influence of senators on their states, we also urge the Senate President to now build on his public statement to state assemblies by immediately taking steps to sponsor a resolution at the Senate on the matter.”

“The abolition of such laws is a necessary first step towards delivering on the constitutional promise of equal protection and equal benefit of the law for a distressingly large number of Nigerians. Otherwise, public officials will remain seriously out of touch with a major source of poverty and discrimination in the country.”

It would be recalled that the Federal High Court in Lagos in January ruled that SERAP “has sufficient interest to bring its suit to stop former governors and now serving senators and ministers from receiving double pay and life pensions, and to seek recovery of over N40bn of public funds unduly received by these public officers.”

Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo stated this while granting leave in the suit number FHC/L/CS/1497/17 filed last year by SERAP to compel the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN to “challenge the legality of states’ laws that allow former governors who are now senators and ministers to enjoy governors’ emoluments while drawing normal salaries and allowances in their new political offices and to identify those involved and seek full recovery of public funds from them.”

It would also be recalled that following SERAP’s letter to Mr Malami, Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki last year told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja that he wrote a letter to the state government to stop the payment of the pension “the moment I saw that SERAP allegation.” He said, “No, I’m not collecting pension; the moment I saw that allegation, I wrote to my state to stop my pension.”

So far, Dr. Kayode Fayemi Minister of Mines and Steel Development and his counterparts in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, and Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola have denied ever receiving double payments and retirement benefits as former governors in addition to other roles in public office.

SERAP’s letter to Malami read in part: “According to our information, those who reportedly receive double emoluments and large severance benefits from their states include: Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano); Kabiru Gaya (Kano); Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Theodore Orji (Abia); Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa); Sam Egwu (Ebonyi); Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara); Joshua Dariye (Plateau), and Jonah Jang (Plateau). Others include: Ahmed Sani Yarima (Zamfara); Danjuma Goje (Gombe); Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe); Adamu Aliero (Kebbi); George Akume (Benue); and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).”

“Under the Lagos Pension Law a former governor will enjoy the following benefits for life: Two houses, one in Lagos and another in Abuja estimated to cost between N500m and N700m. Others are six brand new cars every three years; furniture allowance of 300 percent of annual salary every two years, and a close to N2.5m as pension (about N30m pension annually); free medicals including for his immediate families; 10 percent house maintenance; 30 percent car maintenance; 10 percent entertainment; 20 percent utility; and several domestic staff.”

“In Rivers, state law provides 100 percent of annual basic salaries for ex-governor and deputy, one residential house for former governor anywhere of his choice in Nigeria; one residential house anywhere in Rivers for the deputy, three cars for the ex-governor every four years; two cars for the deputy every four years; 300 percent of annual basic salary every four years for furniture; 10 percent of annual basic salary for house maintenance.”

“In Akwa Ibom, state law provides for N200m annual pay to ex governors, deputies; pension for life; a new official car and utility-vehicle every four years; one personal aide and provision of adequate security; a cook, chauffeurs and security guards for the governor at a sum not exceeding N5m per month and N2.5m for the deputy governor; free medical services for governor and spouse totaling N100m for the governor per annum and N50m for the deputy governor; a five-bedroom mansion in Abuja and Akwa Ibom; and allowance of 300 percent of annual basic salary for the deputy governor; 300 percent of annual basic salary every four years and severance gratuity.”

“Similarly, the Kano State Pension Rights of Governor and Deputy Governor Law 2007 provides for 100 percent of annual basic salaries for former governor and deputy; furnished and equipped office; a 6-bedroom house; well-furnished 4-bedroom for deputy, plus an office; free medical treatment along with immediate families within and outside Nigeria where necessary; two drivers; and a provision for a 30- day vacation within and outside Nigeria.”

“In Gombe State, there is N300 million executive pension benefits for the ex-governors. In Kwara State, the 2010 law gives a former governor two cars and a security car replaceable every three years; a well-furnished 5-bedroom duplex; 300 per cent of his salary as furniture allowance; five personal staff; three State Security Services; free medical care for the governor and the deputy; 30 percent of salary for car maintenance; 20 per cent for utility; 10 percent for entertainment; 10 per cent for house maintenance.”

“In Sokoto State, former governors and deputy governors are to receive N200m and N180m respectively being monetization for other entitlements which include domestic aides, residence and vehicles that could be renewed after every four years.”

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Governor Akinwunmi Ambode “to take steps to immediately reverse the unfair and discriminatory toll charges at the Lekki-Epe Expressway and Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge toll gates by the Lekki Concession Company, if the Lagos State government is not to run the risk of undermining the public interests, democratic values and accountability, and opportunities for participation.”

The organization said, “It’s time for Ambode to ensure and maintain a balance between the needs of the citizens and residents of Lagos State and the Lekki Concession Company. The authorities should respect and protect the right of protesters to demonstrate against the hike in toll charges and to voice their opinion. International human rights treaties ratified by Nigeria and the country´s own constitution obligate the government to safeguard the rights of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”

The new rates for the toll charges at the Lekki-Epe Expressway and Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge toll gates were implemented February 1 by the Lekki Concession Company (LCC), managers of the road.

But SERAP in a statement today by its executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni said, “This latest increase in toll charges at the Lekki-Epe Expressway and Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge toll gates is unacceptable, as it conflicts with the goals and commitment of the Lagos State government to provide basic public services to citizens and residents. It seems the agreement between the Lagos State government and the Lekki Concession Company is no longer serving the needs of citizens and residents.”

According to the organization, “In the face of rising poverty and economic inequalities across the country, the Lagos State government should be considering eliminating toll charges rather than allowing the Lekki Concession Company to get away with overcharging citizens and residents and prioritising profits over the public interests. Unless the situation is satisfactorily resolved in the public interests, the government runs the risk of being viewed as beholden to special interests and out of touch with the public good.”

The statement read in part: “The hike shows how profit motive can conflict with public motive. Accountability principles require the government to ensure that the activities of the Lekki Concession Company align with the policies and activities of governance, and that the Company is not allowed to exploit its monopoly position to charge excessive rates.”

“It is the duty of the Lagos State government as custodian of the public trust, to take the public interests into account in assessing the activities of the Lekki Concession Company. The government is further obligated to prevent unnecessary and unjustified harm to the public trust and interests.”

“Both ‘pre-decision accountability’ in the form of consultation with citizens, residents and other stakeholders, and ‘post-decision accountability’ in the form of taking corrective measures to redress the apparent injustice to those that might be affected by the hike are key democratic and governance values.”

“Citizens cannot be mere recipients or purchasers of government services; they must also participate in the act of governance itself. The shift from a participatory role to a consumer role changes the role of individuals vis-a-vis their government from one of citizens to one of consumers. This itself erodes the ideals of a democratic society.”

“States contravene their human rights obligations when they fail to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by acts by private persons or entities.”

“At the Admiralty Circle Plaza (Lekki-Epe expressway), cars now pay N200 from N120; sports utility vehicles (SUV) now pay N250 from N150; while commercial buses now pay N150 from N80. Motorcycles now pay N100. At the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge, saloon cars now pay N300 from N250; sports utility vehicles (SUV), mini vans, and light trucks now pay N400 from N300. Motorcycles will now pay N200.”

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Governor Akinwunmi Ambode “to take steps to immediately reverse the unfair and discriminatory toll charges at the Lekki-Epe Expressway and Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge toll gates by the Lekki Concession Company, if the Lagos State government is not to run the risk of undermining the public interests, democratic values and accountability, and opportunities for participation.”

The organization said, “It’s time for Ambode to ensure and maintain a balance between the needs of the citizens and residents of Lagos State and the Lekki Concession Company. The authorities should respect and protect the right of protesters to demonstrate against the hike in toll charges and to voice their opinion. International human rights treaties ratified by Nigeria and the country´s own constitution obligate the government to safeguard the rights of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”

The new rates for the toll charges at the Lekki-Epe Expressway and Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge toll gates were implemented February 1 by the Lekki Concession Company (LCC), managers of the road.

But SERAP in a statement today by its executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni said, “This latest increase in toll charges at the Lekki-Epe Expressway and Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge toll gates is unacceptable, as it conflicts with the goals and commitment of the Lagos State government to provide basic public services to citizens and residents. It seems the agreement between the Lagos State government and the Lekki Concession Company is no longer serving the needs of citizens and residents.”

According to the organization, “In the face of rising poverty and economic inequalities across the country, the Lagos State government should be considering eliminating toll charges rather than allowing the Lekki Concession Company to get away with overcharging citizens and residents and prioritising profits over the public interests. Unless the situation is satisfactorily resolved in the public interests, the government runs the risk of being viewed as beholden to special interests and out of touch with the public good.”

The statement read in part: “The hike shows how profit motive can conflict with public motive. Accountability principles require the government to ensure that the activities of the Lekki Concession Company align with the policies and activities of governance, and that the Company is not allowed to exploit its monopoly position to charge excessive rates.”

“It is the duty of the Lagos State government as custodian of the public trust, to take the public interests into account in assessing the activities of the Lekki Concession Company. The government is further obligated to prevent unnecessary and unjustified harm to the public trust and interests.”

“Both ‘pre-decision accountability’ in the form of consultation with citizens, residents and other stakeholders, and ‘post-decision accountability’ in the form of taking corrective measures to redress the apparent injustice to those that might be affected by the hike are key democratic and governance values.”

“Citizens cannot be mere recipients or purchasers of government services; they must also participate in the act of governance itself. The shift from a participatory role to a consumer role changes the role of individuals vis-a-vis their government from one of citizens to one of consumers. This itself erodes the ideals of a democratic society.”

“States contravene their human rights obligations when they fail to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by acts by private persons or entities.”

“At the Admiralty Circle Plaza (Lekki-Epe expressway), cars now pay N200 from N120; sports utility vehicles (SUV) now pay N250 from N150; while commercial buses now pay N150 from N80. Motorcycles now pay N100. At the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge, saloon cars now pay N300 from N250; sports utility vehicles (SUV), mini vans, and light trucks now pay N400 from N300. Motorcycles will now pay N200.”

The Queen of England, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, has honoured the founder of The Mirabel Centre, a non-governmental organisation, which takes care of rape victims, with the Commonwealth Point of Light Award.

This was according to a statement on Tuesday by the Media Officer of the British High Commission to Nigeria, Mr. Joseph Abuku.

Abuku said Itoro Eze-Anaba, who is the wife of the Editor of Vanguard Newspaper, Eze-Anaba, was honoured in Abuja at a ceremony hosted by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright.

The statement noted that Eze-Anaba founded The Mirabel Centre, Nigeria’s first sexual assault referral centre, in 2013 and had since then helped over 3,100 victims of rape.

“The Mirabel Centre has established itself as a key service provider for victims of sexual assault in Lagos State, with an increasing number of clients accessing the centre, indicating a growing awareness amongst members of the public of the existence of the centre and the crucial services it provides,” the statement noted.

Arkwright, was quoted as saying that, “Itoro has shown impressive dedication to supporting victims of sexual assault and rape. She has provided a safe haven for over 2,800 survivors of this heinous crime and has encouraged thousands of others to break the silence on rape and seek prosecution of perpetrators, reducing their impunity.

“The Mirabel Centre is a project of Partnership for Justice where rape and sexual assault victims can access free forensic medical and counseling services.”

Responding, Eze-Anaba, according to the statement, said, “I am delighted that a Point of Light has been awarded to highlight the importance of tackling rape and sexual assault.

“Rape is evil, degrading and dehumanising. On behalf of the dedicated, tireless and resolute team that is determined to give voice to the voiceless, strength to the weak and hope to the hopeless, I am sure that this award marks the beginning of a joint effort to uproot this evil that relentlessly battles for our future. This award is a reiteration of our message of ‘No To Rape’!”

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has “strongly condemned the intimidation and harassment by the police of Kassim Afegbua, spokesman of General Ibrahim Babangida over a statement he issued on behalf of the former military president.”

The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris last night declared Afegbua wanted over the statement he issued on Sunday. Idris ordered the arrest of Afegbua for “making false statements, defamation of character, and for an act capable of instigating public disturbance.”

But SERAP in a statement today by its deputy director Timothy Adewale said, “Everyone has the right to speak out about political or other public interest issues. To do so cannot qualify as ‘making false statements’. And it’s certainly not ‘defamation of character’ let alone rising to ‘an act capable of instigating public disturbance.’ It is the essence of democracy and human rights. Declaring Afegbua wanted is unwarranted because there is no evidence of inciting violence against him.”

According to SERAP, “Afegbua’s statement doesn’t contain incitement to violence. Declaring him wanted simply for exercising his right to freedom of expression is the hallmark of an oppressive government. The police should immediately withdraw its unlawful declaration and end the harassment of Afegbua. President Muhammadu Buhari should publicly instruct the police authorities that it’s their duty to facilitate people’s enjoyment of their freedoms, not to hinder them.”

The statement read in part: “Afegbua’s statement is within reasonable limits, and entirely within his constitutional right to freedom of expression. The allegation that he instigated public disturbance is to say the least, bizarre. Expressing one’s opinion is at the heart of freedom of expression, not sedition. At any rate, Babangida is not known to have lodged any complaint to the police on the matter. He reportedly confirmed Afegbua’s statement. Even if Babangida had issues with Afegbua’s statement, it’s not the police’s business to take upon itself Babangida’s perceived cause of action.”

READ MORE : http://serap-nigeria.org/ibbs-statement-serap-condemns-harassment-of-kassim-afegbua.ngo/

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State to “immediately withdraw his illegal appointment of Justice Obisike Orji as the acting Chief Judge of the state and restore Justice Theresa Uzokwe, who was unlawfully removed by the State House of Assembly, back to her position as Chief Judge.”

The House of Assembly had on Friday passed a resolution suspending Justice Uzokwe as the state’s chief judge. The speaker, Mr. Chikwendu Kalu, while reading the resolution, set up 8-man ad-hoc committee to investigate allegations of misconduct against the judge, and mandated Governor Ikpeazu to appoint an acting chief judge pending the completion of the investigation by the committee.

But SERAP in a statement today by its deputy director Timothy Adewale said, “Rather than using their executive and legislative powers to promote good governance and abolish laws granting double emoluments and large severance benefits to former governors, the Abia State government is denigrating the judiciary and displaying contempt for the rule of law.”

According to SERAP, “The purported suspension of Justice Uzokwe violates sections 292(1)(a)(ii) and 21(d) Part 11 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), and amounts to a blatant attack on the integrity and independence of the judiciary. No judge anywhere in Nigeria can be removed without the involvement of the National Judicial Council (NJC), no matter the level of allegations of misconduct against that judge.”

The organization said, “Governor Ikpeazu must rescind his illegal appointment of a new chief judge, and the Abia State House of Assembly must withdraw the apparently politically motivated suspension of Justice Uzokwe without further delay. Doing so will be entirely consistent with the decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the case of Raliat Elelu-Habeed & anor v Attorney General of the Federation and Attorney General of Kwara State (2012).”

The organization said, “If allowed to stand, the suspension of Justice Uzokwe would set a bad example to other state governments, and dangerously move them toward executive and legislative dominance and control over the judiciary. Should Ikpeazu and the House fail to restore Justice Uzokwe back to her position, SERAP will undertake appropriate legal action including before the NJC and the UN special procedure mechanisms, to seek justice and effective remedies in this matter.”

The statement read in part: “The suspension also infringes the constitutional principle of the separation of governmental powers. Constitutional guarantees are meant to protect the judiciary from the political caviling that removal power often engenders. The benefits of the integrity of the judiciary should never be supplanted by the temerity and excessiveness which political powers often breed.”

“An independent judiciary is the foundation upon which the entire structure of our constitution rests. The suspension of Justice Uzokwe is a serious threat to this independence, and any impression that this principle is being improperly eroded should be directly and speedily addressed.”

“Justice Uzokwe would seem to be a victim of the government’s plan to harass judicial officials in Abia State. Neither the House of Assembly nor Ikpeazu is constitutionally authorized to suspend Justice Uzokwe without the participation of the NJC.”

“The independence of the judiciary is a barrier to despotism and necessary to secure a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws. This independence ought to be promoted and protected by the Abia State government. Executive and legislative invasions of it should never be allowed to stand.”

READ MORE: http://serap-nigeria.org/serap-to-gov-ikpeazu-restore-uzokwe-as-abia-state-cj-or-face-legal-action.ngo/

Sequel to the viral video in which a school teacher was seen flogging some students with a cable, the Principal of the school, Government Science Secondary School, Nassarawa-Eggon, and three other officials have been suspended for one month.

Confirming the suspension, the state Commissioner of Education, Mr. Tijjani Ahmed, in Lafia, said the state government had banned corporal punishments in public schools across the 13 local government areas and 18 development areas of the state.

Ahmed explained that the decision followed the beating of some students of GSS, Nassarawa-Eggon, the video of which had gone viral in the social media.

He said, “We have constituted a committee to investigate the matter and report to the ministry in the next one week to enable the ministry to take appropriate action.

“Already, three staff members of the school including the Principal have been given a one-month suspension over their involvement in the corporal punishment pending the report of the committee set up by the ministry.”

READ More: http://www.schoolsnaija.com/2018/01/viral-school-video-principal-teachers.html#more

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Thursday directed all tertiary institutions to end their 2017 admission by January 25.

The Board’s Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin said the board’s decision came at a meeting where all issues and ones bordering on the admission process were taken into consideration.

He said it was resolved that the academic calendar must be adhered to.

According to him, the directive becomes necessary as the board intends to meet up with the academic calendar as earlier agreed.

READ MORE: http://www.schoolsnaija.com/2018/01/universities-must-end-2017-admissions.html

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that “any efforts by his government to prevent and combat attacks by herdsmen across the country is grounded in the rights of victims of unlawful killings and their families. It’s important to ensure that any policy to tackle the problem is not used as a ploy to undercut the possibilities of meaningful justice and reparation for victims and their families.”

The National Assembly yesterday condemned the killings in Benue and other parts of the country, and called on the Federal Government to take decisive action against those behind the killings.

In a statement today signed by SERAP deputy director Timothy Adewale the organization said, “So far attempts by the government to address the persistent attacks by herdsmen in Benue, Taraba, Adamawa states and other parts of the country has overlooked the plight of the victims and their families. But it has to be made clear that victims of attacks apparently by herdsmen are entitled to effective remedies regardless of whether they bring their claims against the government in an individual or collective capacity.”

The organization said, “It is an imperative demand of justice that the responsibility of the perpetrators of the unlawful killings and destruction of property be clearly established and the rights of the victims and their families sustained to the fullest possible extent. Establishing a trust fund for victims of attacks by herdsmen will be an important first step towards justice for victims and their families.”

According to the organization, “Victims’ right to an effective remedy and reparation is a legally enforceable human right and not a matter of charity. It is no coincidence that the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended) and human rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to which Nigeria is a state party refer to victims’ right to effective remedies, including access to justice, reparation and guarantee of non-repetition.”

“As the President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, SERAP believes that Buhari is in a powerful position to end the unlawful killings and destruction of property apparently by herdsmen across the country if he really wants to do so. Buhari needs to speak directly to Nigerians and particularly to the countless victims and their families.”

“Continuing refusal of Buhari to speak directly to Nigerians on the matter and visit the states such as Benue, Taraba and Adamawa, that have been most affected by these attacks by herdsmen is feeding into the propaganda that this government may be shielding suspected perpetrators from justice and, more importantly, undermines the rule of law and facilitates continuing attacks.”

“Under international law, a victim is defined as anyone who suffers individual or collective harm (or pain) such as physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss, or generally any impairment of human rights as a result of acts or omissions that constitute gross violations of human rights, or serious violations of humanitarian law norms.”

“A victim does not necessarily have to be the person that has suffered the harm, as a dependent or a member of the immediate family or household of the person that has directly suffered harm can indirectly be characterised as a victim.”

“Indeed, the Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power provides some guarantees for victims (including family members of direct victims), such as those that suffer ‘substantial impairment of their fundamental rights’ through acts or omissions of governments.”

Mixed reactions have continued to trail an online video which showed a teacher flogging some students.

Though SchoolsNaija could not verify how recent the video is, the offence the students committed or the location of the school, but unconfirmed sources said the students were late to school on resumption day in a school up north.

SchoolsNaija sought the opinions of readers to know if meting out corporal punishment is a good way of curbing indiscipline.

Leading those in support of corporal punishment is Mr. Godwin Ogbagie, who said it is still one of the most effective means of instilling discipline.

He said “Yes, by all means, corporal punishment should be employed for people, especially students to know and do the right things.

“I don’t believe in the philosophy of sparing the rod and spoiling the child, especially if the claims of the offense the students were said to have committed are false.”

For Toheeb Olaitan, “During our days in school, we were flogged more than this and nothing happened and no social media to broadcast it. So why post this: for encouragement or criticism?”

In agreement is Adamu Tukur who said, “During our school days, we got more than this and nobody complained nor revolted.”

Adekugbe Vincent Borie said, “Some of us passed through this type of discipline, and today we are thankful we did.”

Likewise, Benamaisia Ebiendu said “It is normal for those of us that went to government schools. This is really little compared to what we received in our days.”

“The one we received from Our Lady's Secondary School Onitsha, behind Upper lweka was even worse, especially from our Commerce teacher, an Onitsha man. Though we were very unruly but once that man caught you, your name na sorry”, said Emma Mobgo

Read more: http://www.schoolsnaija.com/2018/01/video-knocks-kudos-for-corporal.html#more