The US Ambassador to the Central African Republic, Patricia Mahoney has said that her country will not take responsibility for the actions of the Bancroft PMC in the Central African Republic, a move seen as avoidance of responsibility for the actions of their compatriots in the PMC Bancroft on the territory of the Central African Republic.

On March 7, 2024 on the official Twitter page of the U.S. Embassy in Bangui, a statement was published in which the ambassador denied the involvement of the United States through the private military company Bancroft in the kidnapping of two Chinese nationals working at the Chinese mine in Yaloke.

On the part of the Embassy, this is presented as misinformation in the media to denigrate the peaceful intentions of the US, which as the communiqué says “works for the peace and prosperity” of the Republic. It will be recalled that late last month, three people were kidnapped in Yaloke, two of them Chinese nationals who worked in the mines and their driver.

The private military company Bancroft is suspected to have been responsible for their abduction, usiing local bandits to do the dirty work.

The U.S. Embassy denies any relationship with PMC Bancroft, saying in a statement that PMC Bancroft is a private U.S. company that does not represent the U.S. government, and that the U.S. government has not done any joint work with Bancroft.

However, these words confirm that the U.S. government is aware of the actions of this organization. However, observers are peeved the US Embassy releasing a rebuttal disclaiming the Bancroft PMC may actually be an indication of involvement or knowledge of illegal activities in CAR.

With the arrival of the Bancroft PMC in the Central African Republic, the US actions have become quite aggressive, to the local population, and to foreign allies of the Central African Republic.

Further, close watchers of events as they unfold regard the American renuttal as a pretext on the part of the embassy to calm the situation and avoid responsibility for their actions.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2024/03/us-not-taking-responsibility-for-actions-of-bancroft-pmc-in-car/

By Barbara Plett Usher
BBC State Department correspondent
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has clearly laid out benchmarks for the protection of civilians in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

In the strongest and most specific US remarks yet, Mr Blinken said he'd told the Israeli government that it must avoid further mass displacement of Palestinians and damage to critical infrastructure, like hospitals, power stations and water facilities.

He did not, however, appear to set down redlines that would trigger US actions.

The secretary of state travelled to Israel to deliver the message - his fourth visit since the conflict began - at a time when hostilities have been paused by a deal to release hostages captured by Hamas.

Mr Blinken accepted that Israel planned to resume its military operation, but he also "underscored the imperative for the United States that the massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale that we saw in northern Gaza not be repeated in the south".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67586033

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The immediate past President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari yesterday maintained that he did his best in the eight years that he governed Nigeria, but said he wasn’t quite sure he achieved the expected results.

Speaking in his first interview since his exit as Nigeria’s leader about six months ago, the former president stated that he endorsed the controversial naira redesign policy in the twilight of his administration to protect his own integrity and to show Nigerians there was no shortcut to success.

Buhari who spoke to the state-owned Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), last night , argued that Nigerians were a difficult set of people to govern, maintaining that they know the right thing to do, but would mostly refuse to do so, because they think they know better than the person on the saddle.

Questioned on the integrity of many of the people surrounding him during his eight -year government, the former president stated that “ it is their problem “, querying what the persons who criticised him fiercely had done at their individual levels to fight corruption.

The ex-president , when asked if he agreed that there was a cabal that hijacked his government, he said “it must have been”, but said that he wasn’t sure anybody flouted the rules and was allowed to “walk away”.

Buhari said he allowed people to do their jobs when he assigned tasks, stressing that if he was given the same chance he wouldn’t do anything differently under Nigeria’s current system.

The former president who appeared to veer off point several times during the session, explained that he tried to be as accountable as possible during his administration.

Buhari said he was still being ‘harassed’ by people who throng his home on a daily basis, noting that if the border with a nearby country was not closed, he would have run out of Nigeria by now. He added, however, that he was glad he now wakes up anytime he likes. The former president said he doesn’t miss anything after leaving government.

“God gave me the opportunity to serve my country, but I did my best. But whether my best was good enough, I leave for people to judge, “ he stressed.

Although the ex-Nigerian leader stated “not quite” when he was asked whether he achieved what he set out to achieve after trying to be president four times, he highlighted the insecurity in Borno state and the North-east when he took over, saying that Boko Haram had been largely degraded at the time he was leaving government.

“Nigerians are extremely difficult. People know their rights. They think they should be there, not you. So, they monitor virtually your every step. And you have to struggle day and night to ensure that you are competent enough,“ he added.

The former president also said he was too pre-occupied with local matters to be bothered with foreign issues as president. He said his biggest challenge was securing the country.

Buhari said he did not try to compete with Nigeria’s wealthy class by acquiring land, houses and cars during his time as Nigeria’s leader, explaining that it was the reason he was “living in peace” after exiting government.

He argued that some Nigerians attempted to set a trap for him by trying to ambush him with certain opportunities, but that he avoided the trap because he knew that once they knew he had been compromised, they would take advantage of the situation to milk the country. He added that they would rather become his boss.

He stated that God helped introduce technology in 2015 which enabled him win the poll because God had seen the gruelling pains he experienced after each loss during the times he contested for the presidency.

“Instead of people expressing sympathy, people laughed at me because I didn’t have money, because I couldn’t buy influence in any form, either from influential people or others. And I said ‘God dey’. And he sent the Permanent Voter Card (PVC). Meaning you now have only one vote,“ he stated.

Buhari stressed that he broke down publicly in 2011 after he lost the election because of his patriotism.

On the naira policy which was largely criticised, Buhari said: “Whether Nigerians believe it or not, we are an underdeveloped country. And in that sort of situation, there’s materialism and sometimes ruthlessly they didn’t care how they made the money.

“…I still feel that the only way I could deprive these people was just to make sure that my integrity became unquestionable…I think as a developing country we still have a long way to go.

“The motivation (for introducing the policy) was to try and make Nigerians believe that there is no shortcut to successful leadership,” he added.

Besides, he explained that he wasn’t shocked that he was taken to court by governors from his own party at the time to reverse the policy.

On the Ethiopian/Nigerian Air debacle at the tail end of his administration, Buhari said that if there was any shortcoming he had, it was giving people the free hand to do their work.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2023/11/21/buhari-i-did-my-best-not-sure-if-expected-results-were-achieved

Three years on from the pivotal demonstrations against police brutality in Nigeria, activists voice concerns about the nation’s planned police reforms.
In October 2020, Nigeria witnessed a youth-led uprising against the long-standing brutality perpetuated by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious division of the Nigeria Police Force.

What began as an #EndSARS movement soon broadened into a cry for improved governance. This outcry forced the Nigerian administration to dismantle SARS and propose additional reforms.

However, on 20 October, 2020, in a shocking escalation, armed forces were deployed to quell protesters at Lagos’ Lekki Toll Gate. The confrontation led to the soldiers opening fire.

An inquiry by the Lagos State government divulged that at least 46 unarmed demonstrators were killed, injured, or assaulted by security personnel. In a chilling aftermath, the same panel reported soldiers removing bodies and trucks arriving to cleanse the area of evidence. The army refuted these claims.

In the broader protests, 22 officers lost their lives and over 100 police establishments were decimated. “Our officers refrained from resorting to unlawful force against the protesters,” remarked the then Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, in 2020.

A recent revelation, a leaked Lagos government memorandum regarding a mass burial for the October 2020 protest victims, stoked further controversy. This memorandum corroborated activist claims about the fatalities at Lekki Toll Gate.

Yet, activists caution that even three years post-#EndSARS, police excesses persist. “Police brutality is intrinsically woven into our governance fabric. Continuous vigilance is paramount,” declares Michael Adaramoye of Youth Rights Campaign. Amnesty International reports 15 of the 2020 protesters remain imprisoned without trial.

In a span of nine months ending August 2023, almost ten civilians fell to police actions in Nigeria. Recently, a Lagos court handed down a capital sentence to an officer responsible for killing a lawyer.

Efforts at Reforms

The Nigerian government’s history with police reform initiatives, dating back to 2006, exhibits a lack of tangible progress. Multiple panels, including the Dan Mandami-led panel in 2006 and the Presidential Panel on SARS Reforms in 2018, have been convened. Yet, Adaramoye remains skeptical about their effectiveness, alluding to the prevailing situations as evidence.

Recent scenes at Lekki Toll Gate, with police overseeing commemorations, highlight the area’s symbolic significance. The site, non-operational since the infamous shooting, has witnessed resistance against toll resumption.

Dim Rays of Optimism

While police excesses persist, there have been notable positive outcomes from the protests. “The movement proved the Nigerian youth’s mettle in resisting oppression and heightened political awareness,” claims Adaramoye. Okechukwu Nwanguma, head of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, sees glimmers of hope in police engagement with civil society and increasing accountability. However, he laments the continued shielding of errant officers.

State-initiated panels post-#EndSARS invited victim testimonials, yet recommendations remain largely unimplemented.

Another Uprising Looms?

Analysts suggest that official reluctance to implement panel recommendations indirectly empowers officers. With allegations of organ-harvesting in Anambra and human rights violations in Owerri, the impunity culture prevails. Nwanguma warns, “Nonchalance towards #EndSARS panel summons and the lack of consequences could indeed be the precursor for another uprising.”

https://www.theafricareport.com/325565/nigeria-three-years-after-endsars-is-police-reform-visible/

Central Africa’s mediator for Gabon and the country’s new military ruler have agreed to draw up a “roadmap” for restoring democratic rule following a coup last week, a regime official said.

General Brice Oligui Nguema was sworn in on Monday as interim president after spearheading a coup on August 30 that ended a half-century of rule by the Bongo family.

The oil-rich states joins Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Niger among African countries that have undergone coups in the last three years — a trend that has sounded alarm bells in the continent and beyond.

The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on Tuesday sent its envoy, Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera, to Libreville for talks with Oligui.

“ECCAS appointed me as a facilitator… to draft a roadmap enabling a swift return to constitutional order, with the agreement of the interim president,” Touadera said in brief remarks on Gabonese television late Wednesday.

A senior official in Oligui’s entourage confirmed that the pair had merely agreed at this stage to drawing up the blueprint.

Neither Touadera nor the official gave details about the plan or a timeline.

The August 30 coup was supported by the army, the police, much of the political opposition and some within the party of ousted president Ali Bongo Ondimba.

He was detained by soldiers moments after he was declared victor of a presidential election tarnished by allegations of fraud.

The putsch was also supported by many Gabonese civilians tired of the corruption-tainted Bongo dynasty’s grip on the tiny country, whose oil wealth has made it one of the richest in Africa but where a third of the population lives in poverty.

Bongo had been president for 14 years. He succeeded his father Omar, who ruled the country for 41 years, gaining a reputation for kleptocracy and iron-fisted rule.

Oligui promised on Monday to hold “free, transparent and credible elections” to restore civilian rule but did not give a timeframe.

The 11-nation EECCA subsequently suspended Gabon and ordered the immediate transfer of its headquarters from the Gabon to Equatorial Guinea, according to Equatorial Guinea’s vice president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/09/gabon-eccas-agree-to-draft-roadmap-for-return-to-democracy/

The West controls Africa through aid and sanctions; Russia offers ways to evade them. Following the Russia-Africa summit, in which direction will the continent turn?
Since the invasion of Ukraine, America and European countries have been at the forefront of attempts to isolate Russia in Africa. But Russia has also been pushing to deepen its ties on the continent.

The diplomatic lobbying was intense last year, with Russian diplomats flying out of Africa as Americans flew in.

“To me it’s not the US wanting to isolate Russia, it’s the Africans having to decide who their real friends are,” former US assistant secretary of state for African affairs Tibor Nagy tells The Africa Report in a phone interview from Washington.

The Russia-Africa summit on 27-28 July in St Petersburg was an opportunity for each side to take stock of its wins and losses.

A day before the summit, Russia said the West had “put pressure on the leadership” of African countries not to attend the summit. None of the US’s largest aid recipients on the continent snubbed the summit except Kenya, which didn’t send a delegation. Kenya was represented by the African Union.

Who gets American money and who attended?
The US gave aid worth $16bn to sub-Saharan countries in 2022, according to the US foreign assistance data. And $7.1bn, or 44% of that aid, went to seven countries in the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa.

At the top of the list is Ethiopia, which was embroiled in civil war between Tigray and President Abiy Ahmed’s federal government for most of 2022. It received $2.05bn, followed by South Sudan, which received $1.1bn, and Somalia which got $1.04bn.

Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Tanzania follow consecutively, receiving aid amounts between $960m and $600m.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and Ethiopia’s Abiy attended the Russia-Africa summit in person. South Sudan and Tanzania were represented by delegations led by vice presidents. Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo were represented by their deputy prime ministers.

Nagy says a substantial percentage of America’s aid goes to humanitarian and health responses. “Unfortunately, in the Horn of Africa, they have more humanitarian crises [than in other parts of Africa],” he says.

And he is cognisant that aid can’t win favour. “Here is the sad truth: there is no direct relationship between the type of assistance you give a country and whether they will be friendly. That is just the fact of life,” Nagy says.

Gratitude to Moscow
Despite being recipients of large amounts of aid from the Western world, some countries such as South Sudan and Ethiopia also owe Moscow gratitude for helping them evade sanctions and Western world condemnation.

“Abiy owes Putin for helping Ethiopia avoid more pressure and attention at the UN. It was expected he would go [to the summit] despite his more recent efforts to curry favour with donors,” a researcher at a US government-funded organisation based in Washington tells The Africa Report.

The US government last month lifted its condemnation of the Addis Ababa regime for engaging in ‘patterns of gross violations of human rights‘, which started during the war in Tigray.

The assessment was not welcomed by human-rights observers. The clearance opens doors for the US to normalise relations with Ethiopia severed during the Tigray war. Ethiopia will have its membership of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) – a preferential trade pact for African countries to sell products in the US market – reactivated.

And the favours don’t stop there.

In 2018, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on South Sudan in a bid to bring to an end years of civil war between factions of President Salva Kiir and his first vice president, Riek Machar.

The UN has, however, complained of a breach of its arms embargo, for which the country has Russia to thank, Allawi Ssemanda, an international relations analyst, tells The Africa Report.

“South Sudan has been under sanctions; [UN member states were] banned from selling arms [to South Sudan], but Russia would find a way of doing business with the country,” he says.

Ssemanda adds that many African countries have come to learn that their real friends aren’t those providing them with large amounts of aid with strings attached, but those who stand with them when the West starts biting back.

“The African countries see Russia as that friend, not the US, or the West,” he says.

Ukraine could gain more ground
At the start of the invasion of Ukraine, many commentators in Africa and some African governments were hesitant to engage with Ukraine at all, says Ivan Kłyszcz, a Russian foreign policy research fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security based in Estonia.

“Now, one and a half years later, the African peace delegation was not only in Moscow but also in Kiev. We can see the recognition that Kiev matters more for the leadership in Africa than it did before,” he tells The Africa Report.

With many African leaders gravitating towards Russia, or refusing to condemn it outright because of its easily accessible weapons industry, Kłyszcz says the West should find the means to provide an alternative market to countries willing to abandon Russia.

“The West could think of other active engagements. We have seen [this] in India, especially [with] the French, who have been very active in courting the Indian government and [its] weapon manufacturers to push out Russia’s participation in the Indian market. When it comes to Africa, I haven’t seen such a push,” he says.

Nagy says Russia also beats American companies when it comes to quick delivery of weapons, because the US has more checks and balances on who it sells weapons to.

Does the US need to change to compete with Russia for Africa’s weaponry market?

“I wish they could,” Nagy says.

“But there are many laws that the US has to go through before you deliver weapons. For example, you must make sure the unit you’re giving weapons to has not committed human rights violations.”

https://www.theafricareport.com/315384/ancs-anti-west-mbalula-openly-backs-zanu-pf-in-zimbabwe-election/

Interesting relation between Zimbabwe and South Africa

Zimbabwe makes it difficult for its diaspora to vote. Did the ANC just make it even less appealing by endorsing President Emmerson Mnangagwa?

Pini Muguyo, one of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans who have emigrated to South Africa, was planning to drive across the border to vote in this month’s presidential election.

But the diaspora ward coordinator for the opposition Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) has had a change of heart after hearing South Africa’s ruling party slam CCC chief Nelson Chamisa as “an American puppet”.

Voting would be “unhelpful” now that the African National Congress (ANC) “openly backs” Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party, Muguyo tells The Africa Report at a Johannesburg fruit market on a chilly winter afternoon.

Who is pulling the strings?

That South Africa supports President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s reelection was cemented last month when ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula tore into Chamisa at a ruling party conference in Cape Town. Even after Mnangagwa overthrew Robert Mugabe in 2017, Mbalula said, Western powers, especially the United States, remained insatiable.

“[Until] they get their puppet in power, they will never be satisfied,” he said.

“Mnangagwa brought some reforms, but they did not want those reforms because they want a man called Chamisa. They want him to be the leader of a new Zimbabwe.”

The American modus operandi is simple, Mbalula said: apply trade sanctions on Zimbabwe, cause hunger and joblessness until the country’s citizens revolt and vote out Zanu-PF.

Mbalula has yet to release any evidence that Chamisa is being funded by or taking instructions from the Joe Biden administration in the US.

Ties that bind
The relationship between the ANC and ZANU-PF dates back to South Africa’s struggle against apartheid. The liberation parties of both countries continued their relationship by supporting each other to stay in power.

Electoral observer missions from the South Africa-led Southern Africa Development Community have rubber-stamped Zimbabwe’s elections since 2000 despite crude displays of intimidation, underscoring the two parties’ collaboration.

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki’s lack of concern during Zimbabwe’s bloody 2008 elections helps explain why Zimbabweans do not trust the ANC or the SADC, says Washington Mazorodze, a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe in the department of peace, security and society.

The following year, South Africa helped broker a power-sharing agreement between Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

“Mbeki said that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe when there was a political and economic disaster,” Mazorodze tells The Africa Report.

But times have changed, says Gideon Chitanga, a research associate at the African Centre for the Study of the United States at Wits University. “The ANC and the SADC have little influence or leverage over the Zimbabwean parties, whether the opposition or the ruling party,” he tells The Africa Report.

Others argue that the economic ties between the two countries still carry a lot of weight. South Africa is Zimbabwe’s biggest trading partner, with Zimbabwe sourcing $3bn in imports from South Africa while sending back $1.9bn in exports in 2021.

Freedom fighter nostalgia
“South Africa powers Zimbabwe,” says Denis Juru, chair of the Southern Africa International Cross Border Traders Association. “Whether with electricity, mining machinery, sheltering immigrants, food or hospital drugs, South Africa is the reason Zimbabwe still breathes today as an economy. That can’t be overstated.”

Africa diplomacy expert Stephen Chan digs into a romanticised past to explain the ANC’s continued dalliance with ZANU-PF.

“There is still a sense of solidarity among liberation parties. But despite the mystique of struggle for the people, in every Southern African country – except for Namibia – liberation governments have created huge economic divides and sustained poverty among the people,” says Chan, a professor at the University of London.

Although there are strong ties, the solidarity is not what it once was, adds Chitanga. “We have passed that historical moment,” he says.

Voting obstacles
While estimates of the number of Zimbabweans living in South Africa range from 700,000 to more than two million, their home country does not allow for diaspora voting except for a small group of people who work at embassies.

Others can only vote if they come home to cast their ballot in person.

Analysts say that as long as the size of the diaspora vote remains limited, foreigners can have their opinions but will not have much impact.

Rarely have foreign public figures played much of a role in the outcome of Zimbabwe’s elections, but Mbalula’s support may validate ZANU-PF in the eyes of some people, says David Makwerere, a lecturer in peace and governance.

“I do not think it will change the voting patterns,” Makwerere tells The Africa Report. “But it will give ZANU-PF some legitimacy to say that we are defending the national interest, we are defending the country from Western colonial machinations, and magnifying this.”

Eye on South Africa
The 1,065km between Pretoria and Harare did not discourage Chamisa from campaigning in South Africa in June, where he tried to motivate people to return home to vote on 23 August.

Ironically, the same Zimbabwean officials who deny airtime for the opposition on state television and radio stations are appearing in South African media to entice voters.

Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa appeared on SABC, South Africa’s state broadcaster, to defend the government’s efforts to tackle corruption.

And Mnangagwa’s other main potential rival, Saviour Kasukuwere, who lives in exile in South Africa, relied on his host country’s media to launch his campaign for president. Kasukuwere has gone to the constitutional court to appeal after Zimbabwe’s supreme court ruled he was ineligible to stand because he lives abroad.

Foolish turn
While the ANC denounces the CCC as a stooge of the West, perhaps the party’s real fear is closer to home.

“Who knows what could happen in South Africa in its own elections next year?” says Mazorodze.

Some point out the irony in the ANC’s support for ZANU-PF, which has caused countless Zimbabweans to flee to South Africa, where they’ve become scapegoats for local citizens who view the immigrants as job snatchers.

“Here’s the message,” says Muguyo, the CCC diaspora coordinator. “If the ANC continues to support ZANU-PF, millions of us Zimbabwe immigrants will continue to stay in South Africa – whether the ANC likes it or not.”

Mnangagwa's popular base remains strong.

The electoral situation in Zimbabwe is somewhat similar to that in Nigeria.

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio was sworn in Tuesday after he was declared the victor of an election that his main rival slammed as “not credible”.
Bio, 59, returns for a second term at the helm of the West African nation, which has been pummelled by multiple challenges since the end of a 1991-2002 civil war, including an Ebola epidemic and now a crippling economic crisis.

The electoral commission announced he had won 56% of the vote, while his main challenger Samura Kamara came second with 41%.

“I categorically reject the outcome so announced by the electoral commission,” he said on Twitter.

Vote tallying had already been disputed by Kamara’s All People’s Congress (APC), which condemned in a statement Monday an alleged lack of inclusiveness, transparency and responsibility by the electoral commission.

The party pointed to the lack of information about which polling stations or districts the ballots were coming from.

It had said it “will not accept these fake and cooked up results“.

In a later statement, the party alleged “overvoting” in some areas and said it “continues to reject” the “fabricated results” and “reaffirms our victory”.

However, Bio’s supporters welcomed the result. “I’m happy Bio won, we want him to fix the economy and create jobs,” Susan Myers, 34, says.

Abdulrahim Bah, 30, says: “Maada Bio has provided for us the free quality education, he’s constructed so many bridges for us and he is fighting the corruption in the country.”

At a press conference Monday, EU observers said a lack of transparency and communication by the electoral authority had led to mistrust in the electoral process.

The monitors said they witnessed violence at seven polling stations during voting hours and at three others during the closing and counting stages.

‘I need justice’
They also said they received reports of violent incidents in six regions, including the use of live ammunition in three districts.

About 3.4 million people were registered to vote in Saturday’s election. Turnout was 83%, the commission said Tuesday.

Bio, a former coup leader in the 1990s, championed education and women’s rights in his first civilian term.

Kamara, 72, a former foreign and finance minister, had assailed the electoral commission throughout the campaign period over alleged irregularities and delays.

He is currently on trial for embezzling public funds while he was foreign minister, a case he said is politically motivated.

Sierra Leoneans also voted in parliamentary and municipal elections Saturday.

EU observers denounced violence by security forces at the APC headquarters in Freetown on Sunday night, in what the police said was an effort to disperse opposition supporters, which left one woman dead.

Sidie Yahya Tunis, a spokesman for the APC, says the woman was a nurse who was working in a medical unit on the building’s ground floor.

Ibrahim Conteh, a 25-year-old law student who identifies himself as the woman’s son, says he identified his mother’s body at the morgue.

“I need justice… I just want to know” who killed my mother, he says in tears.

Second term blues?
The president’s second term won’t be plain sailing. He will need to adopt a bolder stance towards pressing economic and social ills to placate alienated Kamara’s voters and ensure social cohesion, argues Maja Bovcon, senior Africa analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

“Bio will need to scale back his populist and resource nationalism policies to attract more foreign investment,” says Bovcon. “His revocation of mining licences and the adoption of new land and mining legislation that makes the development of large-scale projects more challenging have soured investor sentiment and contributed to the economic downturn.”

https://www.theafricareport.com/314019/sierra-leone-re-elects-maada-bio-opposition-rejects-results/

By Evelyn Usman

There is uneasy calm in the Nigeria Police Force, following the recent declaration by Justice Fatun Riman of a Federal High Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, that only an officer within the rank of Assistant Inspector-General of Police and Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG, with four years in service, could be appointed as Inspector General of Police, in accordance with the 2020 Police Act.

The court in its judgement delivered on May 19, 2023, also faulted the continued stay in office by the present Inspector-General of Police, IGP Alkali Baba, who was appointed when he had less than four years to retire from the Nigeria Police Force.
But the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, extended Baba’s stay in office mid-February 2023 when he was expected to retire, in line with the Police Act.

With the emergence of a new administration, news of the appointment of a new IGP and service chiefs in the Police force and the military has raised a mixture of hope, fear of forced retirement and uncertainty.

The anxiety is said to be further heightened by rumours that President Tinubu, saddled with the responsibility of appointing an IGP, on the advice of the Police Council, from among serving senior officers of the Police Force, may appoint an Assistant Inspector General of Police from the South East as the next IGP.

Reality on ground

But Vanguard gathered that none of the six Deputy Inspector-General of Police, DIGs, representing the six- geopolitical zones in the Nigeria Police management structure, has the requisite four years of service before retirement, as stipulated by the extant laws.

Also, for the AIGs, Vanguard learned that two of the over 20 have four years and above to retire, either at the age of 60 years or on attaining the mandatory 35 years in service.

One of the AIGs from the South East , is said to have all it takes in terms of operational capabilities, intelligence and requirements of the 2020 Police Service Act to be appointed into the exalted position. The second AIG is from the North.

There are also speculations that the present administration may chose one of the two Commissioners of Police from the South West and North Central respectively, as the next IGP.

Qualification of an IGP

This is because the two officers who were recently promoted to the rank of CP, also meet the four years requirements by the Police Act.

Sources said either of these “preferred officers” is likely to be promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, in order to qualify him as stipulated in section 7 of the Police Act.

By the way, Section 7 of the Police Act, paragraph 2, says the person to be appointed as Inspector General of Police shall be a senior police officer not below the rank of an Assistant Inspector-General of Police.

In addition, Section 7, paragraph 6, of the Police Act also states that the person to be appointed to the office of the Inspector-General of Police shall hold office for four years.

Dire consequence

However, if the information about promoting either of the ‘preferred CPs is anything to go by, then, it will force the premature retirement of all senior AIGs and DIGs, who can no longer remain in office because they are seniors to the handpicked candidate for IGP.

If this perceived action is executed, some senior police officers and stakeholders in the security system said it would lead to a waste of manpower, especially as the government has invested so much in their training over time.

Besides the destructive loss of institutional memory, a source told Vanguard that it could also lead to loss of a critical asset that provides foundational stability, especially at a time the country is grappling with an unprecedented wave of different but overlapping security crises.

CSOs react

Reacting to the development yesterday, some Civil Society Organisations, including the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, and Confluence of Rights, Nigeria, called on President Bola Tinubu to avoid what they described as pitfalls of the past administration in the appointment of an IGP.

Others are Foundation for Justice and Peace Building, Initiative for Research, Innovation and Advocacy in Development, Abuja.
Their contention is that any likely waiver by the appointing authority to grant tenure extension would utterly undermine the law, the provisions of the Police Act, 2020 (Amended) which provides in section 18( of the Police Act, 2020: “that Every Police officer shall on recruitment, or appointment, serve the Nigeria Police Force for a period of 35 years or until he attains the age of 60 years whichever comes first.

They further posited that such action could trigger avoidable tension within the system, especially the command structure of the police hierarchy, lower morale and disrupt the systematic movement of top officers in line with their seniority and rank.

Expressing a similar view on the matter, former IGP and now chairman of the Police Service Commission, PSC, Solomon Arase, said: “The newly sworn-in President, Bola Tinubu, must avoid the wrongful, patently illegal and unconstitutional steps of the past administration which led to controversies and judicial challenge of appointments.

“He should appoint only candidates who have up to four years and above in service. Appointment must be made in consultation with the Police Council as stipulated by both the Police Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999”.

“Appointments must be based on legal and constitutional stipulations, merit, competence, qualifications, seniority and existing line of succession.

“The highest considerations must be professional and managerial competence, rather than partisan or personal political preferences or nepotistic or other mundane considerations.”

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/06/uneasy-calm-in-police-over-successor-to-igp-baba/

KAMPALA, June 1 (Reuters) - Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has defended signing one of the world's harshest anti-LGBTQ laws, with punishments up to and including the death penalty, saying it was needed to prevent LGBTQ community members he said were "disoriented" from "recruiting" others.

His comments were the first since he signed the bill into law, triggering widespread Western criticism including threats by U.S. President Joe Biden and others to cut aid to Uganda and impose other sanctions.

"The signing is finished, nobody will move us," Museveni said while meeting lawmakers from his National Resistance Movement party, a statement issued by his office late on Wednesday showed.

The law stipulates capital punishment for "serial offenders" and for transmission of a terminal illness like HIV/AIDS through gay sex and for having same-sex relations with a person with a disability. It also decrees a 20-year sentence for "promoting" homosexuality.

Museveni told his party's lawmakers that before signing the law that he had consulted widely to try to determine whether homosexuality was genetic and that he had been persuaded by experts that it was not and described it instead as "psychological disorientation."

"The problem is that, yes, you are disoriented. You have got a problem to yourself. Now, don't try to recruit others. If you try to recruit people into a disorientation, then we go for you. We punish you," he said.

"But secondly, if you violently grab some children and you rape them and so on and so forth, we kill you. And that one I totally support, and I will support.”

The law also imposes a life sentence for same-sex intercourse and a 20-year sentence for promotion of homosexuality.

Firms including media and non-governmental organisations that knowingly promote LGBTQ activity will also incur harsh fines, the law says.

Homosexuality was already illegal in the conservative and highly religious East African country, and homosexuals faced ostracism and harassment by security forces.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/museveni-says-uganda-wont-be-swayed-after-anti-lgbtq-law-triggers-aid-cut-2023-06-01/

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said Nigeria was able to recover from economic recessions that hit it few years ago, due to the support from Nano Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NMSMEs).

The agency said in view of critical position of NMSMEs, it is ready to give her continued support to enable them to act as catalyst for the nation’s economic transformation.

Specifically, the NAFDAC said it would give more support to NMSMEs to grow the economy, by offering products’ renewal waiver to encourage business operators.

A statement by the Resident Media Consultant to NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola, quoted the Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, to have made the pledge recently at a meeting organised by the Lagos State Office of the a

gency with operators of NMSMEs, held in Lagos.

She said NAFDAC would continue to drive collaboration and understanding between NMSMEs and the regulatory authority with a view to empowering them to grow their businesses.

The statement quoted Adeyeye as having said NMSMEs were driving the economy of Nigeria, adding that the country entered into recession few years ago and came out of it quickly despite the challenges of the mega industry.

Adeyeye, said the NMSMEs sub-sector was the magic wand that sustained the economy during the turbulent times.

She said NAFDAC remained committed to meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the business community, noting that the gains and positive impact of subjecting their processes and products to regulatory scrutiny were immense.

According to the DG, such regulatory scrutiny was also meant to protect their businesses.

She lamented the incidence of rejected food exports from Nigeria at the point of entry due to bad quality, stressing that if such food items were subjected to NAFDAC scrutiny, the incidents of rejected food exports from Nigeria would have been greatly curtailed.

The NAFDAC boss, however, disclosed that the agency was already talking with the United Kingdom Department of Business and Trade to build a bilateral relationship whereby Nigerian products that are exported to the United Kingdom will be of quality, (having been registered and certified by NAFDAC).

“Please lets think of the future or where we can take our products to, she said, adding that Nigerians abroad, “are concerned about what we are doing in terms of food that they cannot live without overseas.”

Adeyeye explained that three of NAFDAC’s mandate – food, packaged water, cosmetics and even some chemicals, herbals were under NMSMEs

She urged operators of NMSMEs to always focus on one product that was well accepted by the consumers rather than manufacturing many products at the same time whereby none would be doing well in the market.

“Don’t make five products at a time please. You can try it and the one that is fast you can focus on that and make it great,’’ she said, as she admonished NMSME operators to dream big by entering the global market with their products.

She emphasised the commercial benefits and opportunities that abound for products that have been subjected to regulatory scrutiny, describing them as immense.

One of such she said, was the possibility of exporting such goods.

“With exportation comes quality. Without being quality-conscious, exported products will be rejected. We are here to work with you to take your trading to the level that you want. I want us to also think not of just what we consume here but what we can export,” she added.

The closer we get to the announcement, the more excited we are. It is time for a leader to improve people's lives.

We're waiting

On February 25, Nigerians will go to the polls in presidential and legislative elections. Ahead of the vote, IPI spoke with Musikilu Mojeed, the editor-in-chief and chief operating officer of the Premium Times, one of Nigeria’s leading media outlets. Mojeed is also the chair of IPI’s Nigeria National Committee.

Mojeed spoke to IPI Africa Program Officer Edzodzi Ahiadou about the press freedom situation in Nigeria, the risks that journalists face in covering the elections, and key advocacy priorities for the new government.

What are the biggest threats and risks associated with reporting on Nigeria’s February 25 general elections for journalists and media houses?

The biggest threats and risks associated with the coverage of the forthcoming elections revolve around physical and digital security for journalists and their media organizations.

Before, during and after the 2019 general elections, cases of harassment of journalists were rampant and I am not optimistic that the situation will be different this time. In 2019 alone, the Press Attack Tracker, a project of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) documented at least 72 violations.

Those violations include arrests, physical attacks, denial of access, threats, equipment damage, equipment seizure, harassment and abductions. The number of attacks dropped to 37 the following year and then to 33 in 2021. It rose again to 37 in 2022 just as electioneering began.

This time, as journalists go about covering campaigns, voting and compilation of election results, they are at risk of being denied access, arrested, harassed, attacked, abducted or even killed. Their equipment might be seized or destroyed and their emails, social media handles, and websites could be hacked.

Are journalists and media houses informed about and equipped with sufficient safety protection measures and guidelines ahead of this election?

A number of media support organizations have organized training to ready journalists for the coverage of the elections. The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), the International Press Centre (IPC), Yiaga Africa and a few other organizations have trained journalists on political and election reporting, press freedom and physical/online security.

Some media organizations, including my own, Premium Times, are also organizing training for teams they plan to deploy for the elections. The CJID and the IPC have also produced and circulated manuals on journalists’ safety and press freedom.

However, I do not think that half of the journalists covering the elections have benefited from the training or accessed the manuals. So, my short answer to this question is that not all journalists and media organizations in Nigeria are informed and equipped with sufficient safety and protection safeguards.

What are the security forces and other stakeholders, especially political figures and political parties, doing to ensure journalists are safe and protected while reporting on the elections?

It’s rare to find a Nigerian official who cares about the safety and welfare of journalists. They consider journalists as irritants and busybodies. They like pliant journalists who merely give them publicity, massage their egos and play by their rules.

So, my suspicion is that a good number of these political figures, political parties and their thugs are perhaps rehearsing how to attack or deny access to upright journalists working to expose malpractices and hold officials to account during the elections.

IPI Nigeria is aware that journalists are more endangered during electioneering and may come under more attacks this time. We have therefore written to the Minister of Information and Culture, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Inspector General of Police, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Director General of the State Security Service and the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps reminding them that both media and security institutions are key to the democratic process and urging them to ensure the safety of journalists and media organizations during the elections.

We also inform them that IPI would take every legitimate measure to hold to account anyone whose action or inaction leads to the violation of the rights of any journalist during the electioneering period and afterwards.

What effect does the pressure on the media and social media have on democracy in the country as we head toward these important elections?

The Nigerian media, though vibrant, is barely surviving under severe stress. There is an ownership burden to contend with. There is also excessive pressure from advertisers and other patrons who try to dictate content. There is a sustainability challenge caused by dwindling advertising revenue. Then there is the problem of attacks on journalists and media organizations.

All these pressures have combined to make it difficult for the media to deliver on its mandate of enhancing the people’s rights to know and holding individuals, organizations and corporations accountable.

How important is international solidarity and international networks like IPI in terms of supporting the right of Nigeria’s independent journalists to work freely and safely?

There is a well-known African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together”. So in the battle against attacks on journalists and press freedom, international solidarity and support of international networks like IPI is very important.

When the police raided Premium Times headquarters in January 2017 and arrested the paper’s publisher and another journalist, it was the global outrage that followed that forced the attackers to pull back. IPI, ICIJ, GIJN, Amnesty International and other media freedom organizations were fast and furious in condemning the police.

Before long, the pressure became too much for the government to bear. Dapo Olorunyomi and Evelyn Okakwu were quickly released and were not charged to court.

Nigerian authorities can be brutal, reckless and deaf at times such as when they raided the Daily Trust headquarters, arrested some reporters and confiscated computers. The widespread local and international solidarity nudged the military to back off and allowed normalcy to return to that newspaper. When the National Broadcasting Commission withdrew the operating license of 52 broadcast stations last year, it took a combination of local and international advocacy for the NBC to rescind the decision and allow the stations back to the airwaves.

The support of international networks and organizations is usually a morale booster for Nigerian journalists who often work under very difficult conditions.

What are you calling on the upcoming government to do to protect journalist safety and improve press freedom?

Nigerian journalists are in perpetual danger and whatever new government emerges from the elections has a lot to do to improve the operational environment of journalists and the media.

There are still a number of oppressive and media-unfriendly laws that need to be amended. The government will have to embark on widespread sensitization of its security operatives who need to understand that journalists and the media are key elements of democracy.

The Nigerian government must take deliberate steps to help the sustainability of media outlets while respecting press freedom.

https://ipi.media/interview-nigerias-elections-and-journalist-safety/

Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, said he was in the race to end the suffering of Nigerians.

Obi promised to change the condition of the country through provision of employment, adequate security, and industrialisation, and ensure unity among others.

He said he was the most qualified among the presidential contestants.

Speaking during a mega rally held in Ado-Ekiti, Obi lamented the poor economic situation in the country, insecurity, and unemployment, and promise to find a lasting solution to it, if elected.
He said the people should vote for him based on his integrity and ability to serve them efficiently, urging them to do away with any sentiment based on religion and ethnicity.

While noting that Nigerians needed a leader with vision at this critical period, Obi said, “People are suffering in this country and we want to end the suffering. Today, there is no security and unity in the country; we will unite and secure this country.

“People are hungry in the country, our youths have no job, they don’t know what to do, our youths are not doing anything, and what we want to do is to move the country from consumption to a production county. If we start to produce in the country, our youths will start to have jobs.”

Obi told the people not to allow anyone to use tribe or turn to convince them on election day.

He stated, “The election is in days’ time, and I want you to vote for me, because I am the most qualified candidate. This election is not by tribe, let no one tell you it is by tribe. I am from the South-east, so, if they say it is by tribe, I will say it is my turn but we are not contesting based on tribe, but I am contesting as a Nigerian, who is most qualified.

“This year’s election is about character and who we can trust, and because of this, I am the most qualified person in the race. We are going to stop corruption. If it is about commitment, I have compassion and commitment.
“If it is about ability to deliver, go and check their ages, you will see that it is between 70 and 75, while I am about 60. I have both physical and mental energy to serve you better.

“They are making our youths to ‘japa’; we want to bring you back, because we will create the enabling environment in the country. Please, vote for me to end poverty, insecurity, and unemployment.”

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2023/01/06/2023-elections-im-in-race-to-end-nigerians-suffering-says-obi/

It was learnt that N2billion had been released to the contractor out of the contract sum, before it was terminated and re-awarded.

Dantata and Sawoe, the contractor handling the Akure-Ado Ekiti highway project has filed a legal action against the Federal Government. The contractor sued government for terminating the N30billion contract and re-awarding it to two new contractors.

It was learnt that N2billion had been released to the contractor out of the contract sum, before it was terminated and re-awarded.

However, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola recently stated that the contract had been re-awarded after the initial contractor failed to secure the needed funds to prosecute the road project.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Transportation (State), Mr Ademola Adegoroye, said that the court action instituted by the former contractor was stalling the takeoff of the project.

Adegoroye, who spoke during a radio interview, said: “The reconstruction of the deplorable Ado Ekiti-Akure Expressway has been re-awarded to two new contractors but the court action instituted by the former contractor had stalled the execution of the project.

“The crisis stalling the construction of the Akure-Ado Ekiti road will soon be resolved for the project to fully take off.

“The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, is doing everything possible with other stakeholders to ensure that the project is not abandoned.

“I know how our people are suffering on that road. My mother is from Ekiti and my father is from Akure. So, I know how crucial that road is to our people in Ondo and Ekiti States. We are not relenting in our efforts on the road.

“Two days ago, I and the new Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, met and we discussed this issue. We resolved to meet with the former contractor in January to see how the issue can be settled out of court so that the project can take off.”

https://saharareporters.com/2022/12/28/nigerian-federal-road-akure-ado-ekiti-project-stalled-contractor-sues-government

A new report on money laundering in the United States has revealed that more than $2.3 billion was laundered through U.S. real estate in the last five years .

Additional information made available to The Guardian revealed that African countries where the illicit money came from include Nigeria, Guinea, Gambia, and the Republic of the Congo. Also, more than half of the U.S. cases involved politically exposed persons (PEPs), with Nigeria in the top five places of origin.

The study, titled, ‘Acres of Money Laundering: Why U.S. Real Estate is a Kleptocrat’s Dream’, exposed global money laundering and how politically exposed persons in African states channel illicit funds through a complex web of companies with opaque ownership structures.

It found that weak or no beneficial ownership frameworks and complicit gatekeepers are conduits of schemes that stifle development in African states.

It revealed that 60.71 per cent of U.S. cases involved properties in one or more non-Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) countries, demonstrating the limitations of this location-specific regulatory tool.

According to the report, well over 50 per cent of the reported cases in the U.S. involved politically exposed persons, which is particularly problematic, considering the lack of guidance from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on PEP identification, while commercial real estate featured in more than 30 per cent of the cases and generally had significantly higher values than the residential real estate involved.

It further noted that the U.S. is yet to create any reporting obligations for risks in the sector and that the use of anonymous shell companies and complex corporate structures continues to be the number one money laundering typology.

The report stated that 82 per cent of U.S. cases involved the use of a legal entity to mask ownership, highlighting the importance of implementing a robust beneficial ownership registry under the Corporate Transparency Act.

It said: “To better understand the extent of real estate money laundering in the U.S. and identify trends, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) analysed 125 cases reported between 2015 – 2020 in the U.S., the UK and Canada.

Through a combination of case analysis and regulatory analysis, GFI provides conclusive evidence that the current U.S. approach of using GTOs is inadequate to address money laundering in the real estate sector.”

The report stated that comprehensive reform in anti-money laundering legislation is required to adequately address the money laundering risks in the real estate sector.

https://guardian.ng/news/new-report-reveals-how-2-3b-was-laundered-through-u-s-real-estate/

The ad-hoc committee set up by the Senate to investigate oil theft and consequent damage on the nation’s economy said on Tuesday that Nigeria lost $2 billion, equivalent to N1.3trillion, to oil theft between January and August this year.

The Senate on April 14, 2022, constituted a 13- member Ad – Hoc Committee on Oil Lifting, Theft, and the impact on Petroleum Production and Oil Revenues under the chairmanship of Senator Akpan Bassey, who is also the chairman, of the Senate Committee on Petroleum ( Upstream).

The committee’s report adopted by the Senate in plenary on Tuesday made far-reaching recommendations for stemming the tide but failed to name a single person or corporate entity carrying out the oil theft.

In one of its findings, the committee said, “Nigeria lost over $2bn to oil theft between January and August 2022, with consequent loss of revenue that would support the country’s fiscal deficits and budget implementation.”

The report indicated concerted efforts being made against the crime by all stakeholders, saying that they had started yielding results, with Forcados Terminal producing 500,000 barrels per day now as against zero production in the first six months of the year.

According to the report, “Bonny Terminals was also producing 87,000 barrels of oil per day now as against zero production a couple of months ago due to activities of economic saboteurs.”

Parts of the 16 – point recommendations of the committee as adopted by the Senate were that, “ the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited should stop undermining Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority from performing their functions.

“The provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act should be adhered to by NNPCL as regards functions of the established agencies.”

The report called for an immediate streamlining of agencies present at the terminals in line with the relevance of their PIA-delineated upstream and midstream/downstream statutory functions.

It said the NUPRC should fast-track the upgrade of the National Production Monitoring Systems to enable real-time monitoring of flow station and terminal activities.

The NUPRC should expedite the deployment and strict enforcement of the Advance Crude Oil Cargo Declaration solution for the detection and mitigation of illegal movement of vessels to ensure adequate revenue generation and optimal crude oil production, it further said.

The Bureau of Public Procurement should expedite all processes of procurement for NUPRC to ensure immediate deployment of an online real-time monitoring system by the commission across all upstream oil and gas production platforms for accuracy in measuring production volume by producers, it noted.

It further said that the NUPRC should resume full regulatory oversight of all existing crude oil terminals in Nigeria, including integrated ones, crude oil pipelines, issuance of loading clearance, and processing of export permits in line with section 8(d) of the PIA, as regulatory activities at crude oil terminals are interdependent and contingent, it said.

The report also frowned at undue interference of the Minister of State in the operations of NUPRC as shown with letters made available to it by the agency and stressed that both the minister and NNPCL should allow PIA to function.

The report added, “ The PIA as signed into law by the President, must be allowed to function by all stakeholders in the sector as an amendment on it now, will send wrong signals to the International community.”

https://punchng.com/oil-theft-nigeria-loses-2bn-in-eight-months/

They have a weakness.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, University of Ibadan branch, is currently rallying on the campus in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The lecturers held banners that bore several inscriptions as they demanded, ‘Implementation of Collectively Bargained Memorandum of Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding,’ ‘Deployment of University Transparency Accountability Solution, ‘Immediate Release of Visitation Panel Reports,’ Immediate Payment of Earned Academic Allowance,’ and ‘Reinstatement of All Victimised Academics across Nigerian Universities.’

The lecturers rallied within the campus environment to the institution’s main gate, gyrating and chanting solidarity slogans.

They were joined in solidarity by civil society organisations and right groups such as the Take It Back Movement in the state, and the leaders of the Joint Action Front led by Emiola Solomon and Abiodun Bamigboye.

ASUU branches across campuses in the country have been protesting the half-pay policy slammed on lecturers by the FG on February, saying lecturers should not be reduced to casual labourers.

This is as the FG has said it cannot pay for a work not done.

https://punchng.com/ui-ASUU-protests-half-pay-asks-fg-to-honour-agreements/

The Lagos State Government has said it is investigating alleged corrupt practices by some operatives of the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, and the Lagos State Building Control Agency.

According to a statement by the Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Mukaila Sanusi, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Tayo Bamgbose-Martins, in Alausa on Friday disclosed that the move became imperative sequel to the allegation of malfeasance against LASPPPA and LASBCA staff in an investigative media report.

According to the commissioner, the government was not oblivious of the fact that while majority of staff act to uphold professionalism and good ethics, there might be a few others who compromise their position and connive with others to denigrate the system, adding that observers would do well to come up with names of perpetrators as against making them anonymous to aid investigation.

He said, “The two agencies, which have been doing their best to sanitise the Lagos building environment, have been mandated to fish out the bad eggs within their fold who have been complicit in illegal building construction, such erring officers would be made to face punitive actions in line with the public service rule.”

Bamgbose-Martins urged members of the public to embrace the ethos of building right and shun the temptation of making recourse to underhand practices as physical planning regulations remained the hope of the Lagos megacity faced with strong population and land use pressures.

Whilst not ruling out the possibility of impersonation in the matter, he urged the public to be weary of touts who sometimes parade themselves as officers, adding that the government had made it mandatory for all members of staff to conspicuously wear their identity cards for easy identification.

Recalling some of the many steps taken by the state government to ease planning permit approval processes and enhance monitoring of the building environment, he said that the government had increased the number of LASPPPA and LASBCA district offices, devolved approval powers to the district level and embarked on the adoption of e-planning permit and automation of processes of the ministry and its agencies to eradicate delays and remove undue interference in the approval process.

He added, “The administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the state, in line with its T.H.E.M.E.S agenda of making Lagos a 21st century economy, has prioritised citizens participation through massive sensitisation and the establishment of the Lagos State Physical Planning and Building Control Appeals Committee to hear petitions from members of the public on physical planning and building control infractions.

“Other measures are the promotion of whistle blowing policy, which allows Lagosians to report observed misdemeanors through various platforms including the state toll-free lines, 112 and 767 as well as the Lagos MPP&UD mobile app on Goggle Play and Apple Store.”

The physical planning commissioner assured Lagosians of the unwavering commitment of the Sanwo-Olu administration to livable, organised and sustainable building environment through seamless and effective regulatory procedures as demanded by the smart city drive of the administration.

45 leaders confirm attendance

Forty-five African heads of state and government have confirmed attendance at the U.S. Africa Leaders’ Summit, held in Washington D.C. next month.

United States President, Joseph Biden, had extended an invitation to 49 African leaders.

Dana Banks, the Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council Senior Advisor for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, confirmed this, yesterday, via a teleconference on the upcoming Summit’s agenda to strengthen U.S.-Africa relations and highlight U.S. commitment to the African continent.

Banks noted that Biden invited 49 African leaders, excluding those from Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sudan, and Mali – four countries currently suspended by the African Union (AU).

All four countries are currently run by strong men who took power with guns.

The White House official said Biden used three criteria to invite African governments to the Summit.

“President Biden invited all sub-Saharan and North African governments that have not been suspended by AU, states the U.S. government recognises, and states with which we exchange Ambassadors.”

Banks added that Biden looks forward to hosting leaders from across the African continent.

The Summit, only the second such event of its kind, will be the biggest U.S.-Africa engagement in Washington D.C., since former President Barack Obama hosted African leaders in 2014.

The gathering aims to advance shared priorities and foster stronger ties between the United States and Africa. It will also provide an opportunity to advance the Biden administration’s focus on trade and investment in Africa, highlight America’s commitment to Africa’s security, its democratic development, and its people, as well as emphasise the depth and breadth of the United States’ commitment to the African continent.

“Africa will shape the future — not just the future of the African people, but of the world. Africa will make the difference in tackling the most urgent challenges and seizing the opportunities we all face,” she said.

The Summit will be focused on nine pillars: economic engagement, peace, security and governance, democracy, human rights and governance, global health, food security, climate change, diaspora engagement, education and youth leadership and amplifying African voices.

The Senior Advisor noted that the Summit aims to amplify African voices to tackle global challenges collaboratively.

“The goal of the Summit is rooted in recognition of the continent as a global player and how it will shape, not just the future of the continent, but also the world. The breadth and depth of American partnership with African partners are based upon dialogue, respect, and shared values.”

Also speaking, yesterday, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs, Robert Scott, said: “The U.S. knows that, on most of the urgent challenges and opportunities we face, Africa will make the difference. We can’t achieve our goals around the world without the leadership of African governments, institutions and citizens.

“Issues that affect the globe are, in large, going to be solved by Africans. Furthermore, there is an added element to the Summit: There will be a U.S.-Africa Civil and Commercial Space Forum.”

The Republican midterm flameout is now official. Democrats have retained control of the US Senate. Here's why that matters.

Four days after tens of millions of Americans went to the polls, Catherine Cortez Masto's narrow victory in Nevada late on Saturday finally delivered a decisive result in the national political battle.

The Democrats now lead 50 seats to 49 in the upper chamber of the US Congress. Even if Republicans win the remaining Senate race in Georgia, Vice-President Kamala Harris will be able to cast a tie-breaking vote.

That's been the case for the past two years, of course - and it paves the way for President Joe Biden to spend two more years filling the federal courts with his nominees and staffing his administration largely the way he sees fit.

Most significantly, should a Supreme Court seat become vacant due to an unexpected retirement or death of a justice, the Republicans would not be able to block Mr Biden's choice. Democrats remember how back in 2016, then-Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell prevented Barack Obama's nominee from getting a hearing at all.

The win in Nevada means the Georgia Senate run-off on 6 December is no longer a pivotal contest to determine control of the chamber. Mr Biden, however, said "it's simply better" for Democrats to get to 51 seats. The extra cushion certainly makes it easier to manage a majority and it will also help in 2024 when the party will have more at-risk seats to defend.

There is still a likelihood, although not certainty, that the Republicans will control a slim majority in the House of Representatives, bringing a variety of headaches for the president.

His legislative agenda is dead, and more aggressive Republican oversight is in store, but even that has a silver lining - if his political opponents are unable to effectively govern due to internal discord.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63613264

President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, has assured Nigerians of the presidency of the All Progressives Congress, APC, flag bearer, Bola Tinubu.

Aisha Buhari assured that Nigeria would be safe under Tinubu’s guidance.

She spoke at the one-day public symposium with the theme: “Dissecting the Asiwaju manifesto – Renewed Hope 2023” in Abuja.

The First Lady was represented at the event by Asabe Bashir, the Matron of the APC Women Campaign Team.

She said Tinubu’s antecedents have shown that he would serve Nigeria well.

Mrs Buhari urged Tinubu to consider women in the area of national security.

According to Aisha: “I have gone through the manifesto of our presidential candidate and have no doubt that given his experience in governance and passion to make a positive impact in our national development, we would be in safe hands.

“I would suggest that every idea and strategy for national security must factor in women.

“This is because the world has accepted the reality that women are agents of peace, growth and development.”

Mixed reactions have continued to trail Tinubu’s emergence as APC flag bearer in the 2023 election.

https://dailypost.ng/2022/11/11/presidency-nigeria-in-safe-hands-with-tinubu-aisha-buhari/