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03 May 2012
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Okorocha, The Magician by Olusegun Adeniyi

On Monday, Governor Rochas Okorocha declared a four-day holiday for workers in Imo State. According to a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Obinna Duruji, the workers are to use this week to go to their communities and partake in the take-off of the Community Council Government (CCG), which the governor recently instituted in the state. And for this extra-constitutional fourth-tier of government, Okorocha has already approved the disbursement of N5 million to each of the communities in the 27 local councils from a subvention of N3 billion.

Of course, the N3 billion is not captured in the Imo State Appropriation Bill for 2012 which has not even been passed. But then that is a small matter in a state where the governor has practically become the sole administrator, expending public money and coming up with all manner of bizarre ideas without any legislative oversight. Almost every day now, Governor Okorocha awards multi-billion Naira contracts for roads, for schools, for hospitals, for hotels, for farms etc. and you wonder where the money to fund all these projects is coming from.

Governor Okorocha is evidently a populist and there is nothing wrong with populism except that it has to be rooted in realistic expectations. Okorocha for instance tells his Imo people that his state which still depends largely on its meagre allocation from the Federation Account is very buoyant. And with minimal internally generated revenue, he has declared free education at all levels in Imo State and has even decided to be paying salaries to primary school pupils! In fulfillment of that pledge, he actually went to some schools where the pupils lined up for him to pay them N100 each.

In Imo State today, it is one day, one promise. Okorocha is going to build a megacity in Okigwe; he will build two palm oil plantations; he will construct a 25-storey hotel; he will build three universities for the state; he will construct an ecumenical centre; and he has already taken over all federal roads in the state for which he has awarded contracts without any documentation!

I was in the United States during the April 2011 elections but I followed all the drama in Imo and actually wanted Okorocha to win. So when he did, I was very happy. Unfortunately, right from his first day in office, Okorocha started giving people cause for concerns as to whether he understands his brief as governor. I recall that as early in the day as August last year, his brand of governance was a subject of discussion at our editorial board. We marveled at some of his antics and actually did an editorial to remind him of his responsibilities. “His most notable achievement to date has been to make headline news for all sorts of gaffes. From daubing himself in blood and disguising himself ala ‘Aluwe’ while pretending to be a victim of road accident just to make a point about service delivery at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, to whimsical decisions on traditional and academic institutions, Okorocha is literally making a mockery of his office and does not seem to care what people think or say,” we wrote.

We were also worried about the unwieldy nature of his political appointments. In addition to 17 commissioners and 14 Senior Special Assistants, Okorocha had appointed a further 80 men and women as Special Assistants and members of various Mayoral Affairs Committees. For example, he has a Senior Special Assistant on Lagos Liaison office and a Special Assistant on Lagos Affairs; Senior Special Assistant, NDDC and Special Assistant on Niger Delta; and of course he appointed for the state a Chief Comedian who is also a Special Assistant! And while swearing them in, the governor said they would have to source for funds with which to run their offices thus effectively turning them to no more than executive touts.

On March 24 this year, Okorocha was in Kosovo where he signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with their government to construct housing estates, establish an agro-processing plant and build an independent power plant, all in Imo state. When completed, according to the governor, this planned power plant would supply the state with 500 megawatts of electricity! But as I watched the video clip on AIT, something struck me as odd. His host, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Mr. Behgdey Pacconi, had spoken in Albanian, the main official language of his country thus needing an interpreter. When it was the turn of Okorocha to respond, he apparently felt he also needed an interpreter so he decided to speak in Igbo language. A former senator on his delegation now had to interpret into English for the Kosovo interpreter to now translate into Albanian. The whole episode reminded me of ‘Icheoku’, arguably one of the best television drama series in the eighties.

But Okorocha is not without redemption as he is also a passionate man. I guess that is why he wants to achieve results quickly. But he must also realize that this is a democracy where planning, transparency and processes are also important for him to leave any lasting legacy. He cannot continue to run his administration by whims as is the case right now.

There is no doubt that Governor Okorocha came to office with a popular mandate and I believe he is in haste to make a difference in his state. But to do so, he must understand that running a government requires having in place proper structures which will enable him to promote transparency and accountability. He must also align the direction and goals of his administration within the available. I sincerely want Governor Okorocha to succeed but for him to do that, he needs to sit down to reflect on the kind of legacy he wants to bequeath to his state when his tenure is done.

Courtsey – Thisday

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03 May 2012

But Where is Happyboy?

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The Verdict according to Olusegun Adeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com.

 

The moment Yemi Akinsuyi saw me inside the premises of THISDAY Abuja office that looked more like a scene out of Iraq, she said, “oga, we cannot find Happyboy. He was inside the premises when the bomb exploded and now he is not picking his calls.”

Happyboy Ohije is one of those circulation boys you find in newspaper houses. They are called inserters since they help to collate the papers when it is being printed but they also run all manner of errands for people in the newsroom. With minimal education, Happyboy is very dutiful and everyone knew I was fond of him. He had come to me one day that he had a challenge concerning his education, a rather moving story but I liked the confidence with which he approached me and the manner in which he presented his problem. After offering him some little assistance, we became close, especially since he told everyone about my intervention.

Last Thursday, it was quite natural that I would be very worried about the fate of Happyboy. It turned out that he was sleeping when the bomb exploded and he eventually emerged from the rubble in a pool of his blood. But his was not the only miracle. Nurudeen, the security man seated at the exact spot where the suicide bomber exploded the vehicle is injured but alive. Incidentally, we did not know at the time and I recall one security man asking me: “Nurudeen’s wife has been calling me repeatedly and I cannot pick. What do I tell her?” His colleague by the gate, Christopher Sadiq was, however, not so lucky. Neither were some of the mechanics who had set shop behind THISDAY premises. They died along with a passer-by as the vehicle exploded.

The whole drama started for me at about 11.08 when I got a call from an hysterical Ms Avershima Ahenjir, an advert executive, saying, “they have just bombed our office.” According to what I was told when I reached the office, a vehicle came in to deliver tiles that was meant for some work at about 11am. While they were still trying to offload the tiles, the suicide bombers drove into the premises and the rest, as they say, is now history. But as everyone pointed out to me last Thursday, I would have been caught by the bombing but for the fact that I was preparing for my trip to Ibadan for the burial of my mother-in-law later that day.

I have watched on YouTube the video clip released by Boko Haram on how THISDAY was bombed, especially the moment when the vehicle entered our premises and exploded. Incidentally, the clip displayed my photograph along with my statement following the incident. I have also read their declaration of war on the media but I fail to understand why. The charge is that we have taken sides with the Nigerian state. But do we have any choice in this matter?

In an unusual backpage editorial last Sunday, the Trust newspaper put the issue in perspective: “A violent campaign to target and kill security agents, to overthrow the Constitution of the Federal Republic and ultimately to dismember Nigeria cannot be supported by the Nigerian news media, which derives a lot of its legitimacy, protection and privileges from the same Constitution. As for Nigeria itself, there cannot be a ‘Nigerian media’ if there is no Nigeria”.

That exactly is the position to which all journalists subscribe but many of us are becoming increasingly worried for our country. It is therefore incumbent on all men of goodwill who can intervene to end this cycle of violence to do so now in the interest of our corporate existence as a nation. As for THISDAY, in my 13 years here, we have seen some dark days and have come out stronger from all the tragedies. I remember our midnight plane crash right in the middle of Maiduguri desert in 2001 when the Board of Editors decided on a “Meet the Nation” tour; the fire incident that consumed our corporate headquarters in Apapa and the death of Mr. Godwin Agbroko. In each of these events, we were shattered and broken. But we never gave up the ideal for which we stand.

Where do we stand? When Bayero University Kano was attacked last Sunday, our thoughts and sympathy were with the victims of the attack and when Jalingo was attacked the next day, we took sides with the people. On the killing field that Maiduguri has become, we are one with the innocent people of that ancient city who are now besieged. We have made that very clear. But we have also been professional in our reportage while advocating dialogue with Boko Haram, believing that any and every aggrieved Nigerian deserves a hearing. What we oppose is violence and bloodletting of innocent people for no just cause. Even at this most difficult period, we remain persuaded that common sense will still prevail in the interest of our nation and its good people

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03 May 2012
1 Comment

Beyond Aregbesola’s Treason Trial

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Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), was elected the governor of Osun State in 2007. But since it was a “do or die” election for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),  its candidate, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, was falsely returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The illegal declaration was fought in a protracted legal battle. Eventually, the Court of Appeal restored Aregbesola’s mandate after three and a half years.

Two months later, the appeal filed by the 30 chairmen elected on the platform of the PDP against the verdict of the Court of Appeal, which had ordered their removal from office, was dismissed by the Supreme Court. Having handled the case for the Osun State chapters of the Action Congress, National Conscience Party and All Nigeria Peoples Party from the High Court to the apex court, Aregbesola asked for my interpretation of the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Osun State & Ors v Action Congress & 2 Ors (2011) 10. Notwithstanding the pressure mounted on the governor by his party leaders to dissolve the council chairmen and councilors on the basis of the judgment he refused. He directed that they be allowed to remain in office since they had only one month left to complete their tenure.
The governor’s handling of two other issues confirmed his political maturity. The ACN members had vehemently opposed the appointment of a top lawyer in the ministry of justice in the state on the ground that she was used by the ousted regime to prosecute its political opponents including the governor. He made the appointment on the ground that the prosecutor was discharging her duty at the material time. In the same vein, he dismissed the objection of his party leaders on the appointment of a significant number of children and wards of PDP members in the state employment scheme. He made it clear that he is the governor the state and not the chairman of the ACN.

THE TREASON CHARGES
As far as the PDP leaders were concerned the stat Aregbesola of recruited 20,000 thugs under the pretext of job creation. It was also alleged that his decision to rebrand the state of Osun and design a flag, anthem and coat of arms were treasonable. It was, however, intriguing that the Director-General of the State Security Service, Mr. Ita Ekpeyong, who had discharged his duty without fear or favour, decided to team up with the ruling party in justifying the monstrous allegation that the governor had concluded arrangements to dismember the Federal Republic of Nigeria by excising Osun State there from. In a tendentious report  Aregbesola was alleged to be associating with a Muslim group, which is linked with the Boko Haram sect.
Although no one has referred to the specific provisions of any law violated by the governor, it is pertinent to examine the legal implications of the rebranding of Osun state in the context of the relevant laws. It is unfortunate to note that those who compiled the security report on  Aregbesola are not familiar with the constitutional history of Nigeria. Otherwise they would have found that in the First Republic, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria existed side by side with regional constitutions and that there were regional police forces.

Apart from the embassies of the Federal Government the federating units had consulates and properties in some foreign countries.  Even under the defunct military dictatorship when to keep Nigeria one was a task that required absolute loyalty every state had their own coat of arms. At a time that there were 12 states in Nigeria it was only the western state, which established a regional Court of Appeal, which served as an intermediary court between the State High Court and the Supreme Court. But in line with the tenets of federalism the remaining 11 states did not establish any Court of Appeal. Under the current political dispensation the Olagunsoye Oyinlola Administration in Osun State set up the Customary Court of Appeal in 2010. No other state in the south-west has set up such an appellate court even though it is provided for in the Constitution.
Another ridiculous allegation is that   Aregbesola dispatched some Osun State indigenes for training in Cuba. In spite of her economic difficulties aggravated by the economic blockage imposed by the United States over 50 years ago,  Cuba is acknowledged to have excelled in the areas of education, medicine and peace keeping operations. Because of his implicit confidence in the Cuban educational system  Aregbesola sent his first son, Abdul,  to Havana for his first degree in informatics before proceeding to the United Kingdom for post -graduate studies. For over a decade, the Cuban government has awarded scholarships to scores of Nigerian youths to study in Cuba. The federal ministry of education, which administers the scholarship scheme, has always appreciated the generosity and solidarity of the Cuban government. It is curious that the SSS has not accused the Federal Government of engaging in treason by allowing Nigerian youths to acquire education in Cuba!

IN DEFENCE OF AREGBESOLA
A few weeks ago, I attended the convocation ceremony of the Ekiti state university (ESU) at Ado, Ekiti state. Unlike most universities in the country which have commercialised their honorary degrees the ESU conferred doctorate degrees honoris causas on three distinguished Africans  namely Mr. John Dramani Mahama, Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, Director General of UNIDO and Professor Tekena Tamuno, former vice chancellor of the University of Ibadan.

On that occasion the anthems of Ghana, Nigeria and Ekiti State were played to mark the commencement and conclusion of the ceremony. The state governor, and  the Visitor to the university, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, was present at the occasion.  Last week,  Fayemi presented the staff of office to the Oba of my home town, the Alawe of Ilawe Ekiti, Oba Adebanji Alabi. The anthems of Nigeria, Ekiti and Ilawe were played to the delight of the audience. My wife asked me if the SSS would not accuse  Fayemi of treason for leading the audience to sing the Ekiti anthem. I reminded her that no one has ever been charged with any crime for singing the famous Egba anthem, which was composed by Fela Anikulapo’s grand father several years before Nigeria was born.
In a country where religious bodies, schools, trade unions, political parties, clubs and other friendly societies have their constitutions, anthems, mottos and emblems it is bunkum to accuse a governor of committing treason for causing a state to have a flag, coat of arms and an anthem. Indubitably, section 1(2) of the Constitution prohibits any person or a group from taking over the government of Nigeria or any part of it. Having contested and won the governorship election of Osun State  Aregbesola cannot be said to have taken government by force.

It is also submitted that the 68 items in the exclusive legislative list in the Constitution on which only the National Assembly can legislate does not include flag, coat of arms and anthem. To that extent,  Aregbesola cannot be said to have usurped the legislative powers of the federal government. Neither has his decision to call the state the “State of Osun” violated Section 3 (2) of the Constitution, which states that there shall be ” a Federation consisting of states and a Federal Capital Territory”. In the United States of America from where Nigeria copied her Constitution most of the states have their courts of appeal, supreme courts, flags, coat of arms, police forces etc. Even counties (local governments) and corporate bodies including universities have their own police or quasi military institutions without being accused of courting treason.
The attempt by the SSS to link Aregbesola with the Boko Haram sect is dangerous. It should not be taken lightly as it was deliberately designed to promote religious crisis in a peaceful environment. No doubt, Aregbesola is a devout Muslim  but certainly not a fanatic. On the day of his inauguration he led the huge crowd at Osogbo to sing many Christian songs while thanking God for restoring his mandate. Last year, I attended a public function at Osogbo presided over by the governor. Before the commencement of the event he invited a pastor, an imam and an Ifa priest to pray for Osun state and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To the embarrassment of the Christian and Muslim members in the hall there was a prolonged ovation when the Ifa priest said prayers in undiluted Yoruba language. At the end of the programme a born again Christian friend walked up to the governor and questioned his blasphemous policy of promoting idolatry. To which Aregbesola replied “you saw the reaction of the audience. The people were not clapping for the Ifa priest. They were applauding our decision to recognise and promoting traditional religion. That is in line with section 10 of the Constitution which states that the State shall not adopt any particular religion”.
It is germane to draw the attention of security forces to section 37 of the Criminal Code Act which defines treason as the act of levying war  against the State, in order to intimidate or overawe the President or the Governor of a State, and any person involved in the offence is liable to the punishment of death. In Dokubo-Asari v Federal Republic of Nigeria (2007) 30 WRN 1 at 75 the Supreme Court held that “a charge of treasonable felony is a very serious offence and is prejudicial to national security”. The late jurist, Dr. Akinola Aguda was of the view that a person accused of treason  “must be shown to have had the intention to intimidate or overawe the President or any state governor by any physical or unlawful means”. On intimidating or overawing the President the learned author opined that it “involves creating a situation where the government feels compelled to choose between yielding to force or exposing its members or the public to a very serious danger”.
From the foregoing a charge of treason or treasonable felony cannot be sustained against Aregbesola for having a state flag, coat of arms and anthem. So far no scintilla of evidence has been adduced to show that the governor has planned to levy war against the State with a view to intimidating or overawing the President. Instead of demonising the governor he should be commended for embarking on massive job creation in a country where mass unemployment has led to unprecedented wave of armed robbery, kidnapping, terrorism and other violent crimes.

However, it is ironical that while the state security service was reading treason into the Osun State Aregbesola of treason the World Bank led officials of the federal government and 15 states to Osogbo to understand the employment generation programme of his administration.

•Falana is a lawyer and member of THISDAY Editorial Board.

-Thisday

Posted in Politics and tagged , , , , , , ,
03 May 2012

However, it is ironical that while the state security service was reading treason into the  activities of  Aregbesola of Osun State, the World Bank led officials of the federal government and 15 states to Osogbo to understand the employment generation programme of his administration. -Femi Falana

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03 May 2012

#Nigeria NCC Suspends Spectrum Licences Till 2015

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Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Eugene Juwah

 

By Emma Okonji

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said it would not issue spectrum licences to operators until 2015 when telecoms broadcasting operators must have migrated from analogue to digital spectrum.

Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah gave the declaration in Lagos, while responding to the shortfall in broadband penetration in the country at a broadband forum organised by Accenture.

Juwah who lamented the shortage of spectrum licenses in the country, said by the end of the migration, most of the frequency slots currently being occupied by broadcasters would become available for auction.

He said the commission was already in talks with Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators that are currently using the 790 Mega Hertz and the 862 Mega Hertz frequency band to free them up by migrating to Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology in carrying out their operations.

According to him, the frequencies that were hitherto auctioned to them were not being fully utilised, insisting that such frequencies are better utilised for broadband penetration.

Juwah also promised to auction the reaming slots in the 2.3 Giga Hertz spectrum band when other expected spectrums must have been made available by their current users.

Addressing the regulatory intervention to deepen broadband access in the country, Juwah said NCC had adopted the Open Access Model (OAM) that would help unbundle broadband into three layers for easy broadband deployment. “The model provides a framework for sophisticated
infrastructure sharing and it will help unbundle broadband,” he said.

He listed the three layers to include passive layer, active layer and retail layer, stressing that no single operator would be allowed to operate in more than one layer, in order to achieve even distribution of broadband.

“With the model, bandwidth will be provided by the active infrastructure providers to the retail service providers on a fair and non-discriminate basis. The active infrastructure providers will buy bulk bandwidth from submarine cable companies, which are then delivered via optical fibre owned by the passive infrastructure provider,” Juwah said, adding that the implementation of the model will bridge the gaps in broadband deployment, eliminate last mile issue, reduce the price of bandwidth for end users and unlock the market for massive broadband usage in Nigeria.

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03 May 2012

Honduras murders: Where life is cheap and funerals are free

By Linda Pressly BBC Radio 4, Crossing Continents

Ramon Varela's family and friends lowering the coffin into the ground

Honduras has the world’s highest homicide rate. Many victims are poor, which led one politician campaigning for election to make an unusual vote-winning promise – free funerals for anyone unable to give a loved-one a dignified burial. It worked.

Early one Saturday morning the phone rings at the People’s Funeral Service on a noisy main street in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital.

On the phone is one of the workers from the city’s mortuary. A family needs help. Another young man was gunned down in the street the previous day, and his relatives do not have the cash to give him a decent funeral.

At the back of the building there is a stack of new coffins, some beige, some grey.

Ricardo Alvarez

“I found that people were being buried in plastic garbage bags”

Ricardo Alvarez Mayor of Tegucigalpa

Within hours, a black pick-up truck with Funeraria del Pueblo painted in orange on its sides is on its way to the mortuary, with an empty coffin on board.

The vehicle is also carrying a stand for the coffin, curtains and candles, and coffee and bread for mourners at the wake.

This will be held in the family’s local church, before 26-year-old Ramon Orlando Varela is buried in a plot also provided by the People’s Funeral Service.

It is a comprehensive service offered free of charge to the poor of the city by the office of the mayor of Tegucigalpa, Ricardo Alvarez.

“When I was campaigning to be mayor, nearly seven years ago, I found that people were being buried in plastic garbage bags,” he remembers.

“I said, ‘That cannot happen in my country, in my city.’ So I’ve been running the funeral service for the last six years, and this is my seventh year.”

Bar chart showing murder rates in selected countries

Tragically, this is a service that is needed now more than ever in Honduras.

Ramon Orlando Varela Ramon Orlando Varela had just dropped his children off at school when he was shot

The National Commission for Human Rights has calculated that there is a violent death every 74 minutes in this small nation of about eight million people.

Last year Honduras recorded the highest murder rate in the world, with 86 people killed for every 100,000 inhabitants, up from 82 in 2010.

In the UK the rate is just over one, in Mexico, 18.

The majority of those who die a violent death in Honduras – like Ramon – are killed with a gun.

But the reasons for the explosion of killings – almost a doubling of the murder rate since 2005 – are complex.

Graph showing murder rates in Central America

Corruption, gangs and guns have been around for decades.

In 2009, the coup against the government of President Manuel Zelaya brought a wave of political killings. And now Hondurans must contend with the presence of Mexican drug cartels that have pushed south and gained a foothold.

Why so many murders?

Six dead in a Honduran shooting
  • The 2009 coup brought a wave of political killings
  • Mexican drugs cartels now operate in Honduras
  • It’s estimated that 79% of all cocaine flights from South America to the US stop in Honduras
  • There is one gun in Honduras for every 10 people, according to the UN
  • Police corruption allows violent crime to go unpunished
  • Two-thirds of Hondurans live in poverty

No-one is safe. And activists, journalists and lawyers all continue to be the targets of assassins.

But it is not just victims of violence who are helped by the People’s Funeral Service.

Miguel Antonio Bueso Redondo arrives early one morning.

“My wife gave birth to twins by Caesarean section,” he says.

“We thought everything was fine, but then one of the babies was bleeding… The baby died.

“I didn’t have any money for a coffin… One of the nurses at the hospital told me about this service, and did all the paperwork for me. That’s why I’m here.”

After completing the formalities, Miguel Antonio leaves carrying a small white coffin on his shoulder.

The People’s Funeral Service is open every day, 24 hours a day. Calls come in day and night from the city’s mortuary, the hospital and from people who have heard about it from friends and relatives.

Eighteen staff work shifts, and there are two funeral homes. Both are equipped with everything families need for a wake which usually lasts 12-14 hours.

In the poor barrio of Los Laureles in the north of Tegucigalpa, the workers from the People’s Funeral Service carry Ramon’s coffin into the simple, wooden Evangelical church. Then they serve coffee to the many mourners who have gathered.

For Erica Fuentes, the mother of Ramon’s two daughters, the People’s Funeral Service has relieved her of a lot of stress – a private funeral service would cost around $1,000 (£620).

She was with Ramon when he was killed, and is struggling to come to terms with his death.

The hearse carrying Ramon's coffin

“We were coming back from dropping the girls at school when it happened,” she says. “I think Ramon was shot because of a mistake. At the time we were very close together, arm in arm, so maybe God helped me and saved me.”

The next day, the pick-up truck returns to Los Laureles to take Ramon’s body to the cemetery for the burial service.

Yoni Alexander Osorio Hernandez, one of the staff from the People’s Funeral Service, makes sure everything runs smoothly for the final journey.

“We also hurt for the families – especially because there is so much violence in our country.

“Most of the families who come to La Funeraria del Pueblo are very poor indeed.

“This is a service based on solidarity – solidarity with those families at a very difficult time for them

 

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03 May 2012

67m Nigerian Youths Jobless — FG

The minister of youth development, Mallam  Bolaji  Abdullahi, yesterday lamented the unemployment rate in the country, declaring that about 67million young people are jobless and that, of the figure, 80 per cent of them don’t possess a university degree.
Bolaji, who addressed hundreds of youths at TY Danjuma Foundation’s ‘Career Day 2012’ in Benin City, Edo State capital, however, attributed the high unemployment rate to years of failure at different levels, explaining that “lack of job is a consequence of lack of skills”. The event has as its theme “Developing capacity of youths to build successful careers and businesses”.

The minister, who delivered the keynote address, ‘Overcoming Challenges’, harped on skill acquisition irrespective of educational qualification.

“Employers are more interested in what you can do, and not the kind of certificate you have acquired.”

He also took a swipe at a section of the youth who clamour for free tertiary education, noting that “tertiary education cannot be free. Education is an investment. Unless we begin to realise that it cannot be free, quality will be diffused.”

Besides, he announced that the sum of N1.2bn has been captured in the 2012 budget which is aimed at training and grant for youth empowerment programme   in agriculture, ICT and the creative industry, pointing out that “certificate will serve as collateral for  access to the loans”.

Earlier, the executive director of the foundation, Mrs. Thelma Ekiyor, disclosed that the event was meant to prepare the youths to be creators of jobs, even as she expressed the organisation’s readiness to partner with the government on agro-business. She also explained that the organisation has given out financial resources to organisations for projects.

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03 May 2012

Cartoon of the day

 

Source:  Leadership Newspapers Nigeria

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03 May 2012
2 Comments

#Nigeria Jonathan’s 2015 ambition fuelling insecurity – Speaker

President Goodluck Jonathan

Ekiti State House of Assembly Speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin, has blamed the rising security in the country on President Goodluck Jonathan’s alleged plan to seek a second term in 2015.

Omirin said this in an interview with journalists in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday.

The speaker, who lamented the violence in some parts of the country, particularly the wave of bombings in the North, alleged that tensions had grown increasingly since Jonathan said his first term would end in 2015.

Omiri said, “African leaders are not honest. If somebody who begged for a term is now seeking a second term, there is no honesty in that. It is not that the Peoples Democratic Party is popular.

“Nigerians are tired of the PDP, they are still in power because they are the one who organised elections in the country but I hope by next election we are going to have a more credible election that would automatically reduce the number of PDP governors in the states. The PDP cannot win more than 10 states if a credible election is conducted.”

On the claim by the National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi (retd), that the zoning formula of the PDP was the cause of the crisis in the country, the lawmaker said the NSA being an insider could not be wrong.

The speaker feared Nigeria might disintegrate if a solution was not found to the problem of terrorism ravaging the country.

He said the security challenges facing the country had reached an alarming rate, urging Jonathan to find a permanent solution.

According to him, Nigerians have yet to see any improvement in the security situation in the country, despite the assurances given by the President in his numerous condolence messages.

Omirin said, “Security should be the first in any society. The security situation in the country is cause for concern because bombs are being thrown everyday and lives and property are being destroyed.

“Whatever the problem of those throwing the bombs is, dialogue is the solution. They should consider dialogue, the Federal Government should also be ready to dialogue with them. If they continue this way, it may be the end of Nigeria.”

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03 May 2012

#Nigeria Accident: Driver found with N4m escapes

The money and Onyenora.
By May 3, 2012 by Eniola Akinkuotu

Christian Onyenora, the driver of a blue Honda Accord 2003 from which Federal Road Safety Corps recovered huge sums of money on Saturday, is presently on the run, police sources have said.

Onyenora was involved in an accident in the Badagry area of Lagos on Saturday. The FRSC, RS 2.11, Badagry Unit Command, on getting to the accident scene, recovered the sum of N4.09m.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Onyenora, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, was taken to the Badagry Police Division by FRSC officials where the money recovered was handed over to the Divisional Crime Officer, identified simply as Mr. Oni, a superintendent of police.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Onyenora, who complained of body pains as a result of the accident, was taken to Badagry General Hospital for check-up.

According to reliable sources, the police had yet to begin investigations on the source of the money found in the car.

A senior policeman, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said the driver was to be investigated for robbery.

The police were however shocked on Monday when on getting to the hospital to interrogate Onyenora, he was said to have fled.

Our source said, “When the driver was brought to the division, he was conscious but later started complaining that he was not feeling too well. So, we took him to the general hospital so that he could be checked in case he had internal bleeding.

“However, on Monday, when we got to the hospital, the medical staff told us that he had left the hospital. We were already suspecting him of robbery but we wanted to make sure he was in good health.

“He was probably pretending to be ill and had actually planned to escape all along. We have his picture and we have intensified the search.”

 

-The Punch

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