National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Tinubu and former APC Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu today, July 14, visited the leader of Afenifere, Pa Fasoranti over the killing of his daughter, Funke Olakunrin.
President Muhammadu Buhari has openly thanked the Nigerian Armed Forces and their allies for their prompt response to security threats abywhere in the country, even as he insisted that Nigeria is winning the war against terrorism.
Acting IGP, Mohammed Abubakar AdamuThe Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu has vowed to find the killers of Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, daughter of the leader of the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasorantin, even as Police boss ordered his men and officers to intensify security surveillances in the Southwest and South South.
As is usual with him, President Muhammadu Buhari could not hide his feeling about the set of ministers that formed his first term Federal Executive Council, with whom he was holding, mainly, weekly Executive Council meeting.
Speaking at a dinner he had with the leadership of the National Assembly on Thursday, July 11, at the Presidential Villa, the President made it clear that he did not know most of the ministers he worked with in his first term, from 2015 to 2019.
The President, not given to hiding his feelings or pretending, said: “The last cabinet which I had, most of them, a majority of them I didn’t know. I had to accept their names and recommendation from the party. I worked with them for three and a half years.”
Well, it is not very clear what the President implied by such statement: was it that he was not comfortable with the ministers, who, by the implication of his postulation, were forced down his throat all through the three and half years? Yes, he did not know most of them, which was understandable as it was impossible for him to have known them before he appointed them, but was the fact that he did not know them had any negative impact in their general performances in office?
We in Greenbarge Reporters feel, and strongly so, that the question of knowing everyone across the 36 States of the federation in governing a country as widely dimensional in every respect as Nigeria does not make a good case. In other words, it does not make any social or political sense for a leader to know beforehand, every other person he would appoint for the federal executive council, and more importantly, that such knowledge of the ministers is a guarantee for superlative performance of same.
There is even argument in some quarters that those who easily disappoint leaders are those that are well known by such leaders. An example is the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Lawal Daura, who was alleged to have betrayed his uncle, President Buhari when his loyalty was most needed. Remember that Daura was kicked out of office by the Buhari’s administration on the basis of such betrayal.
It is a universal fact that one usually gets to know other people through acknowledgement from others who know such person, and even in as wide as Nigeria, a leader cannot insist that he MUST personally know all the appointees before he would appoint them. It is practically impossible.
As a matter of fact, what President Buhari is saying, including the fact that he is being pressurized to appoint ministers, is that Nigerians should keep on waiting until he is able to gather all the people he personally know before he settles for business of governance; for, governance, in our own kind of democracy, can only be done with ease, along with egg-heads and technocrats, sitting together regularly to fashion out fresh directions. And do we assume that such wait will take another one year or more?
It is our humble opinion that the President should move fast, make quick consultations and come out with the ministers before the end of July, when he would have spent clear two months since he was sworn-in for a second term and five clear months since he was formally declared winner of the February 23rd Presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The President should know, as he actually acknowledged, that he has just four more years to correct all the anomalies in the polity and some mistakes he made in his first tenure.
We remind Mr. President that one thing with time is that it moves faster than we imagine. This means that before one would say Jack-the-little-boy, definitely, we would have been preparing for the 2023 general elections, which may beat into background, whatever noise anyone would like to make about achievements or no achievements.
Philosophers have warned us not to postpone to tomorrow what we can do today. Mr. President Sir, assembling ministers is what you can do within a week. And you have the liberty to ease out any of them that is not performing later. It is allowed.
We humbly and patriotically submit that tomorrow may be too late, sir.
Gani AdamsThe chief war lord, Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, has issued a war threat over the killing of Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of the leader of pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti.
There’s a notorious programme currently going on called THE BIG BROTHER NAIJA. The winner of this notorious show is expected to walk away with a whopping N25 million and a breathtaking car. All that is required to win this show is to be Live with a bunch of fellow crazy, irresponsible people, do all sorts of immoral things, and, viola, you’re the winner.
Segun FaforeLagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has appointed a public relations professional Olusegun Michael Fafore as his Executive Assistant on Public Relations and New Media.
Until his appointment, Fafore was the Consultant-in-Chief of Reputation Plus Limited, a reputation and communication management company he founded a few years ago.
Fafore’s career in the Corporate Communications and Brand/Reputation management business began shortly after he graduated with a B. A. (Hons), degree in English, from Obafemi Awolowo University in 1999. He joined Access Bank where he rose to become the Head of Corporate Communications of the bank with outstanding achievements in managing the image of the leading Bank in Nigeria.
Fafore had since then, taken up senior communication roles in corporate organizations across the Banking and Oil and Gas sectors of the economy, which had afforded him the opportunity to help leading brands and institutions in Nigeria to establish good business reputation and brand awareness.
Before setting up his company, Fafore was in charge of external communications and stakeholders’ engagement initiatives at Nestoil, a leading Nigerian Oil Service company operating in the upstream and midstream, engineering, procurement and construction.
He was able to develop and supervise the execution of strategic plans in the Corporate Communications Department, thereby facilitating the achievement of organizational goals.
He also guided corporate communication team members towards successful execution of integrated communications and corporate social responsibility agenda.
Fafore, apart from graduating from OAU, also attended the University of Leeds (2014 to 2015) where he bagged Masters of Arts (M.A) in the field of Corporate Communications and Public Relations. He also attended Rutgers Business School (2015) for a ‘Mini MBA’ in the Field of Social Media Marketing. He also has a diploma in Public Relations and graduated with distinction from 2010 to 2011 (Chartered Institute of Public Relations).
Fafore is a highly resourceful PR practitioner who has contributed immensely to the growth of many of the organisations he has worked for. His expertise is in Public Affairs and Crisis Communications, Corporate PR, Financial PR, Media Relations, Stakeholders Management, communication and Campaign Planning, Political Communication and Content Development
Orji Uzor KaluThe Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate and former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has said that he provided land for Fulani herdsmen for their trade when he was the governor of the State between 1999 to 2007.
At an interaction with the Senate Press Corps today, July 12, the lawmaker, who is a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said: “I provided land for herders in Umuahia during my time as governor of Abia State where cattle were brought from the North for sale across the Southeast and there were no problems.
“When the executive members of Miyetti Allah approached my government, I chose where Shoprite is located now for them along the Port Harcourt expressway.
“One day, I took a 32-seater bus and I asked their Executives to follow me to where I showed them and they agreed that it was appropriate for them and that was how I established RUGA.”
The Chief Whip said that he trades in cows, saying that cow business is profiteering.
According to him, many Nigerian elite have cows and they are interested in that business, adding that it is wrong for people to see cow business as exclusively that of the Fulani.
The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, the Nigeria’s federal capital, has dismissed a suit seeking to nullify the candidature of President Muhammadu Buhari on basis of his academic qualification.
A three-man panel of the court, led by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson, in a unanimous judgment, affirmed the earlier verdict of the Federal High Court in Abuja which had dismissed the suit, filed by Kalu Kalu, Labaran Ismail and Hassy Kyari el-Kuris. The federal high court had struck out the suit because “the matter was brought outside the specified period of time.”
Justice Mohammed Idris, who read the judgment, held that the case was brought later than the stipulated period of 14 days when a pre-election matter ought to have been instituted.
“I have no doubt in my mind that the cause of action arose on October 18 when the documents said to be false that is the Curriculum Vitae and affidavit were submitted to INEC in form CF001.”
The judge said that “serious” attention has to be paid to when the cause of action arose.
Justice Mohammed Idris said that the court could not accord itself any jurisdiction outside that given to it by the law.
The Truth About Lagos-Ibadan Railway Project, By Abdullahi Mohammed
In brief, it was falsely claimed that the ministry allegedly indulged in padding the cost of the Lagos to Ibadan railway project, comparing it with a non-existent contract in the Republic of Ghana. It is important to note that the Ghanaian government has since refuted that publication and has even written to those concerned, expressing its dissatisfaction with the satanic allegation. In fact, the government of that country went on to describe that concoction as “containing a lot of factual inaccuracies.” In other words, the project in Ghana which was used as a so-called yardstick is at best at conceptual stage and has neither a construction design nor final cost estimate.
Against this backdrop, it is essential to clarify the true facts and figures, at least to set the record straight and disabuse the general public’s mind of the misinformation and outright fiction being dished out with reckless abandon. First of all, it is imperative to state for the benefit of the general public that railway project costs do not depend solely on the length/distance between the terminal points but rely on various factors which include principally the terrain, core operation accessories and amenities designated for the train service.
What then is the actual cost of the innovative Lagos to Ibadan project? What is the breakdown of what the whole thing entails the process of the contracts, and associated benefits to the country? To start with, the project is segmented into Addendum 2 and 2A. Addendum 2 starts from Ebute Meta (Lagos) to Ibadan and was approved by the Federal Executive Council on July 18, 2012 after the issuance of Certificate of No Objection by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) ref. no. BPP/S. 1/vol. VII/09/221 of January 14, 2010 at the cost of US$1,487,782,196.00 and addendum 2A that starts from Ebute Meta to Lagos Port complex, Apapa was approved by Federal Executive Council on November 30, 2016 after obtaining BPP No Objection ref. no. BPP/S. 1/vol. XII/16/053 of September 08, 2016 at the cost of US$94, 065, 175.00.
Thus the total contract sum of the whole segments 2 and 2A is US$1,581,847,371.00 contrary to the US$2billion being bandied all over the place. Furthermore, the total track length of the project is 386km (as against the 156km being alleged) which represents the distance between Ebute Meta (Lagos) and Ibadan terminal stations only. It is worth emphasizing that the Lagos to Ibadan project is a double track rail line. The cost index/km is US$4.09million/km as against the outrageous US$13.6million/km alleged.
Another significant fact which our investigation uncovered is that the aforementioned cost index per kilometer is not for the construction of rail track only. On the contrary, it consists of the following:
iii. Bridges (21 nos.) Railway bridges with overall length of 12.43km, 40nos. Vehicular overpasses (flyovers) and 27nos. pedestrian bridges)
vii. Power Supply: 33kv dedicated power supply from the national grid with 4 substations and 200km approximate length of distribution line;
viii. Signaling and Communication: Full automatic blocking system of train control and detection signaling with ten (10) units of digital despatch system and a central traffic control. The communication system is GSM-R;
From the above, even the blind can note the huge benefits that are in embedded in the project in fact, there are some other benefits which the country is gaining from the Railway contracts towards improving local content and capacity building in the sector. These are:
iii. Training of minimum of two hundred (200) youths in various degree courses in related field in Universities in China of which sixty (60) have commenced training since September 2018. These ancillary benefits are fully funded by the contractor.