President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari has made it clear that the era where executive would interfere in the affairs of the National Assembly is over. “Nigeria has indeed entered a new dispensation. My administration does not intend to repeat the same mistakes made by previous governments.” The President-elect, in a statement from the head of his media team, Malam Garba Shehu, reiterated his willingness to work with any leader of the National Assembly that the process throws up, irrespective of what part of the country he or she originates from. Buhari said that the clarification has become necessary in view of the continued name-dropping in some circles linking his name to some candidates. “I am prepared to work with any leaders that the House or Senate selects,” General Buhari said in the earlier statement two weeks ago. “It doesn’t matter who the person is or where he or she is from.” “There is due process for the selection of leaders of the National Assembly and I will not interfere in that process.” General Buhari urged the media and the public to begin to get used to no more “business as usual.” [myad]
The President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, has extended his condolences to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the death of his younger sister, Madam Aduni Oluwasola Eweje-Obasanjo. A statement issued by Buhari’s Head of Media Team, Malam Garba Shehu, expressed sadness that Madam Obasanjo died at a period when her wisdom is needed. Buhari asked Obasanjo to take heart and bear the loss with equanimity and faith that God who knows all things will strengthen and comfort him, and other relations of Madam Aduni Obasanjo.
The Accountant General of Delta state government, Cyril Agbele has been reportedly disappeared a few days to the inauguration of the new state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa. According to reports coming from the state, Agbele, disappeared from his office since last week and has switched off his phone. Sources said the absence of the Accountant General may disrupt the programmes for the handing over of power from Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan to Dr. Okowa. However, contrary to insinuations that Uduaghan had put pressure on Agbele for the release of funds, sources in the Government House said the disappearance of the Accountant General was due to the influence of the hawks in the camp of Okowa. It was gathered that so far, funds requested for release by Uduaghan by Agbele were for security agencies, the state’s inauguration committee and the transition committee of the governor-elect. The hawks in the Okowa camp are said to be bent on creating problems for the incoming governor who are using every available means to hinder a successful transition. A Government House source said the action of the Accountant General as a political move by some hawks in the team of Okowa to create problem for him. The major grouse of the hawks with Okowa, it was learnt, could be his good working relationship with Uduaghan despite the initial perception that he was going to be hostile to the outgoing governor. A source in Okowa’s camp said: “The initial perception of a hostile relationship with Uduaghan appears to have failed as the two of them have been getting on well and are headed towards sustaining the camaraderie. “This has been a source of worry for a lot of them who have been looking for every opportunity to create chaos and then make money through that means. “The disappearance of the AG is the height of it all.”
One feels ashamed talking about not just an adult, but a leader of this great country of over 170 million people behaving abnormally. This is in the context of an adage that says when a fool speaks he thinks those who are listening to him are fools too. When sometimes last year, President Goodluck Jonathan presided over one of the Wednesday meetings of the Federal Executive Council (FEC)) that approved the purchase of 750 units of stoves and 18,000 number of what were called wonder bags, even some journalists in the Presidential Villa whispered to themselves about the foolishness in the idea. Since then, nothing was heard until yesterday, Tuesday, when Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo kick-started the distribution of the stoves and wonder bags from the Presidential Aso Villa. Expectedly, there was no single beneficiary of the stove that was present. How would even a villager go to the Villa?
While kick-starting the distribution of the stoves and wonder bags on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan, Namadi Sambo said: “One of the important global problems today is environmental problem and desertification. In Nigeria it is one of our major environmental problems. And as a result, one of the major causes is this problem of cutting the trees and using the wood as a source of energy for cooking.
“This idea then came up to have alternative sources for cooking for our women. Mr. President has graciously approved this project for the initial take off under the Environment Ministry with the sum of N9.2 billion to procure these cooking utensils and distribute them all over the country to our women.
“And by so doing, contributes to stopping the usage of trees for firewood for cooking. In addition to that, it has added value of saving women from inhaling the smoke, which is responsible for the yearly death of about 90,000 women.
“We believe this is a very important contribution towards arresting desertification in Nigeria.”
Indeed, the Presidency knew that it was just blowing an empty air, because, there are so many things that make the project looks very suspicious and laughable. One, the cost. For 750 stoves and 18,000 wonder bags to be purchased at a total cost of N9.2 Billion means that put together, each of the items costs over 450 Million. That is even if the whole items, stoves and wonder bags are put at a round figure of 20,000. If you divide N9.2 Billion to 20,000 items, what you get is over N450 Million per item. Where, for God sake, does one get a single stove for cooking at N450 Million??? And for the rural women? And let us look at the number: if the 750 stoves are to be distributed across the country, what we have for about 772 local governments is a stove per local government. And who is the woman in each of this local government that would be the beneficiary of a stove meant for her local government? How is the lucky woman to be selected?
Thirdly what is the method of distributing the stoves across the country? It is indeed, painful for one to think that the government of President Jonathan, which has brought so much hardship to the citizenry in the area of procuring petroleum products, including kerosene, is the one that is out to distribute stoves to rural women. It appears the government does not know what should come first: kerosene for the stoves or the stoves.
Of course, with N9.2 Billion, one is almost sure that a factory can be established to manufacture stoves in Nigeria. Such factory would provide thousands of jobs for the youths and unemployed in the country.
Having said these, one wants to think that Jonathan government has not yet known what it did or want to do with the N9.2 Billion. Certainly, by all sensible permutation, the money is not for stoves and wonder bags. It is such a huge joke. [myad]
We in Greenbarge Reporters join in celebrating the children day today. This is because, like many others, we believe that children and youths are the future of the society.
Even religions acknowledge the importance of children: while for example, the Holy Bible commands Christians to go into the world and multiply…the Holy Qur’an also enjoined Muslims to procreate even as the Holy Prophet of Islam, Prophet Muhammad asked Muslims to procreate as many as possible so that he would be proud of his Ummah (people) on the day of judgment.
Our fore-parents might not be so religious, but they not only procreated, but asserted certain discipline and control over their children so much that such children grew up with a sense of responsibility, respect for the elders and constituted authorities and so on.
However, either the technological advancement or the exigencies of the changing times seem to have turned the children and youths into masters of sort. Children and youths no longer hold the values which our fore parents so much cherished because they are not taught.
What do you expect when, for example, a child, of opulent parents, is pampered from the very day he is born? This is a child that is taken to school in an air conditioned car, given junk foods, such as cake, chocolate, Mr. Biggs frozen chicken, fish pie, etc.; made to be untouchable by his teachers and when he returns home, he is asked to go for siesta after which he goes to the living room to watch cartoon programmes from where his lesson teacher would pet him to take a short lesson. And at the other extreme is a child in far distant poverty ridden village that is constantly over-burdened with farm work in hunger. He is never given an opportunity or the parents are so poor that they cannot afford to enroll him in school.
The two children in the two extreme environments are likely to grow up as masters in two different circumstances: the wealthy one looks at life as all roses while the other one looks at life with disdain. Often what happens is that a child is influenced more by a peer group than by their parents because most times, either the parents are too busy to attend to their moral upbringing, in the case of the children in the city and even in the village.
Of course, the child right initiative enunciated and promoted by the United Nations Education Funds (UNICEF) is meant to fight for the rights of the child, especially, of the one in the extreme poverty ridden society, but it has not taken into consideration the present trend where parents and even the society ignorantly abandoned their primary responsibility of moulding a complete human being in the child and instead, moulding some kind of monster, through what they see as LOVE and CARE.
As a matter of fact, there is no way parents who have a lot of money to throw around would be prevented from showing “love” to their children, by pampering and spoiling them, however, there is urgent need for total re-orientation of the way children are being brought up. There is urgent need to return to the ways of our parents where children are made to undergo some kind of ‘hardships,’ doing domestic chores instead of engaging house help, being punished for wrong doing, being made to eat pure African food such as amala, pounded yam, tuwo, akpu and so on. There is the urgent need to return to the disciplinarian life where the children are taught the proper African manners and mannerism.
All these are meant to remind us that, yes; UNICEF may have points in insisting that children should be treated like ‘eggs,’ but that our ways in Africa are far different. One single culture being floated across the world on the way to handle children would definitely favour some countries and disfavor or even destroy the moral fabrics of others.
This is to say, in effect that, each society should be allowed to grow according to the quality of the behavioural pattern of the children. For, if the children in a particular society are, by the societal standards, lazy, disrespectful, uncultured in all senses, the future of such society breeding such children would definitely be in jeopardy. Nigerian children and youths, therefore, should be treated with the peculiarity of the Nigerian socio-cultural systems so that Nigeria would begin to flourish in all other aspects of human endeavor. [myad]
As Nigeria commemorates this year’s Children’s Day, the choice of the theme of violence against children and the urgent need to stop it is apt and timely. It speaks eloquently to the current difficult circumstances facing children in Nigeria today especially in the Northeast. Children bear the biggest brunt of the insurgency. The conflict has severely constrained full scale provision of health services thereby threatening their right to survival. In Borno State, children have not been to school for more than one year. The use of children as suicide bombers and the increase in the numbers of suicide bombings is an alarming and appalling trend in the perpetration of violence against children. More children and women have been used as suicide bombers in Northeast Nigeria in the first five months of this year than during the whole of last year. In 2014, 26 suicide attacks were recorded compared to 27 attacks as of May 2015. In at least three-quarters of these incidents, children and women were reportedly used to carry out the attacks. Girls and women have been used to detonate bombs or explosives belts at crowded locations, such as market places and bus stations. Jean Gough of representative of the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) in Nigeria had had cause to argue that children are not instigating the suicide attacks but that they are used intentionally by adults in the most horrific way. “They are first and foremost victims – not perpetrators.” Since July 2014, nine suicide incidents involving children aged between approximately 7 and 17 years – all of them girls – have been reported. Their identity and exact ages have not been verified, as estimates are based primarily on eyewitness accounts. An estimated 743,000 children have been uprooted by the conflict in the three most affected states in Nigeria; the number of unaccompanied and separated children could be as high as 10,000. “Many children have been separated from their families when they fled the violence, and have no one to look after them,” said Gough, adding: “without the protection of their families, these children are at greater risk of exploitation by adults, and this can lead to involvement in criminal or armed group activities.” Indeed, it is a matter of concern that the increasing use of children as suicide bombers has the great potentiality of leading to children being perceived as potential threats, which would put all children associated with armed groups at risk of retaliation. This situation would contrive to impede their rehabilitation and reintegration in the community. Relevant None Governmental Organisation (NGO) like UNICEF and its partners are believed to be working with national authorities to reduce children’s vulnerability by identifying children who are without parents or relatives, and providing them with appropriate care. In addition, over 35,000 children have been reached with psychosocial support so they can cope with the acute distress they have suffered as a result of the conflict.
This piece, coming from UNICEF in Nigeria, is in commemoration of Children’s Day today. [myad]
No single beneficiary was present at the hall in the Presidential Aso Villa today where Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo kick-started the distribution of 750 units of clean cooking stoves and 18,000 wonder bags purchased by the outgoing Jonathan government at a total cost of N9.2 Billion.
The occasion was dominated by officials of the Ministry of Environment which was given the responsibility of purchasing the stoves.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had, in November 2014, approved the purchase of N9.2 billion worth of clean cooking stoves and wonder bags for rural women under the National Clean Cooking Scheme.
Namadi Sambo, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan at a brief occasion said: “One of the important global problems today is environmental problem and desertification. In Nigeria it is one of our major environmental problems. And as a result, one of the major causes is this problem of cutting the trees and using the wood as a source of energy for cooking.
“This idea then came up to have alternative sources for cooking for our women. Mr. President has graciously approved this project for the initial take off under the Environment Ministry with the sum of N9.2 billion to procure these cooking utensils and distribute them all over the country to our women.
“And by so doing, contributes to stopping the usage of trees for firewood for cooking. In addition to that, it has added value of saving women from inhaling the smoke, which is responsible for the yearly death of about 90,000 women.
“We believe this is a very important contribution towards arresting desertification in Nigeria.”
On her part, the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Laraba Malam, said only 15 percent of N5 billion amounting to N1.3 billion has been paid to the contractor for all the supplies so far made. [myad]
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced a 12-month ban on Warri Wolves reserve goalkeeper, Rhiogbere Tejiri, for acts for indiscipline.
The governing body said the suspension was placed on Tejiri following a row during Warri Wolves’ 3-0 Confederation Cup first leg defeat to AFC Leopards in Congo.
Completesportsnigeria.com reports that the decision was one of several taken by CAF during its disciplinary board meeting on Sunday in Cairo, Egypt.
Tejiri was accused of spitting at the assistant referee as the goalkeeper, who was not in action, was apparently unhappy with some of the calls during the match.
CAF stated on its website that the one-year ban “will be communicated to FIFA, who may extend it internationally.”
Wolves hosted Leopards in the return leg of their play-off tie this weekend with the winners reaching the group phase of Africa’s second-tier club competition.
The Warri side is the only Nigerian club left on the continent following the early exit of Kano Pillars, Enyimba and Dolphins. [myad]
Workers under the auspices of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Plateau State chapter have expressed their anger with the state governor, David Jang for not paying their salaries for over a year but was out today to commission some projects they said he did not initiate.
The workers today, stopped the governor from inaugurating a radio station at the Jos campus of the Plateau State Polytechnic as they picketed the venue. The union leaders also prevented the governor from commissioning the new Revenue House of the Plateau State Internal Revenue Service.
The spokesman for the workers and chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Paul Dakogal, said: “It is inappropriate for Jang to commission any project. Jang did not contribute any resource in facilitating the project, how then can he commission it?
“When we heard that the governor planned to commission a radio station, among other projects in the state, in spite of the workers’ strike, we decided to stop that nonsense.
“He has not paid workers for more than a year; students are at home because of strike, yet he intended to commission projects.”
Dakogal said the union would not allow the inauguration of any project, even as he described the governor’s gesture as a move to add more feathers to his cap.
Dakogal maintained that the education sector in Plateau State had deteriorated in the past eight years of Jang’s administration in the state. [myad]
President Goodluck Jonathan has sent a sympathy message to former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the death of his younger sister, Madam Adunni Oluniola Eweje-Obasanjo. The woman died recently at the age of 76. In a condolence message signed by his special adviser on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, President Jonathan said that as Chief Obasanjo and other members of the family are mourning the sister, they should be consoled by the knowledge that she lived a worthy and very fulfilled life in the service of her family and community. The President prayed that God will grant Obasanjo and his family the fortitude to bear the loss of Madam Eweje-Obasanjo. He also prayed to God to receive Madam Eweje-Obasanjo’s soul and grant her eternal rest. [myad]
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