The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, led a delegation of top officials of the Commission on condolence visits to the families of two prominent Nigerians who recently passed away. The visits were to the families of the late Alhaji Musa Gwadabe, former Minister of Labour, and the Registrar of Bayero University, Jamil Ahmed Salim, who both died recently in Kano. During the visits, Prof. Danbatta commiserated with the families of the deceased and prayed for the repose of the souls of the departed. He described the late Alhaji Musa Gwadabe and the Registrar of Bayero University, Kano as patriotic Nigerians who contributed immensely to the development of the country in various capacities. According to him, the loss of such great minds is not only a loss to their families but also to the entire nation. He, however, urged the families to take solace in the fact that their loved ones lived exemplary lives and left indelible marks in the sands of time. “We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Alhaji Musa Gwadabe and the Registrar of Bayero University, Kano. They were great Nigerians who made remarkable contributions to the development of our dear country. They will be greatly missed. “We pray that the Almighty Allah grants them eternal rest and gives their families the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.” The families of the deceased expressed their gratitude to the NCC boss. The Professor Danbatta also paid a similar visit to the Vice Chancellor of the BUK, Prof. Sagir Adamu Abbas who expressed gratitude for the visit.
“History will not forget your important role in leading the fight for African freedom using money, arms and diplomacy in the African Union and the United Nations to secure independence for South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia for, without this, these nations would not have been free.”
These were the words of the President the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), Ibrahim Ghali through a Special Envoy at the Presidential villa, Abuja yesterday, April 28.
The Special Envoy, Mohammed Saleh, who was a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, now Minister of Diplomatic Affairs, recalled the role of President Buhari, in 1983 as Military Head of State as being the first African leader to recognise the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, paving the way thereby, for its recognition by the Organisation of African Unity, now African Union.
Ambassador Saleh expressed the sadness of his country that President Buhari will soon be leaving office and expressed the hope that the Tinubu government will maintain the same interest in the independence struggle.
He advised the President to continue to maintain relevance in the affairs of the SADR and that of the entire continent.
President Buhari accepted the request of the President of the Sahrawi Republic to participate in the inaugural events ushering in the new Nigerian President in May.
Buhari noted Nigeria’s size and resources have imposed on her a stabilizing role in the West African subregion and the African continent as a whole.
He said that peace and stability are central to the vision of Nigeria in Africa, adding that these were essential to security and prosperity in the continent.
He thanked the President of the Sahrawi Republic for the message he sent and gave an assurance that he will study its content and brief the in-coming President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on their concerns, urging the Special Envoy to make the effort to brief the in-coming President as well.
President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, joined President Muhammadu Buhari to offer Special Friday prayers (Jum’at) at the State House Mosque, Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Before they joined the congregation in prayers, the two had a closed-door meeting during which time they greeted each another on the Sallah occasion after the completion of the 30-day Ramadan Fast. They also had private discussions on a host of issues of common concern to them.
The President-elect was accompanied to the State House by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and two State Governors: Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State and Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State, as well as the Majority Leader of House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa.
President Buhari, in bidding a farewell to Tinubu said: “thank you for joining us in prayer.”
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has drew the attention of the security operatives to what it called “Ominous signs on the Nigerian political horizon,” as the nation prepares for the handing over of power from President Muhammadu Buhari to President elect, Bola Tinubu. The group stressed the need for the security operatives to increase surveillance over the President-elect and his Vice, Kashim Shettima “because of the desperation of the opposition politicians.” MURIC’s Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, in a statement, said that the rising security threats and treasonable utterances from the opposition camp, resulting from desperation, should not be taken lightly. “We find it necessary to alert the nation, particularly the security agencies, concerning ominous signs on the Nigerian political horizon. “We call on the security agencies to double guards for the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his vice(-president), Kashim Shettima. Nothing must happen to them. “We remind those plotting to truncate the presidential inauguration, billed for May 29, of the dire consequences of their actions.” Akintola called on the opposition to exercise restraint in contesting the election results. “Those who fight and run away live to fight another day. Those who did not win in 2023 have another chance in 2027,” the MURIC boss explained. “Remember the words of Paul Tibbets, who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, ‘My God! What have we done?’ But it was too late. The damage had already been done. A word is enough for the wise.”
The government of President Muhammadu Buhari will no longer conduct the 2023 Population and Housing Census, earlier scheduled for between May 3 and 7, 2023. The new date for the exercise will be determined by the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. President Buhari made this known after meeting with some members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC) and his team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday (28 April 2023). The President however stressed the critical need for the conduct of a Population and Housing Census, 17 years after the last Census, to collect up-to-date data that will drive the developmental goals of the country and improve the living standard of the Nigerian people. According to a statement today, April 29, by the minister of information and culture Lai Mohammed, president Buhari said that with the completion of the Enumeration Area Demarcation of the country, conduct of first and second pretests, the recruitment and training of adhoc workers, procurement of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and ICT infrastructures, appreciable progress has been made in the implementation of the 2023 Population and Housing Census. He commended the methodology being put in place by the Commission to conduct accurate and reliable Census, especially the massive deployment of technology that is capable of delivering world class Census and laying a sustainable basis for future censuses The President directed the Commission to continue with preparations for the conduct of the 2023 Population and Housing Census in order to sustain the gains already recorded and provide the basis for the incoming administration to consolidate these achievements. The meeting was attended by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Mr Clem Agba and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha amongst others.
Journalists covering the Presidency, under the auspices of State House Press Corps (SHPC), have picked a representative of AFP, Dr. Emmanuel Anule as their chairman. Anule was elected today, April 28, by 96-member Press Corps, along with eight others, barely 34 days to the Inauguration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The election is coming after nearly two years of ad-hoc leadership as a result of COVID19 pandemic. Dr. Anule, after the election, regretted that the pandemic had sought to disintegrate members of the Corps and promised that the first priority of his leadership would be to unite members for common purposes. He also promised to lead through consultations and regular members interactions. Those who were elected along with Dr. Anule are:
Alhaji Hassan Umar Farouk of Liberty Radio/Television as Vice chairman
Sunday Ode of the People’s Daily as Secretary
Hajiya Raliat Adenekan of Beat/Classic FM as Assistant Secretary
Adebisi Adebolu of Core TV as Treasurer. Others are:
Callistus Ikwunze Ewelike of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) as Financial Secretary
Nnabuchi Okay of Galaxy TV as Auditor
Adegboyega Arogbodo of the Lagos Television as Welfare Secretary
and Innocent Oweh of Independent as Chief Whip. The elected officers will serve a minimum of one term of two years.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced the evacuation, from the war-torn Sudan, of 119 of it’s citizens, 10 Nigerians and over 2,000 people from other 73 countries. A statement today, April 28, from the Kingdom and obtained by Greenbarge Reporters online newspaper said that citizens from Nigeria and other countries that have been so evacuated, would be camped in safe place and adequately protected pending their deportation to their respective countries. “The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been working hard to provide all the necessary basic needs of the foreign Nationals who have been evacuated in preparation for facilitating their departure to their countries.” The Kingdom said that it would continue to assist in organizing and coordinating the evacuation operations round the clock to ensure the safe exit of all nationalities from the troubled country. “The Kingdom, together with friendly countries, encourage the establishment of armistice and opening of humanitarian corridors as well as protection of the civilians.” The Kingdom pledged to continue to make every possible effort to ensure that bloodshed is stopped “and to end the fighting and return to the path of a political solution in Sudan.” Among the countries whose citizens have so far been evacuated to Saudi Arabia are Netherlands, Russia, Lebanon, Norway, USA, Turkey, Serbia, Poland, Germany, India, Georgia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sweden, UK, Ireland, Kenya, Philippines, Ethiopia and Southern Sudan.
In the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, I raised a stumper in a column — “If Peter Obi fails, as he certainly would, what next for the southeast?” It was with sincere contemplation and unaffected judgement that I probed the immanent misfortunes of the southeast as fashioned by a star-crossed quest.
I had advised we deploy tact with dispatch and divest our support by adopting President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu as our candidate. I had also suggested that we should not go all-head-body-and-soul into Obi’s expedition, and that we should cast off the straitjacket of emotions and embrace political realism.
But I believe at the time it was too difficult to surrender emotion to reason under a charged cumulus of propaganda, anger, and native sentiments. Other factors from a persecutorial complex were at play as well, I know.
Today, we are here. The reality some never wished for is undisguisedly evident. Managing the reality of Asiwaju Tinubu’s presidency with solemn acquiescence is necessary for those who are too unnerved to reckon.
Damian Okeke-Ogene, vice-president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, was reported to have emptied his bowels of venom on the president-elect for purportedly not including an individual of southeast extraction in his transition/inauguration committee.
He was reported to have said: “Igbophobia is in his (Tinubu) veins and by not including Igbo people in the handover committee, he is only trying to reopen old wounds. He inherited the hatred (Muhammadu) Buhari has against Igbo, especially when the President-elect has said he will continue from where the incumbent president stopped. He said he will continue with Buhari’s policies, and our question is, what is he continuing? Is it to continue the marginalisation of a particular ethnic group?”
This is overwhelmingly ludicrous. It is disappointing of an elder to be so afflicted by hate and prejudice. I am of the view this unconscionable outburst betrays a cavernous agenda by a few.
Is this a taste of what to expect from this social taxon in the next four years? Ethnic recriminations, discordance, suspicions, and accusations? Is it appropriate to situate the current disillusionment of the youth on the turf of hate fed them by the older phylum?
The resort to caterwauling and ethnic Trumpism to stir sectional angst and dander by a few Igbo leaders is disheartening, condemnable, and injudicious. It will achieve nothing but create a chasm between the incoming government and the southeast. They must desist for the good of the zone.
The Tinubu administration is yet to take off, but cries and allegations of exclusion and marginalisation are splintering the air. All for a government that is yet to berth. This is disturbing. It smacks of a deeper class conspiracy robbed in patriotic perturbations.
Are these leaders afraid of their own excision from the table of serviced interest and compromise? Are they seeking to drive their own agenda baked in the people’s fears and concerns? Are they fighting for their own survival by kindling the ethnic cauldron? Are they on a war of personal interest against the collective?
Some of these Igbo leaders invested their loyalty in one party for 16 years, leading the people by the neck in their shadowing of political spoils, with no nameable benefit for the zone. It was all self-aggrandisement and material accumulation for self and self only.
At a time that tact and inter-ethnic cooperation is expected, this smattering number of leaders are issuing threats and provoking ethnic collisions. Who does that wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo speak for? I believe elders should know better and do better. They should guide and counsel the youth given to destructive proclivities and not become the soundboard for juvenile prejudices. If elders are seized by the same lurgy plaguing the young, then we have a serious problem in our hands.
Let me make it clear, Ohanaeze Ndigbo is peopled by some distinguished leaders who will not offer themselves to contemptible pursuits, propaganda, and schismatic crusades. Men of strong character and uncommon pedigree exist within Ohanaeze. But the capricious voice of only a negligible but blighted section seems to be loudest.
It is important to establish that the views of this minor cream in Ohanaeze do not represent the thinking, wishes and opinions of many people of Igbo patrimony.
I believe we should by now have learnt from the perils of political naivety and unrequited loyalty. Therefore, we must deploy tact, affability, comradeship, and compromise in whatever we are seeking in Nigeria. Holding out a hand of fellowship is not weakness, but percipience; it shows strength of character and patriotism. We must put an end to that which divides us and support the administration of President-elect Tinubu to succeed for the sake of Nigeria, and where criticisms are necessary, they should be constructive and not imbued with atavistic undertones.
Two war-Generals; General Yakubu Gowon and General Muhammadu Buhari – in full ceremonial military outfit (all retired), met and exchanged greeting, at the Nigerian Army Trooping and Presentation of Colours Parade 2023, held at the Eagle Square, Abuja, yesterday, April 27. At the background are former Nigeria President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan (3rd from right); the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan (3rd from left), minister of Defence, retired General Magashi(second from right), National Security Adviser, retired General Monguno (first right) and top security officers.
A total of 364 visually impaired candidates are to sit for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in 11 centres across Nigeria.
The Chairman, JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG) Professor Peter Okebukola, who spoke today, April 27, in Abuja, commended the JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, for the special arrangement for this category of Nigerians.
According to him, the goal of the Oloyede-led JAMB is to ensure that no Nigerian who is eligible, is prevented from taking the UTME regardless of disability.
He said that from 2017, JEOG had processed about 2,600 candidates for the UTME with over a third admitted to courses of their choice in higher education institutions in Nigeria, mainly universities.
He said that the initiative had been cited in the last four years in several countries, as a good model for Africa.
”The mode of examination administration is blended- use of Personal Computers (PCs) and use of the traditional Braille slate and stylus/typewriters in writing answers to questions that are read out by a subject expert.
”The visually impaired candidates take the same test items as those who are not blind.”
Okebukola who is also the Chairman, Governing Board of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), said that JAMB had approved that from 2024, there would be a gradual migration to the full CBT mode customised for blind candidates.
He said that a pilot run was to be conducted later in the year to test this mode while also giving options to candidates who chose for fully Braille, fully CBT and full read-aloud modes.
“There are exciting times ahead for visually impaired candidates and others with physical challenges in realisation of the dream of Professor Is-had Oloyede for equal opportunity.
“So far, a good number of visually impaired candidates processed through JEOG have secured admission to federal, state and private universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
“In 2019, of the 390 candidates, a total of 175 (44.8 per cent) were given admission. This was unprecedented in the history of admission of such category of students into the Nigerian higher education system.
“In 2020, 89 of the 351 candidates (25 per cent) that sat for the UTME got admissions.
”In 2021, a total of 110 candidates were given admission, out of the 332 that sat for the UTME.
”This 33 per cent admission of visually impaired candidates to higher education in an annual cohort is unprecedented in the African higher education system.”
He said that in 2022, 139 candidates out of the 364 candidates that took the UTME (38 per cent) were admitted to the higher institution of their choice.
He said five of the visually impaired candidates scored above 270 in the 2022 UTME, while 92 scored above 200.
”When compared proportionally with the non-blind candidates, the visually impaired candidates are doing as well, if not better than the visually unimpaired candidates.
“The 2023 exercise is taking place in 11 centres nationwide. This is in the interest of bringing the venue of the examination closer to the candidates, especially with the security situation in the country.
“The centres are coordinated by seasoned academics and university administrators. The total number of candidates is 364,” he said.
Okebukola said that JEOG was already implementing a strategic plan of gradually increasing the ICT component of administration of the UTME to match improvement in ICT usage for the education of the visually impaired in the tertiary institutions.
The examination, being conducted by the board for the visually impaired candidates would hold from April 27 to 29, under the supervision of the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG).
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