The chairman of the Southern Governors Forum who doubles as Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has vowed to make sure that agitation for a Yoruba nation by some groups in the Southwest, does not succeed as it seeks to thwart the efforts of those who had laid their lives for the unity of Nigeria.

Governor Akeredolu, who spoke today, December 23, while inaugurating the emblem appeal to flag off the 2023 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebrations in Akure, the state capital, made it clear that no state in the Southwest region would allow any agitation that would scuttle the sacrifices of the nation’s heroes.

“Those are clamouring for Oodua Nation will not succeed. People have not laid down their lives for this country for unscrupulous individuals to scuttle it. This country is very important to some of us.

“We recognise the right of the people to protest or agitate. But if the police feel your actions are treasonable, they will arrest and prosecute you. It is not at this stage in the history of this country that we will repeat IPOB in Yoruba land. Opportunity beacons at us. We cannot afford to throw away that opportunity.

“We must work to ensure that there is power shift. The opportunity for presidency to come to the south, especially the Southwest, is around the corner. We will not sit down and support anyone clamouring for Oodua nation. We will not support it. We have fought for this with everything we had. Nigeria will be good.

“The security agencies will checkmate these unscrupulous enemies embarking on such frivolous activities. We have responsibilities now to soberly reflect on the plight of those who have laid down their lives and those who are still laying down their lives for the unity and peace of this country.”

According to the governor, the current daring posture of the enemies of the country, which has cost the nation the lives of many of the gallant soldiers, is highly condemnable.

He stressed that the sustained effort of the officers and men of the military had greatly checkmated the threat by the unscrupulous elements.

“Without the sacrifice and commitment of these officers and men of the Armed Forces, it would have been a matter of time before the whole country is overrun.

“The month-long armed forces remembrance day celebration is, therefore, a golden opportunity for government and the society at large to empathise and associate with widows and relations of our fallen heroes, especially those that were cut down in their prime.

“The onus is on us to soberly reflect on the plight of these categories of people and resolve to ensure that they live socially acceptable lives. It should be noted that the major reason for the Emblem Appeal Fund is to provide financial and material support to families of the fallen heroes as well as veterans who survived various military operations with some sustaining varying degrees of injuries that had rendered them incapacitated.

“There is nothing too good or too much that we can offer that could replace the precious lives lost or remedy the deprivations and untold hardship suffered by the dependants of these heroes. We must, however, at all times and at every opportunity, give our financial and moral support so that those still alive and serving will be encouraged to give their best in the service of our dear fatherland.”

Governor Akeredolu enjoined all local government councils to celebrate the 2023 Armed Forces Remembrance Day by purchasing and selling the emblems and equally donating generously to the cause.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has agreed to pay $15.9 million in compensation to communities in Nigeria impacted by four oil spills that occurred from its pipelines in the Niger Delta between 2004 and 2007.

A statement from the Company today, December 23, said: “under the settlement, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SDC) as operator of the SPDC joint venture will pay an amount of $15.9 million for the benefit of the communities and the individual claimants.”

The settlement comes following a years-long legal battle first filed in 2008 by four Nigerian farmers and Milieudefensie, the Dutch division of Friends of the Earth International.

That ended with a historic ruling in 2021 by The Hague Court of Appeal that found Shell’s Nigeria subsidiary SPDC liable for pollution caused from four oil pipeline leaks in the Niger Delta.

The settlement will go toward the affected Ikot Ada Udo, Oruma and Goi communities, as well as the families of the four farmers that brought the case – Baariza Dooh, Elder Akpan, Chief Fidelis Oguru and Alai Efanga.

In the statement, the son of Chief Barizaa Dooh, who died after the case was first filed, Eric Dooh, expressed gratitude for the compensation, saying: “we can build up our community once again. We can start to re-invest in our living environment.”

The Niger Delta, which is home to  6.5 million people, is one of the most polluted places on earth, with oil spills bringing devastating impacts on the environment and surrounding communities. According to the Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Detention and Response Agency, there have been 246,000 liters of oil spilled from January to March 2022, and 75% of the spills are attributed to theft, sabotage or by organized crime groups and militants, according to the Institute for Security Studies..

Shell maintains that the four spills were a result of sabotage, adding that the settlement is “not an admission of liability basis, and settles all claims and ends all pending litigation related to the spills.”

Leak detection systems on 20 pipeline segments have also been installed by the multinational corporation, in accordance to the ruling by The Hague Court of Appeal.

“If we look at the court case as a whole, the major gain is that a new standard has been set: companies will no longer be able to get away with pollution and ignoring human rights, said Milieudefensie’s director, Donald Pols, in a statement.

President Muhammadu Buhari has made a suggestion that the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) should be the best Agency to domicile the whistleblowing policy of the Federal Government.

The President was responding to requests by the Chief Commissioner of the Commission, Abimbola Ayo-Yusuf and members of the Management team during a courtesy visit at the Presidential villa, Abuja today, December 23.

The President said: ‘‘I want to assure you that the Commission would be considered as the Agency where the policy will be domiciled given your widespread network of offices and the fact that your mandate on referral of complaints with criminal contents to appropriate Law Enforcement Agencies make your Commission the best suited Agency for domiciling whistleblowing policy of the Federal Government.”

He thanked the Commission for conferring on him, the award of the GRAND OMBUDSMAN OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, even as he pledged to continue to do his best in expanding the frontiers of anti-corruption, rule of law and good governance in Nigeria.

The President also promised speedy consideration of the Commission’s application to own a radio station to facilitate dissemination of its activities to the citizenry and to enhance its public enlightenment programmes.

On the 2023 elections and the need to protect the will of Nigerians, President Buhari urged the Commission to use their privileged position and network of numerous offices in all the States of the Federation and presence in many Local Government Areas to protect the interest of the down- trodden and sensitize the citizenry on their rights and obligations.

He underscored the role of the Commission in ensuring free, fair and credible elections and a smooth democratic transition and transfer of power in 2023.

‘‘The Public Complaints Commission is an Ombudsman Institution set up in 1975. The reason for its establishment by its founding fathers was to bridge the gap between the government and the governed and between the big man and the little man.

‘‘It was designed to act as a bastion of justice for the ‘little man’ who has no one or place to turn to for relief, just as it was conceived by the Swedes who originated it.

‘‘The mandate of the Commission is to principally attend to complaints by members of the public concerning the administrative action of any authority and companies or their officials.

‘‘This fits into this Administration’s policies of restoring transparency, accountability and zero tolerance for Corruption and all forms of administrative injustice.

‘‘I therefore promise to assist the Commission to provide the needed tools and infrastructure to strengthen and empower it to perform effectively’’.

On the honorary award presented to the President, Hon, Ayo-Yusuf praised President Buhari for releasing all outstanding pension liabilities, from 2014, to retirees of the Federal Government, especially those of the treasury-funded Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), under the contributory pension scheme.

He added that the President also approved the payment of backlog of death benefits due to beneficiaries of deceased employees of MDAs.

Ayo-Yusuf also highlighted the President’s approval for payment of the 13 percent derivation deductions, for the nine oil producing states of the Federation, which has been outstanding since 1999.

‘‘Your excellency, these life-changing approvals are unprecedented in the history of governance in this country, hence, as a Commission with the responsibility to arbitrate and resolve public concerns, we deeply appreciate your support so far in solving the most sensitive issues that had bedeviled the Commission for a long time,’’ he said.

The Chief Commissioner also told the President that between July 1, 2021 when he assumed office with his colleagues and November 2022, a total of 125,064 out of 173,500 complaints have been resolved.

He said the complaints came mainly from the Nigerian work force and the downtrodden who ordinarily could not afford the cost of justice in the Nigerian Judicial System.

Making the case to become the hub of the whistleblowing policy and provide confidentiality for whistleblowers, Ayo-Yusuf said the Commission has over the years served as Chair of the Interagency Task Team on Anti-Corruption.

“We are able to secretly receive, investigate, process and refer cases from whistleblowers to relevant agencies for further investigation and prosecution while protecting the whistleblower.”