“Turkey understands the challenges facing Nigeria and its needs, and we are ready to assist to meet those needs, especially in the area of defence.”
This was the promise made to President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria by the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a bilateral meeting with President Buhari shortly before the official commencement of the 3rd Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul today, December 17.
Erdogan said: “I am happy Nigeria is stepping up cooperation with other nations in areas of defence and health, and we are ready to cooperate with you on these areas and more.”
Turkey, which has growing recognition in the world as a military power and had successes to show in Iraq, Syria, Libya and lately Azerbaijan said it appreciated the Nigerian government’s decision to buy naval ships from their shipyard.
The Turkish leader said that discussions are ongoing on how to strengthen the capacity of the Defence Industries Corporation (DICON) in Kaduna in line with an agreement signed during his last State Visit to Nigeria.
This was even as President Buhari vowed that Nigeria will partner with Turkey in dealing with the current security challenges, acknowledging that Turkey had garnered a lot of experience dealing with security challenges of various kinds.
“Turkey has practical experience dealing with challenges over the years and Nigeria stands to gain from that.”
Giving assurances that the relationship between the two states will continue to grow for the mutual benefits of both countries, President Buhari said that he is pleased with the Turkish offer of support in the area of security and peace in Nigeria.
“I wish to express my appreciation for the special invitation for this meeting and to express my happiness with your offer of assistance in dealing with the challenges facing us.
‘‘I await the reports of officials and the ministers as they hold meetings with their counterparts. I assure you that I will endorse all their positive recommendations
President Muhammadu Buhari has shown his desire to return to his farm in Daura, Katsina State after handing over to his successor in 2023.
Speaking at a surprised reception for him today, December 17 in faraway Turkey, on his 79th birthday, Buhari said: “I look forward to the year 2023 when I finish, to go home to take charge of my farm. Between now and that time, I will do the best that is possible to advance the interest of the nation and its people, and carry out my duties as prescribed by the Constitution.”
In Istanbul, Turkey, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, had led other Ministers in the entourage to celebrate the day for the President.
As he stepped out of his suite moving to the meeting room, President Buhari met a surprised lineup of the Nigerian delegation who broke into a chorus, as they began chanting “Happy Birthday, Mr. President.”
A birthday cake decorated in Nigeria’s national colours of green-white-green was presented to the President, which he symbolically cut.
The surprised Buhari said: “I thought that being away from Abuja I will escape these things. The Guards Brigade had written to tell me what they wanted to do on this day. Now here you are doing this far away from home.”
The President, who later chaired a planning meeting with officials in his delegation and thereafter drove to the Dolmabahce Palace for a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Recep Erdogan, said that he will put in his best for Nigeria until the last day.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs who spoke on behalf of the delegation and the Ambassador of Nigeria to Turkey, Ismail Yusuf Abba, congratulated the President on the good work he is doing for the country and wished him a happy birthday, many healthy years ahead and the energy to give his best to the nation.
Minister Onyeama noted in particular that the President continues to have a good run with his health, getting better and more active with time.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige has said that the threat by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to embark on indefinite nationwide strike again shows that the members are not aware of the latest developments.
Dr. Ngige, in a chat with newsmen today, December 16 in Abuja, recalled the crisis that had been brewing between ASUU and their direct employer, which is the Ministry of Education, saying that it all revolved around the Memorandum of Action signed in 2020.
He said that last year December, the President gave them a blanket clemency “and we paid them their money for the nine months, spanning into January, February of this year.
“We gave them back nearly nine months’ pay. After doing that, we also gave them a revitalization fund for N40 billion, early this year, for the revitalization of the university system.
“In the MoA, we agreed that they should get another revitalization this year and by last July, August, the money for revitalization was paid to them, for the university system that were entitled to that. N30 billion was paid.
“Last week, N22.127 billion was also released to the university system for the unions, workers university system to benefit in consonance with the MoA we signed in December 2020.”
According to Dr. Ngige, a lot of the members don’t know that the federal government had paid this quantum of money.
“Maybe it has not gotten into the accounts of the people, the persons involved, but I expected ASUU to inform their people; let them know that this is what has happened.
“They also have a grouse with the negotiation of 2009. The 2009 agreement was being renegotiated before Babalakin left and a new committee was set in place.
“That committee had advisors from Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labor and Employment, Minister of Budget and then Head of Service of the Federation and Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, because part of the renegotiation was the renegotiation of the conditions of service.
“So, a lot of the ministries and agencies that served on that committee as advisors did not agree with the content of the agreement they reached.
“Minister of Education and his ministry did not also agree with that recommendation.
“So, as far as government is concerned, those recommendations are still at the level of what we call CBA, … bargaining agreement, at the level of the ministry.
“If the ministry agrees, the ministry will send it off to the Presidential Committee on Salaries, which is a high-level body for that, and we will look at it, and then advise them.
“It hasn’t come to the stage, now that ASUU members and chambers are flexing muscles and saying that government has refused to sign.
“We have not gotten to the level of signing; we are doing an internal committee meeting with the Ministry of Education, so it’s important that people know what the correct situation is.”
The Minister of Labour stressed that when they finish at Education, they would bring it to him in Labour and he ll forward it to the Finance Committee on Salaries, of which he is a member and Co-Chair.
“So, it’s not that the government is reneging; it’s important we tell the public that this is the situation.
“Same goes for their UTAS, university transparency solution platform, they have developed.
“The government is desirous. Nr. President has signed many executive orders; Executive Order 5, Executive Oder 3, on local content, anything that will save us foreign exchange, we are for it. “We have a government agency that is regulating everything that is digital communication platform, so that government agency is NITDA.
“So, they (NITDA) have subjected that solution to that center for interrogation.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the payment of backlog salaries of medical doctors and other health workers which were withheld under the policy of no-work-no-pay during their strike actions, from 2018.
Speaking to newsmen today, December 16 after a private audience with the President, the Minister of labour and employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, said that the presidential directive was on compassionate ground.
“First, section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act says that when a worker goes on strike, especially those on essential services, the employer can also refuse to pay. That is what they call the ‘No Work, No Pay Rule’.
“But, these health sector workers; doctors, pharmacists, nurses and members of JOHESU, were trying to make sure that we create an equitable environment for them to function and part of it is to make sure that their welfare is taken care of.
“As a first step, Mr. President has approved last week and I have the authority and letter, directing the Minister of Finance to release the funds of the resident doctors for September and October 2021, which was seized in conformity with the law.
“In the same vein, the approval also covers members of the JOHESU who went on strike in 2018 for three months. “After the first month, after March, when they couldn’t come back, we asked that their pay be suspended. This is in tandem with the ILO principles at work. “You have a right to strike, but the employer has a right to stop your remuneration and if possible, use it to keep his enterprise going by taking new hands, where possible, especially in essential services.
“So that same money for 2018 April and May, Mr. President has again approved that the Finance Minister refunds or re-imburse, on compassionate grounds, those payments.”
Dr. Ngige said that the President’s action is predicated on the grounds that these group of workers have been showing a lot of dedication and concern to the COVID and that their Hazard Allowance for 2021 had remained what it was before.
“So, on compassionate grounds and, we agreed that they should be getting this money to keep their moral high.
“We are not yet free of COVID-19 and the new mutants, we need to do everything to keep the hard workers here, happy.
“In the same vein, he has also directed us to conclude the discussions on the other allowance for the health workers so that they can enjoy it anytime from now.
“So, tomorrow, we are convening a meeting of Presidential Committee on Salaries and Wages, where we will ratify the new pay hazard structure for health workers.”
President Muhammadu Buhari marks the age of 79 on Friday 17, without the joy of being with the family and the country he governs, seeking to maximize bilateral benefits in critical areas of Nigeria’s safety, survival and economic development in a distant country, Turkey.
As President in the last six years, he has had several achievements to his credit. But there are also challenges that need to be met in the balance of 18 months before he leaves office upon the completion of two terms in office.
As with all the countries around the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown the biggest challenge to the Buhari administration, for the obvious reason that it kept under attack, not only the health of citizens but the economy and environment.
For a country and a continent designated for a world record of positive cases and deaths, yet turning in the lowest in terms of numbers, the explanation our people give here is to say “Thank God,” and they move on.
Nothing wrong with thanking God for everything that happens or does not, for, without His grace, nothing can truly get done (or undone).
But the Almighty uses the instrumentality of humans to get some of these things done.
These last two years, President Buhari led a government that believes in science and in our doctors that put in place an effective mechanism to check the spread of the pandemic and we are where we are today because this dedicated team has responded in the most capable manner any country could ever do.
He gave the experts the latitude of freedom and resources to lead us out of the worst-case scenarios using especially well-thought-out non-pharmaceutical protections and these, in the face of the denial of fair access to vaccines to us by those who make them, have really done us wonders.
Although high figures for active cases, new cases and deaths are rising lately and a fourth wave is being feared in many quarters, the proven competence of our administrators, whose aptitude, agility and appropriate sense of timing have drawn commendation from no less a body than the United Nations gives us the reassuring solace that we will wade through the muddle by getting it right.
Increasing awareness about health and hygiene is helping the country fight the deadly coronavirus disease pandemic.
The campaign against open defecation is catching on in all the states and the only way for the momentum is up and up.
President Buhari was handed an economy in 2015 just on the verge of a recession. It was sluggish due to internal as well as external factors, all these compounded by the fall of oil prices occasioned by global recession.
The new administration surprised itself by pulling the economy out of recession in less than two years.
Just as this was being celebrated, the COVID-19 pandemic has added to the global economic woes, and there we were, back in recession just as did everyone.
Yet again, the careful handling and management helped us out of a second recession in six months, setting an unbeaten record on how not to suffer a recession.
The current and projected economic growth figures are quite encouraging and if government measures being worked out to curb the existing high food inflation work well as they should; unemployment figures which are officially at 34 percent are being forced downwards through growth, especially in agriculture which President Buhari saw as the silver lining from the very beginning, the economy will continue to recover at a faster rate than projected.
Today, the economy is back on the path of growth after two consecutive recessions and it is noteworthy that the administration’s priority sectors, especially ICT, agriculture and solid minerals continue to lead the growth of the now diversified economy.
Inflation has maintained a downward streak and external reserves have stayed on healthy levels throughout these periods.
Exports have grown and have remained in an upward trajectory in agriculture, raw materials, solid minerals and manufactured goods, setting a clear tone that we are ready for a leading role in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA), which is the largest world free trade organization.
Agriculture growth could be attributed to bumper harvests in rice and other agricultural communities which have been aggressively promoted by the lending schemes put in place by the Central Bank of Nigeria and other commercial banks, the revival of the fertilizer industry which has seen such production plants grow from only four in 2015 to nearly 40 at the moment, employing thousands directly and indirectly and saving the country USD 200 billion in import bills and more than N60 billion in government subsidies.
However, smuggling across the country’s vast land borders still remains a dark spot amidst the ray of hope for total national food security.
The APC government led by President Buhari has been challenged by the worrisome activities of bandits, now classified as terrorists and the incidents of attacks on communities especially that which pitches farmers against herders.
Both have had the combined effect of disturbing the nation’s social fabric.
The government has a two-pronged strategy in dealing with the clashes: one by addressing immediate security and then dealing with scarcity of land.
Additional police and military units have been deployed to the affected states to address the former. They have already had some noticeable successes against militia groups.
But the increased presence will also enable quicker response to distress calls to prevent attacks before they happen.
The National Livestock Transformation Plan remedies this through a phased transition from herding to ranching.
This shall allow both parties to recognise for themselves the solution, rather than having it thrust upon them.
Notably, a majority of the states-which control land- and the major farmer and herder associations have welcomed the initiative.
Boko Haram which is now reduced to a shell of its former self now holds no territory and not a single militant incident has been recorded for years in the Niger Delta.
Of course, there is still more to do, but the President’s determination is to end all the conflicts to keep citizens safe.
The main reason for the defeat of the PDP in 2015 was corruption.
The present administration at the centre led by President Muhammadu Buhari has so far presented a corrupt-free image of itself.
It has also succeeded in abolishing grand corruption at the top and as attested to by the former American President, Donald Trump, when the President visited him in 2016, the government has significantly brought down the level of corruption in the whole county.
It is, however not lost on anyone that corruption is fighting back.
In this country, politics is often considered as a synonym of corruption.
The previous government came under huge criticism for scandals like that discovered in arms procurements in the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) which transformed itself into a major source of funding of the PDP; NNPC crude oil thefts, broadband spectrum licensing scandal, oil subsidy scam and so many others but the present government has not faced any such corruption charges.
Minister Diezani Allison-Maduekwe who has so far forfeited cash denominated variously to the Federal Government: USD 153 million, N23.4 billion, and USD 4m and USD 5m in separate counts; a former Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) forfeited GBP 578,080, and the Ikoyi Apartment Owners from whom USD43.4m; N23m and GBP 27,800 respectively, were recovered are part of the success of the war against corruption waged by the government.
Also, the hidden owner of the N449.6 million cash, in Lagos, is still unable to step forward to say “it’s mine”; the ex-Naval Chiefs who have forfeited N1.8 billion; the Governors Forum which surrendered N1.4 billion and the major oil marketers, from whom the EFCC has so far seized N328.9 billion.
Banks in the country which equally joined the party while it lasted, gave back N27.7 billion they “ate,” the scion of the Akinjides, Jumokes and her N650 million as well as those scammers in INEC who coughed out N1 billion all tell a story of the success of the war against corruption under Buhari.
But perhaps the greatest game-changer in the war against corruption is the institution of those measures that seek to stop such incidents from happening.
These include the biggest tax revolution since independence, VAIDS, now being implemented, and which many rich citizens are made to pay outstanding taxes; the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) that has saved the nation billions paid to ghost workers, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the Open Treasury Portal tell the citizens where their money is and how it is being spent.
There is also the Whistle Blower policy by which the government is able to recover stolen or concealed assets through information provided by citizens.
This has changed the moral tone of the business transactional space in the country. The whistleblower is entitled to between 2.5% to 5.0 % of the amount recovered.
The government’s moves on Ease of Doing Business have attracted international attention and investment and significantly improved the ranking of Nigeria as a place of doing business, in fact achieving a place in the World Bank’s top 10 reforming economies.
But this is how the World Bank saw Nigeria: “Overall, the 10 top improvers implemented the most regulatory reforms in the area of getting credit, starting a business, dealing with construction permits and paying taxes,’ the report said.
Someone said President Buhari should be named as infrastructure President.
Hear the President:
“Infrastructure is vital to economic development. As you are aware, this administration has given special attention to the infrastructural transformation of our country. This is in consonance with the CHANGE philosophy of the administration. Such projects and programmes form part of our contribution to national development, which are tangible for all to see.”
In the last six-and-half years, President Buhari has taken historic decisions which have changed the country, top among which was his signing into law, the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) amidst cheers by the Nigerian business community; the Climate Change law and the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), all of which are now part of our laws.
PIA came after lengthy negotiations with the states, the whole of the oil industry, the oil-producing communities. By taking all of them on board, this success broke a twenty-year jinx.
Yet another jinx broken was the very recent decision for an out-of-court settlement of the dispute involving a businessman and the government of Nigeria that had prevented the take-off of the Mambila Hydro Electric Power Project, a development that may see it leave the drawing boards after nearly 50 years.
On the external front, President Buhari’s towering figure as an honest leader and an international statesman continues to generate a successful run in our foreign relations.
Security and political stability in West Africa have posed a tough challenge for the government of late. Little wonder that the riot act was read by the President at the ECOWAS Summit last weekend in Abuja, warning that constitutional amendments to elongate term tenure, increasingly becoming the norm in the sub-region will continue to fuel instability. It must stop.
In 2015, Presidential candidate Buhari stood on a platform to secure the country, improve the economy and fight corruption and won.
He did again in 2019 and the current challenges facing the country, though not new will only make him give his best for the country.
Politicians seeking political capital in the prevailing security situation in the country and the sections of the media making the problem appear as intractable so as to sell copies have a shock waiting for them because this one is a way President Buhari is determined to win before he leaves office in 2023.
What the President has achieved in the past six and a half years is for the nation and its people.
Sooner than later, the frustrations we face are challenges to be overcome and this period will one day be written as the golden period of Nigeria’s history.
Garba Shehu is Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media & Publicity
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations has called for more intense investigation on the circumstances surrounding the death, in June 2021, of Keren Akpagher, a 14-year-old student of the Premiere Academy, Abuja.
The call came in the wake of the raging controversy over the death of a student of Dowen College, Lagos, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr.
The group said that the many unanswered questions about the circumstances of Akpagher’s death, especially her final 48 hours, can no longer be swept under the carpet.
The coalition is made up of Save the Child Foundation, Eziodu Initiative for Sustainable Environmental Development, Courageous Girls Initiative, Sunbliss Foundation, Greensphere Initiative, Participatory Initiative for Peace and Development, Lizdon Foundation, Women Initiative for Value Empowerment and Manpower Development Foundation as well as White Angels Foundation.
Others are Greenalive Initiative, Chikasi Youth Foundation, Phew Children Foundation, Centre for Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development and Bethel Rights Foundation.
According to the coalition’s Coordinator, Deacon Okezi Odugala, there still exists several unanswered questions on the circumstances surrounding the death of Akpagher.
Odugala pointed out that contrary to what was out there in the public space, there has been little interrogation of the medical procedure at the Queens Clinic, where Akpagher was rushed to under medical emergency by her family.
The Coordinator said it is inappropriate to run with the claim by the clinic that it extracted a “decayed used condom” from Akpagher’s body, without proofs, saying that he who alleges must prove.
The coalition called for a careful scrutiny of the medical procedures undertaken at the clinic from the moment the patient was brought in up till the time of her death, instead of specious and uncorroborated claims about a condom.
According to the Coordinator, the way and manner the medical personnel have evaded comments from the media and attention of the public obviously suggests that they have something to hide.
“From the information made available to public by the school, Keren was Type 1 diabetic, and was on daily insulin shots under careful management by the school’s medical personnel.
“When she left the custody of the school into the custody of her mother, her blood sugar was normal at 114mg/dl.
“Forty-eight hours later, under her mother’s custody, her blood sugar had spiked to an almost terminal 435.6mg/dl.”
Odugala further questioned the competence of the medical team that attended to the late student during her emergency.
“There is abundant evidence from eye witness testimony that the doctor at Queens Clinic decided to sedate a delirious Keren, a clear breach of the treatment protocol for raging hyperglycaemia. Doctors we spoke to agree that sedating a patient at 435.6 mg/dl is like a fatal shot in the head.”
The coalition further called to question the role of the student’s mother, Vivian Akpagher, given the recorded evidence that her daughter left the school hale and hearty over 48 hours previously.
“It is necessary to find out from Mrs Akpagher what happened to her daughter’s regimen of daily insulin intake after she got home.
“It is also important to inquire from her why she bluntly rejected all entreaties by the visiting Premiere Academy medical team to move the innocent child from a clearly incompetent clinic, when it became apparent that Queens Clinic neither had the equipment nor the capacity to manage a case like Keren’s.”
The coalition expressed concern that the Police have not compelled Queens Clinic to show evidence of the condom claim in the course of its investigation nor was it availed the autopsy team.
It therefore called on the Police to make the result of its investigation public as well as release the report of the autopsy.
Governor of Taraba State, Darius Dickson Ishaku has boasted that his state has all it takes to produce all the rice that will meet the need of Nigerians
“Taraba can supply the country with rice. I’m seeking for more aid (from President Muhammadu Buhari) towards the farming of rice, particularly the dry season rice, where we get three or four times of that one of the rainy season and more and more people have been encouraged into this farming.
“I have empowered well over 20,000 people and they are all interested in the dry season.”
The governor, who spoke today, December 15 to newsmen shortly after a private audience with the President at the Presidential villa, Abuja, believed that if the state is assisted, it would be able to produce enough rice in this country “because we have the land.”
Governor Ishaku said that the state had so far not been able to access loans that have been approved through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), pleading that urgent action is needed in this regard.
“We also have gotten assistance from Czech Republic to give us long term loan; we have actually manufactured about 2,000 tractors. For over two years, it is stuck in Czech Republic. We have not been able to get those shipped to our farmers.
“And there are other assistances that comes from the federal ministry. Some have reached us which we are utilizing very well.
“But I imagine that without getting this soft machinery assistances, you will not be able to encourage much more people than we already have.
“Because, if they have this small medium tractors, which we had ordered, with their chemicals, fertilizers, and so forth, which usually come from ministries and the federal government, we will go far.
“And even with those places particularly my area, I need to do channelization. I need canals, I need to build a lot of canals to carry this water during the dry season along the coast of the rivers.
“We have Ricer Taraba, River Donga, River Gongola within the state, without those canals, they cannot irrigate.
“We have excess water during rainy season, but then it dries and if we have these canals, we can store this water as a dam, pump it and it will roll down and the farmers use them in their farms.
“I don’t know if you have ever been to Kano: you would see those canals on your way entering Kano. This is the kind of thing I am hoping to do in Taraba.
“We have applied to CBN for years, nothing has happened. And without you doing this, we cannot get the dry season farmers to come on board.
“And as I said earlier, they harvest three to four times more than the rainy season.”
Governor Ishaku said that Taraba is nature’s gift to the nation, saying: “we have all the zones, the seasons, the vegetation, right from Savannah to the trunk rain forest.
“Do you know we grow cocoa in Taraba? Do you know we have palm oil in Taraba? “We have a rubber plantations, all the tropical trees that grow in the tropics they grow in Taraba. And then we have the mountain vegetation that is the only place you can plant coffee and tea.”
He said that his government is encouraging more people to plant tea “and we have gone into coffee now, which is my next step. I hope to do it before I leave office; let coffee also pick up like highland tea picked up.
“Then between the tropical foreign and the savanna, you have the lush vegetation where you plant soybeans.
” Since I came on board about six years ago, we have been giving free beneseed and free soybean seedlings and now a lot of people are growing them.
“There’s still a lot of demand because the beneseed and soya beans are commercial products.
“And now talk of cassava, we are the ones exporting cassava because everywhere in Taraba you can plant cassava and it grows very well.
“So, I can go on and on and lost and now I have been encouraging people to avocado: a lot of people have gone into planting avocado and we are targeting avocado for export and i am working hard also to give a new airport runway for export.
“So, all these our produce if they start coming up before export and not even talked about beef, milk and so on and so forth.
“We have been practicing ranching since in the 60s. So when they are talking about ranching, it is not new to us. All our animals in the mountains are domesticated and they are sweetest meat.”
The Federal Government has made a move to increase the salaries of police in Nigeria by 20 percent across board.
This followed the approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), at its weekly meeting today, December 15, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential villa, Abuja.
Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, who dropped the hint shortly after the meeting, said that the salary increase will take effect from January 2022, adding that the increase is in response to the demands made by EndSARS protesters in 2020.
He said that the take home pay would be enhanced through the duty tour allowance to six per cent of their new take home pay and an approval of N1.12 billion for payment of outstanding uninsured benefits for the period of 2013 to 2020.
President Buhari had promised that the salaries would be upgraded commensurate to service rendered to further maintain peace in the country.
FEC also approved the release of N13.1 billion for payment of outstanding death benefits of 5,472 personnel for the uninsured period of 2013 to August 2021.
Chairman of National the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has complained about what he called “Democratic and electoral retrogression” in the West African subregion because of military coups that have resurfaced.
Speaking today, December 15 at the plenary session of the 7th Biennial General Assembly of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions’ (ECONEC) in Accra, Ghana, Professor Yakubu condemned undemocratic takeover of government in some West African countries which he said, has created a great challenge for Electoral Commissions in the sub-region.
“We are facing great challenges. We are having democratic and electoral retrogression in the sub-region, and we have had undemocratic takeover in one or two places. Only a few years ago, we went round the sub-region saying that for the first time in the history of West Africa, all the countries were democracies. But today, we cannot say so.
“This imposes a challenge on us as Chairmen of Electoral Commissioners to be more vigilant. And that is where ECONEC comes in. We must continue to support one another to conduct the kind of elections we all aspire for.
“I recall that before the second round of elections in Niger Republic, the Republic of Ghana provided support, and I know that other countries are supporting one another as well.
“I would encourage us to continue to share not only ideas but also resources. No one can do it alone.
“We can make ECONEC what we want it to be by working cooperatively.
“I urge all of us to continue to work as brothers and sisters for the improvement of the electoral process in the sub-region.”
This year’s Assembly kicked off on 13th December with a symposium on An Efficient Communication Strategy for Enhanced Relationships Between EMBs and Electoral Stakeholders in West Africa, with presentations from CENA Benin; CNE Cabo Verde; CEI Cote d’Ivoire, Electoral Commission of Ghana and INEC, Nigeria.
The objective is to enable the electoral management bodies to exchange knowledge and share experiences on the value and challenges of developing a Communication Strategy within the EMBs, with the aim of engaging efficiently with stakeholders on critical phases of the electoral process to prevent conflicts, build public confidence and create the conditions for transparent, inclusive, and peaceful elections.
A new ECONEC President and Steering Committee Members that will serve for a term of two years are expected to emerge today at a special session and election for that purpose.
The incumbent and President of the Electoral Commission of Cabo Verde, Mrs. Maria do Rosario Goncalves was elected in 2019 in Abuja.
She took over from Professor Yakubu who served was ECONEC President between 2017 and 2019.
The 15-member institutions include Electoral Commissions from Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, and Guinea.
Others are Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
Mother of Abdulkareem Asuku, Chief of Staff to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has been kidnapped at Adavi local government of the state. Residents of the new layout in Nagazi community in Adavi LGA where Mrs. Seriya Raji resided, said that the community was thrown into panic when the gunmen stormed the place around 7:40pm yesterday, December 13, after observing her prayer in a Mosque within her compound. According to sources, the gunmen, six in number, were dressed in black suits with masks, holding “Ghana Must Go” bag suspected to have contained some guns and other dangerous weapons. The gunmen were said to have entered her house through the mosque and whisked her away to a yet- to-be identified destination in the car they came in. The incident is one out of several others that occurred in the state in the last one month. Recall that the state Commissioner for Environment, Victor Omofaiye also escaped being kidnapped but sustained gunshot wounds when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle.
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“Turkey understands the challenges facing Nigeria and its needs, and we are ready to assist to meet those needs, especially in the area of defence.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has shown his desire to return to his farm in Daura, Katsina State after handing over to his successor in 2023.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige has said that the threat by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to embark on indefinite nationwide strike again shows that the members are not aware of the latest developments.
Governor of Taraba State, Darius Dickson Ishaku has boasted that his state has all it takes to produce all the rice that will meet the need of Nigerians
Chairman of National the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has complained about what he called “Democratic and electoral retrogression” in the West African subregion because of military coups that have resurfaced.
As President Buhari Clocks 79, A Focus On Achievements, Challenges, By Garba Shehu
As President in the last six years, he has had several achievements to his credit. But there are also challenges that need to be met in the balance of 18 months before he leaves office upon the completion of two terms in office.
As with all the countries around the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown the biggest challenge to the Buhari administration, for the obvious reason that it kept under attack, not only the health of citizens but the economy and environment.
For a country and a continent designated for a world record of positive cases and deaths, yet turning in the lowest in terms of numbers, the explanation our people give here is to say “Thank God,” and they move on.
Nothing wrong with thanking God for everything that happens or does not, for, without His grace, nothing can truly get done (or undone).
But the Almighty uses the instrumentality of humans to get some of these things done.
These last two years, President Buhari led a government that believes in science and in our doctors that put in place an effective mechanism to check the spread of the pandemic and we are where we are today because this dedicated team has responded in the most capable manner any country could ever do.
He gave the experts the latitude of freedom and resources to lead us out of the worst-case scenarios using especially well-thought-out non-pharmaceutical protections and these, in the face of the denial of fair access to vaccines to us by those who make them, have really done us wonders.
Although high figures for active cases, new cases and deaths are rising lately and a fourth wave is being feared in many quarters, the proven competence of our administrators, whose aptitude, agility and appropriate sense of timing have drawn commendation from no less a body than the United Nations gives us the reassuring solace that we will wade through the muddle by getting it right.
Increasing awareness about health and hygiene is helping the country fight the deadly coronavirus disease pandemic.
The campaign against open defecation is catching on in all the states and the only way for the momentum is up and up.
President Buhari was handed an economy in 2015 just on the verge of a recession. It was sluggish due to internal as well as external factors, all these compounded by the fall of oil prices occasioned by global recession.
The new administration surprised itself by pulling the economy out of recession in less than two years.
Just as this was being celebrated, the COVID-19 pandemic has added to the global economic woes, and there we were, back in recession just as did everyone.
Yet again, the careful handling and management helped us out of a second recession in six months, setting an unbeaten record on how not to suffer a recession.
The current and projected economic growth figures are quite encouraging and if government measures being worked out to curb the existing high food inflation work well as they should; unemployment figures which are officially at 34 percent are being forced downwards through growth, especially in agriculture which President Buhari saw as the silver lining from the very beginning, the economy will continue to recover at a faster rate than projected.
Today, the economy is back on the path of growth after two consecutive recessions and it is noteworthy that the administration’s priority sectors, especially ICT, agriculture and solid minerals continue to lead the growth of the now diversified economy.
Inflation has maintained a downward streak and external reserves have stayed on healthy levels throughout these periods.
Exports have grown and have remained in an upward trajectory in agriculture, raw materials, solid minerals and manufactured goods, setting a clear tone that we are ready for a leading role in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA), which is the largest world free trade organization.
Agriculture growth could be attributed to bumper harvests in rice and other agricultural communities which have been aggressively promoted by the lending schemes put in place by the Central Bank of Nigeria and other commercial banks, the revival of the fertilizer industry which has seen such production plants grow from only four in 2015 to nearly 40 at the moment, employing thousands directly and indirectly and saving the country USD 200 billion in import bills and more than N60 billion in government subsidies.
However, smuggling across the country’s vast land borders still remains a dark spot amidst the ray of hope for total national food security.
The APC government led by President Buhari has been challenged by the worrisome activities of bandits, now classified as terrorists and the incidents of attacks on communities especially that which pitches farmers against herders.
Both have had the combined effect of disturbing the nation’s social fabric.
The government has a two-pronged strategy in dealing with the clashes: one by addressing immediate security and then dealing with scarcity of land.
Additional police and military units have been deployed to the affected states to address the former. They have already had some noticeable successes against militia groups.
But the increased presence will also enable quicker response to distress calls to prevent attacks before they happen.
The National Livestock Transformation Plan remedies this through a phased transition from herding to ranching.
This shall allow both parties to recognise for themselves the solution, rather than having it thrust upon them.
Notably, a majority of the states-which control land- and the major farmer and herder associations have welcomed the initiative.
Boko Haram which is now reduced to a shell of its former self now holds no territory and not a single militant incident has been recorded for years in the Niger Delta.
Of course, there is still more to do, but the President’s determination is to end all the conflicts to keep citizens safe.
The main reason for the defeat of the PDP in 2015 was corruption.
The present administration at the centre led by President Muhammadu Buhari has so far presented a corrupt-free image of itself.
It has also succeeded in abolishing grand corruption at the top and as attested to by the former American President, Donald Trump, when the President visited him in 2016, the government has significantly brought down the level of corruption in the whole county.
It is, however not lost on anyone that corruption is fighting back.
In this country, politics is often considered as a synonym of corruption.
The previous government came under huge criticism for scandals like that discovered in arms procurements in the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) which transformed itself into a major source of funding of the PDP; NNPC crude oil thefts, broadband spectrum licensing scandal, oil subsidy scam and so many others but the present government has not faced any such corruption charges.
Minister Diezani Allison-Maduekwe who has so far forfeited cash denominated variously to the Federal Government: USD 153 million, N23.4 billion, and USD 4m and USD 5m in separate counts; a former Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) forfeited GBP 578,080, and the Ikoyi Apartment Owners from whom USD43.4m; N23m and GBP 27,800 respectively, were recovered are part of the success of the war against corruption waged by the government.
Also, the hidden owner of the N449.6 million cash, in Lagos, is still unable to step forward to say “it’s mine”; the ex-Naval Chiefs who have forfeited N1.8 billion; the Governors Forum which surrendered N1.4 billion and the major oil marketers, from whom the EFCC has so far seized N328.9 billion.
Banks in the country which equally joined the party while it lasted, gave back N27.7 billion they “ate,” the scion of the Akinjides, Jumokes and her N650 million as well as those scammers in INEC who coughed out N1 billion all tell a story of the success of the war against corruption under Buhari.
But perhaps the greatest game-changer in the war against corruption is the institution of those measures that seek to stop such incidents from happening.
These include the biggest tax revolution since independence, VAIDS, now being implemented, and which many rich citizens are made to pay outstanding taxes; the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) that has saved the nation billions paid to ghost workers, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the Open Treasury Portal tell the citizens where their money is and how it is being spent.
There is also the Whistle Blower policy by which the government is able to recover stolen or concealed assets through information provided by citizens.
This has changed the moral tone of the business transactional space in the country. The whistleblower is entitled to between 2.5% to 5.0 % of the amount recovered.
The government’s moves on Ease of Doing Business have attracted international attention and investment and significantly improved the ranking of Nigeria as a place of doing business, in fact achieving a place in the World Bank’s top 10 reforming economies.
But this is how the World Bank saw Nigeria: “Overall, the 10 top improvers implemented the most regulatory reforms in the area of getting credit, starting a business, dealing with construction permits and paying taxes,’ the report said.
Someone said President Buhari should be named as infrastructure President.
Hear the President:
“Infrastructure is vital to economic development. As you are aware, this administration has given special attention to the infrastructural transformation of our country. This is in consonance with the CHANGE philosophy of the administration. Such projects and programmes form part of our contribution to national development, which are tangible for all to see.”
In the last six-and-half years, President Buhari has taken historic decisions which have changed the country, top among which was his signing into law, the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) amidst cheers by the Nigerian business community; the Climate Change law and the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), all of which are now part of our laws.
PIA came after lengthy negotiations with the states, the whole of the oil industry, the oil-producing communities. By taking all of them on board, this success broke a twenty-year jinx.
Yet another jinx broken was the very recent decision for an out-of-court settlement of the dispute involving a businessman and the government of Nigeria that had prevented the take-off of the Mambila Hydro Electric Power Project, a development that may see it leave the drawing boards after nearly 50 years.
On the external front, President Buhari’s towering figure as an honest leader and an international statesman continues to generate a successful run in our foreign relations.
Security and political stability in West Africa have posed a tough challenge for the government of late. Little wonder that the riot act was read by the President at the ECOWAS Summit last weekend in Abuja, warning that constitutional amendments to elongate term tenure, increasingly becoming the norm in the sub-region will continue to fuel instability. It must stop.
In 2015, Presidential candidate Buhari stood on a platform to secure the country, improve the economy and fight corruption and won.
He did again in 2019 and the current challenges facing the country, though not new will only make him give his best for the country.
Politicians seeking political capital in the prevailing security situation in the country and the sections of the media making the problem appear as intractable so as to sell copies have a shock waiting for them because this one is a way President Buhari is determined to win before he leaves office in 2023.
What the President has achieved in the past six and a half years is for the nation and its people.
Sooner than later, the frustrations we face are challenges to be overcome and this period will one day be written as the golden period of Nigeria’s history.