Thursday, March 16, 2023 Edition

Polls: NSCDC strengthens security measures ahead of Saturday

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

Following the review, analysis, and processing of reports and observations from the field on the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on the 28th of February, 2023, the management of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has put in place a robust security arrangement geared towards the success of the forthcoming governorship election.

NSCDC in a statement issued on Wednesday by its spokesperson Olusola Odumosu said the tightened security approach is to ensure that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff, election materials and citizens are secured during the elections.

It said NSCDC Commandant General, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi, while addressing some personnel ready for deployment

to states for the Governorship and State Assembly election, said efforts to curb disruption of the voting process necessitated the deployment of personnel to old and newly discovered flashpoints.

“Ensure the protection of critical national assets and infrastructural domains where vandalism of public utilities frequently occurred,” he ordered.

He affirmed that the already deployed 102,000 officers and men who had been properly trained in regimentation, crowd control, arms bearing and election management techniques are to ensure full security coverage of the election.

He assured that the Corps will continue to work with members of the public to obtain credible information to nip criminal activities in the bud before, during and after the election.

Audi charged all personnel on election duty to observe the rules of engagement and get themselves acquainted with the

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), code of ethics, and the electoral law as amended.

He warned against any form of misconduct, compromise, or accidental discharge as such acts are unpardonable under his administration.

“You must be professional, apolitical, and non-partisan, respect the fundamental human rights of the citizens, and avoid Intimidation and harassment of voters.

“Personnel must respect fundamental human rights of citizens, protect voters against political thugs, arrest vote buyers, election fraudsters.

“You are to ensure the obedience of law and order, be good ambassadors and maintain the integrity of the system,” CG said.

The Corps helmsman reiterated the need for continuous partnership with the police and other security agencies involved in election

security duties, advising them to avoid unnecessary confrontation but to handle misunderstandings (in case of any) with maturity.

Audi warned mischief makers who may intend to perpetrate violence to take lessons from the last Presidential and National Assembly election where many political thugs lost their lives while snatching ballot boxes amongst other electoral crimes

He urged personnel to attract only good comments to the service with their conducts and performances during the polls as anyone found wanting will not be spared and assured those yet to receive the second tranch of the election allowance to exercise patience as glitches in the network is seriously affecting most financial transactions.

“Except for those who supplied wrong account details, and some network glitches, many personnel had received the second credit alerts,” CG informed.

APC petitions PDP guber candidate over alleged plan to disrupt governorship/state assembly polls

Zamfara state chapter of the APC has petitioned the DSS and copied to all security agencies on alleged possible planned attack on innocent electorates who will come out to vote during governorship/state assembly elections in the state

with the intent to either truncate the election due to their fear of losing the elections.

The petition which was made available to Journalists in Gusau the state capital by the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, recalls that the PDP thugs on the alleged instructions of its gubernatorial candidate, Dauda Lawal Dare had last year

attacked innocent citizens with guns, killed one person and many others hospitalized at the Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital, Gusau.

The APC urged the security operatives in the state to, for the sake of giving innocent lives most needed protection, carryout an extensive search on Dauda Lawal Dare’s residence located at GRA

Gusau as well as his other facilities in order to bring out suspected arms and ammunitions kept to be used by the PDP thugs during the elections.

“The party, through its lawyers, cautioned that the matter needs urgent response so as to prevent the breakdown of law and order during the polls that may escalate to other parts of the country.”

From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (middle), meeting with select members of the Hausa Community at the Oko Oba Abattoir, Agege, in continuation of his campaign for the APC and Governor Babajide SanwoOlu second term re-election bid , yesterday in Lagos. Photo: Min of Interior

Polls: Pentecostal Bishops caution clerics against incitement

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Ahead of the Saturday’s Governorship and States Houses of Assembly elections in Nigeria, the Pentecostal Bishops Forum (PBF) had cautioned clerics, both of the Christian and Islamic faiths to be mindful of their sermons, utterances and hate speeches to avoid inciting their followers and others.

Chairman of the forum, Kaduna State Chapter, Bishop Ademola I. Tinuoye who made the call in an interview with newsmen on the forthcoming elections, also called on the good people of Kaduna State to come out en mass on the18th March to vote their leaders without sentiment.

He admonished that competence and inclusiveness is necessary.

“Christian and Muslim leaders must stop issuing statements that could create chaotic tension and over heat the polity, their speeches or sermons must be such that will calm nerves and promote peaceful and religious coexistence.”

Another casualty hits PDP as Duba dumps to APC in Niger

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

The Niger State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP received another casualty as a two time Senatorial candidate from Niger North, Alhaji Sani Duba has dumped the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The PDP stalwart was welcomed in to the APC by the Governorship candidate Umar Mohammed Bago and the State party chairman, Alhaji Haliru Zakari Jikantoro who was represented by the Zone C deputy chairman, Aminu Musa Dobi at the party secretariat in Minna.

Bago described Duba as a big party man whose coming will surely boost the chances of the APC to victory for the progress and development of Niger state.

He assured him of all rights, privileges and opportunities as a member of the ruling party in the state as required, urging for his continued support.

In his remarks, the state APC chairman appreciated the bold step taken by the decampee and thanked him for bringing all his supporters and admirers across the zone in to the party fold.

Responding, Sani Duba expressed satisfaction over the warm reception accorded him by the stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC.

He called on all his supporters and admirers across the zone to come out en mass to vote for the ruling party that has demonstrated quality leadership and good governance in the state to ensure development.

BVAS configuration completed for Kogi House of Assembly election, says INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has completed configuration of the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems (BVAS) for the conduct of the House of Assembly elections in Kogi on Saturday.

Dr Hale Longpet, Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) made the declaration in an exclusive interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that only the House of Assembly election will hold in Kogi on Saturday.

The as governorship election is to hold in November because Gov Yahaya Bello’s tenure ends on Jan. 27, 2024.

The commissioner said that the commission had gotten all materials needed, aside ballot papers and result sheets which are being expected through

the Central Bank on Thursday.

“Just this Monday, we assessed all the materials to see their levels of functionality and some of the BVAS that were either stolen or damaged were replaced.

“Although we have not retrieved any (BVAS) that were stolen, we have successfully replaced them for the purpose and successful conduct of the election.

“By Thursday, we shall go for the distribution of the materials such as the ballot papers and result sheets at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Zonal Headquarters here in Lokoja.

“It’s expected that on Friday evening the Electoral Officers (EOs) in all the LGAs would deploy all the Adhoc staff with the necessary materials to the RAs so that by early morning of Saturday they would be at their various polling units to conduct the election, ” he said

Longpet urged the people of Kogi to come out en-masse to cast their votes without any fear as the security operatives have assured the Commission of their readiness to protect lives and property better than last time.

“They (security agents) have assured us that they have stepped up their security apparatus and strategies to ensure the peaceful conduct of house of Assembly elections in Kogi.”

The REC said that security agencies have promised to redoubled their Surveillance at the flash points or black spots to checkmate activities of political thugs and trouble shooters.

“What we are expecting from the people is for them to just get ready with their PVCs to vote for candidates of their choices and should make sure that their votes count, ” Longpet said. (NAN)

2023 Elections: Nigeria lost Experienced, Quality Lawmakers – Gbajabiamila

...Says determined by factors bordering on ethnicity religion over performance

By Christiana Ekpa

TheSpeaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, has said the 25th February National Assembly election denied Nigeria of experienced, quality lawmakers, even as he said that the elections were mainly determined by factors bordering on ethnicity and religion rather than performance.

The Speaker disclosed this when the executives of the House of Representatives Press Corps led by its Chairman, Grace Ike, paid him a congratulatory visit in his office in Abuja.

He said “It was a hard won battle not just for me but for many of our colleagues on the floor there. All 360 of us. Many were unlucky. Some were lucky. I used the word ‘lucky’ deliberately because this election was not as it should be, not so much about the performance of members whether on the floor or in their constituencies.

“It was about a lot of other things. It was about religion. It was about ethnicity. It was about so many other things which I hope that as we develop as a nation, one’s election would be based solely, or at least mostly on his or her performance on the floor and in the constituency. That is what I hope would happen as we move along and that is why he mentioned the Electoral Act that was just passed.That is why I fought tooth and nail to

make sure the Electoral Act adopted strictly the direct mode for primaries because of elections.

“Even though at the general elections members lost, a lot of members actually lost their elections at the primaries, where their acceptance by the constituents was not put to test. What was put to test was what one or two leaders in their constituencies determined whether they were returning or not. So we lost a lot of legislators even at the primaries level, and that does not help our democracy.

“So hopefully moving forward, we would perfect that document, the Electoral Act, which many people have celebrated but still not perfect yet. Hopefully we would be able to perfect it. So I thank you profusely for all the support you have given us, myself, the leadership and the House. Over the years, the last four years, you are part of this institution and I have enjoyed working with.

“I would continue to enjoy working with you. As many of you know, I would probably be a floor member now, which is how our democracy works. But being a floor member is not about what position you occupy but it is about what you contribute to law making and governance and I will continue to do that irrespective of wherever I find myself.

“My colleagues have been very supportive. I have through no magic of mine but through the benevolence of God been able to hold the House together and hold my colleagues

together, which in itself is a tall order if you follow the National Assembly over the years. Managing 359 other members is not an easy thing and I have always said that if you can be the Speaker of the Nigerian parliament you can thrive in any organization anywhere in the world. God has been so good that together with my colleagues, one has been able to do that. My hope is that whoever comes in as the next Speaker would be able to continue in that trajectory and build on the foundations that we have laid for the institution and even do better. So I thank you.”He said.

Gbajabiamila also lauded the press corps for being supportive and playing a critical role in nation building.

He said the contribution of the press corps to the development of the country can not be quantified.

Earlier, the Chairperson, Comrade Grace Ike, congratulated the Speaker on his victory at the elections.

She lauded the Speaker on the leadership of the House by ensuring everyone is carried along, as well as his contribution to lawmaking and governance.

She commended him particularly for his efforts to the successful passage of the Electoral Act, which would ensure the right leaders and chosen by the people.

Ike said the corps will continue do its best to ensure the progress of democracy in the country.

The National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer, AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria, Princess Gloria Akobundu, fsi (middle) and her management team received Members of the AUDA-NEPAD Continental team led by the Ag. Director Knowledge Management and Program Evaluation, Mrs. Florence Nazare (3rd left) with other team members, on courtesy visit to the Agency’s National Secretariat recently in Abuja . Photo: NEPAD

Again, gunmen killed

10 in Southern Kaduna

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Gunmen yesterday attacked the Langson village of Atyap chiefdom in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna state and killed 10 people.

Confirming the ugly development, the Council Chairman, Zango Kataf Local Government, Mr. Francis Sani, appealed to the federal government to deploy more security operatives in the Local Government Area to bring to an end the recurring attacks on innocent lives and property.

It was gathered that the attackers invaded the community around 9pm, shot sporadically, and looted shops in the area before they were repelled by Mopol.

The Chairman said the unwholesome attacks were destabilizing the affected communities as no legitimate activity thrives.

Also reacting to the development, the Atyap Community Development Association, ACDA, passed a vote of no confidence on a section of the security operatives deployed to the area to protect lives and property.

The National President of the association, Mr. Sam Achie who stated this to the media at the scene of the attack, lamented the silence of the Government in the face of the attacks in the area.

He urged the government to match words with action by arresting the perpetrators.

The ACDA National President, however, commended the Mopol in Langson community who were said to have repelled the attackers, even as he called on the people to continue to be alert to protect their communities and property against the oppressors who, he said are bend on taking their ancestral land.

Subsidy removal: FG yet to finalize plans on palliatives

Shifts 2023 Population, Housing Census to May

By Egena Sunday Ode

Thefederal government said Wednesday that it has yet to harmonize templates with states on palliatives to cushion the harsh effects of fuel subsidy removal on citizens.

The planned gradual removal of petroleum subsidy is expected to commence in June, barely three month away.

Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, disclosed this while addressing newsmen after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said, however, that the relevant committees would soon conclude discussions with key stakeholders as the administration winds down in approximately two months.

The Minister noted that even though a committee, headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had been

working for about a year, nothing definite had been agreed.

Fielding questions on the the consequences of the subsidy removal without necessary palliatives to lesssen the impact, Agba expressed hopes that the committee working with state governors can arrive on a common position on the matter. But he said there is no timeline for the Osinbajo’s committee to conclude the discussion which he said is ongoing.

However, he recalled that under the federal government 2022 to 2023 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, a proposal of N3.3trillion was made for fuel subsidy between January and June 2023.

“For over a year plus now, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has been leading a committee working on this and the National Economic Council also has a committee that has also been working on this.

“So, the stage that we are in now is how to finalize the suggestions that have come out from both the federal government and the governors side.

“Like you know, it is something that is going to affect the entire nation. They will just have to ensure that everyone is carried along, that is both the federal and sub-national governments”, he said.

Agba also disclosed that FEC approved the Nigeria Agenda 2050, a plan aimed at increasing real GDP growth by 7%, creating 165 million new jobs and reducing the number of people living in poverty to 2.1 million in 2050, from the 83 million people estimated in 2020.

Meanwhile, the 2023 Population and Housing Census, earlier scheduled for March 29, has been shifted to May 2023.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the disclosure during the post-FEC meeting.

According to Alhaji Mohammed, the decision to reschedule had been necessitated by last week’s decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reschedule the governorship and State Houses of

Assembly elections to March 18.

He also disclosed that the Council approved the sum of N2.8 billion for the National Population Commission (NPC) to procure some software to be used for the conduct of the census.

“There was a memo presented by the National Population Commission, seeking for some software to allow them conduct the census in May this year. I believe because of the reschedulement of the elections, they cannot commence the census as scheduled.

“They sought Council’s approval for a contract to procure software for the census at the sum of N2.8 billion,” he said.

Mohammed also disclosed that FEC approved the sum of N15 billion for the construction of an access road linking the Benin-Asaba expressway to the 2nd Niger Bridge.

Mohammed also disclosed that the Council approved the sum of N 16 Billion as augmentation for the dualization of Suleja-Minna road in Niger State.

Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (middle), meeting with select members of the Hausa Community at the Oko Oba Abattoir, Agege, in continuation of his campaign for the APC and Governor Babajide SanwoOlu second term re-election bid, yesterday in Lagos.

It is time to create youth-based wealth for Nigeria — Adesina

DrAkinwumi Adesina, the President Africa Development Bank (AfDB) Group, says it is time to create youth-based wealth that will support a more inclusive Nigerian economy.

Adesina said this at the Presidential Inauguration of the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (I-DICE) programme in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to him, the initiative is timely, strategic, and transformative and will build the ecosystems to support more competitive entrepreneurs powered by digital technologies.

“Yes, we gather to inaugurate the initiative, but what we are really inaugurating is more than it. We are inaugurating hope for the youth.

“We are inaugurating platforms that will enhance the ability and capacity of Nigeria’s youth to thrive. We are inaugurating the creation of millions of jobs.

“We are retooling Nigeria to compete more in an increasingly digital world. We are creating hope for a new Nigeria, driven by the power of the youth,” he said.

The AfDB boss said that what

Nigeria does with its youthful population would determine its future.

“It is time to create youth-based wealth for Nigeria.

“Youth-based wealth will rapidly expand the creation of jobs, expand the fiscal space with new sources of taxes, and support a more inclusive Nigerian economy, now and well into the future.’

“That is why, shortly after I was elected AfDB president, we inaugurated the Jobs for Youth in Africa strategy.

“We expect that the programme will create 25 million new jobs by 2026, focusing on practical and highimpact solutions,” he said.

According to Adesina, the future is here, and every aspect of life is digitally transformed. When you think digital, think global.

He said based on estimates, the digital global health size of Africa would expand from 217 billion dollars in 2022 to more than one trillion dollars by 2031, an incredible growth.

“The size of Africa’s digital economy will rise from 115 billion dollars today to 712 billion dollars by 2050.

“And most of this growth is already

driven by four countries: Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt.

Adesina said that several factors, including the rapid growth in the youth population, drove the expansion of the digital economy.

He said these digital trends hold great promise to help create massive jobs.

“For example, estimates by Endeavor (2022) show that expanding digital infrastructure by 10 per cent will lead to a 2.5 per cent annual growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Africa.

“Furthermore, expanding access to the internet in Africa from the current 33 per cent to 75 per cent can help create 44 million jobs, including three million jobs in online services by 2025,” he said.

The bank’s president said Nigeria was already witnessing the power of digital technologies, tools, and platforms.

According to him, Nigeria currently has five out of the 11 digital companies that has reached the status of unicorn with market valuation of one billion dollars.

He listed the companies to include

Jumia, Interswitch, Opay, Flutterwave and Andela, mainly in fintech.

Adesina said Nigeria’s poor and fragmented cargo transport system was gradually transforming, thanks to Kobo 360, a digital logistics platform.

He further said in spite its growth, the country was yet to fully tap into and unleash the power of its creative industry.

“The I-DICE programme will help to fill some of these critical gaps.

“By supporting enterprise and skills development, access to demanddriven digital and creative skills, entrepreneurship skills, ICT enabled infrastructure and expanding access to finance.”

Adesina said the AfDB was pleased to partner with the Federal Government of Nigeria on the 618 million dollars I-DICE programme.

According to him, AfDB is providing 170 million dollars in financing to the programme.

“I am delighted that we have been able to mobilise additional cofinancing of 217 million dollars toward the programme.

“I wish to thank our partners, the Agence Francaise de Developpement

(AFD), which is providing 100 million dollars, and the Islamic Development Bank, which is providing 70 million dollars.

“I also thank the Bank of Industry and the Federal Government of Nigeria for providing 45 million dollars in counterpart funding.

“Through the independent fund managers for I-DICE, the programme will raise an additional capital of between 131 million dollars and 262 million dollars,” he said.

While reiterating some of the. Bank’s initiatives, Adesina said it would soon roll out Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks.

According to him, the new financial institutions are expected to build robust financial ecosystems around the businesses of young people across Africa.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo formally inaugurated the programme.

The event was attended by stakeholders, representatives of Co-financers, government officials, ministers and youths among others.

(NAN)

FCT set to transform fisheries sector to farmers’ cash-cow

By stanley Onyekwere

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has restated commitment to transform the fisheries sector to become a cash cow for the farmers in the territory and the national economy.

The Mandate Secretary for the FCTA Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS), Malam Abubakar Ibrahim, made the pledge at the commemoration of the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA) in the FCT, held in Abuja.

Ibrahim, who ARDS Director of Administration and Finance, Malam Ishaq Sadeeq expressed readiness of the secretariat to continue to advocate and pursue the implementation of innovative programmes that would help in enhancing effective utilization of the rich water bodies that abound in the FCT.

He noted that there was no gainsaying the fact that fish was a very important agricultural product that was largely consumed

Retired Gwagwalada Area Commander advises security personnel on patience, endurance

By Usman Shuaibu

The retired Gwagwalada Area Commander in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), ACP Nana Bature Garba, has advised the security personnel to always cultivate the habit of patience and endurance at their working place.

She also urged the security agencies to work in conjunction with other security organizations for better synergy in Gwagwalada and its environs.

ACP Nana Bature Garba, who gave the advice while speaking with Peoples Daily correspondent after the send-forth ceremony organized by the Police Personnel of the command on her retirement age on Tuesday in Gwagwalada.

She said the Personnel of the command organized the sendforth party for her due to the good relationship and cooperation at the command.

She said: “The relationship with my personnel is not that of police duty but mother and children. It is based on this that my personnel organized the send-forth party for me”,

She, therefore, charged the personnel to be sincere in their dealing and prayed for them to excel in life.

ACP Garba hailed the administration of Gwagwalada Area Council as well as the residents for the co-operation accorded to her during her service, saying that she would live to remember the people of Gwagwalada.

due to its rich nutritional and medicinal values.

According to him: “It is not a surprise that the sector is growing at an alarming rate as more and more Nigerians engage in fish production not just for the nutritional value, but economic benefits associated with it.

“ It is estimated that a very large percentage of Nigerians, mostly youths venture into fisheries production annually. While this scenario would have been seen as a positive development, the sad narrative is the fact that more than 90 per cent of these farmers still operate at subsistent and small-scale levels.”

He adds: “As you are aware, the United Nations, declared 2022 as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries (IYAFA) with the objective of drawing global attention to the important role that small-scale fish farmers and fish workers play in human well-being, food security, poverty eradication and in the sustainable use of natural resources.

“ Member nations are expected to use the occasion to show

commitment and take practical actions to support and promote fishery activities.

“ The event we are therefore witnessing today is consistent with that worthy declaration as well as the theme of the event which is Building a Global Safety Net for Small-scale Artisanal Fisheries & Aquaculture.

“He, however, bemoaned that fish farmers in Nigeria lack the professional expertise and investable funds to enable them acquire quality inputs required to help them transit easily from household to commercial production to bridge the yawning gap between demand and supply and reduce the huge foreign exchange that was spent on fish importation.

“These are some of the issues that the programmes of the Secretariat are aimed at addressing. The story of Fisheries Development in the FCT is one that is characterized by steady growth and improvements in terms of production capacity, quality processing and access to markets and competitiveness

“Part of the strategies that we have adopted is to encourage local fish farmers organise themselves as a body so that they can more easily benefit from the various fisheries support programmes of the Secretariat.

“So far, over 400 fishery cooperative groups have registered with the secretariat, and we have been working closely with the various Fishery Associations such as the Cat Fish Farmers Association of Nigeria, (CAFAN) to promote diversification into other fish varieties”, he stressed.

Ibrahim recalled that in 2022, the secretariat organised series of workshops to promote Tilapia production as well as on the utilisation of locally sourced materials for feed formulation which is cost efficient.

Also, the secretary said in 2021, as part of the pet project of the FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Aliyu, the secretariat constructed from scratch, the FCT Aquaculture and Allied Trades Centre for Youth and Women at Kuka village in Kwali Area Council, established to train

women and youths in modern fish production techniques.

Earlier in her welcome remarks, the Director, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Mrs Ifeoma Okeke, described lack of training among others as the major challenges facing the growth of Fisheries in the FCT. Okeke noted that although the sector is small in scale but big in value, as it has contributed so much food security and nutrition, poverty eradication and job creation.

“We assembled experts in the areas of interest to talk on processing for export, fish farming as a business, facilities available in our financial institutions and how to access them as well as prospects and challenges in the industry.

“Also, we recognised men and women that have contributed immensely to the growth and development of the industry in the FCT, which was crowned with empowerment scheme”, she added.

CBN Advises Central Bankers To Ensure Tighter Regulation of banks

• Pushes for financially healthy Banks

By Abubakar Yunusa

TheGovernor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has urged the Governors of Central Banks and other African financial sector regulators to be more vigilant in their regulatory and supervisory roles to forestall any run on banks in their respective jurisdictions.

Mr. Emefiele gave the charge on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, at the opening of the 2023 African Central Bank Conference held at the Global Leadership

Center, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Speaking on the current global dynamics and specific policy developments in Nigeria to address emerging shocks, he advised central banks on the continent to draw lessons from the recent failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in the United States of America, by putting in place regulations that will prevent any run on banks in their countries.

Emefiele, while sharing Nigeria’s experience in regulating banks, noted that the threats posed to the financial

system necessitated the release of new guidelines and regulations to tackle potential infringements and, in the process, protect depositors’ funds as well as promote greater transparency in the sector.

According to him, regulators must be alive to their responsibilities by ensuring that banks under their regulatory watch are financially healthy and do not suffer a similar fate as the Silicon Valley Bank, which, until its collapse recently, catered to many of the world’s most powerful tech investors.

Topics discussed at the conference, declared open by the Prime Minister of Namibia, the Rt Hon. Saara Kuugongelwa, centred around “African Solution for African Problems” and “Africa’s Seat at the Table,” among others. Other deliberations at the twoday confab, also addressed by Lesetja Kganyago, Governor, Reserve Bank of South Africa, bordered on “Calibrating for a New World Order” and “Unlocking Development Finance and Mobilising Institutional Investors for Development in Africa”.

NiMet holds FCT 2023 seasonal climate predictions in Gwagwalada

By Usman Shuaibu

TheNigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Tuesday organized a one-day workshop on the 2023 Seasonal Climate Predictions (SCP) for farmers in Gwagwalada of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In an interview with newsmen at the occasion, a Director from the

Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Engr. Abdullahi Abubakar said the purpose of the workshop was to enlighten the farmers on how to monitor and get acquainted to weather changes to enhance productivity.

He said the ministry would continue to gear towards providing inputs for farmers during the cropping season.

The Director, however, pointed out that the ministry would always support

the NiMet in providing knowledge for farmers on the need to carry out their farming operations successfully every year and described the workshop as a successful one.

Also speaking, the General Manager in charge of Agrometeorology at NiMet, Mallam Haruna Zakari said the NiMet would continue to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to provide quality seed for farmers in the Federal Capital

Territory and Nigerian as a whole. He pointed out that the management of NiMet would not hesitate to enlighten the farmers so as to boost their morals during the rainy season.

The Nimet General Manager of Agrometeorology revealed that the workshop targeted at one hundred and fifty participants in this year seasonal climate predictions.

L-R: Chief Business Officer, Lagos & South-West, PremiumTrust Bank, Ademola Adeyemi; Managing Director/CEO, PremiumTrust Bank, Emmanuel Emefienim; Executive Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu; Commissioner for Finance, Ondo State, Adewale Olumuyiwa; and Regional Head, South-West, PremiumTrust Bank, Abiodun Jegede, during a courtesy visit by Management of PremiumTrust Bank to Ondo State Governor at the State House in Akure, yesterday.

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

Justice James Omotoso of a Federal High Court,Abuja fixed May 22, for hearing in a suit instituted by a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ugochukwu Uchenwa, seeking to stop the conduct of elections and examination on Saturdays in the country.

The court on Wednesday, granted President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) leave to regularize thier processes, filed by their counsel, Osasogie Uwaifo.

In his argument, Uchenwa had through his counsel,

I will provide renewable energy in Rivers — Semenitari

Mrs Ibim Semenitari, Director, New Media, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Council for Rivers governorship election, says its governorship candidate, Mr Siminalayi Fubara will provide affordable renewable energy supply if elected.

Semenitari who said this in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, added that Rivers indigenes would experience a new electricity regime.

She said Fubara would create a sustainable energy infrastructure by investing in renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydroelectricity.

The director said the candidate would also improve on the existing grid system by modernising outdated equipment and increasing access to electricity in underserved regions.

She said electricity would be the priority of Fubara`s administration, adding he would focus on the energy sector upon assumption of office.

Semenitari said the governorship candidate would audit the energy requirements of the State and develop a plan to secure energy security for the State.

She said to further solve the energy problem, he would invest in solar systems to power public institutions and also embark on rural electrification projects.(NAN)

Adventist church: Court hears suit against elections, exams on Saturdays, May 22

Benjamin Amaefule submitted that conducting elections and examinations on Saturdays violated his fundamental rights to freedom of worship as a citizen and a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Consequently, he prayed the court to declare the fixing of elections and examinations on Saturdays as unconstitutional.

In the alternative, the plaintiff asked the court to order the defendants to allow him and other members of his church to vote or take examinations on any other day of the week including Sundays.

Listed as defendants in the suit are President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Independent

National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Minister of Internal Affairs, Joint Admission and Matriculation Examinations (JAMB), National Examination Council (NECO), West African Examination Council, (WAEC) and the National Business and Technical Examination Board.

In the originating summons, the plaintiff is asking the court to declare that the schedule of elections in Nigeria on Saturdays, the “Sabbath day” as observed by members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is a violation of his fundamental rights to freedom of worship. “It is also a violation of conscience, profession and free practice of faith and right to participate freely in the

government of the applicant and that of entire members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Nigeria.

“A declaration that the actions of the 5th to 8th respondents fixing examinations on Saturdays, a “Sabbath day of the Lord” is a violation of the fundamental rights of freedom of conscience, profession and free practice of faith of the members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Nigeria.

“It is also a violation of the right to freedom of education of the applicant and the members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Nigeria.”

The plaintiff asked the court for an order restraining INEC from further violating the rights

of members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church by holding elections on Saturdays.

In the alternative, that the court should order INEC to mark out a different day for the members of the church to participate in their own election if the electoral umpire cannot schedule and hold the elections on a day other than on Saturdays.

He also wants an order restraining the 5th to 8th respondents from scheduling and conducting compulsory public examinations on Saturdays, without making option for the members of the Seventhday Adventist Church to write their exams on days other than Saturdays.

R-L: Minister of Youth and Sports Development , Mr. Sunday Dare with the NYSC Director General, Brigadier General YD Ahmed , during the inauguration of 50th anniversary Committee of the NYSC, on Monday in Abuja.

Sugar tax good for public health – GHAI

The Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), says taxation of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) in Nigeria is a win-win-strategy for public health.

Ms Veronica Schoj, Vice President, Food and Nutrition, GHAI, made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

She said that it was also a public health solution to tackling dietrelated diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

“Drinking sugary drinks increases the likelihood of being overweight and excessive sugar intake causes increased risk of diabetes, liver and kidney damage, heart disease and some cancers.

“So, taxing sugary drinks to increase their prices are effective ways to curb the consumption of these harmful drinks and potentially lower the burden on the healthcare system,” she said.

NAN reports that the SSB

tax targeted natural and added sweeteners such as brown sugar, corn sweetener and syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, highfructose corn syrup, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar, and sucrose.

Others are: soft drinks, juices, nectars, sweetened coffee, sweetened tea, energy drinks, speciality drinks and flavoured dairy.

Schoj said that government could use the revenue generated by the tax increase to improve healthcare.

“We know from growing evidence from countries with an SSB tax that they are an effective way to reduce the consumption of these harmful drinks.

“Data collected from these countries, including South Africa, demonstrated that the well-designed taxes impact on the final prices and make these ultra-processed products less affordable.

“This resulted in a decrease in the consumption of sugary drinks and an increase in the consumption of healthier products like water and savings in healthcare cost,” she said.

The GHAI vice president said that the revenue collected could be used for health programmes.

“In essence, the tax is a winwin-win for government, because it discourages their consumption, encourages consumers to make healthier choices that will improve their health while also funnelling the country with resources to support health measures,” she added.

Schoj said that SSBs contribute to malnutrition and reduce the consumption of nutritious foods.

“That is why SSB taxes not only protect the health of entire population, but is particularly useful to protecting the most vulnerable socioeconomic groups that are more affected by malnutrition and non

communicable diseases,” she said.

According to her, SSBs companies produce ultraprocessed beverages that have huge impact on health, generate significant environmental damage through excessive use of water and plastic contamination, among others.

“That is why policies that look for the reduction of the consumption of SSBs to protect human and planetary health is very essential,” she said.

According to her, Civil Society Organisations and the media should keep educating the public and policymakers on the health and environmental harms of sugary drinks.

Schoj said that the public education should heighten awareness on why sugary drinks were a leading cause of noncommunicable diseases in a country and how the tax would be used to tackle the diseases.

(NAN)

Photo,: NYSC

By Maryam Abeeb

Nigeria and Israel have commenced collaborative moves to deepen partnership in innovation, entrepreneurship and production with the aim of harnessing Nigeria’s huge potentials for its technological development.

This was disclosed when the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Mr. Michael Freeman paid a working visit to the Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny S.T. Echono at the Fund’s Headquarters in Abuja.

Speaking during the visit, Ambassador Freeman expressed Israel’s desire to work with Nigeria in the area of technology and entrepreneurship development, describing Nigeria as a country of huge potentials due to its teeming youth population.

Benue Guber: APC, PDP talk tough

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

The All Progressives Congress, (APC), in Benue state has alleged plot by Governor Samuel Ortom and the Peoples’ Democratic Party,PDP to victimize and intimidate Benue electorates during the Saturday March 18th, 2023 Governorship election.

Meanwhile Special Adviser to the Governor on Media/ICT Terver Akase aptly and swiftly debunked the allegations as ‘lies’.

State Chairman of APC Comrade Austin Agada at a press conference on Wednesday, alleged that the Governor has threatened to depose traditional chiefs, sack permanent secretaries and several civil servants if they fail to vote for the PDP in the Governorship election.

He also accused Ortom of holding clandestine meeting with INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC Prof. Sam Egwu and other top officials of the Commission to manipulate the election in favor of the party candidate Hon.Titus Uba.

The APC chairman who said the party is ready to bury the PDP in the Governorship poll, urged the Benue people to go ahead and exercise their franchise without fear,promising that anyone who is sacked or victimized for supporting and voting the APC in the Saturday elections will be restored.

Nigeria, Israel to deepen partnerships in innovation, entrepreneurship, production

While describing Israel as a leading country in technology and innovation, Ambassador Freeman disclosed that 45% of Israel’s GDP comes from innovation and entrepreneurship start-ups, as the country’s major economic sectors are involved in high technology and industrial manufacturing.

He stated that with Nigeria’s huge potential, if same could be achieved, or even a 30% GDP addition to Nigeria coming from technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, it would hasten Nigeria’s economic development.

The Israeli Ambassador further stated that Nigeria

possesses the potential to be a destination for businesses if innovative developments are harnessed, particularly through innovation incubation hubs.

This, he said, would provide young Nigerians who have entrepreneurship potentials but lacked expertise an avenue to be mentored and guided in the right direction.

Mr. Freeman also spoke about the Innovation Fellowship for Aspiring Inventors and Researchers (i-Fair) programme, an initiative borne out of the need to raise a generation of innovators, inventors and researchers in Nigeria; especially among the youths.

He noted that the Embassy has worked closely with the office of the Vice President on the programme, which has spanned across two editions and also called for stronger partnership with the Fund in the upcoming Third Edition.

In his remarks, Arc. Sonny S.T Echono expressed appreciation to the Israeli Ambassador for his visit and commitment towards strengthening ties with TETFund in Nigeria’s quest for technological and economic development.

While expressing excitement at the numerous benefits derivable from the partnership, he stated that “If innovation and entrepreneurship can provide

45% of Israel GDP, one can only imagine what 10 0r 20% will do to Nigeria’s GDP with our population”.

According to Echono, there is a global consensus that Nigerians are hardworking and intelligent if provided with the right incentives, and one can envision what can be unlocked through technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

While intimating Mr. Freeman of TETFund’s collaboration with Innova8 Hub and other strategic partners, he also hinted on the Fund’s drive to domesticate Innovation Hubs in some of Nigeria’s tertiary educational institutions.

Gombe conscience lawyers condemn alleged rigging plot by APC

From David Hassan, Gombe

Conscience lawyers in

state have condemned an alleged rigging plot of Governorship and State House of Assembly elections by the All Progressives

Congress (APC ).

The spokesman of the group Barr. Luka Haruna made the condemnation while briefing Journalists in Gombe on Tuesday.

He said it won’t be good for the ruling party, APC, in the state

to rig an elections in favour of the sitting governor without peoples mandate.

Barr Haruna however explained that the dismantling of security check points within Gombe and its environs ahead of Governorship and state House of

Assembly elections schedule for 18th of March will give political thugs free movement to cause mayhem.

He argued that such act will not only cause mayhem but will equally frustrate the electoral process.

Polls: Benue LP candidate, denies endorsing PDP Uba

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party in Benue State, Hon. Herman Hembe has distanced himself from an endorsement of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, Governorship candidate Titus Uba.

It should be noted that on Monday 13th March, 2023, 94 support groups of the Labor Party endorsed Uba at Government House, Makurdi, explaining that their action was born out of the need to reciprocate Governor Samuel Ortom who sacrificed his Senatorial ambition for the party during the Presidential/

Senatorial which he lost.

They appreciated him for standing in defence of the State against external aggressors.

But in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, Hon. Hembe said unequivocally that he would not have any ties with the PDP, maintaining that the purported

adoption is a ‘sham’.

He noted that the group are people who do not have electoral value and are looking for stipends from the government, stressing that he is not deterred by the action but is campaigning hard to win the Governorship election slated for Saturday 18th March,2023.

Gombe

L-R: APC House of Reps-elect, Ajeromi Ifelodun constituency, Hon Paul Kalejaiye; Market EXCO, Mr Nwakeoma Okey; Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Chairman, Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government, Hon Fatai Ayoola; Chairman of Akere Auto Spare Part Market, Mr Izuchukwu Uba and the council Vice-Chairman, Hon Lucky Uduikhue, during the presentation of cheque and launching to rebuild Akere Auto Spare Parts Market at Olodi-Apapa, Lagos, yesterday.

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

The Ministry of environment through Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON) has visited Government Junior Secondary School (GJSS) Gui in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) to assess the health iioimpact and damage done by solar batteries.

The directive was given to the EHCON by the Minister of Environment, Muhammad Abdullahi, following hazardous emission of substance from some of the solar batteries.

The investigation team visited the school Monday revealed that nearly 50 panels were installed in the school due to the absence of electricity in the community.

Speaking on the solar panels, the Registrar of EHCON, Mohammed Yakubu, said the batteries meant to service the solar panels were not well kept .

“Ideally, those batteries were supposed to be kept where crossed ventilation is coming through because the batteries contain gel. The batteries were affected because they were kept indoors and in a confined place”.

FG investigates suspected case of toxic batteries in GJSS Gui

Similarly, EHCON Deputy Registrar, Andy Ukah confirmed that the emission would likely trigger health risks in the school and the entire community if unchecked.

He said that the incident occured on Thursday March 9, 2023, when the batteries were emitting smoke and gaseous substance while the school was in session.

Ukah, who is also the National Coordinator, National Institute of Environmental Health, described the incidence as a public health emergency that required urgent attention.

The Director of Junior Secondary Schools, FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB)

Hajiya Rahmatu Nusa, linked the emission to continuous charging of the batteries without discharging energy.

She noted that as soon as the incident occurred on Thursday, that the batteries were turned off to avoid damages in the school.

Also, Air Quality Monitoring Consultant, EHCON, Dr. Fatima Mohammed stated that a good Samaritan reported the incident on Friday, adding that EHCON immediately swung into action and discovered that the entire surrounding was filled with rotten smell.

She expected that the batteries were emitting hydrogen sulphur dioxide, adding that it would take up to 48 days to clear from the environment.

She lamented that the facility is not safe for the storage of solar batteries, saying that an air conditioner is supposed to be installed in the store including two windows to pave the way for cross ventilation.

She stated that if the swollen batteries should bust, it could trigger fire outbreak in the school, lamenting that the batteries released harmful and colourless gaseous substance that has odour.

She noted that the gaseous substance are irritants capable of irritating the skin, eyes, nose and throat, saying that constant exposure could affect the lungs and cause brain damage.

The Principal of the school, Adamu Danlami said that he was on official duty outside the school when the incident happened, noting that he immediately directed that the batteries should be switch off.

A solar panel expert, Engr. Kingsley Nwigwe of W. Wireless Mechatronics Abuja, said that some of the batteries were swollen, which led to the emission.

He suggested a routine check

on the facility every three months, as the battery emitted some gaseous elements that are harmful to human health.

“It has a controller that regulates the charging system but in as much as the battery is unused, it replaces the energy being used”.

According to him, in a scenario like after school period, the system will be charging and when there is a controller that controls the charging system, it will never overcharge even when its not in use.

“But if some batteries are bad, it keeps receiving energy even when they never get filled up. Some will get swollen if they are over charged,”.

The school was built in 2019 by Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals OSSAP-SDGs Abuja.

Emir of Zazzau advocates for more University in Kaduna

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Emir of Zazzau in Kaduna State, Amb. Ahmed Nuhu Bamal has advocated for the establishment of more universities in Nigeria to meet admission demands of those in pursuit of higher knowledge.

The Emir stressed the need for more investment in the education sector through the establishment of more universities.

ACOMIN seeks media support on Malaria control in Jigawa

From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

The Civil Society for Malaria control Immunization and Nutrition popularly known as (ACOMIN), appealed to media practitioners to support its effort on fight against malaria diseases in Jigawa state.

The call was made by state project officer of ACOMIN in Jigawa state, comrade Auwal Ibrahim while briefing news men shortly after a meeting with stakeholders held at ACOMIN office in Dutse the state capital.

He explained that, the meeting aimed at gathering inputs from community leaders, civil society organizations and media to develop general concept note against 2024 - 2026.

According to him, ACOMIN being in operation in Jigawa since 2020, realized gaps on inadequate awareness and enlightenment of general public on their roles to controlling malaria diseases in the state.

He spoke in Kaduna yesterday where he hailed the management of Greenfield, University Kaduna providing quality facility at its city campus in Kudenda community.

Speaking at the Greenfield, University City Campus in Kudenda after commissioning, Ahmad Nuhu Bamalli Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, named after him, the Royal

Father said ” we’ve four universities in Kaduna and the mother of all, we have ABU Zaria. I cannot say we have enough, but with the population in Kaduna, it is not enough to cater

for the demands. With Greenfield in Kaduna metropolis, more students will gain, from what we have seen, you have most of the required faculties.”

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

Senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Mohammed Sani Musa 313 has redeemed his 100 million Naira pledge to support education and empower youth and women in Shiroro local government area of the state.

The representative of the Coalition of Shiroro Association (COSA), Comrade Usman Ibrahim Kuta made this known at a press briefing in Kuta, the council

headquarters, saying this kind gesture has taken away burden from the parents and students.

Comrade Kuta disclosed that 1,346 registered students to benefit free WAEC and NECO examinations to the sum of N29,612,000 with N22,000 per students from the area councils.

He added that no fewer than 114 students also have been registered for JAMB to the sum of N741,000 with N26,500 each in the 15 existing public schools from the two local

government areas of Shiroro and Munya respectively.

Kuta who applauded the singular efforts of the senator, described as ‘ first of its kind and exceptional service’ considering the impact of insecurity bedeviling the people that have resulted in to high poverty in the area, just as youth and women empowerment will soon take effect.

The chairman, Shiroro local government, Akilu Isyaku Kuta in an interview, called on the state and

federal governments to ensure the establishment of a military barrack around Maganda, the identified route of bandits in to the state from Zamfara to end the security challenges facing the senatorial district.

He revealed that about 17 public schools were closed down from the council in Alawa, Manta, Kurebe, Erena, Gurmana and Galkago wards but have now resumed while others have applied for reopening in due course.

From left: Head of Accounts, Centre For Memories (CFM), Mrs Chioma Nwangu; Executive Secretary of CFM, Mazi Iheanyi Igboko; Head of Programmes, Ms Nwada Nnamani and Head Corporate Communications of CFM, Mr Chukwudi Utazi, during a news conference on CFM forthcoming summit on ‘ Embrace Equity and closing Gender gap ‘ yesterday in Enugu

Niger: Sen. Musa redeems N100m pledge to support education, empowerment

I did not step down for any candidate--

Bauchi NNPP guber candidate

From Ahmad Muhammad, Bauxhi

The Gubernatorial candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in Bauchi State Senator Haliru Jika has dispelled reports that he had stepped down for one of the major candidates in the March 18 Governorship election.

Jika who is the senator respresenting Bauchi Central, said he has all it takes to lead the state and he has been well received by the people of Bauchi all through his campaigns.

The NNPP Guber candidate popularly known as Dokaji by friends and well-wishers, cleared the air about the purported news that he had stepped down from the race in an interview with journalists at his residence in Bauchi.

“I did not step down from the Governorship for any candidate and my party has campaign extensively,” he said.

Polls: Benue LP candidate, denies endorsing PDP Uba

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party in Benue State, Hon. Herman Hembe has distanced himself from an endorsement of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, Governorship candidate Titus Uba.

It should be noted that on Monday 13th March, 2023, 94 support groups of the Labor Party endorsed Uba at Government House, Makurdi, explaining that their action was born out of the need to reciprocate Governor Samuel Ortom who sacrificed his Senatorial ambition for the party during the Presidential/ Senatorial which he lost.

They appreciated him for standing in defence of the State against external aggressors.

But in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, Hon. Hembe said unequivocally that he would not have any ties with the PDP, maintaining that the purported adoption is a ‘sham’.

He noted that the group are people who do not have electoral value and are looking for stipends from the government, stressing that he is not deterred by the action but is campaigning hard to win the Governorship election slated for Saturday 18th March,2023.

Yoruba Imams congratulate Tinubu, urge him to liberate Nigerians from poverty

The League of Imams and Alfas in Yorubaland, Edo and Delta states (THE RABITA) has congratulated the President-Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his hard-earned victory at the polls, urging him to work towards liberating Nigerians from poverty.

The Imams, in a congratulatory message jointly signed by Sheikh Habeebullah Adam Abdullah Al-Ilori and Sheikh (Dr.) Ahmad

Aladesawe, said Tinubu’s victory is a confirmation of the truism that only Allah ordains kings and presidents, saying, “No matter the plots and scheming, Allah decides to give power to whom He wills (Qur’an 3: 26-27)”.

The group said: “We see your success at the polls as the triumph of light over darkness and a blessing from Allah (SWT), in spite of plots, threats, blackmail and outright

attempts at demonization of Your Excellency’s personality.

“We as Muslims urge you to lead the nation to the club of developed countries of the world and be exemplary as you are in the annals of the history of Lagos State. Be fair and just to all and follow the steps of Sayidinah Umar in service delivery to the people.

“Please use your God-given knowledge to liberate Nigerians from poverty and want. Please

balance all your appointments without prejudice based on ethnicity or creed despite open hate against your person and irredentist attempts to block your ways.”

The group also urged Tinubu and the Vice-President Elect Kashim Shettima to showcase the beauty of Islam in all their actions, saying, “We shall stand by you through thick, thins and bends as you move on to glory.”

Gombe Elections: Again PDP accuses APC on alleged rigging plot

From David Hassan, Gombe

The PDP and APC, Gombe chapter have traded words over alleged plot to rig the Governorship and State House of Assembly polls billed for March 18.

The PDP had alleged that it uncovered an orchestrated plot by the ruling APC to rig the governorship and state house of assembly elections in the state.

The APC on the other hand, said the PDP was coming up with falsehood because they knew they would lose at the polls.

Mr Ayuba Aluke, spokesman of the state’s PDP Campaign Management Council said this at a news conference in Gombe on Tuesday.

Aluke alleged that Gov. Inuwa Yahaya of the state-led APC had perfected plans to compromise the elections in the state to ensure victory for his party and secure his re-election.

He said the PDP had obtained

an audio evidence of the alleged plan and had submitted same to the security agencies, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other concerned stakeholders for necessary action.

Aluke decried the level of desperation by the APC to “win elections at all cost through vote-buying, intimidation and compromising the Bimodal Voter Authentication System (BVAS) to get the result that they want.

“We are lucky to stumble on some information and also to scoop intelligence along the line.

“We have authenticated audio evidence where the current governor of Gombe state under the leadership of the APC is discussing and sharing information with some of his cohorts.

“He (the governor) said that he is working and planning toward rigging, manipulating and also out-smarting the BVAS machines and all the electoral

laws.

“This is All in a grand attempt and design to make sure that he returns as the governor of Gombe state by any means.

“This is why we are sharing our concerns as a way of alerting security agencies to take measures to address some of these issues or events that are emerging as we are approaching the election day.”

The PDP campaign spokesperson said his party would continue to take all available legal means toward addressing their concerns while urging its supporters to remain calm while coming out on Saturday to vote massively for the PDP.

In a swift reaction on behalf of the APC, Mr Ismaila UbaMisilli, the Director, Media and Publicity, APC Campaign Council in the state said the PDP was frightened by the sterling performance of Yahaya.

Uba-Misilli said the PDP had resorted to propagating

falsehood against the governor, knowing that they stood no chance at the polls, adding that Yahaya remained a man of peace and progress.

“Earlier, I sent a press statement alerting the public of the plan by PDP to smear the name of the governor through some unscrupulous means.

“As far as we are concerned, there is no plan to rig any election so all these are concussions of facts by the PDP knowing full well that they are bound to lose the election and may not have anything to show to the public.”

Uba-Misilli said the PDP was only peddling falsehood to attract goodwill for themselves or to score political points but “I advise them to face their campaign and woo voters.

“Let them stop propagating falsehood against the governor.

“The governor is a man of peace and one who has so much to show to the public and electorate for them to vote for him.”

From left: Chairman of PDP Oyo State; Mr Dayo Ogungbenro; SDP Gubernatorial Candidate for Oyo State, Mr Michael Lana; a PDP member in Oyo State, Mr Open Salawu, during a news conference to declare support for Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State re-election, yesterday in Ibadan

Will Nigerians change?

By Zaharaddeen Muhammed

The politicians who spent more to get themselves elected don’t see leadership as a responsibility but as a means by which one enriches oneself. People judge candidates best on how much money they have and are ready to offer it to them during elections, regardless of considering the sources of the money.

The 2023 general elections have exposed many Nigerians to the obvious fact that we are. not ready for the positive changes that we have railed for in the past. Sadly, some, if not all, Nigerians’ minds were wrongly changed on the eve of the election to the so-called “sachet of spaghetti” and cellphone recharge cards in the form of vote-buying.

It is seemingly clear that our blabbering is only a tea spot junction story and not a thorough action to vote competency instead of oppositely. How could we yearn for optimist transformations for a couple of years but, annoyingly, be one day changed by subscribing to daylight electoral malpractice? This only happens in states where ignorance is prevalent.

Nigerians shouldn’t be deluded into thinking that these politicians who make every effort to obtain political power at all costs are doing it for the public good, and this kind of rice politics is what makes it difficult for us as a democratic country to produce competent and committed leaders.

To be honest, the Nigerian political system too needs to be restructured. The high cost of purchasing a ticket to contest the presidential post in the major political parties makes it difficult for responsible and capable poor Nigerians to contest, and the cost of campaigning is also high.

The politicians who spent more to get themselves elected don’t see leadership as a responsibility but as a means by which one enriches oneself. People judge candidates best on how much money they have and are ready to offer it to them during elections, regardless of considering the sources of the money. But to do justice to ourselves, the day we will begin to have leaders that will serve us will be the day we start to give more priorities and emphasis to ability, decency, integrity, and records of leadership performance in the process of electing leaders.

The change we want to achieve most begins with individual change; “we can’t achieve the change unless we act against it.” Because change is an action-oriented phenomenon, the action has to be collective. If you ask the ordinary Nigerian masses, what changes do they want to achieve? They will start mentioning things like; improved health care system, better security, having millions of jobs for various categories of citizens, declined poverty, having nice meals on table and so on but if you ask them that what efforts did you make? The answer will be no, and change was never miraculous. We expect the change to be administered by the government, but it is unknown to us that people like me and you make the government.

Therefore, it can’t be denied that “a development-oriented leader can’t achieve development without having development-oriented laws, for he can’t act contrary to the constitutional provisions in the cause of administering development.” Thus, the constitution too needs to be changed for development, and consequently, we need to restructure our minds too.

Zaharaddeen Muhammed writes from Azare Bauchi State and can be reached at Zahmuhaza@gmail.com

Impeachment, penalty for failure and incompetence

By Eric Teniola

Since we started operating the Presidential System of government in 1979, no Nigerian President has been impeached. But seven governors have been impeached so far.

The former Kaduna state Governor, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa (21 August 1936 – 11 November 2020), then of the Peoples Redemption Party was impeached on the 23rd June, 1981. He was unable to form a cabinet before his impeachment. He eventually handed over to Alhaji Abba Musa Rimi. On January 12, 2006, Chief Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja (77), the former governor of Oyo state, was impeached by eighteen Oyo state House of Assembly members. He challenged his impeachment, and on November 1, 2006, the Appeal Court in Ibadan reinstated him, declaring the process of his impeachment null and void. But he would not resume office until the Supreme Court upheld the decision on November 11, 2009, and Ladoja officially resumed office on December 12, 2006.

The present Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi(61) fondly called “OKWUTE”– ROCK, was Chairman of Fidelity Bank before he ventured into politics in 2003. He was elected governor of Anambra state thereafter. He was impeached on November 2, 2006, by the Anambra state House of Assembly headed by Mr. Mike Balonwu for gross misconduct. The majority leader in the Anambra House of Assembly then was Chief Humphrey Nsofor. President Obasanjo at that time intervened on the issue. He even sent the PDP National Chairman, Chief Ahmadu Ali and the secretary of the party, Chief Ojo Madueke to Awka to plead with the members of the Anambra House of Assembly.

He challenged his impeachment and was reinstated by the Supreme Court in February 2007.

Mr. Joshua Chibi Dariye (65) was governor of Plateau state from May 29, 1999 to May 18, 2004 until he was impeached on November 13, 2006. His deputy, Michael Botmang, became the new governor. On March 10, 2007, after a Court of Appeal ordered Dariye reinstated as governor, the Plateau State Government announced its intention to appeal to the Supreme Court.

On 27 April 2007, the Supreme Court refused the appeal of the Plateau State Government and ordered the reinstatement of Dariye with immediate effect. Following his reinstatement, Dariye’s term of office as Governor of Plateau State concluded on 29 May 2007.

Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha (DSP) (16 November 1952 – 10 October 2015) was Governor of Bayelsa State from 29 May 1999 to 9 December 2005. He was impeached on the 9th December, 2005.

Chief Peter Ayodele Fayose (61), the former Governor of Ekiti State, became the second governor of Ekiti on 29 May 2003, after defeating the incumbent Governor, Niyi Adebayo in the gubernatorial elections. Fayose could not complete his tenure as a result of an impeachment on 16 October 2006.

During the 2014 Ekiti State gubernatorial election, Fayose was again the PDP nominee. He won the election and was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission as the new Governor of Ekiti State; he was inaugurated on 16 Of October, 2014. Fayose is now the only Nigerian governo to defeat an incumbent two times.

Admiral Murtala Hamman-Yero Nyako (80)(rtd.) was elected Executive Governor of Adamawa State, Nigeria, taking office in May 2007. Prior to then he served in the Navy, at one time being military governor of Niger State, and being appointed Chief of Naval Staff in December 1989.

On 15 July 2014, the governor was impeached as the state House of Assembly deliberated on the report of an investigative panel that probed allegations of financial misconduct against him. The report found the governor guilty of all the 16 allegations of gross misconduct leveled against him by the House.

On 11 February 2016 the Federal Court of Appeal declared the impeachment null and void and ordered that all his entitlements accrued from the date of impeachment be paid to him. The judgment was upheld on 16 December 2016 by the Supreme Court of Nigeria but declined to reinstate him.

Only two Presidents have been threatened with impeachment. The first was President Olusegun Obasanjo (85), GCFR, in September 2002 and now President Muhammadu Buhari (79), GCFR.

On August 8, 2002, a meeting was held at the Nicon Noga

Hilton Hotel, Abuja. It was a caucus meeting of the members of the PDP House of Representatives. On August 13, 2002, the House of Representatives served impeachment notice on President Olusegun Obasanjo with seventeen allegations. The House was presided over by Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’Abba(64) from Tudun Wada Constituency in Kano State.

On the instruction of my then boss, Chief Ufot Ekaette (19392019), Secretary to the Government of the Federation, I obtained copies of the resolution from the Clerk of the House of Representatives then, Chief Oluyemi Ogunyomi (GBOGURUM), a close friend of mine, who is now the Asiwaju of Ilaje in Ondo state. Chief Ogunyemi, who later became the Clerk of the National Assembly before his retirement, gave me copies of the resolution. I gave one to Chief Ekaette and another one to Chief Tunji Oseni (5 January, 194329 November, 2004), who was then the Spokesman to President Obasanjo. Myself and Chief Oseni drove to THE VILLA that night to meet with President Obasanjo, who saw a copy of the resolution first time from Chief Oseni. President Obasanjo later summoned the then Chairman of the PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh (75), Alhaji Adamu Ciroma (20 November 1934 – 5 July 2018) and Chief Tony Anenih (4 August 1933 – 28 October 2018) for an urgent meeting. With President Obasanjo, that night were his personal assistant, Bodunde Adeyanju from Ado Ekiti, Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George (76), the former Military Governor of Ondo State now Ekiti and Ondo States combined, my former boss, who was then Chairman of PDP South West, Professor Babalola Aborisade (7 March 1946- 26 April, 2017) from Usi Ekiti, who was then a Minister, Chief Stephen Olakunle Bakare of Oluwalogbon Motors and other top government officials. President Obasanjo’s special assistant, Taiwo Ojo from Igbo Ora, made frantic telephone calls throughout that night.

I left The Villa that night around 3 a.m. with Chief Tunji Oseni.

President Obasanjo made persistent calls on the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Chief Christopher Kolade that night. Chief Oseni later made me a member of the three man media committee which he coordinated to reply to the allegations of the House of Representatives.

The allegations are 1. That sometime between the months of April and July, 2002, the President purportedly amended the Capital Provisions of the 2002 Appropriation Act by reducing the Capital budget to 44% without forwarding the said amendments to the National Assembly for passage in violation of Section 80(4) of the 1999, Constitution which acts amounts to gross misconduct.

2. On or about the month of July 2002, he issued a presidential order purporting same to constitute an amendment to the Revenue Allocation Act which action amounts to a violation of Section 162( 1) and (2) and Section 313 of 1999 Constitution which amounts to a gross misconduct.

3. That from 1999 to 2002 you have consistently indulged in extra budgetary expenses contrary to Section 80 (2), (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution which act amounts to a gross misconduct to wit:

(a) Expenditure on the National Stadium Contract in excess appropriated sums. (b) Expenditure on the National Identity Card project. He authorized the spending of the sum of N9.5 Billion vide letter of credit as against the sum of N5.9 Billion cumulatively approved for the years 2001 and 2002 in the Appropriation Acts respectively. (c) He authorized the purchase of 63 houses and their furnishing for Ministers in the year 2000 to the tune of N3,0 19,153,178.06 without any budgetary provisions in the 2000 Appropriations Act.

Fourth Allegation: That in the year 2000, he authorized the deployment of military troops to Odi to massacre innocent citizens without recourse to the National Assembly contrary to Section 217(2) C of the 1999 Constitution which requires firstly for some conditions to be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly for the use of the Military in that regard.

Fifth Allegation: That in the year 2001, he without lawful authority authorized the deployment of military troops to Zaki Biam, which occasioned the murder of innocent citizens and the destruction of properties, contrary to Section 217(2) C of the 1999 Constitution which requires firstly for some conditions to be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly for the use of the military in the regard.

Sixth Allegation: That in the year 2002, he refused to fully implement the recurrent budget as it affects the salaries of staff

and overheads for Ministries contrary to the provisions of the Appropriation Act 2002, which amounts to gross misconduct.

Seventh Allegation: That in the year 2002, he refused full payment of recurrent expenditure for the judiciary as it affects monies for the payment of salaries and overhead costs contrary to the Appropriation Act of 2002 which act amounts to gross misconduct, contrary to Sections 80(3) and 162(9) of the Constitution.

Eighth Allegation: (a) On or about the 31 st day of October 200 I, the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation issued two separate letters mandating the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja to debit CBN/NCC USD Account No.400938294 with Chase Manhattan Bank, New York in the sum of US$40 million (Forty million United States of America Dollars) and N 16,0 15,500,000.00 (Sixteen billion, Fifty-one million, Five hundred thousand Naira) without enabling legislation by the National Assembly.

(b) On or about the 31 st day of October 200 I, the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation by the aforesaid letters mandated the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria Pic. Lagos Account No.3582059979001 with Standard Chartered Bank N.Y., 7, World Trade Center in the sum of US$40 million (Forty million United States of America Dollars) and First Bank of Nigeria Pic. Account No.4000070 1-35 with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Lagos in the sum of N 16,051 ,500,000.00 (Sixteen billion, Fifty-one million, Five hundred thousand naira) without an enabling legislation by the National Assembly.

Ninth Allegation: That in spite of the coming into force of the 1999 Constitution, he continued to operate and maintain dedicated accounts in the Central Bank of Nigeriacontrary to Section 80( 1) and 162( 1) of the Constitution. E.g. Bank for International Settlement Account and Proceeds for Port Development charges Account among others.

Tenth Allegation: That he refused and neglected to pay in full the thirteen % derivation revenue to benefiting states contrary to Section 162 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, an act which amounts to gross misconduct.

Eleventh Allegation: That Mr. President has refused to appoint a Minister of Petroleum Resources which action has occasioned the following violation: (a) That since inception of this Government in 1999 Mr. President refused, failed and or neglected to appoint a Minister of Petroleum Resources contrary to the Petroleum Act cap 350, laws of the Federation as amended by the Petroleum (Amendment) Act of 1996 and Petroleum (Amendment) Act No. 22 of 1998 and thereby authorising the performance of or performing yourself the functions of the Minister of Petroleum Resources. (b) That in breach of Section 9( I) d III laws of the Federation 1990 appointed the Committee which has increased the prices of petroleum products which function is that of a Minister of Petroleum Resources under the said Act, which Act constitutes a gross misconduct. (c) That a process of establishing refineries through bidding was established and provisional licenses were issued without the approval of the Minister of Petroleum as required by 3( I) of the Petroleum Act which action amounts to gross misconduct.

Twelfth Allegation: That Mr. President has unilaterally cut across board all overhead costs contained in the 2002 Appropriation Act by 50% without recourse to and approval of the National Assembly contrary to Sections 80(3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution.

Thirteenth Allegation: That Mr. President has unilaterally merged the Federal Road Safety Commission, a body established by an Act with the Nigerian Police without a Bill for an Act to harmonise the two bodies, or repeal the FRSC Act.

Fourteenth Allegation: That Mr. President has, without an enabling Act merged the Nigerian Bank for Commerce and Industry (NBCI), the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) and the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank to form the Bank of Industry while the Acts establishing the said institutions are still valid and subsisting.

Fifteenth Allegation: That Mr. President merged the People’s Bank of Nigeria, Family Economic Advancement Programme, both bodies established by law under and the Nigerian Agricultural and Co-operative Bank to form the Nigerian Agricultural and Rural Development Bank without legislative authority.

Eric Teniola, a former director in the Presidency, writes from Lagos.

The nexus between law and politics in Nigeria

By Garba Adamu Gwangwangwan

Thelaw plays a crucial role in addressing these challenges and ensuring stability in Nigeria. The legal system in Nigeria is based on English common law, customary law, and Islamic law (in the northern states). The judiciary is independent and has the power to interpret and enforce the law.

Nigeria operates a federal system of government with three branches – the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the supreme law of the land, and all other laws are subject to it.

The Nigerian legal system is designed to ensure that no one is above the law, and that the rule of law is upheld at all times. However, in practice, Nigerian politics can sometimes override the law, particularly in cases where powerful individuals or interests are involved.

There have been instances where politicians or government officials have been accused of corruption, abuse of power, and other offenses, but have gone unpunished due to their influence and connections within the political system. In some cases, the judiciary has been compromised or undermined, leading to a lack of accountability for those in power.

Furthermore, political violence and electoral malpractice are not uncommon in Nigeria, which can also lead to a disregard for the rule of law. In such cases, the political interests of individuals or groups can override legal considerations, leading to a situation where the law is not effectively enforced.

Overall, while Nigeria has a robust legal framework in place, there are instances where politics can override the law, leading to a lack of accountability and a disregard for the rule of law.

The relationship between law and politics in Nigeria is complex and intertwined. Nigeria is a country with a federal system of government,

where power is shared between the federal government and the 36 states that make up the country. The Constitution of Nigeria is the supreme law of the land and provides for the separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial arms of government.

Politics in Nigeria has been shaped by a history of military rule, ethnic and religious divisions, corruption, and economic challenges. The country has experienced numerous political crises, including coups, ethnic and religious conflicts, and election-related violence.

The law plays a crucial role in addressing these challenges and ensuring stability in Nigeria. The legal system in Nigeria is based on English common law, customary law, and Islamic law (in the northern states). The judiciary is independent and has the power to interpret and enforce the law.

However, the effectiveness of the legal system in Nigeria has been hampered by corruption, inefficiency, and a lack of resources. Political interference in the judiciary has also been a challenge, with some politicians accused of using their influence to influence the outcome of court cases.

In recent years, there have been efforts to strengthen the rule of law in Nigeria. The government has implemented judicial reforms aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the legal system. There have also been initiatives to combat corruption and improve transparency in the political process.

The nexus between law and politics in Nigeria is complex and constantly evolving. The law plays a crucial role in ensuring stability and addressing the challenges facing the country. However, the effectiveness of the legal system in Nigeria is hampered by corruption, inefficiency, and a lack of resources. Efforts to strengthen the rule of law and combat corruption are ongoing and will be crucial to Nigeria’s future.

There have been several cases in Nigeria where the law has overridden

politics. Here are a few examples:

The removal of former Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen: In 2019, former Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen was removed from his position by President Muhammadu Buhari. The move was seen as politically motivated, as Onnoghen was considered to be an obstacle to the president’s re-election bid. However, the Nigerian Bar Association and other legal bodies challenged the removal, arguing that it violated the constitution. Eventually, the courts ruled that the president did not have the power to remove the chief justice without due process, and Onnoghen was reinstated.

The 2015 presidential election: In 2015, Nigeria held a presidential election that was widely seen as a test of the country’s democratic institutions. The incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, was widely expected to win, but the opposition candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, emerged victorious. Despite initial concerns about violence and electoral malpractice, the election was widely praised as free and fair, and the outcome was accepted by both sides. The success of the election was seen as a victory for the rule of law over political maneuvering.

The June 12 election: In 1993, Nigeria held a presidential election that was widely considered to be free and fair. The winner, Moshood Abiola, was a popular businessman and philanthropist who was expected to usher in a new era of democracy and prosperity. However, the military government at the time annulled the election, citing irregularities. This led to protests and a protracted legal battle, with Abiola and his supporters arguing that the election was valid. Despite the political turmoil that followed, the case demonstrated the importance of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in upholding democratic principles.

Garba Adamu Gwangwangwan, writes from Bauchi, adamugarba0079@gmail.com

Russian Covid-19 vaccines disappear from Africa’s radar

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

Inan authoritative policy report presented November 2021 titled ‘Situation Analytical Report’ and prepared by 25 Russian policy experts headed by Sergei A. Karaganov, noted explicitly the failure to supply Sputnik vaccines to the African Union. The report criticized Russia’s current policy and lukewarm approach towards Africa.

Until recently, Africa has not been high on Russia’s policy agenda. African leaders have to understand that Russia, for the past three decades, Africa was at the bottom of its policy agenda. After the end of Soviet era, Russia has focused broadly on the United States and Europe, dreaming of becoming part of Europe, part of the configuration of Global North. The low economic presence of Russia from 1991 until 2019 was a testament to that fact that Africa was at the bottom of its priority list. Of course the October 2019 summit was symbolic, but after that Russia has left most of bilateral agreements undelivered across Africa.

With its “special military operation” on Ukraine that necessitated imposition of stringent sanctions from the United States, European Union and their allies, the United Nations Security Council mounting pressure on Russia since February 24 2022, pushes Russia to begin soliciting aggressively for support in Africa. Last July, article posted to its official website, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wrote: “The development of a comprehensive partnership with African countries remains among top priorities of Russia’s foreign policy, Moscow is open to its further build-up multifaceted relations with Africa.”

In his Op-Ed article, Lavrov argues: “We have been rebuilding our positions for many years now. The Africans are reciprocating. They are interested in having us. It is good to see that our African friends have a similar understanding with Russia.” Lavrov, however, informed about broadening African issues “in the new version of Russia’s Foreign Policy Concept against the background of the waning of the Western direction” and this will objectively increase the share of the African direction in the work of the Foreign Ministry.

Lavrov consistently displays his passion for historical references. Soviet’s support for struggles for political independence and against colonialism should be laid to rest in the archives. The best way to fight neo-colonialism is to demonstrate by investing in those competitive sectors, make a departure away from hyperbolic rhetoric on endless list of sectors. In practical terms, we rather face today’s development challenges and what are in store for the future generation. Africa today does not need anti-Western slogans, Africa simply needs external players who would passionately and genuinely invest in the critical economic sectors. The fundamental fact is that Africa is making efforts to transform its economy to create employment, modern agriculture and industrialize the continent, especially with the introduction of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTFA).

Despite criticisms, China has built an exemplary distinctive economic power in Africa. Besides China, Africa is largely benefiting from the European Union and Western aid flows, economic and trade ties. That compared, Russia plays very little role in Africa’s infrastructure, agriculture and industry, and making little efforts in leveraging unto the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Our monitoring shows that the Russian business community hardly pays attention to the significance of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which provides a unique and valuable platform for businesses to access an integrated African market of over 1.3 billion people.

Lavrov’s efforts toward building non-Western ties this crucial times is highly commendable especially with Africa. But, the highly respected Minister easily and most times forget the fact the during these two-three years of global pandemic, the coronavirus that engulfed the planet, in every corner of the world, Africa was desperate looking for vaccines. Health authorities are still warning that Covid-19 has not completely faced out throughout the world.

Quartz, a global reputable media, reported early this year that “as of the end of 2022, about a quarter of the population of African countries

has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the latest figures shared by Africa CDC. The coverage varies drastically depending on the country. In Liberia, for instance, nearly 80% of the population is fully vaccinated, while only 34% is in neighboring Sierra Leone. Congo, Sudan, Senegal, and Madagascar all have vaccination rates below 10%.

In his briefing, Ouma said the target for Africa remains to vaccinate 70% of the population. That goal, however, was set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the overall population. These numbers are about to change – and not because of an increase in vaccinations. Africa CDC acting director Ahmed Ogwell Ouma announced in a video briefing on December 22 that it will modify the way it reports vaccination rates. Rather than reporting coverage of the overall population, it will only report vaccinations of eligible population aged 12 or more.

Due of delays in international vaccine deliveries, Africa lags behind the rest of the world in Covid vaccination rates, and is the only continent where less than 50% of the population is fully vaccinated. Currently, just more than 800 million doses of vaccines have been administered in Africa, or 80% of the total received. About a third of the vaccinations have been made with Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, followed by Pfizer (22%), AstraZeneca (17%), China’s Sinopharm (15%) and Sinovac (7%).

Several reports monitored by this authored show that Russia has played a minimal role in the entire health sector in Africa. With the Covid-19 vaccination, Russia randomly sprinkled few thousands as humanitarian assistance among its “Soviet friends” including Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Nevertheless, the worse was Russia’s sudden failure to supply the 300 million vaccines through the African Union (AU) especially during the times of health crisis.

In an authoritative policy report presented November 2021 titled ‘Situation Analytical Report’ and prepared by 25 Russian policy experts headed by Sergei A. Karaganov, noted explicitly the failure to supply Sputnik vaccines to the African Union. The report criticized Russia’s current policy and lukewarm approach towards Africa.

“In several ways, Russia’s possibilities are overestimated both publicly and in closed negotiations. The supply of Russian-made vaccines to Africa is an example. Having concluded contracts for the supply of Sputnik V to a number of African states, Russian suppliers failed to meet contractual obligations on time,” says the report in part.

The coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Worth noting that Russia claims that it was the first to find cure for coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO), until today has not certified Russia’s vaccines though. On the other hand, all the vaccines have been registered in Russia – Sputnik V, Sputnik Light, CoviVac and EpiVacCorona – are produced in large quantities by Russian pharmaceutical companies and are currently used for vaccination.

Director of the Gamaleya National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg has several times highlighted aspects of the vaccine production and marketing. He noted to raise the attractiveness of the vaccines on foreign markets, including countries in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, tasked to engage in marketing the vaccines abroad, got messed up especially in Africa. Of course, it took steps and speedily registered the vaccines in more than 20 African countries, but terribly failed on delivery deadlines. Worse was the Russian Direct Investment Fund supplied, at exorbitant prices, through middlemen in the Arab Emirates to a number of African countries. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has however held series of African Foreign Ministers, during this Covid-19 period and desperate moment, reiterated to assist with direct supplies to Africa. That is Russia, considered as a reliable partner for Africa.

The above thoughts on the part of Covid-19 business offered the reasons why Russia absolutely refused to join and be part of the Covax facility, which acts as a global collective bargaining initiative to secure vaccine doses for countries who signed up, including those which are self-financing their purchases, as well as assistance from donors for

poorer developing countries. The first vaccines purchased through Covax were indeed destined to reach the Africa. That was, monitored by this author, some 88.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines distributed to 47 countries including Africa during the first half of 2021. This same year, during the virtual meeting of G7 leaders, the European Union announced it had donated a further 500 million euros to the COVAX program. The World Bank also committed $12 billion as concessional loans to assist African countries access foreign vaccines. That is not all from several reports monitored. In April 2022, writing under the headline: “How Russia’s Hollow Humanitarian Hurt Its Vaccine Diplomacy in Africa,” – the co-authors, Matthew T. Page and Paul Stronski, both at Carganie Foundation noted that in 2020, Russia touted deliveries of medical and protective supplies to several African countries, while the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine offered hopes that African countries would soon be able to launch large-scale immunization drives. Russian efforts to promote Sputnik V in Africa have floundered for a variety of reasons, including regulatory worries, production and logistical shortfalls, bureaucratic inertia, and even sticker shock. There is, however, another key factor behind Moscow’s failed vaccine diplomacy: its traditionally diminutive post-Soviet development presence on the continent.

Compared to Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and even many foundations, Russia has provided a tiny share of international development assistance to African countries since the end of the Cold War. Unlike India and Cuba, it has provided scanty medical assistance to – or investment in – African countries.

If Russia wants to be influential on the continent, African political and economic leaders should demand more of Moscow, not simply settle for the symbolic diplomatic engagements or agreements at which the Russian leadership excels. Indeed, Africa has not ranked high on the Russian foreign policy agenda for much of the past three decades, getting barely a mention in the country’s key security documents except as either a partner in an emerging multipolar world or a source of instability. Indeed the time has come for African leaders to rally together to ensure that no effort is spared in facilitating and supporting the building of large-scale vaccine manufacturing capacity on the continent. The African Vaccine Manufacturing Summit held in April, 2021 was an encouraging start. Focus needs to be on developing real vaccine R&D capacity which must necessarily lead to health products. This requires substantial investment and a long-term commitment. In a similar vien, under the aegis of the African Union, leaders have to begin looking for inside solutions, rather than base hopes on these geopolitical games, external great powers seeking only support for their peculiar or parochial interests.

Understandably, while making efforts to maintain and expand its presence in Africa, Russia simply lacks the capability to deliver on its various promises in Africa. Surely, African countries have to begin to reevaluate their relationship with Russia. African leaders should not expect anything tangible from meetings, conferences and summits. Since the first Russia-Africa summit held in 2019, very little has been achieved. At this point, it is even more improbable that Moscow would commit adequate financial resources to invest in economic sectors, given the stringent sanctions imposed following Putin’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

In stark contrast to key global players, for instance the United States, China and the European Union and many others, Russia obviously has limitations. Notwithstanding that, for Russia to regain part of its Sovietera influence, it has to address its own policy approach, this time try to shift towards new paradigms – implementing some of the decadeold pledges and promises, and those bilateral agreements; secondly to promote development-oriented policies and how to make these strategic efforts more practical, more consistent, more effective and most admirably result-oriented with African countries.

Kestér Kenn Klomegâh is an Int’l Affairs Analyst.

Coven Works Inc., a NonGovernmental Organisation has trained 650 Nigerians on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills aimed at empowering and reducing unemployment in the country.

Mr Olusola Amusan, Chief Executive Offer (CEO) of the group said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Osogbo.

Amusan said the training was to help reduce the rate of unemployment among job seekers in the country.

He said it was also create an avenue for more people interested in technological innovations and advancement.

Amusan said that the free training on business/data analysis

Group trains 650 Nigerians in ICT skills

and cybersecurity had further equipped participants with essential skills needed for today’s job market.

According to him, Coven Works is thrilled to extend its reach and also provide free training to African migrants on technological skills.

“Recently, we announced that the company will offer free

training on business/data analysis and cybersecurity to 200 people across Africa including Nigeria.

“The response exceeded the company’s expectations with over 650 people from Nigeria subscribing to the free tech class apart from other five different countries which include France, Brazil and Poland.

“Coven Works has been

partnering with governments across all levels, universities, and private companies to provide training in information and communication technology,’’ Amusan said.

He said the courses covered a range of topics including Cyber Security, Blockchain Analysis, Data Visualization with Power BI and Tableau.

“Others are Machine Learning, DataStructuring with SQL, Python Programming, AWS Cloud Computing, Conversational AI, and Project Management with JIRA,” Amusan added.

He said the training was to ensure that Nigerians did not feel stranded when it came to employment within and outside the continent. (NAN)

Peter Obi’s endorsement of PDP guber candidate in Cross River excites party

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River says endorsement of its governorship candidate, Sen. Sandy Onor, by Mr Peter Obi attests to the candidate’s sound pedigree as a man of the people.

PDP chairman in the state, Mr Venatius Ikem made the declaration in Calabar on Monday when he spoke with newsmen about Obi’s endorsement of Sen. Onor for the March 18 governorship election.

Mr Obi was the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) at the Feb. 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.

During a live interview on a local television station, Obi said the LP would partner with some governorship candidates in some states for the polls.

“There are some states where my Party, LP, doesn’t have candidates and we are partnering with some good candidates in those states to ensure victory for them.

“We have good candidates in Lagos, Delta, Plateau, Nasarawa, Enugu, Abia, and a few others, but in Cross River, we have agreed to align with the PDP and its candidate, Prof. Sandy Onor.

“He is a very good candidate who enjoys strong support from the people.

“I urge all `Obidients’ in Cross River to support and cast their votes for Prof. Onor, who is a current senator,” Obi said on the television programme.

The PDP chairman explained that Obi’s endorsement of Onor was a clear demonstration of the candidate’s wide acceptability by the people of Cross River.

He noted that as a bridge builder, Onor would ensure quick unification of the people across the three senatorial districts that had been so divided because of politics.

He added that the PDP candidate would work and restore the state to its former glory of infrastructural development.

Ikem added that the candidate

would restore the eroded confidence of civil servants who had become so demoralised.

“Obi’s endorsement didn’t come as a surprise to me.

“In fact, it is an attestation of the popularity and goodwill enjoyed by our candidate in the state and beyond.

“It is a great value addition

to our arsenal and it cannot be underestimated.

“With this endorsement of the `Obidient Movement’s’ phenomenal leader, we can now sleep with our two eyes closed knowing that the issue of governorship has been settled.

“It is a great day indeed,” he said.

Ikem also told newsmen that PDP’s job to clinch the governorship seat had been made easier because of the failure of the All Progressives Congress government in Cross River.

“Onor is determined and set to change the narrative when voted into office on Saturday.

“He has his work planned

Polls: Uba Sani receives boost

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Agroup under the aegis of Amalgamation of Deregistered Political Parties Nigeria, (ADPPN), Kaduna chapter has endorsed the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Uba Sani, saying he has the best credentials for the job. This was disclosed in a press conference by Alhaji

Muhammad Ahmad, and Ambassador Matoh Yakubu, Chairman and Secretary of the forum respectively in Kaduna yesterday.

The group said before arriving at this juncture, it has consulted widely with its members, network of stakeholders and opinion leaders; pointing out that it gave members the clear record of achievement of distinguished Senator Uba

Sani, a civil society activist, a crusader for social justice, an award winning (ICPC certified) anti-corruption crusader and a high performing Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

ADPPN however, expressed dismay over negative signals coming from some political parties who have decided to create a political gimmick they called “Muslim-Muslim” ticket.

According to the forum,

out as he is not coming to learn through the ropes. As a former council chairman, former commissioner and presently a sitting senator, Onor is fully prepared for the task ahead,” he said.

Ikem said the only thing the PDP wanted was a level playing field for all candidates. (NAN)

L-R: Outgoing British High Commissioner, Dr Richard Montgomery holding a gift given to her by Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, during the outgoing UK High Commissioner paid a courtesy call to speaker, at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja.

this phrase is a coinage of the opposition in Kaduna State, the APC only gave voice to our women who have been kept in the backyard for long; and for the last 4 years the performance of Kaduna State women in Governance has been clear for everyone to see.

“We state clearly that the combination of Sen Uba Sani and Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, is a strategic strike at the political balancing act.”

Photo: Mahmud Isa

I didn’t work against Peter Obi’s candidacy during presidential election –Gov. Wike

By Musa Baba Adamu

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has said he never worked against the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.

Wike, who spoke during a strategic meeting with petroleum marketers in Rivers State claimed he never plotted against any southern presidential candidate during the February 25th presidential election.

The Governor who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Emeka Woke, claimed his position during the presidential election was based on the principles of equity, fairness and Justice.

“You can agree with me that there are a lot of insinuations and misinformation that his excellency worked against the Labour Party presidential candidate.

“I want to stand here to tell you and of course, you know that his excellency is a man who will stand by his words any time any day and speak his mind.

“His excellency did not work against any southern presidential candidate. The position of his excellency is that of equity and fairness.

“The north has done their eight years and so it is time for the south. That is his excellency’s position. He did not hide it, he spoke about it. And so my brothers, there is nothing to shy away from because our hands are clean.” Woke said.

The event had in attendance, national leaders and members of the Petroleum Product Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers.

INEC distributes sensitive materials in Jigawa, CBN bars journalists at premises

By Christiana Ekpa

The Jigawa State branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday restricted journalists from accessing the bank premises to monitor the distribution of sensitive materials for the Saturday, March 18 gubernatorial elections.

Journalists were left stranded and denied access to the area where the distribution of sensitive materials was taking place.

Unlike the normal procedure where journalists are allowed to witness the distribution of sensitive materials at the CBN, as part of their responsibility to ensure free and fair elections, security personnel prevented them from entering the premises.

Speaking to the newsmen at the entrance of the Dutse branch of the bank, the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof Muhammad Lawal Bashar, told journalists: “If not for the CBN restriction on us, we would have invited you to enter

inside to see the distribution of the sensitive materials but you can see them being evaluated from this premises to local governments.”

He said INEC decided to commence the distribution of the materials early to ensure that they reached polling units without delay.

The February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections didn’t commence in some polling units until late in the afternoon due to the delay in the deployment of election materials.

According to Prof Bashar, “To my knowledge, everything went okay [but for some] some hiccups, because you can not say everything went well 100%; human factors are there.

“We are well prepared and we have started moving the materials, the ad hoc staff movement will start as early as 10 o’clock on Friday to their respective local governments and there will be a refresher training by 4:00 pm after [which] they will start moving to the polling units.”

L-R: Chairperson of the House Representatives Press Corps, Grace Ike presenting the congratulatory card on behalf of the corps to Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, during the House Press Corps visit to Speaker, at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja.

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Southern Kaduna Youths Coalition for Labour Party, Southern Kaduna Youth and Young Forum (SOKAYUF) and Southern Kaduna PDP Youth

Supporters have called on the people of the area irrespective of their political party affiliations to come all out en masse to vote for the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 18 governorship and House of Assembly elections.

Addressing newsmen in Kaduna on Wednesday, the spokesman of the group, Tanko Audu noted that following the outcome of the February 25, 2023, presidential and National Assembly elections, Labour Party supporters in Southern Kaduna have put up a groundbreaking performance.

He said: “We have reached the resolution that if we replicate our voting pattern of the justconcluded federal seats election, the danger is, we are definitely going to split our votes and pave way for the continuous stay in office of the APC – a party that we want to unanimously retire from

power for its anti-people policies and cruelty.”

He observed that it is important to take into account that LP and PDP share the same political DNA, stressing that it would make it easier to align their interests and powers to achieve a common goal, which is to dislodge the ruling APC that brought untold hardship on Kaduna citizens, irrespective of religious, ethnic and political differences.

Audu explained that their coming together is rooted in the realism that they are stronger together if indeed, they want to take over power from the ruling party.

He stated that they have perceived the danger of going to the Saturday, March 18, 2023, gubernatorial election in Kaduna State as separate entities, stressing that supporting the gubernatorial candidate of LP would amount to dividing their bloc votes to the advantage of the APC which will embolden its chances of extending its reign in power and by extension, continues with its cruel and inhuman policies.

He further explained that they have carefully analysed the eight years of the administration of APC in Kaduna State which is the worst thing that has ever happened to the people of Southern Kaduna, adding that the region has suffered grave losses, ranging from paying billions to kidnappers, unprovoked and senseless killings of innocent souls, destructions of property and farm produce, destruction of the traditional institution, executive rascality, lopsided appointments and the display of nepotism in Gov. Nasir el-Rufai’s urban renewal programme.

“Only less than 5% was spent in Southern Kaduna out of the World Bank N350 billion loan. But sadly, all of us must pay back the loan on equal measure,” he lamented.

Following the hardship they are going through, people cannot access their farmland either to farm or harvest their farm produce due to fear of being killed or kidnapped, he stressed. This situation, according to him, has led to dwindled economic activities in the region, thereby causing untold hardship for the

people of Southern Kaduna and other parts of the state.

He added that the APC-led government has divided the state along religious and ethnic lines that have created fear and mistrust among people. He further pointed out that the track record of the eight years of the APC regime shows that the party has no interest in the progress of the Southern Kaduna region.

He said: “In view of the aforementioned, we hereby aligned with the PDP candidates, Rt. Hon. Isah Ashiru-Dr. John Ayuba which is inclusive and stands the best chance to win the 2023 gubernatorial election because of his capacity, popularity and general acceptability across the state, having won the three Senate seats and 10 House of Representative seats out of 16, with the APC securing just four seats.”

Audu added: “In the PDP, we are convinced that our interest will be safeguarded with him as the governor of Kaduna State. The testimony of PDP running a fair, inclusive government need not be emphasised as its last 16 years in power can bear witness.”

Guber poll: Southern Kaduna youths rally support for PDP candidate

LP votes were transferred to APC, but PDP votes left untouched –Peterside

By Christiana Ekpa

Aforemosteconomist and founder of Anap Foundation, Atedo Peterside has alleged that the votes belonging to the Labour Party in the just concluded presidential election were transferred to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Peterside who spoke in an interview on Wednesday, however, said the votes of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were not tampered.

According to him, the results uploaded on the IReV portal of the electoral body shows that INEC may have declared a wrong candidate winner.

“I have spent time scanning through some result sheets, there is a pattern they used and that is disturbing. All the examples I showed you were votes of Labour Party transferred to the APC but PDP’s votes were left untouched,” he said.

The economist expressed optimism that the judiciary would do a good job by telling Nigerians the true winner of the February 25 presidential election.

Gubernatorial election: Makinde will win in 29 LGs in Oyo

PDP boasts

By Musa Baba Adamu

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State has claimed Governor Seyi Makinde will win most of the local government areas in the state.

The gubernatorial election has been slated to hold on Saturday, 18th March 2023.

The PDP has, however, claimed that Makinde who is the candidate of the party will win in at least 29 local governments out of the 33 local government areas in the state.

The Publicity Secretary of PDP in the state, Akeem Olatunji made this disclosure in a statement made available to journàlists on Wednesday.

Olatunji in the statement enjoined the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) to brace up and not delay to congratulate Governor Makinde upon his declaration as the winner and governor-elect.

He maintained that it was already game over for any opposition still racing against Makinde.

Olatunji said it was evidently clear that the people of the state have resolved to sustain the accelerated development agenda of Makinde.

He said, “As candidates and political parties prepare for the last days before Saturday’s governorship and house of assembly elections, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo state has said the game is no longer a two-horse race as speculated boasting that its guber candidate, governor Seyi Makinde would convincingly clear the votes of nothing less than 29 Local governments landslide”.

Taraba NNPP accuses PDP of plans to destabilise Saturday’s polls

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

More political parties have continued to accuse the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Taraba State, of planning to frustrate Saturday’s governorship and state House of Assembly elections.

The recent accusation came on Wednesday from the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, during a media briefing in Jalingo when the party alleged that PDP has concluded plans to use fake security personnel to scuttle the exercise in the state.

The allegation was made by Director Media and Communication, NNPP Gubernatorial Campaign Council,

Zakari Ahmad Nguroje who noted that the party’s attention has uncovered plans by “some disgruntled elements in PDP who are bent on using government machinery to cause chaos in the forthcoming governorship and Houses of Assembly elections in Taraba State.”

According to him: “[We] are fully aware of their motives to use fake military and police personnel in achieving their nefarious act; this can be done by recruiting political thugs as security officers handling events at the polling units or using state-owned security apparatus popularly known as marshall to cause mayhem during the election process.”

The party also accused the

ruling party of an ongoing plan to “use money to lure electorate and election officials.”

“We reliably gathered that a large amount of money has been earmarked for each of the over 106 polling units in the state,” Nguroje claimed.

NNPP further alleged: “There is also a calculated plan to destroy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). This can be achieved with the help of some technical staff of the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC. There is also a plan to attack and destroy BVAS [and thus] disenfranchised citizens who are so eager to cast their votes, especially in strongholds of Prof. Muhammad Sani Yahaya, our governorship

candidate.”

Recall that the leadership of the All Progressive Congress, APC, through the former Nigerian ambassador to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Alhaji Hassan Jika Ardo, had also accused PDP and INEC of planning to jeopardise Saturday’s election in the state.

When contacted, the leadership of the PDP, through its spokesperson, Andeta’rang Irammae, said the party has no plans to rig or frustrate the exercise from holding.

Describing the allegations as “mere blackmail,” he said the achievements of the party in the last seven years are enough to make the PDP triumph at the polls.

AKH-TRACADA felicitates with Soludo on one year anniversary as Anambra Governor

By Ochiaka Ugwu

ANon Governmental Organization (NGO) AntiKidnapping, Human Trafficking, Child Abuse & Drug Abuse Initiative (AKH-TRACADA) had felicitated with the Executive Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo on his attainment of one year in office.

In a press statement released in Abuja Thursday signed by the founder/National President of AKH-TRACADA, Primate Belonwu Ezeanyaeche it noted that Soludo’s administration has achieved a lot within one year especially in the area of economy and security Belonwu noted the administration has entrenched security, law and order with the creation of Ministry of Homeland Affairs, which has also unveiled

the security and emergency crack team that has embarked on mobilization, sensitization.

Continuing, he informed that Soludo had retooled the economy of the state by opening new ways of doing things which had widened the economic opportunities in the state and spread prosperity and human happiness.

His words, “I want to state categorically that Governor Soludo has achieved greatly within this one year in the saddle. He has been diligent in making his appointment by hiring men of great potentials to pilot the affairs of the state.

“He has engaged cerebral Anambra daughters and sons irrespective of party or ideological leaning to bring the much developmental strides that Anambraians have been yearning for.

“His desire to give a very town a facelift showcases a leader who wants to precipitate development and transformation as culture in the state.. The infrastructure has decayed owing to long neglect and he has also embarked on massive construction to bridge the infrastructural gap. The waterways need to work as Anambra has erosion problems before now which has divested the large part of the state.

“Soludo’s pattern on agriculture is second to none. He has seen the need to increase food production and plans are in top gear to bring it to reality to achieve the more pronounced food security.

“Educational sector are getting its deserved attention with motivation of teachers ongoing. He recently employed qualified teachers to encourage learning in

schools. He has instituted financial discipline in the system with the aim of increasing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). He has already put ill-assorted touts and illicit tax collectors on the run into oblivion.

“Make no mistake about it; Gov. Soludo has re-invented Anambra State to meet the great expectations of the people within this period. In so doing, he has rewritten their history and mopped their frustration from years of hopelessness, neglect and frustrations foisted on them by past governments in the state” he stated.

Primate Ezeanyaeche however, urged all Anambra residents to sink their differences, gather their act together and support administration of Gov. Soludo to succeed more with Almighty God being his helper.

Graduated 100 Almajiri and street youths with their Certificate, during the Devolopmental association for reneweble energy (DARE) in collaboration with Federal ministry of Special duties inter governmental affeirs, graduate 100 Almajiri and street youths on how to construct solid houses with Pet plastic bottles in kaduna on tuesday 14/3/23

Again, wave of defection hits NNPP, PDP, SDP in Yobe

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Yobe State governor, Mai

Mala Buni on Wednesday received more than 1, 200 members of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, and Social Democratic Party, SDP, into the fold of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

In a brief ceremony organised to receive the new entrants at Government House, Damaturu, Buni said APC would continue to receive more defectors from opposition political parties into the progressives party for the development of the state.

Represented by his Deputy, Idi Barde Gubana, the governor tasked the defectors and their followers to conduct themselves peacefully and within the confines of law before, during and after the governorship and state assembly elections, while assuring them of equity, fairness and justice.

Former chairman of SDP in Fune Local Government Area, Alhaji Saleh Mai Kifi, who spoke on behalf of the defectors, said they took the decision to join APC due to massive achievements recorded in different sectors of the economy and thus assured to work hard for the success of the party in all the 13 political wards of Fune Local Government Area and by extension the state in general.

The defectors numbering over 1, 200, were drawn from Fune, Gulani and Bursari local government areas of the state.

The highlight of the event is the presentation of party’s flags to the defectors by the state APC chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Gadaka, alongside the deputy governor.

Presidential poll: Why Atiku, PDP withdrew motions on access to electoral documents

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has given reasons for the withdrawal of the application for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to grant access to his legal team and the PDP the inspection of the documents relating to the February 25 presidential election.

Atiku specifically explained that the withdrawal of the motions was because the issue has been overtaken by events.

In a statement last night by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, the former Vice

President said when the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, the two motions were withdrawn because they have been overtaken by events since access had already been granted on Tuesday to Atiku and PDP.

The statement by Ibe reads, “It has become pertinent to make some clarifications following insinuations and mischievous reporting of the withdrawal of the application for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to grant access to the legal team of the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar

and the PDP on the inspection of the documents related to the February 25 presidential election.

“The Court of Appeal had granted the request of Atiku and the PDP to be granted unfettered access to the INEC documents used for the presidential election.

“On the 10th of March, 2023, Atiku and PDP filed a motion (number 12M) ex parte and affidavit of urgency to ensure the implementation of the court order. The court, however, asked that they put Bola Tinubu,the All Progressives Congress APC, and the INEC on notice.

“Consequently, they filed motion on notice (number 13M) and motion ex parte (number 13MA) for substituted service on Bola Tinubu.

“But on Tuesday at a conference meeting between lawyers of the PDP, LP, APC, and INEC, access was eventually granted to the legal team of PDP by INEC.

“When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, the two motions were withdrawn because they have been overtaken by events since access had already been granted on Tuesday to Atiku and PDP”, he said.

Why Atiku performed woefully in Lagos election – PDP’s Jandor explains

By Musa Baba Adamu

Thegubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos State, Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, has given reasons why he couldn’t deliver the state for Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential candidate in the just concluded February 25 election.

Adediran disclosed this on Wednesday while featuring on Arise

Television’s Morning Show program. Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, said religion and ethnicity played a part in why Atiku could not win the state. He said, “A lot of people don’t really understand this game, that’s why you see the people that are jumping about thinking they have a wave that they can ride on. They did a whole lot of mistakes and they will get the results in this election. I have taken my time to analyze this.

“First, that election was on religion, ethnicity and the likes. And in Lagos, we have a supposed Lagosian who also is on the ballot. If you look at the election you will see that the guy won in all indigenous Local Governments in Lagos, Epe, Badagry, and Ikorodu. That’s because they decided to say he is our own; let’s do that.

If you look at it, the Igbo-dominated communities in Lagos from Ojo, Amuwo, Ajoromi, Oshodi Isolo, Peter Obi won.

If you look at where you have more elites Koshofe, part of Alimosho, elites came out to say we are giving this guy the votes, it’s not about the party.

Now, after that go back to Lagos West, from 582,000 votes polled by Peter Obi, our own senatorial candidate polled over one hundred thousand of that votes in Lagos West, which means people who were voting Labour Party knew that the next thing to do for us is to vote PDP, not APC.”

Jigawa ADC expels guber candidate, Muhammad Gumel over anti party

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Muhammadd Gumel, the African Democratic Congress governorship candidate in Jigawa State has been expelled over alleged anti-party activities.

The acting state chairman of the

party, Kabiru Hussaini while briefing newsmen in Dutse, enjoined members of the ADC to support Mustapha Lamido, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, saying only the PDP could salvage the state from the total collapse it has found itself.

Hussaini explained, “We are directing all our party’s supporters to support the PDP gubernatorial candidate because it’s only the PDP that can salvage the state from total collapse.”

Muhammad Gumel, the ADC governorship candidate is said to

have reportedly relinquished his candidature and taken his support to the All Progressives Congress in the state.

Gumel, while reacting to the report explained that the acting chairman had no right whatsoever to expel him from the party.

He also alleged that the acting chairman is not recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies, insisting that he was expelled from the party by the national headquarters on 22 September 2022.

Benue guber: Nine political parties endorse Titus Uba of PDP for Governor

By Musa Baba Adamu

Barely four days to the Governorship elections, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP and other political parties have thrown their weight behind the candidacy of Titus Uba, the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The endorsement of Uba by the nine political parties is coming barely two days after a Coalition of 94 ‘Obidients’ groups that worked for the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi also pitched their tents with the PDP

candidate.

They pledged to work for his victory at the Saturday polls.

The nine political parties which declared their support for Uba on Tuesday during a meeting with Governor Samuel Ortom and Uba at the Benue Peoples House, Makurdi include the National Rescue Movement party, NRM, Action Alliance, AC and African Action Congress, AAC.

Others are the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Social Democratic Party, SDP, Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, Boot Party, BP

as well as the Action Peoples Party, APP. Leader of the political parties, Mr. Paul Aondofa Tor stated that their decision to support Uba was based on their conviction that he was the only candidate that would sustain the good works of Governor Samuel Ortom.

Mr Tor, who is the State Chairman of the National Rescue Movement, NRM pointed out that the 9 political parties were determined to ensure that Uba would not trade the state in the hands of people who will render the state homeless.

Governor Samuel Ortom who is the leader of the PDP in the State, expressed appreciation to the leadership of the political parties for their initiative to adopt and work for the victory of the PDP Governorship candidate, noting that their decision was an indication that they have placed Benue State first.

The Governor also lauded them for “not chickening out and not accepting crumbs and selfish interest that would further create poverty and problems for the people of Benue State.”

The Governor said Titus Uba who had been the Speaker of the

Benue State House of Assembly for two terms has the capacity and the required experience to move the state to another phase of development and also consolidate on the legacies of his administration. Uba who was also present at the ceremony assured the parties that when voted into office, he will not disappoint the state.

The PDP guber candidate and his Deputy, John Ngbede, Acting State Chairman of PDP, Isaac Mffo and Special Adviser to the Governor on Politics and Inter-Party Relations, Bem Dzoho were among those who attended the interface.

Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu (right) exchanging pleasantries with members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, during their meeting at the Headquarters, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Dollar shortage: Banks slash travel allowance, foreign school fees

From Abubakar Yunusa ABUJA

DepositMoney Banks have slashed the amount of Personal Travel Allowance and schools fees their customers can apply for amid a worsening foreign exchange crisis.

Shortage of FX in the country has forced lenders to take drastic measures to meet their dollar obligations in recent times.

In an emailed letter to customers, some DMBs on recently slashed the amount of PTA their customers can apply for from $4,000 to $2,000.

Also, lenders cut overseas school fees payment from $15,000 to $7,500 per semester.

One of the lenders, First Bank of Nigeria Limited advised its customers to also make their various FX requests several weeks ahead of time.

The bulk email by the lender was titled, ‘Important update on FX purchase.’

The bank also stated that the requests could be made only twice in a year.

It advised the customers to make their application weeks ahead of their trip.

The mail read in part, “At FirstBank, we value you and are committed to keeping you informed on changes regarding foreign currency (Form A) requests. In view of the limited FX supply in the industry, kindly note the following:

“Payment of PTA/BTA is subject to a maximum of $2,000 and two quarters in a year, while funds will be disbursed within the week of the trip. Customers are encouraged to apply for PTA/BTA some weeks ahead of their trip.”

It added that, “Application for upkeep is subject to a maximum of $1,500 (or its equivalent in other currencies) per semester and limited to two semesters per session.

“Payment of school fees is subject to a maximum of $7,500 (or its equivalent in other currencies) per semester and limited to two semesters per session. A minimum of 16 weeks is required for processing school fees and upkeep/maintenance, after the submission of documents along with the approved Form A at the branch.”

According to the email, application for Form A for school fees, student upkeep and PTA/BTA, must be processed on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Trade Monitoring System and must be in line with regulatory requirements.

It added, “Requests will continue to be treated on a first come, first served basis, subject to availability of FX. Ensure that your account is sufficiently funded.”

Economic and financial analysts have advised the CBN to devalue the local currency with a view to bridging the gap between the official and parallel market rate of the naira.

NCC directs telcos to implement harmonised short codes

From

Abubakar Yunusa ABUJA

The Nigerian Communication Commission has released harmonised shortcodes for mobile networks in the country.

With this development, MTN, Airtel, Glo and 9mobile users will recharge, check account balances and other services with the same shortcodes.

The codes include 300 to be used as the harmonised code for Call Centre/Help Desk on all mobile networks; 301 for voice Mail Deposit; 302 for Voice Mail Retrieval; 303 for Borrow Services; 305 for STOP Service; 310 for Check Balance, and 311 for Credit Recharge.

Also, the common code for Data

Plan across networks is now 312. In line with the new direction, 321 is for Share Services, while 323 is for Data Plan Balance. The code, 996, is now for Verification of Subscriber Identity Module Registration/NINSIM Linkage.

The code, 2442, is retained for Do-Not-Disturb unsolicited messaging complaint management, while the common code, 3232, is also retained for Porting Services, otherwise called Mobile Number Portability.

Meanwhile, the NCC has directed the mobile network operators to commence the implementation of the approved harmonised codes with May 17, 2023, being the deadline.

The NCC, in a statement by its Director, Public Affairs, Reuben

Muoka, said the move is aimed at achieving uniformity in common short codes across networks.

The statement read in part, “This means that the code for checking airtime balance is the same across all mobile networks for the same function, irrespective of the network a consumer uses.

With the new codes, the telecom consumers using the over 226 million active mobile lines in the country, can now use the same codes to access services across the networks.”

It added, “The old and new harmonised shortcodes will run concurrently up until May 17, 2023, when all networks are expected to have fully migrated to full implementation of the new codes. The period between now and May

17, 2023 is provided by the NCC to enable telecom consumers to familiarise themselves with the new codes for various services.

“The initiative, which is in line with NCC’s regulatory modernisation programme, is essential to make life much easier for telecom consumers, as it is now easier for Nigerians to memorize single codes for various services across all mobile networks they may be using, thereby improving consumer quality of experience.

“In addition, the new policy will provide an opportunity for licensees in the Value-Added Services segment of the telecoms sector to be able to use freed-up/old codes for other services, as well as enhance cohesive regulatory framework in keeping with world-class practices.”

Reappointed members of the board of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Hon. Abdullahi Maikano(Left); Hon. Grace Chinda; Hon. Olubukola Balogun; the ICPC Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN, OFR; Hon. Hannatu Muhammad; Hon. (Justice) Adamu Bello; Hon. Yahaya Umar Dauda and Hon. Obiora Samuel Igwedibia, in a group photograph after the swearing in of the board members by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chambers in the Presidential Villa, yesterday Abuja.

Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 21.91% as cash scarcity persists

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 21.91 percent in February 2023, up from 21.82 percent in the previous month.

The inflation rate data is contained the latest CPI report released on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The February increase comes across as the second consecutive rise in the country’s inflation figure this year, as Nigerians struggle to access cash for their daily needs — a challenge caused by the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to the NBS report, “the February 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.09 percent points when compared to that of January 2023 headline

inflation rate”.

“Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.21 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2022, which was 15.70 percent,” the bureau said.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in February 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., February 2022).

“On a month-on-month basis, the percentage change in the allitems index in February 2023 was 1.71 percent , which was 0.16 percent points lower than the rate recorded in January 2023 (1.87 percent).”

This means that in February 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.16 percent lower relative to January 2023.

NBS also explained that the percentage change in the average CPI for the 12 months period ending February 2023 over the

average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 19.87 percent, showing a 3.15 percent points increase compared to 16.73 percent recorded in February 2022.

According to the bureau, food inflation rate in February 2023 was 24.35 percent on a year-onyear basis — representing a 7.24 percent points increase compared to the 17.11 percent recorded in February 2022.

The statistics body said the rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruits, meat, vegetable, and food product.

On the a state profile, Kwara, Imo, and Lagos residents paid more for food in the period under review.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in February 2023 was 1.90 percent, indicating a 0.18 percent points decrease compared to the rate recorded in

January 2023 (2.08 percent).” the report reads.

“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelvemonths ending February 2023 over the previous twelve-months average was 22.12 percent, which was a 2.44 percent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in February 2022 (19.69 percent).

“In February 2023, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kwara (29.51 percent), Imo (27.47 percent), and Lagos (27.42 percent ); while Sokoto (18.54 percent ), Jigawa (19.67 percent ), and Yobe (21.89 percent) recorded the slowest rise.

“On a month-on-month basis, however, February 2023 food inflation was highest in Yobe (3.15 percent), Edo (3.03 percent ), and Ogun (2.90 Percent); while Rivers (0.75 percent), Sokoto (0.89 percent), and Nasarawa (0.90 percent) recorded the lowest.”

Photo: ICPC

From Abubakar Yunusa ABUJA

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Foreign airlines trapped funds in Nigeria increases to $743 million – IATA

From Abubakar Yunusa ABUJA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the top global trade association of airlines, has appealed to the Nigerian government to allow international airlines repatriate their funds trapped in the country.

The association said the amount airlines have been unable to repatriate from the country rose to $743.7 million in January from $662 million it stood last December.

IATA raised the concerns on Tuesday during a courtesy visit to the Aviation minister, Hadi Sirika, in Abuja.

In his remarks, IATA Area Manager, West and Central Africa, Samson Fatokun, who led the team hinted that Nigeria has been the country with the highest amount of airline blocked funds in the world for over a year. He also warned that the development may cause the country more damage.

“IATA and the global airline community will like to appeal for your special intervention for the

resolution of airlines` blocked funds issue in Nigeria.

“As of January 2023, airlines `blocked funds in Nigeria have increased to $743, 721,097 from $662m in January 2023 and $549m in December 2022, “ he said.

Mr Fatokun explained that an increasing backlog of international airlines blocked funds in Nigeria sends a disturbing messages about Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country.

He emphasised that potential investors are reading from the plight of airlines that they may not be able to repatriate their funds from Nigeria, at a time when Nigeria is expecting more investments.

The group explained that Foreign airlines fly into Nigeria within the legal framework of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA), signed between their countries and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“It is agreed in those BASAs that Nigeria will facilitate the repatriation of the funds of the other party`s airline. Nigeria flouts this contractual obligation

DMO reopens four FGN Bonds valued at N360 billion

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has reopened four Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) Bonds valued at N360 billion for subscription through a primary market auction window.

According to a statement issued by the DMO on Tuesday, the bonds are a 13.98 per cent, February 2028 FGN Bond; a 12.50 per cent, April 2032 FGN Bond; a 16.25 per cent, April 2037 FGN Bond; and a 14.80 per cent , April 2049 FGN Bond.

The four bonds are all valued at N90 billion, totalling N360 billion.

According to the debt management office, the bonds are offered at N1,000 per unit with a minimum subscription of N50 million, and in multiples of N1,000 thereafter.

“For re-openings of previously issued bonds, successful bidders will pay a price corresponding to the yield-to-maturity bid that clears the volume being auctioned plus any accrued interest on the instrument,” the DMO said.

The interest payment is done semi-annually while the bullet repayment (principal sum) is done on the maturity date, the DMO said.

It said that the bonds were backed by the full faith and credit

by not facilitating enough the repatriation of airlines’ funds,” the IATA manager said.

Due to the lingering difficulties in the repatriation of trapped funds, Mr Fatokun said some airlines had decided to reduce the number of their trips or seats made available for sale in the Nigerian market to mitigate the increasing backlog of funds trapped in Nigeria and its impact on their cash flow.

This, he said, has reduced person and cargo access to Nigeria, and that e-commerce that relied on aviation for speedy delivery would be impacted in the country.

“Moreover, going by the law of demand and supply, the reduction of airline inventories in the Nigerian market will lead to ticket fare increase which would further burden average Nigerians and take air travel away from the reach of many Nigerians,” he said.

In recent months, Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis has worsened amidst depletion of its foreign reserves.

The forex crisis has significantly impacted the

aviation sector, especially when the domestic and international airlines are also faced with increase in aviation fuel price.

During an emergency meeting with airline operators, last year, Mr Sirika said, “there are no immediate solutions” to the lingering crisis in the sector because what ails the industry is a global problem.

Within that period, IATA hinted that the amount airlines have been unable to repatriate from the country has been on a steady rise. This prompted some international airlines like Emirates to repeatedly threaten to suspend its operations to and from Nigeria.

In an effort to remedy the situation, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last August released $265 million to airlines operating in the country to settle outstanding trapped funds from ticket sales.

At the meeting on Tuesday, Susan Akporiaye, the National President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), also urged Mr Sirika to help facilitate the

resolution of airlines’ blocked funds.

She explained that the downstream sector of the aviation industry (Travel Agencies, Ground Handling Companies) rely heavily on airlines’ capacity to grow to remain in business.

“Should the airlines be compelled to further reduce their capacity, those businesses would be negatively impacted, leading to job loss.The negative indirect impact will also affect ground transportation (taxi, car hire), hotels and restaurants output,” she lamented.

In his response, Mr Sirika said Nigeria is committed to the BASA agreement and that the ministry is concerned, and will do her very best to resolve the matter of blocked funds as soon as possible.

However, the minister reiterated that the issue of blocked funds sits with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He urged the International Airline Operators to be considerate when dealing with the issue bearing in mind the ripple effects of COVID-19 and recession on the nation’s economy.

of the Federal Government of Nigeria, and were charged upon the general assets of Nigeria.

It further stated that they qualify as securities in which trustees can invest under the Trustee Investment Act.

“They qualify as government securities within the meaning of the Company Income Tax Act (CITA) and Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) for tax exemption for pension funds amongst other investors,” the DMO said.

They are listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange Limited and FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange.

“All FGN Bonds qualify as liquid assets for liquidity ratio calculation for banks,” it said.

DMO Reopens N360 Billion FGN Bonds for Subscription,” it said.

Ghana’s inflation drops to 52.8% amid lower food prices

From Abubakar Yunusa

ABUJA

Ghana’s inflation rate fell to 52.8 percent in February, down from 53.6 percent in January.

The is the second consecutive time that the figure has dropped in 20 months.

Samuel Kobina Annim, Government Statistician for Ghana, announced this while speaking with journalists on Wednesday.

He said the prices for the

February 2023 inflation rate were collected from 47,877 products from 57 markets across the 16 administrative regions of Ghana.

Annim said the reduction is a confirmation of a sustained downward trend in the rate of inflation for the year.

“The slowdown in food caused the rate to fall,” he said.

Annim said food-price growth eased for the first time in more than a year to 59.1 percent from 61 percent in January, with non-food

inflation unchanged.

He said that transport recorded an inflation rate higher than the national rate, followed by furnishings and household equipment, housing, and food.

“At the 13 division level it will be recalled that five items recorded the highest rates more than the national rate of 52.8 percent, with transport leading with 70.3 percent for the month of February 2023,” he said.

Recently, the Ghana National Petroleum Authority

(NPA) announced that it has removed fuel subsidy to ensure stability across the country’s downstream sector.

“We have removed subsidies and deregulated our markets,” Abdul Hamid, chief executive officer of NPA, had said.

“Industries were shutting down because government was finding it hard to find the money to provide subsidies and to this day industry is being powered by investments in the private sector and there are no complains of supply.”

From left: Wife of the former Governor of Rivers, retired Justice Mary Odili; former Governor Peter Odili of Rivers and Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers, during the inauguration of Board of Governors of Justice Mary Odili Institute, yesterday in Port Harcourt

Bridging Financial Inclusion Gap With CBN National Domestic Card Scheme

In January this year (2023), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), and Bankers Committee launched Africa’s first National Domestic Card Scheme to ensure stability and growth in the financial and payments system in the country.

The goal was to also improve financial inclusion and support the development of a robust digital economy within the Nigerian domestic market and across the African continent.

With the launch, Nigeria has joined a growing list of countries like India, Turkey, China and Brazil as leading examples – which have launched domestic card schemes and harnessed the transformative benefits for their respective payments and financial systems, particularly for the underbanked.

In Nigeria, the scheme is expected to bring multiple transformative benefits for the residents, including enhanced financial inclusion for the over 38 million unbanked Nigerians and increased affordability of payment services.

The scheme, as a true game-changer for the Nigerian payments ecosystem and beyond would enable the Banks to offer a variety of solution including debit, credit, virtual, loyalty and tokenised cards amongst others.

The “AfriGo” card is a national domestic card scheme initiated by the CBN to perform domestic transactions within Nigeria like other existing debit cards.

Some of the benefits of the card, according to CBN, are that the card scheme would strengthen the national payments system, deepen the usage of electronic platforms in the country, reduce the cost of cashless society, save the country foreign transaction fees and improve the country’s data Sovereignty and security.

The AfriGo cards are also expected to address challenges within the local banking system such as the high charges for issuance and maintenance of bank cards.

Although CBN is yet to reveal the actual price of the cards, report has it the cards would cost less than N1,000 (one thousand Naira), which is the general rate for card issuance by most commercial banks in Nigeria.

Currently, Nigerian financial institutions feature three card payment providers, namely: Visa, Mastercard and Verve by Interswitch.

Report has it that “in 2021 alone, the value of card transactions facilitated by these market players equaled $18.2 billion. This figure is expected to keep increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 18% until 2025”.

Nigeria’s domestic card payment scheme is a joint project of a number of parties, including: The CBN, NIBSS, The Bankers Committee and Several other financial ecosystem stakeholders.

Why The National Domestic Card?

CBN explained that based on the global card ownership statistics report, the Nigerian adult population owns about 32%

and 3% Debit and Credit cards.

This ranks Nigeria as the 75th in the world in debit card to population ratio and 114th in the world in credit card to population ratio.

Nigeria has a low card to population ratio, when it is benchmarked globally, and this has a major impact in the government’s drive to aggressively boost financial inclusion.

In addition, the CBN said, Nigeria is Africa’s largest and most vibrant economy and the pace of digitisation and innovation, alongside the expansion of mobile penetration and the proactive policy initiatives of the bank have driven the accelerated adoption of digital financial services.

It said, considering the strength and breadth of its banking sector and the rapid growth and transformation of its payments system over the last decade, Nigeria was ideally positioned to successfully launch the national card scheme.

The bank said, building on this platform to accelerate financial inclusion requires infrastructure that could deliver lower cost payments services that are more accessible and affordable for Nigerians.

“Domesticating our card scheme also enhances data sovereignty, enabling the development of locally relevant products and services and reduces demands on foreign exchange.

“The scheme can also be leveraged as a platform for the seamless dissemination of government-to-person payments and other social impact initiatives, enhancing financial access and supporting the growth of a robust and inclusive digital economy.

.“The CBN recognizes the significant benefits from delivering Africa’s first central bank-driven, domestic card scheme, which, when delivered at scale, has the potential to become the largest in Africa, and one of the largest in the world”, it said.

CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele while performing the virtual launch of the scheme said, the scheme would provide more options for domestic consumers while also promoting the delivery of services in a more innovative, cost-effective and competitive manner.,

He said, “the scheme is important to plug in the gap that has remained in the economy since the introduction of the cashless policy, and will integrate the informal segment of our economy, reduce shadow banking, bring more Nigerians into the formal financial services with an attendant diversification of deposit portfolio which will further strengthen the stability of the banking industry”.

He noted that, though the penetration of card payments in Nigeria had grown tremendously over the years, many Nigerians were still excluded, adding that the challenges of financial inclusion in the country were the high cost of card services as a result of foreign exchange requirements of international card schemes, as well as the inability of existing card products to address local peculiarities of the Nigerian market.

While assuring that the National Domestic card would be accessible to all Nigerians and address most of the country’s local peculiarities, he further stated that it was not a quest to prevent international service providers from continuing to provide services in Nigeria. Instead, he said it aimed at domestic consumers whilst also promoting the delivery of services in a more innovative, cost-effective and competitive manner.

In her welcome remarks, the Deputy Governor (Financial System Stability) at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, said that the Nigerian National domestic card Scheme would lead to the sovereignty of data, saves cost on card transactions, reduce foreign

exchange pressure and would present new opportunities for the Nigerian economy.

Mrs. Ahmad, who doubles as Chairman of the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), further said the card scheme “heralds a new vista of opportunities for the card business, that several countries continue to recognise and leverage as they create their domestic card schemes to augment existing foreign payment card rails.”

According to her, the card scheme also provides an essential platform for further innovation to solve some of the most pressing issues around financial inclusion, SME payments and trade facilitation primarily, supporting the drive for a robust digital economy for the Nigerian market, the African continent and the world.

Giving an overview of the card, she said the name for the national domestic card scheme, AfriGO, was birthed in Nigeria with continental aspirations, as ‘AFRI’ means culture, ethnic diversity, bravery, innovation, and growth while “GO” symbolises progress, empowerment, inclusivity, and future-forward amongst others.

The Afrigopay Financial Services Limited (AFSL), a local card scheme duly licensed by the CBN, was an affiliate of the NIBSS and responsible for deploying and managing the scheme for Nigeria.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of NIBSS, Premier Owoh, Scheme was developed by the stakeholders to bridge the card penetration gap in the country.

Oiwoh said, with the current pace of card population ratio, financial inclusion and cashless society drive would be difficult to grow and sustained.

He noted that existing ATM Cards and POS would still function without interruption, adding that it would co-exist with other card schemes in the country as it is in other global economies.

Some Reactions On The Scheme

Omolola Coker et al said, “this initiative is certainly commendable, with the CBN entering the card issuance market as the first government backed scheme in Africa. However, it must be said that the reality of the “unbanked” remains unchanged as they still do not have access to banking facilities, automatically excluding them from becoming beneficiaries of the scheme. Therefore, the practical steps for implementation of the domestic card scheme are eagerly anticipated alongside greater assurance of the infrastructural improvements that must be made for true financial inclusion”.

Martha Dali Mghendi-Fisher said, “this is actually a good thing. Cost of card transactions in many African countries is ridiculously high. Lowering the cost can encourage card adoption and discourage card usage. The big question to ask is who bears the cost? Someone has to. Is it the consumer or the Banks or the local card scheme. If they make it very transparent in terms of actual costs of having and using the Card, I think it’s a positive development”.

“ CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele while performing the virtual launch of the scheme said, the scheme would provide more options for domestic consumers while also promoting the delivery of services in a more innovative, cost-effective and competitive manner

METRO

Insecurity: Taskforce removes squatters’ settlement along flood plains in Wuse

By Stanley Onyekwere

In continuation with its renewed clean up exercise, the FCT Administration’s ministerial taskteam raided and removed hundreds of squatters from Illegal settlements allegedly harbouring suspected criminal elements within the fringes of a green area in Wuse Zone 3, Abuja.

It was observed that the enforcement team accompanied by joint security personnel drawn from Military and Paramilitary agencies, Wednesday raided and cleared the the settlement area having makeshift structures, constructed with sacks and woods belonged to illegal squatters, who in their hundreds traded and lived there for about three decades.

Also, it was gathered that the

settlement situated along flood plain, behind Fraser suites and Church Gate in Central Business District (CDB) hitherto served residential and commercial purposes to the displaced inhabitants mainly farmers and scavengers.

According to the displaced persons, their farms mainly banana and plantain plantations as well as other cash crops are around the flood plains stretching up to Presidential Villa and Karon-Majiji area.

One of the squatters, Sani Halilu, who claimed that it was the first time he experienced such demolition, said it touched his life to the extent that he was lost of words to express what happened to their settlement.

He added that most of them are farmers have been there

Experts identify girl-child mentorship as key to nation building

By Stanley Onyekwere

Someexperts in health and civil society advocacy have identified strategic early Girl-child Mentorship and social inclusion as key to nation building.

According to them, it was based on the fact that a well groomed girl-child, will grow into a responsible and resourceful woman that nurtures the society in several ways.

Making this point, President, Helpline Foundation For the Needy, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Dr. Jumai Ahmadu, noted that all stakeholders need to promote ideals that espouse gender equality and social inclusion for the girl-child, bearing in mind the fact that the hope for healthy generations depends on the up bringing of the girl-child.

Ahmadu spoke through the Project Manager of the Foundation, Arome Onoja at a one-day workshop on “ Gender Equality and Social Inclusion for FCT Original Inhabitants Girlchild Mentorship and Capacity Building “, held Tuesday, in Abuja.

She disclosed that the workshop supported by Macarthur Foundation and CHRICED, was meant to provide more insight to the challenges of girl-child, especially among the original inhabitants of Abuja, and also addressing them.

She said, “ Today we are here for another dimension of the project with an objective to mentor the girl child on Gender equality and social inclusion and building their capacity to be able to stand strong and compete in inclusive economy where talents can meet with opportunities.

“This programme will in no doubt prepare them for a future we all anticipate for them to become virtuous women.

“Remember when you train a girl-child you have trained a generation”.

more than 30 years, and for some of them who are students, they farm and also engage in trading activities to help fend for themselves and families .

“For me, I have been hearing about demolitions of our settlements in the past, but this is the first time I experienced it, and it touched my life to the extent that I’m lost of words to express what happened.

“Normally, we settle in a place, whenever development meets us, we remove to elsewhere, but this is the place we have been for a long time. We are just settling here, as we were not offered this place by the government, but we are just living and hustling here for more than 30 years.

“Even during the of El-rufai era as FCT Minister, we were here. We built our houses and

shops, which were demolished. The issue is that our farms mainly banana and plantain plantations as well as other cash crops around this river (flood plains) stretching up to Presidential Villa and Karon-Majiji area.

“Almost 90 per cent of us here are Katsina State indigenes. So we are Nigerians, who have their children and wives here, and I’m appealing to the government to consider us by giving us time and another 0lace where we can settle in peace”, he stressed.

While explaining the exercise, the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Comrade Ikharo Attah, said it was unacceptable to have such notorious settlement along the river belt in the heart of the city, as numerous criminal acts have

been traced to the shanties.

Attah revealed that there have been complaints about bags and phones snatching including the issue of drug dealings along the corridor stretching up to the Central Mosque Area through the Federal Secretariat area.

He said: “We have been here before, this is notorious settlement along the river belt. To our shock, it is far wider than what we we expected as we spent the whole day here.

“So we had cleared it before, but today we wanted to do some thing very comprehensive. We had to remove everything ( all of the illegal shanties) we hope that the crime rate (the rate at which criminals come from the under bridges and attack people- stealing from them will be reduced across the FCT”.

Similarly, Kosi Izundu, a reproductive health/family Planning programme officer, who represented Pathfinder International Nigeria, explained that part of the mentorship program the girl-child need was a proper understanding of her reproductive states and the issues surrounding it.

Izundu noted that giving the girls right information at every phase of their lives and development was important to raising future adults that would make reasonable impact in the society.

She stressed that it was important for the girls to be given the right information so that , They can grow into very healthy adolescents and adults and they are able to filfil their potentials in the society”.

FCT unveils new policy on food, nutrition

By Stanley Onyekwere

TheFCT Administration has disclosed the adoption of a new policy on food and nutrition, which would serve as guiding document for food and nutrition activities in the Territory.

It was gathered that the document, which is a product of multi sectorial technical working group which drew members from the academia, NonGovernmental Organisations (NGOs) education, information, agriculture, education and in collaboration with UNICEF was a response from the Federal Ministry of Finance, budget and National Planning for list of priority nutrition interventions at sub national level drawn from state strategic plan of action for food and nutrition.

The Acting Executive Secretary of the FCT Primary Health Care Board

Dr. Isa Vatsa, while declaring the workshop open, noted that lack of information has impaired adequate nutrition in the FCT, as nutrition challenges in the FCT was not due to

lack of food but due to ignorance on the quality and types of food required.

Vatsa had charged participants to contribute positively towards producing a workable nutrition document for the FCT.

On his part, the facilitator of the workshop Professor Kola Mathew Anigo of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria stressed the importance of nutrition towards the success of all sustainable development goals.

Anigo who presented an overview of National policy on food and nutrition noted that Nigeria is a country blessed with abundant natural and human resources but regretted that poverty has remained pervasive in the country.

He also pointed out that Nigeria has the highest number of children and under 5 who are stunted in the sub Saharan Africa and very high level of wasting adding that the country requires a coordinated multi sectorial approaches and public, private civil society partnership intervention.

He noted that Nigeria National policy on food and nutrition (NPFN)

was adopted in April 2016 as a response to the urgent need to scale up high impact and cost effective intervention.

A glimpse into policy document shows that the current situation of food and nutrition in the Federal Capital Territory is captured under subheadings like poverty situation in the Territory, food, water and sanitation, nutrition and health, school based feeding programme, nutrition in emergencies, nutrition and SDGs, monitoring and evaluation and research as well as planning budget and finance.

It also shows that despite the abundance of fertile land mass, human and natural resources in the FCT, poverty level is still at an unacceptable level of 38.7%, and majority of the affected population is found in rural areas is found in rural areas which may be due to the influx of migrants from other states as a result of insecurity and desire for greener pastures, lack of education , social inequality , high inflation rate as reflected in high

consumer price index and loss of jobs and livelihood activities due to natural hazards such as floods and fire outbreaks.

On food security, FCT is considered food insecure due to the fact that food consumption score which is a composite score based on the dietary diversity, food frequency and the relative nutritional importance of different groups is within the boarder line of 24.

This situation thus suggests that an average FCT resident does not consume adequate combination of the required food group, which is a concern to nutrition stakeholders in the Territory especially the Committee on food and nutrition.

The FCT committee on food and nutrition is domiciled in the Economic planning, Revenue generation and public private partnership Secretariat.

The Secretary of the committee and FCT nutrition coordinator, Mrs. Clementina

Okoro thanked the participants for their dedication and resourcefulness towards the success of the event.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Andrew David Adejoh (4th right), Director Education Support Services, Mrs Lydia Giginna (3rd right) Director Human resources mgt, Mr David Gende (2nd right) , Director Press and Public Relations, Mr Ben-Bem Goong (left) with other Directors and other stakeholders,after the world press conference on the 2023 common wealth day celebration, held yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Meta layoffs: Facebook owner to cut 10,000 staff

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has announced that it will cut 10,000 jobs.

It will be the second series of mass redundancies from the tech giant, which laid off 11,000 employees in November 2022.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts would be “tough”, and formed part of a “year of efficiency”.

In addition to the 10,000 jobs being lost, 5,000 open roles at the company will be left unfilled.

Mr Zuckerberg told staff in a memo he believed the company had suffered “a humbling wake-up call” in 2022 when it saw a slowdown in revenue.

Meta previously announced that, in the three months to December 2022, earnings were down 4% year-on-year - though it still managed to make a profit of more than $23bn over the course of 2022.

Mr Zuckerberg cited higher interest rates in the US, global geopolitical instability and increased regulation as some of the factors affecting Meta.

“I think we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that this new economic reality will continue for many years,” he said.

The cuts come as companies including

Google and Amazon have been grappling with how to balance cost-cutting measures with the need to remain competitive.

At the start of this year, Amazon announced it planned to close more than 18,000 jobs because of “the uncertain economy” and rapid hiring during pandemic, while Google’s parent company Alphabet made 12,000 cuts.

According to layoffs.fyi, which tracks job losses in the tech sector, there have been more than 128,000 job cuts in the tech industry so far in 2023.

Timeline for cuts

Mr Zuckerberg said the recruitment team would be the first to be told whether they were affected by the cuts, and would find out on Wednesday. He also outlined when other teams would know about their futures.

“We expect to announce restructurings and layoffs in our tech groups in late April 2023, and then our business groups in late May 2023,” he wrote in a memo to employees on Tuesday.

“In a small number of cases, it may take through to the end of the year to complete these changes.

“Our timelines for international teams will also look different, and local leaders will follow up with more details.”

Sadly, we’re getting used to hearing about big tech layoffs, as the giants continue to tighten their belts. Many like Meta make most of their money from carrying advertising.

And now they’re faced with a perfect storm of falling ad revenues from companies with their own bills to pay, and a user base which has less money to spend, making existing ad space less valuable.

Juno Awards 2023: Avril Lavigne confronts topless protester onstage while The Weeknd wins big

Avril Lavigne confronted a topless environmental protester onstage at the Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Brits.

As the singer introduced a performance at the start of Monday’s ceremony, a woman ran onto the stage behind her.

A message on her back read “save the green belt”, apparently in reference to a controversial housing development plan by the Ontario government.

Lavigne tried to finish her speech before confronting the woman.

“Get the [expletive] off,” she said and swatted at her breast, reported Canada’s CBC News. The woman was then escorted off stage by a security guard.

The pop-rocker alluded to the intruder in her later acceptance speech.

“Now, nobody try anything this time. I’ll [mess a woman] up,” joked Lavigne, while collecting the TikTok Juno fan choice award.

Avril Lavigne had to deal with a topless environmental protester while onstage at Monday’s Juno Awards

The ceremony’s host, Shang-Chi actor Simu Liu praised Lavigne, who is from Ontario, for “handling that topless lady like a champion”.

In November, the Ontario government issued new regulations to remove 7,400 acres of protected Greenbelt land and open it up for housing, with 50,000 new

homes set to be built by 2025.

The move, which has been criticised by environmental groups, is under investigation by the province’s auditor general and integrity commissioner.

Elsewhere on the night, Toronto singer The Weeknd became the Juno’s second most-honoured artist of all time.

The star won album of the year for Dawn FM - a concept record set in purgatory - earning him his 22nd Juno award, overtaking Celine Dion and Bryan Adams.

Only country-pop singer Anne Murray has more, with 24.

The musician, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, did not attend the event, and his absence reportedly prompted

jeers from the crowd at the Rogers Place venue in Edmonton, Alberta.

Meanwhile, rock band Nickelback, whose lead singer Chad Kroeger used to be married to Lavigne, were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the event.

“Twenty seven years, blood sweat and tears, started off 300 kilometres southeast of here in a little town called Hanna,” said Kroeger, referencing the band’s hometown.

“We had no idea what we were doing and most of the time still don’t,” he added. “But everything we did wound up leading us to this moment right here. But we didn’t make it here without a lot of help.”

French bin strike: Paris holds its nose as waste piles up

The bins are overflowing in large areas of Paris a week into a strike by waste collectors, with thousands of tonnes of rubbish sitting abandoned on the streets of the French capital.

“It’s dirty, it attracts rats and cockroaches,” one Parisian complained on French radio.

The workers are striking over the Macron government’s proposals to raise the pension age from 62 to 64.

Other cities including Nantes, Rennes and Le Havre are also affected.

Refuse collectors joined the pension strikes a week ago and the Paris authority says half of the city’s districts, which are covered by council workers, have been hit by the action. Three waste treatment sites have been blockaded and a fourth partially closed.

On Monday, the Paris authority said 5,600 tonnes of waste had yet to be collected.

One commentator on Europe1 radio

described the situation as an all-you-can-eat buffet for the six million rats of Paris, double the human population.

In the 10 districts covered by private companies the service was running almost normally, Paris council said. Some reports indicated activists were trying to prevent collections from going ahead.

And one private company was also seen on Monday night by news channel BFMTV picking up waste in one of the big central districts, the sixth, which is normally covered by council workers. Similar bin collections were going on in two other districts on the western fringe of the city.

Leading council official Emmanuel Grégoire said the situation was complicated but the authority was prioritising intervention for public safety, with a focus on clearing food markets, bin bags lying on the ground and ensuring pedestrian safety.

“The strike triggers a change in rat

behaviour,” specialist Romain Lasseur told Le Parisien newspaper. “They’ll rummage around in bins, reproduce there, and leave their urine and droppings. We have a worrying health risk for refuse collectors and the general population.”

The capital’s bin workers are due to meet on Wednesday to decide whether to continue their action. Refuse collectors currently retire at the age of 57 because of difficult working conditions and under the reforms they would have to work for two more years.

Opponents of the Socialist mayor of Paris have seized on the strike as only adding to an existing crisis.

“Anne Hidalgo promised to double the clean-up budget and Parisians clearly see Paris becoming dirtier and dirtier,” complained Rachida Dati who runs the seventh district for the right-wing Republicans.

France’s unions have stepped up action

against the government’s unpopular retirement reforms which are currently going through parliament.

Several operators at French refineries were on strike on Tuesday for a seventh day in a row, but only a small proportion of French petrol stations have had to close.

The measures were backed by the upper house or Senate on Saturday and will next go to a joint committee of MPs from both houses on Wednesday to decide on the final text. A final vote could reach the National Assembly and Senate on Thursday.

President Emmanuel Macron’s party lacks a majority in the lower house so victory on the bill is by no means secure.

The government needs 287 votes, and even if it can persuade all its 250 MPs to back the reforms it will still need to find another 37 lawmakers from other parties to back the higher pension age.

Source: BBC

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the plans in a memo to staff

Storm Freddy: Malawi declares state of disaster as nearly 200 killed

At least 190 people are now confirmed dead in Malawi after Tropical Storm Freddy ripped through southern Africa for the second time in a month.

Terrifying amounts of brown water have cascaded through neighbourhoods, sweeping away homes.

Malawi’s commercial hub, Blantyre, has recorded most of the deaths, 158, including 36 in a landslide.

The government has declared a state of disaster in 10 southern districts that have been hardest-hit by the storm.

Rescue workers are overwhelmed, and are using shovels to try to find survivors buried in mud.

“We have rivers overflowing, we have people being carried away by running waters, we have buildings collapsing,” police spokesman Peter Kalaya told the BBC.

The government’s disaster relief agency said the death toll had risen from 99 on Monday to 190, while about 584 people were injured and 37 were still missing.

More than 20,00 people have been displaced, it added.

Officials at the main referral hospital in Blantyre said they could not cope with the sheer number of bodies that they were receiving.

They appealed to bereaved families to collect the corpses for burial as the hospital’s mortuary was running out of space.

The death toll is expected to rise as some areas remain cut off because of relentless rain and fierce wind.

The storm has also crippled Malawi’s power supply, with most parts of the country experiencing prolonged blackouts.

The national electricity company said it was unable to get its hydro-power plant working as it had been filled with debris.

Densely-populated poorer communities, living in brick and mud houses, have been hardest-hit.

Some of these houses have crumbled into flood waters, while others have been entirely swept away.

The collapse of roads and bridges had hampered rescue operations, while helicopters could not be used either because of the heavy rains and strong winds.

The UN and other agencies have warned that the timing of the storm could exacerbate a cholera outbreak - one of Malawi’s worst public health crises.

The government has appealed for help for the tens of thousands of people who have been left without food and shelter.

Freddy is the strongest tropical cyclone on record and could also be the longestlasting one, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

On Sunday the storm struck Mozambique as a cyclone - for the second time in a less than a month - after battering the island nation of Madagascar in the

Indian Ocean, causing severe destruction.

It has been difficult to determine the extent of the damage caused in Mozambique and the number of deaths, as power supply and phone signals were cut off in some parts of the affected areas.

About 10 deaths have so far been reported.

Experts says climate change is making tropical storms around the world wetter, windier and more intense.

Freddy had broken records for the strength it accumulated over the 8,000km (5,000-mile) path it travelled across the Indian Ocean from north-western Australia.

South Africa’s long wait for justice over apartheid crimes

Lukhanyo Calata’s earliest memory of his father is his funeral. He remembers the cold, and his mother wracked with grief. It was the winter of 1985, in the small South African town of Cradock in the Eastern Cape.

He recalls feeling as if the ground was moving beneath him as it reverberated with the toyi-toying - stomping and chanting - of thousands of mourners.

They had come from all over the country to pay their respects to Lukhanyo’s father, Fort Calata, and three other young men who would come to be known as the Cradock Four.

Despite being one of the apartheid era’s most notorious crimes, the alleged perpetrators have never been taken to court even though they were not given amnesty by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

But now a push to reopen investigations into this, and hundreds of other crimes from the racist apartheid era, is gathering momentum.

The 1985 murder of the Cradock Four sparked outrage across the country.

The president of the then-banned African National Congress (ANC), Oliver Tambo, addressed the masses attending the political burial through a message sent from exile.

That day, President PW Botha announced a state of emergency in the Eastern Cape, extending it nationwide the following year. The measure gave the police and security forces sweeping powers to crack down on activities demanding an end to whiteminority rule.

As a rural organiser for the United Democratic Front (UDF), a prominent umbrella organisation of hundreds of groups fighting racial segregation, one of the four, Matthew Goniwe would sometimes travel to the city of Port Elizabeth for meetings. For

Fort Calata and his wife, Nomonde, on their wedding day

The four community leaders were known to the police for their anti-apartheid activities. As they made the 200km- (125 mile) drive back to Cradock that night, they were intercepted by a police roadblock.

Their burnt bodies were later found at separate locations.

The government at first denied any involvement in their deaths and a 1987 inquest found that the four men were killed by “unknown persons”.

But a second inquiry was opened at the tail-end of white-minority rule in 1993, after a newspaper reported that a secret military signal had been sent calling for the “permanent removal from society” of Mr Goniwe, his cousin Mbulelo Goniwe and Mr Calata.

It concluded that security forces were responsible for their deaths but did not name any individuals.

Justice pending Lukhanyo Calata was three years old when his father was killed. Thirty-eight years later, the families of the Cradock Four are still waiting for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

The incident was one of thousands of crimes heard by the TRC to ease South Africa’s delicate transition following the end of apartheid.

President Nelson Mandela asked Archbishop Desmond Tutu to lead the commission, which advocated the healing of the country through reconciliation and forgiveness in order to head off the risk of

vengeful violence following the decades of brutality.

It brought together perpetrators, witnesses and victims of human rights violations carried out during the apartheid era to testify in public. The TRC offered the chance of amnesty to those who fully confessed to their crimes, which would at least give relatives the comfort of knowing what had happened to their loved ones.

Six of seven former police officers who confessed their involvement in the killing of the Cradock Four to the TRC were denied amnesty on grounds of not making a full disclosure.

The case was one of about 300 that the TRC referred to the prosecuting authority in 2003 for further investigation and prosecution.

But for relatives who had been waiting decades for justice for their loved ones, what

followed was yet more waiting as almost all the cases remained untouched.

It is not entirely clear why the authorities have been dragging their feet.

A possible explanation for the delay came to light in 2015, when the sister of Nokuthula Simelane, a young activist who went missing in 1983, filed a court application for a formal inquest into her disappearance.

The case saw former officials from the prosecuting authority come forward to allege that the government had obstructed the investigation and prosecution of the TRC cases, including that of Ms Simelane.

The claims cited fears that investigations into some cases could lead to calls for the prosecution of members of the governing ANC for their possible involvement in human rights violations during the fight against apartheid.

Source: BBC

one such trip on 27 June, he was accompanied by Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli.

The destruction of roads and bridges has hampered relief efforts

The alleged killers of Fort Calata (second from right) and Matthew Goniwe (R) have never been prosecuted

Asia&Middle-East

Ukraine war: Russian soldier arrested ‘after six months in hiding’

ARussian soldier who claims to have avoided detection in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region for six months has been detained, Ukrainian police say.

The 42-year-old serviceman was stopped by members of the Ukrainian armed forces while they were patrolling the Kupiansk district, Kharkiv’s regional police department said.

The area was retaken by Ukrainian forces last September.

The soldier told police he had hidden in abandoned buildings since then.

After they found him on Monday, police discovered that the man - dressed in civilian clotheswas a serviceman with Russia’s 27th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade and was a resident of the Moscow region.

The soldier was taken to a

local police station for further investigation, a police statement said.

Kupiansk - home to an important railway junction - has witnessed fierce fighting since the war began last year, with Russia taking control in a matter of days, and occupying the town for several months.

Though the area was retaken by Ukrainian troops last September, it is under threat from Russian attempts to retake it once more. Some residents were ordered to leave the area due to the “unstable security situation” by Ukrainian officials earlier in March.

On Tuesday, the head of Kharkiv’s regional administration, Oleg Sinegubov, said the cityalong with others in the region - was under fire from Russian troops.

Aukus deal: US, UK and Australia agree on nuclear submarine project

The US, UK and Australia have unveiled details of their plan to create a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, aimed at countering China’s influence in the IndoPacific region.

Under the Aukus pact Australia is to get its first nuclearpowered subs - at least threefrom the US.

The allies will also work to create a new fleet using cuttingedge tech, including UK-made Rolls-Royce reactors.

Beijing has strongly criticised the significant naval deal.

Its foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the three nations of “walking further and further down the path of error and danger”.

China’s UN mission had earlier also accused the Western allies of setting back nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

But US President Joe Biden said the deal was aimed at bolstering peace in the region and stressed the submarines would be “nuclear-powered, not nucleararmed”.

Speaking alongside the UK and Australian prime ministers - Rishi Sunak and Anthony Albanese - in San Diego, California, Mr Biden said the deal would not jeopardise Australia’s commitment to being a nuclear-free country.

For Australia, it is a major upgrade to the US ally’s military capabilities. The country becomes just the second after the UK to receive Washington’s elite nuclear propulsion technology.

The submarines will be able to operate further and faster than the country’s existing dieselengine fleet and Australia will also be able to carry out long-range strikes against enemies for the

first time.

Under the deal, Australian navy sailors will be sent to US and UK submarine bases from this year to learn how to use the nuclear-powered submarines.

From 2027, the US and UK will also base a small number of nuclear submarines in Perth, Western Australia, before Canberra will buy three USmodel Virginia-class submarines in the early 2030s - with options to purchase two more.

After that, the plan is to design and build an entirely new nuclearpowered submarine for the UK and Australian navies - a model that is being called SSN-AUKUS.

This attack craft will be built in Britain and Australia to a British design, but use technology from all three countries.

President Biden said all three countries were committed to ensuring the Indo-Pacific region would remain free and open.

“Forging this new partnership, we’re showing again how democracies can deliver our own security and prosperity... not just for us but for the entire world,” he said.

He also pledged of $4.6bn (£3.7bn) to expanding the US’ submarine construction capacity and improving maintenance of its current nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines.

Australia’s PM said the plan - which will cost Canberra up to A$368bn (£201bn) over 30 years - marked the “biggest single investment in Australia’s defence capability in all of its history”.

Anthony Albanese said building the submarines in Australian shipyards would also create thousands of local jobs.

The UK PM also said thousands of jobs would be created in Derby

and Barrow-in-Furness, where some of the construction would take place.

Mr Sunak said that in the 18 months since the Aukus alliance was unveiled, the challenges to global stability had only grown.

“Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, China’s growing assertiveness, the destabilising behaviour of Iran and North Korea - all threaten to create a world codefined by danger, disorder and division,” Mr Sunak said.

As part of his visit to the US, Mr Sunak has also pledged to increase defence spending by nearly £5bn ($6bn) over the next two years to counter threats from hostile states.

The Aukus security alliance - announced in September 2021 - has repeatedly drawn criticism from China. Beijing’s foreign ministry last week reiterated

its position that the pact risked creating an arms race.

But the three Western countries say the security deal is aimed at shoring up stability in the Indo-Pacific.

While all three leaders have stressed how the deal will strengthen their co-operation, it hasn’t been without its political fallout.

In 2021, Australia scrapped a multi-million dollar dieselpowered submarine agreement with France in favour of the trilateral agreement - causing a political rift with Paris.

Australia also faces a delicate diplomatic situation with China - its largest trading partner. Analysts say the question will be whether it can continue to strengthen its military ties with US, while fostering commercial ties with Beijing.

Bali plans tourist motorbike ban over misbehaviour

The Indonesian island of Bali is planning to ban foreign tourists from using motorbikes after a spate of cases involving people breaking traffic laws.

“You [should] not roam about the island using motorbikes, without wearing shirts or clothes, no helmet, and even without a licence,” Governor I Wayan Koster said.

Under the proposals tourists would use cars provided by travel agents instead.

The plan has been divisive as tourism continues to recover from Covid losses.

More than 171 foreign nationals have violated traffic orders from late February to early March, according to local police records. Some tourists also use fake licence plates.

Source: BBC

Male students returned to class in Herat and other universities this week

The US, Australia and UK will jointly build a new class of submarines

FG to raise sufficient awareness on endangered species

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

The federal government said its committed to raise sufficient awareness in all nooks and crannies of the country on the need to conserve our critically endangered species .

The Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi made this known at the 2023 World Wildlife Day and the celebration of 50 years of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, CITES and the Official Launch of the Rapid Reference Guild to Combat Wildlife and Forest Crime held in Abuja, recently.

Abdullahi said those engendered species, are Pangolins, Ostrich, Elephant, Hippopotamus, Vultures, Chimpanzee, Gorilla, Rhinoceros, Giraffe, Giant Eland and among many others.

“We encourage sustainable management of the existing biodiversity for a more balanced ecosystem”.

He said biodiversity plays vital and diverse roles in our economy, ecology, and social lives.

“We use it as food, domestic and commercial products, and industrial processes. You will agree with me that our survival and overall well-being depend on how sustainably the environment and biodiversity are managed.“

He however, stated that there are serious environmental challenges that have led to the loss of biodiversity and threatened our existence.

He said, there are all forms of habitat change, over-exploitation, pollution, invasive alien species, and climate change.

“The alarming rate of over-exploitation of these natural resources calls for urgent and proactive actions to reverse the trend.

“Nigeria is actively in the spotlight of wildlife crime which includes poaching, hunting, trading supply and selling, consumption, and trafficking.

“We are on the brink of losing some endemic and iconic plant and animal species. Unless drastic action is taken as a country, trans-border trafficking is

assuming a dangerous position as Nigeria has been tagged ‘’Transit Hub’’ for this illegality,”he said

He explained that, that phenomenon constitutes a high-security risk, socioeconomic impoverishment of local communities, and public health risk with the spread of zoonotic diseases such as Lassa fever, Ebola Virus, and the recent COVID-19.

The Minister said that the aims of the Launching are “to assist wildlife

enforcement task force, launching of the national forest policy and timber legality standard and we also gather here today to launch the Rapid Reference Guide for Judges and Prosecutors to facilitate the prosecution of wildlife and forest criminals.

“The Rapid Reference Guide (RRG) is a collection of relevant and extant laws pertaining to wildlife crime in Nigeria and also includes an excerpt from the National Guidelines for prosecutors in the Federal

(NFIU), Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) Nigeria amongst others play key rolled as enforcement and regulatory agencies in our national efforts of combating wildlife and forest crime as well as enforcing the law, and effectively sanction offenders”.

He maintained that despite several challenges facing the country, Nigeria as a country remain focused on tackling illegal wildlife and forest crime at the National, Regional, and International Level.

He appreciated UNODC for the development of the guide with the support from the German Government and all other Development Partners for their relentless support towards a better and biodiversity-enriched Nigeria.

Similarly, Country Representative, of UNODC, Oliver Stolp said the UNDOC guide would equip investigators and prosecutors alike with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively develop and present cases with the appropriate potential to deter future offenders.

He said; “All these are notable achievements and I congratulate the Federal Minister of Environment for leading the charge in achieving these milestones and all stakeholders for their important contributions.

crime, prosecutors and investigators in determining what is minimally required in terms of evidence to build a case against those accused of wildlife and forest lands and also tackling climate change problems.”

He stressed that the objectives would also strengthen international cooperation and coordination among law enforcement agencies to increase the knowledge of prosecutors and investigators on the handling of wildlife and forestry-related issues.

He emphasized that, the federal government of Nigeria has taken several groundbreaking strides to tackle illegal wildlife trade within the country. “This includes the launching and implementation of the national strategy to combat illegal wildlife trade, coordination of wildlife

Republic of Nigeria”.

The Minister noted that the Nigerian government was committed to the implementation and adherence to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora “CITES” laws and regulations as well as to honour global agreements, conventions and treaties.

He added that, the guide also provides a handy compendium of laws pertaining to wildlife crime in the country.

“The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), the National Park Service (NPS), prosecutors from the Federal Directorate of Public Prosecutions in the Federal Ministry of Justice, INTERPol, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit

At the same time, we all know that a lot remains to be done. He said the work presents an opportunity and obligation for all of us to renew our commitments to protecting life on land and life on the water. It’s been a year since the national strategy was launched. So we must start to measure and monitor the implementation of the national strategy.”

According to him “Nigeria is not alone in this fight and can count on the partnership and financial support of the government of Germany, UK, and the US as well as the EU, all supporting a variety of projects and initiatives, including those implemented by UNODC.

We, therefore, are confident that together we can achieve that vision laid out to the national strategy of Nigeria free of wildlife crime.”

“

Nigeria is not alone in this fight and can count on the partnership and financial support of the government of Germany, UK, and the US as well as the EU...

Maharashtra: India farmers march in protest as onions rot

Farmers in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have set out on a 200km (124-mile) march to Mumbai, demanding higher prices for onions. The protests have prompted the authorities to announce some financial relief for onion growers. But farmers have rejected the proposal - and said they would continue their protest. BBC Marathi’s Anagha Pathak reports.

At Namdev Thakare’s vast family farm in Nashik district, rows and rows of onions lie rotting.

The farmer says he doesn’t want to spend money to hire labourers to harvest the onions and take them to market because he can’t recover the costs.

He is among thousands of farmers in Maharashtra who are protesting after onion prices suddenly crashed over the past few weeks. One of them burned his crop in desperation after sending an invitation to the state’s chief minister; others have posted parcels of onions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bid to draw attention.

This is something that occurs almost every other year.

At around 24 million tonnes annually, India is the world’s second-largest producer of onions, behind China. Maharashtra accounts for more than half of this. About 10-15% of the countrywide produce is exported to other countries.

Onion prices in India are highly volatile. The vegetable is a staple part of the cuisine in most Indian states and its perishability means it can’t be stored for too long.

Onions can also be notoriously political - while a glut in supply can make prices fall, plunging thousands of farmers into crisis, a shortage can send prices soaring, sparking consumer anger that has even brought down governments in the past.

Officials say that a major reason for the latest crash in Maharashtra was that demand from the populous northern states was dropping as the states of “Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan are also harvesting onions”.

Shrikant Kuwalekar, a farm expert, says that unexpected weather changes are also having an effect on production and hence prices.

Onions are cultivated during two seasons in India - monsoon and winter. The monsoon crop is usually harvested between late December and early January. These onions have a low shelf life and must reach markets quickly. The winter crop, harvested from mid-March, can be stored for a longer time.

“Last year, there was heavy rainfall in the months of July-

August, so farmers delayed their cultivation. This has led to a huge surplus of the onion crop in March, which would otherwise have hit the market in December-January,” Mr Kuwalekar says, adding that things will get worse when the winter harvest also reaches the market in a few weeks.

Farmers in Nashik say they are only getting around 200-400 rupees ($2.43-$4.85; £2-£4) per 100kg of onions in the wholesale market.

Ajit Navale, a farmer leader from Maharashtra, explains the

economics of onion farming.

Onion prices, he says, need to stay above 1,200 rupees per 100 kg if the farmer is to make at least 400 rupees of profit.

While wholesale prices are low,

retail prices haven’t been affected much. Mr Navale says that only middlemen and traders benefit from the supply glut.

“They buy onions from farmers at a very cheap rate and sell them in

cities for higher prices. Ultimately, both farmers and consumers are affected,” he says, adding that it’s “unfortunate” that the government isn’t intervening.

It’s a complaint shared by others. Mr Kuwalekar points out that even though demand for onions is steady, India doesn’t have a proper policy to regulate prices. When prices rise, the government often bans exports, fearing protests at home.

“Sometimes we even have to back out of supply commitments to other countries, which makes us lose our credibility,” he says.

Farmers who eke out a living from one crop season to another say that these policy decisions don’t mean much to them.

“I was supposed to arrange my daughter’s wedding this year and also construct a house. That’s unlikely now. My creditors are demanding money,” says Dagu Khote, who borrowed money to plant onions.

“I will now look for work as a daily wage labourer until the monsoon starts,” he says.

Source: BBC

Shrikant Kuwalekar, a farm expert, says that unexpected weather changes are also having an effect on production and hence prices

Onion farmers in Maharashtra are demanding a better price for their crop

Angry farmers have left their onions to rot in the fields

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Stakeholders Laud Organisers As Winners Of Zaria Grand Prix Smile Home with Cash

Stakeholders have lauded the just concluded Zaria Athletics Grand Prix held at the Sports Complex of Ahmadu Bello University,Zaria, Kaduna state.

Speaking at the closing ceremony on Wednesday, a former president of National , Nigeria Association of Technical officials ( NATO) Mr.Goodluck Akpodeh praised the organisers,as he listed the advantages of the prix to both the participants, as well as the development of the sport, athletics.

“I commend the organisers for

organising a glamorous prix, despite the prevailing circumstances,as we are all aware how difficult the economy is.Also,being the first event of the year in this region,it has helped our athletes to check their fitness level and enhanced their performance level.This is not a league,but an avenue for atheletes to test their abilities,and also make money for themselves and better their overall performance at the international level.”Akpodeh stated.

Assistant Secretary of Kaduna Coaches

Bendel Insurance defeat Feeders 2-0 to emerge Edo FA Champions

Bendel Insurance Football Club of Benin,today defeated their younger brothers Insurance Feeders 2-0 to win the 2023 Edo FA Cup.

The Edo FA cup final match,played at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, Benin had the two Bendel Insurance teams against each other for the second time consecutively slugging it out for the title which went to the senior team, following Imade Osarenkhoe’s 10th minute and Sodje Stephens 68th minute goals.

Both teams also reached the finals and represented the state at the national level of the Federation cup last

season, making it a new record in Edo Football history.

The Coach Stanley Osazee managed Insurance Feeders however showed brilliance with their tiki taka free flow performance but their senior brothers’ strength and experience made the difference.

On the road to the finals, the Monday Odigie led Benin Arsenals started the 2023 Edo FA Cup campaigns with a 3-0 win over an amateur sides Etete FC.

Similarly, Edo Queens have retained their FA Cup after humiliating Fortress Ladies FC 8-0 in the final played at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, Benin.

Association,Mr. Mark Orduen,said the change of date affected the turn as about 700 athletes were billed to participate,but comnended 500 atheletes who participated at the prix.

“I commend the organisers for putting together a colourful event,as all the atheletes were adequately taken care of.The change of date affected the number of athletes who were supposed to be here. Nevertheless,we recorded 500 instead of 700,and for this, I commend those who

came despite the short notice.I advice other stakeholders to emulate the organisers of Zaria Grand Prix.”Orduen stated.

Director of the Prix,Hon.Sunday Adeleye says he was thrilled about the talents discovered, and the overall impact of the event on the atheletes.He noted that more Prix will be organised to enhance the fitness level of the atheletes.

Cash rewards were given to various winners of the Prix.

The premier league Queens, expectedly lived up to the expectations against their Amateur opponents Fortress Ladies who could not pose any threat to the defending champions.

Bashiru Kafayat opened scoring for Edo Queens in the 13th minute of play.

Yemisi Samuel scored a hat-trick (17)(22) (40)minutes before Kafayat Bashiru got a brace to make 5-0 before half time.

As the second half resumed, Alice Okebe increased the tally for Edo Queens in the 47th minutes. Sulehat Aberdeen

later scored twice (68), (77) minutes to complete the routes.

The Nigerian Women Football League NWFL Group B leaders Edo Queens and Fortress Ladies will be representing the state at the national level of the Federation Cup.

Edo Queens are getting ready for Week 10 of the NWFL tie against Confluence Queens FC of Lakoja who will be hosting the Red- hot Benin ladies next week Wednesday,the 22nd of March 2023 at the Confidence Stadium Lokoja, Kogi State.

Edo Queens have now been crowned Edo champions with the 2023 FA cup glory for a record of eight times

S P R T

Football has a special place in Rwanda - Kagame

President Paul Kagame on Tuesday, March 14, received the CAF President’s Outstanding Achievement Award 2022 in an awarding ceremony held in Kigali on the margins of the 73rd FIFA Congress that takes place this week.

President Paul Kagame on Tuesday, March 14, received the CAF President’s Outstanding Achievement Award 2022 in an awarding ceremony held in Kigali on the margins of the 73rd FIFA Congress that takes place this week.

The award was an occasion to celebrate African leaders who made meaningful contributions to the development of football in Africa.

CAF President Patrice Motsepe, alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino, conferred the award to Kagame and Moroccan Minister of Education and Sports Chakib Benmoussa who received the award on behalf of King Mohamed VI of Morocco after the duo was chosen for the award for the year 2022.

The awarding night gala was attended by top football executives from FIFA, CAF and other confederations and member associations as well as football legends among many other attendees.

“I want to express our deepest thanks for the honor of receiving the CAF President’s Outstanding Achievement Award. We appreciate the recognition; we appreciate the honor,” Kagame said.

The head of state reiterated that football has a special place in Rwandan history, given the role

it has played reuniting Rwandans and bringing them together again after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

“Months before the tragedy happened here in 1994, there was a lot of fighting, there was a history of sectarianism and so forth. One of the things that always comes at the top that people clang to, that kept bringing us together was sports and particularly football,” he said.

Even after the tragic situation, he said, all young people wanted to do was “go out there and play football.”

“When we took over after that situation, I want to say that one of the things that we invested in was football. There were so many needs, so many priorities which

Eden Hazard admits he questioned why he played ahead of Trossard at World Cup

Hazardannounced his retirement from international football following Belgium’s dismal campaign at the World Cup in Qatar.

Despite his lack of playing time for Real Madrid, Hazard started Belgium’s first two group games at the World Cup as Roberto Martinez’s side scraped a 1-0 win over Canada before losing to Morocco.

The 32-year-old was dropped for Belgium’s final game in Group F – a goalless draw against Croatia which sealed their elimination – while Trossard was handed his first start of the tournament.

Trossard has been in excellent form for Brighton before Belgium’s World Cup campaign, scoring seven goals before the Premier League break, and Hazard believes the 28-year-old should have received more playing time in Qatar.

Asked if he felt hurt by people suggesting his time with Belgium’s was coming to an end during the World Cup, Hazard told RTBF: ‘Not at all.

‘We were talking about the name of Leandro Trossard to replace me, he was having a good season.

‘Even I wondered why I had to play when he had to go on the bench. It’s normal for people to think that.

‘Especially after the game against Egypt, where we don’t play a good game, where I don’t play a good game.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo did not play the last matches of the World Cup with Portugal, and yet it is Cristiano with Portugal, it is even more than Eden with Belgium.

‘It is football, there are young people who grow, who want to take the place. When I started at the age of 16 with Lille, I took the place of Michel Bastos or someone else. Players who were there, in place. It’s normal, it’s football.’

Hazard also explained why he stepped away from Belgium’s national team after the World Cup.

‘There are several factors. I started thinking about it after the Euros,’ Hazard said.

‘At the time, I had worked a lot, I got injured, I couldn’t play against Italy. It really hurt my morale. There are a lot of things.

‘I’m here in Madrid with Toni Kroos who left the German national team two years ago and who tells me that when the other players are in the national team, he can enjoy with his children.

‘And then, the coach left, we had a very good relationship. There are also young people who are growing. I couldn’t see myself not playing for Real Madrid and then arriving in the national team and playing, when young people deserve to play for the Devils.’

we wouldn’t imagine to involve football, but we made sure that, through the Ministry of Sports, we enable our young people among other priorities to play football,” he further noted.

Kagame admits that, despite the fact that Rwandans love football, there is still a long way to go just like the likes of World Cup 2022 semi finalists Morocco have done.

“I still have one of the disappointments, like in other areas. We have played football; we have paid attention to it but we are still not where we want to be,” he said.

“But with your presence here, with the efforts and promises made through CAF and FIFA and all friends around, we wish

we should be very soon where we want to be and we are following in the footsteps these other brothers and sisters of our continent of Africa who are already making it to that high level of global standing.”

Speaking during the award ceremony, Motsepe commended Kagame and King Mohammed VI’s commitment to promoting football.

“It’s a great honor for us in Africa, for the whole 54 nations on the continent, we recognize your commitment and the good work that you are doing,” he said.

“We want to encourage, motivate and also inspire all the other heads of state because this recognition is also here to thank other nations, heads of state, other

governments who are making contributions to the partnership that is required to make sure that football in every country grows and succeeds,” he added.

Infantino also echoed Motsepe’s appreciation to the two leaders who he described as leaders who have shown first in their countries, then in the region and, finally, all over the world, what can be done, with honesty, commitment, leadership, passion and also with a team around.

“Everything in life, when you want to be successful, you need to have a strong team with you with a strong captain, a strong leader,” Infantino said.

“President Kagame and His Majesty King Mohamed are leaders who have transformed their countries. They believed in their people, in their continent and in the force for good that football can help to give people the achievement such as that of Morocco to become semi-finalists of the last World Cup. It’s not a coincidence it’s part of these constant investments,” he further emphasized.

The CAF President’s Outstanding Achievement Award 2022 in an awarding ceremony was held 48 hours before the 73rd FIFA Congress that takes place in Kigali on March 16 at BK Arena.

It is during the congress that the FIFA presidential elections will take place. Infantino is likely to be re-elected after he was confirmed as the sole candidate for the top position.

The awarding ceremony was attended by various sports personalities including legendary soccer icons from all over the world.

Morocco Joins Spain and Portugal in 2030 World Cup bid

Morocco will join Spain and Portugal in a bid to host the 2030 World Cup, the African nation announced Tuesday. The announcement, which raises further doubts over Ukraine’s participation in the bid, was made through a statement signed by King Mohammed VI and read at a meeting of the Confederation of African Football.

“The Kingdom of Morocco has decided, together with Spain and Portugal, to present a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup,” the statement said. “This joint bid, which is unprecedented in football history, will bring together Africa and Europe, the northern and southern Mediterranean, and the African, Arab and Euro-Mediterranean worlds. It will also bring out the best in all of us — in effect, a combination of genius,

creativity, experience, and means.”

Morocco committed to taking part in the 2030 contest more than four years ago, immediately after losing the vote for the 2026 tournament. It was in talks with the Iberian nations for a while but had never been officially included in the bid.

Spain and Portugal were joined last October in their longstanding European candidacy by Ukraine, which is not likely to remain in the bid.

The Spanish soccer federation did not immediately confirm Morocco in the bid, saying the federations from the three nations would meet Wednesday in Rwanda before announcing any possible changes.

Morocco, which finished in a stunning fourth place at the World Cup in Qatar, hosted FIFA’s Club World

Cup in February.

The 2030 World Cup hosts are expected to be picked in September next year. The co-hosting bids from South America and Europe have been the expected favorites, with speculation about a Saudi-led and unprecedented three-continent project.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Greece are also reportedly preparing a bid of their own.

The bid will be facing heavy competition, especially as Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay have prepared a joint bid of their own, capitalizing on the edition marking the tournament’s 100th anniversary.

The inaugural 1930 World Cup host, Uruguay, is part of a centenary bid with Argentina, Chile and Paraguay.

The United States, Canada and Mexico are hosting the 2026 tournament.

Photo: Rwandan President, President Paul Kagame addressing CAF members on Tuesday

S P R T

World football governing body (FIFA) has allocated a staggering USD 100 million (over Rwf100 billion) budget to ensure a successful implementation of the “Football for Schools (F4S)” programme in Rwanda prior to its official launch on Monday, March 13, in Kigali.

The programme’s official launch comes just 72 hours before the 73rd FIFA Congress convenes in Kigali on March 16.

The project seeks to make football more accessible to both boys and girls around the world by incorporating football activities into the education system, in partnership with relevant authorities and stakeholders for it to contribute to the education, development and empowerment of children.

The programme, which targets to reach out to more than 4,000 schools in Rwanda with the aim to contribute to the education, development and empowerment of around 700 million children around the globe.

The launch day will contain more than 100 kids and 40 teachers/coaches in a very visual event. A lot of FIFA stakeholders including the Director of the Program, Fatimata Sidibe, will be in attendance.

The Football for Schools Programme has been designed to promote targeted life skills and competencies through football and contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other priorities.

In April 2019 in Kigali, FIFA delegates held a meeting with then Sports Minister Esperance Nyirasafari together with the State Minister in charge of Primary and Secondary Education at the Ministry of Education and discussed the football development program.

In Rwanda, the program will be implemented through a partnership between MINISPORTS/MINEDUC and Rwanda’s football governing body (Ferwafa).

Schools remain the most effective and efficient avenue in which to engage young people in sport. While FIFA, and its Member Associations, provide support to countless local associations and clubs that compete in leagues, FIFA, in collaboration with UNESCO, is committed to ensuring that children at school receive opportunities. This is especially important in countries that do not have an effective club structure.

The F4S Programme aims to ensure that football is accessible to all learners, without discrimination. Anyone who wants to play football must know that it is possible to do so through their school or community, using the facilities available in the country. While

the main remit of this programme is to support the provision of football coaching and equipment to schools, FIFA encourages its member associations and incountry partners to recognise the importance of engaging with outof-school youngsters.

Given that many schools lack equipment and qualified personnel

to deliver football activities, FIFA will provide equipment (footballs) through its MAs as well as this online learning platform and a mobile application that provides easy-to-use content for training sessions. It is hoped that the platform will help educators, coaches and parents to better support, deliver and manage F4S

activities in their schools and communities.

The Football for Schools Programme can enable schools to tackle a range of social issues, while providing an attractive vehicle in which to engage and educate learners, and even motivate educators too.

The Programme is not

FIFA to invest $100 Million in football among Rwandan schools Pogba injured again!

designed to detract from teaching or classroom time, and it is in fact intended to complement the efforts of educators and advance education outcomes, thus assisting governments. Football is capable of playing a vital role in the education system and acting as a “school of life”.

Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba is set for another layoff after suffering a thigh injury while taking free-kicks.

The 29-year-old will be out for about three weeks and will miss the start of France’s Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

After being dropped for Juve’s Europa League win over Freiburg last week, he missed Sunday’s 4-2 win over Sampdoria.

“This morning Pogba was taking free-kicks and felt a twinge in his adductor,” Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri said after Sunday’s game.

A club statement said that Pogba underwent a medical test on Monday and that he has suffered “a low-grade tear to his right thigh adductor”.

“He has already started with the rehabilitation process aimed at resuming competitive activity,” it added.

Juve have the return leg against Freiburg on Thursday, with Pogba having been dropped for the first game after being late for a team meeting last Wednesday.

Pogba has only made two

substitute appearances since rejoining Juve from Manchester United last summer, with the first of those coming on 28 February.

Pogba’s previous appearance was for United in April 2022, when he suffered a calf injury in a 4-0 defeat at Liverpool which ruled him out for the remainder of last season.

The 2018 World Cup winner then suffered a knee injury in preseason but initially opted not to get an operation, fearing it would rule him out of last year’s World Cup.

But he was later deemed to need surgery anyway and, although he returned to the Juve squad in January, he suffered another muscular problem that further delayed his return to action.

France will begin their Group B fixtures against the Netherlands at the Stade de France on Friday, 24 March, before the World Cup runners-up visit the Republic of Ireland three days later.

Juve’s first game after the international break is at home to Hellas Verona on 1 April.

Plateau State Governor mourns Mabo

Plateau State Governor, Simon Bako Lalong says he received with shock but total submission to the will of God, the death of Coach Isma’ila Mabo, whose departure was announced on 13th March 2023..

In a release signed by his Press Secretary, Makut Simon Macham, Lalong said the death of Coach Mabo is a great loss not only to his immediate family but to the entire people of Plateau State and Nigeria at large considering the impact he made in his sporting career and football in particular.

He said “Coach Mabo in his playing days devoted his strength, energy and talent playing for many great clubs including the famous Mighty Jets Football Club of Jos and the national team, Green Eagles.”

According to the Governor, as Coach, Isma’ila Mabo is credited

with discovering and mentoring young talents, grooming them and exposing them to great clubs in the State, Nigeria and the world thereby enhancing the sport.

“We remember fondly his exploits as the Head Coach of the female national team, the Falcons during the FIFA 1999 Women’s World Cup; 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympic Games; as well as the Quarter Finals of the World Cup among others. During his lifetime on earth, Coach Mabo loved people and promoted peace, unity and oneness irrespective of ethnic, religious or political considerations” he said.

Lalong said he has lost a personal friend and mentor who did not only offered him support during his football days, but also offered him advise on enhancing the game of football when he became

Governor.

The Governor on behalf of his family, the people and Government of Plateau State, prayed God to grant his soul eternal rest and comfort the family.

Similarly, Plateau United FC have expressed shock over the death of of the octogenarian.

According to a statement by the Media Officer of the Club, Albert Dakup , described the death as a great loss not only to the state , but Nigeria as a whole in view of his invaluable contributions to the growth of female football in the country and the world at large.

The late Coach Mabo who was the pioneer Head Coach of the Super Falcons , took the senior female national team to the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games , a record yet to be equalled by his successors.

“We are saddened by the

passing away of coach Samaila Mabo. He impacted positively on female football in Plateau State and Nigeria and the vacuum he left behind, will difficult to fill” the statement said.

The Statement urged the family to accept Coach Mabo’s death in good faith , stressing that one cannot question the will of God and prayed for the repose of his soul.

The late Coach Samaila Mabo played for the famous Mighty Jets Football Club of Jos and the Super Eagles before venturing into Coaching where he became the pioneer Super Falcons Head Coach that led the team to the maiden edition of the female World Cup held in China.

Until his demise, he is the Board Chairman of the Plateau State Sports Council, Jos.

Paul Pogba on the turf

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Manchester City signed me to win Champions LeagueHaaland

Tinubu: A foreign policy agenda

Icongratulate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on breasting the tape of the presidential poll as the gold medalist. It was such a laborous, witty and windy walk to Aso Rock, the rock of power and abode of the powerful. That he navigated unscathed through the wreckage of primordial primitive political traps, scheming and shenanigans strewn on his path by his competitors is suggestive of the brilliance of his mind, the intelligence of his insights, and the muscularity of his strategic imagination that is a matter of common knowledge in the public sphere.

Guest Columnist

By Atah Pine

this, a lance of light would be thrown on five areas as my token contribution to the resetting, reshaping and remapping of our foreign policy.

ErlingHaaland says he was brought to Manchester City to help them win the Champions League because they “already know” how to win the Premier League.

Haaland, 22, scored five goals in City’s 7-0 thrashing of RB Leipzig on Tuesday that secured their place in the Champions League quarter-finals.

City’s best performance in the competition is finishing runners-up to Chelsea in 2021.

“Of course the club want to win the Champions League,” said Haaland.

“They’ve won four out of the last five Premier League titles. They didn’t bring me in to win the Premier League because they already know how to win it.

“So, you can read between the lines. I’m here to try to help the club develop even more and to win the Champions League for the first time.”

City’s failure to lift the Champions League is in contrast to their recent domestic success.

BBC reports that City have won 17 trophies since owner Sheikh Mansour’s takeover of the club in 2008, including six Premier League titles - four of which have come since manager Pep Guardiola was appointed in 2016.

He has scored 10 Champions League goals so far this season, the most by a Manchester City player in a single season in the competition.

He is the third player to score five goals in a single Champions League game after Luiz Adriano in October 2014 for Shakhtar Donetsk and Lionel Messi for Barcelona in March 2012

He has scored 33 goals in 25 Champions League games, reaching the 30-goal milestone in fewer matches than any other player in the competition’s history.

He is the youngest player to reach 30 goals in Champions League history (22 years 236 days).

He is only the second player to score five goals in a Champions League/European Cup game for an English team after Raymond Crawford for Ipswich Town vs Floriana in September 1962

It is the common expectation of all Nigerians, once more, that he would harvest these attributes of strategic imagination, brilliance of mind and intelligent insights to bear on the democratic good governance of Nigeria as he did while serving as the Governor of Lagos State. These attributes are critical elements in the shaping, formulation and implementation of a viable and sustainable foreign policy. It is therefore envisaged that under the Tinubu presidency, Nigeria’s external relations, particularly, her foreign policy orientation would be strategically robust and in sync with contemporary psyche.

Foreign policy is the queen of public policies; it is beautiful and regal in bearing, loved and cherished, beholden to the powerful and power mongers; but beneath it runs complex veins of high voltage currents that can shock and disrupt the tranquility of the social contract. Foreign policy is a highly specialized which requires the superintendence of specialists and professionals imbued with the requisite theoretical knowledge and diplomatic competence. Foreign policy is a space of power and knowledge; a melting pot of issues and ideas that require modes of analysis on issues of national and international importance.

Under the Tinubu presidency, how would the complex terrain of foreign policy be navigated and instrumentalized to bring about the much needed transformational development in Nigeria? Given the strategic disposition of Tinubu, we expect a foreign policy strategy that would be complementary to the desideratum of socio-economic revival of Nigeria. In view of

First, it begins with choice of the minister for foreign affairs. The choice of who is to be the minister of foreign affairs should not be constricted by considerations of ethnicity, religion, region or avuncular fraternity. To the contrary, the minister should be either a retired or serving career diplomat or someone from the para-diplomatic services; or from the academia. In any case, the minister must be an intellectual, well grounded in the grammar of diplomacy, have conceptual grasp of the contemporary global political economy, the sociology of globalization and the technology of global power geometrics. Above all else, the minister must be self-assured, bold, confident, eloquent and erudite, full of imaginative energy, ideational originality, and possess the vigour, vim, vivacity and capacity to graft the envisaged changing social, economic, cultural and metaphysical values under the Tinubu presidency to the train of Nigeria foreign policy.

Secondly, the ideology of Afrocentrism as the foundational philosophy of Nigeria foreign policy should be dismantled. All the factors—institutional, political geographical, ideological, and so on—that recommended Afrocentrism as the centerpiece of Nigeria foreign policy are in contemporary times mere historical footnotes. For so long, the agency of Nigeria

foreign policy has been fossilized into the salt of Afrocentric fundamentalism like the biblical wife of Lot. Nigeria foreign policy should come of age with the times.

Thirdly, the focus of Nigeria foreign policy in the new dispensation should be premised on transforming Nigeria into an economic and industrial hub in Africa. The time is ripe for Nigeria to soar into the higher realm of economic cumindustrial development founded on the canons of the liberal order. If this be the case, foreign policy should be the handmaiden of this drive. I label this brand of foreign policy philosophy as development diplomacy. It is wider in scope and dimension and its impact penetrating deeply across all facets of our national life. It is neither a foreign policy orientation that thrives on displaying economic potentials and begging patrons nor accumulating external debts; on the contrary, it is a foreign policy measure that asserts Nigeria’s economic agency and development agenda

Fourthly, Nigeria should carry herself with dignity and pride around the globe. This would entail massive psychological engineering of the national psyche and epistemological decolonization of our foreign policy. It repays to give critical attention to this isssue. In the case of the former, Nigeria must stop being summoned around the globe to attend summits and retreats organized by countries: India-Africa Summit, China-

Africa Summit, Turkey-Africa Summit, and so on and so forth. Nothing could be more demeaning to the national psyche than this summit summons. If this be the new approach to diplomacy, Nigeria should try calling for a Nigeria-Asia summit, or better still, a NigeriaEurope summit as a gesture of reciprocation and let’s see the attendance list. In the case of the latter, Nigeria should pull down the halo of coloniality that swirls around her relations with her socalled traditional allies.

Finally, the social and psychological conditions on the domestic front should be adequately attended to. Foreign policy is fertilized by the domestic environment. The peace of the graveyard and the melancholic characterizations of herders-farmer’ conflicts, banditry, Boko Haram, urban violence, kidnapping, social strife and generalized poverty, cries of marginalization and countermarginalization, IPOB and so on that currently permeates the fabrics of Nigeria must be addressed be decisively and timeously addressed in order to mobilize and harness the creative energy of the citizenry to participate in the development process. No matter how good the foreign policy goals and objectives of any country may be, if the domestic environment is hostile and inclement, it would tantamount to ceremonialism without substance.

Pine is the Head of Department of Political Science, Benue State University, Makurdi, and can be reached on 08035974174

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“ Foreign policy is the queen of public policies; it is beautiful and regal in bearing, loved and cherished...