Friday, March 17, 2023 Edition

Reform agencies partner on data protection

Dr Vincent Olatunji, the National Commissioner, Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) says it will synergise with the Bureau of Public Service Reforms(BPSR), on data protection to enhance effective public service delivery.

The national commissioner spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after an official visit to the Director-General, BPSR, Mr Dasuki Arabi, on awareness creation on data protection and provision in Nigeria.

Olatunji said: ”Knowing the important role of data in public service reforms, we are here to strengthen synergy for better outcomes.

“When you are talking about reforms you are talking about digitalization; including the pattern

and there is no way you can talk about reforms without identity.

“More importantly in the area of digitalization including all the patterns and there is no way you can talk about reforms without identity in the area of digitalization.”

He also stressed the need for identities in the cyberspace to be protected by the law and ensure that data was safely processed as projected.

Olatunji said his office would partner the bureau and work together in areas such as creating awareness, capacity building and provision of the laws by the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation(NDPR).

“There was a circular issued by the SGF for all MDAs in November 2022, to comply by the directive of having privacy policies, having their data protection officers

”It also directed them to ensure that they put in place adequate technical and organizational measures,” he said.

The national commissioner said that such measures would protect the data of citizens and all vendors working with NDPR in the public services.

In his remarks, Arabi, commended the team for the visit and the partnership for national development.

He outlined the achievement of the bureau in reforms in the federal public service.

“We have installed a new pay regime in the public service; we have cleaned up of the personal payroll in the public service; deployed first electronic FOI portal in Nigeria.

“The bureau had restructured ministries to reduce their number,

we have also reformed tax, budget, public financial management and due process in public procurement” Arabi said.

The director-general said that the bureau had collaborated with Ministries, Department and Agencies on ideas exchange.

He also said the bureau would collaborate with the data protection bureau on the ongoing review of the national strategy for public service reforms.

“We will collaborate to facilitate research on topical reforms issues, impact assessment; monitoring and evaluation,” Arabi said.

The director-general also said his office would collaborate with the bureau of capacity building on ICT, e-Government Master Plan and digital literacy of public servants. (NAN)

Presidential council urges NIMC to address NIN charges

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has urged the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to address charges introduced for National Identification Number (NIN) integration and verification.

Dr Jumoke Oduwole, PEBEC Secretary/Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business, in a statement said this would enable passport applicants get faster and cheaper access to government services.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NIMC introduced a new charge of N1,000 for NIN integration and verification for each Nigerian passport applicant, with effect from April 1.

Oduwole commended the Nigerian Immigration Service

(NIS) for significantly improving the quality of service, accuracy, and speed of passport services through NIN verification.

She said NIS’s move was in response to the incessant difficulties Nigerians experienced in verifying their NIN during passport registration process.

She, however, noted that the additional cost for each applicant’s passport initiated by NIMC was not well received by stakeholders.

”Furtherance to the provisions of the Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 (BFA), which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on February 8.

”Codifying Executive Order 001 on transparency and efficiency of public service delivery,

for the purposes of the “One Government” directive, where an applicant requires service from a Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA).

”The MDA is however mandated to conduct the necessary verification or certification from relevant MDAs, in respect of the applicant,” Oduwole said.

On May 18, 2017, Executive Order 001 (EO1) on Transparency and efficiency was issued to strengthen the implementation of business climate reforms.

It was meant to also deepen collaboration among MDAs by instituting a systemic change management process for reforms.

EO1 mandates MDAs to submit monthly reports to the PEBEC Secretariat, the offices of

the Head of Service (HOS) of the Federation, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and SERVICOM.

On March 9, PEBEC released its 2022 Executive Order 001 (EO1) Compliance Report, in line with its promise to continuously track and keep the business community updated on the compliance with the Executive Order.

In the last six years, the council has consistently published an EO1 Compliance Report, which captures a periodic empirical analysis of the monthly reports received from MDAs.

The PEBEC, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, was established in July 2016 by Buhari to remove critical bottlenecks and bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria. (NAN)

From Left; President Buhari receives in audience CCT Mgt team, during a courtesy visit by the Governing Council of the IoD to the President held at the Council Chambers, State House, yesterday in Abuja. PHOTO; State House

NDA calls for increased access to dental care services

TheNigerian Dental Association (NDA) has called for collaborative efforts with government at all levels to increase access to dental care to reduce oral diseases and improve the general health of Nigerians.

The NDA President, Dr Tope Adeyemi, made the call at a media briefing on Wednesday in Lagos.

The media briefing was part of activities lined up to celebrate the 2023 World Oral Health Day (WOHD).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the WOHD is celebrated annually on March 20.

The theme for this year’s celebration is: ”Be Proud of Your Mouth for a Lifetime Smiles.”

According to him, this year’s theme seeks to inspire change by focusing on the importance of oral health at every stage of life.

Adeyemi said that the association celebrates the day in conjunction with Unilever Nigeria Plc, by carrying out oral health promotional activities nationwide for two weeks.

“These oral health promotional activities include visits to schools and markets; outreaches (free dental check-ups, scaling and polishing, glass ionomer cement fillings, simple extractions) to various communities including vulnerable groups.

“There would also be educational programmes such as quizzes, essays and spelling bee competitions, as well as, advocacy visits and awareness through the media and social media channels.

“The reason we should celebrate the WOHD is that, some of the world’s population suffer from oral diseases, most of which are preventable.

“With collaborative action to fund programmes for prevention, early detection and treatment, the effects can be mitigated.

“We strongly recommend that individuals, families, communities, and governments act with appropriate measures to reduce the burden of oral diseases.

“This is because oral diseases have an impact on general health, wellbeing and national economies,” he said.

DSS arrests 2 suspects over call for violence in Kano

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

The Department of State Services (DSS) said it has arrested the duo of Sharu Abubakar Tabula and Isma’il Iliyasu Mangu for deliberately inciting violence in parts of Kano State.

DSS in a statement by Peter Afunanya, its Public Relations Officer, said it may be noted that the suspects had separately recorded messages, which they shared through various social media channels.

“In those potentially harmful messages, they specifically championed certain political

interests and directly called on their supporters to violently attack those opposed to them, including security personnel during the 18th March, 2023 Governorship and House of Assembly election in the State.

“As a result of this development, a particular political party in Kano has threatened to organise protest march in the metropolis as well as storm offices of some of the security agencies on 16th March, 2023 in solidarity for the suspects.

“While the Service alerts the public of this planned illegal action, it calls on the concerned

party to shelve it forthwith or be ready to face the consequences.“

The DSS further assured that it will not idly watch misguided persons or groups undermine the peace and security of the state.

It said the leadership of the said party should rein in its members and urge them to desist from conducts capable of causing a breakdown of law and order in Kano and its environs before, during and after the scheduled election.

Meanwhile, the Service said it is collaborating with sister security agencies to ensure that adequate security is provided for

a successful electoral exercise.

“Aside Kano, the Service recently arrested similar subversive elements that threatened violence in other States of the Federation. It would be recalled that it had on 8th March, 2023, enjoined politicians to engage constructively and shun violence, fake news and hate speech. “

It reiterates the call for political players to abide by the letters of the electoral act and guidelines. All and sundry are advised to positively contribute to the sustenance of peace and democracy in Nigeria.

Group seeks 35% female inclusion in energy sector

The Women in Energy Network (WEIN), an advocacy group, on Wednesday urged the incoming government to ensure 35 per cent women inclusion in the affairs of the energy sector in the country.

Speaking at a news conference in Lagos, Mrs Funmi Ogbue, National President of WEIN, represented by Mrs Charlotte Essiet, member, Board of Trustee, WEIN, said this was of utmost importance to the group.

Ogbue said women inclusion in the energy sector could be achieved through the creation of policies and initiatives that promote equal opportunities, gender diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.

She noted that a recent report by the International Energy Agency said that women make up only 22 per cent of the energy industry workforce in Nigeria, and only 12 per cent occupy senior management roles.

“This highlights the need for concerted efforts to promote gender

diversity in the sector, and we believe that the incoming administration has a critical role to play in this regard.

“WIEN is committed to working toward the goal of advancement of women in the energy sector.

“We will look forward to collaborating with the incoming government to create a more equitable and inclusive energy sector and to prioritise the advancement of women in the energy sector,” she said.

According to her, since the creation of the group in 2020, WEIN has been committed to the promotion and advancement of women in the energy sector.

She urged the incoming government to support training and mentoring programmes for women in the industry and encourage publicprivate partnerships that promote gender diversity in the sector.

She said to further impact on women, the group would be

empowering more women in the sector in commemoration of the 2023 International Women’s Day.

According to her, this will hold March 24, in Lagos, with the theme: “Programmes & Initiatives for Equitable Access for Women in the Nigerian Energy Industry”.

She said the programme would be done in partnership with ‘Women in Shell Network’ and ‘Seplat Awesome Women’s Network’.

“Our first two breakfast sessions have successfully brought together women in the industry to discuss the challenges they face and share experiences.

“These sessions have provided valuable insights into the issues affecting women in the sector and we are committed to addressing these challenges through our upcoming event.

“As we all know, the energy industry is critical to the growth and development of Nigeria, and women

play an essential role in driving innovation, excellence, and progress in this field.

“In spite their contributions, women still face significant barriers to entry and advancement in the energy sector.That is why the WIEN 2023 International Women’s Day Breakfast Session is so timely and essential,” she said.

Also, Mrs Bimbo Onakomaiya, Chairperson, WEIN International Women’s Day Committee, hinted that a mentoring programme for upand-coming female practitioners in the energy sector would be launched.

According to her, the event will engage industry experts, policymakers, and advocates to share insights on the various programmes and initiatives aimed at promoting equitable access for women in the Nigerian energy industry.

“As we celebrate the progress we have made in advancing the role of women in the energy sector, we are

also aware of the challenges that lie ahead.

“We have worked tirelessly to empower women through various initiatives and programmes, some of our key activities include: providing training and mentoring opportunities.

“We believe that women need to be equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in the energy sector. So, we have organised training and mentoring programmes that provide women with the tools they need to advance their careers.

“We have also invested in organising networking events because we understand the importance of networking in the energy sector, and we have organised several events that bring women in the industry together to share experiences, build relationships, and create opportunities,” she said.

(NAN)

L-R: Victor Sanchez Aghahowa, Head of Production, MultiChoice West Africa; Dr. Busola Tejumola, Executive Head of Content & West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria (MCN); Caroline Oghuma, Executive Head, Corporate Affairs, MCN; Tope Oshunkeye, Executive Head, Marketing, MCN at the MultiChoice Content Discovery Day in Lagos, yesterday.

NNPP suspends planned protest against DSS in Kano, gives reasons

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has announced suspension of a planned protest against the State Director of Department of State Service (DSS) in compliance with police order, putting on hold all rallies, processions and protests in the state.

The NNPP had earlier announced staging a mass protest in Kano today (Thursday) to express displeasure and disagreement with the continued stay of Alhassan Ibrahim as Kano Director of DSS.

The party addressed a press conference, led by the chairman of the stakeholders committee, Abdullahi Baffa Bichi in Kano on Thursday to announce that the protest had been suspended.

Bichi, former TETFUND Boss, said it has placed the protest on hold because higher authorities in Abuja have reached out to the National Headquarters of the Party and assured that steps would be taken to address their grievances.

He said the party reiterated that it is not protesting against the DSS boss overstay in Kano, but alleged that he is staying at the behest of the state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje.

“Our position was not only because Mr Alhassan has overstayed his mandatory service years but because he is being kept in the service and in Kano at the behest of Governor Ganduje, who is his long-term friend and ally and who Ganduje used in 2019 to steal election and subvert the will of the people of Kano state,” Bichi alleged.

“As patriotic and peaceful people, as law abiding and responsible citizens and having received a letter from the Nigeria Police notifying us that all rallies, processions and protest should be put on hold by all political parties.

“In compliance with the DIG Zone 1 of Nigeria Police, and because of the tremendous amount of respect we have for the Police force we have decided to put the planned protest on hold,” Bichi, former candidate for Kano -North senatorial district added.

Alleged court contempt: Judge threatens to jail IGP, Alkali Baba

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

The National Industrial court in Abuja, has threatened to jail

the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alkali Baba Usman, over his continues disobedience to order of the court.

This is coming, sequel to a suit brought by four senior rank police officers from course 33, 34 and 35, who were compulsorily and unlawfuly retired from police.

The court, Thursday, in it’s enrolled order issued and endorsed by Justice Oyebiola Oyewumi, gave the IGP, May 2, to appear before it and purge himself of contempt of court or be committed to prison in line with the provisions of the law.

The court held that the IGP’s action contravenes 1999 Constitution and a slap to the rule of law as a top rank officer of the federal government.

According to the enrolled order, the IGP, no matter his rank, is not above the law and would be made to respect the law when he acts as someone above the law.

The plaintiffs are Chief Superintendents of Police (CSPs) Egong

Egwu Egong, Omeh Felix Okechukwu. Paul Obot Umoh and Superintendent of Police (SP) Galadima Bello, who sued the IGP on behalf of themselves and affected members of Course 33, 34 and 35 who were compulsorily retired from service prematurely.

In a judgment in the suit marked NICN/ABJ/21/M/2023, the court had nullified the premature retirement of the senior police officers numbering about 20 and ordered the Inspector General of Police and the Police Service Commission to immediately reinstate them.

However, the Police Chief and the Force Secretary who are the key defendants in the legal action argued by Edwin Okoro on behalf of the retired police officers, were said to have bluntly refused to comply with the reinstatement order of the court.

The legal advice of the legal department of the Force Headquarters advising the IGP to comply with the order of the court was also said to have been rebuffed.

This prompted Edwin Okoro, counsel to the aggrieved plaintiffs, to report the violation of court order by IGP to the Industrial Court for remedy.

Justice Oyewumi in the enrolled order held “it is evidently clear that the respondents, the Inspector General of Police and the Force Secretary have flouted the order of this court made on February 27, 2023 to appear before the court to show course why they should not be held in contempt of this court for their flagrant disobedience to the decision of the court even when their legal department had issued legal advice urging the IGP to comply with the decision of the court.”

“It has become the attitude of government officials which include Nigeria Police Force to persistently flout or disobey orders of the court as if they are living outside of this nation or above the provision of the 1999 Constitution which operates as a guide to curb action and Inactions of the State in the country and it’s operators.”

“The same Constitution has given courts in this clime, including this court, the inherent power to enforce the constitutional provisions dito rule of law, against authorities and the people in the State called Nigeria.”

“A situation where the courts are degraded by disobedience to their orders would engender danger to the

rule of law and God forbid that this clime will become like the proverbial Banana Republic.”

“God forbid that and I say that again”.

“The excuse put forward by the respondent counsel is verbose and same is lacking in merit”.

“It is in view of that that I discountenace the excuse, except the reason put forth respecting the Inspector General of Police”.

“I emphatically disregard the excuse respecting the Force Secretary, Assistant Inspector General of Police Hafiz Inuwa”.

“It is in view of this that before I proceed to hold them for contempt of this court, I give both the Inspector General of Police Usman Alkali Baba and the Force Secretary, Assistant Inspector General of Police AIG, Hafiz Inuwa, the second chance of appearing before this court to show cause why this court should not proceed to find them guilty of being in contempt of this court.”

Justice Oyewumi fixed May 2, 2023 for the Inspector General of Police and the Force Secretary to appear before the court.

R-L; President Muhammadu Buhari, ChairmanCode of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, Yakubu, Justice Williams Atedze, Mrs. Julie Anabor and Chief Registrar, Barris Abdulmalik Shuaibu during an audience with the Management of Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) held at the State House yesterday in Abuja.

Traditional, religious leaders appeal for establishment, equipping PHCs

Traditional and religious leaders in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have appealed to government at all levels and philanthropists to establish and equip Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in their domains.

The leaders made the call on Wednesday at a stakeholders workshop on funding mechanism organised by the FCT Civil Society in Malaria Control, Immunisation and Nutrition (ACOMIN) in Abuja.

They noted that their appeal, if addressed, would cater for the treatment of AIDs, TB and Malaria (ATM), among other diseases in the country.

Mr Abubakar Bako, the Secretary, Gbazango Traditional Community, Kubwa, FCT, said such meetings would enlighten participants on ways to resolve challenges affecting them.

He said that it would also ensure an improved access to social amenities for community members.

He said: “We have had so many challenges with no healthcare

centres in our community, but have to go to the general hospital, which is far from us.

“And we have also lost so many people due to inability to access healthcare services for timely treatment.

“But through such advocacy programmes and sensitisation, we learnt that we can also have our PHCs in our communities.”

The traditional leader stressed the need for community members to ensure participation and monitoring of projects to ensure sustainability.

“My advise to other communities is to key into such programmes to enable them know and learn more from other communities that already have existing hospitals and PHCs.

“This will enable them know better and also have theirs. We are therefore appealing to government to provide basic social amenities that would improve our livelihood,” he added.

Also speaking, Mr Julius

Ibecheole, ACOMIN FCT Focal person, said the workshop would access the level of engagement, which was part of the processes needed in the submission of the application for the grant cycle seven for Nigeria as it pertains to the CSOs component.

Ibecheole said that the process of soliciting and receiving global grants before now had not been this participatory and involving wide consultations.

He explained that a change in approach by the global fund demands that community stakeholders being their duties, CBOs should make meaningful inputs towards it.

“We will submit so that the global fund itself will see that this process was actually all encompassing in the participation of every key stakeholder.

“And by way of making their own inputs known contribute to the final document that will be sent out.

“Some of those findings, like the need for proper case management, malaria intervention, need for scaling

up prevention and environmental management components to be really focused.

“So, going forward in the next round, we want to see more community ownership, while we also do not want to see the government renege in its core obligations,” he said.

Ibecheole also called on government at all levels to ensure that PHCs nationwide were fully equipped to improve healthcare services in the country.

“We know that the National Primary Health Care Agency has very beautiful plans to ensure that the 774 LGAs have PHCs that are well structured, equipped in terms of tools, machines and also manpower.

“We want to see that happen in the coming years and on our part as CSOs, we shall follow up on advocacy,” he said.

Other participants at the workshop were religious and traditional leaders, CSOs and the media. (NAN)

Photo: State House

Guber polls: There’s life after election, don’t engage in violence, NOA cautions Nigerians

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has called on Nigerians to desist from engaging in negative acts that will lead to violence before, during and after the governorship and state assembly elections, saying “there is life after elections”.

The Director General of the agency, Garba Abare made the call in Kano on Thursday at a media dialogue preparatory to the Saturday governorship and state House of Assembly election.

He called on politicians to desist from inflammatory utterances that would cause violence and unnecessarily over heat the polity.

He explained that NOA is doing a lot to ensure that the message of peace, unity and understanding goes to every nook and cranny across the country.

“I want Nigerians to remember that whatever happens, there is life after elections. I give this to you as a take home.

“You should reflect on the need for peace and as journalists,

reflect the same in your daily reportage.

“If we lose the peace we are enjoying today, we will all be losers tomorrow, remember, it is easier to destroy than to build” he said.

Responding to question in what NOA did on the introduction of the cashless policy and Naira redesign, the NOA boss lamented

over lack of synergy with Nigeria’s apex bank on the policy.

“We wrote a letter to the Central Bank of Nigeria seeking technical information on the Naira redesign policy, but up to date the CBN is yet to respond. This has affected our ability to enlighten the public on the policy. There is job to be done, but there is no tool to be used”.

Corruption is existential threat to all nations, says Buhari

By Egena Sunday Ode

President Muhammadu Buhari has said he wished that the foundation laid by this administration in the war against graft would be sustained by successive governments in the country, noting that corruption remains an existential threat to nations.

The President spoke

Thursday at the State House, Abuja, while playing host to Management of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, led by the Chairman, Danladi Yakubu Umar.

Buhari described the Code of Conduct Tribunal as “an important tool in our fight against corruption over the last seven years,” adding that such frontline agencies, “which

are in the trenches are relied upon to demonstrate that the government means what it says and remains committed against corruption in all its forms.”

The President expressed his desire for a sustained anti-graft war thus: “It is our hope that the foundation which has been laid by this administration will be carried forward and continued, as the issue of corruption

remains an existential threat to all nations.”

President Buhari recognized the sacrifices being made by the Code of Conduct Tribunal and similar agencies “in the midst of very challenging economic and revenue shortages,” and pledged innovative and new models of financing very important agencies and work programs that are critical.

In his remarks, the Tribunal Chairman, Danladi Umar, commended the Buhari administration for the salutary impact it has made in the area of infrastructural development, agriculture, and provision of social services, among others. He said the Tribunal was hampered by funding challenges, poor staffing, and appealed for intervention of the President.

L-R: Banji Ojo, Head, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Ugonwa Nwoye, Chief Consumer Relations Officer, MTN Plc; Mohammed Babajika, Director, Licensing and Authorisation, NCC; Oladokun Oye, Vice President, Retail and Postpaid, Airtel Nigeria and Reuben Muoka, Director, Public Affairs, NCC, during the Commission’s 91st Edition of the Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) held yesterday in Abuja.

Anambra plans to digitalise LG operations

The Anambra State Local Government Service Commission says plans are underway to digitalise its operations to comply with international best practices.

Mr Ifeanyi Ezeaka, Chairman of the commission, made the disclosure on Thursday in Awka, at a digital literacy training for Local Government Employees, organised by Integral Development Konsult (IDK).

Ezeaka said, “This training is one of the efforts to actualise the initiative of Gov. Chukwuma Soludo’s administration, which is to digitalise the state and make it a prosperous and liveable homeland.

“This is to ensure that every local government staff is computer literate. After this training, there shall be no appointment of personnel who are not computer literate.

“We are digitalising the entire system of the commission, including an ICT centre fully furnished with computers and will be connecting all the 21 local governments online.”

He urged participants to take the training seriously to reciprocate the state government’s huge investment on capacity building.

Declaring the training open, Gov. Soludo said that the local government operations was critical to his administration.

Soludo, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr Ernest Ezeajughi, said that the training would further improve the skills, and competence of the local government employees in the state.

He said that his administration was committed to ensuring regular training and re-training of employees.

“We are investing tax payers money in this project, we appeal to participants to justify the investment in the training, by becoming the best in their line of duties,” he said. (NAN)

Buhari condemns renewed terrorists attack in Zangon Kataf

By Egena Sunday Ode

President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday

described as shocking, the return of terrorist attacks

and murder of several innocent souls in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State and demanded a swift arrest and punishment for the culprits.

“There is a concerted attack on innocent citizens in the state and the security and law enforcement agencies must take serious action to put an end to this,”

said the President.

“My deepest condolences to the families of those killed in these horrific attacks. May their souls rest in peace,” he added.

L-R: Country Director, Accountability Lab, Mr Friday Odey; Chief Executive Officer, Connected Development (CODE), Mr Hamza Lawal, Digital media Associate CODE, MsenNabo and the Director Governance and Democracy CODE, Mr Emmanuel Njoku; during CODE media briefing on the 2023 governorship and states Assembly elections, yesterday in Abuja.

Gubernatorial Election: “Obidients” in Cross River align with NNPP candidate Bonse

The“Obidient movement” in Cross River has declared support for Amb. Wilfred Bonse, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) governorship candidate ahead of the gubernatorial election on Saturday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a cross section of leaders from the North, Central and South chapters on Thursday converged on Calabar to declare support for Bonse as their preferred choice for governor.

Mr Samuel Elijah, the Leader of the delegation and Chairman of Chairmen for Calabar South, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar, said their decision to support Bonse was borne out of their desire for a change of the old order in the state.

“We’ve come to support a young man that has a great future

for this nation, Calabar and the whole of Cross River.

“The man has an ambition for the young people and a lot of goals he wants to achieve in order to transform the state.

“Indeed, his goals align very much with the values we hold so dear in our movement and that’s why we have decided to throw our weight behind him ahead of the gubernatorial election here in Cross River for the future of this great state.

“By God’s grace come Saturday, we are going all out to support him,” he said.

Mrs Mercy Hogan-Bassey, Women Leader for Ward 8, and also the Chairman for Women 4 Women, Calabar South, said that Bonse was a man of integrity and character.

“He is a man of reputable

character and a proven record who always does what he said he will do.

“He is also a man that has capacity and who we know will deliver Cross River from shambles. He is an educated man who has come to provide free education and scholarships for our children.

“He has also promised to empower our women and keep Calabar clean. So, we decided to embrace Bonse as our choice for governor, especially because our party as it where do not have a gubernatorial candidate,” she said.

Evang. Deborah BasseyIniama, Women Leader Ward I, Calabar, said she and her party chose to embrace Bonse as their governorship candidate because of the love they have for him.

“He has taken his time to explain to us what he intends to do

for our state, and we are confident and satisfied with all his promises.

“Cross River used to be the cleanest state in the past, but now the situation is different. Bonse has promised to return the state back to its past glory.

“He has also promised to provide free education for our children and to revive our industries.

“For someone like me who has two sons that have finished their university education for the past three to four years now without a job, Bonse has promised to provide jobs for Cross “Riverians`’.

“All these and more are why we have chosen to embrace him as our governorship candidate so that our dreams and hope for a new Nigeria will be fulfilled,” she said.

2023 polls: IPCR commends Nigerians on peaceful conduct

By Ochiaka Ugwu

The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) had commended Nigerians for their peaceful conduct during the Saturday 25th February 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.

It also praised the people for their peaceable disposition after the election results were declared by the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In a statement released in Abuja Thursday by the Institute signed by the Director Overseeing the Office of the Director-General, IPCR, Gabriel

B. Jiya, Esq, it noted that typical of electoral contest, a winner will emerge and declared by the electoral body, who is expected to be magnanimous in victory while other candidates demonstrate sportsmanship and patriotism in exploring constitutional channels for ventilating their grievances.

According to the statement, “As a public-oriented institution, the Institute believes in the improvement of our electoral system and therefore urges INEC to learn from the experience of the last presidential and National Assembly elections in organising, conducting and ensuring that Saturday 18th March 2023 for

the gubernatorial and Houses of Assembly election is both peaceful and credible.

“This is fundamental for democratic consolidation, representational governance, entrenching the culture of peace and sustaining the electorates’ confidence in the electoral process.

“We have also noted the conduct of the security agencies in mitigating violent incidents and securing the electoral space from the activities of political thugs and other criminal elements.

“Once again, the Institute urges the security agencies to improve on their election duty by

being professional and civil in the discharge of their responsibility throughout the exercise in order to protect lives and property as well as safeguard the sanctity of the election.

“The Institute notes with appreciation the conduct of political parties, their candidates and supporters in receiving, appreciating and modestly celebrating the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly election, which is a sign of their firm believe in the capacity of the electoral process, including the judiciary, to deliver on credible outcomes. “We call on them to continue to exercise

confidence in the country’s democracy and support INEC in ensuring that the state-level election is both peaceful and credible.

“As a people, we have chosen constitutional democracy because it affords us the opportunity to collectively chart a future for ourselves through consensus building and the rule of law.

“Therefore, we must individually and collectively conduct ourselves peacefully and eschew any form of violence during and after the Saturday 18th March 2023 gubernatorial and state Houses of Assembly election” the statement concluded.

Photo: Justin ImoOwo

Niger Gov. declares to support women entrepreneur

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

Governor Abubakar Sani

Bello of Niger state has promised his continued support for women entrepreneurs in the country to boost economic activities.

He made this known when he received the Nigerian Association of Women Entrepreneurs (NAWE) at the Government House, Minna.

Governor Sani Bello who noted that “women are the most vulnerable”, emphasized that it has become necessary to empower them.

He commended the association for making plans to train 500 women in the state in vocational skills.

Responding to the land request made by the Association, he directed Chief of staff and Commissioner for Lands and Housing to ensure they provide 5 hectares of land for the Association at the Industrial park.

Zango Kataf

attack: Victims get assistance from Kaduna govt

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Kaduna State government has directed the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to carry out an immediate assessment and provide assistance to the victims of the recent attacks.

The Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe gave the Directive when she visited the Agwatyp, Mr. Dominic Gambo Yahaya in his Palace Zangon-Kataf, yesterday.

She condemned the renewed killings in Zangon Kataf, lamenting on how the attacks led to the loss of several lives.

Benue Guber: Supreme Court affirms Hembe as LP candidate

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

The Supreme Court, has authenticated Hon. Herman Lorwase Hembe as Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate of Benue State, for the coming March 18 gubernatorial poll.

The Apex Court dismissed an appeal brought before it by Benjamin Lorlumum and one other, seeking disqualification of the respondent from the governorship race on various grounds.

Justice Heleen Morenikeji Ogunwumiju in a unanimous judgment of the Court dismissed the disqualification request on the major ground that it lacked merit and legal backing.

Another governorship aspirant of the party, Engineer Benjamin Iorlumum and one other person had brought the appeal marked

SC/CV/344/2023 against Hembe, LP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The grouse of the two appellants was that the LP governorship candidate was still a member of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as at the time he contested and won the gubernatorial primary election of the Labour Party.

The appellants specifically accused Hembe of double participation in primary elections organized by the APC and Labour Party on the same date and time and also for allegedly parading dual membership of both APC and LP.

They had asked a Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal to invoke relevant laws to nullify the emergence of Hembe as a governorship candidate on the strength of their allegations.

Both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal had dismissed the suit upon their findings of facts that the governorship candidate resigned from the APC before crossing over to Labour Party and won the gubernatorial primary election.

Dissatisfied with decision of the two courts, Lorlumum moved to the Supreme Court insisting that the two lower courts did not consider all the issues he raised against Hembe especially with regard to membership of two political parties at the same time.

He had asked the Apex Court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on February 10, 2023 and declare him the “sole candidate that participated in the Labour Party’s gubernatorial primary election held on June 9, 2022.

But the Supreme Court in its final judgment held that the respondent sufficiently proved that he resigned from the APC through affidavit evidence and letter of resignation.

Besides, Justice Ogunwumiju said that the law did not sanction participation in two primary elections once the participant was not in two political parties at the same time.

Justice Ogunwumiju while upholding the concurrent findings of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal said that there was no reason to upset the findings.

She subsequently dismissed the case of the appellant for lacking in merit and upheld the nomination of Hembe as lawful for Labour Party’s participation in the March 18 gubernatorial election in Benue State.

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 sendforth 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.

L-R: President Elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; President Muhammadu Buhari; Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai; Former Governor of Zamfara State, now Senator - Elect, Abdulaziz Yari; and the Chairman, Committee on Senate Services, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, when they accompanied Tinubu to see Buhari, recently.

GBV: UNFPA trains 120 girls to mark 2023 IWD

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA Nigeria) has trained 120 girls on how to curb Gender-Based Violence (GBV) through the use of information technology.

Mr Albashir Ibrahim, the UNFPA Digital Literacy Facilitator, said this at a training on Coding Bootcamp and Digital Design Thinking

for internally displaced women and girls in Maiduguri.

He said UNFPA decided to organise the training to tackle gender digital gaps through coding bootcamp programmes.

Ibrahim, who said that the training was in commemoration of the 2023 International Women’s Day

(IWD), added that the move would help in providing innovative solutions to the problems of women and girls.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IWD is an annual UN global observance marked on March 8 to raise awareness about issues that affect women and girls.

The 2023 celebration had “Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality” as its theme.

The UNFPA literacy facilitator said: “The women, selected from different organisations, schools and vulnerable communities were trained on improved access to technology to check GBV.

“As you are aware, access to internet and use of technology is largely a male affair.

“This programme will, therefore, provide opportunities for girls to meet like minds in different fora where they can share opinions and express themselves to solve their problems.”(NAN)

Ortom says election rigged electronically

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Benue State Govermor

Samuel Ortom has lamented that the last election was

rigged electronically, clinically and scientifically.

This is even as he boasted that the end is yet to be seen concerning the elections in the State.

Governor Ortom stated this on Wednesday in Makurdi during the Commissioning of 3 roads constructed through ecological funds in North Bank area of the

State capital.

He disclosed that the sum of 500 million naira was expended on the road which he named after the first Ter Makurdi, Dennis Hirnyam

who contributed immensely to peace of Makurdi and Benue State. He urged the people to do the needful by ensuring that they vote PDP to remain in power.

Over 500 constituents benefit from Senator Binos’s medical outreach in Adamawa

From Umar Dankano,Yola

The villagers of Kiri community and other neighbourhoods in Toungo local government area of Adamawa

state have expressed gratitude to Senator Binos Dauda Yaroe for the free medical treatment accorded to them.

On Wednesday, the Kiri people played host to the wheel clinic

where they were treated from all manner of diseases and ailments including surgeries.

In his remarks at the exercise,Vice Chairman of Tougo local government area, Hon. Julius

Kadama while monitoring the exercise said the intervention was undertaken at the right time when the economic realities are no longer hidden.

Hon,Kadama explained that

the turnout by the constituents speaks volume on the acceptability of the programme by all which indicated the federal lawmaker is so dear to them due to his concerns at all times.

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

CBN restricts journalists from inspection of election materials, distribution in Jigawa

From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

The team of journalists from different media organizations covering Jigawa state have been restricted at the gate of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) when the distribution of election materials was going on in the bank.

While speaking to the Journalists outside CBN gate after distribution, the state Electoral Commissioner, Professor Lawal Bashar said, the instructions was from CBN.

He explained that based on the instruction given by the CBN, Journalists are not allowed to enter and inspect the distribution and the evacuation of the materials which include the result sheets and other auxiliaries.

Fish out perpetrators of Zangon Kataf killing, Uba Sani tasks security operatives

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District and the State APC Gubernatorial Candidate, Senator Uba Sani has called on security agencies to move into action to fish out the perpetrators of attack on Zangon Kataf Community and the wanton destruction of innocent lives and property.

He stated this in a statement made available to the media in Kaduna yesterday.

The statement stated that such elements have no place in a decent society.

He added that the inability of security agencies to fashion effective strategies to degrade or decimate terrorists and bandits has rendered most of the communities desolate.

He expressed dismay that the full weight of the law is hardly brought to bear on criminal elements.

“Our people watch helplessly as criminal elements hold sway in many communities. This must not be allowed to continue.

Governorship polls: Kwara declares March 17 work free day

Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazak of Kwara, has declared March 17 as workfree day for civil servants in the state.

This is contained in a statement signed by the Kwara Head of

Service, Mrs Susan Oluwole, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Ilorin on Thursday. According to Oluwole, the workfree day is to enable workers in the state to travel to their respective

local governments and places of voting for the gubernatorial and state Houses of Assembly elections, slated for March 18.

“The Kwara Governor has graciously approved Friday, 17 March, as a work-free day for the

state workforce.

“Workers are therefore advised to freely exercise their voting franchise and be law abiding, before, during and after the elections,” the statement reads in part. (NAN)

Humanitarian actors brainstorm on zero cash policy for programme efficiency

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD) and partners have underscored the need for the review of the National Cash and Voucher Assistance Policy (NCVAP) to aid efficiency.

In her presentation at the ongoing two days prevalidation workshop for the draft National Cash and Voucher Assistance Policy in Keffi, Nasarawa State, Mrs Olamide Dauda, a Consultant said the aim of the initiative was to improve the operational environment for CVA.

According to Dauda, the initiative will promote an inclusive approach and address the operational bottlenecks, help to lay the foundations

for financial inclusion, and support increased access to social protection as feasible and appropriate.

“Transportation of cash in insecure areas has the risk to increase potential attacks.

“The use of cash transfers is broadly accepted and recognized as the most efficient and effective way of responding to humanitarian crisis.

“In context where cash transfers are not feasible, vouchers are seen as acceptable alternative,” she said.

Dauda said that the use of cash transfers gives recipients choice, dignity, and control to prioritize and fit the assistance to their specific needs.

“It enables them to address their individual needs based on their own preferences and

decisions,” she added.

On her part, the Minister, FMHADMSD, Hajia Sadiya Umar-Farouq said the policy was expected to complement the Humanitarian Response Plan.

Represented by Dr Abubakar Suleiman, Deputy Director, Disaster Management, Umar-Farouq said that the policy would provide clarity on the use of CVA to meet needs among the poor and vulnerable.

“It will also improve the operational environment for CVA uptake by overcoming bureaucratic bottlenecks.

“The policy is also expected to support commitments, already enshrined in other national policies i.e. the recently approved National

IDP policy, facilitate financial inclusion and access to social protection among target groups,” she said.

Similarly, Mr Trond Jensen, Head of Office, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the policy would help to strengthen cash programming and coordination for the ultimate benefit of the affected people.

Represented by Ms Uche Njoku of the office, Jensen said that CVA programming has been on a steady rise between 2017 and 2023 in Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Cash and voucher policy allowed for purchase/redemption using vendors within the beneficiary communities. (NAN)

L-R: Director of Programmes, YIAGA Africa, Cynthia Mba, Board Members, YIAGA Africa, Ezenwa Nwagwu and Dr. Asma’u Maikudu, during the YIAGA Africa Pre- Governorship Election media briefing, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

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.

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.”

EYN Church berates president Buhari, INEC on security, economy

From Umar Dankano,Yola

The Leadership of the EYN Church of the Brethren in Nigeria has expressed reservations and concerns over

the wide outcry that greeted the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections in the country.

Position of the church was disclosed by the EYN

President,Rev.Joel Stephen Billi at the 100th anniversary (Centenary) ceremony held on the 15th-16th March,2023 at the EYN Headquarters in Kwarhi,Hong local government

area of Adamawa state, stressing that the election was characterised by thuggery, violence and manipulations.

Rev.Billi said the outcry attested to the fact that

the process was allegedly manipulated in several places, noting that the development was not only sad but an insult to the collective sensibilities of Nigerians.

Ogbomoso South Assembly: Keffi youths canvass votes for Ayodeji Adegoke

The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Keffi Local Government Chapter, has urged the people of Ogbomosho South Constituency in Oyo State, to vote massively for Ayodeji Adegoke, APC State Assembly candidate on Saturday.

Alhaji Mohammed Idris, Chairman of the council, who made the call in a statement, on Thursday in Keffi, said Ayodeji was the most competent and deserving candidate among all the candidates vying for

the seat. Idris said that it was time for the people of constituency to reciprocate the contributions of Ayodeji’s father, Dr Adewale Adegoke-Maigida, a philanthropist, to the development of the area by voting massively for his son.

The youth leader stated that it was on record that AdegokeMaigida devoted all his energy and resources to empowering the people of Ogbomosho South throughout his career in public service.

According to him, there is no any other time better than now for the people to show solidarity to AdegokeMaigida’s family by giving their block votes to his son.

Idris said: “Dr Adegoke-Maigida popularly known as Maigida, had in the past touched many lives through his Charity Foundation by taking care of people, both the privileged and underprivileged, within and outside Ogbomoso.

“And by extension to the Northern parts of the country where

he works. During the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, he distributed palliatives in Ogbomoso to reduce the untold hardship occasioned by it.

“The distribution of the palliatives in Ogbomoso brought unprecedented joy to the less privileged who said it was not only timely, but also effective.

”The palliatives were also extended to those providing essential services such as the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps,

State Security Service and media establishments.

“In the light of aforementioned, therefore, Ayodeji deserves to be elected by the people of Ogbomosho South because of the antecedents of his father.”

The youth leader said that it was gratifying that Ayodeji had emulated his father in the area of youths empowerment and provision of basic social amenities such as boreholes to communities in the area, (NAN)

L-R: National President, Northern Youth Peace Ambassadors, Comrade Abdulmalik Usman , the President, Emerging Leaders Forum of Nigeria (ELFON), Comrade Godstime Chukwubuikem, The Senate President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Attah Nnalue Felix and the President, Ohaneze Ndigbo Youth Assembly,. Comrade Chigozie Uwaoma, during the ELFON and other stakeholders world press conference calling on opposition parties that lost the 2023 presidential election to give peace a Chance and fellow the rule of law if they are not satisfied, held recently in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

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World Wildlife Day: Our obligation to protect the endangered species

By Matthew Ma

The Yankari Game Reserve used to be one of the best wildlife reserves and habitats. Yankari game reserve covers 2,058 sq km of dense rainforests and savannah woodlands. Some of the wildlife in this reserve used to include hippos, bushbuck, buffalo, crocodiles, lions, elephants, and more than 200 different species of birds.

“A drive-through of these parks a few years ago left me amazed at the wonders of nature and the brilliant concept of this park. Asides from the excitement presented by the park, the state of the Parks is nothing to write home. The bushes are overgrown and poorly maintained. The facilities are in varying states of disrepair, while the administrative blocks need renovation. Years after their establishment, some of these parks have retained the only thing they started with, enormous expanses of virgin land.”

The world is full of amazing creatures from every possible medium. From the birds of the sky to the majestic whales of the sea, animals continue to exist in the most unusual and unexpected places. Wild animals have benefited us in many ways, but we have long forgotten. So, what is World Wildlife Day? Why should we take care of wildlife? Are animals worthy of our celebration? World Wildlife Day (WWD) is a day to remind us of our collective responsibilities to our world and the life we share with other species. Although we might like to think otherwise, humans are not the only living things on earth. We are far outnumbered by other living things, from animals and plants to fungi and bacteria. World Wildlife Day (WWD) is an opportunity to celebrate the many beautiful and various forms of wild fauna and flora and to raise awareness of the multitude of benefits that their conservation provides to people. The day reminds us of the urgent need to fight against wildlife crime and the human-induced reduction of species, which have wide-ranging economic, environmental, and social impacts. On March 3rd, 2023, the universal world celebrated World Wildlife Day (WWD). On that day, we acknowledged the significant contribution the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) made to wildlife and biodiversity and how this contribution has enhanced the bridge-building and partnership within the CITES framework. During the celebration, we recognize how CITES has partnered and cooperated with other conventions, UN agencies, and other organizations to serve the broader UN goals, such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Post-2020 Framework on Biodiversity. This year, the theme for WWD was Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation. It helps us to celebrate all conservation efforts, from intergovernmental to local scale. It allows us to appreciate all wildlife, from the smallest insect to blue whales. No matter what we love about wild animals, we can spend the day taking action to help protect them. Whether we love animals, passionate about plants, or are concerned about climate change, it was a day to educate ourselves about the need to change our relationship with nature.

From the mighty tiger to the humble bee, animals contribute to our lives and well-being in more ways than we think. From offering a wealth of natural medicines to safeguarding us from the climate crisis and improving soil fertility, we need wildlife to survive, to get enough food to eat, and to make a living. However, how we live and relate to animals – from the food we eat to how we build our infrastructure – is causing a steep decline in their numbers. In the past 40 years alone, we have seen, on average, a decrease of 60 percent in populations of species. This decline caused the United Nations General Assembly to take a stand on how to protect endangered species worldwide. Hence, on December 20th, 2013, the UN took a bold step to initiate a campaign against the fragility of endangered species worldwide. At its 68th session, the UN declared that we should dedicate every year to keeping people abreast of the changing nature of

our world and the treasures we stand to lose from the animals and plants if we fail to take care of them. This year’s event is the most significant in raising awareness about threatened and endangered plants and animals. As a planet, we now face the issue of overexploiting our marine species. Through global mass consumption, human impact has not only generated pollution and destroyed coastal habitats but caused irreversible damage. World Wildlife Day creates opportunities to highlight the solutions we have built for a more sustainable future. It is also our chance to focus on the accomplishments of countless people who devote their lives to bringing our vision of a healthy planet to fruition.

When we discuss countries with good environmental conservation strategies, East Africa has the world’s most memorable and celebrated hotspots. If there’s one thing East Africa is known for, it’s its exotic natural landscape stretching from rivers to lakes across the Great Rift Valley. Hence, without a doubt, tourism is one of East Africa’s forex earners and contributors to the economy. Tourism is also one of the major employers in East Africa, holding nearly 7 percent of employment in the region according to information from the East African Community consisting of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan. Arguably, East Africa has some of the most iconic and the world celebrated attractions. From the dense forests in Volcanoes National Park to the magical and outstanding work of nature in the Ngorongoro Conservation area in Tanzania, the region is endowed with scenic and exotic wonders of nature – wildlife and waterfalls, lakes, and mountains. Wildlife conservation strategies and efforts to improve the community’s livelihood have been on a collision course in Kenya and Tanzania for many decades. In the mid-20th century, Kenya and Tanzania reorganized their National Parks to protect and prohibit all human use of animals for consumption except for research and tourism. The move stifles access to natural resources making communities hostile or indifferent to wildlife conservation. While the decision affected many communities in different ways, the pastoralists such as the Maasai bore the brunt of the consequences to natural resources and the disruption of seasonal migration – a long-established adaptive mechanism that deals with changing weather patterns. It will interest us to note that the Kenyan and Tanzanian borderlands region supports some of the wealthiest wildlife populations on earth through a network of national parks and reserves and the pastoral lands that connect them. For example, about 65% of the wildlife lives inside Kenya National Parks and Reserves. The wild animals of Kenya refer to its fauna. The diversity of Kenya’s wildlife has garnered international fame, especially for its populations of large mammals. Mammal species include lion, cheetah, hippopotamus, African buffalo, wildebeest, African bush elephant, zebra, giraffe, and rhinoceros. Kenya has a very diverse population of birds, including flamingos and common ostrich.

Tanzania has 20 percent of the species of African mammal population, found across its reserves, conservation areas, marine parks, and 17 national parks, spread over more than 42,000 square kilometers (16,000 sq mi) and forming about 38 percent of its territory. Tanzania’s wildlife resources are major wildlife-viewing sites. Serengeti National Park, the second-largest National Park area at 14,763 square kilometers (5,700 sq mi), is located in northern Tanzania and is famous for its extensive migratory herds of wildebeests and zebra while also having the reputation as one of the great natural wonders of the world. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area, established in 1959, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site inhabited by the Maasai people. Its Ngorongoro Crater is the largest intact caldera in the world. The National Parks are also a part of the wetlands of Tanzania. The wild animals tend to be closer to the wetlands, particularly the water-loving species such as the hippopotamus, waterbuck, common warthog, elephant, crocodile, sitatunga, and water birds such as flamingos and ducks. Community lands across southern Kenya and northern Tanzania are rich in biodiversity and

provide vital movement routes known as wildlife corridors that allow animals to travel long distances between protected areas. These community areas contain unique forests, savannahs, and freshwater systems, where nature provides vital services like drinking water, pasture for livestock, and forest products like timber and medicine. The environment in these communities is also a habitat for the most endangered and threatened wildlife species, such as big cats and African lions. Similarly, omnivores such as elephants, rhinos, giraffes, and primates face critical danger. Several conservation models have been adopted over decades to preserve wildlife and their communities.

In 2010, while studying theology in Kenya, I visited some Maasai communities in Kenya and Tanzania for an East African adventure. While on the trip, I experienced the Great Migration from the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Masai Mara in Kenya. During migration season in Tanzania, the massive herds tend to position themselves in the southern plains, where the grasses are tastier, more nutritious, and plentiful. Because these grasses are short, the animals can be easier to see. In Kenya, meanwhile, the draw is the Mara River. While the river flows through both Tanzania and Kenya, the wildebeest tend to cross it in Kenya in the summertime to escape the dusty plains in search of grasses. Watching them cross is a breathtaking spectacle – the hesitancy to enter the water, unsure whether crocodiles or hippos are waiting under the surface, unable to judge how deep the water is. But once a few bold zebras head across, hundreds of zebras and wildebeest will join, often following one another with a torrent of splashes, barks, and calls. In both countries, there is no shortage of The Big Five—lions, elephants, buffalo, leopards, black rhinos—and dozens of other species. Travelers get more than their fill of scintillating wildlife sightings on safaris in either country. It was a delightful moment to see young Maasai leaders from the Kenya and Tanzania Wildlife Service passionate about the natural resources surrounding them. The Maasai people have lived alongside wildlife in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania for centuries. But the surrounding land is changing – under pressure from privatization, expanding agriculture, poorly planned development, and habitat loss. This notion threatens their source of livelihood, culture, and nature in this unique landscape. While in these communities, I noticed that the dedicated efforts by these local communities have seen poaching levels reduce and wildlife populations recover. Poachers and wildlife traffickers who camouflage as pastoralists to prey on wildlife have often exploited the critical route for animal migration, placing wildlife and communities living adjacent to the area at the risk of instability stemming from wildlife crime. Wildlife criminals are now using more advanced technology and equipment to commit illegal hunting and poaching of animals, pushing many of the most iconic species to the brink of extinction. Tanzania has experienced upsurges of poaching in different periods with detrimental consequences on its charismatic species, such as elephants and rhinos. The most recent rise in criminality was noted in 2009 when the elephant population declined from 130,000 in 2002 to 109,000 in 2009. The 2015 elephant census revealed a further drop in the elephant population to 43,521 (about 60% in five years). This massive killing of elephants made Tanzania one of the worst offenders in the ivory trade. Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and China, were singled out as The GANG OF EIGHT for failing to tackle the illegal ivory trade. In many community conservation areas, including those I visited, I noticed that although the prospects are dire, some progressive community partners were successful in slowing and stopping the slaughter of wild animals in parts of Kenya and Tanzania. In collaboration with NGOs.

Rev. Ma, S.J, is a Jesuit Catholic priest and PhD candidate in public and social policy at St. Louis University in the state of Missouri, USA

The Obidient movement, a natural mystic in Nigeria’s politics

By Clement Uwayah

The Obidient Movement no doubts have brought in some form of revolutions in the polity of Nigeria, in what appears to be a natural national mystic. They have become a legion of people with common shared value, and that is simply the identification and support of candidates of appeal.

Bob Nesta Marley’s unforgettable song, natural mystic, readily comes to mind when one evaluates the times and seasons we are in, politically. Indeed, the song, a 1977 classic in his album, Exodus, was one that remains prophetic. It says, “there’s a natural mystic blowing the air … if you listen carefully now, you would hear … things are not the way they used to be … one and all got to face reality now”. Surely, it conveys the current mood of the nation. In the history of Nigeria, there has not been as tense, interesting, fascinating, hilarious, yet intimidating an era as this era. No doubts, the 2023 general elections would remain symbolic for so many reasons. The citizens collective amnesia, complacency, docility, gullibility and many other negative tendencies that used to characterize the political and electioneering dispositions seemed to have given way to much more robust, vibrant and sizzling times and seasons of hyper-political indulgences. So much interesting that the entertainment industry are enjoying cash outs through ingenious creativities in skits, songs and amplified rebroadcasts. Kudos to everyone who have been giving their time in various ways to wake the consciousness of the Nigerian people towards seeing and embracing political participations, as now evident in various quarters. May their labours of patriotism not go in vain in that.

Why did this political reawakening become necessary and urgent too? In the first place, it has become highly indubitable, that the citizens are having more than they could possibly bear in terms of the extremely poor dividends of democracy, ocassioned by the very inept leadership of various government regimes. In particular, It is evident what governance has turned out in the almost eight years of this regime. The promises of changes which attracted the citizens and thus catapulted the leaders into power surely came in full force, but unfortunately in the reverse direction. The multifarious hardship and pains already biting turned out worse. From a fuel regime of sixty five naira, Nigerians now queue to buy fuel at differential prizes with the lowest still more than triple the price it was at the inception of the regime. Naira exchange catapulted to almost a four digits thing, thus causing untold hardships. The cost of everything sky rocketed, especially given our import dependent nature. What of the woes in the health sector and then our ivory towers that remained closed to students for over eight months in one single strike action. The lamentations are quite innumerable, but not unknown.

Definitely, it is on the back drop of the very terribly bad and worsened situations that it became crystal clear that there’s need for a departure from the old ways of indulgences to political matters, especially as it affects leadership choices. Off course, why would a country of enlightened and avid minds continue to be docile and tolerant in matters that shapes their existence, well-being, and even their generations to come. Allowing the traditional politicians to take charge continuously, when it is very clear that their inclinations are borne out of self-interests as against service, remains self-affliction to the entire citizens. Our politicians have become too comfortable

in their thinking that the people are either foolish or voiceless. This no doubts, made it possible for them to see political offices as their birthrights. They fight to remain position forever, as some lawmakers have desired, or ascending or rotating positions perpetually in such manners that make them permanent in government and governance. This is the exact mindset that have made our supposed revered legislative Chambers a retirement ground for Governors after completing two terms, and shamelessly without any good records of service delivery.

Certainly, there is a huge disconnect between our leaders and the people. One wonders why our politicians take glory in seeing the citizens they elated to serve suffer neglects, deprivations, agony and pains. Pure deception and inhuman nature describes them better. Else, how could pensioners, after service to their father land, be subjected to the kind of harrowing experiences we see daily? No wonder, Bob Nesta Marley cried out, as it is now, “So much trouble in the land . . “. How is it that our youths have become so pauperized to the point that cybercrime have become their succour? Why would students be unperturbed about our leadership puzzles when their course durations are not uncertain to be double, with the government paying deaf ears to genuine concerns in the education sector? Is it the civil servants that should be less concerned about who takes the reign of governance when their monthly pay package hardly packages them conveniently for a week, and their future pensions not a surety?

No doubts, there’s now like never before, an undeniable rationale for the surge and unprecedented deep involvements of the masses in political affairs, as currently being witnessed. Besides the very fact that citizens are tired of the terrible situations in all sectors, there is now a strong awakening of the people to do things differently, having endured to no avail. The past political experiences were shrouded in so much unnecessary sentiments. Political party affiliations were so much pronounced, most times along regional, tribal, and religious lines. This was awful, because it ensured that irrespective of the candidates’ character, competence, capacity and other needed qualities, getting the party tickets became automatic victories, especially by the ruling party. There now seems to be a determination to break the unproductive pattern of such party affiliations. What is playing out currently is a political frenzy across the whole nation and anchored on the strong footing of the Obidient Movement, which has been fueled by the unequivocal acceptance of an individual’s political and leadership style and disposition. And, the man at the center of this political movement that have defied regions, religion, tribes, ethnicity, and to some extent, party affiliations, is none other than Peter Gregory Obi.

Indeed, Obidient Movement came about because Nigerians found the desired qualities they needed and sought to have in the man Peter Obi. Here’s a man that have redefined politics and leadership in Nigeria. His style of politics is uniquely subtle and without the usual razzmatazz. His level of frugality and prudence endeared him to Nigerians. Never in our history has there been such a person, highly distasteful of transactional politics. He’s so purposeful in governance that his record of service as a two term Governor of Anambra state (Easter Nigeria) recorded firsts in almost all sectors, including security, education, health, development and infrastructures. Still, he remains the only Governor who left unimaginable savings awaiting his predecessor, even without a single debt of salaries, pensions or even contractors. To

cap it, he rejected any form of pension for himself, a non conscientious trend that pervades the states in Nigeria. Yet, in all of these, it took his coming out for presidency for these testimonies to become known to the general public, nationally. Conservative indeed, because others were at a point in time, using CNN to tell the world that their state was working. Indeed, those that have something to offer never boasts. He has long become the standard of measuring a desired leader. Thus, it was not difficult for Nigerians to team up, firstly using social media buzz. Interestingly, he’s such a soft sell as the Obidient Movement grew organically without any coercion.

The Obidient Movement no doubts have brought in some form of revolutions in the polity of Nigeria, in what appears to be a natural national mystic. They have become a legion of people with common shared value, and that is simply the identification and support of candidates of appeal. The Obidient Movement focuses mostly on people who possesses the critical attributes of character, credibility, capacity, competence, compassion and commitment. These were the first endearing qualities of Peter Obi. It is also replicated in his Vice Presidential Candidate, Baba Ahmed Datti, hence it became much easier for the duo to cause an unprecedented political tsunami in Nigeria. What followed from their combination left political pundits in great awe. It was a situation that can only be likened to the usual Australian forest fires that regularly defiles measures at curtailing or stopping it. Members of other parties, especially the two big ones, APC and PDP, were quiting in numbers, declaring that they can not remain in darkness. Those who considered their open support risky knew in their hearts that they were Obidients and were in full tactical supports. But, beyond the party men themselves, the Obidients had become so self organized that it had made itself the structures for the campaigns. And truly, the campaigns by Peter Obi was much more powered by the Obidients than the Labour Party. All affiliates of the Obidient Movement were on ground at all nooks and crannies.

Thus, the presidential elections was indeed a redefining moment. It was a judgement day for many, especially the Governors and serving legislators seeking to consolidate on power. At almost every polling boots, the dominance of the Obidients and their overwhelming votes ensured that Peter Obi not only won, but with a landslide. Viral videos of the polling boots situations revealed that a tsunami actually took place, though we now have a situation of convoluted results and an audacious declaration of another as president elect. The complicity of INEC was very visible, as itself knew that the processes were bridged, hence outcome is unacceptable. The chairman was quick at asking the shortchanged parties to go to court, a situation that leaves much to be desired. How could an aspect be penciled out and jettisoned in an election that involved three and happening same day and time? Distorting a process and asking the aggrieved to go to court highly insinuates the obvious fact that the whole actions is a written act being executed as planned. And, we hope that the disquiet in the land over the outcome of the results is not turned into something else. This is where Peter Obi has also proved himself a man of peace, choosing rather to pursue his battle by legal means than by setting the public in disarray through protests. There’s no alternative for peace.

Clement Uwayah, a public affairs commentator, writes from Benin City.

Email: csuwayah@gmail.com

Russia trading anti-western slogans and rhetoric with Africa

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

Asimple calculation shows that already been more than a decade since the establishment of the Coordinating Committee on Economic Cooperation with Sub-Saharan Africa. There are also several Joint Commissions on Trade and Economic Cooperation, and of course, there are Trade and Economic councillors at nearly all of Russia’s diplomatic missions in Africa.

On the eve of his four-nation African tour in July 2022, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, shared reflections on the prospects for Russia-African relations within the context of the current geopolitical and economic changes. Long before that, Lavrov reiterated that Russia has a long time-tested relationship with Africa, and along the line suggested taking a chapter on the approach and methods adopted by China in Africa.

Lavrov expressed optimism that relations with Africa has brighter prospects, now that the African Union decided to establish the African Continental Free Trade Area. Specific criteria and tariffs for this area are being agreed upon, which will take some time. This will benefit Russia as Africa’s rising partner in terms of boosting trade and investment which are quite modest compared to the United States, China and the European Union.

Records show that Africa has a population over 1.3 billion people, which is comparable to China and India. This is a great portion of the modern world and probably the most promising consumer market. That is why external countries and foreign companies, with good vision, are building long-term business strategies with regard to Africa.

In terms of working with the African continent, Russian business leaders say the African continent remains little known in Russia. Much is really unknown due to the simple fact that there are few useful integrative and learning platforms for entrepreneurship. Even the few that are available, Russian officials find it necessary to engage in hyperbolic anti-Western themes more than concentrating on what concretely Russia could do in Africa.

Alexander Saltanov, former Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and now Chairman of the Association of Economic Cooperation with African States (AECAS), acknowledged in St. Petersburg forum that African countries no longer know as much about Russia as they did about its predecessor, the Soviet Union. Notwithstanding the setbacks down these years, Saltanov referred to the most common complaints including inadequate support systems – both from the state and financial institutions.

Interestingly, Vladimir Putin, Sergey Lavrov, Mikhail Bogdanov and many of the various ministry officials hardly talk about the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). If nothing at all, the AfCFTA could also serve as a platform to strengthen business ties between Russia and Africa. Worth noting that the African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) promises to create a single borderless market, it offers various opportunities for localization, production and marketing of consumables throughout Africa. This should, perhaps, be the strongest dimension of Russia’s dealings in Africa.

Experts who have researched Russia’s foreign policy in Africa, for instance, at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for

African Studies have reiterated that Russia’s exports to Africa can be possible only after the country’s industrial-based experiences a more qualitative change and introduces tariff preferences for trade with African partners. As a reputable institute, it has played a considerable part in developing African studies in the Russian Federation.

“The situation in Russian-African foreign trade will change for the better if Russian industry undergoes technological modernization, the state provides Russian businessmen systematic and meaningful support, and small and medium businesses receive wider access to foreign economic cooperation with Africa,” according to Professor Aleksei Vasiliev, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Evgeny Korendyasov, an expert at the Institute for African Studies.

Back in 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov explained that trade between Russia and Africa would grow as more and more African partners continued to show interest in having Russians in the economic sectors of Africa. Then four years later, Lavrov was in Pretoria in February 2023, mentioned trade, among several others, as promising areas of bilateral collaboration with South Africa.

Over the years, Pretoria traditionally expresses readiness to collaborate, but the question now is how to build a supply chain and financial services for collaborative projects in the face of Western sanctions imposed on Russia.

South Africa and Russia are members of BRICS, a grouping of major emerging economies, although they remain relatively insignificant markets for each other: Russia ranked as South Africa’s 33rd-largest trading partner in 2021, with two-way flows amounting to just $1.46 billion. In comparison, South Africa’s trade with the United States was $10.2 billion in 2021. South Africa has large exports to Europe.

High-positioned officials continue rattling statements about trade and investment…et cetera. Some believes that Russia’s increasing political dialogues have not been transformed into economic capabilities. Straddling as a strategic player and highly praised multipolar advocate, Russia’s business initiatives have inconsistently been followed across Africa.

Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev, quoting trade figures to illustrate his argument, clearly said that “the trade turnover speaks for itself. Roughly, the European Union’s trade with Africa stands at around $300 billion, China’s – at around $150 billion, and the United States – at approximately $50-60 billion. Despite the tendency to grow, our current turnover is around $20 billion.”

The United States, EU representatives, China, India, Turkey and even the Gulf States discuss Africa from different perspectives, but more importantly ways to establish their economic footprints on the continent. For instance, fresh from their previous EU-AU summit, both agreed on several infrastructure and investment projects. EU has already committed approx. €300 billion ($340 billion) for financing new investment initiatives – similar to China’s Belt and Road initiative – an investment programme the bloc claims would create links, not dependencies.

Reports also showed that Russia has started strengthening its economic cooperation by opening trade missions with the responsibility of providing sustainable business services and

plans to facilitate import-export trade in a number of African countries. A simple calculation shows that already been more than a decade since the establishment of the Coordinating Committee on Economic Cooperation with Sub-Saharan Africa. There are also several Joint Commissions on Trade and Economic Cooperation, and of course, there are Trade and Economic councillors at nearly all of Russia’s diplomatic missions in Africa.

Senator Igor Morozov, Chairman of the Coordination Committee on Economic Cooperation with Africa, observes that conditions that are opening up for Russian business today are not the same as those for businessmen from France, the European Union, India or China. Senator Morozov has therefore called for improving Russia’s competitive edge and taking advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Dr Mohamed Chtatou, professor of Middle Eastern politics at the International University of Rabat (IUR) and Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco, told me in our discussion that African leaders have to focus largely on accelerating, advancing and sustaining decades-old dream of Africa’s unity, and this has to reflect especially on intra-African position relating to investment and trade.

According to him, proceeding with integration at a pace that is both ambitious and realistic. Achieving a balance between public and private sector economic initiatives is also important at this of geopolitical changes in the world. There are some steps that Africa can take to reduce the influence of developed world: African countries, with external players, should strive to attract foreign investment on their own terms, by negotiating fair and equitable deals that benefit both the investor and the host country.

Professor Fyodor Lukyanov, Chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Research Director at the Valdai Discussion Club, and Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs journal, explains with this author in an interview that Russia’s engagement depends largely on several factors. Notwithstanding all that, Africa has its strengths and weaknesses based on history, but the balance is positive in this emerging new world. Most of the potential success (especially transforming the economy and raising trade levels) depends on African countries themselves and their ability to build up relations with outside powers on a rational and calculated basis.

It is straddling back to regain influence, Russia has to be serious with policy initiatives. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many other problems emerged and pushed cooperation with Africa into the background. Regrettably, much has been lost over this period, and further to that Western and European countries, China, Turkey, and India et cetera, have filled the vacuum that emerged after Russia’s sudden ‘retreat’ from Africa.

Currently Russia has come under series of Western and European sanctions due to its ‘special military operation’ in neighbouring Ukraine. As the sanctions bite, Russia continues stepping up to realign with Africa, steadily stemming its policy with mountainous pledges of helping with sustainable development, increasing trade through economic cooperation and strengthening relations.

Money talks: It’s not a poor man’s game

By Seun Elere

There is need for drastic reforms of our political parties. Party nomination needs to be people driven, free, fair and open. The primaries also need to be very transparent and void of any form of financial inducement of the delegates. We need to completely eradicate politics of sacks and bags and onboard ideology. Only this will bring true democracy and good governance to Nigeria.

Many have written about monetization of politics in Nigeria. I was particularly thrilled by the April 12, 2022 article on the subject by Tunji Light Ariyomo on the Premium Times. In the heat of the moment, I thought I should remind us once again about this very important problem that we really need to focus on.

It’s hard to believe that politicians in Nigeria run for office to serve. No one pays N100m, N50m, N40m or even N10m; billions of naira during party primary; and millions/ billions in election related lawsuits because s/he wants to serve. It just doesn’t add up.

To run for governorship election in America, you probably need an average of N980k as party nomination fee and you can bypass this with a petition signed by about 5000 electorates in your constituent or just 500 in the case of Congress. For equivalent of our house of assembly, it cost about N100k. Guess what, America’s average minimum wage is over N700k/month while Nigeria’s is N30k/month.

In 2022, to run for state house of assembly in Nigeria, you

must cough out N2m or N1.5 if you are running under APC or PDP respectively. This means that as an average minimum wage earner in Nigeria, you will need to starve yourself for about 6 years or over 4 years to afford nomination forms under APC or PDP respectively. This without adding the cost of actual participation at the primary, the election (if you win the primary) and the post election lawsuits.

During the primaries leading up to the 2023 elections, there were reports of party aspirants fighting tooth and nails to buy over the delegates. The aspirant with the biggest envelope simply gets the vote of the delegates – the highest bidders always win.

Do we really have political parties in Nigeria? Seemingly, what we have are a bunch of limited liability companies that make money off our democracy. Yes, their responsibility to the electorates is limited to the amount they earn during the elections. Nobody cares about good governance, not roads, not healthcare, not better wages, nothing.

No candidate would cough out such an amount of money just because they want to make life better for Nigerians. They would most certainly recover their investment first before they think of anything else. This is why our democracy has turned to chop-make-i-chop. It’s all about investment and return on investment, nothing more, nothing less.

Just keep shouting for that your candidate, unless you are in his or her inner caucus, you are not going to get anything out of him or her. No good governance, no infrastructure, no sincere policy. People don’t pay billions of naira to win

an election because they care about the populace. This huge financial cost also scares off the good ones, the youths and women as well are pushed out of the political space unless you have a father or husband with very deep and fat pockets. We will keep electing the money bags for as long as this menace remains. ‘Good governance’ in Nigeria ends with the political parties and delegates. Those are the two beneficiaries of democracy in Nigeria.

The cry for credibility in our elections and the attack on the judiciary are misplaced priorities. Don’t blame it on INEC, it is simply tackling the leaves and branches of a tree. A faulty process will always birth a faulty outcome. Of more importance is the process that produce the candidates. This process continue to tremendously kill the desire to serve and screen out or scare off the good leaders. It is also strange how we wait till the election day to combat vote buying when the real vote buying starts during party nominations. The political parties (or corporations) are the root cause of our political problems and largely or solely responsible for the retrogression this country has experienced.

There is need for drastic reforms of our political parties. Party nomination needs to be people driven, free, fair and open. The primaries also need to be very transparent and void of any form of financial inducement of the delegates. We need to completely eradicate politics of sacks and bags and onboard ideology. Only this will bring true democracy and good governance to Nigeria.

Seun Elere is a Public Policy Analyst.

Kestér Kenn Klomegâh is a Public Policy Analyst.

30 youth groups, students endorse APC guber candidate in Niger

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

No fewer than 30 youth groups and student bodies have unanimously agreed to adopt the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate Umar Mohammed Bago for Saturday gubernatorial and state assembly elections in Niger state.

The endorsement was reached after the directorate of youth and students campaign council interacted with the APC Governorship candidate on his policy trust for the two groups in Minna.

Addressing the youths, the director of the Directorate, Comrade Bello Sherrif described the Bago’s manifestos as all inclusive.

Sherrif stated that the APC candidate is physically fit, competent, mentally sound, energetic, capable, dogged, credible and prepared for the job of governance.

The National President of the National Association of Niger State Students (NANISS), Khalid Bababubu said primary and secondary schools lack learning facilities for effective teaching in Niger state.

He further demanded for 50 percent inclusiveness in government, adding that pervasive youth restiveness and insecurity in the state was due to lack of job opportunities despite the available human and natural resources.

In his remarks, the gubernatorial candidate of the APC, Umar Mohammed Bago said youths and women would have 60 percent take in his administration.

He said his administration would institute free education to increase school enrollment in the state while tasking private sector in the state to give back to the society through corporate social responsibility.

Guber/Assembly polls: Kano Police Command receives additional manpower, logistics, others

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

The Kano State Police Command under has received additional manpower, operational vehicles, non-lethal weapons, Personnel Protective Equipment and Antiriot Equipment from Force Headquarters, Abuja ahead of the March 18 Gubernatorial and State Assembly Elections in the state. The command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, disclosed this in

a statement yesterday.

He said, while appreciating and congratulating the InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba for his dedication to fulfilling his policing vision and mission, the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, CP Mamman Dauda, charged Officers and Men of the Command to continue to be committed with a renewed vigour and determination in fighting all forms of crime and criminality.

SP Kiyawa also disclosed

that in a series of meetings with the members of the Command’s Management Team, Area Commanders, Tactical Commanders and Divisional Police Officers (DPOs), the CP appreciates the officers for their efforts in crime fighting.

He therefore charged the officers to continue to be neutral, apolitical, firm, steadfast and committed to ensuring free, fair, credible, transparent and successful 2023 Kano State Gubernatorial and State Assembly

Elections.

“The Commissioner of Police appreciates the good people of the State for their continuous support, prayers, encouragement and cooperation. *He called on actors to play the game by the rules, eschew thuggery and violence so as have peace during and after the election.* In case of emergencies, the command be reached through the following Phone Numbers; 08032419754, 08123821575, 09029292926,” part of the statement reads.

Man bags life imprisonment for defiling minor

An Ikeja Sexual offences and Domestic Violence Court on Wednesday sentenced a man, Stephen Francis, to life imprisonment for defiling an 11-year-old primary four pupil in his room.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Abiola Soladoye held that the prosecution had sufficiently proved the three essential ingredients of defilement against the convict.

Soladoye said that the overwhelming narrative of the prosecution witnesses, the two exhibits tendered at Olosan Police Station and at the state CIID Panti, made by the convict

voluntarily admitted his guilt.

According to her, the confessional statements of the convict are consistent with the evidences given by the survivor and her mother before the court.

“The survivor, 11 year old primary five pupil, identified the defendant in the dock as the man who sexually defiled her when he told her that his wife was calling her to run errand for her.

“The defendant took her to his house and had sex with her. She said, “he took me to his room and slept with me. I went to mother and reported to her after that we went to the police station”.

“The survivor’s testimony was consistent and unshaken under cross-examination.

“The survivor’s mother testified that she went to buy drugs for herself on the day of the incident and that she met her daughter crying by the time she got back home.

“The evidence of the prosecution witness 2 (survivor’s mother) that she examined the private part of her daughter and found sperm confirmed the narration of the survivor.

“There is no contradiction to nullify the guilt of the defendant as the evidence before the court is very clear.

“The defendant stripped her naked and had unlawful sexual intercourse with her,” she said.

The judge further held that slight penetration amount to sexual intercourse and denial by the defendant was an afterthought.

“The defendant claimed he was at work on the day the incident happened but he failed to bring an alibi to buttress his point.

“Parents and guardians should be alive to good parenting in this present day and time.

“I hereby find the defendant guilty as charged of the onecount charge of defilement and he is hereby sentenced to life

imprisonment.

“The defendant should have his name registered in the sexual offence register as maintained by Lagos State,” Soladoye said.

The prosecution team – Mr Olusola Shoneye, Mrs Olufunke Adegoke and Ms Abimbola Abolade called two witnesses while the convict testified as the sole witness for defence.

They said the convict committed the offence on Aug. 12, 2020 on Fagbenro Street, IdiAraba, Mushin in Lagos

The prosecution submitted that the offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015. (NAN)

From Left; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adeniyi, Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, Chief of Staff Prof Ibrahim Gambari, President Muhammadu Buhari during a courtesy visit by the Governing Council of the IoD to the President held at the Council Chambers, State House yesterday in Abuja. PHOTO; State House

FCT Senate: Aduda moves to reclaim seat from Labour Party’s Ireti at tribunal

• Faults announcement of result before end of collation

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Barely three weeks after the conduct of Presidential and National Assembly elections, which produced Ireti Kingibe as Senator - elect for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), her closest rival, Senator Tanimu Aduda has vowed to challenge the result of the election at the tribunal.

Senator Aduda, who doubles as the Minority Leader of the 9th Senate, told journalists at the National Assembly on Thursday that his plan of litigating against result of the election arose from the fact that result was announced when collations at the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) were yet to be completed and even with utter disregard to results cancelled in other polling units

across the 62 wards in Six Area Councils.

“The election as guided by the extant laws used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), supposed to have been declared inconclusive.

“Pointedly in substantial numbers of the polling units, there were over voting which led to cancellation of results that supposed to have been revisited by INEC through rescheduled election but from nowhere, we had that results were declared. We are going to challenge it”, he said.

On capacity and service delivery to FCT residents over the years, Senator Aduda said “Within my twelve years in the Senate and eight years in the House of Representatives, a lot of development - driven projects

Ogbomosho South Constituency: NYCNKeffi youth canvass votes for Ayodeji Adegoke

By Musa Baba Adamu

TheNational Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Keffi local government chapter, has urged the people of Ogbomosho South Constituency in Oyo State, to vote for Ayodeji Adegoke, the APC state assembly candidate coming Saturday.

Alhaji Mohammed Idris, Chairman of the Council, who made the call in a statement, yesterday in Keffi, described Ayodeji as the most competent and deserving candidate among all the candidates vying for the seat.

Idris said it was time for the people of the constituency to reciprocate the contributions of Ayodeji’s father, Dr Adewale Adegoke-Maigida, a philanthropist, to the development of the area by voting massively for his son.

The youth leader stated that it was on record that AdegokeMaigida devoted all his energy and resources to empowering the people of Ogbomosho South throughout his career in public service.

According to him, there is no other time better than now for the people to show solidarity to Adegoke-Maigida’s family by giving their block votes to his son.

Idris said “Dr AdegokeMaigida popularly known as Maigida, had in the past touched many lives through his Charity Foundation by taking care of people, both the privileged and underprivileged, within and outside Ogbomoso.

“And by extension to the Northern parts of the country where he works. During the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic,

have been facilitated by me across the 62 wards and Six Area Councils, many of which are still ongoing”.

He said “I believe it is the person declared as the winner of the election that has no capacity because if she has the capacity, google will show her what I have done.

“It will show you that I led a protest to this place. On the floor of the Senate, I had to discuss about this issue of naira redesign and other motions on issues of urgent national importance.

“We have a road we are constructing in Kubwa, Over N1b, another one in Nyanya, over N1b, we have the ones we are doing in Bwari, if I don’t have the capacity and cannot represent the people, I don’t think I can attract those projects to the various

communities or Area Councils. I am not talking of Gwagwalada or Kwali or Kuje, I am only talking about the urban center, the environment here.

“These are aside very important bills sponsored by me, passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, like the one on the Federal College of Education, Zuba that has been there for over 17 years without graduation until we passed that bill.

Other bills are: Federal Capital Territory Area Councils (Administration & Political Structure) Bill, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, Bill, Federal Capital Territory University of Science & Technology Abaji, Bill, Federal Capital Territory Hospital

Management Board Bill, Federal Capital Territory water Board Bill, Federal Capital Territory Transport Authority Bill, FCT Civil Service Commission Bill, Federal Capital Territory College of Nursing and Midwifery bill, FCT Health Insurance agency Bill etc.

He added that he put on ground infrastructure in various areas like provisions of classrooms, Primary Health Care centers, Provision of portable water, Provision of Rural electrification, Construction of roads across the area councils in the FCT, Small & Medium Scale empowerment programmes and Provision of student bursary to over three thousand (3,000) beneficiaries drawn across the sixty two (62) electoral wards of the six (6) Area Councils.

he distributed palliatives in Ogbomoso to reduce the untold hardship occasioned by it.

“The distribution of the palliatives in Ogbomoso brought unprecedented joy to the less privileged who said it was not only timely, but also effective.

”The palliatives were also extended to those providing essential services such as the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps, State Security Service and media establishments.

“In the light of aforementioned, therefore, Ayodeji deserves to be elected by the people of Ogbomosho South because of the antecedents of his father.”

The youth leader said that it was gratifying that Ayodeji had emulated his father in the area of youths empowerment and provision of basic social amenities such as boreholes to communities in the area.

NNPP asks Nigerians to vote party’s guber, Assembly candidates on Saturday

By Christiana Ekpa

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has urged the electorate to vote for the Party’s governorship and State Assembly candidates in the Saturday’s general election.

In a statement issued yesterday by the founder and chairman of Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party, Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam, NNPP charged voters to go out united and determined to provide leadership for Nigerians whom he said desire and deserve a new Nigeria.

According to him, “As we head

to the polls this weekend to elect State Governors and State Houses of Assembly members, there is need for us not to lose focus despite the obvious financial constraints. We must go into the election united, determined and committed to provide leadership for Nigerians who desire and deserve a new Nigeria.

“We must go out to vote for all NNPP candidates, we must position our agents to ensure that our votes are well policed and the votes cast count. We must ensure free, fair, credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful elections.

“The people’s will and

mandates must be respected in the spirit of sportsmanship which NNPP is known for. The unity of the country is sacrosanct, Nigerians are urged to eschewed violence and electoral malpractices as we come out en masse to be discharge this crucial civic duty that will redefine the destiny of the nation.

“NNPP, 21 years old is a very peaceful party and we should demonstrate that as we go into this second round of elections nationwide this weekend. The candidates are expected to go in and do their best, our polling agents are expected to discharge their duties with sincerity, commitment

and absolute loyalty to the party.

“We are optimistic that our great party will emerge victorious in these elections that will restore hope to our long-suffering compatriots. A vote for NNPP is a vote for a better, greater and prosperous Nigeria”.

The party added that though the presidential election has come and gone, the experience gained is the tonic needed to ginger supporters for the next round of elections coming up this weekend, urging voters not to look at the negative aspects of the problems encountered in the exercise but the positive lessons learnt from it.

President Muhammadu Buhari (M) flanked by the President & Chairman of Governing Council of the Institute of Directors (IoD), Dr Mrs Ije Jidenma, First Vice President, Alh Tijjani Borodo, Second Vice President, Mr Adetunji Oyebanji, Chief of Staff, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, Minister of Finance, Mrs Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Otunba Niyi Adebayo and others during a courtesy visit by the Governing Council of the IoD to the President held at the Council Chambers, State House yesterday in Abuja. PHOTO; State House

10th Assembly: Group makes case for Sada Soli as Reps Speaker

By Christiana Ekpa

Apressure group, the Good Governance and Transparency Initiative (GGTI), has called for transparency and competence as the basis for the enthronement of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, and made case for Hon. Sada Soli to emerge as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Time tested Hon. Soli, a ranking lawmaker who was first elected in 2006, has been reelected back into the National Assembly as the member representing Jibia/ Kaita Federal Constituency of Katsina State in the February 25 election.

National Coordinator of GGTI, Abdulmumuni Dangana, who made this known in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja said apart from his wealth of experience in the legislature, Hon. Jibia is endowed with transparent leadership qualities that stand him

out for the position.

Dangana expressed satisfaction with the performance of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections saying the outcome of the poll showed that Nigerians have kept faith with the APC in the Presidency and the National Assembly.

“The party’s victory at the last poll is well-earned because the democracy dividends delivered, especially in the provision of infrastructure and social intervention schemes is unmatched,” he said, pointing out that “These achievements are the result of the collaboration and support given the executive branch by the leadership and members of the National Assembly, majority of who are of the APC.”

Dangana said with the country set to commence another democratic journey into the 10th National Assembly, it becomes imperative to call on the national

Peter Obi rejects invitation to unity govt by Tinubu, says criminality must dismantle

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has said he would not accept any offer to be part of Bola Tinubu and All Progressives Congress (APC) proposed Government of National Unity.

Recall that Tinubu, the president-elect and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been dragged to court by Peter Obi over the outcome of the February 25 election.

The camp of the APC candidate had hinted that the former Lagos Governor would form an all-inclusive government to carry all his opponents along in his government.

But fielding questions from journàlists on the possibility of joining a Government of National Unity by Tinubu yesterday during a live television programme, Obi said he was still challenging the process of the election and the declaration.

According to him, the process of the election should be put right first before anyone could talk of the Government of National Unity.

“The first thing I want to see is that the process is right. The process through which you achieve anything is far more fundamental than what you do thereafter. Let us go back first, I am challenging the process and the declaration.

“Until we get it right, then we can talk about a government of national unity. Otherwise, we would go and sit down and say that those who stopped a train and kidnapped people can call us to discuss peace when they

leadership of the APC to zone the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to the North West zone.

“If it does that, it should kindly throw its weight behind Hon. Sada Soli, the current Chairman House Committee on Water Resources to become the next Speaker.

“As a ranking member of the House with several bills to his credit, Hon. Soli knows the game very well and his vast experience in continental legislation coupled with his membership of various standing committees makes him eminently qualified to lead the Green Chamber in the 10th National Assembly”, Dangana said.

The Good Governance and Transparency Initiative (GGTI), notes with pride that apart from serving as Deputy Chairman House Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa, Hon Soli served on several committees, including: Privatization and

Commercialization, Capital Market, Media and Public Affairs, Legislative Budget, Urban Development, Foreign Affairs, Inter-Parliamentary, Petroleum–Upstream, Aids Loans and Debt Management.

From 2019 when he got elected into the 9th Assembly, Hon. Soli has served on the following committees: Agriculture, Production & Services, Federal Capital Territory, Banking and Currency, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Interior, Power, Works, Climate Change, Capital Market and Lake Chad.

He was also appointed Chairman Ad hoc Committee on National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) to investigate the Non-Remittance of Contributions in the National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) as well as Chairman Ad-hoc Committee on Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) Limited; to Investigate the Alleged Negligence

by the Federal Ministries of Justice, and Petroleum Resources in the Handling of the Transaction between the Federal Government and the Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) Limited. Other Ad-hoc Committees he served on are: Special Committee on Constitution Review, Unspent Fund, Electoral Act, Petroleum Bill, Power, Parliamentary Friendship Group (Nigeria and Cameroon), Assessment and status of all recovered loots movable and immovable assets from 2002-2020 by Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for effective/efficient management and utilization, Ad-hoc Committee to Investigate Joint Venture (JV) Businesses and Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) of NNPC from 1990.

“Based on these and many more, we are, therefore, soliciting for his support and emergence as Speaker of the 10th National Assembly,” Dangana said.

have people in captivity. Until things are done rightly, we will be encouraging what we don’t need to encourage,” he said.

Asked whether or not he would accept the outcome of the judiciary if it is not in his favour, Obi said he would be shocked if the court upholds Tinubu’s election.

According to him, “Issues about the election will be sorted out in court. I will be shocked if this country goes on with that situation. It will then stand that it is a corporate criminalised country. We can’t allow it. We need to start unbundling this criminality.

“When people were talking about structure, it is this fraud and criminality that we witnessed that they were talking about, and we want to unbundle it for the sake of our children.”

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

Benue Labour Party, Action Peoples Party endorse Uba

By Musa Baba Adamu

Two days to the governorship election, the Benue State wing of the Labour Party and the governorship candidate of the Action People’s Party, APP, have endorsed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Titus Uba.

In separate ceremonies today at the Benue Peoples House, Makurdi, the State Chairman of the Labour Party, Ibrahim Idoko Otene said the decision of the party to support Uba to win the governorship election was sequel to the collaboration with the presidential candidate of the party, Mr Peter Obi received

from the PDP in the state.

Otene, who was accompanied by members of the State Working Committee of the Labour Party, stated that their action was a directive from the National Secretariat of the party.

According to him, the support Governor Samuel Ortom gave to their presidential candidate had to be reciprocated.

He said the Governor stood for equity, fairness and justice, and even risked his senatorial ambition for the Obi presidential bid.

The Benue State Labour Chairman, also commended Titus Uba for his humility and synergy with other key players,

expressing optimism that the PDP guber candidate would serve the state diligently.

Similarly, the governorship candidate of Action People’s Party, APP, Terlumun Kenneth Kwadzah, endorsed Titus Uba of PDP to emerge victorious on Saturday.

Kwadzah who was accompanied by some officials of APP and members of his campaign team said his decision to endorse Uba was on account of the fact that Governor Ortom has stood firmly in defence of the people and it is only right that those who understand the weight of the security challenge in the state should support Uba

to continue from where Governor Ortom will stop.

Responding, Governor Ortom thanked the two political parties for voluntarily deciding to endorse Titus Uba to win the governorship election.

He assured them that Uba, being an experienced lawmaker and administrator would not disappoint the Benue people.

Also speaking, the PDP governorship candidate, Rt Hon Uba appreciated the two political parties for the huge endorsements, pledging that if elected, his administration will give priority to the issues of security and the economy.

Progressive Consultative Forum backs David Lyon over Sylva in Bayelsa guber

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Progressive Consultative Forum (PCF) of Bayelsa State has thrown its weight behind the former Governor elect of the state, David Lyon, over the current Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva in the forthcoming governorship election in the State.

In a statement issued yesterday by Wilberforce Waribote, who is the Director General of PCF, the group said one of the many sins of the Minister includes disobedience to court orders on the party executives at the wardto-state levels.

“It is on record that Sylva’s leadership style sprang up grievances in the party, members

Abia APGA guber candidate commends DSS for arresting PDP agent

By Christiana Ekpa

Abia State governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Prof Greg Ibe has commended the Department of State Security (DSS) for arresting a suspected political thug, Tony Otuonye.

Otuonye, said to be a member of PDP, was seen in a viral Facebook video last week, allegedly threatening to apply ritual violence during the March 18 guber and House of Assembly elections in Abia.

Reacting to the development, the APGA guber candidate, applauded the DSS for rising to the occasion, stating that people like Tony Otuonye still abound in the state and needed to be checkmated.

Prof Ibe, who also alleged that there are plans to destabilise BVAS machines in Abia State, pointed accusing fingers at some political parties in the state, lamenting that the alleged parties were trying to recruit the services of INEC ad hoc staff.

Ibe, the founder of Gregory University Uturu, said his allegation is based on some intelligent reports at his disposal and therefore called on security agencies to nip in the bud any plan to subvert the elections.

He also warned INEC against repeating the fiasco of February 25, saying that his party is set for total victory on Saturday under a free and fair poll.

decamped to other political parties and the state gravitated towards the Labour Party (LP). This was evident in the Presidential election of 25 February 2023. And it explained why all the APC national assembly candidates performed woefully.

“It is in light of this sad development in our party, that we members of the Progressive Consultative Forum (PCF) of Bayelsa state, wish to stem down the tide and reclaim the state back for APC. We are also committed to using the November 11 governorship election in the state to push the state back to the progressive camp.

“It is our considered opinion that for the APC to make an appreciable impact at the polls

and win the governorship seat, the party must put forward its best and the most acceptable candidate, while also ensuring that it goes into the elections with a united force to defeat the ruling PDP and the emerging LP.

“It is our candid opinion that Chief Sylva, at this point, could not be considered APC’s best choice in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.”

In light of this, the leadership and members of the Progressive Consultative Forum of Bayelsa warned the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to make such a grievous mistake.

While pointing out that in terms of popularity, while Sylva appears to have lost favour

with the electorates in Bayelsa, Lyon has been a philanthropist, and a bridge builder who has proved to be at home with the populace, including the physically challenged and the fatherless.

The group said “What the people of Bayelsa state need now is a practical politician like David Lyon who has indeed touched the lives of people positively including youth, women and the less privileged.

“We have it on good authority that members of the All Progressives Congress who decamped to other political parties are earnestly waiting for Lyon to return to the poll for them to come back to their party the APC.

“Lyon won convincingly

Count me out of ADC, PDP alliance – Katsina’s only female candidate

against the ruling PDP in the 2019 governorship election despite the incumbent factor. He trounced the incumbent governor, Seriake and Diri at the election in 2019, but the Supreme Court nullified the election after voiding the candidacy of his deputy governorship candidate, Sen. Biobarakuma Degi- Eriemienyo, against whom a case of forgery was established, going by the documents he presented to INEC.

“If David LYON had a winning formula in 2019, it is wise and reasonable to expect him to have the same in 2023. He has even asked the party for the right of first refusal for the governorship ticket.”

New Enugu: Edeoga, LP best option – Obi-Datti coalition vows

By Christiana Ekpa

Members of the Enugu Obidatti Coalition, on Thursday, restated their support for the Labour Party governorship candidate in Enugu State, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga.

The coalition, made up of different Obidient Movement groups in Enugu State, said the decision was taken after a careful study of Edeoga’s plan for the people of Enugu State.

At a press conference addressed by the leaders of the various groups, they noted that a New Enugu was possible with Edeoga as Governor.

Those at the media briefing inclued Dr. Chima Emmanuel Edoga, Lead Convener and Comrade Wilfred Okeke, Secretary, Arc. Eric Eyutchae, and Hon. John Chidi Uzoigwe, coconveners.

They knocked some groups for attempting to impersonate the Obidient Movement in Enugu State, noting that “we have no faction whatsoever; we were the people that pioneered the one million-man march for Peter Obi, the PVC sensitization, among other movements for Obi-Datti in Enugu state.

By Musa Baba Adamu

Hajiya Hauwa Lawal Jibrin, the House of Assembly candidate for Katsina Local Government under the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has denied withdrawing from the race.

She also denied joining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) nor declaring support for its governorship candidate, Sen. Yakubu Lado and other candidates of the party as acclaimed by some ADC members led by the party’s governorship candidate, Ibrahim Trader.

Jibrin, who is the only female candidate for the 2023 elections in Katsina State denied the allegation at a press conference held on Thursday in Katsina.

She said “I want to state it emphatically that I, Hon. Hauwa Lawal Jibrin, the ADC House of Assembly candidate for Katsina

Local Government, is not a party to the unholy alliance and I want my supporters and the electorate to know that I am still in the race.”

Describing the development as sad and shameful, she noted that she is not a transactional politician but one with the sole aim of championing the cause of the downtrodden, women and youths in the society.

“This trend is what I seek to reverse if I am elected as a member of the State House of Assembly on Saturday, March 18th,” she said.

She appealed to her teeming supporters, women and youths as well as all lovers of good governance across the state to vote for Dr Dikko Radda whom she described as the best among the governorship candidates.

“I urge all registered voters who are lovers of progress and development in Katsina Local Government to troop out on

Saturday, March 18th, and cast their votes for my candidature on the platform of ADC for peopleoriented representation in the Assembly.

“Similarly, since the ADC gubernatorial candidate has abandoned his mandate to join PDP and having studied and examined all the gubernatorial candidates, it is important to point out that APC’s gubernatorial candidate, Dr Dikko Umar Radda possesses a better prerequisite for good governance despite the fact that I have not met him before,” she stated.

The governorship candidate of the ADC, Ibrahim Trader, had on Wednesday claimed that he has directed the party to collapse its structure and support the governorship candidate of the PDP, Sen. Yakubu Lado Danmarke as well as other PDP candidates in the March 18 elections.

“So, any person coming to lay claim to Obidient Movement in Enugu is an impostor. In any case, they said they are Obedients, which is a corruption of our right name: ‘Obidients.’

They observed that Enugu had in recent times yearned for a rebirth.

“The years of governance of the state by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has left bitter tastes in the mouths of many state residents/dwellers.

“The ruling party conducted Gubernatorial primaries which were described by many, as transactional, offered to the highest bidder, or to those who the establishment supported.

“Hon. Barr. Chijioke Edeoga was part of that infamous PDP gubernatorial primaries, but apparently could not withstand the power and money play.

“While still recovering from PDP primaries saga, Barr. Chijioke Edeoga put it on record that he received a call, from Mr. Peter Obi, to consider running for Governorship position under the Labour Party.

“After some weeks of reluctance, he accepted and emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party. His emergence was not without legal tussles that reached the Supreme Court.”

Hauwa Lawal Jibrin

Sen. Yakubu Lado

Kaduna electric collaborates with Yauri Emirate on improved services

From Abubakar Yunusa ABUJA

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Kaduna Electric, Yusuf Usman Yahaya, has assured that the company will work closely with Yauri Emirate Council to ensure improved services. He also solicited the support of the Emirate in mobilizing customers to settle their bills promptly.

The MD/CEO gave the assurance when he received a delegation from the Emir of Yauri led by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Sports, Alhaji Samaila Dallatu on Wednesday.

After 12 months of hiatus, Shell resumes oil exports from Bonny terminal

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) says it has resumed oil exportation from the Bonny crude oil export terminal.

SPDC, in a statement issued by Bola Essien-Nelson, its media relations manager, said the resumption follows the lifting of force majeure on oil exports at the facility.

Force Majeure is a legal clause that allows a company to skip contractual obligations in the event of issues beyond its control.

SPDC had declared a force majeure on oil exports due to a blast on a pipeline feeding the terminal on March 3, 2022.

Providing updates on the incident, SPDC said it has lifted the force majeure on its oil cargo from the 1.25 million barrels of oil per day capacity terminal.

“The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), operator of the SPDC joint venture, has lifted the force majeure on Bonny export programme with effect from Wednesday, March 15, 2023,” the statement reads.

“The force majeure was declared on March 3, 2022, following a significant decline in crude receipts at the Bonny Oil and Gas Terminal.”

In October 2022, Shell resumed export operations at the Forcados oil terminal after about three months of inactivity due to oil theft.

In recent years, the country has been grappling with oil losses in the face of operational issues, lingering oil theft, and pipeline vandalism.

In 2022, the country’s oil production was severely impacted even as output fell below 1 million barrels of oil per day in August and September.

In October last year, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, had said Nigeria loses about 600,000 barrels per day to oil theft.

“The Brass, Forcados, and the Bonny terminals, are all practically doing zero production today; the combined effect is that you have lost 600,000 barrels per day when you do a reality test,” Kyari had said.

However, due to renewed efforts from stakeholders in the oil sector, oil output seems to be steadily improving.

In February 2023, Nigeria’s oil production increased to 1,306,304 bpd.

He said one of the major challenges Kaduna Electric faces in supplying adequate power to Yauri and environs is poor customer response to bills payment. He bemoaned the attitudes of customers who skip monthly bills payment, those who refuse to pay in full and those who outrightly refuse to pay for energy consumed, saying these sre major set backs to improvement in services.

He however expressed hope that with the commitment of the Emir whom he said has shown great support to the company and the electricity committee set up to work with Kaduna Electric, the challenge will be

surmounted.

The Kaduna Electric helmsman took time to explain to the delegation the workings of the power sector value chain and recent developments in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry such as Banding, Capping, Meter Asset Provider Scheme and National Mass Metering Programme among others.

He also said Kaduna Electric is often hamstrung by the challenges of low power generation in the country and that grid disturbances which sometimes make supply at the distribution end difficult.

In his remark, the leader of the delegation

said they were in Kaduna Electric on the behest of the Emir to explore ways through which lasting solutions can be found the the power supply situation in Yauri. He said the situation has affected businesses negatively and exercebates insecurity in the Emirate and neighboring communities.

Other members of the delegation included a member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Tanko Sununu, a former Commissioner at the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Dr. Rilwan Abarshi and the Managing Director of HYPPADEC, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa.

on

From Abubakar Yunusa ABUJA

Commercial banks in Lagos have started disbursing the old naira notes to customers at their various automated teller machines (ATMs) terminals and over the counter.

The banks were also observed to be accepting deposits of the notes — a development which is in compliance with the latest directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the naira redesign policy.

Yielding to pressure to obey a the supreme court judgement, the CBN had said the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.

It also directed banks to comply with the court order by issuing and accepting the old notes.

“…consequently, all concerned are directed to conform accordingly,” the apex bank had said.

It was observed that an Access Bank branch in Marina area of Lagos dispensed and collected the old notes from customers.

A visit to branches of Access Bank and Wema Bank in Ebute Metta, Lagos, also showed that the banks had started dispensing the old notes over the counter and via ATMs.

At Stanbic IBTC in Abule Ado, customers were paid over the counter, with a cap of N20,000; while Zenith Bank, in the same location, allowed a withdrawal of only N2,000 per transaction via ATM.

More so, customers thronged ATMs at branches of Sterling Bank, Zenith Bank, and the United Bank for Africa (UBA) in the Ikorodu axis of Lagos, to withdraw cash.

“They are dispensing,” a customer said, tersely.

While banks were seen to be dispensing the notes, deposits of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 were also accepted from customers.

However, Peoples Daily observed that for deposits to be made, customers are still required to generate a CBN reference code — a process launched in February for the apex bank’s currency redemption exercise.

At all the bank branches visited by our reporter, customers were mandated to

generate the reference code before they could deposit their old naira notes.

When it comes to the theatrics of the naira redesign policy, one major problem the CBN’s fresh directive seems to be addressing is the rejection of the old notes by traders and business owners.

Narrating his experience, Musa Ciroma, a businessman who had collected the old notes from the Access Bank branch ATM at Marina, said he had bought petrol with the money and it was accepted.

Motorists and traders in the vicinity also accepted the currency notes. Most businesses in Ikorodu have also started transacting with the old notes.

“Everyone is accepting the old notes. Traders started accept since yesterday [Tuesday],” a tomato seller in Ikorodu, said.

In Alaba Suru market, several traders were also willing to accept the new notes at the time of visit.

A grocery store owner in Satellite Town, who simply identified as Mama Twins, said she started accepting the notes since the apex bank had told them that they could transact with it.

“Since CBN has announced that we could collect the amount, I have started collecting it,” she said.

But some traders are still sceptical about collecting the old naira notes in spite of the CBN’s directive.

A student, who simply identified as Kunle, said some traders in Fagba, Lagos, were yet to fully embrace the acceptance of the old notes as legal tender.

“I was able to buy pepper from an ‘aboki’ seller. But other traders that sell petty items in the area did not collect the old notes.”

Similarly, some traders in various markets in the satellite towns of the federal capital territory (FCT) are also unsure about accepting the old naira notes.

According to NAN, some of the traders at Karu, Nyanya, and Mararaba Markets on Tuesday, said they would not accept the notes for any transaction until further notice.

“I am scared of collecting the old notes because I feel it will be rejected by the people I buy my goods from,” Beatrice Ibe, a tomatoes dealer at Nyanya Market, said.

“Yes, I heard that the CBN has directed that we should start to spend and accept the old notes but what about the people in the villages?

“Have they also heard about it? I doubt it.

“I am waiting for other traders in the market to start collecting or accepting the old notes before I will collect from my customers.”

Alphonsus Iguru, another trader at Mararaba Market, said he had some of the old N500 and N1,000 notes but yet to spend them.

Iguru appealed to the CBN to improve its sensitisation on the directive; saying that many people were yet to come to terms with the news.

“I have some of the old notes before but nobody agreed to collect them from me,” he said.

“We do not know what the CBN will say again tomorrow, I don’t want to collect from people now and tomorrow, it will be another story.”

Meanwhile, some banks at the time of visit were not dispensing the currency notes due to lack of cash.

An Access Bank branch in the Abule Ado area of Lagos, did not pay customers, citing unavailability of cash.

As at 8am on Thursday, the UBA branch mentioned earlier did not have cash to disburse, a security personnel to TheCable.

Yesterday, customers were able to withdraw N20,000, from the bank’s ATM. But they said the bank stopped issuing the old notes over the counter at about 1pm.

A report by The Punch on Thursday, suggested that several banks had run low on old notes as the scarcity of the new ones persist.

Quoting “a top industry executive close to the CBN” the report said the apex bank may not return the old notes to banks because it would reverse gains on its cashless policy.

“We don’t know if the CBN has destroyed the old notes in its custody or not. As we speak, we don’t also know if it will release the old notes to banks again but the truth is banks don’t have much of these old notes in their vaults. Sadly, customers are not depositing much again,” the managing director of a tier-2 bank was quoted as saying.

Banks, businesses comply with CBN’s directive

old notes ...As scarcity persist

Oil price falls to $72 a barrel, first time since December 2021

From Abubakar Yunusa ABUJA

Oil price fell on to $72 a barrel for the first time in more than one year.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell over 5 percent to $72.39 a barrel — first time since December 2021.

The US West Texas Intermediate also fell over 5 percent to $67.06 a barrel.

According to Reuters, the price of the commodity dropped as worries about Credit Suisse shook global markets and countered expectations of a recovery in Chinese oil demand.

Credit Suisse shares slumped by 30 percent on Wednesday after Saudi National Bank (SNB), its largest shareholder, said it could not provide further support.

“It doesn’t matter what your risk asset is, at this point people are pulling the plug on across different instruments here,” Robert Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York, told Reuters.

“Nobody wants to go home with a big position on anything today… you have nowhere to hide really.

Also speaking on the dip, Dennis Kissler, senior vice-president of trading at BOK Financial, said hedge funds were liquidating due to rising interest rates and economic uncertainty.

He said heavy pressure on the United States stocks earlier today, was adding to the fund liquidation in crude.

The current price of the commodity is now below the $75 benchmark in Nigeria’s 2023 budget.

In 2020, when a similar situation occurred, Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, said the FG would lower the $57 benchmark of the country.

Address fuel scarcity to tame rising inflation, ACCI advises FG

From Abubakar Yunusa ABUJA

The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has advised the federal government to address fundamental causes of inflation.

In a statement on Thursday, Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, ACCI president, expressed concern that despite government efforts, the country’s inflation rate was on the increase.

He warned that the effects of high inflation would reduce the purchasing power of Nigerians, thereby making basic necessities unaffordable for the ordinary man.

In February, Nigeria’s

inflation rate surged to 21.91 percent, up from 21.82 percent in the previous month.

“While we appreciate the efforts of the administration to tame the increasing inflation rate, we note that the situation is far from improving,” Abubakar said.

“This has complicated the business climate and deepened challenges facing small scale businesses.

“The increase can be attributed mainly to the fuel scarcity being experienced in the country, where many resolve to buy at black market rate.”

The ACCI president urged the federal government to create a more positive business climate in the country.

He said a litre of petrol is sold within a range of N400-N700 depending on the location.

“This occurrence tends to have a negative effect on businesses as fuel and diesel are the major source of energy for running businesses,” he said.

“This invariably leads to the spike in the cost of production coupled with logistic issues that has been compounded by insecurity.

“The government should implement business-friendly policies unlike the cash swap policy that negatively affected businesses, especially the micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).”

Abubakar also asked the government to intensify the

rehabilitation of refineries in the country and concession them to private entities.

“The executive and legislative arm of government should speed up the passage of the bill to unbundle the transmission aspect of electricity in Nigeria to serve Nigerians efficiently,” he added.

“Again, tax harmonisation will improve the ease of doing business, make the market competitive and reduce business mortality.

“Government should begin to make use of satellites for surveillance by equipping the space agency to improve in addition to the equipping and retooling of our armed security force.”

Improve supervision to prevent banking crisis, Emefiele tells African central bank governors

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has urged African central bank governors and other financial sector regulators to strengthen their regulatory and supervisory roles to forestall any sudden run on banks in their respective jurisdictions.

Emefiele spoke on Wednesday at the opening of the ‘African Central Bank Conference 2023’ held at the Global Leadership Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The two-day conference commenced on Wednesday, March 15, and will end on Thursday, March 16.

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

their countries.

“A major reason that contribute to bank failures is when the bank is unable to meet depositors’ demands for their money. This usually results to a run. There is need for regulators to insulate the banking system from collapse,” he said.

While sharing Nigeria’s experience in regulating banks, Emefiele said 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 the CBN governor, 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.

L-R... Convener Situation room Ms Ene Obi, Executive Director policy and Legal Advocacy Centre ( PLAC) Mr Clement Nwankwo, Executive Director, North West Representatives on the Situation room Steering committee Mr Paul Kato and Coordinator of Admin Situation room Mrs Agianpe Onyema during the CSO Pre- Assessment press conference ahead of States Governorship Election, held yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

By Stanley Onyekwere

Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has charged the FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services and other security agencies involved with traffic management to redouble their efforts in curbing the activities of these violators of traffic rules and regulations in Abuja, the nation’s capital city.

Bello who gave the charge yesterday, at the official unveiling ceremony of FCT DRTS online vehicle and license registration service portal, said such activities left unchecked, have the capacity to roll back all the gains made by the various traffic regulation agencies over the years.

He noted that the FCT holds an unenviable position as one of the sub-nationals with a disproportionately high number of

METRO

Minister charges DRTS, others to tame violators of traffic rules, regulations

road accidents in the country.

According to him, it is quite disheartening to see drivers (in total disregard for road rules and regulations) drive right through red lights as if the lights were either non-existent or that the rules do not in any way apply to them.

He added that even worse is the nonchalance of some drivers who have formed the unhealthy habit of driving against the traffic often with very unpleasant consequences, saying that a recalcitrant driver not only endangers his or her life but also those of the passengers and other road users as well.

Stressing the need for residents

to comply with all rules regulating road usage in the FCT, the Minister said it is also imperative that they join in this crusade to ensure safety on FCT roads by ensuring that drivers obey traffic rules at all times.

Commenting on DRTS online registration platform, he said it is a part of the Administration’s overall ease of doing business strategy will not only save countless man hours, but also tremendously improve the overall motoring experience for drivers in the FCT.

“Leveraging technology in this manner is therefore unavoidable in order to improve efficiency within the system and it is our intention

to deploy similar measures for other service providing sectors of the FCT Administration as well.

“On our part the FCT Administration will continue to place road safety and proper traffic management services on the front burner of its development agenda and I call for the cooperation of all road users in the FCT to make our roads as safe as they can be”, the Minister stressed.

Earlier, in his welcome address, the DRTS Director, Dr. Bello Abdul-lateef, opined that the introduction of the Self-Service vehicle registration portal in the FCT will be a game changer for

motor vehicle registration with all the multiplier advantages.

He said: “Online Vehicle registration will allow a client to register his or her vehicles from the comfort of their homes in real-time; It reduces multiple registration of vehicles as this will further strengthen the integrity of the FCT database.

“Furthermore, unwholesome activities as well as touting and other human errors will be drastically reduced to the barest minimum; it will be time and energy saving; and It will in no doubt, stimulate revenue generation as all leakages are drastically reduced”.

Fire Disaster: FCT Fire Service takes awareness to resident

By Stanley Onyekwere

Disturbed by the recurring fire incidents in parts of the nation’s capital in recent time, the FCT Fire Service has commenced intensive sensitisation of residents, aimed at to reducing the menace, in order to save life and property.

Acting director, FCT Fire Service, Engr Sani Saidu, noted that there are over 20 cases of fire outbreaks in the area alone, from January to the end of February this year.

Speaking during one of the exercise held, in Dutsen Alhaji community in Bwari area council yesterday, Saidu explained that the sensitisation exercise was meant to address the frequent fire outbreaks in Dutsen Alhaji community and

other communities in the area.

Saidu, who was represented by Head of fire prevention and protection unit of the service, Timveh Jeremiah, bemoaned that the access road into the community

has been blocked by traders, hawkers and Okada riders, making it difficult for the fire service trucks to access the community anytime there are fire incidents or other emergencies in the area.

He called on the Hakimi of the community, to warn residents of the area against blocking the only access road into the community, adding that the sensitisation exercise would continue in other

communities in the area.

Responding, the Hakimi of Dutsen Alhaji, HRH Alhaji Abbubakar Bako, thanked the FCT Fire Service for organizing the sensitisation exercise in the community, adding that the would help reduce frequent fire outbreaks in the area.

Represented by the Waziri of the community, Mallam Ibrahim Sarki, Bako, however, called on the FCT administration to help in removing all structures and obstructions, as well as all those blocking the access road into the community.

The sensitisation exercise, which took place at the palace of the Hakimi of Dutsen Alhaji, attracted residents of the area, including the village heads and leaders in the community.

2023 Hajj: FCT MPWB adopts measures against “no-show” passengers during airlift

By Stanley Onyekwere

The FCT Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board (MPWB) is to sanction intending Pilgrims who deliberately miss their flight schedules during airlift for this year’s hajj operation.

The Director of the Board, Mallam Abubakar Adamu Evuti disclosed this at meeting with Islamic Scholars mobilized to conduct the education and orientation exercise for the 2023 intending pilgrims from the FCT.

Mallam Evuti said the attitude

of some Intending Pilgrims who refuse to come out for airlift would no longer be tolerated as such behaviour destabilizes the arrangement for the operations.

The Director disclosed that the Board would introduce measures against such behaviours, among which is, each Intending Pilgrim would be given a chance to select the flight he or she intends to travel to Saudi Arabia.

He stressed that any Intending Pilgrim who refuses to come out for the airlift after being scheduled in such flight would be sanctioned in line with

international travel standard.

He added that the Board would continue to improve on its policy of educating the intending pilgrims on how to perform the religious obligation for them to attain an acceptable Hajj and get value for their money.

The Director called on the Islamic Scholars who would serve as Resource Persons to strive hard to ensure that those who partake in the hajj exercise through the Board achieve the desired goal.

He also recognized the experience of the Scholars in

all aspects of Islamic religious knowledge and expressed the hope that they utilize their wealth of knowledge and experience in educating the intending pilgrims, not only on religious matters, but also in the operation in general.

He disclosed that the Board was committed to conducting the education and orientation exercise in phases using seven languages of English, Hausa, Yoruba, Nupe, Ganagana, Egbra and Fulfulde for the benefits of the intending pilgrims.

In his remark at the meeting, the leader of the scholars and the

Chairman of committee of Imams in the FCT, Sheikh Tajuddeen Bello Adegun pledged to do everything possible to ensure that the Intending Pilgrims from the Territory get the basic rudiments of hajj that would guide them to achieve acceptable hajj in line with Islamic injunctions and teaching of the noble Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Tajuddeen emphasised the determination of the resource persons in providing proper guidance for the Intending Pilgrims throughout the hajj exercise.

US man puts phone on drone to send rescue message

When a US motorist got stuck in the snow on a remote road in Oregon, he used sky-high thinking to save himself.

After realising he was without mobile phone reception, he typed a text message to a trusted person showing his exact location, attached the phone to a drone and launched it several hundred feet into the air.

The airborne phone sent his message for help once it found signal.

Rescuers praised the man for making “several smart decisions”.

The man, who has not been identified, was in the Willamette National Forest on a road that is not maintained in the winter.

After his vehicle got stuck, he realised there was no cell phone reception - making matters worse “his family was out of the country and nobody knew where he had gone” according to the Lane County Sheriff Search and Rescue.

“Regardless of the circumstances leading to his situation, once stranded this person made several smart decisions,” Lane

County Sheriff Search and Rescue said in a statement.

First, he stayed in his car.

“Rarely does anyone in Oregon die from exposure waiting in their vehicle to be found and rescued,” the statement said.

“But we have unfortunately seen many poor outcomes from those who chose to walk away.”

After attaching his phone to a drone, “the increased elevation allowed his phone to connect to a tower” and send his message for help.

His ingenuity allowed for rescue teams to deploy and assist him out of the situation.

While teams were rescuing the man, they also rescued another motorist who had been stranded for several days in the snow.

Officials said they were impressed with the man’s creativity - but advised people to heed their warnings during wintertime travel.

They urged people to “always tell a responsible person exactly where you are going, and when you expect to be back”.

Additionally, they said most rescue missions they have conducted this winter involved bigger vehicles, whose owners told rescuers they did not think they would get stuck.

The search and rescue team suggested: “Instead of asking yourself whether you think you can get through a section of road, ask yourself ‘what will happen if I do get stuck?’”

Georgia drops ‘foreign agents’ law after protests

Georgia’s ruling party has said it will withdraw a controversial draft law, in the face of mass protests and widespread international criticism.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Tbilisi this week in anger as a Russian-style law began its passage through parliament.

Under the bill, non-government groups and media would be targeted if they take over 20% of funding from abroad.

The main ruling party said it was pulling the bill “unconditionally”.

Describing itself as a party of government responsible to all members of society, Georgian Dream referred to the need to reduce “confrontation” in society.

Georgia has applied for candidate status of the European Union and sought to join Nato. EU officials had condemned the draft legislation as incompatible with EU values.

In a statement, the EU delegation in Georgia said the move to drop the law was a “welcome announcement” and encouraged political leaders to resume “pro-EU reforms”.

The government’s U-turn followed a second night of clashes between riot police and protesters outside parliament. Tear gas and water cannon were used to disperse the demonstrators as they chanted “no to the Russian law”.

In its statement, Georgian Dream complained that the proposal had been

unfairly labelled and said that as the “emotional background subsides” it would explain the importance of the bill and transparency in foreign funding to the public.

Despite the decision to drop the bill, opposition parties said they had no plans to halt the protests. They called for clarity on how the proposals were to be withdrawn and demanded the release of protesters detained this week.

Armaz Akhvlediani, an independent opposition member of parliament and former secretary-general of Georgian Dream, welcomed the party’s promise to withdraw the legislation but said it had “Russian interests” that worked against “democracy and rule of law”.

Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili had earlier condemned the “stir” over the bill. His party maintained that the legislation mimicked American laws from the 1930s, an argument also used by the Kremlin when it passed a similar law in 2012.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russia had “absolutely nothing” to do with the bill, as he sought to distance his country from the protests.

He said the Kremlin did not inspire the proposal and that the US “pioneered the practice of introducing these laws”.

Mr Peskov also advised Russians living in Georgia to be “extremely careful” and stay away from the street riots.

That Russian law has gradually intensified and now suppresses Western-funded NGOs, independent media, journalists and bloggers, who are required to label their content with the sinister phrase “foreign agent”.

“Again and again they are trying everything to take us far away from the European Union, European values,” said 30-year-old protester Luka Kimeridze.

Eka Gigauri of Transparency

International in Georgia told the BBC that NGOs were already subject to 10 different laws and the finance ministry already had full access to accounts, funding and other information.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili backed the protesters and had vowed to veto the proposal, although ultimately the government would have had the power to override her move.BBC

Putin accuses Ukraine of border ‘terrorist act’ in Russian village

Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump and the infighting at Fox News

A $1.6bn defamation lawsuit against Fox News has pulled back the curtain on the inner workings of the powerful conservative cable network in the days after the 2020 US presidential election.

Dominion Voting Systems, a voting-machine manufacturer, alleges that Fox knowingly aired false allegations that their devices helped Joe Biden and the Democrats “steal” the election.

To make their case, the company has called dozens of Fox executives and journalists to testify in depositions and subpoenaed thousands

of pages of their text messages and emails.

They show the often heated, and sometimes profane, conversations that took place behind closed doors as Fox News, from chairman Rupert Murdoch on down, grappled with Donald Trump’s ultimately futile attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.

They mocked ‘increasingly mad’ Donald Trump Fox News has had a complicated relationship with Mr Trump over the years. He clashed with the network regularly during the early days of his 2016 presidential bid, but once he won the White House the network’s coverage was largely

positive - particularly on its evening opinion shows hosted by Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and others.

In the days after his 2020 presidential defeat, however, it’s emerged that many Fox executives and presenters disparaged him.

Mr Murdoch, the Fox News chairman, wrote in an email that the then-US president - and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani - were going “increasingly mad” after election day.

Mr Carlson, host of the network’s toprated programme, said he hated Mr Trump “passionately” and that his presidency had been a disaster. He predicted that soon his show

would be able to ignore the soon-to-be former president.

He also mocked the former president’s business enterprises. “All of them fail,” he said in a text to his show’s producer.

It’s the kind of view echoed by Mr Trump’s critics - many who have frequently been the target of Mr Carlson’s ire on his evening programme.

The former president is known to take slights personally and unlikely to forget. It means the love-hate relationship Mr Trump has with Fox News may be veering back toward hate just as the 2024 presidential campaign heats up.

Police shared a re-enactment photo of what the man did to get phone service

Protesters have accused the Georgian government of trying to steer the country away from the EU

Nigeria election 2023: Heartbroken Peter Obi supporters target Lagos

Heartbroken first-time voters in Nigeria are being urged not to give up after the candidate that many of them backed came third in the presidential race two weeks ago.

This is because crucial state elections are being held later this month, after a last-minute delay - where governors and local assemblies will be chosen. It is the state governments that build schools, hospitals and inner city roads and are responsible for transport and other essential services.

Some of the young voters who took an interest in politics and backed the Labour Party’s Peter Obi have become disillusioned by election-day antics in some areas: ballot-box snatching; violence and the late arrival of electoral officials that disenfranchised many. This may be one of the explanations for the low turnout of just 27%.

But party campaigner Rinu Oduala says “Obidients”, as Mr Obi’s supporters are known, must not give up hope.

“Change does not occur overnight. It happens step by step. Day by day. And we have taken a thousand steps into the future,” the Labour Party supporter tweeted.

The electoral process was criticised by observer groups as falling short of required standards - and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party are challenging the result in court.

Yet Obidients like Ms Oduala point to how much the Labour Party has achieved in the nine months since Mr Obi became their presidential candidate.

He gained six million votes - 25% of the vote, a major achievement given the dominance of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) and PDP since the end of military rule in 1999.

The Labour Party also now has seven of 109 senatorial seats and 35 of 360 members of the House of Representatives.

Some victories have given cardcarrying Labour Party members faith that the ultimate power in a democracy resides with the people.

Examples include a female Labour candidate in the capital, Abuja, beating a man who had served as an MP for 20 years, a Labour motorcycle-taxi rider in the northern state of Kaduna being elected and another Labour candidate preventing an outgoing governor in the south-east south-from winning a senate seat.

In the build-up to the polls, the Obidients were mocked as a social media sensation - “four people tweeting inside a room” - but now other powerful politicians are trying to woo them.

Take ruling party senator Ovie OmoAgege, who is running to be governor in Delta state where Mr Obi took 55% of the presidential vote. The APC politician has been pictured awkwardly posing with a banner asking Obidients to back him despite Labour having its own gubernatorial candidate in the southern oil-rich state.

“We have so much in common, we have to come together, we have to work together,” he pleaded.

Politicians like Mr Omo-Agege may be hoping that as the Labour Party’s

popularity has been driven by the charismatic Mr Obi, whose name will not be on ballots later this month, they can win them over.

All to play for in richest state Lagos - Nigeria’s most powerful state, the country’s economic hub - could be where the Labour Party is really able to change the political landscape.

The city is the Obidient movement’s heartland - springing out of the ashes of the 2020 EndSars anti-police brutality protests when over two weeks tens of thousands of mainly young Nigerians took to the streets, leading to the disbandment of the police unit.

Mr Obi beat the ruling party candidate in Lagos last month - despite widely reported cases of election delays and violence.

Sitting APC governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, ahead of this month’s vote, is certainly feeling the heat, tweeting more frequently and regaling his followers with long threads of his achievements in office.

He is seeking a second term but has refused to hold a debate with other candidates, like Labour’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and has run a lacklustre campaign, choosing instead to join President-elect Bola Tinubu as he traversed the country.

The governor has performed relatively well in the last four years, launching a metro line that has been under construction for decades and has been credited for expertly handling the pandemic.

But for many, the events of 20 October 2020, when soldiers opened fire on EndSars demonstrators - killing at least nine people, are too hard to forgive.

“They turned off the lights, removed the cameras and they killed us like antelopes,” Adeola Owosho, a tech products marketer who narrowly escaped death during the shooting, told the BBC.

Although Mr Sanwo-Olu was one of a few governors who met the protesterssome camped outside his office in Lagos - and also paid compensation to the victims of police abuse after setting up a panel, his involvement with the final deadly clampdown in Lekki is hard for many to look past.

“One hundred per cent of my voting choice is dependent on the events of 20 October 2020, the massacre at Lekki and the whole incident left me scarred. Nothing Sanwo-Olu boasts of could ever atone for the terrible way he handled the peaceful protest,” Mr Owosho said.

Victory in Lagos would be a salve for those Obidients bruised by the presidential defeat and Mr Obi has reminded his supporters they can “still achieve massive victories in the forthcoming elections”.

Voters’ cards burnt

Yet his words may not to carry that much weight nationwide as there are few names of inspiring Labour Party candidates on the ballot, while some see the effort as pointless.

“I voted under the rain hoping my vote would count, clearly it didn’t,” said Naya Benson in Abuja, where many voters stood for hours under 34C heat before an evening rainstorm drenched

them on the day of the presidential poll.

Others have taken to extremes, destroying their voters’ cards (PVCs) with a vow never to engage again with the democratic process.

“I burnt my PVC because I realised it was just a waste of my time,” one voter told the BBC, angered by the effort it took and money he spent on transport to get the card and cast his ballot.

He cited the inability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) to upload results on to its portal in real time as promised as evidence that the result may not be genuine.

Inec apologised for the delays, saying that a surge in traffic on the day led to technical glitches.

However, it was not just the young voters that were left disheartened with such irregularities. Umealor Chibuike’s parents, who have been voting for 27 ye

Anti-gay bill could see Uganda landlords jailed

Abill has been tabled in Uganda’s parliament that would criminalise anyone identifying as LGBTQ+. If passed, they would face jail terms of up to 10 years, as would those engaging in same-sex relations.

The law would ban the funding or promotion of LGBTQ+ activities and jail landlords who rented premises to members of the LGBTQ+ community.

The bill will be scrutinised by a parliamentary committee before it is tabled before the house again for debate.

There has been rising anti-gay sentiment in Uganda and neighbouring countries in recent weeks.

Activists are concerned that this could lead to mob attacks on anyone suspected to be gay.

In 2014, the country’s constitutional court nullified the anti-homosexuality act, which had toughened laws against the LGBTQ+ community.

It included making it illegal to promote and fund LGBTQ+ groups and activities, as well as reiterating that same-sex relations should be punished by life imprisonment.

The court ruled that the legislation be revoked on the basis that it had been passed by parliament without the required quorum.

The punishment of life imprisonment for same-sex relations already exists in the country’s penal code. It is not clear if the proposed new legislation of 10 years

would override this.

Same-sex relations are banned in about 30 African countries.

The campaign group, Human Rights Watch, said it believed that if the proposed law is passed, Uganda would be the only African country to criminalise those who simply identify as LGBTQ+.

Call for blood donations after Lagos collision

The governor of Nigeria’s Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has called for people to come forward and donate blood as medics treat those wounded in a collision between a train and bus earlier on Thursday.

“It is still a critical period for some of the patients as we continue to call for blood donations across different state government medical facilities,” Mr Sanwo-Olu said in a series of tweets about the accident

He said that 85 passengers were on board the bus carrying civil servants to work when it was hit by a commuter train during rush hour on Thursday morning in the Ikeja area of the city.

The governor confirmed that six people had died and said 29 people were in a critical condition, another 42 people had moderate injuries and a further eight had mild wounds.

He thanked the emergency workers and others involved in the rescue operation and also the staff and students at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (Lasuth), where those injured are being treated.

The crash happened at a railway crossing with no barrier.

“This was a totally avoidable incident that simply required patience and the need to follow proper transportation protocol,” said the governor, who is seeking re-election next week.

Passengers drown after boat sinks off Tunisian coast

The coast guard in Tunisia says that 14 people from sub-Saharan Africa have drowned off the coast of the city of Sfax.

It said it reached the scene late on Wednesday after their boat had sunk, and rescued 54 people.

It’s not clear whether the people had been living in Tunisia itself, where black African immigrants have recently suffered a wave of racism prompted by remarks from President Kais Saied.

Source: BBC

N ews F rom A s IA

‘Sushi terror’ pranks outrage Japan as police make arrests

Japanese police have arrested three people over “sushi terror”: viral, unhygienic pranks that are threatening the world-famous feature of sushi conveyor belt restaurants.

Last month, a video of a man licking a soy sauce bottle on a sushi conveyor went viral, sparking outrage.

In the video, he can be seen squashing sushi dishes at a Kura Sushi restaurant branch.

Since then, dozens of such videos have proliferated sparking public concern.

Incidents filmed include diners - many of whom are children and young people - spoiling others’ orders by touching sushi dishes passing by.

One video which emerged last month showed a customer putting wasabi on another’s dish, while another person licked the presented chopsticks.

In another video, filmed at a Sushiro chain outlet, a diner is seen rubbing saliva on passing sushi pieces.

The viral trend has horrified many Japanese and spurred action from several conveyor-belt sushi chains - known as kaitenzushi locally.

“I know people from overseas

look forward to eating sushi here so as a Japanese person, I am ashamed of such actions,” one woman Yukari Tanaka told the BBC.

Another person, Nana Kozaki, said: “Kaitenzushi is Japanese culture we can be proud of but actions of few people like that really ruins that.”

Others said they were “a bit scared” by the trend - admitting they were less willing to go to restaurants.

Japan is renowned for its exacting cleanliness standards and culinary etiquette.

So the “sushi terrorism” pranks have not only shocked millions around the country but also led to falls in share prices of companies like the Sushiro chain.

This has spurred several kaitenzushi chains to make public appeals for offenders to stop their food sabotage.

Some eateries have even made the choice to stop operating their main attraction altogether - with sushi conveyor belts coming to a halt across the country.

In eastern Japan, the Choushimaru chain said it would stop using its conveyor belts altogether after a customer placed a cigarette butt in a jar of pickled ginger.

Staff will now bring dishes to

customers directly - and only hand out condiments and sauces when they’ve taken their seats.

A spokesman for the Kura Sushi - the restaurant chain targeted by those arrested on Wednesday - said

the viral video trend was “extremely dangerous” and posing a threat to the foundation of the conveyor-belt restaurant model.

“Conveyor belt sushi is something we are proud of as part of Japanese

culture. We want to make sure our customers can eat sushi delivered on the belt safely and comfortably,” he said.

Several sushi chains have already threatened legal action - but

Ukraine war: Russia fires hypersonic missiles in new barrage

At least of nine people have died in a new wave of strikes across Ukraine in which Russia used powerful weapons, including rare hypersonic missiles.

Russia had reportedly not fired Kinzhal hypersonic missiles - which can evade air defences - since the early months of the conflict.

The latest barrage was the most severe to hit Ukraine for weeks.

It cut the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - Europe’s biggest - from the grid, although power was later restored.

On Thursday Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said: “High-precision long-range air, sea and land-based weapons, including the Kinzhal

hypersonic missile system, hit key elements of Ukraine’s military infrastructure.”

The Ukrainian military claimed it successfully shot down 34 cruise missiles and four Iranian-made Shahed drones. Officials said six Kinzhal hypersonic missiles were also fired.

“This was a major attack and for the first time with so many different types of missiles,” the Reuters news agency quoted a Ukrainian air force spokesperson as saying. “It was like never before.”

President Vladimir Putin has highlighted Russia’s investment in ballistic hypersonic missiles, which can travel at more than five times the speed of sound.

The attacks - which also used more conventional weapons - hit cities from Kharkiv in the north to Odesa in the south and Zhytomyr in the west, with power blackouts reported in several areas.

The attacks mark the biggest day of Russian missile strikes on Ukraine since the end of January, when 11 people died after dozens of buildings were struck in several regions.

Nuclear energy operator Energoatom said the strike at the Zaporizhzhia plant had cut off the link between the facility and the Ukrainian power system.

For the sixth time since it was taken over by Russia a year ago, the facility operated on diesel

generators until the link was restored later on Thursday.

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called for a commitment to protecting the safety of the plant, saying he was “astonished by the complacency” surrounding the successive strikes since the invasion began.

“Each time we are rolling a dice. And if we allow this to continue time after time then one day our luck will run out,” Rafael Grossi said.

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s military says it has pushed back intense Russian attacks on the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut despite Russian forces claiming to have

taken control of its eastern half. Moscow has been trying to take Bakhmut for months, as both sides suffer heavy losses in a grinding war of attrition.

“The enemy continued its attacks and has shown no sign of a let-up in storming the city of Bakhmut,” the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said. “Our defenders repelled attacks on Bakhmut and on surrounding communities.”

Between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut since it began last summer, Western officials say. The figures cannot be verified independently.

Ukraine war: Why Russia’s infrastructure strikes strategy isn’t working

Three people are reported to have died after a strike hit a bus stop in Kherson

This is the first big, coordinated wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power infrastructure in almost a month.

While there has been some targeting of power facilities in recent weeks, this has been the longest gap since the attacks began in early October.

A much-anticipated wave of strikes to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion on 24 February failed to materialise - though this probably said more about media expectations than Russia’s actual strategy.

But the increasingly sporadic

nature of Russia’s infrastructure attacks is notable.

Western officials believe this indicates a shortage of the kind of precision-guided weaponryespecially missiles - needed to carry out such attacks with any measure of effectiveness.

“It takes them that long to get a number of precision weapons together before they can mount a packaged event strike,” was how one official put it earlier this week.

Ukraine’s military has also become quite adept at intercepting incoming missiles and drones.

Preliminary data suggests that a significant proportion of the weapons used today were shot down, including more than 70% of the cruise missiles and half the

drones.

According to Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, another eight missiles were thwarted by what he described as “organized countermeasures”.

But clearly, judging by reports from all over the country, others found their mark.

Locals gather around a shelling crater after a rocket hit the Pisochyn neighbourhood outside Kharkiv

Some weapons, like the long range Kh-22 anti-ship missile, which dives steeply onto its target from an extremely high altitude, are hard to intercept.

The same goes for the S-300

anti-aircraft missile, which was never designed to attack targets on the ground but which has been increasingly used in this role over the course of the past six months.

Military analysts will pore over the latest data, looking for what Russia’s choice of weapons indicates about Moscow’s tactics and remaining stocks.

Before today’s attacks, observers had begun to wonder whether Russia would persist with a strategy that doesn’t appear to be working.

Despite the enormous damage inflicted on Ukraine’s power grid over the past six months, the country has not been brought to its knees and most Ukrainians have long since become accustomed to

power cuts, inconvenience and the occasional danger.

Ukraine’s engineers have successfully kept power flowing across the country, despite losing scores of transformers, switches and other key components of the country’s infrastructure.

In Kyiv and other cities, street lights have recently been switched back on, offering relief to pedestrians used to making their way along darkened pavements with only their mobile phones to light the way.

But the situation remains precarious and officials know that Russia is still able to cause immense damage. The question is: For how long?

Source: BBC

It’s feared a wave of unhygienic pranks will scare off sushi train customers

Environment

COP15: High stakes in Montreal as negotiators seek new global biodiversity framework

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) convened for its resumed Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP15),yesterday in Montreal, Canada, and to close on Monday, 19. Negotiators will be working to clinch a new global biodiversity framework (GBF) that will set a series of goals and underlying targets for a “nature-positive future.”

The previous set of goals and targets that have guided international biodiversity conservation efforts in recent years, the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its 20 Aichi Targets, expired in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic stymying plans to already have a GBF ready to take their place.

The first part of the CBD COP15 took place in Kunming, China, and online last year. While China is the meeting’s host, travel restrictions and other challenges related to the pandemic led to the resumed COP15 venue being moved to Montreal, where the CBD secretariat is located.

Discussions in Montreal are numerous and include issues related to addressing environmentally harmful subsidies; the final shape of the 30×30 target; the signals that COP15 sends for scaling up naturebased solutions, including naturebased infrastructure; the linkages between nature-based solutions finance and climate finance; and how the results of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties (COP27) can inform the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), remarked: “We need a ‘Paris Moment’ in Montreal. Similar to the legally binding global climate agreement to hold global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius and aim for 1.5 degree Celsius, governments gathering at the world nature summit COP15 in Canada need to set a limit to nature destruction. To safeguard our life-support system on Earth, we need to halt nature loss to zero, which means protecting all remaining intact nature. Only if we protect and regenerate Earth’s nature, we can really protect Earth’s climate.”

“This is potentially an historic moment for biodiversity,” said Andrew Gonzalez, a professor in the biology department at McGill University in Montreal and founding director of the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science.

He added: “The rate of global change in nature during the past 50 years is unprecedented in human history,” the report said, pointing to five key drivers: land- and seause changes, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution, and invasions of alien species.

Environmental crisis: Nigeria seeks UN interventions on GGW, HYPREP issues

The Federal Government of Nigeria has called on the United Nations (UN) to assist in addressing Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) and Great Green Wall issues (GGW) to enable restoration of lost lands in the country.

Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, said this while receiving the Deputy Secretary-General of UN, Amina Mohammed, on courtesy visit, in Abuja, recently.

Abdullahi said that the ministry was committed to ensuring that the two major projects were implemented effectively, adding that the UN’s intervention would boost the ministry’s efforts.

“There are two important projects which we will need more of your support, the HYPREP and GGW. We are doing our best to ensure that it’s working greatly.

We have the team for the HYPREP. We are doing our best to make sure that the structure put in place is maintained to ensure checks and balances for good governance and transparency.

“This is what we are doing and we hope we will get robust support from you.

“You have always been there for us and we still have hope that you will continue to give us your full support,” he said.

Responding, Mohammed said that the UN would give its best to support in restoring the loss lands.

“So, it’s really important that we put in place the teams that will help us to look at those programmes and to see that GGW issues is properly addressed.

She said the GGW project was an economic corridor, which would offer empowerment to both youth and women, if properly addressed in the country.

According to her, the GGW project will really empower our people, but at the same time, it is able to give less reason for people to destabilise countries when they get involved in conflicts of different types.

“So again, we are at your disposal; the UN will support any efforts that you want with the GGW, particularly the wetlands,” she said.

Mohammed, however, advised agencies, parastaltals and other relevant stakeholders to support the ministry in ensuring that the environmental programmes were implemented effectively.

She thanked the minister

for his strong leadership and commitment in ensuring that environmental crisis were being tackled as well as ensuring that Paris Agreement was achieved effectively.

HYPREP was established in 2012 under the Federal Ministry of Environment to achieve the under listed objectives in Ogoniland and other impacted communities:

“To determine the scope, means and modalities of remediation of soil and ground water contamination in impacted communities as may be recommended by HYPREP Governing Council and remedy them,

“Enhance local capacity for better environmental management and promote awareness of sound environmental management as

well as ensure livelihoods and sustainable development, and

“Ensure security and promote peace building efforts in impacted communities as well as strengthen governance, transparency and accountability in the region.”

The Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative, launched in 2007 by the African Union, aims to restore the continent’s degraded landscapes and transform millions of lives in the Sahel.

Its ambition is to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land, sequester 250 million tonnes of carbon, and create 10 million green jobs by 2030.

In Nigeria, the GGW Initiative also seeks to recover degraded land, preserve ecosystems, and provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for communities.

PILIWA launched in Nigerian

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

Lawyers, civil society, and media executives converged to Benin, the Edo state capital recently for the launch of the Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa (PILIWA) Nigeria chapter.

The initiative which was founded in 2016 has a membership that cuts across nine West African countries including Cote d’ Ivoire, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mali, and Niger, among others, and supports young lawyers interested in public interest cases technically, financially, and intellectually.

A member of PILIWA and Executive Director of the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/ FoEN), Chima Williams said that public interest lawyering is a special area for legal practitioners

with passion for public good.

Williams explained that the PILIWA was particularly interested in Nigerian lawyers because of the peculiarity of environmental and human rights abuses perpetrated by big corporations aided by the state in all parts of the country where natural resources are found.

On the Nigeria launch of the PILIWA initiative, the ERA/FoEN boss said a desk office will be set up in Benin which will receive an endowment of N250,000 (two hundred and fifty thousand naira only).

The initiative will equally train young lawyers and imbue them with the relevant knowledge on sources of evidence, how to gather evidence and how to present it before a court of competent jurisdiction.

In his intervention, Jonathan Kaufman, Executive Director of

the Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA) said that he owes his association with legal work and particularly public interest cases with his experience as a young lawyer, when he was conscripted into the cases filed by families associated with the Ken Saro Wiwa case as well as victims of the Parabe Oil Platform case caused by Chevron in Ondo State.

The two cases, Kaufman pointed out, encouraged him to reach out to and start associating with local lawyers that are classified as stubborn because of their quest for justice.

He revealed that many legal cases suffer because of information gathering deficit, financial constraints, and lack of thoroughness in terms of minute details. Sometimes lawyers are not able to obtain cross border information that their peers may

be able to obtain and pass onto them if a platform for cooperation exists.

He said that the PILIWA platform will bridge the identified gaps to help public interest lawyers secure what they need to push and win unconventional cases.

The highpoint of the event was the inauguration of zonal coordinators for the PILIWA in Nigeria. The nominated coordinators of the South-South, South-east and North Central Zones are Courage Nsirimovu, Kalu Emmanuel Chisom and Redzie D. Jugo respectively. The coordinators for the Northwest, Northeast and Southwest will be announced later.

Participants were drawn from the legal profession in Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Plateau, Imo, Enugu, Niger and Kogi states, among others.

Feature

Eskom crisis: What does South Africa’s state of disaster mean?

South Africa’s president has declared a state of disaster to try and deal with a crippling and unprecedented energy crisis. South Africans have been facing blackouts every day, which have badly affected homes and businesses, but what difference will this emergency measure make, if any?

How bad are the power-cuts?

At an ice cream parlour in Soweto, one company has been struggling to keep their frozen treats cold amid rolling powercuts, referred to locally as “load shedding”.

“It’s terrible,” Thando Makhubu, owner of Soweto Creamery, told the BBC’s Newsday programme. “When load-shedding is really, really bad, we find ourselves using our profit to run,” Mr Makhubu said.

He even fears customers might stop coming to his creamery: “We have had customers who assume that we are closed, because of load-shedding, so I am really worried that if load-shedding worsens, people won’t come.”

His is just one of many businesses and households that have been affected by South Africa’s energy shortage, which has even led to protests, with people declaring that “enough is enough”.

So the pressure has been mounting on President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the issue, which he said he would confront head-on: “We must act to lessen the impact of the crisis on farmers, on small businesses, on our water infrastructure, on our transport network and a number of other areas and facilities that support our people’s lives,” he said in his state of the nation address on Thursday.

Before a clapping crowd, he announced: “We are therefore declaring a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its effect.”

President Ramaphosa outlined that the escalation of the crisis would allow the government to implement “practical measures that we need

to take to support businesses,” he said, highlighting those in food production and retail supply chains.

“It will also enable us to exempt critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment plants from loadshedding,” he said, adding that it would allow the government to remove red tape for energy projects and so build them faster.

This crisis is nothing new, and has been 15 years in the making. The country’s stateowned power company, Eskom, has $26bn (£21bn) of debt, old infrastructure, power stations that do not work properly, not to mention a recent strike which crippled the company.

However, the power shortage has escalated in recent months, with South Africans facing electricity cuts for 288 days last year, while this year there have been electricity blackouts for up to 15 hours a day.

What difference will it make?

A state of disaster effectively means that the government is given additional powers to resolve a crisis with less bureaucracy, regulation and extra funds.

However, further details of what will change have not been made public, with one analyst, Ted Blom, telling the AFP news agency that “we don’t know what the government actually plans to do”.

A state of disaster was also implemented during the covid pandemic, and saw some people abusing the emergency measure.

In 2020, the country’s then-auditor general said he uncovered “frightening findings” of overfunding and potential fraud in the use of the Covid-19 relief fund, including some cases where personal protective equipment (PPE) was bought for five times more than the price the national treasury had advised. The government reacted by telling those accused of corruption to resign and cooperate with law enforcement.

However, the president anticipated potential corruption,

and said measures will be put in place to prevent this.

But despite his attempts to address potential corruption, concerns still persist, with the chief whip of the opposition Democratic Alliance, telling the BBC that her party would be “challenging this declaration” because there should be “targeted” intervention towards Eskom instead of a general state of disaster.

“[It] gives unfettered powers to the executive, the parliament has no oversight over the executive under some of those sections of the act,” Siviwe Gwarube also told South Africa’s News24.

“And also more importantly, it allows government departments across the board to essentially subvert procurement processes as and when at will,” she added.

There are also those who think the emergency measure will make no difference at all, and that the president hasn’t taken decisive enough action.

“What the country needs at this time was a deliberate and very decisive action plan with timelines, with targets and with a progress report,” Dr Nthabiseng Moleko, a development economist from Stellenbosch Business School, told South Africa’s SABC news channel.

“It doesn’t look like these solutions that we have are going to yield any outcome that is going

to change the course and the path that this country is on,” she added.

The appointment of a minister of electricity was also announced under the purview of assuming “full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response”.

However, this new position has been mocked online, with some saying they would be clueless about how to solve the crisis and saying the country could soon end up with a minister of “potholes”.

The president also outlined plans for the country to continue with its green energy transition programme, including through the “roll-out of rooftop solar panels”.

South Africa relies on aging coal-fired power stations for most of its electricity - in 2020, just 7% of its energy came from renewable sources, according to the International Energy Agency.

Source: BBC

Some South Africans have resorted to getting light from a bottle globe

South Africans have been protesting against load-shedding and the corruption which they say contributed to the crisis

In 2020, the country’s then-auditor general said he uncovered “frightening findings” of overfunding and potential fraud in the use of the Covid-19 relief fund, including some cases where personal protective equipment (PPE) was bought for five times more than the price the national treasury had advised. The government reacted by telling those accused of corruption to resign and cooperate with law enforcement.

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ALL EFFORTS MADE TO TRACE THE MISSING DOCUMENTS PROVE ABORTIVE. PLEASE THEAGIS, FEDERAL CAPITALTERRITORYADMINISTRATION (FCTA) AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

PUBLIC NOTICE

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1. LUCKSLEY INDI IGENEGBAI (CHAIRMAN)

2. KATE MODUPE FALANA (SECRETARY)

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1. TO RESCUE MEN THROUGH THE TEACHING AND PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD AND PREVAILING PRAYERS.

2. TO RUN AND ESTABLISH VIBRANT CHURCH BRANCHES AND NETWORK WITH OTHER CHRISTIAN BODIES WITHIN AND OUTSIDE NIGERIA.

3. TO ENGAGE IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, WELFARE, AND BENEVOLENCE PROJECTS.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ORGANIZATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA, FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT. 2020.

TRUSTEES

1) GLORY EWALEFOH. CHAIRMAN.

(2) ESTHER OKPETE -SECRETARY .

(3). TSOLA OMATSOLA TAWIAH ORITSEJAFO

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1. TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO QUALITY TERTIARY EDUCATION FOR UNDER PRIVILEGED CHILDREN

2. TO PROVIDE DEPRIVED YOUNG PEOPLE WITH THE POWER TO EARN A REGULAR AND DECENT LIVELIHOOD BY GIVING THEM ACCESS TO TERTIARY EDUCATION

3. TO INTEGRATE CHILDREN WHO ARE MARGINALIZED BY POVERTY AND LACK OF EDUCATION INTO MAINSTREAM SOCIETY THROUGH WORK PLACEMENTS AND OTHER PROGRAMS.

4. TOASSIST IN THE PROCESS OF SOCIAL INTEGRATION TO UNDERPRIVILEGED

YOUNG PEOPLE INTO THE SOCIETY

5. FACILITATING VOCATIONAL TRAINING TO THE YOUNG ADULTS TO REDUCE THEIR SKILL GAP WHICH WILL HELP THEM IN EITHER GETTING EMPLOYED OR START THEIR OWN ENTERPRISE.

ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATIONS SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR, CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, PMB 198 GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: MADUAKOLAM IGWE ESQ.

EWALEFOH FOUNDATIONS PUBLIC NOTICE

IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

1. TO IMPROVE THE STATE OF THE MEDICAL SERVICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STABILITY, IMPROVING THE WELFARE OF THE UNDERPRIVILEGED AND DISADVANTAGED BY PROVIDING MEDICAL AND SOCIAL SERVICES THAT WILL HELP REDUCE DISEASES PREVALENT IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATEAFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PATRIOTIC ELITE CLUB OF AMASSOMA

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1. YERI, WAIBODEI, PETER (CHAIRMAN)

2. AYOGOI, AYOGOI, SIMON (SECRETARY)

3. AMBAIOWEI,TARI,EBIOWEI (MEMBER)

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1.TO ORGANIZE SEMINARS AND ENLIGHTENMENT CAMPAIGNS TO EDUCATE THE PEOPLE OF AMASSOMA COMMUNITY AND BAYELSANS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION IN NATION BUILDING AND SUCH OTHER LECTURES THAT WILL AFFECT THE SOCIETY POSITIVELY.

2.TO FOSTER UNITYAMONG MEMBERSAND INCULCATETHE ESSENCE OF CITIZENSHIP,MUTUAL CO-OPERATION, PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE AND PROGRESS.

3.TO FIGHT AGAINST ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATIONS AS A RESULT OF POLITICAL, SEX, RELIGIOUS, FAMILY AND EDUCATIONAL DIFFERENCES AND TO PROMOTE PEACE AND UNITY IJAW NATION.

4.TO EFFICIENTLY HARNESS AND DIRECT THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF BAYELSANS ASSISTING DESERVING STUDENTS MORALLY AND FINANCIALLY.

5.TO BE STRONGLY OPPOSED TO ALL FORMS OF CRIMINALITY AND SOCIAL VICES IN SOCIETY.

6.TO ENCOURAGE AND FACILITATE IN ANY DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAMME IN AMASSOMA COMMUNITY AND OTHER PARTS OF BAYELSA STATE.

7.TO PROMOTE THE OBSERVANCE OF THE TENET OF DEMOCRACY, RULE OF LAW, EQUITY, FAIMESS, RIGHT AND JUSTICE IN AMASSOMA AND BAYELSA AT LARGE.

8.TO ADEQUATELY ADVOCATE FOR POLICIES AND IDEOLOGIES OF GOOD GOVENSANCE

9.TO HONESTLY SEEK FOR THE INTEREST AND PROGRESS OF AMASSOMA COMMUNITY IN PARTICULAR AND BAYELSA STATE IN GENERAL.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRARGENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : SECRETARY.

PUBLIC NOTICE

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1. KUDIRAT MOSUN ADEYEMO-CHAIRMAN

2. NOJEEMDEEN O.OLADIPO-SECRETARY/MEMBER

3. PHILLP DAMILOLA ABIOLA MEMBER

4. AWE GRACE OLUWAFUNMIKE MEMBER

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE :

1. TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE AT ALL LEVELS IN THE COMMUNITY.

2. TO CREATE AWARENESS AMONG THE LESS PRIVILEGED (ORPHANS, WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS)

3. TO SET UP ON A HUMANITARIAN GRAND. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT , OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET , MAITAMA , ABUJA WITHIN 28DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED : SECRETARY.

RAIN OF PRAYER ASSEMBLY

TREASURE MINDS CLUB

FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2023

AFCON 2023 Race: Peseiro calls Musa, Osimhen, Lookman, 20 others for Guinea Bissau

By Albert Akota

Head Coach José Santos Peseiro has invited team captain Ahmed Musa, inform forwards Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman as well as 20 other players to the Super Eagles’ camp, ahead of this month’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture against the Djurtus of Guinea Bissau.

Nigeria and Guinea Bissau clash at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja from 5pm on Friday, 24th March, and then make it a second date at the Estadio 24 de Setembro in Bissau on Monday, 27th March, also starting from 5pm.

Spain-based defender Kenneth Omeruo returns, as midfield enforcers Wilfred Ndidi and Frank Onyeka, and Portugal-based defender Bruno Onyemaechi gets an opportunity to vie for shirts against Semi Ajayi, Bright OsayiSamuel, Kevin Akpoguma and Calvin Bassey.

Portugal-based left back Zaidu Sanusi is also back, and usual suspects Alex Iwobi, Joe Aribo, Kelechi Iheanacho, Samuel Chukwueze, Moses Simon, Terem Moffi and Paul Onuachu are also called.

Captain of the Nigeria U20 side that finished in third place at the recently-concluded Africa U20 Cup of Nations in Egypt, Daniel Bameyi is called alongside team goalkeeper Chijioke Aniagboso. Inform goalkeeper Victor Sochima, one of the reasons Rivers United FC have inched close to a CAF Confederation Cup quarter-final ticket, will contend for the number one shirt with Francis Uzoho.

Players are expected to start arriving at the team camp in Abuja on Sunday, 19th March. Tabletoppers Nigeria are on maximum six

points from their defeats of Sierra Leone and Sao Tome and Principe, with the Djurtus in second place on four points from their defeat of Sao Tome and Principe and draw with the Leone Stars.

Italy-based Osimhen, with 23 goals in 28 matches this season (including four goals that has helped his club reach the last eight of the UEFA Champions League for the first time ever), netted four when the Eagles slammed Sao Tome and Principe 10-0 in a record international scoreline in Agadir, Morocco nine months ago.

Egyptian referee Mahmoud Elbana will be in the centre, with his

compatriots Youssef Elbosaty, Sami Halhal and Ahmed El-Ghandour to function as assistant referee 1, assistant referee 2 and fourth official respectively.

Prosper Harrison Addo from Ghana will be the match commissioner and his compatriot Kotey Alexander will be the referee assessor.

CAF has also appointed Moroccan referees for the return leg in Bissau. Samir Guezzaz, son of the retired Mohamed Guezzaz, will superintend, with compatriots Zakaria Brinsi, Hamza Naciri and Noureddine El Jaafari in the roles of assistant referee 1, assistant referee

2 and fourth official respectively. Massa Diarra from Mauritania will be the match commissioner and Waldabet Koissoual from Chad will function as the referee assessor.

ALL THE INVITED PLAYERS:

Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho (AC Omonia, Cyprus); Victor Sochima (Rivers United); Kingsley

Aniagboso (Giant Brillars)

Defenders: Oluwasemilogo

Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion, England); Bright Osayi-Samuel (Fenerbahce SK, Turkey); Kevin Akpoguma (TSG Hoffenheim, Germany); Kenneth Omeruo (CD

Leganes, Spain); Calvin Bassey (FC Ajax, The Netherlands); Daniel Bameyi (YumYum FC); Zaidu Sanusi (FC Porto, Portugal); Bruno Onyemaechi (Boavista FC, Portugal)

Midfielders: Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Frank Onyeka (Brentford FC, England); Alex Iwobi (Everton FC, England); Joe Aribo (Southampton, England)

Forwards: Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City, England); Ahmed Musa (Sivasspor K, Turkey); Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal CF, Spain); Moses Simon (FC Nantes, France); Ademola Lookman (Atalanta BC, Italy); Terem Moffi (OGC

Francis Uzoho

Int’l Women’s Day: Volleyball President tasks women on leadership roles in nationbuilding

The President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Engineer Musa Nimrod has urged the womenfolk in the volleyball circle to take up leadership positions in their chosen fields for the benefit of the game.

Nimrod stated this in his speech at the 2023 International Women’s Day Celebration in Kaduna on Wednesday.

He hinted that the National women’s team has always made the nation proud at International Championships.

Nimrod said, “The idea is to celebrate the effort of notable women in the Nigeria Volleyball community for their contributions. I am urging women to take up leadership roles in their ministries, Local and State Governments as well as in the private sector.

“If women get opportunities, I am optimistic they will make a huge difference because of their nature”.

Nimrod said the Comptroller of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in Imo, Mrs Nkechi Ezugwu, who also doubles as the Vice President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation is a good example of women making an impact in leadership.

He said, “I am proud to say that the 2nd Vice President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Mrs Nkechi Ezugwu is an example of women who are using their office for the betterment of the game.

“The Controller of Immigration should be a role model to other women in volleyball”, he added.

P R T

Job humbles Iweanya in 2023 Director’s Table Tennis championship in Abuja

By Albert Akota

An officer from department of the (PTMS) David Job beat Mr. Tony Iweanya of the department of (Admin) at the ongoing Director’s Table Tennis Championship at Directorate of Road Traffic Service headquarters in Abuja to set the ball rolling for others competitors.

Despite the defeat, the love of the game was not departed from them rather beauty of the game was obviously observed when Mr. Tony was congratulating Mr. David job in the opening games encounter with a scores of 11-9, 117, 9-11,11-9.

The Annual Table Tennis Championship was declared open by Director R1, Dr Abdullatif Bello with warning to all participants to adhered strictly to the rules and regulations of the championship.

The annual Championship which was put together by the DRTS to strengthen it officers physically and mentally for the huge task before them witness various officers celebrating colleague’s sportsmanship and control of the ball.

“We are happy with what we saw today, Many think we can’t play games, all what we do is vehicle inspection, it far from that.

“We know how to play games

likes Table Tennis even football, this is just the bringing, we have players that can do us or the nation proud, watch officers in action, we have them here,” he explained.

The ground finale of the 2023 Table Tennis Championship concede with Director R1, Dr Abdullatif Bello’s one year in office with a high expectations and unprecedented event.

Others games are as follow

Wednesday 8th Of March.

Game C1

Mr. Musa Muhammad (Director). Vs Mr. Irechukwu Charles (Inspection)

Time 2:pm

Game C2

Mr. Nathaniel Kaita (F&A) Vs Mr Olawale

Thursday 9th Of March

Game D1

Mr. Wasiu Ogundiji (Inspection) Vs Mr. Nasiru (Budget) Time 2pm

Game D2

Mr. Mustapha Salihu (CMR) Vs Mr. Kubau (PRO). 3pm

Friday 10th Of March

Game E1

Mr. Omole Olaitan vs Mr. Kalu Emetu (PRO) 2pm

Coach Nnamani Appeals For Support As Nigeria battle Nicaragua in IHF Trophy Championship

Coach Emeka Nnamani has appealed to Nigerians for support as the national male under 18 handball team begin their IHF Trophy Intercontinental Championship campaign against Nicaragua later today

The national under 18 male handball team will play Nicaragua today at 5pm (12am Thursday midnight in Nigeria) and Coach Nnamani believes his team have what it takes to win Nicaragua.

“The boys are adapting to the weather and the country should

expect that the team will win our first match against Nicaragua with our level of preparation”.

Coach Emeka Nnamani said.

Coach Nnamani also said the players are motivated to do better in the championship than what the did in Kosovo in 2019 when they finished second behind Chinese Taipei with the support and prayers of Nigerians.

“I want to appeal to my people (Nigerians) that they pray for us as we are believe we can win the trophy and do better than what we

did in Kosovo with their support”

Coach Nnamani said.

Nigeria’s Under 18 Male Handball Team Arrive Costa Rica

For IHF Trophy Intercontinental Championship 2023

The Nigeria U-18 Male team arrived San Jose, Costa Rica for the IHF Trophy Intercontinental Championship.

The team left the shore of the country from the Muritala Muhammed International Airport over the weekend and arrived San Jose on Monday as

the competition commenced onTuesday.

The Coach Emeka Nnamani tutored side will begin their campaign on Wednesday against Nicaragua at 5pm (Costa Rica time) which is 12am Nigeria time at the prestigious BN Arena in the city of San Jose, Costa Rica.

Matches will be streamed on HFN TV via the website of the International Handball Federation.

Photo: Players at the Director’s Game

S P R T

Nasarawa United midfielder Osanga targets Better second NPLF stanza

With the second phase of the 2022/23 Nigeria Premier Football League Season set to commence, Nasarawa United’s winger, King Osanga, has assured that they would turn around the fortune of the Club.

Osanga(MON) who featured in five out of the nine games for the Solid Miners in the first stanza of the league and scoring two goals, stated this to the Club’s Media on Monday in Lafia.

“We are battle ready for the second half of the league, even though our start to the season

wasn’t good enough.

“We are bringing our heads together for the survival of the team. Hopefully, we are up and ready for the second stanza.

“We work as a collective team. No tree can form a forest. I will always do my best by bringing my wealth of experience to take the team out of the position we ended in the first stanza.

“We don’t deserve to be where we are in the league. You know the history of the Club, but we can finish among the best at the end of the season.

“We will approach each game

as it comes, and this begins from our next game away to Remo Stars whom we beat 2-0 in our last home game before the league went on a break.

“Regarding boosting the team with some new legs, I think it’s a welcome development and we hope that whoever is brought into the team would add to the progress of the team.”

The Nigerian junior international won the FIFA U-17 World Cup for Nigeria in 2007 in South Korea and also adorned Nigeria’s colours at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt

in 2009.

Nasarawa United started the 2022/23 league campaign on a rather sour note, suffering six defeats, winning only two and drawing one game in the abridged Group ‘A’ fixtures, sitting at the 9th position, with seven points.”

But the Coach Bala Nikyuled team is doing everything possible for better performance upon resumption, with their first match away to Remo Stars whom they had beaten 2-0 in the first leg in Jos on 20th February, 2023.

U-20 AFCON: Bosso confident his charges will neutralize Uganda for World Cup ticket

By Amaechi Agbo

Coach Isah Ladan Bosso believes he has the men to push Uganda’s Hippos off the way in their Africa U20 Cup of Nations quarter-final duel on Thursday and reach the FIFA U20 World Cup finals scheduled for Indonesia, 20th May – 11th June.

Both teams clash at the 22,000 -capacity Suez Canal Authority Stadium in Ismailia as from 7pm Egypt time (6pm Nigeria time) on Thursday, and the Flying Eagles’ tactician says that while he does not underrate the Hippos, he trusts his charges to make Nigeria proud and reach the tournament’s last four.

“Before we left our training camp in Morocco, the NFF President, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau told us clearly that the first objective should be getting a ticket to the FIFA World Cup. We are at that most important stage now and we cannot afford to falter.

“We are aware that Nigerians are looking up to us to deliver. While our mission remains bagging the World Cup ticket, we are also eyeing the trophy, which is still a number of matches away. For the moment, we have Uganda in our view and we are working hard to see that we control proceedings on Thursday.”

Two-time silver medallists and one-time bronze medallists Nigeria are seeking to make another appearance at the FIFA U20 World Cup finals. They finished in third place when the tournament was staged in then USSR in 1985, beating the host nation on penalty shoot-out in the bronze medal match. Four years later, in Saudi Arabia, the

Chelsea defender Thiago Silver out for 6 Weeks

By Amaechi Agbo

Chelsea’s woeful performance in the Premier League may be far from over as their reliable defender and deputy captain, Thiago Silva has been ruled out for six weeks

Silver suffered knee ligament damage during Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at rivals Tottenham.

The 38-year-old Brazil captain had a scan on Monday and the club have not said how long he is likely to be out.

“Having sustained a knee injury during the first half of Sunday’s match against Tottenham Hotspur, Thiago underwent further assessment and a scan on his return to the training centre on Monday.

“Scan results from those assessments have confirmed damage to Thiago’s knee ligaments and he will now work closely with the club’s medical department during his rehabilitation to return to action as soon as possible,” Chelsea said in statement

It is however beloved that the defender would be out for 5 to 6 weeks

Silva will miss next week’s Champions League last-16 second leg against Dortmund, which Chelsea trail 1-0.

The Champions League is the Blues’ last chance of silverware this season.

Flying Eagles lost 0-2 to Portugal in a classic Final in Riyadh. And in 2005, Lionel Messi and Argentina were 2-1 winners in the Final match in The Netherlands.

The Hippos of Uganda finished top of their Group B which also included Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. They defeated Central African Republic 2-1, and drew 2-2 and 0-0 with Congo and South Sudan respectively. It took a drawing of lots by the Confederation of African Football to separate Uganda and Congo and determine the winner of Group B, as both teams finished with the same statistics.

Meanwhile, the Flying Eagles will be without the services of team captain Daniel Bameyi due

to accumulation of two yellow cards. The defender was cautioned twice in the group games against Senegal and Mozambique.

In the other quarter-final games, nine-pointer The Gambia will take on fresh birds South Sudan, who shocked Central African Republic 1-0 and drew 0-0 with Uganda to finish in third place in Group B with four points. Their only defeat was a 1-2 reverse against Congo. The match will hold at the Haras El-Hedood Stadium in Alexandria on Friday.

On Thursday, before the Flying Eagles take on Uganda in Ismailia, Group A winners Senegal will tango with Benin Republic at the Cairo International Stadium. The Young Cheetahs finished in third place in Group C with

only two points having drawn with Zambia and Tunisia, but unlucky to concede an own goal two minutes to the end of their encounter with group winners The Gambia on Monday.

The last quarter-final duel is between Congo and Tunisia, at the Cairo International Stadium on Friday evening. The North Africans pulled their weight to defeat Zambia 2-1 on Monday, after having lost 0-1 to The Gambia and drawing 0-0 with Benin Republic earlier in Group C.

All four winners will advance to the semi-finals of the competition, but more importantly, qualify to represent Africa at the FIFA U20 World Cup finals in Indonesia.

He will also be absent as Graham Potter’s struggling side look to improve their dismal league form, including Saturday’s home Premier League game against Leeds United Chelsea are 14 points from the top four and have only won twice in their past 15 games in all competitions.

Silva signed a one-year contract extension this month, which will keep him at Chelsea until summer 2024. He will also be absent as Graham Potter’s struggling side look to improve their dismal league form, including Saturday’s home Premier League game against Leeds United Chelsea are 14 points from the top four and have only won twice in their past 15 games in all competitions.

The Flying Eagles before departing Cairo for Ismailia on Friday last week.

PEOPLES DAILY

Naira crisis: Is this farewell to local banks and welcome to Opay?

Jesus returns to training

Opay has since increased her customer base and it is my prediction that in no time from now, we would see Opay commercial banks, mortgage banks as well as microfinance banks springing up everywhere across the country. And that will be bye-bye to indigenous banks. In the face of all these, why will a citizen like me not pray that an executive chamber of hell be reserved for these demons-in-human form leaders putting citizens through all these pains?

Gabriel Jesus joined his team-mates back in training at London Colney Wednesday morning as he steps up his recovery from injury which has stopped him featuring for Arsenal since November.

The summer signing from Man City scored five goals in 14 games in the Premier League before suffering the injury at the World Cup.

There was a great sight at London Colney Gabriel Jesus returned to full training with his teammates after missing the past four months with a knee injury.

The Brazilian striker had to undergo surgery to fix the issue picked up in Qatar back in November, and thankfully his long road to recovery is nearing an end after he joined in with Wednesday’s training session ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Sporting CP on the Europa League

It was the squad’s final chance to go through their final preparations before boarding a plane to Portugal, as they return to Europa League action on Thursday night.

It is not clear at press time if Jesus would make the trip.

First of all, I want to thank General Muhammadu Buhari (rtrd) and all those who supported his rise to power in 2015 and 2019 and up till this moment; for a job well done in ensuring that they inflicted great mental torture and emotional trauma on the over 150 million Nigerians that included the youths, the widows, the aged, the persons-with-disability, the Muslims, the Christians, the atheists as well as the traditional faithful, because of selfish ambitions. It is my heartfelt prayer that God will reserve an executive chamber in the fires of hell for all of you.

Sometime in August of 2008, I wrote an article that was published on the 10th of that month with the Sun Newspaper. And it was titled THESE MEGA BANKS ARE FAILING US! About 3 months later, the then CBN governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi carried out a massive purge of the banking system; felling in the process, Iroko personalities like Mrs Cecilia Ibru, Mr Erastus Akingbola, Mr. Okey Nwosu and Mr. Francis Atuche etc. How Mr. Anthony Elumelu of the UBA escaped that house cleaning remains a mystery. Nevertheless, I was glad at SLS’s effort.

Why did I write that article? I wrote the article because in 2008 (just like today) I noticed that most banks concentrated all of their energy on a department they called marketing department and kept hiring young people whom they allocated some ridiculous amount of money as target per month or got fired from the job! Then, these youngsters are told to do everything within their discretion to get these customers to bring in their monies even if it meant prostituting in order to achieve the said target.

Then, I was like damn; all is not well with these Soludo-nized Mega Banks, that handwork of the streetilliterate professor of economics. Thankfully, a man with balls and brain got on the saddle and carried out a thorough house cleaning exercise that confirmed that one doesn’t necessarily have to be a professor to know economics because a streetsmart fellow – whether literate or not – is more than a professor! The

current Naira crisis which has caused a lot of hardship to Nigerians since it was introduced in November of 2022 has got me thinking again.

Can anyone please provide some smart and sensible reasons why all the Nigerian local banks are suddenly having network glitches (in the face of the hardship Nigerians are going through already) while Opay – a Chinese fintech – continues to facilitate the same transactions at an alarmingly top speed? Is this Naira crisis signaling the end of all of our local banks? Should Mr. Yahui Zhou’s Opay become Nigeria’s new mega bank? Sometimes I shudder at the mentality that I see in this country!

Is there sabotage on the internet system or do we have some persons who manipulated the internet in favor of Opay or what? As I turned these questions on my mind, I become more and more befuddled as I observe the seamless takeover of Nigeria by the Chinese just because a group of charlatans that paraded

themselves as leaders in this country do not even know that the ship they assumed to be steering across the ocean is sinking! That innocent Nigerians are dying daily due to high blood pressure, depression and suicide doesn’t seem to bother these rogues.

After more than 17 years of enjoying local patronage from the ever-friendly and businessminded Nigerian citizens, is this how the banking system planned to thank her customers? I was in the centre of Abuja today and I noticed how glowingly everyone was talking about Opay coming to their rescue in the face of what the Mr. Godwin Emefiele-led CBN and the commercial banks have put Nigerians into. Last week Thursday, I did a transfer from my bank to a client’s Access Bank account and as I’m writing this; she’s yet to get that money. Meanwhile, it left my account that same day!

A friend told of his transfer of N25, 000.00 to Wema bank since

the 23rd February, 2023 and how it took 2 weeks of follow-up from him to get the money to drop into the beneficiary’s account. He even alleged that if he hadn’t being on their neck, Wema bank would’ve swallowed that money and continued to claim glitches. This has become a common experience for many Nigerians lately whether the haves or the have-nots. But what saddens me most is seeing the widows; single mothers and the aged pensioners go through pains to get money.

And you wonder what happened to the conscience of people of this generation? Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, Nigerians have waited eagerly for the CBN or the president to voice their stance to no avail. A government that has no remorse for the pains she is causing her citizens; why would she care to comment? Banks have continued to pay out in old notes since the judgment but are refusing to collect the same. And you wonder if this was really a redesign or an orchestrated attempt to plunge the country into a political chaos?

Opay has since increased her customer base and it is my prediction that in no time from now, we would see Opay commercial banks, mortgage banks as well as microfinance banks springing up everywhere across the country. And that will be bye-bye to indigenous banks. In the face of all these, why will a citizen like me not pray that an executive chamber of hell be reserved for these demons-in-human form leaders putting citizens through all these pains? Well, I strongly believe that judgment day is very close. For where you see the vultures gather, a carcass is near.

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh; Executive director, Self-Awareness for Suicide Prevention Initiative, Africa writes from Abuja.