Friday, January 27th, 2023 Edition

Professor Oppido Guido reviewing cases with the team during the Aisha Buharisponsored Future Assured Cardiac Mission. With him is Dr. Alioke Okechukwuka, (2nd, Right) Team Lead for

at the Federal Medical Centre Jabi Abuja.

Old Naria notes Probe: Gbajabiamila threatens Emefiele with warrant of arrest

By Christiana Ekpa

The Controversies surrounding the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) January 31 deadline for old Naria notes has taken a different dimension as the Speaker of the House of Reprsentatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on Thursday threating to issue a warrant of arrest against Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele if he failed to honour invitation of the House by Tuesday 31th of January.

The House had on Tuesday, constituted an Ad hoc committee to intervene for a possible extension of the deadline, which management of the CBN led by its Governor, Godwin Emefiele and chief executive officers of all the commercial banks in Nigeria were expected to be in attendance.

However, the CBN team failed o appear before the panel on Wednesday, citing late receipt of the communication, as the committee said both the CBN and the bank MDs are expected at a meeting

today Thursday.

Doguwa had at the resumption of plenary, informed the House of the failure of the CBN team to appear before the panel as slated on wedmpnesday. Speaking on the development, Gabajabiamila warned that it “would be unacceptable” for the parties expected later in the day not to honour the summon. He said will not hesitate to issue a warrant to the Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba Ahmed to compelled the CBN Governor and the Managing Directors of banks to appear before the panel led by Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa.

According to the Speaker, “the House of Representatives, in response to a motion on a matter of urgent public importance, invited CBN and Managing Directors of banks in Nigeria to appear before the House of representatives. They were invited to give reasons for the ongoing failure to adequately disburse the redesigned naira notes before

the expiration of the deadline of 31st January 2023, when the old notes will cease to be legal tender.

“The House further constituted an ad-hoc committee led by the Majority Leader, Rep. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, for this purpose. No official of the CBN appeared to respond to the summons by the House of Representatives. This is unacceptable.

“The Resolution of the House was predicated on information showing that the rollout of the redesigned naira notes has been an unmitigated failure. This failure has real and dire consequences on the ability of Nigerians to conduct business across the country. The refusal by the CBN to heed the invitation by the House of Representatives is evidence of a blatant disregard for the wellbeing of the Nigerian people who are their customers. It is also an insult to the authority and prerogatives of the people’s parliament.

“Therefore, I will, pursuant to the authority conferred by Section 89 (1)

(d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Order 19 (2)(1) of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, not hesitate to issue a warrant to the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force to compel the attendance of the CBN or Managing Directors who fail, refuse or neglect to respond to the summons by the House of Representatives.

“The House of Representatives recognises the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) authority to determine the country’s legal tender and to recall currency with reasonable notice, subject to the approval of the President. The House is also aware that Section 20 (3) Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act mandates the CBN to redeem the face value of the recalled currency upon demand, even after the expiration of the notice of recall. Notwithstanding the deadline imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), this House will see to it that this provision of the law is honoured in full”.

By Stanley Onyekwere

Despite having rarely four weeks to 2023 presidential election, scheduled for next month, February 25, eligible

Nigerians are enjoined to critically scrutinise the goals and objectives of candidates and their political parties, in order to make the right choice, and avoid rushing into repeating the mistakes of the past democratic processes.

This charge was handed down by several stakeholders drawn from political, religious, academia, business and other walks of life who converged yesterday, at the 20th Daily Trust Dialogue, in Abuja.

They observed that most of the manifestos of the major candidates, which centered mainly on issues known to Nigerians without providing clear workable solutions to actualise their presidential agenda, hence the need for the citizens to interrogate them.

Speaking during a panel discussion on the Theme: Interrogating the 2023 Presidential Agenda, one of the panelists, the former Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria ((FBN), Mrs Ibukun

Awosika, identified lack of political ideology as major problem of the Nigerian democracy, thereby Nigerians should be more concerned with asking for the real change of narrative, which getting a strategical action plan from the presidential agenda.

Awosika noted that there isn’t a serious sense of responsibility from the presidential candidates, because Nigerians don’t demand much from political office seekers, resulting in poor governance and accountability in the polity.

Also speaking, Professor of Political Science and Member of the Board of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, advised Nigerians to patiently ensure to look into the presidential agenda, and take decisions based on the result of their interrogation.

Ibrahim noted that the public service structure is very dysfunctional, hence the need for the candidates to consider repositioning it to align with their respective manifestos.

Another panelist, lecturer, Analysis of Business Problems, Lagos Business School, decried that none of the candidates have demonstrated

knowledge about building for the future, as they don’t inspire that kind of confidence in the people.

Similarly, Human Capacity Development Specialist, Dr. Eugene Enahoro, opined that failure of the Nigeria’s democracy has been the function of the failure of the national assembly (legislative arm of the government), who are fundamental to enriching good governance.

According to him, the presidency should not be as the solution to the Nigerian governance problem is available, hence the focus should e on making the institution of governance work effectively.

In a goodwill remark, United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, said the media also has a vital role to ensure that Nigerian voters have accurate news and facts before, during, and after the elections.

She added that the U.S supports transparent and credible elections, that reflect the will of the people, in a process that is conducted peacefully.

Earlier, in his opening remark, Chairman of the occasion, Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, said the key issue

is whether the election will bring about a meaningful change for the better for the nation.

Onaiyeka, reiterated that there is need for a drastic change of orientation; especially in the concept and practice of political power, characterized by politics as sincere and honest service of the common good, and not as ways and means of capturing power for self interest!

According to him, a new group of concerned elite citizens ready to drive the new agenda of politics for service, and ready also to pay the cost of involvement; will the forthcoming elections bring this about? That is the question to interrogate!

Similarly, in his welcome address, Chairman, Board of Directors, Media Trust Group, Malam Kabiru A. Yusuf, said the 2023 polls affords citizens an opportunity to pursue collective interest to give the country, another chance, to rise from the ashes.

He added that it is clear that there are more desperados than democrats, among the candidates for polls, as it is the time for sober reflection, then Nigerians have to live for four, or eight years, with the choices they make.

Brig. Gen. J.K Feboke of the Army HQ Garrison, FCT Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Sadiqe, Chief of Staff to FCT Minister, Malam Bashir Mai-Bornu and FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello during the monthly FCT Security Committee meeting, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

I will make Kaduna State industrial hub

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Kaduna State governorship candidate of People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Mal. Hayatuddeen Lawal Makarfi has promised to make Kaduna an industrial hub that will be envied by the rest of the country and the world.

He asserted this during an interactive season with Kaduna League of Veterans Journalists in Kaduna yesterday.

According to him, Kaduna has been a destination for industrialization, saying for decades, it has attracted many industries.

Makarfi vowed to leave a legacy that will serve as a model for any government that means well to the people of the state.

FG moves to protect children in digital environment

The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday in Abuja approved the National Child Online Protection Policy and Strategy.

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Malam Isah Pantami, told newsmen at the end of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that the strategy aimed at protecting children from the harmful side of the digital environment.

The meeting was presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

Pantami said the policy was in line with the International Telecommunication Union’s policy document for all its member countries.

“There are many benefits of going online; the world population reached 10 billion on Nov. 15,

2022.

“Today, we have around 6.3 billion people online and by implication, among this number, you will discover many children.

“They will not be able to differentiate what is beneficial and what is harmful.

“According to a report by the International Telecommunication Union, more than one billion children were online during COVID-19 lockdowns for their studies because schools were shut.

“Today, without any solicitation, you will discover that many things are coming into your device on-line and unsolicited,’’ the minister said.

According to him, children will not able to avoid such unsolicited items online which will definitely affect their innocence; affect them

morally and otherwise.

“The document has been titled: `keeping children safe in the digital environment’.

“All member countries have been urged to ensure they come up with a policy where children will be protected.

“It is because of this that we organised stakeholder engagement, where we invited around 37 institutions of government since it is multi-sector issue.

“The Ministry of Information and Culture, the National Broadcasting Commission and the National Orientation Agency, among others, have roles to play.

“The Office of the National Security Adviser and other security agencies have roles to play; the Ministry of Justice has a role to

play to differentiate what is legal and what is illegal,’’ Pantami added

He said the cabinet also approved the Nigeria Data Protection Bill to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of data being submitted to government and to other institutions.

The minister said FEC also approved the National Duct One Policy aimed at institutionalising the provision of ducts during construction at federal, state a local government levels.

“This is the global best practice today.

“Before construction and even during the conceptualisation and design, there should be provision for ducts for road construction, bridges, rail lines, sea ports, and any important building,’’ Pantami said. (NAN)

APC reconciles aggrieved members in Benue – Chairman

TheAll Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue has reached out to aggrieved members to resolve all contending issues before the forthcoming general elections.

The Benue APC Chairman, Comrade Austin Agada, said that the move was to ensure total victory of the party in the upcoming elections.

Agada said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja that recent developments in the party were being addressed to make the APC more stronger and united.

According to him, the party leaders have been talking with all stakeholders to come up with a more united front to take over power in the state.

“The leaders of the party have been talking on the sideline, it is in process; we have called all the aspirants, sent people to talk to them and many have forged ahead working for the victory of the party.

“Yes, we have others who have remained adamant and have gone to court. We still have the wise ones who want to ensure APC wins and the state is better.

“There are some who are still bitter, but we are talking to them and we believe that at the end of the day, the party will have the understanding of all of them, we will have one house as we go into the general elections,

“We are also law abiding citizens, as party members, all court judgments will be adhered to,” the state APC chairman said.

According to him, the dismal performance of the present government in Benue has already given the APC 50 per cent advantage of winning the forthcoming

elections in the state.

Agada said that the party has set clear priorities if elected, which will directly impact positively on citizens.

“Our priorities are agriculture, education, security, health, youth and women empowerment.

“There are no industries in the state for commerce and agriculture to thrive; we will revive all of them to move Benue forward.

“By God’s special grace, I believe that our candidate and the people of Benue are in one accord for the good of the state,” Agada added.

He expressed satisfaction with the arrangements made so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the elections.

Agada said that the APC has been talking to people to collect their voter cards from INEC in order to participate in the elections.

“We have been talking to the youth about shunning electoral violence too, we have been engaging with the police to ensure free, fair, credible and violence-free elections in the state,” he added. (NAN)

Member State house of Assembly, Reprenting Makera Constituency, Hon. Yusuf Liman,- Presenting a Survener to Chairman Makera Council of Imams and Ulama, Ibrahim Mahe,- during the Imams and Ulama of Makera, holds 1 week Seminer on Model ways of teaching at Islamic schools in kaduna on thursday 26/1/23

Nigeria, Niger Republic rail project critical to both countries, says FG

By Albert Akota

The Federal Government has stressed the importance of the Nigeria-Niger Republic rail line, reaffirming that the project will boost trade and other socio-economic interaction between both countries and the continent.

Minister of Transportation,

Mu’azu Jaji Sambo stated this in Abuja at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the project between Nigeria and the Republic of Niger.

The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo signed for Nigeria while the Minister of Transportation of the Republic of Niger, Alma Oumarou signed for his country.

Naira deadline probe: We will not allow anybody to endanger our economy - Doguwa vows

By Christiana Ekpa

The House of Representatives

Ad-hoc mandated to intervene in the deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the exchange of old naira notes for the redesigned, has warned the apex bank against failing to appear before it this afternoon, even as he vowed that the Green Chamber would not all owed any body to endanger Nigeria economy.

The CBN had set a January 31, 2023 deadline for the old N200, N500 and N1,000 currency notes to cease to be legal tender in the country, prompting a public outcry as the date draws to a close.

The committee which was set up on Tuesday under the chairmanship of the Majority Leader, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, had invited the CBN management for a meeting over the concerns and the possibility of extension on Tuesday, and chief executives of commercial banks for Thursday, but the apex bank explained that it got the communication late, and so could not act on it.

“Based on the communication I just received from the CBN, our own communication got to the CBN very very late, so the liaison officer spoke to us, saying they are not able to act on the letter, so we’ve conceded to allow them come tomorrow (Thursday) at 1pm”, Doguwa said.

The lawmaker warned however that on no account should the CBN team not appear before the panel as rescheduled, especially that the matter in question was capable of negatively affecting the Nigerian economy.

He also faulted the reported “no going back” stance of the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, saying policies must be implemented in the interest of Nigerians.

“Any policy that the government is making, Nigerians must know. There is no policy that cannot be reversed. This bothers on the survival of the economy, and it is a serious issue of public interest. I hope they will respect this institution of democracy, and representative of the people”, he submitted.

The committee is expected to engage the bank CEOs immediately after meeting with the CBN team.

“We would also not allow anybody to endanger our economy. CBN must appear before this communication of the House of Representatives tomorrow by

The Minister noted that the rail line, which will start from Kano State in Nigeria and end at Maradi in Niger Republic, will facilitate the realization of the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement which Nigeria and Niger Republic are signatory to.

“I am aware that people have blood relationship across the

borders so the project will expand historical cultural relationship between the people of Nigeria and those of Niger Republic. The project is also very important in enhancing inter-nation and continental trade”, the Minister added.

According to him, after their inauguration, the Technical Committee will take charge of the

1pm to discuss this very critical matter. it borders on the survival of our economy and our people. the businesses are shut down all over. agriculture is suffering. petty businesses in the villages are also suffering. I understand that in ..... place that even dowry, bride price is not being accepted. so this is a serious issue.

“You can all agree with me that the resolution was taken at the end of our sitting yesterday 24 January 2023 and before we could finish necessary procedures, the letters were signed into the CBN late. so the liaison officer of the bank spoke to us this evening that they were not able to really act on the letter to allow for their engagement today. on this note I would like to convey to this committee and members of the public and the press here with us that we have conceded to allow the CBN officials to come tomorrow by 1pm. so that we would engage them and immediately after the engagement with them we would engage the bank operators.

“For the purposes of clarification, I want to say without any fear of contradiction that the parliament is always an institution that represents the Nigerian people. when there is any need it cause for an invitation to any government employee, like it is the case here with the CBN, the governor of the CBN, his directors, deputy directors, all departmental heads, I believe our own employees of the Nigerian people, and when there is a kind of summon from the institution of the parliament like this, we expect every up and doing employee to only respect that invitation. and on this note.

“I want to say on behalf of the House of Representatives that we have taken this from the point of perhaps giving them the leverage or benefit of doubt that yes, the letter got to them late yesterday. and on no account, I repeat, we would have a repeat of this failure tomorrow. none of us here is acting in his personal capacity. none of us here is acting for any personal reasons. especially on a matter like this where Nigerian people and economy is threatened by a lot of dangers by the policy of a government department. those of here working who are working for the Nigerian people, we cannot sit down here and watch policies of government that are not unpopular, they are threatening the survival of our economy to continue. I hear some of them saying it is a matter they have decided. “

By Stanley Onyekwere

Despite having rarely four weeks to 2023 presidential election, scheduled for next month, February 25, eligible Nigerians are enjoined to critically scrutinise the goals and objectives of candidates and their political parties, in order to make the right choice, and avoid rushing into repeating the mistakes of the past democratic processes.

This charge was handed down by several stakeholders drawn from political, religious, academia, business and other walks of life who converged yesterday, at the 20th Daily Trust Dialogue, in Abuja.

They observed that most of the manifestos of the major candidates, which centered mainly on issues known to Nigerians without providing clear workable solutions to actualise their presidential agenda, hence the need for the citizens to interrogate them.

Speaking during a panel discussion on the Theme: Interrogating the 2023 Presidential Agenda, one of the panelists, the former Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria ((FBN), Mrs Ibukun Awosika, identified lack of political ideology as major problem of the Nigerian democracy, thereby Nigerians should be more concerned with asking for the real change of narrative, which getting a strategical action plan from the presidential agenda.

Awosika noted that there isn’t a serious sense of responsibility from the presidential candidates, because Nigerians don’t demand much from

facilitation and implementation of the project.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of Transportation of Republic of Niger, Alma Oumarou corroborated that the rail project will promote inter-nation as well as continental trade, strengthen cultural ties between the two countries and create jobs.

political office seekers, resulting in poor governance and accountability in the polity.

Also speaking, Professor of Political Science and Member of the Board of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, advised Nigerians to patiently ensure to look into the presidential agenda, and take decisions based on the result of their interrogation.

Ibrahim noted that the public service structure is very dysfunctional, hence the need for the candidates to consider repositioning it to align with their respective manifestos.

Another panelist, lecturer, Analysis of Business Problems, Lagos Business School, decried that none of the candidates have demonstrated knowledge about building for the future, as they don’t inspire that kind of confidence in the people.

Similarly, Human Capacity Development Specialist, Dr. Eugene Enahoro, opined that failure of the Nigeria’s democracy has been the function of the failure of the national assembly (legislative arm of the government), who are fundamental to enriching good governance.

According to him, the presidency should not be as the solution to the Nigerian governance problem is available, hence the focus should e on making the institution of governance work effectively.

In a goodwill remark, United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, said the media also has a vital role to ensure that Nigerian voters have accurate news

and facts before, during, and after the elections.

She added that the U.S supports transparent and credible elections, that reflect the will of the people, in a process that is conducted peacefully.

Earlier, in his opening remark, Chairman of the occasion, Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, said the key issue is whether the election will bring about a meaningful change for the better for the nation.

Onaiyeka, reiterated that there is need for a drastic change of orientation; especially in the concept and practice of political power, characterized by politics as sincere and honest service of the common good, and not as ways and means of capturing power for self interest!

According to him, a new group of concerned elite citizens ready to drive the new agenda of politics for service, and ready also to pay the cost of involvement; will the forthcoming elections bring this about? That is the question to interrogate!

Similarly, in his welcome address, Chairman, Board of Directors, Media Trust Group, Malam Kabiru A. Yusuf, said the 2023 polls affords citizens an opportunity to pursue collective interest to give the country, another chance, to rise from the ashes.

He added that it is clear that there are more desperados than democrats, among the candidates for polls, as it is the time for sober reflection, then Nigerians have to live for four, or eight years, with the choices they make.

L-R: Manager, Events Management and Experiential Marketing, GTCO,Aderinsola Alex-Adedipe; President, Lagos Polo Club,Bode Makanjuola; Senior Manager, Go-to-Market, MTN Nigeria, Osaze Ebueku, and Tournament Manager, Lagos Polo Club, Olumayowa Ogunnusi, at the press briefing of the 2023 Lagos International Polo Tournament, which held at the Lagos Polo Club, Ikoyi, Lagos, yesterday.

2023 Polls: Stakeholders insist on interrogating Atiku, Tinubu, Obi, others’ agenda

No PVC, no voting, INEC Chairman insists

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has insisted that no eligible voter in Nigeria will be allowed to cast vote in the forthcoming general elections without a Permanent Voter Card (PVC).

Also, Mr Yakubu assured that the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) is highly secured. Specifically, he said the BVAS is intact and cannot be compromised or hacked into by over zealous persons.

Fielding questions from

participants after presenting a paper on “INEC and the Challenges of ICT- The way forward”, Yakubu insisted that technology will be deployed to actualize a credible, fair and hitch-free general elections.

“As with every aspect of our national lives, adopting technologies into the electoral process is always met with challenges.

“One major challenge was the lack of a clear-cut legal framework supporting the deployment of technology by the Commission especially in the accreditation of voters and the voting process.

“The deployment of the Smart

Card Readers in 2015 and its use was faced with vanous challenges such as resistance to use in some isolated instances, snatching and destruction of devices, attempts to manipulate the use of the devices, and most prominently vanous judicial pronouncements on the legality of its use” Yakubu said.

Represented by Dr Lawrence Bayode, Director ICT, the INEC Chairman said “Another very disturbing trend is the misinformation and disinformation on technological deployments by the Commission in the social media space and some media houses picking up news bulletins from social media

platforms to discuss on their morning shows and political programmes without reaching out to the Commission for its stance on such issues.

“One of such is the recent viral assumptions that PVC is not required to vote on Election day.

“Let me reiterate the Commission’s stance that, Section 47(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 clearly states that,

A person intending to vote in an election shall present himself with his voter’s card to a Presiding officer for accreditation at the polling unit in the constituency in which his name is registered”.

Therefore, he insisted the

Commission is legally bound to only accept accreditation of a voter on presentation of a valid voter’s card.

Emmanuel Owah, Assistant Research Fellow, National Judicial Institute, Abuja, presented a paper on “The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Election Management and Agenda Setting”.

Similarly, there was a Paper presentation on “The Role of the Media in Election Reportage” by Adebimpe Elizabeth Olorunfemi, Assistant Research Fellow, National Judicial Institute, Abuja.

267 Boko Haram terrorists surrender in Northeast — DHQ

• As troops rescue 6 victims

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

The Nigerian Military said its 267 terrorists surrender to troops in Northeast.

Maj-Gen. Musa Danmadami, Director, Defence Media Operations, made this known on Thursday in Abuja, while giving update on the Military operations in the country.

He added that those who surrendered included 22 adult male, 128 adult females and 117 children.

“All recovered items, apprehended criminals, rescued civilians were handed over to the appropriate authority for further action while captured terrorists and surrendered Boko Haram Terrorists/Islamic State of West Africa Province and members of their families are being profiled for further action.”

He added that the troops also rescued six abducted victims from terrorists.

Speaking further, he said the Operational activities were

conducted in villages, forest, mountains, towns and cities of Kukawa, Bama, Biu, Damboa, Maiduguri, Mafa, Dikwa, Gwoza, Kaga, Abadam as well as Monguno Local Government Areas of Borno State.

“Operations were also conducted at Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State and Gujiba, Geidam and Damaturu Local Government Areas of Yobe States in the North East region of the country geared towards denying Boko Haram/

Islamic State of West Africa Province and other criminal element freedom of actions and restore normalcy to the zone.

Notably, on 12 January 2023 troops had a meeting engagement with Boko Haram/Islamic State of West Africa Province terrorists close to their locations in kwatan Turare and Azir Bri villages in Kukawa and Damboa Local Government Areas of Borno State.

“During the encounter, troops engaged the terrorists in a fire fight and neutralized 5 terrorists

while other fled with gun shot injuries. Troops, recovered 3 AK47 rifles, 2 x 60mm mortar bombs, 36 rounds of belted 7.62mm NATO, 7 x 60mm mortar chargers, empty cases of 60mm bomb chargers, empty cases of RPG chargers, 2 RPG 7 bomb, 1 Gun truck, 2 PKGM, 2 RPG bombs, 1 QJC gun, 116 rounds of 12.7mm AP ammunition and 56 rounds of 7.62mm rimmed ammunition, while 1 phantom MRAP used by the terrorist was destroyed by own fire.”

L-R: FCT Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Sadiqe, Chief of Staff to FCT Minister, Malam Bashir Mai-Bornu, FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello and Executive Secretary, FCDA, Engr Shehu Hadi Ahmed at the monthly FCT Security Committee meeting held, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Enugu Govt. partners

ACOMIN to fight malaria, infectious diseases

Enugu State Government says it will partner a group, the Association of Civil Society Organisations in Malaria Control, Immunization and Nutrition (ACOMIN), to end infectious diseases in the state.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Emmanuel Obi, disclosed this on Wednesday when ACOMIN, Enugu Chapter, paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Enugu.

He told the association that the state government was doing its best to eradicate malaria through signing up to all the guidelines and policy documents on prevention and treatment of malaria in Nigeria.

Obi explained that the state followed those guidelines and do everything that was possible by reporting on necessary data that would put the state under control of malaria.

He explained that the state had so far, controlled the incidences of malaria, malnutrition to barest minimum.

“I know that the National body is pushing to move from control to total eradication of malaria in the country because anything that concerned the control of infectious disease, I am highly involved as a member of the health council.

“We have joined other states and the nation to do all it takes to be able to control and push malaria out of the state,” the commissioner said.

He, however, advised Enugu residents that malaria remained a disease with high morbidity in Nigeria and caused by mosquito bites that usually come out at night

“This mosquito carried pathogen that causes malaria.

“People should avoid excessive contact with those mosquitos to reduce the existence of malaria by closing their doors and windows and sleep under treated insecticide net.

“The citizens should practice those things that keep mosquitoes away from their homes because mosquitoes caused social economic effects.

Obi added that the state had engaged in a lot of sensitisation programmes and trained people on prevention of malaria.

In her speech, the State Coordinator of ACOMIN, Florence Ifeanyi-Aneke said that the visit was to seek the ministry’s collaboration and partnership especially in the area of infectious diseases.

She said the group was willing to partner with the ministry to mitigate the impact of malaria, promote immunization and better nutrition in the state.

Aneke said the association would also assist in the monitoring of health facilities in communities across the state.

Naira deadline: Borno opens emergency Microfinance Banks in 25 LGAs

From: Shehu Abubakar, Maiduguri

Borno State government has established emergency microfinance banks in 25 of the 27 local government areas of the state to beat deadline for the circulation of old Naira notes.

Governor Babagana Umara Zulum directed the State Ministry of Finance and that of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation to establish the banks in accordance with regulatory procedures.

Zulum’s directive followed the CBN’s policy on stoppage of old naira notes amid the absence of banking services across 25 out

of Borno’s 27 Local Government Areas due to over 12 years of killings and destructions by Boko Haram insurgents.

The governor announced the microfinance measures on Wednesday in Maiduguri during an extraordinary stakeholders meeting which was attended by the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Umar Garbai Elkanemi, represented by the Waziri of Borno, Mustapha Waziri Muktar.

Zulum directed that where possible, branches of the microfinance bank should start being established this week in Monguno and Gwoza Local Government Areas.

Zulum lamented: “At the moment we only have two LGAs with banking services and these are Maiduguri and Biu. The distance from most of the local governments to either Maiduguri or Biu is too long”.

He continued: “Despite a great improvement of the security in Borno, there are still challenges for banks to start operations. Banking is a very delicate industry and I am sure none of them is willing to take the risk of establishing branches in our LGAs for now.”

He said the state government had to, therefore, take the risk opening branches of the state’s microfinance bank in the 25 local

government areas to alleviate the suffering of our people of the state.

Governor Zulum also directed the Ministry of Finance to immediately come up with a template to organize and ensure people in rural communities deposit their old naira notes before the 31st of January deadline.

He also directed the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation to support mobile telecommunication providers towards improving their network coverage for internet connectivity across all 27 local government areas.

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

Aprofessor of law, Joshua Alobo, has, prayed the Federal High Court Abuja, to restrain the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), from making January 31, as the terminal date for old Naira Notes.

The lawyer equally urged the court to issue a mandatory order, “extending the duration where the old notes cease to become legal tender to period of three weeks when the redesign notes will be sufficiently dispense by the commercial banks.”

The plaintiff, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/114/2023, mentioned the CBN, its Governor, Godwin Emefiele and the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN as 1st to 3rd Defendants.

In a 21-paragraphed affidavit deposed to by one Musa Damudi, the Plaintiff, told the court that the CBN Governor had on October 26, 2022, announced that the apex bank would introduce new series of redesigned N200, N500 and N1, 000 banknotes into the financial system.

He admitted that though CBN’s decision is geared towards reducing inflation and entrenching cashless society so as to curb money laundering and corruption,

however, majority of Nigerians, especially the less privileged one, are yet to have access to the new Naira notes that were unveiled on November 23, 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He accused the commercial banks of failing to make the new Naira notes available to their customers, adding that as of January 25, he was still handed the old notes on the counter and through the Automatic Teller Machine, ATM.

He further avered that already, major shopping malls within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have announced the rejection of old notes, with the ATM limiting daily withdrawal to N 20, 000.00.

He, therefore, prayed that the terminal date of January 31 for usage of the old notes “is discriminatory against the rural dwellers, poor and less privileged persons in the society, as politically exposed persons are paid with the redesigned notes”.

“That cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria is innovative and welcome development but the rural dwellers that constitute bulk of the population do not have access to intemet and banking facilities.

“The legal tussle for the arrest of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria by the Department of

State Security, DSS, at the Federal High Court resulted in uncertainty as to the full implementation of the redesigned Naira notes.

“That the legal action at the FCT, High Court for the enforcement of the fundamental rights of the Governor of CBN also necessitated anxiety in the country on the implementation of the policy.

“That the Governor of CBN arrived Nigeria on January 13, 2023 and visited the President at the As0 Rock. The reception was well publicized in both electronic and print media

“That the current daily limit of transaction to N20, 000 is against the Central Bank daily limit of N100, 000.

“That the Applicant was shocked when he was paid with mint of the old note with serial No 435641, 435642, 43643, 435636, 435638, 435639. It is hereby marked Exhibit ‘A’ and ‘B”, the deponent further averred.

More so, the plaintiff, in a Written Address he attached in support of the suit, maintained that the matter was germane to the economic stability and prosperity of less privileged persons in the country who he argued may not have the necessary connection to commercial banks, “unlike politically exposed persons who

have the financial muscle to deposit their old notes without blinking, as relationship managers are assigned to such privileged persons”.

“We concede that the policy of redesigning the currency is within the powers of the CBN especially with the approval and endorsement of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“However, the lack of necessary publicity due to the absence of the Governor of CBN should be Catholic and Pentecostal factor to save the country from implosive corruption as Commercial Banks through various WhatsApp messages are soliciting for huge cash deposits of over N20billion at twenty percent Commission.

“We respectfully submit that the dateline January 31, 2023 for phasing old Naira notes is of grave constitutional importance for the economic survival of the vast population that constitute the entity called Nigeria.

“The percentage of persons with lower educational background and economic realities of rural dwellers and some Local Governments in Nigeria without a single bank is high”, the plaintiff added.

For the meantime, no date has been fixed for the matter to be heard.

President Muhammadu Buhari among other African Leaders during the 2nd Dakar International Conference on Agriculture held in Dakar Senegal

PHOTO; State House

Old Naira Notes: Lawyer sues CBN, seeks extension of deadline

Gunmen kidnap Chawai traditional ruler in Kaduna State

Gunmen have abducted Chief Joshua Ahmadu, the District Head of Chawai in Kauru Local Government of Kaduna State.

Ahmadu’s abduction was confirmed on Wednesday by Mr Abel Adamu, President, Chawai Development Association (CDA).

Adamu, in a statement signed by Mr Raphael Joshua, Public Relations Officer of CDA, said that the traditional ruler was kidnapped Tuesday night “by unknown gunmen who invaded his house at Zambina”.

“It was reported that the kidnappers stormed the house of the traditional ruler in their numbers around 9:30 p.m. and took him away,” Adamu was quoted as saying.

The CDA President was further quoted as expressing dismay over the situation while assuring residents that CDA was working hard to ensure that the victim was released unhurt.

“Already, relevant authorities and heads of security operatives on special duty in the chiefdom have been duly informed and have already swung into action to rescue the traditional ruler.

“We are calling on all sons and daughters of Tsam land to pray for the safe return of the district head.”

The statement challenged youths of the chiefdom to always take communal security seriously so as to avert such breaches.

“We have to be on our feet to ensure the land is safe.

“It’s unfortunate that at this critical time, the youths, who ought to be the communal force to guarantee security across communities, are not ready to work in collaboration with security personnel to secure the land,” he lamented.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Tsam Chiefdom has suffered lots of abductions and attacks by bandits and kidnappers lately.

Some of the incidences have led to the loss of lives while large sums had also been paid to rescue kidnapped victims.

The CDA boss appealed to government to direct security agencies to ensure that the district head was rescued and released “unconditionally”.

NAN learnt that the personnel of the Police Area Command in Kafanchan had since visited the family of the victim and assured relations of its readiness to “do everything possible” to rescue the traditional ruler. (NAN)

Nigeria ‘ll surmount challenges of terrorism soon – Monguno

The National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Maj.Gen. Babagana Monguno, says Nigeria will surmount the challenges of terrorism in the nearest future given the successes so far recorded by the military.

Monguno said this at the opening of Non-kinetic Coordination Course organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in collaboration with Peace Building Development Consult on Wednesday in Abuja.

He was represented by retired Rear Adm. Yaminu Musa, Coordinator, National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA).

He said that aside the kinetic efforts of the military, the Federal Government had put measures in place using all of government approach to tackle the menace of terrorism in the country.

Monguno said that defeating the prevailing security threats required effective coordination or collaborative efforts of the nation’s armed forces and other security agencies.

He said that proffering analytic solution towards enhancing the national responses to emerging security threat to the country had become a key guiding principles with which to ensure national development.

According to him, from our experiences as a nation in combating terrorism, we have come to realise that kinetic means

alone is not sufficient to defeat the threat.

“What this threat therefore demand is synergy of effort involving stakeholders across governments and across the society that includes citizens which is what we refer to as whole-of-government and wholeof-societal approaches to ensure national security.

“The splitting of Boko Haram into Islamist States West Africa Province and the reemergence of Ansaru group created additional challenges for Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin countries.

“Nonetheless the less the comprehensive approach being employed our counterterrorism effort has continued to significantly degrade the threat resulting in the mass surrender of terrorists and sympathisers in the North Eastern part of the country,” he said.

The NSA added that Transnational Organised Crimes such as illicit financial flow, money laundering and proliferation of small arms and light weapons amongst others had continued to create security challenges in the country.

He said that while illicit financial flows had linkages to terrorism and other transnational organised crime, the proliferation of small arms posed a major challenge facilitated by porosity of Nigeria’s borders.

He said that ONSA had taken several measures to tackle the threats of insecurity vis different

approaches and strategies.

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, in his lecture titled, “Understanding Non-kinetic Operations and Capabilities for Irregular Warfare”, said the armed forces had achieved a lot through nonkinetic means in combating terrorism.

Irabor, who was represented by the Director of Operations, Defence Headquarters, AVM Bashir Mamman, said that military force alone was not a sufficient panacea to ending violent agitations and extremism.

He added that governments often utilised soft power or nonkinetic approaches amongst other means to resolve conflicts.

According to him, non-kinetic operation, therefore, seeks to counter ideology of violence and relies on utilisation of nonmilitary methods to achieve set objectives and by extension, consolidate peace building and security.

Irabor recommended that a review of the National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST) was needed to ensure that actions at all levels of operations were in accordance with the information strategy.

He also recommended inclusion of non-kinetic operations doctrine in pre-deployment training as well as emplacement of planned maintenance of Infrastructure and road network in operation areas.

The Director-General of

NIPSS, Prof. Ayo Omotayo, said that the of strategy of kinetic and non-kinetic had to be shuffled and improved upon.

Omotayo said the workshop was organised to find ways towards discussing the ever changing strategies of war and conflicts and the need to apply technology, psychology and communication in the art of warfare.

He said the course emphasised the need for proper capacity for decision makers, both military and civilian to work together towards achieving the national goal.

He said that the workshop was borne out of the fact that the nation had been using the kinetic approach to solving some of the security problems, adding that it was necessary to look at alternative approaches.

“We believe that at the end of this engagement, we will finally be able to come up with the essence of kinetic or non-kinetic approaches, and then sell it to the security agencies as an alternative to kinetic approaches.

“These approaches have been tried as well, and they have worked so we believe that Nigeria should not fail to explore other means of solving national security problems.

“The participants are drawn from all walks of Nigerian life and from all sectors, from the military, the customs, immigration and other agencies that engage with issues of national security,” he said. (NAN)

2023: Youth Council endorses APC governorship candidate in C/River

The Cross River Chapter of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has endorsed the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the state, Sen. Bassey Otu, for the 2023 polls.

Mr Daniel Obo, Chairman of NYCN in the state, said this on Wednesday in Calabar during a town hall engagement with youth leaders in Southern Senatorial District of the state.

He said that the council endorsed the governorship candidate of the APC and adopted the party because of its youth friendly disposition.

“We are not going back in our support for the governorship candidate of Cross River and we will win because we have 70 per cent of the votes.

“We have come here to reaffirm our commitment as an institution. We will stand for the party that

recognises young people.

“We, the youth council in Cross River will support the APC and will mobilise our youths to stand with the party, and God willing, we will win,” he said.

Obo said that governorship position in the state rotates round the three senatorial zones of the state for equity, fairness and justice.

“The position of governor rotates around the three senatorial

districts. It is the turn of Cross River South to produce the next governor.

“About 80 per cent of the youths are with us; and as you know, politics is a game of interest.

“We have one of us as a deputy governorship candidate in APC; we will try our best to see that his ambition sees the light of the day,” he said.

Obo said that the governorship candidate shared with the council

his plans for youth development in the state and his antecedents as a lawmaker in the National Assembly.

“It is no longer time to hijack materials or send youths to fight against themselves, but the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System will speak for itself.”

The chairman, therefore, encouraged the youths to get their Permanent Voter Cards ahead of the polls. (NAN)

Minister of State for FCT, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu (middle) flanked by members of the FCT Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) during the inauguration ceremony of the FCT PCC, held yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-owo

LG Autonomy: Group urges Jigawa Assembly to vote in favour of bills

From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

TheCoalition of Civil Society Organizations working across several sectors in Jigawa State, popularly known as Jigawa State Civil Society Umbrella (JCSU), has urged members of the Jigawa state House of Assembly to vote in favour of of local government autonomy bills.

This was contained in a statement signed and issued to news men by the chairman of the umbrella comrade Isah Mustapha adding that, the local government autonomy is an antidote for rural development.

The statement said, the National Assembly already passed the bills for the amendment of the Nigerian Constitution for the provision of Autonomy to State Legislature and Local Government Councils, and transmitted the bills to 36 states Houses of Assembly for voting.

2023: No shaking, Gov Yahaya tells supporters

From David Hassan, Gombe

Governor

Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has assured his supporters of winning the 2023 general elections without hitches.

He gave the assurance in Billiri east and west on Tuesday when he went for second round of his campaign.

He said time has come where his supporters will come out and vote for his re-election in the forthcoming general elections.

While addressing them, he said the campaign train which landed at Billiri for the second time was aimed at giving APC flag to candidates vying for political offices in the area.

• As cost of data drops from N1,200 per GB to N350, ahead N390 2025 target

By Abubakar Yunusa

Inwhat seemed like a cold friction between the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Pantami, and the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the National Communications Commission, NCC, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, both engaged each other over allegations of moves to whittle down the functions of the NCC.

The NCC is a parastatal under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, for which Pantami is Minister.

The event took place at the 19th edition of President Muhammadu Buhari Scorecard Series in Abuja yesterday, which showcases the achievements of the President from 2015 to date. Pantami came along with heads of the agencies and parastatals under his Ministry, including the NCC EVC.

The engagements came following media enquiry over feelers on moves to amend the National Information Technology Agency (NITDA) Act, perceived to be a discreet move targeted at cutting down the areas of coverage and the functions of the NCC.

Responding to the question, Pantami admitted that he was aware of ongoing move to amend the NITDA act to accommodate activities under its jurisdiction which were not captured by the Act establishing the agency.

He said he was also aware of a number of activities of the NCC which were not captured by the Act establishing it, and which requires an amendment to incorporate those

missing provisions in the Act.

He said as Minister in charge of both agencies, he wrote to the NCC and NITDA to work together to avoid any clash, friction or duplication of functions in the amendment of the NITDA Act. Recall that Pantami until his appointment as Minister was the Head of NITDA.

He said also that he has not received any formal complaint of misunderstanding or concern regarding the amendment of the NITDA Act, adding that nobody has mentioned such to him.

He then called on Danbatta to respond to the queries as to whether or not he is aware of any complaint or concerns.

Danbatta first responded that the amendment of the NITDA Act was ongoing, and that stakeholders are expected to make submissions on the Act.

He added that if there are any concerns, perhaps they will be made at the public hearing on the Act in the National Assembly.

Pantami also insisted that Danbatta responded to the letter he said he wrote to the NCC and NITDA bosses requesting them to collaborate to avoid any friction, to which Danbatta confirmed receiving and acting upon.

Pantami said as far as he was concerned, he discharges the duties of his office as Minister with Justice and fairness, and that he was not aware of any move to cut the functions of NCC.

Earlier in his presentation, Pantami gave an account of Nigeria’s inroad in the Information and Communication Technology advancements both at home and abroad.

He said as of 2019, Nigeria had

while briefing Journalists after the state executive council meeting.

no valid Broadband Plan because the previous one expired in 2018, creating a one year vacuum, until the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 19th of March, 2020.

“The Plan is designed to deliver data download speeds across Nigeria of a minimum 25Mbps in urban areas, and 10Mbps in rural areas, with effective coverage available to at least 90% of the population by 2025 at a price not more than N390 per 1GB of data (i.e. 2% of median income or 1% of minimum wage).”

The government, he said, has already exceeded that expectation.

He said also that 72,153,824 people had broadband access in August 2019, which increased to 88,273,690 in November 2022 with over 16 million new people with broadband access.

“The cost of data dropped from N1,200 per GB in August 2019 to N350 (far earlier than the plan of making it N390 by December 2025),” he said.

He added that the estimated number of people living in the unserved and underserved areas declined from 33.7 million in 2015 to 31.16 million in 2019, while the number of clusters dropped from 207 to 114 during the period.

“ Based on the outcome of the new study in 2022, the number of clusters has further dropped from 114 to 97 clusters with an estimated population of 27.91 Million,” he said.

According to him, “based on the National Broadband Plan, we were able to have 90% broadband coverage by December 2025. However, we recently gave a license to Starlink to provide services and this has given us 100% coverage, about 3 years ahead of

schedule.”

Pantami faces Danbatta over alleged move to cut NCC duties Gombe records one case is Lassa fever

He disclosed that based on the National Broadband Plan, the country achieved 90% broadband coverage by December 2025. “However, we recently gave a license to Starlink to provide services and this has given us 100% coverage, about 3 years ahead of schedule. I announced the partnership between Nigeria and Space X at the US Africa Leaders’ Forum (USALF) in December 2022,” he said.

The National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), he said, was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 28th of November, 2019 to drive the development of Nigeria’s digital economy.

“The ICT sector has had 3 unprecedented highest ever contributions to the GDP, in Q1 2020 (14.07%), in Q2 2021 (17.92%) and in Q2 2022 (18.44%),” he said.

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, according to him, was the fastest growing sector in both the fourth quarter of 2020 and the entire year 2020, among others, based on the report by the National Bureau of Statistics.

“ The sector’s 14.70% double digit growth rate played a principal role in supporting our country to exit the recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic a year faster than experts predicted.

“ The growth rate of the sector exceeded 4 times the next fastest growing sector of Q4 2020, which had a growth rate of 3.42%. As part of the development of the digital economy ecosystem, over 2,000 projects and programmes were initiated from August 2019 to date,” Pantami said.

Gombe state. Commissioner for Health Dr Habu Dahiru stated this shortly

He said a 33 year old woman in Shamaki ward in Gombe local government area has been infected with Lassa fever after suffering from fever.

He said her sample was taken for test in a laboratory at the Federal Teaching Hospital in Gombe which which revealed it was Lassa fever.

According to him, the affected woman was said to

UK cuts tariffs on Nigerian exports

The UK government on Wednesday said it had cut tariffs and extended duty free trade in goods exported from Nigeria

Mr Ben Llewellyn-Jones, Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria said this at the launch of the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) which took place at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Llewellyn-Jones said the scheme would help to boost Nigeria’s non- oil exports in line with the Federal Government’s wider trade policy objectives and take off in April 2023.

He noted that the scheme would reduce import costs by over £750 million per year, thereby reducing prices, and increase choice of UK consumers and businesses as well.

“The Uk Government has

reduced the tariffs of 90 per cent of goods that Nigeria would export to our country and has also provided preferential trading scheme for range of other exports that the country might have.

“We have reached out to small and large businesses in different parts of the country and this is intended to help exporters and other people in the trading business to make the United Kingdom an export destination.

“This would also serve as an opportunity to grow the non oil and gas sector in Nigeria and create jobs in the country, and most importantly, we are reaching out to people at the grassroot level so they can know what we are doing.

“The DCTS is much more generous and simpler than the existing Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP),” he said.

Llewellyn-Jones revealed that the trade volume between both countries for year 2022 was 2.2 billion pounds, noting that the oil and gas sector accounted for majority of the trade.

He stressed on the importance of expanding the market and diversifying into other sectors including exportation.

“We have to change focus to non oil sector but this takes time, but we are working with experts from Nigeria Export Promotion Council and the Federal Government to grow the economy through expanding of its export.

“The key challenges for exporters is finding key partners in the UK to sell their products but we are working on ensuring that we link exporters with potential buyers so as to ensure there is enough demand and supply,” he

said.

Mr Simon Calvert, Senior Commercial Agriculture Adviser, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) noted that Nigeria does not require international conventions to enjoy the benefits under the DCTS.

He added that the Uk government would help exporters to access finances through its financial institutions.

He noted that by making the rules of origin more generous, neighbouring countries can easily make use of components from Nigeria in their Duty Free Exports to the UK

“Cutting tariffs for Nigeria would ensure that 3000 new products are duty free for the first time as the average existing tariff on these goods is seven per cent, meaning these changes

have traveled to Taraba state for Christmas where she contacted the disease.

Dr. Dahiru also called on the public to always keep their environment clean and avoid contaminated food.

make Nigerian exports more competitive in the UK.

“Many tariff reductions are on value added goods such as processed sesame oil, cotton clothing and cocoa butter and paste and complement existing duty free trade on raw products.

“ We have made it simpler for Nigeria to get and retain these enhanced tariffs by removing the need for Nigeria to ratify and implement certain international conventions,” he said.

Damola Oladosu, an official with Boston Consulting Group, said that opportunities in the exporting market remained underutilised.

She said that the country could grow its exports to the UK by increasing production on certain products like cocoa, cotton, fertiliser, cashew amongst others. (NAN)

PDP inaugurates 16-member campaign committee for Mainland LGA

The People’s Democratic Party(PDP) in Mainland Local Government of Lagos State on Tuesday inaugurated a 16-member campaign committee for the party’s Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

The party’s chairman in the local government, Mr Adelabi Malomo, while inaugurating the committee at the LG PDP Secretariat, charged members to ensure victory for the party in the forthcoming general elections.

Malomo named Mr Folabi Alimi as the Local Government Coordinator, while Prince Segun Gbayi, the party’s House of Representatives’ candidate for Mainland federal constituency is the Assistant Coordinator.

According to him, since the party has the national and state presidential campaign council (PCC), there is the need to inaugurate such committee in the LG to enhance electoral victory for the party.

He called on the committee to swing into action, hold stakeholders’ meetings and inaugurate such committee at the ward and polling unit levels.

The chairman said: “Let us go back to our polling booths, we are managers there; we should deliver our polling units to PDP.

“Everybody is important. Those of us who are at the LGA PCC Committee should not think we are better than those who will be at the wards and polling units.”

Malomo listed other committee’s members to include Mr Kehinde Osinowo (Deputy Assistant Coordinator), Mr Alli Ibrahim (Publicity Chief), Mr Ola Alimu (Field Operations) and Mrs Patricia Archibong (Women Mobiliser).

Other are Mr Oudus Oridedi (Youth Mobiliser), Mr Anthony Edward (Finance), Mr Motayo Ojoye (Religion Affairs-Muslims), Pastor Femi Olubolade (ReligionChristiians), Ganiu Ibrahim (Religion-Culture)

The rest are Mr Peter Okunomo (Security), Mr Bayo Olukoga (Research/Strategy), Mr Dayo Osifeso (ICT/Control Room), Mr Paul Ogunnubi (Support Groups) and Mr Jelili Shodipo (Volunteer Group).

He noted that all members of PCC both at the national and state levels, were automatic members of the committee

In his acceptance speech, Alimi said that there was a huge task ahead for the committee to deliver for PDP.

While calling for unity of purpose, Alimi said: “I am assuring you that we shall not leave anybody behind.

“Let us move out to spread the gospel and reconcile with those we have disagreement with.” (NAN)

NiMet predicts 2023 early rain in 13 states

By Albert Akota

The Minister of Aviation, Dr Hadi Sirika has revealed that the 2023 beginning of rainfall (onset) is predicted to be earlier than normal in most parts of the country .

According to him, the prediction shows that the earliest onset will likely occur on or around the 2nd of March 2023 in the coastal zone of the southsouth states of Bayelsa, Rivers , Akwa Ibom and environs.

Sirika noted this in Abuja at the 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) organized by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), stating some parts of Katsina, Zamfara, Kano, Jigawa, Yobe in the North, Imo and Rivers in the south are likely to experience a delayed onset when compared to the long term averages in the

areas .

He said the onset dates in parts of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kwara , Oyo, Ogun and Lagos are likely to be near normal.

He said normal to above normal annual rainfall amounts are expected over most parts of the country excepts in parts of Yobe.

He said an early End of Season (EoS) is predicted over parts of the South (especially in Osun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Imo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and eastern parts of Ogun and Lagos) and parts of Yobe, Adamawa, Niger, Nasarawa and Kogi.

“However, an extended rainfall season is predicted over parts of Gombe, Kaduna, Kwara, Enugu, Anambra, western Ogun, and Lagos. The End of Season period is expected to range from the 26th of September till 25th of

December.

“ The length of growing season in most places in the country is likely to be near the long-term average, except for some parts of the northern states such as Katsina, Jigawa, and Kano where shorter than the long-term average length of the growing season is anticipated.

“The season is expected to range from 84 to 283 days. Abuja and surrounding States are expected to witness between 170 and 230 days.

“The annual total rainfall is predicted to be Normal to above normal in most parts of the country. However, in parts of Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kaduna and FCT that are likely to observe below normal to near normal annual rainfall amounts.

“The annual rainfall amount

is expected to range from 420 mm in the far northernmost parts to 3253 mm in the coastal areas. However

Also, according to the minister, dry spell occurrences have characterised our seasons in recent years. “In 2023, we should also prepare for its occurrence between June and early July as dry spell lasting between 15 to 21 days is in the forecast, especially from the central parts of the country to the North”.

Also, the Director General/ Chief Executive Officer of NiMet and Permanent representative of Nigeria with World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Prof. Mansur Bako Matazu said with the NiMet new Act of 2022, they are optimistic of effective collaborations going forward.

NUPRC rallies stakeholders, investors for gas flare elimination

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says it has organised a Bidders’ Conference/Investors Forum for stakeholders in the sector, to fast track implementation of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP).

This is contained in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja signed by the NUPRC Chief Executive, Mr Gbenga Komolafe, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said the conference would offer stakeholders and investors in the country’s upstream petroleum sector the opportunity to seek clarifications on the programme.

The forum billed for Feb. 2, 2023 in Abuja would hold barely a month after a similar conference in Lagos on Jan. 16, for interested stakeholders and investors in the proposed mini bid round for deep offshore oil fields.

Komolafe said participants in the forum would include

qualified applicants, financiers, technology providers, equipment manufacturers, service providers, funders, and other interested entities.

He said it would also facilitate engagements of qualified applicants with technology providers, prospective lenders, financial institutions as well as foster business relationships and partnerships for the overall programme success.

According to Komolafe, the NUPRC in August 2022 relaunched the NGFCP 2022, to drive Nigeria’s commitment to end routine gas flaring within the decade, support the imperatives of the Nigeria Energy Transition Plan (ETP) and create value from waste.

He said the NGFCP 2022 had been restructured to reflect current gas flaring situation, prevailing operational realities in the industry, and changes in the socio-economic landscape due to the passage of time since the NGFCP was originally conceived

in alignment with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA).

“The NGFCP 2022 is therefore modified to deliver end-to-end value from flare gas commercialisation to both existing and new participants.

“In accordance with Section 105 (2) of the PIA and similar provisions enabling the Commission in that respect, the Commission commenced the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage of the NGFCP 2022.

“This was through the issuance of Statement of Qualification (SOQ) to enable existing applicants to validate their status and for new investors to register to participate through the NGFCP website/ portal.

“The NGFCP 2022 recorded significant interest from stakeholders including existing participants, new investors, multilateral institutions, equipment manufacturers and the wider investment communities, both domestic and international.

“As at the SOQ submission

deadline, 300 companies/ entities had registered their interest to either revalidate their prequalification status as existing participants or submit Statement of Qualification (SOQ) as new participants.

“Also, in line with the provisions of the RFQ, the SOQ evaluation exercise was conducted by the Commission where in a total of 139 applicants were deemed successful and awarded the Qualified Applicant status,” he said.

To that end, and in reliance on Section 105 (2) of the PIA and similar provisions enabling the Commission in that respect, he said the Commission had published the list of qualified applicants who will proceed to the Request for Proposal (RFP) phase of the NGFCP 2022.

He further said details of the SOQ evaluation exercise could be accessed on the NUPRC website and NGFCP portal via www.nuprc.gov.ng and ngfcp. nuprc.gov.ng, respectively. (NAN)

Aisha Buhari Foundation convenes a Future Assured Cardiac Mission to conduct cardiac surgeries in selected hospitals in Nigeria.

Above is arrival photo of Italian surgeons for the project, with Professor Oppido Guido (4th from left) as team lead. Dr. Martin Abhulimhen of Jose Foundation, UK (5th from left) and Supol Hafiz Kabir of the Office of the First Lady (3rd from left) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport,

NCPC boss wants Christians to work as one in building Christ body

By Albert Akota

The Executive Secretary Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission NCPC, Rev Dr Yakubu Pam has urged Christians to work in unity and build the body of Christ.

He made this known during fund raising for the Secretariat of the Assemblies of God Church, Gwol, Plateau State.

Rev Pam explained the need for Christians to put aside their differences and denominationamism to support the work of God. According to him, “Let us collaborate and work together as one to make the church of God grow”

The NCPC boss further explained that as Christians, our ultimate goal should be working together to make each other grow and to impact on the lives of others. In his words, “we need to help ourselves by holding each others Hands”

He intimated that unity and oneness is the key to Nation building. He urged Christians to collectively work to make Nigeria a better place, “we can make Nigeria the envy of other countries if we work together as one”.

In his response, the former Minister of Sports, Hon. Damishi Sango thanked the NCPC boss and his team for their visit.

Buhari’s support for Tinubu unquestionable -Presidency ...Says

Yakassai unknown to APC

By Egena Sunday Ode

The presidency on Wednesday urged Nigerians to disregard claims by an Elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, that President Muhammadu Buhari and his close allies are not fully committed to the campaign activities of the All Progressives Congress, APC, flag bearer, Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Affirming that Buhari’s support to the APC cause to retain power at the centre in the forthcoming general election is

not in doubt, the presidency in a statement, urged the public to ignore the politician

The statement issued by the Presidency Spokesman, Garba Shehu read:

“Alhaji Tanko Yakasai is unknown to the All Progressives Congress, APC. Everyone is entitled to their view, but what we do know is that his insight in a recent interview does not come from within the party or the President’s team. His support for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is welcome although it is difficult to

see what value it will add.

“He is right to highlight his experience as a senior citizen, a leader in government and ability to reach out across divides are strong foundations for the highest office.

“But Yakasai’s questioning of the loyalties of President Muhammadu Buhari stands in sharp contrast to the actions of the President. Only on Monday, he was out at a rally in Bauchi supporting the flag bearer of the party. Presidential duties permitting, he is scheduled to

make further appearances at campaign events in the coming weeks.

‘’His support for the party’s candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is unquestioned.

“If this wasn’t on TV, Yakasai’s unwise comment on the issue would have been dismissed as a misquotation. But he was live on TV.

“On this one against President Buhari, no one should take him seriously.

“Perhaps times are hard and the old man needs a bit of help.”

Association demands immediate end to fuel scarcity

The National Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC) have called on government agencies responsible for regulation and supply to immediately arrest the worsening fuel scarcity in the country.

This is to justify huge public expenditure on internal subsidy.

The association’s secretary, Mr John Meze, In a statement issued on Monday in Lagos said the body of energy editors in Nigeria, lamented that the development had brought untold hardship to Nigerians.

The association said the several hours, which ought to have been put into productive ventures, were wasted at filling stations.

The group which hosted writers from online, print and electronic media organisations specifically called for immediate supply liberalisation in the domestic market.

The association also called for joint management of the government sponsored fuel subsidy scheme, visible and transparent supply monitoring dashboard as well as effective regulation and monitoring of the internal fuel market.

The group condemned the prevailing chaos in the

fuel market, challenging the regulators in the industry to come alive.

NAEC pointed out that while scarcity led to chaotic fuel queues across the country, marketers had taken advantage of the situation to profiteer by engaging in sharp market practices which currently manifested in product hoarding.

According to the association, the queues had caused the return of black market operations, diversions and breaking of regulated price ceilings.

The group observed that the sharp market practices cut across all marketing groups, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) where pump prices had surged from the official N165 per litre to over N300 per litre in some parts of the country despite the uniform pricing regime.

The development, according to the association, has serious implications for the already weakened purchasing power and income of the average Nigerian.

“Already the high cost of petrol is impacting the daily cost of living as seen in transportation costs, energy costs as many homes continue to rely on alternative sources of power due to the poor

supply from the grid as well as in high cost of goods and services.

“The traffic situation across the metropolis is also worsening as a result of prolonged fuel queues, causing high loss of man hours that could have been deployed to productive activities,” the group stated.

The NAEC noted that the nation’s “distribution valuechain is broken and worsened by a weak regulatory system.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NNPCL has since the inception of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari hijacked both the national petroleum subsidy funds and petrol supply responsibility, leading to enthronement of public sector monopoly in the system.

Besides, the national oil company is also the sole manager of the country’s petroleum subsidy funds, with the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Mele Kyari, telling the national legislators: “NNPCL dedcuted subsidy claims at source.”

Thus the role of NNPCL in the market has created linear supply channel that has rendered the domestic fuel market vulnerable to supply chain disruption.

NAEC stated that the nation’s

distribution value-chain had been broken.

“It is bad enough that there is no one to hold to account, it is worse that the government has jeopardised the interest of the masses for politics, considering that elections are near,” the association declared.

NAEC described excuses often given by market players including logistics, price regulation and domestic energy subsidy as lame.

The association noted that energy subsidy remained a normal and effective economic growth stimulation strategy still employed by all developed countries of the world to tame the cost of production and guarantee the wellbeing of citizens.

It pointed out that, “the subsidy system in Nigeria has been enmeshed in gross opacity.”

In pushing its recommendations for healing the market, NAEC called on NNPCL to immediately enthrone a transparent subsidy system that would allow the supply figures and cost templates that would subsidy claims verifiable.

NAEC demands that all stakeholder groups should liaise with regulators to establish unassailable templates for subsidy management until the

market is deregulated.

“We, therefore, call on government to immediately liberalise petrol supplies in the country in line with best practices.

“Also NAEC recommends that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDRA), which is responsible for operations compliance and resource accountability, needs to rise to its duty by holding market players accountable for open books, fair play and equal opportunity,” said the group.

It also called on the NMDRA not to fail in providing a public dashboard on the supply flow in the domestic fuel market to allow the public demand for accountable practice from players.

“As this will clear the air of suspicion that the prevailing fuel market crisis is not a political undertaking by managers of the system to siphon funds for political objectives.

The media group also challenged players and groups in the domestic fuel market to embark on self regulation by dealing with errant members that encourage sharp practices at their retail outlets. (NAN)

L-R: Lecturer, Analysis of Business Problems, Lagos Business School, Dr. Yetunde Anibaba, Professor of Political Science and member of the Board of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDC), Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim, Sarkin Karshi, Abuja/Royal Father of the day, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Ismaila Mohammed, Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja/Chairman of the event, John Cardinal Onaiyekan and Former Chairman, First of Nigeria (FBN), Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, during the 2nd Daily Trust Dialogue, Them: Interrogating the 2023 Presidential Agenda” held at NAF Centre yesterday in Abuja. Photo Mahmud Isa

Musings on new Naira’s therapeutic powers No, Soludo

Prof. Chukwuma Soludo is using his influence as governor of Anambra state to push a wrong cause. He is calling for the “unconditional release” of the so called leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, who has been in detention since 2021. According to the governor who is barely a year old in office, Kanu, if released, would “play a key role in the peaceful build-up to the general elections starting next month.” The governor spoke last week, Thursday, on a Channels TV programme ‘Politics Today’, titled ‘One-on-One with Governor Soludo’.

Soludo said he would send a formal letter to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), “in a few days.” He noted that insecurity had become “a huge challenge and a big threat” to the 2023 elections in the South-East, saying that “critical stakeholders like Kanu are needed to be around the table where security in the region will be discussed.” He said, “Our major focus is delivering on our plans for security, not just in Anambra, but the entire SouthEast and that is why we are calling for the immediate release of Kanu because he has to be part of the conversation.

“The AGF will receive a formal letter of our request for the release of Kanu in a few days time. It’s about the life and prosperity of the entire South-East. We want peace and transformation to return and we need all the stakeholders around the table. We have instituted a commission of

inquiry in this conversation, but this is not enough if we do not have critical forces like Kanu around the table for conversation. We want the South-East to participate in these elections and we need Kanu. We are saying grant him administrative bail and I am prepared to stand as his surety and to produced him whenever he is required.”

Soludo is a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), a symbol of the nation’s sovereignty and unity. The Kanu whose release he is fighting for is the very opposite of what the then CBN governor stood for. Or has he changed? Kanu is the self appointed spearhead of a secessionist, terrorist group that doesn’t recognize the Nigerian state. He has declared war on Nigeria. This is his crime and the court is handling it as the rule of law demands.

Yes, Kanu is “a critical stakeholder” only in so far governors like Soludo have allowed him the economy of tg’he region. Kanu is using the South-East as an economic shield to prosecute his breakaway agenda. To bring the economy back on the growth path means ‘decriticalising’ by letting his trial go on.

We strongly advise Mr. Soludo to let a sleeping dog lie. President Muhammadu Buhari has made the position of his government on Kanu pretty clear. The young man, probably misled, is on trial in a properly constituted court of law. Let the trial run its full course. Nobody, not even a Soludo should try to stop it.

PEOPLE OUR MISSION

By Nasir Dambatta

“Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them” - Paul

Hawken*

The announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) about its decision to redesign Nigeria’s currency, the Naira, startled the entire polity and precipitated a barrage of criticisms, and a wide assortment of comments and opinions across all sectors of the economy. The criticisms were oscillating between decidedly partisan fixation and ignorance of how economic reforms work in the developing world. Some of the critics are not even aware that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele also doubles as the Chief Economic Adviser of President Muhammadu Buhari and a section of the media surprisingly didn’t bother to even run a check on this truism.

One heard and read countless conspiracy theories that were as startling as they were perplexing to the polity on the true intent of the decision, its timing and the activities leading to the final cessation of the legality of the old notes.

The decision to redesign the Naira, which stood as firm and solid as the iconic Zuma Rock of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, cruised through stages of implementation, unstoppably, crushing all threatening obstacles strategically placed on its way, by a section of the political class, who disagree with any policy stemming from the Buhari administration.

The realization of the broad implications of the decision opened the floodgates of criticisms, skepticisms and dispassionate comments and opinions, majority inclining towards severe condemnation due to partisanship.

All these outrages were fired at the CBN and the Presidency for what some myopic critics think amounted to frightening Nigerians with an ‘extremely mischievous, treacherous and ill-timed’ monetary policy.

Politicians, critics and skeptics in their know-all-posture assume the redesignation of bank notes was slammed on the polity to truncate the political process smoothly gliding towards the next round of general elections just months away.

Expectedly, politicians, who had raked over 80 percent of the cash of the commercial banks and warehoused it in several obscure locations, their cronies across other sectors of the economy and the traditional and new media were up in arms, waging a fierce battle against government and the CBN.

Their criticisms and condemnations were so massive that they blighted the sight of the majority of Nigerians to the huge and umpteen advantages of the decision.

One needs not rehash their devastatingly unpalatable media outputs against the decision here. Every Nigerian is a witness to all these.

Nigerians deserve to know the truth about the umpteen advantages of redesigning the Naira at the time it was decided. This knowledge will cure Nigerians of the blindness they have been infected with through the massive disparagement of the decision by fraudulent politicians and their cronies across all sectors of the economy. This is one task that the Corporate Communications Department of the apex bank has been doing long before take-off of the policy.

The redesigned Naira notes indeed possess high therapeutic powers on ailments contracted by the economy in the present unhygienic circumstances of the country.

The new Naira notes are highly efficacious for the cure of counterfeiting and terror financing. These are twin ailments akin to diabetes and hypertension threatening the very existence of the country as one indivisible Nation.

They are a mixture fascinatingly efficacious on cash liquidity ailments. The keeping of over 80 percent of cash outside the commercial banks has been a severe ailment the economy has been sufferring in the class of Malaria in subSaharan Africa.

From President Muhammadu Buhari came the affirmation that the new bank notes would help control liquidity in an economy where the higher percentage of cash is held outside the banks.

The new bank notes, according to CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, are a tonic manufactured to boost financial inclusion and economic growth in a country ailed by chronic corruption for decades, with government officials and public office holders regularly being arrested for looting public funds, plunging majority of the citizens deeper into the abyss of hardship and debilitating poverty.

A reflection: Delighteningly, just within a week after the announcement of the decision, huge amounts of cash flowed out of the warehouses and obscure locations into the commercial banks, crashing the US Dollar, which, hitherto rose to over 800 Naira, to 500 Naira, and substantially reducing inflation.

What a marvellous quick-fix!

Within just a couple of weeks, the new bank notes also proved to be a very effective panacea for the severe hardship of majority of Nigerians. To beat the deadline given for the legality of the old notes, those who stashed them in billions in different locations, have had to cart them out for so many ventures, including electioneering campaigns. This way, the cash they had never intended to give Nigerians now indeed go round in billions among the poor citizens.

Indeed, the new bank notes are to cleanse the economy, flush all toxins and other impurities out of it and boost its immune system, especially with regard to such killer-ailments as fraud by public office holders and politicians. The signs of positive gains, I dare say, are already here.

“To be a reputable, profitable, innovative and technologically reliant media company offering world class services and products”

OUR VISION OUR

“To be the market place of ideas and the leading player in the industry by putting the people first, upholding the truth, maintaining the highest professional and ethical standards while delivering value to our stakeholders”

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play a key role in the peaceful build-up to the general elections starting next month

The reign of the US dollar is about to come to an end

By Joe Dauda

By sheer folly or by design (I believe it is more by design) this arrangement between Saudi Arabia and the United States will not last much longer. And that means the dollar will no longer be the king of world currencies.

The reason why the US dollar enjoys global currency dominance is partly because of its Petrodollar Status. This status was concocted by the United States agreeing to protect the kingdom of Saudi Arabia through its superior military machine, in exchange for the Saudis demanding US dollars for all oil transaction settlements.

Take a moment and think about this. And remember the status of Saudi Arabia as the undisputed largest producer of crude oil in the world — except for that brief period when President Donald Trump unleashed the capacity of America’s oil industry.

By sheer folly or by design (I believe it is more by design) this arrangement between Saudi Arabia and the United States will not last much longer. And that means the dollar will no longer be the king of world currencies.

Although the media hardly reports it, the fact is that Saudi Arabia has been at war with Yemen for years now. It is something akin to the Boko Haram insurgency — an asymmetric war. Yemen is currently under the leadership of a Shia Islam group known as the Houthis. Everybody knows that the Houthis are a proxy of the Iranian regime. This means they are being supported and controlled by Iran. In past articles, I have explained the rivalry between Shia Islam and Sunni Islam, represented by Iran and Saudi Arabia respectively. Because of the close relationship

between the United States and Israel and the strategic relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were able to arrange a deal for peace between Israel and some Arab countries, which would not have been possible without the consent of Saudi Arabia. President Donald Trump also antagonized Iran more than any US President alive, not by war, but by economic sanctions, to the extent that, in the black market, one US dollar now exchanges for almost 400,000 Iranian rials. You better believe it. One US dollar exchanges for four hundred thousand Iranian rials. Trump’s sanctions were that vicious and Iran may not have been able to survive a Trump second term.

But Joe Biden came to power and gave Iran a lifeline by trying to revive the 2015 Nuclear Deal that President Trump had abandoned at the strong urging of Israel, the Saudis, and most Sunni/Arab nations who fear a nuclear-armed Iran. Not only did Joe Biden try to revive the 2015 deal, he also took some hostile actions against Saudi Arabia. Believe it or not, President Joe Biden removed American Patriot missiles from Saudi Arabia at the very time Saudi Arabia was being attacked with ballistic missiles by the Houthis of Yemen. Even a Saudi oil well was attacked. I don’t know if he removed all but I can guarantee you that Joe Biden removed some American Patriot missiles from Saudi soil.

To make life harder for the Houthis, President Donald Trump had included them in the list of Terrorist Organizations, which, among other painful burdens, meant they were excluded from the international financial system.

Guess what? One of the first things Joe Biden did

when he came to power was to remove the Yemeni Houthis from that list, making it a lot easier for them to thrive and also buy weapons, with which to attack Saudi Arabia, a supposed US strategic partner.

The Saudis noticed all of these and did not take it kindly. No wonder, the diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and China began to warm up rapidly soon after that and, at the end of last year, a strategic agreement was signed between the Saudis and China.

One may charge Joe Biden of recakless stupidity but, from the prophetic perspective, I don’t believe the moves of Joe Biden has anything to do with foolishness. Please read my earlier published 4-Part Series, The Gathering Storm, to understand why Joe Biden is doing what he is doing.

For many years, we in the school of Bible prophecy, have known and expected a crash of the dollar. Next time you hear or see the words, Great Reset, please understand that it will be preceded with total economic devastation. It is after this economic tsunami that the great reset will take place. On Biden’s campaign lectern, you saw the words, Build Back Better.

Build what back? What they plan to destroy of course. The dollar is part of the anticipated casualty of the coming Great Reset. And the announcement, just yesterday, by the Finance Minister of Saudi Arabia is the sign that the days of dollar dominance are soon to be over. Isn’t it interesting that it was during a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos that this announcement was made? Remember the World Economic Forum? You should.

Joe Dauda

is a Public Affairs Analyst.

Ukraine and Africa aim to bolster economic cooperation

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

Despite the former Soviet republic of Ukraine for almost a year, is experiencing the worst times due to an extensive special military operation from its neighbour Russia, it has simultaneously been stepping up efforts to support Africa. During the past year, it despatched tonnes of fertilizers, wheat, grains and other agricultural products to a number of African countries, most them located in the Horn and East Africa.

In order to boost its efforts in establishing cordial working relations especially in the area of economic cooperation, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Kuleba last year visited a number of African countries, held useful conversations with high-powered government officials, and plans to open diplomatic representative offices this year inside Africa. It also plans to boost exports and participate in taking up opportunities of manufacturing offered by the single continental market.

The overarching message in all these is to focus on engaging and expanding the expected long-term partnership, and collaboratively establish trade links. For connecting business interests between Ukraine and Africa, Ukrainians are rapidly studying more possibilities for participating in the African Continental Free Trade Area which was already agreed on, in the process, with a number of African leaders and the African Union.

Early January, Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Nikolai Solsky visited Senegal, where he signed a memorandum of understanding between the Ukrainian ministry and the relevant Senegalese agency on January 9, the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry website.

The document envisions the development of bilateral trade in agricultural produce and cooperation on scientific studies, investments, and interrelations between Ukrainian and Senegalese government agencies and private companies. It provides for the possible storage of Ukrainian grain at so-called grain hubs. Ukraine is willing to export not only foodstuffs but also other goods to African countries, which requires the development of logistical infrastructure.

The official document points out that Ukraine is considering the implementation of new logistical projects in Senegal to step up exports of its agricultural produce via the Port of Dakar. West African republic of Ghana plans to implement new logistics projects, which will help increase agricultural exports from Ukraine. Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Nikolai Solsky and Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture Owusu Afriyie Akot, have thoroughly discussed steps to broaden agricultural cooperation and trade relations.

The parties discussed a potential joint project, a logistics hub that will be able to store food products, including grain, and will help stabilize food prices in the region. Besides Ghana and Senegal, Nigeria has also expressed high interest in setting up such hubs in its territory. The current geopolitical situation should rather have a reliable and diversified transit and transport infrastructure to destinations where it is badly needed especially naturally disasteraffected regions in Africa.

“There have been meetings in Ghana, Senegal, and Nigeria. These countries regularly take a lot of food products, especially wheat. These are major markets from the standpoint of their populations compared to the European market or many other countries. It doesn’t have such purchasing power, but it is big and is developing, and therefore, it needs to be monitored,” Ukrainian media quoted Solsky as saying.

Solsky said each country he had visited was interested in developing cooperation with Ukraine and ready to expand the capacity of their ports to increase the volume of Ukrainian grain unloaded and stored there. But, before launching the construction of hubs in Africa to transship Ukrainian grain, Ukraine needs to receive guarantees from the countries concerned including documenting the guarantees and the principles of operating them either by Ukraine, or whether it will be a state company, and how private traders will be involved in this cooperation.

Solsky said that his ministry would provide more information about infrastructure projects in mid-spring 2023, as in the coming months it would have to hold additional consultations with the authorities of African countries and businesses interested in Ukrainian grain exports to Africa.

Within the framework of the roadmap, it has launched its development projects including constructing facilities for storage agricultural foodstuffs and for onward distribution throughout some regional markets, to offset food shortages in Africa. Ukraine, however, insists that food and fertilizer trade should not be subjected to sanctions or any restrictions.

According to several reports carefully monitored by this author, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has held 18 conversations with African leaders in 2022, nine of which were the first instances of bilateral communication between Ukraine and these African countries. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry listed some of them such as Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, and Botswana.

President of Guinea-Bissau and Chairperson-in-Office of the Economic Community of West Africa Umaro Embalo visited Ukraine in October 2022. It was the first official visit by a leader of a sub-Saharan African state since 2004, according to the Ukrainian

Foreign Ministry.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Kuleba, for his part, held 35 phone calls and meetings with his counterparts from African countries in 2022, the ministry said. The first ever African tour by a Ukrainian foreign minister took place in October 2022. The report indicated that Minister Kuleba visited Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Kenya.

Ukraine’s Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa Maxim Subkh, appointed in July 2022, also visited five African countries. Within this emerging multipolar world, Ukraine is broadening its geopolitical influence, and of course it is important for Ukraine to fix its diplomatic presence on the continent to an appreciable level necessary for active interaction, in a continuous and efficient manner, with Africa. It has official representation, an observer status, at the African Union.

Arriving back to Kyiv after his visit to Washington in December, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a video address, announced that Ukraine would open 10 new embassies in African countries. “We are rebooting relationships with dozens of countries in Africa. We must strengthen this as we have already determined ten countries where new Ukrainian embassies in Africa will be opened. We have also developed a concept of the Ukraine-Africa Trade House. Its offices will open in the capitals of the most promising countries of the continent,” he said.

President Zelenskiy considers Africa as a unique and dynamically developing continent with whom to have relations. In addition, these countries are steadily gaining political weight and achieving significant economic successes, it therefore becomes necessary to look for more new partners eventually targeting African countries.

The Chairman of the African Union and President of Senegal, Macky Sall, together with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, visited Moscow and Kyiv in an attempt to mediate the conflict, but without any result in sight.

“We do not want to be aligned on this conflict, very clearly, we want peace. Even though we condemn the invasion, we’re working for a de-escalation, we’re working for a ceasefire, for dialogue … that is the African position,” Senegalese Macky Sall said, back in May 2022.

Meanwhile, Africa is still divided over the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, the crisis that have caused global economic instability since February 24, 2022. The African Union (AU) and African leaders understand aspects of the geopolitical complexities, implications and possible solutions to the existing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Kestér Kenn Klomegâh is a Public Policy Analyst.

The Japa Movement: Drain and gain

By Adewole Adeola Peace

Anew report by the UK government shows that the 13,609 Nigerian healthcare workers granted working visas within the last one year (2021) are second only to the 42,966 from India. There were 4,000 applications for permanent residency by Nigerians in Canada in 2015. By 2019, the number had climbed to 15,595 – an increase of over 214.9%.

The term “Japa”, a Nigerian local parlance gotten from the Yoruba language, is literally translated as fleeing or deserting a place. It is used in cases of imminent danger or in recent times, migration. This word, has over the years, spread like wildfire in use and in deed and has become a movement preached on social media, corporate environments and even informal settings. The Japa Movement, therefore, is a migration trend in various fields or social categories of a geographical territory with the people sharing a common ideology or trying to achieve the same goal of moving out of the country.

From a recent PEW research survey, about 45% of Nigeria’s adult population plans to relocate to another country within five years. In another study in 2021, it was revealed that seven in every 10 Nigerians plans to relocate if given the opportunity.

A new report by the UK government shows that the 13,609 Nigerian healthcare workers granted working visas within the last one year (2021) are second only to the 42,966 from India. There were 4,000 applications for permanent residency by Nigerians in Canada in 2015. By 2019, the number had climbed to 15,595 – an increase of over 214.9%.

Back in the early fifteenth century to the seventeenth century, Nigerians were forced on

ships to leave the country and go work in other places. Records of people jumping into the sea rather than risk the fear of being tortured were taken for historical purpose. Now, it is another story entirely as more youths and vibrant adults would grab every opportunity presented to jump into ships or airplanes and flee the country. What has changed from the early years to now? What has caused this uptick in the rate of people migrating?

Foremost, the government of the country is in a worse state than it was at independence. Corruption and unscrupulous political behaviours has eaten deep into the very fabric of the country, clutching in its hands the promising future of the populace. Unemployment rate has broken the scale of normalcy and has become the new normal in the country. University

students regard side hustles than the actual course they pay to study in the institution. Health workers are clearing out workspaces and resuming new jobs abroad. This is because the country has hugely failed to provide basic infrastructural facilities for all sectors. It has failed to provide security for her own citizens. It has failed to ascertain a better tomorrow for her future leaders. The consequence of this en masse movement of technically and academically skilled professionals is the existence of brain drain in the country. Everyday the country loses her finest brains to a developed country. How then do we meet up with development if the people who can help departs to the diaspora?

Furthermore, the gain of the japa movement favours the migrant more than the country. There are life-changing opportunities for a comfortable living condition. There’s a structured and wellorganised system of living. There are better chances of improving financial security for one’s household.

Do we then leave our homeland to continue to wallow in an abysm of retrogression, despair, and a lingering doom? If we continue to run away from ourselves out of anxiety, who then, is to meet the challenge? No matter how we try to deny it, “once your homeland, forever your homeland” is a saying that will continually stay true. Sad as it may sound, we all can not join the bandwagon of the Japa Movement, so join the train of people who are ready to vote for the right leadership in this coming election.

To conclude, please pick up your PVC. Vote the right human. And welcome our fellow citizens to a new dispensation.

Adewole Adeola Peace is a Public Affairs Analyst.

Single Parenting; Negative effects on a child

By Kasali Oluwasegun Oluwajuwon

Children of single parents are also affected psychologically. One of the common reasons for single parenting is divorce. Symeon (2007) notes that children of single parents are more likely to display risky behaviors: smoking, drinking, delinquency, violence, unsafe sexual activity and suicide attempts.

Are two heads truly better than one? According to C.S Lewis, two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction. This is a proof that things we do in unity come out better than the ones we do as individuals. Single parenting has to do with a family being headed by an individual. It can be caused by divorce, abandonment, becoming widowed, domestic violence, rape, childbirth by a single person or singleperson adoption. This can affect a child in different ways. In subsequent paragraphs, emphasis will be made on, developmental problems and psychological effects of single parenting.

First off, many behavioural effect on single parenting children revolves around their progress in school. They tend to have lower school achievement, discipline problem, lower class attendance and more crime .They tend to get lower grades, and dropout rate is higher than their counterparts. I have a friend in my secondary school days who is better than I am, academically, not until his parent‘s divorce. His dad left him and his siblings for their mum. So their mum had to work harder than she used to, she no longer hastime for herself anymore not to talk of her children. My friend had to

start working at night and then come for classes in the morning, these really affected him academically that he could not do well like he use to. After the end of the session he failed mathematics and he was ask to repeat, he could not cope with sitting in class with his junior students, at the end he stopped coming to school. Few

years later I saw him in a street fight at Bariga, Lagos state, with his gangs.

Moving on, Children of single parents are also affected psychologically. One of the common reasons for single parenting is divorce. Symeon (2007) notes that children of single parents are more likely to display risky behaviors: smoking, drinking, delinquency, violence, unsafe sexual activity and suicide attempts. Children of single parents are more prone to various psychiatric illnesses, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse than children from homes with two parents. The child is prone to traumatic experiences, at the end the child is likely to become a hustler at a tender age to survive. If such child drop out of school at the end, the child will be sad whenever he or she meets his or her class mates later in the future. This can cause depression and the child is likely to blame his parents at the end. The child is also likely to mingle with the wrong set of people who are likely to invite the child to bad things like drugs, and alcoholic abuse thinking it is a way of reducing trauma.

Single parenting should not be encouraged. Parents are to be together because each party (husband and wife) has their own different roles in the home. However, the role of child training and inculcating moral discipline has always been a joint effort. This is because two are better than one. The love a child gets from a family is what a child needs to live and serves as guide for the child. The effects of single parenting psychologically and academically affects the child. Parents, therefore, need to be responsible for their words.

Kasali

Oluwasegun Oluwajuwon is a Public Policy Analyst.

Do we then leave our homeland to continue to wallow in an abysm of retrogression, despair, and a lingering doom? If we continue to run away from ourselves out of anxiety, who then, is to meet the challenge

“

irst off, many behavioural effect on single parenting children revolves around their progress in school. They tend to have lower school achievement, discipline problem, lower class attendance and more crime

“

NUJ removes NOA staff, LG information officers from its membership

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has removed the National Orientation Agency staff and Local Governments Information Officers from the list of its members.

The NUJ took the decision at its two-day delegates conference in Kano State on Thursday.

During the Constitution Review Session, the delegates agreed that NOA staff would no longer be accorded NUJ membership.

The delegates also noted agreed that the elected officials of the NOA Chapel would however be allowed to serve out their term of office as members of the NUJ.

The gathering also passed a new law barring staff of ministries of information adjudged as nonpractising journalists from being accorded NUJ membership.

Delegates in session also concurred that Local Government public relations officers should no longer be handed NUJ membership status.

Reject liars, vote those that can change Nigeria - Obi Literacy:

Group organises spelling bees competitions for northern schools

By Maryam Abeeb

In a bid to promote literacy in the northern part of the country, a group known as Educand Education Initiative, EEI has organised a North central and Northeast regional SPELL and THRILL Intervention competition.

The President of EEI, Ayotunde Ikulamberu , explained that the spelling competition started in 2012 in Ondo is for primary and secondary schools in Nigeria.

According to him, the competition has increased to 25 states and FCT across the South East, South South and North Central and Northeast.

While addressing journalists in an interview at the event, he said that the competition is aimed at refocusing and encourage students to showcase their hard work outside the classrooms environments.

From David Hassan, Gombe

The Presidential candidate of Labour Party Peter Obi on Wednesday said Nigerians should not make the mistake of voting liars instead of voting those

that can change the narrative of the country.

Obi stated this in Gombe when he visited the state in order to canvas for votes.

He said Nigerians are still in coma, where they faced numerous

challenges through hardships meted on them by the past administration.

“We should not look at our differences but should look at ourselves as Nigerians and vote credible leaders”, he said.

According to him, all the campaign promises that was made by the past administration failed to yield positive result, “but I assure you if Labour Party is voted into power, our campaign promise will come into fulfilment.”

Our structures still intact in Jigawa - Labour Party Chair

The leadership of Labour Party (LP) in Jigawa state, reputed the claim by its former Gubernatorial candidate,

Comrade Abdullahi Tsoho Garba that he decamped to ruling APC with all the party’s members. This was disclosed by the state party (LP) chairman, Alhaji Isyaku Aliyu while speaking to news men

at the state’s party headquarter in Dutse, JIgawa state capital.

He said, “the claim by our former gubernatorial candidate, Comrade Abdullahi Tsoho Garba that he and other executives

decamped to APC is not true”.

Alhaji Isyaku Aliyu explained that “what he said is a big lai. We went alone and our structure is intact.”

NYSC gets new directors, promote 1,123 staff

By Albert Akota

The Governing Board of the National Youth Service Corps has promoted eight members among the Management Staff of NYSC to the position of Directors on salary grade level seventeen (17).

They are; Aremu Kehinde, Abdullahi Yusuf Baba, Amusan Oluwole Julius, Chukwu

Chiwendu, Fasakin Bona Adibeli, Isa Abdulazeez Onimisi, Ibrahim Abdul Muhammed and Ahijo Yahaya.

This was part of the outcome of the 2023 nationwide NYSC Senior Staff Promotion Examination that was recently held in Abuja. Similarly, a total of One Thousand, One Hundred and Twenty-Three (1,123) staff from different cadres, comprising both

junior and senior staff in the Scheme were also promoted to new grade levels in the Federal Civil Service.

While presenting letters of promotion to some of the successful candidates in her office in Abuja yesterday, the Acting Director General of NYSC, Mrs Christy Ifeyinwa Uba congratulated them on their success in the examination.

She advised them to let

the promotion spur them into greater performance in the discharge of their duties, adding that the Scheme expects more commitments, loyalty, diligence and selfless service to the Scheme.

“Promotion comes with hardwork. Let me use this medium to congratulate the successful candidates while hoping that the promotion will spur them to greater performance”, Uba said.

From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

Member State house of Assembly, Reprenting Makera Constituency, Hon. Yusuf Liman,- delibering a lectures during the Imams and Ulama of Makera, holds 1 week Seminer on Model ways of teaching at Islamic schools in kaduna on thursday 26/1/23

APC says bombing Rivers campaign train dangerous dimension in political violence

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

All Progressive Congress (APC) has said the violent attack at the Party’s rally in Port Harcourt yesterday, involving the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and rapid gunfire was despicable, and represents a new and dangerous dimension in political violence in the build up to next month’s general election.

A statement issued by the Party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka said the detonation of IED and gunfire resulted in serious injuries to Party members and supporters in the immediate vicinity of the attack.

APC said the attack, which was carried out by suspected thugs

of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was led by senior officials of the Port-Harcourt City Local Government Area, on a mission to disrupt and disperse the rally at the traditional grounds of Rumuwoji Town in Mile 1 area of Port-Harcourt under the pretext of enforcing the draconic Executive Order 21 and 22 of the Rivers State Government enacted to stifle opposition political engagements.

“To be clear, the Port-Harcourt rally was convened in accordance with all applicable constitutional and legal standards of Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We strongly condemn this gruesome attack at the PortHarcourt rally. It constitutes an assault on our democracy, and a clear and present threat to next month’s general election. The

Obi in Bauchi, says discovered oil not for sharing but for development

By Musa Baba Adamu

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Thursday took his campaign to Bauchi state, where he assured that the recently discovered oil in the state will be explored and used to develop the people and the area, not for sharing.

Obi also told the jubilant crowd that the hide and skin industry in the state will be developed and turned into a production centre for export.

He said that taking back Nigeria entails that we change the country from Consumption to Production and to achieve that, the country must be well secured.

“We cannot achieve anything if the country is not secured and it would be the top priority of Datti and I to secure the land and return the people to the farms,” he said.

The LP candidate noted that he and Datti’s projection to pull the people out of poverty, especially in the North, will not be possible if the land is not secured.

This, he said, explains why security will be their number one priority if elected into office come February 25, 2023.

According to the former Governor of Anambra state, “Datti and I have the key to unlock the wealth of the North which is embedded in the vast arable land in the region.”

The VP candidate, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the National Chairman of the Party Bar Julius Abure and other leaders of the party underscored the candidate’s position about the Labour Party’s desire to pull people out of poverty, develop education and health

escalation of violence calculated to intimidate and scuttle legitimate campaign activities by opposition political parties in Rivers State is unacceptable and must stop.

“The perpetrators and victims of campaign violence are all Nigerians and we cannot permit or excuse anyone to inflict harm, maim or kill others on account of political partisanship. That is the direct antithesis of our democratic norms and negates the greatness of our national democratic aspiration.

“We call on the Inspector General of Police to order a full, thorough and expeditious investigation of the incident. Statements credited to the Rivers State Police Command that there was no explosion at the rally do not cut the urgency and seriousness of

the matter.

“The Police cannot casually and hastily dismiss eye-witness reports of explosion of IEDs at the rally without full and proper investigation. If such an investigation has been conducted, the Nigeria Police should do well to make the investigation report public.

“This is a matter of national concern. Nigerians deserve to know and must be reassured that attending opposition campaign rallies in Rivers State is not akin to a journey of no return to the frontlines of illicit and orchestrated war. Every citizen, irrespective of partisan political affiliation, is entitled to equal protection of law. As the Chief Security Officer of the state, “His Excellency, Governor

Nyesom Wike, must do his duty to offer equal protection of the law to all citizens of the State, and work with law enforcement agencies to solve this heinous crime, prevent a recurrence and bring the perpetrators to justice.

“We wish our Party members injured in the attack speedy and full recovery. We urge our members to remain calm, strong, and undeterred as they continue to turn up massively at our Party’s campaign rallies in the state.

“As signatories to the Peace Pact, political parties owe themselves and the country a duty to engage in issue-based campaigns, to rein in their members, and eschew all forms of violence during the remainder of the electioneering season and beyond”, the party said.

infrastructures and create job for the vibrant youths.

Earlier before the rally, on arrival in Bauchi, Obi and his team comprising the running mate, Senator Yusuf Datti BabaAhmed and National Chairman of the Labour Party, Bar Julius Abure paid a courtesy call on the Emir of Bauchi, Dr Rilwanu Suleman Adamu, in his palace.

The royal father, who received them with his chiefs and other prominent sons of the ancient city, wished them well in their heart desires.

Obi had told him that he and his Vice are in the race because they feel they have the key to help Nigeria youths take back their country and rebuild it.

Fuel scarcity: CNPP asks Buhari to purge NNPC of corrupt, incompetence leadership

By Christiana Ekpa

Conference Of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP)

has commended the move by President Muhammadu Buhari to end fuel scarcity in the country by setting up a 14man Steering Committee to find lasting solutions to the problems surrounding the supply and distribution chain of petroleum products in the country.

In a statement signed by its Secretary General, Willy Ezugwu, the CNPP observed that “as desirable as the step taken by President Muhammadu Buhari may be, the first step to salvage the oil sector is to cleanse the newly incorporated NNPC Limited of the inherited

corrupt management team who are currently overseeing the company.”

Recall that the committee which was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari which would be chaired by himself and co-chaired by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva.

The CNPP, however, noted that “it is impossible to have the same people, who created the problem that manifests today as fuel scarcity, find solution to the problem which was created due to incompetence and intention to corruptly enrich a few.

“Today, NNPC has opened another channel for siphoning taxpayers’ money by venturing into road construction when

the company has been unable to meet Nigeria’s OPEC oil production supply quota and has denied the country of the needed foreign exchange.

“The ripple effect of the inability of the current NNPC Limited’s management to earn foreign exchange for Nigeria is the prevailing forex scarcity, leading to continuous crash of the naira against the United States dollar.

“Therefore, if the Mallam Mele Kyari-led NNPC cannot get a single refinery in Nigeria working in nearly eight years, how can it solve the current problem of fuel scarcity?

“If President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking to end his tenure with enduring legacy

in the oil industry in Nigeria, it’s about time he got rid of the current Mele Kyari-led NNPC Limited.

“Our position remains that President Buhari inaugurated and reinforced corruption the day he unveiled the new NNPC.

“The perennial fuel scarcity in the country is man-made through deliberate policies by the Mallam Mele Kyari-led NNPC management team.

“We are glad that the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies are part of the committee but the committee will produce little or no positive result if the current NNPC leadership remains in office”, the CNPP stated.

The cross section of the Commercial Banks executives, during their meeting with House of Representatives Ad-hoc committee to Interface with Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) and Commercial Banks on New Currency swap at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

APGA founder, Okorie murns late

Ikonne, Abia PDP guber candidate

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The founding National Chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Chekwas Okorie has expressed his grief over the sudden death of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Abia State, Uchenna Ikonne.

A statement he issued yesterday in Abuja said late Ikonne was an illustrious son and administrator in Abia, adding that the deceased Professor of Optometry was a quintessential politician.

“I received with sadness the news of the death of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship Candidate in Abia State, Professor Uchenna Ikonne in Abuja on 25th January 2023.

“He was an illustrious son of Abia State, a renowned Professor of Optometry, former Vice Chancellor of Abia State University, a remarkable administrator and quintessential politician. His death is a monumental loss to the people of Abia State he served in various capacities and desired to govern.

“Words alone cannot adequately convey the sense of loss l felt over his departure at a time his wise counsel and contribution to the development of Abia State and sustainable democracy in Nigeria is needed.

“My thoughts and prayers are with members of his family, the Government and people of Abia State, and his political associates in this period of grief.

“The greatest honour to be bestowed on him is to conduct free, fair, credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful elections in the State which he was a gubernatorial candidate”, Okorie said.

NNPP accuses INEC of sabotaging its chances in 2023 general elections

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has said the refusal of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to obey court of Appeal order to replace its candidates ahead of 2023 elections is politically motivated to sabotage its chances in the general election.

Briefing journàlists yesterday in Abuja, the National Publicity Secretary of NNPP, Agbo Major said INEC cannot seek to conduct credible 2023 general election while standing justice on its head and dissipate energy and resources on wild goose chase.

While pointing out that the rule of law is the foundation of a democratic nation, the party said the electoral Commission must obey clear orders of Court, adding that “NNPP will resist the commission’s interference in its internal affairs and decision to impose candidates on the party”.

Speaking further, the party publicity secretary said “It is

unfortunate that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a veritable symbol of the nation’s democracy currently preparing to conduct the 2023 general election can show utter disrespect, disregard and disdain to the clear orders of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court directing it to accept the names of the fresh candidates submitted to it by the party to replace those that withdrew their candidature and resigned from the party.

“In awkward display of partisan politics unbecoming of an electoral umpire, INEC is yet to accept NNPP candidates submitted to it on 12th September 2022, after an earlier one on 30th August 2022”.

Listing the party’s candidates, the spokesman said “Kano State: Kano Central Senatorial District, Sen. Rufai Hanga replaces Ibrahim Shekarau.

“Taraba State: Taraba South Senatorial District, Murtala Garba replaces Hon Ibrahim

Mikra.

“Yobe State: Adamu Mohammed replaces Yahaya Gamaje as Deputy Governorship candidate,

“Potiskum Central House of Assembly, Zakari Yau Hassan replaces Hon Mohammed Seidu Maikifi.”

He said pursuant to Sections 31 and 33 of the Electoral Act 2022, NNPP held fresh primaries to fill the above vacant slots in Kano Central Senatorial District on Thursday 8th September 2022, Taraba South Senatorial District, as well as Yobe Potiskum Central House of Assembly (except the Deputy Governorship seat of Yobe State where no election is needed).

To this end, he said the party is aware of an alleged grand plot to deliberately sabotage NNPP and deprive the party the opportunity to field candidates for these positions.

According to Major, NNPP sought an order directing INEC to allow the party to submit

the names of all the candidates it wants to replace with those who voluntarily withdrew their candidature for the 2023 general election and publish their names, which was granted but INEC has refused to comply.

“Nigeria is not a Banana Republic that laws are recklessly subverted by maximum rulers and agencies. INEC is not above the law. It cannot choose which judgement of the court of competent jurisdiction to obey.

“Adopting a delay tactic by chasing a wild goose across the country is the height of rascality. The nation’s electoral process must be sanitized, strengthened and deepened by all stakeholders. INEC must justify the confidence Nigerians reposed in it and do the right thing.”

NNPP also urged Nigerians to collect their permanent voter cards (PVCs) before the January 29, 2023 deadline set by the commission, warning that the destiny of the nation is at stake.

Northern group raises alarm over plots to thwarts 2023 general elections

By Abubakar Yunusa

The Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG, has raised concerns over an alleged plot by some scrupulous elements to thwart the 2023 general elections by making the new Naira notes scarce and increased violence on INEC offices.

Briefing newsmen in Abuja, CNG spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said the unfolding of these events have negatively affected ordinary Nigerians and potentially frustrates interest in the elections.

He went further to say the timing for the implementation of

the new Naira notes was ill-timed and poses a huge threat to the conduct of a free, fair and credible election.

Suleiman said, “CNG notes particularly, the ratification and vigorous pursuit of a regime of harsh unrealistic economic and financial policies by the Central Bank of Nigeria less than a month to the election, inflicting pains on the electorates and heating up the political atmosphere.

“Another hard proof of potential threat to a peaceful transition through an acceptable electoral process, is having fuel scarcity grounding activities and frustrating the population a

month to the election.

“At the same time, embarking on Naira Exchange and making the new currency scarce by the CBN is another latent ground for suspicion.

“The timing for the implementation of such a policy in a country in which the total mumber of deposit money bank branches is just 5,437 with a concentration 1624 branches in Lagos alone, other southern states 2235, and the entire Northern Nigerian states 1188, Abuja 390 is certainly a calculated to effort to bring about general confusion that would threaten the 2023 polls.

“Emiefile’s apparent arrogant stance on no going back on the January 31st deadline despite the patriotic intervention of the Nigerian Senate urging the CBN to extend the deadline by 6 months, the outright rejection of the policy by the Federal House of Representatives and the Nigerian Governors Forum, has inadvertently made the situation all the more suspicious.”

CNG called on President Muhammadu Buhari to absolve himself by reclaiming his statesmanship by standing against any machination against the conduct of credible elections and peaceful handover.

The group also called on Nigerians not to be discouraged in casting their votes during the election.

Suleiman said, “That for the avoidance of doubt, we warn that any attempt from any quarters, to hoist any form of undemocratic arrangement short of a transparent, free and fair elections will be roundly resisted and rejected.

“Finally, we urge the Nigerian people to prepare to endure the pains and ensure they cast their votes and their votes count, regardless of the antics of enemies of the country and undemocratic elements.”

From right: Chairman Ad-hoc Committee to Interface with Central Bank Nigeria and Commercial Banks on New Currency swap/ Leader of the house Alhassan Ado Doguwa, The Clerk House of Representatives Dr. Yahaya Danzaria and a member of the committee Johnson Oghuma, during a meeting with the Commercial Bank executives at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Kwara Assembly approves tenure extension for acting auditorgeneral

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Kwara State House of Assembly on Thursday approved the extension of the tenure of the acting State Auditor-General by six months.

This followed a request by Governor Abdulrahaman Abdulrazaq in a letter to the legislative arm.

The Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly read the letter from the governor requesting legislative approval for an additional six months tenure extension for the acting Auditor General of Kwara State, Fatai Adeyemi Tiamiyu, whose term ends on 28th January 2023.

”It’s worthy of note that the case of appointment of substantive Auditor General is still in court,” the letter added.

The House in line with Section 126(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, approved the additional sixmonth tenure extension starting January 29th, 2023.

Kwara State House of Assembly unanimously voted in favour of the request of the governor.

The clerk of the house was subsequently directed to communicate the resolution to the governor accordingly.

2023: ADP members dump party, join Accord in Oyo

By Musa Baba Adamu

Scores of Action Democratic Party (ADP) faithful in Oyo State have announced their defection from the party.

The ADP members who announced their defection on Thursday said they have joined the state chapter of the Accord Party.

The former ADP members made these disclosures in Iseyin town in the Oke Ogun geo-

political zone of the state.

The defectors said all ADP members in every the ward of Iseyin local government area have defected to Accord.

Leader of the defectors, Nureni Azeez explained that the decision to join the Accord Party was informed by the trust and belief they have in the Oyo North Senatorial candidate of the party, Shina Abiola Peller.

The former ADP chairman in Iseyin local government

area explained that Accord has remained a household name in the state.

He claimed the party has more chances of winning the 2023 elections in the state than any other political party.

In his words, “Members of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) across all the wards in Iseyin local government area defected to Accord party on Wednesday, 25, January 2023.

“The decision was informed by

the trust and belief in Honourable Shina Abiola Peller and Accord as a party”.

Peller, in his reaction, lauded the decision of the defectors.

He described it as a bold step driven by the interest of Oke Ogun and Oyo North Senatorial District in general.

He urged the new members to work harmoniously with other members to ensure victory for the party at the 2023 general elections.

Peter Obi visits Borno, promises to alleviate suffering

By Christiana Ekpa

Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on Thursday visited Biu Emirate, the Southern part of Borno State as part of his campaign to become Nigeria’s next president.

Peter Obi is the first Nigerian

presidential candidate to visit the emirate. There was wild jubilation and disbelief from the Southern Borno natives drawn from Chibok, Gwoza, Hawul, Askira Uba and the entire nine local government areas who said they never imagined that a popular presidential candidate would

think of them and even visit them.

Obi visited the emirate in the company of his running mate, Datti Yusuf Baba-Ahmed, Labour Party Chairman, Julius Abure, the governorship candidate, Captain Ibrahim Mshelia, the coordinator of the event who is the party’s Deputy National Campaign Manager, Isaac Balami and other

campaign stalwarts.

He promised to alleviate the suffering and wipe the tears of the hardworking Southern Borno people caused by Boko Haram.

“I am one of you and feel your plight. I know that you are all hardworking and want to go back to your farms. I am giving you my word that this insecurity issue

will be a thing of the past in my administration and I will ensure that my government gives you the best of life.

”Thank you for everything you have done for the country and I will never forget you. A new Nigeria is possible,” Obi said.

Nigerians eager for LP to takeover – Delta guber candidate Pela

By Christiana Ekpa

The Delta State gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Deacon Ken Pela today expressed confidence that the 2023 elections will hold peacefully despite the security challenges in the Country.

Deacon Pela made the

assertion during a conversation with newsmen shortly after an interactive session with gubernatorial candidates in Warri.

The interactive session was organized by the Delta State Chapter of the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria, APBN.

“I am confident that the election will be peaceful and there’s no beating an idea whose time has come.

“In this case, I believe it is ordained for change to happen in this country and I believe it will happen peacefully.

“We had a peaceful transition in 2015, we will have an even more

peaceful transition in 2023,” he said.

Deacon Pela also urged Nigerians, especially Deltans, to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, in order for them to support and vote for candidates of their choice.

He said Nigerians are clamouring for the Labour Party

to take over the reins of leadership in the Country.

According to him: “Everywhere you go in the Country, [you hear] Obidient! Labour Party! The excitement for change is high all over the country. I am sure that even the majority of those who already have their PVCs are just gearing up for change.”

Ignore current hardships, vote candidates on basis of performance – PDP chieftain

By Musa Baba Adamu

AChieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kachia Local Government of Kaduna State, Moses Auta, on Thursday, counselled voters in the state not to be discouraged by the CBN directives on Naira redesign and other negative policies of the government, but be prepared to vote for a

candidate of their choice during election.

Moses Auta, who expressed disappointment over the scarcity of the new note, the fuel crisis and the general welfare of Nigerians, said unlike in the past, four weeks before the general election, voters were pampered with all goodies convincing them with infrastructural development but now, bandits’ attacks, fuel

scarcity, killings, burning and all manner of harassment has taken over.

“Some years ago, four weeks before the election, many voters were happy that the election was approaching because they knew everything would be in good shape.

”The government, especially the ruling Party made sure social amenities, security of

lives and mobility are available at a reasonable cost so that the opposition would not have a point to criticize the government”, he said.He said the reverse is now the case today, as the government itself is confused as to the happenings in the country.

Moses, who spoke to newsmen in Kaduna, noted that even voters are frustrated as to

who would provide the dividends of democracy if voted into power.

He said the candidates of political parties, ruling or opposition have no confidence to lead this country, because of several factors.

He, however, advised voters to garner courage and carefully choose candidates that would reduce the burden of hardship and insecurity in the country.

L-R: Director, Special Duties, Alhaji Musa Abubakar, former Head of State and Founder of NYSC, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), Acting Director General of NYSC, Mrs Christy Ifeyinwa Uba and Director Press and Public Relations, Mr Eddy Megwa during the Acting Director General’s visit to General Gowon at his residence , yesterday vin Abuja . Photo,: NYSC

Buhari asks African leaders to increase budgetary allocation to agric sector

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged African leaders to show political will and recommit themselves to transforming agriculture on the continent.

Buhari made the call on Wednesday in Senegal in his goodwill message at the feed Africa summit of heads of state and government.

In a statement by Femi Adesina, his spokesperson, Buhari encouraged his counterparts to adopt innovative policies that ensure people on the continent consume what they produce and export the excess.

With rising inflatin globally and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on up food prices, Buhari listed measures that African leaders must take to change the status quo.

‘‘Feeding Africa is an imperative. We must ensure that we feed ourselves today, tomorrow, and well into the future,” he said.

“The starting point is to raise agricultural productivity. This requires the access of farmers to quality farm inputs, especially improved seeds, and fertilizers and mechanisation.

‘‘To succeed, we must strongly support farmers. There is no doubt that we need to subsidise our farmers, but we must do so in ways that are transparent, remove rentseeking behavior and effectively deliver support to farmers.

‘‘The share of budget allocation to agriculture should be increased across Africa, especially for investments in critical public goods, such as research and development, infrastructure, especially roads, irrigation, and energy.

‘‘As leaders, let us decisively ensure that we meet the 10 percent allocation of our budgets to agriculture as agreed in the Malabo Declaration of the African Heads of State and Government.”

Buhari also called on African leaders to reduce the rate of ruralto-urban migration through the development of rural areas.

He also said encouraging more young people to enter the agricultural industry and making it appealing to them would be crucial to the future of agriculture in Africa.

‘‘To feed Africa, we need younger male and female farmers. We must also ensure that they get access to land, finance, technologies, information, and markets,” he said.

Buhari, therefore, requested that the food and agriculture delivery compacts arising from the summit must address ways to improve empowerment of the youth and women in the sector.

CBN unveils national card scheme, to stop dollar charges on domestic transaction

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

TheCentral Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Thursday, launched the Nigerian national domestic card scheme — an initiative to boost the country’s payments landscape.

Speaking at the virtual launch of the initiative, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, said the domestic card scheme would provide opportunities to integrate the informal segment of the economy, reduce shadow banking, and bring more Nigerians into the formal financial services system.

He said while the penetration of card payments in Nigeria had grown tremendously over the years, many Nigerians were still excluded.

According to Emefiele, the challenges financial inclusion in the country are the high cost of card services as a result of foreign exchange requirements

of international card schemes, as well as the inability of existing card products to address local peculiarities of the Nigerian market.

The CBN governor said given the limited usage of cards by Nigerians and in a bid to deepen penetration, the banks actively promoted the national domestic card scheme which would be accessible to all Nigerians and also cater to local peculiarities.

He added that transaction charges on all cards would, henceforth, be paid in naira, except for international transactions.

“The national domestic card avails us the sovereignty of our data. Secondly, it comes at lower costs, and thirdly, the issue of foreign exchange. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time when foreign exchange challenges persist globally, it is important that I say that we have come up with this card to ensure

that all online transactions will now effective immediately begin to go on the Nigerian national domestic card system,” Emefiele said.

“At some point in the next few weeks, I am sure that the CBN will come up with the cut-off. All domestic transactions that are going to be conducted in Nigeria will have to be through the Nigerian domestic cards.”

Emefiele also said Nigerians could continue to use the existing payment cards in the country for transactions.

“Your existing cards are fine. You can continue using them but given that charges by foreign cards are in dollars, we will no longer pay dollars for the charges on those cards,” Emefiele explained.

“We will only pay dollars for charges on transactions that are done outside Nigeria. NIBSS, the CBN, and Nigerian banks will work

together to see how to segregate those transactions to ensure that we pay fees or charges for international transactions that are conducted on both domestic cards, Visa or Master Cards, as they are known today.

“I thought it important for me to say so not because there’s any preference for the domestic card but what is most important is that we do not have foreign exchange and we will bar payment of charges for domestic transactions from the Nigerian foreign exchange market at some point in the very near future.”

Also speaking at the event, Premier Oiwoh, managing director of NIBSS, said the scheme was developed to promote a robust incountry domestic card payment scheme tailored to address the specific requirements of Nigeria’s payment industry.

L – R : Group General Manager HR/ Admin Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Mr. Hassan Salisu; Group Chief Human Resources Officer Dangote Group, Mrs. Nglan Niat; Dangote Sugar 4th Quarter 2022 Employee Motivation Award Recipient, Ms. Onyeka Asuzu of Risk Management Department, and the Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc Group Chief Finance Officer, Oscar Mbeche during the Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, 4th Quarter 2022 Employee Motivation Award Ceremony, Apapa Lagos, yesterday.

JTB: Multiple taxation on highways are negatively affecting cost of goods

The Joint Tax Board (JTB) says multiple taxation on Nigeria’s highways are negatively affecting the final cost of goods to consumers in the country.

Obomeghie Nana-Aisha, executive secretary, JTB, said this in Katsina, at a sensitisation and engagement programme for stakeholders in the state’s tax system on the single inter-state road tax sticker (SIRTS) and single haulage fee (SHF).

The event was organised by the JTB in collaboration with the Katsina state board of internal revenue service.

Nana-Aisha said the aim of the programme was to end illegal tax collection and extortion on the highways, as well as block revenue leakages in the country.

“The initiative is being implemented by the 36 states

and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) internal revenue service under the aegis of the JTB,” she said.

“It is a single sticker that if you buy it at N3,500 in one state, it can be used across all the 36 states including the FCT and nobody will harass you anywhere you go.

“In order to make sure that everybody benefits from that N3,500, there is a portion of it that belongs to internal revenue service, the vendor and the consultant.”

Nana-Aisha explained that the exercise was tailored to providing ample sensitisation and awareness among relevant stakeholders and ensure a thorough understanding of the SIRTS and SHF initiatives.

She added that it was designed for the success of grassroots/statelevel programmes as participants are essential and important to the seamless implementation of the initiative.

“As we are all aware, the

incidences of multiple taxation, harassment and extortion, have been commonplace on the nation’s highways for years, and this has had negative ripple effects,” Nana-Aisha said.

The executive secretary said it has a negative impact on the safety and well-being of road users and operators of the country’s transportation corridors, adding that the “final cost of goods to consumers and end-users is also affected”.

Nana-Aisha said while the legislation placed road taxes administration on state governments, encroachment by non-state government actors has made the administration disorganised and an avenue for indiscriminate tax collections.

She expressed optimism that the objectives of the initiatives, which include the reduction of incidences of double taxation via the sales of multiple emblems and stickers, would be met.

Other objectives, according to Nana-Aisha, are harmony, uniformity and coherence of road tax administration nationwide; restoration of the integrity of the road tax collection process; and ensuring that road tax collections are remitted appropriately to government coffers.

“We ensure the elimination of illegal roadblocks in the nation’s transportation corridors, economic empowerment via job creation for prospective vendors and agents,” she said.

“This will enhance the IGR of states to drive socio-economic and infrastructural development within their respective jurisdictions.

“This exercise has been segmented into various sections, and we implore all participants to pay attention to the resource persons that will be leading the various discourse to fully understand the essence of the exercise.”

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

New naira notes: CBN dismisses reports of scarcity

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has dismissed claims of a scarcity of the new naira notes.

Speaking at a media briefing in Jos on Wednesday, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, said the apex bank has “massively” supplied banks with the new currency and directed them to disburse it to their customers.

Amid poor circulation of the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 notes, there have been

NARTO president blames petrol scarcity on RussiaUkraine war

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

calls from different quarters for the extension of the January 31 deadline for the validity of old naira notes.

But the CBN had on Tuesday insisted that there was no going back on the stipulated deadline.

Emefiele was represented at the event by Musa Jimoh, director, payment system management department of CBN.

“The CBN has massively supplied the new notes to commercial banks to dispense both at counters and ATMs,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“This is to enable quick

circulation and we want to advise commercial banks to desist from keeping the cash away from the public or face the stiffer sanction.”

Emefiele advised citizens to deposit their old notes at any commercial bank and acquire new ones with immediate effect, insisting that the January 31 deadline remained sacrosanct.

The CBN governor explained that the decision to redesign the currency showed that the apex bank is in tandem with global standards.

He added that the currency ought to have been redesigned

within five years. Emefiele, however, regretted that it took Nigeria nine years since such changes were last effected.

The CBN governor said the decision to redesign the country’s higher denominations of currency was a national project aimed at addressing problems related to cash circulation.

He added that it would also solve the challenge of prolonged savings in piggy banks, cash hoarding and incidences of fake currencies.

“The monitoring and

sensitisation project was activated by the apex bank for investigation of the attitude of banks toward the spread of the new currencies,” Emefiele explained.

“We are equally using it to create awareness on the use of agents to circulate the cash in communities with few or no bank branches available.”

He further advised that faulty currencies should be returned to banks for replacements and cautioned people entertaining the thought that the CBN might extend the deadline to desist as they could face losses.

Yusuf

Lawal Othman, national president of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), says the country is experiencing a scarcity of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, due to a number of challenges.

Speaking with reporters in Abuja, Othman listed the Russia-Ukraine war, high cost of transporting the product, and the exchange rate as the reasons for the persistent nationwide petrol shortage.

The NARTO president said, aside from the aforementioned challenges, the country has enough supply to meet demand.

“Relating to the current supply and availability of petroleum products is not unconnected with the current Russia-Ukraine war,” he said.

“Two, is the high cost of transporting from the mother vessels to the daughter vessels to the tank farms.

“Three, the exchange rate. But I know we have adequate fuel.”

Othman said reports of sharp practices at filling stations owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited are false.

“Whatever is written is not true, it is false. As far as we are concerned the NNPCL retailers are the largest retail outlet in the country,” he said.

“As of today, they are the only marketing company that sells fuel at the same price everywhere in the country.

“The same price in Lagos, same price in Abuja. So you will see some envy by other marketers and from experience, personally my own company has been working with NNPC retail in the last 15 years. I know their pedigree and their capacity.”

He further admonished members of NARTO not to participate in oil bunkering and smuggling.

“Let me use this opportunity to call on our law-abiding and patriotic members who are into the transportation of petroleum products to please desist from illegal bunkering, smuggling, and diversion of petroleum products because these actions are detrimental to the economy of our great nation,” Othman said.

“This association will not support, defend, or sympathise with anyone caught committing these crimes.”

Two years after suspension, Meta to restore

Trump’s Facebook, Instagram accounts

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced plans to end the suspension on the accounts of Donald Trump, former US president.

This is coming two months after Twitter reinstated Trump’s account.

In January 2021, Facebook and Twitter banned Trump indefinitely, with other social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram taking similar actions against him.

Facebook reviewed its decision in June and suspended the former president’s account for two years.

The social media’s sanction had come after Trump used his accounts to mobilise his supporters to invade the US Capitol building, disrupting the January 6 joint session of congress to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the November 3 election.

At least four people were killed during a face-off between

protesters and security operatives during the invasion.

In a statement on Wednesday, Nick Clegg, president, global affairs, Meta, said the company would be ending the suspension on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks.

According to Clegg, the company believes that the public should be able to hear what politicians are saying so they can make informed choices.

He added that new guardrails have been put in place to deter repeat offenses.

“Social media is rooted in the belief that open debate and the free flow of ideas are important values, especially at a time when they are under threat in many places around the world,” the statement reads.

“As a general rule, we don’t want to get in the way of open, public, and democratic debate on Meta’s platforms, especially in the context of elections in democratic societies like the United States.

“The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying: the good, the bad, and the ugly, so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box. But that does not mean there are no limits to what people can say on our platform. When there is a clear risk of real-world harm, a deliberately high bar for Meta to intervene in public discourse, we act.

“The normal state of affairs is that the public should be able to hear from a former President of the United States, and a declared candidate for that office again, on our platforms.

“Now that the time period of the suspension has elapsed, the question is not whether we choose to reinstate Mr. Trump’s accounts, but whether there remain such extraordinary circumstances that extending the suspension beyond the original two-year period is justified.

“To assess whether the serious risk to public safety that existed in January 2021 has sufficiently

receded, we have evaluated the current environment according to our crisis policy protocol, which included looking at the conduct of the US 2022 midterm elections, and expert assessments on the current security environment.

“Our determination is that the risk has sufficiently receded, and that we should therefore adhere to the two-year timeline we set out. As such, we will be reinstating Mr. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks. However, we are doing so with new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.

“In light of his violations, he (Trump) now also faces heightened penalties for repeat offenses — penalties which will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol.”

Last year, Trump announced his candidacy for the president of the United States in next year’s election.

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

President Rajoelina, President Muhammadu Buhari and Senegal President Mack Sall during the 2nd Dakar International Conference on Agriculture held in Dakar Senegal PHOTO; PHOTO; State House

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By Stanley Onyekwere

paid.

came out in 2019.

FCT retirees protest over 33 months pension arrears FCTA gets approval to constitute 3 Boards

By Stanley Onyekwere

President Muhammadu Buhari, has approved the constitution of Universal Basic Education, Area Council Service Commission, and Primary Health Care Board respectively, in the FCT Administration.

It was gathered that the three constituted boards are under the supervision of the FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu.

A statement from S.A Media

To FCT Minister of State, Austine Elemue, said a letter from the office of the Chief of Staff to the President disclosed that the approval was sequel to a request made by the FCT Minister of State, in a letter dated December 21, 2022.

The statement read: “The 14-member appointed to oversee the activities of the FCT Universal Basic Education Board include Prof. Abdullahi Mohammed as Chairman, Sule Alhassan as Secretary, Murtala Usman Karshi as member. Hon. Mohammed Angulu Loko, Adaji Usman, Hassan Musa Mohammed and Haj. Binta Mohammed Mayana, are also expected to serve as members of the FCT-UBEB board.

“Other members include Haj. Aisha Ibrahim Baiye, Hon. Dapo Olutekunbi, Comr. Suleiman Ango, Hamidu Sarki, Hafsat Ismail, Adamu Mohammed Galadima and Ndatsu Mohammed.

“Members appointed to manage the affairs of the FCT Area Council Service Commission include Hon. Audi Haruna Shekwolo as Chairman, Musa Loko as Administrative Secretary, Alh. Usman Yahaya, as Permanent Member 1, and Prince Suleiman Tanko Abubakar, as Permanent Member 2,.

“Others include Yuda Pius Azana as member, Haj. Rakiya Ibrahim, Mrs. Nike Abubakar, Malam Rajab Yabagi, Haj. Aisha Adamu, Abdullahi Galadima and Alh. Shuaibu Umar”.

It further added that: “While the 12-member appointed to oversee the activities of the FCT Primary Health Care Board include Sen. Usman Jibril Wowo as Chairman, Dr. Isah Yahaya Vatsa as Secretary, Mrs. Sarauniya E. Erondu as Resident member, Haj. Amina Idris, and a representative of FCDA Director.

“Others include a representative of Area Council Services Secretariat Director, Chairman of ALGON FCT Chapter, Director of FCT Treasury, General Manager FCT Health Management Board, Executive Secretary FCT Health Insurance Scheme, Chairman NMSA FCT branch and Chairman JOHESU, FCT branch.

“The boards that will be inaugurated soon are expected to facilitate the administrative process in the FCT Universal Basic Education, FCT Area Council Service Commission, and FCT Primary Health Care Board respectively”.

Hundreds of pensioners in the Federal Capital Territory, yesterday, embarked on a peaceful protest at the entrance of FCT Administration Secretariat, demanding payment of 33 months pension arrears by the FCT Administration.

The aggrieved retirees , under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, FCT Chapter, noted that they had last year planned for a peaceful assembly at the secretariat, but the FCT Minister, intervened, and assured them that their arrears will be paid, which till date it has not been

Speaking during the protest, the state chairman of the union Mohammed Bida, said they occupied the entrance of the FCTA to draw the attention of the minister, Malam Muhammad Bello to his unfulfilled promise.

Bida said: “We were to commence a peaceful assembly at the Minister’s office November 2021, but we were called for a dialogue. The Minister assured us that we would be paid immediately the National Assembly approve the 2022 FCT budget, up till date we have not been paid the consequential adjusted arrears (33 months) which circular

“The union has been writing letters of reminder to no avail, our members have asked us, the leaders to issue a 14 - day notice of peaceful gathering starting from December, 2022. We have done that and nothing happened, that is why we started the protest today”.

He explained that the consequential adjusted pension (33 months) which circular came out in 2019, has since been implemented by the Area Council Pension board with full payment, remaining the theirs.

Reacting to the protest, the Director FCTA Human Resource Management Mohammed Bashir,

who addressed the retired staff, told them that their arrears will be paid on or before May 29, 2023.

He said: “The administration is concerned with the plights of its pensioners, but there are processes which we are almost done with, on or before May 29, 2023, all the arrears will be cleared”.

Bashir recalled that the administration had directed the Pension director to within two weeks capture all the pensioners on National Health Insurance Scheme.

He therefore, assured them that as soon as the processes are cleared their pension will be paid.

Minister urges trade unions to help tackle vandalism

By Stanley Onyekwere

The Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has enjoined trade unions to join in the fight against the destruction of critical public infrastructure in the society.

Bello who pledged the FCT Administration’s support for the trade union, said the relationship between the Administration and the union will remain cordial.

He spoke while receiving the new Chairman and Executive Committee members of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), FCT Council, on a courtesy visit to the FCTA, on Tuesday.

Commending the TUC for its successful transition following its election, the Minister reiterated the invaluable services that members of the TUC provide to Nigerians.

He also said that it was through collaborative efforts and partnership with the trade unions and other organisations that

the FCTA is able to achieve its mandate of providing excellent services to residents.

His words: “If for any reason public servants fail in their delivery of public service across board, the nation suffers. That is why it is very important for any government to appreciate the leaders of the public service sector. Which is what we have been doing here in the FCT and I assure you that with this new team we will continue with that.

“Because it is only through these collaborative engagements that we are able to achieve our respective mandate. And what are our mandates but to provide good governance and good services to the Nigerian people. That is it. And I think our objectives are the same”.

The Minister charged the new executives to always prioritise members welfare, especially issues relating to pension, saying that each of them would

eventually become pensioners upon retirement.

Bello also seized the opportunity to intimate members of the TUC on the challenges of vandalisation of critical public infrastructure and urged his guests to join in the fight against the vandals by reporting the activities of the criminals to the relevant authorities and encourage other members of the public to do the same.

He explained that the FCTA had expended huge financial resources to improve the security of the city through the provision of streetlights and other city infrastructure but the activities of vandals have continued to mitigate its efforts, hence the need for all residents to be involved in securing public facilities.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation and past chairman of the TUC, FCT Council, Comrade Amodu, Olayinka Isiaka, while introducing the new chairman

and the other executive members had commended the Minister for the great strides he had made in infrastructural development of the FCT, describing him as a silent achiever.

In his remarks, the new Chairman, Comrade Audu Paul Akogwu, also commended the Minister for supporting TUC in its activities to improve the welfare of workers. He said the visit was to identify with the efforts of the Minister in the development of the nation’s capital as well as seek for areas of possible collaboration with the FCTA.

Present at the event were, the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola, Chief of Staff to the Honourable Minister, Malam Bashir Mai-Borno, Executive Secretary, FCDA, Engr. Shehu Hadi Ahmed, Director, Human Resource Management, Dr Bashir Muhammad, other senior officials of the FCTA and new executives of the TUC.

Outgoing FCT CAN Chairman Rev (Dr) Samson Jonah (6th right) flanked by FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello (5th right), FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu (7th right) with other members of the FCT Security Committee following the Committee’s meeting, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Jacinda Ardern: New Zealand PM quits citing burnout

Asteroid 2023 BU: Space rock to pass closer than some satellites You definitely shouldn’t panic but there is a biggish asteroid about to pass by Earth in the coming hours.

About the size of a minibus, the space rock, known as 2023 BU, will whip over the southern tip of South America just after midnight GMT.

With a closest expected approach of 3,600km (2,200 miles), it counts as a close shave.

And it illustrates how there are still asteroids of significant size lurking near Earth that remain to be detected.

This one was only picked up last weekend by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, who operates from Nauchnyi in Crimea, the peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Follow up observations have refined what we know about 2023 BU’s size and, crucially, its orbit.

That’s how astronomers can be so confident it will miss the planet, even though it will come inside the arc occupied by the world’s telecommunications satellites, which sit 36,000km (22,000 miles) above us.

The chances of hitting a satellite are very, very small.

The time of lowest altitude is calculated to be 19.27 EST on Thursday; 00:27 GMT on Friday.

Even if 2023 BU was on a direct

collision course, it would struggle to do much damage.

With an estimated size of 3.5m to 8.5m across (11.5ft to 28ft), the rock would likely disintegrate high in the atmosphere. It would though produce a spectacular fireball.

For comparison, the famous Chelyabinsk meteor that entered Earth’s atmosphere over southern Russia in 2013 was an object near 20m (66ft) across. It produced a shockwave that shattered windows on the ground.

Scientists at the US space agency Nasa say 2023 BU’s orbit around the Sun will be modified by its encounter with Earth.

Our planet’s gravity will pull on it and adjust its path through space.

“Before encountering Earth, the asteroid’s orbit around the Sun was roughly circular, approximating Earth’s orbit, taking 359 days to complete its orbit about the Sun,” the agency said in a statement.

“After its encounter, the asteroid’s orbit will be more elongated, moving it out to about halfway between Earth’s and Mars’ orbits at its farthest point from the Sun. The asteroid will then complete one orbit every 425 days.”

There is a great effort under way to find the much larger asteroids that really could do damage if they were to strike the Earth.

The true monsters out there, like the 12km-wide rock that wiped out the dinosaurs, have likely all been detected and are not a cause for worry. But come down in size to something that is, say, 150m across and our inventory has gaps.

Statistics indicate perhaps only about 40% of these asteroids have been seen and assessed to determine the level of threat they might pose.

Such objects would inflict devastation on the city scale if they were to impact the ground.

Prof Don Pollacco from the University of Warwick, UK, told BBC News: “There are still asteroids that cross the Earth’s orbit waiting to be discovered. 2023 BU is a recently

discovered object supposedly the size of a small bus which must have passed by the Earth thousands of times before. This time it passes by only 2,200 miles from the Earth - just 1% of the distance to the moon - a celestial near miss.

“Depending on what 2023 BU is composed of it is unlikely to ever reach the Earth’s surface but instead burn up in the atmosphere as a brilliant fireballbrighter than a full moon.

“However, there are likely many asteroids out there that remain undiscovered that could penetrate the atmosphere and hit the surface to cause significant damage - indeed many scientists think we could be due such an event.”

Transgender rapist Isla Bryson to be moved from women’s prison

Atrans woman who raped two women before she changed gender will not serve her sentence in a female jail, Scotland’s first minister has said.

Isla Bryson was remanded to Cornton Vale women’s prison after being convicted of carrying out the rapes when she was a man called Adam Graham.

Bryson decided to transition from a man to a woman while awaiting trial.

Nicola Sturgeon has now said Bryson will be removed from the prison soon and will not serve her sentence there.

She was expected to be moved to a male wing of a male prison on Thursday afternoon.

Bryson is due to be sentenced next month after being convicted on Tuesday. It is thought to have been the first time a trans woman has been convicted of raping women in Scotland.

But where that sentence should be served has been the subject of heated debate, with concerns being raised about the safety of other women in the female jail if Bryson was placed there.

The Scottish Parliament passed legislation last month aimed at making it easier for people to change their legally-recognised sex, but Ms Sturgeon has said the changes did not play any part in the Bryson case.

The Gender Recognition Reform Bill has been blocked by the UK government over its potential impact on equalities laws that apply across Scotland, England and Wales.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament, Ms Sturgeon said she agreed that it was not possible to have a rapist within a women’s prison.

Referring directly to the Bryson case, she said: “It would not be appropriate for me, in respect of any prisoner, to give details of where they are being incarcerated.

“But given the understandable public and parliamentary concern in this case, I can confirm

to parliament that this prisoner will not be incarcerated at Cornton Vale women’s prison.

“I hope that provides assurance to the public.”

The first minister said any prisoner who posed a risk of sexual offending was segregated from other prisoners including while a risk assessment was carried out.

She said: “There is no automatic right for a trans woman convicted of a crime to serve their sentence in a female prison even if they have a gender recognition certificate.

“Every case is subject to rigorous individual risk assessment and the safety of other prisoners is paramount.”

Ms Sturgeon said she expected that Bryson would not be at Cornton Vale in Stirling by the end of a 72-hour segregated assessment period, which would end on Thursday.

The first minister also stressed it was careful that people “do not, even inadvertently, suggest that trans women pose an inherent threat to women”, adding: “Predatory men, as has always been the case, are the risk to women.”

Speaking to journalists outside the chamber, Ms Sturgeon said she had not given any “formal direction” to the Scottish Prison Service on removing Bryson from Cornton Vale.

A spokesman for the first minister would not say if it was now Scottish government policy to bar all rapists from female prisons.

Scottish Justice Secretary Keith Brown said on Wednesday that he trusted the prison service to decide on the correct venue for trans prisoners.

Cornton Vale was until recently Scotland’s only women’s jail, but is being replaced by a series of smaller purpose-built facilities across the country - including HMP Stirling, which is being built on the same site.

‘Screeching

U-turn’

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said his party had “warned for months” during the debate over the gender reforms that “violent

criminals just like the sex offender, the absolute beast we are discussing today, would try to exploit loopholes in the law and attack and traumatise women.”

He added: “It should not have taken public disgust and a slew of negative headlines about a double rapist being sent to a women’s prison for Nicola Sturgeon to realise this was completely unacceptable and wrong.

“She and her justice secretary have the power to impose a blanket ban on all rapists being sent to women’s prisons, so why is she refusing to exercise it?

“It suggests Nicola Sturgeon’s screeching U-turn in the Bryson case was down to fears over the political risk to herself rather than the safety risk to women prisoners.”

It came as Bryson’s estranged wife, Shonna Graham, 31, said she had a “lot of sympathy for real trans people” but claimed her former partner’s

transition was a “sham for attention” and that Bryson is attempting to fool the authorities.

Ms Graham told the Daily Mail: “Never once did he say anything to me about feeling he was in the wrong body or anything”, and accused Bryson of being abusive in their relationship.

During the rape trial, Bryson claimed she knew she was transgender at the age of four but did not make the decision to transition until she was 29, and is currently taking hormones and seeking surgery to complete gender reassignment.

Bryson said that in 2016 she was “struggling with my sexuality and having issues emotionally”.

The first minister insists this was a decision taken by the Scottish Prison Service following its usual individual risk assessment procedures.

Asked by journalists if she had intervened in the process, Nicola Sturgeon said she did not formally direct the SPS to move Isla Bryson to a male prison. Source: BBC

Isla Bryson is facing a custodial sentence when she returns to court next month

Atiku’s comment on Ajaokuta was deceitful, says Lai Mohammed

By Mashe Gomna

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has described the promise by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the February elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as ‘deceitful.’

Lai was responding to a comment by Atiku, two weeks ago, during his campaign stop in Kogi State when he said if voted into office, his government will resolve the problems facing the Ajaokuta Steel Company.

“This is a deceitful statement borne out of desperation for power,” Lai said in his opening remark at the 19th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari Scorecard Series which was held in Abuja yesterday.

He said that the former Vice President

was deceiving Nigerians when he made that promise.

“Ajaokuta was concessioned to Global Steel Industry in 2004 by the regime of then President Olusegun Obasanjo. Who was in charge of that Administration’s privatization programme? Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. That concession that turned out to be a mess was terminated by another PDP Administration.

“Following the failed concession, the concessionaire, Global Steel Industry, took Nigeria to court, asking for $7 billion, and that case lingered for 12 years until the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari stepped in and the company finally settled for $496 million.

“Out of the amount, we made a bulk payment of $250 million and agreedt o pay the balance in five instalments. To date, we have paid a total of $446 million

out of the $496 million. We will make the last payment of $50 million next month and Ajaokuta will revert fully to usending the shameful and failed concession by the Administration in which Alhaji Atiku Abubakar served as the VP,” the Information Minister said.

He also added: “Now, we are talking to investors who are ready to bring their money into Ajaokuta to make sure it works. The Honourable Minister of Mines and Steel Development, who was here last month, assured that before this Administration leaves office, Ajaokuta will be concessioned in what he called equitable terms.

“What I am saying in essence is that the problems facing Ajaokuta was the poorly-thought-out and poorly-executed concession by the regime in which Alhaji Atiku was Vice President, and a regime

under which he presided over the failed privatization programme. If the former Vice President had any solution to the Ajaokuta challenge, and he didn’t execute it in 2004, why should Nigerians trust him to do so in 2023, almost 20 years later? Apparently, the former VP is not even aware of the current status of Ajaokuta, the settlement reached with the concessionaire and the payments made. Without this information, how does he want to revive the steel company?

“Nigerians should beware of snake oil salesmen, who engage in deceit just to swindle them. The solution to Ajaokuta does not lie in the hands of the same people who scuttled the development of the country’s steel industry through a questionable concession. Nigerians beware! Don’t allow yourselves to be conned twice!, “ he said.

Kuje: Those behind another jailbreak ‘sent to their maker’ - Aregbesola

• 159 Nigerians renounced citizenship in 2022

By Egena Sunday Ode

Minister of Interior, Rauf

Aregbesola, on Thursday, disclosed that there was another attempt to break into another of the country’s correctional centre after that of Kuje in July 2022, noting, however that the criminals behind the nefarious act had been “sent to meet their maker.”

Though Aregbesola did not name the correctional centre in question, he said the biometrics of all inmates in the country have been captured, thereby making it impossible for them to hide from the authorities henceforth.

The minister spoke at the weekly media briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the. Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Over 400 prisoners went missing after the Kuje Correctional Center was attacked last year July. Four inmates, a security guard and several attackers were reportedly killed after the attack.

Asked why the unprecedented number of prison breaks in the country in recent times, especially the most daring one being Kuje, the minister said: “It is the season. Don’t say ha! I know you don’t want to hear it. Have we had what we are having in Nigeria today before? It is the season and it’s global.

“Why are we having assassinations in America? Bad as it is, it is horrible but in America, people get killed every second. In California within the last one week in America 20 people have been killed, did you asked why? It has nothing to do with technology, it could even be linked to climate change.

“When things are hard, people who cannot manage their own stability resort to those type of things. You can’t say there is no terrorism in Nigeria, we are managing it. You can’t say there is no banditry in Nigeria, we are managing it. It is because of the level of insecurity in Nigeria and we are arising to it. It is as simple as that.

“The question you are asking, you know the answer. There is tension. Nigerians, just like the rest of the world were kept

incommunicado for 90 days straight. Let’s not look at COVID-19 alone, the remaining 120 days were on and off. Don’t you think that those things will have impact on the society.

“And in any case, how to assess as government is this: What did you not do? As at today, there’s no single inmate of our facilities that is not captured biomedically and that is the best we can do. We’re still working on DNA, which is another way of identifying them. We have met with all agencies, institutions that can use the biometric we have to trace and arrest them. They are doing their best. The most effective agency in capturing them is still the police force. They are doing wonderfully well.

“The technology that we expected will be effective in capturing them is not as effective. Like I would normally tell people, they can only run they cannot hide! If they go out of circulation for now but because they cannot change their biometric, whenever they come out they will be exposed and therefore arrested if they have not died.”

On what is being done to ensure the facilities no longer come under such attacks, Aregbesola said: “So, we are doing the best we can to ensure, one that it will be difficult for anybody to attack our facilities. You may not know that some had attempted and we have sent them back to their maker. Just take it, it is no long game as usual. We are equipping our men to on their own defend those facilities. And those sisters agencies are equally upping their capacity to protect and defend our facilities. And we’re improving the design of our facilities to make it almost impregnable.

“So it’s sad, we are not happy that the facilities are… but it’s a function of the season and we will be deceiving ourselves if we don’t admit. There is this popular maxim from school: ‘Tell no lies, claim no easy victories‘. Is not mine. So we are up to it. So, whoever attempts to dare our will, will not live to tell the story.”

Asked how many inmates are still at large since the attacks, the minister said: “Many. There are very many. For details, the CG will tell you but if I say many, it doesn’t

mean… what’s essential is what steps did we take. None of the inmates of our facilities either awaiting trial, or convicted are without their biometric capture…If we have your biometrics you are exposed. There is no international airport that you will go to today that you will not have photographs of all these people. They are on our website, papers carried them, they are on social media platforms. So, what I am saying is this, it is our collective efforts. If we’re all committed to it, in no time, we’ll get them back, every government is patient, government is more patient than the vulture because government is not tire of desperation and government will only cease to be when the world ceases to exist. For that reason, they will be identified, apprehended and brought back to where they should be.

“One of them attempted to be too clever. After realizing that he has one more month to stay, returned by himself. He thought with that we just leave him to go. No. We have taken him back not to where he escaped from but to another place. We have taken him

to the magistrate court, we charged him for fleeing from lawful custody. That is a separate charge. He is not going to be free from what he has done, he will spend everyday he escaped from the correctional center as a given punishment. He had thought that by coming back he will only stay for one month and be released.

“This is to tell you that we are not as lax as you assume. We are taking every step to ensure that whoever attempts to dare our will pay squarely for it.”

For infrastructural upgrade, the minister said: “There has been massive infrastructural upgrade across Custodial Centres since the inception of this administration.

“112 new Custodial Centers have been built in some places; 20 new cells have been added in prisons where space allows; and old cells have been renovated to improve living conditions in most custodial facilities.

“The construction and renovation of Custodial Centre walls and perimeter fences has also enhanced safety and security in and around the centres.

“The Buhari Administration has also taken a bold step to improve the standard of Custodial Centres in Nigeria by embarking on the construction of a 3000 capacity ultra-modern Custodial Centre in each of the Six Geopolitical Zones of the country.

The one meant for the NorthWest sited in Janguza, Kano State, has already reached 90% completion.”

Aregbesola also said that the massive exodus of Nigerians out of the country in search of greener pastures is fueling high demands for passports.

According to him, in 2022, the Immigration Service issued the highest number of passport booklets totaling 1,899,683 in over seven years.

In the same vein, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Shuaib Belgore, disclosed that at least 159 Nigerians renounced their citizenships in 2022 alone, while another 150 Nigerians renounced their citizenships between 2006 to 2021.

L-R: Directing Staff, National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) Bwari, Prof. Muhammad Umar, NiSS member, Group Capt. Mohammad Gumi, Road Assistant Corp Marshall, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), ACM Aliyu Bala, Special Assistant to the Chief Executive NEPAD, Ifeoma Okoye and the Director Panning, Research and Statistic AUDA- NEPAD, Mr. Hakeem Akande during the AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria National Multi-Stakeholder Consultation Process on the Evaluation of the First Ten Year Implementation Plan and the Formulation of the Successor Plan of Agenda 2063, held yesterday in Abuja . Photo: Justin Imo-owo

N ews F rom A s IA

Ukraine hit by Russian missiles day after West’s offer of tanks

Russia launched a wave of missiles at Ukraine on Thursday, a day after Germany and the US pledged tanks to aid Kyiv’s fight against the invasion.

Eleven people died and 11 others were injured after 35 buildings were struck across several regions, the state’s emergency service said.

It added the worst damage to residential buildings was in the Kyiv region.

Officials also reported strikes on two energy facilities in the Odesa region.

The barrage came as Russia said it perceived the new offer of military support, which followed a UK pledge to send Challenger 2 battle tanks, as “direct” Western involvement in the conflict.

In what was a sustained and wide-ranging attack, the head of the Ukrainian army said Moscow launched 55 air and sea-based missiles on Thursday.

Valery Zaluzhny added that 47 of them were shot down, including 20 around Kyiv.

Earlier, Ukraine’s air force said it had downed a cluster of Iranian-made attack drones launched by Russian forces from the Sea of Azov in the south of the country.

A 55-year-old man was killed

and two others wounded when non-residential buildings in the south of the capital were struck, officials reported.

The offensive was a continuation of Russia’s monthslong tactic of targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure. The freezing winter has seen power stations destroyed and millions plunged into darkness.

After Thursday’s strikes,

emergency power cuts were enforced in Kyiv and several other regions to relieve pressure on the electricity grid, said DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private power producer.

A day earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to provide Ukraine with 14 Leopard 2 tanks, following weeks of international pressure. They are widely seen as some of the most

effective battle tanks available.

The heavy weaponry is expected to arrive in late March or early April.

President Joe Biden later announced the US would send 31 M1 Abrams battle tanks, marking a reversal of longstanding Pentagon arguments that they are a poor fit for the Ukrainian battlefield.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed

the move but urged the speedy delivery of the tanks. He also appealed to the West to send longrange missiles and fighter jets.

But for tanks to be “gamechanger”, 300 to 400 of them would be needed, an adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“The sooner we defeat Russia on the battlefield using Western weapons, the sooner we will be able to stop this missile terror and restore peace,” Yuriy Sak said.

Speaking on the same programme, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said sending tanks to Ukraine would make a big difference to the country’s ability to win the war.

He also warned that Russia was planning a fresh offensive, just as reports began emerging from Ukraine of missile strikes following drone attacks overnight.

On Thursday, the US designated Russia’s Wagner group, which is believed to have thousands of mercenaries in Ukraine, a transnational criminal organisation.

It also imposed fresh sanctions on the group and their associates to “further impede [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s ability to arm and equip his war machine”, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement.

Adani Group: Asia’s richest man hits back at ‘con’ allegations

Acompany owned by Asia’s richest man has hit back at a report which accused the firm of “brazen” stock manipulation and accounting fraud.

The Adani Group, founded by Gautam Adani, called the report by a US investment firm “malicious” and “selective misinformation”.

The group lost almost $11bn (£8.7bn) of its market value after the research was made public on Wednesday.

It is now considering legal action against New York’s Hindenburg Research.

Adani Group is one of India’s biggest companies, and has operations in a wide range of industries including commodities trading, airports, utilities and renewable energy. It is led by Indian billionaire Mr Adani who is the world’s fourth richest man, according to Forbes magazine.

Hindenburg, meanwhile, specialises in “short-selling”, or betting against a company’s share price in the expectation that it will fall.

In its report, Hindenburg accused Mr Adani of “pulling the largest con in corporate history”. This came days ahead of a planned sale of Adani Group shares to the public.

The report questioned the Adani Group’s ownership of companies in offshore tax havens such as Mauritius and the Caribbean. It also

claimed Adani companies had “substantial debt” which put the entire group on a “precarious financial footing”.

But on Thursday, Adani Group said it was evaluating “remedial and punitive action” against Hindenburg Research in the US and India.

Adani said it had always been “in compliance with all laws”.

“The volatility in Indian stock markets created by the report is of great concern and has led to unwanted anguish for Indian citizens,” said the group head of Adani’s legal team, Jatin Jalundhwala.

“Clearly, the report and its

unsubstantiated contents were designed to have a deleterious effect on the share values of Adani Group companies as Hindenburg Research, by their own admission, is positioned to benefit from a slide in Adani shares.”

The group’s flagship firm, Adani Enterprises, is scheduled to begin selling its shares to the public on Friday.

Political response

Opposition politicians who have long alleged that Mr Adani has benefitted because of his proximity to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been quick to react to the report.

“Considering that detailed research is out in the public domain, it is important that the government of India takes note of the charges made,” tweeted Priyanka Chaturvedi, member of parliament and a Shiv Sena party leader.

Another popular South Indian politician, Mr KT Ramarao, called on India’s investigative agencies and market regulator to open a probe into the Adani Group’s operations.

But regulators are unlikely to initiate any action independently, say experts.

“The Security and Exchange Board of India [which

regulates listed companies in India] will act only if there is a specific complaint sent to it. And in this case there isn’t,” said Shriram Subramaniam, founder and managing director of InGovern Research, a consultancy that advises investors on governance issues.

“There are many allegations in the report that have been the subject of regulatory scrutiny in the past.”

The BBC contacted the market regulator but received no response.

While it appears that the decks are clear for Adani Group to proceed with its $2.4bn public share sale on Friday, the allegations in the report could put some investors off, said Ambareesh Baliga, a financial markets analyst.

But the report could have broader consequences that go beyond the Adani Group.

Andy Mukherjee, a columnist at the news service Bloomberg, said there were “many questions about the integrity of the broader Indian market, which is caught between the pressures of financial globalisation and political nationalism”.

He added: “Is the Security and Exchange Board of India waiting for a public outcry to go in and clean up the market?”

The aftermath of a Russian strike was seen on Thursday in the town of Hlevakha, outside Kyiv

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani faces critical report before family-run company goes public.

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.

Why reporting on Iran comes at a heavy price

In Iran, the anti-government protests of 2022 have continued into the new year. Reporting on one of the biggest international stories of the moment is an ongoing challenge for BBC Persian Service journalists, who are not allowed into the country, suffer daily harassment, and whose families back home are persecuted.

Iran has been in turmoil since September, when the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini sparked mass protests against the compulsory hijab and other restrictions - leading to calls for regime change.

It has meant working around the clock for BBC Persian journalists. But reporting on events in Iran is not just a logistical challenge, it also has serious personal ramifications. The harassment it triggers from the Iranian government creates consequences for the lives of the journalists.

In October 2022, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement naming BBC Persian in a list of individuals and organisations sanctioned for what it called their deliberate actions in support of terrorism, and inciting violence and hate speech and human rights abuses. BBC Persian journalists have received online death threats and threats of horrific violence, and thousands of orchestrated abusive comments.

Family members in Iran have also reported increased and severe harassment, including being summoned for interrogations and being threatened because their family members continue to work for the BBC.

Journalists have also been harassed by those who feel that the policy of reflecting the Iranian government’s own account of events as part of the coverage gives a platform to the regime’s supporters.

In a new BBC documentaryReporting Iran: Inside BBC Persian - one correspondent, Jiyar Gol, is filmed being harangued by antigovernment demonstrators in Berlin shouting “Ayatollah BBC”.

“Do you know how many members of my family are in prison now?” Jiyar replies.

In the case of lead presenter Rana Rahimpour, when her conversation with family back in Iran was wire-tapped - with sections edited together to make it seem as though she supported the government, and published - it was seized upon by critics as more evidence that the BBC’s impartiality equates to collaboration with the government.

The pressure on her from the Iranian government has even forced her to warn her children’s school to be extra cautious about their safety.

In the heart of BBC Persian’s newsroom in London as the team covers news of the uprising in Iran BBC journalists are not allowed to work in Iran, so they rely on social media to find out and verify what is happening on the ground. With the recent protests, it became

an essential tool. For instance, when journalists hear that a protester has been killed, the first thing they usually do is check that person’s social media accounts for followers with the same last name. When relatives reply, information they share can be cross-checked with other sources, such as death certificates and coroners’ reports.

During major stories such as this one, the BBC’s job is not just to report on events, but to sort disinformation from genuine evidence.

Online mapping tools are used to geolocate footage that has been sent, frame by frame, to check whether or not it is actually from the town or city journalists have been told it has been filmed in. They look for shops which may have changed in that time, for example, or even weather which does not match what we know of the forecast that day.

Journalists have to apply the same verification methods to Iranian state TV reports. One broadcast in recent months tried to prove that 16-year-old protester Nika Shakarami had fallen off the roof of a building and that she had not, as her family said, been killed by security forces. The report showed a woman, her face obscured but dressed in black clothes similar to Nika’s, entering the building which the authorities claimed Nika fell from.

In this case, two things stood out - not only was this woman walking calmly, whereas Nika had reportedly told a friend she was being chased by security forces, but it was noted that a cat in the background of the video was also walking calmly. If this were Nika, who had been involved in loud noisy protests fired on by tear gas, then you would expect to see the cat running from the chaos.

On one occasion, one of the sources sending me information was arrested and then released by the Iranian security forces. When she then got back in touch with me via a messaging app, how could I trust that this was now not in fact the authorities corresponding with me posing as her? So I asked her to send me a voice note so I could be sure.

Because these sources are traumatised by their experiences, they correspond with BBC journalists day and night, who must always be ready to respond.

And all of this while dealing with their own fractured family ties.

The BBC Persian service

• Part of the BBC World Service, it broadcasts in Persian. The channel is banned in Iran, as are the journalists, but people there can see it via satellite, digital platforms and radio - it reaches 18.5 million viewers every week in Iran and around the world.

• Iran’s officials will not be interviewed by BBC Persian but the service reflects the government’s account of events as part of its coverage.

• It is often referred to as

“Ayatollah BBC” by some Iranian opposition, who accuse it of playing a role in bringing the clerical establishment to power 43 years ago and of siding with the Iranian regime.

• Its journalists’ assets in the country have been frozen since 2017 and their families interrogated and in some cases detained.

In the BBC documentary on the Persian service, lead presenter Farnaz Ghazizadeh talks about the recent death - after a sudden illness - of her father in Iran, and how her grief was compounded by the guilt that she had not been able to spend a lot of time with him in the past 18 years.

“The most difficult thing is not dealing with the future, but dealing with a past when he was alive,” she says.

“When I decided to join the BBC, I didn’t realise that I was making a decision not just for myself, but for many people. And now I keep asking myself: ‘Did I have the right to make that decision? Is it worth it?’”

She was also unable to visit her brother on his death bed last year. And at the same time she was having to endure trolling by opponents of the regime after an

article resurfaced she had been commissioned to write about Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for an Iranian newspaper 22 years ago when she was still in the country.

“My 45-year-old brother was on his death bed, and I couldn’t be there for him and my parents. And I was being called a regime apologist online,” Farnaz says.

Lives can be changed forever as a result of simply being related to someone who works for BBC Persian.

In my case, my brother was forced out of an excellent job for Iran’s oil ministry. For my colleague Jiyar Gol, it means never having the chance to introduce his young daughter to his relatives.

And as for the staff, last year four UN independent experts on Iran raised their “grave concern” over the regime’s “harassment and intimidation” of those who work for BBC Persian.

Source: BBC

Lead presenter Rana Rahimpour has been a particular target of harassment in recent weeks

Parham Ghobadi (right) says his role at BBC Persian has cost his brother his job

Timbers from the Newport Ship being removed from the freeze drier machine at Portsmouth’s Mary Rose Museum

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(

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TREASURE MINDS CLUB

FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023

Waldrum picks Ebi, Oshoala, 21 others for Revelation Cup in Mexico

By Albert Akota

Head Coach Randy Waldrum has called up 23 players of Nigeria’s Super Falcons for next month’s Revelation Cup Tournament to be staged in Leon, Mexico City, among them Captain Onome Ebi, Spain-based forward Asisat Oshoala and long-time number one goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie.

Hosts Mexico, Nigeria, Costa Rica and Colombia are the participating teams at the tournament in the State of Guanajuato, with matches between 15th – 21st February, and with the objective of preparing

the contestants for the 9th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand this summer.

Nine -time African champions Nigeria will play their first game of the tournament against hosts Mexico starting at 4pm Mexico time (10pm Nigeria time) on Wednesday, 15th February, three hours after the opening match between Costa Rica and Colombia.

On Saturday, 18th February, the Falcons will be up against Colombia at 1pm Mexico time (7pm Nigeria time), before Costa Rica square up against the host nation.

Costa Rica will be Nigeria’s

last opponents, both teams locking horns as from 5pm Mexico time (11pm Nigeria time) on Tuesday 21st February, before hosts Mexico and Colombia draw the curtain on the four-nation tourney.

Nigeria’s delegation to the tournament will depart the country’s shores on Saturday, 11th February.

The Super Falcons will tackle co-hosts Australia, Olympic champions Canada and debutants Republic of Ireland at what will be the biggest FIFA Women’s World Cup finals ever, this summer in Australia and New Zealand.

ALL THE INVITED PLAYERS:

Goalkeepers: Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC, France); Yewande Balogun (AS SaintEtienne, France)

Defenders: Onome Ebi (Levante Las Planas (Spain); Osinachi Ohale (Deportivo Alaves, Spain); Ashleigh Plumptre (Leicester City, England); Glory

Ogbonna (ALG Spor, Turkey); Rofiat Imuran (Stade de Reims, France); Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash, USA); Oluwatosin Demehin (Stade de Reims, France); Akudo

Ogbonna (Rivers Angels)

Midfielders: Halimatu Ayinde (FC Rosengard, Sweden);

Christy Ucheibe (SL Benfica, Portugal); Ngozi OkobiOkeoghene (Eskilstuna United, Sweden); Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid, Spain); Toni Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain); Jennifer Echegini (Florida State University, USA); Regina Otu (AS Saint-Etienne, France)

Forwards: Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona Femenin, Spain); Esther Okoronkwo (AS SaintEtienne, France); Ifeoma Onumonu (NY/NJ Gotham FC, USA); Chinwendu Ihezuo (Rayadas Monterrey, Mexico); Francisca Ordega (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Uchenna Kanu (Tigres Femenil, Mexico)

P R T

Falcons to Mexico for 4-Nations Tournament next month

Nigeria’s Super Falcons will intensify their preparations for the forthcoming 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in February as they will be among the teams invited to take part in a 4-Nations tournament in Mexico.

According to the report from Mexico, the competition is tagged Revelation Cup and Super Falcons of Nigeria, Costa Rica, Colombia and host Mexico are the countries invited to participate.

The organiser confirmed this through the Mexico Football Federation’s social media handle.

“The tournament will be a home run with Mexico, Nigeria, Costa Rica and Colombia to be played between February 13 to 22, 2023.

The country with the most points wins the tournament”, Director Arturo Fizsman stated.

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Chelsea transfer news: Benoit Badiashile signs for Blues from Monaco for £35m

In search of a multipolar world order

Coming back to the NATOEU Declaration – this is an interesting document. These two organisations are being presented as an alliance of democracies against autocracies amid global rivalry. A patently confrontational agenda has been announced for the world to hear. Europe has waived its independence.

Guest Columnist

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

Chelsea have signed France defender Benoit Badiashile from Monaco for £35m on a seven-and-a-half-year contract.

Badiashile, 21, has spent five seasons in Ligue 1 and made 135 league appearances for Monaco.

The central defender made his senior international debut in September against Austria and has two caps.

“I’m very happy to be here at Chelsea. I can’t wait to see the fans and start playing in the best league in the world,” said Badiashile.

Badiashile joined Monaco in 2016 and made his Ligue 1 debut against Paris St-Germain in November 2018 when Thierry Henry was manager.

He has featured in the Champions League and Europa League for the French club and has scored six goals and registered three assists.

“Benoit’s growth over the last two-and-a-half seasons from a young player struggling to fully bring his talent to bear is testament to his and the staff’s attitudes in adopting a higher professional standard,” said Monaco sporting director Paul Mitchell.

“Signing with one of Europe’s biggest clubs is the fruit of the work being accomplished within our academy and first team and once again highlights Monaco’s ability to develop young players to the highest level.”

Blues chairman Todd Boehly said: “We’re delighted to welcome Benoit to Chelsea.

“He’s an excellent young player who has quickly established a strong reputation for himself and has a huge amount of experience for his young age. We are sure he will form an important part of our team in the years ahead.”

Graham Potter’s side are currently without defenders Wesley Fofana, Reece James and Ben Chilwell through injury.

Addressing media conference on the performance of Russian diplomacy in 2022, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke, at length, lambasting the United States and its European allies’ coalition, the emerging poly-centric world and on the role of regional organizations as well as latest developments in the former Soviet region.

In his introductory remarks, Lavrov acknowledged that the previous was indeed difficult due to deep-rooted trends in geopolitics but unique, to some extent, reflecting the processes in the world. What is happening in Ukraine now is the result of preparations by the United States and its satellites for the start of a global hybrid war against the Russian Federation.

According to his explanation, Western partners are cunning while vehemently trying to prove that they are not fighting Russia but are only helping Ukraine respond to an “aggression” and restore its territorial integrity. The scale of their support makes it clear that the West has staked a great deal on its war against Russia; this is obvious.

“Free market, fair competition, free enterprise, the inviolability of property, and the presumption of innocence, in a word, everything the Western globalization model relied on collapsed overnight. Sanctions have been imposed on Russia and other objectionable countries that do not comply with these tenets and mechanisms. Clearly, sanctions can be imposed any time on any country, which, in one way or another, refuses to mindlessly follow American orders,” he told the media representatives gathered in the auditorium.

The European Union has been completely subsumed by this US dictatorship (there’s

no point in discussing this at length). The signing of the Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation on January 10 was the high point of this process, something that has been in the making for several years. It states explicitly that the alliance and the EU’s goal is to use all political, economic and military means in the interests of the golden billion.

Coming back to the NATOEU Declaration – this is an interesting document. These two organisations are being presented as an alliance of democracies against autocracies amid global rivalry. A patently confrontational agenda has been announced for the world to hear. Europe has waived its independence.

The Joint Declaration directly subordinates Europe to NATO. It includes commitments to serve US interests in matters of geopolitical containment of Russia and China. Their declared goal – well known to everyone before but now laid out in black and white – is to enable the US-led alliance to achieve global preeminence.

Lavrov further added that in the so-called “Indo-Pacific region,” the West is out to create bloc architecture against Russia and China. With this aim in view, they have consistently been destroying (although they prefer to keep quiet about this) the decades-old mechanisms and formats of cooperation created around ASEAN based

on equality, consensus, and a balance of interests.

Instead, they are putting together military blocs. A shining case in point is AUKUS, an Anglo-Saxon bloc in Asia, which includes the US, the UK, and Australia). Japan is under pressure to join it as well. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s recent visit to Washington ended up confirming this course. Japan is militarising again. Japan is bracing to alter the articles in its constitution that prevent it from doing this. The process is underway.

Lavrov made some comparisons. Like Napoleon, who mobilized nearly all of Europe against the Russian Empire, and Hitler, who occupied the majority of European countries and hurled them at the Soviet Union, the United States has created a coalition of nearly all European member states of NATO and the EU and is using Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Russia with the old aim of finally solving the “Russian question,” like Hitler, who sought a final solution to the “Jewish question.”

Along the line Lavrov stressed the role of regional organizations. Countries are developing economically. Look at China and India (strategic partners), Türkiye, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt and many African countries. Considering their immense natural resources, their development potential is enormous. New

centres of economic growth are emerging.

The West is trying to prevent this, in part, by exploiting the mechanisms created to service its interests within the globalization framework it created. The role of the dollar as a reserve currency is very important in this respect. This is why Russia is intensifying contacts through the SCO, BRICS, the CIS, and the EAEU, and in cooperation with associations of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

It will take a long time to create a multipolar world order. This will take an entire historical era – it is in the midst of this process. It takes time to create a multi-polar world and finalize the relations needed for the triumph of democracy and justice and for the observance of the UN Charter principle of respect for the sovereign equality of all states. In the majority of cases, it crudely violated the UN Charter.

The UN Charter is a good foundation. At the time it was adopted, it was a revolutionary document. Unfortunately, the West distorted all its correct principles. It did not respect the principles of sovereign equality of states, non-interference in internal affairs and peaceful settlement of disputes. The United States used its armed forces abroad hundreds of times since the establishment of the United Nations.

Kestér Kenn Klomegâh is a Public Policy Analyst.

Along the line Lavrov stressed the role of regional organizations. Countries are developing economically. Look at China and India (strategic partners), Türkiye, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt and many African countries