A report by Amnesty International has accused and indicted the Nigerian Army of committing war crimes against older people in the Northeast.
This latest report, which was contained in an email sent to The ICIR by Amnesty International, is the outcome of the field work and research conducted between November 2019 and October 2020.
The AI said it interviewed 62 older women and 71 older men affected by the conflict. It also interviewed representatives of international and local humanitarian organisations operating in northeast Nigeria, as well as witnesses to atrocities against older people, hospital staff, and prison staff in a facility where people are detained amid the conflict.
It shows how many have been starved or slaughtered in their homes or left to languish and die in squalid, unlawful military detention, and how many displaced older people are consistently overlooked by the humanitarian response.
“When Boko-Haram has invaded towns and villages, older men and women have often been among the last to flee, leaving them particularly exposed to the armed group’s brutality and repression – amounting to war crimes and likely crimes against humanity. This has included torture, being forced to witness killings and abductions of their children, as well as looting resulting in extreme food insecurity,” said Joanne Mariner, Director of Crisis Response at Amnesty International.
“Nigeria’s military, in turn, has repeatedly shot older people to death in their own homes during raids on villages in Boko-Haram-controlled areas. Thousands of older people have been denied dignity in hellish conditions in military detention, with many hundreds of them dying in squalor. These, too, amount to war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity.”
It noted that many villages in areas under Boko Haram control are disproportionately populated by older people who are unable to flee or who choose to stay and continue working their land despite the activities of the insurgents.
In some of these villages, older people face threats from all sides. Boko-Haram loots their property and often restricts older women’s movement, making it harder for families to earn money and feed themselves. The insurgents also abduct or kill their children and grandchildren, and sometimes tortures or kill the older people themselves.
“Boko Haram… asked why I was still around when others had run away… I told them it was my house and I was not scared of dying. Some of them said instead of killing me, they’d put me in permanent pain. They brought out their knife and stabbed me in my foot, leaving a big gash,” said an 80-year-old woman from a village in Michika local government area (LGA), Adamawa State.
Citing the recent attacks and killings of more than 43 rice farmers in Kwashebe Zabarmari axis of Jere Local Government Area of Borno state on 28 November 2020, the AI said the most of the victims were mostly killed with machetes or knives. It added that dozens more civilians from the area remain missing.
It said it interviewed a 65-year-old man who was among those captured and who was on a one-week contract for farm labour, as he said the food assistance his family receives in displacement is irregular and insufficient to feed them when the insurgents struck. He said Boko-Haram spared and released him, but murdered two of his sons.
“Those boys, they’re the ones who help me stay alive,” the man said. Boko-Haram had murdered another of his sons five years earlier, during an attack that forced his family to flee their village in Mafa LGA.
It said it received reports of many older people dying of starvations as a result of looting of farmers’ harvests by Boko-Haram’s and combined with military’s severe restrictions on aid access, has resulted in extreme food insecurity for older people.
In September 2020, the United Nations Secretary-General indicated that Northeast Nigeria was at risk of famine, with “alarming levels of food insecurity and hunger”.
AI accused the Nigerian military of committing war crimes when the military fails to distinguish civilians and at times, even deliberately targets civilians in its operations against Boko Haram.
The international human rights watchdog found that many older people with limited mobility are unable to flee and have been shot and killed or seriously injured when soldiers spray bullets through houses. Others have burned to death inside their homes when the military torched villages perceived to support Boko Haram.
A man in his late 50s from a village in Bama LGA, Borno State, told the AI how Nigerian military attacked their house and killed his father who is more than 75 years of age.
“They came in the night… My father was an older man – more than 75. I said we should run to the bush. He said he couldn’t, he was too old… We came back, around 2 a.m. He had bullets all in his body. We took the body to the farm area, and we buried it there.”
It added that older people are not spared the military’s widespread unlawful detention of people fleeing Boko-Haram areas – even without any evidence that the person was linked to the armed group, much less involved in violence.
Al said it interviewed 17 older men and nine older women who were unlawfully detained – for periods ranging from four months to more than five years – in unfathomably inhumane conditions in Maiduguri’s infamous Giwa Barracks and other sites.
“Severe overcrowding, scarce food and water, extreme heat, infestation by parasites and insects, and lack of access to adequate sanitation and health care are among the litany of violations at Giwa. While there have been improvements in recent years, the conditions remain inhumane and, from 2013 to 2017, were so extreme that they amounted to torture for everyone detained there. Older detainees described how the grossly inadequate sanitation meant they frequently urinated or defecated on themselves – an assault on their basic dignity.”
It estimates that, in the context of the Boko-Haram crisis, at least 10,000 people have died in custody since 2011, many of them in Giwa Barracks. The organization reviewed more than 120 images of corpses brought from the barracks to a local mortuary, and spoke to individuals with insider knowledge who estimated that 15-25% of those who have perished are older men. This is disproportionately high, as older men appear to account for no more than 4% of the population in Northeast Nigeria. In April 2017 alone, 166 corpses were transferred from Giwa to the mortuary.
Displacement and humanitarian response
The report also examines the humanitarian response to the conflict, and calls for older people to be fully included in the design and implementation of humanitarian programmes to assist the war’s displaced. Humanitarian agencies estimate that older people account for around 150,000 of the 2.1 million people displaced by the conflict in Northeast Nigeria.
In displacement camps, the failure to ensure that humanitarian aid is adequate and reaches some of the most at-risk people, including older people, has led to the violation of their human rights.
It said it spoke to older people from 17 camps across Borno State and none of them had received targeted assistance as an older person. They felt invisible or as if they were treated as a “burden”. Some reported having to beg just to have enough food and medicine to survive. Others said they were forced to go without essential medication.
According to AI, many older women in particular face further challenges as they care for grandchildren whose parents were killed, abducted, or detained by Boko-Haram or the Nigerian military.
It noted that gender discrimination and patriarchal norms in Northeast Nigeria pose additional barriers to older women’s participation in processes that impact their lives. “Nobody is hearing us, nobody is seeing us,” one older woman told the organization.
Sustained data collection and analysis is the first step towards ensuring inclusion of older people. Nigerian authorities and humanitarian organizations should follow existing standards and practices by systematically engaging older people – including older women, older people with disabilities, and older people living alone – in assessments and programme design.
“All too often, older people have been ignored in aid provision in Northeast Nigeria. Inclusion means respecting the rights of people with different needs and risks, including those associated with ageing. It is time to stop treating older people as an afterthought,” said Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.
IN January, while launching the distribution of exercise books to public schools, the governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, expressed dismay that over 100 public schools across the state were in dire conditions and announced plans to reconstruct 31 of the dilapidated schools. Eight months after, accusations of inflated contracts awarded to contractors with no track records as well as shoddy jobs have trailed the projects. DARE AKOGUN visits six of the schools in the three senatorial districts of the state and reports.
From the secrecy of the amount earmarked for each project, through the details of contractors who kept changing their addresses and other information on the project signboards, to implementing projects different from what was advertised, the entire school rehabilitation project of the Kwara state government was poorly implemented, despite the huge amount budgeted for it, a Sobi FM investigation has revealed.
Government High School Adeta
Shortly after the Kwara State Government announced the commencement of renovation exercise for 31 schools across the state, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq came under intense criticism after it was alleged that some contracts in the state school rehabilitation projects had been hyper-inflated. The state government had budgeted N2.1 billion for the 31 projects in the 2020 budget under the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development. However, apart from the total figure earmarked for the reconstruction, no other information was stated nor a breakdown of the amount earmarked for each school.
One of the school contracts, which generated talking points, was the complete renovation of Government High School. Adeta, in Ilorin, the state capital. The school was originally owned by the late elder statesman and legal luminary, Alhaji AGF Abdulrazaq (SAN), the governor’s father and was known as Ilorin College at inception in 1967.
According to documents released by the government under the state Social Audit Policy to an Ilorin based Civil Society group, Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), the renovation project for Government High School gulped a total of N361,957,438.82 – split into Lot 1 and Lot 2 as part of 33 projects to be executed in the school.
Governor Abdulrazaq had in August, in a virtual meeting with the coordinator of ENetSuD, Dr. Abdullateef Alagbonsi, proposed a social auditing policy which would see civic groups and communities monitoring projects and issuing independent reports that would form the basis of his administration making payments to contractors after the initial mobilization fee.
Government High School Adeta Fence
Six weeks after renovation, fence collapses in Adeta’s school
On September 2, 2020, exactly 46 days after the rehabilitation of Government High School, a part of the fence for which reconstruction N42milion was earmarked collapsed. According to a document released to the CSO, the project is meant for the reconstruction of the whole school fence, leading some residents to raise concerns about the basis for the high amount approved for the fence work in the Bill of Quantity.
On a visit to the school, it was observed that the newly constructed fence collapsed partially on the axis leading to Ipata Oloje Area housing the popular motor spare parts market in the Ilorin metropolis. Although there was no official statement from the state government or the contractor on the cause of the collapsed fence, residents around the area linked it to the downpour of a day earlier.
The status of the project is unknown as at the time our reporter visited during the West African Examination Council, WAEC, examination in August 2020, as ceiling works had not been done and the contractors were not on site.
Government High School Adeta Contractor CAC Check
Government High School Adeta Contractor CAC Check
The contract for the Government High School, according to documents obtained by our reporter, was awarded to CONCEL Engineering, a Lagos-based company owned by Sola Braithwaite, and registered at the CAC with No 1 Abiola Ajayi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos as its address.
Despite having no track record of similar construction, the company got the contract for the highest amount budgeted for the school renovation project. Further checks also revealed that the CAC record of the company shows its status as ‘inactive’ while the last time it filed annual returns was in 2011.
As at the time of last visit to the school in October 2020, part of the school had already been painted even though work was still ongoing, and places where corrections are needed like openings on the wall were not done before the painting work. This calls to question the level of professionalism of the contractor that handled the project.
Government High School Adeta Classes wall painted without ceiling
Visited schools in Kwara north
In Kwara North Senatorial district, our correspondent, who visited Pategi Secondary School, gathered that the contract sum released for the renovation, according to available document released by the Elite Network for Sustainable Development (ENETSUD), is N164, 042, 340. It was gathered that the school is one of the eight other first-generation schools where the state government announced that it would carry out a comprehensive renovation.
The first sign that there was something fishy about the contract was the removal of the project signpost following allegations that it was awarded to a company named NUMBERS Limited with a Lagos address, No 13 Okunola Aina street, Mende Maryland instead of an indigenous company. The address was later changed to No 27 Kotangora Street off Stadium Road Ilorin, Kwara State.
The President Pategi Progressive Minded Youths (PPMY), Usman Baba Mahmud, who told this reporter that his group monitored the entire process when the renovation exercise took place added that the work done falls short of the expectation of the community.
According to him: “The people of this community still have reservations in terms of the ‘comprehensive renovation’ as used by the government in the advertisement, because there are many areas that were left out of the renovation and we believe if this was done, the investment in the renovation won’t amount to waste.
Government Secondary School Pategi, Sign Post
“The dilapidated school hostels were not touched at all, and 75 percent of students who came from neighboring villages had to resort to renting houses in the community, thereby denying the teachers opportunity to give close supervision to the students and also exposes the students to all form’s vices,” he lamented.
Mahmud also expressed worry that there was no form of security provided for the facilities in the classrooms and the principal office where vital documents of past and present students are kept.
“Both classes and quarters have no burglary proof, how do you intend to secure these installations that anyone can just remove the Louvre glasses and access these classes and cart away anything unchallenged, even perimeter fencing was not also done, what you have is the fence in the frontage of the school just for decorations purposes, security is not a thing anyone can toy with,” he said.
From the grand summary of the description of work sited by our reporter, the renovation project is to cover SS 1B AND C (Home Economics Lab), Multipurpose Lab, Intro-tech workshop, SS3 and Library block, Administrative block (JSS & SS), Examination Hall with an Office, SS2 block, Computer room and the Physics lab. Others are Staff quarters, Supply of furniture to laboratory and computer rooms (Chemistry, Physics and Biology), toilets and external works comprising of construction of fence wall, paving of assembly ground amongst others.
Further breakdown of the project revealed that for the completion of the science laboratory block N14, 284, 668 was released, while anotherN8, 656, 934 was released for the renovation of the physics laboratory. The amount released for the supply of furniture for the three laboratories is N3, 800, 000.
It was however gathered that no work was done at the physics lab because it was renovated by an old student Engineer Professor Muhammed Yisa Gana a member of the 1976 set of the school.
Gana who was a former commissioner for Agriculture in Kwara state carried out the renovation when he was the Nigerian Ambassador to Japan in 2018. The renovation comprises of a total renovation of the Physics lab building and supply of furniture (stood) for the laboratory.
GOVERNMENT SECONDARY SCHOOL PATIGI LAB
The Principal’s Lodge, which is also in very bad shape and uninhabitable, was not touched at all in contrast to other schools like the Government High School where a similar project was carried out.
At the time our reporter visited the school, some of the renovated classes were already leaking, while the roofs of some classes HAD been eaten by termites.
Also, during the renovation, it was observed by our reporter that, to a large extent, most of the wood used in roofing the over 50-year-old school were re-used by the contractor who only just fixed some and covered it with the roofing sheets procured. This was confirmed by the school principal, who said that this might be the cause of the termites’ attack on the woods.
Speaking in Ilorin, however, on behalf of the contractor who was said to be out of the country, one of the supervising architects, Mr. James Sunday Afolayan, said the renovation carried out was in the scope of the contract as awarded by the government.
Talking about the re-used woods for the roof of the admin block, he confirmed that the wood used previously were still very good and strong compared to what was obtained in the market today and the contractor converted the cost to build a block of classrooms originally not included in the scope of work after seeking approval from the ministry.
Government High School Adeta Contractor CAC Check
Government High School Adeta Contractor CAC Check
Speaking on the early deterioration of the renovated project, a Civil Engineer and lecturer with the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ilorin, Dr. Adeola Adedeji, stated that it should take 50 years before a building starts to deteriorate., the period being the stipulated life span of the building given by engineers.
“It cannot be accurate to say a building will begin deteriorating in a particular given year. The deteriorating is a two-way thing. If the material is substandard, the building might deteriorate faster or depend on the type of workers that handle the building,” Adedeji said.
“Generally, many things are involved before a building starts deteriorating. The people that work on it, the design of the building or the materials used will also determine the life span,” he added.
Few of the staff quarters were renovated and the teachers are making use of the dilapidated quarters as make-shift because the renovated ones are yet to be handed over to the school when our reporter visited in October.
Renovating the abandoned hostels and staff quarters would have an impact on the academic performance of the students, in addition to affording the teachers the opportunity to give closer supervision to the students, since the main purpose of the renovation is to improve education and learning, teaching and learning will not be achieved without facilities.
At the Government Unity School Kaiama, in Kaiama local government area, which is one of the schools earmarked for comprehensive renovation/construction by the state government, the contract handled by two contractors comprises of the renovation of the administrative blocks, assembly hall, boys’ and girls’ hostels and staff quarters.
Although the contract details and scope were not made available by the ministry, which fails to reply an FOI request from our reporter. When our reporter visited the school October, the project was yet to be completed although at an advanced stage, but the contractor had left the site. The people who spoke with our reporter, could not give any concrete reason for that.
FOI Letter
FOI Letter
Alhaji Mohammed Abu Kakagida, a community leader, said the people of the town appreciated the work done by the contractor as most of the buildings in the school were touched.
According to him “As you can see this is a massive project and the first of its kind in this area, although there are few things that need to be done but I believe when the contractor comes back to site all the remaining things will be done,” he said.
However, like it was done at the Government High School, Ilorin, it was observed that part of the renovated school was already painted even though work was still ongoing.
Kwara south
In the course of this investigation, our reporter visited three schools in Kwara South Senatorial District to ascertain the status of the renovated schools. At the Offa Grammar School in Offa Local Government Area, it was observed that no single renovation work had taken place by government contractors despite being one of the schools advertised for renovation.
An anonymous source who spoke with this reporter said the school has a vibrant Alumni Association which has been in charge of maintaining its infrastructures. It was gathered that when the name of the school popped up among the schools penciled down for renovation by the state government, the alumni association advised the officials of the Ministry of Education to, instead, direct its attention to another school within Offa Township for renovation. Attempts to speak with the Principal or official of the school proved abortive. The principal was said not to be around the two times when our reporter visited. No other member of staff was willing to offer any information as our reporter was directed to meet with the officials at the ministry.
Similar situation in Omu Aran
During a visit to Government Secondary School, Omu Aran, this reporter encountered a somewhat similar situation with Offa Grammar School as only a block of three classrooms under construction was taken over by the government and completed.
Omu Aran renovated Block
The school, located in Irepodun Local Government Area is one of those advertised by the state government to benefit from the comprehensive renovation. However, findings show that the students’ Alumni Association had already carried out a comprehensive renovation of the school during its 50th year anniversary in November 2017 when about 300 million naira was spent.
The National President of the Old Boys Association, Olusegun Adeniyi, listed the projects executed to include the construction of a kilometer road that leads to the main entrance of the school and building of a 1,000 capacity ultra-modern auditorium.
He added that other projects include administrative block, library block, laboratory blocks of classrooms, computer and Internet facilities, modern toilet facilities and a Toyota Hiace bus procured for the school.
A worker in the school who pleaded anonymity said the completed block of three classrooms in the school by the government was renovated by the 1975 set of the old boy’s association and 75 percent of the work have been done before the government took over and completed it.
“This job done by the government was surprising to everyone in the school because the old boys are already working on the project and it is not that work has stopped. But suddenly we heard that the government has taken over the project and will complete it,” the worker said.
“We don’t know if it was a member of the 1975 set that influenced government intervention. We even later thought the government would do other projects since we heard that our school was earmarked for a comprehensive renovation.
“There are other structures like the old hostels and some classrooms that need attention but nothing was done,” he said.
It was gathered that officials from the ministry visited the school on a Sunday to select the projects to be renovated, despite the fact that there were numerous projects begging for attention in the school like the abandoned hostel, a more convenient one was chosen.
At the Osi Secondary School in Ekiti Local Government Area of the state, the contract was for the construction of a block of three classrooms with two offices, according to the description in the government advertisement about the project.
When our reporter visited the school, the project had been completed but details of the contract and the contractor was not made available to ascertain the compliance with the bill of quantity. All efforts to speak with officials of the school were turned down, as they directed our reporter to the Ministry of Education for any information concerning the renovation carried out in the school.
Ministry keeps mum about identity of contractors
The Kwara State Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Hajia Fatimoh Ahmed while speaking with our reporter earlier in September said the state opted to do open bidding for the school projects in line with the administration’s policy on transparency.
When asked about the identity and details of the contractors handling the projects, she only said they were indigenous contractors with a track record of executing such projects. She was, however, silent on the amount earmarked for each school project and how the decision for allocation to the schools was reached.
However, in stark contrast to what the commissioner said, the President, Kwara State Indigenous Contractors and Suppliers, Moshood Bolakale Aigoro, said the association was given only two contracts in the first phase of the state’s school renovation project.
Aigoro said the two contracts awarded to the association are the Esie-Iludun Oro Technical School and the Edidi Comprehensive High School, both in Irepodun Local Government Area.
“I can’t argue the fact the school renovations were not given to the local contractors in the state, but the indigenous contractors under me as President, with a population of 25,250 members across the 16 local government areas of the state were awarded only two contracts”, he said.
Our correspondent had asked the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development to provide information on the contractors and the funds released for the various project renovations but it has failed to do so. A Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, request sent to the ministry dated October 2, 2020, did not elicit any response despite several follow-ups. Efforts to once again speak with the Commissioner of Education and Human Capital Development were unsuccessful as she was said to be busy during each visit.
OPERATIVES of the Nigeria Police officers have been deployed to some locations in Lagos and Ogun states to prevent a second wave of the ENDSARS protests.
Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Ogun Police Public Relations Officer confirmed that officers were deployed to strategic places in the state including the capital, Abeokuta.
“Our men are presently at Panseke, NNPC, Abeokuta, and other strategic points in the state. We got information that some youths want to stage protests across the state today,” Oyeyemi said.
According to him, nothing warrants the protest because the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) has already been disbanded.
“There is nothing to warrant any so-called #EndSARS Phase Two Protest because SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) is no longer in existence. Can you stage a protest against an outfit that is no longer in existence,” Oyeyemi stated.
In Lagos state, police were reportedly deployed to the Lekki toll gate to prevent a recurrence of the ENDSARS protest in the state.
Muyiwa Adejobi, the Lagos Police Public Relations failed did not respond to calls or reply text messages sent to him for comment.
However, in a statement signed by Adejobi on Monday to debunk reports that there a protest was being held at the Lekki toll gate, he said the police command is prepared ‘to deal decisively, within the ambit of the law, with any act of lawlessness that could lead to break down of law and order in the state’.
In a similar attempt to dissuade another protest, Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian President warned on Monday that no form of ‘hooliganism’ hiding behind lawful and peaceful protests will be dealt with decisively.
The ENDSARS protests that started peaceful earlier in October was hijacked by hoodlums following the shooting and killings of Nigerians by military officers.
THE Commonwealth Observer Group, chaired by Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, on Monday described as ‘impressive’ Ghana’s precautionary measures taken to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), even as the nation embarks on its Presidential and Parliamentary election today.
“From the airport, we are impressed that the election commission employed people who are called COVID-19 ambassadors to really ensure that the very basic hygiene and procedures are undertaken in order to avoid any spread of the virus,” he told The ICIR during an interview on his assessment of the poll. He had visited La Bawaleshie Presby School 1 Polling Unit located under Ayawaso East Constituency.
“It is an exceptional effort, very difficult to deal with by some countries but we are really impressed by the measures undertaken by and large.”
Ghana Electoral Commission had scheduled today as the election date after reaching a consensus with its 27 political parties.
The ICIR also observed the electoral officers’ strict compliance with the COVID-19 guideline.
Voters at different polling units monitored by this reporter were encouraged to wash their hands before approaching the ballots. Water, detergents, disinfectants and other relevant items were provided at the polls.
The electoral officials also ensured every voter wears a face mask and receives few drops of sanitisers before exercising their voting rights. The idea of proper hygiene was an organised and common experience across the polling units.
“I am pleased to see so many people, despite the pandemic, exercising their democratic rights,” he added.
However, commenting on the voting process, Ugirashebuja said based on the team’s observation as of the time of the interview, the poll was peaceful.
Though Ugirashebuja who was a former President of the East African Court of Justices said it would be too early to conclude, he promised to provide a more detailed assessment once other observers deployed to the remaining parts of the country submit their various reports.
THE physically challenged persons in Oyo state have accused the state’s Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) of marginalizing them during the recent job recruitment by the commission.
According to the Punch, they made this claim during a protest held at the Oyo State Secretariat Agodi on Monday morning.
The protesters, who demanded to be given more non-teaching jobs by the commission, called for the intervention of Governor Seyi Makinde. They alleged that of 350 slots promised to them by the commission, their members were only given 149 slots.
“We are here today protesting because we were shortchanged in employment by TESCOM,” said Segun Adeoye, one of the protesters.
“Our members were given 149 slots instead of 350 we were promised. That is why we want to call the attention of Governor Makinde to please intervene in the issue,” he added.
Following the protest, Akinade Alamu, the state TESCOM chairman, has set up a committee to look into the allegation of manipulation raised by the protesters.
He stated this in a statement shortly after a meeting held between the Joint Association of Persons Living With Disabilities (PLWD) and top government officials in the state.
He also said the recruitment exercise has been suspended pending the outcome of the committee.
RESIDENTS of Abuja spend hours inside the sun to conduct COVID-19 test at the ThisDay Dome, Abuja, The ICIR observed on Monday.
Our reporter visited the centre and met dozens of people, many of who sat on a bare floor, waiting to their samples to be taken.
Apparently resigning to fate, they remained in the sun, scorched, sweating profusely.
Only a few plastic chairs were available for people to sit on at the centre, but the attendants cocooned themselves under the shade of a tarpaulin where they take data and samples of people who come for the test.
It appeared the staff of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) got directive to ensure they have the test done, as they formed the majority of people at the centre on Monday.
Abuja residents waitng to be tested for Covid at ThisDay Dome, FCT.
They hailed one another as each employee took his turn for the samples.
“It is such a rigorous process; we deserve the praise for our patience,” one of the staff told her colleagues, after getting her samples taken. Our reporter noted that people at the centre maintained social distancing and put on nose mask.
The attendants were also courteous.
It took each person at least four hours to get his samples taken, according to our findings.
Taking the samples did not take more than five minutes, but the wait for it took hours. Two samples were taken from each person: one from the mouth and the other from each of the nostrils.
Upon arrival at the centre, each person that came for test was given a number and asked to sit. It could take three hours for the person to be called for his samples to be taken. He would be strongly advised not to leave the premises. He would also be given an “EPID” number. The EPID number makes it important for every person that comes for test to ensure his samples are taken.
There were only four attendants at the centre; all young ladies. They blamed the delay on the shortage of staff.
They were quick to tell whoever bothered to complain that they were understaffed and could do nothing to help the situation.
One of them who spoke with our reporter said they used to be six at the centre, but two had left. She declined to give her name.
She said one of her colleagues left after she got wedded and the second person was indisposed.
“One of our staff was down. Tomorrow we hope she will be returning. We were six before, two people left; we are four now.
Asked why the staff that left were not replaced, she said: “Is it my duty to replace them?” When pressed further if they made a recommendation to the authorities over the shortage of manpower, she stated: “They know. They are aware of it. Our own is to come and do our work.”
Speaking on his experience after a long wait for his samples to be taken, one of the people who came for the test at the centre said: “I cannot talk about it because the “experience was too horrible.”
His colleague, who angrily boarded the same car with him volunteered to speak: “I’ve been here since 12 pm. We were asked to sit. After a while, we were given a number, and my number was 58. I waited from 12 pm to about some few minutes to 4 pm before they finally took the samples from me. I don’t know when the result will be out, hopefully in the next couple of days.
“They got our details, email, address, names and date of birth. I pray they do the right thing; that doesn’t give the result of one person to another.”
Like western countries battling with winter and cold-induced second wave of COVID-19, Nigeria has been recording higher confirmed cases of the pandemic in the past few days.
As of Monday evening, the country had 69,255 confirmed cases and 1,180 deaths from the disease.
KAYODE Fayemi, the governor of Ekiti state has added voice to that of the critics of the Nigerian Army leadership, saying that the country’s military chiefs have nothing new again they are bringing to the table to address the ravaging security challenges in the country.
The governor, who said that the nation’s security apparatus needs to be reviewed, said the continuous presence of the service chiefs is affecting the morale of those who legitimately feel they should be moving towards the direction of the leadership and management of the country’s military
Fayemi, who is the Chairman of the Nigeria Governor Forum (NGF), said this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics..
“But in addition to that, we also believe that the entire framework of our internal security operation has to be reviewed and some morale-boosting issues have to be brought to the fore as far as the leadership of the military is concerned, there’s no question that governors also feel that service chiefs have done their best. They are the longest-serving service chiefs we have had in the country and frankly, there is nothing new that they are bringing to the table. They’ve done a lot in the course of the past five years and the fact that they are still there is also affecting the morale of those who legitimately feel they should be moving towards the direction of the leadership.”
Fayemi added that “the chief of defense staff is a course 25 officer. The chief of Naval staff is a course 26 officer of NDA. The chief of Army staff is a course 29 officer. The major generals that have just been promoted in the last few days, they are course 39 and 40. I mean the distance is humongous and it doesn’t make for cohesion and a confidence building in the military itself, and we need to address that in addition to addressing weapons.”
Fayemi, who lamented that the military is under-equipped from his recent visitation to Borno state, the epicenter of Boko-Haram, stressed that there is the need to better equip the military to better win the ongoing war.
While stating that the issue can be confronted, the governor noted that the war against insurgency needs to be dealt with in an unconventional manner.
He said that the NGF has noted with concern that the military has been overstretched because of their involvement in internal security across the country.
Fayemi added that there is a need for coordinated intelligence and that the civilian JTFs who sometimes understand the terrain and have more intelligence of the activities of the insurgents in Borno should be integrated into the military.
“So we believe that we can tackle this but that we need to deal with this in an unconventional manner. The insurgents are not fighting an asymmetrical war. The war that we are dealing with in the Northeast is asymmetrical. You don’t even know where the enemies are, they are mostly in the midst of our people so you cannot use the strategy of a conventional war to deal with this.
“You need to improve on intelligence. You need to link intelligence to military operations in the most effective manner. And you need to work with neighbours because it has become an international war of sorts that involves Chad, Cameroon, Niger and clearly even though we have a multinational Joint Task Force.
“I do not believe that we have been working as cohesively as we should and that’s a position that we hold in the governor’s forum as well. The governor of Borno, our colleague has been frontal about this position that a lot more needs to be done. The civilian JTF who has been effective needs to be integrated somewhat because they are better intelligence sometimes on what is going on, because many of these elements are from Borno State there.
“We also believe that the military has become somewhat overwhelmed as far as this insurgency is concerned and that’s understandable. They are involved in internal security in almost 34 states out of the 36 States in our country and that stretches them to its limit they are trying but it’s not enough. We’re still losing people and we need to really devise an immediate short term and long term strategy to deal with this. And these are things that will be raising with the president.”
The recent killings of more than 43 farmers in Borno state have renewed the calls for the president to sack the country service chiefs whom he appointed when he assumed office in 2015.
Rather than heed the calls, the president and his handlers have continued to rebuff those making the calls, describing them as unpatriotic and out of place.
AS the Presidential and Parliamentary election continues in different parts of Ghana, the country’s Electoral Commission (EC) has raised alarm over allegation of tampering with ballot papers.
The incidents, according to the electoral commission, was recorded in Awutu Senya West and Bawku Central constituencies.
But the electoral officers indicted had been identified and reportedly removed from their posts pending the outcome of an investigation.
“Information reaching the commission indicates that there have been isolated cases of presidential ballot papers being tampered with in Awutu Senya West and Bawtu Central Constituencies,” the commission stated.
The electoral body, however, used the medium to remind the electorate that the presidential ballot paper only has 12 candidates.
For a correctly thumb printed ballot to be considered valid and counted, all the presidential candidates must be on the paper, the EC added.
It further urged all its staff and field officers to perform their duties based on laid down guidelines.
The political parties, party agents and the general public were as well urged to remain vigilant to ensure a free, fair, and credible poll.
Major contenders in the presidential election are John Mahama, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate and Nana Akufo-Addo, the incumbent President, who is seeking re-election under the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
AS voting kicked off on Monday in Ghana’s presidential and parliamentary elections, John Mahama, frontline presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, NDC has decried the glitches that disenfranchised voters in various polling units.
Speaking to journalists after casting his vote in the Northern Region, Mahama said some voters names were removed from the register and as a result were disenfranchised.
Mahama disclosed that one of his security detail and a lady at his polling station were unable to vote saying the incident vindicates the NDC for kicking against the Electoral Commission’s decision to compile a new voters’ register.
“These are some of the little things we kept complaining about. I mean the EC said it has eliminated 30,000 names, without saying whose names they were.
“So now, we stand vindicated because these are issues we were warning the EC about, that on the day the verification machines might not work because they failed to deploy and test them during the exhibition,” he said.
The race is expected to be a close race between incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo, 76, of the New Patriotic Party NPP, and John Mahama, 62, of the NDC.
After signing a symbolic peace pact last week Friday, a move expected to signal peaceful co-existence between both candidates in spite of the outcome of the elections.
This is the third-time they are sparing against each other in an election as Ghana has had five presidents since 1992 and three hand-overs of power.
However, Mahama is optimistic that the whole electoral process will be carried out smoothly, devoid of violence and intimidation.
“I hope that the atmosphere we saw here will be the same everywhere in the country and if that happens that means voting will go smoothly and I hope that the same applies to the counting and collation,” he said.
Voters are expected to cast their ballots for a new president and members of parliament for 275 constituencies between 7:00 am and 5:00 pm across 38,000 polling stations in the country.
