HADI Sirika, the Aviation Minister on Monday apologised to Nigerians about a wrong claim he disseminated via his social media handle on an impounded United Kingdom (UK)-based airline, barely 24 hours after a fact check by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).
The minister corrected himself saying contrary to his earlier statement about the identity of the operator which he mentioned as Flair Aviation, the impounded aircraft was actually Flairjet.
He attributed the error to the on-going Ramadan fast.
“There is a company called Flairjet. I want to apologise that I tweeted in the afternoon (on Sunday) when the fasting was biting harder and we verified this as Flair Aviation. The correct name is Flairjet and it is UK registered company,” Sirika said at a briefing by the Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), Monday in Abuja.
He explained further that the airline has an aircraft, Legacy 600 with registration number GPRFX.
The Minister gave the operator’s business address as Business Aviation Centre, Terminal Road, Birmingham International Airport, West Midlands. The code was listed as B26QN.
The ICIR had earlier fact-checked Sirika’s claim regarding the purported base, identity of the aircraft and realised the information was inaccurate.
Further findings through the UK Civil Aviation Authority database of licensed airline operators did not also reflect the airline (Flair Aviation) listed by the Minister but Flairjet – the newly corrected airline.
He further criticised the operator for defying its contractual agreement with the Federal Government to embark on commercial flight operation, thus charging passengers and flying people in and out of the country.
“This company applied severally as to operate humanitarian flight and we did approve. It is very clear at the beginning of this exercise that we defined what those flights should be: essential flights basically – cargo, medical evacuation, medical supplies, and so on and so forth,” Sirika added.
He said the crew who are British nationals have been subjected to 14 days quarantine while the investigation continues.
THE World Bank lead economist for Nigeria Marco Hernandez has said in a Quartz Africa report that Nigeria’s problem isn’t debt, it’s about servicing the debt.
According to the World Bank, Nigeria’s debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio has been a relatively healthy 17.4 per cent, below the sub-Saharan Africa average of 28.7 per cent.
The quartz report showed that oil is the only significant revenue source when gauging Nigeria’s ability to make debt repayments and it goes beyond just the oil industry.
Recently the federal government considered using an old idea to fix a new problem by reducing the sizes of government agencies by scrapping merging agencies that have duplicate functions.
For ordinary Nigerians and business people, one of the earliest signs of an economy going south is the travails of Nigeria’s currency, the naira, the report has revealed.
According to the report, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has managed the naira with multiple values versus the dollar, depending on who’s buying foreign exchange which has not truly revealed the value of the currency.
Also, Nigeria’s economy needs the private sector to grow to be as big as the public sector for us to lift people out of poverty and create jobs, the report revealed.
Makinde Ashade a Senior Investment Analyst at Magnartis Capital who spoke to The ICIR said “Cutting our spending is very crucial at this point of debt servicing, all the sophisticated lifestyle we can no more afford again.”
The report showed that the need for an economic course correction, through broad and consistent investment in other sectors, is necessary as Nigeria faces a global crisis that is eating up its oil-dependent economic model.
THE COVID-19 pandemic has shown a lot of positive and negative impact on different sectors of the economy, throwing up potential winners and losers in the period of the pandemic.
Different sectors have been on standstill since the outbreak of the pandemic for example schools have been shut down for more than eight weeks.
The aviation sector has also been grounded for more than eight weeks, this is part of the short term losers of the pandemic.
According to financial analysis represented through the infographics below, some of the potential winners include medical supply and services, food processing, health care, information communication technology, e-commerce and agriculture.
Medical supply and services
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has earlier released funds for this sector provided additional N100billion intervention in healthcare loans to pharmaceutical companies, healthcare practitioners intending to expand/build capacity.
New health care facilities have emerged and benefited from the intervention funds released by the CBN, health sector continued business because they are the lifesaver during the pandemic and adequated funds have been released to them to expand.
Food processing
Funds have also been released to the general manufacturing sector providing N1 trillion in loans to boost local manufacturing and production across critical sectors over the country.
The federal government has also introduced FarmerMoni loans to assist farmers with soft loans to help them stay in the business and provide for the demands.
Information communication technology (ICT)
It’s no news that offices and most organisations have been on shut down to reduce the impact of the pandemic so meetings have gone virtual which involves constant buying of data through service providers.
Microsoft is an obvious beneficiary here, it announced that the number of daily active users for its teams’ collaboration suite increased by 12 million, though there are many others who are financially better off also.
Zoom video communications, a remote conferencing services company headquartered in San Jose, has seen share price increase 130 per cent since the beginning of the year.
E-commerce
Online shopping has been reported to have speedily risen during the period of the pandemic, people ordering for items rather than physically shopping.
According to a new “Global Shopping Index” report published by Salesforce, the number of unique digital shoppers rose 40 per cent year-over-year (YoY).
Digital shoppers drove 20 per cent revenue growth compared to 12 per cent in Q1 2019.
Agriculture
The CBN has also released part of the palliatives to cushion the effect on the agricultural sector, it also placed a moratorium on all government-funded loans issued by the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and the Nigeria Export-Import Bank.
President Buhari has directed the minister of agriculture and rural development, the national security adviser, the vice-chairman, national food security council.
The chairman, presidential fertiliser initiative to work with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to ensure the impact of this pandemic on our 2020 farming season is minimized.
The infographics pointed out the potential losers which included tourism and leisure, aviation, construction and real estates, financial services and education.
Tourism and leisure
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the tourism industry due to resulting restrictions as well as a slump in demand among travellers.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization estimated that global international tourist arrivals might decrease by 20–30 per cent in 2020, leading to a potential loss of US$30–50 billion.
Aviation
Even with the global drop in the price of oil which is supposed to be very beneficial to the aviation sector, due to the closure of borders all over the world and grounding of flight movement, the aviation sector has recorded a massive loss in the business due to the pandemic.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the region’s airlines could lose $6 billion of passenger revenue compared to 2019. That is $2billion more than was expected at the beginning of the month.
Job losses in aviation and related industries could grow to 3.1 million.
Full-year 2020 traffic is expected to plummet by 51 per cent compared to 2019 with the previous estimate was a fall of 32 per cent.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) supported by aviation in the region could fall by $28 billion from $56 billion with the previous estimate was $17.8 billion.
Construction and real estate
The construction industry in Nigeria and the world over is currently in a trying time no thanks to COVID-19 pandemic which has crippled all human activities including building and construction, Kunle Awobudu, President, Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), has said.
This, indeed, is not the best of time for an industry where, Awobudu noted, work is determined by man-hours.
“The lockdown and sit-at-home order by the government means everybody is idle.”
Many projects have been suspended and that means we are wasting man-hours; when you are wasting man-hours, you will feel uncomfortable,” he said.
The NIOB president noted that both the industry and economy are losing much as a result of the lockdown.
Financial services
According to TATA consultancy services, a financial institution, the COVID-19 pandemic could be one of the most serious challenges faced by the financial services industry in nearly a century.
The COVID-19 impact on banking will be severe fall in demand, lower incomes, production shutdowns and will adversely affect the business of banks.
The situation is exacerbated by staff shortages, inadequate digital maturity, and pressure on the existing infrastructure as firms scramble to deal with the impact of COVID-19 on financial services.
Education
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), most governments around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These nationwide closures are impacting almost 70 per cent of the world’s student population.
Several other countries have implemented localized closures impacting millions of additional learners.
UNESCO is supporting countries in their efforts to mitigate the immediate impact of school closures, particularly for more vulnerable and disadvantaged communities,
And to facilitate the continuity of education for all through remote learning.
Inbetween winning and losing
Volatility has always been a challenging element of the oil and gas market but has rarely been more extreme than it is today.
COVID 19-led disruptions to demand, combined with its dramatic impact on financial markets, have led to rapid price swings.
Nigerian consumers have benefited from the drop in the global oil price which has translated to buying petrol at a cheaper rate from N145 to N125.
Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency’s (PPPRA) is officially empowered to regulate the price of petroleum prices in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which would be beneficial to citizens.
TROOPS of the Nigerian army have reported killing twenty Boko Haram terrorists on Sunday in a fierce encounter at the northwest of Baga town of Borno State.
In a press release by the Nigerian Army headquarters, nine soldiers were said to have been wounded in the operation carried out by the troops of Operation Lafiya Dole in a decisive intercept offensive operation. The troops of the 130 Battalion had support from the Army Super Camp in Baga.
The criminals said to have been armed with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms were heading to attack villages surrounding Baga, when the troops attacked their convoy with overwhelming firepower killing 20 BHT/ISWAP criminals and captured 6 AK 47 Rifles, 520 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition and five 36 hand grenades.
However, the statement signed by John Enenche, Major General Coordinator Defence Media Operations revealed that the wounded men were evacuated to Sector 3 hospital for treatment.
The Chief of Army Staff also commended the gallant troops for their professionalism and directed them to remain resolute towards eradicating the criminals from the North East.
THE National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) has said that it has no intention to mobilise prospective corps members anytime soon, especially as the country is still grappling with the coronavirus pandemic.
The Director-General of the Scheme, Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Shuaibu, who made this known in an interview with the Economic Confidential, said they don’t know when they will mobilise corps members again.
Gen. Shuaibu, said the management will only organize fresh orientation exercise the moment the coast becomes clear, and they receive the green light from relevant authorities.
The DG, noted that the Batch A, Stream 1 corps members who were already camping, but had to be hurriedly dismissed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, will be recalled back to their various orientation camps to complete the remaining part of the training.
Hear him: “We don’t know when we are going to start mobilizing our corps members. You know our training is also structured like that of the military and paramilitary. You can see that the Nigerian Navy recently suspended its training for its freshly recruited cadets.
“So, the moment the coast is clear, we are going to key into the way others will conduct their exercise so that our corps members can be called back soonest.”
General Shuaibu expressed delight over the success story of the Scheme’s Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme and the plan to generate revenue from the creative ingenuity and productivity of corps members.
He said: “The SAED programme has recorded tremendous successes, which can even be seen from the activities of our corps members in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Our corps members, nationwide, produced face masks, sanitizers, disinfectant tools, and automatic sanitizing machines. They are also involved in the sensitization and distribution of palliatives of some of these items to communities.
On the plan to commercialise some activities in the scheme for internally generated, NYSC boss disclosed that when he realised that many people saw NYSC as a burden, the management rejigged the scheme’s ventures to find ways to generate and bring ‘something’ to the table.
“We now have NYSC bread and Table Water Company in Kubwa. We want to see how we can replicate the same in the States. So that during orientation exercises we can get these items from our production plants, and feed our corps members in camps.
“Some of our Corpers are into fish and snail farming in NYSC farms. We want to embark in commercial farming of rice. We want to key into the Federal Government’s policy on local content on agric business. This is because we don’t want to be a burden on the government. Therefore, we must continue to look for ways to internally generate our revenue.”
Read the full interview here: https://economicconfidential.com/2020/05/nysc-youth-revenue-shuaib-dg/
CONTRARY to claim by Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation that the “impoundedFlair Aviation” is a United Kingdom (UK) -based chartered aircraft, findings by The ICIR has shown that the airline’s operation base is in Germany.
The ICIR can also authoritatively report that the erring airline is not Flair Aviation as announced by the minister, but Flair Jet Limited, an airline company headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Flair Jet Limited, founded in 2008, offers private jet charter, pilot training, aircraft acceptance, and management services. Flairjet serves customers in Europe.
“Flair Aviation, a UK company, was given approval for humanitarian operations but regrettably, we caught them conducting commercial flights…,” the Minister had stated.
The ICIR checked through the list of licensed airline operators by the UK Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) but Flair Aviation was missing in the three categories of license holders. The only airline operator that appeared close is Flairjet limited but again, it has a different corporate logo and also based in Oxford, UK.
But, several media organisations have reported Flair Aviation as a UK airline operator.
However, the Aviation Minister had earlier expressed disappointment at the airline for flouting the special flight arrangement it had with the federal government.
He said the airline was given approval by the federal government for humanitarian operations but was caught conducting commercial flights.
He thereafter threatened that a maximum penalty would apply.
“…This is callous! The aircraft is impounded, the crew being interrogated. There shall be the maximum penalty. Wrong time to try our resolve, “Sirika tweeted via his official handle on Sunday.
Moreover, it was gathered that the aircraft was chartered to evacuate foreign nationals out of Nigeria, but rather than stick with the agreement, it flew more passengers for commercial purposes.
As a result, the aircraft was impounded while its crew members are currently being interrogated.
The airline operates a fleet of Boeing 737-400 aircraft that is capable of conveying up to 156 passengers. Aside, it also operates on behalf of other Canadian airlines.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on 23rd March 2020 placed a restriction on flights into Nigeria for an initial one month as measures to curb the Coronavirus disease spread(COVID-19).
Following the one month completion, the airport closure was extended by two weeks.
On 6th May, Boss Mustapha, Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), announced an extension by another four weeks.
OUR ERROR: The ICIR had previously reported that Flair Aviation is based in the United Kingdom. Our subsequent check has shown that this information is incorrect. Flair Aviation is based in Germany. We have also noted that the erring airline is not Flair Aviation, but Flair Jet, a UK-based airline. We have corrected these errors and updated the report. We regret the errors and apologise to our readers.
FOR Steven, 28, and Chinonso, 26, both sons of late Eze Solomon, Sunday, May 10 will forever remain a dark, haunting day in their memories.
It was the day life was snuffed out of their 68-year-old father by a police officer at Ereke junction in Karimo area of Abuja.
Nothing is more surreal to them now than the sudden end of their father, because there was no inkling early in the day that the man who just concluded a three-day dry fasting and requested for food was about to die.
Before the tragedy struck, the late father of six had in the morning held a house fellowship with members of his church, The Overcoming World Assembly, in his apartment.
He waited till the evening for his first son, Steven, to bring him food to end the three-day dry fasting.
Solomon never lived to eat the food.
Monday Chukwu’s arrest, Solomon’s death
In the evening of that fateful Sunday, a group of six police officers – some dressed in mufti, others in police bullet proof vests and an informant – had arrived at Karimo to arrest some traders.
The officers were believed to be operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), though it later turned out that they were from the FCT Anti-One Chance Squad who were carrying out random arrests of some criminals. They came in the company of an informant who goes by the name Lucky but is popularly known as Confusion.
It was the arrest of Monday Chukwu, a fashion boutique owner by the operatives that led to Solomon’s death. Chukwu says he was pinpointed by Confusion before the operatives came to his shop to arrest him.
“I was at the shop on Sunday at about 17:30, that’s 5:30, when some cars parked in front of the shop. I was thinking that they were customers,” he said.
“Three men came down from the car with sticks in their hands. I was asking them to come and check from me but when they got to my place, they held me by the waist, holding my trousers and asked me to close my shop.”
Then, Chukwu said, three policemen with guns, wearing bullet proof vests emerged from another car.
“They said I should pack my stuff. There and then, they started hitting me with their sticks that I should pack.”
While he was being forced into the car, Chukwu insisted that he wouldn’t go into the car and that he should be taken to a police station instead.
Chukwu said he asked Confusion why he implicated him. This was when a crowd had gathered to intervene, asking the police operatives to take him to the station.
Amid the crowd was late Solomon who was returning from where he had gone to check his shop which had been brought down by a rain storm the previous night.
The late Solomon’s stall that he went to check before his untimely death
He intervened as an elderly family friend of Chukwu’s, asking that he be taken to the nearby police station instead of SARS headquarters, but he paid the supreme price when the leader of the squad ordered one of his boys to do ‘his work’.
The late Solomon, who sold fairly used clothes and bags at the Ereke junction, was shot straight in the head and died instantly.
“During the process, one of the officers, that’s their boss, came down from the car and said, “ don’t they know their work, they should take action now,” Chukwu told our reporter.
“He brought out his gun and faced the direction of people arguing that they should take me to the station and shoot at one man there. He shot him directly into his eye.”
After the shooting, the leader of the squad, eyewitnesses told The ICIR, zoomed off in his car while his boys forced Chukwu into the second car.
He was not taken to any police station. Rather, Chukwu says he was dropped off along Airport Road after the operatives took N15,500 from him and without telling him his offence.
“At the Airport road, the boss said that they should release me because the guy ‘Confusion said I don’t have anything to do with him.”
“They returned my phone but went away with my money, a sum of N15, 500, and left me in the middle of the road.”
Distraught sons call for justice
Steven Eze and his uncle, Chukwu, want justice after the death of Solomon. Photo Credit: YEKEEN Akinwale
Steven and Chinonso are heart broken. So is their mother, who lives in the village in Anambra State, and the rest of the family.
“I’m totally confused,” Steven told The ICIR looking downcast, .
“I’m still in shock because the whole thing happened like a film to me. I only saw my father and the next ten minutes, they called me that my father was shot.”
Chinonso said he was at home when he got a call that his father was shot dead.
“I was at home when someone rushed in to inform me that SARS shot my father to death.”
“When I got there I saw my dad lying lifeless in the pool of his blood. I rushed to Karimo Station and made a complaint there. The police came with a Hilux and took him to the mortuary.”
After the incident, a group of elders in Karimo, including leaders of Igbo community as well as its AMAC Vice Chairman, Lawrence , Maxwell Okpara , who is also a human rights lawyer, came around to see the family of the deceased.
According to Steven and Chinonso, the elders assured them that justice would be done. But they have fears that their father may die in vain in spite of the assurances given to them by Bala Ciroma, FCT Commissioner of Police.
“On Tuesday, we went to the Commissioner of Police office at Garki 2. We met him and he assured us that justice would be done. He told us that the man who shot my dad has been arrested and is in police custody,” Chinonso said.
How ‘Confusion’ has been implicating innocent traders
Traders at the market say the police informant, whom they know as ‘Confusion’, has over the years been implicating innocent traders with the police.
A trader who once fell victim of his act narrated his experience to The ICIR.
“ Confusion comes around Karimo and Dape. His real name is Lucky.” said the boutique owner who did not want to be named for security reasons.
He was arrested right inside his shop by operatives of SARS after he was pointed by ‘Confusion’, alleging that he had bought a stolen phone from him.
The trader said he “paid through his nose” to bail himself after he was taken to the detention facility of SARS at Abattoir area of Abuja.
“ This is not the first time they are doing something like this. Last two years, they came to my shop and arrested me for no reason,” he said.
“I spent N110,500 to bail myself for what I did not do. I was taken to Abattoir. They alleged that I bought a handset from him while I did not buy anything from him. They found nothing on me. I bailed myself that very day. They took my home theatre and never returned.”
We are investigating the matter, police will be transparent— Manza
Bala Ciroma, Commissioner of Police, FCT Command. He promises justice would be done
Anjuguri Manza, FCT Police Public Relations Officer, said the the matter was being investigated.
“Investigation is ongoing on the matter, the command commiserates with the family of the deceased and promises to make its findings public. The command also promises to be transparent in its investigation of the issue,” Manza says.
He confirmed to The ICIR that the officer who shot the deceased has been identified and arrested, noting that the command issued a statement to that effect.
The police spokesperson declined comments on the identities of the officers involved and what punishments await them if found guilty.
Maxwell Okpara, a human rights lawyer who has been following up on the case, also confirmed that the principal suspect has been arrested, alongside the leader of the operation.
“They are now in police detention now,” Okpara said.
“Police are doing investigation. They open two separate investigations for the matter. One is for the operation they went for; whether the operation was authorised or not was being investigated and the other is the investigation into the actual killing. On Friday when I went there they even brought them out. That is the stage we are now,” the human rights lawyer added.
The family of the deceased is concluding plans to apply for autopsy to be carried out after which the body can be released for burial while police investigation continues.
A police source confided in The ICIR that the police would conclude investigation next week and submit a report so that the officers can go for guard room trial.
After the trial, if found guilty, hey will dismiss them and hand them over for prosecution, the source said.
Okpara said he was convinced that the family of the deceased would get justice, saying “ they are doing what they are supposed to do.”
“If the family likes they can now sue the police because the officer did not come on his own, he did not commit the offence as a person, he committed the offence as a police officer. The police cannot run away from the liability.”
The lawyer said he and others would continue to follow up with the case noting, however, that the police would not want to mess up because the case is a straightforward matter.
“It is not as if they were looking for who shot the deceased. The officer never denied that he shot and the purpose of the autopsy is if the matter is going to court,” he said.
“He shot the man, the man was not fighting him, the man was not an armed robber. He came when they wanted to arrest the young man,” Okpara explained.
Police in Nigeria commit extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and extortion with relative impunity, says Open Society Justice Initiative.
In a report, Criminal Force: Torture, Abuse, and Extrajudicial Killings by the Nigeria Police Force, the civil society group noted that Nigeria Police Force personnel routinely carry out summary executions of persons accused or suspected of crime; rely on torture as a principal means of investigation; commit rape of both sexes, with a particular focus on sex workers; and engage in extortion at nearly every opportunity.
The Nigerian government has acknowledged these problems and promised to address them in the past, but to date, abuses have continued with no real accountability.
It says Nigeria’s leadership must pay serious attention to police reform if it hopes to succeed in restoring public safety.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought drastic changes to the lives of peoples and nations across the world as they are forced to adapt, creating various forms of safety nets for the poor and vulnerable.
This is because while many can try to navigate through current realities, the poor and vulnerable groups, especially those living with disabilities, or affected by natural disasters, armed conflicts, among others, are the worst hit by the global pandemic.
In this category are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) whose lives were already torn apart as a result of the ravaging Boko Haram terror campaign in the North-East of Nigeria.
Over the years, thousands of families and households have been forced out of their communities and fled to find succour in other peaceful parts of the country.
For months and years, they have been managing their lives and adapting to a sad situation they did not cause or had any control over. They huddled in dingy camps and struggled with government neglect and insufficient care by the authorities.
The able-bodied ones and breadwinners daily eke a living to provide food while everyone battled with inadequate supply of water, sanitation and health services, among others. But coronavirus has come to make things worse.
Presidential pronouncement of hope…
With the unprecedented outbreak of the novel coronavirus and the various lockdown measures introduced by authorities to curtail the spread, little life support hangers IDPs clung unto, have become severed. Like it is for millions of citizens, sources of daily livelihoods were cut off and hunger, stress and distress stalked mercilessly. A previous report by this newspaper revealed how IDPs were trying to cope during the lockdown.
However, with President Muhammadu Buhari’s broadcast on March 29, 2020, came some hope as he announced that help would be coming the way of the displaced persons through distribution of relief items and palliatives to cushion the dire effects of the pandemic on them.
“For the most vulnerable in our society, I have directed that conditional cash transfers for the next two months be paid immediately. Our internally displaced persons will also receive two months of food rations in the coming weeks”, Buhari said.
Hope deferred…
But over one month after the President’s broadcast, our reporters visited four IDP camps in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, to find out if their conditions is better. These camps shelter Nigerians from the north-eastern states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa, among others that have been badly hit by the terror reign of Boko Haram.
The findings are revealing as well as disturbing.
The government has not distributed any palliative as promised and directed by Mr. President.
According to people interviewed around the camps, provisions of relief items from the government stopped since 2019, months before the pandemic perched its piercing claws in Nigeria.
Case scenarios of the abandoned lots…
Apo camps: IDPs living in Wasa, a village at the outskirts of Apo, a major satellite town in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), are a population of 5219 persons, according to the chairman of the camp, Usman Ibrahim.
The people in this camp are currently occupying some buildings owned by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) meant for resettlement of Abuja indigenes displaced by urbanization.
Some Section of Wada IDP camp
Instructively, these IDPs had been told to quit the buildings with no alternative provided, a fact that already complicated their precarious conditions of survival. It was bad enough that the buildings are almost at the brink of collapse. But for these displaced citizens, it is better than nothing.
For the over 5000 people living in this camp, they are yet to receive any help from the government per pandemic palliatives. They only received help from two non-governmental organizations – Goodluck Jonathan and T.Y Danjuma Foundations – which on several occasions have brought food items. Two days before the visit, T.Y Danjuma Foundation gave 600 bags of rice to the IDPs in this camp, Ibrahim told OrderPaperNG.
The chairman of Wasa IDP camp said the last time they felt the presence of the government was in 2018 when Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, the current Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, was the Chairman of the National Commission For Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI).
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq.
According to him, the Commission under her brought 137 grinding machines, a truck of food items, spraying machines, and 142 chemicals for their farms.
Mr. Ibrahim also informed that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and its counterpart in the FCT, (FEMA) have never provided palliatives to them either before or during the pandemic.
“NEMA and FEMA have never brought anything to us. Since the lockdown began, we have been calling government agencies. Nobody is responding to us. NEMA came to us and collected our list a month ago and up till now, we have not seen them. I called the deputy director of the refugee commission too, there was no response”, he said.
Within the Apo environs, which by the way is located to the south of Abuja city center, there are several other settlements occupied by IDPs. These clusters of IDPs live communally such that when a settlement gets donations from NGOs, the items are shared to others in the adjoining mini-camps.
Women in New Kuchingoro IDP camp
Panteka is a settlement in Apo. According to the chairman of this cluster, Dauda Tra, it hosts about 1000 IDPs who have been living there since 2014.
He gave a similar narrative, lamenting that most residents rely on donations from people as nothing came from the government.
“We complain because nobody knows us. We live basically on whatever they give to us. Sometimes for four months, we don’t get anything. We have not seen anything from the government,” he lamented.
200 meters away from Panteka is Waru. This particular settlement houses 4732 displaced persons who have integrated into the community after they were evicted from abandoned buildings they used to stay.
This settlement has extensions in Panteka and Zinda, another IDPs hood.
Elisha Haruna, who lives in this settlement disclosed that so far, they only get donations from religious institutions and they have not received any form of palliatives from the government. They survive with proceeds from their personal businesses.
A slightly different story…
It was however a slightly different story at the New Kuchingoro, a camp also under AMAC. Settlers here told OrderPaperNG that the Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), two days before the initial lockdown which spanned for 14 days, brought two buckets of liquid soaps for hand washing to be shared among 1573 persons and 282 households but not food.
Philemon Emmanuel, who is the camp leader said: “The government has not given us palliatives.
Although, two days to the first lockdown, FEMA brought two buckets of liquid soap to wash our hands. The buckets are broken. They have not come back here since then. Goodluck Jonathan Foundation brought hand sanitizers two weeks ago.
“On Friday, we saw some people from Victims Support Fund, an NGO who came with food items- rice, beans, and maize. Before they brought this thing, some of our people did not have anything to eat in this place.”
Crippled businesses and bribe-for-passage…
Forgotten by the government, IDPs survive with proceeds from their menial businesses to make ends meet, especially since the government partially lifted the lockdown in the FCT on May 4, 2020. But they are faced with low or outright non-patronage of their daily hustles, a prevalent story among the general citizenry of the country.
In Waru settlement, most men are farmers in Nasarawa state which is currently under lockdown. Thus, they are either stay back in their settlements without food or endure harassment from the law enforcement agents who seek bribe before allowing them to pass through.
To avoid meeting the security agents, they have to leave their houses as early as 4:00am to be able to get proceeds from the farm to sell in their settlements. But to their dismay, sales have terribly dwindled. The prices of goods when available have also gone up.
Sarah Philemon, a beans cake seller in the settlement, decried expensive food items and low patronage.
“I fry akara here normally. Now, as I fry, people don’t have money to buy. Things are now expensive and I don’t have money to buy more beans and groundnut oil so I manage the little I have.”
Cab drivers and self-imposed quarantines…
The men living in Panteka settlement are mostly taxi drivers or bike riders. Although the lockdown has been eased, patronage is not as it used to be.
“Some of us can’t go anywhere. Those who are taxi drivers or bike riders are here, they don’t have work. There are about 500 people now sleeping inside and they are not doing anything. When they eased the lockdown, we go out to look for work but we can’t find work to do. People are not patronizing us”, the chairman, Tra said.
Chairman of New Kuchingoro IDP camp, Philemon Emmanuel
Both men and women in New Kuchingoro IDP camp work as labourers on construction sites but with the directive to halt non-essential businesses, they are out of jobs.
“Truly, it has been difficult for us. We used to go before now to look for labourer work before we get something to eat. Then we heard that we are going for lockdown and since that time, we heard Mr. President promised he is going to feed especially the IDPs but we have not seen them”, the chairman, Emmanuel said.
While most of the IDPs got to know about the novel coronavirus from sensitization messages on radio and television, they have little or no means to protect themselves from the virus due to their numbers cramped up in small spaces.
Luckily, some residents in Waru settlement are educated. Elisha, for instance, is a 500 level medical student of the University of Benin, who returned to unite with his family due to the closure of academic institutions.
From his knowledge and exposure, he is able to teach camp members on how to maintain personal hygiene and social distancing, use of face masks and hand sanitisers. Sadly, just a few of the persons can purchase these items while most of them live in squalor which makes it nearly impossible to observe the safety guidelines.
In the settlement, they tell the taxi drivers for instance, not to mix with others to help curb the spread of the virus. This became necessary because the cab drivers usually come in contact with passengers who may have the virus.
“We were also not briefed about coronavirus. Since some of us are educated, we check the internet to get information that is how we know. Those among us who are taxi drivers, we identify them and make sure they don’t mix with us because we don’t know the people they have been in contact with. But they sanitize their hands”, the undergraduate said.
In the other IDP camps visited for this story, no protective measures were seen in place to safeguard lives.
Frustrated back to ravaged bases…
A combination of several frustrations have made some of the IDPs return to their communities during the pandemic not minding the consequences of the ongoing insurgency in Borno state.
“Some men have carried their wives to the village, back to Gwosa. There’s nothing they can do. They went back despite the attacks because there’s hunger here”, the Chairman said.
For him, it is better his people return to their communities they had initially fled from, to feed properly not regarding the killings by Boko Haram insurgents, than die in the nation’s capital as a result of hunger.
The sick are left to die as the pregnant deliver in shanties…
From most of the IDP camps visited, health services remain a major challenge. It was learnt that when they initially migrated to the nation’s capital, the authorities made arrangements for free healthcare services for them.
Women and Children Wasa IDP camp
They were given ‘authorization letters’, as they call it, that allowed them to access free treatment in Maitama and Asokoro general hospitals. But this service was discontinued in 2019 when Farouq assumed her ministerial position.
Since then, those who can afford it either go to nearby primary health care centres or seek local remedies among themselves. In some instances, some critically ailing IDPs were left to die.
OrderPaperNG witnessed this unfortunate scene in New Kuchingoro camp where a man in his 40s was seen lying frail on the floor close to one of the make-shift shelters.
“The major challenge here is health because if someone falls sick, if you don’t have money, you will just die. Our people don’t like to go to the National Hospital because if you go there, they will keep referring to different places. Nobody will attend to you.
“People are not thinking of how to protect themselves from coronavirus. We are thinking of how to get food to eat. That is the fact”, the chairman of the camp, Emmanuel said.
In Panteka and Waru settlements, they contribute monies to pay for the hospital bills for any sick person.
Pregnant women who are on the verge of labour also encounter these trials.
“When women want to deliver babies, if they have money they go to Kuchingoro Primary Healthcare center, if they don’t have money, they stay back and give birth at home”, Elizabeth Sunday, a woman in Kuchingoro camp said. A child was lost in the Durumi camp during the lockdown period as a result of the withdrawal of the ‘authorization letters’.
“During the lockdown, we helped deliver a baby but it was premature- 8 months. We took her to the National Hospital and they kept referring us up and about until the baby died.
“At the National Hospital, the CMD was receiving IDPs but now they have suspended authorization letters for us for four months”, Liyatu Ayuba, woman leader of Durunmi camp told this newspaper.
Dodgy reaction from officials…
Several attempts were made to get reactions on the various findings from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development; as well as the authorities of the FCT. Most of the officials contacted demurred while the few who responded could not adequately account for the neglect of the IDPs.
The Spokesman for the Ministry, Salisu Na’inna Danbatta, simply directed all enquiries elsewhere: “The camps are under the management of the FCT”, he said via text. Recall that OrderPaperNG had also received a similar reaction on a previous report about the Durumi IDP.
When the spokesperson of FEMA, Florence Wenegieme, was contacted, she previously replied some weeks ago that the agency’s officials were attacked when they visited a camp. But she did not answer subsequent calls and text messages seeking details on this report.
It is however, worth stating that the FCT Minister of state, Ramatu Aliyu, in an interview with a national television station on the 19th of April, 2020, made suggestions as to why the government is unable to provide palliatives to vulnerable groups.
According to her, the government’s record and social register for displaced persons is incomplete because they (IDPs) are usually not permanently resident in a place.
She had said: “Well, practically now, we should have about 3,000. If we capture the IDPs and PLWDs or destitute, most of them are also transient kind of people, so if we have them today and tomorrow they are relocated to their villages or one way or the other, they decide to move, I don’t think we will consider that as a complete headcount that will be very valid. This time around, we are going into actual residents and indigenes of the city to ensure that the real people that need palliatives or government support are captured.
“We have a social-register at the Social Development secretariat that has been saddled with the responsibility of taking care of the less privileged, IDPs and people living with disabilities but most of the people targeted are in the villages and are not captured in the register. So, this goes a bit further into villages and trenches and this time around after the distribution, we will ensure that FCT does have updated social register.”
In what may be regarded as a puncture of the minister’s claim, executives in the camps visited told our reporters that their details have been received by NEMA and displayed a piece of evidence below to buttress their claims.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This report was made possible with support from the International Centre For Investigative Reporting (ICIR).
HOW do you tell when women are beginning to make impacts in their communities? Is it when their standard of living improves? Is it when more women have education? Is it when they join politics or build community health care centres?
In the Niger Delta, women are at the forefront of changing narratives about gender mainstreaming, and are inspiring fellow women to stand up for their rights.
Juliana’s inspiring story
Korepuzhe Juliana, she rose from being an illiterate to becoming a school teacher and now an advocate of women’s rights. Photo Credit: YEKEEN Akinwale
“I’m the testimony of myself,” said 49-year-old Korepuzhe Juliana in front of a cheery group of women and men who had gathered in Warri, Delta State to celebrate this year’s International Women Day organized by the Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND).
If her education was inspiring, the rest of her story is
The event, Realising Women’s Rights: Economic and Peace building Route was to allow stakeholders to take stock of achievements made since the declaration of Beijing Accord 25 years ago.
Juliana, who hails from Bilabiri 1 Community in Ekeremo Local Government, Bayelsa State has always been an independent woman, even after losing two daughters in a shipwreck and waited for another 18 years to become a mother again.
She narrated how they swam for long hours when their boat capsized on the way to Nigeria from Gabon. “My two daughters died in the water.”
She grew up in Gabon following her parents’ relocation from Nigeria during her childhood. But the incident that claimed her two daughters while returning to Nigeria in 1994 was one that depressed her for years.
Since then, she has moved from being an illiterate village woman, to being a school teacher and spokesperson for the women.
She was into fishing in Gabon and had thought to continue the same line of business on her return to Nigeria. But for several reasons, fishing in Nigeria at her community was not as productive as expected.
“When I came back, the only occupation in my village was fishing,” she said. “We toiled throughout the night but what we caught is not usually enough compared with the time and energy. We are out on the sea till 2am.”
Juliana could only speak French, and pidgin English and because fishing was not as profitable as she would have loved, formal education was her last option.
“We catch a little fish, so I decided to read ABCD,” an elated Juliana said as she shared her testimony.
At about 26-year-old, she started to learn how to read and write under the guidance of her husband, a Reverend Minister who is now late. “He taught me how to read and write,” Juliana said, eulogising her late husband who died in 2009, as “a good mentor.”
Describing her brain as a computerized one, Juliana, is now employed by Ekeremo Local Government as a primary school teacher after attending teaching certificates at Teachers Training College, Ekeremo and NCE in Ekiti State.
Between when her late husband tutored her and now that she is a full time school teacher, she says there have been many changes for women in her village.
Demanding rights of women
Juliana has been the one standing up for the rights of fellow women in the five communities that make up RDC and two clans.
Men in the communities have given little opportunity to women to be represented at many forums and she fought for women’s inclusion.
“They wanted to have an open forum and they requested for 50 persons to represent our communities: 40 men and 10 women, but the leaders took just one woman to represent us,” she recalls.
“I challenged them that why are they denying women their rights, they said women are illiterate.”
She demanded Adult Education for women in the communities from the local government authorities which were granted.
Juliana, now coordinator of the Adult Education programme says 20 women have enrolled for primary school leaving certificate examination.
“The reason I asked for the women to be educated is that I want women to join in the fight for their rights,” she says. This, she explained, was facilitated by a training on peace building and gender mainstreaming by PIND.
She believes that women hold the key to development in their respective communities with the Adult Education and skills acquisition training they have undergone.
Prioritizing women and children’s health care—Mirian’s bold and courageous efforts
Anomuogharan Mirian, was concerned about women and children’s wellbeing in her community. She rehabilitated an abandoned health care centre. Photo Credit: YEKEEN Akinwale
In 2016, plights of women and children prompted Anomuogharan Mirian to mobilise women of like minds to rehabilitate the abandoned Benikuru Community Health Centre in Egbema, Gbaramatu, Warri, Delta State.
The health centre was in total ruins—overgrown by weeds and the equipment were left to rot away—yet women and children in the community were in dire need of adequate health care services.
“I was inspired by the theme of the 2017 International Women Day celebration that was around being bold and courageous to mobilise other women to clean up the abandoned Egoboata Health Centre,” Mirian says as she shares her success story.
With the help of fellow women like Iselekedimine Newman, Abase and Tokiye Okoromadu as well as a man, Festus Ojogun who shared her vision, the moribund health care facility was rehabilitated.
In October, Mirian said, based on the state government recommendation, the health care centre hosted a medical outreach where locals with defects such as cataract were treated.
Although the centre was serving the interest of the locals, Mirian who had mobilised resources to run it was asked to vacate it by the community. While she left, the community offered her another abandoned building to renovate to continue her work.
“Again, I started all over to renovate the abandoned building. I constructed a wooden bridge over water to link the clinic. I repaired the roof. Today, my new centre is the only one serving the community,” she recounts her experience.
Women for women, Alfreder’s political engagement
Alfreder Ato, broke the jinx for other women in her local government in Bayelsa State during the 2018 elections. Photo Credit: YEKEEN AKinwale
Alfreder Ato, advocate for girl child education in the creeks recalls her experience as the first woman to come out of Ekeremo Local Government in Bayelsa State to seek an elective post.
In the 2019 general elections, she contested the state House of Assembly seat and in 2020 was a deputy governorship candidate. At the time, she was one of the seven female deputy governorship candidates.
Her campaign slogan, “women for women” inspired women to come out massively to vote during the election though she didn’t win the seat.
“Women came out massively to vote for me because that was the first time a woman was coming out,” she says.
“I was able to tell them my vision, that they have tried men and they should have tried women too.”
Alfreder stirred hornet nests during electioneering when she blew the cover of state officials and electoral officials caught in vote buying and hoarding of voters’ cards.
“I ran into some electoral officials and some community leaders who were hoarding cards,” Alfreder relives her experience with fellow Niger Delta women.
This, she says led to the arrest of those involved by the security and removal of compromised electoral officials.
As a result of what happened, the election became a tug of war- her agents were kidnapped by militants; her bank account and phone line were hacked.
She says what she saw during the elections were eye openers that “we have a lot to do.”
But her involvement in politics earned her nomination by YIAGA as one of Nigeria’s most influential young politicians.
What must be done to improve gender mainstreaming?
A Panel Discussion comprising gender activists on the way forward for gender mainstreaming during a programme organised by PIND on March 19 in Warri to mark 2020 International Women Day.
In the Niger Delta, like many parts of Nigeria, women face barriers to realise their potentials, to representation in public life at the local level. Poor women are particularly vulnerable.
Tunji Idowu, PIND Deputy Executive Director explains that the Foundation places women and girls at the heart of its work, working closely with partners on ground to spread the benefits of its programme interventions to women, who are the most marginalised.
“For us, gender mainstreaming is not only about including women as intervention participants,” Idowu says. “It is about deliberately addressing issues limiting women’s economic and social wellbeing.”
The Foundation has over the years empowered and facilitated opportunities for thousands of women such as access to fit for purpose efficient technology and also championed women’s issues such as violence against women.
Bose Eitokpah, a gender specialist says there is a need to bridge the gap between the generation of those who started what culminated into the Beijing Declaration and the new generation to be able to continue with the struggle for gender equity.
Though, the figure of women involvement in Nigeria’s different sectors is still far behind that of their menfolk, Eitokpah who had worked with the Foundation on gender mainstreaming and capacity building says the current realities of women participation in various activities gives encouragement and builds hope of a brighter future.
Blessing Epharaim Sam, specialist in ceiling and floor finishing says barriers against women such as being tagged too weak to do certain work must be broken. She was part of the PIND’s Niger Delta Youth Empowerment Programme (NDYEP) where she acquired the skills in ceiling and roofing finishing.
“A woman is always considered too weak to do certain jobs, like a woman cannot go into construction,” says Sam whose work now speaks volume about what women can do.
In politics, Agatha Osieke Osagie, a lawyer and gender activist laments that Nigerian women are yet to get there. She wonders why women usually fail to support their fellow women seeking political offices.
“In Edo State, we started with three women in the state House of Assembly and today there is none,” she says. “It is a shame.”
Osagie, commends however, women in Edo, that are now playing roles in issues of peace and security unlike in the past when they were laid back.
She attributes this and other success to PIND, which gives a road map to women on how to be more active and engaging.
Benedicta Peter-Ughe’s aquaculture business in Akure, Ondo State which used to be an exclusive preserved business for the men inspires other women.
“I use what I’m doing to mobilise other women in Akure, especially in aquaculture,” she says.
“Women have been taken for granted and are not allowed to engage in some works based on traditions and customs. Eradication of poverty is one of the rights women are entitled to.”
Yet, it would be a mistake to be carried away by the success stories— many more women remain highly vulnerable to poverty and without the right support, will not find a way out.
THE number of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Nigeria has doubled between Monday, May 4, when the gradual ease of lockdown began in Lagos, Ogun, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Saturday, May 16.
As it stands, the number of confirmed cases according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has increased from 2,802 on May 4 to 5,621 on May 16 representing about 101 percent increase in almost two weeks.
The number of deaths have also increased from 93 to 176; this is about 89 percent increase in the number of fatalities caused by COVID-19.
During the 35 days of full lockdown − March 30 and May 4, the number of confirmed cases rose from 131 to 2,802. In other words, an average 76 cases were reported on daily basis during that period, while an average of 235 cases per day has been reported within the 11-day period of the gradual ease of lockdown and more still to come.
While it is too early to link the ease of lockdown to the increasing number of cases, figures from the NCDC shows a daily progression in the number of cases both pre and post lockdown periods.
President Muhammadu Buhari explained while delivering his nationwide broadcast that the decision to ease the lockdown was premised on advice from the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
Buhari concedes the lockdown has hurt the country’s economy, especially in non-essential sectors that depend on daily income for survival. But the decision to relax the lockdown came as Nigeria’s number of coronavirus cases has been increasing.
While Lagos, Ogun, and the FCT were on lockdown, other state governments tolled the path of locking down their states. However, some of the governors have relaxed the lockdown order in their states, taking a cue from the federal government.
In fact, Borno, Ebonyi, Gombe, Adamawa, and Anambra states have all relaxed the order.
Edo state government has set up a committee to advise it on relaxing some of the lockdown measures currently in place.
Following the relaxation of the lockdown order in Ebonyi state, religious gathering of not more than 500 people will now be allowed in the state.
Interestingly, Kano state, the second most infected of the virus in the country relaxed the lockdown order imposed on it by President Buhari.
Before the gradual ease of lockdown, the PTF issued new guidelines, including an overnight curfew, the mandatory use of face masks in public places and strict social distancing restrictions. However, thousands have flooded marketplaces and banks, without complying to the physical distancing orders.
Arising from the continuous violation by people in public places, the PTF has considered reviewing the guideline in the light of continuous spread and rising cases of the virus in the country.
Many public health experts have criticised the decision to ease the lockdown terming it as ill-timed and premature.
There may be spike in COVID cases – NMA
Reacting to the gradual ease of lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the FCT, President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Francis Faduyile, said the country would see a spike in positive cases of the coronavirus.
He said people have been trooping out en-mass and have not been complying with regulations in terms of social distancing as well as being guided in public places.
“This development is definitely working against all the regulations towards the containment of the disease and it shows that it is more likely we will have a spike in positive cases as the NMA envisaged.”
He, however, urged the Federal and State governments to enforce all the regulations put in place to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.
He said: “Since the government has relaxed the lockdown, they should be able to find ways to ensure that there is compliance with guidelines they have put in place.”
President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana on April 19, announced the end of its three-week lockdown in two major cities (Accra and Kumasi).
This saw Ghana’s case rise days after the lift in lockdown and making it the country with the highest number of confirmed cases in West Africa.
Ghana’s strategy in preparation for easing the lockdown was to ramp-up testing. Ghana has an aggressive testing strategy and even employed drones in transporting samples to labs to reduce the time it takes to identify cases and respond to the threats. As of May 16, Ghana had tested about 171,642 persons.
In comparison, Nigeria has tested 32,942 people – 160 tests per one million.
With this, it means Nigeria ranks second to the last in terms of test per one million out of the top 10 countries with the highest number of confirmed cases in Africa.
Ghana has 5,539 tests per one million and ranks second in this category, coming after South Africa with 7,423 tests per one million.
Lesotho, the last African country to be affected by the virus reported its index after the relaxation of its four-week lockdown.
Nigeria, with 17.06 percent infection rate is the third most infected country of the COVID-19 out of the 10 countries with the highest number of confirmed cases in Africa.
