THE Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has disclosed that a total of 550 suspected cases of eight different diseases comprising measles, cerebrospinal meningitis, yellow fever and five others were recorded in one week across the states in the country.
In its weekly, epidemiological report for the week 35 released on Tuesday, the NCDC listed other diseases to include cholera, lassa fever, monkey pox, acute flaccid paralysis, and influenza subtype A and B.
According to the breakdown of the cases, measles account for the highest figures with 307 suspected cases across 127 local governments of 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Acute flaccid paralysis and lassa fever diseases followed measles with 74 and 73 suspected cases respectively.
Others were Yellow Fever with 44 cases, cholera-33 cases, cerebrospinal meningitis-16, monkeypox-2 and a case of influenza.
Measles is a vaccine-preventable disease, however, thousands of measles cases have been recorded in 2019 in Nigeria.
To tackle the public health disease, NCDC said the multi-agency National Measles Technical Working Group (TWG) was monitoring and coordinating response activities, working closely with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) towards measles supplemental immunization activity in the country.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the best protection against the disease is through receiving two doses of the measles vaccine.
But a WHO’s report in April 2019, noted that more than four million Nigerian children missed the first dose of measles vaccine in 2017.
Cases of Measles between 2015 and as of July 2019.
The result of the missed-out is visible in the country as between January and July, it recorded a total of 24, 994 cases, according to WHO’s statistics. Nigeria’s figure was the fourth-highest globally.
Lassa Fever also affected 73 people in the last week of August across 15 local governments in 12 states. It caused the death of two people.
Edo State has the highest number with 36 cases. The state is followed by Ondo State with 13 casualty figures. Other states that were affected with Lassa Fever are Lagos – 12, Ebonyi – 3, Bauchi – 2, Plateau – 1, Kaduna – 2, Benue – 1, Delta – 1, and Abia –2.
The disease is caused in humans by being infected with Lassa virus from exposure to urine or faeces of infected Mastomys rats. The virus could also spread between humans through direct contact with the blood, urine, faeces, or other bodily secretions of a person infected with Lassa fever.
Going by the situation update report, Nigeria has recorded 3,617 suspected cases of the disease so far in 2019. Of these, 678 were confirmed positive and a total of 147 people died to the disease.
Responding to the disease, NCDC noted there is a TWG that co-ordinates the response activities at all levels.
The prevention of Lassa fever relies on promoting good “community hygiene” to discourage rodents from entering homes with effective measures that include storing grain and other foodstuffs in rodent-proof containers, disposing of garbage far from the home, maintaining clean households and keeping cats, according to WHO.
Confirmed Cases of Lassa Fever in Six States in Nigeria as of August 2019. Infographics by Olugbenga Adanikin/The ICIR.
Another epidemic Nigeria is fighting is Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP). The disease which is described by the global health agency as a sudden onset of paralysis or weakness in any part of the body of a child less than 15 years of age were suspected to affect 74 people across 25 states and the FCT for that week.
Yellow Fever, Cholera and Cerebrospinal Meningitis that are all vaccine-preventable diseases recorded casualty figures close to 100 people.
MINISTER of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammad Bello says residents of the nation’s capital should be vigilant and be conscious of their personal security as kidnappers make inroad into Abuja.
“It is almost impossible for security agencies to be everywhere one hundred per cent…so every resident in a way is also a security officer,” Bello said in Abuja on Tuesday after the meeting of the FCT Security Committee.
“So, it is very important for residents to be vigilant…to to be very conscious of their personal security. If for instance, you see a vehicle without number plates, it means that vehicle is not registered and can be used for criminal activities, please report to the relevant authorities,” he added.”
The Security Committee comprises the police, military and para-military formations in the FCT as well as Area Council Chairmen and religious leaders.
While admitting that there were recent cases of kidnapping in the city, the Minister insisted that Abuja, “remains quite safe,”compared to other cities of the world.
Five persons were reportedly kidnappedin Abuja over the weekend, police confirmed two cases as the victims were released or rescued. There has been growing fear among the residents on the state of security in the territory.
Bello said that in comparison to several cities around the world, FCT remains quite safe. While acknowledging that there were indeed two incidences of kidnappings over the past few weeks, the Minister said both victims have been rescued.
He called on residents to not be swayed by rumours or unverified news online but to confirm their veracity before circulating. Fake news or false security information has the capacity to lead to breach of peace, he said.
On the issue of communal clashes, he commended the efforts of the Area Council Chairmen and traditional rulers in curbing the herders/farmers clashes and urged them to continue on the path of ensuring peace.
Bello also assured residents that the FCT administration would continue to partner and render support to the Nigerian police, the military and para -military commands in the FCT that are charged with the task of keeping the city secure.
Also speaking, the FCT Minister of State, Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu called for synergy between all security agencies in the task of combating crime and enforcing security measures in the FCT.
The FCT Commissioner of Police Bala Ciroma on his part said that there would be more deployment of officers and men across the city to combat crime.
He revealed that the police have also intensified both vehicular and foot patrol to ensure more visibility of officers and men of the Force in the city. The raid of black spots he said, will be stepped up.
Ciroma echoed the opinion of the Minister when he said that community policing, which involved a robust collaboration between the police and the citizenry will be intensified.
This method, he said, has succeeded in curbing criminality in the Area Councils, especially Abaji where information provided by the citizens stopped a kidnapping ring which operated between Kogi State and the FCT.
On the menace of “one chance” the Police Commissioner said that the criminals perpetrate their acts by using unregistered and unpainted taxis.
He said that the police was collaborating with the FCT Directorate of Road Transport Services to apprehend the criminals.
Ciroma also revealed that a unit within the CID was created specifically to combat one chance and so far, over one hundred of suspected one chance perpetrators have been arrested and their vehicles confiscated.
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday dissolved the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP) headed by the suspended Okoi-Obono Obla.
A statement by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to immediately take over all outstanding investigations and other activities of the SPIP.
The panel was established in August 2017 by the then Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, to investigate specifically mandated cases of corruption, abuse of office and similar offences by public officers.
Buhari, who thanked all members of the dissolved panel for their services, said he looked forward to receiving the final Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) report on the ongoing investigations of the dissolved panel’s chairman, Obono-Obla.
Buhari had on August 14 approved the suspension of Obono-Obla from office.
Obono-Obla’s suspension letter, signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, directed the embattled official to step down and then proceed to answer questions from the ICPC.
He is facing probe over allegations of certificate forgeryand other corruption-related charges.
THE recent decision by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to increase the Value-Added Tax (VAT), on goods from 5 per cent to 7.2 per cent in a bid to increase the country’s non – oil revenues and also reduce its reliance on crude oil sales has continued to generate hot debate among experts and Nigerians.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, in a news report explained that the extra revenue will create the required funds to meet the new minimum wage obligation.
“This is important because the Federal Government only retains 15 per cent of the VAT, 85 per cent is actually for the states and local governments to enable them to meet the obligations of the minimum wage,” the minister had said.
“We were proposing and the council has agreed to the increase in the VAT rate from five per cent to 7.2 per cent. Though, a decision is yet to be taken on the effective date of the new rate.”
Although, Ahmed made a U-turn in a statement by her spokesperson, Yunus Abdullahi, saying that that the proposed increase was 7.5 per cent instead of the initial 7.2 per cent earlier announced based on the recommendation of the presidential technical advisory committee.
After the increase in the minimum wage from N18,000 to N30,000 in April 2019, the Federal Government had argued that majority of the 36 states would struggle to pay salaries of their workers, insisting the proposed VAT hike is part of its drive to increase tax revenue for states to pay their staff.
A VAT is a consumption tax payable on goods and services consumed by individuals, government agencies and business organisations.
Currently, Nigeria has one of the lowest VAT rates globally when compared with other African countries like Ghana with a VAT rate of 15 per cent, South Africa 14 per cent, Egypt 10 per cent, Morocco 20 per cent and Mauritius 15 per cent — the difference is quite obvious.
At the current rate of 5 per cent, Nigeria raised N1.1 trillion in 2018 from VAT which amounts to 0.9 per cent of it’s Gross Development Product, (GDP), which is insignificant when matched with several Commonwealth and ECOWAS countries earning 3.8 per cent of their GDP from VAT according to a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC).
What does this increase mean for Nigerians?
It has been argued that the proposed VAT increase has implications for the ordinary Nigerian. For instance, a Nigerian who earns N30,000 monthly wage and wants to obtain a product worth N10,000 with the VAT charge inclusive will have to pay N10,720 which means he has spent 35.73 per cent of his income, while another Nigerian earning N500,000 monthly will spend 2.14 per of his monthly income to purchase the same product.
Analysis carried out by The ICIR shows that Nigerians with higher income will pay less proportion of their income as VAT on taxable goods or services and save more while Nigerians with lesser incomes would pay more and save less.
However, some items most Nigerians consume enjoy VAT exemptions namely basic food staples, water, medical, veterinary and pharmaceutical raw materials, books, newspapers, infant products, and
magazines.
Apart, from the exempted goods listed above, other goods are subject to VAT which includes Sanitary protection for women such as pads and tampons, television, amongst others.
BudgIT NG, a civil advocacy organisation in a 2018 report revealed that final consumption expenditure of households in Nigeria moved from N42 trillion in 2012 to N74 trillion in 2015 reflecting a leap of about 76 per cent. It also revealed that the consumption pattern of most households in Nigeria tilted towards food, accommodation, and transportation.
Though 2.2 per cent VAT increase looks minimal it is yet prone to lead to a 40 per cent increase in cost to small businesses and consumers according to the report.
The result is a likely reduction of spendable income for poor households resulting in lower consumption patterns, increase in prices leading to higher inflation, and a decline in the GDP growth rate.
On the bright side, extra VAT revenue will help reduce budget deficits, reduce government debt and fund social services if utilised appropriately.
What is Statistics saying?
Nigeria had raked in N3.627 trillion as proceeds from VAT between 2015 to 2018 according to data obtained from the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
The country earned its highest VAT income in 2018 receiving N1.1 trillion. In 2017, it earned N972 billion and N828 billion in 2016. The least was in 2015, which was N767 billion.
If the proposed VAT increase of 7.2 per cent is implemented, Nigeria would earn an extra N440 billion annually from VAT according to a PWC forecast.
It also means that the Federal Government will earn an additional N66 billion, the 36 States would also earn N220 billion more and the Local Governments would get extra N154 billion at the level of 2018 collection.
However, VAT revenue of N767 billion generated in 2015 is less than 1 per cent of Nigeria’s consumption GDP of about N80 trillion despite the country being import-dependent.
Lagos sits on the top of the pack in terms of VAT receipts generated across the country. For example in 2018, Lagos State averaged N8.033 billion monthly up from its average of N6.38 billion in 2017.
While Nasarawa, Bayelsa, Gombe and Ebonyi complete states had the least VAT remittances.
The VAT increase will lower demand which would create more revenues for the government but the timing and impact on low-income earners will be huge because not every Nigerian can afford the new tax regime.
Available records suggest that a better approach would have been to expand the tax collection base through efficient use of other revenue outlets for public services and infrastructure to act as palliatives and catalyst for growth.
FOR the third time in roughly three months, trade unions in Nigeria have threatened to down tools over the government’s protracted delay in implementing the new national minimum wage of N30,000.
The new wage was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in April following recommendations from a tripartite committee set up by the federal government.
In a statement released on Tuesday by the Trade Union Side (TUS) of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), the unions said they would not give further notice before millions of their members across the country “commence strike over the non-implementation of the new national minimum wage and appropriate consequential adjustment”.
The TUS comprises eight public service trade unions present in all states in the country, including the Federal Capital Territory.
A meeting of the joint council that held in Abuja on Monday had ended in a deadlock as the unions accused government of not being “serious at all [and] … taking us for a ride”.
In the statement signed by the JNPSNC Acting Chairman, Anchaver Solomon and Secretary, Alade Bashir Lawal, the unions accused the government of frustrating the new wage’s implementation process and said all attempts to persuade government officials have been unsuccessful.
They said it was clear the government was not committed to paying the new minimum wage and adequate consequential adjustment.
“The Consequential Adjustment Committee two weeks ago agreed that the proposal of the TUS that salary of officers on grade levels 07-14 should be increased by 29% and those of officers on grade levels 15-17 by 24% vis-a-vis that of Government Side of 10% for officers on Grade levels 07-14, 5.5% for those on Grade Level 15-17 should be forwarded to President Buhari to see the patriotic position of labour and approved appropriate consequential adjustment accordingly,” the statement said.
“When the meeting reconvened on Monday 16th September, 2019 to get a feedback on the expected approval from Mr. President, the Government Officials brought a fresh proposal of 11% pay rise for officers on Grade Levels 07-14 instead of its earlier position of 10% and 6.5% for those on grade levels 15-17 instead of the former 5.5%.”
Third threat in a few months
It is not the first time the trade unions have threatened to go on strike over perceived unseriousness from the government on the issue.
On July 2, the same threat was made in a statement signed by Solomon, which said the government has been “coming up with one strange proposal or the other, all with the intent of scuttling the implementation of the new national minimum wage”.
“Labour may have to embark on industrial action if the current state of affairs as regards the issue of consequential adjustment arising from the new national minimum wage of N30,000.00 per month remains the same,” Solomon declared.
Again on July 17, the TLS said its members should be prepared to go on strike as the government had “introduced a strange clause to the discussion”.
“All efforts by the trade union side to persuade the government side to return to the right track of negotiation and agree on a realistic percentage increase proved abortive,” the council’s acting chairman noted in a communique released to journalists.
The ICIR could not get a statement from Benson Upah, head of information of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), as he explained that he was at a meeting.
Data reveals new wage changes little
Based on data from the National Bureau of Statistics analysed by The ICIR, the new minimum wage of N30,000 changes nothing in the standard of living of the average Nigerian.
NBS’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Reports show that the CPI in August 2015 was 175.4 while that of August 2019 is 295.5.
We evaluated the statistics using the newly approved minimum wage and found that workers who earned N18,000 in 2015 and now earn N30,000 have still lost 1 per cent of their purchasing power.
In other words, the new wage can only buy about the same amount of items which N18,000 could buy four years back. This is as a result of an increase in the prices of commodities as well as other economic activities.
Ilaje-Otumara, a neglected community in Lagos, Nigeria’s foremost commercial city, has an estimated population of almost a million people including women and children. Sadly, for decades, access to water and toilet facilities has been a major problem. Olugbenga ADANIKIN writes on agonies of residents of this slum and their vulnerability to diarrhoea, cholera and toilet infections.
EIGHTY SIX-year- old Alhaji Ogundele Ibrahim Agbede takes gentle steps — he manages to walk through the filthy wet road —heading towards his commercial borehole facility in Otumara community, Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State.
He sits and watches residents of the settlement, also known as ‘Ilaje-Otumara’, coming in out to fetch water for domestic use.
Alhaji Agbede as he is called by residents never had intended to sink the borehole that is now serving the community. He had attempted,albeit politically to bring succour and facilitate public water supply to the neglected community for about 50 years, but all to no avail —leaving the people and the community to contend with poor access to water and sanitation.
“I am 86 years of age and I have nine children. Access to clean water has been a big challenge for us in this community,” says Agbede.
In fact, I joined politics over 50 years ago to clamour for water and road from our local and state governments to Otumara community.”
Residents of Ilaje Otumara near a dirty bathroom fetching water. Photo Credit: Olugbenga Adanikin, The ICIR
“They said we should deliver and we have delivered,” clearly referring to winning the area for the ruling political party, All Progressives Congress (APC).“But we have not heard from them ever since…they left us because we are in a secluded area.”
Each household has an average of five persons in a room while others could number up to 10.
But they lack access to good toilet facilities and sanitation. For 16 years, they struggled to run a Primary Health Care facility in the community until it was refurbished last year.
Safe water and sanitation is a right which residents of Otumara have been denied for decades. They all practice open defecation, except for very few homes built at the entrance of the slum. Those who still prefer to use a toilet would have do so at a cost, which also depends on the sanitary level of the latrine.
“In this community, we pay for toilets and ordinary water,” says Francis Nwuoha, 39, Chairman of Otumara Market Association, who came to the community in 1998.
“One gallon of water is N50, while a bucket is N30.” Approximately, Nwuoha spends about N3, 000 monthly for water and the use of a toilet facility.
“Toilet in this area be N50 but in case water no dey, you can get it for N150.”
One of Ilaje Otumara residents defecating at ‘pako toilet’ where residents are charged N20 per visit. Photo Credit: Olugbenga Adanikin,
“At times when you go to Pako toilet, na N20, but the brick toilet is N50,” he stressed narrating how residents defecate in a makeshift toilet constructed with planks on a canal and their vulnerability to toilet diseases.
“In Otumara we are human. If you put a human in a confinement, you will find a way to live comfortably,” Ojo Jude, another resident added. “At the entrance, one (public toilet) is built by the Baale. There is another one on the field and there are other private ones on the lagoon, which is not something strange in Africa”.
“If you go to Eti-Osa or Apogbon, you will see it. People defecate into the Lagoon directly and I think it is very good for the fish,” he noted jokingly, perhaps oblivious of the fact that this could have severe health implications.
Worrying statistics
According to the United Nations, globally, nearly 1,000 children die daily due to preventable water and sanitation-related diseases such as diarrhoea.
The story and living conditions of Otumara residents are no doubt very pathetic and saddening. It negates the vision of Lagos state-planned transition to Africa’s model megacity and global economic and financial hub. Nigeria’s vision to attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030 is also at risk.
The 2015 UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking Water report, perhaps, speaks volume of the daily experiences of Otumara residents.
According to the report, an estimated 100 million Nigerians lack access to basic sanitation while 63 million do not have access to an improved potable water source.
Open defecation, it states, is still practised by a third of the rural population in the country while “some 12 per cent of the urban population also practices open defecation.”
“While 75 per cent of the urban population is served by improved water supply, often people will collect water from vendors and carry water a good distance after collecting it in containers.”
As a result, Nigeria failed to attain the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to the World Health Organisation.
Meanwhile, the statistics dropped from 100 million to 70 million persons in 2019. The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) currently puts the figure at 70 million Nigerians as those who lack access to water, sanitation and proper hygiene. A survey by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and UNICEF in March further showed that 3 in 10 persons still lack access to clean water sources, thus the need for more government action.
Entrance to one of the houses in Ilaje Otumara Community. Photo Credit: Olugbenga Adanikin, The ICIR
So far, the Federal Government has been grappling to meet its water and sanitation need. Suleiman Adamu, the re-appointed Minister of Water Resources, in May told the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that only 21, 000 communities in the country, representing 10 local governments from the 774 LGAs in Nigeria have achieved open defecation free status.
Adamu said Nigeria would require N959 billion, to meet the water need of the citizenry, a sum that may not be realised in the next four years due to the nation’s economic reality and budgetary allocations to the ministry.
Living in squalor with lost hope
Otumara is one community where waste and filth compete with humans for space. Residents — children, the old and youths—have resigned to fate, they have lost hope of any help from governments.
While they have grown resilience to adjusting to the inhabitable conditions in the community, often they bear the brunt of floods during the raining season.
Ironically, the large population of Otumara residents is a true representation of Nigeria’s cultural diversity. It is a multicultural community with a convergence of indigenous persons from other parts of the country. They have made the slum their home.
For eight years, James Uleke, a pastor in one Pentecostal church, had lived in the community with the hope of government intervention one day.
He expressed dismay at the neglect by both state and local governments, stressing that the only time Otumara and its people get government’s attention is during election . “We have been neglected. I named here marine kingdom because rain doesn’t need to fall before you see water overflowing everywhere,” says Uleke.
A boy in the slum manoeuvres through the filth with a tray of food perching on his head while a small girl watches. Photo Credit: Olugbenga Adanikin, The ICIR
“Sometimes, for hours, you see us packing water with buckets from our houses. The situation here is very terrible and bad enough,”he adds.
“We are living almost in the canal and there is nowhere to defecate so everyone does throwing”, a euphemism of defecating in a newspaper or a polythene bag and throwing it into the gutter.
There are also no senior secondary schools in the entire western part of the local government including Otumara. Students would travel 20 kilometres to seek knowledge in the nearest school situated in Ojota.
Gbolahan Hotonu, a security analyst and stockbroker, who hails from Badagry but was raised in the communitysays, except for the junior school, there is currently no secondary school in the western part of the area.
Ilogbo Junior High School, the only Junior Secondary School in Ilaje Otumara Community Ebute Meta West Founded in 1981. Photo Credit: Olugbenga Adanikin, The ICIR
“It is necessary we say it, we need pipe-borne water. We need proper electricity, let them provide prepaid metres because we are using bulk metres. When this community was neglected for too long, the community took it upon itself to ensure we have stable light,” says Jude.
They all shared their concerns at the Palace of Chief Oladipupo Arowojolu, Baale Ilaje Otumara 1 and High Chief Kalejaiye when ActionAid Nigeria visited alongside Journalists Against Poverty Initiative (JAP) to create awareness against corruption and the need to report corruption cases.
Anti-corruption Campaign Sign Post erected by ActionAid Nigeria at the entrance of the secluded community Photo Credit: Olugbenga Adanikin, The ICIR
Newton Omatseye, representing Ene Obi, the ActionAid Country Director charged the residents to collectively join the fight against poverty to reduce inequality, poverty and foster development.
“…poverty is an exclusion. Once people cannot have access to education, health facility, good roads and water and other basic things that make life bearable, we consider those people to be poor. We can feel your pain. You don’t need to define poverty to us anymore…so we will help amplify your voice.”
Looming disease outbreak
The ICIR observed that except urgent action is taken to address concerns of the residents, there may be an outbreak of disease. Aside from poor access to potable water, waste management is a great challenge in the community.
“We need road, water and school, but before the road comes, if there is no place to dump our refuse, there will be a problem,” another resident pleaded.
But for the recently refurbished health care centre in the community, the situation would have deteriorated. Even then, other concerns such as access to drugs and health personnel at the PHC remain.
One of the residents disclosed that there was once a cholera outbreak and cases of malaria. “There was sometimes in the past we had the issue of cholera. What I’m saying is about five years ago but since then; we have not had any disease outbreak.”
“This is a community where you have graduates, educated fellows but people see us as criminals because of the way our buildings are constructed. We are not criminals,” says Ojo describing the neighbourhood as the safest in Lagos Mainland.
Urgent need for road construction
During the tenure of Babatunde Fashola as governor of Lagos State, attempts were made to fix the road after several visits to the Governor’s office to persuade the officials to action. “Most times, when we visit the ministry, they will ask us to come with honourable and we took honourable there several times until the change in government.”
“The politicians know that the votes here are significant. This is a multi-ethnic community especially Igbos and Ebonyi people so we need government support.”
There are five local governments under Lagos Central Senatorial District – Apapa, Eti-Osa, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland and Surulere. These councils are in the constituent of Senator Oluremi Tinubu who until now was the Chairman Senate Committee on Environment. She currently heads the Communications Senate Committee.
When The ICIR contacted Tinubu, she didn’t respond to calls put to her line. A 3-page text message sent to her was not also acknowledged or returned. Also, while at the State Ministry of Health, the newly appointed commissioner was said to be away attending the 62nd National Council on Health (NCH).
HOSTWRITER has called for applications for its 2019 Hostwriter Prize, which grants €5000 in awards for collaborative journalism between members.
Host Writer announced on it’s official @hostwriter twitter page that application is now open for journalists willing to participate until 31st October, 2019.
The award is in two categories— The Story Prize which presents awards for collaborative projects that have already been published, with €2000 going to the first prize winner and €1000 going to the second prize winner and The Pitch Prize awards €1000 each to two collaborative projects that have not yet been published.
Host Writer is a German based open network established in 2013 to promote collaboration among journalists across the globe.
The initiative is founded in an effort to use cross border journalism as a tool to overcome national bias and prejudice with a focus on fostering well informed, better accountable and democratic societies of the world.
The network helps journalist to collaborate, seek and offer help, whether in the form of local advice, story collaboration or accommodation and boasts of connecting over 4000 journalists across 150 countries of the world which has built a foundation for connectivity and trans border information carriage and collaboration.
Previous winners of the awards are Nathalie Bertrams and Ingrid Gercama, for their story, “Vanilla Fever: Fear sours the sweet scent of Madagascar’s success published in Mail & Guardian” while second placed winners are Arthur Debruyne and Kolawole Talabi for their story, “fish for cash: How the EU robs Africa of its seafood”and Irene Caselli, Mariangela Maturi, Claudia Jardim and Emil Staulund for their story, “A woman’s game: The first naturalised Dane female soccer player with Afghani roots”.
Host Writer Prize is supported by an annual donation from the Otto Sprenger Stiftung, a foundation that honors the work of Otto Sprenger, a former unionist and employee of the NDR (a German public service broadcaster).
FORMER Minister of Education and a presidential candidate in the February 23 presidential election, Oby Ezekwesili has faulted the replacement of Economic Management Team (EMT) with Economic Advisory Council (EAC) by President Muhammadu Buhari.
President Buhari on Monday announced a seven-man EAC team led by Doyin Salami as a replacement for EMT that had been chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
But Ezekwesili in her reaction to the new advisory council in a series of Twitter messages on Tuesday, described the president’s action as a mistake, noting that since the Council of Economic Advisers would meet monthly and then meet the president quarterly, “setting it up as a full replacement of the EMT which should remain as the Technical Team that it should be is a mistake.”
According to her, the proper structure of the EMT should have two levels of hierarchical control, whereby; “An EMT Meeting chaired by the President with his VP as Vice-Chair and its technical meeting chaired by the Minister of Finance with CORE Technical Members.”
She said the combination of such two-layered Structure of the EMT in addition to the intellectual capacity of the appointed EAC would result to, “topmost political power, coordinated internal technical skills and input of external skills.
Speaking on what the council needs to do, Ezekwesili said the “the economy which is currently stuck in a steady state of low-equilibrium growth needs a 24/7 level of engagement of topmost political power (that’s ready to discard outdated and pseudo-socialist ideas), coordinated internal competent skills.
and brilliant external skills.
She however, expressed hope that the newly appointed Economic Advisory Council would be bold enough to inform the president on how he had mismanaged the economy in the last four years.
“The setting up a Council of Economic Advisors is in itself one of the features of the American Presidential system which we copied,” Ezekwesili said.
“Strong membership& that’s really great,” she added.
“I hope the first thing they do is tell the President how he mismanaged the Economy in the last 4 years.”
The former minister insisted that despite Vice President being the chair of now disbanded Economic Management Team, the president was the one managing the economy.
” All those BAD Monetary Policy decisions were made by him,” she argued.
“All those strange Fiscal Policy decisions were made by him. Both the CBN Governor and the Ministers of Finance were not acting based on any Economic Management Team (EMT) decisions. Now at least the pretence is over about Economy.”
She maintained that the “EMT was in reality chaired by the VP who had no power over Core Economic Policy decisions.”
“The other side of the Presidency did not mind having him be the cannon fodder for all the extremely Bad Economic Policy decisions. A President, not VP runs the Economy. I know that”
“Hopefully, our couple of outstanding eggheads that are named to the Council of Economic Advisers will ignore all those genuflecting sycophancy that surrounds @MBuhari and tell him the kind of Truth that annoys them but which must be heard for our Economy to Grow and Prosper,” Ezekwesili said.
The newly appointed team, as announced in a statement on Monday took over from the EMT.
The team would counsel the president on fiscal analysis, economic growth, internal and global economic issues whilst finding better ways to work with the relevant cabinet members and heads of monetary and fiscal agencies.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday has shown that Nigerian inflation rate has gone down from 11.08 percent in July to 11.02 per cent in August.
The NBS Consumer Price Index, (CPI) which measures inflation revealed that the current inflation rate of 11.02 per cent (year-on-year) is 0.06 per cent lower than the rate recorded in July.
The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for dayto-day living.
The disinflation, the NBS said, continued in August despite several pronouncements regarding restrictions on the import of some food items, minimum wage and the recent border closures.
It however, explained that, the border was only closed on August 20 with only 11 days of 31days for any significant impact to be felt either way on prices.
“The inflation rate is also the average prices for the whole month and not only the price of goods and services in the last few days of the month,”NBS said.
“Furthermore, the harvest season and existing weak consumer demand and their natural effect to slow down food and other prices will also play a major role in determining the direction of inflation.”
Every month, NBS said, 10,534 informants spread across the country provide price data for the computation of the CPI.
The market items currently comprise of 740 goods and services regularly priced, it said.
In his response to The ICIR’s report on how he forced new recruits of the commission to open salary bank accounts with the Safeline Microfinance Bank (MFB), in which he has an interest, Boboye Oyeyemi, Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has described the story as trash.
He denied the allegations despite verifiable and official documents affirming his directorship in the bank, while also failing to disprove the allegation of conflict of interest in the story published on Monday.
In a statement issued on his behalf by Bisi Kazeem, the Corps’ Public Education Officer,the FRSC boss also described the report as unfounded, seditious and as such a fabrication that cannot be authenticated.
Interestingly, sedition, one of the offences the FRSC hangs on The ICIR is a law that no longer exists in Nigerian jurisprudence as it was struck down by the court of Appeal in the case of Arthur Nwankwo vs Statez in 1982.
PRESS RELEASE
RE: RE:CONFLICT OF INTEREST: HOW FRSC CORPS MARSHAL FORCED OFFICERS TO OPEN SALARY ACCOUNT WITH MICROFINANCE BANK
The attention of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has been drawn to a publication in the icirnigeria an online publication which is similar
In spite of the story quoting Kazeem as denying that Boboye had an interest in the bank, the statement falsely claimed that the report lacked objectivity and that The ICIR did not seek clarification on the matter from the commission.
“….it lacked the basic elements of balance as there was no time that the writer sought any form of balance clarification, asked relevant questions or crosschecked the facts from us before going into the public, thus betraying the original intention of the hatch work which was to damage the reputation of the FRSC and its leadership,” Kazeem stated in the statement.
The truth is that the reporter spoke to Kazeem on the phone and his response to the allegation of Boboye’s directorship of a bank was “There is nothing like that. We have created a rejoinder in many places. The rejoinder is available.”
Through text messages, The ICIR went further to share its findings but he responded affirming his position in another text message.
Rather than address the specific allegations of conflict of interest and coercing new officials of the FRSC to open accounts with a bank, the statement claimed that “the original intention of the hatch work was to damage the reputation of the FRSC and its leadership.”
The statement failed to defend Boboye or provide proof disclaiming the report that he is a director of the bank, contrary to the law or if he derived any benefits or pecuniary rewards in his position as member of the management of the bank.
Thus the fundamental allegation of conflict of interest in the report was not addressed.
The ICIR report stated that “Oyeyemi’s actions directly conflict with provisions of the Nigerian Constitution. The Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, which deals with codes of conduct for public officials, states clearly in Part 1, Section 1 that “A public official shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities”.
Section 2 (B) states that a public official shall not “engage or participate in the management of any private business, profession or trade …”
Business here, according to Section 318 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, is defined as “any profession, vocation, trade, or any other adventure or concern in the nature of trade excluding farming.”
Though the report was not centred against presidential directive on new recruitments and its transparency, the FRSC used the argument to rationalise the instruction from the corps marshall compelling the new recruits to open accounts with a specific bank.
As such, he did not dispel claims by the new recruit of being coerced to own the accounts despite minimal branches it has nationwide.
“On the allegation that the Corps Marshal and Management of FRSC compelled the newly trained staff to open an account with Safeline Microfinance Bank, nothing could be further from the truth,” he stated.
