A video clip surfaced on the social media on Friday evening showing the hitherto “missing” leader of the now proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, in Jerusalem, Israel.
The video which was shared by a Facebook user, Castro Nkume, showed Kanu observing some Jewish religious rites with the narrator behind the camera eulogising him and boasting that IPOB is back.
Kanu has been missing since September 2017 following an alleged raid on his home in Umuahia, Abia State, by men of the Nigerian Army. He had been arrested in October 2015 and was facing terrorism and treason charges at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
He was granted bail on health grounds in April 2017, on a number of stringent conditions, which included that he must “deposit his Nigerian and British passports with the court”. This effectively meant that Kanu could not travel out of the country.
How then did the IPOB leader manage to find his way out of Nigeria to the various locations where he was reported to have fled to, and eventually, Israel?
Sighted in Ghana
Earlier in February this year, TheCablehad reported that Kanu was sighted in neighbouring Ghana. The report quoted unnamed security sources as informing it that “Kanu was ferried to the Niger Delta creeks by militants at the height of Python Dance II, from where he found his way to Ghana by sea”.
“Kanu is said to live at an area called Cantonment, also in Accra, at an estate called ‘Arabella’. He is regularly seen at Kenzo Bar and IBG saloon in Accra, disguised in face cap and usually in company with his wife, Uchechi.” the report added.
Fled to London via Malaysia
In October 2017, former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor-Kalu, said that contrary to the rumours that Kanu had been whisked away by Nigerian soldiers and was being held in an undisclosed location, he had actually fled to Malaysia and from there to London.
“Kanu was not taken away by the military. Kanu went to Malaysia from where he travelled to the United Kingdom,” Uzor-Kalu said during an interview with The Punch.
“Nnamdi Kanu is in London right now as we speak. He was not arrested by anybody. He left the country on his own. One of his relations has spoken to me and explained everything because I wanted to see him and talk to him wherever he was and see how I could meet some Federal Government officials on his issue.”
DSS denies involvement
On Monday, October 23, the leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB),Ralph Uwazuruike, said that Kanu’s disappearance is “a non-issue because it was carefully prearranged by the Department of State Security (DSS)”.
But the DSS, through its spokesman Peter Afunanya, described the allegation as “fake, mischievous, defamatory” and “nothing but a figment of the imagination of the originators”.
“The public should, by now, have noted the antics of Kanu, IPOB and their collaborators whose stock in trade is to peddle unfounded rumours, gossips and propaganda aimed at subverting the government, its key agencies and officials,” Afunanya stated. He further warned that the DSS “will not stand by idly and watch these undesirable elements achieve their aims”.
Immigration also
When the ICIR contacted Sunday James, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), to find out whether it was possible for someone to get to Europe from Nigeria without a passport, he declined to comment, saying that “it is not within my purview”.
Earlier, a personnel working in the NIS contact centre who pleaded to remain anonymous told the ICIR that there are lots of ways Kanu or anybody could have gotten out of Nigeria, given the country’s very porous borders.
“Our border is so vast, extensive and very porous that the number of immigration officers we have in the country is just so small that we cannot man the entire (borders),” he said.
“We can only man the authorised entry points, and we patrol the unauthorised entry points. I’m sorry to say that it would not be a surprise if somebody sneaks out or into the country, because like I said, the border is so porous.”
FHC couldn’t be reached
The ICIR also tried to contact the Federal High Court, Abuja, but the contact phone number on the court’s websitedid not connect, saying that the number is not valid. An e-mail sent to the address provided on the website was only replied by an automatic message, “Welcome to the Federal High Court Nigeria. We shall soon reply your mail.” No other response has been gotten from the court.
Israel says Kanu not in the country
Meanwhile, the Israeli government has said that there is no evidence to prove that Kanu visited the country recently and that the video making the rounds on social media could be an old clip.
Vanguard Newspaper quoted the spokesman of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Emmanuel Nashon, as saying this when he addressed some African journalists in Jerusalem, the country’s capital, on Monday.
“There are no details about his recent visit to this country yet,” Nashon was quoted as saying, adding that Israel’s relationship with Africa was very important.
“Israel is a peaceful nation that believes in the process of the world at this changing times. Jerusalem is one of the great cities in the world. We are considering a lot of networks with Africa and African journalists will get direct contact with Israel journalists so that you don’t need to take news from agencies,” he said.
FORMER Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has been granted bail by Justice Morenikeji Olatoregun of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on Wednesday.
Fayose has been in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) since October 16. He submitted himself to the anti-graft commission a day after his tenure as governor ended, wearing a t-shirt with a bold inscription, “EFCC I’m here”.
The EFCC accused Fayose of stealing, receiving money from Musiliu Obanikoro, a former minister, criminal breach of trust, illegal acquisition of property in Abuja and Lagos and illegally acquiring property in the name of his sister in Abuja, among others. In all, the EFCC said Fayose’s fraudulent activities amounted to about N6.5 billion naira.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At the resumption of trial on Wednesday, Justice Olatoregun admitted the former governor to bail in the sum of N50 million and two sureties who must have landed property in Lagos and must provide a three-year evidence of tax compliance. Fayose was also ordered to deposit his passport and other travelling documents with the court registrar.
The case was adjourned to November 19 for continuation, while Fayose was ordered to remain in the EFCC custody pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions.
The EFCC has listed at least 22 witnesses, including former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, and former Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Alex Otti, to testify against Fayose.
Obanikoro, a former Lagos State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was the one who allegedly collected hundreds of millions of dollars from the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and delivered same to Fayose in cash, at the Ekiti State Government House, in 2014. The money, according to the EFCC, was meant to be used for vote buying during the 2015 general election.
However, Obanikoro has recently joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and though he was earlier arrested and detained and charged to court by the EFCC, recent reports said he has been given back his travel documents and has returned to the United States of America where he is partly based.
Officials of the EFCC, however, said that Obanikoro had not been cleared, but was only allowed to travel because he had met some conditions, including returning some of the money he collected from Dasuki.
“Obanikoro was able to return over N100m out of the money he received from Dasuki. He showed a genuine commitment to returning more money and assist the EFCC with investigations and his passports were returned to him. The fact that the Commission returned the passports to him does not mean that he has been cleared,” an unnamed EFCC official was quoted as saying.
FOLLOWING the withdrawal of the sum of $462 million from the country’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) by President Muhammadu Buhari without the approval of the National Assembly, the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), a civil society organization, has filed a suit at the Federal High Court Abuja, challenging the legality of the act in view of the provisions of the 1999 constitution.
Recall that in April 2018, President Buhari had approved and taken the said amount from the nation’s coffers in order to purchase 12 Tucano jets from the United States (US) without appropriation by the National Assembly.
AFRICMIL, in light of subsections three and four of section 80 of the 1999 constitution, is challenging the authority of the President, as an individual, to withdraw money from public funds without approval by the National Assembly.
As provided in the constitution, “No money shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless the issue of those monies has been authorized by the act of the National Assembly.
“No money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or ANY OTHER PUBLIC FUND of the federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.”
The suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1179/2018 filed by the organization, represented by its programme officer, Godwin Onyeacholem, has as defendants the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the House of Representatives, the Senate President, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria and Attorney General of the Federation.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to determine:
“Whether the 5th defendant (which is the Nigerian President) has the power to or right to withdraw and spend the sum of $462,000,000.00 (Four hundred and sixty two million dollars only) or any other amount whatsoever from the public fund of the federation on the payment for or purchase of Super Tucano Aircraft or aircrafts by whatever name called without the prior approval of the withdrawal of the amount and its spending by the 2nd and 4th defendants (National Assembly) in the light of the provisions of section 81, 82 and 83 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
AFRICMIL also prayed the court to determine if the two presiding officers of the National Assembly, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate President have the right to ratify, approve and or include money already taken and spent in a new budget without provision for the act in the Nigerian constitution.
This is following the President’s letter to the National Assembly informing it of his actions while directing it to include the already withdrawn money in the 2018 budget.
The plaintiffs also want the court to issue a 30-day ultimatum directing President Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation to return the money to the nation’s account in the absence of the provision of such acts in the 1999 constitution.
THE use of electronic mails for the swift exchange of information has been in vogue for about five decades. Accompanying the invention of the internet, emails have no doubt transformed how people communicate.
Across the world, people — and governments — are today taking the technology seriously, if not religiously, as a way of making enquiries, sending notifications, seeking job placements among other needs. The Nigerian federal government (FG) is, however, lagging behind the developed world in embracing this important tool, as The ICIR discovers in a reality check.
On Wednesday, October 3, an enquiry was sent to twenty six (26) official email addresses belonging to twenty four (24) federal ministries, including the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (OSGF).
In the email, The ICIR asked to “confirm if the Ministry or any department under it has recently put out a call for job applicants”, and also requested for information on when next the ministry is likely to make such a call.
A week after, October 11, a reminder was sent to the addresses which had not responded to the previous mail. In spite of this, the vast majority of the ministries ignored the emails.
‘Delivery has failed to these recipients’
Not long after the email was dispatched to the various addresses, automatic responses began to pour in from the hosting companies’ postmaster informing the reporter that “delivery has failed to these recipients or groups”.
“The email address you entered couldn’t be found. Please check the recipient’s email address and try to resend the message. If the problem continues, please contact your helpdesk,” the notification added.
While some of the ministries have alternative contact emails, for others, the unavailable addresses are the only ones provided on their websites. “Info@nigeria.gov.ng”, provided on the country’s official website, was also found to be invalid.
Only 4 in 24 ministries replied
Eighty-three percent, that is up to 20, of all the 24 federal ministries emailed did not respond at all, despite the sending of a second mail after one week. Of the 26 addresses mailed, 11 are not available; and of the 15 which are valid, only 3 responded.
The first ministry to respond was the Ministry of Finance. After only two hours, a reply came from Magaji Musa Mohammed, whose address was not one of the original recipients.
“Good afternoon,” he wrote. “The Ministry of Finance is not responsible for recruitment. It is Federal Civil Service Commission that has the right to recruit. Thank you.”
Four hours after the mail was dispatched, a second reply came from the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.
“The Ministry doesn’t recruit, only the Federal Civil Service Commission carries out recruitment. kindly disregard the rumours please,” wrote Ibrahim Almustapha Abdulkadir, the ICT Desk Officer.
An hour after a reminder was sent at 11:46 am on October 11, a response came from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. “Dear Adekunle Adebajo,” it said, “the Ministry, for now, has not placed any advertisement for any vacancy. So please ignore the rumour.”
At 10:48pm on the same day, a reply came from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development: “Dear Adekunle, in line with the Public Service Rules, the staff of the ministry are recruited by the Civil Service Commission and NOT by the ministry. If you are keen on working at the ministry, you should apply to the Civil Service Commission through your state Commissioner. Thank you.”
Six ministries have no stated email addresses
Out of all the federal ministries studied, six (25 percent) have no email addresses stated on their website. These include the Ministry of Education, Information and Culture, Science and Technology, Defence, Interior, and Finance.
With the exception of the Finance, all of these ministries have contact forms on their sites through which members of the public or other interested parties may make enquiries. However, none of the enquiries sent through the forms, though acknowledged, was replied.
The ICIR has also observed that the website of the Ministry of Finance has been unavailable for several weeks, and that of Women Affairs has been restored only recently. Snapshots from Wayback Machine, an internet archival tool, show that they were accessible earlier in 2018.
When the Women Affairs Ministry’s website was visited on October 3, the error notice announced that the service has been blocked.
“This is a Federal Government of Nigeria service,” it said, “and access to the web page or streaming service you require has been blocked in accordance with Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) restrictions from 9am to 4pm on weekdays.
“If you require this restriction lifted, please call the Galaxy Backbone Service Desk on 09-4621544 or send an email to: servicedesk@galaxybackbone.com.ng.”
The website presently takes at least ten minutes before it is opened regardless of the internet browser in use. Then again, Aisha AlHassan is still stated as the Minister of Women Affairs — though she resigned nearly three months ago on August 1.
For the Ministry of Finance, while the homepage is not available, the Whistleblowing Portal which is a sub-domain is functioning. As a result, the email enquiry was sent to this portal and the Budget Office.
ICT expert speaks
Hilary Onyeka, an Abuja-based web developer, told The ICIR various factors could be responsible for mails sent to certain addresses returning mailer daemons. According to him, it may be that the email address was not created in the first place but was publicly displayed.
“Also, when creating an address on the mail server, it would create a directory for that address as well as a username. The username might have been created but there is no directory where sent mails will be delivered to,” he added.
Onyeka further explained that hosting websites on Virtual Private Servers may lead to difficulties in setting up the mail sever, and recommended that the task is outsourced to email services such as Migadu.
He also urged persons mandated to respond to electronic mails for ministries as well as other organisations to ensure they login using their mobile email applications. This, he said, will ensure they receive real-time notifications as soon as mails are sent to them.
Information Minister ignores call, text
The ICIR texted Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, on Tuesday to ask why his ministry does not have any visible email address and why an enquiry sent through the contact form was not replied. The minister, however, did not provide any response. Likewise, a call to his number on Wednesday for the same purpose was dropped.
Segun Adetola, Assistant Press Director at the Office of the Secretary to the Government who oversees electronic communications, told The ICIR his office is not aware of any enquiry and asked for the address used.
“This is not our e-mail,” he replied after the address was provided, though it is what is stated on the office’s contact page.
“Looks like one of those that the scammers are using,” he added. “However, I need to meet you before releasing our mail address.”
SENATE has passed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) amendment bill after the third reading.
This was done after the third reading of the bill at the Senate Plenary Sessions on Tuesday.
Senate President Bukola Saraki said the new electoral act would improve the electoral process in Nigeria.
“This will further strengthen our governance,” Saraki said. He added that he was sure the President Muhammad Buhari would give his assent. “I am sure Mr president will, of course, give his assent and we can now finally have an electoral process we all will be proud of.”
The third reading was done after the committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (SB. 699) submitted their report by Suleiman Nazif, Senator representing Bauchi North of Peoples Democratic Party.
While presenting the bill, Nazif explained the main objectives of the bill to include the recognition of the use of Smart Card readers and other technological devices in elections. He added that it would provide a sequence of elections and political party primaries as well as providing a timeline for the submission of the list of candidates, criteria for substitution of candidates.
He said it would address the omission of names of candidates or logo of political parties. This is contained in the bill by inserting, after subsection (4) of Section 140 of the Principal Act, a new subsection( 5).
It stated: “If, at the point of display or distribution of ballot papers by the Commission, a candidate or his agent discovers that his name or the name or logo of his party is omitted, a candidate or his agent shall notify the Commission and the Commission shall postpone the election to rectify the omission and appoint another date to conduct the election, not later than 90 days.”
The chairman explained that some observations of the president were considered.
Mr. President, after he rejected to give assent to the bill the last, had called on the Senate and House of Representatives to address “some drafting issues” quickly as possible so that he may grant assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill.
The sections of the electoral act of 2010 that were amended included the sections 31, 33, 34, 38, 44, 67,76, 78, 82, 85, 87,91, 99, 112, 120,138,140, 143, and 151.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (SB. 699) was thereby read the third time and passed.
The Senate on Tuesday also resolved to set campaign spending limits for senatorial elections at N250 million and N100 million for House of Representatives.
THE Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) says the Nigerian would have been N9.8 billion richer in 2018, but for truck accidents in the country.
The Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, made this known during this year’s edition of the National Safety Training Programme for Petroleum Tanker Driver in Lagos.
The training was organised by the Lagos State branch of the National Union of Petroleum and National Gas Workers (NUPENG).
Speaking at the event, Oyeyemi said there was a slight improvement in the truck accidents recorded in 2018 when compared to 2017 and 2016 figures. While the number of truck crashes in 2016 was 282, that of 2017 was 240 and the figure recorded so far in 2018 was 196.
The FRSC boss explained that the total loss was arrived at by calculating the cost of the vehicles involved in the crashes, as well as the damage to the environment and roads, adding that the lives that were lost in the accidents cannot be measured in monetary terms.
“We have an agreement with NUPENG PTD to organise periodic training programme for their drivers. This is very critical even though we have seen a reduction in the traffic crashes involving tanker drivers,’ Oyeyemi said.
“We have recorded 196 this year and the economic value is about N9.8 billion loss, involving cost of other vehicles, lives, damage to the environment and to the roads.
“NUPENG PTD is putting its best to set up a capacity workshop for the tanker drivers. Once they finish in Lagos, the other programme will take place in Kaduna and Warri and this is very impressive.
“We are going to give our maximum support to NUPENG towards ensuring that the 4,000 tanker drivers are fully trained.”
Oyeyemi also advised NUPENG to carry out regular visual tests for tanker drivers, as a study by the FRSC found that about 30 per cent of commercial vehicle drivers had visual acuity challenges.
He advised that wearing a pair of glasses if need be, will improve drivers’ vision.
Also, Oyeyemi observed that many drivers were hypertensive and had high sugar levels, urging NUPENG to ensure that drivers undergo periodic medical examination to ensure road safety culture in the country.
Also speaking at the event, the National Chairman of the Petrol Tankers Drivers (PTD), Salmon Oniditi, said that the training which started three years ago has led to a reduction in accidents.
He commended FRSC for its involvement and support in the training since the inception of the programme and urged fellow members to always be professional in their activities.
Oniditi pledged that NUPENG will continue partnering with the FRSC to ensure that petroleum tanker drivers did not become a nuisance to the society. (NAN)
THE Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Usman Yusuf, has insisted that the allegations of corruption against him are false, otherwise, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would have found him culpable.
Yusuf has twice been suspended from Office but he insists that neither the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, nor the NHIS governing council has the powers to remove him from office.
On Monday, police officers used tear gas to disperse the protesting NHIS workers who had tried to prevent Yusuf from gaining access into his office despite having been placed on an indefinite suspension by the governing council.
Speaking with the BBC Hausa service on Tuesday, Yusuf said some powerful but corrupt individuals who had been making illegal profits from the scheme, were cooking up false corruption allegations in order to remove him from office.
“The governing board has no right to suspend me as the Executive Secretary,” Yusuf said. “I notified them in a written document that they lack constitutional rights to suspend or even block me from entering my office.
“From the country I came from, if you say someone is a thief, you have to prove that. But since I came on board, I have been going through unnecessary accusations of fraud.
“They’re doing that just to intimidate and stop me from doing my good work. They have failed, I will never succumb to their ploy, I think they have to change plan.
“I told everyone when I came on board that the public funds in the commission belong to Nigerians, no one should tamper with that money, including myself.
“If I’m corrupt, EFCC and ICPC are currently recovering billions of naira from my whistleblowing in the commission and I have never been indicted by the anti-corruption agencies.
“My ordeal as the Executive Secretary of NHIS may be connected with NHIS agents who think that I stepped on their toes and you know these people are powerful and they are well established in the previous administration.
“Those NHIS agents, I told them to pay back their debts which has already run to billions of naira. After initial investigations, I learnt that so many abnormalities need to be corrected.”
Earlier on Tuesday, speaking during Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, the presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, also defended Yusuf, saying that the NHIS had been “ethnicised and politicised by some interest groups within and outside the agency”.
“I can say that I have never seen this kind of disaster in my life,” Katsina state governor, Aminu Masari, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) as he spoke about the devastating effect of ecological flooding incident which killed 44 people this past month. “I have seen a young groom of three days who lost his bride and still searching for her,” he said.
So far, more than 100 people have been killed this year by multiple flooding across Nigeria, more than 37 years since the Nigerian government set up an ecological fund meant to curb and prevent flooding, among other purposes.
In the last five months since the rains started to fall in some parts of the country, hundreds of people have been reported killed in several states such as Kano, Katsina, Ondo, Jigawa, Niger, Delta and even the Federal Capital Territory, while several people have been left homeless and their properties destroyed. Before the year ends, an additional 380 Local Government Areas in 35 states are expected to experience flooding, Nigeria Hydrological Agency (NHSA) said in its 2018 Annual Flood Outlook.
Food shortages concerns
This raises several concerns, the second biggest being food shortages, following fears of potential loss of life and property across the county. This fear doesn’t seem far-fetched, food outlook from the country’s ministry of agriculture and rural development indicates.
Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh
According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh’s estimation, Nigeria could potentially be “in serious trouble for rice, millet, sorghum and maize next year,” as floods in Nigeria are wiping out farms and forcing farmers to harvest prematurely this year.
“This year has not been a very good year for us farmers. We have suffered damages from the violent attacks on our farms by herders and now flood is washing away our farms. This is not just Katsina’s problem. It affects states like Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano and all over Nigeria,” Tukur Alimi, a farmer in Katsina said.
“In a country where conflicts and insurgency have displaced tens of thousands of people, with properties, crops and livestock worth billions of naira destroyed, one would think fixing the ecological problems that are in part responsible for these conflicts would be a priority by the Nigerian government,” a highly placed member of the Centre for Social Justice Limited by Guarantee (CSJ) a Nigerian not for profit focusing on rights-based approach to public finance management and political finance reforms, said.
In context of Nigeria’s ecological problems are climate-related conflicts that continue to threaten the environmental sustainability in northern Nigeria, peace and conflicts specialists said and are worried that they don’t see an end in sight in the oil-dependent economy as they predict that the conflict will continue to expand to other parts of Nigeria, as Wale Adeboye, Country Coordinator, Terrorism Research Initiative (TRI) Nigeria said.
By security analysts’ projection, Nigeria’s annual loss of up to 350,000 hectares of land to desert encroachment as the Sahara desert advances southwards at the rate of 0.6 km every year, and this by UNEP’s estimates will continue to drive increased competition over grazing land; and will escalate armed conflict between herdsmen and agrarian host communities. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), more than 20 million hectares are reduced annually, putting 35% of the world’s land surface at risk, at the moment.
This, therefore, once again raises the fear of food security in Nigeria. Data from the US Department of Agriculture sees Nigeria’s 2018-19 combined grain imports as expanding more than 50 per cent as Nigeria’s food production shrinks due to herders attacks in traditional grain producing belt of Nigeria as well as rising cost of local production affecting rice, wheat and corn.
Adeboye says violence the oil-dependent economy is not seen as going away “in the foreseeable future” and will “unfortunately” lead to increased dependency on food imports, “as violence likely spreads to other parts of Nigeria.”
Despite interventions, communities are left worse off
Flooded streets in Kano. Photo credit: Premium Times
The ecological fund office said it had disbursed billions of naira in funding for intervention projects meant to curb flooding across several states in Nigeria. Yet, people like Taminu Zubairu in Kano state and Tola Adekanmbi in Ondo state say they are yet to get feel positive impacts from the projects.
Marred by a history of mismanagement and corruption, the managers of the fund have left the people severely disappointment, according to Tanimu Zabairu, who lives in Kano state, where two major projects funded by the ecological fund are sited.
According to Zabairu, several interventions projects in the state did provide an immediate relief at the inception of the project but as the projects are left uncompleted or abandoned, the communities often time left worse off than they already were.
Contractor for Erosion and Flood Control at Dumbulun, Tsanyawa LGA, Kano State.
One of the two projects funded by the ecological fund office is the Gudu Tukuntawa and Zoo road erosion and flood control project contracted to an Abuja-based African Development Company Ltd, an export and import company. Although the project, commissioned in 2015, according to a government record, was classified as 30 per cent completed in 2018, a visit to the project site shows the construction only started “five months ago and that majority of the project was left abandoned,” according to the site supervisor, Joseph Adejoh.
And his team are only working on a two-kilometre channel that would lead to a bridge that may or may not be demolished because it may or may not have met appropriate specifications, adding no one is sure when the project will be completed.
A resident who lives beside the site that seemed abandoned said work had been suspended on the site since 2016. “We just noticed they stopped coming. The worst part is that the water that is being channelled from another place will flood our houses as soon as it begins to rain heavily in the coming months,” Aisha Aliyu, the resident said.
A story is told about how some houses were flooded by the rain, sweeping away children and women. One of the survivors of the incident, a husband who lost his wife and children were said to have left town altogether. “We cannot say what has become of the man. It is a really terrible day as the flood washed a lot of people including children away that day,” Zabairu said.
The second of the two projects, “Erosion and Flood Control” at Dumbulun, Tsanyawa LGA contracted to UYK Nigeria Limited, a construction company with offices in Kano and Abuja in June, 2017 and classified “100 per cent” completed by the Nigerian government is causing problems for the people of the area mainly because, according to them, the drainage system is too narrow and fails to prevent flooding in the area.
Residents of Kunchi/Tsanyawa Federal Constituency told this reporter that the purpose of the Senate’s constituency project to prevent flooding has not been met as flooding has resurfaced due to narrow drainages constructed.
Abubakar Tsanyawa, a resident of the area who was at the site of the project when this reporter got there, said “this project is nowhere near completed” contrary to the government records which showed that the project was per cent completed. According to him, despite the fact that the project has reached about 90 per cent completion, the narrow drainage being constructed on the waterway after breaking a lake in the affected area is leading flood into their village.
“We are overwhelmed flooding despite the project in our village. When this project started, we thought we were being saved by the government but the narrow drainage constructed is making the situation worse. Erosion water flows across the nook and cranny of the village during the rainy season and we are now calling the federal government to come to our rescue,” Kabiru Isah said.
Galadiman Dumbulum, who spoke on behalf of the village head confirmed the residents’ views.
Kano state is the commercial nerve centre of Northern Nigeria and is the second largest city in Nigeria; it is also known as one of the states worst hit by land degradation and environmental insecurity in the country. “There are thousands of erosion gullies scattered across the 44 local governments of this ancient city,” Nura Haruna Nudi, this reporter’s tour guide said.
Flooding is one of the issues that affect livelihoods of the people in rural Kano, Hassan Ahmed, a farmer/taxi driver said. Although he doesn’t farm in a commercial capacity, he said his friends who do complain bitterly when it begins to rain.
“The only problem we have with rain in Kano is flooding. Flooding makes going out to farm dangerous because the gullies are filled with water and you may lose your balance and fall into the ditches. Once that happens, chances of surviving is very slim. Going on about with our lives and commercial activities become a problem,” a man who simply gave his name as Usman said.
In Ondo, similar stories are told by the people in the state.
‘Our children can’t go to school’
Worst hit states like Kano, Anambra and Ondo still reel from effects of the damages from last year’s during the rainy season; as they face challenges this year’s rain brings with it in spite of several billions of naira in funding towards projects that could give the townspeople some respite from recurrent flooding.
Projects like the Soil Erosion Control Works at Usho/Ise Road, commissioned in November 2015, and the Erosion and Flood Control Project at Aiyeotoro Community, commissioned in June 2017, were recorded as 100 per cent completed by the Ecological Fund Office, but visits to the areas show that the projects do not provide any respite for the people of these communities. An ongoing project, Ondo Township Erosion Control Works, which commenced in November 2017, is said to be 30 per cent completed.
Flooding at the Aiyetoro area of Ondo State.
In Aiyetoro, where the multi-billion naira project was cited, parents say their children have difficulties getting to school whenever it rains in their area.
Tola Adekanmbi, a mother of two said she becomes fearful whenever it rains in her community as the resultant flood has been known to wash people away. “I usually don’t allow my children to go to school when it rains heavily because of the flooding. More so, many of the schools are usually affected so what’s the point of exposing my children to danger? Let me just say this, our children cannot go to school when it rains in this place,” she said.
At the time of the visit to the Ayetoro, it had been raining for days leading to severe flooding in those communities and therefore made visiting the to the project site “very dangerous,” according to a journalist, Hakeem Gbadamosi, who collaborated with this reporter on this story in Ondo State.
Recent flood in Ikare Akoko, Ondo State.
At Igbokoda in Ilaje Local Government Area of the state for instance, where the sum of N2 billion was intervention project was meant to have begun, residents said the project has “failed to see the light of the day.” Alhaji Kareem Anifowose, a resident of Davog stretch along Ijoka in Akure said: “many houses have been eroded by the flow of water that was not properly channelled due to the lack of constructed drainages. This destroyed houses, fences during heavy rains while some houses have been pulled down.”
Failure of the office
As issues arise with the projects funded by the EFO, many stakeholders are tracing the failure of the fund to the discretionary of the fund manager, that is any sitting president to disburse the fund he or she sees fit and thus, contravening purpose it was created and it’s leading the debate that the National Assembly might be complicit in the mismanagement of the special intervention fund.
“We shouldn’t be having these problems today. These problems were meant to have been taken care of by the ecological fund established in 1981,” Olumide Idowu, Country Manager, Climate Scorecard said, adding that he is not entirely surprised that nearly 40 years after, the problems the fund was meant to solve still notoriously persists.
“Again, the 2012 flood or any other flood since the establishment of an ecological fund should not have happened in this country if the fund had been used for the purpose it was created. But what we have seen is that the disaster the fund was meant to prevent keeps on happening year in year out. I grew up hearing about the ecological fund and what it was meant to do, and now, sadly, it has not done much to mitigate these preventable and unfortunate disasters,” Idowu said.
According to him, the problem with the fund is that it was left at the discretion of an incumbent head of state to be managed as he or she deems fit.
“Who is going to track the president? The fact that the Ecological Fund is placed under the presidency means that there the president has the power to do as he wishes with the fund and there is no one to query him. This is where the National Assembly should have stepped in and performed an oversight function on the fund. The best way would have been to set up independent managers for the fund but we are yet to see that happen,” Idowu said.
Is the senate culpable in alleged mismanagement of the fund?
Senator Bukar Ibrahim, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ecology and Climate Change.
Despite lack of oversight in managing the fund, the Nigerian Senate appears to want to increase the special intervention fund. Yet there are numerous allegations of misappropriation, theft and failures of the ecological fund, going by the bill that has passed the second reading in the Senate; prompting several stakeholders to view the accusation of mismanagement of the fund by the Nigerian Senate disingenuous given that in one hand, it alleges that the sum of N500 billion of the fund was misappropriated and in the other, it is asking for an upward review of the fund from the Federation Account.
In 1981 when the fund was first established, it originally received one per cent of the Federation Account but was reviewed upwards to two in 1992. Documents obtained from the Senate show that currently, Senator Mohammed Hassan has sponsored a bill to review the ecological fund upward from two to three per cent.
Members of several civil society organisation wonder what might be the justification or rationale behind the quest to increase deductions from the Federation Account to three per cent from the initial two per cent, given that nine years ago, a similar bill asking for the exact same thing was thrown out by the Senate. They are also asking why, unlike previous instances, the Senate is trying to keep them out of deliberations on the proposed bill.
Other watchdog agencies including Center For Climate Change and Environmental Studies have asked why the National Assembly has not up until now found ways to regulate the fund, especially as several studies such as Management of Ecological Fund and Natural-resource Conflict in Northern Nigeria have indicated. The studies have shown that the fund was “utilized to serve private interests” and has “led to the escalation of natural-resource conflicts in northern Nigeria.”
“We are perplexed by what is happening in the Senate regarding this bill. Why is the Senate keen on increasing the ecological fund when right now they have not found any solution to the challenges facing the bill?
“The bill sponsored by Senator Hassan was the same bill thrown out by the Senate in 2008 when the then Senator Grace Folashade Bent proposed an upward review to 3 per cent. Why has the Senate allowed Senator Hassan’s bill to pass the second reading?” the source at CSJ asked.
Same bill, different sponsors
Senator Mohammed Hassan, sponsor of the bill seeking to increase the amount of money going into the ecological fund.
A comparison of the two bills, one by Senator Bent in 2008 and the other by Senator Hassan in 2017 showed that the later is a duplication of the earlier bill seeking to repeal the same non-existent Act as the first bill.
In the bill initially sponsored by Senator Bent, the senator proposed back in 2008 that the National Assembly enacts a fund that “shall be maintained and administered under the authority of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces or as designated by the President” and “there shall be paid into the Fund not less than three per cent of the total consolidated revenue of the Federal Government from the annual budget.” The bill did not seek to provide oversight for the fund at the time. Instead, it sought to repeal the “Ecological Fund Act 36 of 1988; and the Ecological Fund (Amendment) Act 106 of 1992.”
The bill “failed to pass as the Acts it sought to repeal did not exist” according to an official in the Senate who is familiar with the matter.
Nine years after, the bill resurfaces almost verbatim except for a few alterations and seeks to repeal the previous ones almost a decade ago. This time, with Senator Hassan as its sponsor, the bill has passed the second reading at the Senate. And like its predecessor, the bill did not seek provisions of oversight functions over the fund. Although Senator Mohammadu told reporters that the Senate has resolved to enact a legislation to establish and regulate the operations of the Fund and other similar funds given that the ecological fund was operated like a ‘slush,’ at the free will of the incumbent, there is no evidence in his bill or anywhere else that the Senate made such resolution.
Multiple calls placed to Senator Bukar Ibrahim, Chairman, Ecology & Climate Change Committee, seeking clarifications on the bill and other investigations, went unanswered. The first call was placed in Abuja at 13:02, July 18, 2018, while other calls were subsequently placed thereafter. The last call to the Senator was placed at 15:02, August 30, 2018, and that also were not answered.
The mismanagement of the fund meant to check ecological problems that affect millions of Nigerians put the country’s attainment of 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda in jeopardy, said Dr Aminu Zakari, Executive Director, Centre For Climate Change and Environmental Studies, Abuja.
This investigation was supported by the Ford Foundation and International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).
RECEP Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish President, rejected Saudi Arabia’s explanation that the killing of Khashoggi was an accident resulting from a discussion that went awry, a narrative that had been pushed since September, saying it was a pre-planned and “ferocious” murder.
On Tuesday he began his speech in Turkey parliament by first condoling with the family of Khashoggi, his fiancee and the citizens of Saudi Arabia.
“Turkey is becoming the joint conscience of the international community,” he added.
“To try and hide such a ferocious murder is against the conscience of humanity,” Erdogan told the Turkish Parliament.
Erdogan said Saudi consulate cameras were removed before Khashoggi’s arrival. “We have very strong leads that this was not accidental, but that it was planned,” he said.
He further questioned the previous explanations that were given by the Saudi’s and their intentions.
“Why was the consulate not opened immediately?
“Why where the camera’s removed in Saudi consulate before the arrival of Khashoggi?
“Who was the local collaborator that has taken possession of the body?
“This matter will not be closed until all of these questions have been answered,” he said.
While Erdogan enumerated many of the details already reported in the case, he made no reference to the tape and held back from pointing the finger directly at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“I am calling on the prince of Saudi Arabia and the highest level of administration. The incident has occurred in Istanbul so this team of 18 people should be tried in Istanbul,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan added that Saudi authorities gave Turkey a list of 18 suspects held in Saudi Arabia as part of the Kingdom’s probe into the killing of Khashoggi. The list included the 15 Saudi men identified by Turkish authorities, in addition to three more, he said.
Erdogan said he wants the 18 Saudi suspects held in Saudi in connection with the murder of Khashoggi to be tried in Istanbul.
“Turkey will pursue this matter to the end. Our own law and international law must be fulfilled, ” he said.
URBANISATION is spreading across Africa at great speed. Projections suggest that more than half of the total population will live in urban areas by 2050. Urbanisation in Nigeria is happening at a particularly astonishing rate. The population density of urban dwellers in Nigeria is growing at an annual rate of 50 per square kilometre and it’s expected to rise to 450.9 per square kilometre by 2050.
These urban dwellers include a large number of people over the age of 60. The number of old people on the continent is expected to rise to 67 million by 2025, up from an estimated 43 million in 2010. Nigeria will experience an exponential increase the number of older people.
These developments call for a new urbanisation agenda. A large number of old people in urban spaces in Nigeria suffer from homelessness, abuse, neglect and destitution. The situation is further compounded by the absence of social protection policies that can reduce vulnerability in old age.
Old people in Nigeria’s cities can’t even rely on public transport. The urban renewal has led to the phasing out of the popular Molue buses while pedestrian bridges are built in a way that makes access challenging to physically challenged and older people with mobility problems. Access to safe public transportation system is one of the indicators of age-friendly cities and communities.
Among Nigeria’s 36 states, Lagos is leading in urban regeneration initiatives. Unfortunately, there are indications that older people and their needs are being marginalised. My research is motivated by the need to understand vulnerability and resilience in old age. The findings presented here focus on what it means to grow old in the city and how urban renewal initiatives might be shaping vulnerability in old age.
The study
Data was sought through individual interviews and media reports. All these sources have their focus on demolition of markets, shops and houses in Lagos State from 2012 to 2018. The City of Lagos has a history of demolitions of markets and neighbours that are predominantly inhabited by the less privileged. Older people are included among the victims of these demolitions. Those trading among them have lost their means of livelihood without the freedom to protest or any hope of compensation.
The report highlights the findings about mobility concerns, fears and experiences of using the public transportation system in Lagos.
Drawing from the experiences of 13 older people aged 60 to 78 years, the research found that the existing public transport system isn’t conducive to being used by older people.
The participants’ narratives and media reports portray the urban renewal efforts in the city as ageist and lopsided. While a great deal has been done to transform some crowded areas and commercial motor parks in the city, the changes made weren’t done in a way that helped old people. For example, pedestrian bridges had been built too high. There had also been a loss of means of livelihood and accommodation in the city.
All the interviewees had spent 29 years on average in the city. More men (8) than women had engaged in menial jobs to earn a living and have had to travel hours within traffic from one part of the city to another throughout their youthful life. The women were more into petty trading, and only one worked with one of the local government authorities before retirement.
All the interviewees had used public transport when they were younger until it became more difficult to move around the city. Even the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) was described as mostly inaccessible. In the words of one of the interviewees:
I have been told that there are seats for older people in BRTs, but the drivers and commuters are often in a hurry that it becomes difficult for older people to catch up with them or even use the available seats.
Towards inclusive urban renewal
Urgent measures are required to avert or minimise the risks that come with using public mode of transportation in the city of Lagos. Existing public modes of transportation are in need of overhauling. Presently, the public mode of transport, pedestrian bridges and walkways are designed to reflect the needs of the young urban population. Walkways that will accommodate older people and their various mobility needs are urgently needed. Creating such pathways can enhance the safety of other social categories of commuters in the city.
More legislation and conscious efforts are required to protect the vulnerability of older people to abuse in public spaces. Buses can be provided for older people and those that are physically challenged.
The urban renewal initiatives must be inclusive and participatory. The demolition actions must be done in transparency and proper accountability. Inclusive urban regeneration framework is urgently required in addressing the existing gaps and the future mobility needs of the growing population of older people in the city. These efforts amongst others will place the City of Lagos on the march towards becoming one of the age-friendly cities in Nigeria and Africa.
