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INVESTIGATION: How Ondo community was left at the mercy of the sea after N6.2bn shore protection contract

Editorial
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INVESTIGATION: How Ondo community was left at the mercy of the sea after N6.2bn shore protection contract

On December 15, 2004, four years after the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the shore protection works for Ayetoro, a coastal community in Ilaje local government area of Ondo state, designed with a geotube technology which is the first of its kind in Africa, was awarded by the commission but later re-awarded in 2009 after the project was abandoned by the first contractor. Thirteen years after, the project lies fallow at the feet of the invading sea as the community struggles for survival against the storm, TAIWO ADEBULU writes.

The speedboat coughed to rest at the brink of the concrete wharf adjacent the community guest house. The rusty naked iron rods crisscrossing the weather-beaten wharf were drenched in the dripping rain. In the sight of unwelcoming rods staring at one’s scrotum ominously, disembarking becomes torturous and eternal like a camel passing through the eye of a needle. The wharf, according to Jaye Ikuyelorimi, the reporter’s guide, is just a fragment of projects which the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)  abandoned in the community.

AYETORO, THE HAPPY CITY

Tucked between the turbulent sea and a cobweb of soothing rivers, Ayetoro, a predominantly Christian community in the coastal belt of Ilaje local government area of Ondo was founded in 1947 by a group of Apostolic missionaries led by late Zaccheus Okenla “following a prophetic calling from God to move into a land near the sea to worship Him”. Hence, the Holy Apostles Church was established while its leaders function as the head of the church and the community. Aside practising theocracy, communism was also infused into their daily living. Virtually everything in community is collectively owned and controlled by the church. With about 10,000 residents, the streets of Ayetoro are well-laid out and houses strategically built opposite one another in horizontal lines – exuding a picturesque landscape.

According to Victor Akinluwa, the community public relations officer,  Ayetoro became an autonomous kingdom after dragging the old Ilaje native authority to the supreme court in the 50s. The community won the case to stop the killing of twins, which became a tussle between the Christian community and its traditional neighbours. There and then, Ayetoro was issued a letter of incorporation by the then governor-general, Sir James Robertson who paid the community a visit. This brought a lot of development to Ayetoro as industries were built and advanced technologies were created such that it became a tourism hub that attracted eminent figures like the late Obafemi Awolowo, who came to study its appealing communal system.

Interestingly, Ayetoro has a powerhouse that had been supplying electricity to every home as far back as early 1950s. Its neatly paved streets and the industries: including a technical school, bakery, textile firm, shoemaking, ice making and soap factories, sawmill, six fishing trawlers and speedboat ferrying passengers from the community to Sapele, Delta state and Ebute-Meta in Lagos state – all owned and controlled by the community until the technical school was taken over by the state government and abandoned. Everyone contributes to one purse to fuel the plant. Interestingly, Ayetoro has never tasted the public supply of electricity from the national grid.

THE OIL CURSE

The first site of Happy City College, Ayetoro, completely washed away into the sea

As a delegate during the 2014 national confab, Olusola Ebiseni, a former chairman of Ilaje/ Ese-Odo local government and commissioner for environment in Ondo state, affirmed that oil was first discovered in Nigeria at Araromi seaside in 1908 and later at Ogogoro in Ilaje local government area in 1952, before it was discovered in commercial quantity at Oloibiri, Bayelsa state in 1956. With oil giants like Chevron Nigeria Limited, Shell and Texaco operating in the coastal area, the local government has placed Ondo state among the oil producing areas in Nigeria, which derives a large chunk of its revenue from oil. Credited with about fourteen oil wells, it contributes 12% of the country’s crude oil production and reserves, with about 3.5 billion barrels crude oil reserves.

However, the discovery of crude oil offshore has constituted a curse to the people than a blessing, while its age-long civilisation and communal efforts are fast eroding due to the exploration of the resources. From incessant oil spills endangering the aquatic life where the people earn their major source of livelihood from fishing to the perennial sea surge invading their homes, life has never been the same in Ayetoro.

NDDC TO THE RESCUE?

NDDC area office at Igbokoda

Following the ceaseless agitation and unrest in the Niger Delta areas over the environmental degradation and pollution of the region since 1950s, the Olusegun Obasanjo administration established the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2000. The agency was given the mandate to tackle the developmental needs of oil-rich states. Hence, the commission kicked off with a mission to facilitate the rapid, even and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful. Funded with the oil derivation fund, NDDC was also asked to tackle ecological and environmental problems that arise from the exploration of oil mineral in the region through the execution of projects that would abate the challenges and touch the lives of the people in the nine member states.

According to the project data analysis on the commission’s Project Monitoring Information System (PMIS) portal, it has delivered 9,440 projects since 2002. However, during the 2014 budget defence of the commission in the senate, a former chairman of NDDC, Ewa Henshaw, said the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has a total number of 4,000 abandoned projects scattered across states of the oil-rich Niger Delta region. One of such projects is the shore protection works in Ayetoro.

SHORE PROTECTION WORK NEGLECTED

A sea shore in Ayetoro with broken pieces of houses that have been washed into the sea

“The sea surge started a long time ago when oil exploration and exploitation began on our coast. It happens every year and we have learnt to cope with it. Anytime the sea invades the community, it leaves our homes flooded and properties destroyed. We try to rebuild our homes and the city and continue with our lives. This is our ancestral land. We have nowhere to go,” Akinluwa said.

The shore protection works at Ayetoro with contract ID (NDDC/EDP/2/ONDO/PR/001) was awarded to Gallet Nigeria Limited on December 15, 2004, at the cost of 2.4 billion naira with twenty-five percent paid as mobilisation fee.  The contract was, however, terminated by the commission four years after due to the lack of technical know-how and neglect of the project by the company. The project was, nevertheless, re-awarded to Dredging Atlantic Limited in 2009 to the tune of 6.2 billion naira, with 15% paid to the new contractor for mobilisation.

Investigations by this reporter at the oceanfront revealed a neglect of the project even after it was re-awarded. Except the abandoned heavy-duty equipment a few metres from the meteorological station, there was no staff of the company at the site or any work that signifies the beginning of a shore protection project.

Abandoned equipment of Dredging Atlantics Nigeria Limited for the shore protection works

However, a sack upon which fish traders placed baskets of fresh crayfish was lying fallow at the base of the sea. According to Benson Atimise, who represented the community at a stakeholders meeting on the project in 2006, the perennial storm surge the community is battling with is as a result of global warming.

“As you can see, we have practically lost our shores. How do we get to the sea? We are predominantly fishermen and the sea is our farm. Our fishermen are relocating to Awoye community where there is a shore,” Benson said.

Aside the shore protection work, NDDC executed an extensive solar-powered streetlight project across the length and breadth of the community but only a few are currently working as others rot away due to the effect of the salty sea waves. Hence, residents still contribute money to operate the power house in order to lighten up the broad street. The water project executed by the commission didn’t extend beyond the location it was cited until the community contributed money to lay pipes across the streets for every home to benefit from it. Nevertheless, the water is not safe for drinking except for domestic use.

The remnants of a house affected by the sea storm

 

A document on NDDC website listed Dredging Atlantic Limited among the 391 prequalified contractors for NDDC projects from year 2010 – 2011. In an interview with the company’s public relations officer, Sola Oyinloye, he insisted that the project has not been abandoned.

“After we were awarded the project in 2009, we inherited the asset and liability of the first company that was awarded the project and could not even mobilise on site after being paid twenty-five percent mobilisation fee,” he said.

“So far, we have only been paid 1.1 billion naira out of the 6.2 billion project value. However, we couldn’t start work until 2013 because we had backlog of compensations coupled with the enormous challenge of sand search. It has been a serious problem. The project was designed such that we were meant to get sand offshore but there was none. Now, we have to get sand from Aboto which is 21 Kilometre from Ayetoro. We employed some members of Ayetoro as community liaison officers and we were paying them even while they were not working.

“Sometime ago, some members of the community tore the geotube with knives because they were not paid certain money. As we speak, the youths demanding for Christmas package have stopped us from working.”

When asked to put in percentage the status of the project towards completion and when it is expected to be complete, he said, “I can say we have done 40 percent of the job but I cannot say when the project will be completed due to the difficult terrain and logistics. Moreover, it’s a seasonal project.”

At the second national council on Niger Delta organised by the ministry of Niger Delta in Igbokoda, a community in the local government, with the theme Fast-Tracking the Development and Peace in Niger Delta Region, the Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu was reported to have lamented the gross infrastructural deficit in the area.

“This region presents a cruel paradox; the entire country depends on it almost entirely for sustenance. It, however, lacks evidence of development depicting its status as the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg,” the governor reportedly said.

‘CONTRACTORS BIGGER THAN NDDC’

On a sunny afternoon, this reporter visited the area office of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Igbokoda but was barred from entering the office by the fierce-looking security guard at the gate. While the reporter asked to see the officials of the commission, he said none of them was available and that the reporter should come back the following week. When a top official of the commission was called on phone, he said he wasn’t authorised to speak on the matter. After much persistence, he spoke on condition of anonymity.

He began: “I’m an indigene of Ilaje local government. If I tell you that I’m happy with what is happening, I’m deceiving you. That project is more or less an abandoned project. If the contractor is the one delaying it, we have every reason to call the contractor and see whether this project is even viable or not.

“I don’t even think the contractor that was given the job has the capacity to do it. The Ayetoro shore protection project was meant to be a test case and if it works, it will extend to other communities along the coast. But some of these contractors are bigger than NDDC.”

In an interview, Benson Enikuemehin, a former NDDC commissioner in the state, said the reason the project has been stagnant is due to the challenge in getting sand and lack of cooperation from the community members.

“The contractor had to go miles to get sand which wasn’t part of the deal but our people were not cooperating,” he said.

“The people must appreciate that citing government projects in their community is not an opportunity to make money. The community brought bogus claims to get undue compensations. At a time, they petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) around 2011 or so. The contractor was summoned. At the end, EFCC realised that the amount the work was awarded could not sustain it and concluded that the job shouldn’t be done lesser than 13 billion naira and they recommended an upward review of the project, but NDDC said they couldn’t afford it.

Ayetoro- Abandoned shore protection works

“The community should be ready to cooperate and make life less miserable for the contractor.”

While speaking with  Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, director, project monitoring and supervision directorate at the NDDC headquarters in Port-Harcourt, Rivers state, he said the project is ongoing although it has spanned about eight years.

“The project looks seemingly abandoned because there was no sand available to do the project and that gives the impression that it has been abandoned,” he said.

“But we’ve been working to find a way out by getting sand 25 kilometres away from the project site. When the canoes travelling with the sand pass through some communities that do not support the project, the youths sink the canoes.

“We are in constant touch with the contractor and we’ve been having meetings with him. What we are planning to do is to review the project and do it in bits. We’ll reduce the shoreline to be protected and that is because we’ve been working on protecting the whole shoreline of about 2 kilometres or thereabouts and we are not succeeding. The first phase will be to protect 700 metres of the shoreline and the remaining 900 metres will be redesigned as phase two. The process of the review is ongoing.”

BURIED IN THE DEEP SEA

Year-in, year out, the Atlantic Ocean overruns Ayetoro like bloodthirsty insurgents battering homes and lives. On sighting the invading threat, victims jump out of the window into the raging waves towering above their homes and swim with the tide to a safe spot. Displaced, they find safe refuge in the homes of community members who are ever willing to accommodate their very own. When the storm subsides, it leaves a trail of devastation, trajectory of misery and floods of sorrow. Hence, life in the community is brought to a standstill.

On February 2017, the incursion lasted for four days but resumed in mid-July occupying the whole community for a month. Residents were confined to their homes, schools closed and economic activities came to a dead end as more houses were buried in the deep sea. Moreover, it claimed the life of a little girl. Her bereaved mother, Olawunmi Iwametan, an apprentice, was inconsolable. Yet, she resigned herself to her fate.

Fragments of broken houses that have been destroyed and pulled into the sea

 

Oluwanbe Aladetan, a 30-year-old fisherman, recounted how his family lost their home to the Tsunami that wreaked havoc on the city early in the year.

“We were sleeping at home in the night when we heard the sound of the sea charging at our home. We quickly woke everyone up and we all started jumping into the water from the window when the house was giving in to the sea,” he sad.

“Within a twinkle of an eye, our house collapsed before our very eyes. All our properties were destroyed. We couldn’t save anything. We became stranded and squatted with community members who were less affected by the siege. My wife, my three children and I are currently squatting with a friend. It hasn’t been easy staying in other people’s home. When my father couldn’t bear the losses, he left the community for Calabar because he had no house to live in again.”

The community youth leader, Ajinde Iretolu, expressed his displeasure over the frequent displacement of community members every time the storm strikes.

“We live at the mercy of the sea. It has claimed more than 500 metres of our land. It’s reducing the community landmass and we keep moving upland. The population is growing, while the land is shrinking,” he said.

The community youth president, Ajinde Iretolu

 

When the project was abandoned by the first contractor, we complained and it was re-awarded to Dredging Atlantic Nigeria. Yet, nothing has been done. Let the government come to our rescue. The community-owned textile industry, shoemaking and sawmill factories have wound up due to this calamity befalling us. We just revived our bakery because we have to survive. Let the government come to our rescue.”

WE WON’T PERISH IN THE SEA

On a visit to the only public secondary school, Happy City College, Ayetoro, the original building have been washed away and submerged in the ocean. Consequently, a new structure was constructed, which has also been subjected to terrible battering by the sea. The school has, however, started constructing the third structure – a block of classrooms – behind the second structure. The school playing ground has also been immersed in water.

In an interview with Oladele Adeyemi, principal of Happy City College, the sea encroachment is seriously affecting pupils’ learning.

“When it happens during school hours, learning stops. The children will run helter-skelter to save their books. The sea will deposit mud into all those classrooms, including my office,” he said.

“It takes about three or four days before it recedes and we wash our classrooms to continue learning. If it happens when we are on holiday, it spoils our books and other school properties. Moreover, the NDDC two-classroom science laboratory building project in my school has been abandoned without completion for the past five years.”

The current building of Happy City College, Ayetoro, being battered by the sea

Remarkably, the NDDC 2016 appropriation act approved a sum of 13.5 million naira for the construction and equipment of a modern library at Happy City College in 2015, while 6.7 million naira was approved in 2016, yet there was no such project in the school environment.

“Sometimes, it comes like a thief in the night,” Victor quipped. “Everyone has to stay awake to save their children and a few valuables they can hold. We are just lucky to be natural swimmers. Some years ago, when you are sent on an errand to the shore, it will take a long walk to get there.

“Now, it’s kissing our houses. We used to have an improvised mini-stadium but it has been washed away into the sea. At a time, they said they wanted to build another city for us far away from the sea but we insisted that if they must do that, they have to relocate the sea along with us because that is our source of livelihood.”

Ojo Olisa, a fisherman, pointing to the location in the sea where his father’s house was buried

 

For 42-year-old fisherman, Ojo Olisa, the sea storm is just like the biblical red sea which Moses led the people of Israel through against the invading Egyptians. With this conviction, he believed that the people of Ayetoro will overcome their challenges. Ojo, while pointing to a location in the ocean where his birthplace was built before it was consumed by the sea storm in 2008, gave a vivid account of what happened that fateful night.

“Our house had fifteen rooms. My wife woke up in the dead of the night after she noticed the sign that the storm was coming. She quickly moved our children out that night and came back for me, but I didn’t listen to her because it didn’t look as though it was going to be serious,” he said.

“My father also left immediately. Around 3am, the surge came suddenly and hit the house. It threw me out and I released myself to the wave until it pushed me upfront. I swam out. In the morning, our house was nowhere to be found. My father and I with my children had to stay with a friend. Shortly after, my father died.

Aftermath of a sea surge with Ayetoto flooded

“The only reason why we cannot leave here despite the life-threatening challenges from the sea is because of the divine commission that brought our fathers here. We have a strong faith in the calling of our fathers. They never received a prophesy that we’ll perish in the sea. So, we cannot leave. It’s our ancestral land. God has called us here to worship him. For every decision we make, we consult him and follow his voice. Without the divine voice, we cannot move.”

THE NETHERLANDS MODEL

While representing Ilaje/Ese-Odo constituency at the house of representatives in the 6th national assembly, Agboola Ajayi, incumbent deputy governor of Ondo state who was then the chairman, house committee on Niger Delta, was said to be displeased with the way the shore protection works in Ayetoro was being handled.

Hence, he embarked on a trip to The Netherlands in north-western Europe with two representatives of Ayetoro — Eniola Akingboye and Frederick Alebiosu, now deceased, for a comparative study of how the country was able to reclaim its land from the ocean through advanced technologies like the geotube.

The Netherland, like Ayetoro and most coastal communities in Ilaje local government area, is low-lying, flat and dominated by water features with about 50% of its land exceeding just one metre above sea level. Its total area of 41,850 square kilometres consists mostly of reclaimed land from the sea. Thus, people tout that God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands.

“Yes, we visited the Netherlands in 2009 with Hon. Agboola Ajayi,” Akingboye confirmed to this reporter in a telephone conversation.

“We followed him to study how the Dutch were able to reclaim most of their lands from the sea and how the Geotube works for them. We were conducted round facilities, shores and shown video clips. When we got back to the country, we wrote our report. Hon. Agboola said he was going to forward it to the house. In fact, he recommended a geosynthetics company from the Netherlands to take up the project. Because of the politics associated with the contracting process, the project was not given to the company.

“Three months ago, the local government chairman said we should write another letter which he said he was going to submit to the governor. We haven’t got a reply. ”

Afolabi Aboyewa, a former chairman of Ondo State Civil Service Commission and the head of Zion Ikorigho community whose land reclamation and sand filling project had been abandoned since 2012 when it was awarded by NDDC, wrote a proposal on the need to adopt the Netherland development pattern in the local government because they share environmental similarities.

A copy of the proposal, which was obtained by this reporter, was distributed to political and traditional leaders and governmental agencies operating in the local government, but nothing has been said of it till date.

BEFORE NIGER DELTANS BECOME ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES

Johnson Atimise, secretary-general, Supreme Council of Elders in Ayetoro, said the community had written a series of letters to the State Emergency Management Agency, yet their plight has not been addressed.

“The sea level keeps rising and we fear the unknown,” he lamented. The septuagenarian’s fear is shared by all members of the community, in that they might sleep one day and wake up the following day with the community entombed under water,” he said.

Apostle Johnson: “The sea level keeps rising and we fear the unknown.”

However, during the 2014 World Environment Day in Abuja, Laurentia Mallam, former minister of environment, warned that about 32 million Nigerians living on the coastlines in the Niger Delta might be displaced due to rise in the sea level.

She reportedly stated that with an accelerated sea level rise of 0.5 metres, 35 percent of the Niger Delta land mass would be lost, adding that with accelerated sea level rise of 1.0 metres, 75 percent of the Niger Delta would be gone under water.

In a 2007 assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global sea levels rose to an average rate of 1.8 millimetres a year from 1961 to 2003, with the fastest growth occurring between 1993 and 2003, an average rate of 3.1 millimetres a year. In one of the regional studies conducted by the organisation, the most vulnerable areas are concentrated along the west coast of Africa, Southern coast of Mediterranean and South Asia while 70 percent of the Nigerian coast would be inundated by a 1-metre rise, affecting more than 2.7 million hectares and pushing some beaches 3 kilometres inland.

ENDLESS PROMISES

Ayowole Aworetan, chairman of Ilaje local government area, said he was aware of the environmental challenges that have caused untold hardship on the people of Ayetoro.

“I have visited the place more than five times. I took pictures of the sea shore and the letter written by Mr. Eniola Akingboye to the governor to show him what the people are passing through. The governor has started taking steps. The Ecological Fund Office in Abuja has promised to come to their rescue,” he said.

Until the government swings into action, Ayetoro residents would keep fighting nature, a battle they obviously can’t win.

This investigation is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the International Center for Investigative Reporting, ICIR.

Oyegun: Let me make one thing clear… Buhari was not elected by the elite

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Oyegun: Let me make one thing clear… Buhari was not elected by the elite

 

John Odigie-Oyegun, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says President Muhammadu Buhari was not brought to power by the elite but by ordinary Nigerians.

Odigie-Oyegun made the comment when he received the 9th Benin National Award from the Bini National Congress in Benin, the Edo State Capital.

Though Odigie-Oyegun acknowledged that “there is hunger in the land” and “that the economy is in relatively bad shape”, he insisted that things would have been worse were it not for the effectiveness of the Buhari-led administration, stressing that “there was no kobo” left in Nigeria’s treasury when APC took over power in 2015.

“Yes, I accept there is hunger in the land, yes, I accept that the economy is in relatively bad shape,” he said.

“If I tell you now that what we inherited were far worse and you hear some of the details, I won’t be surprised if people go out and ask for stricter measures on those who have brought this country to its knees.

“As at the time we took over, there wasn’t a single kobo anywhere. As if that was not enough, the price of crude collapsed.

“But the good news is that for the first time in its history, this country is finally building an economic base that is based on the sweat of Nigerians, which means we will never again suffer from the kind of humiliation we have had resulting from the collapse of the one item that sustained this nation, which is crude oil.

“Today, agriculture is blossoming; young people are taking up farming as a business. Today we are almost independent in the production of rice.

“Today, we are almost self-sufficient in a lot of the grains that we depend on in this nation. Today we are opening up solid mineral mines all over the country.

“Things have started to solidify. The economy has started to grow. It is not a switch, it is something that will take time. But once we are there, this nation will never experience the type of recession that we had in the past.”

According to Odigie-Oyegun, “change is not bridges. Change is not electricity. Change is not roads. Change is my perception as to what is right or what is wrong or what needs to be done and being faithful in getting it done”.

“For as long as we Nigerians have the wrong type of morality, ethics, not all the roads in this world will get us out of the economic morass we find ourselves,” he continued.

“So change also means a change of attitude, morality, ethics, knowledge of what is right and what is wrong.

“A system that rewards competence, productivity rather than a system that adulates wealth for the sake of the fact that somebody has money.

“When I joined the service as an economic planner, the World Bank put Nigeria ahead of Brazil, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan. Today, we are importing second-hand Brazilian planes. So what went wrong with us?

“Finally we have a President who is insisting painfully on bringing Nigeria back to the path of rectitude, progress and enable Nigeria attain its destiny.

“Until President Buhari, we were a laughing stock. Today, we are gaining respectability. So it is important that we don’t lose momentum.”

Odigie-Oyegun said he had no worries about Buhari winning another election, as the ordinary Nigerians are solidly behind him.

“Let me make one thing clear, President Buhari was not elected by the elite, I hope you know that. If he depended on the elite, Buhari may not be president today. And if he depended on the elite … Buhari will not be President tomorrow,” he said.

“But the ordinary people of this country look up to him as the symbol of the kind of persons, leadership and the kind of country that they want Nigeria to become.

“He is a symbol, a lighthouse, a guide. He doesn’t have to be good at everything, but he has that attribute which the ordinary Nigerian is telling us is what they need.”

READ ALSO:

Unhealthy abattoirs in Nigeria – recommendations and solutions

Editorial
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Unhealthy abattoirs in Nigeria – recommendations and solutions

 

By Kikiope Oluwarore

In our previous articles, we thoroughly discussed the dire issues of unhealthy abattoirs in the country, using the Bodija Abattoir in Ibadan as a case study. Here, we elucidate on their poor environmental state and the unscrupulous meat processing activities carried out by the butchers.

We also discussed the shady acts of selling infected meat, a common practice in Nigerian abattoirs where meat and offal infected with diseases such as tuberculosis, worms, brucellosis etc. are smuggled in to be sold to the public for consumption.

Through our investigations, we now understand more clearly the high public health risk that this presents for the cuntry’s large meat-consuming population.

To further buttress our findings on Nigerian abattoirs, we carried out some field and laboratory tests over a period of one month. Samples were collected from animals that are being slaughtered at the abattoir and whose meat were being transported for sale at the meat markets.

As part of our findings, every day, we identified at least seven meat and offal with lesions that showed classical TB infections (Of course, there may have been several others that were not brought to our attention.).

These meat samples were further inspected at the laboratory and were confirmed by gross pathology and H&E examination, respectively, for tuberculosis.

Also, we randomly collected fecal samples from cattle at the abattoir and tested them for worm infestation. Helminth tests revealed that about 25% of the total fecal samples examined tested positive for various worm eggs as indicative of worm infestations.

It is important to note that these diseases are zoonotic (that is, they can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa) and cooking does not always kill all the micro-organisms.

Indeed, Cadmus et al confirms in his report that there is the spread of Mycobaterium bovis in humans in Nigeria with Mycobaterium bovis being the strain of tuberculosis that is specific for cattle and usually found in meat.

Other zoonotic diseases that can be transmitted to humans include leptospirosis, anthrax, salmonellosis and.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STANDARD ABATTOIRS AND HEALTHIER ABATTOIR PRACTICES

Whether for health reasons or for aesthetic reasons, it is highly expedient that this issue of unhealthy abattoirs be resolved finally.

Based on the public reactions and outcry garnered from previous reports in this series, we can all collectively agree that it is indeed a national disgrace to have our abattoir where some of our staple food is produced in such unhealthy and filthy states.

Therefore, it is the collective jobs of all and sundry to ensure that practical solutions are carried out for a systematic positive change in our abattoirs. We hereby propose the following recommendations;

  • The entire Abattoir System should be overhauled and rehabilitated in line with global standards.
  • The government at all levels should employ more veterinarians and other relevant officials to serve the purpose of inspecting meat at all times, so as to make available wholesome meat fit for human consumption. In the same tone, existing meat hygiene laws and policies must be enforced at all abattoirs around the country.
  • Compensatory systems should be available to butchers, as this will encourage butchers and cattle farmers with diseased animals that are meant for slaughter to surrender the animals to the appropriate authorities for condemnation.
  • Ante-mortem inspection and quarantine measures should be strictly adopted to prevent diseased animals from being slaughtered in abattoirs in the first place
  • Butchers should be trained on the importance of maintaining a standard and healthy abattoir system, on WASH principles and the use of personal protective equipment for their work. Socio-cultural myths and practices that are not beneficial in their line of work should also be addressed.
  • All meat consumers should endeavour to look out for the type of meat products they buy and consume. They should be concerned about the production phase at the abattoir and call out any unscrupulous activity by any butcher that has the risk of jeopardizing consumer health.
  • Individuals, professional groups, societies, and NGOs should continue to advocate for abattoir restructuring even as they get the attention of the government and appropriate authorities.

Together, we can answer the urgent call to protect the ourselves from various infectious and zoonotic diseases that are gotten from unhealthy consumption of meat and offal in abattoirs. Remember, eat healthy to stay healthy.

The #AbattoirNigeria story series is supported by the ImpactAFRICA Fund and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

It’s the season of park rides, but how safe are Abuja’s amusement parks?

Chikezie OMEJE
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It’s the season of park rides, but how safe are Abuja’s amusement parks?

Over the weekend and Christmas holiday, thousands of Abuja residents —  both adults and children — thronged the amusement parks in the city to have adrenaline-pumping rides that appear to be safe but can be dangerous.

Last year, two girls of the same parents were killed and five other children were severely injured in an accident at a popular Oakland Amusement Park in Enugu State. The victims were riding on the teacup, one of the facilities in the park, when the accident occurred.

The Enugu incident has been the only reported fatality at amusement parks in recent years, but it does not mean that accidents are not occurring at amusement parks in the country — Nigeria just doesn’t have a record of those accidents.

Globally, thousands of injuries, as well as fatalities, occur at amusement parks. In 2016 alone, 30,900 injuries associated with amusement parks happened in the US, according to the country’s Consumer Product Safety Commission.

In July, a roller coaster collision in Spain left 33 people injured.  In May, an 11-year-old girl died after falling from a water ride in the U.K.’s Drayton Manor park while another girl in central China was killed in February after being flung from a spinning ride, according to Time.

These amusement-park mishaps happen across the world. How safe are the amusement parks in Abuja?

Boat ride at Maitama Amusement Park

There is no available record of injuries or fatalities at amusement parks in Abuja. Perhaps the injuries in these parks have gone unnoticed due to lack of accident records.

On Tuesday, the Boxing Day, the ICIR visited Magic Land Amusement Park, formally known as Wonderland — the biggest and the most visited amusement park in the nation’s capital. From the cars in long queues to enter the park to the long queues to buy the N400 entrance ticket per person, there was a crowd waiting to get a few minutes of pleasure from the thrill rides.

The giant structures of roller coasters, bumper car, ocean cars, frog jump, pirate ship, cowboy mini wheel, flying tower, carousel, happy worm capsule, bouncy castles, among others, were sending thrills and chills down the spines of fun-seekers who were queuing to pay from N500 to N1000 to have a ride of less than five minutes.

Despite pushing the riders to exhilarating extremes, there was no case of injury during the over two hours of observation by the ICIR but the rides can break and cause horrible accidents. By watching the riders, the roller coaster cars can fly off the tracks or cables in the flying tower can come loose. These are machines that can be prone to malfunctioning or human error.

One of the operators told the ICIR that the park is safe and rides across the machinery are safe as well, as there had never been a fatal accident at the park.

The operator explained that accidents could occur due to the rider’s error, arising from fear or through the operator who failed to enforce the safety procedures. The equipment malfunction can be very deadly for the riders.

He said the facilities are inspected regularly because the rides have a lot of moveable and breakable parts, which have to be well-maintained to avoid pulling off during rides.

One of the facilities, pirate ship, was cranky but the operators said the cranky sound posed no danger.

All across the rides in Magic Land, there were no posted age, height, weight and health restrictions, which are standard safety practices in amusement park operations around the world.

Adults get into the rides with children without safety devices for the children at Magic Land Amusement Park

Adults were seen carrying children to enter the rides. While the adults had their seat belts and safety bars, the children on their laps could be thrown off the rides in situations of accident.In carrying these children to enter the rides, they were not following any special loading instructions and seating order, as there were no posted instructions that could warn riders of the dangers of not following rules.

The park has a first-aid office to treat minor injuries at the entrance of the park, but there was no standby ambulance despite the crowd at the place.

The park manager declined to speak with the ICIR on the lack of posted safety instructions and other safety measures in the park.

Children play at Maitama Amusement Park

Similarly, the Maitama Amusement Park, is another theme park in Abuja, did not also have posted instructions in any of the rides at the park despite having fun activities, such as a teacup, formula one, frog Jump, space gun ride, mini jet, bumper boat convoy, slides, and go-cart.

Ikenna Omeluko, the safety officer at the Maitama Amusement Park, said there had not been any fatal accident in the park.

He said there had only been minor injuries, which he treated, as a first aid officer and member of the Red Cross, adding that the park had an arrangement for an ambulance.

It seems unusual that the two major theme parks in Abuja do not have posted instructions for parents to weigh the risks of getting their children on the rides. Without posted safety guidelines, some of the visitors could get on the rides with a pre-existing medical condition or fail to use the safety devices appropriately without knowing the risk, as the operators were always busy getting more people on the rides to reduce the queues.

Linda Chibuzor, a parent, told the ICIR that the rides scared her but she usually brought her children to the park during a major holiday to give them a treat. But she said she depends on God for their security when they get into the rides.

“My brother, it is God that saves,” Chibuzor said. “Anything can happen in these rides but God is the ultimate saviour.”

REPORT: Immigration, Prisons can’t account for N12.66bn spent in 2015

Damilola OJETUNDE
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REPORT: Immigration, Prisons can’t account for N12.66bn spent in 2015

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Nigeria Prison Service (NPS) cannot account for the sum of N12.662 billion they spent in 2015, a report form the office of the Auditor-General has revealed.

The audit report obtained by the ICIR showed that the Nigeria Immigration Service has the largest share of unaccounted money at N9.076 billion, and the prisons N3.586 billion.

The report indicated that out of the N9.075 billion unaccounted for by the Immigration, N4.985 billion was for salary variations, both surplus, and deficit, while N4.087 billion was for other expenses, all of which were incurred at the service headquarters in Abuja.

The sum of N3.747 million was incurred by the NIS Training School, Imo State command, the report said.

It said there were variances of between -0.15 percent and 0.78 percent in the NIS salary records from February to December 2015, using January payment as the base.

“The monthly variances were February N3.230m, March N3.543m, April N2.192bn, May N407.523m, June N478.812m, July N1.058bn, August N77,621, September N437.772m, October N285.325m, November N103.374m and December N15.887m.

“It is worrisome that there were no authority, variation and variation control records raised and maintained to support each month’s variation, as stipulated by the Financial Regulations,” the report said.

The Auditor-General requested the Comptroller-General of NIS to produce all the above mentioned for audit examination.

The report said that the Federal Ministry of Interior had entered an agreement with a company for Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC), but that as of December 2015, physical audit inspection revealed that nothing had been done at the new issuing centres in 28 states commands as envisaged even after the payment of N3.937 billion.

Besides, the actual cost of the establishment of the 28 new issuing centres was not stated in the contract agreement, the report said. Thus, the CG was asked to address the irregularities and account for the total sum already deducted and forward the evidence for audit verification.

N3.9 BILLION FOR 28 CENTRES

The Auditor-General said N97.37 million was sent to 36 state commands, zonal offices, and training schools for the year under review, but the corresponding expenditure returns from the states were not made available for audit examination despite repeated requests.

The CG was requested to inform the states to forward the expenditure returns, otherwise he would account for the amount.

The report said the sum of N20.17 million was paid to the personal account of three Immigration officers for the conduct of promotion examination, contrary to E-payment directive as stated in Financial Regulation 631.

The CG was requested to explain and provide evidence that the money was paid to the beneficiaries, otherwise he should recover the amount and forward evidence of recovery for audit verification.

The report observed irregularities in the contract sum of N98.20 million for the construction of passport office in Gwagwalada, Abuja. The CG was asked to explain some defects in the contract, Bill of Quantity items not executed and the lack of transparency in the contract, as well as recover the sum of N21.3 million and forward evidence of same for audit verification.

The sum of N6.60 million was used to sponsor some Immigration officers to workshops in their different professional bodies, contrary to a circular dated January 23, 2009. The CG was to recover the said amount from the affected officers.

Seven officers of the service were granted non-personal advances of N2.82 million without retiring same after the execution of the service. The CG was asked to deduct the amount from the salaries of the affected officers.

The report said on May 12, 2015, the Nigeria Immigration paid the sum of N1.85 million to fund trips of selected staff of the ministry of interior to attend the United Nations Security Ministerial Open Briefing on Foreign Terrorists Fighters.

However, the Auditor-General said the payment was contrary to the government rules forbidding agencies and parastatals from providing naira cover for estacode allowances for ministers, directors-general and/or ministry staff.

“The circular describes these acts as fraudulent, while the chief executive will be held personally and pecuniarily responsible for compliance with such order or request,” the Auditor-General said and ordered the CG to recover the money.

At the Immigration training school, Imo, the report said there was no supporting documents for the sum of N1.36 million paid to the commandant for the “energization” of a transformer to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

“In the absence of these supporting documents, I could not satisfy myself that the payments were proper charges against public funds. This action is a violation of Financial Regulation 603,” the Auditor-General said and asked the commandant to recover the said amount and forward evidence of recovery.

The sum of N2.38 million was also paid to an officer for the renovation works carried out on hostel blocks in violation of a circular dated March 24, 2009. The CG was asked to explain the violation of the circular and forward relevant supporting documents. Otherwise, he should recover the said amount and submit recovery particulars.

TWO MISSING RIFLES

The audit examination of Arms Movement Register at the command showed that two unidentified pistols were booked by an officer of Niger State Command in December 2012 and another officer at the Immigration headquarters in June 2011. But arms were said not to have been returned, according to the report.

The CG was asked to cause the affected officers to return the arms and forward evidence of same for verification. If the said officers fail to respond, they should be held responsible for any form of misconduct or abuse of the arms, the auditor general said.

MONUMENTAL FRAUD IN PRISONS

For the Nigeria prisons, the audit report indicated that out of the agency’s N3.58 billion unaccounted fund, the sum of N1.47 billion was for salary variations, while N2.10 billion was for other expenses.

The auditor general said: “There were variances in the monthly payment of salary between January and December 2015. The variances were both in surplus and deficit and ranged from -0.87% and 25.65% between February and December 2015, using January 2015 payment as the base.

“The monthly variances are February, N23.41m; March, N38.43m; April, N73.15m; May, N79.89m; June, N157.18m; July, N194.11m; August, N139.28m; September, N136.44m; October, N45.70m; November, N48.32m and December, N543.79m.”

“It is worrisome that there was no authority for these variations in terms of variation advice and variation control raised and maintained to support each month’s variation as stipulated in Financial Regulation 1522 and 1523. The Comptroller-General has been requested to produce the authorities for the variations, variance advice and variation control records for audit examination.” the auditor general said.

The report said there was a balance of N5m after the payment of December 2015 salary “but no evidence was produced to show that the unspent balance was paid back to chest in line with the extant rule.”

N2BILLION PAY AS YOU EARN

In the other category, the report said a total of N2.08 billion was deducted as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) between January and December 2015. “However, the evidence of acknowledgment of the receipt of the amount by the FIRS was not produced for audit examination.

“The CG has been requested to produce the evidence of the receipt of N2.089 billion by the FIRS for audit verification,” the report said.

The report revealed that the sum of N1.8 million was added to a contract consultancy fee of N19.8 million to cover sundry expenses, describing it as “unacceptable and contravenes the provision of Financial Regulation 415.”

Although the CG was requested to explain the irregular payment and recover the N1.8m, he responded to the query on July 26, 2016, but he “did not give satisfactory answers to the audit queries after verification of the said response,” the auditor general said.

N20MILLION CONSULTANCY

In another contract of N19.8m, a ten percent withholding tax for consultancy service was deducted but that the five percent Value Added Tax (VAT), amounting to N990,000 was not deducted. Again, the CG’s response to a query on the matter dated July 26, 2016, was not satisfactory, the report said.

N58.860m was charged by an insurance broker as premium on Group Personal Accident Insurance policy for the period of January to December 2016, and the amount was approved by the CG, the report said.

A part payment of N10.62 million was made but that there was no receipt issued by the broker to acknowledge the receipt of the amount. The auditor general said that it was difficult to accept the payment as a legitimate expenditure against the public fund and requested the CG to recover the N10.62 million and forward the evidence accordingly for verification.

‘No more indifference’ — what Ezekwesili wants Nigerians to do in 2018

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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‘No more indifference’ — what Ezekwesili wants Nigerians to do in 2018

 

Obiageli Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education, says she will be devoting 2018 to mentoring and encouraging more young and competent Nigerians to get more involved in politics with a view to bringing about true and positive change in the country.

Ezekwesili, a vibrant rights activist, made this known on Wednesday through her verified Twitter handle, stressing that citizen indifference in the face of substandard “political operators” continues to cost the nation dear.

Using the hashtag #TheYearOfTheOfficeOfTheCitizen, Ezekwesili said the time has come to “reset our political space with the entry of a new generation of people that can commit to building a new Nigeria at every level of our society”.

“2018 has to be the Year that all Citizens of Nigeria step up on shaping the Quality of our Participatory Politics. Houses of Assembly in all States. Governorship in 34(?) States House of Representatives in Abuja Senate in Abuja Office of President. #EnoughIsEnough. #RESULTS!” Ezekwesili tweeted.

“The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. – Plato.

“Citizens’ indifference to the Quality of our Political Operators, their Governance Process and what they ought to Deliver has COST us DIRELY. 2018 is time to shape a New Deal. No more Indifference.

“One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. – Plato.

“We must RESET our Political Space with the entry of a New Generation of people that can commit to Building a New Nigeria at every level of our society. Let our Quality young ones with sturdy character, high competence & capacity ARISE & RUN for Legislative & Executive offices.”

“We do not need a Replacement Generation that will prove the sad point that ‘there are young Mugabes’. I mean who wishes to replace “old & corrupted incompetents” with “Young & corrupted incompetents”.

“We need a deep RESET of our Political Landscape for Quality Governance Results.

“Counting on the abundance of His Grace, I shall commit a considerable amount of my time in 2018 to mobilizing support for CREDIBLE CANDIDATES that can DISRUPT our DECADENT Political Space. Our Political Landscape nationwide- local, state and federal is overdue for NEW MINDS.”

Ezekwesili, co-founder of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, was recently honoured with the ‘Anti-Corruption Defender Award’ by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

REVEALED: 8,000 policemen are guarding 36 state governors

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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REVEALED: 8,000 policemen are guarding 36 state governors

 

Governors of the 36 states have approximately 7,956 policemen attached to them, a report by Daily Trust has revealed.

According to the report, this is more than two-thirds the total number of personnel recruited into the Nigeria Police Force in 2016.

Thousands of policemen are assigned as personal security details to politicians and so-called Very Important Personalities (VIP) across the country, despite the severe shortage of police personnel to effectively secure the millions of ordinary Nigerians.

For instance, Jimoh Moshood, the Police Public Relations Officer, once said during an interview that a Nigerian governor has about 221 policemen in his security detail.

Moshood said this in April while reacting to claims by Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, that Ibrahim Idris, the Inspector-General of Police, wanted him dead.

“It is incumbent on the Nigeria Police Force to educate the general public and draw the attention of the Governor of Rivers State to the facts and figures available for press and members of the public to verify, that there are 221 police personnel attached currently to His Excellency, Mr. Nyesom Wike, the Executive Governor of Rivers State for his Personal and office protection,” Moshood said in April this year.

“The breakdown is as follows: one ADC (SPO), one CSO (SPO), one Unit Commander (Special Protection Unit) SPO, one Unit Commander (Counter Terrorism Unit) SPO, one Escort Commander (SPO), one Camp Commander (SPO), one Admin officer (SPO) to administer the Police Personnel, 54 Inspectors of Police, 136 Police Sergeants and 24 Police Corporals.”

Investigation by Daily Trust revealed that the total number of policemen attached to the 36 ministers in the country is about 180 — an average of five policemen per minister — while Special Advisers and Senior Special Assistants have at least one police detail each. Some have more.  Heads of federal government departments and agencies are not left out, including the leadership of the Police itself.

Similarly, Bukola Saraki, Senate President, has 67 police personnel attached to him; Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President is said to have about 80. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has about 30, while his deputy and the other principal officers of the lower legislative chamber have more than two policemen attached to each of them.

Each member of the Senate (109 in all) and the House of Representatives (360 in all) has at least one police detail each.

The same goes for lawmakers in the 36 state assemblies across the federation, commissioners, council chairmen and heads of state agencies.

In the Judiciary, “the Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN), the President of the Court of Appeal, chief justices of the Federal High Court, the FCT High Court, Sharia Court of Appeal, Customary Court of Appeal, National Industrial Court, all have police personnel attached to them for protection”, the report stated.

“Also, the 22 Supreme Court justices, the 66 Court of Appeal justices, the 69 FHC judges, 38 FCT High Court judges, and the 20 judges of the National Industrial Court, all have at least a cop each attached to them.

“Apart from these judicial officers, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), equally have hundreds of judges with police protection.”

Traditional rulers, religious leaders and leaders of top private organizations also have several hundreds of policemen attached to them, even though most of them are not legally entitled to such benefits.

Isah Misau, a member of the Senate, had accused Ibrahim Idris, the IGP, of pocketing about N10 billion every month (N120 billion annually) in illegal payments from top companies in the country which he provides with police security.

The allegation came up for investigation by a senate ad-hoc committee, but Idris rushed to the FCT High Court asking that the Senate be barred from investigating the case pending the determination of a libel suit that he had filed against Misau.

All these happen despite the fact that there are about 300,000 policemen watching over 182 Nigerians —  a ratio of 1:1,648 police-population ratio and a far cry from the United Nations’ recommendation of 1:400 police-population ratio.

Also, Mike Okiro, Chairman of the Police Service Commission and former IGP, had revealed in an interview, that the NPF loses an average of 9,000 personnel annually due to deaths and retirement.

According to Daily Trust, the following are legally entitled to police security: “the President, Vice President, Chief Justice of Nigeria, governors, deputy governors, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of Service of the Federation and Ministers.

Others are: President of the Court of Appeal, justices of the Supreme Court, judges of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge and Grand Khadi of a state, president of the Customary Court of Appeal, chairman of a local government/area council, vice chairman of a local government/area council and chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

In the legislature, the President of the Senate, Deputy President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Speakers of State Houses of Assembly and Deputy Speakers of State Houses of Assembly, are entitled to police security.

Jimoh Moshood, the Force PRO, refused to comment on the issue, ignoring calls and text messages to his phone.

Osun workers block state secretariat, say no more half salary

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Osun workers block state secretariat, say no more half salary

 

Osun State civil servants have blocked the entrance to the state secretariat complex after declaring an indefinite industrial action, saying they will no longer accept half salary from the state government.

The leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in the state had directed members not to resume from their Christmas break until the government accedes to their demands, but Festus Olowogboyega, the Osun State Head of Service, gave a counter-directive ordering workers from grade levels 1 to 7 to resume work.

The directive prompted Jacob Adekomi, Osun State NLC Chairman, to mobilise members of the union to the state secretariat in order to enforce the strike action.

Among other things, the workers are demanding the confirmation of appointments and promotion for some of their colleagues since 2012, as well as the stoppage of modulated salary for workers and pensioners since July 2015.

Osun State is among the worst-indebted states in terms of unpaid salaries, alongside Bayelsa, which is surprising, given it is an oil-producing state.

TIME BOMB: Nigeria’s huge out-of-school population could wreck the north

Editorial
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TIME BOMB: Nigeria’s huge out-of-school population could wreck the north

Through the eyes of out-of-school children, this piece investigates the menace of northern children of school age who are not in school, looking at the looming socioeconomic and security consequences of the challenge in Africa’s most populous nation.

By Adam Alqali

Walking shoulder-to-shoulder along the well-paved street as the dry harmattan wind blows over Bauchi’s highbrow GRA are two siblings – Sadiq and Nabil – who are on their way to the neigbourhood’s football pitch.

Like millions of other boys of their age in Africa and other parts of the developing world, Sadiq,13, and his younger sibling Nabil, 11, are lovers of the game of football, hence every evening, at around 5pm, they walk to their neighborhood’s football pitch to partake in a game popularly described as world’s most popular sport.

What is discernible about the two children at first sight is that their outlook and dress style are untypical of children who may call the houses that adorn the well-tarred streets in Bauchi’s high-value government reserved area, home. In reality, the brothers do not ‘belong’ in the posh neighborhood – they are born of a security guard father and domestic help mother.

Although the two siblings share a passion for soccer, they are worlds apart when it comes to education.  Nabil, the younger sibling, attends one of the best public schools in the state of Bauchi in Nigeria’s northeastern region, recenntly infamous for the dreaded Boko Haram insurgency, whereas the older sibling; Sadiq, had never seen the four walls of a classroom.

Nabil is not only going to school but also seems to be doing very well, thanks to a scholarship from the owner of the house where his dad, Ibrahim, works as a security guard. On the other hand, Sadiq who is equally passionate about having an education and have even managed to learn how to pen his name is (at the age of 13) still not going to school.

“Whenever I ask my parents to enroll me in school they keep saying I will be enrolled when my father gets his monthly salary or when the next session starts,” says Sadiq in a pitiful voice, staring down as he tries not give in to his emotions.

Therefore, while Nabil learns subjects as varied as Arithmetic, English, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning amongst others at the Jibrin Aminu Model Primary School, one of only four such special primary schools in Bauchi, Sadiq will be working as an apprentice vulcaniser, patching tubes at a vulcaniser’s workshop behind Nabil’s school.

Education has already made a big difference in the young siblings’ thinking: whereas Nabil’s ambition is to become a Nigerian Air Force officer flying airplanes, his older brother’s is to become a tailor, working with thread and needle, tailoring being a trade plied by their grand and great-grandparents.

OTHERS DROPPING OUT OF SCHOOL

Whereas the likes of Sadiq have never been to any formal school in their entire lives, his age mate, Usman only recently dropped out of primary school in class 5 because his uniform has worn-out, and could not afford  basic learning materials including exercise books. Usman was too young when his mother died to have any memory of her. Besides, he does not know his exact age. His father, Aliyu, who sells eggs for a living has 9 other children to cater for.

“I was attending primary school  but my uniform got worn out, I didn’t have books and I was struggling to feed myself so I had to drop out of school,” says Usman, the fourth of his father’s ten 10 children whose family live in Rimin Gata, a community on the outskirts of Kano, Nigeria’s second city.

The fact that Usman’s father cannot afford to send all his 10 children to school and cater for their basic needs like feeding means only 5 of the 10 are currently going to school while Usman and 4 others either dropped out of school or were never enrolled.

Usman Ibrahim recently dropped out of school because his father could not provide for his educational needs

Usman and many other drop-out children in his community – which is host to Bayero University’s new campus – like 17-year old Mustapha survive and were before now paying for their educational needs  by running errands for university students. Unlike Usman who lives with his father, Mustapha had only seen his biological father once, in his entire life.

Having divorced Mustapha’s mother while he was still very young, his father had  left Kano for Kaduna where he remarried and never bothered to look after or cater for Mustapha and his other sibling’s needs. Mustapha, who was in class 2 at the community’s junior secondary school had to recently quit schooling as he could not cater for his educational needs with the little he gets from running errands for Bayero’s students, any longer.

IRRESPONSIBLE PARENTING AS A CAUSE

Central to the reasons why millions of Nigerian children like Sadiq, Usman and Mustapha are out of school are poverty, ignorance and sheer irresponsibility on the part of parents hence Nigeria’s being the country with highest number of out of school children in the world. According to UNICEF; there are 10.5 million out of school children in Nigeria, 60% of which reside in northern Nigeria.

Poverty means millions of parents in northern Nigeria cannot afford to send their wards to school. Moreover, ignorance on the part of some of them also means they still abhor Western education thus will go to any length to keep their children out of the classroom, even in instances where free education is available.

Moreover, sheer irresponsibility on the part of parents in the region means men would marry, give birth to children they cannot cater for and thus send them to faraway places in the name of a system of Islamic education called Almajirci.

“Men will send their boys to Almajirci; they are literally abandoning them because there is no [effective] supervision by parents. The Mallam (Islamic teacher) can’t cater for them; instead the boys will have to beg to feed themselves and feed the Mallam, as well,” says Amina Hanga, Executive Secretary of the Kano-based Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative (IWEI), a nonprofit working with out of school children in northern Nigeria.

“It is in this process that the boys therefore become vulnerable to social vices: drug abuse, thievery, thuggery. They become vulnerable to being preyed upon by criminals to do as they like with them. So, they grow up hating and resenting society including their parents. This is because their parents and society didn’t give them anything.”

BARRIERS TO GIRLS’ GOING TO SCHOOL

According to UNICEF, girls account for over 60% of out-of-school children in Nigeria, majority of who are also from the northern region. Socioeconomic barriers such as early marriages, poverty, lack of toilet facilities in schools, insecurity and sexual harassment by male teachers in schools are the major barriers for girls’ enrolment and retention in schools across northern Nigeria.

“Men won’t allow their wives to venture out of their homes; instead girls are sent out to hawk on behalf of their mothers to sustain the family. Hawking exposes girls to sexual harassment, risks of getting pregnant as well as contracting STDs like HIV/AIDS. Some parents believe going to school make girls become wayward, therefore the girl-child is send to hawk, after all part of the proceeds will go to funding her wedding,” says Hanga.

Hanga decried the fact these parents don’t understand that an educated girl is less likely to give birth to malnourished children but more likely to have healthy children hence less medical expenses on the family.

LOW FUNDING, POOR REGULATION FOR BASIC EDCUCATION

The Nigerian government and individual states are still not adhering to UNESCO’s recommended budgetary benchmark of 26% allocation to the education sector, which is responsible for low funding for the critically-important sector. Low levels of funding for basic education means poor quality of education for in-school children and nothing for out of school ones.

“It means greater challenges for the education governance systems at all levels. It also calls for a rethink of our funding for the sector and the strategy for delivery to cater for those out of school,” says Prof. Muhammad Bello Shitu of the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSCEFA).

Furthermore, lack of effective monitoring and supervision means low quality teaching and learning output hence the paradox of public schools having better qualified teachers, compared to private schools, yet private schools having better quality teaching. The irony is that whereas private schools ensure effective supervision, there is poor supervision in public schools.

“Lack of effective supervision means disproportionate posting of teachers at the detriment of rural areas,” says Jinjiri Garba, of the Bauchi State Network of Civil Society Organisations (BASNEC). “Urban schools might have up to 100 teachers while those in rural areas as low as one teacher.”

The fact that supervisors rarely visit schools for monitoring means urban-based teachers posted to rural areas abscond or lobby and bribe their way back to urban areas, leaving the rural schools with no teachers.

“Government should employ teachers from within the communities they will post them to work in; instead of employing teachers from the state capital and posting them to rural areas making the teachers abscond from their duty posts,” advises Garba.

IN SCHOOL; NOT LEARNING

It is one thing for children to be in school and entirely another to be learning, as such millions of the so-called in-school children in Nigeria are only a little better or not even better than children like Sadiq who had never seen the four walls of a classroom.  Teacher quality is at the heart of effective teaching at basic levels of education.

For example, unlike Nabil Ibrahim, 10-year old Umar Adamu, a primary 2 pupil at a school where children learn on the floor and there are over 100 pupils in a class doesn’t  know the name of his school and can’t even write his own name. Umar attends Wuntin Dada Primary School, located on the outskirts of Bauchi town.

“A Quality teacher is to education, what software is, to a computer. You will have an empty, useless box if there are no softwares installed in a computer,” says Chinedu Anarado of the DFID-funded Teacher Development Programme (TDP) being implemented across 5 states of northern Nigeria.

The dearth in the quality of teachers at basic schools in Nigeria is not unconnected with the ‘lowly’ nature of the teaching profession which keeps bright minds away from teaching or rather make them see it as a ‘transition’ after graduation from tertiary institutions as they search for greener pastures in other sectors of the economy.

“It is a low-paying profession,” argues Michael Watts of the Education, Data, Research and Evaluation in Nigeria (EDOREN), another education sector DFID-funded programme focused on generating evidences and understanding how best to support equitable access and improved learning outcomes for all Nigerian children.

“There is a direct link between income and social status. Teachers need to have decent salary relative to the population, and then you’ll have better quality teachers and better education results. When teachers have low salaries quality of teaching declines and hence learning.”

BASIC EDUCATION AS A RIGHT

Despite the passage of both the Child Rights Act since 2003 and Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act since 2004, which stipulates that the first 9 years of a child’s education – primary and junior secondary school education – is a basic right, free and compulsory for all children,  access to basic education has remained elusive to millions of Nigerian children.

“The laws are OK and have potentials for changing the equation creating greater opportunity for effective education governance and delivery. It requires transparency and accountability to really make the difference,” says Prof. Shitu.

But the major challenge with these laws especially the Child Rights Act is not just lack of implementation instead many states, particularly those in the northern region are yet to domesticate and ratify the law, citing religious reasons.

“Education is very important in Islam; it is about access to opportunities, better life, therefore denying a child education which is a right has [negative] implications. The Child Right Act is not domesticated in many northern states because of the controversy around puberty and age of marriage for girls,” says Hanga.

A TICKING TIME-BOMB

As Nigeria struggles to rid itself of the Boko Haram insurrection, the 10.5 million out-of-school children represent a grim future for the country, one characterized by grave socioeconomic and security consequences for Africa’s most populous nation.

“Poor or lack of education has been identified and recognized as one of the causative factors for recruitment into insurgency and engagement in violent behaviours. It is apparent that if nothing concrete is done to close the gap in access to schooling and education generally, insurgent elements will a have a pool of young persons that can easily be recruited, brain-washed and dumped hence greater danger of deepening the crisis,” says Prof Shitu.

Maryam Garba, Executive Director of Fahimta Women and Youth Development Initiative (FAWOYDI), a Bauchi-based civic organization working to address the problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria’s northeast, agrees.

“There is great implication indeed; Children’s schooling contributes importantly to the social and economic development of nations. Increasing rates of school enrollment and retention, along with the elimination of gender disparities in education are important components of the Millennium [Sustainable] Development Goals (SDGs),” she says

Thus, unless all stakeholders come together to urgently salvage the situation, the 10.5 million-out-of school children in Nigeria, which represents a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode with serious social, economic and security consequences, will continue to grow.

EDUCATION FOR ALL, RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL

The strategic importance of access to basic education for children and the increasing reality that governments have overtime  failed to fund basic education in Nigeria means the business of funding and managing children’s education should not be left in the government’s hand, alone. In reality, the federal and state governments in Nigeria may not have the capacity to fund and manage basic education.

“Kano state government has over 6,500 primary schools, over 1700 junior and secondary schools; the monthly salary of primary school teachers alone is ₦3 billion, not to talk of secondary and tertiary teachers. Compare this with what the government is generating internally and the statutory allocation from the government, all these put together cannot pay for education in the state,” says Danlami Garba, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Kano state.

Considering the obvious failings of the federal and state governments in Nigeria in effectively funding basic education, the citizens including private sector, parents and community must come in to support the government towards achieving equitable and inclusive access to quality education for all, in accordance with Education 2030 Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“A new reorientation is required by all for the system to function effectively. Parents and communities must first recognize that education of children is an inalienable right and a human right which goes for both girls and boys. Second, parents and communities must realize that they have a duty and responsibility to ensure that their children get education so should put it as their priority,” suggests Prof. Shitu.

“Again, communities must not fold their arms to allow the state machinery to dehumanize them by downplaying the issue of education, hence the dire need for communities to demand for their rights. A logical follow up is for governments and the private sector through CSR to do the needful.”

This is to say for Nigeria to be able to significantly reduce the numbers of children roaming the street instead of going to school and achieve SDG4 which is seeking to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, education must be the responsibility for all.

This piece was originally published by African Newspage – a digital newspaper for development reporting.

Pope Francis likens migrants to biblical Mary and Joseph

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Pope Francis likens migrants to biblical Mary and Joseph

 

Pope Francis wants all the peoples of the world to treat migrants with a little more kindness, saying most of them are merely looking for survival and not luxury.

Delivering his Christmas message at the Vatican, Pope Francis likened the migrant crisis currently being experienced in many countries of the world, to the situation of Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus, shortly before Jesus was born.

“Just like the migrants, Mary and Joseph found themselves forced to set out. They had to leave their people, their home and their land, and to undertake a journey in order to be registered in the census”, the Pope said.

“This was no comfortable or easy journey for a young couple about to have a child: they had to leave their land.

“They arrived in Bethlehem and experienced that it was a land that was not expecting them. A land where there was no place for them.

“And there, amid the gloom of a city that had no room or place for the stranger from afar, amid the darkness of a bustling city which in this case seemed to want to build itself up by turning its back on others… it was precisely there that the revolutionary spark of God’s love was kindled.

“We see the tracks of entire families forced to set out in our own day. We see the tracks of millions of persons who do not choose to go away but, driven from their land, leave behind their dear ones.

“In many cases this departure is filled with hope, hope for the future; yet for many others this departure can only have one name: survival. Surviving the Herods of today, who, to impose their power and increase their wealth, see no problem in shedding innocent blood.”

Pope Francis urged Christians to always try to “see God present in all those situations where we think he is absent”.

“He is present in the unwelcomed visitor, often unrecognizable, who walks through our cities and our neighbourhoods, who travels on our buses and knocks on our doors,” he said.

“Christmas is a time for turning the power of fear into the power of charity, into power for a new imagination of charity.

“This is the joy that we are called to share, to celebrate and to proclaim. The joy with which God, in his infinite mercy, has embraced us, pagans, sinners and foreigners, and demands that we do the same.”

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