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The Politician As A Man Of The People

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The Politician As A Man Of The People

Muktar Betara, has represented Bayo, Biu, Shani and Kwaya Kusar Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives since 2007. Instead of waning, his influence has continued to grow among his people.

By Yusuf Ibrahim

For most people of his constituency, the achievement of a legislator is not judged by how well he contributes to debate on the floor of the house, but rather how he has impacted the life of the people especially in the area of poverty alleviation. Assist the people by putting meals on their tables and you have a way to their hearts and votes at the elections.

Many Nigerian politicians especially lawmakers have lost out of the power game not because they were never high performers in the National or state Assemblies, but because they have lost connection with the masses in their constituency who needed shoulders to rest on. But find a way to meet the needs of the people in your constituency and they will continue to re-elect you.

This is the “wisdom” which  Muktar Betara Aliyu, representing Bayo, Biu, Shani and Kwaya Kusar in the House of Representatives, has imbided, and it is responsible for his long sojourn at the National Assembly since he was first elected in 2007. In fact his popularity has continued to grow and at a point in time the people were routing for him to become the deputy governor, a position which he rejected because of his love for the National Assembly.

Since Betara was elected he has fought poverty in his constituency with numerous poverty alleviation schemes. His guiding principle is to see many in his constituency happy as he put it: “I have been in this thing (giving assistance to the people in my constituency) for years, I am a business man. My business is doing well; I am not one of those who believe it is what you make in politics that you bring home, even before I joined politics I have been supporting my people. Politics just created the platform to support much more people, and my personal resources go into some of these supports, the joy and my personal accomplishment is to see smiles on the faces of these people. I am always happy when I give and some of them show their appreciation with smiles or cry of joy; I am happier when I see that with my moderate contribution they can feed themselves and members of their family.”

On some of the things he had done for the people, he said:”Normally this is not my first time, it is a normal thing, even in the last three months I was in my constituency, I gave them 500 deep freezers, 500 generators, 500 sewing machines. I have 42 wards in the constituency within the four local governments, I was able to pick 100 people from each wards, numbering 4200 people, I was able to give them alleviation of N10,000 each for them to start small business within their domain.

“When it comes to employment, I have assisted in employing our youths in government offices including federal agencies, I have assisted in the employment of more than 100 people. When it comes to military recruitment, I cannot mention the number in all the local governments under my constituency; equally in the military I have influenced the recruitment of some officers, apart from my constituency I have assisted people from other states.”

Speaking on what he has done for his people in the major areas he has assisted, Betara said: “In the health sector, I was able to build twelve primary health centres within my constituency and they are fully equipped, I was able to give ambulances to the four general hospitals in my constituency and I equally gave two ambulances now to two of the primary health centres and I gave one ambulance to one of the villages within my constituency at their request last year, you have seen the medical equipments that I was able to bring to all primary health care centres within my constituency, including the general hospitals in Biu, Bayo, Kwaya Kusar and Shani worth millions of Naira.

“When it comes to intervention in education, you have seen my personal contribution, I took out my personal money not part of my constituency project to build schools, I have built a lot of schools that I cannot count right away; actually built some blocks from ground and there are some others that I only renovated.

“When I saw the primary school that I attended, that is Biu Central Primary School on social media, I was surprised, they did not have single classroom. I have to come in myself, this is my personal project where I put in N23 million to renovate the school for our kids to attend school the way we attended school years back, because when I saw the school I was not happy at all; also the Barki Primary School in Biu where I built 14 classrooms, I put in N25 million to do this.

“When you come to Kwaya Kusar, you will see the intervention I was able to bring from the federal project, classrooms I was able to assist in building in Kwaya Kusar and Shani, I have to come in to assist my people in order for them to get knowledge from these schools.

On provision of water, he has drilled motorized boreholes in the 42 wards within his constituency. He also provided wash boreholes and the solar powered boreholes and hand-pumps for his people all within the time he has been elected.

“For poverty alleviation, I cannot count all, I have given out cars to people in my constituency to start commercial transportation, since I was first elected I have given out more than 500 vehicles, when motorcycles are still allowed for commercial transportation I gave out over a thousand motorcycles. I have equally given out countless tricycles for commercial transportation, in the last Assembly alone I was able to give over 100 tricycles.”

His contributions are seen and appreciated by the people of his constituency, who idolize him and are ready to always show their appreciation.

One of them, Hamisu  Inuwa, said: “Hon. Betara’s contributions for betterment of our people is far beyond any other politician, in fact we do not see him any more as a politician but rather as a brother, as no any other politician has contributed more than him in Borno state. He dug hundreds of boreholes, built classrooms, donated cars, gave out skills acquisition and hospital equipments. We are proud of him, he has never failed us that was why we came out in our thousands to show our solidarity and support for him.

“Over time he has given over one thousand motorbikes, cars and tricyles to the people to be self reliance. The donation impacted positively on our lives, the water scarcity became a thing of the past and that I no longer hire water pump machine for my irrigation activities, which has boosted the agricultural yield. Before getting the water pump machines, I dont produce more than 10 bags of crops, but on getting it, I now produce 30 bags.”

Sale Iro, another resident said: “Hon. Betara’s gesture and development for our people is beyond description. He sponsored education of our children, got them employment at the federal level. For instance he got jobs in the Nigerian Police Force for over 30 youths, 15 in the armed forces, six others he got employed into some federal government agencies.  I benefitted a lot from the lawmaker’s gesture for I got a tricyle, which assisted me to boost my earnings. This has increased my capital and boosted my agricultural yields. Initially, I was producing only 10 bags of rice but now I produces 50 bags.”

And for Mairo Adamu who spoke on behalf of the women of the constituency, she has this to say: “He (Hon. Betara) has improved our lives through series of human development policies and poverty alleviation intervention. He improved the lives of women through distribution of skills acquisition materials. In fact he was the first to initiate women empowerment scheme, he gave us capital of between  N30,000 to 50,000, this he gave to over 1,000 women to start businesses. Skill acquisition materials such as sewing machines, sphagetti-making machines, among others, he had donated to women. His intervention has really changed the lives of women for better in this area.”

For the people of his constituency, a politician who cannot help his people and alleviate their poverty has no business in politics. This explains why they keep re-electing him. His political philosophy, as he stated, tallies with the expectations of his people. He said: “If I cannot assist my people, why I mine in politics?”

Democracy Day: Nigeria Has Passed Most Difficult Phase – Osinbajo

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Democracy Day: Nigeria Has Passed Most Difficult Phase – Osinbajo

“I firmly believe that we have put the most difficult phase behind us; and we are witnesses to the ever-increasing intensity of the light at the end of the tunnel.”

This was the thrust of the Democracy day speech by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo to all Nigerians as the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration marks its second year in office.

Osinbajo also called for continued prayers for the President who is currently in the United Kingdom on medical vacation.

The Acting President noted that the present administration assumed office with three specific agenda in mind: Security, Corruption and the Economy.

According to him, the one that has proved the most tasking is the revitalization of the economy, as the federal government has recorded appreciable progress in improving the country’s security and fighting corruption.

He said: “In the Northeast of our country, the terrorist group Boko Haram openly challenged the sovereignty and continued existence of the state, killing, maiming,and abducting, causing the displacement of the largest number of our citizens in recent history. Beyond the North East they extended their mindless killings, as far away as Abuja, Kano and Kaduna.

“But with new leadership and renewed confidence our gallant military immediately began to put Boko Haram on the back foot. We have restored broken-down relations with our neighbours, Chad, Cameroon and Niger – allies without whom the war against terror would have been extremely difficult to win.

“The positive results are clear for all to see. In the last two years close to one million displaced persons have returned home. 106 of our daughters from Chibok have regained their freedom, after more than two years in captivity, in addition to the thousands of other captives who have since tasted freedom.

Osinbajo also said that Security has greatly improved, in the Niger Delta, and in parts of the North Central region as government is “engaging with local communities, to understand their grievances, and to create solutions that respond to these grievances adequately and enduringly.”

He noted that the administration’s vision for the Niger Delta “is a comprehensive peace, security and development plan that will ensure that the people benefit fully from the wealth of the region.”

“Included in that New Vision is the long-overdue environmental clean-up of the Niger Delta beginning with Ogoni-land, which we launched last year,” he added.

Osinbajo further said that government at the centre is concerned and is working with State governments and security agencies to design effective strategies and interventions that will bring the menace of herdsmen/farmers clashes that has led to deaths and loss of livelihoods.

He further said: “In the fight against corruption, we have focused on bringing persons accused of corruption to justice. We believe that the looting of public resources that took place in the past few years has to be accounted for.

“Funds appropriated to build roads, railway lines, and power plants, and to equip the military, that had been stolen or diverted into private pockets, must be retrieved and the culprits brought to justice.

“Many have said that the process is slow, and that is true, corruption has fought back with tremendous resources and our system of administration of justice has been quite slow.

“But the good news for justice is that our law does not recognize a time bar for the prosecution of corruption and other crimes, and we will not relent in our efforts to apprehend and bring corruption suspects to justice.

“We are also re-equipping our prosecution teams, and part of the expected judicial reforms is to dedicate some specific courts to the trial of corruption cases.”

The Acting President added that in addition to the whistleblower policy of the federal government, the coverage of the Treasury Single Account, TSA, has been expanded and more efficient accounting and budgeting systems introduced to further curb corruption.

“The Efficiency Unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance has succeeded in plugging leakages amounting to billions of naira, over the last two years.

We have ended expensive and much-abused fertilizer and petrol subsidy regimes,” he added.

Osinbajo, however admitted that “the economy has proven to be the biggest challenge of all.”

He noted that FG was not unmindful of the fact that “through no fault of theirs, some companies shut down their operations, others downsized; people lost jobs, had to endure rising food prices.

“In some States civil servants worked months on end without the guarantee of a salary, even as rents and school fees and other expenses continued to show up like clockwork.”

“And for this reason this administration’s work on the economic front has been targeted at a combination of short-term interventions to cushion the pain, as well as medium to long term efforts aimed at rebuilding an economy that is no longer helplessly dependent on the price of crude oil.

“Those short-term interventions include putting together a series of bailout packages for our State Governments, to enable them bridge their salary shortfalls – an issue the President has consistently expressed his concerns about.

“We also began the hard work of laying out a framework for our Social Intervention Programme, the most ambitious in the history of the country.”

But in what analysts have described as the signature tone of blame gamesby the present federal government, Osinbajo noted: “Indeed, much of 2016 was spent clearing the mess we inherited.”

He added that this FG is “putting the building blocks together for the future of our dreams; laying a solid foundation for the kind of future that you deserve as citizens of Nigeria.”

“Take the example of our Social Investment Programme, which kicked off at the end of 2016.

“Its Home Grown School Feeding component is now feeding more than 1 million primary school children across seven states and would be feeding three million by the end of the year.

“N-Power, another component has engaged 200,000 unemployed graduates – none of whom needed any ‘connections’ to be selected.

“Beneficiaries are already telling the stories of how these initiatives have given them a fresh start in their lives.

“Micro credit to a million artisans, traders and market men and women has begun. While conditional cash transfers to eventually reach a million of the poorest and most vulnerable households have also begun,” he said.

“And so we commemorate this second anniversary of our administration with confidence and optimism,” the acting President continued.

“We ask for your continued cooperation and support, to enable us realise all our best intentions and ambitions for Nigeria.

“On our part We will continue to carry you along on this journey, speak to you, explain the challenges, and share our Vision.”

Atiku Warns Against Coup, Says Democracy Best Guarantee For Progress

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Atiku Warns Against Coup, Says Democracy Best Guarantee For Progress

Nigeria’s former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, has warned all those nursing the thought of a return to military rule to discard the idea as democracy remains Nigeria’s surest path to progress and development.

He made this remarks in his message on Monday to mark the nation’s democracy day.

Atiku said that democracy also entails that citizens be patient with their leaders until their time in office is up and another election takes place.

“Among the virtues of democracy, aside public discussion, is the culture of patience with the leadership which informs that once an election has taken place, and a leader is elected, the populace has to be patient with the leader until he completes his tenure.

“The implication of this is that a democratic system imbues the people with political wisdom, to improve on their mode of selection of leaders with each election that takes place.

“All those who may be contemplating alternatives (must) perish such thoughts as the worst form of democratic rule has been adjudged far better than the best form of military dictatorship,” the former Vice President said.

He added that “the best guarantee for the peace, progress and development of plural societies like Nigeria, and even homogeneous entities, is democracy because popular political participation and inclusiveness in government helps to develop patriotism in the citizenry and this galvanises the best endeavours of the people for the development of the society.”

Atiku acknowledged the improvements in the electoral processes over the years since 1999 but further tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, “not to rest on its oars in making credible and transparent elections possible in the country.”

He stressed that “the beauty of democracy is the opportunity it gives to the people to elect their leaders.”

Atiku also called on Nigerians to continue to pray for the quick recovery and safe return of President Muhammadu Buhari “to continue with the work of entrenching democracy and development in the country.”

Acting President Urges Unity, Says Hate Speech Unacceptable

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Acting President Urges Unity, Says Hate Speech Unacceptable

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has called on Nigerians to always work for the unity of the country as a divided nation does no one no good, warning also that hate speech and hateful conducts cannot be tolerated.

This was part of the Acting President’s message as the country marks its eighteenth democracy day celebration.

Osinbajo said that Nigeria belongs to everyone and no particular person or ethnic group is more important than the other.

“Nigeria belongs to all of us. No one person or group of persons is more important or more entitled than the other in this space that we all call home.

“And we have a responsibility to live in peace and harmony with one another, to seek peaceful and constitutional means of expressing our wishes and desires, and to resist all who might seek to sow confusion and hatred for their own selfish interests,” he said.

Acting President Osinbajo acknowledged that it is normal that grievances or frustration may arise at one point or another as is expected in a large multi-ethnic setting as Nigeria, but added that hate speeches and violence are never the way to go and cannot be tolerated.

“And while we all daily preoccupy ourselves with pursuing the Nigerian Dream – which is the desire to better our lives and circumstances vigorously and honestly – it is inevitable that grievances and frustrations will arise from time to time. This is normal,” he said.

“What is not normal, or acceptable, is employing these frustrations as justification for indulging in discrimination or hate speech or hateful conduct of any kind, or for seeking to undermine by violent or other illegal means the very existence of the sovereign entity that has brought us all together as brothers and sisters and citizens.”

Quoting President Muhammadu Buhari, Osinbajo said: “The old Nigeria is slowly but surely disappearing, and a new era is rising.”

He stressed that the vision of the current administration for the country is “for a country where the wealth of the many will no longer be stolen by or reserved for a few; and where the impunity of corruption – whether in the public or private sectors – will no longer be standard operating practice; a land rid of bandits and terrorists.”

“As citizens you all deserve a country that works, not merely for the rich or connected, but for everyone.

“And our promise to you is that we will, with your support and cooperation, take every step needed to create that country of our dreams.

“We also know that this journey will of necessity take time. But we will not succumb to the temptation to take short-cuts that ultimately complicate the journey.

“We did not find ourselves in crises overnight, and we simply do not expect overnight solutions to our challenges.

“The most important thing is that we are on the right path, and we will not deviate from it, even in the face of strong temptation to choose temporary gain over long-term benefit.”

2 Years Of Buhari: FCT Minister Gives Self Pass Mark

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2 Years Of Buhari: FCT Minister Gives Self Pass Mark

By Yekeen Nurudeen

Despite apparent breakdown of some public utilities in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, the FCT administration says it remains unwavering in its commitment to actualise the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari administration in developing the Federal Capital Territory to the expectations of the residents of the city.

FCT Minister,  Muhammad Musa Bello made this pledge while briefing the press on his score card during the last one and a half years of his tenure as FCT Minister to mark the second year anniversary of Buhari administration.

Malam Bello said his agenda was to secure the city and the entire territory, make it environmentally friendly and responsive in terms of service delivery by all agencies of the FCTA.

But this is despite apparent breakdown of public utilities such as traffic and street lights, blocked drainages and increasing crime rate in the FCT in the last one and a half year.

Traffic lights at major intercessions in the city are either not functioning or malfunctioning while the city is usually enveloped by darkness every night due to failure of street lights.

The Minister had lamented when he took over that he was inheriting a tattered city whose many facilities were in comatose but with a promise to revive them.

But over a year on under his leadership, Abuja has not really witnessed the expected transformation except for the abandoned capital projects which the Minister had revived and concentrated on.

His words: “As I speak to you today, I want to reflect on the roadmap we gave ourselves. In trying to make the city environmental friendly, jointly with you, we worked on the Abuja environmental protection agency and I think with all sense of modesty, you will agree that the organization especially within the FCC, the Federal Capital City itself has done tremendously well.

Obviously, we have challenges; but as I told you, we cannot solve the challenges of FCT in one go. It has to be done systematically and step by step”.

“We have been able to achieve reasonable milestones; by all standards the city is now cleaner and greener. We are working with the Ministry of Finance to be part of those who will benefit from the green bonds, so that we deploy some buses to the Central Business Area, Suleja axis, Zuba axis; these buses are going to be environmentally friendly and not pollute the environment”.

On infrastructure, the Minister said successful milestones have been achieved particularly with the Abuja light rail system. “The tracks have all been laid and hundred per cent completed. I have had the honour of being on the tracks. We are now in the process of procuring the locomotives. The communication and signalling facilities are almost done. The workshop equipment is also being procured. All the civil and engineering works have been completed.

“By the grace of God, we are going to start the movement of passengers towards the end of this year and then by first quarter of next year, we would commence full commercial services. That I think is going to be a game changer of our city; 12 stations from Central Business District to the Abuja Airport route, starting with the metro station behind the Abuja Twin Towers and terminating at the Airport Station”.

The Minister  said the approval recently granted by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to extend the rail line to Kubwa as well as to do another line that starts from the Central Area and Wuse would make Abuja a a city that has urban rail system.

“Those of you that have seen all these major projects, I think we should all feel proud. The Airport road is virtually completed with only some finishing touches going on the Bill Clinton Bridge leading to the Airport; so also the Kubwa road, the Circle road which envelop the city as well as the B6 and B12”.

“That is why you notice we have concentrated on existing major construction of rail and road projects within the city because by so doing, you ease traffic congestion in the city, you open up the areas, you allow free movement of people and by extension, you become more secure; you also increase on economic activities.

Bello remarked that while efforts were continuing to complete on-going projects within the city centre, the FCT Administration did not leave out the Satellite Towns.

He said: “Recently we got approval for the upgrading of the road network in Karu Satellite Town and such intervention will continue for some of the on-going projects that are also within the satellite towns.”.

On improved water supply to the city of Abuja, the Minister said the Federal Executive Council, FEC has approved 470 million dollars for the execution of the Greater Abuja Water project, adding that the Karshi water works would soon start to boost water supply in the FCT.

“With respect to hospitals, we recently opened the Zuba Cottage Hospital, Karu Hospital also should be up and doing while we also added bed spaces in some of the hospitals and more importantly also, do a lot of interventions in the schools”.

He said that his administration had trained over 12,000 staff in the ongoing training exercise that was expected to focus on three areas including effective service delivery, discipline and prudent resource management, adding that senior staff that have remained on same job for many years were given the opportunity to experience other areas of the government.

He explained that his administration had not made land allocations since inception because of the mistakes of the past, whereby land allocated to A was also allocated to B and so on.

The Minister said the administration has been able to resolve about 500 pending land issues within the period.

“One of our greatest achievements during the last one is the sanity we brought in land adminstration. We made sure that land administration is done according to the law”.

Bello said as a result of this action the land racketeering group that used to operate in Area 11, near the Abuja Geographic Information Systems, AGIS head office has suddenly disappeared.

According to him, institutional framework for the FCTA had been strengthened, adding that not only to ensure effective service delivery, but to also maintain institutional memory.

Bello said that he deliberately allowed the bureaucracy to work so that the management staff will no more rely on the mentality of having to wait for directives on everything from a minister.

“We decided to strengthen the bureaucracy by allowing the civil servants to work.

“When ministers come with their political appointees and are gone, there is no institutional memory that is why we spent a lot of resources on training staff,’’ he added.

On traffic light and facility maintenance within the city, the Minister appealed to the residents to stop vandalism of important facilities because it was a major hindrance to ensuring bright city at nights as well as 24-hour functional traffic lights across the city.

On Apo-Karshi road, “I personally thought that by now, this road would have been completed but we are working on it seriously and by the grace of God, it will be done’’.

The Minister assured the residents that his administration will not demolish buildings anyhow, adding that he would rather prefer the global best practice of upgrading and integration where infrastructure would be put in place for the people.

Don’t Repeat 2015 Mistake In 2019, Ngige Cautions Ndigbo

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Don’t Repeat 2015 Mistake In 2019, Ngige Cautions Ndigbo

By Yekeen Nurudeen

Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has cautioned his kinsmen from the South East not to repeat the same mistake they made in the build up to the 2015 general elections in the 2019 elections.

The Minister stated this while reacting to what he described as the misinterpretation of his statement in Thisday Newspaper of Thursday, May 25, 2017 as endorsing the perceived “marginalization” of Ndigbo.

He however said he is not afraid of repeating that politics is an investment noting that as far as the 2015 presidential election is concerned, Ndigbo made a very bad investment.

“We put all our eggs in one basket despite clear signs we shouldn’t. We should therefore not allow such ill-advised investment to repeat in subsequent elections,” Ngige said in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Media, Nwachukwu Obidiwe.

“My position which I passed as a caution in that interview is that Ndigbo should start to strategically position themselves for 2019 and avoid a repeat of what happened in 2015.

Other zones are already strategizing and we must not be caught napping. Just as all reasonable politicians in the South East accept that we played bad politics in 2015, we should effectively put it behind us. The resilient nature of the Igbo allows no room for self-pity. We have met greater challenges and surmounted them.”

“It is for this reason that I and the APC in the South East have been welcoming our leaders like Chief Jim Nwobodo, Sen. Ken Nnamani, Sen. Emma Agboti, Sen. Nkechi Nwogu, Sen. Andy Uba, Chief Chukwuemeka Nwogu – my predecessor in the Ministry of Labour, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, former Minister of Health, former Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime and host of others people who have seen the need for this.”

“However, as I said in the interview, the bad investment of the 2015 is not enough to marginalize anybody.

The present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari does not look in that direction. I and other APC leaders in the South East shall continue to make sure that the Igbo is fairly treated. Every piece of information is not for the pages of newspapers but I wish to re-assure that we are doing much more than what eyes can see to ensure that the South East is not left behind in the distribution of infrastructures.”

“For example, work is going on simultaneously on all the major federal roads in the South East; Enugu- Onitsha, Enugu- Umuahia-Abia-Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt -Owerri, Oba-Nnewi– Arondizuogu- Okigwe, to mention a few while Julius Berger has been mobilized for the 2nd River Niger Bridge. When last did that happen in the South East? There is also the Benin-Onitsha rail line which was not originally in the Jonathan-PDP rail masterplan. We have included that.”

“By my pedigree, as the former President General of Aka-Ikenga for eight years, member of Ohaneze Strategic Committee and member, Imeobi Ohaneze, I will advise that our people should cry no more over spilt milk as there is enough room to feed the cow well and get milk in better quantity and quality. That is politics for you. A word is enough for the wise.” Ngige explained.

Buhari’s First Two Years In Office Wasted – Opposition Party

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Buhari’s First Two Years In Office Wasted – Opposition Party

By Yekeen Nurudeen

An opposition party, Democratic Peoples Congress, DPC, has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s two years in office as wasted years.

The party in a statement issued by his National President on Sunday, Olusegun Peters, lamented that the President’s mid term report card is gloomy, noting that the state of the nation has worsened since he took office.

“Nigeria has been adrift in the years with economic recession, political upheavals, executive-legislature squabble, infrastructural decay, impunity and marginalization of some sections of the country.

“Nigerians were abandoned again to wander in the wilderness, expecting a messiah to lead them to the Promised Land where they will be provided with abundant dividends of democracy” the party said

The DPC called on President Buhari and acting President Yemi Osinbajo to dissolve the Federal Executive Council, FEC, and appoint competent Nigerians irrespective of political and religious affiliations to run the affairs of the nation.

“For decades, the recycling of old politicians has been the bane of effective governance in Nigeria. It is time to inject fresh blood in the Federal Executive Council and tame the cabal that has made good governance impossible in the country,” the party observed.

“Nigerian roads have become death traps to thousands of road users across the country. Traveling by road has become a nightmare and short cut to eternity for many due to extremely bad highways,” it lamented.

The DPC also stated that Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has been “redundant in the past two years” and that “the hopes and aspirations of fellow citizens who yearn for better lives have been dashed.”

“Nigerians are now forced to pay for electricity bills they did not consume and have more darkness than light in a month despite trillions of naira allotted for infrastructure” it said

While noting that executive – legislature squabbles are part of the democratic culture, the party said that they should not be allowed to disrupt governance.

“While the National Assembly should not be a rubber stamp of the Executive, partisan politics must give way for patriotism in addressing crucial national issues” DPC cautioned.

Environmentalist Calls For Better Management Of E-Waste

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Environmentalist Calls For Better Management Of E-Waste

 

National Secretary of the Nigerian Environmental Society, NES, Paul Akporowho, has called on the Delta state government to come up with a policy that would ensure proper management of  e-waste in the State.

Akporowho who spoke in Warri on Sunday noted that such policy has become necessary in order to address the indiscriminate dumping of electronic wastes in the state.

The environmentalist advised that Delta should borrow a leaf from Lagos state which has legislations and policies on ground for proper management of e-waste in the industrialised state.

He opined that the Delta state government should procure recycling and recovery equipment to convert such waste products into wealth.

“Delta should emulate Lagos State in managing its electronic waste products,” Akporowho said.

“Here in Warri, you find electronic waste products everywhere and this is very worrisome.

“If there is a policy framework on ground, it will help in managing the situation; people will not dump such products indiscriminately.

“Discarded batteries, transmitters and other items are everywhere and people pick them, remove the useful parts and throw the rest into dump sites.”

The NES scribe pointed out that e-waste should not be discarded the same way as domestic waste because they contain chemicals that could be harmful on the environment and the people.

He said: “The dump site at Orhe community on the Warri-Benin expressway is one of such sites. A lot of the waste contains harmful chemicals such as lead and mercury.

“When these chemicals contaminate the underground water, same could be consumed by human beings through boreholes.

“Overtime, it could affect the reproductive system and cause other health challenges.”

Akporowho urged the state government to encourage the oil multinationals operating in the state to also have in place an effective e-waste management policy, as they generate a lot of electronic waste materials.

Malabu Oil Scam: Hold Jonathan Responsible, Adoke Tells Court

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Malabu Oil Scam: Hold Jonathan Responsible, Adoke Tells Court

Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, has filed an application at the federal high court, Abuja, asking the court to declare that he acted on the instructions of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the controversial $1.1bn Malabu oil deal.

Adoke said that as a Minister, he was merely discharging his duties by carrying out the instructions of the President; therefore he wants the court to declare his prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as illegal.

Adoke, former petroleum minister, Dan Etete, and another businessman, Aliyu Abubakar, are facing charges alongside Adoke’s company, Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, for alleged foul play in the sale of an oil block – OPL 245 – to two oil giants: Shell and AGIP.

The sale of the oil block, which is considered as one of Africa’s richest oil blocks, has been described by both local and international stakeholders as fraudulent.

In the recent suit filed by Adoke, current AGF, Abubakar Malami was named as the sole defendant.

Adoke traced the events leading up to the Malabu deal from 2006 until 2010 when then President Jonathan approved the transfer of the oil block to Etete maintaining that his role in the deal was shaped by former president’s directives.

The suit was filed by Adoke’s counsel, Kanu Agabi, himself a two time Attorney General of the Federation under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In the affidavit in support of the originating summons, Agabi noted “that at all time material the plaintiff (Adoke) carried out the Presidential directive diligently, faithfully, impartially and in good faith and without any personal gain to himself nor to any other person except as was agreed to by the known parties to the parties.

“The plaintiff verily believes that he did not exceed the directives/approval given to him by the President and did nothing wrong to warrant his prosecution on account of the implementation of the Settlement Agreement,” the affidavit stated.

He also asked the court to declare his prosecution illegal, null and void.

No date yet has been fixed for the suit to be heard.

May 27 Celebrations: Little To Cheer For Nigerian Children

Editorial
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May 27 Celebrations: Little To Cheer For Nigerian Children

Out of the sum of N7.44 trillion budgeted for 2017, without money for vaccines, only N1.7 billion is earmarked for programmes and activities directly targeting children.

By Chikezie Omeje

As the country joins the rest of the world to mark the International Day for the Protection of Children, better known as Children’s Day, Nigerian children and their parents have little to cheer this year.

The 2017 budget of N7.44 trillion has low provisions to ensure adequate child care and protection in the country.

While the Federal Ministry of Education will spend N205.8 million to purchase three exotic Toyota LC V8 2016 model at the rate of N68.6 million each, it will spend just N7.2 million for all the activities to improve early childhood education of about 30 million children who are five years old and below.

Part of the N7.2 million earmarked for early childhood education will also go to fund capacity building for caregivers across the states of the federation.

Early childhood education as stated in the National Policy on Education covers the pre-primary school (day-care and nursery) until a child reaches the official school age of 6 years to start primary school.

As important as this formative education is in a child’s cognitive and psychosocial development, less than 30 per cent of children within the age range attend nursery or day-care despite the fact that government has a policy that requires every primary school to have pre-primary school.

But the biggest challenge to early childhood education is the overwhelming number of unqualified caregivers which the government is dedicating part of the N7.2 million to train.

According to United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, about 85 per cent of these caregivers do not possess basic qualifications and more than half have no formal education.

In addition to the poor qualification of caregivers, the poor state of the infrastructure, equipment, facilities and learning resources are also glaring problems.

But as much negligence shown in early childhood care and development by government is extended to school age children.

In a country where 10.5 million children are out of school, the highest in the world, the federal government will spend the miserable sum of N10 million on “national drive activities, campaign and advocacy to 36 states of the federation and FCT for increased access to basic education for out of school children.”

About 10.5 million Nigerian children are out of school. Photo Credit: axisoflogic.com
About 10.5 million Nigerian children are out of school. Photo Credit: axisoflogic.com

Also, the federal government will spend additional N10 million on “high-level advocacy and sensitisation of political, religious and community leaders in the South-East and South-South zones on curbing the out of school boy child syndrome in the zones.”

Another N10 million is provided for “advocacy and sensitisation of key policy makers, community and religious leaders on some cultural practices that hinder girl-child access to education, the importance and benefit of girls’ education in all states of the federation.”

The federal government will also spend N5 million for “collaborating with other agencies on checking/regulating the Almajiri education programme in Nigeria to increase enrolment.”

Altogether, the budget for all the activities for improving early childhood care and development for about 30 million children and improving access to education for 10.5 million out of school children is N42.2 million – a sum far less than N205.8 million earmarked for the purchase of the three cars for officials of the education ministry.

The same elsewhere

The federal health budget makes provision of N23 million for infant and young child feeding in a country where 32 per cent of children under the age of five years are stunted.

Ironically, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency will spend a higher amount of N38.8 million on “plant/generator fuel cost”.

Perhaps the only positive note is the provision to buy Ready to Use Therapeutic Food, RUTF, for severely acute malnourished children, but the money is too negligible compared to the severity of the situation.

According to UNICEF and Federal Ministry of Health, 2.5 million children suffer from severe acute malnutrition and all it takes to nurse each affected child to normal is just N50, 000.

This year, the federal government is required to make a provision of N95 billion in the budget to reach out to 1.9 million of these severely acute malnourished children, while the UNICEF will cater for the remaining 600,000 children.

Unfortunately, the federal government provided the paltry sum of N1.2 billion for “contribution and counterpart funding for UNICEF for procurement of RUTF”.

Child eating ready-to-use therapeutic food for treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Photo credit: unicefstories.org
Child eating ready-to-use therapeutic food for treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Photo credit: unicefstories.org

Without treatment, more than 300,000 of these severely malnourished children will die this year alone.

According to UNICEF, WHO, and Federal Ministry of Health, 2,300 children under the age of five die every day in Nigeria and malnutrition accounts for more than a half of these deaths.

Child protection

As in other parts of the world, Children’s Day is celebrated on May 27 in Nigeria to honour children and initiate action to improve their welfare.

The theme of this year’s Nigerian Children’s Day is “Child protection and the Sustainable Development, SDGs: Issues and opportunities.”

One of the targets of SDGs 3 is “By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births.”

This target is unlikely to be achieved in Nigeria due to inaction on child-survival interventions by the government just as the country failed to achieve any of the goals in the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs.

One of the targets of MDGs was to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.

In 1990, the under-five mortality rate in Nigeria was 213 deaths per 1,000 live births. If Nigeria had achieved the MDG goal, under-five mortality would have been reduced to 71 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2015.

The Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, NDHS 2013, shows that under-five mortality rate is 128 deaths per 1000 live births. This means that one in every eight Nigerian children still do not survive to celebrate their fifth birthday.

With the current statistics, the target of reducing under-five mortality to at least 25 by 2030 may not be achieved with the little investments in child-survival interventions by government.

Most of the child-survival interventions in the country are led by development partners while the political elite squander the national wealth on themselves.

The Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition, CMAM, started in 2009 by UNICEF in the North East and North West where malnutrition is alarming, has averted more than 200,000 deaths and reached more than a million children with RUTF.

The cost of inaction by the leaders manifests in a situation where Nigeria accounts for 13% of all global deaths of children under the age of five years, second only to India at 21%.

The excuse

When it comes to child-survival interventions, government complains of the paucity of fund.

In 2015, the new administration of Muhammadu Buhari promised to build 10,000 Primary Health Centres, PHCs, across the country. The government later changed the plan to the revitalisation of 10,000 existing primary health centres. But the same government later announced it would not be able to rehabilitate all the 10,000 PHCs but would use a “phase out approach”.

Two years into the administration of Buhari government, the federal government has budgeted only N3 billion to revitalise and make functional 1,000 PHCs but between last year and this year, N12.4 billion has been budgeted for repairs and rehabilitations in the Presidential Villa.

Last year, over 3 billion was provided as the capital budget for the State House Clinic, which caters for top political leaders and their families.

It is unlikely that the 10,000 PHCs will be rehabilitated and revitalised by the end of the tenure of this administration in 2019, thereby depriving millions of children access to quality health care.

The National Health Facility Survey carried out last year revealed that only 20 per cent of the PHCs in the country are functional.

According to UNICEF, preventable or treatable infectious diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles and HIV/AIDS account for more than 70 per cent of the estimated one million under-five deaths in Nigeria.

UNICEF said the coverage and quality of healthcare services in Nigeria continue to fail children.

As sad as the realisation that essential interventions for children will avert most of the under-five deaths, the Nigerian leaders would often point out the lack of funds for not investing in child-survival interventions.

The National Assembly could not approve as little as N50, 000 for each of the severely acute malnourished children but could comfortably approve for itself N120 billion for its 469 members and their aides.

On this Children’s Day, it appears that there is little to cheer yet.

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