The United Nations’ Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has announced that a total of 145 child soldiers, who were fighting for two rebel groups in South Sudan have been released.
The children were recruited by the Cobra Faction and the SPLA In Opposition, two armed groups which have been fighting the government.
In a statement, UNICEF said the children were freed in the eastern region of Pibor and “disarmed and provided with civilian clothes,” adding, however, that about 16,000 more children still belong to various armed groups.
UNICEF said it was the largest release of child fighters since last year but warned that children were still being recruited by various armed groups.
Mahimbo Mdoe, Unicef’s representative in South Sudan called on all parties in the conflict to “end the recruitment and to release children who are currently serving in their ranks”.
One of the child soldiers, an 11-year old whose name was given only as Silva, said that he has been fighting for more than two years.
“I haven’t seen my mother and father since last summer,” he said, “I’ve seen many people killed when I was on missions.”
“I had an AK-47. It was heavy. I was fighting to protect my family and village. Now I want to go to school and learn. I don’t want to fight anymore, I was scared,” he said.
South Sudan was plunged into internal strife in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused his rival, former Vice-President Riek Machar of plotting a coup.
The two camps have broken a series of peace deals, the latest one in July, meant to resolve the crisis in the country.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands forced from their homes in the latest fighting.
The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has urged humanitarian agencies working in the North east, to focus more attention on the communities that have been liberated from Boko Haram Insurgents in order to provide succor for the people returning to their homes.
The call was made by Mohammed Kanar, the North east Zonal Coordinator of NEMA during a humanitarian coordination meeting organized by the agency in conjunction with the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, BOSEMA, on Wednesday.
Kanar said it appeared that a lot of focus is being centred on the people living in Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camps to the detriment of those who are in host communities as well as newly liberated towns.
He noted that there are 52 humanitarian organisations presently in the North east, comprising mostly of international agencies, with all concentrating on IDP camps.
He also said that it was only about 500,000 persons, out of the 2,093,036 IDPs in Borno State, who are residing in camps, as others reside within the Maiduguri metropolis and liberated towns.
Kanar said that at present, the camps are already well covered but the same cannot be said about the other communities where even larger numbers of people live, as there have been reports of humanitarian crises in some of the areas.
He however admitted that some of the humanitarian partners have started making inroads into the host communities and newly liberated communities, but said that much needed to be done.
He said the major agenda of the meeting was to deliberate on how to scale up efforts at arresting humanitarian crisis in the host communities and the newly liberated towns, promising that NEMA will boost its activities in eight council areas of the state that are most affected by the Boko Haram crisis.
The eight councils include: Gwoza, Gamboru-Ngala, Mafa, Bama, Askira-Uba, Konduga, Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and Jere.
The meeting was attended by representatives of all the humanitarian agencies working to cater for citizens of Borno State, the worst-hit by the Boko Haram insurgency.
President Muhammadu Buhari has reappointed Yemi Kale to serve another five-year tenure as the Statistician General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.
Kale was first appointed in August 2011 by former President Goodluck Jonathan for an initial five-year term, having served as the Special Adviser to the then Minister of National Planning.
His first tenure ended in August and there had been speculations that President Buhari may appoint a new person for the post.
Kale, son of a retired Army General, was educated in Ethiopia and London and had served on several presidential committees and advisory bodies.
He is a member of numerous professional bodies including: Fellow of the UK Royal Statistical Society, Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Administrators and Researchers of Nigeria, Member at the World Economics Federation, Member at the Royal Economic Society and Member of the Nigerian Statistical Association.
The Borno State Government has raised alarm over the increasing rate of drug abuse among the citizens of the state, especially in the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camps, as well as in communities liberated from Boko Haram control.
The State Commissioner for Justice, Kaka Shehu, who also doubles as Chairman, Borno State Committee for the Control of Drug Abuse, made this known in Maiduguri on Wednesday, saying that the state is considering declaring a state of emergency on illicit drug use.
He however said that officials are doing their best in the anti-drug abuse campaign despite the challenges posed by insecurity.
He said: “I recall that some of offices of the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, were attacked in Gamboru Ngala, Banki, Baga and here in Maiduguri before it was taken over by Boko Haram insurgency.
“But in spite of these challenges, the NDLEA Borno Command was able to recover more than 20 tonnes of various assorted illicit drugs.”
He added that some suspected drug peddlers had been arrested over the last three years, a development that led to the formation of the Drug Control Committee.
“The committee comprises, the military, NDLEA, Police, Civil Defence and other humanitarian and Non-Governmental Organisations.
On the activities of the committee since its formation, Shehu said: “So far, we have mapped-out an aggressive sensitisation on drug abuse in almost all the IDP camps because we have discovered that some IDPs are chronic addicts of illicit drugs.
“Our fear is that we do not want these IDPs to get back to their liberated homes and continue to constitute nuisances.
“We have had enough of Boko Haram and enough of our youth engaging in drug abuse.
“We do not want to go to the camps to start effecting arrests now because of the condition they have found themselves,” he said.
The anti-drug abuse committee chairman assured that “as we are moving to return them (IDPs) to their liberated communities, we will ensure that we clear the communities of nefarious activities.
He disclosed that a truck that was heading to Gamboru Ngala with about 1, 200 kilograms of Indian Hemp was intercepted by security agencies, adding that “the committee will continue to liaise with NDLEA, to ensure that all liberated communities are free of illicit drugs.”
“We will also liaise with Federal High Courts to ensure that all cases of drug abuse was handled with dispatch to serve as warnings to others,” Shehu said.
Following series of allegations against the police and other security agencies of committing extrajudicial killings in Bayelsa State, the House of Representatives has invited the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris, to appear before it and state the force’s side of the story.
The matter was raised on the floor of the House on Wednesday by Douye Biri, a Bayelsan lawmaker who said that there had been at least four cases of extrajudicial killings in the state in the last two weeks.
“In the last two weeks, the Nigerian Police Force Bayelsa State Command has shot and killed four innocent Nigerians.”
According to the lawmaker, some of the people killed include Innocent Kokorifa, Izu Joseph and Godgift Oduku.
Biri noted that “the Nigerian Police Force is a creation of law whose principal function is to protect and ensure the well-being of citizens and visitors who are within the territorial jurisdiction of Nigeria.
He added that in the discharge of its duty, the police force should display utmost “care and respect for human life,” as indiscriminate killings such could throw the society into avoidable crisis.
“In a situation where the people will be forced to defend themselves from attacks from the very police who have been paid by the taxpayers to protect them is not a welcome idea,” he said.
Nicholas Ossai, chairman of the House committee on Ethics and privileges, also told members of the House that he had received numerous complaints from members of the public about extrajudicial killings by security agencies.
He said that Nigeria should emulate other western countries where the lives of citizens are greatly valued.
Force Public Relations Officer, Don Awunah, said that the police do not engage in extra-judicial attacks on citizens, adding, however that the IGP would act on the summons when he receives it.
Awunah said if any attack occurred that involved the police, the matter would be investigated and culpable officers be brought to book.
The suit filed by former first lady Patience Jonathan against the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, has been fixed for hearing on December 7.
The wife of former-President Goodluck Jonathan is suing the EFCC over the freezing of some accounts which the former first lady said belongs to her.
Included as respondents in the case are: Skye Bank plc, former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripama-Owei Dudafa, as well as four companies, namely: Pluto Property and Investment company Ltd, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Ltd, Transocean Property and Investment Company Ltd and Globus Integrated Service Ltd.
Jonathan is also asking for the sum of $200 million from the EFCC as damages for infringing on her rights.
She is also urging the court to issue an order discharging the freezing order and restrain the EFCC and its agent from further placing a freezing order on the said accounts.
As the case was mentioned on Wednesday, Rotimi Oyedepo, announced appearance for the EFCC, while Granville Abibo, SAN, appeared for Jonathan.
Addressing the court, Oyedepo informed the judge that the case was coming up for the first time, and was not yet “ripe for hearing”.
He argued that the court processes was served on him on October 19 and he is yet to study it well in order to be able to file an appropriate response.
His submission was, however, not contested by counsel to the plaintiff.
Consequently, Justice Babs Kuewumi fixed Dec. 7 for hearing.
An affidavit deposed to by one Sammie Somiari, a lawyer, to support the former first lady’s claims, stated that on March 22, 2010, Jonathan had opened five different accounts with Skye Bank with the assistance of one Damola Bolodeoku and Dipo Oshodi.
Somiari stated that the account mandate forms were duly completed and signed by her.
According to him, the former first lady subsequently discovered that apart from one of the accounts that bore her name, the other four accounts were opened in the name of four companies which were companies belonging to Dudafa.
He said she also observed that the ATM cards of the said accounts were issued in the names of the companies, adding that she complained to Dudafa, who promised to effect the necessary changes.
He said Dipo Oshodi also promised to effect the necessary changes.
Somiari also stated that Mrs Jonathan is not a director, shareholder or participant in these companies and the funds in the said accounts were solely owned and operated by her.
“Dudafa does not own any part of the funds in the said accounts.”
According to the deponent, the Skye Bank official did not effect the instructions of the plaintiff to change the name of the said accounts to her name, in spite of repeated request.
He stated that notwithstanding the refusal of the bank to effect the necessary changes, she had been using the said ATM cards without any interference.
Somiari further stated that sometime in July, Jonathan discovered that the ATM cards were not functioning, as a result of a “No debit/freezing order” that was placed on the accounts.
“On further enquiry, the bank informed her that the accounts were frozen on the directive of EFCC as a result of ongoing investigation in relation to Dudafa.”
The former first lady said she has never been arrested or even invited by the EFCC prior to the freezing order placed on the accounts, an action she described as illegal.
A group of protesters are demanding that the judges who were indicted of corruption by the Department of State Security, DSS, should step aside until their innocence have been proven.
The protesters, under the aegis of Non-Governmental Organizations in Nigeria, FONGON, gathered at the premises of the Supreme Court on Wednesday wielding placards and calling on the National Judicial Council, NJC to allow the judges to be investigated.
Leader of the protesters, Comrade Wole Badmus described the NJC as hypocritical, adding that it encourages corruption.
“Judicial corruption is worse than economic corruption. A judge that freed a corrupt person or a thief after being compromised is only asking the thief to go and continue stealing,” Badmus said.
“From year 2000 till date, about 73 judges have been suspended by the NJC but none of them has been prosecuted all this years, what kind of double standard is this?” he queried.
The FONGON chairman said that the NJC was wrong to have leaped to the defence of the indicted judges, when the same council had earlier sanctioned some of them over petitions bordering on corruption and judicial irregularities.
He also criticised the NJC ffor not speaking out since the issue surfaced, adding that their silence in this regard was not golden.
You will recall that the NJC had refused the recommendations of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, as well as that of the association of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, to ask the judges to step aside pending the determination of their innocence.
The council stated that the guidelines for suspension of judges were clear, adding that the NJC has not even received any formal petition by the DSS against the arrested judges.
The chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, Ekpo Nta, has not been sacked by the federal government, contrary to media reports on Wednesday morning, the www.icirnigeria.org can authoritatively report.
Reports in the media, mainly online news websites, indicated that Nta had been asked to go on compulsory leave, preparatory to his retirement.
According to a report in the Vanguard on Wednesday, the ICPC chairman had been directed, through a letter from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, to proceed on “compulsory leave beginning from today, October 26.”
However, when the www.icirnigeria.org spoke to the ICPC chairman at about noon on Wednesday, he said he was in the office and unaware of his sack.
Nta said that the information in the media reports is false but he declined making further comments on the matter, referring our reporter to the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government.
“I do not want to comment on this. I think it is easy to confirm the veracity of the story from the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government that is quoted as sending me a letter,” the ICPC chairman stated.
However, a source who is a senior official in the office of the SGF who spoke to our reporter on the condition of anonymity said that no letter had been issued from the office directing the ICPC chairman to proceed on terminal leave.
Reports about the sack of the ICPC chairman are common in the media, with the focus usually on when his tenure comes to an end. The latest media reports indicated that Nta was appointed as acting chairman of the anti graft agency in 2011 and that his tenure expires in November 2016.
In an interview earlier in the year, Nta told the www.icirnigeria.org that he became substantive chairman of the ICPC in 2012 and that his five year tenure ends in November, 2017.
Nigeria’s Debt Management Office, DMO, has said that the maximum amount of money the country can comfortably borrow in 2017 is $22.08 billion, as anything more will violate the country-specific threshold.
This was part of recommendations contained in the 2016 Debt Sustainability Analysis, DSA, report, released by the DMO and made available to journalists.
The recommendation is coming after President Muhammadu Buhari sent a letter to the National Assembly requesting to borrow almost $30 million between 2016 and 2018.
“The maximum amount that can be borrowed (domestic and external) by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2017, without violating the country-specific threshold, will be $22.08 billion (i.e. 5.89 per cent of 374.95 billion dollars),” the DMO report read.
“The Debt Management Strategy, 2016-2019 provides for the rebalancing of the debt portfolio from its composition of 84:16 as at the end of December, 2015 to an optimal composition of 60:40 by the end of December, 2019 for domestic to external debts, respectively,” it added.
The DMO said it hoped to achieve this by substituting the relatively expensive domestic borrowing in favour of cheaper external financing.
“This policy stance has been reinforced by the recent deterioration in macroeconomic variables, particularly with respect to the rising cost of domestic borrowing,” the report read further.
“Hence, the shift of emphasis to external borrowing would help to reduce debt service burden in the short to medium-term and further create more borrowing space for the private sector in the domestic market.
The DMO also clarified that the recommendation was made, taking into account the absorptive capacity of the domestic debt market and the options available in the external market.
Nigeria’s total debt profile has risen by 30% to $62 billion in 2014, up from $47.6 billion as at September 2013.
The country’s external debt stood at $9.52 billion, 15 per cent of the entire debt stock.
Domestic borrowing, however, accounted for bulk of the total money owed by Africa’s largest economy.
On Tuesday, President Buhari wrote the House of Representatives seeking approval for an external borrowing of $29.960 billion.
The President said the loan was needed to execute important projects across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital territory.
“The projects cut across all sectors with special emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, water supply, growth and employment generation, poverty reduction through social safety net programmes and governance and Financial management reforms among others,” the letter read.
Another nominee of President Muhammadu Buhari for the post of non-career Ambassador, Usman Bugaje, has explained why he did not accept the President’s offer, just as Akintunde Akinwande, the Presidential nominee for the post of Chairman of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has also declined the offer.
Bugaje, from Katsina State, had refused to speak to the media on his refusal to accept the ambassadorial nomination, but on Wednesday, he took to his social media page to explain his stance.
The post read: “Regarding the published nomination for an ambassadorial posting, I have not spoken to the press and may not do so anytime soon.
“I thank those who think me fit for the job, but I have so much in my hands already, especially the Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), which is the only broad platform in the north driving development.
“I have weighed the options and have decided to remain home and continue the struggle for development and good governance,” Bugaje explained.
His explanation came just few days after another ambassadorial nominee, Pauline Tallen, rejected her nomination, arguing the need for political appointments to be well-spread among the parts of the state for equity and balance.
Tallen also cited lack of proper consultation as well as her husband’s failing health as reasons for rejecting the post.
In the case of the nominee for the chairmanship position of NERC, Akinwande, he was reported to have failed to appear before the Department of State Security, DSS, for a security screening as was customary with such nominations.
THISDAY newspaper reported that his absence at the screening could be an indication that he was rejecting the nomination.
The chairman of the senate committee on power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said that the presidency should have ascertained the willingness of the nominee, especially as the nomination was made almost three months ago.
The committee had to suspend the screening exercise as, according to Abaribe, it was impossible to screen other nominees in the absence of the chairman-designate.
The chairman further said that the privatisation of the electricity sector was meant to improve the power sector and the inauguration of the NERC board was key in playing a major role to that end.
“Regrettably, when members of the committee assembled to screen the nominees made by President Buhari… the presidential liaison who brought the nominees informed us that the chairman was unavoidably absent,” he said.
“The commission is vital and cannot function without a chairman.”
Other nominees to the NERC board are Sanusi Garuba, vice chairman nominee, Nathan Shatti, Moses Arigu, Dafe Akpeneye, Frank Okafor and Musiliu Oseni.
In a meeting with President Buhari on Monday, governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, extraction expressed their concerns at the improper consultation before appointments were made, but the president tasked them to put their complaints in writing, promising to look into it.
