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Reuters Institute Journalism Fellowship Opens

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Reuters Institute Journalism Fellowship Opens

Journalists with at least 5 years working experience and good spoken and written English can apply for the 2014/15 Journalism Fellowship Programme at the Reuters Institute, Oxford University.

The program gives visiting journalists from around the world an opportunity to critically reflect upon their profession, to research a subject of their choice under the supervision of an academic specializing in that area, and to enjoy the breadth of academic, cultural and social life at the University of Oxford.

Applicants are expected to write a substantial piece of research of publishable quality.

The fellowships, which commence from October 2014, include the Thomson Reuters Foundation Fellowships, Gerda Henkel Fellowship in the field of Humanities, Said-Asfari Fellowship for journalists from the Levant and the Wincott Fellowships for Eastern European business / economic journalists.

The deadline for receipt of applications is Jan. 31, 2014. For more information, Click here.

NYSC Board Rules Out Military Training For Youth Corpers

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NYSC Board Rules Out Military Training For Youth Corpers

Nma Shekwolo – Minna

The board of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, says it will not accede to requests for a one year military training for corps members as such a move will pose security danger to the country.

Chairman of the board, Tijani Adekanbi, who stated this on Monday in Minna when he paid visit to the acting governor of Niger state, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, said the decision was reached after wide consultations.

Adekanbi explained that the position of the board was reached in consideration of the fact that there will be nowhere in the armed forces to post the corps members after the training period, adding that leaving them unemployed with such skills will further worsen insecurity in the country.

“If we give them one year military training we have to absorb them into any of the services. If they are allowed to be on their own after the training it will be dangerous for the country,” he said.

The NYSC board chairman also said that the scheme was currently working out a guideline to ensure that over ambitious projects with huge financial demands are not embarked upon by corps members as Community Development Service, CDS.

He, however, noted that CDS projects have helped to speed up development in various communities across the country.

Adekanbi, who also spoke on the issue of fake camps and discharge certificates, stated that the scheme has put in place machinery to ensure that its discharge certificates are not forged and called on employers of labour to be more vigilant and assist the scheme in checking the activities of such operators.

He warned that influential Nigerians who try to make their children evade the mandatory one year service are subjecting them to risk in the future as they would not be eligible for employment or to contest election without the discharge certificate.

Commending the scheme, acting Deputy Governor said it has assisted the state in the implementation of its education and health programmes through the provision of qualified manpower.

Robbers Cause Multiple Accidents On Benin/Ore Road

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Robbers Cause Multiple Accidents On Benin/Ore Road

From Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has blamed a multiple accident along the Benin-Ore Expressway in which six trucks were burnt to ashes, on the activities of armed robbers.

The unit commander of the corps at the Benin toll gate, Adewale Ameen, said there was an armed robbery attack at kilometre 33, Benin-Ore Expressway on Saturday night.

Ameen said the robbery incident caused a container to fall across the road and two other unsuspecting trucks in an attempt to escape from the robbers on getting to the scene, rammed into the container.

He, however added that no life was lost.

“The unfortunate thing was that a truck laden with 33, 000 litres of petrol rammed into the other trucks which caught fire. But I can confirm that no live was lost in the accident and our men are on ground to control traffic,” the unit commander said.

Meanwhile, the commission on Monday in Abuja inaugurated bicycle riding as means of transportation to reduce traffic on roads and promote healthy living.

The Corps Marshal of FRSC, Osita Chidoka, said the inauguration was part of Africa Road Safety Day 2013 and World Day of Remembring Road Traffic Crash Victims.

Chidoka, who was represented by Danjuma Garba, Deputy Corps Marshal in charge of Motor Vehicle Administration, said the campaign was to show that riding of bicycles is a healthy physical exercise.

“Physically, people live longer when they use bicycles and the campaign is aimed at getting every road user in this country to embrace the use of bicycles. This is necessary so that we have safer roads,” he said.

The official added that even in terms of promoting a healthy environment, riding bicycles helps to reduce pollution and traffic congestion.

He appealed to government to provide road infrastructure tailored toward accommodating the rights of bicycle riders on high ways and also urged bicycle riders to ride safely using their helmets.

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Chairman governing Board of FRSC, Felix Chukwu, said the inauguration was symbolic because it drew people’s attention to the wisdom in riding bicycles.

Chukwu, who explained that the event was also to remember victims of road accident, called for conscious efforts to encourage the use of bicycles in the country.

“When you ride bicycle, you are exercising yourself and this habit of going from one little point to another in a car should be discouraged,” he added.

Judicial Reform A Must For Economic Stability – NBA

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Judicial Reform A Must For Economic Stability – NBA

President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Okey Wali, said on Monday that it is impossible for the country to attract foreign or local investments without a credible and efficient judiciary.

Wali made the assertion at the opening of the NBA annual conference in Makurdi, capital of Benue State.

He said the volume of inflow of investments into the country had a way of affecting the economic stability of the country, adding that economic activities cannot increase if the judiciary is weak.

The NBA president said the conference with the theme “Justice Delivery: the Challenges and Opportunities for Stakeholders”, was organised to reflect current changes occurring in the legal profession as they relate to the provision of legal services.

He said the changes were influenced by global happenings and had the capacity to influence the marketability of legal services.

Wali noted that the Administration of Criminal Justice Bill aimed at reforming criminal procedure in the country was still pending at the National Assembly, adding that the bill would be subjected to public hearing to enable stakeholders make contributions that would reshape it for the overall good of the country.

The former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Dahiru Musdapher, said the theme of the conference was a clarion call for judicial officers to make adjustments.

Musdapher said the purpose for such adjustments was to provide effective services to the people as the theme suggested that all was not well with the judiciary in the country.

He called on judicial officers to take the right steps that would redress the challenges in the sector, noting that litigation in the country had fallen short of the requirements of the constitutional provisions since matters were not expeditiously disposed of.

N5.7 Billion Pension Fraud: Accused Begs Court For Softer Bail Terms

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N5.7 Billion Pension Fraud: Accused Begs Court For Softer Bail Terms

Sani Teidi, a former director, Pension Accounts, in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation who is standing trial over missing N5.7 billion pension funds has begged the court to reduce the initial bail terms of N500 million and two sureties to N100 million and a surety in like sum.

His counsel, Sunday Ameh, told an Abuja Federal High Court on Monday that his client cannot perfect his bail as a result of the stringent terms.

“The essence of our application is for the court to review the terms downward; the accused person has remained in prison for about five months even though you graciously granted him bail,” he said.

He assured that Teidi woud not escape justice if the bail terms are relaxed as prayed.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola had on June 19, granted Teidi and Udusegbe Eric, the second accused in the case, bail in the sum of N500 million with two sureties in like sum.

Adewale Servile, counsel to Udesegbe aligned himself with the pleading for the downward review of the bail terms for his client.

According to him, the second accused person had also remained in custody for about five months even after he obtained bail from the court.

“It is our sincere prayer that the court should have a re-think to reduce the terms to a tolerable level in the interest of justice. We are therefore demanding that the second accused person be allowed to perfect his bail with N10 million and like sum and a surety respectively,” he said.

The prosecutor, Godwin Obla, did not raise substantial objections on the two applications but urged the court to apply wisdom and law when reducing the bail terms.

“Granting of bail has always been at the discretion of the court, but when doing so, it must be judicially and judiciously applied in line with the peculiarity of the case. In this case, the allegations are weighty and the amount in question declared missing is equally huge,” he said.

After hearing from all sides, Justice Ademola fixed November 28 to rule in applications.

Ijaw National Congress Loses President

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Ijaw National Congress Loses President

The president of the pan-Ijaw socio-cultural organisation, Ijaw National Congress, INC, Tari Sekibo is dead.

Sekibo, aged 70, reportedly slumped on Monday and was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The late INC President, who hailed from Okrika in Rivers State, was a Second Republic senator (1979-1983) and was in Yenagoa for a meeting with other INC officials when he died.

His corpse has since been deposited at the morgue of the FMC, Yenagoa.

In his reaction to the death, an Ijaw leader, Thompson Okorotie, said he received the news of the death of Mr. Sekibo with great shock and disbelief.

Okorotie, a former lawmaker in the old Rivers State House of Assembly during the Second Republic, described the deceased as an accomplished Ijaw nationalist.

“The news of the death of Chief Sekibo came as a great shock to me. He was an accomplished person, a distinguished Senator of the Second Republic and traditional ruler in Okrika.

“He was a man that had lived a fine life. We knew he was going to give a responsible leadership to the Ijaw National Congress, when we elected him during the INC convention held last May,” he said.

The publicity secretary of the INC, Victor Burubo, confirmed the death.

“We have just heard the news that we have lost our President. We don’t have enough details but he died in Yenagoa. We are arranging to move to Yenagoa and get enough details on the sad incident,” he said.

Medical Body Tasks FRSC On Road Safety

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Medical Body Tasks FRSC On Road Safety

The Federal Roads Safety Commission, FRSC, has been charged to check the incessant killing of citizens by the reckless driving of convoys on Nigerian roads.

President of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Osahon Enabulele, gave the charge against the backdrop of the road accident which claimed the life of former National President of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Festus Iyayi, when his vehicle collided with the convoy of the Kogi State governor.

Enabulele also wants the federal government to constitute an official inquiry into the accident.

Speaking in Benin City, Edo State where he led a delegation of the association on a condolence visit to the family of the late Iyayi, the NMA president said the death was a huge loss and urged the FRSC to urgently put an end to the recklessness of executive convoys “whose intolerable impunity has sent many innocent and productive Nigerians to their early graves.”

“While we mourn the extremely sad and tragic death of this dogged and courageous fighter for socio-economic and political justice in Nigeria, and an unrepentant crusader for restoration of standards and excellence in University education, we are pained that his death followed another despicable act of recklessness and impunity by executive convoys,” he said.

He added: “We restate our call on governments at Federal, State and Local government levels to be more committed to the development of the transport system, particularly in terms of fixing and regularly maintaining the several bad roads and death traps that dot Nigeria’s highways and landscape.”

He noted that Nigeria and indeed the academia would miss Iyayi’s inspirational literary works and frank contributions to the resolution of the several questions bordering the existence of the Nigerian state.

He urged the family of the late activist to take consolation in the fact that the he lived a good life.

Son of late Iyayi, Oriabure, who responded on behalf of the family, thanked the association for the visit and expressed the hope that NMA would continue to uphold the ideals of the struggle by continuing with the association’s current efforts to give voice to the voiceless, healthcare for ordinary Nigerians and fighting for the common interest of the masses which his father fought and died for.

Other members of the team from the NMA who paid condolence the family include the association’s Secretary General, Akpufuoma Pemu, the Edo state branch chairman of NMA, Emmanuel Ighodaro and past President of NMA, Dominic Osaghae, amongst others.

Reporter Shot As Gunman Attacks French Newspaper

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Reporter Shot As Gunman Attacks French Newspaper

A gunman opened fire in the lobby of Liberation, a prominent French daily in Paris, on Monday gravely wounding a photographer’s assistant before fleeing.

The shooting at the office came three days after a shooting at the BFM-TV news network in Paris that is still under investigation.

Police and representatives of Liberation say a 27-year-old photographer’s assistant is in serious condition after being shot in the chest and arm.

Witnesses reported the gunman said nothing during the brief time he was in the lobby Monday morning. Yoann Maras of the police Union Alliance said the gunman fired a pump-action rifle.

Less than two hours after the shooting, three shots were fired in front of the headquarters of Bank Societe Generale in the Paris suburb of La
Defense, according to the police.

And very soon after that, a man called police to say he had been taken hostage by a gunman in the town of Puteaux, next door to La Defense. Police said the gunman forced his hostage to drive six kilometers back toward central Paris, and then let him go on the Champs-Elysees, a chic and busy shopping thoroughfare.

The Paris police headquarters said that it is not clear whether the three incidents are linked, but that authorities are increasing security in all three places as well as media offices around Paris.

As police hunt for the attacker(s), a helicopter flew over the neighborhood that includes the French president’s office and the nearby Champs-Elysees avenue.

President Francois Hollande, said in a statement that he had ordered authorities to “mobilize all means to clarify the circumstances of these acts and arrest the perpetrator or perpetrators.”

The motivation behind all three attacks remains unclear.

INEC Fails To Declare Winner In Anambra Election

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INEC Fails To Declare Winner In Anambra Election

No winner has emerged in last weekend’s governorship election in Anambra State as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has declared the exercise inconclusive.

This is in spite of the fact that Willie Obiano, the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA won majority of the votes according to results declared.

According to the results announced, APGA got 174,710 votes, followed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with 94,956 votes with the All Progressive Congress, APC, polling 92,300 and the Labour Party, LP, placing fourth with 37,446 votes, while the Peoples Progressive Alliance, PPA clinched 5056 votes.

Announcing the decision to conduct a supplementary election next weekend to journalists and election monitors eatly Monday, the returning officer, James Epoke, said the election was declared inconclusive because no candidate polled the statutory 25 percent of votes in two-third of the 21 local government areas in the state.

“For a candidate to emerge as the winner, he must have scored not only the highest number of votes cast, but should also garner 25 per cent in two-third of the local government areas in the state,” Epoke said.

The commission stated that due to the large number of cancelled votes – 113,113 – no candidate scored the required percentage.

Also, the commission examined the difference between the total votes of Obiano who polled the highest and Tony Nwoye, the PDP aspirant, who was the first runner-up and it was discovered that the difference is less than the figure of the cancelled votes.

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According to INEC, out of the 1,763,751 voters registered for the election, only 451,826 were accredited, while the total valid votes stood at 413,005 out of 429,549 votes cast.

Idemili North had 89,997 cancelled votes, while 636 were cancelled from Idemili South.

All the 23 parties are expected to participate in the supplementary election to be held at the weekend.

FoI Needs No Domestication, Court Rules -Thisday

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FoI Needs No Domestication, Court Rules -Thisday

By Akinwale Akintunde

The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act recorded its first victory as an Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan Judicial division has held that the application of the Act is for the entire federation, therefore, it does not need to be domesticated by any state before taking effect in all the states across the federation, Thisday reports.

The presiding judge of the court, Justice S.A Akinteye said the National Assembly has the legislative competence to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Nigeria that is applicable to all states of Nigeria without infringing on the autonomy of the states if such a legislation is designed to correct a malaise plaguing the country.

Justice Akinteye’s judgment was sequel to an application brought before the court by an Ibadan-based human right activist and lawyer, Mr. Yomi Ogunlola, seeking the court to determine whether the Act needs to be domesticated by Oyo State before it becomes operational in the state.

Ogunlola had written a letter to the clerk of the Oyo State House of Assembly, requesting information pursuant to section 2 of the FoI Act.

The lawyer in his letter dated July 23, 2012, sought to know the source of the funding of the legislators’ wives trip to London, having regard to the fact that the women were neither public servants, nor civil servants.

The Clerk, while replying the letter dated July 25, 2012 stated: “You may however be informed that the FoI Act, 2011, under which you are requesting for information contained in your letter is not presently applicable in Oyo State because it has not been domesticated by the state.”

Based on this reply, Ogunlola approached the court, seeking the court to determine the following issues:

Whether any Act of the National Assembly made in furtherance of its powers under sections 4(2) and 4 (4)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the federation or any part thereof requires states’ domestication to be applicable in the respective states of the federation;

Whether the FoI Act 2011 intended to ease access inter alia to the public records and information should be construed restrictively as applicable only to federal government institutions.

However, the Oyo State House of Assembly in opposing, also formulated two issues for the court to determine. They are: Whether an Act of the National Assembly enacted on a subject matter which is not on the exclusive legislative list of the second schedule of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, automatically becomes applicable in Oyo State of Nigeria.

Arguing the brief, the Director of Civil Litigation and Advisory Services, Oyo State Ministry of Justice, Mrs. F.B Segun-Olakojo said it could be deduced that the National Assembly can only enact laws on matters within the exclusive and concurrent lists to the extent prescribed by the constitution.

She referred to sections 4 (4,7) of the constitution that vested Houses of Assembly with powers to make laws for the states in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

Segun-Olakojo argues therefore that it is not true that once the National Assembly makes laws, such laws becomes an automatic application throughout the component states of the federation.
She said such laws must first pass through the state Houses of Assembly for domestication.
However, Justice Adekeye in his judgment, said a similar issue of whether the National Assembly can make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Nigeria came up for consideration at the Supreme Court in the case of Attorney General of Ondo State versus Attorney General of the Federation and others (2002)NWLR (Prt 772) Pg 222.

The judge said the Supreme Court judgment had made it clear that the National Assembly has the legislative competence to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Nigeria that is applicable to all states of Nigeria without infringing on the autonomy of the states, if such a legislation is designed to correct a malaise plaguing the country.

“It is not true as canvassed by the learned counsel to the defendant that such a legislation has to be adopted by the states of the federation to be applicable in their states… Information is not within the exclusive or concurrent lists of the 1999 Constitution. “Nevertheless, the Act is of general application to both the federal and state governments as defined by ‘Public Institution’ which refers to any legislative, executive, judicial, administrative or advisory body of the government including boards, bureau, committees, or commissions of the state and any subsidiary bodies. It is my further view that the National Assembly has enacted the FoI Act to be operational throughout the country in the interest of the common good and national interest,” Justice Akinteye concluded.

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