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The Presidential
Candidate of the Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP), Pat Utomi said
the Chief Justice of the Federation, Aloysius Katsina-Alu, should
resign his appointment and leave the position following the ugly
exchanges between him and Ayo Salami, the President of the Court of
Appeal.

Mr Utomi in a
statement issued on Thursday described the development as one that “has
greatly eroded the public confidence in the ability of the institution
to dispense unbiased justice.” According to him, “going by the fact
that a full-scale inquiry would be needed to fully ascertain the
veracity of all claims and counter-claims, we may not be in a position
to apportion guilt to any party.

“Still, it is a
fact that certain institutions, by the manner of functions they carry
out in the society, should remain unassailable by controversy and
engender the greatest confidence in the hearts of all citizens.

The Judiciary,
headed as it were by the office of the Chief Judge of the Federation
being a most important part of such institutions, it is a most
honourable thing for the Chief Judge of Nigeria to resign his
appointment at this time.” He said.

The statement
pointed out that “if the re-assigning of position to a higher one by
the Chief Justice could arouse such mistrust of intent from not only
the beneficiary of the position, but from other important members of
the Judiciary, it goes to point out the abysmal loss of confidence by
the members of the Judiciary in the Chief Judge.” Mr Salami whose
elevation to the Supreme Court was yesterday quashed by the National
Judicial Council had since gone to court to challenge the unsolicited
elevation, alleging through his counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, that the Chief
Justice of Nigeria (CJN) had expressly requested from him as the PCA,
the dissolution of the panel trying the Sokoto gubernatorial election
petition to the intent of compromising the verdict.

The National
Judicial Council had through a statement reversed the “elevation”
“because of the controversies it generated.” A Civil group, Access to
Justice has also called for an immediate investigation of the
allegations levelled against the Chief Justice of the federation.
According to Joseph Otteh, Executive Director of the group, “if the
allegations that the Chief Justice of Nigeria had sought to interfere
with proceedings before a Court by asking for the disbandment of a duly
constituted tribunal, or procuring the Court of Appeal President to
direct the outcome of the tribunal’s verdict is correct, it would be a
grave, grossly unethical and treacherous violation of the Code of
Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“It would undermine
every precept about justice, fairness, due process, rule of law, the
independence of the judiciary, and transparency that the Judiciary
stands for. It would be perfidious, and a serious and profane fraud on
the administration of justice in Nigeria and on the eminent Office of
the Chief Justice who is the face of the Judiciary.” He said.

Protests

Meanwhile, Ayo
Arise (PDP Ekiti State) who represents Ekiti North Senatorial district
in the Senate also in an interview with Journalists said, “I got a
petition from the registered voters in Idosi, a signed petition by over
1000 in that local government complaining about disenfranchisement of
their persons and the fact that their votes did not count in the
governance of the people of Ekiti State simply by the action of
cancelling of all the results of all the voters in Idosi local
government and they prayed after alluding to so many irregularities
that has taken place in the court room of Justice Isa Salami.” He
alleged that the judgment delivered in Justice Salami’s court is a
tinted judgment “as far as they are concern and part of the prayers is
for this hallow chamber to begin impeachment move against justice
Salami, because the compulsion is that the judiciary under his watch
particularly the Appeal Court has now been brought to public ridicule.”

The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday, in Abuja, said it
would roll out a continuous voter registration after the April
elections.
INEC chairman,
Attahiru Jega, disclosed this at the Civil Society Pre-election
Conference with the theme ‘Nigeria’s 2011 Elections: Challenges and
Opportunities’, organised by the National Democratic Institute.
Mr. Jega said the
inability of some eligible voters to come out at all and lateness of
others to the exercise was unfortunate. According to him, “immediately
after April elections we will roll out a continuous voter registration
and people who missed out can register.”
He said the reason
INEC bought 132,000 Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines, an estimated 10
per cent more of the projected polling units, was because the
commission knew the law provided for continuous voter registration.
“We will have the capacity to be able to effectively deploy these for a continuous voter registration,” Mr. Jega added.
The INEC boss said
the commission might not conduct the exercise in each polling unit,
adding that discussions on logistics and framework were under way to
see how best to do it. He noted that previously, the continuous
exercise was tried at the local government level, but it failed. He
said the commission was considering bringing it to the 8,809 wards,
saying many DDC machines will be deployed.
Mr. Jega further warned the electorate against multiple registration, promising to deal with electoral impunity.
The president of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Garba, said
lack of determination to prosecute political impunity has continued to
hamper the progress of the electoral process. He warned the public that
those who were caught with multiple registration would be charged to
court.

A Federal High
Court in Abuja on Thursday restrained the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), from accepting or recognising Theodore
Orji as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) in Abia State pending the hearing and determination of a suit
challenging his candidacy.

Presiding Judge,
Gabriel Kolawole gave the order after hearing, Niyi Akintola counsel to
Ikechi Emenike a governorship candidate in the state. Defendants in the
suit are; PDP; Haliru Mohammed; INEC and Mr Orji. He equally sought an
interim injunction restraining the incumbent governor from parading
himself as the standard bearer of the party. Mr Kolawole granted the
plaintiff’s leave to serve all the requisite court process on the PDP,
its acting national chairman, Bello Mohammed, INEC, as well as Governor
Orji himself.

The Freedom of
Information bill (FOI), one of the oldest bills in the National
Assembly, which has once been rejected by lawmakers and former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, has resurfaced in the House of
Representatives for fresh considerations.

Lawmakers now hope
the bill, which was passed before but denied presidential assent in
2007, may after all be made law this time although they are not sure of
the time.

Yesterday, the
House recommitted the proposed law to two of its committees:
Information and National Orientation and Justice, revoking an earlier
decision which was seen as a death knell for the proposed Act.

“The House resolves
to rescind its decision of Wednesday, November 14, 2007 on the said
bill and order its re-committal to the joint committee on Information
and National Orientation and Justice,” reads a motion filed Thursday to
that effect and affirmed by the House without debates.

First introduced in
1999 as a non-member bill sponsored by Media Rights Agenda, the
document which has 34 sections was refused passage at the House as well
as the senate. It was recommitted in 2003 and eventually passed in 2007
towards the closing of the fifth session of the National Assembly.

Still, Mr Obasanjo
withheld his approval citing infringement on state security; a
possibility the administration said could be enhanced if certain
sections of the law were allowed as proposed.

The current session
of lawmakers received the bill anew in 2007 amid mounting opposition by
many members who have not concealed their disdain for the proposals. An
order has kept the bill awaiting plenary considerations since 2007.

Both chambers
announced ahead of their resumption weeks ago, that the FOI bill will
now be part of a number of delayed bills due for greater attention
before leaving office, others being the Petroleum Industry Bill and the
Anti-Terrorism bill.

The House yesterday
recommitted the FOI bill to the two committees for “thorough scrutiny”
withdrawing the order that kept it awaiting plenary considerations. It
did not state any date for the completion of work on the bill.

The decision came
about a week after the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, pressed
the lawmakers to accelerate work on the proposal.

Ita Enang, the Chairman House committee on Business and Rules, who
led 20 others to ask for the new decision, said “the need has now
arisen for the house to revisit the said decision on the bill in the
public interest.” Without a clear timeline, the new order neither
negates nor affirms an earlier position of chairman House committee on
Information, Aliyu Wadada who said the bill may not be passed before
lawmakers leave office in May.

In a nation like
ours that loves clichés, proverbs and sayings, I often hear the phrase,
“time is money” but I have very rarely seen evidence that we really
believe that to be the case. Businessmen especially epitomise this
worldview by applying extraordinary pressure on their staff. It takes
twice or three times as long to get something done here than in
developed countries. Why? It must be something to do with our mindset.

We seem to value
time in cyclical phases and seasons rather than in minutes and hours.
We know the value of childhood, adulthood and old age and we accord
each stage of life its due respect.

We recognise the
benefit and importance of our rainy season and dry season and the havoc
it creates when the season starts late and/or ends early. For some
reason that I cannot fathom, we do not seem to understand, recognise,
agree or value linear time measured in minutes, hours, and days….and
this is demonstrated most markedly in the phenomenon that we call
Nigerian time.

Nigerian Time

We are by no means
the only nation that operates by two clocks – Greenwich Mean Time and
national time – but we are particularly bad about keeping our promises
as they apply to timekeeping. We have a built-in variance of up to 2
hours plus for any appointment. This means that participants can expect
a 9am meeting to start LATEST at 11am. It means that if I am invited to
speak at a 3pm event and I arrive at 3.30pm, I am ON TIME. It means
that when you make an appointment with a government official or a
business tycoon for a 15 minute meeting, you need to block out your
entire morning because you don’t know when they will see you.

Your appointment
does not refer to time, it reflects the agreement to receive you.
Operating by Nigerian time also means that if you turn up at a party at
the advertised time, you are EARLY! How much is Nigerian time costing
us?

Recently, at the
launch of my father’s autobiography, it was remarked by several people
that the guests who were over 65 years of age all arrived early or on
time. The under 65s trickled and straggled in, some of them arriving
just 5 minutes before the advertised end of the event. For the older
generation, it was important to show their support by keeping the
appointment and participating in the whole event from start to finish.
To the younger generation it seemed more important to show their face,
rather than to participate, even if they missed the event itself.

And that attitude is reflected in today’s workplace. Presence is given priority over performance.

Staff generally do
not arrive at work early unless they live very far away and wish to
avoid the early morning rush, in which case, they arrive over an hour
earlier than resumption time then proceed to catch up on their sleep at
their desks. We arrive slightly late or very late, and take between 15
to 20 minutes to settle in to work – putting our bags away, starting up
equipment, greeting colleagues, getting a drink, rushing out to the ATM
to get money for some personal errands that need to be done that day –
really the first 30 minutes after arrival are not spent in productive
work. If the employees are dissatisfied or have low morale, it is even
worse! Real work may not commence for over an hour.

For companies who
make their money on billable time, it is easy for them to calculate how
much money each employee’s time is worth, and how much lack of
punctuality by themselves or their clients and customers is costing
them. They can multiply 15 minutes late, 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year
(with vacation time removed) and, hey presto, that time has a value.

According to an
article in HR Magazine in November, 2005, chronic lateness costs US
businesses more than $3 billion dollars per annum in lost productivity,
across all types of jobs, office, factory, casual, and professional.

Why are people late?

Research has shown
that it is a combination of low self-control, lack of discipline,
people who like risk-taking or the excitement of rushing, and poor
time-management skills.

What is the cost to
the individual of poor time-keeping? Always being late has a ripple
effect and threatens what a person has planned to achieve in a day.
That danger of not being able to do as much as possible with the
available time through no one else’s fault but your own causes health
and management problems – Anxiety, stress, pressure, extra work,
extra-long workdays, resentment toward management for insisting that
staff stay at work till however late until they finish their work.

In 2003, the
Americas edition of the Economist reported on a national punctuality
campaign in Ecuador, South America. The country’s Olympic walking
champion,

Jefferson Pérez launched the campaign that was promoted by Participacíon Ciudadana, an NGO that calculated that ‘Ecuadorian time’ was costing the South American country $724m per annum (4.3% of GDP).

Over fifty percent
of social and public events start late with government ministries being
the worst offenders. It seems that time keeping was also linked to
self-importance with greater self-importance leading to greater waiting
time.

The government
backed the campaign with personal leadership by President, Lucio
Gutiérrez, who led by example by managing to get to the launch on time.
A massive advocacy effort was run with posters on time-keeping,
time-consciousness, and time/meeting policies handed out to offices and
schools enjoining and scolding Ecuadorians for wasting other people’s
time, and it worked.

Local councils and
airlines committed to keep to time. Latecomers were locked out of
private and public meetings. Public officials who arrived late at
events were named and shamed in local newspapers.

I think Nigerian time needs similar treatment. If lateness costs a
country like Ecuador close to N150 billion per annum, I wonder how much
it is costing us in money, in stress, in high blood pressure, in
corruption, in respect, and in relationships? We need to take a long
hard look at Nigerian Time. Just the way the ‘no broken windows’ policy
in New York led to a drastic reduction in crime, perhaps, a ‘no
Nigerian time’ policy here will lead to a drastic leap in productivity
and wealth. We have nothing to lose by trying and everything to gain.

Following the controversies and doubts
that have trailed the operational profile of men of the Special Task
Force on peace keeping in Jos, the team is now to be changed every
three months, Plateau State governor, Jonah David Jang said on Thursday.

Speaking at the new
governor’s lodge and office, Jishe when he received the national
leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) who paid a
commiserating visit on him. Mr Jang explained that the decision was
made during a special emergency meeting with Vice-President, Namadi
Sambo.

The emergency
meeting with Mr Sambo last week in Abuja, had the three governors of
Plateau, Bauchi, and Borno states receiving “marching orders” to halt
the security drift in their states and ensure a peaceful atmosphere as
the April elections approach.

According to Mr
Jang, his administration is determined to restore peace in the state.
Thus, he said, it is evolving a holistic programme to engage the
various demographic categories of the state’s rural and urban
population so as to divert their energies to creative and more
constructive engagements.

He said this
programme includes ventilating the employment atmosphere in the state
so as to keep the youth gainfully employed and make them contributors
to the national gross domestic product.

Mr Jang revealed
that already, the government has purchased tricycles to be given out to
youth on a hire purchase basis, an arrangement, which he said was
conceived to phase out motor cycle transportation in the state because
of the latter’s vulnerability to harbouring miscreants that have been
accused of being accomplices in the perpetration of sectarian crisis in
the state.

Jonathan’s effort

In his remarks to
the CAN leadership led by its national president, Ayo Oritsejafor, Mr
Jang said that President Goodluck Jonathan has already approved a
community policing proposal submitted to him by the Plateau State
government.

By that
arrangement, he said, apart from Operation Rainbow which is an ad hoc
rapid response arm of the STF, the police are to train a special group
of vigilante youth to be kitted by the state for effective
village-to-village and cross-border monitoring.

Responding, Mr
Oritsejafor, who also had the General overseer of the Redeemed Church
of God, Enoch Adeboye on his entourage, said what has been happening in
Plateau State of recent is most unfortunate, and that CAN had to put
its national conference in Abuja on hold to enable the leadership visit
Jos because of the impact of these negative developments on Plateau
State and the entire nation.

Mr Oritsejafor expressed hope that the visit will mark the end of
the recurrent crises in Jos, and also challenged the Federal Government
to muster the will to uncover and punish those behind the crisis and
bring to an end what is fast turning into a culture of madness and
cannibalism.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights abuses and public discontent in the state from June 1, 2003 till date.

A statement signed by Semiu Okanlawon, the state’s Director of Bureau of Communications and Strategy, explained that the Commission was set up under Section 2(1) of the Commission of Inquiry Law, Cap 29, Laws of Osun State 2002.

The Commission has one month to complete its assignment with Samson Uwaifo, a retired Supreme Court justice as chairman. Other members are Yunus Ustaz-Usman Ayo Atsenuwa, Funmi Falana, Hakeem Yusuff,

Bamidele Aturu, and Waheed Lawal. Nurudeen Ogbara will serve as the secretary of the Commission.

Mr. Okanlawon said that the inquiry was to facilitate redress, promote reconciliation, and prevent possible future re-occurrence of such human rights abuses. He said the term of reference of the commission include identifying the nature of the discontent in the state, and causes of human right violation.

Other terms of reference include identification of person or persons, authorities, institutions or organisations which may be held accountable for such acts and determine the motives for the violations or abuses, the victims and circumstances thereof and the effect on such victims and the society generally of the atrocities.

The commission, Mr Okanlawon said, would also examine and advise on the ways and means of bringing peace, amity and concord among all concerned. The Commission which will hold its public hearings at the State High Court in Osogbo, the state capital, or such other places as it may determine will commence its inquiry on February 15 and submit its report on or before March 30.

He asked members of the public to forward their memoranda to the commission.

The Federal High
Court, Ibadan, has fixed Monday, February 14, for hearing on an
application for sanction against Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo
State, for alleged contempt of court. It has also fixed the same day
for the hearing on his prayer to vacate the court order that stopped
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising
him as the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) for the 2011 election.

Represented by
Richard Akinjide, former Attorney-General and Minister of justice, the
governor requested the court to reverse its earlier order which had
resulted to the removal of his name from the list of contenders for the
April poll.

However, proceeding
at the court could not effectively progress on Thursday when an
application seeking court’s punitive measure against the governor was
to be heard.

Oluwarotimi
Akeredolu, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and
lead counsel to the aggrieved members of the PDP, who got injunction
against the candidacy of the governor, wanted the court to commit Mr
Alao-Akala to prison for describing the order as ‘an height of
frivolity’.

For hours, lawyers
only argued forth and back without progress. The crisis was spurred by
Mr Akinjide’s inability to file a counter-application to the prayer
against his client. He told the court that he was only served with
copies of Mr Akeredolu’s application late Wednesday, but also prayed
the court to hear the two matters together for speedy delivery.

Lateef Fagbemi,
counsel to Dejo Afolabi, state chairman of the PDP, who was also joined
in the suits, equally told the court that he got the application late
Wednesday.

Despite their
claims of late service, Justice Johnson Shakarho, said that the counsel
should have asked the court for time to study and react to the content
of the application.

He expressed
disappointment with Mr Akinjide, Mr Fagbemi, and PDP counsel for
allowing Mr Akeredolu to move his motion for committal to prison
against Mr Akala when they knew he could rule against them.

Effort by Mr
Fagbemi to make the judge see the matter as special fell on deaf hear
as Mr Shakarho insisted that he would work at his own pace, saying no
case is more important than others.

After much argument
and counter argument, the court adjourned till Monday for the hearing
on the contempt and vacation of order, but told counsel that the case
is not likely to be completed e next week.

Panic in the state

Schools closed
abruptly in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Thursday, when parents
and guardians rushed to pick their wards over rumour of Mr Alao-Akala’s
attempt to use children for sacrifice to achieve his second term
ambition as the state governor.

Another version of
the story alleges that the governor was distributing indomie noodles to
school children. A third version of the story said some people died
after eating from bean cakes distributed by the governor’s men.
Perpetrators of the rumour say the governor needed a certain number of
people to use for rituals for his mission, and that anyone who eats the
distributed items will end up on the ritual list. The rumour which was
all over Ibadan had created panic among the people, this made the
government to issue a statement to calm the situation.

In a statement to
douse the rumour, Dotun Oyelade, special adviser to the governor on
public communications, described the rumour as shocking. “Government is
shocked that people can go to any length to blackmail and cause
confusion in order to gain political advantage. Our people just want to
fend for their daily bread without such deliberate harassment.

“Such lies are
wicked because Oyo State is peaceful and our poor parents and their
wards and children are being unnecessarily traumatised by those few who
have volunteered to work for reckless and desperate politicians.

We strongly advise
our people to go about their normal duties and discountenance these
latest antics by political desperados and their hirelings. It is the
handiwork of politicians who have failed in their bids for political
relevance,” he said.

The governor’s
campaign team, in a press briefing, also challenged the peddlers of the
rumour to come out and show them where the bean cake was served or any
household where an individual died on account of the rumour.

Automobile spare parts dealers at the Dilimi market in Jos have announced their relocation to Jos-North shopping complex in the wake of the recurrent crisis in the state.

Mr Anselem Ebosie, Chairman, Jos-North Automobile Spare Parts Association (JASPA), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Jos that the relocation was necessitated by incessant attacks at their former base.

He said, ‘‘the crisis at Dilimi has led to the loss of so many lives. The market is on the street, and we are always victims of the riots. That made it difficult for us to operate, the recent killing of many of our members around the market was the last straw.”

Mr Ebosie said the traders will not return to Delimi, he however listed challenges facing them at the new market, including the absence of toilet facilities and the lack of adequate security. He appealed to Jos North local government authority and managers of the market to provide the facilities to ensure a more conducive atmosphere for business.

He also emphasised the need for a police post in the market to avoid any breakdown of law, and secure the lives and property of traders. He advised the traders to be peaceful and law abiding, and commended the Plateau and Federal governments for their efforts toward the restoration of peace in the state.

The governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, yesterday
underscored the importance of political will by leaders of member
countries of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), to realise the
objectives of the regional economic integration.

The governor, who
was speaking at the opening of the 24th meeting of the WAMZ committee
of Central Bank governors in Abuja, said the delays in the take off of
a new commencement date for the monetary union is attributed to the
lack of political will to push the process of integration to a logical
conclusion.

The objectives for
the WAMZ initiative include an attempt by member nations towards
maintenance of stable prices of goods and services; establishment of
sound public finances and monetary conditions; as well as maintenance
of stable balance of payments for member states, with the ultimate goal
of creating a monetary union.

Mr. Sanusi said the
commencement of the monetary union, which was initially set for 2003,
had to be extended thrice as a result of the inability of member
countries to attain the convergence level required for the introduction
of the common currency.

Though a new
commencement date for the monetary union of on or before January 1,
2015 was adopted by the heads of states and governments of the WAMZ at
its summit in Abuja, on June 22, 2009, the CBN boss said no significant
progress has been made towards realising it, as most member countries
have not been able to meet stipulated criteria.

He pointed out that
the meeting would provide the opportunity to review the progress on the
WAMZ programmes and chart the way forward.

The meeting is
expected to consider the recommendations of the 30th meeting of the
technical committee of the WAMZ last Tuesday, which reviewed the
developments and policy responses required to satisfy the stipulated
convergence criteria.

A review of the
impact of the global economic recovery indicated that the impressive
growth in emerging Asian economies, particularly China, was stalled in
the wake of the Euro zone debt crisis as well as the waning impact of
the huge monetary and fiscal stimulus packages implemented by many
countries.

He said the
resultant effect on the economic performance in WAMZ was that overall
compliance with the macro-economic convergence criteria deteriorated,
with most member countries missing the criteria on single-digit
inflation rate and fiscal deficit, excluding grants.

“Only Liberia met
all four primary criteria, while The Gambia, Ghana, and Nigeria met
three primary criteria each. Sierra Leone met one criterion during the
period,” Mr. Sanusi said.

The four primary
criteria include achieving economic performance in WAMZ, with real
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at an average of 7.2 per cent;
easing inflationary pressures through maintenance of stability in
commodity prices; improvement in domestic food production; and building
a strong gross external reserve.

Noting some limited progress recorded through the ongoing upgrading
of the payments systems and progress in the integration of financial
markets, Mr. Sanusi said some challenges remain to be resolved with
public finances, trade and financial sector development, to prepare
towards the launch of the single currency.