Nigeria Content Online

Governor Adebayo
Alao-Akala of Oyo State has called for mutual cooperation among all
Nigerians in the effort to nip the raging sectarian crises in some
parts of the country in the bud.

The governor made
this call in Ibadan on Tuesday while delivering his address at the
quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC)
meeting, held at Mapo Hall, Ibadan.

Mr Akala warned
against allowing the effect of the crises to truncate the new
democratic session and diminish the reputation the country has built
for itself over the last few years.

“By slowing
religious and communal strives to scuttle democracy and good
governance, our avowed commitment to freedom at all levels will be a
fluke,” he said.

Muhammad Sa’ad
Abubarkar, Sultan of Sokoto and Ayo Oritsejafor, President, Christian
Association of Nigeria ( CAN), both co-chairmen of NIREC, have, in
their separate speeches, condemned the recent crises in Jos and
Maiduguri, calling on Christian and Muslim leaders to encourage their
followers to ensure peaceful co-existence with their neighbours,
irrespective of their faith.

Mr Oritsejafor
expressed worries that crises in the country have assumed a new
dimension as attackers now throw bombs to maim and kill innocent souls
in the name of religion.

He called on
leaders of the two major religions to always speak the truth to their
subjects and let them know that God and the constitution of the country
forbid killing of fellow human beings unjustifiably.

The Sultan called
on Nigerians to fully participate in the current political process to
ensure that the nation has free, fair and credible elections in April,
this year.

At an open session held to discuss the effect of religion on the
daily lives in Nigeria, speakers stressed the need to tolerate one
another and ensure that the two religions are practiced as stipulated
in the respective holy books.

“Dramatising
trivial things,” was the opinion of a British newspaper over commentary
by professional colleagues protesting the presence of women cleaners in
male toilets. Surprisingly, this seems to be the convention all over
the world.

These prying female
eyes largely go unnoticed because male passengers have other things on
their minds in the hurry to catch a flight.

In Nigeria, it goes
slightly and shamelessly further. The cleaner clutches a mop pretending
to be doing the floor but actually soliciting; “ Oga, how was your
flight, how’s the family?” I often observe that many men are
uncomfortable with this indecent model of sexual harassment. Why a
woman hired to clean toilets should position herself strategically to
beg for money inside the male facilities beats the imagination. Male
cleaners are better behaved, and never seen in the vicinity of female
toilets at our airports.

Agreed that it
creates employment, albeit controversial employment for the young and
able-bodied, but passengers the world over prefer to shove the vehicles
by themselves. At the Abuja and Lagos arrival lounges, the functional
trolleys are always already taken over by attendants, irrespective of
the potentials for their contribution to baggage losses. Travellers are
free to help themselves to the remaining rusty, stiff trolleys with
broken wheels and handles.

A popular adage
that first impressions matter bears relevance to the status of airports
in any country. At no institution can the foreigner make a quick
assessment of the mood in a country, the economy and culture of its
people than at airports. It does not matter whether it is an
international or a domestic terminal. At the nation’s capital, a
passenger’s journey may begin with the confusion as to whether the
departure is from the international or the local wing. The guiltiest of
the airlines remains ARIK. Departure terminals fluctuate for differing
destinations, passengers regularly paying an extra one thousand naira
cab fare for the dash to the right airport, with barely enough time to
pick up a parcel of kilishi, the cold, sun-dried meat and only
industrial product of the Abuja economy.

Separating
domestic and international terminals by a couple of miles is a Nigerian
invention that makes little sense in respect of service delivery to
passengers, as well as for security. Many foreigners arriving in Lagos
are distressed to find that an onward flight to a destination in
Nigeria results in the risk of getting out of the terminal into the
cacophony of touts, muggers and suspicious car hire services. To
compound the delay process, authorities in Lagos are smart enough to
plant a toll gate between international and domestic terminals, as
though the revenues so collected are deposited where they belong.

If security
consciousness is the international watchword, why are the scanning
machines at Nigeria’s airports always breaking down? Could a mafia be
deliberately calling for their repairs just to award contracts to a
crony? Manual rummaging through hand luggage is more common. At times
the searches are deliberately vigorous and callous where the traveller
is obstinate and unwilling to part with gratification. You are
requested to drink up any bottled liquids, and remove shoes for
scanning only to step onto a filthy and dusty piece of carpeting with
naked feet! One woman security agent in Lagos went through a
passenger’s belongings, excavating a bunch of underwear. I thought for
the sake of hygiene and disease control she should have been wearing
gloves for her job.

The Abuja domestic wing of Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport actually looks like an infectious diseases hospital from the outside.

An Ibadan
Magistrate Court sentenced two men on Tuesday to one year imprisonment
for breaking into the house of late Bola Ige, carting away valuables
worth about N20 million.

The convicts, Felix
Nwagwu, 30, and Olajide Olumo, 36, were found guilty of three count
charge of conspiracy to steal, entering with intention of stealing, and
stealing of properties of the Ige household.

While delivering
her judgment in Ibadan yesterday, the magistrate, Sofiat Oyediran, said
the evidence before the court proved beyond reasonable doubt that the
two men really committed the offence, and found them guilty as charged.

She sentenced each
them to one year on each of the count without option of fine and
ordered that the sentence run concurrently with hard labour.

Former staff

Mr Nwagwu was a
guard at the Solemnia Court, the Old Bodija Ibadan residence of late Mr
Ige, while Mr Oluwo was said to be a guard at the house of late
Minister of Justice’s architect son, Muyiwa Ige.

The two were arraigned on May 28, 2008 when a police inspector, Sunday Ogunremi, brought them for prosecution.

The two had
consistently stolen valuables from Mr Ige’s house for about six months,
between October 2007 and May 4, 2008, before they were caught.

Few of the items
stolen and recovered from them were used as evidence against them.
Reacting to the judgment yesterday, Mr Ige’s son expressed gratitude to
the court for committing the young men to prison over the act.

“After three years
of trial, it appears that there is a semblance of justice. At least, in
the sentencing of the accused persons, the judgment will serve as a
deterrent.

“I appreciate the magistrate for a well researched judgment. That
will send a message to criminals that crime does not pay. Though we had
hoped for a harsher judgment, the fact that the accused persons have
been convicted and sent to prison will teach them lessons,” he said.

The chairman of the
Osun State Contract Review Committee has assured all contractors,
consultants, and architects handling various projects being executed
with the controversial N18.3 billion loan that his team will be fair
and factual without witch-hunting anyone.

Adelana Odutola, an
engineer, heads the team comprising Adegboyega Oyetola, the Chief of
Staff to the state governor, and other top civil servants that toured
six stadiums to assess the level of work done on all the sites.

Some of the sites
visited by the team are the ones awarded by the past Oyinlola
administration in Iwo, Ile-Ife,Ede, Ilesa, Ikirun and Osogbo.

The tour also
extended their visit to the Living Spring Free Trade Zone in Ede where
the committee was briefed on the state of work by government officials
who had been supervising the project.The team leader informed the
contractors on each site that the governor had been inundated with
petitions by Osun state citizens who queried the rationale behind the
construction of the six stadia when there is no sports festival coming
up in the state.

As tax payers, Mr
Aregbesola could not disregard their concerns and had to do something
professionally wise because of posterity. Letters were served to all
the contactors to stop work on the projects so that the committee could
assess the level of work done on site.Crucial in the decision making
process of the committee, he stressed is the determination of the long
term usefulness of the six stadiums to the economic development and
employment generation strategies of the state.

Honest advice

At each town,
Odutola sought the advice of the contractors who unanimously submitted
that two or three stadiums were enough for the state.Though each of
them pleaded that their project be sustained and funded, when the
committee chairman asked them not to talk like contractors but as
citizens, there was an unanimity of opinion that the projects were
much.He promised that the committee will consider all the concerns
raised by the contractors. Contractor must sympathize with the
situation of the people of Osun state. ‘‘We are being factual and point
blank. Loans have been taken to finance these projects. What has been
given to contractors cannot finish these projects,the loans have to be
repaid. We know you want to save your jobs but you should look at
everything and the long term effect it will have on the people”.

The Independent
National Electoral Commission in Ondo State yesterday said that it has
registered over 600,000 voters since the exercise started on January
15. The commission also said that it has received an additional 527
Direct Data Capturing machines to address the hitches being recorded in
the exercise. The administrative secretary of the commission, Folarin
Awujoola, said this in a briefing with journalists yesterday in Akure,
adding that the commission had addressed the hitches experienced in the
first two days of the exercise.

Mr. Awujoola said
that the latest consignment of 527 DDC machines were in addition to 918
machines earlier received by the commission. He also promised that the
commission would fix the tardiness problem by officials in charge of
the registration exercise. However, despite the additional DDC
machines, some aggrieved communities in Akure South Local Government
Area of the state have staged a protest against what they described as
the non-availability of machines to register them in the exercise. The
communities — Esure, Ologede, Kajola and Ilula in the Oda area of Akure
— urged INEC to allocate more DDC machines to the area in order not to
disenfranchise thousands of voters. They noted that the lack of
registration centres and the absence of the machines had made it
difficult for them to participate in the ongoing registration exercise.
Their spokesman, Sunday Fakunle, expressed displeasure over the failure
of INEC to address the non-availability of registration centres in the
area. Mr. Fakunle added that despite the complaints made to INEC, the
lapses have not been corrected to ensure that people living in the area
are registered.

He said: “We have
done everything possible to get our people registered but the electoral
body has not responded to our plea. We are bonafide citizens of this
country, it is wrong for INEC to deny us of our fundamental right.

“We want the commission to create more registration centres and
provide all the necessary materials to enhance registration in our
areas, so that people can take the first step towards voting.”