Nigeria Content Online

The internal crisis
rocking the Delta State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
reared its ugly head again yesterday as the two factions of the party
held separate primaries, leading to the emergence of two governorship
candidates in Asaba and Warri respectively.

While the primaries
organised by the Peter Nwaoboshi-led executive in Asaba produced the
incumbent governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan as its candidate for the April
general elections, the Godwin Ebomah-led faction confirmed Saliba
Umukoro as its own candidate.

With this
development, indigenes of the state, especially members of the
opposition parties, have been thrown into a state of confusion as to
who the authentic flag bearer of the ruling party would be in the
forthcoming general election.

Speaking to newsmen
shortly after the exercise, Mr Mukoro said only the national leadership
of the party headed by its National Chairman, Okwesileze Nwodo can
determine who will fly the flag of the party even as he said the
national secretariat was aware of the factions in the state chapter of
the party.

He said that he
picked his intent form from the national secretariat of the party and
will send same, including the list of those elected along with him to
the national secretariat of the party for approval.

“The National
Secretariat is aware of the parallel executive of the party in the
state because I picked my intent form from the national exco in Abuja
and not Asaba, so they are aware we are conducting our primaries here,”
he said.

When asked if he
was prepared to embrace reconciliation moves to resolving the crisis,
Mr Mukoro said that he will only embrace reconciliation that is decided
by the national secretariat of the party.

He also said as
soon as the coast is clear, he will choose a running mate for the April
2011 general election. Expressing optimism that the Clark faction will
carry the day in the state, he urged Delta State indigenes to keep the
hope alive saying the that change they have been yearning for in the
state will soon come into reality.

Polarised party

The disagreement
which led to the polarisation of the party emanated from the 2007 party
congress held at Ogwashi-Uku, near Asaba, the state capital as a result
of the power tussle between Edwin Clark and Emmanuel Uduaghan over the
control of the party in the state.

While Mr Clark supports Mr Ebomah as the party chairman against Mr Nwaboshi, who is recognised by the state government.

Mr Clark who was
represented at yesterday’s primaries by the Chairman, Central Working
Committee of the Delta State Elder, Leaders and Stakeholders, Godwin
Ogbetuo at the Mid-West Inn, Enerhen, said his group will not be
deterred or intimidated by anybody or group opposed to it in the state.

In Asaba, Mr Uduaghan, who last week won the governorship election
despite opposition from the Ebomah-led faction, said his victory means
the people of the state wants a continuation of his administration. His
election was witnessed by INEC officials.

The head of the
civil service of the federation, Oladapo Afolabi, has directed all
federal permanent secretaries to set up a tracking system to monitor
and document resumption and closing time of every civil servant.

Mr. Afolabi gave
the directive in a circular issued on Thursday last week. He instructed
the permanent secretaries in charge of various ministries and
government agencies and departments to install clocking devices that
will efficiently record the movement of civil servants.

He, however, said
that ahead of the installation of a clocking device, all permanent
secretaries should, henceforth, strictly enforce the resumption and
closing time of 8.am and 4.00 pm respectively.

The directive
follows complaints about the civil servants’ attitude to work by
President Goodluck Jonathan when he swore-in three newly appointed
permanent secretaries. President Jonathan expressed displeasure at the
low level of commitment to duties by some federal civil servants and
called for an immediate change in attitude.

Lingering tradition

Shortly before the
former head of the civil service of the federation, Stephen Oronsaye,
retired last year, he threatened severe disciplinary actions on truant
civil servants after discovering that only one in every three civil
servants report to work before 8a.m.

His threats led to
a fiasco in the federal secretariat after so many civil servants,
including ranking officers, were severally locked out of the offices
for late coming.

“The two days I
have directed that offices should be locked against latecomers was to
see the extent of the problem and I am quite disappointed that not less
than two-third of my staff come late to work,” Mr. Oronsaye had
lamented.

Despite Mr.
Oronsaye’s strict measures, officers of the federal civil service
continued with their tradition of late coming and truancy in their
duties. The late comers also included some senior officers like
directors and deputy directors.

Although it is
hoped with the introduction of technological devices in the monitoring
of arrival and closing times will greatly improve the productivity of
the officers, some civil servants NEXT spoke with feel, “it will end up
like the rest.”

Some others who spoke to NEXT on conditions of anonymity
pessimistically dismissed the project saying, “it won’t last.” Others
complained the transport system does not aide punctuality.

Clashes in Cote d’Ivoire killed at least five people on Tuesday in the latest outburst of violence between backers of presidential claimant, Alassane Ouattara, and forces loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.

The world’s biggest cocoa grower has been in turmoil since a November presidential election that both men claim to have won. The standoff has threatened to rekindle the 2002-2003 civil war.

Witnesses said street clashes broke out early on Tuesday and continued for hours – marking some of the worst violence in the main city since mid-December. A Reuters’ reporter saw the bodies of two protesters and three police lying in the street with gunshot wounds in the predominantly pro-Ouattara neighbourhood of Abobo. Hundreds of police and military patrolled the area with armoured vehicles and automatic weapons.

“There was shooting all over the place for hours,” said student, Ouattara Idrissa, 20, an Abobo resident. “We hid in our houses and only now are we safe to come out.”

Amed Coulibaly, 32, a trader, told Reuters he saw seven bodies: four protesters and three police. “It all started when military vehicles raided the neighbourhood. They killed the Ouattara activists,” he said.

Protests in Cote d’Ivoire, whether pro-Gbagbo or by his enemies, are sometimes infiltrated by gunmen. The clashes come as world powers and African states heap pressure on Gbagbo to cede the presidency to Ouattara after provisional results from the November 28 poll showed Ouattara won with an eight percentage-point margin.

West African bloc ECOWAS has threatened Gbagbo with force if he does not leave power. The United States and the European Union have imposed travel bans on him and his inner circle. But Gbagbo, who points to a Constitutional Council ruling that the results were rigged against him, has shown no sign of caving to the pressure and retains the loyalty of the army.

Violence has killed more than 200 people since the poll, and fears of further conflict have led more than 20,000 people to flee into neighbouring Liberia, according to U.N. figures. Bloody protests and a brief gun battle between pro-Ouattara and pro-Gbagbo forces erupted last month, but there have been few civil disturbances in the main city since.

Ouattara’s supporters say they are terrified of being killed by security forces and allied militias. The election was meant to reunite the former “pearl of West Africa” after the 2002-03 civil war, but has instead deepened divisions and raised the spectre of a return to open conflict. Ethnic clashes in Cote d’Ivoire’s western town of Duekoue last week killed 33 people and wounded 75, the main hospital said.

In a new setback, aid network, Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said it was freezing disbursement of grants to Cote d’Ivoire and taking measures to safeguard its stocks and funds due to the instability. The Geneva-based fund has a 163 million euro programme against the three epidemics in Cote d’Ivoire, according to Taveau. Malaria is the largest operation, accounting for 109 million.

The World Bank and the West African regional central bank have moved to cut Gbagbo’s funds, but it is not clear to what extent he still benefits from proceeds from the cocoa and oil sector.

Forgive the
sarcasm, but if all the sugarcane chewed and sucked in Nigeria were
processed into ethanol, Nigeria would be a leading global giant in
alternative and renewable energy. What else wouldn’t we have been
colossal players in, given the abundance of liquid and solid minerals,
food crops and biodiverse forests with plants useful in pharmaceutics
and cosmetics? Nigerians must be sick of everyone telling them what a
resource-rich country they are blessed with! One 12-year old boy in
Kampala, Uganda, on hearing where I came from, wondered why he always
saw fuel queues in my country on television. Did Nigeria not have so
much crude oil?

The matter is
simple. We must begin to hit back and tell our worldwide critics and
sympathisers that, yes; we have the natural resources, but not the
capable brains (scientific, managerial and political) to turn them into
wealth for ALL the Nigerian people. The new entrants to the club of
“oil producing nations,” Ghana may learn a thing or two from Nigeria.
One of the lessons is that being blessed or endowed with oil is not a
guarantee for complementarities in the capacity to transform minerals
into economically viable products and best practice in governance.
After all, the children of rich parents were not always the brightest
in your school.

In the 1980s, the
fore-runners of FEPA mildly investigated what could be done with an
invasive, but exotic aquatic plant, the nipa palm. Nipa was, and is
still displacing mangroves from the Calabar coast to the Niger delta.
It was clear from research in southeast Asia that nipa sap, like palm
wine could be fermented and processed into ethanol. From ancient times,
people have fermented grains for the resulting residue of ethyl
alcohol, or ethanol.

Without further
indigenous research, Nigeria has now joined the nations that perceive
in ethanol the elixir to impacts of climate change, the alternative to
fossil fuels. Clearly, as an additive to gasoline, ethanol is a
profitable motor fuel, and some state governments are already
constructing ethanol plants. Brazil has the largest fuel ethanol
industry, produced from sugar-cane, and noted for high carbon
sequestration.

However, for some
time now, scientists, politicians and civil society in the
technologically advanced areas of the world have been chronicling the
growing complaints levelled at ethanol, the supposedly clean fuel.
Ethanol produced from corn has a number of critics who suggest that it
is primarily just recycled fossil fuels because of the energy required
to grow the grain and convert it into ethanol. There is also the issue
of competition with use of corn for food production.

TIME magazine’s Michael Grunwald was not mincing words: ethanol
brewed from corn is technically a renewable fuel, but it’s even dirtier
than gasoline. The carbon supposedly saved by using farmland to grow
fuel is ultimately devoured by the conversion of forests and wetlands
into farmland for feedstock. Further, ethanol skeptics add that the
volatile fluid can’t travel in pipelines along with petrol, because it
picks up impurities easily.

The only alternative for transportation is
by trucks or barges, and it is very expensive! While the debate over
ethanol’s credentials rages, citizens of the technology-deficient
Nigeria should continue chewing their sugar cane and not worry too
much. That is the usual danger when a nation simply buys technology
without contributing to its research. Your acquired product may become
obsolete, dubious and useless by the time it arrives at Tin Can Island!

The influence of the former chairman of
the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Bode George, on the Lagos State
chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, became apparent yesterday
when the just elected governorship candidate of the party, Adegboyega
Dosumu, paid him a visit at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison.

Mr George is serving a jail term for financial misdeeds during his tenure at the NPA.

When NEXT called at Mr Dosumu’s office on Tuesday afternoon, supporters at the office said he went to visit Mr George.

“He (Dosumu) went to greet Bode George.
Everybody here is also waiting to see him,” said one of the supporters,
who did not disclose his name.

Mr Dosumu’s emergence as the party’s
flag bearer is barely 12 hours before making the said visit. Some of
his opponents said his victory at the party’s primaries owes a large
part to the support from Mr George’s supporters in the party.

Meanwhile, members of the PDP in Lagos
were yesterday shocked by the sudden death of the party’s national
youth leader and a former aide of Mr George, Muyiwa Collins. Supporters
of the party, who are still basking in the happiness of a successful
and peaceful gubernatorial congress, became subdued as news of Mr
Collins’ death broke.

The deceased, a former journalist and
former publicity secretary of the Lagos State chapter of the party, was
said to have died after being rushed to hospital, probably owing to the
relapse of the heart condition he was said to have overcome.

NEXT learnt that Mr Collins had already
dressed up to catch a flight to Abuja to participate in the national
convention of the party when he suddenly slumped and was rushed to the
hospital where he died. Mr Collins turned 49 last December. The
Secretary of the Lagos State PDP, Tunji Selle said the death was
shocking and came at a wrong time.

“The party will miss him. This is not
the time to lose a valuable member of the National Working Committee
who has always given the best of his ability for the party,” he said.

More candidates have emerged to represent the Labour Party in the Ondo State House of Assembly at the general elections.

In some of the results of the party’s primaries released Tuesday, Gbenga Edema emerged as the candidate to represent Ilaje Constituency II in the state parliament.

Mr Edema, who recently decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party to the ruling Labour Party, polled 16 votes to beat his closest rival, David Kudehinbu who scored 11 votes ahead of Kunle Odidi who presently represents the constituency in the assembly. Mr Odidi had 10 votes to come third in the keenly contested primary. Also, Oyebo Aladetan won the primary of the party to pick the ticket to represent Ilaje State Constituency I in the assembly.

Mr Aladetan, the incumbent lawmaker who got to the house on the platform of the PDP was among the lawmakers that defected to the Labour Party late last year. Mr Aladetan scored 30 votes to emerge victorious ahead of Ogunyemi Johnson and Gbayisemore John who both scored three votes respectively.

Speaking to reporters shortly after their emergence, both Messrs Edema and Aladetan promised to bring dividends of democracy closer to their constituencies if elected at the general elections. The two assured their people of adequate representation in Assembly and promised to sponsor motions that will have direct impact on the lives of the people of Ilaje communities.

They also commended the state governor, Olusegun Mimiko, for allowing the wishes of the people to prevail in the recently conducted primaries of the party in all the 18 local government areas of the state.

The letter of
recognition granted to Lead City University, Ibadan, may be withdrawn
if by two weeks, the institution’s management fails to close down the
Law Faculty and School of Postgraduate Studies allegedly run illegally,
the National Universities Commission (NUC) has said.

Alhassan Bichi,
director, Academic Standards at the NUC who briefed the press on Monday
in Abuja said that the NUC feels slighted that in spite of several
directives given to the management of the institution to close down the
School of Postgraduate Studies and the Law Faculty, it has gone ahead
to graduate students from the two streams.

“The Management of
NUC was therefore embarrassed to read in Vanguard Newspaper of
Thursday, 23rd December, 2010 that the Lead City University had in
their last convocation ceremony graduated from Faculty of Law and the
Postgraduate Studies, eight (8) PhDs. National Universities Commission
maintains that the Postgraduate School and Faculty of Law of the Lead
City University are illegal and must be closed down immediately,” he
said. “Failure will leave NUC with no option but to begin the process
of closing down Lead City University.”

The Commission has
also declared illegal, certificates acquired by students from the two
programmes saying they will not be recognized for the purpose of
employment or further studies adding that students undergoing courses
in the programmes mentioned above will bear the consequences in future.

Mr Bichi disclosed
that following series of reports and petitions that inundated the
commission from various sources expressing serious concern on the
premature establishment of a Postgraduate School in the university, a
special monitoring team was set up in 2007 by the NUC to find out the
veracity of the information.

He said the report
of the Special Team indicated that within two years of setting up the
institution, it had students in the College of Law at 300 levels and
that the postgraduate programmes were commenced without the approval of
the NUC and the School’s Senate.

“These clearly
contravened two conditions of their license which states that: the
start-up colleges will comprise Management Sciences, Information &
Communication Technology and some Departments in the College of
Humanities. The left-over Departments in the Humanities will be
established in the third phase. The Postgraduate School will also be in
the third phase. The College of Law is deferred.” He also said that
their operational license contains a clause which states that,
“Admission of students on transfer and direct entry in the first two
sessions after take-off is unacceptable.”

He equally stated that during a meeting of the Governing Board of
the Institution and NUC in December 2010, the Commission directed that
the Law programme and School of Postgraduate Studies be closed down
immediately. He said the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board
(JAMB), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the Federal Ministry of
Education were appropriately informed on the directive. He described as
untrue information carried in some quarters by the School management
that the NUC visitation panel gave the University clean bill of health,
saying the NUC letter dated 2nd June, 2008 and signed by the director,
Academic Standards on behalf of the Executive Secretary, NUC clearly
stopped the University from running the Law programme.

Lawrence Akindele,
the Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Benin, speaks to Elizabeth
Archibong on the historical ties between Nigeria and Benin Republic,
the challenge of managing Nigeria/Benin relations and other issues.
Excerpts:

Recent visit of Jonathan to Benin

You know we have
been waiting for the visit for quite a while now. Since Jonathan became
the president, many times the visit was scheduled but had to be
postponed. Nigeria, just like the Republic of Benin is preparing for
elections this year. You know that both countries have a lot in common.
About 25 percent of the population of Benin are citizens of Nigeria.
The people of Benin conferred on Mr Jonathan the highest national
honour of Benin. This is worth being celebrated.

The relationship between both countries

The relationship
between Nigeria and Benin has been quite strong. You will recall that
Beninoise President Boni Iyayi has visited Nigeria several times and,
in fact just like President Jonathan jokingly said in his speech to the
Nigerian community here, Mr Iyayi refers to Benin as Nigeria’s 37th
state.

And like I said
earlier, we have a huge population of Nigerians here. So when we talk
about the relationship, you will find that they are deeper than what
you can see on the surface. Those of us who come from Nigeria and are
unable to speak French will be surprised to see that most Benin
citizens can also interact with them in their own local dialects,
especially those who speak Yoruba, Egun and others. Those social bonds
still exist despite the so called international boundaries

Challenges of representing Nigeria in Benin

The challenges
before us are of consular nature and the way Nigerians are perceived
here. By consular nature, I mean the harassment of Nigerians even
despite the closeness I referred to earlier on. Many Nigerians have
taken advantage of the ECOWAS protocols on free movement of persons.
Nigerians are also very mobile, that is why they are found everywhere
in the continent.

Some of the
Nigerians we have here are doing extremely well and are quite
comfortable. They speak French and other local languages. This, of
course, have attracted enmity to them from their hosts. So, once in a
while, we come across pockets of problems arising from issues of envy
and so on. There is no doubt that Nigerians are easy targets
everywhere. If you go to other African countries, you may find that
things are not very different.

Nigerians are very
proud of their heritage anywhere they are and they demonstrate this .
For some people, this is pride but to the Nigerians, it is not. We have
what you call citizen diplomacy which teaches that people must protect
human rights at all times. We ensure that no Nigerian is detained
unnecessarily for minor crimes. Nigerians are quite happy here I must
tell you.

The type of
problems we have seen in other countries are not here and I think this
can be attributed to the long historical relationship which I spoke to
you about earlier which dates back to the period before the
Independence.

His thoughts on the behaviour of Nigerians

Nigerians are well
rated here. Several Nigerians have been commended by the government of
Benin Republic for their outstanding performances and contributions to
the country’s economy. There is a Nigerian who recently attracted the
visit of his state governor during his house warming. We have another
Nigerian who recently won multiple awards for his contributions to the
economy; a Reverend gentleman, Geoffrey Izemojo, who is the Managing
Director of Songhai Center of Excellence. He has been involved in the
training of Nigerians and other citizens of Benin Republic in
integrated farming, fishery, aquaculture, all kinds of animal breeding.
Any time the president here receives a very important visitor, he takes
the visitor to the Songhai Center of Excellence.

As we speak, I can
tell you that there is a struggle between Nigeria and Benin on who
should lay claim to the man. He is a pride to Africa. So many Africans
have benefited from his poverty elimination projects.

Areas of co-operation between the two countries

Since I assumed
office, we have had several areas of co-operation within the frame work
of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the
African Union (AU). We also have the Joint Nigerian/ Benin Commission
to promote trade in oil, gas, power gas turbines. We have facilitated
the coming of many Nigerians into Benin Republic to pursue legitimate
business. This has attracted the coming of financial institutions such
as the UBA, Diamond Bank and others.

Nigerian traders
are also doing well here. We have also been working very hard to manage
our border, which is well over 700 kilometers. We have to make sure
that we work to reduce smuggling. The heads of state of both countries
have also resolved that any dispute which may arise must be resolved
amicably rather than resort to external bodies for adjudications. We
have accepted the fact that we are brothers and this is the guiding
philosophy of all our actions.

The volume of trade between the two nations

You know that the
trade for now is largely informal and so it is very difficult to arrive
at an accurate figure. Recently, however, those who import rice into
Nigeria were told that they have to pay duties. This is to let the
Nigerian government derive some revenue from that. But by and large,
the trade between the two countries is largely informal. This is where
having a proper boundary has become very important. One of the reasons
why we cannot have accurate data for instance can be traceable to the
loose nature of our borders.

There is a plan now
to properly demarcate the border, where there will be more equity. And
it will also allow both countries to properly regulate the influx of
goods. We are working hard to ensure that this process comes into
fruition.

There will be more
sophisticated gadgets to monitor the borders and hopefully, this will
reduce smuggling and other cross border crimes.

The development of Nigeria since independence

Well, the fact is
that this country was once a country of great hope but, somewhere along
the line, we missed it. We did not sustain our development process. But
now we need a refocus of our capacity by emphasising education and I
think this is where the present president, Mr Jonathan is taking the
country. We need to give him a chance. I see the country being
refocused again and this process must be allowed to mature if Nigeria
is really interested in getting out of the present situation we find
ourselves in.

Preparation for the elections

I am sure that
given the current zeal shown by President Jonathan and other Nigerians,
we should be able to conduct free and fair elections. We must put those
who say we cannot conduct elections properly to shame. We have to do it.

Mr Jega is ready
and he is committed. It is not very difficult to do it. We have what it
takes to do it and we have to. For me, we have no other choice.

Permitting the Diaspora to take part in future elections

Yes they have been
agitating that they want to vote. But I do not think that may be
possible in the 2011 election because government is still trying to
work out the modalities, including the enabling laws. But it can be
done when all things are put in place. Nigerians in Benin can always
take advantage of their proximity to Nigeria to ensure that they take
time out and go back to the country and vote for now. We will sensitise
them to do that.