Nigeria Content Online

A yet to be disclosed group has launched an SMS platform for Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign.

This platform may get wider coverage than the road campaign, as every network subscriber is said to be targeted by the texts.

In an SMS branded
“J.Goodluck”, which was sent to NEXT and a few others who confirmed
they too had received the text, Mr Jonathan solicits support from
Nigerians to join him in transforming our nation.

In the text, which
was obviously sent in bulk, Mr Jonathan said: “we are on the road to
rebuild our Nation. Stand with me, Stand for transformation”.

The SMS platform
may be the starting point of the president’s campaign which, NEXT
learnt, has its slogan as “Time for Transformation,” though it has not
yet been unveiled.

All-inclusive participation

Former Vice
President, Atiku Abubakar, has also launched a new campaign website as
a way of ensuring an all-inclusive participation in his campaign to
become Nigeria’s next president.

The website aims at
giving all Nigerians, including those living abroad, the opportunity to
make input in his campaign. “I want to run an inclusive campaign. I
want to hear from all Nigerians and respond to their questions and
concerns,” Mr Abubakar said yesterday, in a statement released by his
campaign office in Abuja.

The website, which was launched Monday, September 13, 2010, has already attracted over 2000 hits in less than 24 hours, he said.

He also launched his presence on the social media (Twitter and
Facebook) as a way of attracting younger Nigerians to support his
candidacy.

The Edo State command of the Nigeria Police on
Tuesday attributed the recent spate of kidnappings and other violent
crimes in the state to the delay in reporting criminal cases to enable
the police authorities embark on prompt action.

Residents of the ancient city were just recovering
from the shock of the brutal assassination of 86-year-old female
politician, Grace Osakwe, when the news of the abduction of Olabisi
Ihenyen, the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Psychiatric
Hospital, Uselu, Benin, and her husband, Lionel, broke.

To compound the apparent embarrassment of the
security agencies and their failure to check the spate of kidnappings,
Lucy Omagbon, a former commissioner of Lands, Survey and Housing in the
state, was also reported kidnapped last Sunday.

Delay by relatives

Reacting to the security situation in the state, the
command’s acting public relations officer, Ejiroro Ahwara, decried the
delay in reporting such cases to the command by relatives of victims.

He stated that rather than prompt reporting of
abduction cases to the police, relatives of the victims usually engage
in negotiation with the kidnappers.

“The police are compelled to work under critical
situations when the families of the victims are already negotiating
with the kidnappers,” he said.

Mr Awhara appealed to members of the public to always
be on the alert and also to report criminal activities and any
suspicious movements to the police on time. He also revealed that the
abductors of Mrs Omagbon had contacted her relatives.

Mrs Ihenyen and her husband regained their freedom
from their captors on Monday night, although this could not be
confirmed as at press time. It was also not clear how much their family
paid out in ransom. We, however, gathered that the family had offered
the sum of N5 million to the kidnappers, which was allegedly refused.

Medical workers in the state, especially in Benin, had embarked on
strikes to protest the kidnap of medical personnel and to pressurise
the government to crack down on kidnap gangs in the state.

A senator in the
third republic, Remi Okunriboye, has described as “pathetic” the
current situation where politicians incur huge debt in their bid to
acutalise their political ambition.

Mr. Okunriboye, who spoke in Owo, said the huge amount committed to campaigns will continue to rob the nation of credible polls.

“What do you expect
from politicians who borrow from banks and people? They will never
serve the interest of the masses,” he said.

“Their main target,
when they get to position, is to first recoup the money they spend
during campaign. This is highly detrimental to the advancement of the
nation call Nigeria. They invest heavily to make Nigerians pay for it
later.”

The politician, who
is a senatorial candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, also
charged anti-corruption agencies to probe the spending of aspirants
during electioneering campaign. He said it was time Nigerians rise up
against extravagant spending by politicians during elections.

Fulfil promises

He also urged
politicians across the country to always fulfill their electioneering
promises whenever they get to positions, saying the only way
politicians could assist the electorate was to give them dividends of
democracy.

“It is highly disturbing that the moment politicians get to the corridor of power they forget the electorates,” he said.

“This is not good for our democracy; we must allow our people to get to the mainstream.”

Mr. Okunriboye also
criticised the total number of political parties registered in the
country, saying, “the more you have various political parties, the more
you create problems for the country.”

He, however,
charged political leaders in the country to look inward to tackle the
problems of the masses through massive creation of jobs.

About 120 prisoners who were recently freed when
members suspected to be of the Boko Haram sect attacked the Bauchi
Prison, have willingly returned to the prison.

The Minister of Interior, Emmanuel Ihenacho,
disclosed this in Abuja while explaining what the federal government
was doing to forestall the threat of further attacks from the religious
sect that has held the northern part of the country by the jugular
since last year.

Although details of the returnee prisoners could not
be ascertained as to whether they were awaiting trial prisoners (ATPs)
or those serving various sentences, a prison source who asked not to be
named said that they are prisoners serving light sentences.

Mr Ihenacho said the suspected Boko Haram members
actually launched the attack with the sole aim of freeing over 100 of
their members detained in the prison in relation to last year’s
disturbances that accounted for the death of about 1000 persons and
destruction of several property.

Safe and secure

The minister disagreed with those who have accused
the federal government of being helpless, saying it was committed to
the security of lives and property at the prison.

He added that there were a total of 759 inmates under
the prison’s guard, out of which 721 were freed during the jail break,
leaving a balance of just 28 inmates.

Mr Ihenacho did not explain what will happen to the
120 prisoners that returned on their volition, whether they will be
considered for future government pardon or not, but he did add that the
nationwide prison security system and related security agencies will
mount a concerted search to track down the fleeing inmates.

He promised that the government will reinforce the
monitoring of security situations in the contingent states of the
sect’s spread, especially those of the north-east geopolitical region,
to forestall a possible spill-over.

Clarifying on the casualty figure from the jailbreak, the minister
said only two un-identified persons were confirmed dead, along with a
mobile policeman, while three other prison officials who sustained
severe injuries are currently receiving treatments.

The federal
government has charged the Honourary International Investor Council
(HIIC) to support Nigeria in building investor confidence in the
country. The call came against the backdrop of the treatment given to
companies doing business in Nigeria by some countries.

Vice President
Namadi Sambo said at yesterday’s meeting of the Council at the Banquet
Hall of the State House, Abuja that it is sad that European Union
countries do not guarantee companies that are doing business in
Nigeria. He cited the United Kingdom which gives guarantees to
companies in Ghana and other countries but not to those in Nigeria, as
an example.

He therefore urged
the members of the body “to support and partner with government to
build investor confidence on the country.” Mr. Sambo stressed that
there are still huge opportunities for investment in all sectors in
Nigeria, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria has made available
N500 billion at one digit interest rate.

The Vice President
noted government’s commitment in ensuring an enabling environment for
businesses to thrive in Nigeria, saying “government has made deliberate
policies to ensure that these objectives are met”.

In this light, he
said government has put in place a new gas pricing policy to further
bolster investor interest in the oil and gas sector and that to ensure
adequate security, machinery had been put in place to reform the
Nigeria police.

“To meet the huge
financial requirements for infrastructural development, government is
looking at various ways to organise and stratify funding for projects
in its quest to achieve the laudable goals contained in the Vision
20:2020 programme,” he said.

He said such ways
include concessionary funds from the World Bank, the Islamic
Development Bank (IDB), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Yen
Credit facility, among several others. Others include Public Private
Partnerships and bilateral funding.

The VP stated that
government needs “the cooperation and support of the private sector to
meet the developmental challenges of the country”.

According to him,
areas needing urgent intervention include, “power, such as the hydro
power projects in Zungeru and Mambilla, and development of Coal power
plants; transportation; housing and urban development, construction of
multipurpose dams, agriculture, port expansion, road and railways
construction, water ways and access to financing for the private
sector”.

Positive changes

The Chairperson of
the Investor Council, Lynda Chalker, said the Council has a good
opportunity to take a number of key issues forward. She further said
that the Council had noticed a very significant change in Nigeria which
is for the better, adding that they have seen a big leap forward. Mrs
Chalker used the occasion to assure Mr Sambo of their commitment to
improving investor confidence in Nigeria.

The meeting saw
presentations from the Minister of Agriculture, Ahmed Abdullahi on
driving investments into agriculture; the Chairman, Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega on the Challenges
and Prospects of Electoral Reform Process in Nigeria and; the
government of Borno State, on driving investment to Nigerian States.

Council members present include Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Sam Jonah,
Emmanuel Ijewere, Umaru Mutalab, Neil Harvey, Guillaume Roux, Ronnie
Ntuli, Simon Harford and Pietro Franco Tali. Others at the occasion are
the Minister of National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman; Special Assistant
to the President on MDGs, Amina Al-Zubair, and the Executive Secretary,
Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) Mustapha Bello among
others.

The Anambra State
government has assured that the strike action embarked upon by the
state chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which
led to the closure of the state university’s campuses at Uli and
Igbariam, will soon be resolved.

The university
staff joined their counterparts in the four south-east states in a
strike to protest the non-implementation by the south east governors of
the new salary scheme for state universities.

But addressing the
press yesterday in Awka, the senior special assistant to the governor
on communication, John Ubabukoh, said that the governor, Peter Obi, was
worried over the continued closure of the Anambra State University and
was working hard to resolve the crisis. Mr Ubabukoh said several
meetings had been held towards this and there were indications that the
problem would soon be resolved.

The head of service
in the state, Ngozi Melifonwu, has also assured that the government is
working round the clock to resolve the problem. She said the government
indicated its seriousness in solving the problem by setting up a panel,
which she headed, to look into the matter. “We just rose from the
follow-up to our inaugural meeting,” she said. “I must tell you that
all the parties that attended the meeting share the same concern and
want the crisis to be settled so that our children will go back to
school.”

Lasting solution

Mrs Melifionwu said
the panel had listened to the problems in the school from relevant
stakeholders, including the government’s delegation. She said that the
panel will now go into other details necessary for a lasting solution.

“It was good to
observe that the meeting took place without antagonism. If we continue
in the same spirit, the crisis will surely be over soon,” she said.
Other members of the panel are the Pro-Chancellor of the University,
Elochukwu Amucheazi; Israel Okoye; A.F Uzoka; Chukwuemeka Ike, a
traditional ruler; the acting Vice Chancellor of the Anambra State
University, C.C. Anene and representatives of the Ministry of
Education, among others.

The south-east
governors had insisted that the resources available to states were not
equal and thus every state could not be expected to implement the new
salary scheme. But the chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum,
Peter Obi, recently said each state in the south-east zone was free to
handle the matter as it deemed fit.

The ASUU within the region also directed its affiliates in the states to parley with their governments over the matter.

On a visit to South
Africa, I walked into some Nigerian street hawkers in Johannesburg. One
of them, noticing I was just visiting, commented, “Do you see how clean
and nice this place is?” It reminded me of the conversation between two
South Africans on my flight. They were returning home after a business
trip to Lagos. “Did you get to visit Abuja after all?” asked one of
them. “No, I was so fed up with this place, I decided to cut my trip
short and return to Jo’burg. Even the hotel had no water this morning!”
he said.

I thought the
discussion was cruel and stuffy, but of course I was eavesdropping and
had no business joining a conversation I’d not been invited to. Even if
I did contribute, what was I going to say in defence of Nigeria? How
does a “Centre of Excellence” surrounded by water, produce dry taps?
Lagos is mild compared to other places in this country where incidences
of cholera, typhoid and guinea worm are commonplace enough to send the
water and health authorities back to continue their sleep.

Johannesburg is one
of the few big cities in the world not located near a major water
source. Some of the water supply to Johannesburg is pumped from over
45km away. Nevertheless, that city enjoys a much better and more
efficient water supply system than the almost submerged Lagos, or any
city in Nigeria. Two sources of water common in Nigeria actually result
from earth’s infinite generosity – groundwater and surface water, the
latter including, lakes, rivers and wetlands.

The problem in
Nigeria is, therefore, not so much the occurrence of water, but the
technical capability to manage its abundance, to design and execute
infrastructure to clean it and pipe into homes. It rains so heavily in
Nigeria that we do not need a foreign technical adviser to coach on how
rainwater could be collected, stored and used. This is simple
technology that dates back to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, but
virtually unknown in modern Nigeria.

Yet, every
university faculty of science in the universe has a brilliant Nigerian
in it. Something at the governance level discourages innovation and
intellectualism in Nigeria.

I asked those
compatriots in Johannesburg if they intended inviting their South
African friends to visit Onitsha or Aba over Christmas, and the answer
was roaring laughter. Nigerians living abroad hardly invite their
friends to spend time in Nigeria.

And we’re supposed
to be a hospitable people? The reasons are obvious – constant stress of
having to repeatedly apologize and make excuses for poor sanitation,
for the toilet that cannot flush, indeed for lack of water and
epileptic supply of electricity.

Notice that
strangers are never shy to ask, “Could I have some water to drink?”
because we intuitively believe that water should be a basic human right
and must be available all the time in a home. Leaning on the 1968 paper
called The Tragedy of the Commons by the ecologist, Garrett Hardin,
water is the ultimate commons. But whatever seems boundless is
naturally easily abused, and that is what is going on with water
resources in Nigeria.

Ecuador is the
first country in the world to put the rights of nature in its
constitution so that rivers and forests are not simply property but
maintain their own right to flourish. Under these laws, a citizen might
file a suit on behalf of an injured watershed, recognizing that its
health is crucial to the common good.

We have a long way to go in Nigeria.

The much-expected
launch of Ibrahim Babangida’s presidential campaign in Abuja today is
likely to be blunted by the meeting of the National Executive Committee
of the Peoples Democratic Party also fixed for 12pm, at the party’s
national secretariat in Abuja.

The NEC meeting,
which was brought forward from Thursday without any official reason,
not only took the Babangida camp by surprise but threatens to
jeopardise its efforts at hugging the limelight in a successful
declaration.

A text message sent
out late Monday by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Rufai
Alkali, requested every member of the party’s national decision making
organ to attend the meeting on time.

“An emergency
meeting of the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic
Party is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 15th September 2010.
Venue: National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja. Time:
12.00 noon. All NEC members are invited to attend on time,” the message
said.

No official of the
party was willing to state whether the event’s timing was a mere
coincidence or an attempt to scuttle Mr Babangida’s declaration. But
the implication, according to political analysts, is that PDP board and
national leaders may have to abandon the Babangida event to attend the
NEC meeting.

Ike Abonyi,
spokesperson to the PDP National Chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, said time
constraints led to the decision to hold the NEC meeting. “We are under
pressure to finalise the order of the primaries in accordance with INEC
timetable,” he told NEXT yesterday. “Members of the PDP NEC are
expected to be neutral. No NEC member is supposed to attend the rally
of any aspirant. There is no clash, whatsoever.”

Ready for launch

But the Babangida camp did not entirely agree with this view of things. Mr Babangida’s spokesperson,

Kassim Afegbua
insisted that the declaration will go on today whether those invited
and others expected eventually turned up at Eagle Square or not.

He said a former
senate president and member of the PDP Board of Trustees, Ken Nnamani,
has been invited to chair the declaration ceremony.

He said: “The
declaration of the former president still stands as at today, despite
the convocation of the PDP NEC meeting. If the former senate president
decides to miss the PDP NEC meeting to attend another important event,
is it wrong?” When NEXT visited Eagle Square on Tuesday evening, a big
podium, along with a smaller platform, has been erected; with chairs
neatly arranged even and huge loud speakers blaring music from the four
sides of the square. On the side facing the highways, a huge billboard
of Mr. Babangida, with the inscription: “Together, let’s build a new
Nigeria” has been erected. It is believed that the reported choice of
former Rivers State governor, Peter Odili as Mr. Babangida’s running
mate was made to frustrate Mr Jonathan’s chances of picking the PDP
presidential ticket.

There are also
indications that Mr Babangida and another candidate, Atiku Abubakar
might be working towards some kind of political arrangement. The two
men, who have held series of meetings over the weeks, also met last
night in Abuja ahead of today’s declaration. None of them was willing
to discuss the reason for their meeting.

Ready for a debate

But aides of Mr
Jonathan, who is expected to announce his candidacy on Saturday, said
the president is ready for a public debate with his political
opponents, including Mr Babangida.

The Special Assistant to the president on Political Affairs, Mobolaji Adebiyi, said Mr Jonathan will not duck such an event.

“Is President
Jonathan ready to face anybody in an open debate? Yes, he is very ready
to go into debate with anybody in any party on any issue,” Mr Adebiyi
said. “He is very prepared. He has been the President now for some
months.

Before then, he has
been the Vice President. He knows and has what it takes to govern the
country. So, why would he not be ready to go into debates with other
candidates?”

Mr Afegbua also said his principal was ready to face the incumbent president any time.

“Yes, we are ready
for debates and we will be very happy to put issues in proper
perspectives,” he said. “He (Babangida) is a trusted and worthy
Nigerian leader that should be taken on his words. He will quit in 2015
as he has promised.” The Eagle Square has become historic as the
inaugural ground of past presidents, and our reporter observed that
politicians are planning very extravagant declaration ceremonies there
this week.

Apart from Mr Jonathan who is also expected to make his declaration
there at the weekend, the governor of Kwara State, Olusola Saraki also
plans to use the venue to announce his presidential aspiration.