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The National Assembly will, on Tuesday next week,
break their long vacation to hold an impromptu plenary session to
consider the N74 billion request of the chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The lawmakers will also be screening three new
ministers that were requested by President Goodluck Jonathan. Atahiru
Jega, the INEC chairman, had last week said his commission urgently
requires N74billion to conduct a new voters’ registration and perfect
other aspects of the plan for a credible free and fair election in
January next year. Meanwhile, the lawmakers had just begun a two month
long break that was supposed to terminate on 29 September. The
spokesperson of the senate, Ayogu Eze, confirmed that the lawmakers
have resolved to reconvene on Tuesday next week to specifically
consider the request of INEC.

“From our own calculation, clearly we will need N74
billion,” Mr. Jega had said, adding that the commission have tendered
the request before the executive. Mr Jega said that up to 50% of the
sum would be used to purchase 120 000 units of voter registration
machines. He added that part of the fund will be applied to voter
education, employee training and allowances, and improving the working
conditions of the state chapters of INEC. He noted that the most of the
equipment used for the last election were substandard and could not be
applied to the current process if the commission was to achieve a
credible election. According to Mr Jega, the required amount must be
made available to the commission before 11 August to ensure optimal
performance by the commission.

New ministers

Although the senate spokesman confirmed the senate
has received the nomination of three additional ministers, to be
screened by the senate when the reconvenes, he could not immediately
confirm the identities of the nominee ministers were. One of the
nominee ministers are however expected to fill the Power Ministry that
has no substantive minister. The others are expected to fill the junior
minister positions in the Federal Capital Territory Ministry and either
the Petroleum Ministry or Foreign Affairs. Mr Eze added that the change
in plans was in line with their initial pledge to provide the required
legislative support to INEC ahead of the 2011 elections. Mr. Eze made
the pledge on behalf of the senate last week, shortly before they
embarked on the long vacation. The senate is however calling off its
vacation for the second time in four months. The senate had in April
adjusted its break to screen the current ministers.

Senate President, David Mark, yesterday said that the
National Assembly would proceed with the creation of new states despite
criticisms mounting against the exercise.

Mr Mark told new state campaigners from Katsina State
on Thursday, that lawmakers will not bow to criticisms that the current
36 states be maintained, but will press on with the exercise to “meet
the yearnings and aspirations of the people.” He said despite the
condemnations, he finds the requests which have been made by several
groups “genuine, desirable and necessary to address some imbalances in
the present structures.”

“The more state we have,” he said, “the more there
will be healthy competition between and among states, which will
ultimately usher in meaningful development.” The new group, led by the
former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Masari, is
advocating the creation of Karaduwa State, out of the present Katsina
State.

The proposed area holds 11 local government councils
out of the state’s total 40, and according to Mr Masari, is endowed
with human and material resources, and would be economically and
politically viable. The area is also rich with agricultural and mineral
resources, he said.

Criticism

Critics have denounced the planned exercise which the
National Assembly has assured will be accommodated during the next
constitutional amendment.

They have urged the lawmakers to refuse the requests,
which currently total over 30, on the grounds that the new states will
compound Nigeria’s problems, since many of them would lack the capacity
to sustain themselves economically.

The lawmakers have also been accused of seeking to
set the record as the first legislature in the nation’s history to
create states.

Mr Masari admitted that the option of new states
“cannot” solve Nigeria’s problems, but said that “it is the shortest
way to solving them.” The Senate President, Mr Mark, said the National
Assembly will not back down on the exercise, and described the question
of self-sustainability as “untenable”. He said the true intent of the
exercise is to draw the people closer to the government, and
development.

“It will bring unity and harmony between and among
federating states,” he said. On the economic strength of the proposed
states, the Senate President said rather than condemning them, “we must
find out why they are not doing well.”

The re-sit of the competency test for
directorate level officers in the Civil Service will still hold as
scheduled despite opposition from civil servants, the Head of Civil
Service of the Federation, Stephen Oronsaye, has said.

Mr Oronsaye rejected calls, by the
Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, for the cancellation
of the tests on Tuesday when he met with leaders of the association in
his office in Abuja. He argued that the demand by the association was
based on wrong information. “The test will hold as scheduled,” he told
the visiting officers. Members of the Association, led by the National
President, Olakunle Olaitan, had released a four-point communiqué
calling for the cancellation of the re-sit of the competency test. In
the communiqué, they also demanded that the test should not be a
prerequisite for promotion of deserving officers in the service. The
Head of Service, however, said that the Post-Training Competency Test
is not a promotion examination but that it could be used for screening
candidates for promotion, which he said is the responsibility of his
office.

Mr. Oronsaye added that he was saddened
by the consistent complaints on the competency of officers in the civil
service which has affected service delivery and resulted in low
productivity.

Pride to the nation

He called on civil servants to join in
the efforts being made to build a service that will be a pride to the
nation. Mr Oronsaye explained that the Specialized Mandatory Training
Programme, which preceded the former test, was planned through several
events which included a stakeholders’ forum and another for the review
of modules. However, he attributed the congestion experienced towards
the end to the endemic error in staff data in the civil service.

At the end of the deliberations, both parties mutually agreed that
only officers who have good reasons to retake the training before
sitting for the re-sit would be granted such request. Mr Oronsaye also
approved that all officers taking the re-sit test next week could take
a week leave from official duties to prepare. Others issues raised in
the communiqué include demands for a better structured training
programme, harmonized promotion exercise based on collaboration between
the Office of the Head of the Civil Service and the Federal Civil
Service Commission. They also requested that officers who passed
promotion examinations but were not promoted due to lack of vacancies
should be considered for promotion whenever vacancies are available.

African ministers
of information and communication technologies, and other experts, are
meeting in Abuja to assess how much they have implemented their own
policies on issues related to the sector.

Speaking at the
opening of the Third ICT Minister’s Conference on Tuesday in Abuja, the
minister of state for communications, Labaran Maku, said this was a
follow-up to the 2008 meeting in Cairo, Egypt.

At that meeting,
the ministers adopted several recommendations to guide the sector, such
as improving national postal policies. Mr Maku said they could take
stock of the extent their various governments have gone towards the
implementation of the recommendations.

Mr Maku stated that
the five-day conference will also avail the ministers of “the
opportunity to deliberate, analyse and proffer solutions for developing
a basic framework that will advance the development of ICT in Africa
and improve its standing with the global ICT industry.”

Progress

He said the
Nigerian government has fared well in implementing the Cairo
recommendations. He pointed out the implementation of programmes aimed
at providing Internet and telephone facilities for rural communities,
as well as the School Net Project, through which primary and
post-primary schools are being provided with Internet facilities and
computers.

Brahima Sanou,
regional representative for Africa at the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), said the African telecommunications
sector has grown geometrically since the last meeting of African ICT
heads.

“There are 80
million subscribers in Nigeria today and Africa is the fastest growing
industry in the ICTs,” he said. “In addition, Africa has proven to the
world that we can be part of the digital economy.” He said the
conference will afford the ministers the opportunity to talk about the
African agenda.

“This important for me because at ITU, we are trying to accompany
African countries to be at the driver’s seat and own their development
so that the result of the development is not owned by somebody else.”

The federal government yesterday
withdrew the operational license of the Ondo State University of
Science and Technology (OSUTECH), Okitipupa, in Ondo State.

According to documents released in
Abuja after an emergency meeting with the management of the National
Universities Commission (NUC), the action was taken because of concerns
about the school’s academic performance and admissions policies.

The school had not commenced academic
activities since it was formally recognised in 2008 and all application
forms of the school’s candidates had been sent to be absorbed by the
nearby Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko.

“Having waited for two academic
sessions, with no activity taking place, it has become obvious that the
university is not ready to commence academic activities,” said the
commission’s executive secretary, Julius Okojie.

Also evidence showed that the
University of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, may have submitted fictitious
evidence to get approval for the school.

No evidence of a school

NUC officials who visited the site of
the school found that the stated infrastructural facilities, that had
been listed along with the application did not exist at the school’s
location.

“This was verified by the NUC Investigative Panel that held
consultations with stakeholders on the matter,” read an NUC letter to
the Ikere-Ekiti administration. “The hostility to staff and students at
the proposed location of the university is a serious challenge which
the NUC cannot ignore.” The NUC has given the University of Education,
Ikere-Ekiti, less than two weeks to sort out “the seeming
misunderstanding on the location of the institution.” “If, by August
15, 2010, the proprietor of the University of Education, Ikere-Ekiti,
is unable to meet the conditions under which the recognition to operate
as a degree-awarding institution was given in January 2008 and
regularise the anomalies found by the fact-fining team, the
commission’s recognition of your university will be withdrawn.” The
commission has informed the governors of Ondo and Ekiti States of its
decision.

The future of microfinance sector seems bleak as only
18 million out of Nigeria’s active adult population (about 21 percent)
can access financial services to boost economic development.

The Resident Country Representative of the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dauda Toure, who identified women
and youth as making up the critical mass of the affected population,
said about 64 million Nigerians or 74 percent, has never been banked,
while only 4 million, or 5 percent, have previously owned a bank
account. Mr Toure told NEXT at the opening of a microfinance training
programme in Abuja that though various stakeholders have keyed into the
country’s microfinance landscape since it was launched more than five
years ago, very little impact has been recorded, adding that there are
strong possibilities that set objectives of the microfinance sector may
not be achieved by 2020. The sector’s poor record of performance, Mr
Toure explained, was attributed to the apparent lack of capacity,
inadequate coordination and synergy, policy shortfalls, lack of
detailed articulation of stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities in
the various sector’s operations.

To facilitate the reversal of this trend in the
sector, the Country Representative said the UNDP, under its private
sector development programme (PSDP), is currently providing support to
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a five-year national microfinance
development strategy for Nigeria. The support to the CBN, Mr Toure
said, comes, basically, in the form of technical assistance designed to
serve as a catalyst to the achievement of sector goal, adding that the
technical assistance has so far facilitated the current national survey
and assessment of the sector as well as the on-going policy review
process supported by both international and national consultants
deployed by UNDP and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNDCF),
who provide the technical inputs. “We are attempting to develop a
programme that will ultimately build sufficient capacity in the
microfinance sector to expand and deepen the delivery of sustainable
inclusive financial services across Nigeria,” he said, pointing out
that the training programme was one of such activities aimed at
building capacity to address identified gaps in the sector.

The two-week management training on how to make small loans work to
lift the poor and better support the informal sector, he explained, is
targeted at key managers of state-supported microfinance institutions,
microfinance banks and relevant government officials to broaden their
understanding on how to deliver inclusive operations and boost
productivity. Besides, it will also help furnish participants with the
necessary tools to enhance their performance, develop their
perspectives and practical skills to manage, improve and expand
microfinance services to the poor.

Ahmed
Sanni Yerima may soon be arraigned in court for alleged child abuse and
marriage to a minor. The former governor, who is now a senator, may be
prosecuted over his marriage to an Egyptian minor, a 14-year old school
girl, Eladly Maryam Maged Saleh.

NEXT investigation
in Abuja showed that the federal government is currently studying a
report which detailed the offences of Mr. Yerima. Sources at the
Ministry of Justice headquarters in Abuja disclosed that the report
recommending the prosecution of the senator, is ready for the approval
of federal government.

The Minister of
Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke,
told our correspondent in his office yesterday that the file has been
returned to him to properly advice the government.

Mr. Adoke had
before directed our reporter to the office of the Solicitor-General of
the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the ministry, whom he said
was handling the investigative report submitted by the National Agency
for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters
(NAPTIP).

Attorney General breaks silence

Yesterday, the
minister said, “I cannot answer your question right now. This is the
file on my table (he raises the file for the journalist to see). I am
reading it with a view to working on it and aligning it with the
position of the Constitution..” Explaining his position, Mr. Adoke
said: “The issue is that the man who contracted the marriage said he
did so under the Islamic rites, which is at variance with the
Constitution. The Constitution, on the other hand, recognises marriages
under the Marriage Act and Customary Laws. So, as the chief law officer
of the country, I have the duty to read the report and align it with
the position of the Constitution, which supersedes any other law and
which I swore to uphold. I am still in the process of doing that. As
soon as I finish doing that I will let you know. But I will not act
against the Constitution by playing to the gallery just because I want
to become a hero in the eyes of the public.”

According to
NAPTIP, and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mr. Yerima’s
marriage breached Sections 21, 22 and 23 of the Child Rights Act, 2003.

The Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria has sued the NHRC and NAPTIP over the matter asking the court to stop his prosecution.

However, sources at
the Ministry of Justice say he will still be prosecuted irrespective of
what comes out of the case by the Sharia council because he clearly
breached some of the laws of the country.

The case, which is
presently being heard before Justice Adamu Bello, president of Court 5
of the Abuja High Court, has been adjourned for hearing.

International investigation

The case has
already attracted the attention of some international organisations
including the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL),
which General Counsel, Joel Sollier, last week contacted its national
central bureau in Lagos for relevant information.

According to legal
experts, one of the issues that is central to INTERPOL’s interest is
the possible link to terrorism of the family of the under-aged girl,
whose father was found in possessing of two different international
passports.

A copy of the
NAPTIP investigative report obtained by NEXT revealed that the girl’s
father, Maged Saleh Mohammed Eladly, who is a driver to Mr. Yerima, had
two Egyptian passports: A01086511, issued on 17/10/2009 in Egypt, valid
till 16/10/2016 and A01403462, issued on 07/03/2010 in Egypt, valid
till 06/03/2017.

Recommendation for Yerima’s prosecution

According to the
report, “The first passport issued in 2009 has the father’s profession
as workman while the second passport issued in 2010 referred to his
profession as export and import office owner.” Miss Eladly, a
14-year-old student with passport number: A01385736 issued in Egypt on
February 28, 2010, was born on January 9, 1996 in Kalyobiya, Egypt and
was accompanied in her marriage to 49-year-old Mr. Yerima by her
father, ten relations and many well-wishers – 58 in all- sponsored by
the senator who paid $100, 000 dowry or Sadaqi on the girl.

The marriage was
conducted by the Chief Imam of the Central Mosque, Abuja with a general
form of sworn affidavit deposited at the Sharia Court of Appeal, Abuja.

The report before
the justice minister notes that, “Senator Ahmed Rufai Sani Yerima’s
action contravenes Sections 12 (a & b), 13 (1 & 2), 14 (1) and
17 (a & b) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law
Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 as amended. His refusal to
disclose the age of the minor (victim), the school she attends, and her
class amounts to willful obstruction of lawful enquiry contrary to
Section 58 (A & B) of TIP Act.

His refusal to
disclose the exact amount of money paid as dowry is with intention to
deceive the agency (NAPTIP) by using Islam as a cover up. The above
section could be invoked as an offence under the Act which he is liable
on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years as the
case may be. The Senator also breaches Sections 21, 22 and 23 of the
Child Rights Act 2003, which is operational in FCT and liable on
conviction to a fine of ₦500, 000.00 or imprisonment for a term of five
years or both.”

Considering that
Mr. Yerima was also alleged to have encouraged foreigners to breach the
laws of Nigeria, raising the need to share intelligence with the
government of Egypt, the Nigeria Police was urged to join in the
prosecution. Asked what the police was doing on its end, the Public
Relations Officer, Nigeria Police Force, Abuja, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said
the police do not have to duplicate the duties of NAPTIP, which is in
charge of the case.