Nigeria Content Online

We’ve
all seen them before – chunky, encyclopedia-like, statistical
publications that annually tell you how the world’s poor are faring. In
what would appear to be a celebration of poverty, these rather
dispiriting and scary books are ironically launched in ceremonies by
the international development agencies in Nigeria and in all other
developing countries. Disputes over authenticity of figures between
government and development agency are not uncommon.

If you come from
Nigeria, don’t expect to enjoy reading a book that reveals the
comparative scales of infant and maternal mortality, the scarcity of
drinking water, the infestation of men, women and children with
malaria, polio and HIV/AIDS, and many more evils on earth. Officials of
government very often do not know what to make of these statistics.
More importantly their realities are never adequately interpreted.

As we prepare to
celebrate 50 years of independence, the quality of life in our country
should be honestly evaluated in order to determine how Nigerians will
face the challenges of the 21st Century.

On that humid
October night at the Lagos Racecourse, not many Nigerians imagined that
they could be living without water and light, two of the basic
components often classified as “necessities” of life in the year 2010.

Great nation?

During the reign of
Shehu Shagari as president of the republic, he often punctuated his
speeches with the phrase, “this great country.” Later, someone said he
had been a poet, which had to be believed. The only misgiving could
have been that he obviously had no idea what the word “great” meant at
the time. Nigeria’s leaders are often sober and much wiser in
retirement, a factor that tempts them to plan a return to Aso Rock.

Later there was a
hilarious debate in the Obasanjo era over who would die for Nigeria.
Not many recall what led to the arguments, but only the rich declared
they were ready for the sacrifice, which is understandable. The poor
would of course be too weak to take up arms and die for a country that
has refused to recognize their existence.

Surprisingly many
Nigerians will easily tell you they come from a royal family, that they
are princes and princesses. It is not necessary to dispute these claims.

However, by the
percentage of the population claiming this status the country must be
dotted all over with shining palaces. Instead, over 40 percent of
Nigerians live without running water and regular electricity in their
homes, despite over a hundred research institutes and universities in
the country . If all black people were Nigerians we could be forgiven
for believing the racist thesis of the inferiority of the black man.

Waiting on Nigeria

The Israelis are
growing bananas in the desert; Arabs are desalinating sea water for
drinking. We read in history about efforts by the ancient Greeks and
Romans to build aqueducts for water supply. Many industrialized and
developing countries have explored and installed innovative and
auxiliary means of poverty alleviation – rain and floodwater
harvesting, solar, small hydro and wind energy. Everyone seems to be
waiting for Nigeria to arrive.

Eleven
aggrieved legislators in the Ondo State House of Assembly yesterday
insisted that they would not return to the plenary until the recent
impeachment of the former speaker was reversed.

The leadership of
the Assembly was changed last month through an impeachment which swept
away the former speaker, Taofik Olawale Abdulsalam, and his deputy,
Mayowa Akinfolarin.

Since the
impeachment exercise was carried out, the eleven lawmakers, who are
members of the minority Peoples’ Democratic Party, have refused to join
their colleagues in legislative activities.

Speaking on behalf
of the eleven aggrieved lawmakers, Henry Akinsuroju, said his group
would not resume parliamentary sittings with their colleagues until due
process was followed in the removal of the erstwhile leadership of the
House.

According to him, the only way forward is for the lawmakers to adopt an acceptable and legal means of changing their leadership.

“The way out of the
crisis in the State House of Assembly is very simple,” he said.
“Everybody knows that the so-called impeachment at the House was not
properly carried out. The suspension of some members will also not
solve the problem. The House of Assembly could decide to change as many
as four speakers within one month. It is normal, but such exercise must
follow a due process.

“If there should be
a good working relationship among the lawmakers, the current leadership
of the House should be able to reach to their colleagues. The new
Speaker should not embark on any vendetta. He should ensure that what
is due to every member is released to him or her so that the crisis
will not further degenerate into a serious one.”

Absent for a cause

Another of the
aggrieved lawmakers said it was not possible for the current leadership
of the House to sanction the 11 lawmakers for shunning parliamentary
activities.

“I am not sure that
they (House leadership) could penalise us because, constitutionally, we
have the number of days that we have to sit in a session. A new session
has just started, and if I have not been with them for quite sometime,
I will be careful to ensure that I carried out my obligation to the
best of my ability,” said the lawmaker who did not want to be named.

“If the House is
not properly constituted, I cannot go there and sit because that will
be against my conscience. The Speaker has not reached out to the
aggrieved members. Rather, he embarked on a vendetta mission. My people
would not be happy if they see me among traitors. The people of
Ile-Oluji, who I am representing are no traitors. So I cannot afford to
be one.”

Filling the vacuum

Meanwhile, to
facilitate the smooth running of legislative business, the Assembly has
appointed Kele Bolodeoku, (PDP, Ese-Odo) and Oyebode Aladetan (PDP,
Ilaje I), as minority leader and minority whip respectively.

Speaker of the
Assembly, Samuel Adesina, who announced the appointment of the two
legislators at House plenary yesterday, said the decision to appoint
the new officers was to balance the positions as stipulated by the
rules of the House and the constitution.

Mr. Adesina said
the appointments would facilitate adequate representation of both the
majority and the minority in decision taking by principal officers.
Majority leader, Ifedayo Akinsoyinu, said the appointment of the two
minority officers of the House was done in accordance with the
constitution of Nigeria.

Mr. Bolodeoku, on
behalf of his colleague who was absent, accepted the appointment and
promised to work for the progress of the legislature in the interest of
the people of the state.

He said they would take the necessary steps to restore good relationship between the House majority and the minority.

The
paramount ruler of Seimbiri Kingdom in Burutu Local Government Area of
Delta State, Charles Ayemi-Botu, yesterday faulted Isa Lawal Kaita over
his statement that the north would do all within its power to stop
President Goodluck Jonathan from occupying the presidential seat beyond
2011.

The Royal Father,
who is also the former National Executive Chairman of traditional
rulers of oil producing communities, said the statement was inciting
and unguarded.

“The ensuing
questions are: Does any part of the federating states or geo political
zones has the exclusive right to rule this contraption called Nigeria
in perpetuity? Is there apathy in Nigeria or some ethnic extractions
are destined to play a second fiddle in the running of the affairs of
our country forever? Has the likes of Lawal Kaita forgotten that the
north has ruled this country, either through the barrel of the gun or
politicking, for 38 years out of 50 years of her independence? Is
Nigeria actually practicing a true federal system of government whereby
all the federating states have the inalienable right to rule this
country?” He asked.

The king said Mr.
Jonathan must be allowed to continue the Yar’Adua/Jonathan Presidency’s
joint ticket until 2011, and thereafter contest as the PDP’s
presidential candidate due to the fact that the Ijaw, being the fourth
largest ethnic group and the greatest provider of the resources and the
economic live wire to Nigeria, have never held the presidency before.

“It is a truism
that there is no North and South agreement in the military
indoctrinated 1999 Constitution. PDP is just one out of the numerous
political parties in Nigeria and hence, cannot be bigger than Nigeria,”
he said.

Practise fiscal federalism

He said Mr.
Jonathan should ensure that Nigeria operates a federal system and,
hence, political, economic and cultural power must be decentralised and
devolved from the centre to the states, local government councils, and
communities. He also advises him to enshrine true fiscal federalism to
eliminate the endemic fraud at the centre.

“Any attempt to
scuttle the above guiding rules and principles of governance is a
direct invitation to the call by Libyan strongman, Muammar Ghaddafi, to
break up the country through religious, geopolitical, or ethnic divides
such as Arewa Republic, Biafra Republic, Middle Belt Republic, Niger
Delta Republic, and Oduduwa Republic, so that those who want to rule
Nigeria forever can do so in their own domain or republic, and not in
Niger Delta Republic,” he said.

“Suffice to say
that enough is enough and it is now the turn of the Ijaw, like the
Hausa, Yoruba, and Ibo, to be bold and courageous, to take the bull by
the horn, because Nigeria cannot and will not continue to practice a
dictatorial unitary government at our expense and in the guise of a
federal system, while appropriating all our resources and destroying
our environments, killing our youths, and livelihood. For over half a
century of feeding and keeping Nigeria one, we cannot even enjoy our
own God-given resources in our own land and sea.”

Mr. Ayemi-Botu said
for Nigeria to remain a truly united country, the principles of
justice, equity, fairness, and true fiscal federalism must be practised.

The Oyo State
Ministry of Agriculture wants 20 percent allocation of each local
government council to be used for agricultural development, the state
Commissioner for Agriculture, Kunle Ishola, told journalists in Ibadan
on Tuesday.

According to him,
the ministry had proposed an amendment to the bill on local government
matters in this regard. If the bill is passed into law, it would make
it an offence for any council to divert money meant for agriculture to
any other area.

He also complained
that the fees charged at the federal government’s grain silos, located
in the Monatan area of Ibadan, were too high, just as the prices of
grains sold there.

The Kwara State
government said it had so far spent N2.5 billion on the installation of
725 transformers in various communities between 2003 to date.

The Commissioner
for Energy, Zakari Mohammed, said this in Ilorin, on Tuesday, while
answering questions from journalists on the activities of his ministry.

The commissioner
said the purchase and installations of transformers by the state
government was the highest any government had done for its communities
in the country. He added that most of the electrification projects were
jointly funded by the state government in collaboration with the 16
Local Government Areas.

He, however, urged all the benefiting communities to protect the transformers against vandalism by ensuring their proper care.

The family of Kayode Ogunlusi, in Ayegunle-Ekiti in Ijero Local
Government Area of Ekiti State, on Monday, lost their children after
taking a cassava meal prepared by the family.
Five other members of the family, who also ate the cassava meal, are
now on admission at the emergency unit of the University of Ado-Ekiti
Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti.
Mr. Ogunlusi, the father of the deceased children, who only regained
consciousness after receiving medical attention, said the family ate
the cassava meal on Sunday night as dinner.

He explained that few hours after taking the meal, two of the
children started vomiting, while one became unconscious.
The father, who disclosed that the food was prepared by his wife, said
members of the family were later taken to a private hospital in the
town for initial treatment by their neighbours.

The Katsina State government has closed down Sa’a Clinic, a private health outfit in Funtua town.

The state’s Health Commissioner, Aminu Jamo, who gave the order on Monday, described services in the clinic as “substandard”.

Mr. Jamo, who had
earlier inspected the clinic, said that the closure became necessary
because the clinic was “operating with unqualified staff, inadequate
facilities, and very poor environmental sanitation.

“The entire
building of Sa’a Clinic is dilapidated and the facilities are below
standard, hence the decision to seal it immediately.

“Government will not allow proprietors of private clinics to operate
without the required hospital facilities, and will not allow private
clinics to flout the rules and regulations of their establishment,” he
said.

The Abia
Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), says it has set up an
agriculture resource centre to train farmers in income generating
activities.

Enyinnaya
Elekwachi, the programme manager, disclosed this on Monday in Umuahia
during the launch of the ADP Rural Institution Revitalization Programme
and the distribution of cassava cuttings, seeds, and seedlings to
farmers.

The centre, to be
known as ‘Mercy Odochi Orji Women Resource Centre,’ would be equipped
with processing, packaging, and storage facilities to encourage value
addition while also providing market information, Mr. Elekwachi said.

In a remark, John Ikeogu of the National Root Crops Research
Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, said that most of the technologies
developed by the institute had been handed over to the ADP for onward
transmission to farmers.

A
senator and former governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Sani Yerima was
yesterday questioned by officials of the National Agency for
Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP) at
their head quarters in Abuja over his marriage to an Egyptian minor.

Mr. Yerima, who
recently got married to a 14-year girl in Abuja, had been invited by
the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria and NAPTIP, but refused
to respond to the issues.

He was however
granted bail on self recognition hours after his questioning on Tuesday
and was asked to report back to the Agency on the 15 June,2010. While
outside the court, Mr. Yerima told journalists that he was not bound by
the laws of this nation but by Islamic laws, which he claimed he has
not breached.

Mr Yerima, prior
to contracting his marriage to the Egyptian child, had divorced a
teenage wife whom he married when she was fifteen and is now seventeen.

Arinze Orakwe,
head of communication and media of NAPTIP, confirmed the senator’s
presence in the agency’s headquarters, and revealed that Mr. Yerima was
released after more than two hours of questioning and was told to be
available for further questioning on June 15.

“He told the panel
that he has not contravened any law and he tendered his marriage
certificate to the girl in a Shari’a Court,” he said. “NAPTIP made it
clear to him that the agency had invited him to clear the air over the
allegation of his marriage to a minor which contradicts the laws under
the Child Rights Act.”

The National Human Rights Commission, in a statement, commended NAPTIP for its intervention.

“This singular act
has demonstrated that impunity has no place under the current
democratic dispensation and sends a loud and clear warning that nobody
is above or beneath the law in this country,” stated the commission,
while announcing its preparedness to collaborate actively with the
agency in addressing the human rights issues raised by Mr. Yerima’s
actions.

Lawbreaker

Meanwhile,
Alliances for Africa, a non-governmental group, in a statement
delivered to the 47th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on
Human and Peoples Rights in Banjul, The Gambia, says it “is greatly
concerned about the continuing incidents of early marriages in Africa.
The cases of early marriage or child marriage were evident among some
of the masses but are becoming a practice condoned by government
officials.”

The group cited the instance of Mr. Yerima’s marriage to the Egyptian as evidence of this.

“Although, in the
best interest of the child, it is not advisable to disclose the name of
the child, investigations reveal that the child is the daughter of
(Mr.) Yerima’s driver in Cairo, Egypt. Investigations also show that
Senator Yerima, prior to contracting a marriage to the Egyptian child,
divorced a teenage wife whom he married when she was fifteen and is now
seventeen and has a son for the Senator.

The seventeen year
old’s education was stopped during the time of the marriage and like
the Egyptian child, is the daughter of a former driver to the Senator.”

Alliance for
Africa said Mr. Yerima’s marriage “is a clear violation of Section 21
of the Child’s Rights Act of Nigeria 2003, which forbids the marriage
of persons below 18 years and imposes a punishment of N500,000, or
5-year jail term, or both.

It also violates
Article 21(2) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the
Child which prohibits child marriage and betrothal, as well as Article
6(b), African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of
Women in Africa that provides that the minimum age of marriage for
women is 18 years. Egyptian Law also limits the minimum age of marriage
to 18 years.”

The group also
decried the health implications of child brides which, it says, are
quite grave in Nigeria with an attendant high incidence of VVF
(Vesico-Vaginal Fistula) in Northern Nigeria.

“The annals of African medicine journals in a recent study stated
that 73% of VVF victims in Northern Nigeria are between the ages of 10
and 20. Most of the VVF victims were 15 years or less when they married
and majority were illiterate,” the group said.

President Goodluck
Jonathan yesterday announced a change in the top hierarchy of the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) management, with the
appointment of Austin Oniwon as the new Group Managing Director (GMD).

Mr. Oniwon replaces Shehu Ladan, who was appointed barely one and a half months ago to succeed Mohammed Barkindo.

Until his appointment, Mr. Oniwon was the Group Executive Director (Refineries & Petrochemicals) of the corporation.

A statement signed
by Ima Niboro, the President’s Special Adviser, Media and Publicity,
did not give any reason for Mr. Ladan’s removal. According to Mr.
Niboro, the President has also directed Bayo Aganga, the Finance
Minister, to engage the services of a world-class auditing firm to
carry out a comprehensive audit of NNPC accounts.

Born on April 1, 1951, Oniwon is an indigene of Okene, in Kogi State, North Central Nigeria.

The new GMD
commenced his working career with the NNPC in 1977, and rose to the
position of Head, Planning of the Warri Refining and Petrochemicals
Company in 1987. Between 1988 and 1991, he was the Technical Assistant
to the GED (Downstream) and later Head, Engineering and Technical
Services Department (ETSD) of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals
Company, from 1991 to 1992. That same year, Mr. Oniwon was made Head,
New Business Development, Corporate Planning and Development Division,
a post he held until his appointment as Head, ETSD, at the Port
Harcourt Refinery (1993-1999).

A fellow of the
Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers, between 1999 and 2000, Mr.
Oniwon was General Manager, Information System, Engineering and
Technology Directorate, before moving on to function as Senior
Technical Assistant to the GMD and General Manager, Information Systems
Department at the GMD’s office.

He was also
Managing Director of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company
(PPMC), a subsidiary of the NNPC, before moving on to the Eleme
Petrochemicals Company Limited as Managing Director in 2003, where he
served till 2009 when he was appointed Group Executive Director.

Holder of the
Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Chemistry from the Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, he also holds a Diploma in Business Management from
Harvard University, USA, and Diploma Petroleum Management from Oxford
University, United Kingdom.

In a related
development, the President announced the appointment of Mike
Oghiadomhe, as his new Chief of Staff, while Hassan Tukur was named
Principal Secretary to the President. Mr. Tukur replaces David Edevbie.

Until his
appointment, Oniwon was the Group Executive Director (GED), Refining
and Petro-chemicals, and also the most senior GED.