Nigeria Content Online

Abia state
government is worried over the establishment of poultry farms very close
to residential areas, Felix Erondu, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry
of Information and Strategy, has said.

Mr. Erondu said this
on Thursday in Umuahia at a sensitsation workshop on ‘Avian Influenza’,
organised for teachers and students. He said the trend had become
worrisome considering the fact that the deadly Avian flu has not been
totally eradicated worldwide.

According to him,
health experts are also worried about the development, “that our state
has been lucky to escape the scourge is no reason for us to rest on our
oars. Let me stress that we must be vigilant at all times’’.

“The need has become compelling with the recent report on Nov. 17, of
a 59-year-old woman diagnosed with the first human case of bird flu in
Hong Kong,” he said.

The National
Assembly staff on Wednesday barricaded the main entrance to the
chambers for hours, following protest over their unpaid salaries and
allowances.

The staff, who
serve the lawmakers directly as aides and in other service departments,
alleged that the National Assembly management has refused to pay them a
100% increase in their salaries, which was due since July.

The protesting
workers, under the aegis of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria,
and numbering about 400 – including the security men – flooded the
entrance to the chambers chanting solidarity songs and booing at their
director of finance, Abdulazeez Bukoye. They alleged that even though
the Senate president has approved the funds since July, their
management fixed their salary in a bank account where it will yield
interest for some months out of selfish interests.

The deputy clerk of
the National Assembly, Muyiwa Adejokun, who spoke to the protesting
workers on behalf of the management, denied the allegations, saying the
finance ministry was yet to release funds for the implementation of the
salary increase.

For the sake of a
‘distinctive identity’ and a desire to attract and retain high calibre
workforce, the National Assembly had in July approved a 100% increase
in the salaries of the National Assembly workforce. The increase was a
result of an agreement reached by the National Assembly Service
Commission and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria.

The increment is
said to have taken effect from January this year, but would be deployed
in batches: 50% to be paid immediately, while the balance will be
spread over the next eight years. The 50% balance will be added up
incrementally by 20%, 15%, and 15% after the second, sixth, and eight
year respectively.

According to George
Sekibo, the chairman, Senate committee on labour, who spoke on behalf
of the Senate, confirmed that the Senate president has approved the
payments, and asked the workers to give them within a fortnight to
verify from the finance ministry why the money has not been released.
He also requested that the workers nominate five of its members to be
part of the delegation to the finance ministry.

The workers,
however, reluctantly accepted his offer to intervene, but said they
will down tools if the delegation fails to get the money out in the
specified date.

The protesting workers spoke individually; they had no leader as their president, Rawlings Agada, absconded from the protest.

Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, solicited
the cooperation of the National Population Commission (NPC) in the
effective discharge of the 2011 general elections.

Mr. Jega, who made the appeal when he
led a team of INEC commissioners to the premises of the NPC, stated
that it had become necessary for INEC to seek a partnership with the
NPC because of the huge scale of organisation required.

The chairman explained that some
members of the NPC were already workers in the ongoing voters’
registration exercise. He also said the commission had requested the
use of the NPC’s storage facilities to keep its materials during the
elections.

“INEC is out to partner with several bodies, because everybody is interested in seeing that every vote counts,” Mr. Jega said.

“The fact that the commission has
announced a timetable for elections shows our level of readiness and
commitment to the exercise,” he added.

Aid to INEC

The chairman of the NPC, Ismail Danko
Makama, said INEC can use the NPC’s council offices in 36 states and
the FCT, as ancillary operational bases. He told Mr. Jega and his team
that the NPC has the demographic profiles of everyone in the country
from the 2006 census and sample surveys conducted, which could be
useful to INEC. He also promised that INEC can use the commission’s
vehicles for the movement of the materials during the elections.

“The scanning technology of the NPC,
which they use to detect fake documents and identify multiple data
entry, could be useful by INEC in detecting electoral fraud and other
malpractices,” Mr. Makama said.

“[The] commission has well-equipped data processing centres across
the country that can assist INEC during the elections, and we will not
hesitate to come to their aid in whatever form they deem necessary,” he
said.

The former Governor
of Ekiti State, Segun Oni has denied the claim by the state government
that he left a debt profile of over N40 billion.

Mr. Oni, in a
statement signed by his media aide, Wale Ojo-Lanre, said there are
inconsistencies in the allegation saying two weeks ago the current
governor, Kayode Fayemi, claimed the debt stood at N30billion, “only
for him to wake up yesterday to declare that the debt has risen to over
N40 billion.”

“This is the second
time we are reacting to the lies and dishonest statements of the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi
concerning the debt profile left behind by the former governor of the
State, Olusegun Oni,” Mr Ojo -Lanre said.

“The imaginary debt
he inherited is just to prepare the ground for his impending
non-performance, looting of the state treasury and the N40 bond
agreement of which is already being drafted by a Lagos- based lawyer.”

State allegation

Mr. Oni, however,
claimed that the true account it left behind, as at on October 15,
2010, shows that “the bank loan and borrowings then was about N7
billion and this included the outstanding loans of N3.4 billion
obtained by civil servants in the state on which deductions are being
made from their salaries.

“On the
contractors, it is clear that Fayemi was only playing to the gallery
when he said that the total debt owed contractors amounted to N27
billion,” Mr. Oni said, declaring that it is a general knowledge that a
contract does not become a debt until it is certified completed and
contractor moves out of site.

Revealing the alleged debt profile on Tuesday, the state
Accountant-General, David Ibikunle and its Auditor-General, Adebayo
Ajayi, said the state owed contractors handling various projects in the
state about N27 billion, while the various loans obtained by the
deposed administration were said to amount toN7.5 billion.

Although
government is constitutionally empowered to hold land in trust for the
people, it also has to allocate them to buyers, Anambra State
commissioner for lands, survey and urban planning, Peter Afuba, said on
Wednesday.

Mr. Afuba who was
reacting to allegations of indiscriminate sale of lands in parts of the
state, by a civil society group, Intersociety, said in a statement made
through the director, ministry of lands, Chris Arukwe, that government
allocated the lands to deserving organisations and people who met its
requirements.

According to him,
there were two categories of land; state land and non-state land. In
state land, he said, government has direct control while it exercised
minimal control on non-state land. “We merely have a supervisory role
in non-state land over the type of development that takes place there,”
he said.

Intersociety had
petitioned the lands ministry over what it termed indiscriminate sale
of lands particularly in the Onitsha area where it alleged that land
was sold to churches and individuals in a manner that ‘rubbished’ the
hard earned reputation of the state governor.

“Today, it may be
correct to say that the feat recorded or achieved by Peter Obi’s
administration in the area of land management and town planning is
being lost,” it alleged, stating that “the indiscriminate sale and
conversion of the government lands in the state especially in Onitsha
zone appear to be on the increase.”

Buying cemeteries

According to Emeka
Umeagbalasi, chairman of the group, “One of such criminal sales is the
Awada Cemetery, which used to have over 30 plots of land. It is
situated on Oraifite Street. Presently, there are over 25 residential
buildings, in addition to Catholic, Anglican and Pentecostal Churches
as well as other structures meant for commercial purposes.

There are less than
two plots of land now left as public cemetery, and some land
speculators are still fighting tooth and nail to “buy” same. There is
no public or government cemetery in Onitsha zone presently.”

He said their
recent finding showed that between 2008 and 2010, over sixty plots of
land belonging to government, hitherto occupied by debris and those he
called tenant-artisans, had been sold dubiously to certain wealthy
individuals and churches leading to the current absence of any
government designated refuse dumping site at the heart of Onitsha.

The group is thus
demanding that all public land illegally sold or converted should be
recovered and government officials responsible for such criminal
conducts investigated and prosecuted.

Responding the
allegations, Mr. Arukwe maintained that most of the references made in
the petition by Inetrsociety were on issues that happened many years
ago and that those places were not government lands.

“They’re not government lands and government is not involved in what’s happening there.”

The Bayelsa State government is to
evolve a legislative framework to compel traditional rulers and
chairmen of councils to reside and discharge their functions in their
domains.

The State Governor, Timipre Sylva, on
Wednesday, in Yenagoa, at a Town Hall meeting with community leaders,
said that the practice where some traditional rulers and council
chairmen were residing in the state capital was counter-productive to
the development of the rural areas.

About 90 percent of council chairmen
and traditional rulers in the state reside and carry out their
functions from Yenagoa, abandoning their subjects in the rural
communities.

“If only the traditional rulers and
council chairmen would stay in their respective domains and carry out
their leadership functions, I believe we will have fewer problems in
the state,” Mr. Sylva said.

The governor’s decision to return them
to their areas of authority followed a complaint by a concerned
community leader, Dennis Atimi.

Mr. Atimi, who is from Ekeremor local
government area, had, at the meeting, complained to the governor that
the absence of the council chairmen in their areas had led to the
collapse of local government administration in the state.

“If the chairmen were compelled to stay in the council areas and
discharge their functions, there will be high sense of responsibility
and commitment to the growth and development of the councils,” he said.

The tactical
intervention of the Senate President, David mark, stopped the Senate
from throwing out the $3.702 billion outstanding external borrowing
plan of the federal government.

The intervention of
the Senate President came on Wednesday after a heated debate which saw
most Senators strongly opposing the plan of the federal and state
governments as requested by the president.

Mr Mark who noticed
that the debates might not favour the bill refused to call for votes on
it, and instead referred it to the Senate Committee on Finance and the
Committee on National Planning.

President Goodluck
Jonathan had for the second time since assuming office written the
National Assembly on 4th November demanding the approval of his
outstanding borrowing plan for 2010.

The National
assembly, in April, partially approved the plan which was forwarded to
them alongside the 2010 budget proposals. They approved $915 million
out of the $5.22 billion loan amount proposed under the 2010 borrowing
plan leaving out $4.31 billion.

However, having
gotten the $915 million already approved, the president is now asking
for the approval of the outstanding amount of $3.702 billion which
sixteen states, the Federal Capital Territory, and the federal
government are the beneficiaries.

The loans and
credits would be secured on concessionary terms with repayment periods
of 25 to 40 years and moratoriums of 7 to 10 years.

The amount is to be
implemented on projects like rail construction, building of markets,
urban water and sanitation projects, equipping of hospitals, and rural
access and mobility projects.

Most senators
argued that the loans – especially those requested by the states – has
vague intentions and were not necessary now that 2011 is just a month
away.

“This money, from all indications is money that will disappear into private pockets,” Lee Maeba (PDP River state) said.

He argued that with
the 2011 elections around the corner, the monies will be used by the
state governments to run campaigns and mortgage the state rather than
apply it for the reason they were borrowed.

Like Mr. Maeba,
Ahmed Lawan (ANPP Yobe) said he does not support the borrowing plan. He
added that they do not even have the report on the utilisation of the
initial $915 million that was approved and acquired in April.

Uche Chukwumerije (PDP Abia state) also argued that the timing of the borrowing – end of tenures; election season – was wrong.

However, a few
other senators, including the deputy senate president and the senate
president argued in favour of the borrowing plan saying that it is
practically impossible for any nation to develop its infrastructure on
it’s internally generated funds.

Shocked by the
state of the equipment used by the Nigerian soldiers on peacekeeping
operations in Liberia, the House of Representatives committee on
defence, yesterday, stated its determination to continue with its
investigation into how N23 billion was spent by the ministry of defence
on equipment for the operation.

The renewed plan to
launch the investigation is coming after a tour of the committee to
Liberia. The committee was accompanied on the tour by the Speaker,
Dimeji Bankole.

Consequently, the
defence minister, Adetokunbo Kayode, is billed to appear before the
committee to explain how the money was expended.

A source in the
committee said that during the visit, the lawmakers discovered to their
chagrin that in spite of the huge sum expended on peacekeeping
operations in Liberia since the minister assumed duties, the Nigerian
contingent is the least equipped among the nations that contribute to
the United Nations peacekeeping operations in that West African country.

It reportedly
discovered that the paucity of the equipment was the main reason the
reimbursement from the UN to Nigeria has greatly reduced. The committee
also found out that Nigeria has so far lost about 1000 soldiers, and
spent over $40 billion on peacekeeping operation in Liberia since 1990.

The legislators
were also said to have demanded the total overhauling of the Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) between Nigeria and the United Nations on her
involvement in peacekeeping operations.

Next stop, Sudan

The committee
chairman, Wole Oke, confirmed the visit of the committee to Liberia
during a telephone interview yesterday. He also said Mr. Kayode will
appear before the committee to discuss the issue with its members,
adding that they will visit Dafur, Sudan, soon to check on Nigerian
troops there.

Meanwhile, Mr. Oke
has urged the Liberian House of Representatives to legislate to ensure
permanent peace and unity in the country, even as he promised to convey
the country’s request for further assistance on its 2011 poll to
President Goodluck Jonathan.

He stated this when he paid a visit in company of defence committee members to the Speaker of the Liberian parliament.

Activities of the
Ogun State government were yesterday paralysed, following the
commencement of a three-day warning strike embarked upon by the civil
servants across the state. The first phase of the strike will last till
tomorrow, before further action by the workers.

The workers, under
the aegis of Joint Public Service Negotiating Council had, on Monday,
expressed its intention to embark on the strike, following allegation
against the state government over non-remittance of pension funds
totaling N3.8billion, as well as other unpaid allowances meant for them.

The state chairman
of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, Emmanuel Sunday
Adeegbe, had, at the press conference, accused the state government of
additional non-payment of leave bonus from 2009 to date.

The allegation also
includes non-payment of gratuity to senior citizens {retired civil
servants} since September 2008, and non-release of running cost to
ministries and parastatals since January 2010.

Investigations
revealed that the strike took place as scheduled, as many of the
offices were under lock and key. The governor’s office, located at
Oke-Mosan, which accommodates secretariat of the civil servants, was
deserted. In fact, the giant gate leading to the governor’s
office/secretariat, which is located along the Golf Course way, was not
opened for any passage, just as the vicinity was like a ghost town.

Insistent on strike

Similarly, public
schools were shut. Students who were not aware of the strike had to
return home, because of the absence of both the academic and
non-academic staff in their various schools.

The workers’
leaders said their colleagues should stay at home for the three days of
the warning strike, as all avenues to ensure the payment of items have
failed.

“Workers should
discountenance the government appeals, threat, and coercive tendencies
and await further directive from labour,” he said.

At 5pm, when NEXT visited the Nigeria Labour Congress {NLC}
secretariat, located within the Government Reservation Area, Abeokuta,
top officials and principal officers of the union were still holding
meetings, apparently for the next line of action.

A U.S. aircraft
carrier group set off for Korean waters on Wednesday, a day after North
Korea rained artillery shells on a South Korean island, in a move
likely to enrage Pyongyang and unsettle its ally, China.

South Korea said
the bodies of two civilians were found on the island after Tuesday’s
attack, which is likely to stir up more resentment in the country
against its prickly neighbour.

The nuclear-powered
USS George Washington, which carries 75 warplanes and has a crew of
over 6,000, left a naval base south of Tokyo and would join exercises
with South Korea from Sunday to the following Wednesday, U.S. officials
in Seoul said.

U.S. Forces Korea said the exercise was defensive, and had been planned well before Tuesday’s attack.

“An aircraft
carrier is the most visible sign of power projection there is … you
could see this as a form of pre-emptive deterrence,” said Lee Chung-min
of Yonsei University in Seoul.

A foreign ministry
spokesman in Pyongyang said in a statement it had responded in
“self-defence”, and accused the South of firing shells into its waters
near the disputed maritime border.

“The DPRK that sets
store by the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula is now
exercising superhuman self-control, but the artillery pieces of the
army of the DPRK, the defender of justice, remain ready to fire,” said
the North’s KCNA news agency, referring to North Korea by its official
name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

It said the South
was driving the peninsula to the “brink of war” with “reckless military
provocation” and by postponing humanitarian aid.

The government in
Seoul came under pressure for the military’s slow response to the
provocation, echoing similar complaints made when a warship was sunk in
March in the same area, killing 46 sailors.

Defence minister,
Kim Tae-young, was grilled by lawmakers who said the government should
have taken quicker and stronger retaliatory measures against the
North’s provocation.

“I am sorry that
the government has not carried out ruthless bombing through jet
fighters during the North’s second round of shelling,” said Kim
Jang-soo, a lawmaker of ruling Grand National Party and a former
defence minister.

Tuesday’s attack
was the heaviest in the region since the Korean War ended in 1953, and
marked the first civilian deaths in an assault since the bombing of a
South Korean airliner in 1987.

The United States
and Japan urged China to do more to rein in North Korea after the
reclusive nation fired scores of artillery shells on Tuesday at a South
Korean island near their sea border.

China’s foreign
ministry urged the two Koreas to show “calm and restraint” and engage
in talks as quickly as possible, to avoid an escalation of tensions.

Joint exercise

The joint
U.S.-South Korea drill in the waters between the Korean peninsula and
China will likely enrage Beijing, which has said such previous
exercises are a threat to its security and to regional peace and
stability.

“China will not
welcome the U.S. aircraft carrier joining the exercises, because that
kind of move can escalate tensions, and not relieve them,” said Xu
Guangyu, a retired major-general in the People’s Liberation Army, who
now works for a government-run arms control organisation.

The joint exercise
was reminiscent of a crisis in 1996 when the then President Bill
Clinton sent an aircraft carrier group through the Taiwan Strait, after
Beijing test-fired missiles into the channel between the mainland and
Taiwan.

Seoul calm

Seoul, a city of
over 10 million, was bustling as normal on Wednesday, a sunny autumn
day, although developments were being closely watched by office workers
on TV and in newspapers.

“My house was burnt to the ground,” said Cho Soon-ae, 47, who was among 170 or so evacuated from Yeonpyeong on Wednesday.

“We’ve lost
everything. I don’t even have extra underwear,” she said weeping,
holding on to her sixth-grade daughter, as she landed at Incheon.

Despite the rhetoric, regional powers made clear they were looking for a diplomatic way to calm things down.

U.S. President
Barack Obama, woken up in the early hours to be told of the artillery
strike, said he was outraged and pressed the North to stop its
provocative actions.

South Korea’s armed
forces, technically superior, though about half the size of the North’s
one-million-plus army, warned of “massive retaliation” if its neighbour
attacked again.

Reuters