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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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Moses Ada Egashi
Alade, a traditional ruler in Nasarawa State, has appealed to the
governor, Aliyu Akwe Doma, to take his community’s land dispute case
before the National Boundary Commission.

Mr Alade is the
Utushoho of Agbashi, a border between Benue and Nasarawa States. He
made the appeal in his palace on Monday, during a meeting of the
traditional council.

The traditional
ruler also asked the governor to expedite the completion of the road
that links the towns of Doma Akwata to Agbashi on the Benue border. He
said past governments had failed to complete the road, adding that if
completed, it would open up the area for socio-economic activities.

Mr Alade also wants
the Universal Basic Education board to post teachers and structural
materials to the area. He lamented that since the construction of a
general hospital by the past administration, the community has not been
able staff it.

The governor met with the traditional ruler yesterday, during his state-wide “meet the people” tour.

Danladi Egege, an
Ekye resident, appealed to the governor to hurry the contractor
handling the Doma Akwata to Agbashi road and ensure its completion
before the end of this year. He also wants workers who quit the site to
return.

After Ekye, the state governor will proceed to Doma, his home town.

Nigeria’s Deputy
Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on Monday said that the proposed
amount for the new voter register by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) is too high.

Mr Ekeweremadu,
while speaking to correspondents at the presidential wing of the
Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, said that our country is faced
with numerous challenges that require financial attention and that our
government should be working out how to save funds.

“Well, that is his
(Jega, INEC Chairman’s) estimate, not my estimate. We should be talking
about how to save money from that figure and focus on other areas,” he
said.

Mr Ekweremadu added
that the commission needs to review the amount in the request,
stressing that the number of polling booths to be used during the 2011
general elections is enormous.

“I think for the
purpose of the election, it is reasonable, but a country such as here
where we have so much poverty, it is on the high side. He (Jega) may
have to adjust it to be more realistic, for we believe there are other
ways we can adjust this.

“That figure is
much, because he is looking at one data capturing machine per polling
booth and we have 120,000 of such (polling booths), so if there is any
way we can deal with it in such a way that there could be like two
polling booths per DCM, I’m sure it’s going to reduce the figure,” he
said.

Last week, Attahiru
Jega, chairman of the commission, disclosed that the INEC will need N84
billion to efficiently carry out credible general elections in our
country come 2011.

The Senator,
however, assured that the House of Assembly will reach an agreement
with the commission on how to professionally deal with the development.

“We will work it out with him but he is going to get all the support he needs from us,” he said.

State creation

Speaking on the
agitation for the increase in the number of states in Nigeria, Mr
Ekweremadu said that the Senate has to go through different procedures
before coming out with an agreed figure.

“I don’t have the
figures here and this is not the military regime where you just stay
one place and say you are creating states; because we have to go
through a number of procedures laid down in section 8 of the
constitution,” he said.

The Deputy Senate President said that the House is to establish a committee that will look into the issue of state creation.

“We are going to set up a small committee within our small
committee, to look at all the requests and advice us in terms of those
that meet the requirements, those that are viable and those that meet
the ends of justice,” he said. “Then we will be able to make further
recommendations to the National Assembly.”

The Police in Imo
State have arrested five suspected kidnappers who allegedly abducted a
six-year-old boy and demanded a N5 million ransom from his family.

The Deputy
Commissioner of Police (DCP), Gwary Usman, who paraded the suspects in
Owerri, alleged that the suspects abducted Chinaza Onyeike in front of
his home at Obilubi in Mbaitoli Local Government Area on July 24 at
gunpoint.

He said that “the
hoodlums forced the victim into their 406 Peugeot car and drove off to
an unknown destination.” Mr. Usman also said that from their hideout,
the suspects demanded a N5 million ransom from the parents of the boy
and that the police later arrested a member of the gang, who assisted
the Police with information that led to the rescue of the boy.

According to him, the suspect led operatives to Umuno Okwu Ikeduru, where the victim was being locked up in a house.

He said the “victim
was safely rescued, the vehicle used for the kidnap was equally
recovered’’ and the suspect made more confessions that led to the
arrest of other gang members.

The suspects included two brothers aged 25 and 27, as well as another 25-year-old and a 24-year-old man.

The police further
alleged that the gang, on May 11, kidnapped one Peace Iheanacho, who
was released after the payment of N100, 000.

The DCP also said that the police arrested another 24-year-old man over his involvement in many kidnap cases around the state.

He used the occasion to restate the commitment of the Police Command to check crime, especially kidnapping, in the state.

He expressed happiness that the new strategy adopted to improve the security situation was yielding positive results.

“The fight against
kidnapping in the state is now being fought with vigour, we need the
members of the community to join us,” he said.

NAN

A Nigerian man and
a French woman were jailed today in the United Kingdom after they
pleaded guilty to a sham marriage. According to a United Kingdom Border
Agency investigation, a Nigerian man, Moshood Samusi, was alleged to
have overstayed his visa, and he and his French bride, Landry Tra, were
sentenced to serve two and a half years each.

Mr. Samusi is the
sixth Nigerian to be convicted of sham marriages in an ongoing special
operation to stop arranged marriages by foreigners in their plans to
become UK citizens. Mr. Samusi and his wife pleaded guilty to
immigration offences at Northampton Crown Court and will also be
deported when they are through serving their sentences.

In a statement
signed by Toby Allanson, UK Border Agency, Regional Press Officer –
East: “Their convictions were said to have brought the total cases of
such fake marriages, combined sentences for all 12 people apprehended
during Operation Sandford, which kicked off in March, to more than 26
years.” Mr. Samusi, who is 39, and 21-year-old Ms. Tra were allegedly
arrested by officers from the UK Border Agency’s immigration crime team
on March 14 while their marriage ceremony was underway in St Michael’s
Church, Perry Street, Northampton.

The statement also
says that “Ms. Tra admitted that she agreed to marry Samusi for a
payment of £3,500. Samusi of Fairmead House, Hackney, hoped that his
marriage to a French national would assist his application to remain in
the UK.” Damian Green, Minister for Immigration, however said that he
welcomed their conviction and expected it to send a clear signal to
anyone considering a fake marriage,

“Today’s
convictions send a clear message to anyone considering breaking our
immigration laws that Britain is no longer a soft touch. We now have
specialist teams of immigration and police officers working day in day
out to tackle and prosecute people who commit this form of organised
criminality.

“I have tasked the
UK Border Agency with carrying out an intense period of enforcement
activity over the summer to tackle the most problematic routes – bogus
colleges and organised traffickers as well as illegal working and sham
marriages.

“We are determined
to create a hostile environment which makes it harder than ever for
illegal immigrants to come to the UK and put untold pressures on our
public services.” Also, the UK Border Agency assistant director, Sam
Bullimore, said that “Tackling sham marriage is a top priority for us
and our immigration crime teams are working hard to create a hostile
environment for those who break the immigration laws.

“We are working
closely with registrars and the Church to identify suspect marriages.
Where there is evidence to suggest that a wedding may be bogus we will
investigate and, where necessary, intervene to stop it happening.

“People should be
under no illusion that marriage is enough to get permission to stay in
the UK. Their relationship has to be genuine. If it’s not, they will
face prosecution or deportation.” The Operation Sandford put in place
by the agency has however uncovered a series of sham marriages taking
place at Holy Sepulchre and St Michaels churches, mainly between West
Africans and EU nationals from countries including France, Portugal and
Holland.

According to the agency, “Any non-EEA foreign criminal sentenced to
more than 12 months in prison for any offence automatically faces
deportation action. Anyone who suspects someone of committing
immigration related crime should contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
where anonymity can be assured.”

Russia’s leaders
declared a state of emergency on Monday in seven provinces and ordered
authorities to guard weapons storage facilities from wildfires that
have killed at least 40 people.

Thousands more have
lost their homes to blazes stoked by Russia’s worst heatwave since the
tsarist era. The heat has parched crops in one of the world’s largest
grain exporting nations, helping drive global grain prices to 22-month
highs.

“Many families have
nothing left — the flames destroyed everything,” President Dmitry
Medvedev said in a sober announcement on state television. “It is a
huge tragedy.” With little relief expected this week, he urged Russians
to take care in tinder-dry forests and fields, warning that “every
match tossed away could lead to irreparable disaster.” Medvedev’s
emergency decree covered European Russian regions from Voronezh in the
south to several Volga River areas and the densely populated province
ringing Moscow.

A blanket of acrid
smog covered the sweltering capital itself, worsening the woes of
Muscovites gasping in Russia’s hottest weather since record-keeping
began around 1880. Some wore facemasks to filter the air they breathed.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered authorities to protect weapons sites, power plants and other vital facilities.

“The last thing we
need is for arms stores to fall into this zone (affected by fires),”
Putin said at a meeting with emergency officials and governors of
affected regions.

Authorities said
they had increased the number of firefighters near an iconic nuclear
research centre by tenfold, but a spokesman for Russia’s state nuclear
corporation Rosatom, Sergei Novikov, said the centre was not currently
in danger.

The facility at
Sarov in the Nizhny Novgorod province around 350 kilometres (220 miles)
east of Moscow was a top-secret location in Soviet times codenamed
Arzamas-16, where the first Soviet atom and hydrogen bombs were
designed.

“At the present
time, all the fires around (the centre) have been put out so there is
no threat to the nuclear centre,” Novikov said.

“There may be a threat of further fires from the south but special groups are prepared for that contingency.”

Reconstruction

Putin warned that
small blazes in areas where fires have been extinguished could be
whipped up by winds and spread again. “Everything must be put out,”
Putin said.

Putin is still
widely seen as Russia’s top leader after steering Medvedev into the
presidency in 2008 and is eager to retain his popularity ahead of
elections in the next two years. He chided regional officials and
demanded detailed accounts of plans to fight the fires and compensate
the victims.

“You know what
citizens are saying: ‘Yes, we call (the authorities), but they hang up
on us — nobody wants to talk,” Putin said at the meeting, shown in
part on state television.

He ordered
governors to report to him with timelines for the construction of
housing, demanding information about “every region, every town, every
home.” Medvedev said all those who have lost their homes must have
roofs over their heads before winter.

Putin said
compensation and reconstruction was expected to cost 5 billion roubles
(103.8 million pounds). It will all come from the state budget because
very few Russian households have insurance.

He also called for
plans to prevent such losses from wildfires in the future. More people
die per capita in household fires in Russia than in most Western
nations because of poor infrastructure, flouting of safety rules and
negligence.

Nearly 700
wildfires were burning on Monday over 1,210 square kilometres (750
square miles) of land, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Situations
Ministry told Reuters.

The death toll rose from 28 people on Sunday to 40 on Monday, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Reuters