Nigeria Content Online

The Abia State
Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Emeka Nwachukwu, has
denied alleged leadership crisis in the state chapter leading to the
emergence of two factions. Mr. Nwachukwu told journalists, in Umuahia,
that there were no factions of the party in the state and that the
leadership was not in doubt.

He said that the party could have its
problems at the national level, but that the leadership of the party,
which, he said, had maintained and funded for six years was
incontestable at the moment. He, however, said that the achievements of
the party in luring the state Governor, Theodore Orji, to its fold was
greater than any personal interests, adding that as the leader of the
party in the state, “(Mr) Orji will take his time to restructure it to
suit his purpose.”

Senator Smart Adeyemi, (PDP-Kogi), has
said that the presidential system of government as being practiced in
Nigeria is a huge waste of resources in the face of glaring poverty
among majority of Nigerians.

Mr. Adeyemi, Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, on
Sunday in Abuja, said “the presidential system of government is good
for a diverse nation like Nigeria. But the way we run it, a
full-fledged presidential system is too expensive and I see it as a
waste. I see it as breeding a lot of social problems.”

“Today in this country, a lot of people have taken politics as a
profession which shouldn’t be. And because I believe that politics
means service to the people, to me therefore, the present bi-cameral
practice of presidential system is too expensive and I do not support
the situation where politicians are far more comfortable than the
people who voted them into office. Today, you have a situation where
the people are getting poorer and you have a system in place that is
breeding corruption,” he added.

U.S. President
Barack Obama is thinking about jobs: looking for jobs for more than 14
million Americans and protecting the jobs of Washington lawmakers at
the same time.

“To every American who is looking for work I promise you we’re going to keep on doing everything we can,” he said.

“I will do
everything in my power to help our economy create jobs and opportunity
for all people.” The United States elects a president every four years,
but schedules congressional elections on two-year cycles. So just as
the president settles into the Oval Office, he has to lead his party in
another round of campaigning mid-way through his term.

Those ‘midterms’
are coming up on November 2 and they will be a preoccupation for
American politics for the next four months. Obama was out this week
looking for support in two western states and he has more campaign
travel coming.

Usually, the party
that controls the White House and Congress expects a protest vote to
push back against it in the midterms. Many Democrats fear serious
losses this year, because polls suggest voters are so angry.

The most recent
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found that 73 percent of
respondents think things are going badly in America – nearly three
times as many as respondents who said things are going well.

Democrats believe
the country’s 9.5 percent unemployment rate is partly to blame. If
Obama could lower that number, a lot of Democrats think it would help.

Republicans see a
much darker picture of the national mood. They believe that the
economy, the oil spill disaster off the U.S. coast and a host of other
concerns as well have convinced Americans that their government is
failing.

“Americans don’t see an economy in recovery,” said Republican Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas.

“They see a White
House seemingly incapable of protecting our beaches or getting people
back to work.” President Obama has a just a few months left to spur job
creation in time to have an impact on the midterms. Once they’re past,

candidates for the presidency will begin organising their campaigns
for the election in 2012. It will be Obama’s own job that will be at
stake.

Prominent
indigenes of Ogun State, where Dimeji Bankole, the speaker of the House
of Representatives hails from, say they are “solidly behind” him as he
faces corruption allegations and a house beset by crisis. In a letter
addressed to Mr. Bankole, the Abeokuta club, which has as members, top
scholars, politicians and traditional chiefs from the area, said its
members have followed developments in the House of Representatives
where the speaker is accused of corruption, and promised him of its
members’ support.

“I write to let you
know that the entire membership of our club is solidly behind you in
the ongoing controversy in the House of Representatives,” reads the
letter, signed by the group’s acting president, Afolabi Soyode, who is
the former Vice Chancellor of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun state.
“We are following very closely the development, and how, in particular,
the majority of members, with you leading, have tried to show that
minority rule through force, violence and coercion should not be the
order of the day in our democracy.”

‘Remain steadfast’

The group’s grand
patron is the Alake of Egbaland, and has former president, Olusegun
Obasanjo; former Head of Interim National Government, Ernest Shonekan,
and former first republic premier of the Western region, Moses
Majekodunmi, as its vice patrons. Mr. Obasanjo, who met a week ago with
the House speaker at the Lagos International airport, later denied
media reports that the two discussed issues related to the
controversies in the house where 11 members were suspended for calling
for the removal of Mr. Bankole over corruption allegations.

The letter, dated June 25, 2010, was dispatched to Mr. Bankole by
the Abeokuta Club few days after the violent session of the house
during which the members were suspended and later dragged out with
clothes torn. Some of the suspended lawmakers, last Friday, instituted
a legal challenge of the House decision, and have asked to be
reinstated. The club advised Mr. Bankole to be “steadfast” and assured
him of its members’ “prayers and best wishes.” “We hope at the end of
the day that the investigations would demonstrate that you are a man of
integrity in whom all Nigerians can be justifiably proud,” the letter
concluded.

The
Ondo State government is partnering with private investors within and
outside Nigeria to boost socio-economic developments in the state, the
state Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, said yesterday while speaking to
aviation correspondents at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport,
Lagos, on arrival from the United States of America.

Mr Mimiko disclosed
that the state government is focusing on Ore, a commercial city in the
southern part of the state, for industrial, agricultural and general
business activities. He said that his business trip to the United
States has provided an investment window for the state to commence
power generation and fertiliser plants at Ore, as a result of the oil
and gas resources in that region of the state. “We are positioning Ore
as an industrial hub for the state; and we are trying to take gas to
the industrial park in Ore, which will have its own multipliers effect
in power generation, and in terms of trying to put a fertilizer plant
in Ore,” he said.

Public partnership

Admitting that the
state is scouting for investors, Mr. Mimiko disclosed that his team had
mutual discussions with investors from the United States. “We are
looking for investors, as well as talking to people, and may I let you
know that we had a fruitful discussion on investment opportunities for
the state in many areas of development,” he said.

“These are the areas
we want to focus attention, we hope that out of this will come the
needed investment, especially in the area of tourism, in agro
processing, and in the oil and gas sector.” On how to secure funds for
the project, the governor disclosed that all of the ventures are to be
undertaken by public private partnership. “Every project that I have
spoken about is driven by the public private partnership model,” he
said. “Some of them we are providing the equity funding with our
partners, but for most of them in terms of management, technical know
how and equity we are bringing in partners.”

Lamido
Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed
that for rescued banks to get their operations right, they must improve
on their risk management, operational capacity, as well as corporate
governance.

Mr. Sanusi, who
spoke to aviation correspondents at the presidential wing of the
Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, disclosed that the banks will only get
better international rating from the likes of Standard and Poor
(S&P) when they heed to the aforementioned advice. “What S&P
said about our banks is that there is need to improve on their risk
management,” he said. “The way to achieve this in Nigeria is for the
affected banks to improve their capacity, improve their assets
qualities, and improve on their risk management as well as their
management and corporate governance.”

According to Mr. Sanusi, the agency recently rated Nigerian banks as
high in risk management with poor regulatory oversight, adding that as
much as he is not worried over the category B rating, the CBN moved
into the rescued banks because it realized the need for them to improve
on their risk management. “How will you expect a high rating of our
rescued banks? What has happened is a confirmation that there is need
for the banks to improve their operations. We moved into the rescued
banks because we realized the need for the banks to improve their risk
management,” he said.

The
Oyo State governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, at the weekend, faulted media
reports alleging that he walked out on the national chairman of the
Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Okwesileze Nwodo, at a meeting he held
with the latter in his Abuja office last Thursday.

The governor, in a
telephone chat in Ibadan on Sunday, described the story as untruthful
and calculated to bring him to disrepute.

He said he did not
leave the chairman’s office until he completed his mission there,
adding that Mr. Nwodo was well aware of his exit.

Mr. Alao-Akala also
explained that his visit to Abuja was not prompted by any
reconciliation move on the crisis in the party, as reported in the
media, but done to congratulate the chairman on his appointment as
number one member of the party.

“It was unfortunate
the way the media portrayed my visit to Wadata Plaza. First, I was
never summoned. Second was the fact that the visit was at our instance,
and third, we were warmly received by the national chairman who, in the
cause of the visit, had to invite other members of the national working
committee of the party,” he said.

“I remain a
committed party member, and that informed our visit to the national
chairman and second, I am a humble personality, which is the reason I
had to go for the visit, even in company of one of my predecessors in
office, Kolapo Ishola, who incidentally is a colleague of the national
chairman when he was the executive governor of Enugu State.” Mr. Akala.

He said he
suspected that the journalists covering the PDP national headquarters
might have taken an offence with his refusal to entertain question from
them, before going for the meeting, saying the act was not deliberate.
Advising journalists to always report issues accurately, the governor
said that is the only way to nurture the nation’s nascent democracy to
maturity.

“The media report was unfair to me, but I thank God that the national secretariat had come out to refute the story,” he said.

Meanwhile, a leader
of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Lekan Balogun, has
advised Mr. Alao Akala to be careful about the likelihood of pushing
the state towards a state of emergency by his actions.

The Ibadan high
chief, who spoke with journalists at his Alarere, Ibadan residence, at
the weekend, expressed worry about the many political and industrial
crises going on in the state, and warned that if proper care is not
taken, such situations could erupt into a crisis capable of breaching
the peace of the state.

Mr. Balogun said by
courting the ‘illegal’ Dejo Afolabi-led PDP executive and sidelining
some prominent members of his party, allowing his disagreement with the
teachers’ union to degenerate into a strike, as well as fighting with
the poultry farmers association, the governor has already made the
state ungovernable for himself.

State of crises

“If this state must
witness peace and harmony, Alao Akala needs to bring all the warring
camps together, reconcile all aggrieved members, and introduce sanity
into the political system,” he said.

“He must listen to the voice of reason from all quarters, and free himself from sycophants milling round him.

“If he fails to do this, then a state of emergency is inevitable,” he cautioned.

His views on the
governor’s relationship with some elders of the party was based on the
controversy trailing his meeting with Mr. Nwodo, in Abuja last
Wednesday, where Alao-Akala allegedly stormed out on the party boss who
reportedly told him that his state does not have a legally-constituted
executive committee.

“I believe the NWC
has no choice than to concede that Oyo State has no executive. We do
not have. The members parading themselves as executive members are
self-imposed and illegal, because they did not evolve out of any
congress. They were not properly and legally elected.

“There was even a
court injunction against them, and the INEC confirmed this in writing.
The NWC is in the know of this, hence the decision that a broad-based
party executive must be put in place”, said Mr. Balogun.

However, in his
reaction to Balogun’s note of caution, the governor, through Dotun
Oyelade, his special adviser on public communications, said the call
“smacks of debilitating idleness.”

“Apparently
dissatisfied that his earlier similar calls have been roundly ignored
by everyone whose attention he craves, the former senator has become a
butt of joke in political circles where he is referred to as ‘casino
politician’ for his wanton unpredictability.

“He is flawed on all grounds of his allegations, not only because
they lack merit, but for the kindergarten reasoning. Obviously calling
on the federal government to reek a state of emergency based on
frivolous premise is a disrepute to civilised opposition,” the terse
reaction concluded.

Political
office holders and civil servants who acted as guarantors of loans for
beneficiaries of the Ekiti State Micro Credit Scheme will be held
responsible in cases of default by beneficiaries, the State
Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Taiwo Olatunbosun, has
said.

Mr. Olatunbosun
said the guarantors were liable to pay back the loans in accordance
with the agreement they signed with government. He urged political
office holders and civil servants who have their family members in this
category to appeal to them to repay their outstanding loans, stressing
that government was determined to ensure total recovery of all
outstanding loans in order to enable others to benefit from the scheme.
The Information Commissioner said the state government established the
Micro-Credit Agency as part of efforts at alleviating poverty through
disbursement of loans to artisans. He said these loans were guaranteed
by reputable people in the society, including political office holders
and government functionaries.

Fighting drugs

The commissioner
also warned Forest Guards manning the state forest reserves on the need
to rid the state of the cultivation and trafficking of Indian Hemp.
“Government will henceforth regard all Forest Guards of the areas where
marijuana farms were discovered as part of the ignoble act,” he said.
“We are determined to wage war against planting of cannabis government
reserves. Forest guards that voluntarily gives information that may
lead to discovery of such criminal plantation would be properly
rewarded as motivation for them to be alert to the responsibility of
checkmating the activities of the cultivators of the illicit weed.” He
also called on people in the state to report any suspicious farm to
relevant law enforcement agencies.

Meanwhile, the State Executive Council has also ratified the
transfer of the Schools of Nursing and midwifery, Ado Ekiti, which had
hitherto been under the supervision of the State Ministry of Health, to
the University of Ado Ekiti Teaching Hospital. Mr Olatubosun said the
gesture would facilitate improved management and enhance training of
the Nurses and Midwives in the schools, in conformity with the new
status of the University Teaching Hospital. He reiterated the
commitment of the state administration to the development of all
sectors, stressing that no stone would be left unturned in the efforts
at ensuring rapid development in the state.

Late
last month, a young lady, identified only as Zainab, headed for a spot
where hard drugs are sold on Aminu Kano Crescent in Wuse II, a district
in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. At the spot, which also
doubles as a petrol station, Zainab sold a BlackBerry phone, worth at
least N60,000, for N2,000. She was in need of a quick fix and with
N2,000, Zainab could buy about 0.25grammes, a little more than a pinch,
of cocaine. There are many of such markets in Abuja and Zainab is just
one of the growing population of young Nigerians who are addicted to
cocaine.

Latest statistics from the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) show that between 2004 and now, Nigerian
nationals have not only become involved in the international illicit
drug trade but that there has been a rapid rise in the use of drugs,
especially cocaine. The UNODC believes that the increase is directly
linked to the high level of corruption in the country.

Becoming a major player

It has now been established that Nigeria is an
active player in the $6.8billion West- African cocaine market. The
country serves as a major route through which cocaine is trafficked
from Columbia, the main hub of cocaine production, to the 4.5 million
users in Europe.

Nigeria is also considered an active retailer as well as a small scale importer of the illicit drug.

The West-African market began blooming from 2004
as drug dealers in Columbia sought for safer routes to move illicit
substances to a budding market in Europe. With US authorities coming
down hard on the largest drug market in the world, the North American
drug market, West Africa, with its numerous sea ports and weak law
enforcement, quickly became a thriving alternate route to move cocaine
to the European market.

“Shipments to Africa, mostly West Africa gained in
importance between 2004 and 2007, resulting in the emergence of two key
trans-shipment hubs…one centered in the Bight of Benin, which spans
from Ghana to Nigeria,” the 2010 World Drug Report from the UNODC
states.

The Nigerian traffickers

Although insufficient and unreliable data make it
impossible to correctly analyse the trend in the Nigerian drug market,
indicators, such as seizures at the airports and borders show that
Nigerians are increasingly becoming key players in the delivery of
illicit drugs, especially cocaine, to the European market.

In April 2010, at least 21 persons were arrested
at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, by officials of
the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in relation with
cocaine trafficking. The agency also says that it has seized about 71kg
of cocaine, worth over N600 million, at the airport in the first
quarter of 2010.

This is indicative of a surge in cocaine
trafficking to mainly European countries from Nigeria. A staff of Arik
Air, a Nigerian carrier which also flies international routes,
confirmed to NEXT that a large number of Nigerians caught for drug
peddling were mostly headed to Europe.

“Most of them are usually going to London or to Italy,” our source, who sought anonymity, said.

In international circles, an increasing number of
Nigerian citizens are being arrested for trafficking cocaine into or
within European countries. UNODC reports that 2009 data from the
various countries show about 700 Nigerians were arrested in four
European countries: Spain, Italy, France, and Germany, for cocaine
trafficking.

Cocaine and crime

According to the NDLEA and the UNODC, cocaine peddling and abuse have become a major source of finance for criminal groups.

“Cocaine trafficking is also linked to corruption.
Trafficking in cocaine both thrives on corruption and breeds
corruption… [the] high levels of corruption in a number of West
African countries have certainly been a facilitating factor for the
establishment of cocaine transit traffic via this region,” the 2010
World Drug Report states.

The NDLEA concurs, adding that even small vices are fostered by drug abuse.

“We have always said it that you cannot divorce
drugs from crime. Prostitutes, hired assassins, armed robbers rely on
these drugs to get the high required to get them through their evil
activities.

“Some of them use cocaine but most of them use
cannabis which is more readily available in Nigeria,” Mitchel Ofoyeju,
the spokesperson of the agency, said in a telephone interview with
NEXT.

Mr. Ofoyeju spoke from a cannabis farm in Akure, where the agency was carrying out a destruction of the farm over the weekend.

On the measures the agency is taking to fight the
growing menace of drug trafficking and use, Mr. Ofoyeju said, “We have
a command in all the states of the federation including the FCT. They
regularly carry out surveillance and raid operations in the states. For
cocaine, we conduct raid of the premises used for re-packaging the
substance before exportation or we intercept them at the airports or
the borders,” he added.

He, however, conceded that the lack of data has hampered the activities of the agency, especially as regards drug use.

“People don’t come forward until they have serious problems so it is
very difficult to collect such data,” Mr. Ofoyeju said, but added that
the agency is partnering with state governments for a more effective
fight against drug abuse.

Late
last month, a young lady, identified only as Zainab, headed for a spot
where hard drugs are sold on Aminu Kano Crescent in Wuse II, a district
in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. At the spot, which also
doubles as a petrol station, Zainab sold a BlackBerry phone, worth at
least N60,000, for N2,000. She was in need of a quick fix and with
N2,000, Zainab could buy about 25grammes, a little more than a pinch,
of cocaine. There are many of such markets in Abuja and Zainab is just
one of the growing population of young Nigerians who are addicted to
cocaine.

Latest statistics from the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) show that between 2004 and now, Nigerian
nationals have not only become involved in the international illicit
drug trade but that there has been a rapid rise in the use of drugs,
especially cocaine. The UNODC believes that the increase is directly
linked to the high level of corruption in the country.

Becoming a major player

It has now been established that Nigeria is an
active player in the $6.8billion West- African cocaine market. The
country serves as a major route through which cocaine is trafficked
from Columbia, the main hub of cocaine production, to the 4.5 million
users in Europe.

Nigeria is also considered an active retailer as well as a small scale importer of the illicit drug.

The West-African market began blooming from 2004
as drug dealers in Columbia sought for safer routes to move illicit
substances to a budding market in Europe. With US authorities coming
down hard on the largest drug market in the world, the North American
drug market, West Africa, with its numerous sea ports and weak law
enforcement, quickly became a thriving alternate route to move cocaine
to the European market.

“Shipments to Africa, mostly West Africa gained in
importance between 2004 and 2007, resulting in the emergence of two key
trans-shipment hubs…one centered in the Bight of Benin, which spans
from Ghana to Nigeria,” the 2010 World Drug Report from the UNODC
states.

The Nigerian traffickers

Although insufficient and unreliable data make it
impossible to correctly analyse the trend in the Nigerian drug market,
indicators, such as seizures at the airports and borders show that
Nigerians are increasingly becoming key players in the delivery of
illicit drugs, especially cocaine, to the European market.

In April 2010, at least 21 persons were arrested
at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, by officials of
the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in relation with
cocaine trafficking. The agency also says that it has seized about 71kg
of cocaine, worth over N600 million, at the airport in the first
quarter of 2010.

This is indicative of a surge in cocaine
trafficking to mainly European countries from Nigeria. A staff of Arik
Air, a Nigerian carrier which also flies international routes,
confirmed to NEXT that a large number of Nigerians caught for drug
peddling were mostly headed to Europe.

“Most of them are usually going to London or to Italy,” our source, who sought anonymity, said.

In international circles, an increasing number of
Nigerian citizens are being arrested for trafficking cocaine into or
within European countries. UNODC reports that 2009 data from the
various countries show about 700 Nigerians were arrested in four
European countries: Spain, Italy, France, and Germany, for cocaine
trafficking.

Cocaine and crime

According to the NDLEA and the UNODC, cocaine peddling and abuse have become a major source of finance for criminal groups.

“Cocaine trafficking is also linked to corruption.
Trafficking in cocaine both thrives on corruption and breeds
corruption… [the] high levels of corruption in a number of West
African countries have certainly been a facilitating factor for the
establishment of cocaine transit traffic via this region,” the 2010
World Drug Report states.

The NDLEA concurs, adding that even small vices are fostered by drug abuse.

“We have always said it that you cannot divorce
drugs from crime. Prostitutes, hired assassins, armed robbers rely on
these drugs to get the high required to get them through their evil
activities.

“Some of them use cocaine but most of them use
cannabis which is more readily available in Nigeria,” Mitchel Ofoyeju,
the spokesperson of the agency, said in a telephone interview with
NEXT.

Mr. Ofoyeju spoke from a cannabis farm in Akure, where the agency was carrying out a destruction of the farm over the weekend.

On the measures the agency is taking to fight the
growing menace of drug trafficking and use, Mr. Ofoyeju said, “We have
a command in all the states of the federation including the FCT. They
regularly carry out surveillance and raid operations in the states. For
cocaine, we conduct raid of the premises used for re-packaging the
substance before exportation or we intercept them at the airports or
the borders,” he added.

He, however, conceded that the lack of data has hampered the activities of the agency, especially as regards drug use.

“People don’t come forward until they have serious problems so it is
very difficult to collect such data,” Mr. Ofoyeju said, but added that
the agency is partnering with state governments for a more effective
fight against drug abuse.