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The
Senate will today consider a motion to curb the abuses of Temporary
Flight Restriction (TFR) orders by Nigerian airport commandants and
security officials.

The motion, which
is sponsored by Osita Izunaso and 29 other senators, followed an
incident on 23 June in which an Arik Air Boeing 737 700 series 7.15 am
flight from Lagos to Abuja and six other flights were, with an advance
warning,

suspended in the air for a long time because a VIP was using the airport.

Dangerous practice

Mr. Izunaso said
the Arik flight and other aircraft were “not given advance notice of
any VIP movement in Abuja before take off as is the procedure in other
parts of the world.

“On that day, the
Arik plane was turned back into the sky after the pilot has pulled out
its tyres to land. Shortly after the pilot made back into the air, he
was given clearance to land; for the second and third time, the pilot
was ordered back to the sky after he pulled out tyres to touch down.

The senators
believe this practice is dangerous and endangers both the VIP and the
passengers on board the stranded aircraft because, most times, the
airport commandants and the security officials do not consider the fuel
level or other technical challenges of the aircraft being turned away.

A TFR is action
taken by the airport authorities to restrict flight operations for a
specified amount of airspace, on a temporary basis, in order to provide
protection for person(s) or property in the air or on the ground.

According to Mr.
Izunaso, 30 nautical miles for planned VIP flights and 10 nautical
miles for unscheduled flights restrictions is the global standard but
in Nigeria, the airport commandants and security officials, including
the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authorities flagrantly abuse the process.

Very Important Problems

Commenting on the
development, Sam Adurogboye, media head for the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA), disclosed that the practice of shutting down the
country’s airspace during a VIP movement is mainly to protect the
president, adding that all countries, except the United States close
their airspaces whenever a dignitary is travelling.

Explaining who
actually is a VIP, Mr. Adurogboye disclosed that anyone flying on the
president’s official aircraft will be given the privileges meant for
the country’s number one citizen, noting that creating a separate
airspace, as is being practiced by the USA, is expensive.

“Whether rule or no
rule governing VIP movement, the simple truth is that the president
must be protected and nothing short of that,” Mr. Adurogboye said.
“Whoever travels on that aircraft carrying the registration code of the
president gets the full presidential benefits and that person at that
moment is a VIP.”

He added that all
aircraft in Nigeria that are about to takeoff, or those already
airborne, are expected to put their flight on hold, or divert their
flight by landing in the closest airport as soon as there is a VIP
movement order.

“America has a
private airspace specially assigned for the president and no one dares
use that airspace; however, the main difference is that other countries
of the world have varying times allocated during the period,” he said.
“Here in Nigeria it is 15 minutes before the VIP takeoff and 15 minutes
after landing, which is mainly to prevent any act of terrorism.

“NCAA’s advice to pilots already flying during such occasions is
that they land at any close by airport, for we cannot risk an aircraft
flying around the airspace at the same time with the president, though
this issue has been discussed in the past.”

The
Rivers State government has banned dredging within Port Harcourt
metropolis, comprising Port Harcourt City Council, Obi/Akpo and part of
Eleme Local Government Areas.

The state’s
Commissioner for Environment, Kinglsey Chinda, announced the ban in
Port Harcourt on Monday during a meeting with some dredging companies.

He explained that
the decision was to safeguard the environment, pointing out that the
preservation of the environment was a responsibility for both the
government and the public.

According to Mr
Chinda, the government acknowledged the role of dredgers in the
economic growth of the state, especially in the area of employment
generation and business investment, but noted that in taking the
decision, the government overlooked the monetary gains that would have
accrued to it from the business.

He stressed the
need for the companies to conduct environmental impact assessments
before dredging in any community, and enjoined them to always tell
their host communities the truth. He noted that the inability of some
firms to be honest had resulted in ineffective monitoring of their
activities, and impacted negatively on the environment.

Rufus Godwin, the
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, said the interest
of the ministry in the activities of dredgers was anchored on the
safety of Rivers environment and its people. Michael Odebode,
Commanding Officer, Hydrographic School, Borikiri, Port Harcourt,
decried the attitude of some dredgers and called for a sincere approach
by companies in their dealings with the people.

Also speaking, the Director, Flood and Erosion Control with the
State’s Ministry of Environment, Sopakirite Ikiriko, observed that most
dredging companies mobilised to sites without approval from the
ministry, noting that “such act is punishable”.

The Lagos State governor, Babatunde
Fashola, on Monday signed into law a bill for the administration of
physical planning, urban regeneration and building control. The law,
which aims at regulating the construction of buildings in the state,
prohibits the activities of roadside block makers.

Mr Fashola, after
assenting to the bill at a ceremony at the Lagos House, Ikeja, said
that it marked the beginning of his administration’s promise to
regulate building construction in the state. The bill is a fallout of
frequent building collapses recorded across the state.

The governor said
that interactions with artisans, bricklayers, sand miners and others in
the construction industry, showed that building collapse was a result
of poor quality materials. He stated that artisans in the construction
industry had assured him of their support and cooperation to remove
roadside block makers and allow legitimate stakeholders to service the
public needs in the sector.

Mr Fashola said
that through the law, the life-span of developed property and the lives
of residents would be prolonged, noting that the law would enforce
urban and regional planning in the state to ensure safety of lives in
the case of emergencies or fire outbreak. “It will also assist the
state in planning the infrastructural needs of the citizens such as in
the provision of electricity, water, hospitals and schools… and
ensure that building contractors and developers abide by the building
codes, by using appropriate building and electrical materials,” the
governor said.

Building for the disabled

Mr Fashola added
that the law also provides that all buildings being constructed in the
state must take cognizance of the physically challenged, while
provision for the role of insurance firms in the construction of
buildings right from the outset by visiting construction sites, was
also accentuated in the law.

“They will ensure
that buildings are built to right specifications, with right materials
for the safety of the workers and fit for tenants’ habitation on
completion. When insurance companies are involved, they would be
responsible for the payment of compensation to victims of any collapsed
buildings if such eventually happens,” he said.

The governor
further explained that landlords with buildings above two floors must
obtain certificates of fitness from the Building Control Board. The
special adviser to the governor on Political and Legislative Powers
Bureau, Abdullatef Abdulhakeem, said that the law had provisions for
preservation of the trees within construction sites. “This is to ensure
that developers are friendly with their environment, to guide against
flooding,” he said.

He explained that
under the law, agencies such as the Lagos State Physical Planning and
Development Authority (LASPHDA), the Lagos State Building Control and
the Lagos State Urban and Rural Agency (LASURA), had been harmonised
“to reduce the apprehensions the public used to have when it comes to
issues relating to building permits in the state,” he said.

According to Mr Abdulhakeem, the law
stipulates that compensations would be paid to landlords whose
certificates of occupancy were revoked in the public interest.

Classrooms blocks
built by the Niger Delta Development Commission and Education Trust
Fund in Edo State are already cracking and not up to standard, Edo
State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, said yesterday.

The governor, while
commissioning some buildings erected by the state government said, “I
will like our elders to look at the classrooms that were built by NDDC
and ETF. When you go inside, you will find that the buildings are
already cracking,” he said.

A crack in the wall

“The reason why I
brought this up is that one of the factional leaders of the opposition
party was comparing our jobs to NDDC and ETF. I urge you to take a look
and compare it to what we are doing and the judgment is yours,” Mr.
Oshiomhole said.

Over the years, the
two agencies have gulped a huge percentage of the budget with an
expectation of immense contribution to the development of the people,
especially at the education sector, through the special fund voted to
the Education Trust Fund.

In a statement by
Tony Iyare, the press secretary to the governor, the governor had
described the neglect of public education as a direct attack on the
poor, while urging that government’s utmost priority must be to invest
in qualitative public education in the country:

“We insist that our
children deserve our very best. If we do not invest in our children,
then we have no future. No investment is too much to secure the future
of our state,” he said.

Mr. Oshiomhole, at
the commissioning of four blocks of 32 classrooms at Idia College and a
block of six classrooms at the Niger College in Benin City, renovated
by the state government, said that the state government’s mission is to
transform schools into international standards and restore the glory of
public education, adding that “the school environment must give
confidence, pride, and qualitative identity to pupils and students.”

According to him,
“my message is that education is the most viable strategy to combat
poverty. We are confronted today with the dynasty of the poor, that is,
poor parents begetting poor children without opportunities of
advancement.”

He also argued that
in a digital and knowledge driven world, what gives a nation edge over
others is the quality of the human capacity.

“I think for Edo
State to be able to compete, we need to go beyond rhetoric and
re-invent education and assure the people that the renovation would be
extended to other schools,” he said.

The labour minister, Chukwuemeka Wogu,
has called on resident doctors to end their ongoing strike, as the
federal government is committed to ensuring that their demands were
met. He made the appeal after a meeting between the Nigerian Medical
Association, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour
and Productivity, which he hosted.

Mr Wogu said the
strike had taken a heavy toll on the health of the Nigerian masses. He
said the government had delivered on its promise to commence the
monthly payment of the new medical salary structure from last month. Mr
Wogu also revealed that a backlog of salary payments from February to
May has also been captured in the supplementary budget bill, though the
bill is still with the National Assembly.

“This is a total
package in excess of N74 billion and government has agreed that once
the supplementary budget is passed, the bulk money will be paid,” said
Mr Wogu. “I, therefore, implore the NMA as an umbrella body to
seriously prevail on resident doctors to suspend this action which has
caused untold hardship to Nigerians, as we are irrevocably committed to
ensuring that doctors get their entitlement.”

More worries

Omede Idris,
president of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), who was at the
meeting, said that the organisation was also worried about the
continued strike action.

He called on the
National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the
supplementary appropriation bill, to restore peace in the health
sector, while insisting that it would be in the interest of humanity
and the nation for the resident doctors to consider the appeal by the
government and call off the strike.

Efforts to get John Aremu, the
president of Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, to comment on
the development did not yield results as he did not respond to phone
calls.

Abimbola Banjoko, the judge of the Abuja High Court,
will on October 26, decide if the alleged suppression of relevant
documents by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is
enough reason for her to discontinue a case filed against an accused,
Chima Ejekwolu, by the commission.

The commission, in April last year, filed a one-count
charge against Mr. Ejekwolu, a lawyer, accusing him of trying to
defraud his client by claiming a 10 percent charge for the EFCC.

The accused, however, filed a motion in November
asking the court to quash the charge against him. One of the reasons
Mr. Ejekwolu gave is that “there was a deliberate suppression of
relevant facts by the prosecution (EFCC), which misled the court into
granting the leave to prefer the charge.”

Ten percent cut

NEXT had in previous reports showed how the EFCC –
according to documents before the court – deliberately kept implicating
documents from the court, which showed that the commission’s chairman,
Farida Waziri, was involved in the 10 percent payment being allegedly
charged by the EFCC and its agents.

Though the commission denies this, Mr. Ejekwolu in an
affidavit before the court, stated that Mrs. Farida was not only
involved, but that he was threatened at the commission’s office to deny
her involvement.

Mild confusion, however, occurred in court as Mrs.
Banjoko had to decide on which counter affidavit to adopt as arguments
for the EFCC.

The commission, which had earlier filed a counter
affidavit on April 12 this year, filed another one on May 14. Saad
Abubakar, the EFCC lawyer, in his explanation to the court, denied
knowledge of the second counter-affidavit saying, “I am not aware of
it”, after which he withdrew it from the court.

In an interview with NEXT, Mr. Abubakar explained
that he withdrew the second counter affidavit because “you cannot file
two applications in the same proceeding,” saying someone from the
commission’s legal department had filed the second application not
knowing that he had already filed one.

This is, however, not the first time a department of
the EFCC is showing lack of coordination. The commission recently
admitted that a bag containing sensitive documents, recovered from the
home of a suspect, got missing when some of its officials boarded a
commercial flight from Lagos to Abuja.

Mr. Abubakar also explained that the EFCC might be
introducing more charges against Mr. Ejekwolu, as they are still going
on with their investigations.

He stated that Fred Holm, whom the EFCC claims Mr. Ejekwolu tried to defraud, would also appear as a witness.

In order to make
more impact on the nation’s socio-economic and political spheres and
affect the lives of its people more meaningfully, the Nigerian
Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan, has made a
major adjustment on its research focus.

The Director
General of the institute, Oyetunji Akande, who disclosed this to
journalists in Ibadan at the weekend, said the major policy shift aimed
at making life better for the people at the grassroots across the
country was adopted by the governing council of the institute.

NISER had focused
its researches on the policies of the federal government. But with this
shift, the institute would start looking at the policies of the state
government, analyse them, and make inputs in form of suggestions on
ways that would make the impact of governments trickle down to every
segment of the society.

Mr. Akande, a
professor of Agricultural Economics, observed that persistent failure
of governments at all tiers to properly implement their annual budgets
has inflicted poverty and economic depression on the nation and its
people.

To address this, he
informed that the research institute will start the implementation of
its new policy thrust on the examination of annual budgets of states
across the federation.

“The configuration
of research has changed, and there is now a paradigm shift as NISER is
poised more than ever before to look at the micro economy investment
profile and all the entities involved in governance, in order to make
sure that the grassroots people feel our effect more in terms of
research,” the NISER boss noted as he declared that governments hardly
take the plight of the people at the grassroots into cognizance on
budget implementation.

“The Governing
Council of NISER has agreed to carry our regional/zonal study of the
nation’s administration, and we are starting with annual budget, which
one way or the other affects the society and the economy every year.”

He further explained that findings through their various researches have shown that huge poverty still pervades the land.

Badly produced budget

Lamenting the delay
in passage of Nigeria’s 2010 budget after six months into the fiscal
year, Mr. Akande said his institute would “advise the various
governments to undertake projects dealing with fundamental issues in
their zones.

“By next week, we will be in Kaduna to present our recommendations
for the North West/North East zone. We want the government to come out
with appropriate policies on how they can improve on the circumstances
we have identified for the betterment of the lives of the masses, who
are supposed to be the major beneficiaries of the annual budgets.”

The chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, over
the weekend reiterated his commitment towards conducting credible and
acceptable elections in 2011 and promised that 2015 elections would be
one of the best in the world.

Mr. Jega, who spoke
at a roundtable discussion entitled: ‘The path to credible elections in
Nigeria’, organised in his honour by the Center for Research and
Democratic Studies, Mambayya House, Kano, promised that the 2011
elections would be far better than 2003 and 2007.

“The 2011 elections
will surely be better than the 2003 and 2007 elections and in 2015, God
willing, we would have one of the best elections in the world,” he said.

The occasion was
well attended by prominent politicians and political scholars, with
former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Alfa Belgore, as chairman.

He urged Nigerians
to be part of this challenge by playing their own various roles, so as
to bring drastic transformation, stressing that individuals cannot do
it alone.

“The
responsibilities of conducting free and credible elections is for all
stakeholders and patriots to work together in order to achieve the
desired objective.

“I want to use this
opportunity to call on credible persons to join the process, because if
good persons stay away, bad people will have a field day,” he said.

The former vice
chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, also admitted that the
challenges are enormous, but insisted he was equal to the task.

Big challenge

He said after
listening to the brilliant contributions by the different speakers, he
has become more knowledgeable than he ever was on the challenges of his
new office, pointing out that his five years mandate as INEC boss would
turnaround the political landscape of the country.

“It is a big
challenge, not only to me but to all Nigerians, who should make
sacrifices to enable us bring about a credible reform process, so that
we will take our rightful place in the comity of nations,” he said.

“I did not lobby
for this position. I never thought about it but it came on its own, so
I have no choice than to put in my best to give Nigeria the best of
leadership in the next dispensation.

“As a Muslim, I
swore by the holy Quran and I will stand by the oath I have taken. In
certain circumstances, our best may not be good enough and this why it
is indeed a collective responsibility of all major stakeholders to
ensure a free, fair, and credible election in 2011,” Mr. Jega said.

Mr. Belgore advised
Mr. Jega to make sure that voters registration exercise commence
immediately, stressing that time is no longer on his side and that if
it means soliciting for foreign assistance he should not hesitate.

Mr. Belgore also
supported the establishment of electoral offices tribunal, as contained
in the Muhammadu Uwais electoral reform report. He said it would
eradicate the issue of hooliganism during elections.

The chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group, Festus Okoye,
called for a new constitutional framework and credible voters register,
among others, to ensure credible elections in 2011.

Gunmen, suspected
to be kidnappers, who, last Wednesday abducted Rufai AbdulMalik Atta,
nephew of the former Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Atta, are
asking the family for a ransom of N50 million before they release the
hostage.

Mr Atta, who
retired as Deputy General Manager with the defunct Bank of the North,
had just returned from his Okene home when he was apprehended in front
of his friend’s residence at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Family sources said that the former banker had arrived at his friend’s
house for an appointment when, on arrival, he was confronted by gunmen
who swooped on him and bundled him and a guard who had come to open the
gate, into a waiting car and sped off.

The sources added
that Mr Atta pleaded with the kidnappers to release the guard on the
grounds that he is ‘innocent’, and should be let go, to which the
gunmen obliged.

NEXT learnt that
the kidnappers opened a line of discussion with Mr Atta’s wife late
Thursday night and demanded N50 million ransom as condition to setting
her husband free.

The woman was said
to have pleaded with them for leniency and, by the weekend, the
abductors sliced it to N35 million, asking the embattled woman to get
across to them on a ‘dedicated account number’, the sum of N1 million
as the cost of taking care of her husband pending the full payment of
the ransom.

The Ebira ethnic
community in Kano, where Mr Atta is known for community participation,
also organized a special prayer for God’s intervention in the matter.

Hoping for early release

A family source
said Mrs Atta left Kano for Abuja yesterday morning after “a deposit of
half a million naira was paid by the family to the ‘dedicated
account’.” “One of the kidnappers called back to acknowledge receipt of
the funds but warned of dire consequence if the family fails to
expedite action on the ‘real deal’,” the source said. “He may regain
his freedom soon, as we have a reached a compromise with the
abductors.”

The police in Kano,
however, said they have not received any complaint over the incident.
The state police boss, Baba Muhammad, said the case might have been
reported where the incident occurred.

Efforts to get the reaction of the former Inspector General of
Police, Ali Atta, proved abortive, as several calls to his phone went
unanswered.

There are no plans
or directives for the reversal of the electronic payment system in
official transactions in the Federal Public Service, the Accountant
General of the Federation (AGF), Ibrahim Dankwambo, said in Abuja at
the weekend.

He was reacting to
reports that the government has reverted to the issuance of cheques for
certain categories of payments, particularly payment of pensions in the
federal civil service.

According to Mr.
Dankwambo, the benefits of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel
Information System (IPPIS), introduced in 2006 as part of reforms for a
computer-based payroll and personnel information system in the federal
civil service, have been so much that contemplating to reverse the
process would be ill-advised.

“I am not aware of
any such decision or directive for the stoppage of the policy. We have
seen the benefits of the IPPIS project designed to electronically
capture the data of workers in the federal civil service throughout the
country. Government has been saved billions of naira as a result, since
the introduction of the scheme, though it is still premature to say how
much .

“That is why
government will not hesitate to sanction any agency or organisation
that is brought to its notice tampering with the policy,” he said.

He said the
government has so far completed capturing the personal information data
of workers in at least 16 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs),
while local and international consultants have been shortlisted and
prequalified, preparatory to the full systems to roll out nationwide
from January next year.

Reports that the
government had jettisoned the policy and returned to issuing cheques
became rife last week during the ongoing data verification exercise for
federal pensioners holding across the 36 state capitals and the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Paid with cheques

Pensioners who
participated in the exercise were issued cheques at the end of the
verification, as against the e-payment system introduced last year,
where their entitlements were credited directly to personal accounts in
their respective banks, followed by text messages sent to notify them.

One frail-looking
old man, who spoke with NEXT at the verification centre in Abuja, was
embittered that the government did not consider the fragile conditions
of some of them before taking the decision, pointing out that most of
them can hardly withstand the rigours of travelling long distances and
having to endure the harassment in long queues while waiting to present
the same set of documents always presented each time the exercise is
held.

But an official
involved in the exercise, who asked to remain anonymous, last Thursday,
explained the rationale behind the verification exercise, which has
been held at least six times in the last four years. “From time to
time, there is need to update the records of pensioners in the service.
It is natural to expect that some of the pensioners would die. But,
often, the relations of some of these pensioners would not report the
death to the relevant authorities, while government continues paying
their benefits. To help update government data and records for proper
planning, it is compulsory that all pensioners appear physically for
the verification, irrespective of who is involved,” he said.

Government’s
e-payment policy has been widely acknowledged as a positive step to
stem corruption, reduce administrative hostage-taking associated with
payment to individuals and contractors, as well as facilitate a more
transparent payment system that allows for effective monitoring.

The previous arrangement, where pensioners were paid with cheques
was fraught with abuses, as corrupt government officials exploited the
system to siphon public funds through ghost workers and pensioners.