Nigeria Content Online

Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, has presented a
cheque of N20m to the Queen of the Rosary College, Onitsha, for the
reconstruction of her burnt dormitories.

The governor, who presented the cheque to the
college authorities during a visit to the school, said his
administration was working towards making the state reference point in
the country. He challenged the students to remain good citizens, and
asked them to always support and pray for the government. He stressed
his readiness to solve their pressing needs and commended them for
maintaining a clean environment.

Mr. Obi announced that the school had been
selected to host the state’s Microsoft Academy, and the government
would soon provide the school with laptop computers after training
teachers on their use. He also promised a utility bus to the school,
and mandated the commissioner for environment to visit the erosion site
threatening the college for urgent intervention.

The principal of the college, Ngozi Ekwenibe,
described the governor as education-friendly, and pointed out that the
school had benefited immensely from his government. She listed the
renovation of science laboratories, supply of science equipment, a
generator set, bore holes, computers, construction of toilets, and the
computer academy as some of the contributions of the governor to the
school. Mrs Ekwenibe thanked the governor for promising a school bus,
as well as provision of adequate personnel to enhance effective
teaching and learning in the school.

The
National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has reviewed the
curricula and course specification for several programmes at National
Diploma, Higher National Diploma and professional post-HND levels, the
board’s acting secretary, Ade Ojo Aimola, has said yesterday in Akure.

Mr Aimola, who
spoke at a workshop on technical education, said the board decided to
review course specification covering engineering, environmental
studies, business and related studies in the nation’s 278 polytechnics,
in order to keep abreast with modern day development in the fields. He,
however, said the board was worried about obsolete nature of curricula
in technical and vocational schools across the country, saying NBTE
would soon begin the review of curricula for technical schools and
colleges in the country as well.

“The review became
imperative because the last review of the curricula was last done in
2002,” he said, adding that the federal ministry of education, NBTE,
and African Development Bank also intended to evaluate and fill the
identified gaps in the selected curricula to meet national development
goals, as identified by Africa Development Fund in 2009. Some of the
courses to be affected, according to him, included Electrical
Installation, Radio and Television Work, Computer Studies, English,
Mathematics, Technical Drawing, Entrepreneurship, and Information and
Communication Technology.

The NBTE and other
stakeholders in technical education, including the federal government,
had invited experts to Akure, the Ondo State capital, to brainstorm on
what are those things to be put in the curricula that would bring them
up to date to meet the needs of more recent technologies.

The Director of
NBTE, James Aboi said the skills training and vocational education
institutions were created with the goal of poverty reduction and its
subsequent eradication in the country.

An Abuja-based lawyer and human rights activist, Nkereuwem Udofia Akpan has dragged the Speaker of the House of Representatives,

Dimeji Bankole and his deputy, Usman
Nafada to a Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly inflating the
cost of 380 units of Peugeot 407, two years ago. Mr Akpan is also
asking that Messrs Bankole and Nafada should be investigated by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent
Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) over the transaction valued at N2.3
billion.

Joined as defendants in the suit no
FHC/ABJ/CS/409/2010, instituted on Monday, are the Office of the
Speaker, Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria Limited, Inspector General of
Police, Attorney General of the Federation, and Federal Inland Revenue
Service.

The suit was instituted barely 24 hours after Mr Bankole claimed there was no underhand deal in the transaction.

The chief press secretary to Mr
Bankole, Idowu Bakare, however told journalists that the Speaker has no
problem whatsoever with Mr Akpan going to court.

“The only concern now is the
orchestrated blackmail targeted at the EFCC by these desperados, but
they will surely fail,” he said. Mr Akpan, in the sworn affidavit,
sought a declaration that the purchase of the cars to the tune
N2,359,486,500 by the House was riddled with corruption and unbridled
gratification and it was done without lawful authority, illegal, void
and fraudulent. He also sought a declaration that the transaction was
not only irresponsible, fraudulent and an abuse of power by Mr Bankole
but that a whopping N421,486,500.00 of tax payers money remains
unaccounted for.

He said that out of the contract sum, a
total of N117,974,325.00 was paid as Value Added Tax (VAT) on the
contract, and that the subsequent direct payment of a further sum of
N117,974,325.00 to FIRS by the House was fraudulent and unlawful.

Mr Akpan, therefore, sought an order of
mandamus directing Mr Bankole and the PAN management to refund
N421,486,500.00 being the difference in value from the said transaction
(with interests at the going market rate) to the coffers of the Federal
Government of Nigeria within 7 days).

He also sought for an order of mandamus
directing the Speaker, his deputy and the FIRS to account for the
N117,974,325 besides refunding the N421,486,500.00 to government’s
coffers.

The lawyer further contended that the
refusal or reluctance by the EFCC and the attorney general to prosecute
Mressrs Bankole and Nafada “for this fraudulent, sordid and
unprecedented abuse of power is unlawful.” According to him, there is
nothing in the EFCC Act, 2004 that requires the Commission to submit
investigation activities to the Presidency for “approval” as its
chairman, Farida Waziri recently claimed.

He also claimed that there is nothing
in the 1999 Constitution, the House of Representatives Rules and/or any
other law, for the time being, in force empowering the Mr Bankole as a
person, the Speaker and his deputy “to embark on this sordid and
fraudulent abuse of office, power and privilege.” He, therefore, sought
an order of mandamus directing the EFCC to, without delay, commence
legal proceedings based on its investigation report on the N2.3 billion
car scam.

Call for joint investigation

The legal practitioner also asked that
the Inspector General of Police, ICPC and the EFCC to jointly
investigate and possibly prosecute the Speaker, his deputy and the PAN
over the transaction.

Mr Akpan also demanded an apology, in a
form acceptable to him, to be published in 10 national newspapers by
Messrs Bankole and Nafada “for this massive and gross breach of duty,
fraud and abuse of power.” He claimed that, at the risk of sounding
immodest, he has been a patriotic and vociferous commentator on public
issues and a critic of national acclaim on matters affecting the peace,
order and good government of the country.

According to him, the disturbing media
reports on the vehicle transaction in the House galvanised him to
undertake some investigation and gathering of facts and documents.

The suit was instituted the same day Mr
Bankole denied any wrong doing in the N2.3 billion car deal. The
Speaker, who was on his way to Russia had told reporters that he
couldn’t have been involved in the scam having been aware that his
predecessor, Patricia Etteh was removed for allegedly inflating the
contract sum to renovate the official residence of the Speaker and her
deputy.

Mr Bankole also said he was not
bothered about the seven days ultimatum given to him by 10 members of
the House to resign from office or be disgraced out of office. He
challenged the lawmakers, who called themselves “progressive members”
to make public the documents they claimed to have relating to his
(Speakers) involvement in shady deals, including the car scandal.

Mr Akpan is the second lawyer to take
action over the N2.3 billion car transaction. On October 19, 2008,
Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo also wrote Mr Bankole asking him to explain
within 72 hours the alleged inflation in the cost of the 308 vehicles
to N539,46 million, out of which N117.97 million accounted for the
Value Added Tax (VAT). Mr Keyamo subsequently appeared before the
Ethics and Privileges Committee of the House, which probed the
allegation. The committee, in its report absolved the Speaker and the
House leadership of any blame.

Meanwhile, leader of the progressive members, Dino Melaye said the
group of 10 lawmakers will today address journalists on their quest to
have Mr Bankole resign from office. He refused to speak further on what
the group will do since the Speaker refused to quit, saying “wait till
tomorrow”

The decision of Shell Petroleum Development Company
(SPDC) to ignite a new flare in Opolo-Epie, Bayelsa State, is further
testament to the company’s flagrant disregard for the people and
environment of the Niger Delta and a direct threat to government’s
efforts to bring about genuine and lasting peace in the region, the
Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has
cautioned.

ERA/FoEN’s warning is coming against the backdrop of
field monitoring reports over the weekend that confirmed the Opolo-Epie
flare lit by the oil giant on Sunday June 13, 2010, is still raging,
fouling the air and threatening the peace that exists in the community.

In a statement issued in Lagos, the environmental
justice group described the development as “worrying,” warning that it
was a throwback to a similar action by the company at the Gbaran/Ubie
Gas Gathering Plant in nearby Gbarantotu Community in November, 2009,
which was put out only after ERA/FoEN and members of the community
mobilized and kicked against it.

More flaring

“It simply beats the imagination what the rationale
is behind Shell’s igniting of a new flare barely days after it
announced it had downed the volume of flares in the Niger Delta by 65
per cent because of so-called gas gathering infrastructure that will
gulp an estimated $3 billion at completion. But we can, however, try to
input that that announcement was mere propaganda,” said ERA/FoEN
Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey.

“While it may not be too surprising that Shell is
taking this course of action due to our own government’s double-speak
and excuses on why flares continue, we are emphatic that Shell must
respect the rights of the Opolo-Epie Community and the generality of
Niger Delta people to a pollution-free environment by halting the
noxious plumes.” According to Mr Bassey, it was the height of
insensitivity for flare sites to be set up at a time the global
community has risen with one voice to condemn the practice, even as he
added that successive administrations have demonstrated insincerity in
halting routine gas flaring or put in place appropriate sanctions that
will guarantee an end to it.

He explained that gas flaring is a monumental waste
of Nigeria’s natural resources, and a mark of unacceptable double
standards by the oil companies, which not only contributes to
greenhouse emission but also violates the rights of the communities
around the flare sites, and must stop immediately.

“We have said it time and again that Shell’s much-touted investments
in the so-called gas gathering infrastructure is only a ruse to buy
time and perpetrate flaring. This is evidence that the wellbeing of
oil-bearing communities means nothing to the company and it remains
indefensible. The flares in Opolo-Epie and other sites in the Niger
Delta must stop now,” Mr Bassey said.</

The four gunmen who
invaded Gbemisola Saraki’s Maitama home in the early hours of Sunday
are armed robbers and not assassins, the police have said.

Richard Ciroma, the
deputy commissioner of police in charge of investigation in the Federal
Capital Territory, made the claim yesterday in an interview.

He said police
investigators arrived at the conclusion after speaking with occupants
of the house who witnessed the incident. The police had taken Ms
Saraki’s aides present at the time of the attack into custody at the
Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) office in Abuja for interrogation.

Mr. Ciroma
explained that information gathered from their interrogation revealed
that the alleged armed robber entered into the compound when one of the
cooks “opened the gate to pick the phone he claimed to have left behind
in the car.”

He also pointed out
that the gunmen went away with five laptops and one Nissan vehicle
which the police recovered after it was abandoned within the city of
Abuja.

The position of the
FCT police buttresses the argument of Emmanuel Ojukwu, the national
spokesperson of the police. He too claimed it was a burglary attempt.

According to Mr.
Ciroma, the investigation into the matter is ongoing. He added that the
cook who had opened the gate has been detained but other aides have
been released.

Mr. Ciroma added
that the detained cook had aided the robbers after they gained entry
into the compound. He said that when the “assailants asked for the keys
to Ms Saraki’s room, the senior cook did not want to cooperate with the
robbers but the suspect revealed to the robbers that the key was with
the senior cook.”

Ms. Saraki who reportedly travelled out of Abuja some days before the attack remained silent on the issue throughout Monday.

Colleagues and other visitors were seen visiting her Maitama home but most were turned away.

The shallow water
channel of the Calabar seaport is preventing bigger vessels from
sailing into the port, and also hindering the Navy from effectively
policing pirates in the high seas, the Eastern Command of the Nigerian
Navy has said. Benjamin Acholonu, a Rear Admiral and flag officer
commanding the Eastern Naval Command, called on the federal government
to award contract for the dredging of the Calabar River as that will
enable large ships with heavy cargo get to the port. During the regime
of the late Sani Abacha, the Calabar port was dredged by a foreign
company to encourage heavy vessels to sail through and facilitate
economic and commercial activities at the Calabar Export Free Trade
Zone, constructed by the federal government in 1991. But the job was
poorly done forcing large ships to continue avoiding the port.

Low water level

“Some of the
problems or challenges we encounter in the Calabar area are criminal
activities of pirates and the low water level of the channel. The
Calabar channel is not safe for navigation. Calabar port has a sandy
shore, mud and wreck along its channel. This wreck is visible during
low water season,” Mr. Acholonu said.

“But during high
water level, water covers the wreck. This is dangerous for ships coming
in. Naval ships like to manoeuvre freely, but if you have restricted
water, it is difficult for them to operate”, he said.

According to Mr Acholonu, the Navy is having difficulties patrolling the area to check the activities of pirates.

He however
explained that the strategies put in place by his command has helped to
keep pirates at bay, noting that though Calabar is off the Atlantic
Ocean, his men have it as a patrol beat to check oil bunkering and
smuggling.

Only recently, the
Eastern Naval Command arrested and paraded two men who specialise in
perforating oil pipes linking the Calabar jetty with the Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation Tank Farm at Esuk Utan, in Calabar
Municipal Council to siphon petroleum products.

“More is expected from the federal government for the provision of
platforms. These platforms help the navy to operate. With them, we
perform to expectations and compete favourably with our counterparts
from other countries,” he added.

Independent candidacy is a major way for more women to be elected into political offices, a former minister has said.

Olufunke Adedoyin,
a former minister of state on Youth Development, said this in a paper
she delivered at the Annual Press Week organised by the Ogun State
Chapter of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, in Abeokuta on
Monday.

Titled ‘Role of
Women in Stabilizing Democracy in Nigeria 2011 and Beyond’ Ms. Adedoyin
at the Iwe Irohin Press Centre further noted that economic power is
also critical to the ability of women to participate in democratic
governance.

She said from the
statistics available over the years, women and the youth represent more
than 70 to 80 per cent of committed voters in every election, lamenting
that, “with this compelling figure women have ended up holding the
short end of the stick when the elections are concluded and political
offices and political patronage are being dispensed”.

According to her,
this may have been influenced by culture and traditions which have
always kept women queuing behind the men in almost everything.

“Women at all levels must brace up to the challenges and demands that these opportunities will create,” she said.

“Women must
therefore break out of the cocoon of subservience and/or relegation
they have been consigned either unconsciously or by design and brace up
to save the Nigerian nation from the present day political oppressors”
Adedoyin stated.

The former minister urged that women “must begin to build war
chests, which we can deploy to advance our own agenda and we must be
ready to support party activities and fund women who are actively
seeking political office”.

Farida Waziri, the
Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says the
commission has recovered over $6.5 billion from fraudsters since its
inception in 2003.

Mrs. Waziri made
the statement in Minna on Monday at a two-day “Train the Trainers
Workshop” organised by the commission for secondary school teachers in
the North Central Zone.

“So far, the EFCC
has recovered over 6.5 billion dollars and delisted Nigeria from the
list of non-cooperating countries amongst other notable achievements,”
she said.

The official said
that the commission handled a myriad of cases out of which over 700
accused persons were prosecuted and more than 400 accused persons
convicted.

Mrs. Waziri, who
was represented by her principal staff officer, Bala Sanga, noted that
the country has had a prolonged period of economic stagnation, rising
poverty levels and many years of mismanagement by its rulers.

She pointed out
that corruption in the country had made it difficult for government at
all levels to deliver services to the people.

She also said that
the commission was working hard to create an enabling environment for
local and foreign investors and that youths and students were important
to the anti-corruption crusade.

“We have taken
steps to involve them in the fight through various programmes that have
been initiated by the commission, one of which is the Integrity Club”,
she said.

Mrs Waziri said
that the goal of the club was to build great future leaders with
integrity and produce youths and students with high moral and ethical
standards in the society.

She said that the
workshop would ensure that teachers have adequate information on
corruption and economic and financial crimes that would empower them to
tutor and guide students on the path of integrity.

Babangida Aliyu,
the Niger State governor, on the occasion, urged society to assist the
youth to live better lives and described them as “our future leaders.”

“Let us do more to help the young people coming behind because they will definitely be the future of our country,” he said.

Mr. Aliyu, who was
also represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Kuta Yahaya,
advised teachers and students to take the workshop seriously.

Earlier, Asmau
Usman, the state’s Commissioner for Basic Education, who was
represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mahmud Ndatsu,
said 20 secondary schools in the state had registered with the
Integrity Club.

The
choice of Okwesilieze Nwodo, by the Peoples’ Democratic Party Board of
Trustees, as the next national chairman is an indication that the party
now places merit and integrity in the choice of its leaders, a former
national publicity secretary of the party, Emmanuel Ibeshi has said.

Mr Ibeshi said in
Abuja at the weekend that Mr Nwodo, who was the pioneer secretary of
the party, stands out among other contenders for the chairmanship
position and (Nwodo) will reposition the party.

“There couldn’t
have been a better choice of chairman at this redefining moment of our
national psyche for the ruling party, he said, adding “It is obvious
that the ruling party is on the road to charting a clear road map
towards a lasting legacy of making merit and integrity the fulcrum of
leadership choice. I congratulate the BOT for this bold step in
settling for Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo whose antecedents in medical
practice stand him out. His brief reign over Enugu State as governor in
the botched Third Republic is another testimony. His pioneering effort
as first elected National Secretary of our great party can be attested
to by those of us who worked closely with him as colleagues in the
Gemade-led National working Committee (NWC).”

Mr Ibeshi noted
that the 50th year in the life of a nation, “is too precious to allow
for gaffes that mutate mediocrity and produce a hopeless future for our
younger generations that are by all means in a hurry for self and
national rediscovery.”

A new era

The former party
spokesperson also said that an the party’s current leadership would
reposition it in the part to healing, rediscovery, and repositioning
for expected democratic deliverables whose dearth, according to him had
left voters confidence badly shaken in the political experience that
has lasted the nation 10 years with unbroken military support.

He appealed to the
supporters of the other contenders to join Mr Nwodo when he eventually
assumes office in moving the party forward.

“May I will use
this opportunity to advise our teeming members who had supported other
candidates who failed to emerge as Dr. Nwodo to please sheath their
swords and rather join hands to support the new spirit being injected
by the President, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP
Board of Trustees to move our party and nation forward,” he said.

Nine of the lawmakers rooting for the
impeachment of the speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Olawale
Atilola, at the weekend, petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan to
intervene in the crisis rocking the state legislature to forestall
bloodletting.

Other senior government officials
equally petitioned over the invasion of the state house of Assembly
last Tuesday are: the senate president David Mark, speaker of the House
of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, inspector-general of Police,
Ogbonna Onovo, and the director-general of the State Security Services
(SSS).

Thuggery and intimidation

Miffed by the level of desecration that
occurred at the chambers of the state legislature on the fateful day as
hoodlums from the state chapter of the National Union of Road Transport
Workers (NURTW) unleashed terror on some lawmakers, as well as caused
pandemonium at the premises of the state House of Assembly complex, the
petitioners are asking the relevant authorities to come to the rescue
of the state and preserve the sanctity of its legislative house.

Specifically, Samuel Ademola Adejumobi
(majority-leader); Nafiu Lamidi Baale (deputy-chief whip); Mohammed
Inakoju (chairman, Parliamentary Caucus); Taoreed Abiola, Kazeem
Ayilara, Bamidele Ajibola, Tijani Ademola, Kayode Animashaun, and
Michael Okunlade, who jointly signed the petition wanted full
investigation to the incident and bring all connected to it to book
without further delay. The aggrieved lawmakers particularly called on
the president, and heads of the petitioned security agencies to effect
immediate arrest of the state NURTW chairman, Lateef Salako (a.k.a.
Eleweomo) and his deputy, Mukaila Lamidi (a.k.a. Auxiliary), who led
thugs to the chambers and assaulted some members of the house, stripped
three others naked and injured two others.

Recalling how they had earlier in the
day approached the state police commissioner, Baba Adisa Bolanta, on
the need to beef up security around the chambers to prevent the crisis,
the petitioners said they had got information beforehand that the
speaker had instructed the thugs to “deal with us on sighting us in the
premises of the house.”

Political backing for thugs

The lawmakers, who wanted the speaker
removed over sundry allegations of incompetence and high-handedness,
were suspended same day by the speaker and 15 others members of the 32
member-house. They alleged that despite the assurance on their live
after the earlier report, the policemen deployed by the CP to maintain
law and order around the house, looked the other way when they were
being attacked and chased away by thugs on the order of the speaker.

Accompanied with pictorial evidences,
the three-page petition equally alleged that some lawmakers, who are in
support of the speaker, including Messrs Lekan Ganiyu, Mathew Abioye
and Idowu Akanbi, as well as the state’s deputy governor, Taofeek
Arapaja, the secretary to state government, Olayiwola Olakojo, some
serving commissioners and local government council chairmen, directed
the weapon-wielding thugs to deal with the petitioners mercilessly.

The disgruntled lawmakers said they had
moved out of the state since the attack for personal safety, adding
that the mentioned hoodlums and others like one Sarafa (a.k.a. Oye
Olorun) and Sola Layiwola “are the usual thugs that have been
terrorizing the political elites in Ibadan such as Lekan Balogun and
Alhaji Akinbola of recent.”

Wondering why the police would continue to allow the like of
Elewe-Omo and Auxiliary to continue roaming the state with guns and
other dangerous weapons, the petitioners said, “all efforts to make the
commissioner of police, Alhaji Adisa Bolanta to arrest these thugs have
proved abortive, these thugs now have serious police coverage which is
not safe for the peace of Oyo State.”