Nigeria Content Online

The Ondo State
police have arrested five persons in connection with the kidnap of Mafe
Ibrahim, the mother of Jimoh Ibrahim. According to an assistant
commissioner of police who prefers anonymity, the suspects were
arrested in the environs of Igbotako and are helping the police in
their investigations. The police officer told NEXT that the kidnap was
not politically motivated.

The state police
command had recently announced that the case has been transferred to
the Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.

Playing politics with the kidnap

While the PDP, Mr
Ibrahim’s party alleged that the ruling Labour Party was behind the
abduction, the state government advised Mr Ibrahim and his party men to
look within themselves for the kidnappers.

The state
government through the commissioner for information, Ranti Akerele,
accused Mr Ibrahim of “playing politics” with the kidnap of his mother.

The commissioner
faulted Mr Ibrahim’s account of the kidnap saying, “Ibrahim presented
the case as if the kidnap was masterminded and executed by the state
government, hence his demand for the declaration for a state of
emergency in the state.” Mr Akerele added, “the security agencies that
have already been drafted to effect the release of this woman should
look beyond the ordinary and search the confines of Jimoh Ibrahim’s
household.

“They should look
among his political associates who seem to be rejoicing at the sad
development and his myriad of business associates.

“It is the height of immorality for anybody to think of scoring cheap political goals with the kidnap of a 65-year-old woman.

“If a beneficiary
of the kindness and love of one earlier victim could organise and
mastermind the kidnap of his benefactor, who says desperate political
rookies cannot plan and execute the kidnap of a poor old woman?” He
asked.

The commissioner
also noted that the act could be carried out by the PDP, “in order to
create a band of phantom stakeholders whose only tangible solution to
the incident is to call for a state of emergency in Ondo State.” He
said: “With all the powers at the disposal of the peace-loving
government of Ondo State, issues of security have been pursued with
unprecedented focus since April 2009. Such that in all the reported
cases of kidnap, not only have the victims returned to safety but the
culprits have been apprehended to the eternal shame of those who cry
wolf when there are none.”

They wanted Jimoh out

But the PDP in a
statement by its Director of Publicity, Ayo Fadaka, alleged that the
Labour Party carried out the act, “to discourage Jimoh Ibrahim from
further participating in politics.” Mr Fadaka said, “Our attention has
been drawn to the kidnap of Madam Ibrahim, the mother of Barrister
Jimoh Ibrahim who is a solid pillar of our Party both in this state and
nationally. It will be recalled that our state has been going through
lots of security challenges in recent weeks and this is occasioned by
the garrulity of Labour Party leaders and rank and file whose concept
of politicking is to stand the laws on its head and use under the table
tactics to secure victory. Their approach so far has led to the death
of Emmanuel Adebayo in Ose and scores of brutalised and wounded people
across the state. Their latest action is the kidnap of this old woman,
this development is not only evil, but sadistic, comprehensively wicked
and unacceptable.

“In their
imagination it is the needed trump card that is needed to disorientate,
disorganise and discourage Jimoh Ibrahim in his quest to join others in
leading the party to victory in the forthcoming elections in Ondo
State. But we want to assure them that their calculation is not only
shallow but will fail to achieve their desired goal.” Mr Fadaka called
on the law enforcement agents to treat the matter with urgency, adding
that the culprits and their sponsors should be brought to book.

Mr Ibrahim’s
mother was kidnapped from her Igbotako home on Sunday evening by four
unidentified gunmen. It was gathered that the gunmen arrived at the
house, a one-storey building located in the outskirts of the town
around 8pm, and pretended to be customers who wanted to buy some
locally made mats which the woman was selling.

The Ondo State
governor, Olusegun Mimiko on Tuesday restated his administration’s
determination to tackle youth unemployment through modern agriculture.
He made this declaration while inspecting facilities at the state’s
Caring Heart Agric Village, Ore in Odigbo Local Government Area of the
state.

Mr Mimiko, who
disclosed that two of such villages will soon take off in other parts
of the state, advised the 1500 graduate resident farmers who are the
first batch of over 10,000 graduate farmers expected to be accommodated
in the village, to be focused and show seriousness.

“Everything you are
seeing here today has been put in place in the last three months,” the
governor said. “I want to encourage all of you young graduate farmers
that this is about you. It is about the future of this state. It is
about a task to be chosen by a nation if it wants to get out of the
poverty. Through your activities here, I believe that Nigeria will come
to learn that farming is a profitable venture and it is one avenue that
we can explore to ensure that we defeat youth unemployment in Nigeria.”
He said the state government decided to make the village comfortable
for its inhabitants so that they can also concentrate on their job.

“All the crop
farming activities here will be tractor-driven; your weed control will
be chemically done; each of you will be empowered with facilities for
crop farming, fish farming, poultry farming, mushroom farming and I’m
sure five months down the line, you will be the envy of your colleagues
because your income will be much more than what you will earn if you
get government job,” he said.

“So I want to
encourage you to put your heart into what you want to do here. Like I
said, you are pioneers. We are building three other villages, two
others like this in the first phase. The second one is going on in Epe,
Ondo East Local Government while the third one is in Auga, Akoko axis,”
the governor said.

Work the farms

Mr Mimiko, who said
there will also be cattle ranching in Auga Akoko, said he will still do
a formal commissioning of the village when the farmers are all settled
in. “When I come to commission it, I want to see your farms. I want to
see how you are doing with your farms, I want to be able to assess your
income,” he said.

Chairman of the
State Wealth Creation Agency, Bisi Adegoke said 47 hectares of maize
have been harvested, 80 hectares of cassava planted and ready for
allocation to participants, while 15 kilometres of new internal farm
roads have been constructed at the village.

He added that
government has constructed 300 fish ponds, planted 800,000 oil palm
seedlings while 70 self-contained housing units and poultry farms have
been completed.

Speaker of the
House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, yesterday blamed the Senate
over the non-resolution of the crisis in the Ogun State House of
Assembly. Mr Bankole said this while speaking in an interactive session
with journalists, tagged “An Evening with Mr Speaker” held at
Iwe-Iroyin Press Centre, Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital.

“If the House of
Representatives passed a resolution and the Senate failed to support
such, the resolution cannot be effective. It is our duty to make laws
for good governance but not to enforce those laws and even in making
laws; we also have our hindrances and limitations.” He said.

The Speaker
recalled that a resolution was reached by the lower house on the issue,
but the upper chamber failed on the implementation.

Other states with similar problems

The Speaker also
noted that apart from the Ogun State House of Assembly, same crises
were witnessed in Edo and Ondo States, adding that the House of
Representatives acted promptly by passing resolutions but the Senate
also failed to act on those resolutions.

The Ogun State
House of Assembly was shut on September 6, 2010 following the
directives of the office of the Inspector General of Police over crisis
between the two factions of the lawmakers known as G-15 and G-11
respectively. Consequently, Tunji Egbetokun, the Speaker of the
Assembly, addressed a letter to both the Senate and the House of
Representatives seeking the National Assembly’s intervention in the
crisis in the Assembly and in ensuring the reconvening of the House
under his leadership.

Niger Delta youth
in Akwa Ibom State have demanded for compensation for oil spillage from
Exxon Mobil. The youth who held a protest march to Edoho platform in
Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State yesterday, claimed that they had won two cases
against Mobil in the Federal High Court, Yenogoa and the Appeal Court,
Lagos, leading to their demands for the compensation.

Alleging that
Mobil had deliberately failed to adhere to the court directive
compelling it to pay compensation money for oil spills that occurred in
1998, 2003, 2004 and 2005 in the region, the youths noted that they
embarked on the peaceful protest to present their grievances to the oil
company against the delayed payment of the compensation worth millions
of naira.

The protesting
youth numbering about 2,500 were from four organisations namely: Ijaw
National Congress (INC), Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Ijaw Survival
Movement of the Niger Delta ( ISMOND) and Movement for the Survival of
Ethnic Nationality in Niger Delta (MOFEND) came under one body to
canvass for the attention of Mobil.

They are made up
of all aggrieved parties relating to the oil spill issue drawn from the
seven Niger Delta states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River,
Edo, Delta and Ondo.

No court order

However, a
management staff of Mobil, who did not want to be named, insisted that
they had not received any court directive. “There is no court case
against us on this matter. What they are saying is that this matter has
been on for so long. We even asked them today because we met with them
and we asked them to show us the court case; they don’t have. I even
argued that if there was a court case, the bailiff will be the one to
enforce the court judgment not the plaintiff. There is no court case on
this matter.” He said. As at the time of going to press, Mobil was yet
to come out with an official statement on the issue as they had
promised.

Mobil lied

Speaking to NEXT,
the leaders of the youth groups: Erekosima Tariah, National President,
MOFEND; Godwin Robert, Chairman, Akwa Ibom Youths, MOFEND; Victor
Obioso and Godwin Idim, co-coordinators for Okobo and Esit Eket and
Onna local government areas respectively said: “We had a court ruling
in our favour which said Mobil should pay us the 2008 oil spillage
compensation. Since 2007, we got the court ruling, Mobil lawyers have
been coming to court and keep telling the court that they will settle
out of court for two years now. We can no longer continue that way
because we don’t see them as a multinational that is ready and willing
to obey the rule of law and we decided to embark on the peaceful
protest that we did embark on today.

“There is a court ruling which we will prove to them, but the court
did not actually tell them to pay us a certain sum. The payment will be
in three different forms. There are some claimants that filed their
cases in court that they call individual suits or personal claims,
there are some that are under the communities and there are some that
are under the communities.” They explained.

The National Agency
for Drugs Administration and Control has attributed the outbreak of
cholera in Kaduna State to the use of contaminated water and fruits by
residents.

The agency’s Zonal
Director in the state, Eric Iful, advised residents to refrain from
drinking unsafe water and to wash fruits thoroughly before consumption.

Mr. Iful gave the
advice in an interview on Tuesday in Kaduna. He said: “cholera is a
water borne disease caused by contaminated water and food items.

Mr. Iful said that
NAFDAC would ensure that food items, including fast foods were
certified for consumption before reaching consumers.

On packaged water
bearing fake NAFDAC numbers, the zonal director said that the agency
was concerned about the development and stressed that measures were
being taken to address the situation. He assured that the agency would
bring the offenders to book.

However, investigations conducted by NAN revealed that some people
were not buying sachet water because the source of such water was
questionable.

On closer scrutiny
of current debates, the disparity, or more exactly, chasm between
climate change impacts and climate change adaptation strategies and
policies becomes more and more apparent. Large and politically complex
nations like Nigeria, are having a hard time defining exactly what can
be done about what is known as global warming.

Nigeria is intent on achieving global top-20 economic status in the year 2020, i.e. in just nine years’ time!

Please, note that
the federal government insists on calling it a “vision”, which I think
is honest and non-committal enough, if only to keep the critics quiet
for now. Nobody can control a dream, and of course there are no
penalties for the visionary.

The day the Vision
2020 is baptised as “policy” and “strategy”, questions over detailed
frameworks of action with responsibilities and expected results,
milestones, etc. will emerge. At present, we must not be blamed for
indulging in the child game of building castles in the sand. But time
is running out as we fumble!

The UNDP Human
Development Report 2010, lists Nigeria in 142nd position out of 169
nations of the planet. Assuming that it is one of the benchmarks,
albeit not the most perfect for measuring economic wellness, is there a
belief anywhere in the possibility of jumping from 142nd to 20th place
in 9 years? What would the other nations of the world be doing during
this period? Bend over while Nigeria leap-frogs?

Which country on
earth has ever achieved 40,000 megawatts output in electricity
generation from 3,800 megawatts in a period of nine years, with
conventional burning of fossil fuels, decayed institutions, and a
massively corrupt, flippant, and insensitive legislature? Note that the
finance minister, Segun Aganga, said last week that 3,800 megawatts was
the highest ever capacity achieved in Nigeria.

This has to be
compared with billions of naira spent or wasted on energy since 1999 to
put things in their right perspective. Furthermore, kindly consider any
prudence in the prospective stationing of nuclear reactors in Nigeria,
and perhaps what percentage of the 40,000 megawatts is projected to
come from energy efficient sources such as solar, small hydro, wind,
and biomass.

In the 2011 federal
budget, the fiscal allocation to science and technology in Nigeria
stands at N5.1 billion, as against 53 billion in 2010, a cut of 97 per
cent! How then does Nigeria expect to acquire the expertise and
knowledge for managing technology transfer necessary in achieving a low
carbon and green economy, particularly when all the forests in the
country have been hacked down?

Additionally, the
global debate on biofuels and food security necessitates a relevant
policy position on climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Assuming that
renewable energy will constitute 30 per cent of future supplies, does
the nation possess the capacity to cope with such a transition and
manage the transfer of requisite technologies, not forgetting that it
will cost money which will not come from a foreign adaptation fund
alone.

There is this new
belief that the rich Annex 1 countries of the world will provide most
of the finances required to poor nations like Nigeria. What if, for one
reason or the other, they renege on their promise, citing other
pressing issues, like taking care of their own disasters, e.g. Japan,
or paying for the wars they are fighting across the globe?

If Nigeria is keen
on transiting to a ‘green economy’, it should not just be in view of
our national colours. It has to be based on sound economics and
resource management.

Nigerians evacuated from Libya have accused the federal government of neglecting them, since they returned to the country.

About 50 of the 180
evacuees who returned to the country at the weekend said the government
should have left them at the Tunisia refugee camp instead of bringing
them back home and failing to keep promises made to them.

Speaking on Sunday
at the Hajj camp of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos,
some of them said over 48 hours after their arrival in Lagos, no one has
come forward to tell them anything about their belongings, which they
checked-in at the Tunis airport. They also said they were promised $200
(N30,000) each by government officials, but on getting to Nigeria, the
sum was reduced to N5,000.

“We arrived Nigeria
without our luggage and nobody has told us why our luggage did not
arrive with us, because we checked them in at Tunis airport,” said
Muhammed Abubakar, an evacuee who is from Kano State.

“We were told that
we would be given $200 when we arrive Nigeria by our ambassador at Tunis
airport but when we arrived, we were given only N5, 000 and even some
of us have gotten our money.”

Another evacuee, who
identified himself as Winner, confirmed the Mr. Abubakar’s claims, and
added that “it is a huge disappointment to have the federal government
treating its citizens this way”.

“When Ghanaians were
evacuated by the Ghanaian government, on arrival in Accra, they were
given a new hand set and a sim card and they were evacuated promptly,”
he said.

When contacted, an
official of the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) refused to
comment on the issue. However, Margret Isaac, an evacuee who arrived
Nigeria with her daughter, said that the agency earlier promised to
bring back the luggage by Wednesday and Friday.

“I told my husband
to allow us to remain in the refugee camp in Tunis but my husband said
we must go back to Nigeria. In the refugee camp in Tunis, we were given
enough food, water and everything we need but here in Nigeria NEMA is
giving us N5,000; this is not enough. This is not what the ambassador
told us in Tunis,” she said.

Kaduna State
governor, Patrick Yakowa, and four other governorship candidates,
yesterday boycotted the town hall election debate organised by the
African Independent Television (AIT) held at the Gamji Gate
Multi-Purpose Hall, Kaduna. Also, the candidates of the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN), Sani Sha’aban, the Nigeria Advance Party (NAP), Yusuf
Abubakar Sadiq, Usman Nafiu of the African Political System (APS) and
David Ahmadu of National Solidarity Democratic Party (NSDP) were all
absent.

Candidates of the
Peoples Redemption Party (PDP), Balaraba Musa, All Nigerian Peoples
Party (ANPP), Muktar Aruwa, All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA),
Mohammed Sagir Madoya and Jimmy Dung of National Trasnsformation Party
(NTP) attended the debate. Others in attendance were Barrister Bello
Mohammed of Labour Party (LP), Haruna Sa’eed of the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), Bala Mohammed of African Democratic Congress
(ADC) and Abdul Ahmed Ishak of Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP).

The organisers of
the event told NEXT that a letter was extended to Mr Yakowa for the
programme which he acknowledged and accepted to participate.

Reason for absence

When contacted, the
Special Adviser to the governor on Media, Reuben Buhari, said that the
governor could not attend because of his governorship campaign tour and
had earlier informed the organisers of the debate of his inability to
attend.

“We had already
fixed today for the completion of our local government tour. I called
the coordinators earlier this morning and explained to them. I also
tendered our apologies that from Igabi, we will proceed straight to
Abuja”, he explained.

The debate was chaired by Abdulwaheed Ujor, a former Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kaduna State.

In their
submissions, all the candidates promised to deliver dividends of
democracy to the people if elected. They emphasised that education,
security, healthcare delivery and agricultural revolution will top their
agenda if elected in office.

Options for the people

Mr Musa of the PRP
and ADC candidate, Abdul Ishak, argued that the 27 percent the present
administration claimed to have been allocated to education is not a
reality. “It is not true that the present administration in the state
has allocated 27 percent to education. If not, education in the state
would have improved. I don’t think that the state government has given
up to 15 percent. It is just to deceive the people.” He said.

He said the PRP
government will ensure that at least 30 percent of the state’s annual
budget will be channelled to education and will provide free and
compulsory education from primary up to tertiary level depending on the
available resources.

Mr Dung of NTP said
his government will transform the education sector to make it attractive
and competitive as well as ensuring that private schools are not
superior to the public ones in the state.

On agriculture,
Muktar Aruwa explained that reviving the sector needs a political will
and bringing together all the stakeholders to address the issue.

He said that reviving agriculture in the state will be part of his programme if he becomes governor of Kaduna State.

Mr Sa’eed of CPC
said the proposed sugar factory in Makarfi Local Government Area of the
state which could have given employment to many has been abandoned for
25 years and promised that if elected, he will revive the ailing
industries and privatise them.

The APGA candidate, Sagir Maidoya stated that revolutionalising agriculture will be the focus of his three point agenda.

On healthcare
delivery, Mr Aruwa stressed that government will focus on sustenance of
rural infrastructural development which will touch all the Local
Governments in the State. He noted that the health facilities in the
hospitals are in a deplorable condition while the present leadership is
doing nothing to address them.

Mr Dung while
explaining that lack of political will and constant power supply
contributed to the closure of many industries in the state said his
administration will address the problem on a public private partnership
programme as well as providing the enabling business environment for
manufacturers.

Ahead of the April
general elections in Edo State, Governor Adams Oshiomhole over the
weekend said the work his two years old administration has successfully
carried out will further campaign for the candidates of the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN), as it would help to show what the party
candidates can achieve if voted into power during the elections.

Mr. Oshiomhole,
while speaking to journalists after the inspection of the
Jattu-Uzairue-Ayohan-Okpekpe Road in Etsako West and Etsako East local
governments and the Ekperi-Anegbete Road in Etsako Central Council, also
admitted that he was not popular among the political elite in the state
because of his frugal management of the state’s lean revenue and his
award of contracts to competent contractors instead of politicians who
may eventually abandon the job.

While on inspection
of projects at Okpekpe, he said, “the truth of the matter is that I am
the first to admit, I am not too popular among a good section of the
political elite because, for them, resources should be shared and even
if contracts should be awarded, it should be awarded to party leaders.
It does not matter that those party leaders know nothing about road
construction.

“So, what has
happened is that because we are giving jobs to those who are competent
to do it and because we have carried out proper studies and designs and
proper costing of projects, we are able to do what we have to do.

“All we have done is
to block the loopholes in the system and like I said at the beginning,
we are not going to put too little every where such that to make impact
nowhere,” he stated.

He said his
administration was determined to wipe out poverty from the land: “We
cannot address the challenge of rural poverty in our rural areas without
opening up the roads to those rural communities. I believe that the
starting point in any bold attempt to defeat poverty is to reintegrate
our rural communities where the bulk of our people live.

“I believe that what
we are doing here will not only open up the rural communities; those of
our people who are interested in mechanised farming, they now can drive
out and appreciate the work of nature and see how much of natural
endowment we have in this part of the state.”

The presidential candidate of the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday, vowed to jail those
who have looted the treasury in the last 12 years if elected as the next
president of the country.

Mr Ribadu, the former Chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, made the statement in Ado
Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital during his presidential rally. He likened
the Action Congress of Nigeria to a revolution that would sweep the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) out of Nigeria.

Mr Ribadu and his running mate, Fola
Adeola, accompanied by other party leaders, entered the venue of the
campaign rally along Iworoko Road at about 3.55pm. He said he would fix
the country’s economy if he becomes the president

“ACN is changing Nigeria and is going to
kick the PDP out of the country,” he said. “I represent the youth
generation; a young man is taking over the country after 2011. If we are
elected, we are going to provide employment, build hospitals, create
wealth, build industries to take care of the youths. PDP have destroyed
Nigeria by its inability to impact on the lives of the people in the
last 12 years.

We are going to focus on peace and
unity, provide security. This will not be a great task to achieve
because of my experience in the public service and that of my running
mate, Mr Fola Adeola, in the private sector. PDP has destroyed Nigeria.
They have stolen our money, and now, we should come together and rescue
our nation.”

A revolution

Two PDP members in
the House of Assembly, Adebayo Morakinyo and Femi Adeleye, representing
Ikole 1 and Ido/Osi 2 constituencies respectively, defected to the ACN.
Former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, said youth revolution has
entered Nigeria, calling on all and sundry to embrace the progressive
revolution and chase away the PDP out of Nigeria. He regretted that the
ruling PDP has not been able to proffer lasting solution to the
lingering crisis of poor power supply in Nigeria.

“God will deliver Nigeria the way it delivered the Babylon,” he said.
“PDP has become a disaster to this country. When the former President
Olusegun Obasanjo got to power in 1999, he promised to provide stable
power in six months, but did nothing after eight years. This was a
confirmation of my belief that the PDP is a power disaster party.”