A Nigerian newspaper and Online version of the Vanguard, a daily publication in Nigeria covering Niger delta, general national news, politics, business, energy, sports, entertainment, fashion,lifestyle human interest stories, etc
By Joseph Erunke ABUJA – TO halt the growing controversies trailing its removal of Christians Religious Studies and Islamic Religious Knowledge as Independent subjects from the education curriculum, the Federal Government, Thursday, directed that both subjects be reinstalled as independent subjects.
The government asked the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC, the country’s education body charged with the development of school curriculum, to immediately reinstall the two subjects where they were before their removal.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu,gave the directive at a meeting with State commissioners of education and stakeholders in education sector, in Abuja. Christian Religious Knowledge
The minister was represented by the Minister of State for Education, Anthony Anwukah, at the meeting aimed strengthening the partnership within the three tiers of government in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals 4, SDG4.
Speaking at the occasion, Adamu said the restoration of the subjects to their old status was imperative given the controversies their removal had generated in recent times, especially the complaint by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN.
He explained that the collapse of the two subjects was done by former President Goodluck Jonathan's administration to reduce the number of subjects offered by pupils and students in schools.
The minister said: "There is this controversy over the merger of CRK and IRK in the school curriculum. There were complaints by parents that children were overloaded with so many subjects and the recommendation then was to merge one or two subjects. Unfortunately, water and oil were merged together and it is not working.
"So, to save ourselves the agony, the two subjects should be separated. We push that to the NERDC,"
Adamu, in his address, reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to revamping the education sector and appealed to state governments as well as relevant stakeholders to support the federal government effort.
He also expressed the commitment of the government towards achieving the SDG4 by 2030 in line with the global timeline.
The minister said Nigeria has selected the Goal 4 of the SDGs, which emphasizes inclusive and quality education for all and promotion of lifelong learning, for implementation in view of the importance of education as a fulcrum to national development.
He said the federal government was aware that in the journey towards achieving the Education 2030 Agenda, key issues including the phenomenon of out-of-school children, insecurity in and around the schools and infrastructure decay must be addressed.
The minister said there was also the need to have credible and reliable data, and how to address the challenge of poor teacher quality as well as teacher gaps, low carrying capacity in tertiary institutions, and poor learning outcomes.
"We recognize that the task of revamping the education sector is challenging, the ministry of education cannot do it alone. Our task is to coordinate national efforts to meet our national goals and objectives.
"It is our believe that with good planning, appropriate investment of resources, transparency, due process, effective collaboration and coordination of inputs and activities of government and that of all stakeholders, we will realize our vision of providing quality education to build and sustain adequate human capital for national development," the minister added.
At least 33 people were killed in clashes between cattle herders and farmers in Nigeria‘s northern Kaduna state, a police chief told AFP Thursday.
Two days of violence between herders and farmers erupted on Sunday in Kajuru village, 50 kilometres (30 miles) outside the city of Kaduna, said state police commissioner Agyole Abeh.
“A total of 33 people were killed in the violence between Fulani herdsmen and farmers,” said Abeh.
“The violence started when some villagers attacked a young Fulani man and his father, which led to the death of the young man after he was admitted in hospital.”
The victim’s kinsmen gathered from nearby settlements and launched a reprisal attack on the village, killing six men, said Abeh.
In response, the youth from the farming communities “mobilised and went into the bush attacking and burning Fulani settlements they could find”, he added.
“Our men were contacted but before they could deploy, the attackers had killed 26 people, mostly women and children and injured several others.”
Security personnel have since been deployed to the area to maintain peace.
Nigeria‘s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has ordered reinforcements in Kaduna state following the clashes.
He condemned what he said were the “needless deaths” and expressed frustration with the security challenges in southern Kaduna.
Osinbajo promised to ensure that the “perpetrators of these dastardly acts” were identified and brought to justice, he said in a statement issued on Wednesday evening.
Southern Kaduna has seen a spate of deadly clashes between the predominantly Christian farmers and Muslim Fulani herders, a historically nomadic people who graze their cattle on the land.
Originally, the clashes were over land and water rights disputes.
But ethnicity and religion have been playing a larger role in the conflict after post-election violence in 2011 that saw hundreds of Muslims killed and forced to flee the area.
Without a national strategy in place to address the conflict, tensions between herdsmen and farmers have not subsided, and tit-for-tat killings have become common.
Experts blame a heavy-handed, militarised response by the government, and incendiary comments from political and religious leaders for fanning the flames of animosity.
Some group of concerned Nigerians have vowed to commence a daily sit-out at the National Assembly on the 90th day to register their concerns over the continued absence without clarification to Nigerians of President Muhammadu Buhari who has been out of the country for 73 days now to seek medical treatment.
The group of Nigerians, in a statement to newsmen, said the health condition of President Buhari has been kept secret to Nigerians who have the right to know the condition of the man they voted into power as president.
In the statement signed by the group's leader, Prince Deji Adeyanju and its Secretary, Dr. John Danfulani, the group said the National Assembly should set up a health panel to investigate the capability or otherwise of President Buhari to continue as Nigeria's president.
It said National Assembly should invoke the constitution and declare him unfit to continue as president if found so. It also said that the concerned Nigerians would commence a sit-out at the NASS if actions are not taken, constitutionally, to such effect.
File: Buhari on his way to Kenya on a state visit
The statement read thus:
"Today – July 19th, 2017 marks 72 days of President Muhammadu Buhari's absence from his office as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and from the country as a whole on a medical vacation to the United Kingdom.
"During this period, he has not made any public appearances either in London or in Nigeria and has only allegedly "communicated" with very few people and through a voice note spoken in Hausa language wishing Nigerians Happy Eid.
"Furthermore, details of President Buhari's health status have been kept away from the generality of Nigerians while his media team and other members of his cabinet/party make conflicting comments regarding his health. As at the time of this statement, no one including members of his party as admitted by Bolaji Abdullahi, the spokesperson of his party, knows the true medical condition of the President’s health.
"We acknowledge that during this period, President Buhari has satisfied constitutional requirements by transmitting letters to the National Assembly handing power over to his Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on an acting capacity.
"We also recognise the failure of the National Assembly in launching an investigation or setting up a panel to look into the true status of the President’s health.
"72 days is too long for a Commander-in-Chief to be away from his country without any explanation to the people that voted him.
"If the president has become incapacitated, he should do the honourable thing and resign. Nigeria must move forward with or without him.
"We hereby demand that the National Assembly invoke Section 144 sub Section 4 of the Nigerian Constitution and direct the setting up of a medical panel in conjunction with the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo to ascertain whether the President is incapacitated.
"This medical panel will be a team of 5 doctors from which one of them will be the personal physician of the President while the other four will be appointed by the Senate President.
"If the President is found with any infirmity that renders him incapable of discharging his duties, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall officially declare him incapable of discharging his duties and declare his office vacant as prescribed in subsection 2 of section 143.
"To this end, if the Legislature fails to act, we will commence a daily Sit-Out at the National Assembly from the 90th day of President Buhari’s absence from the Country."
Disgraced former American football star O.J. Simpson was granted his release from prison on Thursday after serving nearly nine years behind bars for armed robbery.
O.J Simpson
A four-member parole board in the western US state of Nevada voted unanimously to free the 70-year-old Simpson after a public hearing broadcast live by US television networks.
President of Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, Dr. Ona Ekhomu has advised Nigerian Universities to strengthen their capabilities to train manpower in European languages, with a view to enhancing the nation's intelligence collection and analysis operation.
Ekhomu-Ona
Presenting a paper titled "Road Map To Peace in Africa-Languages and Related Research Efforts: Case of the Gulf of Guinea" at an International Conference on Peace in Africa – Languages and Research Efforts" organized by the Department of European Languages and Integration Studies of the University of Lagos, Ekhomu, noted that the four European languages spoken in the Gulf of Guinea,GoG littoral countries were English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
He lamented that the low level of penetration of other European languages in Nigeria was severely hampering intelligence operations which he described as central to resolving major security challenges in the GOG.
"Universities and tertiary institutions must prioritize European language skills as part of their contribution to building a robust security/intelligence architecture in Nigeria.
There is also need to recruit fresh graduates of European languages from Nigerian Universities to strengthen the nation's human intelligence operations in the Gulf of Guinea and other conflict zones.
" This is because bilingual and multilingual security operatives are highly sought after by intelligence agencies of advanced and middle income nations, as good languages skills enable agents to gain clear understand of the issues they are tasked to work on", Ekhomu said
He enumerated security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea to include piracy, oil theft, illegal oil bunkering, illegal fishing, over-fishing, militancy, as well as attacks on offshore oil assets such as platforms and pipelines.
He added that the Nigeria and Benin territorial waters had been designated as high risk areas, disclosing that the cost of piracy in the GoG had been estimated at $2billion annually. "Unfortunately, pirates are now able to attack deep off-shore at ranges of 130 nautical miles ", he lamented.
He however, lauded the Nigerian Navy for effectively combating piracy in Nigeria territorial waters, even as he attributed the problem in the Gulf of Guinea to limited capacity on the part of collaborating navies in the Economic Community of Central African States ECCAS.
…threatens to arrest armed personnel who escort VIPs to polling centres
By Evelyn Usman
The Police in Lagos has warned public office holders; be they at the national or state level , to desist from taking their security aides close to the polling centres during Saturday’s Local Government election in Lagos, threatening to arrest any erring security personnel.
Lagos CP, Fatai Owoseni
He also charged members of staff of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, LASIEC to resist any temptation from politicians that could mitigate a hitch free election, saying anyone caught would be made to face the full wrath of the law. Commissioner of Police , Lagos state Police command, Fatai Owoseni , handed down the warning during a meeting with LASIEC adhoc and non adhoc staff , party chairmen, members of transport unions among other stakeholders.
The meeting according to Owoseni , was part of preparation towards ensuring that Saturday’s election was devoid of violence.
As first step towards ensuring this, he disclosed that LASIEC’s officials would be profiled , with a view to ensuring prompt arrest of any of them who would allow himself to be used against achieving the desired result.
Addressing those he referred to as VIPs to exercise their franchise and leave the polling centers, Owoseni said : ” VIPs may be members of the National Assembly, Ministers, Commissioners or members of the House of Assembly. Political office holders who are entitled to the use of aides will not be allowed to move around on Saturday with them . If they need to vote, they must be there as individuals to exercise their franchise and go back home.
“Any policeman found with them will be arrested . It is not just for this election. We have always advised police officers that are performing such duties not to go about with their weapons to intimidate electorates under the guise that they are aides to any VIP. Any policeman who violates this,we will make sure that the provisions of the law are brought to bear on him.
” We are making it clear that any policeman or security agent that violates this rule, will be sanctioned accordingly.”
He admonished LASIEC’s officials to study the electoral law with a view to understanding their roles during the elections, informing that ignorance was no excuse in law.
He said ” If you have not familiarize yourselves with the electoral law , don’t claim ignorance if arrested. If you violate the law, you will be made to face its full wrath, no matter who sent you.
“We are taking an inventory of all of you, in terms of getting your details, passport photographs and telephone numbers . You will also be captured and your finger prints taken.This is to ensure there won’t be any hiding place for you. If you violate the electoral law, we will haunt you, look for you and ensure the full wrath of the law catches up with you”
Assuring that the command and other security agencies were prepared for the electio, Owoseni charged candidates to warn their loyalists against shedding of blood come Saturday. He disclosed that candidates of all political parties would sign an undertaking towards this effect , today, at the command headquarters and area commands respectively.
Warns policemen against electoral malpractices Earlier, while addressing policemen and other security agents at a training programme held at POWA hall, Owoseni warned that on no condition should they allow themselves to be used to sabotage the process.
He said " We all know the code of conduct that guides the way we discharge our responsibilities, if we don't know, we will not be in uniforms. We should also go out there to make the whole exercise hitch-free so that at the end of the day, observers will be able to appreciate the role we played".
.Present at the one day training were personnel of the Nigerian Army, Navy , Air Force , the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Federal Road Safety Commission among others.
Chairman of Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, Pastor Bioudun Popoola has called on the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) to provide adequate security for Saturday’s local government election.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos, Popoola lamented the poor preparedness of security agencies at the LASIEC office alleging that he was molested by some hoodlums, believed to be political thugs, while he was on a visit to the commission’s office.
He said while being molested there was no security presence, noting that this gave the hoodlums a free day to carry out their nefarious activities.
The LP chairman called on the Lagos State government to beef up security for Saturday’s election, to ensure safety of lives and property.
He explained that his party, though in alliance with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is not interested in the internal wrangling of the PDP. He said: “As we go into this election, we should be mindful of our action and inaction. The people must matter and we must ensure that lives and property are secured during and after the election.
“I am urging the security agencies to curb the criminality associated with election. I do not want to mention name, another chairman from another party had to run for his dear life when we were molested at the LASIEC premises on Thursday.
“The success of the council polls depends on the security arrangement put in place. Government should deploy its state apparatus to ensure that LASIEC discharge its duty effectively and without bias,” he said.
Fearless governor of Ekiti state, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has said that All Progressives Congress party, APC, must die for Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to inherit it. Fayose who spoke through the video coverage credited to Naij Tv said that time has come for the old change (APC) to go and for the new change (PDP) to come in.
Placing examples for PDP’s need to takeover power from APC, he said "If nothing was wrong with Old testament there wouldn't be need for the New Testament".
He equally said that one cannot inherit anybody's property till the person is reportedly dead and therefore, "APC must die for PDP to inherit it".
The Senate, on Thursday, urged the Federal Government to give N200 to dollar concession to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) and the Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) once in every year.
It said it was for pilgrimages to the respective holy lands for Muslims and Christians.
This was part of the recommendations by the Committee on Foreign Affairs on "The Extortion of Pilgrims by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria'' presented by the Chairman, Sen. Monsurat Sunmonu, at plenary.
The committee recommended the concession to bring down the cost of the pilgrimages to bearable level.
Senate had in a motion on June 7, urged the Federal Government to review downwards, the 2017 Hajj fare.
Part of the 10-point recommendation by the committee was that the Federal Government should hold discussions with Saudi Arabia authorities.
Sunmonu said the consultation with the Saudi government was to review the 50-50 carriage of pilgrims between Nigeria and Saudi Arabian airlines.
"This is with a view to providing opportunities for more indigenous Nigerian airlines to participate in the Hajj operations. This will give Nigeria varieties in choosing the air carrier.
"The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria should expedite action on the establishment of Hajj Savings Schemes in compliance with Section 7(1 and 2) of the NAHCON Act.
"The Nigeria Government and its economic team must do everything possible to improve on the Nigerian monetary policy which would guarantee a long-time stable relationship of the Naira with other currencies," she said.
Sunmonu noted that 98 per cent of the entire Hajj operations were dollars-denominated with only two per cent as naira content.
In his contribution, Sen. Ali Wakil (APC-Bauchi) said there was need for an ad hoc committee to look into the matter of feeding and transportation of the pilgrims.
He called for the restoration of Amirul Hajj to serve as checks and balance between Nigeria and Saudi.
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said "we passed the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and based on it, we have passed what should be the exchange rate which is N305 to a dollar.
"We should make laws that are truly going to guide our people because we have MTEF which says the exchange is N305.
"If with passing MTEF nobody should be given N200, but businessmen are getting N200, then, definitely pilgrims deserve N200 as well," he said.
Saraki said that the Senate must put an end to the money-making venture, because pilgrimage was a religious activity and should not be for money-making.
"We will put an end to these leakages,'' he stated.
The Senate accepted the recommendations but rejected the one requesting NAHCON to ensure improved feeding for Nigerian contingents to all designated points, insisting that feeding should be left to the pilgrims.
By Aliyu Muhammad Dangida DUTSE – Former Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido has called on the aggrieved PDP members who dumped the party to immediately return back as the party has bounce back strongly. *Sule Lamido Lamido stated this Thursday while speaking at a stakeholders meeting held at the party secretariat in Dutse, Jigawa state, said arrangement has gone far to reconcile all aggrieved PDP Governors, Ministers, Senators, members of House of representatives and other members who dumped the party due to internal crisis that bedevilled the party.
The former governor who described the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) as a disaster to Nigerians said, ‘reasonable Nigerians are regretting for voting APC into power.’
According to him, the pattern of APC leadership lacks focus and direction as the party is a combination of minor political parties that have no good manifestos and prominent politicians that cannot take the country to the promise land.
He revealed that, the party would soon hold an emergency stakeholders meeting on the possibility to extend the tenure of caretakers leadership of the party from 12 August to next three months to allow for a better restructuring of the party ahead of 2019 general elections.
While speaking on the Jigawa state politics, the former governor said, Governor Muhammad Abubakar Badaru will soon regret his action that sent him to prison at the action was nothing but an insult to the entire Jigawa people.
His words ” as a father in Jigawa, sending me to Kiyawa prison by present governor Badaru is an insult to all Jigawa people, and I am assuring you that, the governor must regret taking this action, and to me as politician jail is nothing but rather just a fashion”.
…Your action is laughable—ASUU By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA – GOVERNOR Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has said that there was no going back in his decision to proscribed the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Kogi State University, KSU chapter. Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello and ASUU President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi
Governor Bello accused the leadership of ASUU of the University of being used by his political opponents to scuttle every peace moves to ensure that they perform the duty they had signed to do
But the National leadership of the union had described the proscription of ASUU by the governor as laughable, saying that what a rational person should do was to constructively engage the union leaders to ensure amicable resolution of the differences.
Governor Bello had on Wednesday banned the union after an emergency session of the state executive council in Lokoja.
Speaking with State House correspondents after attending a meeting of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) Wednesday night, the governor said he took the decision in order to save education and the future of Kogi children.
Bello alleged that there were political forces behind the union in the institution, noting that all efforts to get the lecturers back to work after months of strike action did not yield any positive result.
On whether he thought about the consequences of his action, he said. “Well, the most important thing is that Kogi state university belongs to Kogi state and it is the future of our children and of our students that we are concerned about about.
“And so long as that is assured and we can protect that, I don’t think we have any apology for taking that decision.”
On the reason for his action he said, “I inherited more or less a comatose institution and in a bid to regosuscitate it, we need to carry out certain surgical operation in order to make educational sector in Kogi State healthy.
“And education is one of our five thematic areas. We did the screening exercise and several other things.
“Now, ASUU came up with several other bodies with certain demands. Some predated my administration and to the best of our judgement as an administration, we were able to meet up to 90% of these demands.
“And in a collective bargain, both parties should shift ground. And the way and manner ASUU Kogi State University Chapter was going about it, it is more or less like a political party that was in opposition.
“Apparently, there are certain forces from certain areas that were pushing them. That wouldn’t be my concern. But my concern particularly is that certain amount of demands that were put forward, among which is salaries, have been paid fully.
“And the institution has been on strike for almost seven months now.
“Now, the question is, government owed you seven months, government has paid you seven months among other demands.
“But there is one important thing that you are owing the critical stakeholders in education that you can never pay back, which is the time of the children, the time of our young ones, the time of the students that has been wasted that you can never give back.
“I appealed to them to return back. On or before the end of this month and that we will pay all outstanding arrears. Every other institutions resumed but KSU.
“But what is more amazing and disturbing is that in the course of interacting with them, in the presence of all stakeholders including the Attah of Igala, the Acting Chairman made a remark that even if we meet 100% demand of ASUU KSU or lecturers KSU, we only succeeded in minimizing the incidence of strike in the institution.
“Meaning, he went further to expatiate that if every thing is running normal in the institution and the National body of ASUU desires to go on strike for whatever reason, Kogi KSU will join the strike action.
“And I think that is most irresponsible and they are not sensitive to the plight of parents, the students and even the future of the young ones.
“If that is going to be the case, as the Visitor to that institution, I am powered to proscribe that association in that institution so that we can have a smooth academic running.
“And as a government, we will live up to our duties and responsibility so that even our lecturers and all other civil servants in Kogi state will be taken care of adequately and within the ambit of our resources.”
But speaking to Vanguard, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi described the action of the governor as laughable, alleging that what happened showed that the governor lacked the democratic credentials to be a state Chief executive in democracy.
Prof. Ogunyemi said, “It is a laughable thing. For many reasons I don’t think the governor be given unnecessary attention. You cannot proscribed a body you didn’t establish. The military tried it but didn’t succeed.
“If somebody that calls himself a governor wants to question an existing structure, his democratic credentials is questionable. He is trying to run away from his shadows but his shadows will continue to pursue him.
“Many of the elected governors are worse than the military dictatorship. The so-called elected governors who have bulldozed themselves in government house make unnecessary utterances. We don’t take him serious. We see him as one of those that found themselves in government but don’t know what to do with the power. Let somebody advice him to go back and think.”
Dr Biodun Adedipe, the Chief Consultant in Biodun Adedipe Associates, says the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has the capacity to sustain ongoing interventions in the foreign exchange.
Adedipe advised that the CBN should continue to intervene in the foreign exchange market in spite of the pressure on the external reserves.
Speaking at the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Half-Year Economic Review in Lagos on Thursday, he said that with the 30-day moving average, the reserves rose from 29.07billion dollars at end of 2015 to 30.36 billion dollars in July 11.
CBN Headquarters
Adedipe said the liquid portion of the reserves stood at 29.62billion dollars which translated to 12.31 months of imports coverage.
He said the exchange rate steadily depreciated to N168 to dollar at the end of 2014 toN197 to dollar at end of 2015, N305 to dollar at the end of 2016 and N305.85 to dollar as at July 19, 2017.
Adedipe said the required international benchmark was for external reserves to be able to sustain at least six months of the import bill.
He said that Nigeria was still doing great with its reserves covering over 12 months of imports.
The economist said Nigeria's total import bill in the first half of this year was N2.2 trillion ($7.218 billion) on the average of monthly figure of 2.406 billion dollars.
He said that due to recession, the current import figure was on decline from 14.171 billion dollars or monthly average of 4.724 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2015.
Adedipe said that Nigeria's external trade had picked up since the first quarter of last year with imports declining.
He described as aberration calls on the CBN to freely float the naira, adding that no country in the world adopted such approach on exchange rate management.
The consultant said the " ongoing spike"in naira exchange rate occurred after the CBN was pressured by several stakeholders to adopt flexible exchange rate system and freely float the naira.
"That of course, was a huge aberration, as there is no country that freely floats its currency (even the US) – the job of the central bank is to defend and protect its currency by intervening in the markets as necessary.
"The voices are coming from too many experts that know nothing other than to echo what the Breton Woods institutions have said," Adedipe said.
On interest rate, he said the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), the benchmark rate, was raised to 14 per cent per annum in July 2016 from 12 per cent per annum.
Adedipe, however, said that changes in the MPR had not sufficiently impacted on bank deposit/lending rates as well as changes in banking credit volumes.
"The most volatile interest rate variant is the inter-bank rate, which is more of a reflection of the liquidity in the banking system (Federal allocations) rather than of changes in the MPR.
"The deposit and prime lending rates moved in adverse directions, respectively with deposits becoming cheaper to the banks and borrowing more expensive to borrowing customers.
"Actual lending rates were much higher – mostly at 29 per cent and above," he said.
Adedipe said he supported Federal Government's plans to reflate the economy through borrowing.
He, however, said the borrowed funds should not be used to fund recurrent expenditure, but should be used to fund infrastructure and projects that could generate enough resources to repay the loans.
"When an economy is seeking to get out of recession, the typical response is for the government to embark on massive spending which is referred to as fiscal stimulus.
"Often times, the government may lack the volume required and will, therefore, have to borrow beyond the normal range for an economy that is either in boom or the recovery mode.
"No professional economist will argue against borrowing to stimulate a recessed economy.
"But the question will always be to spend on what? If the answer is infrastructure, my take is to go ahead and borrow as much as you can," Adedipe said.
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) says it has revoked more than 600 contracts and projects as part of efforts to restructure the commission.
NDDC Managing Director, Nsima Ekere, told newsmen in Port Harcourt on Thursday that the commission's management and board took the decision to adopt a '4R' initiative as roadmap to development.
According to him, the commission's 4R initiative is restructuring the balance sheet, reforming governance protocols, restoring core mandate and reaffirming commitment to doing what is right and proper.
Ekere, said the commission's reform is justified because the commission's balance sheet was over-bloated with contingent liabilities in excess of N1.3 trillion.
"The move became imperative looking at the resources coming on monthly or yearly basis which necessitated restructuring it in a manner that will be meaningful to achieve results.
"The last management meeting approved cancellation of over 600 projects that NDDC already embarked on.
"We discovered that some of the contracts were either not properly awarded or some of them were awarded but the contractors have not yet gone to site.
"Some of the contracts were awarded as late as 2002 with some of the contractors collecting advance payments from the commission with zero work done at the sites.
"So, we terminated these contracts worth about N200 billion, which is the first phase of our restructuring the commission's balance sheet," he said.
Ekere said the second phase of restructuring the commission's balance sheet would affect projects that have only attained zero to five per cent completion status.
He explained that contractors in this category were those who mobilised to site but had achieved negligible work compared to contractual agreement.
According to him, equally affected are contractors that have not been to the site for upwards of five to seven years, and as such, performed poorly.
"On restoration of the commission's core mandate, we want to ensure that projects that we do is geared toward achieving the core mandates for establishing the commission.
"In the past, our contracts and projects were politically motivated while some were done to satisfy one person or interest which is not good enough.
"If there is a Master Plan or design to achieve a certain milestone within a set period; every year or month spent should be an incremental step toward achieving that target.
"So, we looked at the master plan which is supposed to be accomplished within 50 years but have already spent 10 years without much being achieved," he said.
Ekere explained that the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan was a plan that articulated policies and programmes that ought to be collectively executed by different development partners.
He listed the development partners to include federal, state and local governments; Ministry of Niger Delta, International Oil Companies, the World Bank, European Union and USAID among others.
"So, the days of struggling and competing with local government councils on who would buy chalk for blackboards in schools must be over.
"We want to do less of the smaller projects and do more of the bigger projects that will ultimately impact on the socio-economic lives and development of the region," he said.
Ekere said the third agenda was reformation of the commission's governance system aimed to running the commission in an efficient and transparent manner with reliance on technology.
The managing director said the last phase was to reposition the mind-set and thinking of members of staff with focus on enthroning professionalism and expertise in service delivery.
By Henry Umoru ABUJA- THE Senate will next week Tuesday begin clause by clause debate on the reviewed 1999 Constitution, just as the Deputy Senate President and Chairman of the Senate Constitution amendment Committee, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Thursday laid the report.
Ekweremadu Thursday laid the report which contained items that have been adopted by the Joint session of the Committees of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Shortly after the deputy Senate President laid the report, Senate President Bukola Saraki mandated the Clerk of the Senate, Nelson Ayewor to as a matter of urgency, distribute copies of the report to the Senators to ensure that they all get it, read it, study it to enable them make useful and meaningful contributions next week when the debate would have commenced.
According to Saraki, the circulation of the report would enable Senators use the weekend to study the report when the clause by clause of the report commences next week Tuesday.
Also briefing Journalists on the laid report, Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi who noted that the constitution review has moved to another level.
Ekweremadu’s latest latest assignment as chairman, actually started January 13, 2016, just as he has held the position of head the amendment of the Nigerian Constitution for three consecutive National Assembly Sessions.
He was first appointed the chairman of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review in 2008. That was in the 6th National Assembly. The idea of a Joint Committee was, however, later jettisoned and he emerged the chairman of Senate Committee on Constitution Review of the 6th Senate.
He ensured that there was the passage of the first sets of amendments to the Constitution in 2010.
Again in the 7th Session, Ekweremadu also served as the chairman of the Constitution Review Committee which led to the passage of the 2014 amendments to the Constitution that were submitted to the President early 2015.
The Senate on Thursday confirmed the appointment of Mrs Asmanu Maikudi from Katsina State and seven others as Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC).
Other nominees, who were equally confirmed are, Mr Sam Olumekun from Ondo State, Prof. Riskuwa Shehu from Sokoto State, Mr Kassim Geidam from Yobe and Jibrin Zarewa from Kano State.
Prof. Samuel Egwu from Kogi, Mr Mike Igini from Delta and Abdulganiyu Raji from Oyo State were also confirmed.
The upper chamber, however, stepped down consideration of Amb. Rufus Akeju (Lagos), Dr Mahmuda Isah (Kebbi) and Ahmad Mahmud (Zamfara).
It also rejected the nomination of Prof. Mustapha Zubairu of Niger on the ground that he came from the same geo-political zone with Mohammed Haruna, the Federal Commissioner, representing North Central in INEC.
This decision of the senate followed the report of the Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) presented by its Chairman, Sen. Suleiman Nazif.
The decision of the chamber to step down the confirmation of Akeju was sequel to a Point-of-Order raised by the Deputy Minority Whip, Sen. Biodun Olujimi, on a court judgment against his appointment.
Displaying a copy of the judgment, she warned that confirming the nominee would amount to a negation of the powers of the judiciary.
On the nominees from Kebbi and Zamfara, the senate said that there were issues on their cases that needed to be further investigated.
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, charged the successful nominees to contribute their quota to transform election process in the country.
He said that their appointment was timely as it would have positive impact on elections in the country.
"The newly confirmed Resident Electoral Commissioners are people of high integrity, disciplined and full of patriotism.
So, we expect that the gains recorded by INEC in the previous elections should be surpassed.
"The timetable recently released by INEC for 2019 general elections is timely and this will give the newly-appointed RECs an opportunity to correct the mistakes of the previous elections.
"On our part as a Senate, our committee is working on the amendment of the Electoral Act to further complement the electoral body,'' he said.
Meanwhile, the Senate had, prior to the confirmation of the RECs, clarified that it had not changed its resolution not to consider presidential requests for confirmation on areas not specified in the Constitution.
It stated that it would maintain the position until judicial interpretation was made on those areas.
This followed a Point of Order by Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe.
Whiling citing Order 43, he said that he was taken aback when he read in the newspapers that the Senate had reversed its resolution on confirmation of certain executive nominations.
On that, Saraki said, "this institution has great respect on the resolutions that we pass here as a body.
"We will never go against our resolutions. If you can recollect, what we said is explicitly stated in the Constitution in Section 153 or even section 171.
"Ambassadorial and ministerial appointments are the only ones that we will continue to consider.
"Those are ambassadors, ministers and others bodies, specified in the Constitution.
"The National Assembly will not consider anyone outside the specified agencies, and INEC is among those bodies that are in section 153, which we will consider their nominations.
"This is just to assure you that we have not shifted ground on this resolution.
"Please discard what you read from the newspapers and be guided that as presiding officers we respect the law,'' he said.
In another development, the National Information and Intelligence Database Bill, 2017 scaled first reading at the plenary.
The bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi(APC-Kaduna), is aimed at making the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit(NFIU) autonomous of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).
It is part of effort to lift the suspension of Nigeria from EGMONT, an international Financial Intelligence Group.
The United Progressive Party (UPP) on Tuesday in Abuja announced that its nomination form for the Nov. 18 governorship election in Anambra would cost N5 million.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Ogbuehi Dike, told our correspondent that each aspirant would also pay N500, 000 for "Expression of Interest Form''.
Dike said that the sale of expression of interest form would commence on Friday, while nomination forms would be available for purchase from Monday at the party's National Secretariat in Abuja.
He said the sale of forms would be followed by the screening of candidates for the primaries, which would hold on Aug. 19, 2017.
Dike said that UPP was enjoying huge followership in Anambra, adding that the support would translate to success in the election.
"I can tell you that UPP is the party to beat come Nov. 18, 2017 in Anambra.
"It is not going to be a surprise if we win but it will be a surprise if UPP fails this Anambra election, because we are the best and we are also going to present our best.
"Everything we are doing now is geared towards the Anmabra elections to ensure that our primary is free, fair, credible and acceptable to our aspirants.
"So, as soon as we get our candidate, we will not rest on our oars until the Nov. 18 when we will be declared the winner of the election.''
He urged the citizens to register and ensure that they collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) so as to participate in the election because it was their power to elect the best candidate.
"So I will advise all Anambarians to go out diligently and religiously to pick their PVCs and choose the best for themselves.
`I also advice INEC to be an unbiased umpire in the Anambra election by doing everything to make sure that it will be conclusive.
"They should conduct free, fair, credible and acceptable election, anything short of that would discredited them ahead of 2019 general elections .''
Dike, therefore, urged INEC to see the Anambra election as a testing ground to show to Nigerians that it was ready to give its best and produce a transparent result in the election.
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri ABUJA – A group under the aegis of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation, on Thursday, approached the Federal High Court in Abuja for an order declaring President Muhammadu Buhari as permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office.
Cited as defendants in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/671/2017, were the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Executive Council of the Federation, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the National Assembly.
Specifically, the plaintiff, which equally filed an ex-parte motion, is praying the court to declare, “That the Executive Council of the Federation has failed to perform its constitutional duty by failing, refusing and neglecting to pass a resolution declaring the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari who has been away for more than 60 days on third medical vacation since the assumption of office as the President in 2015 incapable of discharging the functions of office; in view of section 144 (1) (a) and (b) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”.
It also wants a declaration of the court that “in the circumstances of the Executive Council of the Federation not passing a resolution declaring the President incapable of discharging the functions of his office, the Senate President should not go ahead to constitute a medical panel to examine the health condition of the President, to determine if the President is suffering from infirmity of body and mind, and whether the President has become permanently incapable to discharge the functions of his office; in view of section 144 (4) of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended)”.
The plaintiff submitted three issues for determination by the court.
The issues are; “Whether or not the Executive Council of the Federation has failed to perform its constitutional duty by failing, refusing and neglecting to pass a resolution declaring the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari who has been on third medical vacation since the assumption of office as the President in 2015 as incapable of discharging the functions of office; in view of section 144 (1) (a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
“Whether or not in the circumstances of President Muhammadu Buhari's, ill health which has kept him away on medical vacation for more than three months, the President, Muhhammadu Buhari is suffering from such infirmity of body and mind that has rendered him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office; in view of section 144 (2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
As well as, “Whether or not in the circumstances of the Executive Council of the Federation not passing a resolution declaring the President incapable of discharging the functions of his office, the Senate President should not go ahead to constitute a medical panel to examine the health condition of the President, to determine if the President is suffering from infirmity of body and mind, and whether the President has become permanently incapable to discharge the functions of his office; in view of section 144 (4) of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended)”.
According to the plaintiff, the court should upon answering the questions posed before it, issue, “An order of Mandamus compelling the Executive Council of the Federation to immediately and without any further delay perform its constitutional duty by passing a resolution declaring the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari who has been away for more than 6o days on third medical vacation since the assumption of office as the President in 2015 incapable of discharging the functions of office; in view of section 144 (1) (a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
Likewise, “An order of Mandamus compelling the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to go ahead and constitute a medical panel to examine the health condition of the President Muhammadu Buhari to determine if the President is suffering from infirmity of body and mind and to determine whether the President has become permanently incapable to discharge the functions of his office; in view of section 144 (4) of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended)”.
It will be recalled that a United States of America-based Nigerian, Mr. Toyin Dawodu, had on June 28, filed a similar suit before the high court.
Dawodu, in his suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/508/2017, sought for a court order compelling the Senate President, Saraki, to appoint a medical panel to determine the health status of President Buhari.
The ongoing Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta has already assigned the first case to his likely successor in office, Justice Abdukadir Abdu-Kafarati for determination.
A Madrid court on Thursday ordered Spanish football federation president Angel Maria Villar and his son Gorka to be held in custody without bail following his arrest on corruption charges.
Villar Llona
High Court judge Santiago Pedraz said there was a significant risk that the two men could make an attempt to flee the country given the seriousness of the crimes they are accused of and the “huge financial means” which they have.
By Levinus Nwabughiogu ABUJA – Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has said that the National Assembly would not fail Nigerians, especially the youth in the considering of the Bill seeking their inclusion in politics and leadership at young age. Speaker Dogara
Dogara’s reassurance followed the insinuations in many quarters that the federal legislature has jettisoned the proposed ‘Not Too Young To Run Bill’ in the Constitution Amendment Report laid on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday.
Baring any eventual changes, the consideration of the report would commence next week.
Deputy Speaker of the House and Chairman, Special Adhoc Committee on Review of the Constitution, Hon Sulaimon Yussuf Lasun had intimated the Speaker of speculations that the bill was removed at the retreat of the joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Review of the Constitution in Lagos.
He however explained that the name of the Bill was changed but not entirely removed, saying it could be possible reason that fueled the speculation.
In his remarks shortly before adjourning plenary session on Thursday, Dogara assured the youth of their place in the leadership of the country via elective positions.
“The young people should be informed that we made a promise and we will keep to our promise, by God’s grace”, Dogara assured.
The Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development is to spend about N12.9 billion for capital expenditures in 2017, against N7.3 billion appropriated for similar projects in 2016.
This is part of its fiscal allocations approved by the Federal Government in the year's budget.
According to the 2017 Appropriation Act concerning the ministry, obtained by Newsmen on Thursday in Abuja, there is a significant difference of N5.6 billion between the appropriations in the years to the ministry.
A source in the ministry, however, told NAN that one billion naira was appropriated as capital budget to the sector in 2015 and only N419 million was released to the sector from the amount.
"The ministry was given N4.3 billion from the N7.3 billion appropriated to the sector as capital budget in 2016; the amount appropriated to the ministry this year is encouraging to address some projects.
"This is a clear vision that government is committed to achieve its diversification plan through the sector; though the amount is not enough, it is better than the previous years,'' the source said.
NAN learnt that some of the challenges and constraints of the 2016 budget comprised inadequate fund to projects, delay in the procurement process among others.
The source said that lessons learned by the ministry include early release of adequate fund for construction and installation of projects to facilitate early mobilisation, appreciable progress and performance of the budget.
The source also said allocation and release of adequate fund for procurement projects early in the year would allow completion of projects in the budget year.
The breakdown of the capital budget of the sector to its parastatal agencies are N6.4 billion for the main ministry; Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geosciences got N43.5 million.
The Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) got N2.5 billion; the National Steel Raw Material Exploration Agency in Kaduna got N1.319 billion and National Metallurgical Development Centre in Jos got N308 million.
A total of N402 million was appropriated to Metallurgical Training Institute, Onitsha, Anambra; the National Iron Ore Mining Project, Itakpe, in Kogi got N176.4 million and Nigeria Institute of Mining and Geosciences got N187.9 million.
The Nigeria Mining Cadestre Office and Centre got N484 million; Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited got N354.1 million and Solid Mineral Development Fund Office got N113.5 million.
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