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A beautiful woman with bad character is marriageable; an ugly woman with good character is also marriageable - they will both be wives, but an ugly woman with bad character does not live in a husband's house. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State is an ugly woman with a bad character – incompetent, chronically corrupt and now, through his aides, is threatening to ruthlessly deal with anyone who dares point at his failure. He should have no place in the Igbo geopolitical landscape.

The powerful Igbo proverb, “an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned”, encapsulates Governor Ikpeazu’s unease at the mention of unpaid salaries and pension arrears. You don’t need a light to see someone you know intimately at night. Abia citizens do not need a light to see their bad roads or know that Aba is stinking and is one of the dirtiest cities in the world.

Ukpaka is a meal that has a strong odour that attracts flies after it has fermented. Governor Ikpeazu and his aides are like the old woman, who cooks a meal of ukpaka and knows the blind fly. They are worried that the bad odour from the rot in Abia State is attracting the attention of well-meaning citizens. But instead of purging the rot in the Government House, they are taking the aggression to the already impoverished Abia citizens.

Here is Governor Ikpeazu’s threatening message to Abia citizen through his aide: "Look, from today, whether it's about unpaid salaries, bad roads, unpaid pensions, whatever, if you ever write anything about Abia State government, you will disappear to Abuja!"

It is terrifying that the brazenly overzealous aide of Governor Ikpeazu on that recorded call threatened to give the patriotic Abia son what he characterised as 'Mopol' treatment. He said, “If a whole Mopol can be put out, who are you? Does your family have money to bail you?”

The fact that he even reminded the young man how poor he and his family are, was heartless.

When there is a disturbance in the market, the old woman runs to the stall of someone she knows she can beat. Governor Ikpeazu and his aides are like that ugly old woman with bad character.  They have seen a small guy they can annihilate and are, thus, anxious for a fight.  Shameful.

What are Governor Ikpeazu and his aides teaching Igbo youth that will make future decisions about our democracy? Let the governor and the killer squad that is behind him challenge the demons in the Government House in Umuahia that have prevented them from paying workers and keeping the streets of Aba clean.

Everyone’s true colours show eventually. Governor Ikpeazu’s true colour is clearly showing. His warning is simple; speak up against the corruption and incompetence in Abia State and you will disappear. The governor and his aides smell like the dirt in the streets of Aba, and Igbos, must rise, together and ask Governor Ikpeazu to apologise to the young man his aide was threatening.

The old woman, who provokes a fight but is not pushed to the ground, will provoke a fight another day.  Governor Ikpeazu and his aides have just provoked a fight and Igbos should push them to the ground. Governor Ikpeazu is a big mistake for Abia citizens and a terrible example for Igbos.

If you forgive the fox for stealing your chicken, he will take your sheep. If we let Governor Ikpeazu get away with boasting to cause the disappearance of his subject, who is simply asking him to deliver good governance, he will come after the teachers that are asking him to pay common salary. If he gets away with this, he will send pensioners, who he has been starving to their early deaths.

To lead is not to run roughshod over people and the jungle is stronger than the elephant. The citizens of Abia State are the jungle and the elephants in and around the Government House in Umuahia should not be allowed to roughshod the people.

A weaning baby that does not cry aloud will die on its mother's back. Igbos that are under the spell of bad leadership since 1999 should cry out. We should speak up against poor governance or die under the table of these failed leaders. History proves that to encroach on the liberty of one is to threaten the freedom of all. The ugly political actors with bad characters must be confronted.

Let me now remind my Igbo brothers and sisters of one Acholi proverb, which states that old and new millet seeds end up in the same mill. The incompetence, corruption, and impunity in Abuja should, thus, generate the same level of outcry from Igbos as the ones in Awka, Enugu, Abakaliki, Owerri and Umuahia.

What has horns must not be hid in a sack. Let us stop protecting and hiding these embarrassing ugly characters in our backyards. An okra tree does not grow taller than its master. Governors Obiano, Umahi, Ugwuanyi, Okezie and Ihedioha should not be allowed to lord over us with impunity and incompetence. We are their masters.

No one wants to be called fragile. If you are Igbo, and after reading this, you feel that I should stop bashing and exposing Igbo politicians, then you are fragile. You have a low emotional tolerance for discussing the rotten political class in Igbo land that is running amok. 

Here is my charge to Igbos: let us take a break from what is going on in Abuja for two years and focus on the rot at our backyard. The vultures, we know would not land at the village in which there is a wise old man. If Igbos will look inwards and apply just 50 per cent of our wisdom to our local politics, the political vultures that have held us hostage for years will have nowhere to land.

Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand. If we channel 10 per cent of the energy we dissipate on Tinubu and his Lagos on our governors in the South-East, we will make our states economically viable. If we should stop hallucinating over Rotimi Amaechi and Aisha Buhari for two years, we will force our governors to sit up and deliver good governance across Igbo land.

"Later, later" prevented the toad from growing a tail. The time to stop protecting the incompetence across the Igbo states is now. May the child not die, may the child not die: let it die, and let's see if the day will not break. We are stronger, together.

Unspoken, blame the mouth; unheard, blame the ear. Together, we can.

You can email Churchill at Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @churchillnnobi

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Transparency International

 

Global corruption body, Transparency International, said in a new report on Thursday that police around the world do not have the capacity to track illicit transactions made by carton companies.

The body noted that this makes governments dependent on banks to report such activities, a situation that impedes investigation into corruption.

The report notes that only one of the 83 companies studied are able to properly track criminal financial activities.

“Almost without fail, anonymous Shell companies appear at the centre of major cases of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion,” said Maira Martini, an anti-money laundering expert at Transparency International and author of the study.

“Funds can be transferred between corporate bank accounts within seconds but identifying who owns companies involved in cross-border corruption cases can take authorities up to a year,” she added.

The organisation suggests that countries should mandate countries to open central registries where beneficial ownership data can be easily sourced and compared globally.

“Transparency International found that in the vast majority of 26 countries analysed in detail, authorities rely on information collected by banks and other reporting entities.

“This impedes investigations as authorities often first need to know where the company banks.

“They may also require a court order, and information held by banks is often unverified.

“Cross-border ownership and banking structures create additional hurdles.

“Central registers make it much easier for authorities to access the information they need in a timely manner.

“When these registers are also public, there are more ways of making sure the information available is accurate, as journalists and civil society can identify inaccuracies and cross-reference with other sources,” Martini observed.

Global anti laundering regulator – Financial Action Tax Force, has made it mandatory for countries to make it easier for people to know the real and beneficial owners of a company.

This requirement is not legally possible in Nigeria, as the eighth assembly failed to assent to the beneficial ownership bill.

Transparency International notes that FATF does not instruct countries on what method to adapt in making spotting beneficial ownership easy.

It however, advised the regulator to revise its recommendations to adopt a multi-pronged approach to beneficial ownership information, with reporting entities.

 

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Nigeria Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu

 

Three projects in Nigeria’s Ministry of Education have been found to be without codes.

Each line item in the budget is uniformly written with a code, description, amount and a note as to whether the project is new or ongoing.

The Citizens enquiry platform run by the Civic Media Lab, however found the three projects without code in the ministry’s 2019 spending plan.

The projects were, “Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana – Afikpo, construction of one hostel complex for N30m.

“Federal Polytechnic Auchi, construction of lecture hall for N50m.

“Federal College of Education Omuku, perimeter fencing of the college for N35m.”

While this might not have any baring as to whether the projects will be executed or not, they add up to the mounting evidence of the unprofessional hand in which the country’s budget document is written.

The platform previously noticed a subhead called ‘Agricicultural facilities’ across several ministries in the 2018 budget.

It has also found projects that are poorly described – lacking a clear description of the number of equipment or facilities to be built or supplied, no detail as to where the construction refurbishment; or supply will be made, etc.

Some projects have also been found to have bogus descriptions and wrong information on the name of the location of the project.

Other line items are duplicated – appearing more than once under different codes with different amounts.

The lab found this to be the norm in the 2017, 2018 and 2019 budgets.

With the publication of the details of the budget proposal for 2020, Nigerians await the signing of the appropriation bill by January as promised by both President Muhammadu Buhari and members of the National Assembly. 

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WHO

 

There has been an upward increase in the number of people receiving lifesaving treatment for tuberculosis in the world.

The number rose from 6.4 million in 2017 to seven million in 2018, a report by the World Health Organisation said.

Tuberculosis is one of the top 10 causes of deaths worldwide with millions of people continuing to fall sick from the ailment every year.

Nigeria ranked among the top eight countries with the highest burden of tuberculosis in 2018 with Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and South Africa making the top eight.

The Global TB Report 2019 provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the tuberculosis epidemic, and progress in the response, at global, regional and country levels.

WHO’s latest Global TB report also says that 1.5 million people died from TB in 2018, showing a decrease from 1.6 million deaths recorded in 2017.

“Today we mark the passing of the first milestone in the effort to reach people who’ve been missing out on services to prevent and treat TB.

“This is proof that we can reach global targets if we join forces together,” said WHO’s Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

 

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The Central Bank of Nigeria has refused to disclose the volume of dollars given out at N305 as well as what sectors and schemes have been benefiting from the N55 difference.

The Civic Media Lab had since August 28 written a Freedom of Information scheme seeking to know how much subsidised foreign exchange the bank had disbursed through channels such as the Forex Intervention Scheme.

According to the Lab, the need to make the FoI request was sparked by comments made by Chairman of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Tunji Oyebanji, that he knows no marketer receiving forex at N305 to a dollar.

Mr Oyebanji had made this comment during this year’s Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition in Abuja.

He was responding to claims made at the conference by the then Chief Operating Officer, Downstream at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Henry Ikem-Obih, that the state-owned corporation was able to save $1.7bn from the Forex Intervention Scheme launched by the CBN and co-managed by the NNPC.

“I don’t know who is getting it at that 305, so, if NNPC is giving some marketers at that rate, I want to believe it is not a transparent thing.

“I don’t know who is getting it,” Oyebanji had said at the time.

In May 2019, FBN Quest, in an analysis, said ‘The CBN’s interbank/official rate (for priority transactions) is currently N307/US$.’

The Civic Media Lab’s FoI was designed to know what these priority transactions entail.

Between 2015 and 2017, the Nigerian Government – ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan’s regime inclusive, gave pilgrims concessionary forex subsidies of N160 to a dollar as against N190 to the dollar at the time; N197 to a dollar at a time when the exchange rate was N297 for a unit of the greenback and N305 when the investor and export window was stabilised at N360.

Thankfully, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration had stopped the concessionary grants in 2018.

However, a source, who made the Hajj trip in 2018, said some state pilgrim boards still subsidised the dollar needs of the religious travellers in their domain.

While these pilgrim concessions held, operators in the gas industry, which is dollar denominated, said in 2017 that they were incurring losses because they received payment for supplies to power generation companies at N305.

Manufacturers across various sectors of the economy also made huge losses as a result of the exchange rate difference between when they made importation orders and when payment was due.

 

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Former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili, and activist, Aisha Yesufu, both blamed Wednesday’s petrol tanker fire in Onitsha, Anambra State, on negligence on the part of government.

The two outspoken women, who are co-conveners of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, took to their Twitter pages to express their thoughts on the tragedy on Thursday.

Ezekwesili said, “There’s no escaping the consequences of poor governance no matter what any of us as citizens choose to do.

“My heart has been grieving at the utterly preventable tragedy of the #OnitshaFire and how families have lost lives and livelihood just because the basics were not available.

“How can an old city like Onitsha with a history of fire outbreaks not have a basic emergency and disaster response system?

“How woeful it is that episodes like this occur over and over again and all we do is feel sad for a few days and move on, leaving the victims to their fate.”

In her own reaction, Yesufu said, “Our fellow citizens died in an accident that could have been prevented.

“They are dead and will not die again. The next to be killed by the incompetence of government are those of us who are alive. Who's next? Think deeply about that. May the souls of the departed rest in peace.”

 

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File Photo

 

Five persons were on Thursday burnt to death in a fatal motor accident that occurred in Ondo State.

The accident involved a Toyota bus with registration number MKD 341 XA and a J5 bus marked BDG 330 AP.

An eyewitness, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent in Akure, the state capital, said the accident was allegedly caused by speed limit violation by the drivers.

The witness said, “Five persons were burnt beyond recognition in the accident while 14 other victims were rushed to the hospital with very serious injuries.

“The accident occurred at the Oyoyo Camp around Ipele in Owo Local Government Area of the state.”

Confirming the accident, Head of Operations of Federal Road Safety Corp in Ondo, Olusegun Ogungbemide, attributed the crash to overtaking.

He said, “Unfortunately, the two vehicles had head-on collision and immediately erupted in flames, burning the occupants beyond recognition.”

 

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Catalonia is set for a general strike on Friday, over the jailing of pro-independence leaders.

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The arrest in western Mexico triggers gun battles between security forces and drug cartel members.

 

“Our society desires that physical education will assist the individual to develop cooperation, respect for others, health knowledge, democratic behaviour, sound character and economic efficiency,” Ukacha Aminu, a 14-year-old Junior Secondary School pupil reads.

Aminu was applauded by his classmates, who could not read what was written on the white board in front of the classroom. It was a windy morning. Time was 10:15am at the Almajiri Integrated Model School in Shuni area of Sokoto State. Amidst academic activities, three pupils were truanting around when they ought to be in class; three other boys were also seen playing in the dry gutter opposite the school mosque.

These children are pupils understandably picked from slums so as to stop begging and foraging on the streets of Sokoto. However, findings have shown that they are not far from, who they used to be on streets even while in school.

‘We sneak out of the classroom to beg on street’

In what seems like an addiction to begging, many of the vulnerable children still find their ways to the streets to beg for food without being noticed by their teachers – Aminu Aliyu, one of the wandering kids in the school, said. Like many boarding schools, the Almajiri school at Shuni is properly fenced and has a metal gate. As at the time of visitation, it was observed that the pupils’ movements were not well checked by the security man stationed at the gate.

“I go out to beg when I’m hungry,” Aliyu said.

When asked why he went out to beg despite being catered for by the school, he evasively added that “because I’m Almajiri”.

Corroborating, Umar Garba, a senior student of the school explained how some of the students go out to beg for food on the streets. He however, dissociated himself from such act, noting that though the school was established to accommodate only vulnerable students, some of them do have parents, who cater to and provide for them in school. Among the pupils, he continues, are those, who would always find their ways to beg on the streets.

“Some of us sneak out of the classroom to beg on the street,” he says in Hausa dialect. “But I don’t go because my parents give me food money.

“Those who don’t have extra money to buy food sometimes go begging from people in far places from the school. But our teachers must not know – if they know, they will beat them,” he added.

Clearly, there is lack of painstaking watch over the pupils – and the Almajiri school located at Shuni area of Sokoto is not alone in this act.  At 10:00 am when our correspondent visited the Almajiri school in Gagi – an area in Sokoto South – the security man was nowhere to be found and no one knew his whereabouts. The school gates were left at the mercy of the students, who went in and out as they wanted.

Sad still, some of the pupils disclosed that they find their ways to beg sometimes because they are not well-fed. Meanwhile, Abdulqadir Bello, a teacher in the school confessed that the vulnerable children lack good food and the school cannot satisfy them because “they waste what the school gives them”.

Obviously, most of the children enrolled in Sokoto Almajiri schools live in penury – a condition tantamount to that of their left-to-suffer counterparts on the streets. The reason for this is not far-fetched: parents of these children are among the low-born fragment of the society.

Sokoto’s out-of-school kids

Like it or not, there are a number of out-of-school kids on the streets of Sokoto, who are not likely to get adequate education – despite the free education system in the state.

In 2017, governor of the state, Aminu Tambuwal, announced free education for children of beggars and other underprivileged members of the society, urging Sokoto natives to support government to create a better environment and future for children in the state.

In 2018, an evaluation of access to Universal Basic Education in Sokoto was conducted at the Department of Social Sciences Education, Faculty of Education in University of Ilorin, Kwara State. According to the evaluation, Sokoto State had been striving on the provision of UBE to its school age children over these years. Nonetheless, there is less academic focus on the evaluation of school age children access to UBE in the state.

In a report, UNICEF said, “Even though primary education is officially free and compulsory, about 10.5 million of the country’s children aged 5-14 years are not in school.

“Only 61 per cent of 6-11 year-olds regularly attend primary school and only 35.6 per cent of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education.

“In the North of the country, the picture is even bleaker with a net attendance rate of 53 per cent. Getting out-of-school children back into education poses a massive challenge.

“In North-East and North-West states, 29 per cent and 35 per cent of Muslim children respectively receive Qur’anic education, which does not include basic skills such as literacy and numeracy.

“The government considers children attending such schools to be officially out-of-school.”

However, beyond the ugliness in their world on the streets, another kind of awful treatment is being injected in the few itinerant children, who have found themselves in the school.

A tale of decay

The outward appearance of the school is quite appealing – tall, elegant trees donning a beautiful garden. But a journey through the premises of the Almajiri Integrated Model School, Shuni – a N70m worth school – revealed a sorry story about the place of learning.

Venturing out of his office to receive the reporter, Ibrahim Sheu, principal of the school, spoke confidently in a manner that suggested that everything was alright in the school.

“So this is the temporary kitchen,” he says, curtly, pointing at the rotten-aluminum-made kitchen. “We are still expecting the state government to construct permanent kitchen and dining hall for them,” he adds.

“We also need sporting facilities, football play grounds, volley ball and all,” he stated.

However, in the classroom of the Senior Secondary School 1, pupils had just concluded their first subject, Physics, and probably expecting the next teacher. As soon as the reporter arrived, the looping ceiling of the classroom greeted his face; the cracking, dilapidating walls painted a scary picture in the mind; the pillars holding the four walls of the class were deteriorating, apparently putting the lives of students in danger. The appalling structure of this classroom was a similitude of what many of the school’s classrooms were made of, as at the time of visitation. The facilities built to facilitate the academic conveniences of the pupils were decaying.

Health centre without drugs, facilities   

Nasiru Ibrahim plays many roles as one of the staff of the Almajiri school in Shuni.  He teaches Mathematics; heads the computer department and also given the responsibility to be the health master of the school. The school’s health centre, which is affiliated to the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, is an embodiment of poor clinical facilities; not even first aid materials are said to be available. The spacious room has no basic clinical equipment and drugs, so, Ibrahim uses it for another purpose: attending to his students, who would come to meet him for one help or the other.

The young teacher saddled with the responsibility of attending to any sick pupil, has little or no knowledge about what he does.

“I learnt some health tips from Physical Health Education during my secondary school days,” he says, justifying his experience of healthcare. “I studied Mathematics at the university. During my NCE, I studied Biology.

“There are many things that we are lacking here. The clinic is lacking antibiotic and anti-malarial drugs, and the materials for dressing wounds like cotton wool, spirit, are not available.”

Apparently, the children enrolled in the school are denied their basic rights of having good healthcare – just as the out-of-school itinerant children on the streets of Sokoto have no access to proper health care.

Masters of negligence

Away from Shuni to Almajiri Model School located in Gagi area of Sokoto State, teachers seemed not to be passionate about their profession – they are pranksters of integrity in exercising their duties – and the school authorities cover up their tepid attitudes while many of the teachers resume work late and leave before the closing hours. At 11:12am when this reporter visited the school, teachers were seen competing to scribble their names on the attendance note at the deputy headmaster’s office, while some others were chit-chatting under a tree when they were expected to be with pupils in classrooms.

Findings revealed that ghost working and negligence of duty have overwhelmed the administrative system of the school. The vulnerable kids sent to school from the streets receive nothing but archives of tepid attitudes towards teaching.

For instance, there are six N-Power volunteer teachers deployed to the school of vulnerable children located in Gagi. These teachers were employed to aid teaching and learning but out of the six volunteers, only three seem to be coming to work; other have refused to fulfill their duties as teachers in the school.

However, Huseini Muhammad, Headmaster of the school, was quite evasive when asked what he had done to the N-Power teachers, who had failed to carry out their assignments.

He said, “We are less concerned about that, after all, they work with the federal government and their salaries are being paid into their bank accounts every month.

“If they were originally our teachers, we would know how to deal with them. But they are not, so we're less concerned.”

There are lots of rots

While rainfall might be a blessing to other pupils of Sokoto State, what it means for kids of the Almajiri school in Gagi is terrible inconvenience, especially at night.

The roof of the hostel are leaky and the toilet filthy; the little kids would spend their nights on bunks without matrasses and tattered mat. Venturing into the toilet could be very disgusting; the unpleasant latrines are dominated by rodents and cockroaches roaming freely.

The language lab and dining hall were both locked as checks revealed they had been left unused for some time. The computer room, which is supposed to be a room for learning about Information and Communication Technology, also seem unpatronised.

Similarly, at the Almajiri Integrated School in Wammakko area of the state, roaming kids engulf the street of the school at 11:00am. Among the school-age children seen to have been truanting the streets of Wamakko was a pupil of the Almajiri school. The fragile-looking boy, who had gone to fend for food, placed his bowl properly on his head and matched towards the entrance of the school.

In the school, the pariah children seemed to be in similar conditions with the ones in the schools previously mentioned – they were sired in pains of learning and cruelty of living. Although, the headmaster declined interaction with the children, there were indications of decay in teachings and learning in the school.

Sokoto SUPEB reacts

Kabiru Aliyu, a top official of the Sokoto State Universal Basic Education, expressed concerns over the dilapidation of most of the Almajiri schools in Sokoto.

He said, “There is a new programme called Western Education Service, whereby we're going to bring back not just Almajiri school but also other out-of-school children.

“Sokoto is the first state in the Northern part of Nigeria to start the integration of western and Islamic education, that's why we have the Arabic board.”

When questions on the rot in the schools were pushed to Aliyu, he said, “Most of the time, these are things that don't come to the government's notice, and that's why we're planning to have an independent monitoring, from CSO’s and NGO’s, to independently monitor and hint the government on some of the things happening and how things should be addressed.

“There is corruption everywhere, we find a principal who is supposed to tidy up the hostel and give the children the best but fails to make them different of being in the school.”

WHY ALMAJIRI SCHOOL SYSTEM FAILS

For Dr Abubakar Alkali, an English Language lecturer at the Department of Modern European Languages and Linguistics, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, the integrated Almajiri school system is as effective as expected for a number of reasons.

Apart from infrastructural decadence, negligence of duties and lack of maintenance bedeviling the Almajiri school system, the culture, traditions and belief of the people of Sokoto State are also huge hindrances to the success of the school in the state, he asserts.

He said, “Information is very important in everything; before the government would establish such a school in Sokoto here, they were supposed to inform the local people in the village and tell them about the importance of education.

“That’s why you see that the numbers of out-of-school children are increasing despite the establishment of these schools.

“The problem of most of the parents of the Almajiris is not that they cannot feed their children; the problem is really not poverty, it is their belief.

“Have you ever thought of why there are no female children among these child wanderers?

“It is because they don’t allow them to do it. But they believe the male counterparts must do it to learn Islamiyya (Islamic education).

“Unless government focuses on educating the people, the Almajiri schools system would be frustrated.”

This report was supported by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism Regulatory Programme.

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Prof Ango Abdullahi

 

A group, the Yoruba Afenifere Youth Organisation of Nigeria, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the arrest of Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Ango Abdullahi, for saying a Northerner will replace Buhari as President in 2023.

Abdullahi had stated that the North would hold onto power for the next 100 years, stressing that the region would support only candidates from the North for the office of the president in 2023.

Spokesperson for YAYON, Ojo Bright, in a statement said that Abdullahi was inciting the North against the South with this words, adding that it was against the unity of the country.

He said, “We find it inciting, berating and wish to call the attention of the world and President Muhammadu Buhari to this proposed and orchestrated attack against other regions in Nigeria.

“The statement credited to Ango Abdullahi affirming political dominance by one region is tantamount to a terrorist attack on the collective unity of Nigeria.

“As a matter of necessity, a statement of such magnitude should never be credited to anyone who has the interest of Nigeria at heart.

“We urge him to immediately retract the reckless statement.

“The President must show his patriotism by directing the Department of State Services to arrest and prosecute Ango Abdullahi for preaching division, ethnic chauvinism, secession, and making statements capable of causing incitement and revolution.

“Every patriotic Nigerian must support the conventional arrangement for power rotation in the country.”

 

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Prof Ango Abdullahi

 

A group, the Yoruba Afenifere Youth Organisation of Nigeria, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the arrest of Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Ango Abdullahi, for saying a Northerner will replace Buhari as President in 2023.

Abdullahi had stated that the North would hold onto power for the next 100 years, stressing that the region would support only candidates from the North for the office of the president in 2023.

Spokesperson for YAYON, Ojo Bright, in a statement said that Abdullahi was inciting the North against the South with this words, adding that it was against the unity of the country.

He said, “We find it inciting, berating and wish to call the attention of the world and President Muhammadu Buhari to this proposed and orchestrated attack against other regions in Nigeria.

“The statement credited to Ango Abdullahi affirming political dominance by one region is tantamount to a terrorist attack on the collective unity of Nigeria.

“As a matter of necessity, a statement of such magnitude should never be credited to anyone who has the interest of Nigeria at heart.

“We urge him to immediately retract the reckless statement.

“The President must show his patriotism by directing the Department of State Services to arrest and prosecute Ango Abdullahi for preaching division, ethnic chauvinism, secession, and making statements capable of causing incitement and revolution.

“Every patriotic Nigerian must support the conventional arrangement for power rotation in the country.”

 

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Young Nigerians, who participated in the 2019 Mandela Washington Fellowship, have been urged to use the knowledge acquired during the six-week training in the United States to drive development and growth in Nigeria.

At a reunion conference in Lagos on Wednesday, US Consul General, Claire Pierangelo, told the 56 Nigerians to compare notes on their experiences and explore how they can enhance their community service and impact in Nigeria.

She said, “I encourage you to continue to work to improve your communities, to mentor young people, to be politically active, and thereby strive to create a Nigeria that will truly be the giant of Africa.”

Expressing appreciation for being selected for the prestigious program, the 2019 Fellows stated their eagerness to get to work to improve life in their respective communities.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship, which began in 2014, has seen the US Government send nearly 4,000 young Africans leaders to America since that period to empower them through academic course work, leadership training, and networking opportunities.

The fellowship allows participants to apply for their American partners to travel to Africa to continue project-based collaboration through the Reciprocal Exchange Component of the Mandela Washington Fellowship.

 

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Young Nigerians, who participated in the 2019 Mandela Washington Fellowship, have been urged to use the knowledge acquired during the six-week training in the United States to drive development and growth in Nigeria.

At a reunion conference in Lagos on Wednesday, US Consul General, Claire Pierangelo, told the 56 Nigerians to compare notes on their experiences and explore how they can enhance their community service and impact in Nigeria.

She said, “I encourage you to continue to work to improve your communities, to mentor young people, to be politically active, and thereby strive to create a Nigeria that will truly be the giant of Africa.”

Expressing appreciation for being selected for the prestigious program, the 2019 Fellows stated their eagerness to get to work to improve life in their respective communities.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship, which began in 2014, has seen the US Government send nearly 4,000 young Africans leaders to America since that period to empower them through academic course work, leadership training, and networking opportunities.

The fellowship allows participants to apply for their American partners to travel to Africa to continue project-based collaboration through the Reciprocal Exchange Component of the Mandela Washington Fellowship.

 

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Weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari visited South Africa in the wake of xenophobic attacks on African migrants including Nigerians, another Nigerian, Ikenna Otugo, was on Tuesday killed in the former apartheid nation.

Acting Chairman of Nigerian Union, South Africa, in the Kwazulu Natal Province, Mr Sylvester Okonkwo, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday that the deceased was killed at Empangeni province.

He said that Otugo, 41, a native of Nimo in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, was allegedly stabbed to death by unknown assailants over a business disagreement.

Okonkwo disclosed that Otugo had repaired a cell phone for a client in the area, who was unsatisfied by his work and later hired some men, who allegedly stabbed him to death.

Okonkwo said, “Otugo died on the way to the hospital following the stabbing. We have reported the incident to the police and national secretariat of our union, NUSA.

“His body is now in the mortuary awaiting autopsy.”

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The Central Bank of Nigeria on Wednesday said a total of 119,663 pieces of counterfeit notes with a nominal value of N98.82m was recorded in 2018, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

The bank said this in the Currency Operations 2018 Annual Report, posted on its website.

The CBN said the figure indicated a decline of 1.30 per cent in volume terms and an increase of 5.77 per cent in value terms when compared with 118,126 pieces with a nominal value of N93.43m recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.

The regulator said the ratio of counterfeit notes to volume of banknotes in circulation was 18 pieces per million, compared to 16 pieces per million banknotes discovered in 2017.

It said that the N500 and N1,000 denominations remained the most commonly counterfeited banknotes, which accounted for 65.29 per cent and 34.49 per cent respectively of the total counterfeit notes discovered.

The bank said that to preserve the integrity of the banknotes in circulation, it partnered with Bankers Warehouse PLC and security agencies to intensify efforts at mitigating the incidences of counterfeiting during the period under review.

The apex bank also said that the Currency- in-Circulation grew by 0.8 per cent to N2.3bn as at December 2018 ending.

The report noted that the growth in CIC reflected the high dominance of cash in the economy and increase in economic activities.

 

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The Central Bank of Nigeria on Wednesday said a total of 119,663 pieces of counterfeit notes with a nominal value of N98.82m was recorded in 2018, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

The bank said this in the Currency Operations 2018 Annual Report, posted on its website.

The CBN said the figure indicated a decline of 1.30 per cent in volume terms and an increase of 5.77 per cent in value terms when compared with 118,126 pieces with a nominal value of N93.43m recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.

The regulator said the ratio of counterfeit notes to volume of banknotes in circulation was 18 pieces per million, compared to 16 pieces per million banknotes discovered in 2017.

It said that the N500 and N1,000 denominations remained the most commonly counterfeited banknotes, which accounted for 65.29 per cent and 34.49 per cent respectively of the total counterfeit notes discovered.

The bank said that to preserve the integrity of the banknotes in circulation, it partnered with Bankers Warehouse PLC and security agencies to intensify efforts at mitigating the incidences of counterfeiting during the period under review.

The apex bank also said that the Currency- in-Circulation grew by 0.8 per cent to N2.3bn as at December 2018 ending.

The report noted that the growth in CIC reflected the high dominance of cash in the economy and increase in economic activities.

 

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