The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief-funded Work in Progress project currently implemented by its partner, Chioma Chuka Consulting Services Ltd, have launched a campaign to ask the Nigerian Government to commence the full implementation of the National Youth Policy.
The #BeingYoungInNigeria campaign will also petition the government to call for urgent action to ensure the promises of the policy along its key strategic thrusts are duly implemented.
The implementation of the youth policy, which is to kick off from 2019 – 2023, is yet to receive any attention from the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
The #BeingYoungInNigeria campaign is to make the government create employment opportunities, a safe and suitable environment, and positive expectations about the future for young Nigerians through the implementation of the National Youth Policy.
The project Lead, Princewill Ogbodo, addressing journalists in a virtual press briefing on Monday, said the project will also seek to amplify the voices and demands of Nigerian youth from the government.
“The project also underscores the need to engage government stakeholders on youth-oriented policies via collaborations with youth-led bodies, key government agencies and policy makers to achieve global action,” he said.
In her remarks, Tope Salami, a Technical Program Assistant with CCCSL – the implementing partner, noted that the purpose of the media engagement was to sensitise the public about the challenges young people in Nigeria faced and also present to the public a petition for active implementation of the National Youth Policy.
She revealed that a policy brief document titled 'Reimagining Being Young in Nigeria’ would be made available to the public by the end of November.
Highlighting the urgency of the implementation of the National Youth Policy, Salami referenced statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics including that one in four girls will experience sexual violence before their 18th birthday while over 13.9 million youth are currently unemployed.
“Additionally, with one% of young people aged 15-29 occupying elected offices, and just over 75% literacy rates amongst this demographic in 2018 according to the World Bank’s development indicators, the National Youth Policy is due for a review and expedited implementation,” she added.
The National Youth Policy was last reviewed in 2018 and it seeks to create a safe and secure environment that will optimize their contributions to national development.
The policy represents a declaration and commitment to the priorities, directions and practical supports for the development of young people in Nigeria.
The document outlines concrete and bold steps to put the development and participation of youth at the centre of national development efforts.
NewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/2YCRE7v
The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief-funded Work in Progress project currently implemented by its partner, Chioma Chuka Consulting Services Ltd, have launched a campaign to ask the Nigerian Government to commence the full implementation of the National Youth Policy.
The #BeingYoungInNigeria campaign will also petition the government to call for urgent action to ensure the promises of the policy along its key strategic thrusts are duly implemented.
The implementation of the youth policy, which is to kick off from 2019 – 2023, is yet to receive any attention from the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
The #BeingYoungInNigeria campaign is to make the government create employment opportunities, a safe and suitable environment, and positive expectations about the future for young Nigerians through the implementation of the National Youth Policy.
The project Lead, Princewill Ogbodo, addressing journalists in a virtual press briefing on Monday, said the project will also seek to amplify the voices and demands of Nigerian youth from the government.
“The project also underscores the need to engage government stakeholders on youth-oriented policies via collaborations with youth-led bodies, key government agencies and policy makers to achieve global action,” he said.
In her remarks, Tope Salami, a Technical Program Assistant with CCCSL – the implementing partner, noted that the purpose of the media engagement was to sensitise the public about the challenges young people in Nigeria faced and also present to the public a petition for active implementation of the National Youth Policy.
She revealed that a policy brief document titled 'Reimagining Being Young in Nigeria’ would be made available to the public by the end of November.
Highlighting the urgency of the implementation of the National Youth Policy, Salami referenced statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics including that one in four girls will experience sexual violence before their 18th birthday while over 13.9 million youth are currently unemployed.
“Additionally, with one% of young people aged 15-29 occupying elected offices, and just over 75% literacy rates amongst this demographic in 2018 according to the World Bank’s development indicators, the National Youth Policy is due for a review and expedited implementation,” she added.
The National Youth Policy was last reviewed in 2018 and it seeks to create a safe and secure environment that will optimize their contributions to national development.
The policy represents a declaration and commitment to the priorities, directions and practical supports for the development of young people in Nigeria.
The document outlines concrete and bold steps to put the development and participation of youth at the centre of national development efforts.
NewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/2YCRE7v
The Network for Democracy and Development has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and state governors to save public universities from avoidable collapse.
This comes as public universities have remained shut for eight months owing to a strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Alvan Ikoku Hostel, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.Tribune Online
NDD stated that federal and state governments must take bold steps to save public universities from collapse.
The group also condemned the politicisation of the appointment into academic institutions especially into the position of Vice Chancellor.
In a statement jointly signed by Tajudeen Alabede, National Coordinator; and Dr Abdul-Wasi Moshood, Director of Public Affairs, the group urged the government to honour its commitment to ASUU in the overall interest of students, the education sector and the nation.
It also said that the government and university administrators should take steps to make learning, both offline and online, a pleasant reality for the students.
The statement reads, “As stakeholders, we find it no longer excusable that, owing to the inability of the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities to reach an amicable resolution of their differences, academic activities remain suspended in public universities. COVID-19 pandemic can no longer be an alibi as virtual learning has now become a mainstream method of learning.
“NDD, therefore, urges the leadership of ASUU to look at the bigger picture and, as a first step, agree to resume academic activities. We believe that negotiations and resumption of work are not mutually exclusive realities.
“In the same vein, NDD advises the Federal Government to make it a duty to honour its commitments arising from negotiations. The legal principle of pacta sunt servanda (“agreements must be kept”) should be held sacrosanct at all times.
“Against the foregoing, NDD further pleads with both the government and ASUU to show courage by working out mutually-benefiting compromises in the overall interest of the students, the education sector and the nation.”
The group also called for improved funding and better quality of teaching and research, adding that with the emergence of more private universities, the public university system will face grave challenges.
“The fact that many well-to-do citizens and organisations that should have played a part in strengthening public universities are behind the establishment of these private universities calls for reflection.
“NDD believes that the nation cannot achieve true greatness when citadels of learning, culture and excellence are gradually being overrun by interests that are far from being noble,” it added.
EducationNewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/35CB7mZ
The Network for Democracy and Development has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and state governors to save public universities from avoidable collapse.
This comes as public universities have remained shut for eight months owing to a strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Alvan Ikoku Hostel, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.Tribune Online
NDD stated that federal and state governments must take bold steps to save public universities from collapse.
The group also condemned the politicisation of the appointment into academic institutions especially into the position of Vice Chancellor.
In a statement jointly signed by Tajudeen Alabede, National Coordinator; and Dr Abdul-Wasi Moshood, Director of Public Affairs, the group urged the government to honour its commitment to ASUU in the overall interest of students, the education sector and the nation.
It also said that the government and university administrators should take steps to make learning, both offline and online, a pleasant reality for the students.
The statement reads, “As stakeholders, we find it no longer excusable that, owing to the inability of the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities to reach an amicable resolution of their differences, academic activities remain suspended in public universities. COVID-19 pandemic can no longer be an alibi as virtual learning has now become a mainstream method of learning.
“NDD, therefore, urges the leadership of ASUU to look at the bigger picture and, as a first step, agree to resume academic activities. We believe that negotiations and resumption of work are not mutually exclusive realities.
“In the same vein, NDD advises the Federal Government to make it a duty to honour its commitments arising from negotiations. The legal principle of pacta sunt servanda (“agreements must be kept”) should be held sacrosanct at all times.
“Against the foregoing, NDD further pleads with both the government and ASUU to show courage by working out mutually-benefiting compromises in the overall interest of the students, the education sector and the nation.”
The group also called for improved funding and better quality of teaching and research, adding that with the emergence of more private universities, the public university system will face grave challenges.
“The fact that many well-to-do citizens and organisations that should have played a part in strengthening public universities are behind the establishment of these private universities calls for reflection.
“NDD believes that the nation cannot achieve true greatness when citadels of learning, culture and excellence are gradually being overrun by interests that are far from being noble,” it added.
EducationNewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/35CB7mZ
Nigeria’s House of Representatives has promised to direct the Niger Delta Development Commission to shift attention to Ondo State as flooding continues to render many homeless.
SaharaReporters had reported how sea incursion from the Atlantic Ocean sacked over 2000 residents in Ayetoro community in the Ilaje area of Ondo State recently.
Properties worth millions of naira were damaged by the ocean surge.
The situation led to a protest among residents as they sought government's assistance.
Reacting to the development, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has promised intervention in the recurrent sea incursion that has overtime rendered residents of Ilaje Local Government Area homeless.
The lawmaker, who regretted the incident, assured that the NDDC would approach the natural disaster with a more drastic measure.
He said, "It's quite saddening that our people have had to suffer in the past years of an occurrence that could have been better managed.
“We will not fold our arms while things remain the way they have always been. This is a time a drastic approach was put in place to manage this ugly incident.
"In the coming days, I will engage the management of NDDC on what can urgently be done to salvage the situation.”
EnvironmentNewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/2H6sLuC
The Coalition for Revolution has called on Nigerian workers to engage the government by mass action and protest over the recent increase in fuel price and economic hardship.
CORE described as “wicked” the increase of petrol pump price to N170 by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company.
Defending the increase, Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said the announcement of a COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer triggered a slight increase in the price of crude oil in the global market.
CORE in a statement by its Co-conveners, Baba Aye and Gbenga Komolafe, stated that the All Progressives Congress-led regime does not have the interest of the poor masses at heart, adding that many small and medium-scale operators in the informal economy had been ruined as a result of the bad policies by the government.
It also said that working class people were facing a barrage of economic attacks as the unemployment rate in the country continues to increase.
It said, “The composite unemployment rate rose by 12.5% in less than two years to 55.7% in the second quarter of 2020. And tens of thousands of those who still have jobs have faced wage cuts.
“Credit facilities have dried up along with their stocks of goods and capital. The N50bn support for the informal economy is both insufficient and not accessible for the bulk of working people in the sector.
“Despite all these, state governments have also further burdened the poor. Several states have been illegally making deductions of up to 20% from the salaries of public sector workers, for some nebulous COVID-19 funds.”
CORE stated that the economic hardship in the country cannot continue as it called on the people to hit the streets in protest.
It also asked the people to oppose the policies of deregulation and liberalisation of the economy, which it says serves the interest of these rich elites and the international financial institutions.
The group said, “This situation cannot be allowed to go on. We cannot be made to keep wallowing in poverty while a few rich elites keep getting richer. Just three billionaires in the country have as much wealth as half of the population, according to Oxfam, while 105 million people live in abject poverty.
“We, the poor masses, must not allow ourselves to be sacrificed on the altar of the profit-seeking dictates of imperialist forces and the local ruling elites. We can stop these only through struggle.
“A general strike along with the mass protests would have brought the dictatorial regime to its knees, undermining its capacity for repression which it brought to bear on the protesting youths as a massacre.”
NewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/32RynAn
The Nigerian Government has said that the recent increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol is as a result of the announcement by an American pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, on its recent breakthrough in the fight against Coronavirus.
Recall that the Petroleum Products Marketing Company had announced a new ex-depot price of N155.17 for petrol.
Ex-depot price is the price marketers buy products from depot owners.
An increase or decrease in ex-depot price has effect on the pump price of petrol.
Speaking with State House correspondents on Monday, Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said the announcement of a COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer triggered a slight increase in the price of crude oil in the global market.
Sylva said, “What happened recently was because of the announcement of a vaccine for COVID-19 by Pfizer. With that, crude oil prices went up a little bit.
“If you have been following crude oil prices, you would have seen that crude oil prices went up a little bit as a result of this announcement.
“So, when crude oil prices go up a little bit, then you will see that (it will) instantly reflect on the price of petrol, which is a derivative of crude oil.”
Pfizer and BioNTech had on November 10 announced that a vaccine they jointly developed was 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19 infections in ongoing phase three trials.
The message of hope instantly drew applause from the world audience, bringing the United States President, Donald Trump, and the President-elect, Joe Biden, to their first convergence in recent months, as both congratulated Pfizer on its scientific trial.
President Muhammadu Buhari also waded in, welcoming the development and expressing hope that the vaccine would be available for all when it finally hits the market.
America's Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, will produce 1.3 billion doses of the vaccines for 650 million people by the end of 2021.
OilPUBLIC HEALTHNewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/2SdIOdi
The Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed December 9, 2020, for hearing in a suit seeking to disqualify Tokunbo Abiru, candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the forthcoming Lagos East Senatorial District bye-election.
The suit filed by Babatunde Gbadamosi, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the poll, is also seeking the disqualification of the APC for fielding an ineligible candidate.
Tokunbo Abiru; Babatunde Gbadamosi.
Gbadamosi prayed the court to disqualify Abiru on the grounds that he registered twice and possesses two voter cards.
Gbadamosi said the act was a violation of Section 31 of the Electoral Act.
Counsel representing PDP, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), is praying the court for an order "nullifying, cancelling and voiding the nomination, submission and acceptance of the name of Abiru as the candidate of the APC for the by-election".
Counsels representing APC's candidate, Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN) and Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), asked the court to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction and failure to meet the requirements of Section 285 (9) of the constitution.
At the resumption of proceeding on Monday, Justice Chuka Obiozor said he will hear all pending applications and substantive suit in the case.
Justice Obiozor also directed the lawyers to abridge the time for filing their processes before adjourning the matter to December 9 for hearing.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had fixed December 5, 2020 for the conduct of the postponed by-elections in 11 states.
INEC was forced to postpone the election following the outbreak of the peaceful #EndSARS protest.
INEC had also said it postponed the election following vandalisation of its offices and facilities by hoodlums.
PoliticsNewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/3lQuV0F
Nigerian musician, Ayodeji Balogun popularly known as Wizkid, has opened up on the reason he was actively involved in the #EndSARS protest.
The musician disclosed this when he appeared on Capital Xtra’s ‘The Norte Show’, saying that he participated actively in the demonstration because of his unpleasant experience.
He further explained that if he had not spoken up, he would have been a coward.
He said, “Police brutality is a serious situation back home in Nigeria. It has been 60 years of political injustice, nepotism, madness and corruption at the highest level.
“It is sad that my son is about to be 10 years old and Nigeria is still going through all these madness. If I didn’t speak up or use my voice, then I would be a coward. I will continue to speak about things that affect people in their daily lives.
“I had been a victim of police brutality before I became popular and I know it still goes on. That needs to end. We deserve good governance in Nigeria.”
#EndSARSEntertainmentMusicNewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/3pAkL6n
The Muslim Rights Concern has faulted a lawsuit seeking a court order to remove Arabic language on Nigerian naira notes.
Prof Ishaq Akintola, Director of MURIC, described the suit as “acrobatic religiousity” as he urged the court to strike it out.
Prof. Ishaq Akintola, Director of MURIC
The suit is filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Malcolm Omirhobo, who argued that the Arabic inscription on naira notes portray Nigeria as an Islamic state contrary to the country’s constitutional status of a secular state.
The lawyer also filed a similar suit against the Nigerian Army seeking the removal of Arabic inscriptions from its logo.
The cases are being heard before Justice Mohammed Liman at the Lagos High Court.
Akintola posited that Omirhobo’s approach was not only naive but also pedestrian as it manifests acute desertification of religious tolerance.
He noted that Nigeria was not a secular but a multi-religious state.
He said, “A secular state is one that does not recognise religion as in communist states. But Nigeria recognizes all the religions in the country and the constitution also begins with the words ‘under God’. Secular states do not recognise the existence of God.
“Seeking to remove Arabic from the naira is the height of ignorance because Arabic is just a language like English or French, not a religion.
"By the way, what is on the naira is not even Arabic. It is ‘Ajami’ using Arabic letters as a form of transliteration.
"Even if Omirhobo single-handedly succeeds in removing Arabic from the naira, is he going to remove the numerals 5, 10, 100, 1000 indicating the denominations as well? If he cannot, then he still has a long way to go because even those numbers are Arabic.”
Questioning the religious basis of the suit, Akintola said Israel’s currency has Arabic inscription on it and it is accepted in Jerusalem, a centre of pilgrimage for Christians.
“Omirhobo’s argument that Arabic on naira notes portrays Nigeria as an Islamic state holds no water because if Arabic is Islam, then English is Christianity. Hence if Arabic on the naira note is Islamisation, non-Arabic letters on the same naira is Christianisation.
“By extension, if the use of Arabic is Islamisation, the use of English language in Nigeria, particularly as a lingua franca, is the mother of all christianisation,” Akintola added.
MURIC appeals to Nigerians not to allow the fearmongers and merchants of hate continue to spread fear and sow discord in the country, adding that Nigerians should “open their minds in order to avoid becoming victims of accidental civilisation or, worse still, educated illiterates”.
IslamNewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/2YvGPEp
Between September and December 2019, a princely ₦4.6bn was illegally paid into the private accounts of some directors and employees of the then Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, data obtained by PREMIUM TIMES have shown.
Although the Ministry of Power in response to an Freedom of Information request by the newspaper claimed that only N157mn was paid to 127 staff members within the period under review, records proved that the ministry’s claim was untrue.
Babatunde Fashola
The Ministry of Power is now a standalone ministry and it is now led by Saleh Mamman.
But at the time the allocation for the payments was made in 2019, the omnibus Ministry of Works, Power and Housing was headed by Babatunde Fashola, a former governor of Lagos.
The records, some obtained from the Open Treasury Portal, show that the sum of N4.6bn (exactly ₦4,608,394,262.22) was paid in 654 tranches into the accounts of 21 private individual accounts.
Two-thirds of that amount went to two men: Ogueri Ugochukwu Pascal and Olasehinde Micah.
While Mr Pascal was paid ₦1.6bn (₦1,642,407,539.93) in 306 tranches, Mr Micah was paid ₦1.4bn (₦1,417,921,892.59) in 34 tranches.
Most of the payments that summed up to ₦4.6bn came with little, sometimes vague, details.
A striking example is contained in the data published on the open treasury portal on October 26, 2019.
Mr Pascal was paid a total of ₦159m for such things as “zonal revenue tour,” “disbursement of funds for right of way,” “verification exercise,” “quarterly budget implementation,” each in the six geopolitical zones, as well as to conduct the “2019 senior staff promotion exercise,” and for “junior staff promotion in the housing sector.”
Also, a total payment of ₦134m was made to Adebowale Adebayo Kamoru as “six months allowances to the NHP staff” in each of the six geopolitical zones.
The identity of Pascal and Kamoru could not be identified as online searches for their names yielded little details other than the filings of payments made to their accounts on the treasury portal.
The Ministry of Power claimed they were not its staff members while the Works and Housing Ministry did not respond to request for clarification.
The data on the portal further revealed that Mr Kamoru alongside five other zonal directors of the National Housing Programme under the Ministry of Works and Housing were paid in October alone a sum of ₦44.6m “to embark on quarterly budget implementation in the six geopolitical zones”.
Below is a summary of the payments and their beneficiaries.
They include Onwubalili Oyinlola Adunola, a project coordinator of the Ministry of Works and Housing; Nwaimo Obi Valentine, the North-Central Zonal Director of the programme; Uzodinma Lucy Iquo; Oko-Jaja Emmanuel Daminabo, the South-South Zonal Director; and Waziri Mshella Micah, also a zonal director.
The Ministry of Power claimed that despite contrary evidence, only N157m was paid to 127 staff members.
The 127 staffers were cut down from the longlist of 142 persons it sent, 10 of whom were on PREMIUM TIMES’ initial list of 21.
It said six others were not its staff members and gave no information about the remaining five.
In the ministry’s list of 142, it said 15 of them, to whom it said a total of N465m was paid, are not its staff members.
“This may be due to the fact that the ministry has been separated from the Ministry of Works and Housing,” the letter dated October 14 and signed by the ministry’s Director of Finance, Adewumi Omotayo, read.
The FOI request acknowledged by the Works and Housing Ministry on October 28 seeking comments on the said personnel has not been replied.
Fashola’s spokesperson, Hakeem Bello, also directed all inquiries to the Power Ministry.
A review of the ministry’s N157m paid to 127 staffers showed that a total of N141.3m as duty tour allowance to 97 staffers, with the highest amount of N28.78m going to one Nwachukwu Chiemeka Ogbonna.
How a single staff member will receive almost N29m in duty tour allowance in four months remains unclear.
Another N3.3m was paid as “open pocket expense” to 20 personnel, the ministry’s response showed.
Ajanaku Waidi got N337,000 of this amount.
Likewise, N7.2m was paid to four personnel to purchase office equipment.
They include Adikwu Ogbe Friday, N745,789; Agbawa Ogueri George, N1.1m; Ahmed Yaro Nafisa, N583,200; Olutayo Andrew Bukola, N4.8m.
An advance payment (imprest) of N382,400 was also paid to three employees (Akanbi Iyabo, Akinyemi Adefunke and Alawode Felicia).
Other payments include N4.6m for “printing of document FEC memos”; N476,600 as payment for union matter; and N530,600 as (four months) salary to Bobai Rifkatu, a domestic attendant in the ministry (or commissionaire as described by the ministry). Although the ministry said its staff members who benefited are from level 12 to 17.
The ministry’s payments of monies into private accounts violates chapter 7, section 701 of the financial regulation of the country.
Agencies are compelled by the provision “to operate only three bank accounts as follows: salary account, overhead cost account and revenue account” as “no other bank account shall be allowed without the express approval of the Accountant-General.”
Section 713 of the same chapter also says under no condition should personal money be paid into the government’s bank account “nor shall any public money be paid into a private bank account.”
“An officer who pays public money into a private account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intention,” the section reads.
The Nigerian Government launched the open treasury portal in December 2019 as part of a move towards increasing transparency in government spending.
It, however, did not take off until 2020, although the daily update of the portal remained sluggish as of March.
The portal aims to provide a comprehensive space for the collation of data by all ministries, departments and agencies on budget implementation, financial records, as well as transactions above certain thresholds.
But a series of on the portal has raised concerns among accountability advocates.
In June, a civic advocacy group, BudgIT, said, between January and July 2019, it discovered that large sums were paid into personal accounts including several records with vague descriptions and other discrepancies on the portal.
PREMIUM TIMES also observed that in the same month, ₦13.5m was paid to “Jauro Aishatu Audu” for “capacity building.”
“Over 2,900 payments to individuals were recorded at an aggregate value of ₦51bn,” the group said.
“A few examples include, ₦2.04bn and ₦1bn paid into personal accounts on the 21st of June, 2019 without any payment description along with another ₦68m payment for “Ogunsuyi” and ₦15.8m for “international” on other dates.
“In the same 2019, we also discovered payment records without descriptions or beneficiary information.
At least 5,000 payment records valued at ₦278bn were without descriptions and 275 payment records with a value of ₦43bn were without beneficiary name.
“These inconspicuous payments cannot be assessed or traced by citizens and interested parties, thereby defeating the purpose of the platform to foster transparency.”
This is the first installation of a series of reports on how the nation’s ministries are breaching the law to make payments into private accounts of their employees and other private individuals.
CorruptionPoliticsScandalNewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/3ntdeEE
With less than three years to the 2023 presidential election, some political power blocs within the ruling All Progressive Congress are currently in a fierce battle to choose their loyalists as chairman and commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission, findings by SaharaReporters has revealed.
Investigations showed that three influential power blocs in the APC were currently strategising for the 2023 general election, each trying to outsmart others to have their own INEC nominees’ team endorsed by President Muhammadu Buhari and thereafter to effectively seize control of the commission using their nominees.
The emerging takeover of INEC first became obvious a few weeks ago when one of the contending groups quickly secured the nod of the President for the nomination of Lauretta Onochie, a well known card-carrying member of the APC, as a national commissioner for the electoral body.
Sources close to those directly involved in the ongoing power struggle were of the view that the outlook and formation of the next INEC will be purely composed of members and sympathisers of the ruling party, who have pledged their loyalty and commitment to work for their partisan cause in all elections leading to 2023 before their nomination to the commission.
Those seeking to control the commission want to ensure that all commissioners whose tenure were coming to an end either at the national or state levels, who had exhibited independent mindedness, as expected of a true umpire or, who are known for integrity and are not given to rigging or manipulation of election, would not have their tenures renewed nor elevated but would be eased off from the commission, a source told SaharaReporters.
On the other hand, more partisan individuals would be appointed to take-over INEC despite the public outrage that may follow, such as that witnessed with the nomination of Onochie, it was gathered.
Sources familiar with the plan suggest that partisan nominations such as that of Onochie was just a tip of the iceberg considering what one of these groups had already set in motion.
"They insist that many more within the party who were taken unawares but now know that with President Buhari, any individual or group can get what it desires because it is a case of first come-first-serve. Hence they compared the ongoing scenario with what they experienced with the case of the Niger Delta Development Commission Board nominees, where a group compiled a list of nominees for the President and then had their list confirmed by the Senate, but the list they had confirmed was again substituted by another list of nominees for the same board, in the end none of the groups succeeded as each group continued to struggle to prevail.
"A similar struggle is now ongoing for the control of INEC and will become more intense in the days ahead as many more within the APC with various ambitions realise the stakes and how far their adversaries within the party have gone in taking control of the election management body for their partisan purposes in 2023," one source added.
“lf those who yearn for effective and significant changes in good governance in Nigeria do not act urgently with a determination to ensure no-partisan-control of INEC and demand for a truly Independent Electoral Commission composed of individuals of proven integrity, their quest for a better Nigeria will not succeed.
“Indeed, many have shown umbrage that Mrs Lauretta Onochie, a well-known APC political attack-Doberman, was nominated for appointment to conduct elections that will feature APC and other parties from this year till the next five years. But how many have scrutinised the other people who were also appointed along with her, what are their pedigree and political affiliations in the past, what is their public and private record as it pertains to election Integrity.
“Currently, a faction of the APC coordinated between the presidency, with a minister who has gubernatorial ambitions as well as some arrowheads in the legislature, have entered into a pact with individuals in INEC, to return them and a group of APC loyalists to take over INEC and thereby sweep out many who are currently in INEC, despite the fact that some of them have experiences in effective reforms that have improved significant aspects of elections since 2011.
“The purpose of this emerging appointments and expected purges to follow within INEC is to re-configure INEC to deliver a pre-determined election outcome by 2023,” the source added.
ElectionsPoliticsNewsReportsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/3nq0yhF
With less than three years to the 2023 presidential election, some political power blocs within the ruling All Progressive Congress are currently in a fierce battle to choose their loyalists as chairman and commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission, findings by SaharaReporters has revealed.
Investigations showed that three influential power blocs in the APC were currently strategising for the 2023 general election, each trying to outsmart others to have their own INEC nominees’ team endorsed by President Muhammadu Buhari and thereafter to effectively seize control of the commission using their nominees.
The emerging takeover of INEC first became obvious a few weeks ago when one of the contending groups quickly secured the nod of the President for the nomination of Lauretta Onochie, a well known card-carrying member of the APC, as a national commissioner for the electoral body.
Sources close to those directly involved in the ongoing power struggle were of the view that the outlook and formation of the next INEC will be purely composed of members and sympathisers of the ruling party, who have pledged their loyalty and commitment to work for their partisan cause in all elections leading to 2023 before their nomination to the commission.
Those seeking to control the commission want to ensure that all commissioners whose tenure were coming to an end either at the national or state levels, who had exhibited independent mindedness, as expected of a true umpire or, who are known for integrity and are not given to rigging or manipulation of election, would not have their tenures renewed nor elevated but would be eased off from the commission, a source told SaharaReporters.
On the other hand, more partisan individuals would be appointed to take-over INEC despite the public outrage that may follow, such as that witnessed with the nomination of Onochie, it was gathered.
Sources familiar with the plan suggest that partisan nominations such as that of Onochie was just a tip of the iceberg considering what one of these groups had already set in motion.
"They insist that many more within the party who were taken unawares but now know that with President Buhari, any individual or group can get what it desires because it is a case of first come-first-serve. Hence they compared the ongoing scenario with what they experienced with the case of the Niger Delta Development Commission Board nominees, where a group compiled a list of nominees for the President and then had their list confirmed by the Senate, but the list they had confirmed was again substituted by another list of nominees for the same board, in the end none of the groups succeeded as each group continued to struggle to prevail.
"A similar struggle is now ongoing for the control of INEC and will become more intense in the days ahead as many more within the APC with various ambitions realise the stakes and how far their adversaries within the party have gone in taking control of the election management body for their partisan purposes in 2023," one source added.
“lf those who yearn for effective and significant changes in good governance in Nigeria do not act urgently with a determination to ensure no-partisan-control of INEC and demand for a truly Independent Electoral Commission composed of individuals of proven integrity, their quest for a better Nigeria will not succeed.
“Indeed, many have shown umbrage that Mrs Lauretta Onochie, a well-known APC political attack-Doberman, was nominated for appointment to conduct elections that will feature APC and other parties from this year till the next five years. But how many have scrutinised the other people who were also appointed along with her, what are their pedigree and political affiliations in the past, what is their public and private record as it pertains to election Integrity.
“Currently, a faction of the APC coordinated between the presidency, with a minister who has gubernatorial ambitions as well as some arrowheads in the legislature, have entered into a pact with individuals in INEC, to return them and a group of APC loyalists to take over INEC and thereby sweep out many who are currently in INEC, despite the fact that some of them have experiences in effective reforms that have improved significant aspects of elections since 2011.
“The purpose of this emerging appointments and expected purges to follow within INEC is to re-configure INEC to deliver a pre-determined election outcome by 2023,” the source added.
ElectionsPoliticsNewsReportsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
https://ift.tt/3nq0yhF
