Monday, December 19th, 2022

Lionel

NEMSA certifies 10,692 electrical installations in Nigeria in 2022 – MD

The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) said on Sunday that it had certified 10,692 out of the 15,000 electrical installations inspected in Nigeria in 2022, to ensure enforcement of safety.

Managing Director, NEMSA, Aliyu Tahir, said this in Abuja at an interactive session with journalists on the achievements of the agency in Abuja.

“We have inspected over 15,931 electricity projects across the country out of which 10,692 have been certified fit for use by NEMSA.

“We have also monitored 12,114 existing networks and power systems nationwide which is part of the agency’s mandate.

“Also over 3,255 electrical installations at factories,

hazardous installations have been inspected by NEMSA, ”he said.

Tahir said that the inspection of the electrical installations cut across the electricity value chain ranging from transmission, generation, distribution and utilisation in our homes and offices.

“This is to ensure that the right electrical equipment and materials are used for installations to protect lives and property,” he said.

He said that there had been significant increase in the number of manufacturers of electric concrete poles certified in Nigeria adding that the number had risen from 21 in 2016 to 143 in 2021.

He said that NEMSA had so far certified 33 electricity meters manufacturers and

assemblers.

According to him, the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP)put in place by the Federal Government had brought in more meter assemblers and manufacturers into the country and the number is growing.

“We are building synergy with stakeholders in the the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to ensure that all major electrical equipment and materials used in the sector are of the right quality and standard,” he said.

The managing director said that NEMSA was also collaborating with other agencies to ensure that they get rid of substandard electrical equipment and also checkmate electrical incident.

He listed the agencies

to include, the Federal Fire service, Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) amongst others.

Tahir said that the agency established and inaugurated its the first Meter Generation Museum/Gallery at the National Meter Test Station, Oshodi, Lagos and was awaiting the inauguration of those of Kaduna and Port-Harcourt.

He said that the museum was to showcase the development of electricity meters in the country for historical factor.

Tahir said that the agency would continue to constantly create awareness in line with its mandate of ensuring the use of standard electrical materials and equipment in the country.

(NAN)

Yuletide: Stakeholders caution motorists against drinking

By Abubakar Yunusa

As the festive season draws closer, motorists across the country have been advised to desist from overspeed and alcohol consumption to avoid road crashes.

Speaking at the Best Stars end-of-the-year party in Abuja, to sensitize drivers and their members against the dangers of drinking and driving, the stakeholders said there was a need to reduce traffic deaths and injuries, and also improve road

safety in the country.

World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that around 35,641 lives were lost due to weak road safety laws on risk factors such as speed, drink-driving, seat belts, and child restraints.

Chief Executive Officer of luminous Laboratory Nigeria Limited, Ejikme Patrick Nwosu urged motorists to desist from drinking adding that “if you drink, don’t drive, do not over speed most importantly everything you are doing during this ember month should be

moderate.

While speaking on the significance of the event, he said we are using every towards ending of the to sensitize our members on the importance of the festive season and how they can manage their lives throughout the season and after.

Deputy Road Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps Abuja Command, Mr. Christopher called on drivers to apply caution while driving saying “that you can you drive when you are fit to and if you found out that you are

not strong, you can pass the key to another person who is fit to drive to avoid road crash.”

Christopher also said FRSC has operation zero to checkmate reckless driving and also stop and search, and test drivers on the levels of alcoholic contents and other induced substances such as Indian hemp.

Similarly, Votex Global logistics limited managing Director, Mazi Daniel Agwu call on Nigerians to be very cautious of its insecurity as we approach the festive season.

Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu (right) displaying an evidence of attacks on INEC Offices, with him are National Commissioners of INEC, Barr. Festus Okoye (2nd right), Major Gen. Modibo Alkali (2nd left) and Representative of Director General of DSS, Dr. Yusuf Mohammed, during the stakeholders investigative hearing of the attacks on INEC Offices and Facilities, at the National Assembly in Abuja on Friday.

2023: Get your PVCs, NHRC urges Nigerians

By Albert Akota

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has urged Nigerians to pick their permanent voter cards to actively participate in the 2023 general elections.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission,Tony Ojukwu who made this call at the maiden monthly review meeting of Mobilizing Voters for Election (MOVE) project in Abuja.

Ojukwu who was represented at the occasion by his Human Rights Adviser, Mr. Hilary Ogbonna recalled that violence, threat and fear are serious issues to address before the elections, saying that in a situation where staff and facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are attacked severally across the country poses a dangerous signal.

He assured that the Commission will continue to engage the INEC so as to ensure that eligible citizens have easy access to their PVCs.

Ogbona disclosed that the electoral umpire has demonstrated the willingness to replace the PVCs that were destroyed by non -state actors during some of the attacks, so that their owners will have access to them before the elections.

The executive secretary called on the relevant security agencies to up their game to ensure that political rallies and campaigns are given maximum security and that the electoral climate is made safe and secure before, during and after the polls.

The Chief Human Rights Officer also used the occasion to renew the call from the Commission that the gruesome murder of a woman leader at the local government level in Kaduna state should be thoroughly investigated and perpetrators prosecuted to serve as a deterrent.

He however, regretted that despite the Commission’s campaigns against hate speech and electoral violence, some citizens still indulge in such ugly practices, disclosing that in the last one month, the Commission has received 12 complaints targeted at presidential candidates, individuals, regional and tribal groups.

ASUP asks Buhari to stop sale of KadPoly quarters

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency wade in and stop the sales of Kaduna Polytechnic’s residential quarters.

Kaduna Polytechnic chapter of ASUP which made the call while addressing journalists on Friday,

disclosed that, about 400 housing units belonging to the institution have been valued and offered with stringent conditions that will only make the houses available to strangers, at the detriment of the Polytechnic’s security.

Speaking on behalf of the Union, ASUP Chairman, Engr. Abubakar Abdulllahi who was flanked by other executives and several members of the Union,

explained further that, the entire process leading to the grant offer, payment of application fees and deadlines for the initial down payment have been shrouded in secrecy without the involvement of the Union.

The Academic union recalled that, former Minister of Lands and Housing, Ms Ama Pepple had said in 2011, while leading the Presidential Implementation

Committee on a tour of the Kaduna Polytechnic’s quarters, that, the property shall not be sold.

“Furthermore, the Senate Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development via a circular referenced NASS/S/COH/20/05 dated 7th November, 2012, affirmed that the institution’s properties were instituted and should not be leased.”

NYSC boss reaffirms corps members committiment to government policies

By Albert Akota

TheActing Director General of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mrs Christy lfeyinwa Uba has said the Scheme would continue to throw its weight behind all policies of the Federal Government.

She added that as preparations for the 2023 general elections and National Population/ Housing Census draw near, NYSC is ready to ensure that

both assignments record huge success.

Uba disclosed this yesterday while addressing Corps Members and camp officials during her visit to NYSC Anambra State Orientation Camp in Mbaukwu/Umuawulu.

She said NYSC, which is the foremost youth mobilizing organisation in the African continent has been uniting the country through its deployment process, participation in

national assignments and Corps Members’ Community Development projects.

“Your participation in 2023 election is an adhoc assignment, you must be neutral and apolitical, and don’t violate any of the electoral laws. You are seriously advised to adhere to these instructions.

Be good ambassadors of your institutions, families and NYSC. You are now part of history as millions of youths have passed through

the Scheme, and today they are leaders.

You must be security conscious at all times. You are expected to be of good conduct and avoid cutting corners”, Uba said.

The NYSC Anambra State Coordinator, Mrs Blessing Iruma in her remark, said the visit of the Acting Director General of the Scheme which coincided with the camp cultural carnival is an attestation to Mrs Uba’s passion for Corps Members.

Church group organises Christmas Carol in Abuja

The Cherubim & Seraphim Movement Church Worldwide, Daki-Biyu District, Kubwa Branch, has organised a Christmas Carol of Nine Lessons in Abuja.

The guest preacher, Rev. Wealth Uchenna of Freedom in Christ Mission, Kubwa, while delivering his sermon titled: “Who is this King of Glory?” on Saturday evening, urged Christians to obey and honour God at all time.

“He is our Lord, a strong and mighty warrior; the Lord mighty in battle.

“Psalm 24:1 says the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof: the world, and all they that dwell therein.

“Therefore, he is the owner of the entire world and the people dwelling there,” he said.

According to him, every landlord has what he demands from the tenants.

Uchenna urged Christians to be ready to abide by the commandments of God, refrain from sin and rededicate themselves in the service to God and humanity as the world celebrates this year’s Christmas.

“This is a season to obey God, honour and give him respect.

“If you honour God, he will also honour you,” he said.

Senior Pastor and Leader In Charge of the C&S Church, Special Apostle Alex Ogundipe, said the service, also known as “Carols of Nine Lessons,” was a festival of songs depicting the story of salvation and God’s love for mankind.

“This story spans from creation to the fall of man, to the promises of salvation, the birth of Jesus Christ and God’s promise of life everlasting,” he said.

He urged Nigerians to always show love to one another as a demonstration of the reason for the season.

Prayers were offered for the church, Christendom, the family, Nigeria and its leaders.

The event also had special presentations by the Peculiar Mass Choir and the children group.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the church, also known as Centre for Deliverance through Evangelism, came about by a divine call and anointing on July 10, 2015. (NAN)

President Muhammadu Buhari returns to Abuja after his participation at the US-Africa Leader’s Summit . Photo: State House

NDLEA intercepts 1.7m opioid pills in noodles, others at Lagos airport, Gombe

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

At least, One Million Seven Hundred and Sixty Thousand Four Hundred and Sixty (1,760,460) pills of Tramadol and other opioids have been intercepted hidden in indomie noodles packs and others at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos as well as in Gombe state.

Also, over 600,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg coming from Karachi, Pakistan in two separate shipments on Ethiopian Airlines flights were intercepted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA at the SAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th December; 5,960 pills of Rohypnol concealed in 60 packs of indomie noodles going to Johannesburg, South Africa were also seized at the SAHCO export shed of the airport on Wednesday 14th December.

NDLEA in a statement issued yesterday by Femi Babafemi Director, Media and Advocacy, said a female freight agent, Olaleye Adeola has already been arrested in connection with the noodles consignment.

“In a related development, a trader at Balogun market in Lagos Island, Akunne Chibuzor Tochukwu was on Tuesday 13th Dec arrested in collaboration with the Zone 2 Police Headquarters, Lagos over his attempt to export a Tramadol consignment to Dubai, UAE. The consignment was seized at the Lagos airport by NDLEA operatives on 25th November while a market labourer, Oke Abosede Ronke whose services were requested to convey the drug for export had earlier been arrested.

“Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Sunday 11th December intercepted a truck and a bus conveying 113 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 4,802.84 kilograms around the VGC estate area of Ajah while three suspects: Taofeek Yusuf; Ifeanyi Okorie and Israel Nwachukwu were arrested in connection with the seizures.

In Gombe state, a total of 1,154,500 pills of Tramadol, Rohypnol and Exol being transported from Onitsha, Anambra state to Gombe by a truck driver, Umar Hassan, 28, were seized on Thursday 15th Dec. at Bye pass area of Gombe by a team of NDLEA officers following credible intelligence.”

President Buhari at 80

NAF rescues 7 Chinese nationals kidnapped since June in Niger State

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

Niger State Government has said that Nigeria Air Force has rescued 7 Chinese nationals that were kidnapped since June at Ajata Aboki in Shiroro local

government of the state.

Commissioner for the Ministry of Internal Security and Humanitarian Affairs, Emmanuel Umar made this known in a security reports made available to journalists in Minna.

“Governor Abubakar Sani

Bello of Niger state received with great joy the reports on the rescue mission undertaken by the Nigeria Air Force (NAF), and commended the courage and effort of the Commander and men of 271 NAF Detachment for the excellent operation”, Umar said.

According to him, Governor Bello however applauded the inspirational leadership style and acumen of the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, under who’s command the NAF has continued to record tremendous successes in its operations nationwide.

80th birthday: Activists laud Amb. Emenike, others for honouring Buhari in U.S.

The Activists for Good Governance (AGG) on Sunday, lauded Dr Uzoma Emenike, Nigeria Ambassador to the USA, for honouring President Muhammadu Buhari on his 80th birthday in the U.S.

The ambassador, other diplomats and team Nigeria in the USA on Saturday, celebrated President Buhari as he clocked 80, describing him as a leader

that had done so much to lift the nation.

In a statement by the group’s Convener, Mr Phillip Clark in Lagos, the AGG said that the honour on President Buhari by the diplomats in the U.S. would further show to the world, that the President had done well.

“Amb. Emenike and others have kept the Nigerian flag flying with the celebration of our

President in far away U.S.

” They have in great measure, shown the world that indeed Nigeria is blessed with a President who has put in so much to ensure Nigeria is lifted out of its challenges.

“What is most special about the celebration is that contrary to some negative person’s that try to portray Nigeria in bad light to the outside nation,

this celebration indeed speaks volume of the achievements of the President Buhari’s administration.

“While we commend the ambassador for this, we urge her and her team to continue to make Nigeria’s light to shine brighter to other nations of the world.”

The AGG, however, wished President Buhari many more years in great health. (NAN)

SMEDAN to adopt e-learning process to train MSMEs operators

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), said it would adopt electronic learning mode to train operators of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The Director-General of SMEDAN, Mr Olawale Fasanya said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

Fasanya said that transiting from classroom training to the e-learning mode with the use of local languages was essential in providing more effective advisory services to MSMEs in the country.

According to him, moving forward is part of my priority areas for us to reduce classroom

training.

“We want to do more e-learning, we want to send our staff out to go and provide advisory services to MSMEs operators.

“How can we achieve this, it is from this that we will be able to sieve and say to this officer we are attaching you to Kubwa and these are the MSMEs operators we want you to visit in Kubwa.

“Go and give them advisory services,’’ he said.

Fasanya said that the e-learning process would help entrepreneurs in the areas they were having challenges.

“We are talking to banks now to let us have data of those people that have been able to access one

fund or the other and what can we do to complement them.

“They have been funded but they are not able to pay back their loans.

“Let us give them advisory services, let us give them business development services. We can go to market places and talk to people.

“What problem are you having with your business, why is it that you are not paying back your loan, why is it that it is the same level of profit that you made last week that you are still making.

“Is there anything missing in your business, you have a good product but it is not properly packaged, can we link you up to a packaging institution who will

improve on your packaging.

“Can we let you know that you don’t have to be your own producer and also package. You can outsource packaging to somebody else and you will be good for it,’’ he said.

Fasanya said that the penetration of the internet and increased use of mobile phones would aid the e-learning process and promote business activities across the country.

According to him, virtually everybody now has an android phone, I know some people don’t but people that are in business have a way of marketing things with their phones.

“So, the kind of training we are talking of will be in local

languages. It is an online thing but you can do it with your smart phone.

“While in your farm you can be trained on a particular aspect of farming.

“If you are into cassava production and you need to know basic things about the best variety of cassava and where you can source them from, you can go on that platform there are modules that address everything.

“It is even open for people to come and say we have a module that people can learn and you pay a little stipend because we are partnering with a private organisation so that you can learn while you work,’’ Fasanya said. (NAN)

Villagers injured in Niger land dispute

Tension as crisis broke up again over land dispute in Ja’agi community of

It was gathered that the crisis started in August, 2016 over 180 hectres of land between the Ja’agi

Gombe state governor

Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has pledged support to carryout developmental projects if re-elected in the forthcoming general elections.

The governor stated this at the weekend when he visited Kwami east inorder to canvas for more votes.

He said his administration will continue to do the good work for the people of Gombe state.

According to him, “as you know, this government is for the people and there is no doubt to work for the people”

The

Niger CPS describes Gov. Bello as man of Peace @ 55

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

The

leadership

lives.

This was contained in a congratulatory message issued the by Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mary Noel Berje in

Minna.

She said all these values and principles of success found some harmony in the life of Governor Abubakar Sani Bello.

Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has been hailed for his

style as significant in inspiring the citizens to pursue their dreams and also defines the values and attitudes that promote respect for human

From David Hassan, Gombe

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

Mokwa local government area in Niger state leaving several victims injured in the process.

Tiffin and Ja’agi Tako, resurfaced last Tuesday and Thursday respectively leaving some people injured.

people have called for an immediate interventions of

Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali, and Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar to investigate and bring the culprits to justice.

Some of the 400 Beneficiaries With their Foods Stuffs during the Glovis Enterpreneurial and Leadership Development Foundation GELD Empowered Over 400 Active Widows in Kaduna on Sunday 18/12/22

NYCN seeks support of Sule on construction of secretariat

The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Nasarawa State Chapter, has solicited the support of Gov. Abdullahi Sule of the state towards the construction of befitting secretariat for the council.

The newly elected Chairman of the council, Malam Jaafar Loko, made the appeal in at a ceremony to celebrate his elections on Sunday in Keffi, Keffi Local Government Area of the State.

Loko also solicited the support of all stakeholders in the state and the private sector to complement the efforts of government in ensuring the building of the council’s secretariat.

The youth leader said, ”the council has come of age and it deserves to have an organised secretariat for administrative convenience, which was in line with the dreams of its pioneer leaders.”

Loko said that aside from administrative purpose, the proposed secretariat structure would also serve as a means of revenue generation to the council.

The chairman, however, urged all the youths in the area to contribute their own quota to the actualisation of building of the proposed state-of-the-art secretariat for the council.

Loko expressed the gratitude of the council to Sule for his tremendous support to youths empowerment.

He enjoined the youths to continue to support policies and programmes of the state government and shun all forms of actions or utterances that could trigger violence before, during and after the 2023 general elections.

Loko reiterated the commitment of the council to mobilise the electorate across all the nooks and crannies of the state to ensure the reelection of Sule and his running mate.

Also, the pioneer Chairman of NYCN in the state, Prof. Umar Shehu, enjoined Loko to reposition the council to be able to play its expected roles in the state.

Shehu, who is the Dean, Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, Kano, emphasised the need for the council to strengthen partnership with government and private sector in addressing challenges of youths unemployment in the state.

Also, Alhaji Abdulmumini Ari, a member of the House of Representatives, representing Nasarawa and Toto Federal Constituency, who commended the leadership style of Loko, assured the readiness of the National Assembly to support the council.(NAN)

FRSC boss blames motorists for gridlock

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has attributed the gridlock on AbujaKaduna highway to inpatient and flagrant disobedience to traffic rules and regulations by motorists.

The Acting Corps Marshal, Dauda Biu while on a special monitoring exercise, said that more personnel would be deployed along the route to ensure free flow of traffic.

Biu, who personally took charge of the traffic control

opposite Zuma Rock junction, maintained that FRSC would ensure that any driver that flouted traffic rules would be punished.

According to him, Impatience is the major reason for one way driving and disobedience to traffic rules, thereby resulting into gridlock.

“We came out to inspect Abuja-Kaduna road so that we will ensure the road is free for the end of the year activities and movements.

“But what we met here in

Suleja couldn’t have allowed us leave without intervening. What we did here was like “Special Intervention Patrol” because there was no movement in either direction and we had to stay and clear the area.

“We have achieved that as the traffic is moving now in both directions and these are some of the things we anticipated in this period and we have to be prepared for it, ” he said.

The FRSC boss appealed to motorists to be patient on the

road as there was no reason to hurry, adding that all would get stuck and movement would cease.

He, however, also appealed to Nigerians to desist from road side commercial activities as this also contributed to gridlocks being experienced in some major towns.

The FRSC acting corps marshal pledged that adequate logistics would be deployed across the country to ease traffic during Christmas and new year celebrations. (NAN)

Army fetes 62 retired Generals

The Nigerian Army on Saturday, treated 62 retired and retiring generals to a regimental dinner and awards to honour them for their 35 years of meritorious service to the nation.

The senior officers comprising 24 major generals and 38 brigadier generals are those who retired or due for retirement within 2022.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. lucky Irabor, said the event signified the beginning of a process for the retired and retiring senior officers who would transit into another phase of life that would be slightly differently from what they were used to.

Irabor said the officers deserved to be appreciated and honoured by the nation, adding that event was a representation of national honors to them.

He said that a lot of changes had occurred in the context of welfare and administration in the armed forces, urging them to ensure that they make themselves happy in retirement

“So let me on that note, wish everyone of you the very best in retirement.

“We want to hear good

testimonies about you and we will also appreciate that you do not forget the constituency that made you this past three and half decades.

“Like I said to you guys there is no engagement that would take your time and energy for as long as you live that will be demanding of you the way the armed forces have demanded of you, and of course the army in particular.

“And so it behooves on you to be the ambassadors of the armed forces, to change the orientation of many who do not know us.

“Remain our testifiers as to the uniqueness of the value that we bring to bear within the defence and security architecture of this nation.

“I would like to urge you to please keep up that spirit so that together we will continue to add value to our work,” he said.

Irabor commended the Army Headquarters for honouring its retired personnel for their services to the nation and the armed forces in particular.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Faruk Yahaya, said the regimental dinner was organised

to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions and sacrifices of the senior officers to their fatherland in the past 35 years.

Yahaya said the officers had operated and traversed the gamut of the country and theatres of operations, as well as other countries where they had contributed to peace and security.

According to him, this is a celebration of life to appreciate and thank them, having served the noble profession of the arms and retiring in one piece after 35 years.

He urged them to be good ambassadors of the army and be ready to continue to be useful to the nation, adding that they were better positioned to help propagate and sell the army in good light.

He urged them to continue to deploy their expertise and competences in support of the service, adding that the army had opened avenues to engage retired officers willing to deliver their skills and competencies.

“As we speak, we have some of the retired officers at Army Resource Center, Nigerian Defence Academy, Nigerian Army School of Artillery, School of Infantry and

across board.

“We are willing and ready to engage you because we know the quality of what was invested in you and what you can deliver and what you have delivered when you were serving,” he said.

Yahaya also appreciated the spouses of the retired officers for the support and sacrifices they made while their husbands were busy serving the nation.

He also advised them to continue make themselves useful by getting themselves engaged in profitable ventures in retirement.

The Chief of Administration (Army) Maj.-Gen. Ogbe Ali, said the event was first held in 2021 to appreciate retired and retiring generals, adding that similar events were being organised at formations level for colonels and below, as well as soldiers.

Ali said the 2022 occasion was a continuation of that innovation and the 2nd in the series to celebrate 62 generals of the Nigerian army that retired during the year.

According to him, the ceremony is equally unique as it ushers them into the end of the year and the Christmas season. (NAN)

Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar (middle), commissioning the Almajiri Integrated Qur’anic Education Centre, Gombe, while Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya (right), Mai Kaltungo Engr Saleh Muhammad (left) and other officials look on, at the weekend in Gombe.

Yuletide:

NDC officers’ wives donate food items to soldiers’ widows, others

The National Defence College Officer Wives Association (NDCOWA), on Friday donated food items and other valuables to widows of personnel and staff of the college ahead of Christmas celebration.

The Coordinator of NDCOWA, Hajia Jamila Bashir, who led her team to Ushafa in Bwari, said the association deemed it necessary to reach out to widows to bring succor to them in the spirit of yuletide.

Bashir said the gesture was part the association’s humanitarian effort as well as to appreciate the families of the soldiers that had been providing supports for their spouses in carrying out their duties.

She said the officers’ wives also felt the need to support the widows to enable them to put smiles on the faces of their children during christmas.

“We feel this is Christmas and an end of year and it is a time for giving and sharing.

“We felt that as officers wives, my sisters and I are here to appreciate the families of the soldiers that are always there day in day out, morning, afternoon and night taking care of our spouses.

“So we feel it is only right for us to come and share the little that we have with them.

“That is why we are here and also the widows in NDC, we felt we should also share the little that we have, so that they can also be able to eat and merry during Christmas.

NDCOWA coordinator urged the widows to continue to do their best in training their children so as to become responsible citizens.

One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Victoria Okorie thanked the association for the gesture, saying the food items would support her and her children.

She also thanked the college Commandant for his continuous support for the widows and children of the colleges personnel.

Africa positioned to benefit from genome editing technology –Minister

Mr Ikechukwu Ikoh, Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), says Africa is positioned to benefit from the technology of genome editing.

The minister said this while declaring open the Policy-Science Practice Dialogue to enhance the domestication and use of genome editing science in Africa and mini launch of the Continental Community of Practice (CoP) in Lagos.

He said genome editing was a revolutionary technology that led to the emergence of several editing strategies with application in agriculture, health, environment and industry.

According to him, it is the responsibility of responsive governments to strengthen capacities to keep up with the dynamism of the technology.

Ikoh maintained that Africa has recorded giant strides towards sustainable and responsible application of biotechnology by creating the enabling policy and regulatory environment.

“Currently, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Eswantini, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia are involved

in the genome editing intervention project that is supported by the Centre of Excellence in STI of the AUDA-NEPAD

“These countries have been identified based on the established structures that support the domestication and use of biotechnology and genome editing tools.

“Nigeria has been particularly proactive, being the first country to amend its Biosafety Regulations to include the guidelines on genome edited crops’’, the minister said.

Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, Director-General, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), remarked that the Genome Editing project was aimed at fostering a broader understanding of the subject.

He said this would enhance the uptake of the tool to optimise agriculture in agriculture, support the development outcomes, such as adapting to climate change and reducing poverty and sustainability of food systems.

Mustapha said: “The project seeks to build on, and complement ongoing AUDU-NEPAD efforts towards enhancing regulatory

capacities on Biosafety through the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE).

“These efforts have resulted in the institutionalization of Biosafety and regulatory capacities in African countries such as Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Nigeria and Zambia.’’

The NABDA D-G stated that Agenda 2063 recognised that technological advancements from biotechnological innovations in plants and animal breeding have the potential to advance continental agricultural sustainability goals and transform African societies.

He said for Nigeria, the extant Biosafety guidelines were robust and explicit on genome edited products, providing the necessary regulatory environment for the introduction of the genome editing tools for innovation of products and services.

Mustapha said the hosting of the AUDA-NEPAD genome editing research project in NABDA would position the agency to take a leading role in driving the technology, while building the required manpower

and infrastructure.

Dr Olalekan Akinbo, Head and Supervisor at Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI), South Africa made a presentation, saying that there were crops of interest in Africa.

He disclosed that these crops were called orphan crops because they were yet to be taken advantage of by getting the interest of industries who would invest in them.

Akinbo said these crops were important to the African continent and mentioned cassava as one of such crops, disclosing that Ethiopia and Nigeria already started working on the crop via genome editing.

Akinbo said the Agenda 2063 was the agreement among Heads of State within the continent to drive the continent on the direction towards what would be expected of Africa by year 2063.

Dr Rufus Egbeba, DirectorGeneral of National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), gave a presentation on: Regulatory Framework on Genome Editing: Nigeria as a case study.(NAN)

WAFFEST:Nigerian chefs win 4 medals

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

The Association of Professional Chefs of Nigeria (APCN), has won four meddles from the West Africa Chefs Food Festival in Ghana.

This was disclosed by the President of the association, Chef Paulinus Okon, at a press briefing on the just concluded competition in Ghana recently.

He said the competitions was a wonderful experience which has helped to upgrade the professionalism of members and build their self confidence and passion.

“With thirteen(13) countries competing at the event, Team Nigeria was able to chart away four winnings including 2 Gold in Cake Production and Bread production while 2 Silver came from Jollof rice war and Plated Dessert”.

Okon also appealed to government at all levels and private sector for support to boost the profession.

“Government and private sector support is very vital and critical for the development of our profession and tourism sector as a whole”.

Speaking on WAFFEST 2022, the president said team Nigeria

when with 40 chefs to make the country proud by wining two brown madders out of the 16 west Africa countries that participated in Accra Ghana.

He mentioned few among the powerful team that brought the meddlers back which include Chef Godfrey Mario Odoh chef Goodness Ejiofor and Chef Amos Emmanuel Adebayo .

He thanked the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), for it’s continues support, stating that the association need more support from the government because , “Whatever we are doing we are doing for the national food

cultural heritage and of course we are portraying the good image of our dear nation.

Giving more insight on their trip, he explained that, “Our journey to Ghana was hectic and it was not just cooking dishes but to also display our national dishes and that is also a way of showcasing our own food. So it has been so stressful and early this year we contributed money to organized our own congress and it was not easy. So the government should come in to support the association so that we can position ourselves the way it should be.”

The association also called

on government to establish the ministry of Tourism as that there is no state in Nigeria that do not tourist attractions, adding that ministry of tourism help to develop our Gross Domestic Product ( GDP).

According to Okon, it is important that the government throws its weight behind the association in its quest to develop the profession and Nigeria food culture.

He specifically requested for the sponsorship of its members by both the government corporate bodies as well good welfare packages.

From left: Director, Road Taxes and Local Government Collections, Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KGIRS), Mr. John Salifu Ojonugwa; Director of Legal Services and Enforcement; Barr. Saidu Isah Okino; Executive Chairman of KGIRS, Alhaji Sule Salihu Enehe; Director, Personal Income Tax, Mr. Hilary Ojomah Egwudah; Director of Administration, Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed Bello and Director, MDAs and Other Revenue, Mr. Olubunmi Ajayi, during the launching of Kogi State eTax Services Platform and Service Charter in Lokoja, Kogi State, over the weekend

Stakeholders task government on healthcare service delivery Groups identify solutions for child malnutrition

From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse

As part of its efforts to improve the lives of children, the Organization for Community and Civic Engagement (OCCEN) with support from EU, identified some measures as better solution to child malnutrition.

This was contained in a statement signed by the executive director OCCEN comrade Abdulrazaq Alqali and issued to news men in a policy dialogue on Child Nutrition Services in Kano State.

The purpose of the dialogue was to look at the situation of nutrition services in Kano state and ways to improve these services.

According to the statement, the participants identified some commitments and recommendations on how best Kano Nutrition Working Group, CSOs, nutritional workers, young mothers and public institution can work together to achieve the targets.

EU partners OXFAM, others to train 30 stakeholders in Adamawa

From Umar Dankano,Yola

The European Union in conjunction with OXFAM,CRUDAN and DEC have organised a one day sensitisation capacity building training to community leaders on strengthening Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Delivering his welcome address, Moses Alago, the Livelihood and Influencing Program officer of CRUDAN said the exercise was aimed at providing alternative ways in addressing conflicts and disputes out of courts.

Alago stressed that it will help any nation to grow peacefully.

Stakeholders in the Nigerian healthcare sector, have tasked governments at all levels on improved healthcare service delivery, ahead of 2023 general election.

They said this at a town hall meeting to commemorate the Universal Health Coverage Day in Abuja.

Mrs Chika Ofor, Chairperson, the Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC), said that every Nigerian deserved unhindered to qualitative healthcare services, regardless of his financial status.

Ofor said that the stakeholders was using the Universal Health Coverage Day to draw attention to healthcare sector because the state of the health sector was poor and not working.

She said the event attracted various stakeholders from market women to politicians, experts, CSOs and so on to decide how to tackle the challenge and move forward.

“How do we make health cheap enough with the necessary quality to save the Nigerian child? Because without health, every other sector fails, that is why we are here today.

“The basic health care provision fund is a catalytic fund that supports health insurance, health insurance is one of the areas handled by the National Health Insurance Authority.

However, there is just one primary

healthcare centre per ward and it is not enough, what it means invariably is that FCT has 62 wards so they have only 62 primary healthcare centres.

“So it is not enough, but I can say clearly that all hands must be on deck for this health insurance to work because what it does is that it makes it cheap enough to afford,’’ she said.

Ofor said the meeting drafted some plans to engage politicians with on how they would tackle the challenges in the health sector when they win the 2023 election.

Dr Celestine Okorie, the Executive Secretary, Health Reform Foundation of Nigerian, the secretariat of HSRC, said the meeting was organised to bring stakeholders to interface with politicians on their health manifestos.

“We want to ask them one basic question, what is in it for the health sector for Nigerians? Because you are busy campaigning and asking people for votes, now we want to know, what do you have?

“This is because when you look at the health sector and the heath indices, you can see that it is very poor, people are dying and doctors are migrating out of Nigeria.

“The primary healthcare centres are just dysfunctional, so we want to ask them what their plans are and their manifesto for the health sector,’’

he said.

Okorie said the step was necessary because unless candidates were made to make commitment now during interactions, they would not be able to hold them accountable when they eventually win.

Mr Ifedilichukwu EkeneInnocent, Advocacy, Campaign and Policy Manager, Save the Children International, explained that SCI work to protect the interest of the children.

Ekene-Innocent however, expressed concern that children were usually left out in the scheme of things as no political party has mentioned any plan for them.

“So, I stand here as a representative of the children asking the political parties, asking the stakeholders and actors in the health sector to ensure that they do things right to protect the health of the children because they are the future if tomorrow.

“We need to plan for them and we need to ensure that we put everything in place to protect their future as a group,” he said.

The National Chairman, Labour Party (LP) Mr Julius Abure, said the party had a robust healthcare delivery plan for Nigerians.

Abure, represented by Rev. Chidi Jacob, a member of the LP Diaspora Committee, said a good healthcare sector depended on leadership.

“However, I must say that, we are a party that when you look at our manifesto, already the national healthcare act of 2014 is at the centre of it.’’

Abure said this was because for the party to move Nigeria from a consumption economy to a producing one, a society that is educated and also healthy was needed.

Dr Pedro Obaseki, Director, Strategy and Planning, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, said the party’s presidential candidate made it clear that a healthy workforce was all needed to move a people forward.

Obaseki said the party’s five point agenda precisely on pages 66 to 73 properly enunciated how the party would handle the healthcare sector.

“It is clear that there is no preponderance of internationally healthcare tourism among all PDP presidents that have been.

“Our healthcare plan is actually a seven pillar commitment from healthcare provision, to primary healthcare and to reduction of brain drain of medical practitioners, among others.

“The National Healthcare Sector Act was signed by a PDP president in 2014, this is a clear show that we are willing to engage the sector in a productive manner,’’ he said. (NAN)

2023: PDP members defect in droves to NNPP in Gombe

From David Hassan, Gombe

As 2023 general elections draw nearer, mass defection of members of

the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe state is taking place in droves.

At the weekend, a mass defection to the New Nigeria People’s Party ( NNPP) took

place.

Performing the function at the weekend in Gombe, the chairman of Sadauna DawoDawo group Muhammed Makson said their defection

from the Peoples Democratic Party into the New Nigeria People’s Party was a collective decision among the members to join NNPP inorder to support Hon. Khamisu Mailantarki

win the forthcoming general elections.

He assured that, “the defection will do as much as possible to ensure that NNPP emerged victorious in 2023.”

National Chairman / The Presidential Candidate of Action Democratic Party (ADP), Engr. Yabagi Yusuf Sani (middle) leading other party faithfuls during a Road Walk / sensitization campaigns for Nigerians to vote for the party Candidates at various level and the need for peaceful and credible elections in 2023, held on Friday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-owo.

2023: APC receives more defectors from Sokoto eastern zone

The All Progressive Congress (APC) in Sokoto State said t had received more defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other political parties in the eastern zone of the state.

This development is contained in a statement issued to newsmen on Friday by Bashar Abubakar, the Special Assistant to Sen. Aliyu Wamakko (APC-Sokoto North), the APC leader in the state.

According to Abubakar, the latest defections involved hundreds of supporters of the PDP, Labour Party (LP) and New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) from Gwadabawa, Illela and Goronyo Local Government Areas that joined the APC.

“These defectors include former Councillors and various stakeholders from the eastern zone of the state.

“They were all received at their local governments by the governorship candidate of the party, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu and his running mate, Alhaji Idris Gobir,” he said.

Abubakar added that the development had continued to give more hope for the party ahead of the 2023 general elections in the state. (NAN)

NHRC organizes workshop on human rights assessment report

By Albert Akota

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) yesterday in Abuja organized two days workshop for various Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) in the country to assess the report on human rights in Nigeria.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Chief Tony Ojukwu (SAN), said that the workshop was a strategic approach towards the realisation of the guidelines of the UN Human Rights Council(HRC) resolution 5/1 of June 18, 2007 and a step towards the realisation of the guidelines of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution of June 18, 2007.

Ojukwu added that in the guidelines, the national human rights institutions and civil society in the country under review are expected to play pivotal roles.

We will maintain success of 2022 Hajj next year -FCT board

The FCT Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Board (MPWB) has pledged to continue with the successes recorded in the 2022 Hajj operations during the 2023 exercise.

Malam Muhammed Danmallam, Director of the board, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the welfare of Abuja pilgrims was a religious obligation that the board was charged to discharge credibly, adding that it’s a win win solution.

‘’The issue of seeing to the need of pilgrims is a religious

obligation that we see as an affairs that is pleasing to Allah. When a pilgrim is assisted to perform is rites, then whoever has a hand in it is rewarded by Allah.

‘’The pilgrim is a visitor of Allah exercising is duties as prescribed by Allah, so pleasing the visitor is pleasing Allah which has its own benefit,’’ he said.

Danmallam said that the 2022 pilgrimage was an emergency one but the board was able to put its house in order to carry it out satisfactorily, adding that in 2023 enough time was available to prepare.

‘’If you remember, this year the Saudi Arabia authourity did

not give a clear sign that the pilgrimage will be taking place. It was a short time that all countries had because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘’But our previous experience helped a lot in deciding our quick intervention for carrying out the exercise. The COVID-19 issue hampered most of the preparations usually done by pilgrims’ board.

‘’This was not limited to Nigerian alone. And the number of person that performed this year’s Hajj was even less than half of what obtains previously. We made the best we can of the situation to conduct it to the glory

of God,’’ he said.

Danmallam gave the assurance that all the hitches encountered in 2022 Hajj would signpost the progress that the board has noted and to be worked on in 2023.

He commended Minister of FCT Muhammed Bello, and the Minister of Minister of State FCT, Dr Ramatu Aliyu for their support and encouragement for the success of the operation.

The FCT Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Board was created with the sole mandate to organize, coordinate and supervise the smooth and hitch-free annual Muslim pilgrimage to the Holy Land in Saudi Arabia.(NAN)

Dangote Cement doles out 10m scholarship to students of Benue community

Dangote Cement has disbursed 10 million naira scholarship to students of the immediate host community of its Gboko plant.

The Plant Director, Engr Louis K. Raj who presented the cheque

on behalf of the Dangote Group yesterday at the board room of the cement plant in Gboko, assured the students and leaders of the host community (Mbayion) that the Dangote Cement Plc would sustain the educational intervention despite the harsh economic challenges which led to a temporary suspension of

production at the plant.

President of the Yion Development Association,YIDA Comrade Orver Yongu, chairman of the Mbayion clan foundation Mr Aondoakaa Adobo and His Royal Highness Kunav Anum who received the cheque on behalf of the host community thanked the company for the gesture.

They however noted that the galloping rate of inflation in the country has grossly affected the value of money set aside for the annual scholarship as well as the sharp increase in the number of students and appealed for an upward review of the bursary.

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, addressing a crowd of APC supporters during a campaign rally a Dukul ward of Kwami LGA, at the weekend in Gombe State.

Agric. extension: Sasakawa Africa, Islamic Development Bank, others meet in Abuja

Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), a renowned international agricultural organization, says it will support state governments in Nigeria to achieve a Green Revolution in the agricultural sector.

Dr Godwin Atser, SAA Country Director, reiterated SAA’s commitment in Abuja, at the end of a meeting between SAA, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Kano State Agro-pastoral Development Project (KSADP).

Representatives of Zamfara government were present were also present at the meeting.

Atser who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after the meeting, said agricultural development in Kano is experiencing a revolutionary development through the ongoing collaboration between SAA and KSADP.

He urged Zamfara government and other state governments in Nigeria to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by SAA by entering into agricultural partnerships.

“At Sasakawa we are willing to support Zamfara State to transform their agriculture so that jobs can be created.

“This meeting is also for SAA

to come and share the success story in Kano, how it (SAA) went about it so that Zamfara can also put together their proposal for funding by IsDB,” Atser said.

The SAA Country Director said that agricultural transformation was urgently needed to help transform rural communities, improve livelihoods, and tackle criminality.

He commended the IsDB for organizing the roundtable for SAA to share its success story in Kano State to colleagues from Zamfara state.

“Zamfara can now learn from what is happening in Kano State to establish a linkage with SAA, while leveraging the support of IsDB in terms of funding,” Atser said.

According to him, the SAA’s Kano project is about 30 months old and is recording huge success as well as making a big positive difference in Kano’s agricultural environment.

In his address earlier, Mr Javed Khan, the Operations Team Leader, Islamic Development Bank Regional Hub of Abuja, said the bank always supports states using assistance from relevant agricultural organizations while

applying for its agricultural loan.

Khan said the advantage of entering into a partnership with such organizations like SAA is the fact that such loan beneficiaries would be guided by agricultural experts with informed strategies in making their ventures very successful at the end of the day.

In his presentation at the meeting, Abdulrasheed Hamisu, Project Coordinator KSADP/ SAA said the Kano project which began in March 2021 would end in 2025, and h as made excellent progress in meeting the targets set in the results framework.

Hamisu said the project aimed to benefit 450,000 farmers in the 44 local government areas of Kano, and had added more than 850,000 metric tonnes of grains.

He said crops of interest in the five-year project are rice, maize, sorghum, millet, tomato, cabbage, and onions.

Hamisu said that among the activities of SAA is to leverage the use of information and communication technologies in developing the capacities of the state extension system to generate, disseminate and share knowledge with farmers.

In his own speech, Ibrahim Muhammad, State Project Coordinator for KSADP reiterated that the project was financed by IsDB, adding that it cuts across both crops and livestock farming.

Muhammad said that during the formulation of the project, KSADP “ran through the history” by making use of lessons learned from past agricultural projects.

“We understood during the Fadama programmes as well as other projects, that the Project Management Unit alone could not handle the implementation of technology transfer to the farmers because of the limited number of the staff that are managing the projects.

“As you all know, technology is the prime mover of development and technology cannot be taken to the farmers without effective extension delivery,” he said.

Muhammad added that it was on that basis that the Kano government hired the services of Sasakawa, a renowned international NGO that has a track record of extension implementation in the state.

“And today, we are glad we made the right choice because Sasakawa has performed excellently well,” he said. (NAN)

Prof. Danjuma Peniel gets Media Merit Award

By Usman Shuaibu

The Rector/founder of Amani College of Health sciences and Technology in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Prof. Amani Danjuma Peniel has been conferred with an award of distinguished “Visionary Academia” by the management of the Orator Communications Limited, the publishers of the Orator weekly newspaper based in Niger State and Abuja.

Conferring the media award on the Professor, the Managing Editor of the Orator weekly newspaper, Mr. Nasir Oseni, said the award was bestowed on the Professor based on his outstanding contributions in Educational Development.

He pointed out that the Editorial Team of the Orator weekly newspaper carried out investigations before the Professor was considered for the media award.

Oseni, however, told the gathering that the leadership of the Orator weekly newspaper did not honour a personality or people based on personal interest.

Responding, the awardee of the day, Prof Amani Danjuma Peniel, thanked the management of the Orator organization for the award bestowed on him.

However, staff of the College expressed happiness over the award conferred on the Professor.

Agro-input dealers task government on quality seeds

By Usman Shuaibu

The Chairman of North Central Agro-Input Dealers Association (NOCAIDA), FCT Chapter, Mr Halidu Aliyu Mohammed, has called on the government of the day to provide quality seeds to farmers in order to improve farmers’ production.

NOCAIDA Chairman made the call in an interview with newsmen during a one day workshop on quality seed marketing organized by the National Agricultural Seed Council in Gwagwalada on Tuesday.

He also appealed to agroinput dealers to always deem it necessary to sell the certified

improved seeds to farmers.

He then pleaded with farmers to purchase the seeds such as maize, rice, soybean and cowpea from genuine agro-input dealers so as to get good produce during harvesting.

He said his leadership would continue to enlighten agro-input dealers to desist from selling fake

seeds to farmers in the market.

He, however, charged the Federal Government to provide fertilizers and other farm inputs to farmers on time during the cropping season.

Meanwhile, the workshop focused on the mobilization and sensitization of agro-input dealers, farmers and stakeholders.

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The leadership of the Coalition of Arewa Civil Society Groups (CACSG), has called for the sacking of Prof. Mohammed Kabir Yakubu, the Director General, Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST), Zaria.

Comrade Abbas Aminu, spokesperson of the group while addressing newsmen in Kaduna yesterday said, “Since it’s a research and training institute, we expect the periodic training of young men and women by the institute for self reliance and sustainability in a bid to curb unemployment.”

He explained that over time, authorities in Nigeria have alluded to the fact that the leather industry remains the second major viable foreign exchange earner after oil, saying it is in tandem with the report of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).

He said, “Also, the 2019 macro-economic outlook report placed the contribution of domestic leather production at 24 per cent of the total agriculture GDP in Nigeria.”

Lack of technical know - how: Group wants NILEST boss sacked

L-R: The Chaplain, Medium Security Custodial Centre Keffi , Pst. Shedrach G. Onmonya, National Catholic Chaplain of the Nigerian Correctional Service / Convener, Feed a Prisoner, Revd. Fr. Victor Nyoroh, CM, Esq, the Representative of Controller of Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC) Keffi new ACCJohn B. Babayo and the Controller of Corrections, National Chaplain, - rotestants, Songu O. Joseph, during the Feed a Prisoner at Christmas Organise by the Compassionate Family in collaboration with the Catholic Chaplaincy of the Nigerian Correctional Service Àbuja, held on Saturday at the MSCC Keffi, Nasarawa State Photo: Justin Imo-owo

The need for better study habits

By Muhammad Murtala

Some other ways of good study habits are that students should set a schedule and find a good studying spot.This is important. You need to be in an environment with little to no distractions—an environment that will aid in keeping you focused on your assignments. The library has always been a reliable place to get some real academic work done. At home, get a solitude corner or room.

To start with, what are study habits? study habits are those behaviours and skills that can increase your motivation and convert your study into an effective process with good returns, which ultimately increases the learning. These habits of studying are also defined as any activities that promote the process of reviewing or learning about topics, solving problems or memorising parts or all of the presented materials.

To study, is to buy out the time and dedicate oneself to the application and task of study, and to become engrossed in a process of learning, practice, enlightenment and education of oneself.

Good study skills can help develop your knowledge, competence, and self-worth. They can also reduce tests or examinations fever caused by tension and anxiety. Study skills help in meeting academic expectations and deadlines. Good study habits are essential if you want to improve your grades and performance outputs whether in school or even at academic inclined work place. By developing effective study skills, you will be able to cut down on the numbers of hours

spent studying, leaving more time for other things in your life.

Many students complain that throughout their study at school, they have not learnt the thing they were supposed to be doing all that time, namely – studying. It is sad to admit, but to a certain degree it is true – educational institutions deal with a lot of subjects, but they rarely manage to teach this one thing, good study habits. Thus, a student has to help himself on his own.

The first and most important thing about effective studying is time management. Once you have learnt the method, one of the numerous ways suggested is to be realistic, do not put the things off until the last moment, you are most likely to spend more time on them than you could have predicted and it will lead to no end of trouble.

Some other ways of good study habits are that students should set a schedule and find a good studying spot.This is important. You need to be in an environment with little to no distractions—an environment that will aid in keeping you focused on your assignments. The library has always been a reliable place to get some real academic work done. At home, get a solitude corner or room.

Secondly, avoid distractions and get enough sleep. Avoid social media and phones while studying. Distractions also include avoiding your phone. The best thing you can do is either put your phone on silence, turn off the alerts and flip it over so that you can’t even SEE them, or just turn the thing off! If it helps, place the phone out of sight so that you’re not even tempted to check your messages.The world can wait. Your

education is a priority and anyone in your circle of friends should understand this. Also, there is need for an immediate study after class. Private study routine is key.

More so, teach others and also seek help through study groups. This centres on teamwork. Guaranteed someone in your study group can help you through a certain assignment you might be struggling with and you will be able to do the same. It is all about helping each other to succeed!

The next is to make an outline: an outline helps you organise ideas and keep track of what you need to study, especially when covering large amounts of information. If you are not making an outline, you increase the chance of missing crucial topics.

Above all, I hereby urge my fellow learners to prioritise correctly. It is often said that 20% of work brings about 80% of result – try to define what is the most important thing you are supposed to do and concentrate on it. Even if you do not manage to complete it on time, you will be much better off than if you had started from an opposite direction.

Finally, do not be contented with stopping at the general level of your classmates. Always try to exceed them, to do better, to be the best of them. Only such a method will be able to give you the necessary odds if you get to a more sophisticated group. In general, a student should strive for good regular tendencies and practices that should depict the process of gaining information through learning.

South Africa BRICS presidency: Challenges and future perspectives

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

China and Russia have been pushing for the expansion of BRICS, soliciting support for the multipolar system of global governance instead of the existing rules-based unipolar directed by the United States. Often explained that a bigger BRICS primarily offers huge opportunities among the group members and for developing countries.

Next year 2023 South Africa, as per stipulated approved guidelines and rules, will hold the rotating presidency of BRICS, the organization of five emerging developing countries made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This implies that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has a lot more at hand, especially with the current global geopolitical changes to drum home, to consolidate the growing support underway for few others to join BRICS.

Ramaphosa has already reminded that South Africa will hold the BRICS rotating-presidency in 2023. “That BRICS summit next year under the chairship of South Africa, the matter of expanding BRICS is going to be under serious consideration. A number of countries are consistently making approaches to BRICS members, and we have given them the same answer that it will be discussed by the BRICS partners and thereafter a collective decision will be made.” the president said this December.

Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov told the gathering at the Primakov Readings forum held this early December that the quintet of BRICS economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) may turn into an organization of 15-17 countries, not just enthusiasm but if those wishing to join it are granted membership based on two principles: have the necessary conditions and the collective decision of the organization.

Lavrov, in his presentation, traced the historical establishment and development of the organization. “We all know that this format [RIC – Russia, India, China] paved the way for the BRICS Five, which currently enjoys great publicity and many countries line up seeking a full-fledged membership,” Lavrov said.

“If we meet all bids then the ‘five’ will turn into about 15-17 countries as the BRICS summit in June, which was organized in a video conference format by our Chinese colleagues, showed us,” the foreign minister noted, and further stressed that the RIC remains an operational format and not only foreign ministers, but ministers of economy, energy and economic development as well, are meeting within the framework of this format.

“The RIC keeps thriving today and not many know that this ‘trio’ continues holding meetings at the level of foreign ministers,” Lavrov continued. “Just a couple of months ago we held such a meeting in the on-line format and it was the 20th meeting of this kind since [ex-Foreign Affairs Minister] Yevgeny (Primakov) proposed to keep developing this format.”

“Besides the meetings of foreign ministers, there are meetings of energy, trade and economic development ministers as well as of numerous industrial members of the corresponding

governments,” the Russian foreign minister added.

“We have real partners – BRICS, the SCO, the EAEU, and the CSTO, regardless of what is written about it,” Lavrov stated. The top diplomat stated that the RIC structure (Russia, India, China), a Primakov initiative, “spawned the BRICS five, which currently receives enormous attention.” Several states are lined up for full membership, and the five could expand to roughly 1517 countries, Lavrov added.

Russia’s local Vedomosti reported that the number of BRICS members may triple during the Primakov Readings forum. According to the report, organizations, such as BRICS, are becoming an alternative against the backdrop of the weakness of the European Union. The emphasis on cooperation with nonWestern states appears to be even more warranted in light of Europe’s current problems. The United States and its closest allies’ unjust policy toward key EU members.

Berlin and Paris do not have complete autonomy in international politics, thus they deliberately cede some of their foreign policy functions to Washington, according to Alexander Kamkin, Senior Researcher at IMEMO. The expert admits that the European countries are capable of taking the initiative in a few circumstances, but on the whole, they follow Washington’s lead.

According to Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council, BRICS can provide countries with an alternate partnership path to the EU that does not require a high admission threshold. According to him, the group is now developing along two avenues: by admitting new members and by strengthening cooperation.

In the second case, additional countries will not be admitted to BRICS, but each organization’s partner will be able to choose a convenient mode of cooperation within the BRICS+ structure. Kortunov noted that the EU is unwilling to seek strategic autonomy from the US not only due to the Ukrainian crisis, but China’s ascent.

The possibility of expanding membership in the organization is still under discussions within the BRICS framework. Noteworthy to reiterate here that a decision was made at the five BRICS members summit on June 23-24 to launch a discussion for purposes of determining the principles, standards, criteria and procedures of this process.

China and Russia have been pushing for the expansion of BRICS, soliciting support for the multipolar system of global governance instead of the existing rules-based unipolar directed by the United States. Often explained that a bigger BRICS primarily offers huge opportunities among the group members and for developing countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club held October 27 reaffirmed Russia’s unshakable support Saudi Arabia joining BRICS. “Yes, we support it, but this requires a consensus of all the BRICS countries,” he said.

According to him, Saudi Arabia is a rapidly developing country, which is due not only to its leading position in the hydrocarbon market. “This is also due to the fact that the Crown

Prince, the government of Saudi Arabia have very big plans for diversifying the economy, which is very important. They have entire national development plans designed for this goal,” the Russian President said.

He expressed confidence that, given the enthusiasm and creativity of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, these plans will be implemented. “Therefore, of course, Saudi Arabia deserves to be a member of major international organizations, such as the BRICS, and such as the SCO. Most recently, we determined the status of Saudi Arabia in the SCO and will develop relations with this country both bilaterally and on multilateral platforms” Putin added.

With the current global unstable and volatile situation creating skyrocketing uncertainties in global economic recovery, China have unreservedly shown its contribution for strengthening BRICS. For 16 years since its inception, China offers the largest financial support for the BRICS National Development Bank, contributed tremendously to other directions including health, education and economic collaboration among the group.

That is why BRICS has gained extensive recognition. More and more countries are willing and interested to become members of the organization, make joint efforts to overcome difficulties and challenges, and realize common development and prosperity. BRICS activities have expanded during the past few years. Countries participated in the Outreach and BRICS plus segments of the organization. But now with the emerging new global order, BRICS seeks to expand its membership, consolidate its platform as an instrument for pushing against the existing rules-based order unipolar system.

BRICS activities have expanded during the past few years. Countries participated in the Outreach and BRICS plus segments of the organization. There are also a number of African countries including Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Senegal have also shown interest. Egypt has already been involved for a fairly long time. Last December 2022, Egypt, the decision on its accession to the New Development Bank was made by BRICS.

Russia has consistently advocated for deepening organization’s interaction with the African continent, the diplomat stressed. In particular, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin mentioned this at an expanded meeting of leaders of the five BRICS member-states in the BRICS plus format on June 24. It is, however, expected that this avenue of efforts will get an extra impetus during the presidency period of South Africa in 2023.

On May 19, China’s State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired a video conference dialogue between foreign ministers of BRICS countries and their counterparts from emerging economies and developing countries. It was the first BRICS Plus dialogue at the level of foreign ministers. Participants in the dialogue came from BRICS countries as well as invited countries such as Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, Senegal, United Arab Emirates and Thailand.

Kestér Kenn Klomegâh is a Public Policy Analyst.

Murtala Muhammad writes from FAMAKS BRITISH SCHOOLS KADUNA.

My woman of the year: Powerful but not power-drunk

By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

This is a Gambian female law maker who is, in her own right, powerful but does not allow her self to be intoxicated by her position. Here is a spouse to the current Nigerian President who arrogates crude power to herself and ordered a kidnap of a citizen who accused her of feeding fat on the resources of the masses. You can argue, having Nigerian first lady in mind, that women are very arrogant, wicked, and merciless when they have access to power.

Many people, if not most, are not comfortable with women wielding powers in the position of authority. This could be due to the fact that patriarchalism is deeply rooted in our cultures and politics. In most part of the world, politics is androcentric. In other words, politics mostly revolves around men and focuses on men as actors in the political arena. Women are also believed to abuse power while in office because power gets them intoxicated and corrupts them irredeemably. Again, women, generally speaking, are seen as domesticated humans to operate and remain within the domestic sphere. Also, religion, in most cases, is used to justify why women should be apolitical—especially in the public domain.

I do not intend, in this article, to argue for or against some of this commonly held beliefs about women in relation to power (I can do that if I wished). What I intend to do is to celebrate a woman whom I consider my woman of the year. She uncommonly spoke the uncomfortable truth which is naturally loathed by those in power. Those in power hate to be criticized for any wrong—no matter how grievous—but like to be praised even when it is very clear to them that they do not deserve it. This woman, whom I chose to be my woman of the year, did not speak the truth because she is out of government like some of us, and not because she is affected by the fantastic corruption going on in the government circle. Rather, she spoke the truth despite being in government with free access to free and sweatless money.

She does what a patriotic citizen and a responsible leader should be proud of doing. She is Hon. Fatoumatta Touma Njie—a Gambia politician and parliamentarian—

who pleaded passionately with her colleagues on the ground of The Gambian National Assembly to oppose increment in lawmakers’ salaries in a viral video. If you had not watched the video, it is worth watching. Here is the link.

Just like the viral video which is worth watching, what she said in the video is also worth quoting—I cannot paraphrase it. She said, “I think that our government does not love this country. They do not have the feeling to nurture our children in this country…we should consider the life and livelihood of our children. We should be investing in education, we should be investing in health, rather than paying ourselves; feeding ourselves out of the poor people of this country.” This implies that any government who does not invest in health and education does not love the citizens. If you think I exaggerated when I wrote recently that “this regime [Nigerian present government] is misanthropic to the core—it incredulously and disappointedly hates the people who brought it to power,” then have a rethink.

Reacting to the senseless attempt to increase the lawmakers’ salaries, she said; “I feel ashamed to call myself an honorable member. I gave myself for service. I did not give myself for poor people to feed me and my family. When I saw this, (i.e. the disgusting budgetary provision for lawmakers’ salaries increment) I felt embarrassed. I did not want to come to this budget session because I said to myself there is no need—because we are just sharing the cake in our pocket, going home feeding ourselves.”

As if she had not hit the point, she continues “Even if I go to the Constitution, it says that; we shouldn’t deliberately enrich ourselves. And increasing our salaries is deliberately enriching ourselves and that is an embarrassment. I think as a National Assembly, we should not accept any salary increment.” As she was making her submission, I was just thinking of the owners of Nigeria who did not only deliberately enrich themselves but also established a master-slave relationship between themselves and the masses—who were born free. These masses voted them into their various elective positions.

This woman continues, “Not only that, but to see the responsibility allowance, residential allowance… and all those for the representatives of the people. It is

embarrassing, for me to go back to my poor constituency and tell them that the meagre resources of this country— I’m paid that much at your expense. I took an oath to serve and to give back to my society—not to enrich myself.”

When a fellow member of hers shouted ‘observation’ in an attempt to interrupt her, she retorted: “I am not allowing you to observe me, I don’t have that time. When you are on your own feet observe yourself.” Are our leaders in Nigeria really observing themselves? If they do, it will not be difficult for them to realize how wicked and unfeeling they are to the sufferings of the masses.

This is a Gambian female law maker who is, in her own right, powerful but does not allow her self to be intoxicated by her position. Here is a spouse to the current Nigerian President who arrogates crude power to herself and ordered a kidnap of a citizen who accused her of feeding fat on the resources of the masses. You can argue, having Nigerian first lady in mind, that women are very arrogant, wicked, and merciless when they have access to power. I will argue, having Hon. Fatoumatta Touma Njie in mind, that women could be very sympathetic, caring, patriotic, and generous while in the position of authority.

The wife of our President is indeed power-hungry and power-drunk; though she is constitutionally powerless. By the way, who is she? You can find many definitions (descriptions of her) on social media. In Her husband’s definition, you may wish to dispute it anyway, she belongs to the kitchen and the Other Room. But in the eyes of the law, she is just like any woman on the street. If any of her rights is trampled upon, she can seek redress in the Court like any other citizen.

And what is even special in being a first lady? Anyone automatically becomes a first lady provided a president of a country falls in lover with her and marries her. You do not need to be sane, intelligent, beautiful, or educated to be one. One can be insane, dull, very ugly, stark illiterate, and yet be a first lady. So what is special about being a first lady? While Fatoumatta Touma Njie is a heroine and my woman of the year, Nigerian first lady is my villainess of the year. Let’s learn how not to be power-drunk.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen can be reached at Salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

The charade that is Chatham House

By Loretta Oduware Ogboro-Okor

“What is more? Just in case they have not noticed, sometimes, half of the people at these meetings are hordes of supporters of speakers from resource poor nations, transported at exorbitant prices on first class flights and hosted in choice hotels at costs that could pay for educating children or upgrading primary healthcare facilities in their countries”.

I have watched with evolving consternation, how Nigerians across social media space have dedicated their most valuable resource, which is time, to having endless discussions about the performance of one of the Country’s presidential aspirants at Chatham House. Each time I scroll past a post anywhere on social media, or I roll past a face-to-face conversation by people on this subject matter, my body, mind and soul screams one thing and one thing only!

#contemporaryslavery!

I have never understood the perennial charade politicians, rulers and leaders from many of the countries that make up the African continent perform when they make coming to Chatham House a prerogative. In my opinion, it will do our continent a whole good for these people to speak directly to and engage openly with their populace at home or their populace in the Diaspora and not their old colonialists or via their old colonialists. Prior to my in-depth study of Modern-day slavery, I too may have thought nothing wrong of this trend.

However, since my doctoral research into Modern-day slavery began, I have come to have a better understanding of the murky waters of international politics today and from ancient times. I have found from evidence-based studies that perception and power gradients are the unspoken tools of politics across borders. Words are not even needed. Rather, sustained patterns of carefully planned strategic actions are all that is needed to erode the thought processes of a group of people. I am yet to see politicians, rulers or leaders who are aspiring for positions in western countries of the old colonialists, go to those countries they colonised

in the past, prior to their apex elections to speak to them or engage with them. Slavery is a mental or psychological thing as much as it is physical. Today, we may not be seeing physical chains on the legs and necks of Africans however, there are heavy chains binding our hearts, brains and souls. This is the most insidious form of slavery; that which can only be stopped by the enslaved.

Given that the origins of Chatham House, are grounded in the Royal Institute of International Affairs meeting and the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, with the goal to advance the sciences of international politics, optimising the study and investigation of international questions with a view to providing global solutions, it was a laudable project. Furthermore, that number 10 St James’s Square in London, where Chatham House has been sited all these years, serving to push research and world publications as well as administer prizes for global good governance has served the world in some positive light, is not something I will dispute. However, I find it difficult to comprehend why it has not managed to maintain the non-attribution rule known as the Chatham House Rule, which it originated. This is the rule that prohibits discussing those who attend or disclosing what particular individuals say at the meetings in the house. This was to facilitate free speech and allow engagement on controversial subjects. Over the years, the Chatham rule has gone out the window and majority of the Chatham House events are held on record and transmitted for onward discussion by a global audience. The only reason

I can postulate for this deviation from their own rule over time, is the needed increase in the push for more power gradient and the pull for profits against the backdrop of maintaining a certain continued perception in an evolving world.

It is this same evolving world phenomenon that makes my point of view differ. I posit that it is time Chatham House, seeks to set up sister bases on the African or Asian Continents, where aspiring politicians for apex country positions from the West, should come and speak as well. In the interim, prior to achieving this balance, other talks can

keep going on at Chatham House but not the ones where aspiring rulers or leaders run there from African countries to speak. Those who aspire to lead a people should engage directly with the people they seek to lead. Engage with them within their countries in the markets, on the roads, in the schools and even in other halls or venues in the Diaspora.

Now you my dear readers can see why I will not indulge contemporary slavery mentality and begin to discuss the performance of any aspiring African country leader at a neo-colonialist platform. We need to hold our leadership accountable pre-elections and post-elections. Even more so, we need to hold them most accountable during their time spent in these positions of leadership. We must realise that we have to write our own scripts as a people and not act those which are handed down to us by others. I do not believe that any other person can love any country more than the citizens of that country.

Instead of deconstructing our focus by wasting precious time debating the performances of our potential rulers or leaders as the case may be, let us instead, work towards making our nations into the places where other world leaders come to engage with us. We must build our own nations to the point where these engagements become the global oxygen every world leader must breath thus they have to arrive in our named house to give account of their aspirations and make their plans known for when they get into positions of leadership… after all, Nigerians and by extension other Africans, have contributed and continue to contribute their sweat and blood towards the development of the Western economies… we too, deserve to hear from them. International diplomatic ties and relationships should be a two way street or even a multilateral phenomenon where those involved must always strive for ‘true’ balance. So as the world bids farewell to the twilight days of 2022 and midwifes the birth of 2023, those who run the affairs of Chatham House should consider a more altruistic review and auditing of their processes.

Dr Loretta Oduware Ogboro-Okor is author of the book My Father’s Daughter

North Central Govs. hail Buhari @ 80

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

North Central States Governors Forum (NCSGF) has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari as he marked 80 birthday.

Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello in a statement described the President as a legend and a man of integrity who is not only patriotic but passionate to secure the future of the younger generation.

Governor Bello said the President has demonstrated leadership capacity despite global challenges confronting many nations including Nigeria.

HYPPADEC flags of monthly road walk

From Yakubu Mustapha Minna

Hydro Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), has flagged off monthly road walk exercise to keep the workers physically and mentally fit to ensure effective and efficient service delivery.

The Managing Director HYPPADEC Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa while flagging off the exercise after 2kilometer walk in Minna, said it will take place every last Friday of the month.

He said the exercise is aimed at preparing staff physically, mentally and socially to the challenges of the commission.

Sadiq Yelwa added that the workers would be provided with the sporting wears, noting that the exercise will hold simultaneously in all the state offices of the commission.

L-R: Member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Muhammed Kabir, Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs Hon, Benjamin kalu, his counterpart on Power, Hon. Magaji Da’u Aliyu and Chairman House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence Hon. Sha’aban Sharada, during the House of Representatives Press Corps End of the Year Party Award, at the weekend in Abuja.

48 hours ultimatum: CSOs commend DSS over availability of products

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Citizens United Against Subversion (CUAS), and Coalition for Peace In Nigeria (COPIN) have commended the Department of State Services (DSS) over the ultimatum it handed to players in the oil and gas sector, which they noted, led to the easing of fuel scarcity in Abuja and other major cities in the country.

Recall that the DSS had, in the wake of biting scarcity, held a strategic meeting Regulator, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and petrol marketers, including Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) among others.

Consequently, the Service

had issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the affected bodies to ensure product availability, vowing that an enforcement operation will be deployed at the expiration of the window period.

In separate statements signed by National Coordinator, and Secretary of CUAS, Dr Abu Mallam, and Secretary, Mrs Chinonyelum Ogundele,, as well as National Coordinator, and Secretary of COPIN, Pharmacist Emeka Akwuobi, and Hajiya Fatih Yakub respectively, the civil society organisations charged other agencies and institutions of government to emulate the DSS.

“We at Citizens United Against Subversion (CUAS) hasten to commend the Department of State Services (DSS) for their timely and responsible intervention, which saw to the easing of fuel scarcity in many parts of the country, especially

Abuja, the Federal Capital.

“We are not surprised that the DSS did what it did, considering the sterling record of performance by the secret service under the able and dynamic leadership of the Director General (DG SS), Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi (fwc, CFR).

“We are aware that since assumption of office on September 14, 2018, Alh. Bichi has continued to steer the foremost domestic intelligence agency on the part of professionalism, efficiency in intelligence gathering, infrastructural renewal, enhanced welfare among others.

“Little wonder the Commanderin-Chief deemed it appropriate to renew his appointment for another term of four years”, CUAS said in the statement.

On it’s part, COPIN advised those criticising the intervention to

study the Instrument establishing the Service, so as to understand the intelligence agency’s statutory mandate (s).

“As a responsible civil society group, whose preoccupation the promotion, propagation and enthronement of peace in Nigeria, we make bold to say that the DSS is saddled with the responsibility of detecting and preventing threats to national security and peace.

“We further note that the secret service has the mandate to frustrate nip-in-the bud economic sabotage, under any guise whatsoever.

“Having regard to the aforestated, therefore, COPIN calls on the general public to see the intervention of the DSS in the fuel scarcity conundrum as noble and well thought-out move, which is within the bounds of their powers”, it said.

Register for ease of doing business, SMEDAN urges MSMEs

Mr Olawale Fasanya, the Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), has called on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to register on the agency’s portal.

Fasanya said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in on Sunday in Abuja.

According to him, registering with the agency will assist MSMEs with ease of doing businesses and in turn grow their businesses.

The SMEDAN boss said that besides having data to work with when the need arises, having all MSMEs on the agency’s portal

would help them in planning for them.

“Once we have information to give to MSMEs operators, we can go on the portal and send short messages to all those 3.1 million that are registered.

“This is because we have their data, their phone numbers and their email addresses.

“If you are in Abuja for instance and you are producing coconut oil, we do not think you have to go to Lagos because it will add to your production cost.

“There may be some people bringing coconut to Abuja, all we need do is go to the portal, get your details and link you up.

“That will reduce your cost

of going to source your coconut from Badagary when somebody is already bringing it in bulk to Abuja,” he said.

Fasanya said that the idea of registering on the SMEDAN MSMEs portal would help the agency to link up businesses.

“If you are producing fish in Abuja and you are buying your feed from Nasarawa State, we can easily link you up with somebody in Lugbe because we have your data,” he said.

He said while statistics put the number of MSMEs at 39 million, only 3. 1 million were registered on SMEDAN portal.

While describing the figure as abysmal, Fasanya said that

the idea of registration became important to enable SMEDAN recognise each MSME as an entity.

“In spite of the figure gotten from the national survey, many of the MSMEs have no known addresses, so we want to move them from informal to formal businesses,’’ he said.

On features of the registration portal, Fasanya said that upon registration, a certificate and unique number would be generated.

He said the number would thereafter be listed among other registered companies or businesses on the portal.

(NAN)

Kaduna LP guber candidate, Asake asks El-Rufai to halt Southern Kaduna killings

By Christiana Ekpa

The gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Kaduna State in next year’s elections, Jonathan Asake, has challenged Governor Nasir El-Rufai to show exemplary leadership as the chief security officer of the state by halting the renewed attacks and killings in communities of Southern Kaduna.

Asake lamented, “The killings last week of eight innocent, helpless people in villages of Mallagum and Kpak

Lawan celebrates Yobe Gov, Buni on National Honour award by Niger Republic

By Musa Baba Adamu

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has sent his felicitations to the Governor of Yobe State, Hon. Mai Mala Buni on award of National Honour by the Government of Republic of Niger.

The President of Republic of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum on Sunday conferred Governor Buni with a National Honour in appreciation of Buni’s contributions to building relationship between Nigeria and Niger Republic.

Lawan was among the top dignitaries that accompanied Governor Buni to the capital city of Niamey to with the award presentation ceremony.

The Senate President, in a congratulatory statement, said: “l proudly join our good people of Yobe State and other Nigerians in celebrating this well-deserved Honour.

“This unique Award is not just a testimony to the good neighborliness between Nigeria and Niger Republic, it also attests that your stewardship is being appreciated and admired even across borders.

“Remarkably, Your Excellency is the proud recipient of two highly coveted National Honours, first from your home nation Nigeria and now from our neighbour Niger Republic, both coming within this year. This loud attestation to your leadership qualities is worthy of celebration.

“I am cocksure that the Honours will only spur you to greater commitment to service delivery.

“On that note, I once again heartily congratulate Your Excellency on this addition of another colourful feather to your cap.”

in Kagoro communities of Kaura local government and Kamuru-Ikulu in Zangon Kataf local government within two days was provocative, highly insensitive and condemnable, especially during this festive season.”

Speaking at the weekend, Asake regretted the inability of the All Progressives Congress, APC, government in the state to protect the lives and property of its citizens, saying that the continuous killings and destruction of valuables was uncalled for at a time when all should embrace themselves

for peaceful coexistence and sustainable development.

He emphasised that government must have the will to take decisions to apprehend and prosecute criminals and their sponsors no matter who they are in society to serve as deterrent to others and ensure sanity in the state.

Asake noted that farmers must be allowed to harvest their yields and the people of southern Kaduna must be able to spend this Christmas in a peaceful atmosphere, devoid of intimidation, harassment or uncertainties.

A press statement by Asake’s media aide, James Swam, quoted the governorship candidate as urging the people to remain calm and not resort to anything negative but allow government to do its work.

Asake, who was accompanied by his running mate, Rt. Hon Bashir Aliyu, prayed for the repose of the souls of those killed and urged the families to leave everything to God who is the ultimate judge, and added that their patience and trust in God will not go in vain.

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Sunday, condemned the assassination of two Labour Party candidates in Imo State and women leader in Kaduna State within the space of four weeks.

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, said the truth is that the dominant and the so called mainstream political parties are scared stiff of the different credible opinion polls conducted by independent pollsters indicating the invincibility of the Labour Party’s presidential candidate.

The group called on security agencies to arrest the perpetrators of the heinous act and not sweep the political killings under the carpet as inaction may fuel more of this unpardonable and carnivorous act.

The group also criticised the heads of the security agencies for allegedly acting like collaborators and co-conspirators with “these daredevil assassins and agents of blood cuddling political violence because these security forces pretend to be overwhelmed by the activities of these paid killers especially in Imo State and other South East states of Nigeria.”

Recall that late November, the women leader of the Labour Party in the Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Mrs Victoria Chimtex, was gruesomely assassinated by gunmen who invaded her residence at night and shot her.

Barely three weeks after, just on Friday, the Labour Party House of Assembly candidate for Onu Imo State Constituency, Mr Christopher Elehu, was also assassinated by gunmen who shot at him repeatedly and burnt his house.

Sadly, their untimely deaths come three years after a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) women leader, Salome Abuh, was shot and set ablaze at her residence in the Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.

HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “The assassinations of the two Labour Party’s candidates for House of Assembly in Imo State and Women leader in Kaduna State are totally condemnable, uncivil and anti-democratic and must be stopped by security agencies with immediate alacrity.

By Musa Baba Adamu

A key ally to Governor Nyesome Wike of Rivers State, Prof.

Sandy Onor, who is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Cross River State has disclosed that very soon their leader, Wike, will reconcile with the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Sandy Onor, who represents Cross River Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly spoke in Ikom, Cross River State, on Sunday.

He said, “Wike’s camp will soon settle any disagreements they had with Atiku. Even the Atiku camp are also saying they are ready for reconciliation. We hope that reconciliation will happen soon.

“Every right thinking PDP person is looking forward to that reconciliation.”

Onor disclosed that they are currently handling the process, adding that he does not want to be pessimistic about it.

He also used the opportunity to condemn call for the cancellation of the BVAS, indicating that their

proponents are criminals.

Onor said, “Those canvassing for BVAS to be dropped are criminals, electoral criminals who should hide their faces in shame.

“BVAS has come to stay and we are very happy with INEC because INEC has insisted on its use.”

He alleged that all kinds of pressures have been put on INEC to drop the BVAS which they have rejected.

“We are going to be BVAS compliant and that is where our confidence is hinged”, Onor said.

“The assassination of the Labour Party candidates has the imprimatur of a carefully planned and executed persecution by some desperate politicians in power or supported by politicians in power at the centre who have on many occasions stated that Labour Party is the problem of All Progressives Congress and who are threatened by the emergence of the Labour Party as the Third Force away from the rotten APC and its Siamese twin – the Peoples Democratic Party.

“These cocktails of violence is ominous and not too surprising because the APC chairman in Kano State, Abdullahi Abbas, in November, said the party would capture the state in the forthcoming governorship election by ‘hook or crook.’

“Also, an APC chieftain and a federal lawmaker from Kano, who is also the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ado Doguwa, recently threatened voters to vote APC or ‘we deal with you’.

Wike to reconcile Atiku before election –Cross River PDP guber candidate, Onor

HURIWA condemns killing of LP candidates, says dominant parties are threatened

L-R: National Financial Secretary, National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Hon. Abuh Muhammad Kabir, National Presidentt NCAN, Prince Ojo Joseph Ajanaku and the Deputy National Vice President, NCAN, Mr.Musa Shuaibu, during the NCAN World press conference debunking report of claim leadership change in the Association, held in Abuja. Photo; Justin Imo-owo

POLITICS

2023: Leave

Obaigbena alone, face electorates –Secondus to APC

By Christiana Ekpa

The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, has told the campaign media team of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to focus on how to sell its candidate to Nigerians instead of attacking publisher of Thisday Newspapers and Arise Television station, Prince Nduka Obaigbena.

Secondus said the attacks on Obaigbena were nothing but needless distraction by the media team of the APC.

The PDP’s ex-chair wondered why the ruling party’s presidential media team are more committed to attacking Obaigbena instead of the business of marketing their principal.

In a statement he signed on Sunday and made available to reporters, the former PDP National Chairman said, “From whatever perspective you want to look at it, Arise TV and THISDAY Newspapers have not gone outside the dictates of their profession.

“Prince Obaigbena and his media group were acting within the law.

“I, therefore wish to counsel the APC media to concentrate their energy and resources on pushing their candidate and his qualities…to the public instead of dissipating energy and resources on a man whose contributions to the growth of the sector are glaring and outstanding.”

He warned against persons gifted with power, money, and influence playing God with it in disregard to their source.

2023 election: MACBAN declares preferred presidential candidate

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) will announce its preferred presidential candidate before the 2023 election.

The new President, Baba Othman Ngelzarma gave the hint at the weekend in a chat with reporters in Abuja.

Ngelzarma disclosed that he already presented the demands of the pastoralists to top flagbearers.

The MACBAN leader, from Yobe State, said his administration would operate under the CORE agenda.

“CORE means Consultation, Orientation, Reintegration and Empowerment. As part of consultation, I met some presidential candidates.

“I presented our demands to Bola Tinubu (APC) at the town hall meeting in Minna, Niger State.

“I met Atiku Abubakar (PDP), Rabiu Kwankwaso (NNPP). I hope to meet Peter

Obi (LP) soon; demands have been submitted.

“Let me make it clear: we have not endorsed any candidate. We will do so in February, before the election.

“This would be after we’ve analyzed their plans and get their responses to our requests”, he added.

Ngelzarma noted that he was determined to change the wrong narrative and perception about MACBAN.

“Of course there are some bad eggs, just like in other

organisations, but I assure Nigerians that we are for peace.”

On union membership, Ngelzarma confirmed MACBAN was considering joining the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The new national committee was inaugurated in November. The Sultan of Sokoto Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar and governors attended.

Ngelzarma served as the National Secretary for two terms, from 2014-2022.

Bello Aliyu Gotomo is the new scribe.

will do if Peter Obi steps down for Atiku – Aisha Yesufu

By Christiana Ekpa

Popular socio-political activist, Aisha Yesufu has vowed that even at gunpoint, she would vote for the Labour

Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in the forthcoming February poll.

Responding to a question of who she would support if the former Anambra Governor

stepped down for another party candidate, Aisha Yesufu said she would still vote for Obi.

According to her tweet, she does not bother if she is alone in the move to make Obi the next

president of the country.

Her tweet reads, “I will still vote for him on February 25th 2023, even if I have a gun on my head. I will rather they pull the trigger than support Atiku or

Tinubu.

“I am a person of conviction. In 2019 I was the only one that voted for my candidate at my PU and I stayed till 2am to guard my vote”.

2023: Jigawa PDP guber candidate’s visit to APC Senator fuels defection speculation

By Musa Baba Adamu

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Jigawa governorship candidate for the 2023 general election, Dr Mustapha Sule Lamido, on Saturday visited Senator Danladi Abdullahi Sankara representing Jigawa North West Senatorial District at his residence in Abuja.

The governorship candidate was accompanied by the former governor of the state and the PDP

senatorial candidate for Jigawa North West, Saminu Turaki, on Saturday on his second visit in barely two weeks.

Sankara, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation, suddenly developed cold feet at attending APC activities in Jigawa and at the national level until it became clearer to party supporters that all was not well.

He also snubbed APC political campaigns.

Speaking in Abuja on Saturday, an aide confirmed he had a good rapport with the PDP candidate in the state but is unsure his principal would defect anytime soon.

The lawmaker in the upper legislative chamber, who has remained mum since he lost a comeback at the APC primary election in May, was conspicuously absent at the APC campaign, which took place on

Friday, December 16, 2022, in two local government areas, Malam Madori and Kaugama.

Moreso, the State Coordinator for San Turaki Media Team, Mansur Ahmed, confirmed that the meeting at the Abuja residence of the lawmaker lasted over three hours behind closed doors.

On his verified Face page, Dr Mustapha Lamido said he joined the former governor of the state, Saminu Turaki, with Senator Danladi Sankara in a meeting

he described as critical to the development of Jigawa State.

He wrote: “This evening, I joined the former governor of Jigawa State, Saminu Turaki and the Senator representing Jigawa North West, Danladi Abdullahi Sankara, in a critical meeting to discuss issues about election and development of the state.”

Sankara is among the 58 Senators who lost tickets of their political parties and would not return in 2023.

L-R: Member of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Investigative hearing of the attacks on INEC Offices and Facilities, Hon. Joseph Bello, Representative of the Speaker House of Representatives, Hon. Leke Abejide, Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Oluga Taiyo Oklukemi and a member of the Committee, Hon. Ibrahim Isiaka, during the stakeholders investigative hearing of the attacks on INEC Offices and Facilities, at the National Assembly in Abuja on Friday.

By Musa Baba Adamu

Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA), and Anambra Central Senatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Victor Umeh has reacted to rumours of him demanding N500 million to support Prof Chukwuma Soludo in the last governorship election.

Umeh had dumped APGA for LP after he was denied the senatorial ticket of the party in what has been said to be a grand conspiracy between the leadership of the state and the party.

Umeh who spoke on Saturday during the inauguration of the state executive of Senator Victor Umeh Solidarity Network (VUSON), said his opponents in the senatorial contest are jittery and have resorted to all manner of propaganda against him.

“I was at Okpuno, where someone told me he heard something about me and felt he must enquire from me. He said he was told by Senator Uche Ekwunife that I demanded to be paid N500 million before I can work for Soludo in the last election.

“But that is not true. I never demanded any money to work for Soludo, instead, I used my funds to work for him, even as his campaign director in the last election.

“I even met some of my friends who donated money to Soludo because of my influence. So, it was Soludo who made money from me, instead.”

The former lawmaker lamented that his opponents were dishing out propaganda against him, just to whittle down his influence, ahead of the forthcoming election.

“Recently too, there was a voice note that circulated on the internet, that I was caught with a married woman and that I paid money to the woman’s husband to avoid being exposed. All these are propaganda, targeted at me.

“I’m happy that despite all these, my supporters have stood firmly behind me. I thank the executive of Victor Umeh Solidarity Network (VUSON). When I was told that some people were mobilizing to support me, I demanded to meet you, but I was told that you didn’t want to meet me yet until you were done mobilizing.

Gov Makinde’s Dep Chief of Staff, Ojo, 2 others not our members – APC

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Oyo State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, on Sunday announced the expulsion of Ademola Ojo, from the party.

Ojo is presently the Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Seyi Makinde of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.

Similarly, the party also announced the expulsion of Messrs Segun Okanlawon and Saheed Oladele, respectively from Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North local government areas of Oyo State.

Publicity Secretary of APC, Wasiu Olawale Sadare made the announcement via a statement made available to journàlists on Sunday. He insisted that the

individuals were expelled over alleged political infidelity, gross misconduct and sabotage.

According to him: “They have all been active on other political platforms, while still claiming the privileges of bona fide APC members. We found it extremely funny that the three characters could be parading themselves as members of two different registered political parties at the

same time even as they have lost every right and privilege available to progressives in APC.”

He said further: “It is, therefore, imperative for us to inform the whole world that the three of them are no longer members of our great party (APC ) since they have all moved on to other political platforms where they are enjoying benefits as they also work against our party and its candidates.”

Lawmakers appraise 9th Assembly, laud journalists for watchdog role

By Christiana Ekpa

Some Members of the House of Representatives over the weekend gave thumbs up to leadership and members of the 9tg House for the unique way in which they conducted their affairs and the successes recorded as a result.

The lawmakers who are chairmen of very key committees of the House were unanimous in their verdict regarding the performance of the 9th Assembly, crediting same the operational style of the leadership and the watchdog role of the media.

This was at the end of year get together and award ceremony organized by the House of Representatives Press Corps over the weekend in Abuja.

Chairman, House of Committee on Power, Hon. Magaji Da’u Aliyu, who was

honoured with an award of the Most Impactful Power Committee Chairman of the House’ attributed the uniqueness and the success of the 9th Assembly to the leadership quality and style of the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.

He expressed delight at the milestone achieved by the 9th House, adding that not for the leadership quality and style of the speaker, the height attained by the House wouldn’t have been possible.

“He said, “I am proud of the 9th National Assembly. I have been around for sometime but the 9th Assembly we think we did a lot of things differently. We worked together. We worked very hard and were able to achieve our set out targets. All these goes to the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, for the kind of leadership he has offered to us.

This 9th Assembly is scandal free and we also wish to commend ourselves for that. I also wish to commend the Press Corps for keeping us on our toes trying to make us do the correct things because if you know that there are people watching you, that would make you do the right thing. we would continue to work together,” he said.

Spokesman of the House, Hon Benjamin Kalu, who also received an award as the Most Outstanding Spokesman of the House, lauded the Press Corps for its effort in strengthening democracy.

He said the Corps has given stability to the image of the National Assembly.

He also said journalists were not getting what they deserved and more should be done to take care of them.

“I appreciate the Press Corps for the stability they

have given to the image of the National Assembly. It has not been like this before. Rancour free, acrimony free. There is this integrity in the mind of Nigerians about the NASS. The confidence level has gotten from where it was to where it is at the moment not because of only what we did but also because of how you showcased what we are doing to the Nigerian people. People are beginning to understand that this fulcrum of democracy is actually playing a vital role in the advancement for our democracy.

Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Hon Muktar Aliyu Betara, said the 9th National Assembly’s successes would not have been possible without the efforts of the Press.

Aliyu, who received an award of Excellence as the Champion of Legislative

Reform, was represented by Hon Mohammed Kabiru.

Expressing appreciation for the award, he said, “Journalists are considered to be judges of any society. They see it from an eagle eye perspective and give good reportage for people to understand what is going on in the society.

Also the Chairman, House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Hon Sha’aban Ibrahim Sharada urged journalists not to compromise in their profession.

Sharada, a governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for Kano State in the 2023 election also received an award as the Most Impactful Committee Chairman on Intelligence Matters, just as he recalled his journey through the journalism profession before joining politics.

National Chairman / The Presidential Candidate of Action Democratic Party (ADP), Engr. Yabagi Yusuf Sani (middle) flanked by the Vice Presidential Candidate of ADP, Dr. Okey Udo (left) and the Chairman, Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the Party, Erelu Kemi Elebute- Haile (right), during the inauguration of the ADP campaigns council on Friday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Umeh denies allegations of demanding N500m to work for Soludo’s emergence

We won’t surrender to blackmail’ — says PenCom

By Abubakar Y. Ojima

Aisha Dahir-Umar, the director-general of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), says the commission is ready to open its books for scrutiny.

There are online reports that some civil society groups have petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and are ready to mobilise “mass action” against PenCom over allegations of fraud.

In a statement issued at the weekend, Dahir-Umar said PenCom is aware of a co-ordinated plan to bring the commission into disrepute “with frivolous petitions”.

She said it is being done in collaboration with “disgruntled insiders”.

“These elements, some of whom are yet to come to terms with the fact that PenCom is no longer at their beck and call, have been sponsoring negative media reports and getting faceless groups to write frivolous petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),” Dahir-Umar said.

“Although some low-level media outfits are giving a voice to these defamatory petitions, those who know how we conduct our affairs at PenCom are not in any way bothered. Since I took over as the DG, we have undertaken far-reaching reforms within the organisation which are yielding positive results.”

She said the era of “anything goes” as long “dead and buried”.

“Those who think they can use the commission to make money or that they should be the ones calling the shots are bitterly disappointed and are sponsoring false publications and trumped-up petitions. We will co-operate fully with the agencies. Our message to the disgruntled elements today is exactly as it was yesterday: we will not allow anyone to pilfer pension funds for self-aggrandizement.

We will continue to support Fintech, Others -SEC

By ABUBAKAR Y. OJIMA, Abuja

The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Lamido Yuguda has said that the Executive Management the Commission will continue to create awareness, imparting knowledge and engendering public participation on issues relating to fintech, sustainable finance, financial inclusion and non-interest finance.

Yuguda said the SEC recognizes the disruption of fintech in the financial industry and aims to create an enabling regulatory environment that would ensure a balance between investor protection and technological advancement.

The DG who spoke during an interview recently stated that the SEC will advance efforts towards developing a comprehensive regulatory framework that ensures

that operators in the digital asset space conduct their activities in a manner that protects investors and maintains financial system stability.

He stated that to develop an appropriate regulatory frameworkfor fintech, regulators need to understand the digital asset space to be better positioned to address identified risks.

He said the “The SEC will continue to monitor developments in the digital asset space and further engage/collaborate with all critical stakeholders, including the CBN, to create a regulatory structure that enhances economic development while promoting a safe, innovative and transparent capital market” he added.

“We believe that fintech would not only bring about efficiency to the capital market but would also serve as a veritable tool for advancing Nigeria’s Financial Inclusion agenda. However,

there is a need to develop an appropriate regulatory framework to ensure the safety of innovation to investors and preserve market integrity.”

According to Yuguda, the SEC’s approach is consistent with the approaches of several securities regulators around the world as in the United States of America, the US SEC requires platforms that offer to trade in digital asset securities and operate as exchanges to register or seek to be exempted from registration.

“In the United Kingdom, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requires firms that carry on specified activities, by way of business, involving a crypto asset, to be authorized. Crypto assets are viewed as financial products in South Africa and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) requires persons carrying out associated activities to be regulated.

“In Malaysia, operators of digital asset platforms are required to be approved by the Securities Commission (SC) as recognized market operators. Several other securities regulators have taken similar positions.”

The DG said that at the moment, crypto exchanges do not have access to the banking platform that is needed to drive their trades in Nigeria saying that in its drive to implement the revised 10-year capital market master plan, the Commission is looking at digital assets that really protect investors.

Yuguda added that the SEC will promote investment in somedigital assets with investor protection at the core and also explore blockchain technology to advance virtual and traditional investment products, adding, “The commission is in the business of protecting investors, not in the business of speculation.

ACF faults CBN’s withdrawal limit policy

By ABUBAKAR Y. OJIMA, Abuja

The

Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) says the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria‘s (CBN) policy on cash withdrawal limit will result in the catastrophic collapse of the informal sector.

On December 6, the CBN directed deposit money banks and other financial institutions to ensure that weekly over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and corporate entities do not exceed N100,000 and N500,000, respectively.

The policy is expected to take effect nationwide from January 9, 2023.

In a statement on Friday in Kaduna, ACF said the CBN may have had the best of intentions while initiating the policy, but failed to consider its extreme consequences on the informal sector.

The statement signed by

Murtala Aliyu, secretary-general of the forum, said the policy was well justified since cash-based economies were “notoriously costly, inefficient and prone to attacks by evil people”.

“A huge amount of time and money is needed to print the currency and a lot more still to steer it through the system,” the statement reads.

“The currency notes themselves have a shelf life after which they have to be replaced. Cash is the lifeblood of the underworld: difficult to trace and quite convenient for terrorists, money launderers, smugglers, vote buyers, etc.

“So, yes, the less cash available for all these criminals as the CBN is trying to achieve, the better for lawabiding citizens.

“That said, we do need to remember that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

“CBN officials may have the best of intentions while contemplating this policy but evidently failed

to consider the unintended consequences of implementing it in the way they have planned; consequences that may be extremely grave.”

ACF described the policy as “unrealistic”, saying cash remained the major medium of exchange for most Nigerians, particularly those in the north.

“If the CBN insists on implementing this wholly unrealistic policy of restricting individual’s cash withdrawal from the banks to N20,000 per day and N100,000 for a week or N500,000 in the case of corporate bodies, it won’t be long before we suffer a catastrophic collapse of the informal sector of the economy,” it said.

“More than anyone, CBN knows that transactions in commodity markets especially in the rural areas are entirely cash-based.

“The villager that brings to the market his chickens, beans, onions, goat or cows does not typically have

a bank account or internet skills.

“Cash remains the overwhelming medium of exchange for much of the country, particularly in the North.

“This should surprise no one as bank offices are largely unavailable even for people who are keen and have the skills to use them.”

The group, citing CBN’s report, said over 38 million adults in Nigeria do not currently have access to banking services “with women, rural dwellers, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and northern Nigeria being among the most disproportionately excluded”.

“And despite its pious pretensions, it is on record that the CBN, under the present management, apparently out of desire to safeguard the interests of the commercial banks, has done much to undermine and stifle the progress of financial inclusion in Nigeria,” ACF added.

“Thanks to the decisions taken by the CBN, Nigeria today, despite

its size, has the dubious record of having the lowest financial penetration in all of Africa, perhaps in the world.

“Under the circumstances, the CBN will do itself and the country a world of good if it invests more efforts at addressing these challenges.”

ACF urged the CBN to ensure the establishment of sufficient financial institutions in all parts of the country.

“It should allow a levelplaying field for a wide range of financial providers and encourage partnerships between them,” it said.

“Furthermore, the CBN must enforce strict regulations that protect people’s money. It must inform, encourage and prepare the public adequately for the transition.

“Until the CBN is able to address these challenges substantially, a preemptive move or a ‘frog- jump’ into a cashless payments system, however well intentioned, will only land us into a bottomless pit.”

L-R: Chairman Committee 2022 AGM/ Reunion Mrs Opeyemi Adeyefa, Mr Oluawseun Ali, National president Wesley College of Science Elekuro Ibadan 95”Set Mrs Olanike Mustapha , Mrs Toyin Itilola Member, Mrs Foluso Adigun and Mr Saheed Adepoju member cutting the Alumni Cake during the 2022 Annual General Meeting/ Reunion Wesley College of Science Elekuro Ibadan 95”Set took place Eleventh house Jericho Ibadan on Saturday

Buhari: My administration has created over 13m jobs in agric sector

By ABUBAKAR Y OJIMA Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria’s agricultural revolution has created more than 13 million direct and indirect jobs in the past seven and a half years.

The president made this known at an interactive session co-hosted by the United State Institute of Peace (USIP), the International Republican Institute, the National Endowment for Democracy, and

Report: Goldman Sachs to fire up to 4,000 employees next year

Goldman Sachs, a multinational investment bank, is planning to lay off as many as 4,000 employees as it struggles to meet profitability targets, Semafor is reporting.

The news outlet, quoting sources familiar with the matter, said managers across the firm have been asked to identify low performers for what could be a cut of up to 8 percent of its workforce early next year.

However, some of the people who spoke to Semafor cautioned that no final list has been drawn up.

According to the report, David Solomon, the firm’s chief executive officer, is falling short of a profitability goal he set in February.

It said the firm has lost billions of dollars building a tech-forward Main Street bank called Marcus, that isn’t yet profitable.

The report added that Goldman’s workforce has swelled by a third since David Solomon took over as chief executive officer in 2018 to more than 49,000, largely due to a hiring spree in engineering and Marcus.

The company also accumulated more staff through GreenSky, a specialty lender, which had about 1,000 employees when Goldman bought it earlier in 2022.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Goldman Sachs usually fired about 1 percent to 5 percent of its staff each year but it skipped the layoff in 2020 and 2021.

Last month, big technology companies including Amazon, Twitter and Meta laid off some of their employees.

the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

In a statement on Saturday, Garba Shehu, the president’s spokesperson, quoted Buhari as saying that targeted interventions in the agricultural sector — driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) — transformed the country from a net importer of rice to a selfsufficient rice producer.

‘‘This same scheme has financed the establishment and operations of our fifty (50)

integrated rice mills,” he said.

‘‘It has also financed over 4.5 million smallholder farmers, ensured the cultivation of almost 6 million hectares of farmland and almost 700 large-scale agricultural projects have been funded.

‘‘This Agricultural revolution has led to the creation of over 13m direct and indirect jobs.”

Buhari also said the focus on the agricultural sector placed Nigeria in a better position to handle the systemic shock caused by both COVID-19 and the Russia-

Ukraine war on global food supply.

He said the revolution in the sector has improved the country’s capacity and efficiency in increasing and maximising production and post-harvest losses.

‘‘The non-oil sector remains the future of our economy and I hope successive governments will consolidate on the gains we have recorded under my leadership,” he said.

‘‘You will agree with me that the Russia-Ukraine war has compelled

many economies to carry out reforms and re-adjust policies to cope with the challenges posed by the conflict.

‘‘In this regard, we are paying more attention now to energy transmission and distribution through targeted collaboration with global companies like Siemens to improve our efficiency in the Power Value Chain.”

Buhari also advised western countries not to rush to eliminate the usage of fossil fuels for a healthier climate.

Buhari woos investors in US, says Nigeria is Africa’s largest consumer market

By ABUBAKAR YUNUSA, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured investors of massive investment opportunities in Nigeria.

Buhari spoke at a dialogue session with some US investors, Nigerian officials, diplomats and as well as experts from the private sector in Washington DC, United States of America, on Friday.

The session, titled ‘The Presidential Dialogue: Nigeria Business and Investment Forum’, was held on the sidelines of the 2022 US Africa Leaders Summit.

Buhari said apart from the population advantage and demographics, various incentives and policies implemented by the Nigerian government have made the country a preferred choice for investment.

“It is therefore imperative

that I reiterate at the outset, the comparative advantages that exist within Nigeria’s economy,” he said.

“First as the most populous country and largest economy in Africa, there is no doubt that Nigeria remains Africa’s largest single consumer market, projected to account for over 15% of overall growth in Africa’s spending, by 2025.

“Secondly, investors in the country would have access to new markets under the African Continental Free Trade Area, (AfCTA), which would be the world’s largest free trade area.

“It would be expected to connect 1.3 billion people across 55 countries and a consumer market that will be worth over 3 trillion dollars by 2030, and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) valued at 3.4 trillion dollars.

“Since 2015, when my

administration assumed office, fixing of the infrastructural gaps needed for business to thrive in Nigeria, namely; roads, railways, air and sea ports, energy and telecommunications, constituted greater priorities for government.”

He said the federal government is determined to improve the business environment through incentives, regulatory reform, and a business-friendly visa system.

The president said Nigeria, like other countries, is facing economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine as well as climate change.

He said in spite of the challenges, Nigeria witnessed seven consecutive quarters of growth, after the negative growth rates recorded in the second and third quarters of 2020.

“Nigeria’s GDP grew by 3.54

per cent year-on-year in real terms in the 2nd Quarter of 2022, which represents a sustained positive economic performance, especially for the Non-Oil GDP which fell by 4.77 per cent in Q2 2022 against Oil GDP that grew by -11.77%,” he said.

“For our economy to favourably meet up the global digitization, Nigeria embraced communication and digital economy.

“Already, the broadband coverage of the country stands at 44.32 percent and 77.52 percent. 4G coverage has also been achieved, with the establishment of 36,751 4G base stations nationwide.’’

Buhari said his government has made the energy sector a key priority, considering the need for adequate and sustainable electricity supply as a prerequisite for socio-economic and industrial development.

Founder Glovis Enterpreneurial and Leadership Development Foundation (GELD), Mr. Kayode Akinade,- (Left) Presenting a Food Stuffs and Cash to the Beneficiary Zainab Umar -during the Glovis Enterpreneurial and Leadership Development Foundation GELD Empowered Over 400 Active Widows in Kaduna on Sunday 18/12/22

BU$IN€SS

Sirika: Africa to implement single air transport market for economic integration

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, says Africa has agreed to implement a single air transport market (SAATM) to advance liberalisation.

Sirika said this at a five-day International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) air services negotiation event in Abuja on Friday.

The minister said SAATM, being a flagship project of the African Union agenda 2063, would boost the continent’s economic integration plans.

He said SAATM will ensure

aviation plays a major role in connecting Africa, promoting its social, economic and political integration, and boosting intraAfrica trade and tourism.

Sirika noted that SAATM was created to expedite the full implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision.

The Yamoussoukro Decision is a treaty adopted by most members of the African Union (AU) which establishes a framework for the liberalisation of air transport services between African countries, as well as fair competition between airlines.

“I am very excited for Nigeria to host this very important

event,” Sirika said.

“There are new developments that we derived from this, in particular, our resolve to implement single air transport market in Africa (SAATM).

“This is in the spirit of actualising agenda 2063 which will unify and integrate Africa and connect its people, future and posture.

“It will also open the borders to connect the whole world together.

“Aviation ought to play its role in connecting our markets, places, friends, and families among others.”

Sirika further said the series

of engagements and negotiations during the event indicated that the “ICAAN 2022 was delivered objectively”.

He also said the achievement in human and services, improving some memorandum of understanding (MoUs) within the states during the event, would eventually co-increase air connectivity in Africa and globally.

On his part, Anthony Derjacques, minister of transport for the Republic of Seychelles, said SAATM would open up Africa’s skies and promote the value of aviation throughout the continent.

Derjacques also said opening air arrangements would boost traffic, drive economies and create jobs.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Rahma, director, air transport bureau, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), commended Nigeria and other stakeholders for their contributions towards a successful ICAAN 2022 event in Nigeria.

Rahma added that ICAO’s long-term vision for international air transportation liberation was to improve social and economic needs, expand markets and states collaboration across the world.

NNPC assures Nigerians of petrol supply after DSS ultimatum

ABUBAKAR YUNUS Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it has 1.9 billion litres of petrol in stock as it assured Nigerians of steady supply to quell the lingering scarcity across the country.

NNPC said this at a meeting with the Department of State Services (DSS) and other stakeholders in the midstream and downstream oil sector on Thursday, according to a statement by Peter Afunanya, spokesperson for the secret service.

The DSS, during the meeting, issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the national oil company and marketers to resolve the ongoing petrol distribution crisis.

Responding to the ultimatum, Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group chief executive officer (GCEO),

reaffirmed that the company “has in-country stock of PMS of over 1.9 billion litres, which is over 30 days sufficiency”.

Kyari, who was represented by Umar Ajiya, chief financial officer, NNPC, assured Nigerians of the availability of premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.

NNPC also pledged that it “will continue to sell the PMS product, ex-coastal price agreed with the regulator to all marketers, especially the IPMAN members with a view to also providing depots specifically meant for their off-take in order to curtail the profiteering that they have been experiencing in some depots”.

“NNPC has also made procurement for the supply of similar volume from now till end of March 2023,” he said.

“We have also directed operation team to engage in 24

hours loading of PMS in the next couple of days and make sure some outlets operate 24hours without compromising security in order to bring quick relief to the people.”

Meanwhile, the participants at the meeting include: the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DPPMAN), Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG), National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).

The associations, after the meeting, agreed to work together to clear the persistent petrol queues at filling stations nationwide, within the next 48 hours.

Speaking earlier, Farouk

Ahmed, chief executive officer (CEO), NMDPRA, pledged to collaborate with the NNPC and all stakeholders in order to ensure that issues regarding supply of petroleum products are well addressed.

On his part, Femi Adewole, executive secretary, DAPPMAN, said the foreign exchange challenge confronted by depot owners was also discussed and efforts were on to address it.

“The challenges to marketers, especially depot owners, were explained and the meeting agreed and actually noted the forex component challenge and its input into our cost should in all ideal cases be recovered reasonably. That was agreed upon,” Adewole.

“We also agreed that based on the assurances of products given to marketers, provided by NNPC, we will ensure that,

going forward, all depots work 24 hours based on the security risks appraised.

“We will work 24 hours to ensure that the queues in town are reduced. Our retail outlets, spread nationwide, will also ensure that they sell 24 hours based on our security situation appraised. I want to assure Nigerians that, going forward, they will be able to get fuel in filling stations without too much hitch or harassment.”

In the last few weeks, the country has been battling petrol scarcity, spreading to several parts of the country.

While the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said the scarcity was caused by the shortage of petrol at NNPC depots, the state-owned oil firm had said ongoing road projects in Lagos affected distribution.

L-R: Chairman, Jalsa Salana Committee, Engr Qasim Oluwa; Amir (National President) Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria, Alhaji (Barr) Alatoye AbdulAzeez; Missionary In charge Ahmadiyya of Nigeria; Murabbi Adnan Tahir; Deputy National President, Finance and Admin, Alhaji Mufadhil Bankole and Project Manager, European Chapter International Association of Ahmad Architectural and Engineers (IAAAE) Maulvi Umar Ahmad, during the Press Conference 68th Annual Jalsa Salana Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria held in Lagos,

Abubakar Yunus Abuja

METRO

Road Traffic: FCT records 348 accidents in 11 months

By Stanley Onyekwere

Atotal of 348 motor vehicles has were involved in road traffic accidents within the last 11 months of outgoing year in FCT.

It was gathered that the accidents involved 508 people among whom are 39 fatal cases, 118 suffered serious injuries while 335 had minor or no injuries at all.

This was disclosed by the Secretary, FCT Transportation Secretariat, Abdullahi Adamu Candido during the 2022 End of Year Press briefing, in Abuja.

Candido said the Territory witnessed high rate of traffic accidents during the rainy season as a result of slippery nature of the road surface couple with the over speeding of motorists.

He added that majority of the recorded accidents were self- accidents.

The Secretary explained that as part of measures to inculcate good behaviour and improve drivers and riders knowledge, the Secretariat through the Department of Road Traffic Service (DRTS) has established Driver’s Training Centre in Lugbe area of the territory.

According to him: “A total of 4401 traffic regulation violators, 850 Dispatch operation Riders have attended mandatory training at our Lugbe centre.

“ A total of 37, 572 motor vehicles have undergone inspection and emission testing at the DRTS computerised Inspection Centres”.

2023: FCT Minister seeks residents’ support for APC

By Stanley Onyekwere

The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT), Dr. Ramatu Aliyu has appealed to residents of Abuja to give the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC) a second chance at the forthcoming 2023 polls.

This appeal may not be unconnected with the general perceptions that the party has not satisfied the expectations of Nigerian electorates in the almost 8 years of its administration.

Aliyu, who made the appeal over the weekend during the Party’s Abuja Mega Campaign

Rally at the popular Eagle Square, in the nation’s capital city, noted that she is quite convinced that APC deserves a second chance.

Aliyu stated that the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu has proven to be a man with the capacity, and has demonstrated that by the number of people he has reproduced through Systematic mentorship.

According to her, FCT residents should give him and other candidates of the party the chance to make the country, and FCT in particular better than what it had been. She said, “ APC deserves

another chance. We stand on continuity. I am standing before you to say that if APC is voted in , Nigeria will be greater, because we are building upon that which is better than what we met.

“We stand on what Buhari said that the unity of this country is not negotiable. APC as a party stands on that . So many projects have been completed, so many will be completed before the end of this administration and many others will be initiated.

“ Tinubu has mentored many leaders. I have identified that one of the problem of leadership is mentorship, we want leaders who will like you

to be like him”.

On his part, the National Secretary of APC’s Presidential Campaign Council, Hon. James Faleke, noted that he represented the Presidential Candidate because he was involved in other engagements.

Faleke also called on Abuja residents to stand with the party during 2023 polls, urging them also to ensure that their PVCs were collected and kept intact.

The Abuja Mega Rally which kicked off from the unity fountain through Kubwa, Zuba Giri, Airport road to Area 1, and terminated at Eagles Square, in the Federal Secretariat area of the city.

Yuletide: Foundation fetes 450 widows, vulnerable persons

By Stanley Onyekwere

An Abuja based Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Helpline Foundation For The Needy has provided about 450 widows and vulnerable people with assorted gifts and life saving entrepreneurial skills.

The beneficiaries were said to have acquired different skills, like shoe, bag,

soap, cake, and others, from the free training organised to empower them.

The Founder of the Foundation, Dr. Jumai Ahmadu who spoke over the weekend in Abuja at a fiesta organised for the beneficiaries, said about 450 people were selected from 3 states and the FCT to be part of this year’s reach out event.

Jumai disclosed that this year’s

fiesta marks the 19th anniversary of the Foundation’s charity, which has been adjudged to be one of the most impactful welfarist projects.

She noted that the beneficiaries were not just invited to come and pick up free food stuff and other gifts, but to showcase products from their specialized skills acquisition training.

According to her, over the years, her

Foundation with the support of different donors, have ensured that widows and other vulnerable youths, were guided to make wise economic decisions that will stand the test of time.

She added, the beneficiaries of the free entrepreneurial training have not just become financial pillars to their immediate families, but sources of inspiration to others around them.

From Left to Right: Dr Fidelis Ayebae- Chairman PMGMAN, Dr Adam Obidike- HCH, Anambra State, Dr Mukasidi Muhammad- HCH, Niger State, Dr Amina Mohammed Baloni- HCH, Kaduna State, Dr Muhammad Lawan Gana- HCH, Yobe State, Dr Oyebanji FilaniHCH, Ekiti State, Azuka Okeke- CEO, ARC_ESM, Dr Habu Dahiru- HCH, Gombe State, Pharm. Ahmed Baba Yahaya- HCH, Nasarawa, Pharm. Hisham Imam-deen- DG, DMCSA, Pharm. (Mrs) F.B Aladenola- Perm. Sec, Ondo State Ministry of Health at the 3rd Leadership Breakfast Meeting, hosted by the Niger state Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Africa Resource Center for Excellence in Supply Chain Management (ARC_ESM) and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMGMAN) hosted in Lagos at the weekend.

world news

Ukraine: Russia to deploy musicians to front to boost morale

Russia says it will deploy musicians to the front lines of its war in Ukraine in a bid to boost morale.

The defence ministry announced the formation of the “front-line creative brigade” this week, saying it would include both vocalists and musicians.

The UK’s ministry of defence highlighted the brigade’s creation in an intelligence update on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited frontline troops in Ukraine, the government said.

In a statement posted to Telegram, the defence ministry said Mr Shoigu “flew around the areas of deployment of troops and checked the advanced positions of Russian units in the zone of the special military operation”.

It added that he “spoke with troops on the frontline” and at a “command post”but the BBC cannot confirm when the visit took place or whether Mr Shoigu visited Ukraine itself.

The reported visit comes as UK defence officials said low morale continues to be a “significant vulnerability across much of the Russian force”.

The UK said the new creative brigade - which follows a recent campaign, urging the public to donate musical instruments to troops - is in keeping with the historic use of “military music and organised entertainment” to boost morale.

But they questioned whether the new brigade would actually distract troops, who have been primarily concerned about “very high casualty rates, poor leadership, pay problems, lack of equipment and

ammunition, and lack of clarity about the war’s objectives”.

According to the Russian outlet RBC news, the brigade will consist of troops mobilised under President Vladimir Putin’s recruitment drive, as well as “professional artists who voluntarily entered military service”.

The new unit will be tasked with maintaining “a high moral, political and psychological state [among] the participants of the special military

operation,” the outlet cited the defence ministry as saying.

Meanwhile, intense fighting has continued around the town of Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region on Saturday, Ukraine’s general staff said.

The area has seen heavy clashes between Ukrainian and Russian troops for months, as Russia seeks to retain territory following a string of defeats in eastern Ukraine earlier this year.

Western intelligence officials have

previously said Russian attacks on the town are being spearheaded by the private military contractor, Wagner Group.

Moscow hopes to use the town as a staging ground to launch attacks on the Ukrainian-held cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Elsewhere, heating has been restored to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, after Russian launched widespread strikes on Friday that targeted power and water infrastructure, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Capitol riot: Committee to seek charges for Trump - reports

The congressional inquiry into last year’s Capitol riot will reportedly recommend three criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.

The House of Representatives select committee will seek an unprecedented charge of insurrection against a former US president, according to US media.

The panel is expected to publish its final report next week.

Trump supporters stormed Congress on 6 January 2021 in a bid to stop Joe Biden’s certification as president.

The justice department - which is already investigating Mr Trump’s role in the unrest - is not obliged to consider referrals from any congressional panel.

Mr Trump denies wrongdoing. On Friday his spokesman, Steven Cheung, said in a statement: “The January 6th unSelect Committee held show trials by Never Trump partisans who are a stain on this country’s history.”

The select committee is scheduled to hold its final meeting on Monday when any charging recommendations would be unveiled.

As well as insurrection, according to various outlets, the panel will suggest Mr Trump be charged with obstructing an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The nine panellists are expected to approve the final eight-chapter report,

drawing on interviews with more than 1,000 witnesses, and submit it to the Department of Justice (DoJ).

The full report will be made public on Wednesday, said chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who is helming the select committee.

California congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, another member of the panel, told CNN on Friday that the lawmakers have “been very careful in crafting these [charging] recommendations and tethering them to the facts that we’ve uncovered”.

The House select committee has argued Mr Trump spread claims that he knew were false about the 2020 presidential election being stolen, before pressuring state officials, the justice department and his own vice-president to help subvert his defeat. The panel accuses him of inciting the Capitol riot in a last-ditch bid to remain in power.

The DoJ is already investigating the then-Republican president’s actions surrounding the riot.

Seven days after the raid on Congress, the House impeached Mr Trump for a second time on the grounds of incitement of insurrection.

Mr Trump, who is the only president to ever be impeached twice, was cleared by the US Senate.

Last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a former war crimes

prosecutor to decide whether Mr Trump should be prosecuted.

Jack Smith is tasked with determining if the 2024 presidential candidate should be put on trial for mishandling classified files that were recovered during an FBI search of

2021.

Hundreds

Mr Trump’s Florida estate in August, or for encouraging the violent mob on 6 January

of people have been charged with crimes in relation to the mass invasion of Congress.

Source: BBC

A member of a Russian military band in Moscow last year (file picture)

Mr Trump spoke to the crowd shortly before a riot brke out

NEWS FROM AFRICA

ANC conference: Mkhize rivals Ramaphosa in tight ANC party race

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is in a tight party leadership race against his former health minister - who he forced to resign amid corruption allegations.

Zweli Mkhize is enjoying a last minute surge at the African National Congress conference in Johannesburg, reports say. The candidates are fighting for the support of some 4,426 delegates.

The winner will lead the party to the next general elections in 2024.

If Mr Mkhize does win he would become ANC leader, but Mr Ramaphosa would remain president.

Mr Ramaphosa had faced calls to resign ahead of the conference over an alleged cover up of theft of a large sum of foreign currency that was hidden in a sofa at his private farm.

An independent report commissioned by the speaker of parliament said Mr Ramaphosa may have broken the law but he has denied any wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, ANC MPs were instructed to back Mr Ramaphosa and vote down an attempt to start an impeachment process. Only a handful defied the whip clearing a huge hurdle that would have locked him out of the party leadership race.

On Friday, some delegates heckled

Mr Ramaphosa, with some displaying the name of his Phala Phala farm where the theft took place.

Mr Mkhize’s supporters also chanted “change” and “He [Ramaphosa] is not coming back!”

The former health minister was forced to leave office last year after allegations emerged that a communications company linked to his family benefited from a contract at the height of the Covid pandemic. He has denied any

wrongdoing.

Supporters of candidates running for the party’s presidency and other six top seats have been involved in intense lobbying ahead of the vote which is expected to be completed later on Sunday.

Twenty seven bodies dumped by the roadside in Zambia

Tunisia’s main opposition coalition has said President Kais Saied must resign after fewer than 9% of eligible voters took part in parliamentary elections.

The National Salvation Front head, Nejib Chebbi, said Saturday’s poll was a “fiasco”, calling for mass protests to demand snap presidential elections.

The vote was boycotted by most opposition parties.

They accuse Mr Saied of reversing the democratic progress made since the 2011 uprising - a charge he denies.

After sacking the prime minister and suspending parliament in July 2021, a year later Mr Saied pushed through a constitution enshrining his one-man rule after a vote that was also boycotted by the main opposition parties.

The new constitution replaced one drafted soon after the Arab Spring in 2011, which saw Tunisia overthrow late dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. It gave the head of state full executive control and supreme command of the army.

Tunisian President Kais Saied (right)

stands alongside his wife as he speaks to reporters after casting his vote in Tunis. Photo: 17 December 2022

Mr Saied, 64, says such powers were needed to break a cycle of political paralysis and economic decay.

His supporters agree with him, saying the impoverished North African nation needs a strong leader to tackle corruption and other major issues that hinder the country’s development.

Tunisia’s president - saviour or usurper of power?

Tunisia’s electoral officials said late on Saturday that 8.8% of the roughly ninemillion-strong electorate had voted in the parliamentary elections.

Speaking shortly afterwards, Mr Chebbi said: “What happened today is an earthquake, From this moment, we consider Saied an illegitimate president and demand he resign after this fiasco,”

He told the AFP news agency that Mr Saied should leave office “immediately”, saying the poll proved that there was “great popular disavowal” from the public of his style of governing.

Ethiopia’s PM sees OLA rebellion grow in his own backyard

In the latest sign of the deep crisis that has engulfed Ethiopia, conflict in the vast Oromia region - the heartland of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed - is escalating as political and ethnic tensions explode.

It has seen Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebels raid towns that were once out of their reach, and hold “graduation ceremonies” to boast of new recruits, while the government has responded with troop reinforcements and drone strikes as it rules out talks to end the crisis.

Adding to the dangerous cocktail, much-feared militias from the rival

Amhara ethnic group are widely believed to have crossed into Oromia to fight the rebels. The OLA are increasingly projecting themselves as the champions of Oromo nationalism, gaining publicity in opposition-linked media outlets that, just a few years ago, treated them as marginal players in Ethiopian politics.

The government-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (HRC) says that “hundreds” of people have been killed in a “gruesome manner” in the past five months in Oromia, while a UN agency says almost a million people have been forced from their homes.

All sides in the conflict deny

accusations they have committed human rights abuses.

A clear demonstration of the growing strength of the OLA came in November, when its fighters stormed Nekemte, a strategically important town with roads leading to Mr Abiy’s home village, the capital, Addis Ababa, and a newly built mega dam that is vital to Ethiopia’s electricity needs.

The government did not comment on the Nekemte attack, just as it does not on most other attacks, while the OLA said it had freed “political prisoners” from the town’s jail.

Residents told the BBC that gun-

battles between government troops and the rebels had claimed the lives of civilians, though they could not give an exact number as casualty figures are not collated.

One resident said he had lost two of his children in the Sunday morning attack - a 27-year-old son and a 16-yearold daughter, who was a top performer in school.

“We were awake to go to church but we didn’t go because there was shooting outside. Both were killed while they were in a room,” he said, blaming government forces for shooting into their home.

The National Salvation Front, a coalition of several political parties, also called for mass rallies and sit-ins.

President Saied has so far made no public comments on the issue.

Tunisia’s uprising 11 years ago is often held up as the sole success of the Arab Spring revolts across the region - but it has not led to stability, either economically or politically.

Mr Ramaphosa (L) was seen as favourite ahead of Mr Mkhize (R)

Preliminary results are expected on Monday

Salah Hammouri: Israel deports Palestinian lawyer to France

Israel’s interior ministry says it has deported a PalestinianFrench human rights lawyer after accusing him of security threats.

Salah Hammouri, 37, was escorted onto a flight to France by police early on Sunday morning, the ministry said.

A lifelong resident of Jerusalem, he was stripped of his residency rights after officials accused him of being a member of a terrorist organisation.

Mr Hammouri denies the charges and rights groups have condemned the move.

The French foreign ministry also expressed disappointment at the decision, and said it condemned “the Israeli authorities’ decision, against the law, to expel Salah Hammouri to France”.

But in a statement, the Israeli interior ministry said Mr Hammouri had “organised, inspired and planned to commit terror attacks” against “citizens and well-known Israelis”.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, part of the outgoing Israeli government, hailed the move as a personal success.

“Justice has been done to the terrorist and he has been deported from Israel,” she said in a statement.

“This was a long and protracted process and it is a tremendous achievement that I was able to bring about his

deportation just before the end of my duties, using the tools at my disposal to advance the fight against terrorism.”

Mr Hammouri holds French citizenship through his mother. He held residency rights in Jerusalem - a fragile system used by Palestinians in Israeliannexed East Jerusalem which can be revoked by authorities. He does not hold Israeli citizenship.

He works for Addameer, a Palestinian legal aid and prisoners’ rights group that was designated a terrorist organisation by the Israeli defence ministry in October 2021 along with five other Palestinian civil society groups.

The military said they were linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Palestinian militant group that Israel considers a terrorist organisation.

In 2005 he was jailed for six years after being accused of attempting to assassinate an ultra-Orthodox rabbi and political leader, which he denied.

In March, Mr Hammouri was arrested and the Israeli military commander in the occupied West Bank ordered that he be held without charge or trial for three months under what is known as administrative detention.

Such detention orders are routinely used by Israel to hold

suspected militants for months at a time without charging them or putting them on trial.

After four months in detention, Mr Hammouri wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron appealing for help. He was subsequently classified as “a prisoner of high risk” and transferred to a high security prison in central Israel.

In late September, he began a hunger strike to protest against his administrative detention. He

ended it after 19 days, during which he was reportedly placed in solitary confinement.

Last month, he was informed he would be deported without trial, but the expulsion was delayed as his lawyers contested the case. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal earlier this month.

Amnesty International condemned his deportation and said he was “paying a high price for his work as a lawyer for

Palestinians”.

“The expulsion from the occupied Palestinian territories constitutes a serious violation of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention and a potential war crime,” the body added. “It could also constitute a crime against humanity.”

And HaMoked, a Palestinian rights group, said the deportation set “a dangerous precedent” and constituted “a gross violation of basic rights”.

South Korea: Parliament calls for minister to be dismissed over Halloween crush

Atop Chinese health official says he believes China is experiencing the first of three expected waves of Covid infections this winter.

The country is seeing a surge in cases since the lifting of its most severe restrictions earlier this month.

The latest official figures appear to show a relatively low number of new daily cases.

However, there are concerns that these numbers are an underestimate due to a recent reduction in Covid testing.

The government reported only 2,097 new daily cases on Sunday.

Epidemiologist Wu Zunyou has said he believes the current spike in infections would run until mid-January, while the second wave would then be triggered by mass travel in January around the week-long Lunar New Year celebrations which begin on 21 January. Millions of people usually travel at this time to spend the holiday with family.

The third surge in cases would run from late February to mid-March as people return

to work after the holiday, Dr Wu said.

He told a conference on Saturday that current vaccinations levels offered a certain level of protection against the surges and had resulted in a drop in the number of severe cases.

Overall, China says more than 90% of its population has been fully vaccinated. However, less than half of people aged 80 and over have received three doses of vaccine. Elderly people are more likely to suffer severe Covid symptoms.

China has developed and produced its own vaccines, which have been shown to be less effective at protecting people against serious Covid illness and death than the mRNA vaccines used in much of the rest of the world.

Dr Wu’s comments come after a reputable US-based research institute reported earlier this week that it believed China could see over a million people die from Covid in 2023 following an explosion of cases.

The government hasn’t officially reported any Covid

deaths since 7 December, when restrictions were lifted following mass protests against its zero-Covid policy. That included an end to mass testing. However, there are

anecdotal reports of deaths linked to Covid appearing in Beijing.

Hospitals there and in other cities are struggling to cope with a surge, which has also

hit postal and catering services hard.

Meanwhile, China’s largest city, Shanghai, has ordered most of its schools to take classes online as cases soar.

Ukraine has accused Iran of sending drones to Russia, which the Middle Eastern country denied then later admitted

China has been experiencing a surge in Covid cases since many restrictions were eased earlier this month

Education

Scholars call for holistic review of education curriculum

By Maryam Abeeb

Scholars in various fields of learning, have called for the review of curriculum across various levels of education in the country.

The stakeholders, who also called for allocation of more resources to the education sector, explained that this is necessary in order to improve the quality of education and achieve better result that will meet the expectations of present day challenges.

They spoke at the 10th anniversary of Erudite Millennium, held at the university of Ibadan, stressing that the quality of education in Nigeria cannot improve if those who should be involved in the development of curriculum at all levels are not engaged to do so.

Those who spoke at the event which coincided with the launch of a book, “New Dimensions in English” included a

Professor of linguistics, Professor Francis Egbokhare; a former Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, Professor Clement Kolawole; South West Zonal Director of National Examination Council (NECO), Mrs. Folake Eweje; Acting Director, Academic Staff Training of Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND), Abdullah Baba Imam; representative of Executive Secretary of National Commission for College of Educations in Nigeria, Abdulrazak Badmus and Erudite founder, Mr. Saheed Oladele.

Others were Oyo South Senatorial candidate of Accord in 2023, Mr. Kolapo Kola-Daisi; a former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ogun and Osun States, Professor Abdulganiy Raji; former National Commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Hajia Aminah Zakari and Founder of Heritage Global Academy, Mr. Lukman Molumo.

Egbokhare, while leading the discussion session titled: “Education in the developed world and in Nigeria: The way forward,” lamented that the best trained professionals are moving out of the country because of the kind of system the country operates.

He said: “The best hands are leaving the country. Let us look at our society. Let us look at the balance. There is a need to reform the educational system.”

Kolawole in his presentation, insisted that all stakeholders including the teachers, parents and the policy makers must be involved to produce a new curriculum so as to meet the present day demands.

“Nobody can know you more than you. We must get people involved. Let the curriculum be designed by the people. Enough of swallowing education curriculum from the western world, we need to redesign our curriculum to move forward. We must engage the stakeholders to make our curriculum useful.”

Molumo said that there will be no progress if curriculum designed many years ago is not reviewed.

“It is no exaggeration that the education we have yesterday and the one we have today need surgical operation because what we were aiming at as a nation yesterday is radically different from what the nation is producing today.”

“If we are not changing the current curriculum we have today, then there is a problem because there’s a disconnect between the town and the gown. There are jobs in the society but we don’t have graduates with the right skill set to get them done.”

Kola-Daisi in his remark, called for allocation of more resources to improve the standard of education in the country.

“When we start to allocate the required resources, it will improve the standard, not only in the classroom but the welfare of the teachers.”

Experts urge FG to Improve on deaf education

By Maryam Abeeb

The Healthcare Access Project Manager, World Federation of the Deaf, WFD, Dr Jolene Ogunjirin, has urged the Federal Government to invest in deaf education in order to lessen the difficulties and burden deaf people encounter when trying to access healthcare.

She made the appeal Abuja while speaking virtually at the unveiling of her Research Report on ‘Barriers to Healthcare Access for Deaf Nigerian Women and Girls in Emergencies’, organised by WFD in collaboration with CBM Global Divisibility inInclusion.

According to Ogunjirin, deaf women and girls experience disparity in the quality of healthcare, reproductive health and resources due to inadequate education and sign language personnel.

“Based on the survey we collected and

interviews conducted, we made some recommendations to decision makers and government authorities.

“The Nigerian government officials are required to recognise the Nigerian Sign Language (NSL) into law and include staff professional and accredited sign language interpreters in medical facilities,” she said.

On her part, the Country Director, CBM Global Disability Inclusion, Ms. Ekaete Umoh expressed dissatisfaction over discrimination and lack of access to information by deaf women and girls to access basic healthcare services in Nigeria.

She said that despite Nigeria’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, deaf women and girls are still largely discriminated against in terms of access to information before and during emergencies.

Umoh also called on all critical stakeholders to join in the implementation of the research recommendation. “This report presents preliminary research on the experiences faced in healthcare by deaf women and girls in Nigeria, highlighting the most recent emergency and disaster situation, the Covid-19 pandemic.

The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) seeks to address the intersection of being deaf and being a woman when facing emergency and disaster situations and requesting healthcare services.

“This report presents preliminary research on the experiences faced in healthcare by deaf women and girls in Nigeria, highlighting the most recent emergency and disaster situation, the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Despite the Nigeria ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 24 September

2010, the Sendai Framework and their extant legal protocols which recognizes full and equal access and participation in societies and communities for persons with disabilities as a fundamental right, including in times of crisis, deaf women and girls are still largely discriminated in terms of access to information before and during emergencies.

Lawrence Idemudia, Acting Director of Social Integration, National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPWD), promised to continue to partner with the organizations on issues of disability especially deaf women and girls.

Uche Andrew from Joint Association of Persons with Disability, appealed to relevant government authorities to make provision for sign language interpreters as well as adequate education for the deaf to enhance their inclusiveness in the areas of communication.

President Buhari meets with Some Nigerians living in USA in Washington DC on 16th Dec 2022

The mysterious song of the dinosaurs

You’d feel it more than hear it – a deep, visceral throb, emerging from somewhere beyond the thick foliage. Like the rumble of a foghorn, it would thrum in your ribcage and bristle the hairs on your neck. In the dense forests of the Cretaceous period, it would have been terrifying.

We have few clues for what noises dinosaurs might have made while they ruled the Earth before being killed off 66 million years ago. The remarkable stony remains uncovered by palaeontologists offer evidence of the physical prowess of these creatures, but not a great deal about how they interacted and communicated. Sound doesn’t fossilise, of course. From what we know about animal behaviour, however, dinosaurs were almost certainly not silent.

Now with the help of new, rare fossils and advanced analysis techniques, scientists are starting to piece together some of the clues about how dinosaurs might have sounded.

There is no single answer to this puzzle. Dinosaurs dominated the planet for around 179 million years and during that time, evolved into an enormous array of different shapes and sizes. Some were tiny, like the diminutive Albinykus, which weighed under a kilogram (2.2lbs) and was probably less than 2ft (60cm) long. Others were among the biggest animals to have ever lived on land, such as the titanosaur Patagotitan mayorum, which may have weighed up to 72 tonnes. They ran on two legs, or plodded on four. And along with these diverse body shapes, they would have produced an equally wide variety of noises.

Some dinosaurs had greatly elongated necks – up to 16m (52ft) long in the largest sauropods –which would have likely altered the sounds they produced (think about what happens when a trombone is extended). Others had bizarre skull structures that, much like wind instruments, could have amplified and altered the tone the animals produced. One such creature, a herbivorous hadrosaur named Parasaurolophus tubicen, would have been responsible for the fearsome calls described at the start of this article.

P. tubicen had an enormous crest almost 1m (3.2ft) long protruding from the back of its head. Inside this were three pairs of hollow tubes running from the nose to the top of the crest, where two of the pairs performed a U-bend to wind back down towards the base of the skull and the animal’s airways. The other pair widened to form a large chamber near the top of the crest. In total they formed what was essentially a 2.9m (9.5ft) long resonating chamber.

In 1995, palaeontologists at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science unearthed a nearly complete skull of this unusual looking Parasaurolophus.

Using a computerised tomography (CT) scanner, they were able to take 350 images of the crest, allowing them to see inside in unprecedented detail. Then, working with computer scientists, they digitally reconstructed the organ and simulated how it might behave if air was blown through it.

Even without a larynx or voice box, P. tubicen may have still been able to produce sounds using its distinctive headcrest (Credit: Tom Williamson)

Even without a larynx or voice box, P. tubicen may have still been able to produce sounds using its distinctive headcrest (Credit: Tom Williamson)

“I would describe the sound as otherworldly,” says Tom Williamson, one of those who worked on the dig and is now curator of palaeontology at the museum. “It sent chills through my spine, I remember.”

The closest analogues he can find in living animals today are the vibrating grunts of the southern cassowary, which lives in Australia. This flightless bird emits a series of deep bellows and growls that reverberate through the thick jungle where they live.

“It’s easy for me to imagine a misty Late Cretaceous rainforest setting with those eerie sounds thundering in the background,” says Williamson. “The sounds are of low frequencies – just what is necessary to penetrate the dense undergrowth.”

Williamson and his colleagues simulated the sound P. tubicen might have produced both with and without an assortment of vocal organs, such as the larynx found in mammals and modern reptiles. They found that even without a larynx or the equivalent voice box, the dinosaur may still have produced a noise due to the way air would have resonated inside the crest when the animal blew air through it, much like blowing over the opening of a jug.

“We didn’t have preserved soft tissues and we don’t know, for example, if these dinosaurs had sound-producing organs such as mammals and birds do,” says Williamson. “It became apparent that a sound-producing organ wasn’t necessary to get the crest to resonate because it is such a long structure.”

Other hadrosaurs had similar, if not so dramatic, musical crests on their skulls that are thought to have doubled as a visual display and an aid to vocalisation. Most would have produced low-frequency sounds, and the fossilised remains of these animals have even inspired some to create musical instruments based on hadrosaur skulls.

Not all dinosaurs were blessed with what amounted to a trumpet atop their heads. And we have no fossilised evidence of voice boxes from dinosaurs, leading some to speculate the animals may even have been mute.

“What we do have are fossil

clues that can tell us about different parameters of the airways like its diameter and its length,” says Julia Clarke, a palaeontologist at the University of Texas at Austin. “We can compare those geometries to see how they relate to those dinosaurs that are living today – birds.”

But Clarke has another clue that has provided a further piece of the puzzle. In the mid-2000s, she and her colleagues conducted a detailed examination of the preserved skeleton of an early type of bird found over a decade earlier by Argentinian researchers on Vega Island, a tiny scrap of land on

the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The fossil itself remains partially embedded in a piece of rock, but using advanced CT scanning techniques, Clarke and her team were able to detect bits of the fossil hidden from view. They then digitally reconstructed the fossil from the scans.

And there, nestled amongst the fossilised bone fragments, were the remnants of something astonishing – the mineralised rings of a syrinx, the sound producing organ found in birds, dating back to the time of the dinosaurs.

The primitive bird it belonged

to – a goose-like creature called Vegavis iaai – would have coexisted with non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, 6668 million years ago. At around this time, this part of modern Antarctica would have been covered in temperate forests and surrounded by shallow seas. The honking sounds of V. iaai were probably part of that landscape.

But for Clarke, the discovery reveals something else by its presence – that these soundproducing organs can fossilise, and their absence from most dinosaur fossils is telling. Birds, or avian dinosaurs to be more precise, evolved from theropod dinosaurs around 165-150 million years ago during the Jurassic period. If the syrinx from a bird living 66-68 million years ago could be preserved as a fossil, why have none been found among the remains of their extinct non-avian cousins, such as Tyrannosaurus rex?

It is a question that led Clarke to delve deeper into how modern birds produce sound. “There are around 10,000 living species of birds [some estimates put the number as high as 18,000], but there has been surprisingly little scientific research done on what sounds they actually make and how they do it,” she says. Her work has led her to a revelation that will shake the ground from under the feet of five-year-olds and movie goers around the world. Dinosaurs almost certainly didn’t roar. They probably cooed instead.

Or more accurately they may have produced sounds in ways similar to the way doves coo or ostriches boom. Many modern birds use what is known as closedmouth vocalisation, where sound is made by inflating the throat rather than passing air through the syrinx. Crocodiles – another distant relative of the dinosaurs that split from a common ancestor around 240 million years ago –also use closed-mouth vocalisation to generate deep rumbles that can cause the water around them to “dance” around their bodies. Crocodiles, like other reptiles and mammals, have a larynx rather than a syrinx that produces the sound. But they bypass this when producing their mating bellows.

“The Jurassic Park films have got it wrong,” laughs Clarke. “A lot of the early reconstructions of dinosaurs have been influenced by what we associate with scary noises today from large mammalian predators like lions. In the Jurassic Park movies they did use some crocodilian vocalisations for the large dinosaurs, but on screen the dinosaurs have their mouths open like a lion roaring. They wouldn’t have done that, especially not just before attacking or eating their prey. Predators don’t do that – it would advertise to others nearby that you have got a meal, and it would warn their prey they are there.”

Source;BBC

Even without a larynx or voice box, P. tubicen may have still been able to produce sounds using its distinctive headcrest (Credit: Tom Williamson)

Tom Williamson says the Parasaurolophus’ sounds would have been “otherworldly” (Credit: Tom Williamson)

Would Tyrannosaurus rex have had the fearsome roar portrayed in blockbuster movies? Credit: Roger Harris/SPL/Getty Images)

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC), ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘F’ OF COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, ( CAMA 2020).

THE TRUSTEES ARE :

1. DAVID FREDRICK ISRAEL

2. AKPU JANE HUMPREY

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Argentina beats France by penalty shootout to lift 2022 FIFA World Cup

Argentina defeated France on penalties in a dramatic final match in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

After 120 minutes of football which ended 3-3, Argentina went on to win 4-2 on penalties to land their third title.

Kylian Mbappe bagged a hat-trick while Lionel Messi netted a brace with Angel Di Maria also getting on the score sheet.The Albiceleste have now won a first World Cup title since their triumph at the 1986 edition in Mexico.

Mbappe has now equaled England legend Geoff Hurst record as the only players to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.

Argentina becomes the first South American team to be crowned World Cup champions since Brazil in 2002.

Argentina went close in the 3rd minute as Messi lifted the ball over the French defence to find Julian Alvarez who was flagged for offside.

In the 5th minute Hugo Lloris was called to action but calmly held a straight shot by Alexis MacAllister.

Argentina continued to create scoring chances and went close again in the 8th minute, as Rodrigo De Paul struck from range which hit Raphael Varane and went out for a corner.

Di Maria could have opened the scoring on 17 minutes but failed to direct a cutback towards goal as his effort went over the bar.

Argentina’s good start eventually paid off in the 23rd minute as Messi converted from the penalty spot after Ousmane Dembele fouled Di Maria.

Argentina doubled their lead in the 36th minute through Di Maria who slotted past Lloris off a counter attack started by Messi.

And in the final minute of first half added time Antoine Griezman sent in a dangerous set piece which Varane failed to

connect with.

Argentina almost extended their lead on 49 minutes but De Paul’s one-time volley from Di Maria’s cross was well saved by Lloris.

In the 59th minute Alvarez hit a low left foot drive which Lloris stopped from sneaking in.

A few minutes later Messi went close for Argentina after good play from Di Maria but the PSG forward narrowly missed the

target.

In the 67th minute Theo Hernandez sent in a dangerous crossing inside the box which Nicolas Otamendi blocked away for a corner.

On 71 minutes Mbappe broke from the left and hit a shot on the edge of the box which flew over the bar.

Two minutes later Fernandez was fed by Messi inside the box but his attempted strike was well saved by Lloris.

France pulled a goal back on 80 minutes through Mbappe from the penalty spot after Otamendi fouled Randal Muani.

Mbappe then made it 2-2 on 82 minutes as he slammed home a superb one-time volley beyond the reach of Emiliano Martinez.

In the 93rd minute Martinez made a brilliant save before quickly gathering the rebound after good play by Kingsley Coman.

Bosso gives Flying Eagles yuletide period off after NPFL tests

By Albert Akota

Nigeria’s U20 boys, Flying Eagles turned back NPFL side, Lobi Stars 2-0 on Saturday morning at FIFA Goal Project AstroTurf in Abuja to round off the first phase of the team’s preparations for the forthcoming Africa U20 Cup of Nations on a high note.

Haliru Sarki broke the deadlock in a closely-fought game with a welltaken free kick in the 76th minute, and 10 minutes later, prolific Olusegun Otusanya sealed the victory for the Ladan Bosso-tutored side after an assist from Dominion Ohaka. The win was the second for the U20 boys in three games against NPFL sides as Bosso’s squad maintained their rich vein of form.

Earlier on Friday, the Egypt-

the win for the seven-time African

The win against Lobi Stars was

had played (with seven wins and a draw) since the team opened camp on 28th November.

The Flying Eagles will now embark on a two-week recess and are expected to resume camp in the first week of January for the final phase of preparations ahead of the Final Tournament of the Africa U20 in Egypt. The TotalEnergies U20 Africa Cup of Nations Egypt 2023 will be played between 19 February and 11 March 2023.

Meanwhile, the Draw Ceremony for the U20 AFCON is billed to take place in Cairo, Egypt on Friday, 23rd December.

The qualified countries are hosts Egypt, Tunisia, Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, The Gambia, Uganda, South Sudan, Mozambique, Zambia, Central African Republic and Congo.

bound team forced Nasarawa United to a 1-1 draw with Olamilekan Adams scoring the equaliser four minutes to the end of the game.

On Thursday, the Ladan Bossoled team knocked Wikki Tourists 2-0 with goals from Olamilekan Adams and Olusegun Otusanya stamping

Champions.

the eighth game the Flying Eagles

2022 National Carnival Polo, Avenue for synergy between security services, public —IGP

By Albert Akota

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba, over the weekend said the 2022 National Carnival Polo Tournament was an avenue to create synergy between the security services and the general public.

The tournament which galloped off at the Nigeria Polo Resort/Guards Polo Club on Dec. 10 is expected to end on Sunday.

Baba who spoke to newsmen after the FCT Minister’s Cup final match between the Nigeria Police Polo team (IGP Strikers) and the Nigeria Army Polo Association (NAPA) team on Saturday, noted that both teams displayed professionalism during the game.

This was after NAPA won the tightly-contested match 5 to 4 goals at the end of a pulsating four chukka encounter.

The Police boss however stressed that the main aim of tournament was to cement and promote the partnership and cooperation between both security services as well as the general public.

“Everybody has done well. The game was perfectly matched and the rules were adhered to strictly. The outing was excellent as well as the outfits of both teams which was a true representation of the two services.

“The horses were also in top shape and the umpire was ontop of the game.Today, both teams met in

the finals having defeated so many opponents to get to this stage.

“For every game, there must be a winner and there must be a loser and I congratulate NAPA for a very hardfought victory against a formidable police team.

“I still feel very proud of my team as they showed by their display that they are indeed a team to reckon with anytime, anyday against any opposition.

“But the real aim of taking

part in this tournament is to cement partnership, relationship, cooperation and understanding amongst ourselves.

“If you also look at the number of spectators that came out to watch the game today you can see that it was impressive.

“So, polo is also an avenue for the police to entertain and relate with the general public which was indeed evident today,” he said.

On improving the quality of the

team to ensure better performances in future tournaments, he said he would continue to do his best to encourage the team, adding: “we can only do more and keep improving in what we are doing.

“Sports generally encourages alot of things in every service as well as every institution.

Even as an individual you need to be sporty, in other words, exercise.

“So, polo is one of the very old games played by both the Nigeria

police and the Army to help us keep fit.

“We have our teams as far back as the early ’60s. So we are just continuing and intensifying our efforts from where our predecessors left off.

“Mounted troop is an integral part of the Nigeria Police where we use those in that department for operation and ceremonies.

“It also from that department that we normally pick our players and our horses,” he said.

The IGP noted that the Police still maintained the lead when it comes to sports, adding that he is working hard to ensure that the tempo is sustained.

“We just finished our police biennial games and also participated fully in the National Sports Festival.

“We have also sent some of our players for international competitions to represent Nigeria.

“So, we are still ontop of our game, whether in athletics, field events or any other sport,” he said.

Brig. Gen. Adamu Laka, the Captain of the NAPA team expressed joy over his team’s victory, adding that the tournament was also an avenue for both security services to synergise.

“The Nigeria Army and Police have always had a rivalry in the game of polo and the aim of such games is to create synergy between the security forces.

“Indeed, today’s game was really tough and quite an exciting one

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Book Review

Sanusi’s epistle for Atiku, Tinubu, others

Title: For the Good of the Nation: Essays and Perspectives

Author: Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

Pages: 509 Publishers: Alfa Communications Ltd.

Year: 2021

By Theophilus Abbah @ theophilusa

Each time Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi speaks, his words sting the powerful like the poisonous teeth of a viper. At the same time, like a pool of water in a desert, Sanusi’s words refresh the larger society who are bewildered at contradictory and chaotic policies and strategies of those who conduct the affairs of the nation to shipwreck. As governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009 to 2014, Sanusi showed how a public servant could stand out from the crowd, take measures that were not conforming to traditions, and never failing to cry wolf when one emerges to devour his flock. Not departing from these unique characteristic, Sanusi cast off the garment of conservatism, as Emir of Kano, and spoke up about socio-economic wrongdoings that impacted harshly on the larger population. Learned, fearless, unconventional, and urbane, Sanusi is loved and feared because of his intellectual prowess, being a banker and religious philosopher, whose firm grasp of Islamic Jurisprudence makes it difficult for anyone to ignore his viewpoints on religion and governance in Nigeria.

For those familiar with the uniqueness of SLS, the contents of his book, For the Good of the Nation, come as a periscope by which readers could view the consistency in the values, thoughts and philosophies of this Nigerian, since the late 1990s until the present dispensation.

Divided into five parts, the themes explored in the book are as follows: Identity, Politics & Democracy; Reflections on Shariah; SLS and The Gender Question; Islamic Theology and Philosophy and Interviews. Each contains topics of religious and political debates in Nigeria since the late 1990s upto the current dispensation.

For instance, Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999 coincided with an era of religious politics, a consummation of a long struggle by the elite in the North to redefine politics in Nigeria. The tumultuous Sharia movement that engulfed many states in the North attracted torrents of arguments, as the dust of the agitation threw the polity and people of Nigeria

into apocalyptic uncertainty. Seen by a narrow few in the political elite as the pathway to utopia, state after state in the North-West and North-East lined up behind the Rule of Shariah, like the silver bullet to our ailments as a nation.

In the midst of that cacophony, a lone voice in the wilderness warned the people against gullibility. That voice was that of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who exposed the political class as using Shariah as a political bait for the votes of the Muslim population in Northern Nigeria. This, Sanusi did through newspaper articles, chapters in books, speeches he presented as guest at various events, and interviews he granted media organizations over the years.

He was unsparing in a 1998 article in Weekly Trust on the topic: “On the Islamisation of Politics & the Politicization of Islam. ” In it, Sanusi dissected Islam and politics, but faulted the mischief to which politicians use Islam in their quest for political power. He says, “Our greatest task is to fight against those politicians who seek to gain or hold on to power in the name of Islam or the North, as a route to looting the national treasury and treating the country like a private estate to be shared among family members and friends. Without a doubt this country has been brought to its knees, its citizens victims of the highest degree of economic mismanagement, political repression and breach of faith on the part of its leaders… Without a doubt, every government in Nigeria over the past two decades (excepting Shonekan’s 3-moth Interim Contraption) has been headed by a Northern Muslim. In each of these governments, Muslims and Northerners have held important portfolios. These Muslims and Northerners have not achieved anything worthy of note on behalf of the North or Islam. The last government, in particular waged a relentless war against sections of the Islamic Movement, subjecting its leadership to arbitrary and extrajudicial executions, arrest and detention” (p37).

His thoughts on the issue of restructuring Nigeria were laid bare in an article published in Weekly Trust on October 1, 1999. The thrust of the writeup is that most Nigerians who sang about the necessity for restructuring Nigeria were tied to, and influenced by, historical events. The author claimed that advocates of restructuring failed to realise that Nigeria was no longer what it was in the 1950s and 1960s. As the cliche goes,

much water had passed under the bridge, therefore, the society has transformed from the pre-civil war era through a long era of military rule, and democratic experiments that departed diametrically from the First Republic.

Looking at the contemporary Nigeria from how the citizens of South-East origin were viewed, Sanusi argued that it was an error to treat the Igbo man in today’s Nigeria with the biases evoked by the three-year civil war. He wrote, “Our present political leaders have no sense of history. There is a new Igbo man, who was not born in 1966 and neither knows nor cares about Nzeogwu and Ojukwu. There are Igbo men on the street who were never Biafrans. They were born Nigerians and are Nigerians, but suffer because of actions of earlier generations… They will soon decide that it is better to fight their war, and maybe find an honourable peace, than to remain in this contemptible state in perpetuity.” (p25)

As if those lines were predictive, Nigerians today are living witnesses to the agitations in the South-East, anchored on the ill-desire to revive the spirit of Biafra. Complaining about discrimination and marginalization, some young men and women from the

geopolitical zone have come together to unleash mayhem on the country under the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). They now constitute a wild security challenge to the country.

Unfortunately, our political parties are trapped in this myopic fixation that some sections of Nigeria are more entitled to political positions than others, and now deliberately put in place structures that frustrate the prospects of some. It is common knowledge that the march to the 2023 power grab is on the basis on religion, geopolitical region and ethnicity; and it is being conducted brazenly in a manner that enhance the elevation of the ‘favoured’ segment of the society to juicy positions, to the detriment of others.

For a cohesive and united Nigeria, political leaders must adopt a more pragmatic approach to equity and justice, an approach that should not ignore the country’s religious, ethnic and regional demographics, and, of course, the social contexts of the 21st Century Nigeria.

Writing further on this theme, Sanusi argues thus: “If only we would look, we would find that the values that make a good Fulani, Yoruba, Kanuri or Bini man; the values that make a good

Christian and a good Muslim; are the same. If only we had in each part of the country, a leadership with the vision to recognize this, to harness this, to bring together good Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Ogoni and Angas men and women, Christians and Muslims, to run the affairs of this country, we would find peace.” (p26).

Apart from warning against the danger of regional biases in the polity, Sanusi demonstrated his robust understanding of the Islamic faith in various articles that make up the 500-page book, as he discusses Islam and culture, democracy, economy, Almajirai, Islamic State, finance, and banking in Nigeria. His views are primarily idyllic and eloquently radical, a departure from the those in his position whose desire to be politically correct make them to err into complacency and undue compromise of standards. Some of his values manifested in the probe of the banking sector during his tenure as CBN governor, and his disagreement with his supervisory Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, during the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Though some of the essays that make up the collection were written over two decades ago, the arguments are still fresh and contemporary, as they touch on religion and politics; corruption and economic mismanagement; and the lack of focus by those in power. The battle for 2023 is being fought on the fields of ethnicity and religion, as politicians deliberately employ schemes that grow division among the voting population instead of fostering unity, peace and cohesion.

Current political gladiators, like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of Labour Party, would need to read the book to familiarize themselves with the issues and assumptions that Sanusi tackled dispassionately, and borrow ideas on how to deal with such situations. Nigeria is caught in thicket of errors. But the blunders are not natural; they are the handiwork of manipulative politicians who realise that ethnicity and religion are the weak points of the populace, and invoking one or both of them would guarantee their political success for personal aggrandizement.

Theophilus Abbah, PhD, is the programme director of Daily Trust Foundation and Fellow, Chartered Institute of Forensic Investigations and Fraud Examiners of Nigeria.

PEOPLES DAILY

Re: DSS riot act versus fuel scarcity racketeers

Mbappe

The Monday column published on December 12, 2022 with the above title has drawn the following reactions and feedback which we hereby share with our esteemed readers.

From Theophilus Abbah:

Monday Column

By

Hameed

Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Boot award after scoring a hat trick for France in their World Cup final defeat against Argentina on Sunday.

Mbappe scored his sixth, seventh and eighth goals of the 2022 tournament to take his total to 12 in the competition overall.

He edged out Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who scored twice in the final himself, and ended the World Cup with seven goals as well as being handed the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player.

Mbappe scored his first of the tournament in France’s opening game, a 4-1 win against Australia. He then scored both in a 2-1 win against Denmark but did not get on the scoresheet in the 1-0 defeat to Tunisia.

In the round of 16 he scored two more in a 3-1 win over Poland before again not scoring in the 2-1 quarterfinal victory against England and the 2-0 semifinal win against Morocco.

Argentina won the final 4-2 on penalties after the game ended 3-3 after extra-time.

Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who won the Golden Glove, saved Kingsley Coman’s penalty, and Aurelien Tchouameni fired wide to give Argentina their first world title since 1986 and third overall.

France had come from two goals down to level over 90 minutes with Mbappe netting twice in two minutes, including an 80th-minute penalty.

The France striker completed his hat trick in the 118th with another spot-kick after Messi had tapped in for a 3-2 lead in the 109th minute.

Source: espn

Your piece with the above title was well-researched and brilliantly written. I admit that the Department of State Security (DSS) has intervened in the fuel crisis on several occasions before its officials came up with the creative idea of conferring with stakeholders in the oil sector on the security implications of the unending and inexplicable fuel scarcity biting Nigerians.

Sometime in September 2022, one of those weeks when there were hopeless fuel queues at petrol stations on Airport Road, I noticed vehicles flying into a petrol station. That was at about 7.00am. That petrol attendants were dispensing fuel from their pumps so early was unbelievable; like manna falling to earth from heaven.

I quickly rolled my car onto the queue, though it had begun to build up. Shortly after I parked behind some 10 vehicles, I saw some DSS personnel in the petrol station, and I engaged one of them in a conversation.

“We know all the petrol stations on Airport Road that have fuel. They have supplies of fuel; we have the details about the quantities supplied to them this week. But they don’t want to sell fuel to the people. We have to compel them to sell fuel this morning,” he explained.

“You mean your men compelled this petrol station to sell fuel to us?” I asked in doubt.

“Yes,” he replied. “Many petrol stations have fuel, but they have refused to sell.”

When I arrived at the pump, and it was my turn to purchase, I asked the attendant if it was the DSS that compelled the staff to open and sell petrol to us.

“It was because of the DSS that we’re selling fuel,” she replied. “My manager is not here; he’s not even aware that we’re selling. They (DSS

operatives) drove into this station and told us that they knew we had fuel and that we must immediately start dispensing to buyers. If it were not for them, we wouldn’t be selling to anyone. In fact, for over a week now we’ve not sold petrol in this station, though we had supplies.”

It was clear to me that owners of petrol stations are contributing to the predicaments of the ordinary Nigerian. But where are the regulatory agencies who should penalize distributions that sabotage the government’s efforts to make petrol available to the people at a subsidized rate? Why should stakeholders in the oil sector hold Nigerians to ransom, in spite of the huge amount they collect as subsidy?

To confirm what the petrol attendant told me, two days after the DSS threatened to unleash its men on oil marketers who failed to dispense fuel, I noticed that many petrol stations that did not sell products for over two months opened and sold to customers. How did they get supplies? Miraculously?

It is clear that Nigeria’s problems are linked to the failure of regulatory agencies to play their roles in our society. If this is dealt with, every other thing would fall in

line.

Theophilus Abbah, PhD, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Forensic Investigation and Fraud Examiners of Nigeria, and Programme Director, Daily Trust Foundation, Abuja.

From Ben Adam Shemang:

So it can take force to ensure fuel is released to members of the public? Have you also noticed the orderliness in queues? And who takes those black market sellers off the streets so that we can only find them in schools? By the way I witnessed an ugly scene last week along Airport Road. A speedy vehicle with NSCDC colour crashed into a line of petrol hawkers crushing the jerrycans and the contents splashing high into the air. The result could have been a fire as fuel spilt on cars. It was unpleasant! Please DSS please, please and please do it again. This time to the four refineries. Give them a month let us have refined fuel. I beg, let the refineries work. Please let them work.

Ben Shemang is a Director at the Voice of Nigeria, Abuja.

From Alhaji Yahaya Ali:

Thank you very much Dr Hameed for rebroadcasting the DSS warning to some

faceless hoarders of Petroleum products. I must admit I am not schooled in the intricate nature of security and safety administration. So permit my layman observation. Is hoarding of essential commodities an offense under the laws of this country? I am not a learned colleague ( Lawyer) and I don’t intend to Hazard a guess here. But if hoarding of Petroleum products were in breach of the extant laws of the country, I doubt if the press conference was necessary. Heeding the warning or not does not absolve the culprits of the offense of hoarding. They are already in breach of the law and should be apprehended and dealt with accordingly. All the same kudos to DSS for the temporary respite from their warning.

Alhaji Yahaya Ali, a renowned finance, capital market expert wrote in from Abuja.

From Habib Yaqoob: Beautiful, Editor. Well I bought fuel yesterday at a fuel station that had always witnessed a long stretch of vehicles waiting and fighting for the product. By the way I hope you are finding time to write research papers. At a point this article almost read like one of those well researched papers. Keep it up, Doc.

Habib Yaqoob, PhD, is Head of Information and University Relations, University of Abuja.

DAN GAYE

“I left N14bn for my successor,” – Osun’s outgoing Gov. Oyetola

hamdbelo@yahoo.co.uk

M. Bello, PhD

It was clear to me that owners of petrol stations are contributing to the predicaments of the ordinary Nigerian.

“