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THE NATION WEDNESDAY APRIL 23, 2014
NEWS
•Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola (second left), his Lagos counterpart, Babatunde Fashola, Chairman, MTN Nigeria, Pascal Dozie (right), Edo State Commissioner for Information Louis Odion (left), Oyo State Commissioner for Information Gbade Lana and Lagos State Commissioner for Information Lateef Ibirogba during the launch of Giants of History, a book by Ibirogba in Lagos...yesterday.
•Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment Tunji Bello speaking at the book launch...yesterday.
•Book reviewer Tade Ipadeola speaking at the book launch...yesterday. PHOTOS:OMOSEHIN MOSES
Resource Control splits National LAUTECH to instal Tinubu chancellor T Conference delegates T
HERE were fireworks yesterday at the Committee on Devolution of Power as northern delegates and their counterparts from the Southsouth refused to back down on their demands on resource control. The Nation gathered that trouble started when a member from the Southsouth said the host communities should have control of natural resources found within their areas. Another members, who is an expert in international law, took his time to explain the implications of littoral states and the resources found within. The Northern delegates would, however, have none of it. A member countered the submission stating that littoral states can not have total control of resources found in the waters around them. It was a heated argument, according to a source who pleaded anonymity. “The firework has started already as the federalists expect the status quo to remain while the other side felt that if justice and equity that everybody has been preaching must come to play, then it should be extended to the resources found in any area. “So far, the Southwest delegates are calming frayed nerves
From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Dele Anofi, Abuja
and have not yet made their positions on the subject known. “We have just started. We expect to see maturity come to play as we progress in this assignment,” he said. The argument continued outside the meeting room as the two delegates were seen exchanged words. The northern delegate said he would have been a Professor if he had wanted to while his southern colleague sarcastically responded that he (the northern delegate) doesn’t need it. An elder statesman eventually intervened and calmed the southern delegate. The Chairman of Committee on Devolution of Power, former Governor Victor Obong Attah said his Committee would seek direction from past historical documents, such as the 1914 Amalgamation document, the 1967 broadcast by Gen. Yakubu Gowon as well as Gen Ibrahim Babangida’s political bureau. He also hoped that the committee would be able to reach consensus on most of its delib-
erations. The Co-Chairman, Ibrahim Coomassie, former Inspector General of Police (IGP), reminded members who would want to agitate for the control of resources that the purpose of governance was the welfare and security of the people. He said, without resources, government can not carry out its responsibilities to the people while ethnic, religious or resource agitation would be impossible. The Committee on Politics and Governance is set out to concentrate on how governance can transform the lives of Nigerians, the Chairman, Prof. Jerry Gana said. He said the committee would not be interested in theories. Gana said members of the committee would focus on human development anchored on equity, justice, fairness and good governance that would promote rule of law and quality service to the people. He said a leader is as effective as the quality of his inner circle team. The former Minister of Information said the Committee would be working towards transparency, accountability, efficiency in public administration as well as devel-
opment-oriented budgeting. He, however, stressed the need to enshrine the promotion of the rule of law in the polity as fundamental to the achievement of the goals of the conference. The Committee also said it would work towards the removal of influence of money from politics in the country. Co-Chairman of the Committee, Chief Olu Falae, blamed the near absence of good governance in the country on money politics. He said: “What has emerged from our discussion so far is that good governance really depends on the quality of leadership. We have the laws; we have the constitution and we know the procedures. But is the leadership ready to take action? “The way the political parties are organised is also a problem. They don’t have internal democracy. Governors have emerged as virtual dictators because they control the resources of the state. “It is money that speaks and until we reduce the role of money in our politics, we will not have good leadership. As it is today, any position can be bought and not earned or merited.”
We didn’t endorse Wike for governor, say Ijaw elders
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LDERS of Ijaws in Rivers State have said they have nothing to do with the endorsement of the Supervising Minister of Education Nyesom Wike for governor in 2015. The elders, in an advertorial in this newspaper on their behalf by the AndoniOpobo-Nkoro Leaders of Thought, said it is the turn of the riverine area to lead the state. The statement by Prof Dagogo Fubara, Alabo Biekpo Jack, Amaopusenibo Diri, Dr Francis Minimah, Capt Paul Akins, Sunday Paul, Chief John Egongh, Mr Ubokineme Owor and Gilbert Mkparo, said Wike “caused a few self-serving politicians in the two local government areas, ostensibly, to induce the endorsement of his governorship ambition, and cause same to be published and carried in both print and electronic media”. The statement added:
By Olukorede Yishau
“This, it was revealed, will be the first of an orchestrated plan by lovers of underdevelopment to plunge the peace loving areas into series of sustaining political upheaval, with the active connivance of outsiders. We shall resist any such attempts at turning the two Local Government Areas into a theatre of war. Andoni, Opobo and Nkoro people are too sophisticated to mortgage their tomorrow for a pot of porridge today. No amount of money can make us sell our right to the Brick House, come 2015. “Any political aspirant who feels he or she is worth the salt should come forward through the appropriate and legitimate means, rather than going through the back door to induce lesser minds for endorsement. Need we point to the unarguably fact that endorsement, either way it is
obtained,, does not translate to automatic electoral victory? “While we do not begrudge any person or group in Andoni, Opobo and Nkoro communities from taking anyu political position, it is our unequivocal stand that such a position should, and must not have the colouration of the majority of the peoplee. The quest for pecuniary benefit by a few selfish polliticians in the area leaves a sour taste in our mouth. Such elements are willing tools in the campaign for the promotion of divisive tendencies. Andoni, Opobo and Nkoro communities had gone through very painful moments of political reclusion, and we do not intend to go back there. “In so far as the people of Andoni and Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Areas are concerned, we have either considered, nor approved any Governorship candidate
for Rivers State. We therefore call on all discerning, nor approved any Governorship candidate for Rivers State. We therefore call on all discerning minds to discountenance the induced, misleading and deceitful planned endorsement of Chief Nyesom Wike for the exalted office of the Governor of River State. “It is instructive here, to state that the people of Andoni and Opobo/Nkoro Local Governments Areas believe in the principle of fairness and politics of inclusion. We believe that having shown and given untainted support and solidarity to other areas and senatorial zones in their period of governance, equity demands that 2015 is the turn of the Riverine Ijaws to take a shot at the governorship of Rivers State. Any act, therefore, that tends to say otherwise, does not represent the true spirit, zeal and drive of the riverine Ijaw Project 2015.”
HE Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) will today invest the National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as its chancellor. The former Lagos State governor will also be awarded honorary Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in Management Sciences by the institution. The event will take place in the university’s SIFAX Lecture Theatre in Ogbomoso, beginning from 11am. It will be the university’s 11th special convocation ceremony. A convocation lecture will be delivered by President Emeritus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, USA Dr. Robert Michael Franklin. He will speak on the topic: “Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education for Nigeria, Africa and the Diaspora.”
Forceful adoption : Nigerian in Norway demands child’s custody
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From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja
Nigerian in Norway, Ms. Queen Agho, has demanded the custody of her one year old son allegedly given to a Norwegian lady for adoption for not being emotionally compatible. Ms Agho’s relative, Mr. Kelvin Izekor, said the Nigerian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden is investigating the matter in Norway. Izekor, who narrated his niece’s ordeal in Norway to our reporter, said Queen’s ordeal started when she was delivered of a baby boy in Leirfjord, Norway on the April 12, last year. He said barely two weeks after the delivery, the baby was taken from her on the ground that she was mentally incapable of fending for the child by the Child Welfare Authorities. According to him, Queen was forcefully taken to a psychiatric home by the police and child welfare officials for the purpose of generating evidence to substantiate their claims, a move he said failed as the doctor confirmed her to be mentally fit. The Nigeria Embassy in Sweden requested for the intervention of the Swedish government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rotal Kingdom of Norway. A report by the embassy reads: “The embassy wishes to register it’s utmost displeasure with the manner in which a nursing mother Ms Agho was treated. For such treatment to be meted out to a defenceless woman who had just put to bed with her first child is most inhuman and certainly is in breach of all human rights practices. The Chairman, House of Represnetative Committee on Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said the House was addressing the issue. Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa, who spoke to our reporter on phone, said: “ We have met with the Norwagian Ambassador to Nigeria and we would have met with the Child Support people from Norway two weeks ago. “The meeting has to be rescheduled because of the strike by Lufthania staff in Germany. Their flight was cancelled. We are looking towards another date for the meeting. But I can tell you we are on it.”
‘Nigeria not conducive for learning’
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From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan
Professor of Education, Bayo Okunade, has said the country is not conducive for learning. Okunade, who doubles as the Director of Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan (UI), said the education system has been very unfair to students. He spoke at the third joint matriculation ceremony of Foreign Links Campus, Moro, Ife North, Osun State. Okunade said: “Education is a global commodity. There can’t be local standard.” Commenting on the mass failure of students in the last Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination, the director said students were not exposed to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) early enough, thereby making some of them to have failed the examination even before they started. He said: “If our politicians were more humane and public oriented, with the aim to serve, Nigeria would have been a better nation for us all, as every kobo misappropriated translates to denial of certain necessary basic amenity.”