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THURSDAY, ͼ˜ ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY
FORTY A N AMB RA: IG ORDER S MOPOL COMMA N D ER S TO B E R U T H L ESS W I T H VI OL E N T E L E M E N TS winning the November 6 election, the same way it took Edo State in 2020. Baba, who spoke at a meeting with MOPOL Squadron Commanders in Abuja, said the election security action plan would revolve around police mobile units. He stated, "As you are aware, the Anambra State gubernatorial election will hold on 6th of November, 2021. The election security action plan will, as usual, revolve around units of the Mobile Police Force. “The import of this is that the task of securing our democratic values and guaranteeing a safe, secure and credible electoral process in Anambra State will rest squarely and majorly on some of you, the squadron commanders here seated and some of your units. "Most of your operatives will be deployed to deter subversive elements that are planning to threaten the process, while others will be deployed to secure personnel and materials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as other critical national infrastructure. "You must remain apolitical while being ruthless with violent elements and ill-guided political thugs that may wish to test our common will to deliver a transparent and credible electoral outcome." The IGP vowed to deal with errant commanders following reports of unprofessional conduct
and illegal deployment of personnel. He told the MOPOL commanders, "Much as I am determined to motivate you to advance your mandate as the striking arm of the force, let no one of you be in doubt about my resolve to deal decisively with any squadron commander that lacks command capacity as well as those who are unwilling to key into our mission of reforming the PMF and repositioning the force. "Discipline, professionalism and operational excellence are the bedrocks of the PMF. Any personnel that is deficient in any of these has no justification to remain within PMF system, as they are not only dangers to the force but to the nation. "Accordingly, we shall not spare any PMF operative that continues to conduct himself or herself in manners that are not edifying of the Nigerian Police Force. "Consequently, the AIG PMF has been directed to put machinery in motion to identify and rationalise such incorrigible elements out of the PMF." He expressed concern about the reports of misconduct by officers and illegal deployment of personnel, saying, "My dear commanders, while I am pleased with your operational strides, I am also concerned about reports touching on unprofessional conducts by some operatives of the PMF across the country as well as reports of illegal
deployment of PMF personnel. "Citizens of this country are worried about the illegalities of some bad eggs within the fold of PMF as well as the tendency for corruption by some others. These misconducts are direct consequences of supervisory ineptitude by some of you, the squadron commanders." Okowa, who hosted the PDP governorship candidate in Anambra State, Mr Valentine Ozigbo, at Government House, Asaba, said there was ample evidence that the party had prepared well to win the election, which is barely three weeks away. The governor welcomed the decision by the National Assembly to endorse electronic voting by supporting the plan by INEC to transmit election results electronically during the 2023 general election, saying it is a good omen for the country's democracy. The Delta State governor, who is also Deputy Chairman of PDP’s National Campaign Council for the Anambra election, described Ozigbo as “humble and dynamic”, saying he towers above all other candidates in the election. He urged the people of Anambra State to give the party their votes at the election, assuring that the PDP would turn things around for the better in the state. Okowa said he was particularly happy that the party in Anambra State was now more closely knit in the countdown to the crucial
election. He stated, "I welcome you and your entourage to Delta State and to my office; and, I feel very happy within me, because I can see that we have decided to toe the path of unity. When we are united, I am convinced we will come out victorious in the November 6 governorship election. "I want to congratulate you ahead of time, because I know that you are doing well. There is no doubt that Anambra State has always been a PDP state but, unfortunately, in the past 16 years, we have lost out in the politics of Anambra solely because of the in-fighting. "But from what I am hearing and what I can see now, I feel very encouraged that there is a new spirit now in the PDP in Anambra. When people resolve that enough is enough, that they have to do the right thing, you find that the result will truly come because the men, the women and the youths are out there. "I know that there is a lot of security challenges but that shouldn't deter us because politicians are strong-willed people. The real politics is not the gathering of people on the field but the door-to-door campaign, which is set out to convince people.” Okowa said the people of Anambra had “seen the other side of the coin at the moment; they are waiting for the PDP and it is
Ned Nwoko Foundation Partners FG on Deployment of Malaria Vaccine Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The Prince Ned Nwoko Foundation said it has entered into an agreement with the Federal Ministry of Health for the nationwide promotion and roll out of newly developed RTS,S malaria vaccine. As part of the malaria eradication project, the foundation said it was ready to lead other partners in the promotion of the new malaria vaccine which the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently approved for wide-use in countries. In a statement on Tuesday, the Chairman of Prince Ned Nwoko Foundation, Hon Ned Nwoko, said the Federal Ministry of Health had given its approval following the foundation’s earlier offer to avail its malaria eradication platform for coordination of the national response to implement the RTS,S vaccine in Nigeria. Nwoko said his was excited about WHO’s approval of the widespread use in countries of RTS,S the world’s first malaria vaccine. He expressed the readiness of his foundation to join hands with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders through strategic partnerships to promote and implement the RTS,S malaria vaccine in Nigeria.
Nwoko said: “Earlier in year, the Foundation's malaria eradication project had submitted a proposal to the Minister of Health offering its support and requesting the Federal Ministry’s green light to lead the proposed roll out of RTS,S Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP) in Nigeria. "The Minister approved the proposal for the foundation to lead in the anticipated roll-out of the RTS,S vaccine in Nigeria upon approval of the vaccine by the WHO." Nwoko lauded the efforts of government and donors in achieving the continued decline in malaria prevalence in the last decade. He said Nigeria has achieved progressive reductions in malaria prevalence from 42 per cent to 27 per cent and then 23 per cent in three distinct population surveys conducted in children less than five years in 2010, 2015 and 2018 respectively with temporal and geographic variation in the geopolitical zones and states. He assured that his Foundation, through its Malaria Eradication Project, would continue to support a strong national response to mobilise strategic partnerships and resources towards the RTS,S malaria vaccine programme
FG: COVID-19 VACCINATION NOW MANDATORY FOR CIVIL SERVANTS FROM DEC 1 said an appropriate service-wide advisory/circular would be issued to guide the process. Mustapha stated that statistics generated over the last four weeks from test results showed that the trend of infection was going down in some states while in others, the trajectory was rising. He put the combined total for testing by PCR and RDT at 3,141, 795 million persons. He added that talks were ongoing to resolve the diplomatic impasse between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over testing requirements for Nigerian travellers to the UAE. Mustapha said the aviation authorities, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had made reasonable progress to resolve the issue. On the removal of South Africa, Turkey, and Brazil from the list of restricted nations, Mustapha said their exclusion was with immediate effect. The three countries were among the worst nations ravaged by the deadly COVID-19 Delta
strain that claimed many lives. He said the decision to ease the restriction was taken by the PSC following a session on Wednesday, where the committee reviewed developments in the affected countries. India was removed from the list on September 13 by the federal government in response to the improved situation in the country. Mustapha said, “As you are aware, the UK has eased restrictions on fully vaccinated travellers from Nigeria to the UK with effect from 11th October. Nigeria welcomes this development and assures that the PSC shall continue to review Nigeria’s protocols based on global developments, science and national experience. A revised protocol will be issued in the next 24 hours.” The PSC chairman also put the public on notice concerning the two major religious festivities – Salah and Christmas – that were approaching, warning that there would be increased passenger traffic in and out of the country.
implementation in Nigeria by effecting appropriate infrastructure upgrade to execute the project. While urging support of the efforts of government through collaboration for the MVIP following the vaccine’s approval by the WHO, the Foundation urged members of the public and private sector partners to come on board, "as efforts are currently on to establish a strong multi-sector partnership to drive this great process that also requires the optimal use of existing interven-
tions, in addition to the vaccines to deploy a comprehensive package for effective malaria control and eradication." Nwoko further expressed belief that Nigeria was the country with the highest malaria burden globally where high impact is needed, a strong local response is urgently required. He added that such a response would help to achieve targets set in the National Malaria Strategic Plan (NMSP) spanning 2021 to 2025.
for us to rediscover ourselves or to decide to give away this chance, but I’m convinced that you will not allow that to happen.” He said PDP had a good opportunity to take over Anambra State, just like Edo State. “We may not have a better chance than now, so, we must take it back,” h said. According to Okowa, "We are reordering not just Anambra but the entire nation, because we have seen too much pain in the last few years and there has been a lot of retrogression and pain caused people. I believe that PDP is in the best position to turn things around, both in Anambra State and nationally. "There are so many people seeking the office of governor in Anambra and I have had cause to relate with some of them but I believe our candidate is better than all of them out there. To the APGA Youth Leader that is joining us, we welcome you and we are truly very grateful that you have decided to join this train. "Being a leader of youths, this move is very important for us because I know that the youths have a lot of role to play in elections. I also welcome the women here because women make a lot of mark in terms of numbers on the voting day.” The governor said he believed the Anambra election would be free, fair and credible election “because I know that INEC is fully ready and the device they want to use has been tested in the Delta bye-election and it was very credible." Earlier, Ozigbo said he was in Delta State to present the defecting members of APGA to the governor, who is a national leader of the party. He said the people of Anambra State were waiting for PDP to take over. In company with Ozigbo were some defectors from All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State, led by the former youth leader in the state, Mr Magnus Eziokwu. Ozigbo, "We have lots of people
coming to join us because they have seen the light and they know the direction that Anambra is going and they know that Anambra is waiting for PDP to take over. "Our team has what it takes to deliver Anambra to PDP and we will surely make our people proud." Meanwhile, Okowa described as a welcome development and a victory for democracy the U-turn by the federal legislature on the mode of transmission results of future elections in the country. He said the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 by the National Assembly, which empowers INEC to transmit election results electronically, would greatly enhance the electoral process and the credibility of elections. Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Olisa Ifeajika, in Asaba, Okowa commended the senate for listening to the loud voices of Nigerians by reversing itself and voting to include electronic transmission of results in the amendment of the electoral law. While noting that transmitting election results would greatly eliminate electoral fraud, Okowa said, "Laws are made for the people, not for personal interests, and as such, we must always act in the interest of the public. "Part of the challenges we are facing today as a nation stems from lack of faith in the electoral process, which has huge implications for socio-economic activity in the country, including foreign direct investments. "Once we are able to get the people to have faith in our electoral process, where the people can truly decide, who leads them, part of our problem would have been solved." The governor commended INEC for taking bold steps improve election in the country, saying, "Notable improvement in the electoral process, especially, the recent introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), will guarantee the credibility of voter accreditation by preventing the incidents of multiple voting or the use of stolen PVCs to vote."
LAWAN: MDAS SABOTAGING FG'S EFFORTS TO PROVIDE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE National Assembly. He listed the erring MDAs to include the Federal Ministry of Power, Federal Ministry of Heath, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, and Federal Ministry of Environment. Lawan said some ministries and agencies of the federal government that should have appeared before the Senate Committee on a Loan and Foreign Debts to defend the debt request by the executive arm of government had failed to appear. “The senate considers this attitude as a sabotage to the effort of the federal government to secure the loans and fund the infrastructural development that this country desperately needs,” Lawan said. He added, “Already, the National Assembly has approved the loan request, but there is need for justification. “I will, therefore, call the names of these MDAs, and we are giving them just one week to appear before the Committee on Loan and Foreign Debts. “If they fail to appear, we will take appropriate and prompt action, because this senate will not condone any sabotage to the efforts of this administration to provide infrastructure to this country.” The senate had on July 15 approved Buhari’s external loan request to the tune of $8,325,526,537 and €490,000,000 under the 2018-2020 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan. The president Buhari had in another request contained in a letter read on September 14 sought the approval of the senate to borrow an additional sum of $4,054,476,863 and €710
million Euros. Buhari explained that the loans were needed to fund projects listed in the addendum to the 2018 to 2021 federal government external borrowing plan. According to him, the projects are to be financed through sovereign loans from the World Bank, French Development Agency, China Exim Bank, International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), Credit Swiss Group, and Standard Chartered, in the credit total sum of $4.5 billion, 710 million euros and grant component of $125 million. Meanwhile, the senate yesterday suspended plenary till November 9 after it passed for second reading the 2022 Appropriation Bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari last Thursday. The upper chamber took the decision to suspend plenary for close to one month to allow its committees begin 2022 budget defense sessions with heads of MDAs. It suspended sitting after concluding debate on the general principles of the 2022 Appropriation Bill, which began on Tuesday. No fewer than 42 senators took turns to make their contributions during the second and final day of debate on the 2022 Appropriation Bill. Contributors included Senators Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Adelere Oriolowo, Patrick Akinyelure, Ibrahim Gobir, Smart Adeyemi, Ibrahim Abdullahi, George Thompson Sekibo, Christopher Ekpenyong, Betty Apiafi, Mohammed Musa, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, Michael Nnachi, and Yahaya Oloriegbe. Others were Matthew Urhoghide, Francis Fadahunsi, Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru, Anayo Rochas Okorocha, Oyelola
Ashiru, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, Hezekiah Dimka, Binos Dauda Yaroe, Chukwuma Frank Ibezim, Olalekan Mustapha, Chukwuka Utazi, Abba Patrick Moro, Danladi Sankara, and Isah Jibrin. In his contribution, Danbaba underscored the need for the federal government to include Public-Private Partnership as a way to fund the provision of critical infrastructure needed for economic development. Adeyemi called for the urgent diversification of the economy through mining, adding that there are abundant mineral resources yet to be exploited by the federal government. Sekibo advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to come up with policies that would help stabilise the country’s exchange rate over a period of time. He lamented that the implementation of capital projects in the 2022 budget proposal were tied to borrowing. In his contribution, Ekpenyong called for the scrutiny and tinkering of the budget estimates by the National Assembly, to ensure that it reflected the needs and met the expectations of Nigerians. On her part, Apiafi protested the exclusion of some states as beneficiaries of the loan to be sourced by the federal government. According to her, some states, such as Rivers, do not stand to benefit from the loan through projects, but are among those to repay the loan obtained by Nigeria. She also called on the federal government to give special attention to the power sector, adding that doing so would attract and promote private investments. Musa said the 2022 budget outlook was good, saying, “Nigeria’s debt level is sustainable.” He urged the federal govern-
ment to ensure that borrowed funds were applied to critical projects. According to him, more attention should be given to revenue generation and the country’s tax framework. After scaling second reading, Lawan referred the 2022 Appropriation Bill to the Committee on Appropriations for further legislative work. The committee, which is chaired by Senator Jibrin Barau, was given four weeks to report back to plenary. Lawan, in his concluding remarks said, “I want to also appreciate senators for the sacrifice in processing, consideration and passage of the 2020 and 2021 Appropriation Acts. That devotion, commitment and dedication certainly saw us succeed in passing the previous bills. “I’m sure that we are ready to repeat the feat of passing the Appropriation Bill 2022 before the end of December. “Distinguished colleagues, I agree with those of us who raised the issue of revenue generation, collection and remittances to the coffers of the federal government. “The agencies that are supposed to collect and remit revenues would have to be tasked, and this 2022 Appropriation Bill shows we have over 400 billion coming, especially from these agencies as additional revenues. We need to do better. "Government agencies must remit revenues that they generate. We need to also invest in our people, dedication for our youth particularly and, of course, health.” Lawan said borrowing was not bad. “What we need to do is to ensure that what we borrow is prudently deployed in those areas of capital infrastructural development,” he said.