Happenings

Governance in Nigeria- Overhaul the System-AWC

On 05/02/2020
In News

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has called for the total overhaul of the security, social, economic and political system in Nigeria for the country to move forward.

The AWC made this call through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

‘’The AWC calls for the total overhaul of the system, if Nigeria will ever make progress. Our Government is now confused, they no longer know what to do at the right time. Government at all levels are no longer there for the people. There are no solutions to all the challenges confronting the people, massive poverty, hunger, insecurity and unemployment among others. The present crop of political office holders have nothing to offer’’.

‘’We are surprised that government is thinking of increasing the salaries and allowances of political office holders, especially in the face of a government that has proposed to fund the 2020 budget through borrowing funds from the pension savings of workers. This confirms a failure in governance which is also trailed by misguided and meaningless polices that shall in the long run not in any way better the lot of millions of Nigerians’’, Comrade Emelieze lamented.

Train Young Liberians Rather than Hiring Foreigners-Liberia's first female Maritime Educator to Government

On 20/01/2020
In News

Liberia's first female Maritime Educator, Mrs. Miatta Sonie Sherif has advised the Government to invest in training young Liberians rather than engaging the services of expartriates in the maritime industry.

"It is now hard times that policymakers see the need to invest in building the capacity of Liberians especially the young ones to take charge of Liberia’s maritime resources given the fact that the few professionals in the sector are aging. Giving our Maritime sector to foreigners to manage is a risk we don't want to toy with," Mrs. Sherif emphasized.

She obtained a Master’s of Science degree in Maritime Education and Training in 2019 from the World Maritime University in Sweden to become the first Liberian woman to achieve such feat.

As part of requirements to acquire the degree, Mrs. Sherif presented a dissertation on the topic: “The development of Maritime Education and Training in Liberia: a historical perspective”.

10.33 Trillion Naira 2020 Budget-48 Billion Naira is a token for Nigeria’s Education sector-Prof Olagoke

On 06/01/2020
In The People Talk

A meager N48billion has been allocated to the Education sector out of the over N10 Trillion 2020 National budget of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This allocation is without consideration to the falling standard of education, bad state of infrastructure and the shortage of manpower.

It is however surprising that the National Assembly will recieve N37 Billion for renovation of its entire complex.

In this interview with People, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke insists that the allocation to the education is insignificant considering the 10.33 Trillion budget esitmate. Excerpts :

Do you think that N48 Billion shall be able cater for the myriad of challenges confronting the education sector in Nigeria ?

It is highly embarrassing to discover that Nigerians are not dreaming, but are faced with the stark reality of the times, when the paltry allocation to the education sector out of N10.33 Trillion budgeted for the nation is only N48 Billion and the Legislators in the National Assembly in their wisdom recommended a huge sum of N37 Billion for the renovation of the National Assembly complex, as if to say that there is so much money in the country and that education is inconsequential to the development of the children and youth and the development of the nation at large. The question that would follow is what is the rational behind the decision of the Legislature and the Executive on the allocation to this all important sector? This is at variance with the United Nations affirmation of 26 per cent benchmark allocation of any country’s budget to education.

The N37 Billion allocated for the renovation of the National Assembly complex at this critcal period of the country’s economy, when one quarter of the budget has been set aside for debt management, does not seem to be reasonable and it has portrayed both arms of government as irrational in their decision.

N37 Billion with good economic action plan could have generated more job opportunities or standardization and establishment of more medical centers across the nation for better health care delivery, but this may not give room for self enrichment or direct filling of our leaders’ purses through the network of Serve Self First, Before I finally serve you concept which all Nigerians hypocritically condemn.

Presently, the general atmosphere is not conducive for learning, cases of pupils and students sitting on the bare floor is rampant.

Secondly, most schools do not have toilet facilities. What is the Federal, State and Local governments doing about this ?

Thirdly, there is the issue of out of school children that is yet to be resolved. Most schools lack infrastructure, furniture and strucutures, this is in additon to the shortage of qualified Teachers.

Furthermore laboratories, workshops and accompanying materials are inadequate in most of the schools.

There is also the factor of capacity building through training and retraining.

With due consideration to the above mentioned would the N48 Billion be able to cater for all these needs in all the educational institutions owned by the Federal Government ? What about those in the 36 states ?

A general assessment of the breakdown of the budget shows that most of the contents reflect areas where the politicians would be able to make gains, at the detriment of the peoples’ welfare.

The budget is supposd to be people friendly to the extent that it would result in self fulfillment by the citizens.

The nation itself is now an object of ridicule among the comity of nations. Who will rescue Nigeria from its ‘’captors” ?

Supreme Court Judgment- Governors must ensure Good Governance, Probity and Accountability-Prof. Olagoke

On 19/12/2019
In The People Talk

The Supreme court has eventually affirmed the victories of the Governors of eight states in the federation. The states include Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Kaduna, Katsina, Nasarawa, Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom. Nigerians in these states are full of hopes that their helmsmen shall consider this an opportunity to ensure good governance, probity and accountability. In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke advice the Governors to justify the confidence reposed in them by their people by ensuring good governance, probity and accountability. Excerpts :

The Supreme court has affirmed the victories of Governors in eight states of the federation. What is your advice to these Governors with specific reference to good governance, probity and accountability ?

Nigerians need to congratulate the eight Governors recently adjudged to be credible by the Supreme court, to continue to enjoy the mandate given to them by their people based on the results of the general elections.

However, this is not to say that the elections were free, fair and credible, but rather the array of contested issues were not strong enough to oust the Governors.

If it had been otherwise some states would have been in a state of grave yard silence, while others would have witnessed orgies of violence.

That an environment of peace has been able to be maintained is commendable. The Judiciary in another breadth is gradually redeeming its battered image.

For declared winners, the suggestion is that their people is ready to support them, despite the repeated threats by the opposition in a number of these states.

However, the next step for the winner Governors is to justify the confidence reposed in them by their people. To whom much is given, in this instance, the Governors must realize that very very much is expected from them.

In the light of this, the Governors must reassess the chemistry of democracy in relation to the peaceful co-existence of people with diverse backgrounds as well as in the area of achieving sustainable development which is anchored on environmental feasibility, economic viability and the social equability.

A need to re-strategize to achieve in the provision of basic amenities and functional infrastructure should be major priorities and constitute the focus and direction of governance. For example, most of the Governors are operating in an environment of sentiments and emotion revolving on religion and ethnicity as well as political party collaboration in which the osmotic pressure could drive them through the murky waters of personal affinity towards the the constituency that produced them. There is the need to advice Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state to be above board, by objectively respecting the rule of law in governance. He should not stain his armor of credibility, that prompted eligible voters in Oyo state to shun party consideration, religious inclination and other reasons to vote enmasse for him.

In the same vein, all Governors including Mr. President are challenged, there is a need for them, most especially the triumphant eight Governors to carefully live above board to be able to offer good governance which must rest on the following criteria :

Governance should be for the promotion of a strong state rather than strong individuals. In this regard, the anti-graft commission currently in the works in Oyo state, is a step towards the right direction.

Governance must also be based on the principles of feasibility, viability and equity, for sustainable development to be realized.

Each of the Governors must realize that no matter how good they may be, they must be weary of those working with them and for them not to become frictional forces in their ways of making progress and ensuring development.

Good governance can best be achieved through effective application of corporate governance principles based on transparency and accountability. This has been the basis of profit making in the private sector without recourse to fraudulent practices.

For the right understanding of democracy, the Governors must ensure fair play and work positively with other arms of government to ensure that the rights of citizens are not trampled upon.

Finally, the Governors must ensure that probity and accountability are their watch words in the serious business of governance. They must always remember that their present positions should be seen as opportunities for them to write their names in gold on the sands of time. A good name is better than a corrupt mind and ill gotten wealth.

Police Officer Defiles 12 year old Daughter in Kenya

On 03/12/2019
In News

Kenyans have condemned officers of the Isebania police station for detaining a 12 year old girl who reported a case of rape.

The girl had gone to the police station to report, her father, a police officer, who had lured her into his bedroom and defiled her at their home in Nyabohanse town.

Informed sources disclosed that the officers at the police station had to detain the girl, to cover up evidence of defilement and protect their colleague from the consequence of his action..

The girl, a Standard Five pupil at a private school, recounted how she had approached her father for school fees, but rather than getting the money her father defiled her.

Justice : Any Hope for Nigerians When Court Judgments are for the Highest Bidders ?-Prof. Olagoke

On 18/11/2019
In News

Millions of Nigerians are daily lamenting their inability to obtain justice in the courts of law. They blame this ugly trend, majorly, on corruption and other self centered considerations such as status in society and influence.

Indeed, the Judiciary has, in most recent times, proved not to be the last resort for the common man, if recent events in Nigeria are anything to go by.

Confronted with the fact that Government at all levels disobey court orders, Nigerians are now helpless, disillusioned and distraught.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudfeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says that as long as court judgments are based on nepotism and the highest bidder syndrome in law courts in Nigeria it would be difficult for ordinary Nigerians to obtain justice. Excerpts :

Nigerians are increasingly finding it difficult to get justice in the law courts in this dispensation, what do you think is wrong ?

Regarding the issue of justice, the law court is the last hope of the people. This is because their perception , the training and orientation of Judges emphasizes incorruptibility. In other words, objectivity must be their watchword, in dispensation and delivery of judgments.

No one must influence their actions with bribe or make moves to corrupt them and in the same vein the Judges must not demand for gratification or any form of inducement or favor.

The profession is such that they must shun all biases and they must remove elements of unnecessary passion, that may be based on interpersonal relationship, blood relationship and even the status of the people on trial. This is why in a democratic dispensation the structure of democracy is such that governance must be articulated through the factors of transparency, accountability, auditing and probity, as well as the essence of feedback mechanism, even in procurement, due process is expected to be employed.

Governance is embedded in the constitution of the nation which we expect the political active players to read, digest and comprehend for ease of application in the governance process.

It takes two to tango, the people who are been governed, who gave the mandate to those people who are governing them and the performance rating of those charged with the responsibility of governance.

Democracy, therefore stands on the two axis of justice and equity. In all these, the legislators are to formulate policies to regulate the environment for governance through feeling the pulse of the nation, while the executive are expected to harness and manage the resources-human and material.

The legislators are equally expected to perform oversight functions to ensure that the executive fulfill promises and do the needful without derailing from the laid down ethical principles. All these are based on the issue of social justice.

The policy formulators are so powerful by the rule of the law, to ensure that the electoral processes including campaigns equally follow due process. They further have the power to call to order, the Commissioners or Ministers on issues concerning project execution.

When all these things are done accordingly, the issue of justice and equity would have been addressed to the point of producing peace for the environment as well as sustainable development without rancor.

The level of constitutional compliance in going about the executive duties of managing approved budget by the National Assembly, as well as the welfare of the people become a matter of social interest, whereby the economic viability, environment feasibility and social justice based on the agitation level of the people, which must be critically controlled to avoid violence, insurgence and war, as indications of the collapse in the security system.

Based on the above analysis, the expected job of the Judiciary manifests clearly on the need to regulate and control the justice system emanating from the activities of government officials and the people generally. The question now is how far have we fared in the management of our justice system by the third realm of government, the Judiciary ?

Our situation in Nigeria is appalling, if we consider the relationship between the Judiciary, the security agencies and the Executive as having frictions, perhaps, because of the environment of partisan politics that polarizes issue and trivializes ethics.

This becomes a serious issue when one considers the following events of historical records : the killers of Dele Giwa are yet to be identified, fished out and brought to justice, the killers of a one time Attorney General of the Federation, the late Chief Bola Ige are yet to be identified, fished out and brought to justice.

The Nigeria state found it difficult to ensure the transparent trial of Chief James Ibori, despite all the evidences available, but Nigerians celebrated him on his return from an overseas jail after been convicted on the same matter.

Nobody pursued the extra judicial murder of Mohammed Yusuf in Police custody, but today the whole Nigeria is paying dearly for this, through the unabating vengeance of destruction by the Bok-Haram.

When is Nigeria to have universally acclaimed judgments on court litigation on various election results ?

What about the very many of such cases that have to do with the poor masses suffering in silence ?

Where lies the hope of the people and the nation generally when it comes to the issue of seeking redress ?

It was Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka who said in one of his books,’’ The man died in that person who keeps mute in the face of tyranny’’, but when one cry out and judgment goes to the highest bidder, how are we to be motivated to have our trust in the Judiciary ?

Employment in Nigeria is now about nepotism and judgement in the eyes of very many would only be received fairly by those who have right connections.

Our clamor for restructuring must therefore, extend to ensure sanctity of the Judiciary through the possible overhaul of the system to ensure corrupt elements are eased out for sanity to reign supreme.

Equally important, is the issue of freedom of the Judiciary. Generally, those who pay the piper dictate the tune. If the appointment of the leadership of the Judiciary remains with the political class, there is no way their operations would not be polarized through political interventions, interference and sentiments, thereby murdering merit to promote mediocrity in an environment of nepotism.

Another aspect is that of salary independence which is not expected to come from the political class, but be managed by government as rolled out by them with that favor of independence to manage the disbursement without going cap in hand to the political masters, whose activities the Judiciary is expected to scrutinize, regulate and control.

This working formula would afford them the opportunity to meet up with the challenge of incorruptibility for them to be objectively fair to all irrespective of status, poor or rich and religion, even when it is different from that of the Judge’s personal faith interest.

The independence of the Judiciary would give them the freedom to use SWOT analysis in maximally utilizing their areas of strength and opportunities to avoid the delay in judgment dispensation. They would equally be able to identify areas of weaknesses and threats in catering for the areas of inadequacies of courts and Judges as well as the capacity building needs for Judicial officials to be capable of practicing through ethics, their assigned national assignments, to promote peaceful co-existence, good governance, zero tolerance for corruption and institutional indiscipline, which are germane to building a virile and prosperous society for strong institutions, rather than strong individuals.

Victims of Onitsha Fire Disaster want state Govt. to Deal with them Directly

On 24/10/2019
In News

Victims of the recent fire disaster at Onitsha main market,in Anambra state have called on the state Government to deal directly with them rather than going through unions.

The victims made this call through their spokespersons of the victims, Mr. Anthony, Chinedu Okonkwo, and Chief Uchenna Udaegbe.

''We lost over N20 billion to the fire disaster and some people are trying to use it to enrich themselves by diverting the donation. Government should deal directly with the affected persons and not through any union,” the victims disclosed.

Find out If New minimum wage is in 2020 Budget-ULC to NLC

On 16/10/2019
In News

The Nigeria Labor Congress has been called upon to confirm the inclusion of the new national minimum wage in the 2020 national budget.

This call was made by the Chairman of the United Labor Congress(ULC) in Abia state, Comrade Christopher Uchenna Ezekiel.

“The NLC should concentrate more on knowing if the increased minimum wage was captured in the 2020 federal government budget or not, before taking the decision to embark on national strike and then declare the proposed strike in those States that are still owing their workers arrears of salaries rather than calling for blanket national strike action against the Federal government, Comrade Ezekiel state.

He lamented that a number of state governments were owing workers salary arrears under the present N18,000 minimum wage regime saying, ''if some of these Governors cannot pay the present N18, 000, is it now that we have an increase that they would pay ?''