Happenings

The  Judiciary in Ethiopia is set to assert its independence as it moves to negotiate its annual budget with the Legislature.

According to the  country's first female Chief Justice, Justice Meaza Ashenafi, the  Judiciary has submitted its budget request to the Parliament.

''For the first time last week, we submitted our budget request directly to parliament. In the constitution, there is a provision that says the judiciary will directly request and negotiate its budget from parliament, but this never happened. It would go through the executive. So we're changing that trend and this year for the first time we will negotiate with parliament and that, I feel, will give us some independence. We will negotiate for better resources'', Justice Ashenafi stated.

On the issue of corruption in the Judiciary, the Chief Justice said ''part of the problem is lack of communication and understanding of how the judiciary functions. I'm not saying we don't have problems of integrity - we do have them - but most of the time it is perception. Everyone who walks into my office with some sort of complaint says the judge has some sort of relationship with the opponent. This is not always true. Maybe it is true 5% or 10% of the time, I don't know, but there is that perception. We need to build trust, help people understand that the law functions in a very technical way. But we do also need to work on addressing questions of integrity in our judicial system''.

 Banditry, killings, kidnapping, armed robbery and violence now characterize daily living in different parts of Nigeria.

The feeble response by government has further aggravated the almost helpless situation.

The impression Nigerians have, is that the present administration does not have the know how to restore normalcy.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says Nigerians no longer trust their leaders who neither transparent nor accountable, which has resulted in the clamour for secession. Excerpts :

Banditry, killings, kidnapping, armed robbery and violence are the signposts of living in Nigeria, what do you think is the way out ?

 Naturally, in a system of mankind, poverty takes the most  percentage of what can fuel crisis and violence.

This is why the major challenges to be managed by government, revolve on the provision of basic amenities and  functional infrastructure. As regards this, successive governments have failed.

For example the Boko Haram issue would have been a thing of the past, if not for the accumulated destitution among  most of the youth in the Northern part of the country.

The same fundamental enabling environment  for violence and impatience cuts across all states of the federation, with varying degrees of poverty, gaining prominence.

Secondly, since the inception of democracy, we  have been running governments that have been insensitive to the peoples' plight, contrary to the dictates of  section 16 of  the 1999 amended constitution, which harps on the responsibilities of government to the welfare of Nigerians.

Apart from this, our political management has assumed an extreme dimension of ethnic and tribal coloration, where nepotism is the basis for getting jobs and contracts.

When government fails to manage the issue of corruption effectively, the wealth of the land goes into the hands of the privileged few in positions of power.

Unfortunately, the mitigation measure on ground, rests with our security agencies, which are being weighed down by lack of motivation.

Furthermore, capacity building in the areas of training with modern equipment is equally lacking, which would have enabled them to stem the ugly tide of insecurity.

 The world standard of work ratio of all the security agencies to the population, they are supposed to serve, is extremely low.

This is why the clamor for state police may hold water, although with reservations.

Are we civilized enough to the level of upholding professional ethics in this respect ?

Certainly, the answer is no, because all tiers of government in Nigeria are still vindictive on the opposition, hence the security agencies may be manipulated for selfish purposes by any government in power. We need to work on this area of civility challenge.

Dearth of adequate personnel and professional training requirements, need to be addressed with utmost urgency to avoid wasting the  lives of the few that are ready to stop further bloodshed that would have been found to be highly unwarranted.

Running an inclusive government, rather than the winner takes all syndrome, will not only promote amity and memorandum of understanding, between the President and the governments at the state and local levels, but will also allow for timely intervention to quell riots or any acts of violence.

Nigeria is  presently enjoying, a graveyard peace.

The people do not trust their leaders who neither transparent nor accountable, this has caused a lot of disaffection to the point of hiding under restructuring motives to achieve secessionist agenda.

Most of the regions are waiting for Nnamdi Kanu to achieve his aim, for others to say '' to thy tents Oh Israel''.

 With the foregoing as the situation on ground, Nigerians should naturally expect pockets of killings and anti-societal acts inimical to any reasonable development.

However, making the country ungovernable for the government in power, is never a solution, but an act of retrogression, that all Nigerians must condemn.

Nigeria ought to learn from the civilized way the issue of BREXIT is being handled.

Dialogue is the best option to adopt to further the peaceful co-existence that still keeps the country together.

The service chiefs and the Professors of conflict resolution, would continue to be indicted for incompetence and lack of patriotism, if the the President could not be rightly advised to do the needful, with all sincerity of purpose.

What is government doing with the reported $1 Billion it collected for the purchase of arms and equipment for the military ?

What are the security agencies doing with the reported N 350 million worth of arms and ammunition intercepted at the nations' borders ?

We must know fully well that a cracked wall, would ever harbour reptiles, to the detriment of the people in the house.

 Inter-religious and ethnic  disaffection been promoted by the President Muhammadu Buhari led government must stop, because government needs the support of all Nigerians.

A  300 level law undergraduate has become the first female chairperson of the University of Nairobi Students Association.

Ms Ann Mwangi emerged after polling 24 votes to beat her  challengers, Samuel Ayoma whoe scored eight votes Ertiman Oile  scored 4 votes .

The process was facilitated through the electoral college and was presided over by Prof. Mohamed Jamaa.

Ms Mwangi will take over from Mr Antony Manyara who has been the chairman of the association since 2018.

The Nigerian Publishers Association(NPA) has raised the alarm over the unabating activities of book pirates in Nigeria.

The NPA made its position known through its Executive Secretary,Mr. Emmanuel Abimbola.

‘’Book piracy is a major problem in Nigeria. Piracy is on the increase, these pirates print abroad and the quality of their work is alarming. We as an association are working with the Nigeria Copyright Commission, to reduce it to the barest minimum. These pirates are not our members, they come from outside. We embark on anti-piracy campaigns to alert the public on the activities of book pirates’’, Mr. Abimbola dislcosed.

Protesters in Sudan have continued their  protests outside the Army headquarters in Khartoum demanding the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir.

Alleged attempts by  government security forces to break the ranks of the protesters  were resisted by  soldiers who protected the protesters.

Attacks by students militias, anti-riot policemen and government security forces have not deterred the protesters.

Interestingly, Sudanese traders in Juba have declared that  they stand in solidarity with their brothers and sisters back home.

"I support with all my power the change in Sudan because change must be now, at this time on these days. (We) must take al-Bashir out," Isim Assam Abdallah, a trader disclosed

"We want justice and freedom. The government of Sudan is the government of destruction. The government has killed innocent people and has killed many in Darfur since 2004,"  another trader Abdallah Haman  said.

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has described the delay in assenting to the new national minimum wage by President Muhammadu Buhari as another stage in the game of deceit.

The AWC is made this postion known through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

‘’The drama has been from one ugly occurrence to the other. The totality of it all is that President Muhammadu Buhari has shown that he is at the center of this game, calling the shots and he has been able to prove that he is not willing to pay the new national minimum wage, except through struggle and confrontation by the Nigerian workers, without which workers would continue to be entangled in the endless web of deceit in a bid to actualize the new national minimum wage’’.

‘’It is very painful that the government is continuing with the game, if not what is the explanation for the different scheming by government aimed at externally postponing the actualization of the new national minimum wage’’, Comrade Emelieze noted.

The Federal Government has lost grip of the health sector.

Nigerians now seek God’s intervention in issues pertaining to health care delivery.

Most public hospitals are now designated mortuaries, where Nigerians are left to die, rather than recover from aliments.

Interestingly the citizenry now resort to self-medication and traditional healing therapy as a result of their poor economic status.

Sadly, most health workers lack the requisite skills needed to be proactive on their jobs.

All these put together has resulted in high infant and maternal mortality and the prevalence of several diseases.

In some hospitals, patients are required to buy sachets of water for medical tests.

Government at all levels ought to set goals for a better health care, but this is yet to occur.

Nigerians hope to experience an increase in life expectancy, while also coming to terms with high and substantial levels of immunization against all vaccine preventable diseases and attaining national self sufficiency in vaccine production.

Up till this moment, government at all levels are yet to ensure that universal access to primary health care becomes a reality, in terms of support, community engagement and participation.

Government has not performed commendably in the eradication, control and prevention of epidemic diseases. Why ? The corruption and rot in the system. Perhaps.

Indeed, it is possible for the three tires of government to achieve adequate supply of essential drugs to all health facilities, but activities of government officials have become the major impediment.

It is only in an enabling environment, that the government would be able to resuscitate a viable secondary health care system.

Unfortunately, several uncompleted projects characterize health facilities across the country.

Of disturbing worry, is the fact that commercialization of some hospitals’ functions, is strangulating the already impoverished population, just as it is doubtful if existing health policies can take care of exigencies of this present time.

The incoming Government in Oyo state has been called upon to pay urgent attention to the needs of the Department of Fire Service in the state for effective service delivery.

This call was made by the Deputy Director of the Department, Mr. Moshood Adewuyi in a chat with People.

''The department needs prompt attention in terms of equipment that can cope with the present day challenges. We need sophisticated equipment and also we have shortage of outlets which cannot cope with the increasing population. Our personnel also need good welfare package. It is of note that firemen who were recruited sometime ago ran away due to poor renumeration'', Mr. Adewuyi stated.

On the fire incident that occurred at the UMC area of the state capital, Ibadan, recently, the Deputy Director disclosed that communication lag and faulty vehicle hampered the response of the department.

''Although the department's dedicated lines for distress calls are in the public domain, residents of the area did not call, when they went to the Molete office of the department, the fire fighting vehicle with water was faulty. The Molete office has a standard funcitional bore hole, so lack of water was out of it. However, we sent another vehicle from the headquarters to put out the fire'', he concluded.

Not long ago, a building collapsed along Molete/Idi-Arere road in the state capital, this has brought to the fore, the fact that several buildings got quesationable approvals from government for reconstrution. And nothing has been done to address the lapses in governance.

However, the state government, recently, distributed 33 excavators to the 33 Local Governments in the state.