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Corruption Worse Under Buhari -Transparency Int’l …Report Vindicates Us -PDP …Nigeria 12 Steps Backwards -Omokri
Following the release of Transparency International (TI) corruption index which sees Nigeria plunging further behind in ranking, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government is swimming in corruption as the phenomenon has become worse than ever before.
National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, made the observation at the opening of the meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party at its national secretariat in Abuja yesterday, saying that the APC no longer has the moral right to challenge PDP.
He alleged that government is using anti-graft agencies against only the opposition.
Beyond corruption, the party boss observed that hunger and poverty had skyrocketed and he, therefore, urged party leaders to speak out and save the country.
He said: “Transparency International, an international organisation, has given a verdict on this nation that corruption has multiplied to an unimaginable level.
“The government of APC is so corrupt that Transparency International has given verdict and that is the true situation of our country.
“They talk about corruption but their anti-corruption agencies are set only against the opposition. Meanwhile, the APC government is swimming in corruption. We are aware. At the appropriate time, we will give details.”
Secondus added: “Corruption, poverty, hunger is worse now than ever before. Who are they to challenge the PDP? They don’t have the moral right to challenge us because corruption is now worse than ever before
“Propaganda is not going to help. The facts will speak for itself. So, stop deceiving the people of Nigeria. APC government is more corrupt than ever before in the history of our nation. It’s worse now than ever.
“So, what are you hiding? Is it the money you are paying out without appropriation, the subsidy in billions that came to Nigeria from LNG, one billion US dollars? Is it the corruption in NNPC, is it Mainagate? Corruption is everywhere.
“At the appropriate time we will come out to show Nigerians who is corrupt and who is not corrupt.”
The party boss praised the National Assembly for passing a bill rearranging the order of election, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to sign it into law.
While wondering why anyone would be bothered by the change, he said the law was made by the nation’s lawmakers empowered to make laws in the interest of the country.
Secondus also alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was planning to rig the 2019 election, citing the underage registration in some states.
He vowed that the PDP will resist rigging in 2019 with all its strength.
He announced that the party is ready to commence the biometric online registration of members across the country.
Similarly, he revealed that the party had instituted a new reward system whereby unless a member delivers his ward, he may not get recognition in the party.
Earlier in his address, chairman of the BoT, Senator Walid Jibrin, commended members for their steadfastness despite many challenges that had befallen the party.
He praised former Senate President David Mark for heading a committee which had successfully reconciled aggrieved members of the party’s BoT.
Among party leaders present at the meet are former chairman of the PDP National Caretaker Committee, Ahmed Makarfi; Umaru Tsauri, David Mark, Ayim Pius Ayim, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Ibrahim Mantu, Ibrahim Shema, Inna Ciroma, Sule Lamido, Emeka Ihedioha, Kema Chikwe, Biodun Olujimi, Tom Ikimi, Tanimu Turaki, Vincent Oguluafor, Abiola Oyedokun, Ben Obi and Fidelia Njeze.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the latest report by Transparency International (TI) showing that corruption has worsened under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has vindicated its stand that the current All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government was inherently and overtly corrupt.
The party said, by this new TI report, the African Union (AU) must have now realized its error in naming Buhari as the African Union (AU) anti-corruption champion, and should immediately withdraw the conferment.
In a statement, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday, said the TI report has exposed the fact that those parading daily as champions of anti-corruption are rather superintending over the worst kind of official sleaze and hypocrisy in the history of Nigeria.
The party said the APC administration has been deceiving Nigerians with a ‘holier than thou posturing’ and painting others black when it is swimming in forms of corruption that are eminently festered by official concealment by the Presidency.
According to the statement, “When the PDP first alerted that the APC and its incompetent Federal Government were swimming in an ocean of concealed corruption, many did not know to what extent.
“It is shocking that under our ‘saints’, Nigeria has moved significantly from the 136th it ranked in 2016 to 146th in 2017, with President Buhari presiding on our nation.
“This is a government that has been providing cover for its corrupt officials while operating heavily on propaganda, persecution of opposition members with fabricated charges and toiling to sway the people with false performance indices.
“This is a government that offered protection to former APC governors who were accused of stealing money meant for the development of their states to fund the 2015 APC presidential campaign, and even rewarded them with ministerial appointments.
“We challenge the APC and the Presidency to speak out on this TI report. What have they to say when the world is now aware that they are complicit in humongous sleazes including the leaked official memo showing underhand oil contracts to the tune of N9trillion ($25billion) at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources which are under purview of President Buhari as Petroleum minister?
“What has the APC government to say when the world is aware that it is complicit in shady oil subsidy deals amounting to trillions of naira by its cabal who has also been fingered to be behind the illegal lifting and diversion of crude worth N1.1trillion to service APC interests?
“The world is now aware of the diversion of billions of naira meant for fight against insurgency and rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) by the presidency cabal; the concealment of theft, by the cabal, of billions of naira at the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) among other heavy sleazes around the Presidency.
“As we speak, the APC administration has increased taxes, levies and tariffs without a transparent remitting regime while funds said to have been recovered in the anti-graft war have not been adequately accounted for.
“Instead, the government has been peddling false figures and bogus claims to hoodwink Nigerians while its cabal continues to fritter away funds meant for the good of the people,” the statement concluded.
Similary, for the past two and a half years, former President Goodluck Jonathan has maintained that his administration fought corruption like no other government before it, which is why in 2014, Nigeria made her best ever improvement on the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, moving from 144 the previous year, to 136, an 8 point improvement. Transparency had taken note of the total elimination of the corruption in the fertilizer procurement scheme via the e-wallet initiative of the Jonathan administration which cut out the middle man and thus saved the nation over ¦ 200 billion.
Transparency International also took cognizance of the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) which weeded out 50,000 ghost workers from the federal civil service between 2011 and 2015, saving the Federal Government over $1 billion annually.
But perhaps most significant in the progress made in the anti corruption war under former President Jonathan was the political will that the then Nigerian leader had to fight the scourge.
It was noted that Dr. Jonathan speedily investigated and fired his ministers and aides who were accused of corruption or conflict of interests. That administration also dismissed the alleged and very notorious pension thief, Abdulrasheed Maina, from service.
Having made such significant progress in improving Nigeria’s anti-corruption rating, it is very disappointing that in the latest Corruption Perception Index released by Transparency International today, Nigeria has relapsed deeper into corruption and has moved 12 steps backwards from 136 to 148.
We consequently advise that timely efforts should be made to stem the free fall of Nigeria into the abyss of corruption. Let us retrace our steps and refrain from showy media trials while little or nothing is done on the legal front.
Let us also respect the judiciary and not hound or intimidate them in an attempt to cow them into giving favourable judgments against perceived political opponents. Let us call a spade a spade and conduct a true anti corruption war rather than an anti opposition war.
The days of hand cuffs for the opposition and hand outs for the cronies of the government must be put behind us. Allegations like the $25 billion NNPC contracts awarded without due process or the dubious ¦ 1.1 billion budgeted to clean the office of the National Security Adviser must be investigated and not swept under the table.
Nigeria belongs to all of us and we cannot watch it sink into the abyss without raising flags.
This is a patriotic duty and we call on all Nigerians to rally together to confront the monster of corruption.
Finally, this latest evidence from Transparency International has made a mockery of the African Union’s gesture of making President Muhammadu Buhari it’s anti corruption champion. By this action, the AU now appears to be supporting corruption by making a man under whom corruption has increased its anti corruption icon. It does not help that in recent years, Nigeria has refused to obey valid court judgments in Nigeria and beyond Nigeria.
It is to the great embarrassment of Nigeria that we who used to be the pillar of the ECOWAS sub region are now routinely cited for flouting judgments of the ECOWAS court. That ought not to be. That ought not to be at all. Reno Omokri Number One Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years, Chibok, 2015 and the Conspiracies.
Letters
Ban On Christians Fellowship In Universities
If the story making the rounds on two Nigerian universities being sued for allegation of their ban on Christian fellowship in the campus is anything to go by, then Nigeria is in for another trouble.
According to the story, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Katsina State branch, in conjunction with an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF International), has instituted an action against two universities in Katsina State for indefinitely banning Christian groups from holding fellowship meetings and worship on campuses.
The suit was said to have been filed against the two universities for violating the right to religious freedom by “indefinitely prohibiting” Christian groups from holding fellowship meetings and worship on campus.
The Christian legal advocacy group further alleged that one of the universities enforced the ban by locking all worship and fellowship centre on university grounds, preventing Christian students and groups from accessing the facilities and banning them from meeting for worship and fellowship elsewhere on campus while their Muslim counterparts at both universities have been permitted to hold worship and fellowship meetings in university-constructed worship and meeting spaces.
Recall that in 2017, there was a news report on the outlaw of any other religious or tribal association on campus besides the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria by the authorities of the Umar Musa Yar’Adua University, Katsina, Katsina State. A circular credited to the institution’s acting Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Sulaiman Kankara, which was later disowned by the university, contained the directive.
The last time I checked, Nigeria is a democratic, circular state where every individual is free to practise any religion of her choice. Section 38 of the Nigerian constitution provides: “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”
It is therefore wrong for a public university to indulge in this discriminatory act. A university is supposed to be an intellectual environment where people should be allowed some level of freedom. There must be robust fellowship and inter-faith relationship. People must be able to relate with each other without any discrimination or stigmatisation.
Knowing how delicate issues on religion are in Nigeria, one hopes that the authorities of the institutions concerned should swiftly look into the report and retrace their steps. The court should be objective in deciding the case and give students of other religions some leverage of freedom. It must be stated that the judgment on this case should not be delayed to avoid any retaliation in other parts of the country.
We already have a lot of issues to deal with in the country. Adding a religious crisis to it could be disastrous. Any university established and funded by either the federal, state or local government, should have freedom of religion. Let there be no more trouble in the country, please.
Waheed Abiodun,
Victoria Street,
Port Harcourt Township.
The NIMC, NCC Partnership
Reports have it that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) disclosed that they have partnered to enhance seamless linkage of National Identification Number-SIM across the federation.
Both Commissions said that in recognising the significance of this initiative in enhancing security and improving service delivery, they were committed to improving processes and enhancing efficiency.
This is a welcome development. It has been worrisome why Nigerians should be made to go through the rigorous process of linking their National Identification Number (NIN) with their phone numbers every now and then. Some people who engage in online transactions have recorded some losses over the past few weeks as some internet providers barred their lines due to their inability to successfully do the linkage.
Two weeks ago, I went to a High Court for an official engagement and was shocked to see the number of people seeking to get court affidavits for the linkage of the NIN with the phone numbers so that their line will be unbarred.
It is therefore hoped that the NIMC, NCC partnership will remove all the bottlenecks surrounding the Nin, SIM linkage and make the process very seamless. It is also hoped that this will be the beginning of the process of proper identity management in the country and gradual collapse of all the various forms of identification – Drivers Licence, Voters Card, NIMC card. Bank cards etc into one identity card so that one would not have to be moving around with loads of identity cards.
Ebele Ubani,
Jabi, Abuja.
The Unwanted Strike
Just when the students of Nigeria public universities are rejoicing that there had been a no interruption in the universities’ academic calendar for sometiime, the news about the warning strike by the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, (SSANU), broke.
The Joint Action Committee of the two organisations had directed members to commence a seven day warning strike last week, following the federal government’s inability to pay their four months’ withheld salary.
I do not even understand why the government should allow labour unions to down tools before acting on their demands. Did President Bola Tinubu not direct that university workers that were on prolonged strike in 2022 and their salaries stopped by the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration after the invocation of “No Work, No Pay” policy, should be paid four months of the withheld salaries?
Have members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) not been paid in line with the president’s directive? Why were SSANU, NASU and unions concerned not paid? These bodies issued an ultimatum to the federal government. Why was there no effort to address their grievances within the window period?
It is said that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. So, the government, having paid ASUU, should also endeavour to settle SSANU and NASU so that there shall be no interruption in our academic calendar. We did no wrong by choosing public universities. Government, ASUU, SSANU, NASU and what have you should let us learn in peace and graduate at the record time like our colleagues in private universities, please.
IB Michael,
University of Port Harcourt,
Port Harcourt.
Letters
Obi Should Do More, Discordant Tunes On Minimum Wage, Akpabio’s Unguarded Comment
Obi Should Do More
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, has continued to voice out his opinion on the happenings in the country. On the budget padding scandal currently rocking the upper chamber of the National Assembly, he has told the Senate to provide Nigerians with some explanations on the matter.
He said the claims and counter-claims over the alleged N3 Trillion which was alleged by Senator Abdul Ningi to have been padded into the 2024 budget, requires proper explanation as to what Nigerians must need to know regarding management of the nation’s, insisting that the suspension of Senator Ningi for three months does not address the issue.
The Labour party chieftain had also expressed his concern over the hunger in the country a few days ago. He raised the alarm that Nigerians were spending all their money on food.
It is commendable of Obi to have stood with the masses at this critical time in the nation’s history and be critical of negative happenings in the country and bad government policies. However, Obi should do more than just criticising. It is said that “a tree cannot make a forest”. Therefore, Obi should galvanise all the law makers both on the national and state levels to tow the same line with him, which should be seen as the position of the Labour Party.
In 2023, there was a revolution in the country. People of all walks of life, of various religions and tribes trouped out in support of the labour party because they believed in Mr Peter Obi. People saw the Labour Party as a needed alternative to the two most populous political parties, PDP and APC. Based on Obi’s personality and popularity, some people who ordinarily would not have won councillorship positions in their communities were elected into state and national assemblies. Many of them won the elections for free, spending no shi shi.
Painfully, after assuming the exalted positions, many of them, especially those in the national assembly seem to have forgotten the masses. It is now business as usual. Among the seven senators and 36 House of Representative members of the Labour Party in the National Assembly, which one of them has moved a strong motion about the hardship currently being faced by the masses and how to address it? How many of them stood by Senator Ningi on the budget padding revelation? What out the exotic cars distributed to them, how many of them advised that they should go for less expensive cars and the excess money channelled into developmental projects? It has become a case of one not talking while on the dining table, right?
Obi should be able to organise his party to form a formidable opposition and a party that does things differently, a party that stands with the people. If the labour party elected political office holders carry on the way they have done since they came into office, they will keep de-marketing their party, forgetting that 2027 is just around the corner.
Ngozi Omeje,
Umuahia, Abia State.
Discordant Tunes On Minimum Wage
I have followed the discussion on the proposed new minimum wage with keen interest and I just hope the leadership of the organised labour will be firm enough to represent the workers and refuse to fall prey to the ploy to disunite them.
It is disheartening seeing workers come up with different amounts as the proposed minimum wage. While the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, demanded that South-West states should pay N794,000 the Trade Union Congress, TUC, asked for N447,000. Similarly, workers in the Federal Capital Territory demanded N709,000, while their counterparts in the North-West clamoured for N485,000.
This idea of singing in discordant tunes is not good for strong unionism. I recall my days as a civil servant in Ibadan, Oyo state. That was during the time of Adams Oshiomhole as the National President of the NLC. The labour union was a force to be reckoned with and whenever the workers barked, the government caught cold. The increase in workers’ wages was fought for as body. There was nothing like federal workers going to the left and the state workers going to the right. Of course then, in 2000, the TUC did not exist as a separate body. The entire workers spoke in unison.
Yes, the states did reserve the right to say whether they can pay the national minimum wage or not but the national body of the NLC was carried along in the negotiation. Please, the NLC and TUC should come together and present a common front in the new minimum wage quest and ensure that workers in the states also get a fair deal. If not, some of the greedy governors will continue to subject the workers to hardship.
Pa Micheal Adeniran,
Rumuogba Housing Estate, Port Harcourt.
Akpabio’s Unguarded Comment
“Today, he’s responding to a remark by the Governor that has nothing to do with him. The opposition is urging the Senate president to be mindful of his utterances. How can he turn the burial of late Access Bank CEO, Herbert Wigwe, wife and first son, such a sad moment, to a political attack?. It’s disappointing. That’s political recklessness taken too far. We, the opposition parties, won’t tolerate such utterances anymore if it continues.”
Above was the response of a member of the House of Representatives and Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, to the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, unguarded remark on Gov. Siminalayi Fubara’s comment during the burial of the late Access Holdings Plc GCEO, Herbert Wigwe, wife and first son last weekend.
It is hoped that Akpabio will heed to the advice and learn how to talk in public. Tracing his character as a public servant and political office holder in various capacities over the years, one would notice that the senate president lacks the act of public speaking and carriage.
Was it not recently that he announced that the clerk of the house had sent money to each of the senators’ personal account for their holiday enjoyment only to be called to other and he changed it to ”In order to allow you to enjoy your holiday, the senate president has sent prayers to your mailboxes to assist you to go on a safe journey and return.” What about the “honourable minister off your mic” shameful display.
Whoever wants to die seeking public/political office should go ahead but leave our dear governor alone.
Loveth Opusunju
Minima, Opobo, Rivers State.
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Fubara Promises Rivers Support For Wigwe Varsity …Cautions Political Class On Power Tussle
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has promised the state government’s commitment to supporting Wigwe University.
Fubara disclosed this on Saturday after the funeral service of the late Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc, Herbert Wigwe, in Isiokpo, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Wigwe, alongside his wife, Doreen, and son, Chizzy, died in a helicopter crash in California near the Nevada border, United States of America.
Also involved in the crash was the Chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, Abimbola Ogunbanjo.
The governor said, “I want to say our brother has finished his work, though short. We, as a government, will do everything with the Wigwe Foundation to immortalise one thing.
“It is not the bank, the bank might have a new identity, a new boss to run it, other ventures will also have their names; but one thing that has his name is Wigwe University.
“We will do everything within our power to make sure the dream will continue to live just as he has planned it.”
Fubara questioned the mourners as to why they kept chasing worldly desires, stressing the significance of impacting lives rather than struggling for power.
“This one has to do with the political class, what is all these struggle all about? You want to kill, you want to bury, what is it all about?
“This is a man who was not a politician, he made his money through our investments, he had the world in his palm financially, he controlled even the political classes; but today, with all the power financially couldn’t control life. Is it not enough to ask ourselves why are we struggling? Why are we not making an impact on the lives of our people?” he queried.
Dignitaries present at the funeral service include the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; Chairman, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria , Sanusi Lamido; Governors Alex Otti (Abia) Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), and Babajide Sawwo-Olu (Lagos).
Other dignitaries are former governors Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Peter Obi (Anambra), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Bukola Saraki (Kwarra), and James Ibori (Delta), among others.
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The European Union (EU) says it will end its five-year Agents for Citizen-Driven Transformation (ACT) programme aimed at enhancing the capacity of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria, on April 14. Mr Damilare Babalola, the National Programme Manager, ACT, said this on Tuesday at a brief event in Port Harcourt. Babalola said that the conclusion of the programme would automatically mean an end for the 21 CSOs based in Rivers. He stated that the EU-funded programme, valued at 13.1 million euros, was executed by the British Council across 10 states, with a presence in the 36 states of the federation. “The programmes’ goals are to assist CSOs in becoming more credible, accountable and effective agents of change, for sustainable development in Nigeria. “The implementation focussed on providing capacity-building skills, referred to as capacity development support to CSOs, to enhance their effectiveness. “Additionally, it aimed to evaluate the regulatory environment for CSOs and promote strategic coordination among them and other key stakeholders in terms of collaboration and advocate, for appropriate legislation and regulations,” he explained. Babalola identified the benefitting states as Adamawa, Borno, Edo, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). “The ACT programme commenced in 2019 and will officially conclude on April 14, marking the end of five-years of active implementation in the country. “Rivers was among the states where we initiated the programme during our phase two launch in 2020, and we are here to formally close the ACT programme in the state. “ACT has addressed significant challenges affecting the effectiveness and impact of civil societies, especially in creating an enabling regulatory environment,” he added. He expressed confidence that in spite of ACT’s departure from the country, civil society groups have gained sufficient capacity to effectively carry out their responsibilities in their respective focus areas within the communities. The programme manager noted that 273 CSOs benefitted from the programme across the country, with 233 CSOs receiving capacity-building training and 40 others trained to enhance regulatory conditions. In his remark, ACT Rivers Focal Person, Mr Temple Oraeki, emphasised the importance of CSOs collaborating with the state government and international donor agencies to advance their programmes and projects within the communities. “The 21 CSOs, comprising of eight community-based organisations and three network coalitions in Rivers, now serve as our ambassadors, equipped to make positive impact in society. “Therefore, we are leaving behind organisations that are credible partners for the government and international donor agencies to execute their programmes in communities,” he said. Gov. Siminialayi Fubara of Rivers, expressed the state’s readiness to engage with CSOs to implement government policies and programmes in the various communities where they operate. Represented by Diokuma Ismael, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Fubara lauded the EU and British Council for their interventions in the state. “The success of the ACT programme has undoubtedly enhanced the value of civil society organisations in the state and nationwide. “We are prepared to partner with the CSOs that have impacted communities, once all necessary documentations are concluded. “However, it is crucial for CSOs to adhere to proper regulations, to enable the government to identify with them for sustainable development,” he said. Fubara urged the civil society groups to align with the state government’s policy to drive positive change in the communities.