Politics
RVHA Rejects LG Autonomy
Among proceedings that dominated activities in the Rivers State House of Assembly last week was proceedings on the ongoing Constitutional amendment deliberations. The Assembly approved 15 alterations, with emphasis on the devolution of powers to the states.
The alterations made on the constitution by the House include fourth alleviation Bill, 2017 No 2,4,6,8,9,14,15,16,20,21,22,27 and 28. The House rejected six of the alterations and approved nine.
Among those approved are No. 2 which reduces the maximum period within which expenditure shall be made from previous budget before the passage of a new one from six months to three, No 4 deals with the autonomy of the legislature, No 8 deals with the legislative immunity, No 15: removed of the word “Force” form the Nigeria Police Force.
The House however rejected No 5, the autonomy for local government, No 6 strengthening of the local governments, No 9 INEC’s power and No 14 independent candidacy.
Last Thursday the House in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had a two day workshop to enhance capacity of lawmakers on enacting health insurance scheme legislation in the state.
The Speaker of the House, Rt Hon Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani who spoke at the event pointed out that the Assembly will work towards achieving universal health coverage.
Rt Hon Ibani explained that enacting laws that will legalise the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) will reduce health challenges faced by ordinary citizens.
In his words, “Usually, when people pay most of the cost of health services out of their own pockets, the poor are often unable to obtain the services they need even the well off may be exposed to financial hardship in the event of server long term illness”.
On her part, the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Justice, Mrs Florence Fiberesima described the partnership between the Rivers State Government and USAID as a most welcome development.
Objectives of the workshop included building capacity of lawmakers of the Rivers State House of Assembly on key concepts of health insurance legislations and their roles, providing information and critical analysis of the highlights and terms of a bill to enable legislators make informed decision on a health insurance bills.
Last Saturday members of the House representing Bonny Constituency, Hon Abinye Blessing Pepple laid his mother, Mrs Christiana Pepple to rest in Bonny.
The burial witnessed the presence of the Speaker and other top House members including Deputy Speaker, Hon Marsahll Uwom, Deputy Chief Whip, Hon Major Jack, Hon Christian Ahiakwo and Hon Adonye Diri of Opobo/Nkoro Constituency.
The lawmaker from Bonny in a speech during the church burial service at St Stephen’s Cathedral Bonny eulogized his mother for being caring and supportive.
Hon Pepple thanked all who came from far and near to attend the burial and prayed God to grant them journey mercies
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has not registered any new political parties.
The commission gave the clarification in a statement on its X (formerly Twitter) handle last Wednesday.
It described the purported report circulated by some online social media platforms on the registration of two new political parties by INEC as fake.
“The attention of INEC has been drawn to a fake report making the rounds about the registration of two new political parties, namely “Independent Democrats (ID)” and “Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM)”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the commission has not yet registered any new party. The current number of registered political parties in Nigeria is 19 and nothing has been added,” it stated.
The commission recalled that both ID and PDM were registered as political parties in August 2013.
INEC further recalled that the two were deregistered in February 2020 in accordance with Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The commission, therefore, urged the public to disregard the said report.
President Bola Tinubu has asked Governor Hyacinth Alia to work more for peace and development of Benue State, saying he was elected to govern, not to bury people.
The President said this while addressing stakeholders at the Government House, Markudi, last Wednesday.
He also called on the governor to set up a peace committee to address some of the issues in the state.
The meeting included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, traditional rulers, and former governors of the state.
The governors of Kwara, Imo, Kogi, Plateau, Ondo, and Nasarawa states also attended the meeting.
“Let us meet again in Abuja. Let’s fashion out a framework for lasting peace. I am ready to invest in that peace. I assure you, we will find peace. We will convert this tragedy into prosperity,” he said.
President Tinubu urged Governor Alia to allocate land for ranching and directed the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security to follow up.
“I wanted to come here to commission projects, to reassure you of hope and prosperity, not to see gloomy faces. But peace is vital to development.
“The value of human life is greater than that of a cow. We were elected to govern, not to bury people”, he stressed.
He charged Governor Alia on working with the Federal Government to restore peace.
“Governor Alia, you were elected under the progressive banner to ensure peace, stability, and progress. You are not elected to bury people or comfort widows and orphans. We will work with you to achieve that peace. You must also work with us”, he said.
In his remarks, Governor Alia appealed to the Federal Government to establish a Special Intervention Fund for communities affected by repeated violent attacks across the state.
“Your Excellency, while we continue to mourn our losses and rebuild from the ashes of pain, we humbly urge the Federal Government to consider establishing a special intervention fund for communities affected by these incessant attacks in Benue State,” he said.
Governor Alia said the fund would support the rehabilitation of displaced persons, reconstruction of destroyed homes and infrastructure, and the restoration of livelihoods, especially for farmers.
He reiterated his support for establishing state police as a lasting solution to insecurity.
The governor pledged his administration’s full commitment to building a safe, stable, prosperous Benue State.
Also speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of the Benue State Traditional Rulers Council, Tor Tiv, Orchivirigh, Prof. James Ayatse, praised President Tinubu for being the first sitting President to personally visit victims in the hospital in the wake of such a tragedy.
He thanked the President for appointing notable Benue indigenes into key positions, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsev, while expressing hope that more appointments would follow.
Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (ret’d), says the Aburi accord collapsed because Chukwuemeka Ojukwu wanted regional governors to control military zones.
Gen. Gowon was Nigeria’s military ruler from 1966 until 1975 when he was deposed in a bloodless coup while Ojukwu was military governor of the then Eastern Region in that span.
In a live television interview recently, Gen. Gowon narrated what transpired after the agreement was reached in Aburi, a town in Ghana.
The meeting that led to the accord took place from January 4 to 5, 1967, with delegates from both sides of the divide making inputs.
The goal was to resolve the political impasse threatening the country’s unity.
The point of the agreement was that each region should be responsible for its own affairs.
During the meeting, delegates arrived at certain resolutions on control and structure of the military. However, the exact agreement reached was the subject of controversy.
The failure of the Aburi accord culminated in Nigeria’s civil war, which lasted from July 6, 1967, to January 15, 1970.
Speaking on what transpired after the agreement, Gen. Gowon said the resolutions should have been discussed further and finalised.
The ex-military leader said he took ill after arriving in Nigeria from Aburi and that Ojukwu went on to make unauthorised statements about the accord.
Gen. Gowon said he did not know where Ojukwu got his version of the agreement from.
“We just went there (Aburi), as far as we were concerned, to meet as officers and then agree to get back home and resolve the problem at home. That was my understanding. But that was not his (Ojukwu) understanding,” he said.
Gen. Gowon said Ojukwu declined the invitation, citing safety concerns.
“I don’t know what accord he (Ojukwu) was reading because he came to the meeting with prepared papers of things he wanted. And, of course, we discussed them one by one, greed on some and disagreed on some.
“For example, to give one of the major issues, we said that the military would be zoned, but the control… He wanted those zones to be commanded by the governor.
“When you have a military zone in the north, it would be commanded by the governor of the military in the north, the military zone in the east would be commanded by him. Of course, we did not agree with that one”, Gen. Gowon added.
Ojukwu died on November 26, 2011 at the age of 78.
