Suffering, anguish pervade Taraba IDPs’ camp — 10th October 2016

Suffering, anguish pervade Taraba IDPs’ camp

— 10th October 2016

Inmates lack food, water, clothing, health care
From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
Things are bad for many who have lost homes, jobs and self-esteem and have had to live in camps as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
A recent visit to the Mutum Biyu IDPs camp in Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State highlighted the deplorable living conditions of the inmates. It also showed man’s ability to find joy and contentment even in the most unsavoury places and circumstances.
It is estimated that over four million persons have been displaced by the kiuller Islamist sect, Boko Haram, since it started unleashing terror on nigerian citizens, mostly in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe states, over six years ago. The complimentary activities of the equally brutal Fulani herdsmen, particularly in the North-Central, further worsened the carnage.
Not unlike the refugee crisis rocking the global community, the IDPs, camped in various locations across northern Nigeria, and elsewhere in the South such as Edo, depict not just the level of human insensitivity to the plight of others but also brings out how much humans are capable of persevering in the face of frustration.
Taraba State has enjoyed relative insulation from Boko Haram’s attacks but has had to contend with ethno-religious and political crises that have left many persons displaced and stranded.
As such, most of the over 10,000 IDPs in the state are either from insurgency-ravaged states or victims of ethno-religious crises iun Taraba that have threatened the very fabric of the state.
There is fragile peace in the state now such that Governor Darius Ishaku has made it a slogan: “Give me peace and I will give you development.”
At the IDPs camp in Mutum Biyu, housing over a 1,600 persons, one is welcomed to the reality of government wastages. The camp is a housing estate that was started by former Taraba State governor, Rev. Jolly Nyame, in 2005, but has not merited the attention of successive administrations. As such, it boasts of uncompleted buildings without basic facilities like window panes, toilets, water, fences and a other services.
This alone makes the experience of the IDPs as a humbling as it can be.
According to Hajia Zainab Alkali, a mother of five and victim of the fighting that broke out in Wukari sometime ago, being an IDP erodes one’s dignity as one has to do virtually anything to survive.
“When I first arrived here, it dawned on me that I could no longer decide for myself. I had to do the things I never would have contemplated doing because they were either against my will or belittled my dignity.
“Now, all that concerns me is how to survive with my children and so there is nothing like shame or principles. I don’t even feel any shame begging for food to feed my children or soap to bath them,” she said.
Another lady who pleaded anonymity told Daily Sun that she had had to trade her body to raise some money; she used some of the proceeds to start a petty business to support her family.
“I met one man shortly after we came here and told him how I lost my dad during the crisis and as the eldest child, I needed to do something to support my family. He pretended to sympathise with me and asked me to see him later. When we met, he wanted to have intercourse with me but I refused because he was old enough to be my father. But then he reminded me of my status as an IDP and told me if I needed his help, the least I could do was to use what I had to get what I wanted.
“It was a sad experience. I had no choice; I had to do what he wanted. The circle continued for a while until my mother and siblings began to suspect my moves. However, they could not ask me to stop because they also realised I was doing it to help the family. From the little I saved, I now buy grains from villages around to resell and make little profit to support my family.”
Whereas the camp leader, Alhaji Ahmed Waliyu, strongly refuted allegations of sexual harassment in the camp, a number of the IDPs confirmed that some camp officials actually ask for sex in return for food and provision.
While the psychological implications of this experience can take ages to supress, other challenges in the camp are just as horrendous.
One major challenge is water. Since the site was abandoned long ago before it was converted to a refugees camp, it has no water source. The IDPs have to depend on a sachet-water manufacturer in the area who often allows them to draw water from his borehole.
But there is a limit to his magnanimity. Using a single borehole for his business and catering for the needs of over a 1,000 persons could be overwhelming. Understandably, some of the IDPs have to spend days without a proper bath to ensure they conserve water for drinking.
According to Mama Yusuf, “No one thinks about bathing. Is it not when you have enough to eat and drink that you can think of that? What I do with my children is that we take turns to bathe depending on the water available. Sometimes, the boys can go for days without a proper bath. My concern is about the girls,” she said.
Unfortunately, in a bid to sources for water, quite a number of children have lost their lives to reckless drivers as they have to cross the highway to access the borehole.
In response to this, some non-governmental organisations have taken the initiative to provide water tanks and supply water to the camp from time to time. But again, that effort often falls short of demand.
Perhaps the worst challenge is health. The lifestyle in camp, the presence of a collection of deadly reptiles in addition to acute malnutrition translate to a lot of health issues. Unfortunately, there is no medical facility to cater for the IDPs even as lack of funds to foot medical bills compounds the situation.
According to some camp officials, snake bites have claimed quite a number of persons while many children have died from malaria, common cold and other ailments that could have been treated if money were available.
Food shortage is almost a constant feature in the camp. Sixty-five-year-old Hamilsu Ibrahim told Daily Sun that since he arrived at the camp over a year ago, he has not had a good meal and has forgotten what it means to enjoy breakfast: “I cannot remember the last time I had a good meal. There is nothing like breakfast, lunch or dinner. If you are lucky to eat once in a day, you appreciate God.”
Recently, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator Aisha Alhassan, took relief materials, including food items, to the camp. The expectation in the eyes of the IDPs said it all. Other government agencies such as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), have also taken relief materials to the IDPs but the supplies were far short of demand.
To survive some of the IDPs have decided on other means outside the relief materials and handouts that occasionally come their way.
Mrs. Ibrahim said some now visit recently-harvested farms to gather leftovers mostly from rice and maize.
The woman, who lives with her husband and 10 children, the 10th aged eight months, said that her husband, who was a farmer before they were displaced from Ibi, now worked as farm assistant and did other menial jobs to cater for the children.
Some of the inmates have gone a step further to set up kiosks where they sell provisions to make ends meet. Others make snacks, while some young men hawk sugarcane. The problem with trading in the camp now is that people buy things mostly on credit and refuse to pay.
According to Hajia Hadiza, who operates a kiosk, “You cannot refuse them credit because, at times, you are their last hope. Business here is not growing; however, it helps us to avoid idleness.”
However, the IDPs, women and children, still find the time to come together to play in groups, while the men go out to hustle.
The questions linger: How long would the IDPs continue to depend on the magnanimity of other people for survival? How long can they endure the hardship and loss of their self-esteem? How long would it take before they return to their homes to resume their normal lives?
Camp leader, Waliyu, said, “What we want is to go back home and struggle on our own, to earn a living with some dignity. We are not lazy people or beggars. We are victims of Boko Haram and it is up to government to create the enabling environment for us to return home.”
When Senator Alhassan visited the camp, she assured the IDPs that their days as refugees were numbered and soon they would return home.
She said: “The federal government is doing everything possible to ensure that you return to your homes and continue to lead normal lives, but while you are still in the camps, we would stop at nothing to check the hardships that you have to put up with.
“This is why the President has mandated me to go round all the camps to verify allegations that some of the female IDPs are being sexually harassed by government officials, and to provide you with food items to reduce your hunger and provide you with other necessary materials.”
While these promises have been received with much cheer, it is difficult to say if they are not the usual government rhetoric.
In the meantime, the people the IDPs are in dire need of food, water, clothing, heath care, toiletries and education for the out-of-school children in the camp. Efforts by governments to ameliorate the sufferings of the people seem to be inadequate, therefore, they desperately need the assistance of well-meaning Nigerians to survive.

Contingency planning can save Nigeria from catastrophe –Soludo — 10th October 2016

Contingency planning can save Nigeria from catastrophe –Soludo

— 10th October 2016

From: Amechi Ogbonna, Washington DC, USA
Former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, an economist and public affairs commentator was invited by the 53 Commonwealth Central Bank governors to deliver a speech at the just-concluded, annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington DC the United States of America.
He spoke on monetary policy under periods of uncertainty, effects of Brexit on the commonwealth countries economies and what policy makers should be doing to save their countries from unprecedented shocks in the global economy.
Invitation by 53 Commonwealth Central Bank Governors.
The focus of the presentation was actually on monetary policy under periods of uncertainty and they asked me to speak on the Brexit since their are 53 governors of central bank in the 53 Commonwealth countries.
Their concern, of course, was about the possible implications of the Brexit on the economies of the Commonwealth and being governors of central bank, what this could mean for monetary policy. The major hypothesis there was that Brexit can only be seen as just one of the many sources of uncertainties in the global economy today. In a worst case scenario, Brexit can only heighten the state of uncertainties, but the global economy itself is almost in reset button mood, with an uptick in the level of uncertainties. And from all indications, we haven’t got over the legacy issues arising from the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. You can see that Europe and America still have tepid and sluggish recovery and there is a potential of China having a hard landing and there are fears about that, which could unravel quite a lot of things in the global economy. You can see the price shocks on primary commodities dependent economies, such as Nigeria and so on with several of them in trouble already as a result of the oil price shock as well as wrong policy choices in responding to the shock.
It was as a result of this old shock, that many countries have reached the limit of the policy squeeze that they have, with many accumulating huge public debts because they ran excessive deficits. For monetary policy, interest rates are almost at very low end and many of these countries now have negative real interest rates. So, there isn’t much. Where again are you going to go to stimulate these economies? Some have raised interest rates in order to attract portfolio flows, but how far are you going to raise it without compromising growth? So, they have reached much of the policy handles. So, the emphasis of my message to these governors is that this is the time to take preemptive, proactive contingency planning, in anticipation of the next global crisis. The latest global financial stability report 2006, talks about the uptick of uncertainties and vulnerabilities and the potential risks that the global economic system faces. Therefore, even though Brexit is unlikely going to have any major adverse impact on the global economy, it would have impact on Britain, but we still don’t know the magnitude and duration of such effect, whether positive or negative. I also discussed the opportunities of Brexit. But, the key thing for central banks and policy makers over the world to be concerned about is the state of affair of the global economy and the financial system. There is a whole lot of uncertainty and risks everywhere. It just takes one major crisis in some place and it will snowball into another crisis. So, what are the contingency plans that countries are putting in place? Otherwise, what you find is that people are going to be perennially reacting to the shocks as if they were not anticipated.
We were actually depleting the reserves even at the peak of the oil boom. Like I always say, I met $10 billion when oil prices was around $30 per barrel. By the end of the year, oil prices was still around $30 per barrel, but we grew reserves by more than 50 per cent and kept growing it until we reached about $60 billion. I had an average monthly oil price of $59 per barrel throughout my 60 months in office and we were building reserves, almost doubling it every year. And we had to do the consolidation of the banks before the world crisis came. So, it is this kind of preemptive policies. You do it before it comes, you don’t do it when it comes. You need to anticipate that the global economic and financial system, given that globalisation, is inherently unstable and it is inherently crisis prone. Therefore, periodically, you will be having cycles of crisis and shocks. So, when policy makers react as if they didn’t know it was because of the shock, I say, but they knew it was coming. It is like someone say oh, the rains have come. Of course, you know the rains would come after the dry reason. During the dry season, you knew the rains would follow the dry season. In 2010, I was warning Nigeria that these oil price thing would soon come down. After that my publication, they had a Federal Executive Council meeting and I remember it was Labaran Maku, a former minister of information, who addressed the media after that, and I was the subject matter. I was berated, abused and I was described as someone who was out of office and unhappy about my fate . Well, the rest is history. Of course in the paper, I discussed quite a number of other things, about how the ministers of finance, the governors of central banks and the ministers of trade and investments, need to come together and develop what I call alternative scenario buildings. What if this happens, how are we going to react? What if this happens, how should we react? So, you have a menu of options. I said that what we did when oil price was rising in Nigeria has not been replicated in most parts of the world when they were having commodity and export boom. And that is to maintain an undervalued real effective exchange rate. What you have is that when you have an export boom, countries have overvalued real exchange rate. But we have a singular record of having maintained an undervalued real effective exchange rate regime even during an export boom. We deliberately did not allow the naira to appreciate as it should have, otherwise we could have had the naira below N100 to the dollar and that would have been catastrophic. You wouldn’t have been able to accumulate the reserves.
People think it was because oil price was rising, that is how you accumulate reserves, no! Even at that time, it was still expensive to bring in goods relative to what it should be. It made better sense for people to bring in money into the country, change it into naira and do business. And because of that inflow, there was a time when the central bank could not sell more than $20 million per auction. We would offer $200 million, and the banks could not take up to $20 million. That was because the system was awash with private flows. So, the CBN at some point became a minor player on the foreign exchange market. Anyway, I don’t want to speak beyond that. But the significant point to leave you with is that, I know people are pre-occupied with today’s crisis, but, what they are facing today is like, take the Huricane Mathew in some part of America today, it is like some parts of the house facing leakage, and you are busy fixing it, but the huricane that might actually take out the entire house is fast approaching. So, it is how you prepare for all of these uncertainties that matters. As I said, it is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ the next global crisis would hit the world.
So, you foresee a global crisis?
Like I said, the global economic system is inherently crisis prone.
For several countries facing commodity price shocks, what was your advice? 
In the short run, I have told many of them that this is the time to rethink some of their policy directions. Some of those countries have fixed or quasi-fixed exchange rate systems. That in theory and in practice, in a time when you have negative terms of trade shocks, is a no brainer. If you fix prices, if you fix the nominal variables, the real economy would adjust. Something must adjust. You cannot fix price and fix quantity. I said this in a lecture that I gave in November last year, when I was commenting on the exchange rate regime that we were operating, and to some extent, still doing now. The mismatch of what we have today, we call it flexible exchange rate regime. Of course, it is a quasi flexible exchange rate regime, creating all manner of distortions in the system. I did make the argument forcefully, that if we are fixing the exchange rate, then in the real economy, the quantities would adjust, and that is output and employment. So, when you see unemployment escalating and the economy going into recession, that is what we should expect. You can’t have your cake and eat it.
So the major message I left with them as Central Bankers, when you talk about the short term, is to look at the menu of policy handles that they have. That some of their policies was for an economy that no longer exists. Those quasi-fixed, bond issuance, and so on and so forth. Yes, good enough, that actually encouraged them to borrow excessively externally. Since they have loaded that, they are now locked in to keep the fixed exchange rate, so that it helps them to service the external debt.
IMF’s zero interest loans to countries facing challenges.  
Well, the IMF can give – they’ve got all kinds of concessionary lending facilities. You can give whether it is zero or at whatever interest. What does that really mean for many of these countries. The fundamental thing is to have a healthy balance sheet, that is sustainable. Otherwise, if you are in an unsustainable path, whether it is zero or whatever thing, it is unsustainable, you get one today, you need it tomorrow, because you still have to pay back the principal. If you are in an unsustainable path, you can’t even pay back the principal. So the point is some form of adjustments that get these countries to be on a sustainable path, that you’ll even be in a position – the IMF does not give grants, it is still a loan. It still has to be repaid.
The interest thing is on the margin as it were – it is still a loan; a loan is still a loan. It could help some countries tidy over, some highly distressed economy to tidy over their circumstances, but that is not the way. People must think of those as short term. The fundamental thing is the adjustment that gets you on a sustainable path, and that is where I think the central banks need to re-examine their instruments. I’m talking about the Central Bank of the Commonwealth.We talked about the instruments that they are using, and also called on the need for supra-national coordination. What needs to happen at the G-20, group of 20 countries that account for about 80 per cent of the world GDP.
Coordination of monetary and fiscal stimulus package in these countries could actually help to avert or at least postpone the crisis that we are talking about. That’s what we did, that’s what happened in 2008, 2009 as it were. The global economy is already in some huge risks, everywhere.
It hasn’t turned into a recession The global recession; we are out of it, but still wobbling, everything is still in a wobbling mode, and that is why everything else is going down. Commodity prices have crashed, America is not growing fast, the European Union is not growing really fast – you have the Brexit. China is slowing, its cooling off, and so on and so forth. These are the sources of uncertainty and anxieties around the world.
Should Nigeria redenominate the Naira? 
Let me tell you, I didn’t want to come to start doing interview about what Nigeria should do, or what Nigeria is not going to do, I told you, if it is about the annual meetings, fair enough. It is a gentleman’s agreement to focus on the annual meetings, because if we are going into Nigeria, we have a saying in my place, it is not the kind of talk you get into without having a breakfast. Nigeria’s thing is not the kind of conversation you get into. You have to get breakfast. So let’s leave that for now.
Would you be able to advise President Buhari? 
Did you see my reaction? It is only baba who laughs, me I’m just smiling at what you’re saying. I do my own citizen duty, as a citizen of Nigeria. I love Nigeria, and I have also done my own beat in public service. Those six intensive, intense years; we were almost running it 24 hours, I mean, doing what you should do in 72, 96 hours in 24 hours.I think it is time for some of us to – the public sector is like a revolving door, you enter, it turns the other side and you continue to work, others enter.
We have almost 200 million people in the country. Largely endowed country, and I believe that there are enough people, even within the government and outside of government. There are enough people with all the ideas. There are people, there are Nigerians, who can do this, so leave me, let’s not talk about you.
My attempt at becoming Anambra State governor 
We would have coped, extremely very well, I can tell you that. Even though at the state level, much of what you have, people get to face the same shock, it ripples back. The federal government in Nigeria is a major constraint to the states, and that is why some of us believe that the current structure that we have is for a time we no longer live in. The current structure was designed to share and consume the oil rent, and I have argued that the structure that is designed for consumption, cannot be efficient for production. So we know that it would have its own ripple effect. But if that happened, by now, I should be finishing my second term. So that first term thing, when things were still going, I’m sure we would have. We did it at the aggregate level, we would have been able to do it back in my state. We prepared Nigeria to weather through the worst financial and economic crisis since the great depression. Nigerians took it for granted, but we still recorded six point something percentage growth at the end of the year.
People took it for granted – that is how it is supposed to be. We did it at the national level, we would also have done it at my state, and that is the message. Passed on to this government. The key word is seeing beyond today.
When we were doing consolidation, people said impossible, why, how. Then, when the global crisis came, every country was then recapitalising, but we had done that several years before. The key thing is that we should be able to see beyond today, and that is the message I delivered to the governors of the central banks.While they are pre-occupied with today, running in circles, the major thing is coming. That contingency planning, or futures mapping, what if this happens, this is how we react, what if this happens, this is how we react. It is those kind of things that help you stress test the system, and you then know how. If this one crystallises, it doesn’t come to you as a shock, because you had anticipated it, and you have prepared the instrument to respond. You don’t wait until it hits you, otherwise, you’d be going in circles.  Do you see the governors’ preparing for the future? After my presentation, many of them responded by actually sharing experiences of what they are doing in their individual countries, and some actually reacted in anticipation. For example, I was impressed at what the governor of Mauritius responded in terms of the reserves, because I told them that to see the depreciation of the pound sterling as an opportunity in terms of diversification of reserves. It is down now at 30-year low, but it could also rebound tomorrow. So if you take a position today in pound sterling, from dollar, you get a lot of pound sterling and then tomorrow, when it appreciates, you can also get more dollars. For every bad thing, there is an opportunity.He said once the debate on Brexit started, they took the position that it would happen, and so they did the adjustment in anticipation of the worst case scenario and they got it all right.Is Nigeria preparing for the future?You’re still going back to that. Like I said, for me, as a Nigerian, I have tried to intervene on this matter, doing my own duty as a patriotic citizen who loves that country. Also, as somebody, with every sense of modesty, has also paid his own dues. To put it on an even kill, when we were debating the exchange rate thing, I thought it was… I mean, I have never seen a thing like that.

Edo guber: APC, PDP trade words on protests — 10th October 2016

Edo guber: APC, PDP trade words on protests

— 10th October 2016

From Tony Osauzo, Benin
Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart are locked in war of words over the just-concluded governorship election in the state.
The APC, at the weekend, threatened to occupy Benin City, the state capital, as counter protests organised by the PDP against INEC’s declaration of Mr. Godwin Obaseki as winner of the election.
Reacting to PDP protests, the APC said they were completely “off the point and unjustified because Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu was rejected squarely by the people”.‎
Addressing newsmen in Benin, state chairman of the party, Anselm Ojezua, described the state chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih and Senator Matthew Urhoghide as “serial liars and losers.” He also said attempts to create the impression by the PDP that the election was rigged will fail.
Accompanied by the Chief of Staff to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Patrick Obahiagbon, Ojezua said: “First of all, when you want to criticise the election, the first thing you have to do is to look at the process. When INEC brought out the guidelines, it had its own time and target and, apart from the postponement, they met with their timing and everything was done in an efficient manner except for the postponement, everything was fine. Right from when materials were taken to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) till they were returned for the declaration of the results, INEC was efficient in terms of meeting the time lines.
“Now, let us say we forgive Orbih, who is a serial failure, but, what will you say of Pastor Ize-Iyamu whom I have worked with before?
“The day Obaseki was declared winner, we went round the streets celebrating with the people, after one week we started seeing contrived protest reminiscent of students protest and that cannot be a political reaction to the election that held on the 28th of September. If a man claims he has won he should tell us the figures and the source of his information, why just go about to say I have lost my mandate, give it back to me.”
Meanwhile, a PDP chieftain in the state, Okharedia Ihimekpen urged Ize-Iyamu, to gather his evidence and head to the Tribunal rather than creating what he described as unnecessary tension in the state by asking PDP members to be protesting.
He said the allegation by Ize-Iyamu that he was rigged out of the election was untrue.
“I am condemning the demonstration as a result of the elections in severe terms. I am advising the PDP and Ize-Iyamu that instead of overheating the polity, by this demonstration they should go to court and prove their case if they have facts. Election is never won through demonstration.
“In 2012, when the Local Governemnt election was conducted here, Ize-Iyamu was in the APC then and while we were still voting in Uromi, results of that particular election was being announced in Benin City. And when we shouted that his current running mate, John Yakubu, was rigged out, Ize-Iyamu said we should go to court that the election was free and fair…”
“What goes around comes around. In my place in Esan West where I voted it was not rigged and PDP won all these areas. I have investigated this issue of rigging and I found out it was not true. For instance in ward 10 Oredo, where Ize-Iyamu hails from, PDP won one of the primary schools, and other units were won by APC.
“I also discovered that even the votes the PDP got in the election was as a result of the economic hardship but it was not enough to give us victory. I am calling on Ize-Iyamu to assembly all the exhibits, witnesses and evidence in his possession to the court. This was what we did during Airhiavbere’s case, when I followed him to the Supreme Court. And stop this noise making in Benin City”, Ihimekpen said.

FG may file fresh charges against Saraki, Ekweremadu — 10th October 2016

FG may file fresh charges against Saraki, Ekweremadu

— 10th October 2016

… Withdrawal of forgery case meaningless –PDP
From Godwin Tsa and Ndubuisi Orji,  Abuja
Indications emerged, yesterday, that the Federal government may be planning to slam fresh forgery charges against Senate president, Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.
Although some key officials in the Ministry of Justice refused to confirm the development, another source said there is a possibility of filing another charge against them. The source, who declined to be named, based on what he said “the sensitive nature of the case” said “things would be clearer in the next few days.
“Remember, government only withdrew the charge on the grounds that there was a similar case pending before another court, so, anything is possible.”.
Last week, government gave reasons why it decided to withdraw the two-count forgery charge it initiated against Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu before an Abuja High Court at Jabi.  Government said it took the decision because the subject matter is pending before Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.
Prosecution counsel, Mr. Aliyu Umar had also terminated further proceeding on the charge against former Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa and his deputy, Mr. Benedict Efeturi.
Umar told the court that though his witnesses, including the Investigative Police Officer in charge of the case, were prepared and ready to testify, he said FG took the action as a mark of its respect for the rule of law.
After listening to all the parties, Justice Yusuf Halilu struck out the two charges.
The court had, on June 27, granted the defendants bail after they pleaded not guilty to the forgery charge against them.
Meanwhile, the civil suit at the Federal High Court which was filed by Senator Barth Nnaji, from Enugu State, is challenging the powers of the federal government to meddle in an internal affair of the Red Chamber.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)has described the withdrawal of the forgery case against Saraki and Ekweremadu and two others as meaningless.
The opposition party, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye said it was amused by the sudden realisation by government that the “Senate Rules forgery case was a shadow chase from the beginning.”
The PDP stated that the withdrawal of the forgery case validated its earlier position that the All Progressives Congress (APC)  administration was on a vendetta mission.
“It was complete nothingness!
“More so, the claim, through the lead counsel, Umar, that the withdrawal was on grounds of respect for the rule of law and hierarchy of the judiciary demonstrates more of comedy on the side of this federal government that has penchant for legal disobedience and abuse of court processes.
“Notwithstanding, this act of withdrawal justifies our earlier position that the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led administration is on a vendetta mission and not to govern.”
The party added that it was worried by the APC frequent interference in the affairs of other arms of government and noted that it must be curtailed immediately if Nigeria must operate like other democratic systems across the world.
“The principle of Separation of Powers, as propagated in every democratic setting, is to allow for checks and balances amongst the different arms of government in order to prevent excessive or cohesive use of power by any of the organs of government.
“In this context, it was clear to us and other well-meaning Nigerians, from the outset, that the case of forgery, instituted against presiding officers of the Senate, was just another bad politics of the APC.”
because the federal government, under the Penal Code Law, has no business with the standing rules of the National Assembly, as alleged.
“We, therefore, further call on the executive arm of government to maintain the sanctity of this principle and desist from unnecessary distractions with acts of impunity against persons, groups and organisations.

DSS to go after 8 more judges — 10th October 2016

DSS to go after 8 more judges

— 10th October 2016

As the controversy generated by the arrest of seven judges rages, there are indication that the
Department of State Security (DSS) will pick up eight more judges in the next couple of days.
The DSS raided the homes of Supreme Court and Federal High Court judges in Abuja, Gombe and Port Harcourt.
The seven judges arrested and currently in detention at the SSS office are Justice Inyang Okoro and Sylvester
Ngwuta of the Supreme Court; Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja; Kabir Auta of the Kano High Court; Muazu Pindiga of the Gombe High Court, Mohammed Tsamiya of the Court of Appeal in Ilorin, and the Chief Judge of Enugu State, I. A. Umezulike.
Daily Sun gathered that following findings from investigation, the DSS will go after eight other judges of state and federal high courts.
According to sources, the judges have cases to answer about huge sums of money in their accounts and property in their names.

Rebirth of history as Rangers regains its groove

groove

Rebirth of history as Rangers regains its groove

— 2nd October 2016

To put today’s all-but-certain crowning of Rangers International Football Club as champions of Nigerian Professional Football League in its proper perspective, it’s necessary to look at the ages of the team’s players. With 23 years as the average age, it means none of the players had been born the last time Rangers lifted the league in 1984.
To the presumptive champions, the feat is a personal career highlight; but to the fans especially of the older generation it rekindles a pride rendered sterile for over three decades, a period characterized by a few near-misses and many embarrassing seasons’ performance.
The history often recalled with fondness is of the years when the club seemed like a synonym for the Green Eagles, as Nigeria’s national football team was then known. Those days, nearly all the national team players were drawn from Rangers. The club’s rich trophy chest also gave a strong hint of its dominance. Besides winning the National Football League in 1974, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982 and 1984, they have been crowned champions of the FA Cup five times (1974, 1975, 1976, 1981 and 1983). And, then, there was a song waxed in their honour by highlife artiste, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, after they won the African Cup Winners Cup, in 1977, giving the club a firm folkloric ardour.
Back then, the sight of players such as Christian Chukwu, Emmanuel Okalla, Alloysius Atuegbu and other legendary names inspired belief in fans and awe in opposing teams and their fans, the club’s triumph had often seemed like a foregone conclusion. The fond memories evoked by that era is what fans had been hoping in vain to see rekindled each time they watched the team play.
For a club whose past is strewn with so many historic moments the fall from such glorious heights was too dramatic and difficult to grasp, even more so for fans who simply could not come to terms with their beloved team’s also-ran status. In those 32 years that the disappointing run persisted, there have been eight World Cups, over 10 heads of the Nigerian Football Federation and, to further underscore how much the sands had shifted, a number of club sides founded after Rangers International’s heyday have won the league title, some a couple of times.
There was no doubt that those who had made Rangers such a delightful team to behold and fearsome opponent were immensely-gifted footballers; but it’s important though to emphasize that the later years decline wasn’t for want of talent. Welfare was a big issue as the players were, in part, ill-motivated with salaries and sign-on fees unpaid for months and sometimes years. In the face of competing socio-economic demands for states such scenario was not hard to imagine.
So it has been a long, frustrating wait over the years. For the generation that witnessed the halcyon days, it seemed like the club’s victories existed in a distant era that can only live in the memory – never to be experienced anymore.
Like most events not experienced first-hand it was sometimes a futile bid trying to recount how accomplished the Rangers team of the 1970s and 1980s had been to the younger generation. Even as a primary school pupil I could still glimpse the sullen looks on my parents’ faces that “dark” Saturday in 1978 when Bendel Insurance gave Rangers its most humiliating defeat then: a 3 – 0 thrashing in the Challenge Cup final at the National Stadium, in Lagos. Of course, the gloom was evident in the Olodi-Apapa neighbourhood where we lived as most traders – largely of Igbo descent – seemed just too shell-shocked to open their stalls.
So how did we lose the fervour felt by fans each time those great clubs of old staked their claim to superiority on the field? Equally pertinent is the question why stadiums were always filled to capacity during matches that involved the elite clubs few decades ago, but hardly so today even when the gates are thrown open to spectators.
Today, young and older fans will swarm the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, in Enugu, to witness the rebirth of history. The build-up has been a rather frenzied one, serving as a poignant reminder about how few and far between such happy moments have really been in the last three decades.
The team’s resurgence is reward for painstaking work brought to fruition by the collective skill and discipline of the players. But this season’s return to the zenith of club football stemmed as much from a factor that was just as crucial, even if intangible – the support given by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State. His support helped the management assemble a stellar team whose grit and skill won plaudits and earned the sort of results the club’s fans had long yearned.
But beyond the prompt release of substantial funds to the club and donation of a 32-seater bus and a saloon car – a huge gesture that boosted their capacity to attend away matches – an important question is how to seize the magic of the moment. How can the management sustain the enthusiasm of the fans which resulted in the unprecedented sale of the club’s replica jerseys, and purchase of tickets in large numbers to attend matches including those played in cities hundreds of kilometers away? What should be done to ensure the club retains and attracts the best talents as it once did in the past?
The answer may lie in a move Governor Ugwuanyi is contemplating that would liberalize the ownership of Rangers. “Before long a bill will go to the Enugu State House of Assembly for funding of sports,” he announced at a sports summit held recently in Enugu which attracted sports administrators from across Nigeria, among them the chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Pinnick, and ex-Golden Eaglets coach, Mr. Fanny Amun. “This bill will provide a platform for all of us to own Rangers International Football Club,” he added.
Cynics would dismiss as preposterous any hope that an average Nigerian youth could regard an indigenous club in the same way as they revere a European club. But the NFF boss is confident a revolution has begun. “This is digital thinking on the part of Enugu State governor,” Pinnick enthused at the sports summit organised by the Enugu State commissioner for youths and sports, Mr. Charles Chuka Ndukwe, in collaboration with Anjessy Events and Media Ltd. “It is a bill that will reward you. Rangers is one of the biggest and best brands we have in this country. When passed into law, this will enhance sports development in the state and make Rangers Football Club the richest club side in the country.”
Such is the prevailing optimism among fans that the idea of an open-roof drive around the city for the team had, in fact, been mooted even before the season’s penultimate match. As it was with Rangers’ away match to Ikorodu United played last week, the result of the match involving the club’s closest rival is as important as the match in Enugu. A loss for Rangers in the match against El-Kanemi today gives some hope to Rivers United. But they would have to win by as much as five goals to leapfrog Rangers to the top of the NPFL table, which is somewhat reassuring given that it involves a trip to Uyo, the home ground of Akwa United, their last opponent.
It’s credit to the players and their management that they aren’t reckoning with these technical details. This is the sort of infectious confidence the fans have missed for 32 years. It’s kudos too to Governor Ugwuanyi, the man whose support and bold initiatives helped inspire this rebirth. Surely, fortune still favours the bold.
But it’s not a bad idea to temper optimism with a dose of reality. A comment by Rangers International’s head coach, Imama Amakapabo, offers a cautionary tale. “We got the desired victory. We have 90 minutes to play for the trophy. The championship is in sight; we just have to keep our heads on our shoulders. It is not yet over,” he told journalists after last Sunday’s victory over Ikorodu United.
The governor shares such sentiments. Of course, he is just as exultant as every fan has expectedly been, but he would rather that the celebration begins after the final whistle.
● Ani is Senior Special Assistant on Research and Communication to the Enugu State governor, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

MENINGITIS. — 2nd October 2016

MENINGITIS.

— 2nd October 2016

Doc, please tell us something about meningitis, and why does it occur during dry-season?
I was to discuss “marijuana”, this week, based on interactions with my young patients, but when two people from the Northern part of the country, who had no contact with each other, variously requested that I discuss meningitis, I acquiesced.
What actually is meningitis?
Meningitis is defined as an inflammation of the meninges, which surround the brain and spinal-cord. It is common in Northern Savannah of Africa, which includes Northern Nigeria, but can occur anywhere in Nigeria. The disease is known as “sankara”, by the Hausas, which means “stiff-neck”, according to Prof Perry, it is greatly feared in the North, and it is thought to be caused by evil spirits.
With advent of modern medicine, and the discovery of pencillin therapy, the disease is now easily treated.
Epidiomology of meningitis.
♥ Close contact of people promotes transmission of meningitis.
♥ Infected individuals usually carry the organism in the nose and throat for sometime, varying from 2 weeks to 10 months. This local infection immunizes the host from meningitis infection, but can still transmit it to whoever he comes in contact with.
♥ In a few people, who have no antibody to the invading strain, the organism enters the blood. Here it multiplies and causes septicaemia. In about 1 in 1000 people it lodges in the meninges to multiply further and cause meningitis.
♥ Epidemics of meningitis occur in a great belt of Northern Savannah, which stretches from old Sudan, and the north of Uganda across Chad, the North of Nigeria, southern Niger, into Ivory Coast and Mali.
♥ The number of cases of meningitis starts to increase as the temperature and humidity rise and reaches a peak in March and April when it is very hot, and humid, according to Prof E H Parry. The incidence drops sharply when the rains begin. The explanation, derived from studies conducted in Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), is that during the cold dry season, people crowd together in the small huts for shelter. Transmission is high and the number of carriers increases greatly.
♥ The incidence of meningitis is highest in the 5 – 15 years of age, and more frequent in males. It is uncommon in the very young, and rare in the old, probably because they have frequently been exposed to meningococcus and are immune.
What are the clinical symptoms of meningitis?
■ Disease starts with fever.
■ Increasingly severe bursting headache, which may radiate down the neck.
■ Neck and back become stiff. Photophobia, patient lies curled up -meningism.
■ Young children may convulse.
■ 10% of patients complain of muscle and joint pains, plus abdominal pain with diarrhoea.
■ A few patients become blind or deaf, but this is not noticed in their confusion.
■ Conjunctivitis, sore throats and red spots on the body due to septicaemia.
■ Signs of heart failure may be present or develop, due to overload with intravenous fluid.
■ An occasional patient bleeds from the nose, with redness of the skin, and inflammation of the sclera.
■ There may be allergic complications, due to drug reaction.
How is meningitis treated? This is three pronged;
1) Ameliorate signs and symptoms – doctors and nurses will take charge.
2) Eradication of infections through intravenous drugs like benzy-penicillin and chloramphenicol.
3) Prevention of neurological sequelae.
★ Therapy is directed in the use of anti-microbial drugs based on spinal-fluid culture & sensitivity results.
★ Close family contacts should be given prophylaxis, to prevent secondary infection.
Are there vaccinations for meningitis?
a) Three vaccines target the three-types of bacteria that cause meningitis, available in all health centres in Nigeria
What is our take this week?
1) Now that dry season is approaching in Nigeria. We should avoid overcrowding and maintain adequate ventilation in our sleeping places.
2) Any child with fever, who shows signs of neck stiffness should be rushed to the nearest hospital immediately, and if meningitis is confirmed, all those who had come in contact with him should be given prophylaxis. Please be properly guided.
Dr Ojum Ekeoma Ogwo.