The African Union and the World Health Organization (WHO) today
called for immediate and comprehensive measures to end the significant toll of
tuberculosis among children in Africa. The appeal was made jointly with the
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and the Stop TB Partnership
on the side-lines of the Seventy-second session of the WHO Regional Committee
for Africa in Lomé, Togo.
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
African Union And WHO Urge Swift Action Against Childhood Tuberculosis
Nigeria: How Drug Lords May Influence 2023 Poll
I was in deep conversations with stakeholders in the organised
civil Rights community in the Country on the revelation that was made by the
then Anambra State’s governor-elect Professor Chukwuma Soludo shortly after he
emerged as the successor in office of the immediate past Chief executive of
that state that drug barons have captured political powers in Nigeria.
The erudite Professor of Banking and Finance then proceeded at
length to offer profound exposition of his claim. As we progress we will cite
his assertion in full.
It was in that same period that the Chief executive officer of the National Drugs Laws Enforcement Agency, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa, hinted that the agency may conduct drug tests on politicians aspiring for political offices.
Nurturing Creativity In Young Learners Is Crucial In Today’s Changing World
The United Nations have designated 2021 as the International
Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development. Around the world, partly
due to the pandemic, people are drawing on their creativity like never before
to find innovative, creative solutions to the problems and challenges we face.
Creative skills are always in demand, and this applies to many sectors and careers across the globe, including in the fields of research, computing and the performing arts. A study by the UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (2021) shows that employment in creative industries is growing at four times the rate of the UK workforce.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Liberian Women Subjected To Modern-Day Slavery!
...The Danger Of Human Trafficking
By Rufus Dio Neufville
Why are some people so wicked? Why do they keep others in bondage? Are they not aware of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons? These questions are tailored to put into context the abuse of Liberian women in the Republic of Oman. They were deceived or coerced into modern-day slavery by human traffickers who created the illusion of prosperity on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula – thousands of miles from West Africa.
Human trafficking is extremely abusive. It takes away a person’s autonomy or right to self-determination. The victim becomes the “personal property” of the trafficker. The United Nations defines Trafficking in persons as: “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation”.
2023: Nigeria Can’t Afford Another Lame Duck Commander-in-Chief!
By Gbadebo Adeyeye
One thing is certain: we cannot learn anything new from a dope; and those politicians who believe that democracy is nothing but exploitation, are no better. That is why Abraham Lincoln warned, decades ago, that humanity should “beware of rashness; but with energy and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us victory.”
To
many of us, we can say categorically that there is no strong assurance of
achieving any political victory in our country unless Nigerians join hands
together in 2023 to choose someone who is highly qualified for the office in
which wisdom, intelligence, good character, and guts are the requirements.
The reason is simple. In times like this, nothing is more important to hardworking Nigerians than a government that can defend its defenders and protect its protectors! It is true that a leader may not be able to solve all the problems of the future but he must be able to solve the problems of his generation. Failure to do that is a failure in the journey of life.
The Trouble With Our Political Parties
By Nick Dazang
Nigeria’s 18 political parties are the pre-eminent and foremost stakeholders in the electoral process. They are the chief beneficiaries of elections in that they field candidates and contest for elective offices.
Nigeria’s political parties, to some extent, meet the classical definition of political parties. They are organised largely by people who think alike. They contest elections and field candidates. They approximate to special purpose vehicles and platforms for recruiting leaders who then proceed to contest elections. They canvass certain platforms and programmes. And they provide the voter with a number of candidates from which to choose.
Thursday, August 18, 2022
2023 Places Extraordinary Responsibility On Ordinary Nigerians
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
The 2023 elections are still six months away but the polity is already heated up. Expectedly, governance at all levels has stopped and the resources of the Nigerian state have been cornered by those in the corridors of power, as of right, to prosecute the electoral battle.
That is what is called “structure” in local political parlance.
That also explains why the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, will remind
anyone that cares to listen that with 22 state governors, the 2023 presidential
election is already in the kitty.
What the chieftains of the party are saying is that having captured the resources of 22 states, they already have an enviable war chest for the battle.
Nigeria: Pains Of Misgovernance Have No Tribal Marks!
By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
Many Nigerians are stuck with zero experience of what it means to live in a decently run society. Laden with a long history of mostly inept, insensitive and less-than patriotic leaders, it seems abnormal to expect any bit of improvement in their daily existence from the government. Massive infrastructural decay and regular reports of primitive accumulations of illicit wealth by light-fingered public officers have since lost their capacities to shock.
In fact, most people
have since adjusted their lives to perennially absorb the vicious impacts of these
debilitating vices. They only extract some bit of cold comfort from continually
reassuring themselves that they are in such a hopeless and helpless situation where
these excruciating fallouts of leadership failure will remain the resilient, inseparable
companions they are condemned to perpetually coexist with – which will always
be there to hurt their country and diminish their joy, peace and fulfillment.
Those who lack the
resources to obtain some form of alleviations resign themselves to fate hoping that
they would be able to sustain the capacity to continue enduring these searing rewards
of successive wayward and rudderless leaderships – which will remain their
perpetual sources of torments.
Even the Nigerians who reside in well-ordered societies, where leaders are accountable and basic amenities are meticulously provided and maintained, once they touch down on Nigerian soil automatically adjust their minds to endure the excruciating realities of life in Nigeria. They only derive some consolation from the fact that they would soon jet out again to where sanity and orderly existence are taken for granted.
Muslim-Muslim Ticket: The Shortest Distance Between Nigeria And Islamic Caliphate
By Hamilton Odunze
When Bola Ahmed Tinubu chose to run on a Muslim-Muslim ticket, he set Nigeria on the shortest distance to becoming an Islamic Caliphate. But unfortunately, a Tinubu win would put Nigeria on a slippery slope; no one can predict where the country’s religious balance would rest.
And if you thought that palpable ethnic, religious and economic tensions would compel Tinubu to be thoughtful and mindful of his choices. In that case, you are as far away from reality as possible. Instead, Tinubu looks more like a man auditioning for another title in bravery. Therefore, he throws caution to the wind this time and does not care what image of Nigeria the world sees.
When Tinubu decided to run on a Muslim-Muslim ticket, he signaled that his race for Nigeria’s presidency is not about 50 per cent of Nigerians who profess the Christian faith. He also signaled that his race is not about an inclusive Nigeria, and it is not even about democracy. If it is about democracy, he will make choices that bring Nigerians together. Instead, he further divided Nigerians for political gain and his ambition to be president.
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Corruption And The Failure Of The Nigerian State
By Sam Amadi
"It was a big deal that the VP attended a local hospital to have a low-risk surgery"
It is official. Nigeria has been caught in a fiscal trap. In the second quarter of 2022, the country spent all its revenue and borrowed more to service its debt. This means that Nigeria is broke, even if its Debt-to-GDP ratio is still within ‘prudential’ level.
But Nigeria is a country that is blessed with abundant natural resources. It is a country that has earned hundreds of billions of dollars from oil exports but has no good hospitals, nevertheless. The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, had a minor surgery in a Nigerian hospital, and it was a heroic deed that elicited praise and celebration. That is how bad healthcare is in the country. All Nigerian notables attend foreign hospitals for even the most routine checkup. So, it was a big deal that the VP attended a local hospital to have a low-risk surgery.
Is Buhari A Nigerian?
By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa
The President of any country is the number one citizen of that nation, all things being equal. He is first amongst equals, being the one that all other citizens look up to for leadership and direction. The President is the first ambassador of the nation and so the rest of the world views the country through the President. It is no wonder therefore that most laws defining the qualifications of those who aspire to the office of the President have a major requirement that the aspirant must be a citizen of the country; he must carry the life and blood of the nation, which would be the engine of the patriotism that he takes with him to that exalted office.
You can imagine the embarrassment it will cause any nation to
discover that its President is a foreigner! In Nigeria, under and by virtue of
section 131 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999
(as amended), ‘a person shall be qualified for election to the office of
President if (a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth’. It is therefore an
anathema for anyone to aspire to be elected as the President of Nigeria when he
is not a Nigerian citizen through the bloodline.
The Constitution is deliberate in putting emphasis on the phrase ‘a citizen of Nigeria by birth’. In other words, Nigeria must run in the blood of the President and not just any type of citizenship. This is so because by virtue of section 26 of the Constitution, you can become a Nigerian citizen other than by birth, through registration or naturalization, but this category of citizens cannot aspire to lead Nigeria as its President. So, if it can be proved that anyone occupying the position of President of Nigeria is not a citizen of Nigeria by birth, then his presidency can be queried.
Peter Obi As Object Of Sponsored Attacks!
By Emeka Alex Duru
There seems to be the tendency by other political parties and their presidential candidates, of leaving the burning issues in the land and focusing on Peter Obi, the standard bearer of the Labour Party, LP. This is usually the case when these other candidates or their supporters grant television or newspaper interviews. As if these are not enough, they have flooded the internet and other social media networks with hired hands, whose briefs are to attack and bruise the image of Obi. Foot soldiers of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are the most visible in this cheap exercise.
In doing this, there is nothing being spared, including Obi’s
family and his private life. They go to the extent of creating fictitious
accounts on the social media, cloning identities of his supporters and making
frivolous assertions to mislead the public to believing that such poor outings
are from Obi. Among these puerile attempts was the alleged letter from the
Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, purportedly asking Tinubu, to support
Peter Obi and take care of his health. The aim was to pitch Obi against the
Ghanaian President and his country.
Obi’s media team has, however, punctured the move by explaining that any publication from his group is always properly signed and the origin very clearly spelt out.
Monday, August 15, 2022
Bestriding the Ethnic Politics: A Case Of Peter Obi
By Ndubuisi Nwafor
“This
dimension of our identity politics is frightening, but it’s not an unusual
experience” – Gimba Kakanda, Daily Trust, 9 August, 2022
Nigeria’s political, social, cultural, economic and religious space is currently awash and agog with political activities. Such activities include ethnic, ageist, and other toxic innuendoes with the propensity to scuttle the very existence of our dear country Nigeria.
The history of Nigeria’s power transitions may have assumed a
parabola tangent, ranging from elections, coups and even appointments as was
the case with transition from IBB to Chief Ernest Shonekan, but in all, good
fortune and electoral popularity played major roles.
The argument that South East has been displaced politically in the power equation of Nigeria is an honest and painful truth, however, this situation is both self-inflicted and also as a result of festering fear of Igbo domination in the contemporary Nigeria.
Interrogating Buhari Through The Prism Of Gen Bamaiyi
By Tunde Olusunle
Except for the release and launch of his controversial book, Vindication of a General in 2017, which accorded him some media visibility, Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi, has maintained a very low profile over the years. For those who do not know, or who have forgotten him, Bamaiyi, a lieutenant general, was the last Chief of Army Staff, (COAS), under the rulership of Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s one time Head of State.
Abacha was in office between
November 1993 and June 1998. Bamaiyi spent eight years, in the aftermath of the
enthronement of civil rule in 1999, in prison. He was supposedly implicated in
the attempted murder of Alex Ibru, founder and publisher of The
Guardian newspapers who also served as Minister of Internal Affairs,
under Abacha.
Ibru who allowed professional independence for his newspaper stable under Abacha’s unpopular fistic rule, was shot on Falomo Bridge in Lagos early February 1996, by suspected agents of state. Principal suspect in the attempted Ibru murder case, Barnabas Jabila, known by the alias “Sergeant Rogers” a notorious hitman for the Abacha killer squad, had framed Bamaiyi for ordering the annihilation of the newspaper magnate.
Nigeria: Is This How To Run A Government?
By Dele Sobowale
“First of
all, don’t forget that there are local and global financial markets. What is
their job? It is to lend money. If you don’t borrow those people are going to
lose their jobs.” – Fashola
Minister of Works and Housing, Report, July 31,
2022.
I had to check four times to be sure that the person being
interviewed was our former Governor of Lagos State. He was once
everybody’s favourite Governor in Nigeria. Most people were not sound enough in
economics to realise that he also had far more money to spend than any other
Governor.
It would have been interesting to find out how really good he was if he was Governor of Nasarawa or Taraba State. He is now Minister of Works and Housing – before he was also Minister of Power. Now, he has no financial advantage over other Ministers; so we can judge.
Friday, August 12, 2022
2023 Presidential Election: Can We Get It Right?
By Chiedu Uche Okoye
Why is Nigeria, a country endowed with humungous human and material resources, still trapped in the cocoon of economic and technological quagmire and backwardness? Why has she continued to bring up the rear on the global ladder of countries’ development? The answer to the above question is not far-fetched. The military incursions into our politics had dealt a severe and devastating blow to our democratic growth and national development. And we have not got it right, politically since Nigeria became a sovereign country in 1960.
The departing British imperialists laid the foundation for the egregious culture of imposition of national leaders on the populace in Nigeria. They surreptitiously helped Alhaji Tafawa Balewa to become our Prime Minister in 1960. Was Tafawa Balewa better than Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who were intellectual giants and political juggernauts? Not surprisingly, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa failed to unite the Peoples of Nigeria and set the country on the path of sustainable economic growth and irreversible technological development.
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Niger Republic As Nigeria’s 37th State
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Constitutionally, Nigeria has 36 states and a Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja. But under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch, the country seems to have added one more state – Niger Republic – making it 37. The 37th state, ironically enjoys more federal attention than some of the country’s bona-fide states. Nigeriens enjoy more rights than most Nigerians.
It may sound absurd that the president of a country has greater affinity for another country than his own. But that is one of the incongruities that the Buhari government has thrown up in the last seven and half years.
It didn’t start today, though. As military head of state in the 1980s, Major-General Buhari allegedly supported a Nigerien, Ide Oumarou, rather than a Nigerian, Peter Onu, for the post of the Secretary-General of the then Organisation of African Unity, OAU, which is now African Union, AU.
An editorial comment in the Vanguard Newspaper of February 3, 2015 put it thus: “Between 1983 and 1985, Peter Onu of Nigeria was Acting Secretary-General of the OAU. At the 1985 Summit in Addis Ababa, statesmen like Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania, lobbied for his election as substantive Secretary-General. However, there was a major stumbling block to Peter Onu’s candidature: his Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, was campaigning against him.
“… In the election of the OAU Secretary-General in 1985, Buhari voted against Nigeria and for Niger instead. He secured the election of Ide Oumarou, a Fulani man from Niger; as opposed to an Igbo man from Nigeria. By so doing, Buhari became the first and only Head of State in the history of modern international relations to vote against his country in favour of his tribe.”
Impeaching Buhari? History Will Deliver A Harsher Verdict!
By Olu Fasan
Two weeks ago, some senators gave President Muhammadu Buhari six weeks to tackle the worsening insecurity in the country or face impeachment. Speaking after a closed-door session, the Senate minority leader, Phillip Aduda, said: “So, we agreed that we will give the President an ultimatum failing for which we will move to give an impeachment notice.”
Of course, the threat to impeach President Buhari is not a credible one, and the presidency wasted no time in poopooing it. In a statement, the presidency dismissed the threat as “performative and babyish antics”. Femi Adesina, President Buhari’s senior media adviser, later described those behind the impeachment threat as “the minority of minorities” and accused them of giving “flippant ultimatums”, saying “it’s bravado”!
In his characteristic condescension, Adesina was making the point that, with both Houses of the National Assembly controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, the dissident legislators lacked the numbers, two-thirds majority of all members of each House, to impeach the President. True. But that would change if APC members in the National Assembly put country before party, as British Conservative Members of Parliament did recently when they removed their own errant leader and prime minister, Boris Johnson, from power.
Battling With Terrorism Under Gen Buhari
By Segun Ige
NO doubt terrorism has taken different shades and sizes under the Buhari administration, ranging from political, economic and even administrative. The difficulty arising from nipping in the bud these manifestations of terrorism derives from the overshadowing insecurity challenge immersing the polity, which is a fatal distraction to nation-building and national development after over 60 years of independence.
The threat of terror – particularly targeted towards the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, together with Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, is most arguably the hallmark of danger and recklessness of any nominal democratic entity.
A pathetically torturous video of Abuja-Kaduna train abductees, which poses a psychological pressure on Buhari, has precipitated a certain Peoples Democratic Party’s minority caucus in the Senate – championed by Senator Philip Aduda – to cast impeachment threat on Mr President – “All we are saying: #BuhariMustGo.”
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
INEC’s Daylight Disenfranchisement Of Nigerians
By Bolanle Bolawole
The supposedly Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has ended the registration of (new) voters despite the fact that there were hundreds and thousands of would-be or intending voters milling around voter registration centres or points all over the country. We saw pictures of agitated Nigerians struggling to get registered.
*INEC Chair, Yakubu
Many slept at the registration centres. Others got there very early in the morning and left late in the night, doing that day-in day-out; yet, they failed to get their names on the voters’ register. I experienced the INEC shenanigans at its Agege office in Lagos where prospective voters were directed to come as early as 4am to register and then return by 8pm to start the waiting, pushing and shoving battle! And no matter how early one got there, there were close to 50 names already on the make-shift register! And only 70 names, out of the hundreds milling around, were entertained per day!
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