From JULIANA TAIWO, Abuja
Saturday, October 09, 2010

To say that Donatus Arau, an indigene of Nsukka, in Enugu State and a trailer driver with Julius Berger, is a depressed man is an understatement. One is not surprised to find him surrounded by his colleagues and relatives trying to encourage him to take it easy. Their eyes follow every of his move and they express concern when he is lost in thoughts or heave a sigh of grief. Arua was hostile giving directions on phone to his house, at the Julius Berger Camp, in Maitama District, Abuja, but you’ll understand when you come face to face with him and you see a picture of a broken man that might never recover from a disaster that has be fallen his family.

He is yet to come to terms with the fact that the twin bomb blasts of October 1 claimed his three sons (Ambrose Onyeme Ozioko (27), John Chidera Arau (11) and Paul Onyekachi (7) and the driver, Alfred Ona (32), who has since become an adopted son even though they were both working for the same organisation, Julius Berger.

Alfred was on duty on the fateful day, as he was one of those that took Julius Berger workers to Eagles Square to participate in the Independence celebration march past. Donatus and his wife Lovelyn, had left the house as early as 7 a.m. for a family visit, hence they were not home when the three boys decided to accompany Alfred to watch the various activities at the Eagles Square on that fateful day.
Alfred had always taken the boys out once in while for a drive around town, especially when he was taking the Julius Berger workers to work. So, when he called their parents on phone to inform them that he had taken the three boys to Eagles Square, they did not expect the worst, though they would have wished they did not accompany him on this particular day.

How did the couple hear about the tragedy? Arua said: “Myself and my wife were still where we were when I got a call from a colleague at about 3 p.m. asking if Alfred was back and I asked why was he asking me because I was not yet back at the camp. He replied that there had been bomb blasts at the Eagles Square and they had been looking for him ever since. I screamed: ‘He has my three kids with him o!’

“I started dialing his number, but it was not going through. I asked my wife to give me his number, probably, I had the wrong one. I dialed again it was the same number and still it was off. Then I called his elder brother, Kenneth, to ask if he had heard from his brother, Alfred. He said he had not but was going to call his number and call me back. My wife and I hurriedly left where we were and returned to the camp to await words from anybody who had any news. When none was forthcoming, we hit the road, going from one hospital to another searching for our sons among the injured. But they were nowhere to be found.

“Then we got information that two of our drivers were injured and were at the Julius Berger clinic at Life Camp and we rushed there. It was there, we were told what happened. One of the drivers said they were behind Alfred, who held my youngest son’s (Paul) hand, while Romanus held John getting ready to head for Eagles Square, after they had discharged the Julius Berger workers who were to take part in the march past when, all of a sudden, there was a bomb blast.

“When I heard this, I was heartbroken and I gave up hope, not because I thought they were affected by the bomb blasts but that they must have been trampled upon as a result of stampede that resulted from that blast. On hearing this, we intensified our search until late in the night then we went to the police station at Maitama to report. We were told they would only take a missing person’s case after 24 hours. We headed for Radio House, but when we checked the time and found that it was 11 p.m., we had to go home and wait for the next day, Saturday.
“We started again at Wuse General Hospital, the next day. We asked to be taken to the morgue. It was there I saw my kids (he broke down here uncontrollably and even had to excuse himself for a few minutes before he could continue. “They were badly burnt. I recognised them because of the cross they had on their necks, Alfred’s brother, Kenneth, refused to believe that his brother was dead and pleaded with the morgue attendants to pull off the shoes and stockings his brother had on to confirm, via the birthmark he had, if indeed, he was the one. On sighting the mark, he fainted.”

Donatus recalled the last conversation he had with his youngest son that morning before they left for their outing. He revealed: “My last son, Paul, had queried why I was not wearing the same outfit as my wife, since we both had it. My wife supported him and said: ‘Don’t mind your father, my son.’ Then he turned to my wife and said: ‘but mum you have the same outfit as his; why not change and wear that instead, since he doesn’t want to wear what you have on?’

“We were that close to our kids. It was one beautiful family and now those blasts have claimed them. I thank God for courage and the fact that my daughters are still around and did not join them in that ride of death. I will forever miss my sons. I won’t remain the same again. I have lost all I have in Abuja and I will bury three sons from my house and another adopted son, Alfred, because we are all from Nsukka village. In fact, I am going to bury four sons because Alfred was also my son.

“My last son, Paul, just started primary one, while John just started primary five. Ambrose Ozioko, who is actually the last child of my sister had been with me since his birth and so he is my son. I can’t deny him in death now). He had finished school and had completed training to become a trailer driver as myself and I was just about getting him driver’s licence to start working when this happened. Those behind this dastardly act have destroyed my house (he broke down again; this time uncontrollably. One had no choice but to join in the grief).”

On what he will want done to the perpetrators if caught, Arua said: “What can I do to them? Let God take control. If I kill somebody today and I am arrested, I know I will be arrested and the laws of the land will take its course. In the same vein, let the laws of the land take its course. My wife, Lovelyn, is still in shock and so are my daughters. Thank God for good neighbours as well as those from my village and our church members. They have been around us. If not, maybe the situation would have been worse today.”

Asked if the government and his company, Julius Berger, have reached out to him since President Jonathan promised to pay compensations to affected families, Arua said: “Yes, they have. I got a call to go to Command Headquarters, opposite old CBN in Garki to make a statement and do other necessary things. I did that yesterday (Monday, October 4), but I am yet to bury my kids because as a staffer of Julius Berger, they have a role to play and I have been waiting to hear from my management, because I will want to transport their corpses home.”

Vote IBB, vote tragedy –Hafsat, MKO’s daughter

From JULIANA TAIWO
Sunday, November 21, 2010

•Hafsat
Hafsat Abiola-Costello is a young activist promoting women, youth and democracy in Nigeria and around the world. She is also Executive Director of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), a non-governmental organisation that seeks to empower democracy and development in Nigeria by strengthening organizations and creating initiatives that advance women. KIND’s main programme is Kudra, a programme that offers leadership training to 1,250 young women across Nigeria each year.

In this encounter, Hafsat, who was in the country to watch SEVEN, a groundbreaking documentary play premiered in Abuja, which portrays seven women’s rights activists from around the globe, including herself, speaks on her expectations for the 2011 elections, her views on the candidates for the presidential election, including former military president, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, who is also in the race. Excerpts…

What have you been up to lately?
My mother was killed in 1996. So this is the 14th year since her death and I have started a process of reflection within Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND). The idea for KIND was born as my mother died because I wanted us to send a clear message to the military that had assassinated her that in this they will not succeed. I wanted to have an organization that would continue to express our experience. My mother was married to a man who had power and wealth. Both of them were happiest whenever they were with the poor people or serving poor people. So I wanted KIND to do more to really capture that spirit.

A lot of our work is with public universities, with young women in public universities like in Calabar, Jos, Maiduguri, Lagos and Awka. Even the girls in the universities are privileged because many girls don’t get into universities. I want to see how we could assist the women that are most vulnerable in the Nigerian society, that do not really get support like most of the women in the rural areas. So I have gone to some villages to spend time with women in rural communities, to talk with them and ask them how KIND can serve them. We are preparing for the next phase of KIND’s work where we are actually going to have direct impact on the most vulnerable women in Nigeria.

You are trying to get women into politics. What is that all about? Is it just casting votes or running for office?
We want the whole range. We want women in Nigeria to be able to express themselves fully. So we have a leadership programme where we train young women to become leaders in their communities. By this programme we are trying to change the understanding of the word leadership, so that is not about political power in the person like the president. Everybody has power, everybody can be a leader because everybody can serve. That is a saying from Martin Luther King. We want women to understand this and to understand that in a country with as many problems as Nigeria there is ample opportunity for leadership. A lot of the women we train we encourage them to vie for offices in their universities or within their department and to do more than just vie for positions like treasurer, but to vie for position of president or vice president.
So we have been doing that for eight years, I mean our leadership programme, and supported by the European Commission, Corp Aid in The Netherlands and different foundations to train about 1,250 young women across Nigeria each year.

Now we want to take another step. A few years ago we launched 30-by-11, which will probably become 30-by-15 really. And the idea is that we want women represented in 30 per cent of all public positions of government in Nigeria. On that campaign we have been meeting leaders from the different parties and training women politicians in different states in Nigeria. This year that project is funded by UNIFEM, which is funding KIND and Baobab, and together we are training women politicians.

Look at the case of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. When she served as Minister of Finance, her record showed clearly she was better than many of the people that came before her. And it was a clear case and sign of encouragement to all Nigerians that when we encourage women, the whole country wins. That is the argument we must make time and again. That is why we must insist that qualified women be given the opportunity. Incompetence is what is making Nigeria poor. With competent leaders we can transform Nigeria and I believe that if we can ensure that what we get are competent women, we will transform Nigeria even faster.

Don’t you think you should be targeting the men in your enlightenment if they keep putting their wives, sisters and daughters in positions rather than those that merit it?
We actually do that. We have plays that we call V-monologue, and sometimes we work with female producers. But recently we have been working with a male producer, Wale Oguntokun. After we gathered stories of Nigerian women and collated them into our V-monologue the Nigerian story, Wale kept getting men asking of their own stories told as well. So we now do the ultimate face-off where we talk about women and men stories, and in this case is a kind of conversation between men and women.

The truth is if we really want the men to work with us, we cannot just tell them what we think. We must have a conversation. It is in conversation that change can happen. So I think showing respect for the male perspective, engaging them in dialogue creates a situation where women will be better informed about what men think and then men will be better informed about what women think. Together we can start coming to a new understanding of what we could do as Nigerian people.

Another thing we have been trying to do is to set up a meeting with the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria to discuss this issue. We will also like that kind of opportunity with the Peoples Democratic Party leadership and the leadership of the various parties. Actually, as part of our uniform project, we have had meetings with some of the parties.

One thing I have found out is that men are not opposed to women. They are also not opposed to women leadership. I am often surprised by how much support there is for women in Nigeria and for the issue of women leadership in Nigeria even from men. But when you think of Nigeria’s history you cannot really be surprised. It is when you think about our history from the colonial state, which marginalized women, that we will be surprised. But when we think of the pre-colonial history in Nigeria, it is very clear ours is a history across all our different people. Our women were strong, played vital roles and were respected. When I lived in Asia, the Asian woman that is idealized has a tiny voice. She is so small and you can even consider breaking her. But when you see the African woman, this is not what you think. The African woman is strong, has a clear strong voice and she is not some little thing that you can just set aside. There is power in the African woman and this power is recognized, respected and valued by African men.

What do you think of the First Lady’s Women for Change Initiative?
I am very impressed with it. I love the fact that she is using the position of the First Lady, which is a highly respected position in Nigeria, to press home an issue that is the concern of half the population in Nigeria, and to make sure that the country is ready to carve out a post for women. She is taking this issue to all the states; this is very powerful. But my concern is that we have had first ladies in Nigeria in the past who did similar things like Better Life for Rural Women launched by the wife of General Ibrahim Babangida. So much effort was expended. Also that of Mrs Mariam Abacha; something on Family Support Programme.

I think the issue of women’s role in Nigeria is bigger than the office of the first lady. What we must look to do is to make sure there is something that is always done by a state in Nigeria not just by the first lady that takes it on or doesn’t take it on. Supposing we have another first lady next year and she wants to work on handicap issues? The point is that this issue of engaging the women is central to all issues. It cannot be at the mercy of who is in office and the interest of the wife of who is in office. So in some way we must achieve something so that the state is able to carry this (campaign) forward. The state has responsibility to women in Nigeria, which it is failing to meet. While I have respect for all the efforts Mrs Patience Jonathan is making, I think we have to make sure that it doesn’t end, even if her husband wins, after the years in office.

How would you rate the performance of women in the National Assembly?
I actually will rate them highly. They have worked very hard and it is so interesting that the women in the legislature in Nigeria are the same as you and I. They cannot afford to do just what the men do. If men don’t do well people will not think too much of it. But if women don’t do well, people would say, ‘look at her, she has gotten that position and she is not doing well.’ There is too much pressure on women to perform even better than their male counterparts. So we shouldn’t be surprised that the women in the House of Representatives or the Senate are really working very hard.

They research bills and try to come out with bills that are relevant. But, of course, sometimes they make mistakes. For instance, Dame Ufot Ekaette’s bill on dress code, which was a misjudgment on her part. I think in general, they are very focused, very hardworking. It is a pity because you see all the studies that have been done around the world have shown that until you have a critical mass of women in the legislature, we would not be able to see the impact of having women in the legislature.

Nigeria now has only a token, about 7.5 per cent. This is nothing. In fact, it is an insult to the Nigerian woman, and given the fact that agriculture is done by women, given the weight that Nigerian women have in the country’s economy and society, I think the percentage is an insult, especially when you think of Rwanda having over 40 per cent. That is one of the highest rates given to women in the world. So I think, we need more women in the National Assembly.

Aside training, do you assist in getting funding since Nigerian politics is all about money?
I think this is a problem we can solve. We must first disabuse our minds that the only currency that the woman politician or any politician brings to the table is money. For instance, look at General Babangida, who brings a lot of money into political campaign now and we will see how far that money will take him. There is limit to what money can do. Yes, you need some money to print posters and to get your messages across. But another currency any politician must have is goodwill, which you can build not with so much money.

You did mention IBB and how far money could take him during this election campaign…
I think IBB is an intelligent man and he is making an equation, almost a mathematical equation, which has to do with how many votes he can buy and that is the most important thing to ensure he wins the candidacy for this election. I think that what he is not counting on is that Nigerians are also fed up with people that make promises and give little results, people that make promises and give us explanations, excuses as to why they did not fulfil their promises. What we need now, and I think many Nigerians are of this mind, are people that can give us results; leadership that we can rely on and trust.

When I look at IBB I am fascinated. I don’t really watch soccer but even the little soccer I have watched few times, there is something called an own goal. It seems to me that he so enjoys dribbling that he is not opposed to scoring against his own team. But not just against himself; if it is against himself who will care? But it is against his own country, against his own country’s interest, and such a person cannot rule Nigeria. If Nigerians allow him another opportunity, it will be national tragedy.

We celebrated 50 years, of which IBB was ruler for eight years. Those 50 years we celebrated in October we all agree that the country had gone so far from the national plan that it conceived at the point of independence. I think the worst thing we can do is put somebody again in an office, who for eight years was one of the key reasons that it went off course.

But many Nigerians reading this will think you are saying this out of bitterness?
No, because I am not that kind of person. It is because I am an African and Africans believe in the ancestral place. Everybody must die. One thing that was known even at the point of our birth was that one day we will no longer be here. But the thing about Africans, which I love, is that we have a deep belief that when we die we become ancestors. So the parents that I had were such beautiful people that when they died I was happy for them that they had lived their lives in such a way that they could cross the lands of the ancestors with no regrets. They had really given their very best, so let them go and rest.

We all must do that at some point. So it is not about bitterness against IBB. If there is any concern based on my parents’ sacrifice is that they believed in Nigeria. That is so much greater than what it is and I will wish for us not to take decisions that will place us in jeopardy of realizing our full potential. I believe setting us up to have a leader that thinks we are so small that we can be bought with money, I think will set us back.

What we need is a leader that is so mad about Nigeria that when people tell him this cannot be done he just forges ahead. IBB is not such a leader. When he came into office, the Western nations were telling him that he could devalue Nigeria’s currency. But when General Buhari was in office and The Economist did a research, it was very clear that Nigeria didn’t even have an export sector. That the area of export for Nigeria, which was oil the price, was determined at the international market.

So Nigeria’s currency had no bearing on how much of this oil we sold; that there was nothing to be gained in this direction. What it causes is a shock to the system, a shock that then with a few people’s sense of insecurity they don’t have the values of what their earnings are because all of a sudden the currency had been devalued, prices had gone up because of the relative exchange of goods and that even fuelled corruption. Once people feel insecure about their future you can buy them and this is what he did. Somebody that even in spite of all the evidence from Nigerian and some other experts that we do not need to take this road, you sold us out to so-called international experts. This I think is a failing.

I lived in China for three years and there I had to learn a great deal about a country where its leadership is not selling out its people. This is a leadership that is highly disciplined. They take international experts opinions, do their own research and really consider their own situation and ask, will this work for us? Because in the end when things go haywire, these international experts will just go to the airport and get on the plane and leave. It is the Nigerians or the Chinese or whoever that is sitting down there that suffer.

I do not believe IBB has the respect he required to lead the Nigerian people. I understand the situation. He feels he will soon be going to the land of the ancestors and feels that no one will welcome him because he has made such a mess. People would be angry and say such a great nation Nigeria would have been, look at what you did. That your ineptitude, lack of character and lack of courage made a mess of this. So he is trying to quickly repair the ground, and I want him to be able to do that because I am a compassionate person. But what I am saying is that he need not do that by seeking to rule Nigeria again.

For anyone to want to rule Nigeria, you must be assured of the person’s credibility. It can’t just be something we do out of mercy or something we do out of our own rational thinking and intelligence. Based on the record, he does not qualify for this position. Somebody that keeps failing primary one does not get promoted to primary two. Let’s leave him where he is. This is a man that is consistently thinking about his own interest above the national interest. Such a person cannot be our leader please!

Who should be our next president among those you see preparing for the 2011 elections?
I am very impressed with quite a few people. First of all, I am very impressed with General Buhari. I have been told that his campaign especially in the North is so grassroots-oriented. That tells me this is a man that is not afraid of our people and he loves our people. My concern for him is that when I raise his name with people they say no, he is too stiff or that he is too much only for the north, that he is doesn’t have good relationships and doesn’t listen to other groups. It is sad that people feel this way.

I don’t feel this way but so long as many groups in Nigeria feel this way, it is not likely that he will emerge. I think that Nuhu Ribadu is also a credible aspirant, a very strong aspirant who has shown that he is ready to take on the most important issue – corruption. Corruption has always been a problem but was made worse and institutionalized under IBB. I think Ribadu can tackle this issue but some people tell me that he has his own skeletons and all that. I don’t really believe that of him from the much I have seen of him. I also do not believe we need Jesus Christ but we just need a Nigerian that is better than the others. We have to go step by step and I think he is better that most f the others. He has goodwill, good intension, the integrity and courage to meet them.

So if given a chance I feel things will really go well in Nigeria.
Goodluck Jonathan. to be honest with you, I hear he means well. His wife is very strong and grassroots-oriented. Certainly he has good academic qualifications. One thing I like about him is that within the PDP he has less skeletons in his closet than others, which is very important because he will need that credibility if he is going to deal with corruption. So for those reasons, I think he is a fairly strong candidate. It is just that I wish I could see more of what he is made of.

I think he is making the calculation that if he shows a lot of it now, a lot of the powers that be may not allow him to get into office, which may be a wise calculation on his own part. I think this is one problem my father had. People knew what they were going to get and the powers that be ensured that he wouldn’t get there. So that is very intelligent on his part, but that means that people like us that want to see some evidence, we won’t really see a lot until next year if he gets in.

Now within the PDP, there are a lot of aspirants. But to be honest with you there is no one of them I can point out that is inspiring, and for all of them I will say the best of the lot is the current President.
What is your take on campaigns not focusing on issues affecting the country but rather on zoning or no zoning?
If the PDP has a zoning agreement and they don’t uphold it, it might pose problem in the future. That is my frank opinion. I have been studying systems analysis and with systems analysis you don’t solve the problem by itself. You just try to improve the viability of the whole system. And the system that is Nigerian with its multiple ethnic groups and all of that, how do we ensure the viability of that entity? For the ruling party, I think reneging on agreement is not a true way of sustaining the viability of an entity. I don’t know what you think.

But if a party reneges on agreements, are there no better ways of seeking redress rather than singing war songs like some of the elders in the party are doing?
One of the things that wise people do is that you manage a problem until it can be neutralized. Some of these people are old men who are used to controlling power and now they are facing a very real possibility of losing power. So we have to be extremely careful with them. What they mean for Nigeria is not the same as what we mean for Nigeria. When they think of Nigeria they just think in terms of contracts and kickbacks they can get so that they can take money abroad. But when we think of Nigeria, we think of 150 million people, of the percentages that are living in poverty, of the women that are dying during childbirth.

What we have to do is to manage the situation such that these people who have so much power today and can destabilize the whole country do not have the chance because for us to achieve what we hope for, we need peace and stability. There can be no achievements in the midst of violence and conflicts. They don’t care if there is violence and conflicts because they will just go and live abroad. These are the kind of people that will go abroad and when people say Nigeria is a basket case, they too will agree with them and tell them stories about Nigeria to make those ones laugh.

It is people like us that are crying and saying no, this is not our country. We want to show the world what Nigeria can be. So it is just a question of how we can manage these people until we can neutralize them…They are nominally our leaders but not our friends. They do not respect us and do not even see the potential of Nigeria. In 20, 30 years they will all be dead. We have to really think carefully because they don’t really care how it is and so they can take a gamble.

How do you feel being honoured in the documentary drama, SEVEN, alongside other women activists 14 years after you lost your mum?
I am inspired by the women that are portrayed in the play. The six other women I know them very well because we work together in Vital Voices, an organization that Hillary Clinton founded when she was first lady. I have worked with them since I was in my early 20s and since my mother died. So it is just really the act of my journey in activism, which should encourage women.

I feel inspired that is my story that is being told. It is not the story of some first lady in Nigeria who stole a huge amount of money and has all the gold in the world. It is my story that is being told among these other six women from around the world and it has been told in the U.S., Turkey, Sweden and all over the planet.

From JULIANA TAIWO, Abuja
Monday, November 08, 2010

It is easy to take gifts of sight and sound for granted when it is now a daily routine each time you are caught up in the traffic to see a young girl or boy leading a blind person to your car to beg for alms.

On a good day you would part with a token that you wouldn’t miss and drive away, satisfied that you have been kind to someone that day. On a bad day you would probably wind up the window of your car and ignore the begging pair.

If you are the type that spends frivolously, never volunteered for public good except maybe compelled by church or organisations and above all you take the gifts of sights and sound for granted, you will be humbled and have a change of heart once you step into the compound of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) School for the Blind Children, a boarding school for children with varying degrees of visual impairment at Jabi, Abuja.

According to Mrs. Regina Dung, the head teacher, who read Blind and Special Education at the University of Jos by chance, she will never trade the joy and fun of the past 18 years she has shared with her children for anything in the world, despite the mounting challenges she faces daily in line of duty.

The fact that her ex-students like Theophilus Odaudu (now in University of Abuja), Lucky Pastor and Esther Iliya, who won the third position for the school in the spelling competition in 2009 and Emmanuel Daniel, a very musically talented lad who can play all instruments, are doing the school proud is enough to keep her going. She stumbled into the profession by chance:

“I had applied to study Pychology at the University of Jos. But I had no credit in Biology, the next option was to go for Special Education. I was wondering how I would cope, feeling very frustrated and sorry for myself, I decided to visit the department. I met a woman who came with her daughter for ear testing and she was pronounced deaf.

“This woman was crying as if she has just lost her daughter and that scene helped me make up my mind. I was thinking, how I can be of help to the girl and others like her. As if to ensure I don’t change my mind, along came these excited blind students with their cane chatting away in impeccable English and I stood by and watching with awe. I was so impressed with what I saw that I decided that was where I belonged, and since then I have never looked back.”

The school was established in 1991 inside the College of Education, Zuba and was known as School for the Visually Impaired. In 2007. it was relocated to a more spacious place in Jabi and “very close to the government” as Dung would say.

For the first few years of its inception, the school operated with just two teachers, one brail expert, a typist, a welfare officer and just two male students. By 1992, more dedicated staff joined the team, but student enrolment remained low. It then occurred to the proprietors that the name of the school itself kept student numbers low.

In 1996, the word “blind” was globally replaced by “visually impaired.” The term “visually impaired”, though the correct term, confused the local community due to its technical nature. When the name of the school changed to “FCT School for the Blind Children”, there was an immediate increase in enrolment.
During the early days of the school, resources were especially meager. While they served as a boarding school the pupils were housed in partitioned classroom blocks in the then College of Education compound. Medical care, feeding and clothing of the students were provided by the principal of the teachers college who was always reimbursed by the FCT Administration Education Department.

It is worthy to note that today though some staff had left the school either out of frustration of teaching with disability or lack of special allowance (15 per cent of the basic salary now increased to 30 per cent and now regular), some of the original staff members who joined either in 1991 or 1992 are still very much around.

Though the school is in a more spacious compound now, a proper dormitory is still lacking. The authorities had to convert some of the classrooms and partitioned them to accommodate the boarding students. The teachers still live long distances away from the school with the nearest living in Kubwa and Lugbe. The rest are scattered in Zuba, Suleja, Madala and Tunga Maje as a result of lack of teachers’ quarters in the school. Many a times, the head teacher has had to return to school during emergency situation. She will have to wait for the driver of the official bus who also leaves in Suleja to come for her in Zuba. At times they run into heavy traffic on the way back to the school.

The school runs pre-primary education, primary 1-6 with a special class or rehabilitation class. This class is for those not born blind but got blind after their primary education and cannot proceed to secondary school until they know how to read and write brail. The children in this class are trained on how to read and write brail, typing, human mobility and environmental orientation (to enable them walk around unaided). After these, they are ready for secondary education. How long a child stays in this class is entirely up to him or her (three months to one year depending on how fast he/she can grasp).

So far, pupils of the school have come from social workers of the Christian Blind Mission, Garki II Abuja: “What they (missionaries) do is that during the course of their missionary work to villages, they sometimes come across a blind or deaf child. After obtaining permission from their parents, they bring them to us. Others are from parents who have come to terms with the fact that their child is blind and would want the child to be educated. Others are cases reported in the media and then referred to us.”

Some of the challenges the school faces according to Dung include not having enough brail machines (each costs N270,000) to go round the children, having just six special teachers, hence instead of one teacher to a child in the case of what obtains in the West and one to seven in the case of developing countries, the school has one teacher to 15 or 20 children:

“We have about 30 brail machines right now. Some were broken down because we hardly have a repairer around. The machine parts are not easily found unless we place orders from Center for the Blind, Gindiri, Plateau State and the repairers are specialists. Again, everything boils down to funds and approval from the authorities. While brail is not meant for beginners (they use slates and stylus which we have in abundance as it goes for just N2,500), we lack special books as well.

“One thing you must note is that teaching the children with special needs is not an easy job, aside passion you must be patient and dedicated.” The school as at last session had 72 children but presently is 68 because four did not resume after the holiday: “I really don’t like talking about those who stopped coming. They are those whose parents have refused to come to terms with the fact that their children are blind and are going about trying to see if they can gain back their sights. Some of the cases are congenital. We have three, four children from the same parents all blind. Some is as a result of measles, cataract that were not properly treated at the early stage due to ignorance.

“Right now we have three of our children in Yola for checkup after successful surgery. Our volunteer, Mrs. Robina Atcha, a Canadian whose husband is teaching at the American International School, has taken it upon herself to raise funds to enable our children go for regular medical checkup. In the process, the medical personnel have discovered that some corrected with the help of surgeries.

“What happened is that Robina brought a doctor from Kano to check their sights. It was discovered that 15 of them could have corrective surgeries. Seven of them were operated in Kano, three in Yola. While in Kano and Yola their surgeries are free but transportation and accommodation for the parents have to be paid for, two of the surgeries are very expensive because they needed cornea transplant which costs over N500,000 each. Robina, whom I will describe as God-sent is also trying to source for funds for them to be operated either in Kano, Yola or even Garki Hospital in Abuja. For those that need to be operated upon for cataract we need N50,000 for them.

“Robina who heard about us from Naija Wives (an NGO of foreigners married to Nigerian men) sources her funds from her friends (former classmates) and family members residing in and outside Canada who believe in what she is doing. She told us she picked interest in volunteering because she had a cousin who was blind though late now.

“A typical day in a blind child’s life is not different. They follow strict rules and regulations not different from the sighted. The only difference is that they have a matron who guides them. They are taught the daily living kills as a course. They cook, iron, sweep, and keep the surroundings very tidy.
“Our biggest problem is not having teachers’ quarters. Because of their peculiar nature and the fact that they are given total education it is best they have their teachers close by always. They are taught all the time. It doesn’t have to be in the classroom. They come across things they are curious to know but nobody stays here, not even the welfare officer.”

“Government’s assistance to us is fair at least now that we are close to them we seem to be getting the attention needed unlike when we were in Zuba. We are under UBEC and we get four brail machines annually from them which is very good. Even funding for feeding has increased from N30 to N150 per meal. Instead of the classroom converted to hostels, we will prefer two blocks of hostels one for the boys and another for the girls and built far from each other because at the end of the day is a mixed school and we want them separated from each other apart from in the classrooms.”

Even though some teachers have had to move on, Dung cannot imagine herself without her children: “I might leave home sad but as soon as I get in here I’m very happy. The children are very funny, they say things that will keep you laughing, with tears running down your cheeks. I just have passion for the job; but prioritizing has helped me in joggling family and work.”

Alamieyeseigha Photo: Sun News Publishing

Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha did not know Dr Goodluck Jonathan until 1998 when the former was gunning for the office of governor of Bayelsa State and an elder statesman suggested he picked him as his deputy. Today he is glad he did. Like John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, the former governor admits somebody had to open the way.

But Alamieyeseigha is very disappointed with the media, particularly in Nigeria. Little wonder it took a lot of convincing for him to agree to grant the interview. He is particularly upset that during his travail that resulted in his impeachment over claims that monies were found on him, nobody has bothered to ask why the so-called looted funds have not been returned to the treasury of Bayelsa State.

When we eventually kicked off the almost two-hour interview, the rather unsure former Bayelsa governor was initially relaxed and at some point very emotional when he spoke about his ordeal in London in the hands of the Metropolitan Police and the role certain people in government played at that time. At another time, he was very bold and assertive when he spoke on militancy in the Niger Delta, why Jonathan must be supported and on the threat by some persons that Nigeria will break up if Jonathan runs for the presidency in 2011. Disappointment was also written all over him as he spoke about the poor implementation of the amnesty programme for former militants. But it was a changed and humbled Alamieyeseigha who admonished leaders to have the fear of God as the emergence of Jonathan as Nigeria’s President has shown that life was indeed a leveller.

How is life in retirement? Very interesting.

I am a leader, highly respected leader from my part of this country. My people believe in me and I am highly respected. My people see me as a torchbearer. So I am very careful what I do and say in or out of office. I see myself playing a major role in the political, economic and social engineering of my people. Government, individuals and youths call on me for advice and direction and I have been doing that religiously. I am still very busy counseling, educating, directing and informing my kinsmen on what is happening in our country. So I am not idle at all.

Do you now counsel President Goodluck Jonathan, who was your former deputy?

It will be rude of me to say I counsel the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am a realist. Yes, yesterday I could tell Goodluck Ebele Jonathan sit down here; do this or do that; don’t do this or don’t do that; or as a younger brother let’s sit down and discuss this matter; let’s put heads together and if he comes out with better reasoning or superior argument I take it from him. But things have changed and this is how life is. Today he is my boss and if people like me don’t respect him, who else will respect him. The best I can do now is to put him in prayers that his presidency should come out as one of the best this country ever had. People should remember him as a president who came and lifted the wellbeing and aspirations of the people. Also, when you are in office, experience has shown that not everybody that has access to you comes with ideas to move the nation forward. Power belongs to the people is clearly in our Constitution. But majority of the people don’t have access to you. So those of us that are outside and have our ears to the ground can whisper to him that this is what people are saying and that what your appointees tell you is not the truth. If you can get up from your backside and walk, you will get a fair appreciation of what I am reporting. After all, the whole duty of governance is to improve the wellbeing of the citizenry and protect and preserve security of life and property that is the whole essence of governance.

How did you meet Jonathan and what qualities did you see that make you pick him as your deputy?

In 1998, in the process of my campaign to become governor of Bayelsa State, I came across a respected man from the President’s local government in the name of Justice Egonwari that was more or less a father figure in that area. He was once a politician so he understood what politics was all about even though he was a serving judge. It was my decision to pick my deputy as provided for in the Constitution, so when I consulted Justice Egonwari he advised me to narrow it to Goodluck Jonathan. I did not know him then. He attended some of our political meetings and I saw in him somebody that can be developed to be a leader. I prayed over it because I never wanted a deputy that will give me problem. I presented the matter to God and so when Justice Egonwari recommended him, it clicked as if my eyes were open. So I asked few persons where he was staying and they gave me the address. So I drove alongside one Gordon Bozimo, who was one of the elders of our party, to his house. We drove to Goodluck’s house. I could call him Goodluck then but not now o! We went to his very humble home in the OMPADEC quarters where he was working as assistant director and requested him to join me to INEC to fill the necessary forms and run with me as deputy governor. One of the conditions was that he must resign from his job. I had no problem with him accepting but when you are in a place receiving your daily bread and somebody says you should resign and come to an area that you are not even sure, it was not so easy. Mind you, there had been political instability, with parties such as the UNCP and others proscribed. So there was this uncertainty but he took the bull by the horns. I don’t know what also fired him and that is why I say it is destiny. But somebody had to open it up; somebody had to be used as an instrument. If he had not been picked, he would have been just like any other person.

During the years you worked together, were you at any point disappointed for choosing him?

No, I never did. My working relationship with Dr Goodluck Jonathan was not master-subordinate relationship. I took him as a younger brother and he accepted me as his elder brother, so everything went smoothly. I don’t have to think twice before traveling because I know that my younger brother effectively manages the state till I come back. Even with our wives, he calls my wife mummy and my wife takes him as a son. My wife prefers to deal with him on official matters than me because I am the hard type, very hard. So till today, I take Patience as my daughter and that is how she accepts me too.

Did you feel betrayed during your period of travail and his subsequent swearing in as governor?

Left to Goodluck Jonathan it would not have happened. When I was arrested in London, Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, now the First Lady, left Nigeria to London and was staying with me in my house. It was the best option under the circumstance for Goodluck to accept becoming governor because the powers that be were also ready to flush him out with me. You either accept or you go. There were so many threats. Unknown to the public, I was also bribed. They brought somebody to me that I should use as deputy and they will leave me, and I said no. This was during the heat. When I returned from London, they came with another option. The threat was that we are going to declare a state of emergency and you and your deputy should go. But I said no. I asked who is going to be the military administrator and they mentioned a general’s name from Edo State and I said no, I know him, it can’t work. They now said I should resign but I said no, impeach me instead. They went further to write a letter of resignation on my behalf and signed it but I got wind of it and exposed them on the day they were to present it to the press. I said that was not my signature and neither did I write a letter of resignation. In fact, the person they wanted to replace Goodluck Jonathan, if you hear the name you will be shocked.

Why don’t you mention the name?

I will not because it is not only ridiculous but also an insult on the sensibilities of our people. Indeed, the person was a lady and she admitted to me personally that she contributed N200 million towards my impeachment. I know so much now and so I don’t want to go into it. But I have forgiven everybody and most of them indeed have come to beg me for forgiveness and I have forgiven them. For the fact that I am alive is enough. Everything was done for me to die in detention but God was kind and I am alive today.

What do you think triggered all the drama leading to your travail?

Third term; end of story. The fact was that I was to be vice president to somebody and the big man said he was not going and will continue, and I said no. In the process, myself and my principal were all burnt. But his own was better because he fought hard through the legal process but I never had that opportunity.

Tell us about your London experience and did you really escape to Nigeria dressed like a woman and were you arrested with money belonging to Bayelsa State?

I never returned to Nigeria dressed like a woman. I left this country to Germany for a major surgical operation and I was in the theater for eight hours. When I recovered from the anesthesia, the first person I called was our president then, Olusegun Obasanjo, and that was my greatest undoing. From that moment I started receiving very funny calls, I mean very funny calls. I was alone but later my children in United Kingdom left their school to join me in Germany. On the 15th day, that morning the stitches were removed and I suggested to the doctor that I be allowed to travel to London and stay for two days before returning to Nigeria. The children had to return to school. The doctor obliged me and so I left Germany with my children. In the aircraft, I was flying business class and my children in economy, but my children were upgraded to come and sit with me surprisingly. How they knew they were my children I don’t know. When we got to Heathrow Airport, as they opened the aircraft, the Metropolitan Police came in and asked who was Alamieyeseigha and his two children, and I identified myself. The next thing I heard was: “You are under arrest for money laundering.” And I said no, you cannot arrest me. By international law, I am not even in your territory yet. I am still in the aircraft and had not even passed immigration. Secondly, I am an executive governor of a state in Nigeria. I claimed my sovereign immunity. Detective Sergeant Ingram of the Metropolitan Police said to me: “You have no immunity. Your president said he has waved your immunity and we should arrest you.” And I asked, my president said so? He responded in the affirmative. I asked him, can you arrest any governor from any of the states in America if they commit offence here in your territory? He said: “No, but your president said we should arrest you.” He then put a call to Obasanjo and put the phone on speaker, and said: “Mr. President Sir, the subject, the governor of Bayelsa State, has been arrested. He is with us.” Then Obasanjo blurted out: “Hold him o, hold him o, hold him o!” When I heard his voice, my spirit became dampened and then he used the other phone to call the Inspector General of Police that my people will react, so they should send mobile policemen from Port Harcourt and Delta to Bayelsa State.

My children and I were searched but nothing was found on us. I was handcuffed because of the stress and the fact that the stitches to the surgery I had were removed that morning. I started bleeding. All my clothes were soaked with blood. So one of the Met Police said: “This is not fair. Remove the handcuff, he won’t run away. He is just coming out of the hospital. Why must you treat him this way? So they removed the handcuff from me and …asked my children to go home. Nothing was found on me. The few Euro I had on me, about 6,000, was given to me by my friend who came to visit me in the hospital from Russia. It was even meant for my children and, of course, all the documents were there. I was then transferred to their Black Maria to a police station and from there transferred to another vehicle and we drove very close to my house. I could see my house from where we were. We were in that vehicle for about 45 minutes and then the driver took off and we drove outside London, where they locked me up. All this while I was bleeding. In the night about 10.30, 11pm they brought a paper for me to sign that they found money in my apartment and I refused to sign. I asked where is the property list and who conducted the search. But I noticed nobody signed the document and so I refused to sign. They said if I don’t sign they know what to do and I said go and do what you have to do. They now confronted me with my assets declaration form from Nigeria. I was asked questions and I explained to them. There was nothing they could do. They now said I should go home, that is bail on self-recognition and be reporting to the nearest police station everyday from 9am to noon; that is Paddington police station, which is for terrorist suspects. So I went home.

The next day I got a lawyer, Oditta, a Nigerian, who said the treatment meted out to me was not fair and that we should go to court to vacate some of the bail conditions. So we went to court. I couldn’t even move but I managed. We did not even spend three minutes in court. I was discharged and acquitted because they had nothing. As I was going home, I was rearrested by the same people and was taken back to detention. The following day, I was taken to a magistrate court on three charges. One, that in year 2000, somebody gave me £475,000. The second charge was that in 2003, another person gave me £400-and-something thousand and that it passed through me to somebody. The third charge was that they found money in my house approximately a million pounds in different currencies. Those were the three very frivolous charges and they took me to a racist court. My lawyer was not even allowed to talk. I was just remanded in prison custody and they took me to Bison Prison and kept me with mad people. I was with mad people for 15 days.

Eventually good Samaritans rallied round and tried to get me bailed. Anybody that came up to be one of the sureties was in trouble. The person’s account will be frozen and will be investigated. It was terrible. Of course, I forgot to tell you, Nuhu Ribadu was at the airport to identify me. When I eventually came out, we went to the high court. The judge insisted he was going to grant me bail when the prosecution requested for five months for materials with which to prosecute me to come from Nigeria because they had no evidence. The judge said: “How can you keep an elected governor in this place for five months? If you don’t have evidence to prosecute him now let him go. When you are ready he will come back.” He ordered my lawyer and the prosecution to go and work out the bail conditions. So all the bail conditions were met amicably by the two parties. I had already bought my ticket to return to Nigeria the following day when the judge will pronounce my bail. That morning, (the then Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation) Bayo Ojo came to court. He was very apologetic and told the court that he was already sleeping when Obasanjo woke him up to proceed to London, that I was going to be granted bail and he should come and stop it. He said they don’t need me in Nigeria because there is an able deputy that can handle whatever I am doing as governor. That I should be kept in England until the final determination of the case and that was the request of Nigerian government. The judge dropped his pen and asked him: “Are you sure you are the Attorney General and Minister of Justice?” Because in his 35 years as a judge he has never seen where a sovereign nation will go to another sovereign nation to ask that its own national should not come home. “You are writing history,” he said. The Crown prosecution now said: “My lord, it is cooperation. We were the colonial masters of Nigeria. His Excellency is not going back to prison but to his house. If that is the request of Nigerian government that we should keep him here, we should oblige. We cannot because of this matter have diplomatic row with a country that is so dear to us.” The judge kept quiet for three minutes, shook his head and cancelled the bail application. Bayo Ojo apologized when we came out and said: “Your Excellency, I am under instruction. Please forgive me. So I returned to my home.

How did you eventually return to Nigeria?

I have said it before. Every other day, the Metropolitan Police came to my house. So one of those days, they took me out of London to an awaiting aircraft and when I asked where they were taking me, they said, look we don’t want your political problems. Go and solve it. The day we saw your Nigerian Attorney General in court making that type of statement, we knew that it was not a criminal matter but political and we are not interested in getting involved. So I was flown to Ivory Coast. They had warned me not to say certain things they did. So I was lucky a Nigerian was coming to do business in a chartered aircraft because I had no passport. I was just stranded in Ivory Coast in the evening when this Good Samaritan saw me. He was excited and asked what I was doing in Ivory Coast and I narrated my ordeal. So he said I should join him and he brought me back to Nigeria. I got home late. We flew to Lagos and the same aircraft took me to Port Harcourt. It was in Lagos I called my ADC to come and pick me at the airport and that was how I got home. I never dressed like a woman to escape from London. There were a lot of things and I am only abridging it because the stories are highly classified. The only thing I can say is that it is unfortunate.

Were you embarrassed that Nigeria was exposed in that manner to the outside world?

After my so-called impeachment, because there was nothing in that impeachment, every step they took I knew and it is known to all that I did not appear before any panel. I was impeached in the EFCC. When I was taken to police headquarters handcuffed, Obasanjo instructed that I should be flown back to England that night. So I was taken to immigration at midnight to do passport. They did passport for me, took me to the airport and now took my passport to British High Commission for visa. But that did not work because they refused. They had no choice but to bring me back to police headquarters. They summoned the Ambassador to the police headquarters and the man asked, don’t you have laws in this country? You said we should hold him and we held him. The man is here; he did not commit offence over there. If he had committed all the offence here, the man is here. People who commit offence run away but this one said he is going home. He has come home and why do you want to send him back? We don’t want him. He was summoned again to the (Presidential) Villa. Obasanjo threatened but they refused. Obasanjo had to write a stinker to the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, for allowing me to return home. All these things happened because of third term. They did not even stop there. There are criminal matters I don’t want to talk about now. I was to die but God saved me. I was sent to Dubai for medicals and because of my ordeal the area that was operated on became infected. I was operated three times in Lagos in Dr Omotosho’s hospital. Finally they brought me to National Hospital (Abuja) and from national there I went to Dubai. They generated a letter; I had done anography. I could not even walk; somebody in the hospital (that is me) was planning to overthrow the government of Nigeria. Ribadu went to Dubai and generated a letter. I know even the person who typed the letter. The letter purported that I am a persona non grata and that the Dubai government said they were deporting me; that they should come and remove me immediately, and 12 security men were watching over me even if I was going to the toilet. That was how I was. Then they sent EFCC operatives to Dubai to remove me, with iron on my leg. I couldn’t even move without the hospital authorities knowing. May his soul rest in peace. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua intervened when he became President. He called me and said: “Ganuwa, they will kill you. That was how they killed my elder brother. (MKO) Abiola, claim your mandate; claim your mandate. He is gone. Whatever they want, give it to them and come out. I will give you presidential pardon. I am the President. Just come out and you will not spend one day in prison. I will send your younger brother (that is Goodluck Jonathan). Come out, come and help me solve Niger Delta problem.” It is rather unfortunate Yar’Adua could not fulfil his pledge to grant me presidential pardon before he died. I’m however hopeful that one day I will get it.

So, Goodluck came and we spoke, and they did what they did. They took me to court and the sentence. They carried me to Ikoyi prison, I signed and I returned home. But to God be the glory, I am alive to tell the story. I am constrained not to say certain things but at the appropriate time I will document my experience. It is going to be an interesting reading for leaders to fear God when dealing with people. To answer your question, those events did not portray us in a good light, especially before those who knew the truth in England.

What has the experience taught you?

I am humbled. There is indeed nothing in life. Why I say I am humbled is because if you recall when I arrived this country, when finally I regained my freedom, I had audience with the late president and said I was returning to Dubai to remove the iron that was in my groin. He said how can you go to a country you were deported? I replied, Mr. President I was not deported and I brought out my passport. I have been to Dubai over 50 times after that. That is to show to what extent people can go to fake. How wicked people in this country are and they can go all out to destroy one human being because of their interest. So when I returned home, I had never seen that type of crowd that turned out to welcome me. This is somebody that stole their property, their money blind and yet the people came out. Even as governor, with all the apparatus and the money, I could not have mobilized that type of crowd. It took me about five hours from Yenagoa to Amassoma, my hometown; a journey of about 30 minutes drive, because of the crowd.

So, I looked at it that yesterday I was going to places in a convoy and just in a split second I was sleeping on the bare floor, guns were on your head when you are even eating, no communication, no newspaper, no television, your lawyers have to apply before they can see you and they will be present. My children were arrested and molested. My wife was arrested and molested. So indeed, there is nothing one has not seen but to give one’s life to God. It has become very clear that if God does not allow, nobody can take your life.

That brings me back to the fact that Goodluck’s presidency is divine. I can only imagine what would have happened when Goodluck was acting and then one day President Yar’Adua had recovered from his sickbed and walked into his office and resumed his position as President. It would have resulted in constitutional problem. Umaru is my friend. I am Ganuwa Katsina. War drums were everywhere. Those sympathetic to Umaru, the so-called cabal, if there was, and, of course, those that were sympathetic to the (then) Acting President. God in his own wisdom decided to solve the problem in His own way and we cannot question God.

What advice do you have for Jonathan in the remaining months of his administration and are you in support of his alleged bid to contest the 2011 presidential election?

Well, the next government is just few months from now. Nigerians have been yearning for a change. The problems of this country are well known and there is enough literature. Goodluck within this short period should make an indelible mark. He should pick few of the seven-point agenda and focus. He cannot execute all, though they are all relevant. But he cannot pursue all those objectives to a logical conclusion. Now, there is no money in the federation account because of the dwindling economy.

So where is he going to get money to prosecute those projects and, of course, this is an election year?

There will be a lot of distractions but he should remain focused and not allow himself to be cajoled by politicians. I have known him as a professional. I have known him to be focused and intelligent. I know him to be someone who can look at issues critically and come out with informed decisions that Nigerians will be happy with. He should be independent-minded. That is not to say he should not seek advice. But as a politician and as a Nigerian, we know those that can ill-advise him. We don’t need to mention them but he must be very careful and weary of them. He should not drive them but listen to them, take the good part from them and those things he thinks will be inimical to his government he should not embark on them and let Nigerians embrace his presidency. Nigerians are very easy to please. If you alleviate the suffering of the masses, they will come out. They don’t care who rules. That is why this North-South zoning system is very funny. If the zoning system is to balance the injustice meted out to people, what injustice is more than people producing the oil and they are not allowed to rule?

So in every aspect you look at it, Goodluck is eminently qualified to run. If tomorrow he says he is not going to run, I want to become more parochial and I have no apology to render to anybody. I come from somewhere and it is not by accident that I come from there. The Ijaw man will be disappointed. This is not a threat; we shall wait for him to come home. So let him listen to us as his people. After all, you go into politics to improve the wellbeing of your people. We demand as of right that in 2011, we are not saying that others should not contest with him, but nobody should say Goodluck should not contest. It is not going to be fair and we shall resist it. That is not a threat but a promise that we are going to protest. He will contest and if he wins he is going to rule and successfully too because we are all behind him. Nothing will happen to this country. Whoever is threatening that this country will break is lying. Nigeria will not break. Whoever is prophesying the break-up of this country should leave it for us.

Do you see the present PDP crisis consuming the party and what is your take on the two- party system debate?

I am for a two-party system any day, any time. The reason is that now that PDP is controlling about 28 states, it is the only party that has that level of structure and control in the country. There is nobody that will be sure of winning an election if you are not a PDP member. I will tell you this even those that win elections in other platforms are sponsored by some people in the PDP because of disagreement within the party. A party as large as that definitely must have internal problems. It is normal in a big family for people to quarrel. But if we have two parties there will be strong opposition and there will be no single party that will have majority in government. So there will be full participation because they will be equally strong. Rigging will be avoided because each party will know the strength of the other, as you know you must be strong to rig and it will not be noticed. If you are weak and you rig it will be noticed. So if two people are equally strong they will respect one another. If we have two-party system, we shall have credible election because no one will allow the other to rig, and votes will count.

What about the issue of electoral reform?

Well, for electoral reform, there is a modification. They are saying that in a multi-party system people be allowed to associate, to form parties. After every general election, if you do not score 2.5 per cent of the members of the National Assembly you are automatically de-registered. If that is put into practice, we should not have more than three parties today. That is another way of reducing the parties through the electoral process and that is also good.

What is your impression about the James Ibori saga?  Does he deserve what is happening to him or is it politically motivated like your case?

If there is anybody close to Ibori, I am one. I am very close to him and on this matter I will only advise him to come home and use his talent to help build this nation. I don’t want to go to the merits and demerits of those prosecuting him. Not that I don’t know what is happening but I will not want to talk about it for now.

Did you play a role in reconciling Obasanjo and Atiku, considering what you claimed you went through in the hands of Obasanjo?

With all due respect, I have forgiven everybody but I don’t want to discuss Obasanjo. He was former President of this country and an elder statesman. He has done so much for this country but I don’t have respect for him and I don’t discuss somebody I don’t have respect for.

As an Ijaw leader, what would you say about youths in the Niger Delta that are still giving conditions to the President on what to do for the region?

The President is a product of that society. What have we been fighting for? Why have some of us been bruised, kicked and punished? It is all because of the welfare and wellbeing of our people. If today, by God’s grace, one of us is occupying the position of responsibility to critically look or address these problems we have been struggling to solve over the years, it will be naïve of anybody to fight government at this time. Anybody fighting government, any youth taking up arms to destabilize this government is doing that for his own stomach not for the generality of Ijaw people. They should be singled out and dealt with as common criminals not as Ijaw people. No Ijaw blooded person at this time will fight the government. If you can go straight to God, then go straight to Him. That is it.

Do you think the name Goodluck played a role in getting the President to where he is today?

Well, I don’t know. I am not his father or mother. People are only seeing the good things Goodluck’s name has brought but if you ask him as an individual, he will also tell you that this name has also caused him some very serious troubles. But we thank God he has survived it all.

What do you think of the amnesty programme?

For now, there is relative peace in the region but they have only succeeded in reducing the number of arms in that area. There are still a lot of arms that were not handed over. Now if the objective of government is only to collect arms, we have failed as a nation and we have indeed not progressed beyond disarmament. Nothing has been done. Nothing was put in place before the amnesty pronouncement was made. If you go to the streets, major cities in the Niger Delta, the people are on the road, the militants are on the road roaming about. The stipends they are given are fake and even the number is bloated. Everybody is a militant; conspiracy where they got their guns to submit. Camps were established overnight because of money. So they are just wasting the money instead of sitting down to use that money to do things that will be enduring. The government should train them. There are so many countries abroad that will freely support training of these boys; I mean vocational training. Take them out of the environment. I did that when I became governor. The President, then my deputy, knows. We sent 53 ring leaders to nearby Cameroon to the Pan-American Institute in Boa. The first major crisis in that school was caused by those boys. But after 18 months they came back refined. We gave them starter packs and today they are living well. Some of them have families already and they never went back to the creeks and will never go back. Education is the best poverty alleviation programme. You keep them in that environment, collecting N65,000 every month. Their leaders are collecting more than half of the money because they wrote the names and it is paid to them not to the people. They now pay those in their pay roll. I just came from home. I am so disappointed; high level conspiracy. I don’t think that is the intention of government. There are so many things to do to engage those boys in agriculture, housing and other vocations. But you say they should be roaming the streets and at the end of the day you give them N65,000. What have you done? Absolutely nothing! Are you now saying they should gather money and go buy many more weapons?

In the face of dwindling resources and the federation account disappearing, what is your advice to states?

States should look inward. They should review and prioritize their budget. This idea of borrowing everywhere is wrong. You don’t borrow to finance short-term projects that will not yield anything. They should go into ventures that will generate money. They can have regional collaboration because there is no reason Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta cannot come together and execute common project that will benefit the three states and their citizens. This idea of waiting for federation account has to stop because oil is a wasting asset. It will one day dry up. We should use our oil money to diversify. There is no state that cannot sustain itself but everyone is waiting for federation account.

By JULIANA TAIWO, 01.17.2010

The Armed Force Remembrance Day (AFRD) was formally marked on November 11 of every year to coincide with the Remembrance Day (Poppy Day) for the World War veterans in all Commonwealth nations. But it was changed to January 15 of every year in Nigeria in commemoration the January 1966 when the first shot was fired to start the process that metamorphosed into the Nigerian civil war and the quest to keep the nation one. The date has become more ritualistic as the real people in whose honour the date was set are being neglected. Each year, one is bound to run into one of such veterans whose pathetic life does not reflect someone who risk all for world peace.

The remembrance is a day set aside to remember all those soldiers who were and have not been decorated by their governments for their contributions towards keeping their country safe and internationally keeping Hitler at bay during World War II. Across the world, different medals are given to soldiers for bravery in the face of difficulty and daring escapades at the expense of personal safety to save the platoon, the regiment, the commanding officer and the fatherland.

During last year’s news briefing by the Minister of Defence Maj. Gen Godwin Abbe to kick-start the activities lined up for the celebration of the year 2010 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration, it was revealed that the Nigerian legionnaires are being owed about N7 million from pledges and emblem sales generated for Armed Forces Remembrance Day for the past three years. Chairman of the Nigerian Legion, Col. Micah Gaiya disclosed that out of the various pledges and sales made in 2009, only N193,000 was released to the Nigerian Legions in which all have been used as hardship allowance to attend to the needs of widows and children of late veterans.

According to him, “some have been pledging consistently for the past three years and have not redeemed any. Even though I won’t want to disclose their names but I think is very unfair for one to pledge and not redeem. “What we spend on humanitarian jobs is far more than what we realise both as pledges and sales of emblems. It is very sad. It is important to note that we have been sustained by the funds we realised from the renting of our property in which we get about N6 million annually and also our petrol station on Kaduna road in which we get N600,000 annually out of which 350,000 is used for servicing. Besides, we have international obligation, we are affiliated to the World Veteran Federation in which we are member of standing committee African affairs, beside paying dues we attend their meetings but you’ll discover that we are almost on our own in all these,” he said.

The Legion Chairman who was only elected seven months ago, also blame their poor funding portfolio on the inability of their members to pay their monthly dues of N100. “By our constitution every member is supposed to pay monthly dues of N100. It is not proper to belong to an organisation and not pay your dues, but you will agree that it might be tough to even raise the N100 to pay. Though we are going to work on that and convince them on the need to pay their dues. “Furthermore, my appeal to government is to provide an annual allocation to the Nigerian Legion. As it is, we do not receive anything from anybody. We use to get N60,000 quarterly and that was stopped three, four years ago.

We are on our own and live by the good will of people like the service chiefs who have been wonderful,” he added. Speaking on the significance of this period, Gaiya said, “we believe that those Nigerians who lost their lives fighting in various wars—World War II, Nigerian Civil War, and in peacekeeping operations all over the world should be remembered, their families should be taken care of and those of them still living should not want for nothing. Remember they put their lives on line to keep Nigeria one as well as give Nigeria the good name it is enjoying in the world today as far as peacekeeping is concern”.

Speaking on the challenges, he said when he took over, the major challenge he had was that of harmonising the monthly pensions. “We went round and talked to people who really mattered last year and luckily the harmonised salary scale took effect and we have been assured by the Ministry of Defence that the over N70 billion salary arrears being owed the military pensioners have been included in 2010 budget.

We are looking forward to the funds being made available to offset these arrears because it will go along way to alleviative the suffering of our members. “The main issue is that we are a humanitarian body and we owe it a duty to help the families of the departed souls. As it is right now, we pay scholarships to some of the children of the deceased, especially those who have shown exceptional brilliance, we pay hardship allowances to the families of the departed and those still alive but not able to help themselves. Our challenge really is lack of funds because as it is, we do not receive any allocation from the Federal Government, we are self-sustaining, going cap in hand begging for assistance here and there.

“The emblem launching is aimed at raising funds to help the families of departed heroes, but that too has really not been forthcoming. We are not asking for annual allocation but a grant (about N50 million) to take off to enable us invest so that we will stop running around begging because the proceeds will help a great deal in our fulfilling our obligations. Just for the records, our annual commitment is more than N10 million in a year so we are just pleading with the Federal Government to teach us how to fish and not to give us fish. With the grant, they should leave it to us because the money will be judiciously used”.

THISDAY findings showed that this year’s pledge redemption compared to previous years has been very encouraging. The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero, had recently advocated for the setting up of a foundation that will take care of the welfare of retired members of the Armed Forces in the country. He said had said the Armed Forces celebration should go beyond the yearly ritual of raising funds for members of the Armed Forces and other national heroes.

“Rather, we should have a permanent foundation that will take care of members of the Services who have suffered to keep the country together,” he said. Lamenting the plight of the country’s national heroes, especially in the present global economic meltdown, the Minister said the foundation would alleviate the sufferings of the legion and their families left behind. “It is regrettable that members of the Armed Forces suffer for as long as two to three years after retirement, waiting to collect their entitlements. “Members of the Armed Forces deserve to be assisted and taken care of,” he said, while pledging financial assistance as part of the contributions to the foundation when it eventually takes off.

Aside the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan making history by leading (the President has always led) the wreath laying ceremony in honour of the unknown soldiers who laid down their lives for the peaceful co-existence of Nigeria and other countries through peacekeeping operations for the first time, the sight of a veteran of World War, II Private Mohammedu Boyi, was pathetic. He was born in 1920 in Katsina and enlisted in the colonial army in1942 and got discharged in 1977.

In 2009 ceremony, it was World War II Veteran, Retired Sergeant Ibrahim Sokoto who shared his experiences in the Burmar War and life after retirement. He had said he would like to seek more support from the government and the people of Nigeria, to the surviving soldiers and the families of the fallen heroes. Boyi, lives in a rented apartment with his two sons Lawal (39) and Ibrahim (37) and Abubakar (35). His first child, Hadiza Mohammed (41) is said to be working with the Force Headquarters in Abuja, while the rest of them work with the Katsina State government.

Speaking to THISDAY, Abubakar one of his sons said him and his siblings have tried with their meager take home pay to see if they could build a befitting home for their father but have been frustrated by their own personal lives responsibilities. “Baba (Boyi), has 26 grandchildren and we have tried to ensure they all at least get education as well as feed. It has been practically impossible for us to live comfortably talk less of providing our father with the dream house. We have been talking about and it will be really nice if he can at least be remembered in the twilight of his life as you can see, he is already 90 years old,” he said.

In a chat with newsmen, Boyi, who will rather talk about the welfare of the existing troops in operation theatre rather than his plight, said he fought in the Burma and praised the welfare package back in the days, which gingered their morale to go the extra mile to ensure the war was worn by the British Army. “Our performance at the Burma war made the Nigerian Army to be rated among the best in the world in peacekeeping. We were the first Nigerian contingent that were there in the war and carried the instructions given to the later, which led to their capturing every sector they were given. We were happy to serve because we lacked nothing in terms of welfare as well as operational tools and if this is replicated in today’s troops participating peacekeeping operations, it will boost their morale and encourage them to give their best,” he said.

Boyi who said he is the only surviving veteran among the contingent that took part in the World War II, also spoke about taking part in wars in Cairo, Japan, stating that his contingent were the ones that fought and won the Japanese despite attacking them with helicopters.

“People were surprise to see black men fighting. “Initially, the white men were skeptical about our capabilities but when they saw our prowess every other time we were allowed to be the first to attack and they were never disappointed in our decision. I pray that Nigeria will continue in that zeal that earned us international recognition,” he emphasised.

In Orioke Iwamimo: A Prophesy Fulfilled
04.13.2009

Juliana Taiwo witnessed the recent 2009 joint operations exercise codenamed Ologun Meta by the Defence Headquarters. The exercise brought to fruition the prophesy on Orioke Iwamimo, Ilaje, a beachfront facing the Atlantic Ocean in Ondo State

The people of Orioke Iwamimo, a beach front community in Ilaje area of Ondo State, were disappointed that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua did not as much as wave at them when he came to witness the 2009 Joint Operations Exercise (JOPEX), codenamed Ologun Meta (Yoruba word for three warriors).
The community founded in 1950 by late Oba Alafia Wilson Ikudeibu had never played host to an important dignity as the president of the country before. The closest it got was when gubernatorial candidates came to ask for their votes with unfulfilled promises.
In fact, the immediate past governor, Olusegun Agagu had promised to make the much needed difference, but this time around the people were not prepared to be taken for a ride. The immediate past Oba, had warned him that if he did not fulfilled his promises he was not go to finish his tenure in office, so the first prophesy was fulfilled as he was kicked out by the courts last month.
The 2009 JOPEX did not happen without resistance from the people of the community who said they were tired of being used and dumped. THISDAY findings revealed that at some point, the Oba’s palace was almost burnt down but for the intervention of the military personnel in the area for granting access to the military to carry out the exercise. Their full cooperation was only gotten after they were told that Mr. President will be visiting. That was enough to ginger the youths who assisted the military prepare the area for the exercise as well as play host to Mr. President.
So it was understandable to see the people turn out in their Sunday best, composed special songs to welcome President Yar’Adua as well as prepare a special gift for their august visitor. But they never got the chance to do that. The closest they got was when their Oba, His Royal Highness Jabez Alebiosu Ikudeibu, Oba Alafia II, had a handshake with Yar’Adua that was not even recorded in pictures nor videos as the overzealous security men ensured that the handshake did not happen.
Though the people were disappointed, Oba Ikudeibu, took consolation in the fact that the prophesy by the late Oba (his father) that his reign will witnessed the visit of Nigeria’s President and he will even have the privileged of a hand shake did come to pass.
The community (about 40 minute drive from Okitipupa and a further 15-minute boat ride along swampy mangrove creeks), lacks everything necessary to make life comfortable. They lack water, road and medical facility. Their only primary school founded in 1955 (housing 400 pupils) and a secondary school founded in 1977 (housing about a thousand students from within and neighbouring communities) is anything but conducive and are lacking in teachers, books and equipment.
This highly religious community (which forbids their women from wearing jewelleries and trousers in other to avoid a repeat of what the children of Israel did in the Bible when Moses left them to go seek the face of God and they used their jewelleries to mould a golden calf), have had to loose several of their indigenes as a result of seeking medical attention outside the community.

The people of Orioke Iwamimo rely on traditional (use of herbs) or spiritual means (prayers) to heal their sick, but in a situation where both methods fail, they take their sick to Igbokodo or Okitipupa. But many a times, on their way they encounter water hyacinth which prevents them from moving further and the result has been harvest of deaths.

The people’s main occupation is fishing and their women engage in mats weaving in addition to fishing, which they sell in Igbokodo and environs.
In a chat with THISDAY just before the commencement of the official opening, the Oba Ikudeibu described the 2009 JOPEX as a blessing in disguise. He said before now they were used to promise and fail leadership. “We are very happy that Mr. President is visiting our community. This is the first time in the history of this community that we will be having such an august visitor. We have outlined our problems in a letter to the President. JOPEX 2009 is a blessing because normally such exercise is supposed to expose a community with legions of problem. We expect torrents of developments to follow from both the state and federal government after this visit. Already the military has promised us a borehole which we are eagerly awaiting.

His Royal Highness Jabez Alebiosu Ikudeibu Oba Alafia II the traditional ruler of Ori Oke Iwa Mimo

“During the reign of my predecessor, the former governor, Olusegun Agagu, as was normal with politicians had come to this community to campaign and promised a lot of things that he was going to do for us. But our late Oba had warned him then because we were tired of the empty promises, that if he did not fulfil any of those promises, he was not going to complete his tenure. He said that prophecy was fulfilled. “So when Governor Olusegun Mimiko also visited us, we prayed for him and he has promised to fulfil his promises. We hope he does not renege because it will be disastrous. We have also pleaded that the new road going to Alokoda should be extended to our community because we lack road as well as clean water. We hope the bridge from Bakindeji going to Ayitoro and Ararumi will be extended to us. Our people travel to Igbokoda in canoes and boats to get drinking water and this is not fair on us because we are also Nigerians,” he said.
For Akinbilajo Abiye an SS1 science student of Community Secondary School, Oreoke Iwamimo, she was oblivious of the happenings in her community. Her greatest pain is her inability to carry out the practical aspect of her studies. “We are just managing to learn in this environment and we will be glad if the situation will change with the visit of the President,” she said.
As part of its social responsibility, Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike ordered free medical services (an exercise the community as well as neighbouring ones took full advantage of. The Defence Headquarters also plans to sink a borehole in the community. Though the borehole was not completed as planned before the end of the exercise, findings revealed it was due to the cost which was way above what was budgeted.

the communitys generating set powered by diesal

But the CDS, it was gathered is insisting the borehole must be sunk no matter the cost in other to maintain the integrity of the military in keeping its promises to locals where they carry out similar exercises. According to Commodore Jeremiah Onibiji, the Consultant and chief physician, a team of doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists, public health consultants were engaged in the free medical services. The medical services included health talks by the public health consultants, taking of blood pressure, diagnosis carried out by doctors as well as administration of the right medication. Food supplements as well as mosquito nets were also distributed to families, especially pregnant mothers. “We got the mandate of the CDS to give complete health service, distribute mosquito nets which is one of the preventive measures,” he said.
The 2009 JOPEX reached its climax after months of operations (including the sensitisation of the residents of Okitipupa, Igbokoda, Orioke Iwamimo and environs to avoid panic at that the movement of the equipment and personnel may cause. It also involved beach landing operations, harbour defence, riverine operations and insertion of troops, advance quick attack, deliberate attack phase and internal security operations (ISOs).
A brigade of the Nigerian Army, three mother naval cat class-warships – NNS Kyanwa, NNS Obula and NNS Nwamba – and six squadrons of the Nigerian Air Force aircraft participated in the exercise. Dike in a welcome remark, explained that the conduct of the joint exercise was born out of “the desire to exercise our troops in a tri-service setting.”
He noted that the preliminary stages had already tested the ability of the services to jointly mobilise troops to their various concentration areas located in Ibadan, Lagos, Benin and Okitipupa.
He stressed that the whole exercise was to “essentially serve as a platform for us to test our intelligence gathering abilities, check the interoperability of our communication facilities as well as testing our command and control capability. At the end of the whole exercise, the lessons learnt will be used in improving our operational procedures in current and future operations.”
He also said the exercise was meant to create a synergy by bringing out the best in the various areas of specialisation of the services. He stressed that carrying out realistic training was to reassure the President that he has a very capable Armed Forces that is ready to defend the country, in any kind of terrain, whether by land, sea or air.
According to the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Col. Chris Jemitola, the 2009 JOPEX was based on the scenario of a militant group in an oil producing area taking over an island and declaring their independence, over resource control agitation. The President and Commander-in-Chief of the supposed Namibia country then tasked the Chief of Defence Staff to flush out the militants from their positions and take back the island.
As the CDS was concluding his welcome address, the simulation of naval and combat aircraft bombardments boomed all around the beachfront, signalling the start of assault on enemy positions.
At its anchor on the Atlantic Ocean, the three naval mother warships – NNS Kyanwu, NNS Obula and NNS Nwamba, in addition to acting as amphibious troops, softened the beach front enemy positions. The Nigerian Navy gun boats then ferried own troops into the area. This is as about six squadrons of the Nigerian Air Force helicopters provided close air support, with simulations of aerial bombardments. A Brigade of the Nigerian Army provided the infantry troops who had stayed for three days aboard the three naval cat-class warships after the 15-hour journey from Lagos, for the beach landing exercise.
The booming sounds of explosions continued as President Yar’Adua and other top guests went into the JOPEX headquarters operational tent for operational briefing before coming out to take his seat with the other dignitaries, watching the full exercise with the aid of binoculars. Small arms fires were heard in the enemy positions as they tried to resist the advance and insertions of troops. Up in the air, the aircraft continued to give close air support operations.
The assault troops, brought in by naval assault ships, landed at the beach front, taking positions. This is as resistance continued from the enemy positions. Waves of amphibious forces continued to beach land, to support earlier troops. Two NAF MI-35 helicopter gunships landed by the enemy positions, inserting Special Forces troops. Following the successful insertions, the Special Forces joined the amphibious forces in routing the enemy troops from own positions, forcing them to withdraw. And with the island successfully captured and held by the Infantry troops, the administrative elements were given support as the amphibious gunships maintained patrol in the waters.
President Yar’Adua at the end of the opening ceremony pledged his administration’s readiness to prioritise the welfare and well-being of military officers and men, as well as effective support towards the ongoing efforts at modernising and repositioning the Armed Forces for enhanced performance. He said given the realities of modern warfare, the matter of effective coordination among the services cannot be over-emphasised.
The President, who commended the leadership of the Armed Forces for resuscitating the exercise which last took place in 2004, said “the potency of the synergy that emerges from this kind of cooperative exercise is unquantifiable. I therefore urge you to ensure that this joint exercise becomes a regular feature in the training cycle of the Armed Forces.”
According Yar’Adua, “the ever changing nature of the security challenges that confront us in today’s knowledge and technology-driven world requires that the military must not only be prepared at all times, but must also be abreast of technological advancements and the political variables across the world.”
The President stated that “Nigeria’s steadfast commitment to international obligations to the United Nations, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States has placed burden and responsibility on the Armed Forces.”
The exercise was witnessed by Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; Minister of Interior, Maj-Gen Godwin Abbe (rtd); Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Ademola Seriki; Service Chiefs-Lt-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (Army); Vice Admiral Ishaya Ibrahim (Navy) and Air Marshal Oluseyin Petinrin (Air Force) and principal staff of Defence, Army, Navy and Air Force Headquarters.

Chief Consultant of the free medical services by Defence Headquarters

FG, States, Councils Share $1.5bn Excess Crude Savings

From Juliana Taiwo in Abuja, 03.11.2009

As reported by THISDAY yesterday, the National Economic Council (NEC) has approved that N225 billion ($1.5 billion) be shared among the three tiers of government from the excess crude account.
This amount is part of the $15 billion accruable to the government from the excess crude money.
The money is a “stimulus” to cushion the effects of the slide recorded in the federal allocations in January and February.
Addressing State House correspondents after the over six hours meeting yesterday, the Minister of Finance, Mansur Muhtar, said the $1.5 billion would be disbursed in naira – as usual.
Muhtar said the meeting, presided over by Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, decided that following the signing of the budget benchmarked at $45, the sharing of additional money from the January and February allocations to bridge the financial shortfalls to the three tiers of governments would be released alongside the $1.5 billion.
He said the approval became necessary following some complaints from state and local governments that they were unable to pay salaries as a result of the decline in revenue owing to the global fall in international oil price which is below the $45 benchmark for the 2009 budget.
The sharing formula agreed upon by the NEC, according to the minister, is 58.8 per cent to the Federal Government, 26.7 to the states and 20.6 to the local government areas. Thirteen per cent would be set aside for derivation.
Muhtar noted that the decision to share the money was informed by the present financial realities on the ground, adding that the money would be used as “bailout” to cushion the effects of the crisis for some affected states, especially in the areas of critical infrastructural development.
He said: “As you know, many states have been experiencing difficulties and at last month’s distribution, the amount that the states received monthly has fallen drastically and there are continuous challenges as oil prices remain at low levels and we have production short fall. Some states and local governments have been unable to pay salaries as a result of this shortfall and some teachers have been on strike. Because of the threat to security, there were considerations given to utilise part of the excess crude money to provide bridge financing. As you know, the account has been set up for that purpose.
“The states have talked about the efforts they are making to increase internally generated revenue, which include borrowing from capital markets as well as to look at medium and long-term plans for adjusting their spending to basically respond to dwindling revenues. It was conceded that short-term support is needed and in that case based on the MOU that has been agreed to earlier in relation to the sharing of excess crude account, which makes provision that in exceptional circumstances, the sharing formula agreed to could be modified, a decision was taken that with immediate effect, an amount of $1.5 billion would be shared amongst the tiers of government.
“In addition to that, the shortfall as you know the payment made in the last two months, there was no bridging of the funds but now that the budget has been signed, the $45 benchmark will be used now to make appropriate adjustments to the amounts that have been paid to states. This will mean that they will get additional money to bridge the shortfall of the amount they received in January and February.”
Muhtar also disclosed that a special committee on global economic recession was set up by NEC to regularly study the economic trends with the aim of keeping the government abreast of daily happenings.
The committee which is headed by the Kwara State governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has as members, the governors of Lagos, Babatunde Fashola, Gabriel Suswan of Benue, Ikedia Ohakim of Imo, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi, and Namadi Sambo of Kaduna.
Other members are the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, and a representative from the office of the president.
The minister also re-affirmed government’s commitment of meeting the 6,000 megawatts of electricity by the end of 2009.  The confidence, he noted, is boosted by the various ongoing power projects in the country.
Muhtar said NEC was briefed of the situation at the congested ports and it noted some of the challenges that are being faced. It requested more concerted efforts to address this situation as it is impacting adversely on Nigeria’s economy. Some suggestions proferred include ports authority and Customs Service should be held to account on delivery of the 48-hour clearance and a report will be submit next meeting.

Yar’Adua Signs Budget with Reservations

From Juliana Taiwo in Abuja, 03.11.2009

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua yesterday signed the N3.101 trillion budget for 2009 but with a caveat that with the present global meltdown, the realities on ground make it an “unworkable document”.
Yar’Adua, at the formal signing which took place at 1.15pm in the presence of the leaders of the National Assembly and some key ministers and special advisers in his cabinet, expressed reservations regarding higher forecasts by the legislators given the current realities of declining international crude oil prices and production constraints.
He said the indices used to prepare the budget had changed drastically, hence they could not be used as factors with which the 2009 appropriation was predicated.
The President based his comments on four factors: one, the $45 per barrel crude oil benchmark as against the recent sustained fall in prices; the falling level of oil production as a result of militant activities; the stoppage of the $500 million bond which was approved for listing in the international capital market; and the dwindling exchange rate of the naira against the dollar.
He said: “In December 2008, I presented a Budget Proposal with an aggregate expenditure of N2.87 trillion with a deficit of N1.09 trillion or 3.95 per cent of GDP.  Based on the revised fiscal framework subsequently agreed with the National Assembly, we had a deficit of N654 billion or 2.36 per cent of GDP. After due consideration of the Budget Proposal, the National Assembly passed a N3.1018 trillion budget with a deficit of N836.6 billion or 3.02 per cent of GDP.
“As passed, the 2009 Budget projects higher oil revenues than in the original proposal.  However, I must express some reservation regarding these higher forecasts given the current realities of declining international oil prices and production constraints. Due to militant activities in the Niger Delta, our production has sometimes declined to as low as 1.6mbpd from a projection of 2.209mbpd.
“Should this low production turn out to be our average for the year, and the average price falls to $40/barrel from the original budget projection of $45/barrel, our fiscal deficit would increase to N1.35 trillion or 5.24 per cent of GDP, which is well above the three per cent allowable limit under the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Financing such a large fiscal deficit will have its own challenges.
“We are reviewing the timing of the $500 million naira-denominated international bond issue. Similarly, care needs to be taken with regards to public borrowing from the domestic markets to avoid the effect of crowding out credit to the private sector and stifling economic growth. These are issues that the Legislature and the Executive will closely monitor, going forward.”
Though President Yar’Adua praised the harmonious working relationship between the executive and the legislature, he said the performance of the 2009 budget is hinged on service delivery to the Nigerian people.
“The 2009 budget is devoted to sectors which we consider critical to the regeneration of the economy.  There is a decided bias for power supply, transportation and other critical infrastructure.  There is also increased funding for education, health, agriculture and other areas critical to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The peace, security and sustained development of the Niger Delta are also a core priority in the 2009 budget,” he said.
Despite the global economic crisis, Yar’Adua said he was optimistic that Nigeria would emerge a better and greater country.
“For us, therefore, the present global economic crisis offers an opportunity to re-examine the structure of our economy and implement strategies that will reposition our nation for the global economic order that will emerge from the current experience.  With our collective aspiration to make Nigeria one of the world’s 20 leading economies by 2020, we see this global crisis as an obstacle we must overcome, and not a reason to abandon what we consider a worthwhile journey,” he said.
“As a government, we are committed to doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the current global crisis on the people of this country.  Whatever the sacrifices that have to be made, we will not allow the weakest among us to shoulder the burden,” he added.
Asked by State House correspondents to react to the observations of President Yar’Adua, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, said though he agreed with most of the observations raised, they were more excited that the budget was passed within the first quarter.
“We are all excited that the budget has been signed in the first quarter of the year which means quarterly implementations can be easily monitored and supervised accordingly by the ministers and we are all here to work together with the other arms of government.
“I agree with him on the concerns raised. I have raised those concerns as well with some members of the National Assembly. We are just as concerned as he is on the fact that we have falling revenue, we will project accordingly to make sure that if we have to do some necessary supplementary budget and virement in future we are up to the task in the face of the realities of the world,” he said.
Asked why solutions to the issues were not sought before the budget was passed, he replied: “The budget is a continuous process, so solving is today, tomorrow as long as we solve it. The way out is to monitor the budget accordingly and solve the problems as they crop up.”
Asked what moral ground the National Assembly had in increasing its budgetary allocations unilaterally, he said: “I think you should take a second look at those figures. I am aware that the capital projects for the House of Representatives for example was reduced from N9 billion to N2 billion. So have a look at those figures again and then you can ask me those questions.”
Senate President David Mark said now was the time to properly monitor the implementation of the budget but warned that it would entail a lot of sacrifices on the part of all Nigerians.
“I think the President captured it very well. There are some parameters which we had before that are not really current now. But the end result is that we must all make sacrifices to make sure that the budget, as it is, is implemented to the best of our ability. There is of course no doubt that we need to make sacrifice even you the media men will have to make sacrifice.
“I think once we start the implementation we will see how far we can go in terms of how much of it we can implement. I mean going from 2.29 million barrels per day to 1.8 million barrel per day is a lot of difference, there is no doubt about that. And the fact that even that is being reduced to 1.6 million barrels per day because of the actions of the militants even makes it much more difficult. And the benchmark we had before was $45 for the budget and it’s been fluctuating between $40 and $41. That makes it even much more difficult. But the fact of the matter is that Nigerians are very determined to make the best of the situation,” he said.
On if those factors were not dealt with before the budget was passed, he replied: “Really who can see the future? If we all can, we will be more than happy. But because we didn’t foresee these and they have come now, who knows what the dollar is going to be against the naira tomorrow, do you know? Nobody! We can’t really predict that. There is no accurate or specific way of doing it.”
Commenting on how Nigeria was going to overcome the problems of fully implementing the budget and if there is going to be a review, he said: “Let’s start then. When we start, we will know exactly what to do next. But definitely I am sure that both the National Assembly and the executive are making plans to at least cushion the effect of our inability to implement some of it. I’ll say the review will be entirely dependent on what happens very soon.”

N3.101 trillion
Expenditure passed by the National Assembly for the 2009 budget, as against the N2.87 trillion proposed by the President.

N836.6 billion
Deficit in the approved budget, as against the N654 billion agreed with the executive based on the revised fiscal framework.

1.6 million
Barrels per day crude oil production has sometimes fallen to, as against the projected 2.09million in the initial proposal.

FG: Why We Rejected Uwais Proposals on INEC

From Juliana Taiwo in Abuja, 03.12.2009

The Federal Government yesterday finally levelled up with Nigerians on why it rejected the recommendation of the Justice Muhammadu Uwais Electoral Reform Committee regarding the appointment of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commis-sion (INEC).
In its proposals, the Uwais panel had recommended, among other things, that the commission should have a board comprising a chairman and deputy chairman whose appointment will be advertised and coordinated by the National Judicial Council (NJC) who will then forward the nominees for the job to the Senate for ratification.
Many believe the recommendation is central to reforming the electoral process.
The White Paper committee on the Uwais report headed by Defence Minister Shettima Mustapha accepted the recommendation in its draft report.
But the review committee headed by Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation Michael Aondoakkaa recommended that the status quo be maintained-meaning the appointment of INEC chairman should be made by the President and ratified by the Senate.
Confirming THISDAY’s exclusive report that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has retained the power to appoint INEC chairman, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday announced that government had dumped the Uwais panel’s recommendation on the mode of appointment of the board of INEC.
Addressing State House correspondents after its six-hour meeting, Information and Communication Minister Dora Akunyili said in rejecting the recommendation, government was mindful of the doctrine of separation of powers, which will be violated if the judiciary is asked to step in to perform executive functions.
She also said since the head of NJC is appointed by the President, it made no sense for the body to be charged with the responsibility of nominating INEC’s board.
The government was expected to have unfolded its decision on the proposals last week but disagreements on the contentious issue of appointment of INEC board stalled the move.
Akunyili said government also did not accept the recommendation that election petitions be concluded within six months, four months at the tribunal and two months at the appellate court, to ensure that election winners assume office only when all the petitions against them have been disposed off.
“Council did not accept this recommendation because the current system in which judgments sometimes come after six months presents a better dispensation of justice to the aggrieved,” she said.
Akunyili who said the decision to adopt the white paper report came after debates had been concluded listed some of the highlights of the key areas adopted to include the composition of INEC, which is to comprise chairman, deputy chairman, six persons of unquestionable integrity, one of whom must come from each of the six-geopolitical zones and inclusion of other six nominees from Labour, Nigerian Bar Association, Media, National Youth Council, Nigeria Civil Society and women organizations, all of which are subject to Senate confirmation.
On the conduct of elections, according to Akunyili, the council adopted the open secret ballot system, which allows a voter to go into a polling booth to mark his ballot in secrecy and to drop it in the box in the open.
There will be accreditation of registered voters prior to the commencement of voting for the purpose of tracking how many people cast their ballots in a polling station and the display of voters register prior to elections to enable registered voters, political parties and the electorate generally to make claims and objections. Election results are also to be announced at all polling centres by presiding officers duly signed and copies given to accredited agents, the Police and State Security Service.
Others recommendations accepted are that state independent electoral commissions are to be abolished so that INEC can conduct all elections in the country including the local government poll while politicians convicted of violence and thuggery during elections in addition to any other punishment are to be banned from holding public office for 10 years.
INEC’s funding is to be a first line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation so as to guarantee financial and administrative independence.
Independent candidature was also adopted as recommended by the Uwais committee just as the unbundling of INEC with the creation of three bodies to handle some of the commission’s functions.
The bodies include the Political Parties Registration and Regulatory Commission to, among other things, register political parties, monitor their organization and operations and arrange for the annual auditing of accounts; Electoral Offences Commission to, among other things, deter the commission of electoral malpractices, investigate where they occur and prosecute alleged offender, and Centre for Democratic Studies to undertake broad civic and political education for legislators, political office holders, security agencies, political parties and the general public.
On the election tribunals, the council adopted the recommendation that the number of judges that sit at the tribunal should be reduced from five to three so that more tribunals can be established per state.
On the disqualification of candidates, council approved that candidates fielded for any election should be done on the basis of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act.
Council said for the purpose of transparency and accountability, political parties must publicly disclose to INEC all sources of funding including donations.
Also, only parties that score a minimum of 5 per cent of votes cast will be eligible to receive grants from the public.
Akunyili said FEC also decided to forward the conclusions to the Council of State for advice following which those decisions that require administrative action will be immediately implemented, while those that require amendment of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2006 or the enactment of new legislation will be forwarded to the National Assembly for appropriate action.
Other decisions of council include the approval of the award of the contract for the construction of human resources and development board building at the University of Lagos, in favour of Messrs Bussdor and Company Limited in the sum of N191,548491.75 with a completion period of 40 weeks.
It also gave approval for the augmentation of the contract sum for the construction of a 225-bed general hospital in Karu in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja in favour of Messrs H & S International Ltd in the sum of N344,656,494.23 being the cost from the original contract sum of N1,605,083,379.75 to a revised contract sum of N1,949,739,837.98 with six months completion period.
Council said in line with the administration’s policy of encouraging good neigbourliness, development of transportation sector to facilitate trade, movement of goods and services, it had approved the accessing of the African Development Fund Concessional Credit/Loan of $155.22 million to finance Nigeria’s portion of the Transport Facilitation programme for the Bamenda-Mamfe-Abakaliki-Enugu Multinational Highway. The road links the North-west and South-west provinces of Cameroon with Cross River, Ebonyi and Enugu in South-eastern Nigeria.
Council also approved that the Minister of Finance should sign the Loan Agreement on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Nigeria is expected to contribute counterpart funding of about $22.44 million payable in five equal annual installments of $4.49 million.

Finally, FG Opts for Full Deregulation
•Sets up panel on time-frame •No systemic risk to banks, says Muhtar
From Juliana Taiwo in Abuja, 02.27.2009

Months of speculations about the direction of government in the management of the downstream sector of the economy ended yesterday.
The Federal Government endorsed the full deregulation of the downstream sector following the recommendations presented to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua by the Presidential Steering Comm-ittee on the Global Economic Crisis.
Government said it had been subsidising inefficiencies, fraud, racketeering in the whole production chain, resulting in it’s spending nearly N640 billion in the last one year and an estimated amount of N1.63 trillion on subsidies.
The government also said it would re-examine the role of Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) while admitting that there was a need for regulatory institution.
Addressing State House Correspondents after the meeting chaired by President Yar’Adua, Finance Minister Mansur Muhktar said the move had ended speculations on the direction of government in the management of the downstream sector.
He was accompanied at the briefing by Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Chukwuma Soludo, Bismark Rewane (representing the private sector), Petroleum Resources Minister Rilwan Lukman and the Director-General, Budget Office, Bright Okogwu.
The finance minister also said there was no systemic risk to banks and as such government was not thinking of any bailout for them.
Muhktar said a committee headed by Bauchi State Governor Isah Yuguda had been set up to design the action plan and time-frame for the commencement of the full deregulation process.
Other members of the committee are Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Lukman, Minister of Labour, Adetokunbo Kayode, Muhktar, Minister of National Planning, Shamshudeen Usman, Soludo, Chief Economic Adviser to the President Tanimu Yakubu, and representatives of labour and private sector.
The committee has been given the leverage to incorporate other members from the society any time it deems fit.
Muhktar said the Federal Government could no longer continue with the regime of corruption and inefficiency in the sales, marketing and distribution of petroleum products in the country, stressing that “the huge fiscal burden on the government is unsustainable.”
He said President Yar’Adua had fully endorsed the comprehensive review of the price template, the strengthening of PPPRA, open general licensing, offshore refining, boosting strategic reserves, competition bill and the privatisation of the four refineries in the country.
In designing the direction for the full deregulation of the sector, the committee will meet and have dialogue with all the stakeholders including labour before the full implementation of the recommendations.
He said: “On petroleum sector, as you know, over the years, there have been discussions in relation to the supply, distribution and pricing of petroleum products. In this context, basically in the recent past, there has been concern about the huge amount of money being spent by government by subsidising inefficiencies in the fuel supply and distribution. The magnitude of this amount was very staggering. In the last year, we are talking about nearly N640 billion that has been spent on subsidies to petroleum products.
“Now to put this in context, this is about one and a half times actual capital spending of the Federal Government in the year. That is what the Federal Government gets and when you consider that, not all of these are being expended given that there was delay release, that it was still work in progress. Over the last three years, an estimated amount of N1.63 trillion has been spent in relation to this.
“Now, in the context where revenue position of government has deteriorated considerably, given the decline in oil prices, given the difficulties we are facing in meeting our quotas, given the huge infrastructure deficits that we face, clearly we felt we had to look at this very carefully.
“The huge fiscal burden we cannot continue to meet. We have found out that we are really subsidising inefficiencies, fraud, racketeering in the whole production chain and in that context basically given the competing needs for scare resources, government felt we needed to do something. We are also subsidising other countries.”
On PPPRA, the Minister said: “We want to start with a comprehensive review to the PPPRA template. We believe that there are so many inbuilt inefficiencies there. In the first instance, the current system is characterised by the absence of competition, there are questionable risk allocations practices in which government is made to bear the brunt of exchange rate risks or interests rates risk.
“So the first aspect is to review the template and make sure we are dealing with the correct figures because really I think the whole system has been compromised.
“Secondly, we need to move towards market determined pricing order that will ensure that all the inefficiencies characterised by the system are not passed onto the consumer.
“We need to really strengthen regulatory institutions. For the PPPRA, there is major regulatory deficiency here. There is a major institutional weakness here that needs to be addressed. We need to also re-examine the legislation around the functions and the role of the PPPRA, we are also thinking of reintroducing competition bill to address oligopolistic tendencies in the system not just in this system but in other spheres of economic activities. We must ensure we don’t have oligopolistic threats, we don’t have cartels emerging that will really reap off consumers; we must be really fair.”
On the banks, Muhtar said there was no apparent systemic risk to the banking system.
But he said the CBN would consider making it mandatory for banks to use the IFRS reporting standard as soon as possible.
“This will of course be done in consultation with the Nigerian Accounting Standard Board and certainly other stakeholders,” he said.
He also said the committee endorsed the earlier plan by the CBN and the Bankers Committee to adopt a common year end for banks in relation to financial reporting.
“Based on this, the economic management team had constituted a group comprising the CBN, Ministry of Finance, Debt Management Office, NDIC and the private sector representatives to look into this issue. And based on an assessment of current situation including the existing data in comparison with the information available to various parties, it was clear that there was no apparent systemic risk to the banking system.
“We appreciated though that there is continuous concern about the lingering situation and the rising lending rates in that context, government felt at the moment there is no case for intervention in terms of bailout of stock markets given the present situation. We felt that we cannot remain complacent in relation to the banking and financial sector. The first point is there is no risk that will merit government’s intervention in the stock market at the moment, nonetheless government stands ready and will continue to monitor the situation and will take measures as needed,” he said.
Lukman said government was no longer prepared to spend any money on the rehabilitation of the refineries, stressing that so much money had been spent in the past which he lamented was mismanaged by those entrusted with the responsibilities of managing the refineries.
“We are not ready to put any money into the refineries again. No more. Our refineries have not been well run in the past. They have been mismanaged and the problem was compounded by the regulatory agencies and that is why we want to address the issue. If we have the correct ambience, people will come to build new refineries,” he said.
The minister said if the four refineries were still working at full capacities, Nigeria would not still be able to meet her domestic consumption of petroleum products.