Nigeria president seeks end to immunity for leaders
Wed 10 Dec 2008, 14:26 GMT

By Randy Fabi

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria President Umaru Yar'Adua said on Wednesday that he and the country's other top political leaders should lose their constitutional right to immunity from prosecution while in office.

Yar'Adua said he will ask a constitutional review committee to remove this protection for the president, vice president, state governors and deputy governors.

"This provision for immunity should be expunged from the Nigerian constitution," he said at the launch of a new anti-corruption campaign. "Nobody in Nigeria deserves the right to be protected by law when looting public funds."

Africa's most populous country has a long history of top officials raiding government coffers with impunity.

Institutional fraud is a major disincentive to foreign investors, who view it as an indicator of inefficient public spending and therefore a major brake on economic growth.

"Corruption is endemic in this country," Yar'Adua said, blaming the country's "elite" for the problem.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has charged 10 former state governors with corruption since Yar'Adua took office 19 months ago, but none has so far been convicted.

Farida Waziri, head of the EFCC, said states and local governments were making it difficult for the country's anti-graft police to do its job.

"Some states ,  would not want any federal agency to inquire into any allegations of wrong doing concerning them," she said.

Opposition and rights campaigners have criticised the appointment of Waziri, a retired high-ranking police offer, to head the commission earlier this year.

The removal of its former head Nuhu Ribadu, who won respect from the international community for initial progress at the EFCC, triggered accusations the government had caved into pressure to stop sensitive investigations, which it denies

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE4B90NM.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7775288.stm

Mandela or Maradona, which is he?

it is a wellcome idea, i believe strongly in the progress ot this nation, we will get there.

I really just have to support Nigeria on this ONE! half way though, the fact is simply who will RULE THIS NATION VOID OF CORRUPTION!?

How do we all expect there to be peace and stability in our Country's FINANCES when we have all Corrupt Practicing leaders and political instability,

Its obvious that the vision 2020 was intensionally assumed to be VISION 5050 cos certainly.

when one way closes another opens so said a top politician!.

@ YAM oooooh what were you thinking about before deciding to answer the name YAM!! oh now i see the reason why u have to believe your PRESIDENT' WHat makes u think NIgeria will get there in no time??
can u proof it ?

Cos, i can't abide nor believe by what i know won't come to fruition and manifest when there is no signal of PROGRESS where so ever.

brein:

@ YAM oooooh what were you thinking about before deciding to answer the name YAM!! oh now i see the reason why u have to believe your PRESIDENT' WHat makes u think NIgeria will get there in no time??
can u proof it ?

because, i can't abide nor believe by what i know won't come to fruition and manifest when there is no signal of PROGRESS where so ever.

Incoherent

This is a bad idea. There is a reason for the immunity and it applies in numerous countries all over the world. Holders of high political office cannot effectively carry out their duties under fear or threat of impending criminal action all the time. The truth is that in a country like Nigeria, removing the immunity will have little or no effect (afterall it is the president that appoints the Attorney-General. . . and the governors appoint their respective state Attorneys-General) and it is these people who are responsible for criminal prosecution. Even in cases where private individuals exercise their rights to prosecute where an Attorney-General has declined to do so, the Attorney-General can discontinue such a case. So, I am afrais that once again, it is a case of a Nigerian leader just paying lip service.

What would be the best idea is a swift and impartial procedure for impeaching these officers so that they can face criminal charges as soon as they have been removed. That is of course if you get past the appalling corruption that poisons every sector in Nigeria.

This is a very bright idea. Immunity should be in place for only the president and vice president.

He should start the war against corruption by leaving Ribadu alone. Kai ubanka

Tuesday, December 9, 2008
UI at 60: Dons tackle Yar'Adua

By SEGUN OLUGBILE

Professors at the premier university blame government for most of the institution's woes as they react to President Umaru Yar'Adua's suggestion that the university should shed the toga of being a local champion for a global garb, SEGUN OLUGBILE reports.



Alhaji Umar Musa Yar'Adua




It was President Umaru Yar'Adua that stirred the hornet's nest at the University of Ibadan when he declared that the nation's premier institution was just a local champion that refused to play the research game at the global level. The President, who spoke through the Minister of State for Education, Hajia Aishatu Dukku-Jibril, during the convocation of the university penultimate week, expressed regret that in spite of its age, the nation's premier university was not rated as one of the best 200 universities in the world. He, therefore, challenged the dons at the institution to wake up from their research and academic slumber and put the name of the university on the world educational map.

But dons and students of the university are not taking the President's criticism lightly. They believe the President has not only lost touch with reality but oblivious of happenings at the institution which started with 104 students in 1948.

The dons and students, who spoke with our correspondent at the university on Friday, said the institution apart from contributing over 75 per cent of human resources to the nation's workforce since independence, it has also contributed to the educational, socio-economic, political, scientific, technological development and the health sector of the nation.

"The President's comment is unfortunate, I think it came as a result of ignorance. However, I find it easy to forgive him because I'm sure someone wrote that speech for him. But on a second thought, I think it is not right for leaders not to cross-check facts in speeches written for them before they go to town with such," one of the dons, a professor of veterinary medicine, Bankole Oke, said.

Oke, who spoke with our correspondent after the closing ceremony of the exhibition organised to celebrate UI at 60 on Friday, said it was not easy to exonerate the President because his comments were unfair, not just on UI, but on the nation's university system.

He alleged that government, which owns the university, had not been fair to the institution in terms of funding and provision of facilities that could enhance teaching, learning and research.

"Look, there has never been a year that government releases the exact amount presented to it in our annual budget. The funds often released are never enough for overhead cost, let alone capital projects. Electricity supply is epileptic and in fact some of us (dons, researchers and scientists) have to go abroad to conduct research," he said.

Oke, who is also the coordinator of the exhibition, said university rankings were now being done based on the web presence of universities.

"Ranking is no longer done based on publications in journals. It is only people in the same area of specialisation that read the publications in specialised journals; those who rank universities now go to the Internet to assess the richness of a university site based on research breakthroughs and publications uploaded on such a site.

"If you are not there, you will be poorly ranked. But unfortunately for Nigerian universities, the epileptic power generation in the country and inadequate funds have limited their capacities to enjoy visible and robust presence on the Internet," he said.

So, rather than blaming the university for the lull in research activities, he said, the government should carry the blame.

Corroborating his colleague, a professor of soil science, John Ajayi, disclosed that inadequate power supply was the bane of the nation's academic development.

Ajayi, who has been in the university for 32 years, said decaying infrastructure, obsolete equipment, inadequate funding, ill-motivated staff, increased population and lack of   political will on the part of government to introduce tuition were responsible for the trend.




He said, "I've been in this university for 32 years. I can say that this is the worst year I have experienced in terms of power generation. For instance, the Faculty of Science did not have electricity supply for close to three months this year. Even for this three-day programme, we have to use generator all through and we all know that without energy supply, little or nothing can be done scientifically. So, government should live up to its responsibility."

But in spite of this, the former chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, UI Chapter, Dr. Ademola Da Sylva, said the university had not been folding its arms doing nothing. Da Sylva observed that the inability of the university to publicise most of its research findings was responsible for the president's position.

"This, in fact, informed the decision of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olufemi Bamiro, to put this exhibition together," he said.

At the exhibition, over 70 works, including inventions, innovations, useful information in terms of reports, monographs, patents and machineries, were showcased by all the seven faculties in the university.

Part of the breakthroughs exhibited by the Faculty of Technology, which came first in the exhibition, included fabricated technology for the processing and utilisation of agro-industrial waste and crop residues for wildlife husbandry, autoclave, juice extractor, fabricated waste paper processing machinery, fabricated maize sheller, waste paper recycling machine and an electric-powered water fountain come-aquarium invented by a 400 Level student of Electrical Electronics, Mr. Yusuf Ibrahim.

Also, a bio-gas renewable energy machine designed by Dr. Godson Anan of the Department of Environmental Health Science was exhibited.

According to Anan, the machine will help in reducing the nuisance of waste. Other machines displayed included rice dehauler, cabinet dryer, cassava grater, chipping machine and wood and agricultural sawdust briquetting machines.

Also old works and scripts of some prominent alumni of the university including Prof. Chinua Achebe, Prof. Wole Soyinka, sculptor Badaru Gbadamosi, late writer Amos Tutuola and Kola Ogunmola were displayed.

But of all the works on display, some of the students, including the President, Food Technology Students' Association, Mr. Fadeyi Ezekiel, said the artifacts displayed by the Department of Archeology and Anthropology impressed them the most. "They exposed me to our past. I'm really impressed with the old pictures that tell the story of the university," Ezekiel said.

Also, the Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and former Chairman of Unilever PLC, Dr. Michael Omolayole, said they were impressed with the level of creativity displayed by the dons. They advised the university authorities to publish the institution's research findings for the benefit of the nation.

According to them, doing so will stimulate the interest of private investors and multinational firms to collaborate with the university to generate additional income for the university.

Daniel noted that science and technology remained the pillars of civilisation hence the need for all nations to pursue policies and programmes that would boost it.

Omolayole, who was chairman at the opening ceremony, had lamented that many intellectual properties that could be adapted for commercial purposes by investors were wasting away in many universities across the country.

He said as a result of this, the general public was completely unaware of the great discoveries and creativity which were products of painstaking researches carried out by the dons.

"I also appreciate the link between universities ad industries. It is not by chance that intellectual property especially technology, is being exported from one country to another," he said.

He, therefore, appealed to the authorities of the university to take a step further by making public some of the major scientific breakthroughs which could be marketed to local and foreign investors.

The Director-General, National Office for Technological Acquisition, Mr. Obioma Adiukwu-Brown, who expressed happiness at the high level of research works at UI said that his agency had been working to stimulate linkage between universities, research institutions and private entrepreneurs.

He also said NOTA was developing a robust intellectual property rights portfolio and was carrying out technical assistance and royalty negotiation between researchers and interesting firms.

In response, Bamiro, who said it was unfortunate that the president could not honour the invitation extended to him for the exhibition, said the institution would continue to explore ways of attracting development and commercialisation of the various research efforts of the institution. He added that some of the works had been patented.

He noted that the Faculty of Pharmacy had developed an Assay Reagent kit for drug analysis based on chemical derivatisation methodology.

The faculty had also discovered synthesis of potential non-toxic azo-dyes for textiles, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

Apart from this, Bamiro added that the faculty had formulated quinine suppositories for treatment of malaria and pharmacokinetic drug and drug interaction profiling to active optimal pharmacotherapy.

Some of the major breakthroughs recorded in the Faculty of Sciences included the fabrication of a digital EMF/PH metre, colorimeter, uninterrupted power supply and production of test tube rack, specimen tubes, cell culture and cooling base top, among others. To make the university more visible on the Internet. Bamiro said that the senate had ordered all cadres of lecturers from assistant lecturership to professorship level to ensure that all their works were uploaded into the site of the institution while it had also secured a grant from MacArthur Foundation to expand academic and research programmes in the institution.

Some of the dons, including Oke and the local chairman of ASUU, Dr. Ademola Aremu, expressed unhappiness at the absence of President Yar' Adua at the exhibition.

According to them, all the inventions and fabrication on display would have been enough to convince the president about the good works being done at the university in spite of all the challenges.

Aremu said that apart from thousands of its products working in various sectors of the national economy, over 26 UI academics were currently serving as Vice-Chancellors in universities within and outside the country.

The lecturers, however, admitted that neither UI nor any university in the country could grow beyond the level of governance in the country.

One of them, who teaches in the Faculty of Education, Dr. Kehinde Kester, said, "If they had ranked presidents or governments in the world, which position will he (Yar' Adua) or the Nigerian government be? I don't need to answer that question, all of us know.

"But singling out the university system for non-performance is an admission of failure on the part of the government, because a university system cannot be greater than the quality of funding it receives and the quality of leadership in a country.

"But with what you have seen here, you too can see that we are not just here doing nothing like those who seek power to enrich themselves."

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/dec/9/402.html

One of the chinese proverbs says a journey of thousand miles starts with a step. Our president talked about Vision 2020 and his seven point agenda. Ask many Nigerians today to tell you the 7-point agenda of Mr president, majority dont know. We are targeting Vision 2020 when in 2009 we have not even lay the foundation for its realization. The whole thing is like building castle in the air.

Long live Nigeria!!!

Curruption is endemic in nigeria. Let me tell u it is not the function of immunity clause per say. i am going to to proove this to u.
The ministers, the federal and state house of assembly members, local govt chairmen, top military officers, even civil servants ETC have no immunity.
But this group of persons are perpetually and congenitaly corrupt. The governors are only worse than them becose they control more funds.
As for ABOKI YARADUA the guy is AN ARDENT JOKER. He has the likes of IBORI, ODILI, PDP, IWU,ETC in his kitchen carbinet, and even have the guts to nominate a former governor for ministorial possition.
HE IS GOING TO END UP WORSE THAN OBASANJO AND THE VECIOUS CIRCLE WILL CONTINUE UNTILL THIS COUNTRY DIVIDE.
WHY IS HE AFRAID OF RIBADU? CORRUPTION.

Anything to make our country the best is welcomed.

@earTH
I just can't believe I read all that.

You people can diss me all you like, the fact remains that I like Yar'Adua and I thinh at least for now he's better than Obasanjo in our deocratic history. If you no like what I'm writing, that na your problem.

It was President Umaru Yar'Adua that stirred the hornet's nest at the University of Ibadan when he declared that the nation's premier institution was just a local champion that refused to play the research game at the global level. The President, who spoke through the Minister of State for Education, Hajia Aishatu Dukku-Jibril, during the convocation of the university penultimate week, expressed regret that in spite of its age, the nation's premier university was not rated as one of the best 200 universities in the world. He, therefore, challenged the dons at the institution to wake up from their research and academic slumber and put the name of the university on the world educational map.

But dons and students of the university are not taking the President's criticism lightly. They believe the President has not only lost touch with reality but oblivious of happenings at the institution which started with 104 students in 1948.

The dons and students, who spoke with our correspondent at the university on Friday, said the institution apart from contributing over 75 per cent of human resources to the nation's workforce since independence, it has also contributed to the educational, socio-economic, political, scientific, technological development and the health sector of the nation.

"The President's comment is unfortunate, I think it came as a result of ignorance. However, I find it easy to forgive him because I'm sure someone wrote that speech for him. But on a second thought, I think it is not right for leaders not to cross-check facts in speeches written for them before they go to town with such," one of the dons, a professor of veterinary medicine, Bankole Oke, said.

Oke, who spoke with our correspondent after the closing ceremony of the exhibition organised to celebrate UI at 60 on Friday, said it was not easy to exonerate the President because his comments were unfair, not just on UI, but on the nation's university system.

He alleged that government, which owns the university, had not been fair to the institution in terms of funding and provision of facilities that could enhance teaching, learning and research.

"Look, there has never been a year that government releases the exact amount presented to it in our annual budget. The funds often released are never enough for overhead cost, let alone capital projects. Electricity supply is epileptic and in fact some of us (dons, researchers and scientists) have to go abroad to conduct research," he said.

Oke, who is also the coordinator of the exhibition, said university rankings were now being done based on the web presence of universities.

"Ranking is no longer done based on publications in journals. It is only people in the same area of specialisation that read the publications in specialised journals; those who rank universities now go to the Internet to assess the richness of a university site based on research breakthroughs and publications uploaded on such a site.

"If you are not there, you will be poorly ranked. But unfortunately for Nigerian universities, the epileptic power generation in the country and inadequate funds have limited their capacities to enjoy visible and robust presence on the Internet," he said.

So, rather than blaming the university for the lull in research activities, he said, the government should carry the blame.

Corroborating his colleague, a professor of soil science, John Ajayi, disclosed that inadequate power supply was the bane of the nation's academic development.

Ajayi, who has been in the university for 32 years, said decaying infrastructure, obsolete equipment, inadequate funding, ill-motivated staff, increased population and lack of   political will on the part of government to introduce tuition were responsible for the trend.




He said, "I've been in this university for 32 years. I can say that this is the worst year I have experienced in terms of power generation. For instance, the Faculty of Science did not have electricity supply for close to three months this year. Even for this three-day programme, we have to use generator all through and we all know that without energy supply, little or nothing can be done scientifically. So, government should live up to its responsibility."

But in spite of this, the former chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, UI Chapter, Dr. Ademola Da Sylva, said the university had not been folding its arms doing nothing. Da Sylva observed that the inability of the university to publicise most of its research findings was responsible for the president's position.

"This, in fact, informed the decision of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olufemi Bamiro, to put this exhibition together," he said.

At the exhibition, over 70 works, including inventions, innovations, useful information in terms of reports, monographs, patents and machineries, were showcased by all the seven faculties in the university.

Part of the breakthroughs exhibited by the Faculty of Technology, which came first in the exhibition, included fabricated technology for the processing and utilisation of agro-industrial waste and crop residues for wildlife husbandry, autoclave, juice extractor, fabricated waste paper processing machinery, fabricated maize sheller, waste paper recycling machine and an electric-powered water fountain come-aquarium invented by a 400 Level student of Electrical Electronics, Mr. Yusuf Ibrahim.

Also, a bio-gas renewable energy machine designed by Dr. Godson Anan of the Department of Environmental Health Science was exhibited.

According to Anan, the machine will help in reducing the nuisance of waste. Other machines displayed included rice dehauler, cabinet dryer, cassava grater, chipping machine and wood and agricultural sawdust briquetting machines.

Also old works and scripts of some prominent alumni of the university including Prof. Chinua Achebe, Prof. Wole Soyinka, sculptor Badaru Gbadamosi, late writer Amos Tutuola and Kola Ogunmola were displayed.

But of all the works on display, some of the students, including the President, Food Technology Students' Association, Mr. Fadeyi Ezekiel, said the artifacts displayed by the Department of Archeology and Anthropology impressed them the most. "They exposed me to our past. I'm really impressed with the old pictures that tell the story of the university," Ezekiel said.

Also, the Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and former Chairman of Unilever PLC, Dr. Michael Omolayole, said they were impressed with the level of creativity displayed by the dons. They advised the university authorities to publish the institution's research findings for the benefit of the nation.

According to them, doing so will stimulate the interest of private investors and multinational firms to collaborate with the university to generate additional income for the university.

Daniel noted that science and technology remained the pillars of civilisation hence the need for all nations to pursue policies and programmes that would boost it.

Omolayole, who was chairman at the opening ceremony, had lamented that many intellectual properties that could be adapted for commercial purposes by investors were wasting away in many universities across the country.

He said as a result of this, the general public was completely unaware of the great discoveries and creativity which were products of painstaking researches carried out by the dons.

"I also appreciate the link between universities ad industries. It is not by chance that intellectual property especially technology, is being exported from one country to another," he said.

He, therefore, appealed to the authorities of the university to take a step further by making public some of the major scientific breakthroughs which could be marketed to local and foreign investors.

The Director-General, National Office for Technological Acquisition, Mr. Obioma Adiukwu-Brown, who expressed happiness at the high level of research works at UI said that his agency had been working to stimulate linkage between universities, research institutions and private entrepreneurs.

He also said NOTA was developing a robust intellectual property rights portfolio and was carrying out technical assistance and royalty negotiation between researchers and interesting firms.

In response, Bamiro, who said it was unfortunate that the president could not honour the invitation extended to him for the exhibition, said the institution would continue to explore ways of attracting development and commercialisation of the various research efforts of the institution. He added that some of the works had been patented.

He noted that the Faculty of Pharmacy had developed an Assay Reagent kit for drug analysis based on chemical derivatisation methodology.

The faculty had also discovered synthesis of potential non-toxic azo-dyes for textiles, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

Apart from this, Bamiro added that the faculty had formulated quinine suppositories for treatment of malaria and pharmacokinetic drug and drug interaction profiling to active optimal pharmacotherapy.

Some of the major breakthroughs recorded in the Faculty of Sciences included the fabrication of a digital EMF/PH metre, colorimeter, uninterrupted power supply and production of test tube rack, specimen tubes, cell culture and cooling base top, among others. To make the university more visible on the Internet. Bamiro said that the senate had ordered all cadres of lecturers from assistant lecturership to professorship level to ensure that all their works were uploaded into the site of the institution while it had also secured a grant from MacArthur Foundation to expand academic and research programmes in the institution.

Some of the dons, including Oke and the local chairman of ASUU, Dr. Ademola Aremu, expressed unhappiness at the absence of President Yar' Adua at the exhibition.

According to them, all the inventions and fabrication on display would have been enough to convince the president about the good works being done at the university in spite of all the challenges.

Aremu said that apart from thousands of its products working in various sectors of the national economy, over 26 UI academics were currently serving as Vice-Chancellors in universities within and outside the country.

The lecturers, however, admitted that neither UI nor any university in the country could grow beyond the level of governance in the country.

One of them, who teaches in the Faculty of Education, Dr. Kehinde Kester, said, "If they had ranked presidents or governments in the world, which position will he (Yar' Adua) or the Nigerian government be? I don't need to answer that question, all of us know.

"But singling out the university system for non-performance is an admission of failure on the part of the government, because a university system cannot be greater than the quality of funding it receives and the quality of leadership in a country.

"But with what you have seen here, you too can see that we are not just here doing nothing like those who seek power to enrich themselves."

I don't think the President's statement about UI should result to the anger among students and professors, the simple truth is that we need to work on our universities in Nigeria and change the way they are. We can't be "living with a past, world forgotten glory", if we do, we will never move ahead. No hard feeling.

Just check the rank of the best Universities in Africa then compare it to what the world ranking is in UI, is Mr. President's word not true?
Position in Africa                                              World Ranking

1   University of Cape Town            385  
2 Stellenbosch University                654
3 Rhodes University                        722
4 University of Pretoria                734
5 University of the Witwatersrand 831
6 University of the Western Cape 1,218
7 University of Kwazulu Natal        1,313
8 University of South Africa        1,499
9 American University in Cairo        1,654
10 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 2,145
11 Cairo University                        2,934
12 University of the Free State        2,946
13 Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar 2,962
14 University of Johannesburg         3,704
15 University of Mauritius                3,756
16 Université Cadi Ayyad                3,961
17 University of Zimbabwe                        4,001
18 Mansoura University                4,002
19 Ain Shams University                4,112
20 University of Namibia               4,223
21 Polytechnic of Namibia                4,270
22 Al Akhawayn University Ifrane 4,275
23 Université Abdelmalek Essadi       4,309
24 University of Dar Es Salaam        4,334
25 University of Nairobi                4,338
26 Université Abou Bekr Belkaid Tlemcen 4,452
27 Arab Academy for Science & Technology and Maritime Transport 4,552
28 Universidade Eduardo Mondlane  4,689
29 Strathmore University Nairobi         4,780
30 National University of Rwanda  5,002
31 Zagazig University                          5,146
32 Egerton University                          5,203
33 University of Botswana                  5,262
34 Ecole Mohammadia d'Ingenieurs  5,303
35 Addis Ababa University                          5,322
36 Institut Agronomique et Veterinaire Hassan Ii 5,352
37 German University in Cairo           5,467
38 Arab Open University Egypt Branch   5,935
39 North West University                   5,994
40 Mogadishu University                    6,145
41 University of Khartoum                   6,213
42 Université de Ouagadougou           6,472
43 Assiut University                           6,530
44 Université Abdelmalek Essaadi    6,589
45 Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Informatique et d'Analyse des Systemes Ensias 6,599
46 University of Ghana                                    6,657
47 Ecole Superieure Privee d'Ingenierie et de Technologies 6,687
48 University of Fort Hare                     6,689
49 Faculte des Sciences Rabat             6,732
50 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology 6,758
51 Université Mohammed Premier Oujda 6,848
52 University of Malawi                 6,882
53 Cape Peninsula University of Technology 7,043
54 Helwan University                          7,052
55 University of Zambia                7,116
56 Tshwane University of Technology 7,137
57 Sudan University of Science & Technology 7,198
58 Université de Batna                  7,199
59 Makerere University                   7,226
60 Université Virtuelle de Tunis          7,237
61 Garyounis University                 7,265
62 Amoud University                         7,440
63 Monash University South Africa 7,650
64 Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari Boumediene 7,657
65 Université Mohammed V Souissi 7,664
66 University of Zululand                 7,685
67 African Virtual University                7,688
68 Awolowo University                   7,703
69 Sokoine University of Agriculture 7,752
70 Faculte de Medecine & Pharmacie 7,937
71 University of Tanta                        8,003
72 Université Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah Fes                          8,004
73 Institut Superieur de l'Information et de la Communication           8,016
74 Al Azhar Al-Sharif Islamic Research Academy                         8,019
75 Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology 8,085
76 Université M'Hamed Bougara de Boumerdes                        8,130
77 Ecole Nationale de Commerce et de Gestion                        8,215
78 Institut National de Formation en Informatique                8,339
79 Université Abdelhamid Ibn Badis Mostaganem                8,351
80 Université Mentouri de Constantine                                  8,360
81 Moi University                                                                          8,393
82 Ecole du Patrimoine Africain                                                           8,402
83 Alexandria University                       8,419
84 Ecole Nationale d'Administration Maroc 8,514
85 University of Ibadan                8,619
86 Universidade Católica de Angola        8,642
87 Université d'Alger                                8,658
88 Université Chouaib Doukkali                8,687
89 Université de Nouakchott                8,732
90 Durban University of Technology         8,735
91 Université Hassan II Ain-Chock          8,790
92 Université de Lome                                 8,821
93 Minufiya University                                 8,842
94 Kenyatta University                                 8,855
95 Ashesi University                                 8,860
96 Central University of Technology         8,892
97 Université Senghor d'Alexandrie         8,957
98 Kigali Institute of Science & Technology 9,008
99 Université Hassan II Mohammadia        9,015
100 Faculte des Sciences Tetouan                9,066

The ranking is nonsense and very unreliable. Just let it rest.

this ranking is bullshit.

Do u actually believe this guy wants the immunity clause removed,
do u think those thieving Govs will just sit by and allow that to happen, lol

Yaradua is wet behind the ears for thinking the immunity clause can be expunged from the constitution like that In a Federalist system of government that practices the presidential system, the immunity clause is almost one of the guarantees for holding power. The aim of it is to prevent multiplicity of suits flying from all angles. These suits will prevent the incumbent president or governor from functioning both in his private and public capacity.

For everytime someone hates or has an agenda against the sitting public elected officer, he files an injunction which in turn prevents him or her from carrying out that duty until the determination of that suit which could take donkey years.

Nobody is saying that nigerian elected officers havent misused the intention of the framers of the constitution that inserted that clause but it should remain especially in a politically charged environment like ours that seeks to remove the incumbent no matter the cost to hold on to power.

The immunity clause however doesnt cover criminal charges and if there is ample proof to show that a sitting governor or president commited a crime, he could be hurriedly impeached and prosecuted accordingly. For example the fayose case!

So the Efcc hiding under the banner of "removing the immunity clause" should do their home work well and provide the evidence. No immunity clause world wide covers criminal actions only in respect of civil matters!

This is a bad idea. There is a reason for the immunity and it applies in numerous countries all over the world. Holders of high political office cannot effectively carry out their duties under fear or threat of impending criminal action all the time. The truth is that in a country like Nigeria, removing the immunity will have little or no effect (afterall it is the president that appoints the Attorney-General. . . and the governors appoint their respective state Attorneys-General) and it is these people who are responsible for criminal prosecution. Even in cases where private individuals exercise their rights to prosecute where an Attorney-General has declined to do so, the Attorney-General can discontinue such a case. So, I am afrais that once again, it is a case of a Nigerian leader just paying lip service.

What would be the best idea is a swift and impartial procedure for impeaching these officers so that they can face criminal charges as soon as they have been removed. That is of course if you get past the appalling corruption that poisons every sector in Nigeria.

i don't get it, impeachment procedures can't be sped up. the fear of criminal action actually force public officials to do the right thing. if Illinois was in Nigeria, Rod Blagojevich would go on untouched. government may appoint their respective state AG's but that won't stop a federal investigation

OK. So if the president can push that the immunity clause should be removed, thus altering the constitution. . . 'just because he has the power to do so'. . . isn't that corruption on its own?

I'll suggest he should be the first one to be sent a lawsuit once the immunity is gone. LOL.

I dont appreciate corruption in anyway. Not even when its under the guise of being for the 'greater good'.

lawyer:


The immunity clause however doesnt cover criminal charges and if there is ample proof to show that a sitting governor or president commited a crime, he could be hurriedly impeached and prosecuted accordingly. For example the fayose case!

So the Efcc hiding under the banner of "removing the immunity clause" should do their home work well and provide the evidence. No immunity clause world wide covers criminal actions only in respect of civil matters!  

I am not sure you know what you are talking about. What sort of lawyer are you? Anyone who studied law would have been taught in their second year (or maybe third year in some universities) during their constitutional law lectures about executive immunity. It is a no brainer, the immunity of a president, vice-president, governor or deputy-governor applies to BOTH civil and criminal matters. I'd advice you to go back and read Section 308 of your 1999 Nigerian Constitution. Moreover, contrary to what you have said above, this kind of immunity against both civil and criminal actions applies in numerous countries. ^{Maybe you'd do best sticking to wrestling land from the omo oniles.}

It is because of this very immunity that such officers must have left office before an action can be brought against them. Their leaving office could be as a result of the end of their term or as a result of being impeached (or due to illness).

i think this Yar adua of a man is sincere and reallly mean well for Nigerians. it is just that Nigerians have been so deceived in the past by the past leaders that they find it difficult to believe that any nigerian in the name of a president could be sincere. since Yar "Adua assumed office, just check out his antecedents, from declaring his assets and now this immunity clause of a thing, we should at least believe a little in this man and give him a chance to perform.
Nigerians are so biased and impatient that even the sincerest of a heart wwould get frustrated trying to correct the ills bring out a change.
what else do some people want this man to do to prove he means well for Nigerians; is it to give a military instruction that no body should ask Mallam Ribadu to give account of his stewardship or answer his superiors in the police force? we are getting it all wrong. that alone could be disastrous for this nation calle d nigeria but some of us do not know.
our biases are too much that it is even blocking our senses of reasoning. nigerians should should refering to Ribadu at every little thing that Yar Adua's does. Nigerians have too many problems that i believe give the president headache trying to resolve. we should allow the president to concentarte on these problems of nigeria and not distract him with Ribadu this, ribadu that.
many have been clamouring for the removal of this immunity clause since the past administrations, and here come a president who is bold and courageous enough to grant and approve that, some are critisicing him already on it.
it seems some of us have become so hopeless and pessimistic that they dont even know which is good or which is bad for them again. lets leave our minds open and allow our God given senses of reason to work properly.
our President deserves better encouragement and support from all of us, i mean the progressives, the not-corrupt and well meaning nigerians.
lets for get PDP, but focus on the man Yar Adua, he means to fight corruption.
God bless Nigeria

I just hope the supreme court rescue us from this toture on friday.

Ewu all of you!!! Is it Yar'adua who is going to draft the bill or the particular section that will expunge the immunity clause.

Goats!!The people who derive benefits from that clause will not sit down with arms folded and watch that man pour san sand inside their garri.

Who are the corrupt people? Face it. You!! Yes YOU and YOU and YOU and also YOU sitting at the computer you are the corrupt Nigerians . Hypocrites all of you

Ewu all of you!!! Is it Yar'adua who is going to draft the bill or the particular section that will expunge the immunity clause.

Goats!!The people who derive benefits from that clause will not sit down with arms folded and watch that man pour san sand inside their garri.

Who are the corrupt people? Face it. You!! Yes YOU and YOU and YOU and also YOU sitting at the computer you are the corrupt Nigerians . Hypocrites all of you
           






I say, thunder fire you

Re: Yar'adua Seeks End To Immunity For Leaders
« #13 on: Yesterday at 09:55:01 PM »

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You people can diss me all you like, the fact remains that I like Yar'Adua and I thinh at least for now he's better than Obasanjo in our deocratic history. If you no like what I'm writing, that na your problem.

hmmm

you guys just have to ensure everything and anything political degenrates into a cussing match. over what? clouds that may never eventually bring rains. please watch your language

@ topic

all na talk. he only submitted it to the constitutional review committee, who have to submit their findings to the senate, who are the worst looters in government. it will certainly die a natural death at least, we can pretend to the world that we are serious about eliminating corruption.

This is a bad idea. There is a reason for the immunity and it applies in numerous countries all over the world. Holders of high political office cannot effectively carry out their duties under fear or threat of impending criminal action all the time. The truth is that in a country like Nigeria, removing the immunity will have little or no effect (afterall it is the president that appoints the Attorney-General. . . and the governors appoint their respective state Attorneys-General) and it is these people who are responsible for criminal prosecution. Even in cases where private individuals exercise their rights to prosecute where an Attorney-General has declined to do so, the Attorney-General can discontinue such a case. So, I am afrais that once again, it is a case of a Nigerian leader just paying lip service.

What would be the best idea is a swift and impartial procedure for impeaching these officers so that they can face criminal charges as soon as they have been removed. That is of course if you get past the appalling corruption that poisons every sector in Nigeria.

this is true. still, these officials have become arrogant about their 'electorate-given right to loot funds and act irresponsibly' and don't actually do what they were elected to do, despite the immunity clause.

however, when all investigations have been concluded, the governor/president and deputy CAN be impeached, in order to make way for proper trial, or the senator recalled. the onus lies on the efcc and icpc to present evidence of misdemeanour to the senate or state house of assembly, who have a duty to protect the people from thieves. unfortunately, they are also thieves and would only be digging their own graves.

@ baba-go-slow
thanks for stirring up a topic for discussion, if your declaration serves no other purpose

we have a very wonderful president born out of a movie magic of a horrible obj.
such an intelligent man with and excellent ideas to move nigeria forward.
all in all, i see his moves as right moves at wrong time. a square peg in a round hole.
taking away immunity from top office holders is a good one but what about common criminals in our society who have no official immunity yet they do their things and still stand tall when everyone in the society knows who and what they are.
most of our law enforcement agents are under the pay rolls of our leaders outside their official pay packages so what are we going to expect here?
a good yar adua shld work towards cleaning aso rock of the stinks and filts it is housing. a good yar adua shld first of all look at those areas that will reflect more on the populace. a good yar adua shld be able to restore power supply, security, good roads and the general welfare of the citizens of a blessed country like nigeria.
until the right things are done at the right times, no other move will move nigeria forward - immunity or no immunity.
yar adua is blind and will always find it difficult to lead co-blind nigerians.

Yaradull is just flying a kite, a dangerous one at that. He knows his fellow politicians will never allow such a proposal see the light of day. He is doing this with a view to shoring up his anti-corruption credentials which has been stained in recent times.

The ploy is to fly the kite, have it shot down by his ilk in the House of Assembly and then he can go to town grand standing and claiming he is the goody two shoes.

Any government that continues to fraternize with the likes of Ibori, Orji Kalu, Odili and the rest of them can never, and I repeat, NEVER claim to be serious about the fight against corruption.

Rather than struggle to remove the gargantuan obstacle of constitutional immunity, this JOKE called Yaradull should start by ensuring that those who in the past hid behind the cloak of immunity to rob the country blind are brought to book, now that they no longer enjoy that protection!!!!

Lets wait and see

Alam-Tara:

Ewu all of you!!! Is it Yar'adua who is going to draft the bill or the particular section that will expunge the immunity clause.

Goats!!The people who derive benefits from that clause will not sit down with arms folded and watch that man pour san sand inside their garri.

Who are the corrupt people? Face it. You!! Yes YOU and YOU and YOU and also YOU sitting at the computer you are the corrupt Nigerians . Hypocrites all of you

What's with the insults man? Please exercise some decorum in your response.

naijacutee:

Yar'Adua is not out of his mind. It is still normal/ok/possible to at least want to put an end to corruption.

I agree with you that Yaradull is not out of his mind. My point is that you cannot claim you are fighting corruption while you continue to hob-nob with the vanguards of corruption from our very recent past.