₦airaland Forum

by Tubosun Ajanaku

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Are your countrymen victims of violent attacks from citizens of another country simply because they weren’t born inside the same imaginary lines drawn by gold-digging, 19th-century European leaders? Are their shops and belongings burnt to ashes by citizens of a country whose GDP is, ironically, on admission at the ICU and needs every productive activity it can get? Are your brothers and sisters suffering at the hands of fools for the sins of a few—sins which are no reserve of one nationality?

Are your kinsmen judged by the emphases in their accents rather than the decency in their character? Challe, do you find yourselves in a country where the wages of sin (by a stranger) is not simply prosecution or deportation but, as the Book of Romans suggests, outright death?

…Then all your problems have reached a red traffic light (never mind that it’s temporary). Draw your seatbelt as I am about to reveal to you the never-before-tested but trusted ways to magically put an end to that age-old menace called xenophobia—made right here in Nigeria!

First, have shitty embassies. You know, embassies that don’t make noise; embassies that like keeping things lowkey, especially when the ordinary Nigerian is under threat. What is a travel advisory? That strange concept should have no place in your dictionary. Your country already has one of the world’s largest populations and your citizens are everywhere, strutting like they own the planet together with all its continents and crannies. Of course, the last thing you want to do is further amplify your presence with some embassy or high commission that promptly speaks out for its people.

Second, never be caught showing displeasure on camera when you are with their number one citizen. Smile! In fact, let out a carefree laugh or two. Hold hands like true pan-Africans while the corpses of your people are flown back for befitting burials. You have to show maturity and mustn’t be seen transferring aggression. It is, after all, the poor people of one country who are killing and the poor people of another country who are dying. Their president is a nice guy. Hug him, challe. And pat him on the back too for promising to do something about the situation back at home. How generous!

Let the Vice President do all the (roadside) talking, while you do the smiling. Besides, here is a country that imports nearly a quarter of all your oil exports and, automatically, contributes nearly a quarter of all your foreign exchange reserves. How else are people supposed to travel abroad for, say, medical treatments or workshops tailored specifically for local government chairmen? Where are we going to get money to subsidise pilgrimage expenses for the rich folks? Think about it.

You should also consider sending a very “special envoy” to the problematic country. That is, of course, right after setting up a “high-powered” committee to communicate your grievances to the African Union. If there’s one thing xenophobes are afraid of, it is having ministers and special advisers from their victims’ country visiting to “register their displeasure”. If nothing else works, trust me, this is certain to bring an end to the madness. And if it doesn’t, at least the envoy can seize the opportunity to also beg your countrymen to return home and build the country. Plus, hey! Let’s not forget the lucky guys in that delegation also get some estacodes to last them a couple of months. It’s a win for everyone, yeah?

Anyway, if your people say enough is enough and finally take their protest beyond the walls of Facebook and the tree branches of Twitter, make sure your friendly policemen and their friendly (but fire-ready) guns are on ground to maintain order. If that is not enough to restore order, make a scapegoat of one or two of them just to teach them a lesson about how precious life is. By the time someone is gunned down, they’ll know never to try such silly antics again.

Whatever you do, do not suspend diplomatic ties. Do not suspend the problematic people’s ambassador to your country. Do not withdraw from events scheduled to be held there. Do not impose economic sanctions. I beg you, touch not their investments. In fact, if your countries have a friendly football match coming up soon, fix additional bilateral friendly matches every week after till all becomes well. At this point, you can’t have too many. You can’t afford to get the xenophobes angry. We all know what happens when they get angry.

Let your lackadaisical attitude about the whole situation be so glaring that local men are frustrated into taking law into their own hands and making nice-sounding but irrational decisions. Not all local men are frustrated because of xenophobia though. Your successful and unique failures in other areas of life (e.g. in making sure jobs and good food are out of their reach) can also push them into vandalising and looting, all in the name of protests.

So, please, do not fix your economy. Do not create jobs. Do not improve the standard of living of your people, so that as many of them as possible stay at home with no urge to seek supposedly greener pastures (-turn-graveyards) elsewhere. Give them 1001 reasons why a Canadian passport is the best thing after Agege bread. Do not further develop your country than it already is, you know, because this will only get the xenophobes jealous.

And don’t we all know what happens when the darn xenophobes get jealous?

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Source: https://punocracy.com/putting-an-end-to-xenophobic-attacks-nigerian-style/

Bukkiminat:
@Adekunlebaj
I will floor you when it comes to Yoruba scrabble.

I am Kuku your boss before.

Was sha wondering how I got the mention, and who knows me here. Floor ko, basement ni.

Bukkiminat:
Y'all should please drink enough water. The so called 'lifeless president jubril' has done one small sontin, and y'all are beginning to say he is more wicked than Abacha . please drink water � .

It is true Uncle Bubu did not follow the due process.
It is true Uncle CJN did not declare some of his assets.
It is also true y'all are shutting your eyes to what led to his suspension.
It is obvious that Nigerians are biased in their reasoning, your hatred for buhari shouldn't let your brain go on strike, please!

please drink water.

By the way, thought y'all said Buhari is Jubril, please when exactly did this your confusion start, so I can know the severity of your confusion, the type of drug to give you and I can adjust your dose appropriately.

Sick!

Without granting them a fair hearing, a Nigerian tertiary institution, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Abia State, suspended two of her student-athletes, Ekwe Nelson Chibunna and Jideofor Ikejehovah, for boycotting the 29th World University Games held in Taiwan.

The students, who were members of the school’s Taekwondo club, decided not to participate in the international competition because their head coach, Okechi Onwuka, was abruptly told he could not accompany them and was replaced with another university staff. To no avail, they have written several letters appealing to the management to reinstate them so that they may graduate.

According to the letter dated May 24, 2018, and signed by the registrar, Jacinta N. Ogwo-Agu, the decision to suspend was ratified by the University Senate at its sitting on April 18, 2018. The document describes the boycott as “an act of insubordination” and “an embarrassment to the university and the nation”.

“The University Senate, therefore, directed that you should be suspended from the University with immediate effect and your matter to be referred to the Students’ Disciplinary Committee,” the letter adds.

“You are to hand over all property of the University in your possession, including your student identity card to the Department and vacate the university campus within 24 hours of receipt of this suspension letter.”

Onwuka, who has volunteered as the university’s taekwondo coach since 2008 and was employed as a lecturer in 2013, was also queried and accused of inciting the students to boycott the competition.

He told The ICIR that the athletes have sacrificed a lot to represent the institution with little support from the management. In winning numerous medals for the school, Onwuka said he has spent time and personal money.

“The university rarely sponsors us to participate in competitions outside the Nigerian University Games (NUGA),” he explains. “We train at the rough lawn tennis courts for lack of an indoor sports hall. I buy most of the equipment, handle training logistics and sponsor most of the competitions even when I am not under any emolument as a school coach.”

Narrating the team’s experience at the 2017 pre-NUGA qualifiers, he said it was “excruciating and inhuman” what they had to go through. The team slept in an old canteen at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, as no provision was made for accommodation. They also had to compete “with empty stomachs” as no allowance was given for refreshment.

Despite the challenges, the team still qualified for the main NUGA event that year, which was held at the University of Agriculture Markurdi, Benue State, between April 22 and 30. Though they prepared using substandard instruments, out of seven medals eventually won by the school, six were won by the taekwondo team, including 2 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals.

Months after the fruitful outing, the university asked Onwuka to prepare the two gold medalists, Chibunna and Ikejehovah, for the World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan, which was scheduled to be held between August 19 and 30, 2017. Again, the coach received no financial support from the university. No help was offered also in the procurement of needed equipment, national and international black belt certificates, global athletic licence, travel passports, among other materials.

Worse still, according to Onwuka, the university did not pay the competition’s required counterpart fee of N750,000 until after the deadline of August 10 and after they received a reminder from the team.

Onwuka narrates: “When the deadline for the payment lapsed, we decided to seek an audience directly with the University Vice-Chancellor. The visitation was to enable us know if the university was still willing to pay for the counterpart fee so that we could decide whether to go home or not since the school was on vacation.

“The visitation was also necessitated by our previous experience where one of our taekwondo students, Okechi Chima, who qualified for the World University Games, spent over a month at the national camp, missed most of his tests and still couldn’t attend because the university eventually didn’t pay the counterpart fee.”

The day following the payment, the coach was informed he would not be joining the delegates to Taiwan and had been substituted for the chairman of the Sports Committee, Chukwuemeka C. Chukwurah. Also scheduled to accompany the athletes was the institution’s Sports Director, Cliff A. Nnadozie.

“The next day, Engr. C.C. Chukwurah called me stating that for 13 years he has not travelled abroad, that’s why he insisted that he must go,” Onwuka says. “He also tried to bribe me stating that fools allow money to divide them but wise men sit down and divide money.

“My efforts to convince him and the University that the students are so immature to be exposed to such risk, as this is a combat sport, without their personal coach couldn’t yield any result. Their lives and health worth more than money and personal gains.”


https://i1.wp.com/www.icirnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/OTU.jpg?w=439&ssl=1
Prof. Francis Ogbonnaya Otunta, Vice Chancellor, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture

Nnadozie and Chukwurah, it was gathered, eventually travelled to Taiwan, despite the students’ insistence on not participating without their coach. Onwuka alleged that over N10 million was provided by the university for this trip. “It shocks me how a university that can hardly provide a kicking pad of five thousand naira suddenly got over ten million to spend on two officials with no business with taekwondo,” he tells The ICIR.


We were initially told our coach would be going with us — athletes

The suspended students have told The ICIR that the university reneged on an earlier pledge to allow the coach accompany them for the competition, which had influenced them to agree to participate at all. Chibunna, an Engineering student in his final year, said they were only told the coach would no longer be travelling a few days to departure, and this was why they decided to opt out.

Shedding more light on their decision, he said the team believes the coach understands their fighting style and would prove more helpful to them than the other university staff members as he could help with management and the technicalities of the sport.

“We also believe that the competition will avail him the opportunity to learn and gain better experience which will improve the performance of the school taekwondo team,” he adds.

“We do not understand the rationale behind sending two non-taekwondo officials with two taekwondo athletes while dropping the school taekwondo coach. This might bring public ridicule to our great university.”

He also said it is really risky and may constitute a threat to lives if they went ahead to fight without their coach to whom they were accustomed, taking into account the combatant nature of the sport.

Months after the competition, while he was in Lagos for his industrial training, Chibunna received calls from his class representative and staff adviser, Onwuka, who said he had letters from the university management. He had hurried to Abia State to get the letters and honour the disciplinary committee’s invitation, only for the suspension letter to be informally withdrawn.

https://i1.wp.com/www.icirnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/WhatsApp-Image-2019-01-07-at-3.00.52-PM-e1546959589800.jpeg?resize=768%2C882&ssl=1

https://i1.wp.com/www.icirnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/WhatsApp-Image-2019-01-07-at-3.00.52-PM-1-e1546959618157.jpeg?resize=768%2C856&ssl=1
Ikejehovah’s Letter of Appeal for Redress, dated October 11 2018

Ikejehovah, a 400-level student of Environmental Management who was also suspended, however received his own letter. Speaking to The ICIR, he said the team wrote to the university to say there’s no way they can participate in a “such a high-profile competition” without their coach. The registrar, he said, told them the management had resolved they should travel without their coach and asked them to inform the Sports Director of their decision.

“The chairman of sports committee called us to the office of the Director of Sports, trying to bribe us to go with him and the Director of Sports, instead of our coach, and we rejected,” Ikejehovah says. “Later we were informed that the University Director of Sports and the chairman of the Sports Committee had travelled for the same competition only to come back and have us suspended.”


‘Wise men sit down and divide money,’ says Sports Cttee. Chairman

In one of the phone conversations between the taekwando coach and the university’s Sports Commitee chairman, a recording of which was obtained by The ICIR, the latter said the coach would be wise to “sit down and divide money” rather than being aggrieved. This is based on the principle of “you are okay, I am okay”, he explained.

“Come with the mindset that fools allow money to divide them; wise men sit down and divide money,” he said. “Are you hearing me? Fools allow money to divide them; wise men sit down and divide money,” he repeated for emphasis.

“And don’t forget that espirit de corps… That spirit should never fall, no matter what. We are going to raise that spirit, and we are going to raise you from the position you are now. We don’t want anything to hurt you, including you hurting yourself.”

Responding, Onwuka insisted that the right thing should be done since the truth is clear to everyone.

“See, you cannot determine the right thing at your level,” Chukwurah however replied. “When we meet one on one, we will resolve all those ones. When you say right thing, it means that some people are not okay and you are okay. What I want you to say is ‘I am okay, you are okay.’

“Come with your boys. Make sure you come with them with clear mind and, er, we will resolve this thing so that, er, all stakeholders will be happy, and no person will feel that he is deprived of anything.”

In an earlier conversation between the duo, Chukwurah had said he insisted on travelling since he had not “gone abroad” for the 13 to 14 years he has spent as committee chairman.

“You have been a good boy, don’t spoil it with the insistence that the privilege must be given,” he advised. “Why I am saying it is a privilege is because the national body didn’t recommend any person. But we on our own felt that it should be done. So do not scatter the this thing, do not scatter it. And encourage your boys.

“Do not be aggrieved by the denial which is a management prerogative… Take it in good faith. We in the management we call it respect for constituted authority. They are the constituted authority. It is there prerogative to approve or debar or whatever.”

https://i2.wp.com/www.icirnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Engr-C.-C.-Chukwurah-20190110_123251.jpg?w=640&ssl=1
Engr. Chukwuemeka Christopher Chukwurah, fmr chairman of the Sports Committee


Sports chairman defends his words and trip to Taiwan

When The ICIR contacted Chukwurah for his comments, he informed our reporter that he retired from service in 2018. He said the Sports Committee was not disposed to buying the students over, adding that they were given fair hearing as they were invited several times by the management but did not show up. When eventually they met with the committee, they walked out, he said,

He also said the athletes went to the Vice Chancellor for demonstration without his knowledge, which prompted him to invite them so that they may reason together. On the allegation of offering to bribe, Chukwurah said his proverb was widely misinterpreted to mean he was prepared to give out money.

“I don’t quarrel with people about money, women and land because I know they come from God. That is my principle. So I was telling the coach this thing: Come let us discuss because this thing should not divide us. Any opportunity or privilege should not divide us. Come let us discuss with the committee and find a way to reach common ground,” he explains.

He described the alleged N10 million spent on the trip by the two officials as bogus, outrageous and false. “If you know what is given to any public servant to travel; that is exactly what was given to us. There is nothing strange about it,” he says.

He went on to explain that the officials did not go for a ‘jamboree’ in Taiwan as the event did not just feature sporting activities but also included a “World University Sports conference” organised by the World University Games.

The ICIR confirmed that, indeed, there was a four-day conference programme towards the end of the games organised by the International University Sports Federation (FISU).

Ikejehovah, one of the suspended students, however denied the claim that they were granted fair hearing. He said neither of them could face the disciplinary committee even though they were invited. The invitation letter, he explained, was delivered about ten days after the committee already sat, and a few days after they were already suspended. “There was no way I could have faced the panel,” he says.

He also described as false the claim that the students demonstrated and explained that they only sought to have an audience with the Vice Chancellor, a move he said is common practice among students. He confirmed that the meeting with the sports committee was not fruitful, but added that this was because the sports committee chairman shouted at them and had a heated argument with the coach.

On his part, the university’s Director of Sports told The ICIR he does not “have the mandate to speak” on the case and suggested that the registrar, who is authorised to give comments, should be called. Calls placed to the telephone of Ogwo-Agu were, however, not answered. Likewise, texts sent to her have not been responded to.

In policy, Michael Okpara University appears to give precedence to sporting activities. It states, for instance, in its Academic Brief that its health and physical education is aimed at “projecting the university far beyond the borders of the campus, the country and the continent by striving to produce sportsmen and women who will excel internationally.”

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/michael-okpara-uni-suspends-students-for-refusing-to-attend-taekwondo-contest/

*It seeks to generate revenue for the FG through a new regulatory agency

The National Assembly is considering a comprehensive bill which, if passed, will enable the federal and state governments to regulate street trading, levy vendors, and make sure that across the country, individuals without permanent structures cannot trade without a license.

Named the “Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (Establishment, Protection of Livelihoods, etc.) Bill, 2018”, was sponsored by Okorie Linus Abaa, the lawmaker representing the Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo constituency of Ebonyi State at the House of Representatives. The Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) states that the bill passed through first reading on July 12, 2018.

According to its explanatory memorandum, the primary aim of the proposed law is to generate revenue for the Federal Government through the establishment of the Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (NSTRC). It says the purpose of the agency shall also be providing an institutional and formal approach to protecting the livelihoods of street traders, domestic workers and others within the informal sector.

Job creation for hundreds

The enactment of the bill will see to the emergence of new jobs for various individuals, from the federal level to local government area. The proposed Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (NSTRC), will be headed by a director-general.

The commission shall also have a secretary, a legal adviser, thirty-seven state directors, one representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a representative of the National Identity Management Commission, a representative of the National Pension Commission, a representative of the National Insurance Commission and a representative of the National Commission for Nomadic Education.

The other government agencies represented on the commission are expected to be responsible for the award of grants and loans, the creation of a digital database, provision of pension services, provision of insurance policy, and implementation of a formal education framework for street traders.

Asides the federal commission, the bill also provides for the establishment of State Street Trading Committees which are to consider applications for the award of street vending licenses and delimitation of street trading zones within the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The state committees shall in turn be constituted by Local Government Area Commissioners or Chief Executive Officers of the Local Government Area (LGA) Street Trading Committees, and other representatives of the LGA committee including the medical officer, planning authority, traffic police, association of street vendors, market associations, traders associations, non-governmental organisations, banks, among others.


https://i0.wp.com/www.icirnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/NASS-Journal-National-HB-41-July-19-2018.cdr-Google-Chrome.jpg?resize=768%2C265&ssl=1
Excerpt from the Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission Bill, 2018


Job loss for countless others?

If the provisions of the bill are strictly implemented, it is expected that millions of Nigerians who are engaged in one form of street trading or the other will lose this source of livelihood and may be forced into alternative ventures. And the bill has a broad definition for the term “street trader”.

Section 31 defines it as “a person engaged in vending of articles, goods, wares, food items or merchandise of everyday use or offering services to the general public, in a street, lane, side walk, footpath, pavement, public park or any other public place or private area, from a temporary built up structure or by moving from place to place and includes hawker, peddler, squatter and all other synonymous terms which may be local or region specific.”

Part Four, sections 18 to 25, deals with the manner in which street trading will be regulated. According to it, no person can engage in street-trading unless they have a licence (valid for a limited period), accompanied by an identification card.

To get the licence, an amount will be paid and an undertaken must be signed with the State Street Trading Committee to swear, among other things, that the applicant has no other means of livelihood. The spouse or child of a street trader may use his or her licence in the case of death, illness or disability.

Every five years, section 19 says, the State Street Trading Committee shall conduct a survey of street vendors based on “street trading zones” under its jurisdiction. Existing vendors will be accommodated in the trading zones but only “subject to a norm conforming to two and half per cent of the population” and “in accordance with the plan for street trading and the holding capacity of the street trading zones”. They will not be able to trade in non-street trading zones.

What happens when the street traders identified in the first survey are more than the zone’s holding capacity? According to Section 20(3), “the State Street Trading Committee shall carry out a draw of lots for issuing the certificate of street trading for that street trading zone and the remaining persons shall be accommodated in any adjoining street trading zone to avoid relocation.”

Section 31 explains that the holding capacity is the maximum number of street traders who can operate in any trading zone as determined by the local government area on the recommendations of the State Street Trading Committee.

The bill requires every trader to pay periodic maintenance charges for civic amenities and facilities provided in vending zones to maintain cleanliness and to ensure public properties are in good condition and are not damaged or destroyed.

Also, a street trader operating without certification or who contravenes the terms of his certificate may be evicted by the local government area, may be fined, may have his goods seized and, if he or she does not obey a notice to vacate, “shall be liable to pay for every day of such default”.

Asides becoming “a self-sufficient revenue generating Commission of the Federal Government of Nigeria”, other objectives of the street-trading commission include to provide technical assistance through capacity building across the value chains, to reduce the cost of borrowing by street traders from commercial banks, to provide technical advice to street trading businesses, etc.


Not the only law, not the first time

Though it appears to be the first national attempt in this direction, it is not the first time lawmakers or governments in Nigeria have sought to regulate street-trading. Preceding the bill is the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending in the Federal Capital Territory) Bill, 2018, sponsored by Lovette Idisi for the FCT. The first reading took place on January 17, 2018.

Ebonyi State, where the federal bill’s sponsor comes from, recently clamped down on roadside traders in Abakaliki as it invoked the provisions of the state’s environmental law prohibiting road obstruction. Other states have taken similar steps in driving petty traders away from the streets. But no matter how much force is deployed, the traders keep returning to the streets.

According to latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), there are 15.9 million Nigerians who are without jobs (that is 18.8 percent), and about 18 million are underemployed. As a result, millions are driven to the informal sector which contributed 41.4 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2015.

The International Monetary Fund even says the sector constitutes up to 60 per cent of the entire economy. Coming right after agriculture, trading activities account for 26 per cent of the informal economy.

Section 16 of Nigeria’s constitution directs the government to “protect the right of every citizen to engage in any economic activities outside the major sectors of the economy”. It also says the state is to “control the national economy in such manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity”.

*It seeks to generate revenue for the FG through a new regulatory agency

The National Assembly is considering a comprehensive bill which, if passed, will enable the federal and state governments to regulate street trading, levy vendors, and make sure that across the country, individuals without permanent structures cannot trade without a license.

Named the “Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (Establishment, Protection of Livelihoods, etc.) Bill, 2018”, was sponsored by Okorie Linus Abaa, the lawmaker representing the Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo constituency of Ebonyi State at the House of Representatives. The Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) states that the bill passed through first reading on July 12, 2018.

According to its explanatory memorandum, the primary aim of the proposed law is to generate revenue for the Federal Government through the establishment of the Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (NSTRC). It says the purpose of the agency shall also be providing an institutional and formal approach to protecting the livelihoods of street traders, domestic workers and others within the informal sector.

Job creation for hundreds

The enactment of the bill will see to the emergence of new jobs for various individuals, from the federal level to local government area. The proposed Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (NSTRC), will be headed by a director-general.

The commission shall also have a secretary, a legal adviser, thirty-seven state directors, one representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a representative of the National Identity Management Commission, a representative of the National Pension Commission, a representative of the National Insurance Commission and a representative of the National Commission for Nomadic Education.

The other government agencies represented on the commission are expected to be responsible for the award of grants and loans, the creation of a digital database, provision of pension services, provision of insurance policy, and implementation of a formal education framework for street traders.

Asides the federal commission, the bill also provides for the establishment of State Street Trading Committees which are to consider applications for the award of street vending licenses and delimitation of street trading zones within the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The state committees shall in turn be constituted by Local Government Area Commissioners or Chief Executive Officers of the Local Government Area (LGA) Street Trading Committees, and other representatives of the LGA committee including the medical officer, planning authority, traffic police, association of street vendors, market associations, traders associations, non-governmental organisations, banks, among others.


https://i0.wp.com/www.icirnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/NASS-Journal-National-HB-41-July-19-2018.cdr-Google-Chrome.jpg?resize=768%2C265&ssl=1
Excerpt from the Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission Bill, 2018


Job loss for countless others?

If the provisions of the bill are strictly implemented, it is expected that millions of Nigerians who are engaged in one form of street trading or the other will lose this source of livelihood and may be forced into alternative ventures. And the bill has a broad definition for the term “street trader”.

Section 31 defines it as “a person engaged in vending of articles, goods, wares, food items or merchandise of everyday use or offering services to the general public, in a street, lane, side walk, footpath, pavement, public park or any other public place or private area, from a temporary built up structure or by moving from place to place and includes hawker, peddler, squatter and all other synonymous terms which may be local or region specific.”

Part Four, sections 18 to 25, deals with the manner in which street trading will be regulated. According to it, no person can engage in street-trading unless they have a licence (valid for a limited period), accompanied by an identification card.

To get the licence, an amount will be paid and an undertaken must be signed with the State Street Trading Committee to swear, among other things, that the applicant has no other means of livelihood. The spouse or child of a street trader may use his or her licence in the case of death, illness or disability.

Every five years, section 19 says, the State Street Trading Committee shall conduct a survey of street vendors based on “street trading zones” under its jurisdiction. Existing vendors will be accommodated in the trading zones but only “subject to a norm conforming to two and half per cent of the population” and “in accordance with the plan for street trading and the holding capacity of the street trading zones”. They will not be able to trade in non-street trading zones.

What happens when the street traders identified in the first survey are more than the zone’s holding capacity? According to Section 20(3), “the State Street Trading Committee shall carry out a draw of lots for issuing the certificate of street trading for that street trading zone and the remaining persons shall be accommodated in any adjoining street trading zone to avoid relocation.”

Section 31 explains that the holding capacity is the maximum number of street traders who can operate in any trading zone as determined by the local government area on the recommendations of the State Street Trading Committee.

The bill requires every trader to pay periodic maintenance charges for civic amenities and facilities provided in vending zones to maintain cleanliness and to ensure public properties are in good condition and are not damaged or destroyed.

Also, a street trader operating without certification or who contravenes the terms of his certificate may be evicted by the local government area, may be fined, may have his goods seized and, if he or she does not obey a notice to vacate, “shall be liable to pay for every day of such default”.

Asides becoming “a self-sufficient revenue generating Commission of the Federal Government of Nigeria”, other objectives of the street-trading commission include to provide technical assistance through capacity building across the value chains, to reduce the cost of borrowing by street traders from commercial banks, to provide technical advice to street trading businesses, etc.


Not the only law, not the first time

Though it appears to be the first national attempt in this direction, it is not the first time lawmakers or governments in Nigeria have sought to regulate street-trading. Preceding the bill is the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending in the Federal Capital Territory) Bill, 2018, sponsored by Lovette Idisi for the FCT. The first reading took place on January 17, 2018.

Ebonyi State, where the federal bill’s sponsor comes from, recently clamped down on roadside traders in Abakaliki as it invoked the provisions of the state’s environmental law prohibiting road obstruction. Other states have taken similar steps in driving petty traders away from the streets. But no matter how much force is deployed, the traders keep returning to the streets.

According to latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), there are 15.9 million Nigerians who are without jobs (that is 18.8 percent), and about 18 million are underemployed. As a result, millions are driven to the informal sector which contributed 41.4 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2015.

The International Monetary Fund even says the sector constitutes up to 60 per cent of the entire economy. Coming right after agriculture, trading activities account for 26 per cent of the informal economy.

Section 16 of Nigeria’s constitution directs the government to “protect the right of every citizen to engage in any economic activities outside the major sectors of the economy”. It also says the state is to “control the national economy in such manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity”.

*It seeks to generate revenue for the FG through a new regulatory agency

The National Assembly is considering a comprehensive bill which, if passed, will enable the federal and state governments to regulate street trading, levy vendors, and make sure that across the country, individuals without permanent structures cannot trade without a license.

Named the “Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (Establishment, Protection of Livelihoods, etc.) Bill, 2018”, was sponsored by Okorie Linus Abaa, the lawmaker representing the Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo constituency of Ebonyi State at the House of Representatives. The Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) states that the bill passed through first reading on July 12, 2018.

According to its explanatory memorandum, the primary aim of the proposed law is to generate revenue for the Federal Government through the establishment of the Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (NSTRC). It says the purpose of the agency shall also be providing an institutional and formal approach to protecting the livelihoods of street traders, domestic workers and others within the informal sector.

Job creation for hundreds

The enactment of the bill will see to the emergence of new jobs for various individuals, from the federal level to local government area. The proposed Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (NSTRC), will be headed by a director-general.

The commission shall also have a secretary, a legal adviser, thirty-seven state directors, one representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a representative of the National Identity Management Commission, a representative of the National Pension Commission, a representative of the National Insurance Commission and a representative of the National Commission for Nomadic Education.

The other government agencies represented on the commission are expected to be responsible for the award of grants and loans, the creation of a digital database, provision of pension services, provision of insurance policy, and implementation of a formal education framework for street traders.

Asides the federal commission, the bill also provides for the establishment of State Street Trading Committees which are to consider applications for the award of street vending licenses and delimitation of street trading zones within the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The state committees shall in turn be constituted by Local Government Area Commissioners or Chief Executive Officers of the Local Government Area (LGA) Street Trading Committees, and other representatives of the LGA committee including the medical officer, planning authority, traffic police, association of street vendors, market associations, traders associations, non-governmental organisations, banks, among others.


https://i0.wp.com/www.icirnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/NASS-Journal-National-HB-41-July-19-2018.cdr-Google-Chrome.jpg?resize=768%2C265&ssl=1
Excerpt from the Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission Bill, 2018


Job loss for countless others?

If the provisions of the bill are strictly implemented, it is expected that millions of Nigerians who are engaged in one form of street trading or the other will lose this source of livelihood and may be forced into alternative ventures. And the bill has a broad definition for the term “street trader”.

Section 31 defines it as “a person engaged in vending of articles, goods, wares, food items or merchandise of everyday use or offering services to the general public, in a street, lane, side walk, footpath, pavement, public park or any other public place or private area, from a temporary built up structure or by moving from place to place and includes hawker, peddler, squatter and all other synonymous terms which may be local or region specific.”

Part Four, sections 18 to 25, deals with the manner in which street trading will be regulated. According to it, no person can engage in street-trading unless they have a licence (valid for a limited period), accompanied by an identification card.

To get the licence, an amount will be paid and an undertaken must be signed with the State Street Trading Committee to swear, among other things, that the applicant has no other means of livelihood. The spouse or child of a street trader may use his or her licence in the case of death, illness or disability.

Every five years, section 19 says, the State Street Trading Committee shall conduct a survey of street vendors based on “street trading zones” under its jurisdiction. Existing vendors will be accommodated in the trading zones but only “subject to a norm conforming to two and half per cent of the population” and “in accordance with the plan for street trading and the holding capacity of the street trading zones”. They will not be able to trade in non-street trading zones.

What happens when the street traders identified in the first survey are more than the zone’s holding capacity? According to Section 20(3), “the State Street Trading Committee shall carry out a draw of lots for issuing the certificate of street trading for that street trading zone and the remaining persons shall be accommodated in any adjoining street trading zone to avoid relocation.”

Section 31 explains that the holding capacity is the maximum number of street traders who can operate in any trading zone as determined by the local government area on the recommendations of the State Street Trading Committee.

The bill requires every trader to pay periodic maintenance charges for civic amenities and facilities provided in vending zones to maintain cleanliness and to ensure public properties are in good condition and are not damaged or destroyed.

Also, a street trader operating without certification or who contravenes the terms of his certificate may be evicted by the local government area, may be fined, may have his goods seized and, if he or she does not obey a notice to vacate, “shall be liable to pay for every day of such default”.

Asides becoming “a self-sufficient revenue generating Commission of the Federal Government of Nigeria”, other objectives of the street-trading commission include to provide technical assistance through capacity building across the value chains, to reduce the cost of borrowing by street traders from commercial banks, to provide technical advice to street trading businesses, etc.


Not the only law, not the first time

Though it appears to be the first national attempt in this direction, it is not the first time lawmakers or governments in Nigeria have sought to regulate street-trading. Preceding the bill is the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending in the Federal Capital Territory) Bill, 2018, sponsored by Lovette Idisi for the FCT. The first reading took place on January 17, 2018.

Ebonyi State, where the federal bill’s sponsor comes from, recently clamped down on roadside traders in Abakaliki as it invoked the provisions of the state’s environmental law prohibiting road obstruction. Other states have taken similar steps in driving petty traders away from the streets. But no matter how much force is deployed, the traders keep returning to the streets.

According to latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), there are 15.9 million Nigerians who are without jobs (that is 18.8 percent), and about 18 million are underemployed. As a result, millions are driven to the informal sector which contributed 41.4 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2015.

The International Monetary Fund even says the sector constitutes up to 60 per cent of the entire economy. Coming right after agriculture, trading activities account for 26 per cent of the informal economy.

Section 16 of Nigeria’s constitution directs the government to “protect the right of every citizen to engage in any economic activities outside the major sectors of the economy”. It also says the state is to “control the national economy in such manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity”.

*It seeks to generate revenue for the FG through a new regulatory agency

The National Assembly is considering a comprehensive bill which, if passed, will enable the federal and state governments to regulate street trading, levy vendors, and make sure that across the country, individuals without permanent structures cannot trade without a license.

Named the “Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (Establishment, Protection of Livelihoods, etc.) Bill, 2018”, was sponsored by Okorie Linus Abaa, the lawmaker representing the Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo constituency of Ebonyi State at the House of Representatives. The Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) states that the bill passed through first reading on July 12, 2018.

According to its explanatory memorandum, the primary aim of the proposed law is to generate revenue for the Federal Government through the establishment of the Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (NSTRC). It says the purpose of the agency shall also be providing an institutional and formal approach to protecting the livelihoods of street traders, domestic workers and others within the informal sector.

Job creation for hundreds

The enactment of the bill will see to the emergence of new jobs for various individuals, from the federal level to local government area. The proposed Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission (NSTRC), will be headed by a director-general.

The commission shall also have a secretary, a legal adviser, thirty-seven state directors, one representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a representative of the National Identity Management Commission, a representative of the National Pension Commission, a representative of the National Insurance Commission and a representative of the National Commission for Nomadic Education.

The other government agencies represented on the commission are expected to be responsible for the award of grants and loans, the creation of a digital database, provision of pension services, provision of insurance policy, and implementation of a formal education framework for street traders.

Asides the federal commission, the bill also provides for the establishment of State Street Trading Committees which are to consider applications for the award of street vending licenses and delimitation of street trading zones within the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The state committees shall in turn be constituted by Local Government Area Commissioners or Chief Executive Officers of the Local Government Area (LGA) Street Trading Committees, and other representatives of the LGA committee including the medical officer, planning authority, traffic police, association of street vendors, market associations, traders associations, non-governmental organisations, banks, among others.


https://i0.wp.com/www.icirnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/NASS-Journal-National-HB-41-July-19-2018.cdr-Google-Chrome.jpg?resize=768%2C265&ssl=1
Excerpt from the Nigerian Street Trading Regulation Commission Bill, 2018


Job loss for countless others?

If the provisions of the bill are strictly implemented, it is expected that millions of Nigerians who are engaged in one form of street trading or the other will lose this source of livelihood and may be forced into alternative ventures. And the bill has a broad definition for the term “street trader”.

Section 31 defines it as “a person engaged in vending of articles, goods, wares, food items or merchandise of everyday use or offering services to the general public, in a street, lane, side walk, footpath, pavement, public park or any other public place or private area, from a temporary built up structure or by moving from place to place and includes hawker, peddler, squatter and all other synonymous terms which may be local or region specific.”

Part Four, sections 18 to 25, deals with the manner in which street trading will be regulated. According to it, no person can engage in street-trading unless they have a licence (valid for a limited period), accompanied by an identification card.

To get the licence, an amount will be paid and an undertaken must be signed with the State Street Trading Committee to swear, among other things, that the applicant has no other means of livelihood. The spouse or child of a street trader may use his or her licence in the case of death, illness or disability.

Every five years, section 19 says, the State Street Trading Committee shall conduct a survey of street vendors based on “street trading zones” under its jurisdiction. Existing vendors will be accommodated in the trading zones but only “subject to a norm conforming to two and half per cent of the population” and “in accordance with the plan for street trading and the holding capacity of the street trading zones”. They will not be able to trade in non-street trading zones.

What happens when the street traders identified in the first survey are more than the zone’s holding capacity? According to Section 20(3), “the State Street Trading Committee shall carry out a draw of lots for issuing the certificate of street trading for that street trading zone and the remaining persons shall be accommodated in any adjoining street trading zone to avoid relocation.”

Section 31 explains that the holding capacity is the maximum number of street traders who can operate in any trading zone as determined by the local government area on the recommendations of the State Street Trading Committee.

The bill requires every trader to pay periodic maintenance charges for civic amenities and facilities provided in vending zones to maintain cleanliness and to ensure public properties are in good condition and are not damaged or destroyed.

Also, a street trader operating without certification or who contravenes the terms of his certificate may be evicted by the local government area, may be fined, may have his goods seized and, if he or she does not obey a notice to vacate, “shall be liable to pay for every day of such default”.

Asides becoming “a self-sufficient revenue generating Commission of the Federal Government of Nigeria”, other objectives of the street-trading commission include to provide technical assistance through capacity building across the value chains, to reduce the cost of borrowing by street traders from commercial banks, to provide technical advice to street trading businesses, etc.


Not the only law, not the first time

Though it appears to be the first national attempt in this direction, it is not the first time lawmakers or governments in Nigeria have sought to regulate street-trading. Preceding the bill is the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending in the Federal Capital Territory) Bill, 2018, sponsored by Lovette Idisi for the FCT. The first reading took place on January 17, 2018.

Ebonyi State, where the federal bill’s sponsor comes from, recently clamped down on roadside traders in Abakaliki as it invoked the provisions of the state’s environmental law prohibiting road obstruction. Other states have taken similar steps in driving petty traders away from the streets. But no matter how much force is deployed, the traders keep returning to the streets.

According to latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), there are 15.9 million Nigerians who are without jobs (that is 18.8 percent), and about 18 million are underemployed. As a result, millions are driven to the informal sector which contributed 41.4 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2015.

The International Monetary Fund even says the sector constitutes up to 60 per cent of the entire economy. Coming right after agriculture, trading activities account for 26 per cent of the informal economy.

Section 16 of Nigeria’s constitution directs the government to “protect the right of every citizen to engage in any economic activities outside the major sectors of the economy”. It also says the state is to “control the national economy in such manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity”.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was not entirely truthful about the African Continental Free Trade Area during his presentation at Friday’s Vice Presidential debate, The ICIR has discovered.

The debate, which featured five running mates for the 2019 general elections was put together by the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON).

Others who participated include Peter Obi of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ganiyu Galadima of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) and Umma Abdullahi-Getso of the Young Progressives Party (YPP).

In this fact-check, The ICIR shares its findings on Osinbajo’s statement about the free trade area as well as six other claims.

Claim: The continental free trade area has been negotiated for years and these negotiations started under the previous government

“I think my rebuttal is simple. The question really is that the Continental Free Trade Area has been negotiated for years. The negotiation started under the previous government. So the question of consultation or non-consultation and when it ought to have taken place really could have taken place many years ago when they started these negotiations,” he said in rebutting an argument presented by the PDP vice presidential candidate.

The Vice President was correct to say that the continental free trade agreement has been negotiated for years, but he was mistaken to have stated that the negotiations started under the previous administration.

While preliminary planning for the agreement started in 2013 with the inaugural meeting of the Continental Task Force on the Continental free Trade area in Addis Ababa, negotiations did not start until June 2015, when the African Union launched negotiations at the 25th Ordinary Summit of Head of States and Governments in South Africa.

Contrary to Osinbajo’s claims, President Muhammadu Buhari represented Nigeria at this summit in Johannesburg, as he had been sworn into office the previous month.

Verdict: The claim is false.

Claim: Nigeria imported $5 million of rice daily five years ago, and today we are down to 90 percent less

He said: “Barely five years ago, this country was importing $5 million of rice every single day. Today, we are down to 90 percent less. We are producing 90 percent of the rice that we consume and we are importing only two percent of what we used to import.”

It is key to first note that the figures given by the Vice President are self-contradictory. On the one hand, he said imports have reduced by 90 per cent; and then seconds later he added that Nigeria now imports only 2 per cent of what it used to import.

Moreover, the worth of rice Nigeria imported on a daily basis before 2016 depends on who is talking. In July 2015, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, said figures available with the CBN show that “from the period January 2012 to May 2015, the country had spent over 2.41bn dollars on the importation of this commodity [rice].” This, in other words, means the country spent $2.2 million on rice importation every day in those three years.

However, Akinwumi Adesina, then Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said in 2013 that Nigeria spent N356 billion annually and nearly N1 billion daily on rice importation. Using the exchange rate of 160 Naira to a dollar applicable then, it would mean the country spent $6.3 million on importing the commodity every day.

As a matter of fact, statistics about rice importation and production have generally been conflicting and lack transparency. While it is true that imports from Thailand have dropped by 96.7 per cent, statistics from the same source suggest that smuggling from Benin Republic and Cameroon may have increased as imports by them increased by an almost equal measure. Besides, the federal government’s figure does not account for rice imports from other countries.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said in November that Nigeria’s rice consumption is 6 million metric tonnes, while local production capacity is 4.9 million. This means the country produces 81.6 per cent of what it consumes — as against the VP’s 90 per cent.

In May, Agriculture Minister Audu Ogbeh had said the country produces between 5.8 million to 6 million tones of rice. To make matters even more confusing, Sadiq Daware, National Treasurer of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), said in October 2017 that the country’s consumption rate has increased to 7.9 million tonnes and production has increased to 5.8 million tonnes.

But, two months after, RIFAN’s National Vice President, Segun Atho said the association’s rice production for the year was 15 million metric tons whereas “Nigerians can only consume six to seven million metric tons”. He added that Nigeria can now start exporting excesses to other African countries.

Meanwhile, the 2018 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, which is approved by the World Agricultural Outlook Board, say that Nigeria’s rice production is at 3.78 million metric tonnes, while 3.0 million metric tonnes are imported. An e-mail sent to the United States Department of Agriculture by The ICIR asking for how it arrived at its figures has not been replied yet.

Verdict: The claim is partly self-contradictory, and the figures available for substantiation are not uniform.

Claim: At least 400,000 people so far brought out of poverty with conditional cash transfer scheme

“Under the NSIP, we have the Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme, taking at least 400,000 people so far out of poverty,” he said just before the moderator interjected.

The Vice President also made this claim in September, but The ICIR has been unable to match it with other sources from the government. It was pointed out in a previous report that Maryam Uwais, Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment Programmes, gave a much lesser figure of 297,973 while addressing newsmen in November.

Again, the APC 2019 campaign manual, also released in November, states on page 12 that “almost 300,000 Nigerians now receive N5,000 monthly, across 20 states [with] N12.8 billion so far disbursed to beneficiaries.”

At the time of the report, The ICIR has been unable to get the National Social Investment Office to clarify the apparent contradictions in the provided figures, as calls placed to Iquo Ayi, the office’s Programme Officer, were not answered, and texts sent to her are still without reply.

Verdict: The claim cannot be corroborated, and it conflicts with other figures provided by the Federal Government.

Claim: We have spent 2.7 trillion in two budget cycles on capital

He said: “In the past three years, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has spent N2.7 trillion on capital in two budget cycles. That is the highest ever in the history of Nigeria, despite earning 60 percent less than the previous government.”

In 2016, according to documents released by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the total cash release for capital projects was N1,219,471,747,443 (N1.2 trillion) and, in 2017, the figure rose to N1.6 trillion — making a total sum of N2.8 trillion spent in the two fiscal years.

Verdict: The claim is true.

Only two months ago, however, while addressing participants at the 9th Presidential Quarterly Business Forum in Abuja, the Vice President had goofed by understating the achievement. “We have spent so far in two budgets, N1.7 trillion in capital investment,” he had said.

Claim: We have set up six tech hubs in all six geopolitical zones

In one of his rebuttals, the VP said: “With respect to technology … at the moment, we have set up six technology hubs in the six geopolitical zones. Those technology hubs are being funded mainly by the federal government. Some of them are part-funded.”

The Buhari Media Centre has made a similar claim in its list of “Ongoing/Completed Projects By The Buhari Administration Across 36 States”, which mentions ICT innovation hubs in the FCT and Lagos as part of the government’s achievements.

But going by the details provided to The ICIR on Saturday by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the VP on Media and Publicity, Osinbajo is not entirely correct. Akande explained that the administration did not set up hubs in all of the regions but “worked with existing players in the ecosystem” for places where there is already observed innovation activity.

Giving examples, he said the federal government ran the Start-Up Nigeria project to support start-ups in collaboration with Ventures Platform Hub in Abuja (for the North Central) and Genesys Hub, Enugu (for the South East).

However, the spokesperson said in the North East, the North East Humanitarian Innovation Hub was set up in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Premier Hub was set up in Akure in partnership with the State Government and other private sector actors.

“In the South-South we set up the Marydel Hub, in partnership with the Edo Innovates program of the State Government, and also ran programs and projects in the Tinapa Knowledge City,” he added.

“In Lagos, we set up the Nigeria Climate Innovation Center, in partnership with the Enterprise Development Center in the Lagos Business School, and the World Bank. In the North West, we are working with Colab, who have been listed to benefit from world bank GEM funds, and the Kaduna ICT Hub set up in 2016 by the state government in partnership with Zenith.”

Verdict: The claim is partly true.

Claim: Under PDP, Nigeria fell 64 places in the World Bank index of ease of doing business

“I thought the candidate of the PDP would at least acknowledge that while under the PDP, we fell 64 places down on the World Bank index. Under us, in eighteen months, we have moved 24 places up in the ease of doing business,” he said, in reaction to Peter Obi.

Though the Doing Business Report, a co-publication of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, has its origin in a paper published in 2002, the ranking of world economies was not introduced until 2006. That year, Nigeria ranked 94 out of 155 countries.

Under the previous administrations led by the People’s Democratic Party, the country’s rank only slightly improved in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, Nigeria dropped further to 147 and this worsened further to 170 in the 2015 report. Since the 2016 report gathered data from June 2014 to June 2015, and it ranked Nigeria 169 out of 189 countries, it means the country fell 75 places under the previous government.

Today, in the latest report for 2019, Nigeria is ranked 146, which means the country has moved up 23 places since the All Progressives Congress took over control of the executive arm of government at the federal level.

Verdict: While the Vice President’s claims are not exactly accurate, they are close to the true figures as may be deduced from the Doing Business Reports released between 2006 and 2019. The number of places Nigeria has improved since APC took over would, however, be 24 if the 2018 ranking were used.

Claim: Poverty was 80 million in 2004 and increased to 112 million in 2014

“Poverty in 2004 in Nigeria was 80 million. As of 2o14, it went to 112 million in Nigeria. What we set out to do from 2015 was to reduce that poverty and contain it,” Osinbajo said in his closing remark.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 54.7 percent of Nigerians lived in “absolute poverty” in 2004. At this time, the country’s population was estimated at over 138 million, meaning the number of extremely poor Nigerians then would be at least 75.5 million.

In 2014, the bureau’s findings revealed that the number had increased to 112 million, which represented 67 per cent of the country’s 167 million population — though the World Bank’s Nigeria Economic Report of the same year concluded that poverty rates may be significantly lower (33.1 per cent) “using newly-available data on growth, poverty, and living standards”.

Verdict: The claim is true — using statistics provided by the National Bureau of Statistics.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/fact-check-scrutinising-osinbajos-misrepresentation-about-free-trade-agreement-and-other-claims-at-vp-debate/

Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi, evidently gave out the greatest number of facts and figures at the recently organised vice presidential debate, but The ICIR has found that a good number of them were false, grossly exaggerated or only partly true.

The debate, which featured five running mates for the 2019 general elections was put together by the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON).

Others who participated include Yemi Osinbajo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ganiyu Galadima of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) and Umma Abdullahi-Getso of the Young Progressives Party (YPP).

In this fact-check, The ICIR shares its findings on thirteen sets of claims given by the PDP candidate.

Claim: Nigeria’s poverty rate grows at 6% per minute

“We now live in a country where we have the highest number of poor people in any nations, 87 million, and growing 6 per cent every minute,” he said.

Not only is this claim outrageous on the face value, but it is also not true. According to the Brookings Institution, “each April and October, the World Poverty Clock data are updated to take into account new household surveys and new projections on country economic growth from the International Monetary Funds’s World Economic Outlook” and these data form the foundation for poverty trajectories computed for 188 countries across the world.

Today, the clock says we have 90.7 million Nigerians who are extremely poor — that is, 46.4 per cent of a population of 195.5 million. Data highlights from the clock, Brookings noted in June, show that “extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute”. It is possible this is how the PDP vice presidential candidate had intended to phrase his statement.

Verdict: The claim is false. If we follow the premise of Nigeria’s poverty rate growing by 6 per cent every minute, it means by the fourteenth minute, the entire population (assuming even that it grows to 205.8 million) will be extremely poor.

Claim: Nigeria dropped on HDI from 152 to 157 …

He said: “Our HDI has dropped from 152 to 157, our global competitive index has dropped from 124 to 127. In terrorism, we have moved from seven to number three behind Iran and Afghanistan.”

Nigeria ranked 152 out of 173 countries according to 2015 Human Development Report developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). And in the latest report of 2018, the country has dropped to 157 out of 189 countries. It should be noted however that the human development index value improved from 0.514 in 2015 to 0.532 in 2018.

According to World Economic Forum’s 2015-16 Global Competitiveness Report, Nigeria ranked 124 out of 140 countries, an improvement from the 127th position of the previous year. In the 2017-2018 report, which is the latest, the country now ranks 125th out of 137 countries. Nigeria’s score also dropped from 3.46 to 3.30. Nigeria had ranked 127 in the 2016-2017 report.

For the Global Terrorism Index, prepared annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace, Nigeria’s position has not shifted since 2015. In the 2015 report, Nigeria was ranked 3rd out of 129 countries and, in the 2018 report, Nigeria again ranks 3rd out of 138 countries, just behind Afghanistan and Iraq (— not Iran as Obi said). The country’s performance has, however, improved from 9.213 in 2015 to 8.660 in the latest report.

Verdict: The claim is partly true. While Obi is right about Nigeria’s worsening performance — in relation to the rest of the world — on the first two indices, he is wrong with respect to terrorism.

Claim: Nigeria uses over 50 per cent of revenue for debt management and owes N22.7 trillion

He said: “Today we are virtually at a level where our debt is not sustainable because we are using over 50 per cent of our revenues to service debt, which means we don’t even have enough to be able to do infrastructural projects that are highly needed in this country.”

The latest figure on Nigeria’s public debt stock as at June 30, 2018, is available on the website of the Debt Management Office (DMO), which centrally coordinates the management of the country’s debt. According to the report, the total domestic and external debts owed by the federal government, state governments and the Federal Capital Territory stand at N22.38 trillion.

When it comes to debt servicing, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the country spends more than 50 per cent of its revenue on servicing. This was according to Amine Mati, the Senior Resident Representative and Mission Chief for Nigeria, when he presented the “Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa – Capital Flows and the Future of Work” in Abuja in November.

The ICIR has, however, gone through the said IMF report and could not find any part which supports this claim by Mati. While he was correct to say Nigeria’s growth rate for 2018 is 1.9 per cent, the report does not specifically mention Nigeria’s rate of debt servicing to revenue. But it has two indices on government debt as a per cent of GDP (24. and external, official debt as a per cent of GDP (8.2).

The DMO had said in January that Nigeria’s spending on debt servicing stands at 34.02 per cent of revenue — as likewise noted in its 2017 Report of the Annual National Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), the latest of such reports.

A look at the approved budget for 2018 confirms this claim by the DMO. The total of expected oil and non-revenue is N7.17 trillion and the total debt service is N2 trillion, thus making the percentage 28.1 per cent. But we will arrive at 30.5 per cent if we use the proposed oil revenue of N2.4 trillion.

Verdict: The claim is partly true. While the figure on Nigeria’s debt stock is true, the statement about the country’s debt servicing as a per cent of revenue is inconsistent with figures from the DMO and budgetary instrument.

Claim: Bank loans are about 15 per cent of GDP… China is 250 per cent of GDP

“Your banks today, all the loans they have given are about 15 per cent of your GDP, when other countries are doing 50, 100 percent. China alone is doing 250 per cent on their GDP as credits to businesses, to private sector,” Obi said, while answering a question on driving investments to the economy.

According to data sourced from the IMF and made available on TradingEconomics, which provides more than 20 million economic indicators for 196 countries, in Nigeria, domestic credit provided by the bank sector as a per cent of the GDP for 2017 is 26.56 per cent. For China, the figure stands at 215 per cent.

Verdict: The claim is exaggerated.

Claim: In 2015, we attracted $21 billion in FDI, and only 12 last year …

“In 2015, we were attracting $21 billion in foreign direct investment. We attracted only 12 last year. Our GDP was 520 in 2015 and per capita was 2,500. Today, it is under 1,900,” the PDP candidate said in justifying his point that fighting corruption is not an economic policy.

On Foreign Direct Investment, according to records of the World Bank, Nigeria’s FDI started going downhill from $8.8 billion in 2011 to $3.1 billion in 2015. In 2016, it rose to $4.4 billion and was $3.5 billion in 2017. We have similar data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, broken down into various quarters.

Information on the IMF website states that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in 2015 was $2,763, in 2016 it dropped to $2,207, and it dropped even further to $1,994 in 2017. The GDP per capita, in 2018, has however risen to $2,050, and the IMF projects that it will continue to rise till it gets to $3,317 in 2023. IMF reports also that Nigeria’s GDP in 2015 was $494 billion, and not $520 billion.

Verdict: The claims are false. The FDI figures were grossly exaggerated. Also, while the GDP per capita in 2015 and 2018 were understated, the GDP of 2015 was exaggerated.

Claim: Nigeria has only 2 million vehicles, 10 per 1000

He said: “It [subsidy] is a waste… what are you actually subsidising? Look at it. Nigeria has one of the low car ownership in the world. It is 10 per thousand. So we have only two million vehicles, and you are paying almost a trillion when we have 87 million people that are poor.”

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s estimated vehicle population as at the second quarter of 2018 is 11,760,871, and the vehicle per population ration was put at 0.06 (as against Obi’s 0.01).

In 2017, commercial vehicles accounted for 53.8 per cent of the total vehicle population, private vehicles accounted for 44.5 per cent, government vehicles accounted for 1.65 per cent and diplomat vehicles made up to for 0.1 per cent.

Verdict: The claim is false and grossly exaggerated.

Claim: 40 per cent of the GDPs of China, Indonesia and Malaysia from manufacturing

“No country that is doing well… If you look at the GDP of China, 40 per cent is from manufacturing, Indonesia 40 percent, Malaysia 40 percent. Even in the western world… yours is under eight, and your factories are closing down,” he said.

According to 2017 data from the World Bank, while the manufacturing sector contributes 29.3 per cent to China’s GDP, it contributes 20.12 per cent to Indonesia’s GDP and 22.3 per cent to Malaysia’s GDP — none of the figures as high as that cited by the PDP candidate.

Obi also said the contribution of Nigeria’s manufacturing sector to the GDP is “under eight per cent”, but the World Bank records put it at 8.74 per cent.

Verdict: The claims are false.

Claim: Total bank loans today is N19tn and only 0.5% goes to SMEs

He said: “You can look at your loan portfolios. Today, the total loan from the banks is N19 trillion, and only … 0.5 per cent of that goes to your SMEs, where in the countries it is about 20 percent.”

It is the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Statistical Bulletin on Financial Statistics that provides official figures on bank loans and what percentage goes to small-scale enterprises. According to the latest bulletin of 2017, in the year’s fourth quarter, the amount of commercial bank loans that went to the private sector was N16.2 trillion.

Out of this, N10.7 billion went to small-scale enterprises, which amounts to 0.1 per cent. The only periods when the percentage increased between 2014 and 2017 was in the second quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2017 when it was 0.2 and 1.7 per cent respectively.

Verdict: The claim is exaggerated.

Claim: The power generation in Indonesia is 50,000 for 250 million people…

“…If you can support the SMEs properly and be able to work on your manufacturing, which then leads to the issues of power, because what we are generating today is too low. Look at your competitors, the lowest that you can see in the MIND countries is Indonesia that is generating 50,000 for 250 million people and you are generating about 4,000 for 200 million,” Obi said.

To begin with, the current population of Indonesia, based on the latest United Nations estimate, is 268 million.

Then according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, by the end of 2016, Indonesia’s “installed generation capacity was 58,541 MW, with 40,461 MW (75%) generated by state-owned National Electric Company (PLN) and the remainders, 13,254 MW and 2,434 MW are produced by independent power producers (IPPs) and private power utility (PPUs) respectively”.

It is not clear what Obi meant by “MIND countries” or what exactly he said — perhaps it was an acronym for emerging economies such as “BRICs” is used to refer to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Verdict: The claims are inaccurate and outdated.

Claim: African trade today is less than 9% … Oil gives 80% of our forex

“African trade today is less than nice percent, and ff we get it right it can go as high as 30 per cent or 40 percent. The foreign exchange you are saying today you’re now earning from oil, oil now gives you 80 per cent of your foreign exchange, when in effect if you do the right things, you can have twice than coming from manufacturing,” he said, while commenting on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

The 2018 African Trade Report developed by the African Export-Import Bank notes that intra-Afican trade is at 15 per cent (nearly double Obi’s claim), compared to Europe’s 67 per cent, Asia’s 58 per cent, North America’s 48 per cent, and Latin America’s 20 per cent. According to Brookings, in 2016, intra-African exports made up 18 per cent of total exports.

On the other hand, the contribution of oil products to Nigeria’s foreign exchange is closer to 90 per cent than 80. According to the NBS, crude oil and other petroleum products constituted up to 87.7 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings in the first quarter of 2018.

Verdict: The claims are false and understated, respectively.

Claim: I have invested aggressively in education as governor, taking my state from being 28th to number one…

“The more you invest in education, the better your economy. So we will aggressively invest in education. I have done this even as a governor of a state, where I took a state from being number 28 to number one, because we know the value of education. I was the first to equip all our schools with ICT… Go to HP, I bought the highest [number of] computer[s] ever bought by a government in Africa: 30,000. So I know the value,” he said.

Truly, Anambra State was declared first among states in Nigeria in the 2013 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) followed by Abia, Rivers and Lagos states; and the Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Uju Okeke, attributed the feat to Obi’s policies in the education sector. The same feat was achieved the following year when his tenure came to an end.

It is also true that the former governor’s acquisition of computers for secondary schools has been acknowledged. In 2014, at the 25th Annual Conference of the Nigeria Computer Society, Obi was awarded for his contributions along the line.

“On the assumption of office, the former Governor embarked on the computerization of schools and offices in Anambra State. Today, all public offices in the State have computers unlike before him, when manual typewriters were still in use,” David O. Adewunmi, the society’s president said.

“He purchased more than 30,000 desktop and laptop computers for secondary schools in the State. The last purchase was 22,500 units of laptop computers from HP at the ratio of one computer to 10 students, the largest for computer purchase for school in the entire African continent.”

It is not clear if this last claim applied generally or was restricted to sub-national governments only. Records, however, show that countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa have implemented much more ambitious educational computer projects before 2015.

The ICIR could not confirm whether Anambra State’s secondary schools were ranked 28th by WAEC before Obi’s administration.

Verdict: The claims are true, to the extent which they can be verified.

Claim: NPA has an office and guesthouse in London…

Obi said: “Nigerian Ports Authority, for years, looked at the expansion that is coming and everything and decided not to invest. Instead, we are using money wrongly. Nigerian Ports Authority is the only ports in the world that has an office, even a guesthouse, outside its country of operation. They have a guesthouse in London; and that is the problem.”

Checks on the website of the Nigerian Ports Authorities show that the agency has an “overseas liaison office” with the physical address stated as: 2nd Floor, Allenby House, 1a Temple Rd Cricklewood, London. The ICIR could however not confirm if the agency has a guesthouse in the same city, or if it is the only ports authority in the world to have an office outside national borders.

Verdict: The claim about the overseas office is true, while others could not be ascertained.

Claim: Buhari on March 26, 2015… said he should be removed if he doesn’t deliver

“We are in a situation where, four years ago, on March 26 2015, our president said to us, ‘if I fail to deliver, choose your leader.’ The question is: Have they delivered?” Obi said in his closing statement, as the audience cheered.

There is no record of Buhari delivering a reported speech on this day. What he did though was sign a second peace accord alongside then President Goodluck Jonathan, which was initiated by the National Peace Committee. Bola Tinubu delivered a speech the previous day at the 7th Annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium, and he said nothing close.

The ICIR has also studied the president’s acceptance speech of April 1, 2015, inaugural speech of May 29, 2015, independence day speech of October 1, 2015, and speech at the swearing-in of ministers on November 11, 2015, and could not find the statement credited to him by the PDP presidential candidate.

It should be noted also that March 26 was nearly one week before Buhari was declared president-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission, which would have made the utterance of the attributed statement premature.

Verdict: The claim is false and could not be substantiated.

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For pictures and hyperlinks, visit: https://www.icirnigeria.org/fact-check-peter-obis-eleven-false-claims-at-vp-debate/

In a press statement released in Abuja, on Sunday, by Paul Ibe, Media Adviser to Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate announced his appointment of four new aides. One of them, Phrank Shaibu, The ICIR recalls, was at the centre of a plagiarism scandal six years ago.

Shaibu, a public communications consultant and former Special adviser to Kogi State governor, Ibrahim Idris, on Public Communication and Strategy, was appointed by Atiku as Special Assistant on Public Communications.

The other newly appointed aides included Ahmed Adamu, Aliyu Bin Abbas, and Funmi Lamuye, who were respectively appointed as Special Assistant on Youth and Strategy, Special Assistant on Youth Support Groups, and Special Assistant (South-West).

In 2012, Farooq Kperogi, an Associate Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at Kennesaw State University and author of “Politics of Grammar”, a weekly column in the Daily Trust newspaper, tagged Shaibu as a “shameless, serial plagiarist” of his grammar column. He alleged that he had been “willfully and barefacedly plagiarizing” his grammar column for months on Facebook, ChannelsTV, and Radio Kogi.


Kperogi’s account

In his article published on September 23, 2012, Kperogi narrated that he had, by chance, gained access to a closed Facebook group created by Shaibu with over 1000 members, which he titled “Mind Your Grammar”. His membership request, triggered by his conversation months earlier with one of the members, was approved on September 13 by Abdul Mahmud, a lawyer and one of the group administrators.

According to the journalism lecturer, while on the group, he discovered Shaibu “copied entire passages—sometimes whole articles— word for word” from his grammar column, put them on the group and equally took credit for the intellectual properties — some members addressing him for instance as a “professor of English”.

He wrote: “Once I became a member of the group, I voraciously read the postings on the group’s page and found that every single contribution that Phrank Shaibu made to the group was plagiarized from my grammar column. His responses to questions from group members were lifted from my articles, sometimes even when the responses were irrelevant to the questions asked. And he was praised to high heavens by his admirers, most of whom were young girls.”

After reporting his observation to other members of the group, Kperogi said he was kicked out from the platform and blocked on Facebook by Shaibu. Mahmud received a similar treatment when he posted on his wall to intimate his friends of his findings. The Facebook group was also deleted shortly after the allegation was made public.

“Phrank called me a week ago and admitted to his plagiarism, apologized profusely (I recorded all his phone conversations with me, which I will tender in court), promised to pay me compensatory damages, and to issue a public apology for his infractions,” Kperogi said. “But he shamelessly reneged on all his promises. Instead, he kept playing childish pranks on me. The man, certainly, is not contrite.”

In a second article published a week after, the US-based professor provided screenshots and quotes of excerpts of his work plagiarised by Shaibu on the deleted group, adding also links to his column publications from which they were copied.

That the paragraphs uploaded were copied from his column without acknowledgement, and with only occasional minimal changes in word choice, has been confirmed by The ICIR.


https://i0.wp.com/www.icirnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Phrank-Shaibu-Plagiarism.jpg?w=640&ssl=1
Kperogi: The above screenshot was was plagiarized from my September 2, 2012 article titled “The English Nigerian Children Speak.”

https://i0.wp.com/www.icirnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Phrank-Shaibu-Plagiarism3.jpg?w=640&ssl=1
Kperogi: The screenshot above is plagiarized from my article titled “Top Cutest and Strangest Nigerian English Idioms” first published on June 20, 2010 in the People’s Daily and on my blog. It was republished in my Sunday Trust “Politics of Grammar” column on June 19, 2011.

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Kperogi: The above screenshot was plagiarized from my April 22, 2012 article titled, “Q and A on Idioms, Nigerian Expressions, and Punctuations.”


In an interview he granted in May 2013, Kperogi said his intention to charge Shaibu to court was stalled because he could not get the latter’s fixed address to which a letter could be delivered. “My lawyer called him directly to ask for his address and he refused to give it,” he disclosed. “People who know him closely told us he has no fixed address.”


Shaibu: Allegations are just unguided remarks, half-truths

In his three-paragraph response published on September 25, 2012, Shaibu said he would not be provoked by the allegations, which he described as “unkind comments”, “unguided remarks”, “unbridled insults” and “half-truths”.

“Already, l have consulted many knowledgeable persons on the issue of the purported plagiarism and their views show a sharp contrast with the wild assumptions of ‘Prof’ Farooq,” he said.

“Any logical mind would easily appreciate that from the contents of Farooq’s unbridled insults, it is obvious that his grudge against me is not on the issue of alleged plagiarism. l have also discussed with my lawyers and their position is that l should not waste tons of newsprint in creating unnecessary relevance for Farooq given that it is most appropriate to meet him in court in line with his expressed desire to sue.”

He further alleged that the allegations were merely antics by Kperogi to draw readership to his column and blog, and said he would rather focus his attention on purposeful engagements to advance humanity. “For emphasis. most of the remarks by Farooq about me are shocking and nothing but figments of his skewed imagination,” he added.


Both parties contacted… six years after

Six years after the scandal first broke out, The ICIR made moves to get updates from both individuals. Kperogi, in response to an e-mail sent to him on Monday, said he could not proceed with his legal action because his lawyer could not locate Shaibu and the suit would have required his physical presence in Nigeria, which wasn’t a convenient option.

He also clarified why some of the screenshots he uploaded appeared to have been captured from a Facebook group called “Kogi Political Forum” and not “Mind Your Grammar”. He explained that he had in error erased screenshots he personally took of the plagiarised materials from his computer not knowing the group would be deleted.

“Fortunately, he also shared the plagiarized materials on the ‘Kogi Political Forum’ Facebook group,” he said.

“Fans of my grammar column who first called my attention to his serial plagiarism of my articles on his ‘Mind Your Grammar’ Facebook group also pointed me to his posts on the “Kogi Political Forum.” It was these same fans who screenshot the posts he shared on the ‘Kogi Political Forum’ group and sent to me. Apparently, he habitually shared the plagiarized materials simultaneously in both groups.”

Kperogi concluded in his e-mail that it is a “tragic misjudgment if indeed Atiku Abubakar offered someone like that the job of a Public Communication SA.”

Efforts to reach Shaibu have been unsuccessful as messages sent to him through his active social media account have yet to be replied. According to his Facebook page, Shaibu is the Chief Operating Officer of Media Stitch Ltd and is a former Resident Consultant of Public Communication and Strategy to the Delta State Governor.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/flashback-atiku-appoints-serial-plagiarist-as-sa-on-public-communications/

The North Korean President Kim Jong Un boasted that he could transform Nigeria and Ghana into first world countries if he were allowed to colonise the two countries, according to a news report going viral on the social media.

The report has been shared widely especially by Nigerians on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp — with many users taking it as the gospel truth.

Published by Abia Pulse, the news, which is no more than 158 words, says Kim described Nigeria and Ghana as the backbone of Africa because “they have all the natural resources in abundance to make them the most important and sought-after countries in the world but corruption is a major problem and a curse to them”.

It quotes the North Korean leader as saying: “Give me just a year and I will transform these two countries into first class countries that will attract businesses all over the world. Nigeria should give in, Ghana should give in and let us colonize them for the second time so they will eventually learn how to run a country.

“These two countries are on a mission of proving to the whites that blacks are only good at crimes and having the power of having long-lasting sex. Sit up Africa, Sit and sit up Nigeria or just sell the countries to us.”

The blog post, as though extracted from a press statement, was signed off with the words “North Korean President Kim Jong Un” and the blog additionally stated “Al Jazeeera W/A [West Africa]” as the source of the news. It provided neither information of where nor when the quoted statement was made.

“Nigeria should reason with Kim jong un,” goes one of the many comments on the web page, written by Rabi MK, “because we will never get a good opportunity like this one. So our shameless politicians should sit with guy that is trying to help us out and start the process before 2019 election or if he is ready before the months ends [sic]please. Kim jong, may God bless your heart for helping us sir.”

“I agree with Kim Jong about Nigeria but have my doubts about Ghana,” wrote M.C. Nwafor, to which William Kwasi, a Ghanaian replied: “What do you mean for Ghana you doubt? Are you insinuating Ghanaian leaders are on track and corruption-free? Ghana and Nigeria are all bullshits. We need change. We don’t need partisan politics.”

Viral blog post, authored by ‘media aide to former governor’

The post was authored by one Ugochukwu Nwankwo, who describes himself as “an Abia-based seasoned journalist, poet and media consultant of repute and currently the Chairman of Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria (OMPAN), Abia State Chapter”.

According to his profile page, “he is also the CEO of Rhino Media, a media aide to the former Governor of Abia State, a human right activist and social critic”.

Unlike most other publications on the website, this particular post, according to statistics on the page, has been viewed up to 256,199 times, has been shared close to 88,000 times, and has garnered 159 comments on the website alone.

A look on the news blog’s Facebook page also reveals that it was shared there up to 65 times, while most other posts were not shared at all or were shared only once.


Fake news from an unverified page

It is true that the report is not the original content of Abia Pulse News and was sourced from “Al Jazeera West Africa”. Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based news network, does not, however, have a West African branch, according to checks by The ICIR. The regions on the organisation’s website include only: Africa, Asia, US & Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Search engine tools show that the report is not on any credible news organisation’s website, whether local or international. Sources that have republished include Happy Ghana, Daily Advent Nigeria, Ghana News Aid, among others.

Nevertheless, findings also show that Abia Pulse’s report can be traced to a Facebook page passing off as the West African hub of Al Jazeera, under the name: Al jazeera West Africa. Its about section says: “All the west African News on one portal”.

This page is, however, evidently fraudulent for a number of reasons. First, it is the only page purportedly belonging to Al Jazeera that is not verified as authentic by the Facebook management. Also, the initial “j” in Al Jazeera is spelt in a lower case, as against the norm with other pages.

The page username/URL address, @thewestafricanhub, is also a discrepancy with the name; and posts on the page do not actually link to the authentic Al Jazeera website. They consist mostly of a few poorly constructed paragraphs, a feature image, and dramatic headlines such as: “FBI in full gear to investigate if Nigerian president is a replica”, “RUSSIA PRESIDENT, Vladimir Putin Says: Africa Is A Cemetery For Africans”, and “Robert Mugabe On African Development”.

All three of these reports could not be traced to any trustworthy sources or reputable media organisations and were evidently fabricated by the owners of the Facebook page.

Reviews on the page include one by Ibrahim Mu’azzam Ahmad who warns that the site is fake and unauthentic, and another by Akwasi Ossei Nkrumah who also says it is a fake page and describes its activities as “very shameful”. A long list of similar reviews on the page have not been addressed by the administrator(s).

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North Korea is friends with Nigeria, Ghana

Further dealing a blow to the authenticity of the speech allegedly made by the North Korean president is the fact that Nigeria and North Korea presently enjoy friendly bilateral relations — a relationship that dates back to 1976. This was confirmed in March when Jong Yong Chol, outgoing Ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic to Nigeria, praised the Nigerian government’s support for improved North-South relations.

In February, Chol had assured of North Korea’s readiness to partner with Nigeria in ensuring peace and security, at a ceremony held in Abuja in honour of late Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. “We hope to build on the traditional relationship and cooperation between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Korea,” he had said. “We hope to consolidate and sustain the existing peace and security.”

North Korea is similarly a friendly country in relation to Ghana, not only having an ambassador in the country but exporting cement to and importing cocoa and gemstones from the country. There is also a Korea–Ghana Friendship Association established for the purpose of promoting cultural exchange between both countries.


Similar report was made about Trump

It is not the first time a false report has made the rounds claiming that a head of state recommended that African countries be recolonised.

In October 2015, a report emerged that US President Donald Trump (then a Republican presidential candidate), while in Indianapolis, “expressed his deep disgust for Africans by referring to them as lazy fools only good at eating, lovemaking and thuggery”.

“In my opinion, most of these African countries ought to be recolonized again for another 100 years because they know nothing about leadership and self-governance,” Trump was quoted to have said.

The report, just as the latest one about the North Korean leader, did not provide any context for the quote. The event attended was not mentioned, neither was the date.

Snopes, a reputable fact-checking website, has confirmed the report to be spurious. The Republican candidate was not in Indianapolis at the time of the report and no American political websites reported the statements. Other statements about Africa attributed to Trump around the period were similarly found to be false.


Verdict: Not true

The report is not only suspicious, but it is also untrue and cannot be substantiated by content from credible sources. The existing friendly relations between North Korea, Nigeria, and Ghana also make it unlikely for the Korean leader to make inciting statements credited to him.

When The ICIR contacted Nwankwo, the founder of Abia Pulse, to confirm the source of the blog’s report, he replied that it was obtained from the “website of Al Jazeera”. Asked for the link to this report, he eventually directed our reporter to the misleading Facebook page: Al Jazeera West Africa.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/fact-check-did-north-korean-president-ask-to-recolonise-nigeria-ghana/

That one sef is there too.

gurunlocker:
They should add ogboni cleaning scam


Failed government with failed supporters

President Muhammadu Buhari, through his media organisation, has listed a number of odd events, including a donation from Aliko Dangote and the unlawful detention of Sambo Dasuki, as part of his administration’s achievements during its first term.

On Sunday, November 18, while presenting the All Progressive Congress’s campaign roadmap and report of stewardship themed ‘Next Level’, President Buhari said a foundation has been laid over the last three and a half years “for a strong, stable and prosperous country for the majority of our people”.

Evidence of this foundation was condensed into section one of a document that was released on the same day. Festus Keyamo, the official spokesperson of the campaign organisation, writes in the preamble that the manual “is devoid of too much complex data”, directing readers who may wish to further interrogate its content to a website: www.buharisachievements.com.

On this website, there is an abridged party manifesto and a list of achievements, ongoing and completed projects dealing with the economy, anti-corruption, and security. It also has a category for achievements “compiled by credible media and independent groups”, but wholly attributed to the Buhari Media Organisation. Some of the highlighted achievements, The ICIR has observed, are vague, misattributed, or clear violations of the rule of law.


Inaugurated vehicles donated by Dangote

One of the very odd achievements highlighted by the Buhari Media Organisation, BMO, is listed close to the end of list on security. “The Buhari administration inaugurated 150 patrol vehicles donated to the Nigeria Police Force by the Aliko Dangote Foundation,” it is stated.

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The donation, which took place in May, was recognised as the single largest by any private individual, and Dangote, at the ceremony, had said he might donate another batch in the future. It is difficult to see how the foundation’s gesture could be considered a noteworthy achievement on the part of the federal government, or any achievement at all. There are no reports indicating that the government made any active moves soliciting the contribution.

“The donation of 150 cars to the Nigerian Police Force is laudable and we thank Aliko Dangote Foundation for this rare gesture; that is characteristic of the person of Aliko Dangote. He has shown over the years to be an entrepreneur with a difference, a man that gives willingly to the poor,” Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had remarked at the ceremony.

Strangely, two bullet points after this item is another “achievement” that mentions Aliko Dangote: “The Buhari Administration ensured the arrest of two trucks belonging to Dangote Group loaded with foreign rice in the total of 365 bags of 50kg size by the Sokoto/Kebbi/Zamfara Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service.”


Dasuki’s 31 months in detention

The website dedicated to Buhari’s achievement, tagged “doing more with less… gradually killing corruption”, also glorifies the unlawful, continued detention of Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser, alleged to have diverted $2.1 billion arms fund.

“A former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki,” it states, “has spent 31 months in detention over an allegation of mismanagement of $2.1bn meant for the purchase of arms. Most of the other corruption cases involving top shots had their root in the Dasuki gate as it is now known.”

Dasuki has been granted bail by different courts on at least five occasions but still has not been granted freedom by the federal government. In 2015, he was granted bail by a Federal High Court in Abuja, only to be immediately rearrested at the gates of Kuje prison.

In October 2016, the ECOWAS Court also ordered the federal government to pay a compensation of N15 million to Dasuki for his “unlawful arrest”. Again, in January 2017, an Abuja High Court reaffirmed the validity of bail granted to the former NSA and five others.

In May, after pleading not guilty to all the charges, he was granted yet another bail by Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf of an Abuja High Court.


Re-election of Oby Nwankwo to CEDAW

As part of the eight listed achievements of the administration on matters relating to women, the BMO includes the “re-election of Mrs. Oby Nwankwo to the Committee on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).”

This logically implies that the government of Nigeria influenced or lobbied for the late Nwankwo’s second electoral success — which is neither desirable nor evidenced in media reports — rather than allowing her to be elected strictly based on her own merits.

Obiageli Theodora Nwankwo was one of Africa’s distinguished women’s rights icons before she passed away on December 9, 2017. She was elected as a member of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Expert Committee in January 2013, and was re-elected to serve another four years in 2016.

A total of 104 experts have served as members of the committee since 1982, and these experts were originally nominees who had received the highest number of votes of the representatives of state parties. The election is conducted using the secret ballot system.

While the federal government is eager to share in Nwankwo’s successes, a good number of her campaigns for legal reform have so far hit the wall. These include her campaign for the domestication of CEDAW and the African Union Protocol on The Rights of Women in the country, as well as the passage of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill, which has been alleged to be at loggerheads with local customs.


Inauguration of Sexual Offences Court

Also among the few achievements listed under women affairs category is what the BMO says is the “inauguration of Sexual Offences Court through judicial reforms”. This achievement, it would appear, belongs more appropriately to the Lagos State Government.

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In February, the state government inaugurated four special courts, two tasked with the adjudication of economic and financial crimes and two with the trial of sexual offences — the latter acclaimed to be the first of their kind in Nigeria.

What the federal government may lay some claim to is the recommendation given in 2017 by Walter Onnoghen, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, that special courts should be created for the speedy dispensation of corruption cases.

Onnoghen, in a press statement released in May, had, in fact, passed the buck for the creation of these courts to the executive and legislative arms. “It is the Executive that has the prerogative in conjunction with the legislature to set up courts, including the Special Courts, under our Constitution,” he said.

“It is not the duty of the Judiciary nor that of the Chief Justice of Nigeria. If the executive and the legislature, who have the powers, decide to establish a special Court or any other Court for that matter, the Judiciary will run it by providing the manpower.”

Other odd achievements noticed on the website include that, under President Buhari, “Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Borno State Chapter declared the 2017 Easter Celebrations as the best and safest since 2009”.

The BMO also lists under achievements on education that the “Nigerian university system added eight new universities (two state-owned, six private)” under the administration.

“Quite striking also in 2017 is that JAMB processed within a month, admission into the Nigerian higher education system of 1.7 million candidates compared to 1.6 million in 2016,” states another point.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/scorecard-buhari-lists-dangotes-donation-dasukis-detention-as-achievements/

President Muhammadu Buhari has again listed as one of his achievements the N2.5 billion Northern Ishan Regional Water Supply project in Edo State, a project that is yet to be completed.

The project was No.3 on the list of eight projects captured in the Next Level Campaign Manual of the president for the 2019 election.

Earlier, while marking his third anniversary in office on May 29, the president also list the uncompleted water project as his achievement in office.

The ICIR reported in July 2018 that the project was not completed despite the claim by the Presidency in the Fact Sheet published two months before the ICIR report.

It’s not only the current administration that has claimed credit for this uncompleted project. President Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan’s administration also listed the project as completed.

In reality, however, Northern Ishan Regional Water Supply project remains uncompleted till date.

The project is still hampered by issues of reticulation, delayed construction of road to the river and compensation to land owners.


Genesis of Northern Ishan Regional Water Supply

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Northern Ishan Water Supply Project was awarded in 2005 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to provide water to Ugboha, Uromi and environs. It was awarded to Chinese construction company, CGC, at the sum of N2.2billion, but the figure was jerked up to N2.4billion in 2009.

Work stopped at the site, four years after work commenced on the project.

In 2014, Friday Itulah, a member of House of Representatives representing Esan South-East/Esan North-East Federal Constituency moved a motion for the completion of the project.

Itulah, also a former Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly said insufficient water reticulation in the community hosting the water in-take plant led the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to appropriate in 2012 the sum of NI70 million which he said was not released for the project.

The sum, Itulah told the House then was to be released through Owena River Basin Development Authority to DADIM Integrated Concepts Limited for the reticulation.

According to him, another N130 million was to be released for outstanding payment, compensation and revitalisation of equipment by the Ministry to the main contractor- CGC, which he said was also not released.

In all, a total of N300 million delayed the completion of the project in 2014 and Itulah suggested for its inclusion in the 2015 fiscal year Appropriation Act.

In essence, what delayed the completion and commissioning of the project were outstanding payment, compensation and revatilisation of equipment by the Ministry to the main contractor- CGC.

But in 2018, four years after he moved the motion for the completion of the project, it has remained uncompleted −the water reticulation is still not done.

Essentially, reticulation of water at the host community of the project—Ugboha was a major bone of contention. Out of the 70 tap heads contained in the bill of quantity for the community, only half of it was provided. The six tap heads that are the closest to the dam at Egwuare Ugboha are not even working.

The Ugboha Progress Union (UPU), an interest group that was fronting for the payment of compensation to owners of land taken over by the government for the construction of water supply project and water reticulation said the government failed to pay the sum of N3,808 million calculated as compensation.


Twice listed for commissioning but not completed

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In 2011 and 2012 under former President Goodluck Jonathan, the Northern Ishan Water Supply Project was listed as completed and ready for commissioning − but attempts by that administration to commission it was rebuffed by the people of the community on the issue of water reticulation and compensation for damaged farm and properties.

Former Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochepke, under Jonathan in her mid -term report (2011-2013) listed the water supply project among others as completed and ready for completion.

In the report, Ochekpe said the water project gulped N2.497 billion had created 120 jobs and would serve 150,000 people.

Also, Obadiah Ando, her predecessor, in his Roadmap for Water Sector, 2011 listed the project as completed and ready for commissioning.

Former Vice President Namadi Sambo in 2012 was expected to commission the project, but a protest by the host community over the insufficient water reticulation and compensation to landowners and farmers, whose properties and economic trees were affected, led to the postponement of commissioning.


An uncompleted project, yet commissioned

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To take credit for the work not done, the water project was commissioned despite protest by the host community that it was not completed, the residents said.

In November 2017, Suleiman Adamu, Minister of Water Resources listed Northern Ishan Water Supply project among eight projects to be commissioned in early 2018.

The project, he said, was one of the 116 abandoned or uncompleted projects the Buhari administration inherited.

He said his Ministry conducted a technical audit and prioritized the hitherto uncompleted or abandoned 116 major projects inherited.

And despite unresolved issues on water reticulation, bad road to the dam, unpaid compensation, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on May 23, 2018 in the company of Minister of Water Resources, Adamu, and other officials of Federal Ministry of Water Resources and those from Edo State Government headed for Ugboha to commission the project −but it was a mission impossible − they were chased away by angry mob at the community who set up fire and barricaded Ugboha main junction in protest against the shoddy job done.

The angry mob, majorly youths from Ugboha made the commissioning impossible even with the presence of heavily armed security operatives that accompanied the Ministers and their entourage.

But the commissioning was done at the Edo State Government House, Benin City on the same day. At the Government House, the Minister handed over the documents of the project to Governor of Edo State Godwin Obaseki, as a completed and commissioned project.

Adamu was quoted as saying that the government was satisfied with the quality of the job done.

“We have finished our intervention programme and we are here today to hand over the project to the Edo State Government led by Governor Godwin Obaseki,”Adamu said while handing over the project documents to the Governor.

The Commissioner for Energy and Water Resources, Yekini Idiaye, confirmed to The ICIR that the project was not completed.

Also during a meeting in June, a month after the ‘symbolic commissioning’ of the project in Benin City, during a meeting between the state government and leaders of Ugboha community, the Commissioner said steps were being taken to address the grievance of the people of Ugboha with regard to the reticulation of the water project in Ugboha, as deadline for completion has been set for December 2018.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/fact-check-buhari-lists-uncompleted-project-as-achievement-in-campaign-manual/

The vast majority of Nigeria’s top universities either do not have official electronic mailing addresses or do not actively use them in responding to enquiries and requests, The ICIR has discovered.

A report published in May by The ICIR already established that the e-mailing culture among federal universities in the country is still very poor as only 13 out of 15 schools to whom enquiries were sent eventually responded.

Expanding the scope of the study, The ICIR again mailed an enquiry to universities on Tuesday, October 9 ― this time to 38 federal, 36 state and 43 private universities reported in 2017 to be among Nigeria’s best. Asides the total of 114 institutions on this list, close also to what may be obtained from the latest Webometric Ranking, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA), and Nigerian Law School were also included as part of the recipients.

Essentially the enquiry, presented to be from a doctoral candidate to aid ongoing research, requested for the current population of the schools, with a breakdown according to the number of students and staff strength. “If possible, I wish to also find out if the institution is residential and the percentage of students who benefit from available infrastructure for accommodation,” the e-mail added.

This enquiry was sent to a total of 186 e-mail addresses belonging to 117 institutions; and a week later, on October 16, a reminder was sent to the addresses.

Only 10 responded, acknowledged mail

Out of the over one hundred universities to which the enquiry was sent to, responses came from only ten (10) ― that is 8.5 percent.

The universities that were among the first set to respond include Redeemer’s University, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Baze University, University of Ilorin, American University of Nigeria, Ekiti State University and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology.

Forty minutes after the e-mail was dispatched, Ipenko Ademola, Redeemer’s University’s Principal Assistant Registrar, sent a response directing the reporter to the school registrar. The latter, in his response, asked for the purpose of the request and a “letter of introduction to the effect” ― though the information asked for ought to be publicly available.

After an hour and half, Kennedy Ebakata, Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, replied to say the enquiry “has been forwarded to the Registrar for appropriate action”. For Baze University, no worded response was received but Oshioreamhe Aghedo, the school’s Dean of Students, was copied by the general contact address.

The following day, October 10, the Vice Chancellor of University of Ilorin sent a response, likewise directing the reporter to the registrar or the university website. The registrar, who was part of the original recipients, however had no reply.

Daniel Okereke, the Executive Director of Communications and Publications, American University of Nigeria (AUN), also replied on October 10, giving answers to all enquiries. Total population of students, he wrote, is “slightly above 1,040 (Graduate 156, Undergraduate Above 900)” and for staff, nationals are 1,082 (as at September 2018) while expats are over 80.

He also said, “The institution is residential with about 98% of students on campus.” AUN’s Director of Communications, Innocent Nwobodo, also replied on October 19 to redirect the enquiry to the school’s Office of Institutional Research & Effectiveness, which he said had been copied and was equipped to address the questions.

The Examinations and Records Department of Ekiti State University also responded on this day, advising that the mail be directed to the Vice Chancellor. The school’s VC, however, did not respond to a mail sent to him on October 16.

Oddly, in its response on October 11, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) said, to get a response, the reporter “will have to make it formal by writing an official letter of request to registrar through your HOD”.

Redeemer’s University asked for the purpose of the request and a “letter of introduction to the effect” ― though the information asked for ought to be publicly available.

Following the reminder of October 16, four additional replies were received. One was from another official of AUN, Abba Tahir, Vice President for University Relations, who politely apologised for a belated reply and gave the assurance that his colleague would “package the required information and revert back”.

As promised, on October 19 and 24, his colleague, Amina Yuguda, responded with figures of total student and staff population.

Amos Kolo, Registrar at the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMinna), sent in a response on October 26, with a two-page attachment signed by Jacob Yisa of Exams and Records Unit.

According to the document also dated October 26 and which was printed and scanned to answer the enquiry, the school has an undergraduate population of 19,355, a postgraduate population of 2584, a staff population of 2357, and the hostels accommodate a total of 2712 students.

Ife Oluwole, Deputy Registrar at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, also sent a response on the same day as FUTMinna. Writing on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Joseph A. Fuwape, Oluwole said: “Kindly find below the information you requested for: student population 2017/2018 academic session: undergraduate- 17,505, postgraduate – 3,937, staff population – 2,461. The university is residential. About 10% of the student population benefit from the available residential bed spaces.”

Finally, on October 29, Bingham University, a private university founded in 2005 by the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), also replied with a detailed breakdown of the current population of academic staff and students. It stated among other things that there are 238 members of academic staff, 2906 undergraduate students and 44 postgraduate students, 98 percent of whom reside on campus. The mail was signed by Nuhu Gado.

Soon after the first e-mail was sent out, an automatic response was received from Benue State University’s server, thanking the reporter for contacting the institution and assuring that the “mail is received with thanks and shall be treated urgently”. No urgent response has, however, been provided three weeks after.

Though not all the replies were helpful, only the aforementioned nine institutions provided responses at all to the enquiry. Out of the nine, four are federal universities, two are state universities, and four are private universities.

In other words, only 10.5 per cent of federal universities, 5.5 per cent of state universities, and 9.3 per cent of private universities responded. No response was received from the other 109 universities that were also e-mailed.


33 addresses ‘not found’

Soon after the enquiry was sent to the 186 addresses extracted from the various school’s official websites, the mail delivery subsystem declared 17.7 percent of the addresses as “not found”.

“The email account that you tried to reach does not exist,” said the automatic reply for 33 addresses, which belonged to 22 universities.

For 13 of these schools, no other addresses were found asides the invalid ones. They include the University of Ibadan (mediaresources@mail.ui.edu.ng), Lagos State University (webservices@lasu.edu.ng), Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (unaabamrec@yahoo.com), Kogi State University (info@kogistateuniversity.edu.ng), Ebonyi State University (infoi@ebsu.edu.ng), Abia State University (registry@abiastateuniversity.edu.ng), and Imo State University (portal@imsu.edu.ng).


Others are Kaduna State University (contact@kasu.edu.ng), Madonna University (registrar@madonnauniversity.edu.ng, info@madonnauniversity.edu.ng), Yobe State University (info@ysu.edu.ng), Well Spring University (info@wellspringuniversity.edu.ng), Gombe State University (contact@gsu.edu.ng), and Plateau State University (info@plasu.edu.ng).

The other nine schools have other addresses on their sites that are valid. They are: University of Ilorin, University of Abuja, Usman Dan Fodio University, Federal University of Technology Akure, University of Agriculture Makurdi, Federal University Lokoja, Baze University, Al-Qalam University and Kebbi State University of Science and Technology.

Five of six addresses belonging to the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, returned mailer daemons and for Usman Dan Fodio University, it is four out of five.


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13 universities are without e-mail addresses

The ICIR also observed during the period of the study that 13 of the universities have no official e-mail addresses on their websites; and out of these, at the time of report, seven had contact forms as an alternative means of communication.

The 13 are: University of Jos, Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Delta State University, Federal University Otuoke, Benson Idahosa University, Lead City University, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Crawford University, Igbinedion University, Caleb University, Federal University Lafia, Bauchi State University, and Wesley University of Science and Technology.

With countless crucial but broken links, pictures that would not load and a design that is not user-friendly, the website of the Federal University Dutsin-Ma is deficient. The “contact us” page button is one of the numerous site navigations that are not functional.

That of Delta State University, which has no link stated as contact page, is beset with similar problems. It was also observed that Lead City University has as many as 17 telephone numbers stated on its homepage but not one email address.

A look through the website of Joseph Ayo Babalola University revealed that it has neither an official email address nor a contact form. For the Federal University, Lafia, established in 2010, the website did not load when it was checked on October 6. It is, however, now stated to be “under construction by Directorate of Management Information System (MIS)”. Most of the links are still broken, including the student portal, and the contact page has neither phone numbers nor an email address.


Between May and October: Any improvement?

In May, The ICIR conducted a similar but smaller investigation that involved 15 federal universities. The email sent to these universities was titled “Enquiries on Post Graduate Programme and Financial Contribution” and requested for the university’s fee structure as well as unique benefits of enrolling in the post graduate programme.

It also said the writer intended “to give a small donation to the institution to advance its research projects and ICT presence”, and asked for the best means to do this.

Not much has changed, five months after this report. The six universities observed then to have invalid addresses on their websites still do: University of Ilorin, University of Abuja, Usman Dan Fodio University Sokoto, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, University of Ibadan, and Federal University of Technology Akure.

Out of the 15 schools, only Federal University of Technology, Akure, and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, responded in the first study. This figure dropped to one in the second as no response or acknowledgement was received from the University of Nigeria.

Unlike in the first report, however, the official address of the University of Ilorin Vice Chancellor acknowledged The ICIR‘s enquiry and offered guidance on how an answer may be sought.


Comparing South Africa and Nigeria

Compared to Nigerian universities, South African tertiary institutions appear to be doing much better when it comes to response to electronic enquiries. On Monday, November 5, the same enquiry sent to local universities was sent to 25 top South African universities, according to UniRank, a leading international higher education directory.

Out of the 59 addresses curated, three returned mailer-daemons ― this is 5 per cent, compared to Nigeria’s 17.7 per cent. Six of the universities have auto-responders, to assure the sender the message has been received. This is 24 percent, compared to Nigeria’s 0.85 percent.

Also, as many as eleven replies were received in total, representing 20 per cent response rate. The responses came from that five universities: University of Pretoria, University of Witwatersrand, University of Capetown, Stellenbosch University, and Nelson Mandela University.

The ICIR also observed that many of the South African universities have detailed contact pages, containing phone numbers and e-mail addresses of key officials as well as all faculties.

It is noteworthy that this result is in spite of the fact that only four days have passed since the enquiry was sent, while Nigerian universities had over three weeks. Also, unlike in the local experiment, no reminder has been sent to the South African institutions.

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Missed grants, admission offers … effects of nonchalance

Oluwaseun David Adepoju, Lead Facilitator at TECHmiT AFRICA, who spoke to The ICIR observed that postgraduate admissions and scholarship grants have been lost due to the lacklustre attitude of universities to electronic mails, and added that there is no excuse for not using the 46-year-old technology.

“From my recent experience with a public university in south west Nigeria, I discovered that the university had all the corporate emails on the university website for the sake of just having them listed,” he recounted.

“I sent mails to three of the addresses on the website and all of them bounced back to me as mailer daemons. This situation is an indication the mails have not been used in a long time. Many university graduates have lost postgraduate admissions abroad because their university in Nigeria could not reply the mail sent from these universities abroad to confirm their documents. What a sad reality.”

He recommended that ICT units of various universities should assign a number of email accounts to each worker in the unit to facilitate responsiveness. “This will add immensely to the image the university has in the international community,” he said.

Other Nigerians have also narrated, in reaction to a report by The ICIR, how the technical shortcoming has affected them ― from someone whose admission into a Norwegian institution was cancelled because University of Ilorin did not attend to a request for certificate confirmation to another whose friend had to buy fuel and data bundle for officials at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, before they could attend to a mail concerning him.

It is however, notably, not only universities which hardly acknowledge and respond to e-mail enquiries. Public institutions in Nigeria are generally observed to be disconnected from the addresses and telephone numbers stated on their official websites. Some, in fact, fail to update their physical addresses months after they have relocated.

A recent report by The ICIR established that 20 out of 24 federal ministries in the country do not respond to enquiries sent to their official addresses. 11 of the 26 email addresses extracted from their websites were found to be invalid. The Ministries of Education, Information and Culture, and Science and Technology, do not have official e-mail addresses on their websites and fail to reply enquiries sent through listed contact forms.


NUC keeps silent

The National Universities Commission (NUC), set up by the federal government to ensure quality higher education, has not responded to The ICIR‘s question on how it plans to make Nigerian universities more ICT-compliant in a digital era.

Ibrahim Yakasai, the commission’s director of press invited our reporter to his office but was not available at the agreed time of visit and for several hours. Calls to his phone have since not been answered and texts sent to him have yet to be replied.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/investigation-only-8-of-nigerias-top-100-universities-respond-to-e-mail-enquiries/

The use of electronic mails for the swift exchange of information has been in vogue for about five decades. Accompanying the invention of the internet, emails have no doubt transformed how people communicate.

Across the world, people — and governments — are today taking the technology seriously, if not religiously, as a way of making enquiries, sending notifications, seeking job placements among other needs. The Nigerian federal government (FG) is, however, lagging behind the developed world in embracing this important tool, as The ICIR discovers in a reality check.

On Wednesday, October 3, an enquiry was sent to twenty six (26) official email addresses belonging to twenty four (24) federal ministries, including the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (OSGF).

In the email, The ICIR asked to “confirm if the Ministry or any department under it has recently put out a call for job applicants”, and also requested for information on when next the ministry is likely to make such a call.

A week after, on October 11, a reminder was sent to the addresses which had not responded to the previous mail. In spite of this, the vast majority of the ministries ignored the emails.


‘Delivery has failed to these recipients’

Not long after the email was dispatched to the various addresses, automatic responses began to pour in from the hosting companies’ postmaster informing the reporter that “delivery has failed to these recipients or groups”.

“The email address you entered couldn’t be found. Please check the recipient’s email address and try to resend the message. If the problem continues, please contact your helpdesk,” the notification added.

The ministries whose addresses could not be connected to by the email service include the: Ministry of Aviation (info@aviation.gov.ng), Finance (contact@budgetoffice.gov.ng), Health (hmoffice@health.gov.ng, hmsoffice@health.gov.ng, psoffice@health.gov.ng, hprsoffice@health.gov.ng), and Lands, Housing and Urban Development (fgn10000@landsandhousing.gov.ng).

Others are the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (hrm@nigerdelta.gov.ng ), Petroleum Resources (info@petroleumresources.gov.ng), Women Affairs (enquiries@womenaffairs.gov.ng), and Youth and Sports Development (info@youthandsports.gov.ng).

While some of the ministries have alternative contact emails, for others, the unavailable addresses are the only ones provided on their websites. “Info@nigeria.gov.ng”, provided on the country’s official website, was also found to be invalid.

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Only 4 in 24 ministries replied

Eighty-three percent, that is up to 20, of all the 24 federal ministries emailed did not respond at all, despite the sending of a second mail after one week. Of the 26 addresses mailed, 11 are not available; and of the 15 which are valid, only 3 responded.

The first ministry to respond was the Ministry of Finance. After only two hours, a reply came from Magaji Musa Mohammed, whose address was not one of the original recipients.

“Good afternoon,” he wrote. “The Ministry of Finance is not responsible for recruitment. It is Federal Civil Service Commission that has the right to recruit. Thank you.”

Four hours after the mail was dispatched, a second reply came from the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.

“The Ministry doesn’t recruit, only the Federal Civil Service Commission carries out recruitment. kindly disregard the rumours please,” wrote Ibrahim Almustapha Abdulkadir, the ICT Desk Officer.

An hour after a reminder was sent at 11:46 am on October 11, a response came from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. “Dear Adekunle Adebajo,” it said, “the Ministry, for now, has not placed any advertisement for any vacancy. So please ignore the rumour.”

At 10:48pm on the same day, a reply came from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development: “Dear Adekunle, in line with the Public Service Rules, the staff of the ministry are recruited by the Civil Service Commission and NOT by the ministry. If you are keen on working at the ministry, you should apply to the Civil Service Commission through your state Commissioner. Thank you.”

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Six ministries have no stated email addresses

Out of all the federal ministries studied, six (25 percent) have no email addresses stated on their website. These include the Ministry of Education, Information and Culture, Science and Technology, Defence, Interior, and Finance.

With the exception of the Finance, all of these ministries have contact forms on their sites through which members of the public or other interested parties may make enquiries. However, none of the enquiries sent through the forms, though acknowledged, was replied.

The ICIR has also observed that the website of the Ministry of Finance has been unavailable for several weeks, and that of Women Affairs has been restored only recently. Snapshots from Wayback Machine, an internet archival tool, show that they were accessible earlier in 2018.

When the Women Affairs Ministry’s website was visited on October 3, the error notice announced that the service has been blocked.

“This is a Federal Government of Nigeria service,” it said, “and access to the web page or streaming service you require has been blocked in accordance with Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) restrictions from 9am to 4pm on weekdays.

“If you require this restriction lifted, please call the Galaxy Backbone Service Desk on 09-4621544 or send an email to: servicedesk@galaxybackbone.com.ng.”

The website presently takes at least ten minutes before it is opened regardless of the internet browser in use. Then again, Aisha AlHassan is still stated as the Minister of Women Affairs — though she resigned nearly three months ago on August 1.

For the Ministry of Finance, while the homepage is not available, the Whistleblowing Portal which is a sub-domain is functioning. As a result, the email enquiry was sent to this portal and the Budget Office.

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ICT expert speaks

Hilary Onyeka, an Abuja-based web developer, told The ICIR various factors could be responsible for mails sent to certain addresses returning mailer daemons. According to him, it may be that the email address was not created in the first place but was publicly displayed.

“Also, when creating an address on the mail server, it would create a directory for that address as well as a username. The username might have been created but there is no directory where sent mails will be delivered to,” he added.

Onyeka further explained that hosting websites on Virtual Private Servers may lead to difficulties in setting up the mail sever, and recommended that the task is outsourced to email services such as Migadu.

He also urged persons mandated to respond to electronic mails for ministries as well as other organisations to ensure they login using their mobile email applications. This, he said, will ensure they receive real-time notifications as soon as mails are sent to them.


Information Minister ignores call, text

The ICIR texted Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, on Tuesday to ask why his ministry does not have any visible email address and why an enquiry sent through the contact form was not replied. The minister, however, did not provide any response. Likewise, a call to his number on Wednesday for the same purpose was dropped.

Segun Adetola, Assistant Press Director at the Office of the Secretary to the Government who oversees electronic communications, told The ICIR his office is not aware of any enquiry and asked for the address used.

"This is not our e-mail," he replied after the address was provided, though it is what is stated on the office's contact page. 

"Looks like one of those that the scammers are using," he added. "However, I need to meet you before releasing our mail address." 

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/report-information-foreign-affairs-science-20-federal-ministries-you-should-not-bother-emailing/

THE Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President (OCEAP), headed by Adeyemi Dipeolu, received a sum of N34 million in 2017 to fund research studies on the economy but fails to make this research available, The ICIR has learnt.

In 2016, the office requested for a capital allocation of N78 million, out of which N47.8 million was budgeted for research and allocation. In 2018, the office’s capital allocation is N60 million, from which N19.9 million is budgeted for research while the rest goes to the purchase of vehicles, computers, office furniture and so on.

Conversely, in the 2017 budget, the total capital cost for the office was N60 million, with every penny going into research and development. The budget went on to specifically state the project title as: “Provision of evidence-based research studies on all aspects of the Nigerian economy that will help Mr. President in formulating sound strategies and policies.”

According to a document obtained from the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation stating cash releases to all government bodies, out of the entire sum, N35 million was given to OCEAP as part of the first batch of releases.

Out of this sum, N33.7 million was utilised at the end of the fiscal year, leaving a balance of N1.29 million.

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The studies are, however, nowhere to be found — over four months since the 2017 budget implementation period ended and over a year since money was released for the research project.

The website of the State House under which the economic adviser’s office is subsumed has no traces of any documentary uploads, let alone one from the economic adviser’s office.


What happened to OCEAP’s website?

The Office of the Chief Economic Adviser has been existing since the return to democratic rule in 1999 when former president Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Philip Asiodu in this capacity. Ever since eight other Nigerians have served in the same capacity.

The Office of the Chief Economic Adviser, at the moment, does not make use of any official website to upload its reports and through which its activities can be monitored. But this has not always been the case.

In 2011, under the leadership of Nwanze Okidegbe, a website was created for the office with the address: www.oceap.gov.ng. The platform, however, became unavailable soon after Dipeolu succeeded Okidegbe as the economic adviser.

Snapshots from Wayback Machine, a digital archive of contents on the internet, reveal that the website was still accessible on October 3, 2016. Also, in the past, it contained various reports, policy briefs and downloads related to the nation’s economy.

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Uploaded documents included: Transforming Nigeria: The Reforms and Results of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (2010 – 2013) produced by the Office of the Secretary to the Government; the Transformation Agenda (2011 – 2015): Summary of Federal Government’s Key Priority Policies, Programmes and Projects; and a Midterm Report of the Transformation Agenda: Taking Stock and Moving Forward.

The third report was written by a committee, which included the Chief Economic Adviser to the President.


‘Not under my office’ — Dipeolu denies responsibility

Dipeolu has told The ICIR the research project named in the budget is not related to his functions, suggesting he is not in charge of the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser.

In reaction to a Freedom of Information request for the research studies, he wrote in a letter dated October 9: “This is … to inform that the Budget Item ‘OCEAP85893258’ is not under the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters in the Office of the Vice President. Thank you.”

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But who is the Chief Economic Adviser?

While it was implied by Dipeolu that he is not the nation’s Chief Economic Adviser, it has also been recently alleged that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has in fact not created room for the office.

Osita Chidoka, former Minister of Aviation, made this allegation on Wednesday during an interview session on Channels TV.

“We have a situation in the economy where the government has no economic adviser,” he said. “We do not know what the philosophy of the economy that this government has.”

To support his claim, Chidoka later tweeted that the federal government has only appointed a “Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters in the Office of the Vice-President”. But is there a substantial difference between the two offices?

Before Buhari’s ascent to the presidency, it was customary for presidents to appoint a Chief Economic Adviser. But under the present administration, the closest appointment to this is that of Dipeolu as “Special Adviser to the President (Economic Matters), Office of the Vice President” — as written on the official release. He was appointed to this role on November 9, 2015, and was officially sworn in in August 2016.

The administration also appointed 11 Special Assistants and Senior Special Assistants (note: not advisers) on various economically related issues such as on Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

However, of all appointees, only Dipeolu has been noted as a member of the Economic Management Team alongside Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Minister of Budget and Planning, Minister of Finance, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria among others. This was a role previously played by the “Chief Economic Adviser”.

Also noteworthy is the fact that money has always been budgeted for the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President (OCEAP) since the Buhari took office in 2015. Not only that, some of these budgeted amounts have been cash-backed and withdrawn from the national treasury.


Presidential spokesperson confirms Dipeolu as CEA

Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, has confirmed to The ICIR that indeed Adeyemi Dipeolu is serving as the nation’s Chief Economic Adviser.

“…We would like to confirm the person presently acting in the capacity as Chief Economic Adviser,” The ICIR asked Mr. Shehu in a text message.

“Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu,” he responded.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/report-after-receiving-n34m-buharis-economic-adviser-fails-to-provide-research-study/

LAST Friday, a former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, was announced as the running mate of Atiku Abubakar, in his race to the Presidential Villa, under the flag of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

This decision was celebrated by many as a wise choice not only because of Obi’s ethnic background, impressive academic profile, youthfulness and intelligence, but also because he is perceived as an upright, austere and no-nonsense leader.

However, about a year and a half ago, the former governor caused a huge stir on the internet over a suspicious — and, as it later turned out, controversial — claim he made while speaking at The Platform on Monday, May 1, 2017.

At the event, organised by the Covenant Christian Centre in Lagos, Obi said he did not have more than a single wristwatch which has served him for seventeen years. He also chipped in that he had only two pairs of black shoes that he always travelled with.

While narrating an experience with the Economic and Financials Crimes Commission (EFCC), which searched his apartment in Lagos while he was abroad, he said they could not find expensive clothing accessories there and accused him of not living in the house.

Explaining, he said to an applauding crowd: “I have said it to many Nigerians. Peter Obi wears only black shoes and I have two pairs of it anytime, and I travel with them.”

“The purpose of shoes is to protect the legs from being hurt,” he added. “Nothing else. Some people buy shoes of $200, $300. It’s a waste of time. I bought this from Marks and Spencer. $49.99. Finish.”

“They said, ‘Oh, we didn’t even see watches’,” he continued, referring to operatives of the EFCC.

“I have said it openly to everybody. This is the only watch I have,” he said, as he pulled his silver-coloured chain watch. “I have worn it for seventeen years… The purpose of watch is to keep time. Why would I keep a watch at home? Whose time is it keeping?”

A year before, at the 2016 edition of The Platform, Obi appeared to have used the same wristwatch for his presentation. But is that the only one that has graced his wrist for close to two decades?

Pictures emerged of other watches

Soon after the video of his assertion went viral on the internet, pictures of Peter Obi within the 17-year time frame were dug up to suggest the former governor might have goofed or outright told a lie to look good before the audience.

It is clear from some of these images that he has used at least two types of watches in the past decade, one with a brown leather strap and another with a silver-coated chain and dark clock plate.

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Nigerians, especially loyalists to other parties, have started using Obi’s statement to suggest he is not fit for office, some suggesting his wristwatch must have been a chameleon.

“Peter Obi is a monumental pathological liar anyway,” tweeted Don Carleton (@PapazLagos) on Thursday. “Man used The Platform to hoodwink gullible youths into believing he’s one honest politician that only used two pairs of shoes and one wristwatch during his 8-year term as governor.”

Another Twitter user, Abdul Aziz Mu’azu (@mabziz), said: “No frivolous claim from Peter Obi can as much as amuse me again; after his ‘I have only one wristwatch’ stunt.”

Yet another Nigerian pleaded with the press to fact-check his claims, including that he has only one house located in Onitsha.

Jumping into conclusion?

While it is true the former governor could have meant to say as popularly interpreted: that the watch he wore to the event is the only one he had had for seventeen years, this is not the only semantic connotation.

His statement could as well be interpreted to mean he had had the watch for seventeen years, it was the only one he was using at the time, but he had used others too in the past.

This explanation was also suggested by Ikeogu Oke, award-winning poet and journalist, in a piece published by Vanguard newspaper.

“Even with such seemingly contradictory images, it would be wrong to draw the conclusion that Obi’s wristwatch claim was not true unless it could be proven that he owned any other wristwatch at the moment he made that claim or had not owned that particular one for seventeen years,” he wrote days after the incident.

“While not ruling other possible interpretations of the claim, as a student of semantics I can say that it can be rightly interpreted to mean that he might have owned other wristwatches together with that one in the past seventeen years, but that was the only one left,” he added.

“And so digging up images where he seemed to wear other wristwatches or actually did in the past seventeen years would not translate into his having lied.”

Obi himself, however, has yet to put up a defence or clarify the ambiguity in his statement. Perhaps with his new position as a vice presidential candidate, the matter will finally be laid to rest, in one direction or the other.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/flashback-the-statement-many-wristwatches-upsetting-peter-obis-reputation/

Yomi Okanlawon has just been offered admission by the University of Lagos into its Law programme. He received this news in September after logging into the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) portal. But going by a widely circulated information, this should not have been possible.

Different reports on the internet around the period claimed JAMB’s website had suffered a setback, thus requiring that all candidates to re-upload their ordinary level certificates to qualify for admission.

“Parents whose wards or relatives applied for admission into any of the Nigerian universities are requested to tell them to upload their O’ Level/WAEC result to JAMB as quickly as possible,” stated one of such messages.

“Without this,” it continued with a note of authority, “their admission will not work. This information is from the V.C. and should be spread to others. PRO, COOU [Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University].”

Okanlawon, who like many others registered on the JAMB platform in March, told The ICIR , he decided not to follow the instruction to re-upload as he saw similar claims in 2017 and had become skeptical. He noted that the claim started circulating in August, following the JAMB admission policy meeting in Osogbo, Osun State.

“The same thing happened last year,” he said. “They will say JAMB database has developed fault, so students should upload their O’ Level results. They also say that your failure to re-upload means you have forfeited your admission for the year.”

He added that he understood it was compulsory for candidates relying on the awaiting result option to upload their results as soon as they were obtained, but it made no sense for the rule to apply equally to everyone.

“Personally, I have seen over twenty people, like myself, who have been offered admission without having to re-upload. There is nothing like that,” he concluded.


Bloggers: unofficial JAMB spokespersons

Those who bear news of JAMB’s directive and the supposed implications on candidates desperately seeking admission are mostly bloggers. Not only do they share and confirm the claim, they also attempt to outmatch themselves in proffering solutions.

“JAMB has urged all applicants, both Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry candidates to re-upload WAEC result on JAMB Portal (WAEC, NECO, NABTEB etc) for 2018/2019 academic session admission exercise,” wrote Charles Obaleagbon, founder of St. Charles Educational Services who said he had been in “the educational business” since 2002.

“The only way you can re-upload your O’level result is to visit JAMB accredited CBT centre,” he added, in the blog post published in September.

He also emphasised, in the post, that re-uploading is compulsory, and urged readers to reach out to him for price negotiation.

Obaleagbon did not answer calls to his phone by The ICIR to confirm the source of his information.

Another blog run by Uwalaka Michael Ikechukwu “and a team of educational experts” similarly announced, in October, that re-uploading of results is compulsory for all candidates, whether or not they are awaiting results.

“Have you uploaded your results before?” Michael asked. “If yes, JAMB has given another instruction and directive to all candidates irrespective of their results status. JAMB has asked all candidates to re-upload their results to JAMB portal.”


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WhatsApp, a popular cross-platform instant messaging service, is another medium where the claim was widely circulated. A recent broadcast on the platform stated: “To my greatest surprise, JAMB lost their database again. Hence, you all should go and upload your O’ Level. Do that before this week runs out. Locate any nearest CBT centre.”

Yomi, the author of the broadcast, proceeded to direct readers to his blog so as to find out centres close to them. When The ICIR called to ask if JAMB was truly encountering challenges with their database, he said “not really”.

“The fact is that some students went to the CBT centre and noticed that their O’ Level was no longer there,” he explained. “Some of them said some of their subjects were missing. They uploaded nine subjects, but found eight.”

He admitted these could have happened as a result of the candidates’ carelessness while registering, and suggested it was better if everyone of them went back to the centre to confirm their status.

The narrative is however not headed in the same direction on all blogs. A middle-aged blogger, who preferred to be called Mr Techie, strongly debunked the rumour in one of his recent publications.

“I’ve got a student telling me that he had already uploaded his NECO result during UTME registration,” he wrote. “While he went to another CBT centre, they still re-uploaded it and charged N500 instead of telling him that it’s not for those who had done that earlier.”

“Well, this is Nigeria,” he went on. “Most people are just opportunists. Most CBT centres can be taking advantage of your innocence and fool you that they re-upload the result. But know this, they don’t. A professional and trusted CBT centre will tell you the truth.”


CBT centres smile to the bank

For 2018, JAMB accredited a total of 649 Computer-Based Test (CBT) registration centres across the country, with some states having four and others well over thirty. They are, without doubt, the greatest beneficiaries of the circulated rumour.

The ICIR gathers that centres in Lagos charge applicants between N500 and N1000 to re-upload their documents even though, according to JAMB PRO, Fabian Benjamin, they are not meant to demand above N100 (for applicants who registered with awaited results).

It appears some centres also partner with bloggers to lure unsuspecting clients. On October 4, Aliyu Khaliphah, owner of Crystal Gist, posted on a Facebook group with close to 90,000 members, constituting mostly JAMB applicants, that the board has instructed the re-uploading of results “due to the innovation of CAPS”.

He advised members to visit the nearest CBT centre or “contact us for the upload”. When our reporter called the phone number provided, Khaliphah confirmed he has a CBT centre that can be used and gave an initial price of N1000.

“Though I used to say N1000, that’s not the actual price,” he added seconds later. “I used to charge N700.”

When the reporter told him he was resident in Abuja, he was told to go to Masaka because “there, they charge N500.” There are only three accredited centres in the locality: ChildWorth International School, God’s Own Scholars Academy, and Kada Model ICT Centre.

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‘There is nothing like that’, JAMB PRO confirms

Benjamin, a Doctor of Policy Analysis and JAMB’s Head of Media and Publicity, told The ICIR in a phone interview that the board has merely admonished candidates who are yet to upload their results to do so.

“If you have done it before, you don’t need to do it again,” he affirmed. “It is just for those who have not done.”

He also said uploading of results is a service rendered freely at JAMB offices and done at a cost of N100 at various accredited CBT centres. He added that the board has no control over what is charged by other internet cafes, which often claim to have made the upload when they really have not.

“In any case, you can only upload in regulated CBT centres, owned by us or registered by us. When they go to internet cafes, they will tell them they have uploaded and collect their money. Meanwhile, when admission period comes, they’ll discover that they’ve not uploaded their results.”

When The ICIR asked if there was truly a need for candidates who applied in 2017 to re-upload their results, based on a series of tweets on JAMB’s verified handle, he said there is nothing like that, but added that he would get back. Texts sent to his phone containing details of the tweets have not been replied.


CBT centres: greatest, but not only beneficiaries

While it is true that the widely held misconception surrounding JAMB result upload has paid off financially for CBT centres, they are not the only ones profiting from it. Bloggers who, knowingly or unknowingly, spread the fake news are also beneficiaries.

Oluwaseyi Babajide, Creative Director at Unibadan Efiwe, an Ibadan-based education and entertainment blog, told The ICIR most bloggers, because of website traffic, often post news without bothering about their authenticity. They simply copy and paste without confirming, he said.

“That kind of news is really sensitive and catchy or should I say juicy,” he added. “So it would draw more attention and traffic.”

Another blogger and Benin-based political scientist, Oladosu Olaleye, said a second factor is the urge to be among the first to report. He proposed that, to curtail the spread of false information, JAMB should use its website and social media accounts more actively to keep candidates abreast of latest developments, so they don’t have to depend on blogs.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/special-report-how-nigerian-cbt-centres-swindle-jamb-candidates-using-fake-news/

SINCE she was in junior secondary school, 17-year-old Feranmi* has always had a soft spot for legal practice. Her mind was simply made up: It was either law or nothing. And so she worked hard to make this dream come true. After hearing about the success rate of the annual Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board (JUPEB) examination, her dad, Mr Adeleke, paid well above N200,000 to enrol her at an approved study centre.

For ten gruelling months in 2016, Feranmi studied day and night. Thankfully when the examination was finally over, her hard work paid off as she had the second highest score possible: 15 out of 16. Her dream was closer than she imagined, she thought. But she was wrong. Obafemi Awolowo University offered her admission into the Department of History instead. This not only applied brakes to her dream, it shattered her spirit.

“I don’t feel happy in general,” she told her mom months into her second year at the university, “because of this course I’m doing right now, which I know I don’t deserve but there’s nothing I can do.”

She added: “Most times, I force myself to read just to pass the examinations. There’s no interest and there’s no joy in doing it.”

Mrs Adeleke learnt from Feranmi’s close friends in school that she has been skipping lectures because of her lack of interest in the course.

According to OAU’s Centre for Distance Learning, “JUPEB is a National Examination body saddled with the responsibility of conducting examinations for students, who have undergone approved subject combinations and are seeking Direct Entry admissions into Nigerian and partnering foreign tertiary institutions.”

The programme was approved by the federal government in December 2013 and officially kicked off the following year with a merger of ten universities, including OAU.


An unjust system… a mother’s distress

Feranmi’s mother, not only her daughter, has had to bear a great deal of the heartache. She tried her best to understand why her child did not get her preferred course, but her findings only caused her more emotional pain.

When she met the JUPEB Coordinator at the university, she was told she was denied admission into the law faculty because they did not have a perfect score of 16 out of 16 — only for her to discover many other candidates who scored as low as 10 are now studying their dream course, law.

She took her grievance to the Admissions Officer but nothing came out of it. Aluko, who chairs the Admission Committee, told her point blank she could not change her course back to law upon resumption, though successful transfer candidates abound on campus.

He also gave the excuse that the university considers catchment areas and states of origin in offering admission. When he was told Feranmi in fact has that to their advantage, he could not put up any more defence.

“An admission list was never released,” Mrs Adeleke told The ICIR. “Even a few days before the matriculation, many candidates with lower scores were given admission into the same course for which others who scored higher were rejected.”

“How do we encourage our youth to imbibe hard work when there is no incentive?” she questioned rhetorically.

“I’d initially resigned to fate by encouraging my child to accept the course eventually offered and telling her it could be the will of God. But each time I visit her in school, my daughter complains about her lack of interest and protests why, after her hard work, her spot was given to others.”

Mrs Adeleke also said the unfair system of admission is not exclusive to the faculty of law or the direct entry process. It happens under the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scheme, in other departments that are in high demand, and has been in place at the university for years.

She believes the admission list ought to be made transparent, with each student’s score on display for verification.

The ICIR gathered that, for instance, Orimogunje Iyanu had an aggregate score of 10 in the JUPEB examination, Bamisaye Peace had 12, and Ayela Rebbeca is also reported to have scored less than 14 — all students of the faculty of law where the cut-off mark was 16/16.


“It is not fair”, other affected students speak out

Sophia Adenola, a 200L student of the Department of English, confirmed to The ICIR that certain candidates with lower scores more often than not get rewarded with their desired courses of study while those who perform better are given unsought departments.

She said the JUPEB programme was “very stressful” for her as she had to read a lot for three different examinations. Eventually, she scored 13 in the final examination. One was added to everyone’s score, to make hers 14 out of 16. She said she knows approximately 15 of her colleagues who successfully “upgraded” their courses, but she is not sure of what all their scores were.

“When we got to OAU, some people were doing change of course,” she narrated. “But that is if you know someone there. Someone that even had nine (9) did a change of course successfully because she knows someone, and she was given the law course she wanted.”

“It is not fair,” she added. “We all worked hard, into the night, burning candles for almost a year. It’s unfair.”

Another student of the university who gained admission through the JUPEB examination, and scored 13/15, had a similar story. She said it is not surprising because “there is no university in Nigeria where there isn’t favouritism.”

“But that doesn’t make it right,” she added.

She thinks what mostly happens is the university has a quota for the number of people they want to admit for a course, and then they consider the next best scorers for admission after all the slots are filled.

“But then we still have cases of people who have 12 or 11 getting admitted for Law. I know someone who had 13 points like me and also had Law.”

“If it’s possible for the system to change, I would want it to because it’s quite painful,” she concluded.

Another student of the Faculty of Arts, who is in his penultimate year, revealed to The ICIR that admission racketeering takes place at the university, as in most other Nigerian tertiary institutions.

“In 2015, when the cut off for the Faculty of Law was 297,” he narrated, “many could not meet up. While a candidate with just two marks less than the cut-off was not offered admission, some were offered courses far from Law such as Dramatic Arts. Meanwhile, there are people with just 201 who were admitted to the faculty.”

The same trend of incidents occurred at the College of Health Sciences, he said. According to him, because of the perceived injustice, many students have opted to drop out after seeing their mates who only scored 200 in the examination remain at the college. Others end up not attending lectures because of disinterest. Some of these students were offered Agriculture though their marks only fell short of the cut-off with five or points.

“In fact, there was a boy, Timi, who secured his admission because of his father’s influence as a lecturer,” the source said.

“Even when you are qualified for admission with better scores above some people’s own, you need to know those in authority to secure the admission.”


Admission for sale

Information found online appear to suggest that it is common practice for students to also pay for admission slots at the Obafemi Awolowo University — a practice known as slot-trading.

According to Wuyi Peter, owner of Wuyi’s Edu. Consultancy who says he has been assisting aspiring students with their admission since 2007, the earlier a candidate submits his application to a staff member or “runs man” the better. These slots may either be bought or given out of goodwill.

“I must let you know that even if you have anyone to whom you have submitted your admission request and they are using a slot they have or have bought for you,” he writes, “please don’t leave them alone, don’t let them rest.”

“Let them feel your urge for the admission because without that, believe me, no matter how much they have collected from you for the slot they are using for you, there will be people who will be willing to pay more after the cut-offs are released.

“And trust me, most ‘runsmen’ don’t have enough strength to rebuke any better offer considering what the new candidate is paying more than you. They will just return your money to you after the admission lists are released and your name is not there, and even at that it’ll still mean they gained while you lose.”


Confirm your source, replies OAU JUPEB Programme Officer

When Kunle Alagbe, the university’s JUPEB Programme Officer, was contacted by The ICIR, he insisted he wanted to know how his phone number was obtained. When our reporter questioned the relevance of that information, he said: “That means your question as well is not relevant.”

“Excuse me,” he continued after it was pointed out that he works for a public institution. “If you can’t tell me where you got my number, whatever you’re telling me is not relevant to me please.”

He added that The ICIR needs to confirm its source and recommended that all complaints be directed to “the main university in form of a letter”.

When he was asked which official of the institution the letter should be directed to, he simply said: “Well you have to it get from your source, please.”

When a call was placed to Mabayoje Aluko, Chairman of OAU’s Admission Committee and Dean of Social Sciences, he excused himself as he was at a meeting and asked to be called later. Calls to his phone after this time were however not answered and text messages sent to him have not been replied.

In a texted response to The ICIR, however, Kehinde Awofisayo, the university’s admission officer, said the claims are false “to the best of my knowledge”.

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*Pseudonyms are used in this report in place of the actual names of the students to protect their identities and studentship.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/unjust-jupeb-seeking-admission-to-oau-whom-you-know-may-count-above-what-you-know/

Events at ThisDay newspapers have taken a dramatic turn as the sack of Christopher Isiguzo, one of the presidential aspirants at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) caught up in a forgery scandal, has been reversed.

The ICIR gathered the reversal took place on the night of Tuesday, hours after news broke of Isiguzo’s dismissal.

In an email sent to Isiguzo by Joseph Ushigiale, the paper’s Managing Editor, at 10:37pm, the former was notified that the decision to terminate his appointment was rescinded “for now” based on “Chairman’s directive” — referring to Nduka Obaigbena, founder and chairman of ThisDay newspaper.

“Dear Mr. Isinguzo,” it read. “I refer to my earlier email to you on the above subject matter and wish to convey to you Chairman’s directive rescinding the decision terminating your appointment and to maintain the status quo ante for now. Thanks.”

ThisDay originally decided to sack Isiguzo after a review of his credentials revealed irreconcilable discrepancies, Ushigiale had told The ICIR.

He said, according to his 2006 application to the organisation, he has an an OND and HND from the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, and a diploma from Hyles-Anderson College, all in 1998, “which is not possible”.

The ICIR has reported other irregularities in the forged documents, including that another institution’s stamp was used on his Nigerian HND statement of result and “2nd class” was written on his American diploma even though the United States instead uses Latin honours.

The Chancellor of Hyles-Anderson College, John Wilkerson, confirmed that the document was not issued by them and “neither do the names upon it represent any officiants or graduates of our college.”

Meanwhile, efforts to reach Ushigiale for an explanation on why the earlier decision was swiftly upturned proved unsuccessful as his phone number was not available.


Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/drama-as-thisday-reverses-sack-of-journalist-involved-in-forgery-following-chairmans-directive/

Eaa247:
its possible to obtain the two certificates the same year if the foreign school he claims to have their certificate allows online/correspondence program
I think what Thisday needs to do is to confirm/verify from the foreign school if such individual's name is on their list.
Making haste to sack him without verifying from the schools can give credence to Thisday paper being bribed to run him down

It's already been verified. Please read this: https://www.nairaland.com/4766616/report-isiguzo-union-journalists-presidential

CHRISTOPHER Isiguzo, presidential aspirant and two-time vice president at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has been sacked by ThisDay Newspapers, The ICIR has gathered.

Joseph Ushigiale, Managing Editor at ThisDay Newspapers, confirmed this development in a phone interview.

He said the decision was made following various enquiries from media practitioners who sought clarification on his qualifications. The paper thereafter discovered discrepancies in his documents after conducting a review.

“He was asked to explain and then he said he didn’t own those papers,” Ushigiale said. “He denied that the papers belong to him.”

From the management’s findings, when Isiguzo submitted a handwritten application in 2006 when he sought employment at the organisation, he wrote in it that he is an HND holder.

“And we decided that he has been very economical with the truth, because he has misled us in presenting documents that are not substantiated.”

Ushigiale also confirmed Isiguzo submitted documents which claimed he has an HND from the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, and a diploma from Hyles-Anderson College, United States, “and all of them were acquired the same year, which is not possible”.

When he was asked if the case would influence how the paper conducts recruitment exercises in the future and whether it would scrutinise the credentials of current employees, the Managing Editor replied affirmatively.

“We will have to review the entire employment process because it is possible there could be people who still parade fake documents,” he said.

“And, going forward, we will have to engage in maybe verification, or we have to be more strict in reviewing all the documents that are in our possession.”

Prior to his dismissal, Isiguzo worked at the newspaper as South East Bureau Chief.

Meanwhile, in a report published earlier on Tuesday, The ICIR had confirmed allegations that he forged some of his certificates, and stated that ThisDay newspaper issued him a query based on the allegations against him.

When Isiguzo was contacted on Monday, he alleged that Waheed Odusile, president of the NUJ, had paid for online reports against him in order to undermine his campaign.

“What is the interest that all of you have in me?” he had asked. “Waheed paid all of you to come and run me down, right? No, no, no, I know. Listen, listen. Of course, you acknowledged… you are a Yoruba-speaking [man] like him. He paid all of you because he knows he is going to be defeated on Thursday.”

He added that if he does not have a certificate, he will not be bold enough to stand for election.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/exclusive-thisday-sacks-isiguzo-nuj-presidential-aspirant-caught-up-in-forgery-scandal/

Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/confirmed-isiguzo-nuj-presidconfirmed-isiguzo-nuj-presidential-aspirant-forged-his-certificatesential-aspirant-guilty-of-certificate-forgery/

AS the sixth triennial conference of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, draws closer, The ICIR can confirm that Christopher Isiguzo, one of the seven presidential hopefuls and two-time union vice president, forged at least two of his certificates.

Isiguzo, whose campaign is one of the most prominent, has been for weeks enmeshed in a certificate forgery scandal. In a petition to the NUJ Credentials Committee obtained by TheCable, Ngozi Agbo, an Enugu-based journalist, accused him of not possessing any higher educational qualifications.

“Contrary to what was published by the committee, the said Mr Isiguzo does not possess any educational qualification,” Agbo wrote.

She also said the candidate’s qualifications and eligibility for national office are presently contested at the National Industrial Court, Enugu. According to her, rather than tender his certificate, Isiguzo has instead been attempting to frustrate the case with delay.

In its reply to the petition, dated August 28, the committee had said it found no substance in the allegations and upheld the clearance issued to the candidate. It also said Isiguzo’s candidacy was approved on the basis of a “National Diploma Certificate in Mass Communication obtained from the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, dated 31st December 1998.”

Speaking to Sahara Reporters, Garba Dahiru, chairman of the committee, said Isiguzo did not tender an HND for clearance, and added that the burden of proof is on the petitioner to provide evidence that his national diploma is not authentic.


Isiguzo disowns published certificates, but…

Isiguzo also has insisted that he is not the owner of the certificates published in TheCable.

“I wonder where they got the certificate they published. Those certificates are not mine,” Isiguzo has said about the two contested certificates: a Higher National Diploma from Federal Polytechnic, Oko, issued in 1998, and a diploma in public administration from Hyles-Anderson College obtained in the same year.

TheCable had identified certain irregularities in the documents, including the impossibility of getting two diplomas and a higher national diploma in the August, November and December of the same year. But according to Isiguzo, the only certificate he presented to the NUJ is a National Diploma in Mass Communication.

“I didn’t present any HND certificate,” he said. “If you go to the clearance committee, there is no place in my document that they wrote HND. Those that feel that we are gaining ground in this election are determined to smear us.”

He also denied any relationship with the published certificates “because my name is ‘Christopher Isiguzo’ and the name written on the certificate is ‘Christopher Isiguzoro.'”

The ICIR has however been able to confirm that Isiguzo’s claim is false. Though he may not have not submitted the certificates to the NUJ Credentials Committee, an investigation has revealed that the forged documents were among those he submitted to ThisDay newspaper, where he is presently the South East Bureau Chief.


Forgery gone wrong

The revelation concerning Isiguzo’s diploma from Hyles-Anderson College, a Bible college located in Indiana, United States (U.S.), raises several questions. Perhaps the most obvious is that the college does not offer a course in Public Administration which Isiguzo claimed to have studied.

While there are Bible Diploma, Missionary Wife Diploma, General Studies Diploma, Associate of Science Diploma in Education and Associate of Science Diploma in Marriage and Motherhood, there is no diploma in public administration or anything related to the course listed on the college website.

Also, while the certificate claims to have been signed by the Rector and Registrar, a look at the college’s administration team shows that none of those designations exists in the institution. Rather the offices operated by the college include Chancellor, President, Academic Dean and Director of Admissions.

In addition, colleges in the United States do not write a graduate’s grade as “2nd class” on certificates as Isiguzo’s shows. This is because the U.S. is one of few countries in the world where Latin honours are used. According to the American Public University System (APUS) student handbook, awarding Latin honour designations is standard practice across universities in the country. It also says: “Latin Honors are not posted on official transcripts but will be displayed on your diploma.”

Under this classification system, Summa Cum Laude, not First Class, is used for the grade point of 3.9 and above. Magna Cum Laude is used for points between 3.7 and 3.8, and Cum Laude for points between 3.5 and 3.6. These terms are considered as high honours and are written on certificates. Anyone with a grade point average lower than 3.5 will not have anything written on their certificate to indicate the point.

The HND certificate, which supposedly originates from the Federal Polytechnic Oko, also is a suspect. Compared with another notification of result from the institution issued in 2002 for a 1999 graduate, there are clear contradictions in the font, style, heading, recipient address underline, and page border thickness.

The most striking contrast, however, is in the stamps used. In the latter document, we find that the words “Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra state…” are written in a cursive font, and the stamp has no border lines. But in Isikugo’s certificate, not only are there two border lines, the font is different and in upper case and the stamp belongs to another university entirely: Anambra State Polytechnic, located in the same state as Federal Polytechnic, Oko.


The certificate is fraudulent, replies Hyles-Anderson

The management of Hyles-Anderson college has confirmed to The ICIR that indeed the diploma in public administration is not authentic.

Replying to an emailed enquiry, John Wilkerson, Pastor and Chancellor of the college, said while the document contains the institution’s name, address, and crest, it was not issued by them.

“Neither do the names upon it represent any officiants or graduates of our college,” he added. “We do not issue degrees in public administration and we do not utilize the term, ‘rector.’ Thank you.”

In a second mail, David Stubblefield, the college’s Academic Dean, also confirmed that “Christopher Isiguro is not a graduate of any program” from the school.


Who is Ikechukwu Isiguzoro?

One of Isiguzo’s most convincing defences is that the published certificates could not have been his because while his name is Christopher Isiguzo, “the name written on the certificate is ‘Christopher Isiguzoro'” — though what is truly on the documents is “Isinguzoro”.

But checks have revealed that, though not common usage, these names have been attributed to the ThisDay journalist in the past, long before the scandal broke out.

In this news report of August 3 by Steve Oko, where the Abia State Council of the NUJ was said to have secured nomination form for Isiguzo, his name was stated in four places as “Isiguzoro”.

Another story by The Tide, published in November 2014, announcing John Emejor as the NUJ Abia State Council Chairman, reported Isiguzo’s name as “Ikechukwu Isinguzoro”.


Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic?

The ICIR‘s investigation also revealed that Isiguzo has identified himself as someone he is not in other domains. A visit to his Facebook account shows that he also inaccurately refers to himself as “Isiguzo Christopher Cfr” — in other words, Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic. This is not only very unlikely, but it is also punishable under the law if inaccurate.

Though all citizens of Nigeria are eligible to be appointed, past awardees mostly include traditional ruler and security chiefs; and no more than twenty persons may be conferred the rank each year.

According to section 2 of the National Honours Act, if a person is not entitled to a particular rank or honour and then “uses a designation or abbreviation specified by the warrant in respect of the honour or rank or a description so nearly resembling such a designation or abbreviation as to be likely to deceive …”, he shall be sentenced to imprisonment for six months or ordered to pay a fine, or both.


“We will do a thorough job” — Credentials Committee

During a phone interview with The ICIR, Abimbola Oyetunde, secretary to the 2018 NUJ Credentials Committee emphasised that Isiguzo was cleared because his OND certificate in Mass Communication satisfied minimum standards of the union.

“That’s the prerequisite for being a journalist in the union and to qualify for any position,” she said.

“So, I wouldn’t say if he had other certificates, but that was what he presented. And it is not even our own duty to go and find out whether it is fake or original. So I wouldn’t like to talk about that. What he presented was an OND from the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, dated December 31, 1998.”

Asked if the committee will simply look the other way if findings reveal that one of the candidates has questionable records, she replied in the negative. “If it’s backed up with evidence from those schools and they wrote that they are not original or they are forged,” she added, “then the committee will know what to do. But if it is not backed by evidence, there’s nothing we can do.”

When The ICIR asked what the likely outcome will be if that confirmation is made, she simply said the committee will do a thorough job. “I wouldn’t say for now because I am not the only one in the committee.”


ThisDay issues a query


Sources at ThisDay told The ICIR that the paper has issued Isiguzo a query and is expecting a response, following the forgery allegations against him. It was also gathered, however, that no independent investigation has yet been conducted to confirm the merits of those allegations.

However, when Kayode Komolafe, ThisDay Managing Editor, was contacted to confirm what steps the news organisation is taking and whether they are familiar with the diploma certificates, his number could not be reached. Texts sent to him have also not been replied.


You all have been paid to run me down, Isiguzo alleges

When Isiguzo was contacted by The ICIR, he alleged that Waheed Odusile, president of the NUJ, is blackmailing him and had paid for online reports against him in order to undermine his campaign. He did not, however, specify when he was asked how much. He also said he will not be responding to questions unless allegations of corruption against Odusile have been investigated.

“What is the interest that all of you have in me?” he asked. “Waheed paid all of you to come and run me down, right? No, no, no, I know. Listen, listen. Of course, you acknowledged… you are a Yoruba-speaking [man] like him. He paid all of you because he knows he is going to be defeated on Thursday.

“He is going to be defeated in a manner that he has never seen before. He has been rejected by journalists across Nigeria. Why is he buying you people to run me down? He is buying all of you. I have been informed … I’ve been told how much you were given… He has paid the journalists in Nigeria.

“Did you also see other petitions that were reported in other online platforms where the president of NUJ is accused of planning to steal NUJ car worth of 11 million? Did you also see it? Did you also see the online report where he was said to have stolen 9 million in Plateau state, 3 million in Borno, stealing 2 in Adamawa, and most other states? Did you also see them? … Please go and check for them. When you have investigated them, you can call me.

“It is not about the certificate. Let him come out and let two of us stand up and address journalists. It is really unfortunate. It is unfortunate.”

When he was probed further, he maintained his position, while adding that he has consulted his lawyer and has decided to respond after the NUJ election on Thursday.

“I have asked you to go and investigate your brother,” Isiguzo said. “Investigate him and right now. Go to Disco companies, where he bought the car from…. Go and investigate your own brother. When you are done, you can come. I will give you everything you want. I can assure you.”

He added that if he does not have a certificate, he will not be bold enough to stand for election. He also explained, about the CFR abbreviation on his Facebook account, that it means “Comrade of the Federal Republic” and not “Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic”.

“People also put all those things,” he said. “I have an award where I was called [that]. You know [inaudible], they call them comrades of the federal republic. They give awards.

“NANS [National Association of Nigerian Students] too, they give awards. You know, all these groups, they give awards. We need to put all of them there. You know, people honour you here and there.”

THE Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has updated its website, days after The ICIR published a report to draw attention to its abandonment.

A visit to the platform on Wednesday revealed that fresh contents have recently been uploaded and irrelevant ones removed — over a year after changes were last made to it. New pages have also been added to bring it closer to the template of the old website, which now redirects to it.

Five backdated news reports have been published, with their dates of publication ranging from March 19, 2018 to September 9, 2018. Unlike previous, now-deleted stories, they have greater details, are more recent, and are illustrated with appropriate images.

The list of projects on the website has been updated. Only five questionable projects were featured as at September 18 when The ICIR reported its observations, but this number has shot up to 244 projects, all stated as completed.

UBEC has also deployed the platform to make a call for tenders and expressions of interest for the implementation of 2018 capital and constituency projects. Most pages have been updated — from Matching Grants, Data, Report, Gallery, all five pages under About Us, to all 19 pages under Departments.

However, from indications, the site is still a work in progress. The commission’s official email address, a replacement of the former (info@ubeconline.com), is still unavailable, and some pages such as Research, Journals and Digest still have nothing under them. The social media links likewise remain unusable.

A little over a week ago, The ICIR reported how UBEC at the time used two official websites with neither being used effectively. Muhib Olaniyan, whose company designed the new website, and Garba Kwandi, who is supervising the website project, had told our reporter that work was still ongoing.

It was observed that, shortly following a call to Osom Osom, UBEC’s Public Relations Officer, the old UBEC website address started redirecting to the new address, though contents on the former had yet to be transferred at the time.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/ubec-finally-updates-website-following-icir-report/

ELIZABETH was only four when death forcefully took her from the hold of her ageing parents, Mr and Mrs Patrick. She had suddenly developed typhoid. But as they rushed her to the nearest hospital in Benin, which was miles away, the young girl passed on, leaving her loved ones and the entire community with deep sorrow.

In March, Raphael Pamonghan, a 34-year-old timber farmer also unexpectedly bade his wife and children goodbye. While felling trees on his farm, he had an accident and fell unconscious. His breath ceased during the long, bumpy ride to a healthcare facility.

Precious Oweduette, a 17-year-old boy, was in primary six when he also died in similar circumstances after sustaining a cutlass injury.

Like Elizabeth, Raphael and Precious, many residents of Ikoro community, both young and old, have died unexpectedly. From 2-year-old Blessing Patrick who died of measles to 30-year-old trader, Bibi Moses, who died during childbirth — it is estimated that over thirty persons have died since 2014 directly as a result of lack of prompt medical attention.

Some of these deaths could have been prevented had the Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) in the community been functioning. Constructed by the Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Area Development Commission (EDSOGPADEC) in 2014 up to the level of roofing, the facility has been abandoned ever since.

There is no longer an access road to the major clinic located at Ikoro, a community in Ovia Northeast Local Government, Edo State— and with each passing day, it is fast becoming a wasted facility.

Segun Sero, a native of the community who also serves as its secretary, told The ICIR that EDSOGPADEC only built the centre halfway and then abandoned it. As a result, he said, women in the community mostly give birth using the traditional method which has in some cases led to the loss of life.

There are cases of women falling into labour, and giving up the ghost before they are rushed to the nearest hospital in Benin — about an hour away. “Not only is the distance very far, but the road is also in deplorable conditions.”

He added that, as palm-wine tapping is a popular occupation in the area, it is common to see tappers sustain injuries after a fall, “and before we rush them to the hospital, they are gone.”


Abandoned Primary, Secondary Schools


The abandoned Primary Healthcare Centre is not the only representation of the government neglect in the community. The Ikoro Primary School, founded in 1917, and the public secondary school in the community are also in a deplorable condition. At the former, the floors are broken, the ceilings are sagging, the furniture items are shaky, therefore confining the school authorities, staff and students to only one block of classrooms.

The schools serve about thirty-two smaller communities in the riverine area of Ikoro, which are estimated to have a population running into tens of thousands.

Sero, who also teaches at Ikoro Primary School, told The ICIR that even the classrooms which are in use are not conducive for learning. He thinks the community is marginalised because natives are “from the Ijaw extraction” while the Binis make up the majority in the senatorial district.

“They just come to campaign and gather our votes,” he lamented. “Once they are successfully elected, that is all.”

He explained that the school is in desperate need of furniture as well as a means of transportation, such as motorbikes to swiftly convey teachers who mostly live in surrounding urban areas and speedboats for the students. Children have to paddle canoes from their various locations to the school everyday, and this delays academic activities.

The only government staff member posted to the secondary school is the principal, and so the community has had to find means of employing more hands to support him. They have in the past raised funds to pay new teachers, but they soon discovered that the approach is unsustainable.

“There was a time we even engaged the services of NYSC members,” Sero said. “But after they left, they’ve not given us a new batch of corps members.”

Peter Edenwa, the community vice chairman told The ICIR that not only is “the building of classrooms in a sorry state”, the primary school in fact “looks like a place where you train mad people.”

According to a compilation of contracts awarded by the commission as at September 2015, EDSOGPADEC supplied 120 double-unit school chairs and desks to the primary school in July 2014. This was confirmed by Sero though he added that the items they received were no more than 100.

The document also states that a contract for the renovation of the Ikoro Primary Health Centre was awarded in April 2012, and construction was 25% completed at the time of the report.


Rot, crisis in EDSOGPADEC


The Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Area Development Commission (EDSOGPADEC) was established to address the needs of oil-producing communities in the state, including Ovia Northeast Local Government.

The board was first constituted in February 2012 and had its tenure extended in 2015. Its activities have however been marred by irregularities. In December, following a request from Godwin Obaseki, Edo State governor, the commission’s board was dissolved by the state assembly over allegations of gross misconduct.

“The board members have failed in their responsibilities to the people in the oil producing communities. The board has not deemed it fit to submit the commission’s financial report to the house since they were constituted,’’ Roland Asoro, the houses’ majority leader had said.

On Friday, Obaseki inaugurated a new set of board members and chairman for the commission, at a ceremony conducted at the government house.


PHC deficiencies responsible for infant, maternal mortality — expert


Primary healthcare is the cornerstone of healthcare systems all over the world and cannot afford to be deficient. It must be made accessible and affordable to all individuals, families and communities, regardless of location. This was the submission of Greg Oko Oboh, a public health physician, biostatistician and epidemiology specialist.

“It is particularly important for Africa, specifically for Nigeria and Edo State because the healthcare system we are operating right now is not functioning across board,” he said.

“And the main factor making it not to function is basically human resource for health. As we speak now in Edo State, there are no doctors manning PHCs. The only doctors at the local government level are the administrative doctors. We also have middle or intermediate-trained healthcare workers known as the CHEWS (Community Health Extension Workers), or midwives.”

The lack of qualified healthcare workers and the resort to traditional healing methods, he said, has led to the increasing infant and maternal mortality rates in the country. Many of these deaths, he added, are not documented, “so even the figures we have at the state level are underestimated”.

Oboh also lamented the politicisation of establishing healthcare centres. According to him, politicians especially in Edo state site centres in their localities, not considering whether such facilities already exist in the place.

“So we have five PHCs in some local governments, while others have nothing. For instance, in Egor Local Government, we have an uneven concentration of PHCs close to the Local Government Headquarters in Uselu and its environs, while in the very remote parts there are no PHCs.”


Government needs to cease further loss of lives


Dotun Olutoke, Project Lead of Amplify, a civic organisation that advocates for sustainable development in rural, underserved Nigerian communities, has urged the Edo State government to pay attention to the Ikoro community. His organisation paid a visit to the community in July to train residents on tracking project implementation and ensuring effective service delivery.

“We heard from the community that many emergency cases that could have been attended to by first aid care of little medical attention have led to death in the community,” Olutoke told The ICIR.

This is worrisome, he said, “not only that the absence of a PHC in this community is cutting short the lives of people, but it is also affecting the life expectancy of the general populace in the community.”

He noted that, in the 2018 state budget, N60 million was allocated for the construction of a maternity in the community alongside other projects. Work is however yet to commence though it’s being nine months since the budget was signed.

“We are urging the Edo State government to complete this centre so that people in Ikoro community can have easy access to basic and affordable healthcare services, and the spate of avoidable death that has become a norm in this community can be avoided.”

Meanwhile, Obaseki, in January, announced that his government had arranged to remodel 200 Primary Healthcare Centres across the state, 25 of which would be rebuilt by the end of April. The project was proposed to take up to 24 months, but it is not clear if the Ikoro health centre is part of the 200 centres set for remodelling.

The Edo State government could however not be reached by The ICIR for comments. Messages sent through the social media were ignored, and enquiries mailed to the governor have likewise not been replied.

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This report received the support of TrustAfrica and Amplify, a civic tech organisation projecting the voices of rural underserved people and advocating for sustainable development in Nigeria’s forgotten communities.

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Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/report-children-pregnant-women-continue-to-die-as-edo-govt-abandons-ikoro-health-centre/

IN the evening on Sunday, six days to the Osun State gubernatorial election, four of the prominent aspirants gathered in Osogbo to demonstrate preparedness for office at the Channels TV debate.

For over an hour, Fatai Akinbade of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Moshood Adeoti of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Iyiola Omisore of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) all engaged each other in a war of words. Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was absent.

Even though emotional statements and campaign clichés filled the debate atmosphere, occasional errors were committed nonetheless. In this fact-check, The ICIR scrutinises the suspicious claims by three of the candidates.


GBOYEGA OYETOLA, APC


Claim: Osun state debt portfolio is about 141 billion

In reacting to claims from Omisore regarding Osun state’s debt profile, Oyetola said what he knew was that the state’s debt from Sukuk bonds and commercial loans is about N141 billion. He said the state will be free from liability on the bond by 2020. He added, in response to whether Osun’s debts are sustainable, that Nigeria’s debt to GDP ratio on the average is about 40 per cent, and “ours is still less than 6 per cent”.

Verdict: Partly true

According to 2017 figures from the National Bureau Statistics stating both external and domestic debt stocks of the various states of the federation, Osun State’s total debt is N167.7 billion. This comprises a domestic debt of N138.2 billion and external debt of $96.6 million.

Calculations by The ICIR confirm Oyetola’s claim that Osun State’s debt to GDP ratio is less than 6 per cent. 2012 estimates by Renaissance Capital give the state’s GDP as $9.4 billion. With this figure, its debt to GDP ratio is therefore 5.8 per cent. It is also true payment of the Sukuk bond is due by 2020.

However, it is not the case that the average debt to GDP ratio in Nigeria is about 40 per cent. According to a report of the National Bureau of Statistics, debts of the various states, that is sub-national debt, in relation to GDP rose from 2.4 per cent in 2014 to 4 per cent in 2016 — only ten per cent of Oyetola’s claim.

Claim: UNESCO supports Osun’s new 4-5-3-4 educational classification.

When Oyetola was asked if he would be regularising the school system which Osun State introduced in 2011, he replied: “Even UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] acknowledged the fact that it is the best way to go. And that is the truth… It has not changed the curriculum anyway.”

Verdict: Misleading

After an educational summit organised in 2011, the old primary/secondary classification system was renamed and arranged into elementary, middle and high schools. Pupils in elementary school are those from grades, that is primary, one to four. Those in middle school are students from grade five to nine, that is primary five and six, as well as JSS one to three. Finally, high school, under the new classification, is for SS one to three, which is grade ten to twelve in Osun State.

Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori, Osun State Deputy Governor and Commissioner for Education, has also said the new system is patterned after UNESCO standards. This claim is however misleading.

The 2011 UNESCO International Standard Classification of Education does not expressly classify schools according to elementary, middle and high, and does not recommend a 5-4-3-4 arrangement. Rather, it classifies schools according to pre-primary education, primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education and post-secondary non-tertiary education.

The document further allows for flexibility in local labelling. “Programmes classified at ISCED level 1 may be referred to in many ways, for example: primary education, elementary education or basic education,” it states. “For international comparability purposes the term ‘primary education’ is used to label ISCED level 1.”

Claim: There is a reasonable number of women in present Osun cabinet

In the concluding session of the debate, the moderator asked candidates about their position on female participation in governance and gender equality. While addressing the subject, Oyetola said: “Even the existing cabinet is pro-[women]. We have reasonable number of women in the cabinet.” But is this so?

Verdict: Misleading

A check through the list of cabinet members in the incumbent Osun State government reveals that, out of a total of 45, there are only seven cabinet members who are female: Deputy Governor, Commissioner For Human Resource & Capacity Building, Commissioner for Empowerment & Youth Engagement, Commissioner for Federal Matters, Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, Special Adviser on Higher Education, Bursary & Scholarships, and Special Adviser on Culture and Tourism.

This amounts to only 15.5 per cent — a long way from absolute gender parity or even the 30 per cent affirmative action proposed by the National Gender Policy.


IYIOLA OMISORE, SDP

Claim: “IGR is about 7.7 per cent, debt outgoing is about 36.04 per cent… So there is a net deficit of 29 per cent ab initio [debt versus IGR]. Our budget of 2015 has 41 per cent deficit from the beginning: 2016 has 51 per cent deficit, 2017 has 62 per cent deficit, and 2018 has 82 per cent deficit.”

Verdict: An understatement

During his remarks, the SDP candidate often reeled off figures without properly putting each one into perspective. Part of his many statistics, which he said he arrived at “having done my own work”, are the budget deficits from 2015 to 2018. He said this to buttress his position of Osun State government’s fiscal indiscipline.

Available data, however, shows that the budget deficits between 2015 and 2017 are much more than what Omisore painted. The proposed budgets for 2015, 2016 and 2017 are N197.08 billion, 137.9 billion and 138.2 billion respectively, while the total revenue for those years were N28.3 billion, N14.8 billion, and N16.9 billion. Using these figures, the budget deficits are therefore 85.6 per cent, 89.2 per cent, and 87.8 per cent — not 41 per cent, 51 per cent, and 62 per cent.

Claim: There are no Opon Imo tablets in Osun State schools

Omisore described the famous Opon Imo (tablet of knowledge) project of the Aregbesola-led Osun State government as a scam, and blamed it for the state’s indebtedness. Not only that, he also claimed “there is no Opon Imo anywhere in this state”. After Oyetola denied his remarks, saying the tablets are available and functional, he said there are no tablets in circulation.

“They brought only a few hundreds and launched,” he said. “I have students that live with me, and I’ve not seen any tablet with them. So I don’t know where they are; maybe they are hidden in government office.”

Verdict: False

The Opon Imo project was introduced in 2013 by Rauf Aregbesola, Osun State governor, with the plan of giving out 150,000 units of e-learning tablets to senior secondary school students in order to improve learning and ICT literacy.

One reason that may explain why Omisore has not seen the tablet with students around him is that the state government now distributes it only to students in their final-year and then retrieves it after their final examination. Evidence abounds of the annual distribution and use of the tablets.

Claim: In 2010, Osun ranked fourth in secondary school performance.

Criticising the construction of “mega schools” in the state, Omisore remarked: “By 2010, Osun was in the fourth position. They built mega schools, they went to 29th position.” He said the mega schools lack basic facilities such as science laboratories, and are not improving the quality of education in Osun.

Verdict: Unlikely


While it is true that records show Osun was ranked 29 in the state ranking of 2018 released by the West African Examination Council, there is no data online for as far back as 2010.

Reported WAEC performance data of the state covering ten years, however, shows an improvement of 113 per cent in the performance of students. According to the data, while about 7000 students passed with at least five credits in subjects including English and Mathematics in 2010, this figure shot up to about 17,000 in 2016. This was also confirmed, in June, by the state commissioner for education.

Claim: Nigeria signed treaty to appoint women into 33 per cent of political offices


During the last segment of the debate which addressed plans on minorities, Omisore was asked about his position on women in governance. In his response, he said Nigeria signed to the “Protocol of China”, which stipulates 33 per cent political positions for women.

“And as a law-abiding, my minimum will be that 33 per cent. Women will be very happy in the government coming.”

Following the senator’s response, Oyetola gave the figure, according to “the Beijing Convention”, as 35 per cent, and said that was the maximum. Adeoti jumped on the wagon and said he will ensure not less than 35 per cent of political appointments are reserved for women “because it is a resolution of an international body, the United Nations”. Akinbade also made a similar vow of at least 35 per cent .

But is there any such UN resolution proposing an affirmative action of 35 per cent?

Verdict: False

The Beijing Declaration of 1995 does not actually state 35 per cent as the minimum extent of female participation in governance. It merely encourages the equal participation of both genders.

Article 13 states: “Women’s empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, including participation in the decision-making process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality, development and peace.”

The African Union Protocol on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) also makes no particular demands.

Nigeria’s National Gender Policy, however, stipulates that 30 per cent of political posts should be reserved for women.


FATAI AKINBADE, ADC

Claim: My business is already profitable

Verdict: No available evidence.

There is no available evidence showing that Akinbade’s company, the Owu Crown Hotel, has broken even and is profitable. However, in June, the hotel was among 15 companies sealed off by the Oyo State Board of Internal Revenue for tax violations.

According to the board, the step had to be taken as a result of the companies’ “failure to pay outstanding professional/business registration/renewal fees”.


Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/osun-decides-2018-exposing-the-fallacies-exaggerations-outright-lies-in-governorship-debate/