₦airaland Forum

Delta state is seeking a gov. from the Northern senatorial zone. Big mouth Utomi, please come and provide leadership, if you can.

Fiilosofer: people are dying and you are asking how many barrel they generate? HAVE YOU HEARD OF ELEME PETROCHEMICAL, ELEME REFINERY, ONNE PORT ETC THEY ARE ALL IN OGONI. THEY ARE NIGERIANS AND THEY HAVE RIGHT TO LIVE

Is ELEME PETROCHEMICAL, ELEME REFINERY, ONNE PORT responsible for the Oil pollution in Ogoniland They have rights just like Ibibio, Urhobo, Ijaw, Efik, Ejagham, Annang, Ikwerres, etc. By the way tell us the last time any Oil well in Ogoniland generated one barrel of oil.

nairaarea: This a serious issue. I just pray the MODS will understand and put this on the frontpage. PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING IN OGONI. Sources of livelihood are been destroyed, illnesses and even death as a result of long term pollution of Ogoniland,

When was the last time Ogoniland added a barrel of oil to the Nigerian economy.

ASUU has finally weaken itself. To everything there is a season. A time to fight and a time to settle. ASUU, should please shine their eyes.

By ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH
SOCIO – Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP), a civil society group has asked the Lagos State government to make public its spendings on public primary and secondary education the past five years.
Executive director of the group, Mr Tokunbo Mumuni to the state governor, the body gave the governor a 14-day ultimatum in line with the Freedom of Information Act, (FOI Act) to provide up-to-date information on the spending relating to public primary and secondary education in the state.
According to them, the alleged delay in improvement of infrastructure development in some public schools within the state is worrisome, hence, their petition.

It therefore cautioned that it will “take appropriate legal actions” to compel the government if it fails to comply “within 14 days of the receipt or publication of this letter.”
In the Freedom of Information, FoIA, petition dated November, 30,2013, it requested that the government should provide information on the spending for the past five years on furniture in public secondary schools in the state, including Ewutuntun Grammar School in Mafoluku area of Oshodi; Ikeja Grammar School; Iloro Grammar School in Agege; and Fagba Junior Grammar School, Iju Road.
Also, it asked the government to spell out its spendings of the World Bank loan of $90 million to improve education in the 639 public secondary schools in the state.
In addition, it wanted the authority to provide details of projects carried out to improve infrastructure and facilities across public primary and secondary schools in Lagos State.
The group said: “SERAP is seriously concerned about decay in infrastructure in public primary and secondary schools across the State including Ewutuntun Grammar School in Mafoluku area of Oshodi; Ikeja Grammar School; Iloro Grammar School in Agege; and Fagba Junior Grammar School, Iju Road.”
Besides, it also called on the state governor to “rescind the suspension of anyone including principals of schools, for blowing the whistle or allowing journalists to cover the decayed infrastructures and facilities across public primary and secondary schools in Lagos.
“Many pupils in these and other schools continue to sit on the bare floor in some classes while lessons are going on. The classrooms are overcrowded with several broken chairs and desks. Pupils are also reportedly forced to work to repair broken chairs and desks, something which would amount to forced labour,” it added.
SERAP noted, “education at the basic level is one of the most important targets of the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs). We believe that without transparency and accountability on the spending of education funds, the goal will remain unrealized for millions of Nigerian children.
“SERAP is bringing this request pursuant to the enacted Freedom of Information Act, which is directly applicable to your state. The Act among others aims to make public records and information more freely available, and makes provisions for public access to public records and information. The Act grants the right to access or request information, which is in the custody of any public official, agency or institution,” the group also said.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/poor-schools-infrastructure-serap-takes-lagos-govt/#sthash.zzN7bl9F.dpuf

“One does not fight to save another person’s head only to have a kite carry one’s own away”

—A Yoruba proverb

As the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ industrial action entered its sixth month last Sunday, December 1, 2013, my mind went straight to Ola Rotimi’s Kurunmi, in which the Tortoise’s obstinacy was retold: Sensing that Tortoise persisted on a senseless journey, he was asked: “Brother Tortoise, when will you be wise and come back home?” The Tortoise replied, “Not until l have been disgraced, …disgraced,…not until l have been disgraced”. Tortoise and the legendary Alaseju must have been created from the same mould. Instead of heeding advice, Alaseju pursued his goal to the point of self-destruction.

Even before ASUU’s strike entered its sixth month on December 1, 2013, the public had started to sing an adaptation of the famous Beatles song: All we are say…ing, go back to work. From the beginning, public opinion did not favour a strike, let alone a protracted one, partly because strikes have become a tired and worn-out strategy associated with ASUU and partly because it would put innocent students in jeopardy (again!). It really has become a despised method of seeking redress, especially by university lecturers, in advanced societies.

Nevertheless, ASUU initially drew sympathy from some quarters, including me, particularly because of its main excuse that it was fighting for the students, that is, for the provision of appropriate facilities in order to enhance the quality of their education. No one who has visited any of our premier universities lately or read the Needs Assessment of Universities would quarrel with ASUU’s excuse. That’s why, at the initial stage, the Federal Government was seen as the enemy of progress. Implement the 2009 Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding signed with ASUU, yelled some observers at the Federal Government.

True, the Federal Government was slow in responding, but it eventually did in a marathon 13-hour meeting, led by President Goodluck Jonathan, with top level ASUU representatives. Stakeholders sighed in relief when the news filtered to the public that an agreement had been reached, only for ASUU to come back with some conditions that must be met. There, I think, the mockery of the presidency began and kites began to hover over the heads of ASUU’s leaders.

As the strike action lingered beyond this point, more and more commentators began to call on ASUU to end the strike, if only for the sake of the students and their parents. Many a university Vice-Chancellor also appealed to ASUU leaders to resume work but they insisted that the strike must continue. However, in the process of fighting to save the students’ heads, ASUU leaders have allowed their own heads to be carried away by kites. As the Federal Government issued an ultimatum for lecturers to resume work, the kites lowered the altitude of their flight for a better view of their prey.

Funke Egbemode’s commentary on this part of the story is instructive: “Now, seriously, ASUU should call off this strike or do what the FG has commanded. This handshake has gone beyond the elbow. When a President sits with a union for 13 hours to resolve an impasse and the union sticks to its gun, you know the end won’t be in favour of the union” (Sun, December 1, 2013).

Let me draw on a local experience to illustrate this point. At Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olufemi Mimiko, was initially sympathetic with the union but was concerned about graduating students, who needed to proceed on their NYSC service. So, he appealed to Senior Professors on contract, who, by the nature of their appointment, are not members of ASUU, to serve on an Ad Hoc Committee of Senate to complete the processing of the graduating students’ results. In sympathy with the striking ASUU members on campus, the Committee chose to meet outside campus and relied on Faculty Officers and other administrators to provide necessary data.

Yet, the Chairman of the local ASUU chapter, Dr. Busuyi Mekusi, still found it necessary to write a cheeky letter, insulting those who served on the committee. Moreover, he would not allow other ASUU members to provide necessary information to the committee. His posture during the strike is symbolic of that of the entire ASUU leadership, which castigated the institutions that opened their doors for lecturers for one serious business or the other during the strike.

What will ASUU do now that some universities have recalled their students and invited willing lecturers to resume work? Which part of the cutlas will ASUU now hold that the Federal Government has decided to hold firmly to the handle and even to brandish it? Finally, what sacrifice is ASUU willing to make, having held the students to ransom for over five months and screwed the universities’ academic calendars? Is forfeiture of four months salary a just sacrifice?

It is clear that the options are limited, because ASUU has disregarded core supporters, who could plead its cause, and despised even its employers. Asked to make a sacrifice, ASUU has behaved either like Tortoise, who refused to offer a sacrifice, or like Alaseju, who carried the sacrifice beyond the mosque, as the saying goes. Perhaps the wisest option left is to go back to work and continue negotiation with the government. In fact, if I were ASUU’s president, I would have persuaded my colleagues to go back to work in honour of Professor Iyayi, who died on his way to Kano to attend a possibly consummating meeting. I doubt if he would have committed his life to a fruitless venture, which ASUU’s obstinate pursuit of the strike is now turning out to be.

This is not to say that the Federal Government is off the hook. Not at all. It cannot and should not shirk its responsibility of providing quality education to its citizens. Many believe that it is still possible for the Federal Government to explore various sources, including accumulated funds in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund and unspent budget funds in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies. The Needs Assessment Report produced by the Federal Government is a document of conscience. No government, which aims at providing quality education, should run away from its 189 recommendations to which funding is central.


http://www.punchng.com/

LAGOS — THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has cleared the impeached deputy governor of Imo State, Mr. Jude Agbaso of alleged N458 million bribery for which he was removed from office.
In a statement by its Director of Operations, Mr. Olaolu Adegbite, the EFCC said though the former deputy governor had been exonerated, following its findings, the commission’s legal department was, however, working on the case file with a view to taking appropriate legal action.
The commission disclosed that in the cause of its investigation, Mr. Dina, the contractor that allegedly gave him bribe in his statement to the commission on March 28, 2013, revealed that he never gave any money to Agbaso or any other official of the state government over the contracts, which were yet to be fully executed as at the last visit of its officers in April 2013.
Mr. Agbaso had petitioned the EFCC to investigate the Managing Director of J-PROS, Mr. Joseph Dina.
In its report, the commission stated: “Road contracts for the sum of one and a half billion Naira awarded to J-PROS International Nig. Ltd was alleged to have engendered fraudulent bribe payments of N458 million by Managing Director of J-PROS, one Joseph Dina, to you as the then deputy governor and Commissioner for Works.
“In furtherance to the investigation, evidence adduced from interview of key officials of Imo State Government and other important witnesses, as well as documents obtained from relevant financial institutions confirmed that N1,305000,000 was paid to J-PROS to execute the Warehouse Orlu road Junction, Odunze street, Aba road and Old Nekede road projects within Owerri metropolis before mobilisation to the sites.
“The total sum of $5,538,830 was found to have been remitted to the personal accounts of Dina in Dubai and Lebanon. There is no single evidence so far that suggested that you benefitted from the funds.”
It will be recalled that the State House of Assembly, in March 2013, sacked Agbaso, who was the Imo State Deputy Governor after a seven-man panel headed by Justice G.C. Ihekire, concluded its investigation.
Agbaso was accused of allegedly taking N458m bribe from a Lebanese firm, J-PROS, in charge of the rehabilitation of the Sam Mbakwe Road in Owerri, the state capital.
He was removed from office after 26 out of 27 lawmakers voted for his impeachment.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/alleged-n458m-scam-efcc-clears-ex-imo-dep-gov-agbaso/#sthash.K5OiMAZs.dpuf

kel4soft: I laugh in Ibani language. Mud in Osun? You mean, you are not away that IYC is a council for thugs? What impacts has that association done for common Ijaws. If not to lobby govt for favours. Infact, show me any Ijaw man bar the academician that you can look up to.

Go jump inside Brass water if you no like truth

You were just too easy to expose. I will never understand the mindset of a man, coming to a public forum just to mislead people. When the simple truth will cost you nothing.

omenka: If this is true then unn has made an unimaginable blunder and imperiled the security of the jobs of the lecturers. They should pray they never have any issues with the govt cos the solidarity they stand to enjoy from sister universities have, by this ill informed action, been completely destroyed. Time will tell.

This is a democracy, your right to stay home, should not infringe on the rights of others at UNN.

Only a pig, that's about to be killed for Sunday ukodo cries this loud. Lamido, doo.

kel4soft: Almost all Rivers/Bayelsians politicians are corrupts. I know them very well. To them, politics is like a full time career. Unlike other zones you may have private and business men. An average person from this two states venturing into politics only thinks of what to loot. That's why you heared things like 'o boy, oga no wan empower us' 'o boy that guy too stingy' o boy, no b road we go chop, make en empower us'.

I think Lamido is spot on, on there. But insulting the President? He has gone too far even as a serious GEJ critic even Lai Mohamed won't go this far.

I bet you see them daily from your mud hut in Osun.

If ASUU members can be bribed to abandon their strike, what should Nigerians take from such group of people. Karo, keep fooling yourself.

Symphony007: ameachi is planning something so big it's a suprise most folks are still ignorant to it. Ameachi knows what he has done by joining APC. Ameachi is going to create a rivers APC. An APC is rivers not tainted by the presence of buhari and tinubu. There is a reason he has not been seen with them or held a rally since his defection. He wants to give rivers people the idea he is not the lapdog of hausa and yoruba man. He will populate this new rivers APC with magnus abe. A fresh faced senator, with a sparkling clean political record wo is views favourably by rivers people, prince tonye princewill, a young fresh faced politician and son of the amayanabor of kalabari kingdom. Then on the PDP side we have ezenwor wike which rivers people remember like a plague his term as LGA chairman, his time as government house chief of staff with 60 cows every christmass, let's not forget his cultism following him will be abite sekibo, former obasanjo transport minister sacked for corruption, a know cultist, and the man who told rivers people when he was running for governor in 2011 that if elected "rivers people will sleep with one eye opened"....let's see how that plays out.

Is very clear you know nothing about rivers politics. All your conjecture will take you nowhere. PDP is rivers and rivers is PDP, that is the reality everybody that left the PDP in Rivers finds out. After seeing the other side. Just like Lagos is ACN and ACN is lagos.

Symphony007: Some people who have not stept a toe inside rivers state are hear vomiting rubbish they don't know. If jonathan runs in 2015, he will win rivers state but PDP will loose rivers state if wike or abiye sekibo is on the ticket. Just watch and see. It's not about noise. It's facts on the ground.

They will lose to APC? Who is really spewing rubbish I will like you to explain the electoral machine that elects Jonah, but refuses Wike in Rivers state. By the way, Wike is running for the senate.

Abagworo: The truth is that Amaechi has never insulted Jonathan in any way but rather Jonathan's wife has been insulting Amaechi from day 1. The only time Amaechi had issues with Jonathan was when he sought to construct the Port-Harcourt axis of East-West road blaming Orubebe (not Jonathan) for the epileptic work. That was when people started attacking Amaechi claiming it was an insult to Jonathan.

At the end of the day, when a man who thinks himself a demi-god tries to subdue a commoner, God usually twists their fate and the commoner becomes a King.

You like to twist issues, Amaechi was supposed to be a PDP gov. Between Amaechi, and Osho, Amosu, Aregbe,Fashola who was really the opposition gov before he decamped. He threw different allegations daily, right from 2011 about his own party more than ACN govs combined together. If you don't want to belong, leave in peace. The east west road is/was a non issue. Just like the Airport Have you hear one ACN gov confront their party leadership daily like he did Politics is about interest, don't stay in the PDP just to cause trouble. I wish him well with you guys in the APC.

Abagworo: OP is a brutal liar of the highest order. I was in Port Harcourt Airport and its so incomplete and the car park is completely dilapidated. The arrival and airline offices is under a batcher or slum-like settlement erected near the old Presidential wing.

Nah wa for you sha. Lie dey follow you everywhere.

All of the above. By the way never put delta in the group as Edo State. Despite the propaganda of ACN/APC media for Osho. Delta is years ahead of Edo in all sectors. Minus crime.

Benin republic, mind yourself from now on.

FreeGlobe: I get angry when jokers like you say Anambra people have made their decision is an obviously flawed election where less than 20% registered voters "voted". Abuja/Inec/Peter Obi has made their decision. yes!

Is quorum necessary for an election Why are you trying to make an issue where there is none??

A desperate British government is spending a fortune on the planned deportation of Isa Muazu but the chartered plane was denied landing on Nigerian soil
A British government attempt to deport a ‘near death’ Nigerian asylum seeker, Isa Muazu, was thwarted on Friday after the Nigerian government denied the chartered private jet rights to land.
The private jet, hired at huge cost to the British government, returned to the UK, from Malta, with Mr. Muazu after hours in the air, sparking backlash against the UK government.
Mr. Muazu was bundled out of the medical wing of Harmondsworth detention centre, amidst protests calling for his release, on Friday for the flight to Nigeria.
Protesters from the Stop Deportations Network closed Harmondsworth detention centre, earlier on Friday, in an attempt to stop Mr. Muazu’s deportation, with one man supergluing himself to the gates of the detention centre. The man was eventually arrested at 7a.m. by a specialist police team who took several hours to remove him.
Mr. Muazu, said to be only skin and bones fat, has been on hunger strike for 100 days, to protest UK’s refusal to grant him asylum. His medical team declared him unfit to fly or be kept in detention, while rights groups condemned the British government’s desperation to remove him from UK.
Mr. Muazu entered the UK on a valid visa in 2007, but decided to remain in the UK for fears he will be killed by Boko Haram, whom he claimed had killed several of his relatives. After seeking asylum he was put in fast track detention, and his claims expressly rejected.
Mr. Muazu’s lawyers told the BBC he had been returned to the medical wing at Harmondsworth detention centre since returning from the failed deportation.
‘End of life plan’
Before arriving the Harmondsworth detention centre, near Heathrow airport, Mr. Muazu had health conditions including Hepatitis B, kidney problems and stomach ulcers. He complained that the highly processed food served to detainees was worsening his medical conditions but UK detention officials dismissed him as “behaving like a child”.
In October, his physical and mental health deteriorated. His medical team declared he was unfit for detention and edging towards death, but rather than release him, UK immigration officials drew up an ‘end of life plan,’ an alternative to deporting him.
A British High Court and the Court of Appeal also declared Muazu’s detention lawful, ruling that the UK Home Office had the right to remove a man who its staff accepted was close to death and for whom an ‘end of life plan’ had been drawn up.
But Mr. Muazu would not take a deportation. “I feel devastated. I’d rather die than go back. If they can take my body and bury it, that would be the only thing. I’m not going back, I’m telling you. There’s nothing there for me,” he told Vice Magazine’s
Simon Childs and Lord Roberts of Llandudno who later started an e-petition calling for his release.
The ‘end of life’ plan included allowing him die on his mattress in his detention room.
Expensive deportation
Apparently, the UK government would not have an asylum seeker on hunger strike die in its detention centre. An expensive deportation plan, which included hiring a private jet, was drawn up.
The UK Home office hired a private jet, with flight number EDC684, registered with Air Charter Scotland Ltd, the aviation firm that flew Mary J Blige to Lagos, in September. The firm also manages the private jet of British business mogul, Lord Sugar.
The UK Home Office had planned to deport Mr. Muazu on a Virgin Atlantic flight but the plan was called off a night before. Rights campaigners said their pressure forced Virgin Atlantic to back down.
Campaigners also attempted to pressure the private jet company to decline the offer to fly Mr. Muazu to Nigeria. Protesters from Unity Centre Glasgow and Student Action for Refugees gathered outside the company’s East Kilbride offices Thursday afternoon, but the firm went ahead to execute the deportation.
Campaigners said it must have cost the British government between 100 to 188 thousand Great British Pounds to execute the failed deportation.
“How can you spend that much deporting only one person when he is not even a criminal?” Jasmine Sallis, a volunteer caseworker at the Unity Centre in Glasgow said. The Unity Centre have been at the forefront of campaigns to free Mr. Muazu.
The aircraft model used in executing the failed deportation, rights campaigners suspect, is a Legacy 600, the same model of aircraft used in deporting radical preacher, Abu Qatada, to Jordan. Mr. Qatada’s deportation was estimated to have cost the UK Home Office over 50 thousand Great British Pounds.
The UK home office is closed till Monday, while the Nigerian aviation authorities could not explains reasons for the plane’s inability to land in Nigeria.
Yakubu Datti, the spokesperson of the Nigerian aviation industry, told PREMIUM TIMES he would make enquiry and revert. He is yet to do so as at the time of publishing this.
Human Rights
UK’s desperation to deport Mr. Muazu cost it both public funds and social capital. Human rights campaigners condemned UK government’s hardline stance to deport the asylum seeker, saying he might die in the process.
Late November, over a hundred NGOs, actors and lawyers wrote to The Guardian to demand Mr. Muazu’s release.
“Like Isa, many feel that their asylum claims have not been fairly heard and that they are losing their freedom only for the “crime” of seeking safety in the UK,” the signatories said. “We are extremely concerned that Isa may die as a result of a hardened stance being taken towards migrants in the UK. We urgently call for clemency in this case. We ask that the home secretary reconsider Isa’s case and act quickly to release him in the UK, so that another death in immigration detention can be avoided.”
Mr. Muazu is not the only person on hunger strike in the asylum detention centre. Unity Centre claim there are at least three other men in the Medical Centre at Harmondsworth detention centre on hunger strike in the same ward as Mr. Muazu with possibly more hunger strikers in other wards at the detention centre.
“One of the men started his hunger strike on 5 November,” the Unity Centre said.

http://premiumtimesng.com/

berem: yeah! I know you are a douche bag and a pathetic liar. You just confirmed it.

Really, you are editing my comments, hahahahah have a good Sunday. Let me avoid my account getting suspended.

berem: I will rather believe a troll than a pathetic liar who sees the truth and refuses to say it. Smh for you sycophants.

The truth will make you cry. Pathetic liar, is what most people on the forum call a douche bag like you.

kel4soft: Hey, am from Rivers. I live here in Woji. Full blown Opobo man

I knew you were a liar, when you did not know the major roads in Warri. You can be an Obigbo, Eleme, Rumuola man. You are still a troll and a liar. Without any doubt, I can tell you, YOU HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON WITH ANY STATE IN THE SOUTHSOUTH.

berem: Excellent! Thanks for the true information.

The information from a troll supersedes the live NTA program You people are truly living in a different universe.

Omo_Tier1: Tinubu has shown them how to deal with an incumbent President that is why GEJ there no mess around with the governors of Kano, Sokoto, Kwara and Niger.

Wait until 2014 Q2, then Wike would realize that the race is not for the swift!

We are used to chest beaters, keep it coming.

kel4soft: Disregard this thread. Only 5 House Assembly members were there. The self acclaim speaker not Otelema, the real speaker was there.

Out of three senators in Rivers only one attended. Out of 13 House of Reps members only 3 attended. Out of 23LGAs only 1 attended. Out of 32 house of assembly members on 5 attended.

OP, stop spreading lies. Amaechi is still in charge.

Open your eyes and count again. By the way, why are you not worried about your Osun/Ekiti states politics?? Stop sticking your nose in other people's business.

OP why are you shocked.

Abagworo: I still don't get the reason why people call someone whose interest differs from the President "a traitor". Any way let's watch and see . I still smell an attempt to paint a false impression of reality but the end won't be good as the survival of Nigeria is more important than any human being.

Did you expect anything other than what you saw today to happen to Amaechi. I'm just surprised it came so soon. . You claim to live in Portharcourt, you should know the kind of raw feeling of hate , Amaechi has sent his way.

Wike is a real politician

Best line at the rally Amaechi is now the native doctor with their APC broom.

Sound came back