₦airaland Forum

By this the scientists can find out about the digestive process of the cow. Which food the cow can digest in better manner and which food it causes to suffer, all these information can be detected by this process.

A lawmaker representing Magajin Gari constituency, Birnin Gwari Local Government Area, in the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Salisu Isah, has been kidnapped.

Family sources said Mr. Isah was abducted on his way to Birnin Gwari from Kaduna around 5:17 p.m. after attending a special session of the assembly.

“Yes, he was abducted between Kaduna International Airport/ NDA round about and Buruku while on his way to Birnin Gwari after closing from the State Assembly.

“His abductors left the car he was driving along the road. The car has been recovered and taken back to Kaduna,” a source who sought anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to journalists said.

He said the abductors are yet to contact them, “hence no ransom yet.”

Officials at the State Assembly, when contacted, said they were not aware of the incident.

“He was in the House with us this afternoon and had also attended today’s special sitting,” an, official who does not want his name mentioned, said.

The spokesperson of Kaduna State Police Command, Aliyu Usman, did not respond to calls and text messages sent to his number on the kidnap.

The kidnap occurs less than two weeks after a federal lawmaker, Garba Durbunde, was alsoabducted.

Mr. Durbunde was eventually released by his abductors amidst reports that a N6 million ransom was paid.

AntiIPOOP:
We don't need them here, what's so difficult?

“No amount of provocation would lead us to such precipitate an irresponsible action at this time. Those exploiting such vacuous tittle-tattle as a basis for divisive rhetoric in public spaces are simply playing juvenile politics and we urge them to cease and desist.”

The governors of the five south-east states have urged Igbos leaving in Northern Nigeria to remain where they are and go about their activities without fear of being attacked. They assured them of their security despite the three months ultimatum given to them to leave the region by a Northern coalition.

The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, gave the assurance on Thursday at a press briefing in Abakaliki.

He was reacting to a three months ultimatum issued by the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, ACYF, a coalition of socio-political groups in northern Nigeria, to all Igbos in the 19 northern states to vacate the region.

The federal government and the Kaduna State government have since condemned the call, assuring of maximum security while Governor Nasir El-Rufai called for the arrest of the sponsors of the Arewa forum.

The governors of the 19 northern states on Wednesday also disowned the coalition of Arewa groups and assured Igbos of their safety in the region.

Describing the ultimatum as provocative and mischievous, Governor Umahi called on northern leaders to take actions that will counteract the intended plot of the youth, in other to ensure that the grim history of the past is not repeated.

“We must call on all serious minded patriots, particularly the religious leadership in Northern Nigeria; the leadership of other socio-cultural groups in Northern Nigeria; the Nigerian Governors Forum; and all the service branches to rise up with voices of peace and wisdom to counteract the mischievousness and exuberant excesses of the northern youth.”

“The ugly lessons of history are too grim to be stoked with carelessness. As leaders, we must exert the full measure of our powers and influence to forestall a repletion”

“We call on all Igbo sons and daughters resident in Northern Nigeria to go about their lawful daily activities without fear of intimidation, hindrance or molestation.”

Mr. Umahi further reiterated the commitment of the south-east governors to “the existence of a virile, united prosperous and progressive Federal Republic of Nigeria where Justice, fairness, equity, mutual respect and equality of opportunity to all citizens regardless of creed, ethnicity or gender will reign supreme under the inflexible rule of law”.

He also denied media reports that the governors held a meeting Wednesday night and resolved to send buses to evacuate Igbos in the north.

“The rumours being peddled on conventional and social media platforms that we, the governors of the south east have met and agreed to mobilise vehicles and cash for repatriation of Ndigbo resident in northern Nigeria must be disregarded, as they are nothing but tissues of lies.

“No amount of provocation would lead us to such precipitate an irresponsible action at this time. Those exploiting such vacuous tittle-tattle as a basis for divisive rhetoric in public spaces are simply playing juvenile politics and we urge them to cease and desist.”

By Suzan Edeh

Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State has pardoned 170 prisoners serving various prison terms in the state on the prerogative of mercy.

This was disclosed yesterday by the State Commissioner of Justice, Ibrahim Umar, while giving a scorecard of the Ministry of Justice in Bauchi.

He said: “The Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy Committee recommended the 170 inmates to the governor.”

In civil litigation, Umar said the department negotiates and mediates all civil cases ranging from monetary to land matters, adding that the department handled 116 cases from January 2016 to date.

He disclosed that the ministry, in its bid to support the state’s internally-generated revenue, IGR, contributed N59,497,000 to the state’s treasury from vetting of agreement and sundries, from January 2016 to May 19, 2017.

The Speaker of the Taraba House of Assembly, Abel Diah, has said that an executive bill seeking to prohibit open grazing, would be beneficial to both herdsmen and farmers in the state.

Mr. Diah made the statement on Thursday in Jalingo at a press conference to mark the end of the second legislative year of the 8th Assembly.

While debunking claims that the bill was aimed at witch-hunting some people, the speaker said that it was meant to improve the lives of livestock and herders.

“This is a revolution government is bringing to better the life of grazers, create jobs and harmonious co-existence between farmers and herders,” he said. “It is high time we stopped killings associated with open grazing.”

“When passed and signed into law, the bill will check the activities of criminals hiding under the guise of grazing to perpetrate all forms of crime.”

Taraba is the third state after Ekiti and Benue to propose an anti-open grazing bill. The other two states passed the bill into law as part of measures to check recurring crises between herders and farmers.

The Taraba speaker explained that the bill would not stop grazers outside the state from coming into the state.

“Those (grazers) coming outside the state will be given temporary permit for the purpose of identifying livestock owners,” he said.

Mr. Diah said the law would also enable the government have information about grazers at its finger tips and know how to plan for their welfare.

“I have cows on the Mambilla Plateau in a ranch and my cows are doing better than those roaming about, because they are not passing through stress,” he said.

The speaker said the Assembly passed 19 bills and 11 resolutions in the last two years which had since been signed into law by Gov. Darius Ishaku.

He said the performance of the eighth Assembly was the best since 2003 when he first came to the house.

The speaker commended the Federal Government on its stand against corruption and called on Nigerians to support the government for the good of the society.

(NAN)

President Muhammmadu Buhari, yesterday, kick-started a process towards revamping the abandoned coal deposits in Enugu State.


This is in fulfillment of his 2015 campaign promises to the people of the South-East zone.

The process came at a time the House of Representatives rejected the bill for the establishment of South-East Development Commission (SEDC)

Buhari had while addressing an All Progressives Congress (APC) state rally in Enugu State on January 10, 2015, at Okpara Square Enugu promised to revamp Enugu Coal to generate electricity and employment for millions of unemployed youth in the South-East geo-political zone.

In line with the promise, the President has mandated the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, His Excellency, Dr John Kayode Fayemi to facilitate the process for revamping of Enugu coal.

Sequel to Fayemi’s visit to Enugu recently, the State Government yesterday opened discussions with a South-African firm, Simang Group as its technical partners towards the exploitation of the coal deposits in the state for purposes of power generation.

Speaking at the occasion, the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu said he was just a messenger here to deliver a message from President Buhari who directed him to tell Ndigbo that he has commenced the first phase of the promise to revamp Enugu Coal to generate electricity and employment.

Okechukwu said after a careful evaluation of all the companies that indicated interest by Hon. Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Simang group was adjudged to partner with Federal and State Governments to revamp Enugu coal.

Speaking on behalf of the investors, the Executive Vice Chairman, Pan African Development Corporation, Dr. Odilim Basil Enwegbara, said their intervention would certainly change the narrative of electric power generation in Nigeria, especially in the South East part of the country.

Enwegbara stated that as investors, they clearly understood the challenges and are determined to commence operation as soon as possible.

“We can convey the little resource into the much needed electricity,” he said.

The chairman of the Simang Group, Mr. Steve Paddy, said they intend to start with 600 megawatts of electricity and upscale it subsequently.

An elated Governor Ugwuanyi said revamping of Enugu coal will generate electricity which is an enabler that has multiplier effect on the growth of the economy and thanked President Buhari for this laudable programme.

The Governor said the move to revitalize the Enugu coal industry was in line with the current power sector reforms initiated by President Buhari.

Ugwuanyi added that the new move would help “generate alternative and more vital sources of power generation in the country.”

“A leader is best/ when people barely know he exists…” Lao-tsy, 6th Century AD. (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ p 124).

LAO-TSY, one of China’s greatest philosophers and sages lived at a time and in a country in which even your worst enemy would acknowledge whatever you do that is right. For that matter, your best friend would tell you to your face, and not behind you, what you did wrong.

None of those two acts of courage and pursuit of truth exist in Nigeria today – especially among the political class and their camp followers. That leaves the independent assessment to those of us who  are non-partisan; who carry no party card and who are privileged to write columns and influence public opinion. In one week, I found myself praising the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria for his overall good performance in the last two years and carpeting him for forecasting that recession will end in June. The latter is not his business; it is like a player in a game predicting the outcome of the game. That is foul play of the worst kind.

“I hold that man in the right who is most in league with the future”, said Henrik Ibsen, 1828-1906, (VBQ p 71), who was one of the earliest futurists. Few people in public office, in Nigeria and elsewhere have a capacity for thinking of measures that will actually result in the transformation of their societies. Most are like those working on the Federal Government’s “give-away” programmes. They can only think of giving away cake they don’t help to bake.

ADVERTISING This series continued last week with a focus on the Ministry of Transportation which is the only Ministry totally “in league with the future.” Its cardinal focus is on the wider expansion of Nigeria’s railway system which had been neglected since 1960. Yet, there is no single one of the top twenty five largest economies, even South Africa which we claim is smaller, but acknowledge is more advanced, which does not run its economy on a robust rail system. This is not the time and place to discuss how Nigeria with the ninth largest population and eleventh largest land mass became a trailer, tanker, and 911 economy – resulting in tremendous losses of lives and goods on our highways and adding enormous costs to our finished goods and services. For instance the chief reason Nigerian rice or any other finished products cannot compete with imported rice is the transport cost and the massive losses associated with transporting rice on Nigeria’s pot-holes called roads.

One Minister, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, had taken a good look at all these and together with the President had embarked on ensuring that the railway system is strengthened during the first four years and to make the process of expansion irreversible by making arrangements that will make it almost impossible for successors to abandon the projects once they get underway. By the time he is through, the sharp reduction in the number of those behemoths rambling through our highways will be reduced. Most of them will no longer undertake those long, tiring and murderous journeys which tear up our roads, increase the carnage on the roads and produce more widows and orphans than even Boko Haram and herdsmen put together. Increase in commuter and commercial use of railways will transform lives along all the areas of Nigeria rail lines pass through, reduce cost of living and promote faster economic growth.

In a master stroke, the Ministry signed a concession agreement with General Electric, GE, to handle the Lagos-Ibadan line for a start. GE is the best of the best globally when it comes to building locomotive engines and it also has an enviable reputation for running global standard operations, for transfer of technology and for social responsibility. Nigerian fortunate to be employed by GE, if they are willing to learn, will never regret it. In the days of one of its legendary Chairmen, Watson, in the 1970s, GE was the one Fortune 500 company where every American graduate wants to work and from which people exited to bigger jobs elsewhere.

To demonstrate their commitment to Nigeria, GE, had first of all donated some coaches to the Nigerian Railways which should make more comfortable rides possible. In addition, the company is partnering with the Miller Centre in Santa Clara, USA, to combat maternal and child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria will be the major beneficiary of that partnership.

What is puzzling is why the Minister of Transportation has not been receiving the accolades he deserves for all he has accomplished in two years. The only answer to that is that Mr Amaechi is too self-effacing. Like salt in a good pot of soup, he thinks his work speaks for him. Nothing can be further from the truth in Nigeria’s political and social environment. Here in Nigeria, irrespective of what you achieve, if you don’t blow your own horn, nobody will blow it for you. Worse still they could blow the wrong tune. Furthermore, political opponents and rivals for the President’s attention are always eager to downplay or mis-interpret your greatest achievements.

Of one thing I am certain. In eight years time, if not sooner, Amaechi’s work in giving Nigeria a more robust railway system will become the best legacy of the Buhari administration. In fifty years, after the other parts of Nigeria would have been linked, some people will certainly remember the quiet man who started it all.

By Ahmed Mora

I read in the leadership Newspaper edition of Friday, 26th May, 2017 on page 43 under “FEATURE”, the story with caption – “Is Nigeria Set to End Syringe Importation”?

The Akwa Ibom State Government, according to the story by Anyaora Thelma, will use the Jubilee Syringe Company to produce between 350 and 400 million syringes per annum at start up production and which is expected to raise to 1 billion Syringe by 2018, which is just next year. How the company, a Turkish concern can achieve this production level under a year from start of production, will be a real wonder to see. However, the Akwa Ibom State Government has done wonderfully well to initiate the company, which technically is a medical device plant for the production of a pharmaceutical disposable product. This kind of investment by State Governments are needed to ensure availability of basic pharmaceutical and medical device products for the nation’s many healthcare facility provider at the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary levels.

More to the point, the physical components of a disposable syringe made up essentially of a plunger from High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) and the barrel, made up from Poly Propylene (PP), all of pharmaceutical grade and the steel component – the needle, has 66% of these available as raw materials in Nigeria. The nearby Petrochemical Plant in Eleme, near Port Harcourt could provide the polymer components of the disposable syringe product.

Zaria Pharmaceutical Component (ZPC) Ltd, the producers of ZARINJECT, brand of disposable syringes, which is a wholly-owned Kaduna State Government company started production on 21st May, 1996 with an initial installed capacity to produce 135 million pieces of conventional disposable syringes in 2mls, 5mls and 10mls capacities was certainly the first plant to produce disposable syringes in Nigeria and the biggest at commissioning date. The initiation, project coordination of the plant started twenty – five (25) years ago in 1992 during the tenure of the Governor of the State, Alhaji Dabo Mohammed Lere of blessed memory. Installation and erection as well as start-up of the plant took some 28 months by the writer and who was later privileged to serve as the first and only pharmacist Managing Director and CEO of the company from 1997 to 1999.

There is also the First Medical and Sterile Products Ltd, another disposable syringes production plant which commenced operations around 2006 and which is located at the Calabar Export Free Trade Zone (CEFTZ), Calabar, Cross-Rivers State and where the writer served as the adviser and consultant throughout the stages of initiation and start-up operation. This 90 million annual capacity disposable syringes plant with FIRSTMED brand is the first in the country and indeed the West African Region to acquire the license and to produce the Auto Disable (AD) syringes in 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 and 2mls capacities.

With the use of cartridges, the plant, which is privately-owned can also produce conventional syringes for the higher capacities. This plant, in Calabar, unlike, ZPC in Zaria is still in full production of the products and marketing same to various healthcare facility provider centers in Nigeria, and for export.

However, it is the Integrated Medical Industries (IMI), Port-Harcourt, Rivers State that has the capacity to produce the largest output of disposable syringes in Nigeria with projection of 1.3 billion pieces of the product annually. Unlike the Kaduna State-owned ZPC, which has stopped production more than ten (10) years ago, the Port-Harcourt based IMI is producing successfully. However, while ZPC is producing only conventional syringes, IMI, like FIRSTMED in Calabar, though privately-owned is producing both conventional and AD syringes.

One common feature of the three plants – ZPC, FIRSTMED and IMI in Zaria, Calabar and Port-Harcourt respectively, is that they all use Engel model of injection moulding machines, which are fabricated at the Company’s largest plant in Linz, Austria. The mode of sterilization is also by the use of Ethylene Oxide Gas, while the needles are imported as bulk and unsterilized. Again, these ‘big three’, as I call them, and now Onna, in Akwa Ibom, cannot meet up the requirement of disposable syringes whether for prophylaxis (Calabar and Port-Harcourt); curative (Zaria, Calabar and Port-Harcourt) and diagnostic (Zaria) even at full capacities production. With a rough rule of thumb of four (4) syringes per head per year for the average Nigerian, plus the millions needed for immunization purposes, the capacities in the four plants still cannot be met. A few tips however will not be out of place as Jubilee Syringes rolls out its syringes, though the capacities and whether AD and/or conventional are yet unknown:-

The Akwa Ibom State Government to avoid the ‘mistakes’ of other States by trying to run the company directly with use of Civil Servants;

The big syringes producers in the country to form a Medical Device Association through which they can approach the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) and the Federal Ministry of Investment for discussions leading to preferences in procurement, enjoyment of certain waivers and conferment of some privilege;

Membership within the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), will be of immense benefit;

Teaming up to ‘beat’ the imported varieties of disposable syringes through better use of packaging materials and ready availability as well as easy access by the healthcare practitioners;

Dialogue with producers of HDPE, PP and other raw materials within Nigeria towards procurement of pharmaceutical grade HDPE & PP and other items for the plants;

Proper planning of receipt of raw materials especially Ethylene Oxide gas used for sterilization of the needles. Ethylene Oxide can only be imported into Nigeria by ship and not by air. Delay in arrival of the gas could cause some anxiety on the part of production pharmacists within the plant. The lead time has to be properly worked out. Plant managers who may have successfully produced but cannot take  the product out since the product has not been sterilized due to late arrival of Ethylene Oxide gas and tested, making the batches  eligible for use by healthcare professionals on patients can be frustrating;

Proper ‘burning’ of the Ethylene Oxide gas after sterilizing is essential in order to avoid contamination of the area and thereby likelihood of causing environmental hazard especially in densely populated neighborhoods. However, the real danger is in the likelihood of gas explosion within the sterilization chamber due to inappropriate use of correct quantities/measurements of temperature, pressure and humidity. The use of a special suit is a most by every operator of the chamber.

As Akwa Ibom State joins Kaduna and Rivers States in the ‘club’ of producers of disposable syringes in Nigeria, as well as Cross-River which hosts no fewer than two (2) privately-owned plants all within the CEFTZ,Calabar, the stage is now set for a revolution in syringe manufacturing in Nigeria, and which was essentially started in 1992 in Zaria and in ZPC. Though the ZARINJECT brand of syringes produced by ZPC essentially from middle to the late 90s may be no more in the pharmaceutical market due to the closure of the plant, certainly, the results of the clinical trials conducted on the product in ABUTH, Zaria and OAUTH,Ile- Ife are case studies in the production of syringes in Nigeria and from which others can benefit from tremendously.

Mora is a pharmacist, and Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Dora Akunyili College of Pharmacy, Igbinedion University Okada, (IUO), Okada, Edo State.

By Rotimi Ojomoyela Ado-Ekiti- The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has raised the alarm over the ‎continued nefarious activity of the Fulani herdsmen across the country, especially in Benue state, calling on the Federal Government to use every means possible to rein in the killer herdsmen.

Fayose said, “what is going on in Benue State is more like an organised pogrom and those responsible for the killings in the State must be arrested and prosecuted.”

The governor said Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo should be allowed to function as the president so as to be able to deploy instruments of the federal government to tackle the herdsmen menace, pointing out that; “As it is today, it appears that the Prof Osinbajo does not have the full powers of the president.”

In a release issued on Saturday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose, who declared support for the new law prohibiting open grazing in Benue State, said “those opposed to the law are only doing so as part of their plot to undermine the land and people of Benue State and they must be made to face the law.”

He sympathised with the government and people of Benue State, adding that the Federal Government must stop playing ostrich to the menace of the Fulani herdsmen.

Governor Fayose said; “Like I have maintained, cattle farming is not different from fish farming, snake farming, poultry farming, snail farming, etc. Therefore, if fish farmers are providing their own ponds and poultry farmers building their own pens, while also buying feed for their animals, there is no reason cattle farmers should not also provide their own ranch and feed their cows without encroaching on other people’s farmlands.”

“How can Nigerians embrace farming when those already in the farms are losing billions of naira worth of crops to destruction of their farmlands by the Fulani Herdsmen and the Federal Government is not doing anything about it?” He described the Buhari-led government’s continuous silence on the alleged killing of harmless Nigerians by Fulani herdsmen as unacceptable.

The governor said; “In May, 2016, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria boldly told Nigerians that herdsmen killed over 1,000 Agatu people of Benue State then because over 800 of their cows were killed by Tiv youths. The man who openly made that comment was never questioned by the security agent.

“The same Miyetti Allah is now against the Anti-Open Grazing Law in Benue State, vowing to mobilize its members to resist the law and claiming that pastoralists like other citizens of the country have the right to move freely and to reside in any part of the country.

“Does pastoralists have rights to destroy other people’s farmlands, invade homes and rape people’s wives and daughters? Shouldn’t people who are into cattle farming be able to provide feeds for their animals?”

By Clifford Ndujihe

In 2014, the Global Terrorism Index ranked herdsmen as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world after Boko Haram, ISIS and Al-Shabab.

The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA said clashes between herdsmen and farmers/locals in Southern Kaduna claimed no fewer than 204 people between October 2016 and January 2017. Musa Ilella, NEMA North West zonal Coordinator, said the figure was for two Local Government Areas, namely Kafanchan and Chikun LGAs. “Four districts in Kafanchan LGA namely: Linte, Goska, Dangoma and Kafanchan town recorded 194 deaths. Chikun LGA on the other hand recorded about 10 deaths, making a total of 204 so far,” he said.

Senate’s yesterday’s position is similar to the one it took on April 28, 2016 when it summoned the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin and other service chiefs to brief the lawmakers on the efforts put in place to address the herdmen problem.

The April 2016 resolution was sequel to a motion by Senator Chukwuka Utazi, PDP, Enugu North on the gory massacre of the people of Ukpabi Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani local council of Enugu State.

While moving the motion, Senator Utazi, citing reports, said the herdsmen killed 80 people in 2013 and by the end of 2014, the death toll had risen to 1,229 people.

Attacks in 2016, 2017

Recounting the attacks in 2016, he said in the first week of January, between 12 and 38 people were killed in Udeni Ruwa, in Nasarawa State and 45 were killed in Agatu, Benue State.

January 17, 2016: Three people were killed in Gareji village in Taraba State.

January 23, 2016: Between 30 and 60 people including a police DPO were killed in Demsare, Wunamokoh, Dikajam and Taboungo, of Adamawa State.

February 2, 2016: Seven people were killed in yet another early morning attack in Agatu, Benue State.

February 7, 2016: 10 people were killed in Tom Anyiin. Four days later on February 11, two people were killed in Abbi, Enugu State and some declared missing.

February 24, 2016: Between 300 and 500 Nigerians were killed in Agatu, Benue State and on February 28, 2016:  Nine people were killed in Agatu.

March 2, 2016: Residents of Ossissa, in Ndokwa, Delta State fled their homes following attacks by herdsmen.

March 7, 2016: Eight people were killed and the next day, 12 were killed in Mbaya-Tombo, both in Benue. There were more deaths on March 13, 2016; then 15 more on March 17.

March 26, 2016: 76 residents of Ugwunesi in Awgu LGA in Enugu State were arrested and detained by soldiers for holding a meeting to discuss the problem of herdsmen attacks in their area.

April 3-7, 2016: Between April 3 and 4 about 7 and 16 people were killed in Ohali-Elu, in Rivers State.

April 9, 2016: In Ilado, Ondo State, Olu Falae, former SGF, was attacked and a security guard was killed.

April 10, 2016: Between 15 and 44 were killed in Angai, Dashole, Dori and Mesuwa villages, all in Taraba State.

April 18, 2016: There was news that another 18 people had been killed in Moor.

April 20, 2016: Soldiers were attacked in Agatu, Benue, and a policeman was declared missing.

April 25, 2016: Herdsmen attacked Nimbo Community of Uzo-Uwani LGA in Enugu and killed no fewer than 46 persons.

November 25, 2016: Dungun Mu’azu community in Sabuwa Local Government Area of Katsina State was thrown into crisis as armed herdsmen cut down seven men and one woman in a nocturnal reprisal attack.

January 4, 2017: Five indigenes of Abraka and Obiarukwu both in Ethiope East and Ukwani local government areas of Delta State, were reportedly killed during a clash between farmers and suspected  herdsmen along the boundary of the neighbouring communities.

January 8, 2017:  Five Mobile Policemen and two civilians died in an attack by suspected herdsmen in Demsa Local Government Area of Adamawa State. The Mobile policemen were deployed to Kwayina, Gideon Dadi and Kurlai communities after clashes by residents with armed herdsmen that left more than 40 persons dead. Apart from the policemen, two other bodies were recovered after the attacks.

January 9, 2017: No fewer than five persons were hacked to death by suspected herdsmen in two separate attacks in Abraka and Obiaruku, both in Ethiope East and Ukwuani Local Government Area of Delta State January 15, 2017: Nine people including a Police Inspector and a Superintendent of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC) were killed by herdsmen in Rafin Gona and BCC Gbagyi villages in Bosso local government area of Niger State.

January 17, 2017: Three persons were killed and five injured when herdsmen opened fire in Samaru Kataf market in Zango-Kataf Local Council of Kaduna State.

January's 24, 2017: 15 persons were killed by rampaging Fulani herdsmen, who attacked farmers in Ipiga village in Ohimini Local Government Area of Benue State. Some armed herdsmen stormed the neighbouring Ajegbe village, where they grazed their cattle and destroyed farmlands. From there they moved into Ipiga village, shooting sporadically, though they met a stiff resistance from the locals. A bloody fight erupted and two of the herdsmen were reportedly killed, while about 13 of the villagers were also killed.

January 24, 2017: Five students of the College of Education, Gidan Waya, Jema’a Local Government Area, Kaduna State, were reportedly shot dead close to Gidan Waya, when a commercial car taking them to school from Kafanchan was waylaid by herdsmen.

February 10, 2017: Eight people were confirmed dead in Zamfara State, following a clash between community members and suspected herdsmen in Rukumawa Tsafe Local Government Area.

February 21, 2017: Fulani herdsmen launched attacks on four communities in Southern Kaduna killing no less than 21 people.

March 1, 2017: Three persons were killed in clashes involving indigenes and suspected herdsmen in some communities of Delta and Rivers states.

March 2, 2017: No fewer than 10 persons were killed in a renewed hostilities between herdsmen and farmers in Mbahimin community, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State.

March 6, 2017: Two persons died in a clash between suspected herdsmen and residents of Omumu community in Ika South Local Council of Delta State.

March 11, 2017: Seven people were killed when herdsmen attacked a Tiv community, Mkgovur village in Buruku local government area of Benue State.

March 14, 2017: One person was killed and several others injured when herdsmen and the people of Umuobasikwu, Ozuitem community in Bende local government area of Abia State clashed.

March 28, 2017: Three persons were feared killed while six others sustained injuries as a group suspected to be herdsmen attacked Emuhu community in Ika South local council of Delta State.

May 8: Three persons were confirmed killed by herdsmen in Tse-Akaa village, Ugondo Mbamar District of Logo Local Government Area of Benue State.

May 10, 2017: The Delta Police command confirmed that an inspector was killed and three other policemen injured by suspected herdsmen in Abraka, Ethiope East LGA of the state.

May 12, 2017: Suspected herdsmen beheaded a commercial motorcycle rider identified as Udoka Ossai and six farmers who are indigenes of Ossissa community in Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State.

May 13, 2017: Less than one week after many people were killed by herdsmen in three communities of Logo Local Government Area of Benue State, aremed herders struck again on May 13 killing eight more people.

May 18, 2017: Two persons lost their lives after suspected herdsmen attack in Afam Uku, in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Dottore:
I know this will be an interesting piece but honestly Its too long. Busy day ahead as usual.
Can someone summarize and "mention" me pls. Thanks.

Good morning everyone

dessz:
too long. after scrolling 2pages without end in sight, am like..

Africans do not lose sight of the power of natural nemesis.  I know,   the strength in this expression alludes to the irrepressibility of the truth, much as the vindication of the innocent.

Transparency International (TI), the self-acclaimed global anti-corruption watchdogs stirred the honest net again. I do not find it convincingly explicable why there are more foreign nations insidiously interested in midwifing the total destruction of Nigeria. Any of Nigeria’s leaders who display a religious commitment to salvaging Nigeria from absolute ruination is sublimely frustrated to drop the passion by these vested alien interests.

TI upped the ante in the club of baseless external adversaries of Nigerian state  last week,  by claiming in a statement, which  alluded  to corruption in the Nigerian  military, as  stalling the successful prosecution of the counter-insurgency war in Northeast,  Nigeria,  under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

TI statement was clear that fraudulent defence procurement contracts by top Nigerian military personnel were shrouded in secrecy and failed to pass the test of transparency. It said,   the ill-gotten wealth from such dubious deals is laundered abroad to invest in property acquisition and it  has weakened the  efforts  of  the present administration to effectively  confront and defeat   Boko Haram Terrorism (BHT). But BHT is defeated in Nigeria.

Excerpts from the TI statement aptly put it as, “Corrupt military officials have been able to benefit from the conflict through the creation of fake defense contracts, the proceeds of which are often laundered abroad in the UK, U.S. and elsewhere.”

TI delved deeply on the offensive by insinuating that the corruption in the Nigerian military has marooned troops on the battlefield “without vital equipment, insufficiently trained, low in morale and under-resourced…This has crippled the Nigerian military in fighting an aggressive ideologically inspired enemy such as Boko Haram,”

Subsequently, TI’s wisdom advised the Nigerian Government to remove the opaqueness beclouding its defence budgets and procurement systems, by subjecting it to a transparent process to ensure that contracts were neither inflated, nor awarded to veiled companies.

Angrily still, TI stoked the fire by directly persuading foreign countries, especially the United States (US) to withhold arms sales to Nigeria in order to compel defence reforms, before assisting with weaponry for  the counter-terrorism war against Boko Haram insurgents. It was clearly the whitest lie any international organization which holds onto any strand of claim to any reputation could have voiced out. But TI did publicly, with much recklessness against Nigeria and her military under a Buhari Presidency.

There is no greater stab on the psyche and stain on the image of a country than such deception, which is   potent enough to dampen the morale of its military battling a complex war like terrorism in Nigeria’s northeast. Nothing can be worse than this unfounded blackmail and demonization of Nigerian military by TI. It cried foul where none existed.

But in a surprise, but pleasant reversal of its own fabricated and condemnable verdict against the current breed of Nigerian military,  TI willingly  reversed itself  last Monday.  But prior to this reversal,  the TI verdict provoked wide outrages from civil society organizations in Nigeria, with some calling on TI to quit Nigeria with 72 hours, with the evil agenda.

This feeling was reinforced as its Country Representative in Nigeria, Mr.  Auwal Rafsanjani recanted the contents of TI’s report as false, as the anger raged across the land.

Rafsanjani featured on a morning  programme  on  AIT last Monday,   May 29, 2017.  And the TI Rep was vehement that all the contents of the report were not just untrue, but the report was misplaced in fixation of time, as it was meant to indict the Nigerian military under the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, covering the period of 2010-2015, before the Buhari Presidency.

Even before this self-confession of unjustified attack of Nigeria by TI, Nigerians never believed them.  The falsity of the report yawned louder than its factuality under the Buhari administration of Nigeria courtesy of palpable evidence. But Rafsanjani’s featuring on the AIT programme to speak on the matter, assisted Nigerians immensely in understanding the cloudy nature and gamut of the international conspiracy against their own country.

To my mind, I firmly believe, Rafsanjani only freed his conscience and acted his instincts of truth, which is innately embedded in every human being. It should be a surprise that TI would sit elsewhere in a foreign land and concoct a report about transparency or lack of it in any country without consulting its personnel on ground. It means, Rafsanjani was handed down a carefully crafted script from his bosses to shell Nigeria. He complied with superior instructions, but when the chips were down or the moment of truth came and he had to face the Nigerian public or the world on record, he had no option than to speak the truth.

Of course, nobody expected him to speak otherwise over a matter he had no knowledge about nor emanated from his official table in Nigeria. His plea during the AIT programme about mixture of time frame of the damnable report was just a last -minute ditch of efforts and an after-thought to salvage the already battered reputation of his employer-Transparency International (TI).

Modestly to say the least, the TI report was a script   written somewhere and handed over to him to deliver to the Nigerian public and the world. That’s why Rafsanjani could not differentiate between time then and time now (Jonathan and the Buhari Presidencies) .

I must admit and to be candid to Rafsanjani, his carefully thought-out allusion to the report as fake and for 2010 -2015, before TV cameras, killed the spirit of the conversation on AIT. Nigerians expected him to justify the patently false claims of TI live on TV.  However, we are happy because his expose is  the very first  time  Nigerians would listen to  something in the semblance of truth from the  likes of  Rafsanjani and  his bands of international NGOs, all maliciously converged to destroy Nigeria never to emerge the giant of Africa in practical terms.

Obviously, the chickens have come home to roost for TI. The only option available to it now is to summon the courage and wisdom to officially and openly apologize to the military leadership and the Nigerian people for deliberately misleading them and the world with the cooked report on defence contracts/corruption under a Buhari presidency. Only this  can  restore some vestige of reputation on TI, an international organization, whose mandate is to keep vigilance on the translucency of the business of nations of the world,  but  is itself very un-transparent.

And to the current incorruptible Nigerian military,  I do not have much words to say. I don’t even have the strength or appropriate lexicon to console them. But suffice it to say, the truth, discipline, honesty and professionalism it has imbibed under the present crop of Service Chiefs shall forever remain their public signposts of vindication against any false accusation by local or international conspirators like TI.

I dare say, the present Nigerian military is too faultless, even the devil cannot find a black spot on their skins to approach them for conversion into his dark kingdom. I am proud of the Military, like millions of other Nigerians.  The false indictment by TI and the subsequent retraction is an indelible testimony and clear reaffirmation of their strength of character, probity and the conscious acceptance of the reforms championed by the military high command in the last 20 months in Nigeria. I plead that they should be consoled by it.

I shall not be fair to myself, if I fail to salute, the Nigerian civil society clan, whose situation room patriotically rose in defence of this image fraud by TI.  In fact, standing by one’s country on the side of truth pays tremendously. About eight of them rose instantly to defend Nigeria and her military, against the TI’s malicious provocation of the voiceless, hence it is not the duty of the military to speak out for the country or indulge in civil debates.

These civil society groups acted in the passion of defending our fatherland against external wolves in sheep clothing and to protect the character of these selfless officers and Service Chiefs who on daily basis make sacrifices so that the rest of us can live in peace. The Civil Society Organizations have shown the way and Nigerians are watching.  Transparency International should simply toe the path of diplomatic honour by quietly vacating Nigeria.

By Richards Murphy

Murphy writes from Calabar, Cross River State.

Young03:
Good

why some people come dey say this man no de work?

eezeribe:
Another Government will come and revoke everything...
Discontinuity in Governance is one of the trademarks of Nigerian Democracy.successive administrations prefer to embark on new projects and take all the glory... Some even try to nullify the efforts of their predecessors.

By Ugochukwu Alaribe

ABA—ABIA State governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has said that it takes only 24 hours for an interested investor to get a certificate of occupancy to any land in the state.

Ikpeazu, who stated this in Aba while receiving the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, said Abia remains the most investor friendly state, boasting of an industrial area strategically located with guaranteed power and access to neighbouring states.

The governor, who outlined some of the projects embarked upon by his administration, disclosed that the state has acquired a 9,000 hectare industrial layout with a certificate of occupancy which is available for investors interested in Aba.

He said, “We have acquired a 9,000 hectare land with C of O, if you want an industry today; I have a place, within 24 hours, I will give you the C of O of that place. There is a gas pipeline around there to generate energy. The place is 30 minutes to Port Harcourt, 45 minutes to Ikot Ekpene and less than an hour to Owerri. It is a strategically located industrial area; we are prepared to do everything to ensure we have about 10 Chinese companies that are coming as anchors, including the 1.5m Dollars shoe factory.”

He further commended the performance of members of the House of Representatives from the State for attracting projects to their constituencies and explained that former members of the House of Representatives, Eziuche Ubani and Uzo Azubuike, who are now serving Commissioners for Works and Agriculture, respectively, have performed excellently.

Earlier, the Speaker had informed Gov. Ikpeazu that he was in Aba to commission some projects attracted to the city by the House of Representatives member representing Aba North/Aba South federal constituency, Mr. Ossy Prestige.

There shall be no touting whatsoever by official or unofficial persons at any port in Nigeria.

” On duty staff shall be properly identified by uniform and official cards. Off duty staff shall stay away from the ports except with the express approval of the agency head.

It further directed that all non-official staff should be removed from the secured areas of airports.

“No official of FAAN, Immigration, security agency or Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) or any other agency is to meet any non-designated dignitary at any secure areas of the airport.

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has initiated the implementation of the recent Executive Order issued by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, at the airports in the country.

Mr Saleh Dunoma, Managing Director, FAAN, made this known in a statement signed by the agency’s General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, in Lagos on Sunday.

Dunoma said that machinery had been put in place to ensure a successful implementation of the executive order which he would supervise himself.

According to him, the importance of the executive order cannot be overemphasised, especially because it will strengthen the nation’s fight against terrorism and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy that impedes business activities at the airports.

He said it would also improve safety, security and passenger facilitation within and around the airports.

Dunoma urged passengers, airport users and the general public to cooperate with FAAN officials carrying out their responsibilities.

Newsmen report that Osinbajo had recently issued the executive order which is aimed to ” ease doing business in Nigeria”

The order states among others that :” There shall be no touting whatsoever by official or unofficial persons at any port in Nigeria.

” On duty staff shall be properly identified by uniform and official cards. Off duty staff shall stay away from the ports except with the express approval of the agency head.

” The FAAN Aviation Security (AVSEC) and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) Security shall enforce this order.”

It further directed that all non-official staff should be removed from the secured areas of airports.

“No official of FAAN, Immigration, security agency or Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) or any other agency is to meet any non-designated dignitary at any secure areas of the airport.

“The official approved list of dignitaries that have been pre-approved to be received by protocol officers shall be made available to AVSEC and other relevant agencies ahead of their arrival at the airport,” it said.

Also, according to the executive order, any official caught soliciting or receiving bribes from passengers or other port users shall be subject to immediate removal from post and disciplinary as well as criminal proceedings in line with extant laws and regulations.

“The state government has set up an Agriculture Development Bank to address land allocation for farming, “he said. He said that the initiative would enhance the economy of the state and increase its revenue generation.

He said that the state government would allocate plots of lands to farmers to cultivate crops like cassava, maize and soya beans on a large scale.

The Osun State Government on Thursday said it had provided about 15 hectares of land for large scale cultivation to boost food production in the state.

Dr Bukola Aluko, the coordinating director, Osun state Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Youths Engagement, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Osogbo.

According to Aluko, the state government is collaborating with investors that will facilitate farming on large and commercial scales in the state.

“Through this collaboration, billions of naira will be invested in agriculture: planting, processing and packaging of farm produce.

“Currently, farmers that are interested in partnering the state government have started importing their raw materials.

“The state government on its part has provided between 10 hectares and 15 hectares of land to investors for cultivation of farm crops, “ he said.

He said that the state government would allocate plots of lands to farmers to cultivate crops like cassava, maize and soya beans on a large scale.

“The state government has set up an Agriculture Development Bank to address land allocation for farming, “he said. He said that the initiative would enhance the economy of the state and increase its revenue generation.

The Federal Government plans to tackle post-harvest losses put at nine billion dollars annually through multiple approaches, including setting up of staple crops processing zones.

Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Agriculture, made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja, at a stakeholders’ conference organised by Akassa Development Foundation (ADF).

Akassa is a community in Bayelsa in the southernmost part of Nigeria.

The theme of the stakeholders’ conference is: “ Sustainable Development and Security in the Niger Delta beyond Oil.’’

The minister, represented by Eniye Amloakederem, Senior Technical Adviser on Agric-business, listed the approaches to include-storage, development of cold chains, improving infrastructure, improving product handling, among others.

He said that staple crops processing zones would be set up in “ areas of high food production.’’

According to the minister, the government will utilise “ fiscal and infrastructure incentives’’ to attract private food manufacturing companies to add value to agricultural produce.

Lokpobiri said that all the investments were structured around smallholder farmers, to ensure inclusion of models that would create wealth and boost development.

He challenged the people of the Niger Delta region to engage in agriculture as the region has the largest wetland with arable land for agriculture.

He said that the area is also suitable for commercial production of varieties of crops, including rice, cassava, yam, okro, ogbonno, cocoyam, maize, pepper, plantain, among others.

He commended the ADF for sustaining community development in Akassa.

Mr Nsima Ekere, Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), who spoke at the event, stressed the need to embrace agriculture as a tool to tackle hunger and insecurity in the Niger Delta.

He said that agriculture, in which the people of the Niger Delta have founded their core preoccupation, “presents the strongest and most rewarding options to fighting poverty and facilitating sustainable development.’’

He said that agriculture “worked great wonders in countries such as Mexico, India and China,’’ adding that Bayelsa alone has the capacity to feed the nation.

“A World Bank study shows that Bayelsa is capable of producing enough rice to feed Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

“How can we exploit these opportunities to fight poverty, which is at the core of continual agitation in the land?"

It is vital to note that tackling and defeating poverty is essential to the urgent need to boost security in the region or in any society,’’ Ekere said.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has delivered a dispassionate call for the nation to stay united, amid renewed agitation for a breakup and the creation of an independent state of Biafra.

Mr. Osinbajo said Nigerian s should think more of what unites them than what separates them.

“No country is perfect; around the world we have seen and continue to see expressions of intra-national discontent,” the acting president said. “The truth is that many, if not most nations of the world are made up of different peoples and cultures and beliefs and religions, who find themselves thrown together by circumstance.”

Mr. Osinbajo made the statementThursday in Abuja at the colloquim on “Biafra: 50 years after’’ organized by the Yar’ Adua Foundation at the Shehu Musa Yar’ adua Centre, Abuja, where he spoke to a cross section of political leaders which include former President Olusegun Obasanjo, John Nwodo, leader of Ohaneze, the Pan-Igbo socio-cultural organization and Ahmed Joda amongst other dignitaries that graced the occasion.

Below is the full text of the Acting President’s Speech delivered at the occasion.

BEING THE TEXT OF THE SPEECH OF HIS EXCELLENCY, ACTING PRESIDENT YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, AT THE COLLOQUIM ON BIAFRA: 50 YEARS AFTER ORGANISED BY YAR’ ADUA FOUNDATION ON 25TH MAY, 2017

GREATER TOGETHER THAN APART.

The conveners of this event, the Yar’ Adua Memorial Centre, the Ford foundation and the Open Society initiative West Africa, have done us an enormous favour by offering us the platform for this profoundly important conversation. They deserve our deep gratitude for this opportunity for individual and collective introspection.

Introspection is probably what separates us from beasts. That ability to learn from history is perhaps the greatest defense from the avoidable pain of learning from experience, when history is a much gentler and kinder teacher.  Indeed, the saying experience is the best teacher, is incomplete, the full statement of that Welsh adage is that experience is the best teacher for a fool. History is a kinder and gentler teacher.

I was ten years old when my friend in primary school then, Emeka, left school one afternoon. He said his parents said they had to go back to East, war was about to start. I never saw Emeka again. My aunty Bunmi was married to a gentleman from Enugu, I cannot recall his name. But I recall the evening when my parents tried to persuade her and her husband not to leave for the East. She did, we never saw her again.

I recall distinctly how in 1967, passing in front of my home on Ikorodu road almost every hour were  trucks  carrying passengers and furniture in an endless stream heading east. Many Ibos who left various parts of Nigeria, left friends, families and businesses, schools and jobs. Like my friend and aunty some never returned! But many died.  The reasons for this tragic separation of brothers and sisters were deep and profound. So much has been said and written already about the “why’s and wherefores’’ and that analyses will probably never end.

This is why I would rather not spend this few minutes on whether there was or was not sufficient justification for secession and the war that followed. The issue is whether the terrible suffering, massive loss of lives, of hopes and fortunes of so many can ever be justified.

As we reflect on this event today, we must ask ourselves the same question that many who have fought or been victims in civil wars, wars between brothers and sisters ask in moments of reflection….“what if we had spent all the resources, time and sacrifice we put into the war, into trying to forge unity? What if we had decided not to seek to avenge a wrong done to us? What if we had chosen to overcome evil with good?’’

The truth is that the spilling of blood in dispute is hardly ever worth the losses. Of the fallouts of bitter wars is the anger that can so easily be rekindled by those who for good or ill want to resuscitate the fire. Today some are suggesting that we must go back to the ethnic nationalities from which Nigeria was formed. They say that secession is the answer to the charges of marginalization. They argue that separation from the Nigerian State will ultimately result in successful smaller States. They argue eloquently, I might add that Nigeria is a colonial contraption that cannot endure.

This is also the sum and substance of the agitation for Biafra. The campaign is often bitter and vitriolic, and has sometimes degenerated to fatal violence. Brothers and sisters permit me to differ and to suggest that we’re greater together than apart.

No country is perfect; around the world we have seen and continue to see expressions of intra-national discontent. Indeed, not many Nigerians seem to know that the oft-quoted line about Nigeria being a “mere geographical expression” originally applied to Italy. It was the German statesman Klemens von Metternich who dismissively summed up Italy as a mere geographical expression exactly a century before Nigeria came into being as a country. From Spain to Belgium to the United Kingdom and even the United States of America, you will find many today who will venture to make similar arguments about their countries. But they have remained together.

The truth is that many, if not most nations of the world are made up of different peoples and cultures and beliefs and religions, who find themselves thrown together by circumstance. Nations are indeed made up of many nations. The most successful of the nations of the world are those who do not fall into the lure of secession. But who through thick and thin forge unity in diversity.

Nigeria is no different; we are, not three, but more like three hundred or so ethnic groups within the same geographical space, presented with a great opportunity to combine all our strengths into a nation that is truly, to borrow an expression, more than the sum of its parts.

Let me say that there is a solid body of research that shows that groups that score high on diversity turn out to be more innovative than less diverse ones. There’s also research showing that companies that place a premium on creating diverse workplaces do better financially than those who do not. This applies to countries just as much as it does to companies. The United States is a great example, bringing together an impressively diverse cast of people together to consistently accomplish world-conquering economic, military and scientific feats.

It is possible in Nigeria as well. Instead of trying to flee into the lazy comfort of homogeneity every time we’re faced with the frustrations of living together as countrymen and women, the more beneficial way for us individually and collectively is actually to apply the effort and the patience to understand one another and to progressively aspire to create one nation bound in freedom, in peace and in unity.

That, in a sense, should be the Nigerian Dream – the enthusiasm to create a country that provides reasons for its citizens to believe in it, a country that does not discriminate, or marginalize in any way. We are not there yet, but I believe we have a strong chance to advance in that direction. But that will not happen if we allow our frustrations and grievances to transmute into hatred. It will not happen if we see the media – television and radio and print and especially social media – as platforms for the propagation of hateful and divisive rhetoric. No one stands to benefit from a stance like that; we will all emerge as losers.

Clearly our strength is in our diversity, that we are greater together than apart. Imagine for a moment that an enterprising young man from Aba had to apply for a visa to travel to Kano to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams, or that a young woman from Abeokuta had to fill immigration forms and await a verdict in order to attend her best friend’s wedding in Umuahia. Nigeria would be a much less colourful, much less interesting space, were that the case. Our frustrations with some who speak a different dialect or belong to a different religion must not drive us to forget many of the same tribe and faith of our adversaries who have shown true affection for us.

My God-son is Somkele Awakalu, his father Awa Kalu, SAN, and I taught at the University of Lagos. My first book was dedicated to Somkele and my two other God-children. Chief Emmanuel Dimike is almost 80, he was my father’s friend and business associate in his sawmills in Lagos. Chief has been like a father. I see him most Sundays, he worships with me at the chapel.

The individual affections and friendships we forge some even deeper than family ties, must remind us that unity is possible, that brotherhood across tribes and faiths is possible.

Let me make it clear that I fully believe that Nigerians should exercise to the fullest extent the right to discuss or debate the terms of our existence. Debate and disagreement are fundamental aspects of democracy. We recognize and acknowledge that necessity. And today’s event is along those lines – an opportunity not merely to commemorate the past, but also to dissect and debate it. Let’s ask ourselves tough questions about the path that has led us here, and how we might transform yesterday’s actions into tomorrow’s wisdom.

Indeed our argument is not and will never be that we should ‘forget the past’, or ‘let bygones be bygones’, as some have suggested. Chinua Achebe repeatedly reminded us of the Igbo saying that a man who cannot tell where the rain began to beat him cannot know where he dried his body. If we lose the past, we will inevitably lose the opportunity to make the best of the present and the future.

In an interview years ago, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, explaining why he didn’t think a second Biafran War should happen, said: “We should have learnt from that first one, otherwise the deaths would have been to no avail; it would all have been in vain.”

We should also be careful that we do not focus exclusively on the narratives of division, at the expense of the uplifting and inspiring ones. The same social media that has come under much censure for its propensity to propagate division, has also allowed multitudes of young Nigerians to see more of the sights and sounds of their country than ever before.

And for every young Nigerian who sees the Internet as an avenue for spewing ethnic hatred, there is another young Nigerian who is falling in love or doing business across ethnic and cultural lines; a young Nigerian who looks back on his or her NYSC year in unfamiliar territory as one of the valued highlights of their lifetime. These stories need to be told as well. They are the stories that remind us that the journey to nationhood is not an event but a process, filled as with life itself with experiences some bitter, some sweet. The most remarkable attribute of that process is that a succeeding generation does not need to bear the prejudices and failures of the past.

Every new generation can take a different and more ennobling route than its predecessors. But the greatest responsibility today lies on the leadership of our country. Especially but not only political leadership.

The promise of our constitution which we have sworn to uphold is that we would ensure a secure, and safe environment for our people to live, and work in peace, that we would provide just and fair institutions of justice. That we would not permit or encourage discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, beliefs or other parochial considerations. That we would build a nation where no one is oppressed and none is left behind.

These are the standards to which we must hold our leadership. We must not permit our leaders the easy but dangerous rhetoric of blaming our social and economic conditions on our coming together. It is their duty to give us a vision a pathway to make our unity in diversity even more perfect.

The former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has alleged that the refusal of Federal Government to pay compensation to members of the Boko Haram sect as ordered by the court at the early stage of its formation under Mohammed Yusuf, was responsible for the escalation of violence extremism.

Obasanjo disclosed this in Abuja at a two-day National Workshop on Preventing Violent Extremism, organized by Club De Madrid (CdM) in collaboration with the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the European Union (EU).

He attributed the escalation of insurgent activities in the North East and concomitant high cost to human and economic life of people of the region to a disproportionate use of ‘stick’ rather than ‘carrot’ in quelling the insurgency.

The elder statesman who is a member and Nigerian representative of CdM, which is a Club of former Presidents said said when Boko Haram’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf, realised that his followers were bugged down by poverty and youth unemployment, he decided to find solutions to their needs.

According to him, the disproportionate use of force as against the conciliatory solution, was partly to blame for escalation of insurgency in the entire region, adding that counsels given to the contrary were largely ignored.

He insisted that had government use of the “stick” approach, drove the adherents to violent extremism.

Obasanjo said that Mohammed Yusuf who founded the group Boko Haram was a scholar who wanted good things for his people but was rebuffed by the authorities.

He said: “Anybody you talk to in Maiduguri, where Boko Haram festered like a bad sore, will tell you that the man, who reared it, Mohammed Yusuf, was…learned in Islamic religion, and a good orator and preacher. When he was confronted with the poverty and lack of job opportunity for his followers, he decided to try and find solution. ”

On whether the government did what it ought to do, to nip it in the bud, the former President said “no”.

“What were the solutions he found? Hate preaching and being lawless within the community…”

The former President said he has always advocated the stick and carrot approach to addressing such grievances and insisted that government approach to deal with problem was faulty.

“The narrative became the stick, and he knocked at the door and the door was not opened, he went legal, some of his followers went legal, they got compensation government did not pay, their members where being hunted and hounded, so they went into violence and that violence has festered to what we have today” he said.

Also speaking , the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj-Gen. Babagana Mongonu, said addressing violent extremism require a coordinated, comprehensive approach that addresses underlying structural and economic problems.

Monguno added nations should as well significantly improve their capacity in securing their borders while denying terrorists mobility and safe havens.

“This approach must necessarily be anchored on continued political and economic growth and improvement, including good governance, strengthening institutions, especially the criminal justice system, and increasing access to jobs and education opportunities for a bulging youth population, build an inclusive administration that takes into account yearnings and aspirations of all,” he said.

The NSA traced the rise of violent extremism and terrorism which swept through the sahel region to events in Libya and Mali which he said emboldened radical and criminal elements in the subregion, increasing their access to sofisticated weapons.

He said the theme of the workshop is quite appropriate as it will add to the growing body of knowledge that would shape national, regional and global policy in tackling the many challenges of violent extremism.

A stable future he said, depends on a coordinated approach to security, peace and development. ”

I believe that such a coordinated approach should prioritise the restoration of democratic governance, protection of civilian populations and victims of violence, promote human rights, undertake security sector reform, and consistently build the capacity of state institutions to discharge their primary responsibilities. Doing all this is important in each country because terrorists dislodged in one country could show up in other ungoverned territories. This realisation calls for a joint and collaborative effort in all countries of the World. Organisations such as Club de Madrid, comprising leaders all over the World can positively contribute to this effort.”

The NSA also emphasized need to care for the humanitarian challenges caused by food insecurity, drought, climate change and Internally Displaced Persons from conflict areas, estimated at over 20 million people in the Sahel region alone . ”

In the long run our success will depend on how effectively we address the underlying causes of insecurity and instability by finding lasting solutions to the challenges of governance, democratic institutions, and a lack of opportunities.

‘To be effective in preventing violent extremism, we must always act regionally and internationally in our efforts. Such efforts must address the security threat posed by violent extremists and criminal networks, while building capacity and strengthening institutions. ” This has become crucial if we consider recent happenings in our society. The rise of misguided groups who hijack and misinterpret the true meaning of scripture and religious text to justify criminality and cause loss of lives in monumental scales.

“We must be in anguish to see how within a very short period our communities have suffered from attacks, bombings, including suicide bombings and kidnappings. While we are in pain we cannot afford to despair and not ask the right questions. Our finding points to the fact that these groups, especially Boko Haram believe they are waging a Jihad. Boko Haram is against the constitution, against nationhood, education and democracy and believe that Muslims should not work in government, nor co-exist with non Muslims.

“They have consistently proclaimed these beliefs through their messages online and offline. ”

Understanding these violent narratives is a precondition to effectively countering them. Indeed, Late Sheikh Adam Jaafar and Sheikh Awwal Albany left behind detailed counter narratives against Boko Haram, which deconstructed the building blocks of violent extremist ideology preached by Boko Haram.

‘In defeating violent extremist propaganda, we must closely examine some of these narratives and locate them within the discourse on Islam, democracy, and globalisation and what these portends for the protection of religious sanctity and community security, he said.

Accordingly he said government, researchers and the civil society must work together to understand and decimate the threat of violent extremism,.while religious preachers must counter the violent ideology propagated by extremist groups.

A delegation of 130 Christian pilgrims sponsored by the Borno State government on Tuesday in Jerusalem, Israel, concluded two days of prayer and fasting for the quick recovery of ailing President Muhammadu Buhari.

The delegation, comprising 50 clergies, 15 officials of government was enjoined by Governor Kashim Shettima, in a farewell message, to pray for Mr. Buhari who is receiving medical care in London.

Mr. Shettima had implored the pilgrims to dedicate themselves to the rituals of the pilgrimage and “pray specifically for President Buhari who has liberated Borno from the hands of Boko Haram”.

According to a statement issued from Jerusalem by a spokesperson of the governor, Kwapchi Bata, the pilgrims led by the state chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Mohammed Naga, a bishop, had declared two days “fasting and fervent prayers for President Buhari’s health and quick return to Nigeria to continue the good works he had started such as the end to Boko Haram insurgency”.

“The pilgrims had also prayed for lasting peace to return to Borno as well as for wisdom (like) King Solomon for Governor Kashim Shettima as he steers the affairs of Borno”.

The statement said the two days of prayers and fasting were choosen to coincide with the pilgrims’ visits to some of the significant holy sites.

Miss Bata said the pilgrims visited the western gate in Jerusalem known as “Wailing Wall”, which is considered sacred and a holy spot where prayer items are written on slips of paper and inserted on cracks on the wall.

She said they also visited the church at Bethesda where Jesus is believed to have performed his first miracle of healing a man who was sick for 39 years, and also the tomb of Christ.

A leader of the delegation, Ayuba Wakawa, thanked Governor Shettima for giving the Christian community a sense of belonging in the state.