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STATE governments across the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been asked to ban the use of motorcycle as means of public transportation.

In a communiqué issued yesterday in Abuja at the end of the 13th Council meeting on transport held in Lagos, participants agreed for the Nigeria Inland Waterways Agency (NIWA) to establish an office at Alape in Ilaje local council of Ondo State.

This gesture, according to the communiqué, was to strengthen operations of the agency and ensure safety of the waterways.

It reads, “The federal and state governments should facilitate the transformation of the road sector through the PPP Initiative and where tolling is part of that strategy, ensure the provision of an alternative route

“States should discourage the use of commercial motorcycles as a means of public transportation.

“NIWA should consider the establishment of Inland River Port at Alape, Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State for implementation in line with its development plans for the development of Inland Waterways.”

The council resolved to absorb indigenous freight forwarders to participate in government contracts which have freight components.

Moreover, the Federal Ministry of Works and Transport were tasked to facilitate the construction of bridges around interstate corridors in order to increase span of the nation’s highways.

According to the council, laws which had restricted state governments from embarking on federal infrastructures needed to be reviewed.

It further stated that “state governments are encouraged to establish functional Vehicle Inspection Offices (VIO) to ensure proper road safety enforcement, drivers’ license processing and road worthiness testing.

“Council resolved that all parties should ensure full implementation and respect for the tripartite arrangement in place for the Unified National Drivers Licence Scheme, as it relates to states and FRSC such that the process starts and ends with the state accredited agency.

“Council resolved that NIWA should consider the dredging of shallow areas of inland waterways, provide navigational aids and remove wrecks littering the inland waterways.”

Over 1000 Nigerians are being held in inhumane conditions in a warehouse in Saudi Arabia over issues concerning incomplete residency papers, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on its tweeter on Thursday.

A Nigerian who spoke to the BBC Hausa Service from the General Service detention centre at Al-Shumaisy, near Makkah, said hundreds of them are being detained under “unbearable condition” for over two weeks, claiming that no Nigerian consulate official had visited them.

“At least, we are Nigerians. There are about 1,000 of us here in the detention facility, including women and children. We spent at least two weeks here. Some of us could not even perform five daily prayers because they are sick and they are not receiving any medical attention. They put us under air-conditioner and everybody is shivering because of cold,” one of the detainees said.

He said that they were detained along with nationals from Niger, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Mali and Pakistan, among others; adding that unlike Nigeria, other countries have since come forward to pick their nationals.

He claimed that they couldn’t reach Nigerian consulate officials. “We could not reach Nigerian officials since we were detained here. We were asked to come out, and we obeyed. But they are keeping us here, “he said.

THE International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) has decried the high rate of child abuses and defilement in the South-East geo-political zone of the country, saying that about 15 children in Enugu State alone were raped by their fathers between July and November, this year.

Chairperson of FIDA, Enugu State branch, Nkiru Ugwu-Nwabueze, stated this, on Thursday, during the opening of FIDA Week 2013 in Enugu.

Ugwu-Nwabueze, who expressed regret that the children were defiled by those they call uncles, brothers, advised parents to always give their female children sex education to enable them know some sensitive parts of the body.

According to her, among recent cases which FIDA swung into action to obtain justice was the defilement of a three-year-old girl by her biological father.

She disclosed that the evil father defiled his three-year-old child while changing her pampers, adding that the father, after committing the crime, claimed that his wife, who might have raised the alarm, was mad.

Ugwu-Nwabueze further averred that after investigations carried out by FIDA officials, it was discovered the suspect actually defiled her daughter and that his wife, whom he claimed was mad, only had minor challenges after birth.

She also disclosed that FIDA facilitated the arrest of a man who started defiling a girl when she was five years, adding that there was another case of a nine-year-old girl who was recently defiled by her uncle at Ezeagu, in Enugu State.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Chairperson of FIDA Week/20th Anniversary Planning Committee, Edith Okorie, had said that the theme of the week long event was very apt, saying when “you empower a woman, you have empowered a nation.”

In her paper entitled: ‘Women empowerment, its gains and challenges’ which was presented at the event, the Solicitor-General/Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Enugu, Mrs A. Onaga, had stated that President Goodluck Jonathan had gone a long way in giving effective representation to women in political and public office appointments.

President Jonathan’s administration, according to her, had scored high marks on the empowerment of women, adding that women now know that they could aspire to the highest office in this country.

The theme of this year’s women legal week, held at Filbon Hotel, Enugu, was entitled: ‘Women Empowerment and Sustainable Development with Emphasis on the Gains/Challenges’.

JECBOSS: I thought APC said they were all Accredited Election Observers. The truth is gradually coming out.
Meanwhile, Congrats to the New Governor Elect of Anambra state, Chief Willie Maduabuchi Obiano.

JECBOSS: Safe trip and Happy Birthday Sir!
I'm only confused on why the Petroleum Minister must always be on GEJ's entourage for all his trips.

A principal actor in the controversial Anambra governorship election of November 16 has reportedly made sterling revelations to his interrogators in Abuja.

Mr Okeke Chukwujekwu, the electoral officer in charge of Idemili North local government area of Anambra State, currently in police detention over his role in the electoral saga, was said to have told his police investigators that he was “being used and dumped”.

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, had, in the heat of the controversies generated by the flawed poll, admitted that the “electoral officer” in Idemili North “messed up” and that he would be handed over to the police for prosecution.

Chukwujekwu was moved to Abuja on Sunday, just as INEC said it was conducting a probe into the deliberate sabotage of the governorship election.

A top official involved in the election confided in LEADERSHIP yesterday that the arrested INEC official had made useful statements even as he was apprehensive that top directors of INEC might be “implicated”.

“The way this whole thing is going, it looks as if many heads will roll in INEC because the young man has made useful statements and if what he said is anything to rely upon, it then means that some big names in that commission might fall with him.

“At first, he was trying to rationalise his action in that local government area when he was verbally quizzed before the intervention of the police; but, after some time, especially at the point of his detention, he started to cooperate but the cooperation is loaded because he has mentioned some top officials of INEC, especially directors and a PDP chieftain, as those who ‘put him in trouble’.

Although the source declined to disclose the identities of those involved, he said “preliminary confessions” point to the fact that the bungled election in most LGAs of the state was “packaged by aggrieved politicians in connivance with top INEC officials both in Abuja and Awka” adding: “It was a well-funded package.”

“All fingers point to some aggrieved politicians and it was a well-funded package that involved quite a lot of people; that is why the man is saying he has been used and dumped,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jega has said all enquiries regarding arrests made in the bungled Anambra election should be referred to the police.

Jega’s chief press secretary, Kayode Idowu, told LEADERSHIP on the telephone that INEC would not comment on the arrested official who allegedly played a key role in the flawed poll.

“One, I cannot say anything on his matter because the police has taken over a larger chunk of the matter; only the police can say something on the role of the man arrested and how far they have gone with their investigation; so you have to contact the police.

“Again, it will be out of place for me to reel out what the commission intends to do. Mind you, INEC is also carrying out its administrative interrogation on his matter,” he said.

President Goodluck Jonathan will leave Abuja early Wednesday for London where he is scheduled to preside over a three-day meeting of Nigeria’s Honourary International Investors’ Council.

Issues on the agenda of the meeting include generating long-term affordable finance for Nigeria’s real sector, developing Nigeria’s private equity and venture capital sectors to attract more foreign investments as well as Nigeria’s information and communications technology master-plan.

Special Adviser Media to the president, Reuben Abati said the meeting of the council which is coordinated by Baroness Lynda Chalker will also feature a review of Nigeria’s existing investment policies by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Paris-based international organization dedicated to the promotion of policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

Members of the council include the CEO of the Investment Corporation of Dubai, Mr. Mohammed al Shaibani, a former South African Minister of Public Enterprises, Mr. Alec Erwin, the Vice President of Hewlett-Packard’s Enterprise Group in Europe, Middle-East and Africa, Mr. Olivier Suinat, a former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Shaukat Aziz and the Director of Shell’s International Upstream Business, Mr. Andrew Brown.

President Jonathan will be accompanied by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, Senator Nenadi Usman, Hon. Sylvester Ogbaga, Hon. Isiaka Bawa, the Coordinating of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Dr. Olusegun Aganga and the Governor of the Central Bank, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi.

Others on the President’s entourage include the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, the Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, the Minister of State (Foreign Affairs), Prof. Viola Onwuliri and heads of relevant government agencies.

The accompanying Ministers and heads of agencies will brief the gathering on developments in their areas of responsibility, and also lead discussions on proposals for overcoming identified challenges.

The President is due back in Abuja at the weekend.