₦airaland Forum

Grgton:
Where is the traffic?? I thought flyover is built to contend traffic flow

Awkabigboy:
i have passed through this mountainous place in Edda on my way to Ohafia in Abia state. This bridge is well needed. It will prevent the accidents on the top of that hill. Infact Abia people stand to benefit as much as Ebonyi people because it will make going to Abribra, Ohafia and Arochukwu to either calabar or Enugu easier

ednut1:
Lake Simcoe in Ontario in its frozen state. The tents are people fishing after drilling through the ice. Weather was minus 14 degrees with wind feel of minus 20 degrees.

Thirty children and teenagers from Ebonyi State have been rescued from human traffickers in Ogun State.
The trafficked children are all indigenes of Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.


They were rescued through the support of member representing Ikwo/Ezza South Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Chinedu Ogah, in conjunction with the Lagos branch of Ikwo Development Union.
A video had gone viral of some of the children showing marks and injuries they allegedly suffered at the hands of a man named Jeremiah Morris, a kinsman, who allegedly took them to Ogun State and forced them to hawk for him.
Imeba Igwe, Secretary Ikwo Development Union, Lagos Branch, who led the rescue mission, confirmed that the children were all from Ikwo LGA.
He said some of them had left Ikwọ because of the incessant communal clashes in their area.
The IDU Secretary also said the suspected trafficker had been arrested and was in police custody.
He said, “This is a difficult situation. The children we met are about 30 in number and between 12 and 13 years of age, and some others under Ogun State police custody are said to be between 18 and 20 years old.
“It was narrated that Mr Jeremiah Morris took them to Ogun State for safety reasons but dumped them on arrival, each living by survival of the fittest, including prostitution and others.
“We gathered that Jeremiah could not take care of them, and after suffering starvation and hunger at his hands, they tried to engage in menial jobs for daily bread.
“In the process, those in charge of destitute caught them. Since they could not explain themselves fluently in English, they were tortured and bullied.
“The culprit was rounded up along with the children based on a tip off from concerned citizens who suspected a foul play from the man after noticing that he kept bringing underage children in their numbers to this particular location.
“The children said that he brought them here to hawk groundnuts for him. A good number of them were in JSS 1, 2 and 3 before they were brought here and they have been hawking groundnuts for him since they came. Some have been here for two years, some for six months while some of them came this January.
“It was at this moment that some of them between the age of 18 and 20 were arrested, including Mr Jeremiah Morris, and taken to the police station at Songhai in Ogun State.”

Baawaa:
Joke

Published 14 February 2022

Ahead of 2023 general elections, the Pan Niger Delta Forum has said zoning and rotation of key political positions cannot be discarded in a diverse and complex society like Nigeria.

PANDEF’s position, which was contained in a statement titled, ‘PANDEF’s reaction to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s Statement on Zoning’, on Monday, was in reaction to claim by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, that the country’s constitution does not recognise zoning.

Atiku had while speaking at a meeting with members of a group, ‘Let’s Fix Nigeria’, last Thursday, faulted the call on the Peoples Democratic Party to zone its presidential ticket to a particular region of the country.

“Fundamentally, the Constitution says all of us can run. The Constitution has not barred any one of us. There is no zoning in the Constitution; there is none. I was a member of the constituent assembly that drafted the current Constitution and there was nothing like that,” he argued.

However, PANDEF National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Ken Robinson, on Monday, said that Atiku’s claim was not justified given the prevailing circumstances in the country, adding that “It is rather unfortunate that the former Vice President drew such a conclusion”.

According to him, he (Atiku) knows his statement is inconsistent with established and justifiable protocols and conventions, which have helped to sustain considerable understanding, peace, and stability in the polity.

“Truth is, the narrative that there is no zoning in the nation’s Constitution is a conscienceless mockery of our democratic evolution, and indeed, the country’s constitution.

“It bears underscoring that Nigeria’s Constitution, though flawed, has ample provisions that emphasize inclusiveness, fairness, and equity.

“Section 14(3) of the Constitution (as amended) provides that “the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or any of its agencies.” The intent and purpose of this section are precise and explicit.

“PANDEF, accordingly, further calls on all political parties to zone their presidential ticket to the South; any political party that does otherwise shall not have our support in 2023.

“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and other northerners expressing interest to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 ought to understand that their desire flies in the face of natural justice.

“It would be, therefore, sufficient to implore former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the other northerners to shelve their ambitions now and support the emergence of credible individuals from the south as presidential candidates of their various political parties. Anything otherwise would be undignifying and injurious to national concord,” Robinson said.

Published 12 February 2022

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is set to speak with his US and French counterparts on Saturday after the United States warned that Moscow could invade Ukraine in days.

The United States had dramatically raised the alarm over Ukraine on Friday, saying a Russian invasion starting with civilians caught under aerial bombing could begin in days and telling US citizens to leave within 48 hours.

In a diplomatic flurry to head off a possible invasion, Putin will speak with Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron on Saturday.

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said he would also speak to Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, the same day, terming this “a pivotal moment” in the crisis, and that his government was “prepared for whatever should happen”.

“We continue to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving around Ukraine’s borders,” Blinken said at a press conference in Fiji.

“If Russia is genuinely interested in resolving this crisis of its own making through diplomacy and dialogue, we’re prepared to do that,” he said.

The White House had earlier warned of an attack by the more than 100, 000 Russian troops currently massed next to Ukraine, even while the Beijing Olympics were still underway.

Blinken added that dialogue would only be possible if accompanied by “de-escalation”.

“So far, we’ve only seen escalation from Moscow,” he said, adding that Russia had yet to respond to “some of the ideas” floated by Washington. “I’ll be asking Mr Lavrov if we can anticipate a response in the coming days, to see if we can carry the dialogue forward.”

Blinken declined to confirm whether the United States would be evacuating its embassy staff from Kyiv: “We’ll have more to say about that in the coming hours,” he said.

On Friday, White House National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, called on Americans to immediately leave Ukraine, warning a Russian attack “is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians.”

While stressing that it was not yet known whether Putin had taken a decision, saying “we can’t predict the exact determination”, Sullivan made clear the United States was bracing for the worst, including a “rapid assault” on the capital, Kyiv.

Sullivan spoke shortly after President Joe Biden and six European leaders; the heads of NATO, and the European Union, held talks on the worst crisis between the West and Russia since the end of the Cold War.

A US official said Biden would speak with Putin on Saturday, while Paris said Macron would also be calling the Russian leader on Saturday.

Underlining the bleak outlook, a string of countries joined the exodus of diplomats and citizens from Ukraine, while oil prices surged and US equities tumbled.

— Western, NATO unity —
Sullivan repeated warnings that Russia risked severe Western sanctions, and said that NATO, which Putin wanted to push back from Eastern Europe, was now “more cohesive, more purposeful, more dynamic than any time in recent memory.”

The Pentagon announced it was sending 3, 000 more troops to bolster ally Poland.

Following the earlier group phone call between the US and European leaders, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman said, “The aim is to prevent a war in Europe, but if Moscow fails to pull back, the allies are determined to jointly take swift and deep sanctions against Russia.”

These sanctions would target the financial and energy sectors, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said.

Sullivan spoke to der Leyen’s Chief of Staff, Bjoern Seibert, by video call on Friday, to coordinate “the details of a potential transatlantic response, including both financial sanctions and export controls,” according to a White House statement.

— Russia surrounding Ukraine —
Russian naval forces and troops, including units brought in from all over the vast country, now surround Ukraine to the South, East and North.

Russia, which denies any plan to attack Ukraine, already controls the Crimea territory seized in 2014, and supports separatist forces controlling Ukraine’s Donbas region in the East.

The Kremlin says its goal is to get NATO to agree to never give Ukraine membership, and also to withdraw from Eastern European countries already in the alliance, effectively carving Europe into Cold War-style spheres of influence.

The United States and its European allies reject the demands, insisting that NATO poses no threat to Russia.

Adding to tensions, large-scale Russian military drills were underway Friday with authoritarian ally Belarus, which lies just North of Kyiv and also borders the European Union.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday it was also holding military exercises near Ukraine’s border in the Black Sea.

According to the head of Norway’s military intelligence service, Russia is operationally ready to conduct a wide range of military operations in Ukraine, and the Kremlin just needs to make the call.

Top US General, Mark Milley, and his Russian counterpart, Valery Gerasimov, talked on Friday by phone, the Pentagon said, giving no details of the discussion.

AFP

Former Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki has opened up on why and how he supported Muhammadu Buhari (then as the APC candidate) to emerge President of Nigeria.

The former Senate President said he believed the change agenda been championed by Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) then.

However, he added that it soon became obvious that President Buhari had no meaningful change to offer Nigerians and hence the need to cut ties with him and his party.

Saraki made the disclosure on Saturday during a Twitter space discussion with Rinu of the #End SARS protest.

The former Kwara Governor said he like many others had high hopes of the Buhari administration but ended up getting disappointed.

“My view in 2015, honestly, was that there was an issue of security and the level of corruption at that time and the issue of integrity, ability to lead the country with honesty and good intentions; a lot of us felt that there was going to be a change,” he said.

“There was nothing personally one was gaining out of it. It wasn’t that one was doing it out of any personal gain at all.

“You could see that when I realized that what we hoped to achieve and deliver for Nigerians was not happening, we parted ways.

“I think that that was an acceptance for me to say that this was not what we bargained for. That is the truth, I am speaking from the heart about what happened.

“We had great hopes and intentions. It did not happen. I, unlike others, said ‘look this is not what I promised Nigerians, and I can’t continue’, and we parted ways, and that is the truth about that.”

Over 60 per cent of Nigerians who participated in a poll believe that the country should be included in the list of countries whose citizens are exempted from writing the IELTS exam when they want to study or work in the UK. The poll also showed that less than six per cent of Nigerians believe the IELTS for Nigerians should be left the way it is.

In the past few months, many Nigerians have called on the government of the United Kingdom (UK) to reform the policy of the English proficiency test, IELTS, in Nigeria.

While some demanded a reduction in the cost of the tests and an increase in the validity period, others demanded Nigeria’s removal from the list of countries required to take the test.

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is a major requirement for citizens of any country who wish to relocate to the UK for work or study opportunities.

The cost of the test in Nigeria ranges between N80,000 and N90,000 – an aspect which has prompted many Nigerians to describe the exercise as “extortion.”

Besides the cost, the test is only valid for two years and can only be taken in 12 cities across the country – another criterion many Nigerians have deemed unfair.

But while there has been a general call for a total reform of the IELTS policy, many Nigerians were particular about asking the UK government to include the country in its Visa and Immigration (VI) list, a poll conducted by PREMIUM TIMES shows.

Already, countries like Barbados, Guyana, the Bahamas and Belize are on the list which exempts their citizens from the IELTS. Other countries on the list are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and Grenada.

Following the social media attention that the issue generated, PREMIUM TIMES conducted a poll to test the views of Nigerians on the topic.

The Poll

The poll, which ran on PREMIUM TIMES’ website and its official Twitter handle, lasted for five days. On Twitter and the website, it was conducted in a way that made it impossible for a respondent to vote more than once from the same computer or mobile device.

The voters were asked a single question: “What do you think should be changed about IELTS for Nigerians?”

On the Website, the question had five options for participants to choose from.

– Price should be reduced

– Validity period should be increased

– Price should be reduced and validity period increased.

– Nigeria should be added to the UKVI exemption list.

– IELTS for Nigerians should be left as it currently is.

Because Twitter allows only four options, the third option was not included.

A total of 2,125 respondents voted across the two platforms.

On the PREMIUM TIMES’ website, 1,468 people voted. About 60.2 per cent (884) of the respondents said Nigeria should be added to the UKVI list, while 18.9 per cent (277) said the price should be reduced and validity period increased.

Another eight per cent (117 respondents) said they only want the validity period increased while 7.7 per cent (113 respondents) only want the cost of the examination reduced. Only 5.2 per cent of the respondents (77) said the IELTS for Nigerians should be left as it currently is.

On Twitter, the respondents had only four options to choose from as allowed by the social media platform. A total of 657 participants voted. About 40.9 per cent of the respondents (269) called for Nigeria’s inclusion in the UKVI list, 32.1 per cent want the validity period extended, 24.2 per cent want the cost of the examination reduced while only 2.7 per cent said the IELTS should be left as it is for Nigerians.

Call for reform

While this is not the first time many Nigerians will be asking the UK to reform the IELTS policy in the country, the recent call, which started a few months ago, has been the most pronounced.

Nigerians are currently kicking against the policy, describing it as a rip-off and accusing the UK of commercialising the test. They have taken to social media using hashtags like #ReformIELTSPolicy, #IELTS, and #TOEFL, among others, to drive home their demands.

A youth-led open-source policy platform, Policy Shapers, is at the forefront of this call. The group has initiated an online petition on Change.org, wondering why none of the over 20 anglophone countries in Africa is on the list of countries exempted from taking the test.

This, they say, is “despite the fact that these African countries are former British colonies and belong to the Commonwealth.”

The petition, addressed to Secretary of the UK Home Office, Priti Patel, has been signed by over 70,000 people.

However, in its response to enquiries made as to why Nigeria is not on the UKVI exemption list, the criteria used for selecting countries and why Nigerians are subjected to the test, the UK Home Office, in charge of the test, said it had no evidence yet that majority of Nigerians spoke English as the first language.

It said it must have evidence that at least 51 per cent of the population speaks English as a first language for a country to be included in the list.

The UK High Commission had also said that while individual test providers set the fees, they are always comparable to what is charged globally.

When asked if Nigeria meets the target going by the fact that the majority are made to speak their indigenous languages while growing up, the founder of Policy Shapers, Ebenezer Wikina, noted that many countries on the UKVI exemption list have indegenous languages as well.

“We did some data mining and we found out that on that same list, the countries there, speak a combined 82 additional languages. People often refer to our indigenous languages as a reason why we should write the IELTs and so we just thought maybe they feel like our native languages corrupt our English so is it possible that their own languages corrupt theirs,” Mr Wikina said.

“Some countries like Guyana speak as much as 18 and it’s a very small island. So, why not us?

“There’s another data that shows that more than 60 per cent of Nigeria’s population is under 24 years old. We have a young population. If you call an average 24-year-old, most of them struggle to speak their indigenous language.”

Nigeria not alone

Apparently, Nigerians are not the only ones calling on the UK to reform the IELTS policy.

Citizens of Ghana, Cameroon and Malawi have made similar calls.

On Saturday, Ghana’s second deputy speaker of parliament, Andrew Asiamah, mandated the parliament’s Education and Foreign Affairs Committee to look into the IELTS policy as it relates to Ghanaians.

His directive was sequel to a statement by a fellow lawmaker, who expressed the view that the test was being used as a source of revenue for the UK government.

The lawmakers, like Nigerians, had argued that Ghana is a Commonwealth nation and English is the official language of the state and the language of instruction in Ghanaian Schools.

Meanwhile, in Malawi, over 7,300 Malawians signed a petition asking the UK government to exempt them from taking the test before they can be accepted for studies in the UK.

A media practitioner, Rogers Siula, who launched the petition in 2021, told a local newspaper that the call was not only because English is Malawi’s official language, but also because the country was a former British Protectorate.

With over 70,000 signatures in Nigeria, many are hopeful that the IELTS policy in Nigeria will be reviewed.

At least 43 people were killed in various attacks by non-state actors across Nigeria last week (January 30 – February 5).

Four of those killed were security personnel – three police officers and one soldier – while the rest were civilians including one traditional ruler.

The figure for the week signifies an increase by about 50 per cent when compared to the previous week where at least 25 people were killed.

Four geopolitical zones recorded at least one incident while the North-east and South-west zones had no reported incident.

PREMIUM TIMES compiled the incidents from media reports. Thus, unreported cases are not included.

Below are the recorded incidents:


South-south

A soldier was killed and two others injured as gunmen attacked troops in Rivers State.

The incident happened in the early hours of last Sunday at the boundary bridge between the Asari-Toru Local Government Area in the Kalabari region and the Emohua Local Government Area of the state.

North-west

Bandits numbering about 200, on Thursday night, attacked Yangayya in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State.

They killed the village head, Jafaru Rabiu, and four others.

The police command confirmed the attack and the killings.

In Zamfara State, gunmen invaded Nasarawa ward in Bakura Local Government Area. They killed three persons including a Chief Imam of the area, Akilu Dan Malam.

The attack occurred at about 2:00 p.m. on Thursday.

In a separate incident in Zamfara, bandits killed at least 30 people, and abducted several others, mostly women, in separate attacks Friday afternoon.

The attacked communities are Nasarawar Mai Fara in Tsafe Local Government Area, Yar Katsina in Bungudu Local Government Area and Nasarawa village in Bakura Local Government Area.

South-east

The police in Anambra State, Nigeria’s South-east, arrested a man for allegedly killing his brother and setting the corpse ablaze.

The incident happened on Sunday in Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area in Anambra, according to a statement issued on Monday by the police spokesperson in the state, Tochukwu Ikenga.

The arrested man was identified as Onyedika Nnofu.

North-central

Three police officers were on Thursday killed, while an unspecified number of others were abducted in a banditry raid of a police station in Niger State.

The report gathered that the gunmen in a night raid stormed Ishau police station in the Paikoro Local Government Area of the state and carried out the attack.

Some soldiers have lambasted the Nigerian Army spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, for attacking SaharaReporters over a story about non-payment of their salaries and allowances for January.

SaharaReporters had reported that many soldiers were being owed salaries but the Nigerian Army spokesperson dismissed the claims.


Nwachukwu in a statement on Friday described the story as misleading and inciting.

“The Nigerian Army has been notified of a publication by SaharaReporters alleging that personnel of the Nigerian Army lamented delay in payment of their January salary, with many paid peanuts, while generals feed fat.

“This report is not only misleading, but a grandiose attempt to incite personnel against established precept of discipline in the NA.

“For avoidance of doubt, since the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya, assumed command, he has prioritised the welfare of officers, soldiers and their families, including ensuring prompt payment of salaries, allowances and all statutory entitlements to personnel.

“Therefore, the allegation suggesting delay and non implementation of new salary increase is a reckless falsehood in all its intent and purposes.

“It is therefore instructive to state that for the month of January, all salaries and allowances have been paid. The attempt to stir up discontent and whip up sentiment with regards to the unsubstantiated and baseless report that generals feed fat is an outrageous frivolity. It is an attempt to incite personnel against the institution and cause disaffection in the ranks and should therefore be outrightly discountenanced.

“The NA wishes to call on all credible media to distance themselves from the apparent unprofessional and disgraceful yellow journalism practiced by some media channels and purveyors of fake of news. Our troops are in high spirit and would not be distracted by any mischievous submission by agent provocateurs,” the statement had read.

However, some soldiers and officers across different divisions insisted they were yet to get their January pay.

They described Nwachukwu as an embarrassment to the army.

“That’s our problem, how can he claimed we are not being owned. These generals don’t rate us at all. One thing I noticed is that salary payment has always been delayed since the new COAS was appointed. Those who have received salary in my division are not up to 6. Why denying the story? He is gradually becoming an embarrassment to the army,” a soldier serving in Borno told SaharaReporters.

Another soldier said the army was yet to pay him any money since this year began.

He said, “I’m yet to get a kobo from the army, I read the statement from the army spokesperson that they are not owning us and I laugh, is he even touching his salary? These are people that leave on bonus and allowances, so he can’t really know what we are passing through. How many of the Generals are in war front today? They sit down in Abuja yet not ready to pay those in different operations.”

A soldier had earlier told SaharaReporters that the least officer in the army earns N50, 000 which is about $120.

According to him, the low salary range is already very discouraging and even worse that the payment of such is being delayed.

He had said, “The army has not paid any soldier in all parts of Nigeria, January salary. There was an issue of increment of salary some years ago, but up until now, the least person in the Nigerian Army, earns N50, 000, that’s about $120 per month, that’s what the lowest-ranked soldier in the Nigerian Army earns.

“Up till now, nothing like increment of salary, the big men have disorganised the issue of increment of salary till date. We have not heard anything about that. Now, this small one they’re paying, to pay early so we can use it to do something for ourselves, is now a problem. People are complaining, everybody is angry over the salary issue.”

Seplat Energy, Nigeria’s biggest energy company by market value, Sahara Group, ND Western Limited and Tony Elumelu-backed Heirs Oil and Gas are in contention to take over an equity interest said to be worth $4 billion, held by the Nigerian unit of Hague-based Oil Major, Shell Plc, via a joint venture, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people close to the negotiation.

The four bidders handed in the non-binding offers last month for a stake, estimated by Wood Mackenzie in August to be $2.3 billion using a long-term oil benchmark of $50 per barrel.

All the four did not comment, the outlet said.

Shell’s slice of the joint venture is 30 per cent, while state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation owns 55 per cent, TotalEnergies SE 10 per cent and Eni 5 per cent.

The company is stepping up plans to fully divest its Nigerian investment by offloading the residue of its onshore and shallow-water assets, having set the process in motion over 10 years ago.

“Shell has yet to disclose to buyers the scale of potential future costs related to litigation or decommissioning and abandoning oil wells, which could bring down the sale price significantly,” said Bloomberg, quoting an unnamed source who does not want his identity divulged.

Increasingly, Shell is disposing of its assets in Africa’s biggest producer in a bid to move to cleaner energy as part of the push to boost its climate credentials.

In November, Emeka Onwuka, the chief financial officer of Seplat, said its company was holding talks with another oil driller ExxonMobil towards purchasing its Nigerian shallow water assets.

The Senator representing Taraba South Senatorial District in the red chamber, Emmanuel Bwacha, said he left the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress to escape the “apparent persecution” of the state governor, Darius Ishaku.

Bwacha, who was until his defection on Thursday, the Senate Deputy Minority Leader, also said the PDP as a national party didn’t offend him but his grouse was with the leadership of the party in Taraba.

He spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme monitored by The PUNCH.

The lawmaker lamented “deliberate isolation from the governor”, adding that the dispute between himself and the governor was not from his part.

“I actually cannot point out exactly what is his (Ishaku’s) problem with me,” he said, adding that the governor barred public officials from attending his constituency projects and his other political activities.

“We (Ishaku and I) worked together in 2015 but in 2019, suddenly this hate came. I tried to speak to him about issues but it had always earned me hate. I tried to see him at a point but he shut the door at me,” the Senator said, adding that past and present leadership of the PDP didn’t help reconciliatory efforts.

Bwacha further alleged that Ishaku did all he could to ensure he didn’t return to the Senate in 2019, and that the governor also have been against his political progress.

He said, “I have not made public declaration about becoming a governor but there have been innuendos, insinuations. People have also been putting pressure on me to run for governor. And I overheard someone say that the only condition for me to sit with him (Ishaku) is if I would drop my gubernatorial ambition.”

Bwacha said the governor was wrong to have made the condition for them to reconcile conditioned on him dropping any ambition.

He said his defection is not about winning an election. “It is about an environment where you are not being persecuted, where you are given a latitude to operate, a free playing ground.

“My people are not in support of such persecution, they see me going through persecution that is unnecessary,” he noted.

“If you are staying in an environment where you will not survive, if you remain there, you are doing it at your own peril and I would not be part of such danger, I won’t endanger my political future in an environment where I am not guaranteed a clear future,” he added.

The PUNCH had earlier reported that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), alongside APC Caretaker Chairman and Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, welcomed Bwacha into the APC on Thursday.

Ijaw National Leader, Edwin Clark, has offered to support the presidential ambition of former Senate President Bukola Saraki if there is no consensus on a southern candidate.

He described Saraki as “the best for Nigeria.”

Clark spoke in Abuja when the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Contact and Advocacy Council, headed by its National Chairman, Iyorwuese Hagher, paid him a courtesy call to inform him about the plan of the former Kwara governor to contest the 2023 presidential election.

During the visit, the group spoke on the need for national cohesion through the emergence of a presidential candidate who, over time, has shown character and competence to deliver on national issues.

Clark emphasised the need to present a credible candidate who understands the dynamics in every part of Nigeria, citing the fact that Saraki possessed all the qualities.

Clark, according to The Nation, also noted the sterling performance of Saraki in the 8th Senate, while emphasising that if the Southern part of the country fails to produce a consensus candidate, he would support Saraki’s presidential ambition.

“We have been agitating for the presidency to be zoned to the south. However, if we fail to come up with a consensus candidate in the South, I will have no option but to support Dr. Bukola Saraki,” Clark declared.

Published 29 January 2022

The Anambra State Governor-Elect, Chukwuma Soludo, has noted that fixing politics in Nigeria requires new developmental organisations.

Soludo was speaking at the 2021 Pioneer Class Graduation Ceremony of the School of Politics, Policy and Governance in Abuja on Saturday with the theme: ” Emergence of the Unconventionals”.

He charged the graduates to be ready to show honesty and their knowledge to have a new Nigeria, to create the change that would lead to having a new Nigeria.

The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria said, “Fixing politics requires talents and skills. But these won’t be enough. It won’t happen by lone wolves working in silos.

“It requires new developmental organisations – organisations/teams of believers, driven by defined ideology, purpose and character.

“Let’s be clear about one point: Nigeria does not lack a well educated/skilled and widely-travelled stock of human capital to drive its development.

“A key missing link is purpose-driven cohesion and organisation for transformation of the homeland.”

He further called for a new liberation movement in Africa and Nigeria as a country, that would promote the selfless service of political leaders.

Soludo said that the liberation struggle for independent Africa was driven by a nationalist ideology anchored by a developmental state.

He said, “There is almost a sense of nostalgia, recalling the mission and accomplishments of our founding fathers, especially as we contemplate the world without oil.

“Much of the existing social order is founded on competition for, and distribution of rents, oil and the easy money that came with it destroyed the social fabric and the elite created new institutions and political structures to maximise their gains.

“As the noose tightened globally on other rentier/criminal enterprises such as drug trafficking or internet scamming, many of the barons flocked into politics as the next easy alternative.

“Politics has become big business. Appointment or election into public office is seen largely as an opportunity to ‘eat’ rather than a call to selfless service.”

Soludo added that a classic feature of the political environment is that corruption has become part of the “culture”, with little incentive for honesty.

He said that honesty has been scorned as wickedness, foolishness or mere pretence, saying that those who dare to be different have a steep price to pay.

In her remark, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, Founder of SPPG, lamented the way politics in Africa is being run, saying it had distorted the society.

Ezekwesili charged the graduates to embrace leadership skills that would transform the society. Leaders take the pain so that others can enjoy it.

“The society must be contested for and you should pioneer the space for that leadership,” she said.

She said that the school would be replicated in another six African countries as a way of liberating Africa out of extractive colonialism.