₦airaland Forum

Fed HOR speaker gbajabiamila tweeted pictures from a meeting with Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzō Abe, at the Government House in Tokyo. Where they discussed several areas of trade collaboration, parliamentary diplomacy and engagment with the Japanese parliament. Nigerians however reacted as the pictures suggested they attended looking unprepared.

obidark:
haha....we nigerians are too busy to even care about whats going on in ghana....

The apex northern soci-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), yesterday said that the Nigerian constitution did not assign any role specifically for the office of the vice president and cautioned some Nigerians against fuelling crisis in the presidency.

ACF’s secretary general, Mr Anthony Sani, while reacting to insinuation by some Nigerians that the office of the vice had been relegated, said the constitution empowers the president to assign roles to the vice president.

“I am finding it hard to make out why the hue and cry about what is happening in the office of the vice president by way of some reorganisation of some functions and reassignment of some staff in the vice president’s office by the presidency.

“More so that both the presidency and the vice president have dispelled any misconception that there is a crimp between the president and the vice president,” Sani said, insisting that the constitution did not provide for any specific roles for the office of the vice president.

“Any function performed by the office of the vice president are at the pleasure of the president who has the right to assign and reassign both functions and the staff in the office of the vice president.

“If Mr President has decided to reorganise some of the functions hitherto performed by the office of the vice president as well as to reduce the reported 80 staff in the office of the vice president by 35 staff for performance, it is the constitutional discretion of Mr President to do so, and there should be no qualms,” Sani said.

As regards the president’s not transmitting a letter to the national assembly and not handing over to the vice president this time around that he travelled out, Sani said it was important to note that the constitution makes transmission of the letter mandatory only when the president would be absent from his duty post for at least 21 days.

“If the days of the absence from duty post are less than 21 days, I believe the president has the discretion to either transmit the letter to the national assembly and hand over to his sidekick or not. If the president has chosen to exercise his constitutional discretion this time around not to transmit the letter to NASS and hand over to the vice president because the days of his absence are less than 21 days, that is his constitutional right,” Sani added.

He said the current developments in the office of the vice president are not enough signs of a divided presidency, adding that the presidency had made clear of that.

“More so that the principal actors have said there is no problems between them.

But should there be any crimp in the presidency, my plead is for the president and the vice president to work hard and overcome what is trying to put the presidency asunder.This is very necessary because only purposeful leadership that comes from united presidency with clear thought and morality can deliver on the promise of the electoral mandate freely given by Nigerians,” he said.

gayman99:
Hmmm. Expect a coup any moment from now.

For the first time a Head of State from Africa’s CFA currency region has openly spoken about a very politically and economically sensitive subject that could ruin relationship with colonial master France.

President Patrice Talon has ordered that his country’s foreign currency reserves colonially deposited in French Central Bank be immediately withdrawn. Such a decision has been a taboo and no other french colony has ever done this.

All CFA zone countries are former colonies of France and have historically deposited their foreign exchange reserves to Banque de France. This has been an unchangeable rule for decades but the Benin leader seems to have a different route he wants to take his country.

These reserves are an insurance that guarantees the stability of the CFA and therefore the control of inflation.

In early October, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Paris was open to an “ambitious reform” of the CFA franc and that it was up to the countries that share the currency to decide what they want.

Countries in the western Africa Economic bloc ECOWAS are introducing a new currency known as eco and will replace other currencies in this part of the continent which unavoidably will affect the colonial era CFA currency.

What will change is that the banks in the West African CFA zone will have to manage all their foreign exchange reserves. A kind of monetary independence that demands a part of the opinion in the region.

However, international law experts argue that the decision by President Talon may encounter some legal hurdles before his decision is effected.

Martial Ze Belinga an expert says there is a legal framework that sets obligations to raise at least 50% of reserves to the French Treasury. Now, there is a political decision.

“It will be necessary to negotiate, to enter into discussion to get the African reserves out of the Treasury. So it may take a while, but the process is ongoing,” he said while appearing on a French TV.

French politicians say President Talon’s move to withdraw from Banque du France may also trigger a political blockade.

“For a long time, 100% of the reserves in the CFA area were kept in the French Treasury. And even when we went to 65% in the 1970s, African central banks continued to pay almost 100% to the French Treasury. So, anyway, it is an annuity and it is part of the colonial rents undoubtedly.”

“We must build win-win games now. And old models will not work. They will no longer work between Africans and Europe, between Africans and the rest of the world, but they will not work anymore.”

marvin906:
actually this isn't new most trucks coming from North are like this..
you wonder if frsc are blind bats