₦airaland Forum

Mods, compliments!

New Year speech by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) for the year 2023, which happens to be his last as President.

Read full text below:

My fellow countrymen and women, a very happy and prosperous New Year to you.

First, I would like to thank and honour the Almighty who saw us through the year 2022 and has given us the opportunity to see another year. Each New Year is an opportunity to reflect on the past year, reposition, and move forward with the New.




2. As we celebrate the opportunity to be alive in the year 2023, we must also acknowledge the passing away of our brothers and sisters who didn’t make it into this new year. May their souls rest in perfect peace.

3. This year is particularly important to me because this message is in essence valedictory. After having the honour of serving you, my compatriots, for the last seven plus years, my tenure as your President in the most revered tradition of our ongoing and maturing democracy must necessarily come to an end. In the next five months, we would have gone to the polls and elected a new president along with new governors and a plethora of other elected officials at both the national and state levels.

4. All these electoral and democratic principles are working in concert because of the transcendent beliefs, beyond partisan politics, of you the great citizen of Nigeria. In addition is my personal commitment and executive promise to see to the letter that the 2023 elections being diligently conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission will be free and fair. The collective electoral will and votes of Nigerians will be fulfilled, even in the twilight moments of my watch.

5. Reflecting on year 2022 allows us as a government to examine our legacies of successes and challenges. As we celebrate our wins and review obstacles, we all must understand that governance is a continuum, which still places a transitional responsibility on this administration to provide for the incoming government a non-partisan and objective roadmap for 2023. We as Nigeria; one country united under the will of God and actively growing as an indivisible entity, have been enabled year after year, decade after decade, to weather all stormy waters and emerge stronger and better where others have fallen and disintegrated. This has made us a unique nation across the globe and our continent.

6. In the year 2023, Nigerians go to the polls to exercise our right to vote and elect a new Administration; it is an important year for our country to ensure that we have another smooth transition of government, to whoever the people have decided upon. This administration’s landmark Amended Electoral Act will ensure that we have free and fair elections across the nation. We as Nigerians must also take responsibility to ensure we participate in ensuring that the 2023 elections are free and fair by not engaging in anti-state activities and other nefarious acts that may affect the run of the polls. We must also resist every attempt to be used by politicians to create unrest in any form to disrupt the elections. We, as government will ensure such activities are met with the full force of the law.

7. As our security agencies continue to make the country proud, we must continue to assist our patriotic forces by providing the much needed community intelligence. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that Nigeria remains safe and peaceful for us all. Therefore, we have a duty and obligation to support our troops and intelligence agencies by being alert and reporting anything suspicious. The fight against insurgency in the North-East region has continually recorded very clear wins in the past year. The Federal Government, and the Borno State government, have started the journey of returning internally displaced persons to their ancestral homes earlier taken by the insurgents. Also, over 82,000 insurgents with their families have surrendered to the Nigerian military. A number of surrendered insurgents are currently being processed by the rehabilitation (Operation Safe Corridor) programme. The fight against banditry, kidnapping and other crimes in the North-West and other regions is gaining momentum and showing very clear results. One of which is the resumption of Train Service along the Kaduna to Abuja corridor.

8. In the aftermath of the #EndSARS, our administration took heed and instituted the ongoing Police Reform programme based on a new Presidential Vision for Policing in Nigeria. This new vision is framed in a clear road map that transcends the tenure of this administration and it is predicated on six principles: a) Building Trust and Legitimacy b) Leadership, Accountability and Oversight c)Technology and digital media d) Community Policing and Crime Reduction e) Officers Training and Education f) Funding, Officers’ Welfare, Wellness and Safety.

9. This reform programme is very much in its foundational phase but has recorded noteworthy successes in improving police welfare and their emoluments. Other gains have been the ongoing training of 500 police cadet trainers to enable a better training regimen for the 2022 first batch of the 10,000 new cadets with an additional 10,000 set for 2023. In support of these reforms has been the provisioning of new material for the Nigeria Police to steadily improve on its constitutional responsibility to enforce law and order, protect lives and property as well as street level peace and security.

10. Despite the ongoing global economic crisis, we have been able to weather the storms. Inflation across the globe is at its highest, the Federal Government has been resolute through its economic interventions to remain above water during this period. 2022 brought a combined impact from ongoing wars and aftereffects of COVID-19. Though creating its own fiscal challenges, we have continued to subsidise our energy costs to buffer households from inflationary pressure of high energy costs. In 2023, we are focused on building on our Gross Domestic Product and sustain the huge surge in the non-oil GDP growth.

11. The Nigerian Start up Bill has been passed as an Act. This is considered a huge step in lowering our unemployment figures by boosting job creation and supporting the entrepreneurial drive of our youths. If you recall in my 2021 New Year speech, I had mentioned the need to secure the future of our youth recognizing that our young people are our most valuable natural resource, at home and abroad. In this regard, we worked with the legislature to develop an enabling law to turn their passions into ideas that can be supported, groomed and scaled across regions. 2023 will see the implementation of the Nigerian Start Up Act nationwide.


12. The year 2023 would, indeed, be a time when we would work to solidify on delivering key strategic priorities under our “SEA” – (Security, Economy and Anti-Corruption) Agenda. Some of the key priority areas we would direct our attention and strengths to include:

a. Focus on SECURITY; we will continue to engage, push back and dismantle the operations of both internal and external extremist and criminal groups waging war against our communities across the Nation. We will also focus on ensuring that free and fair elections would be held come February 2023. Our security forces are working in partnership to ensure the wins we have got in war against insurgency, banditry, secession and other crimes are sustained and more wins acquired.

b. For the ECONOMY; our focus would be on maintaining and building economic growth through the national economic diversification agenda that supports the goal of national food self-sufficiency and growth in non-oil sources. The ongoing infrastructure revolution by our administration will see us deliver the key projects across the Nation in power, rail, roads, ports and technology.

c. ANTI-CORRUPTION: On the anti-corruption drive of our administration, we have created new records in this fight, growing from 117 convictions in 2017 to 3,615 convictions as at December 2022. We as a government are committed to ridding our nation of all forms of corruption, through the collaboration with all the arms of Government to effectively prosecute this fight.

13. As we welcome the New Year, let us look with hope to 2023, a year to move forward as a nation towards unity, progress and prosperity. I offer my own personal felicitations, mindful of the various opinions and interpretations of our executive legacies. I welcome and accept both the accolades and criticisms in equal measure secure in the conviction that I did my best to serve our dear country Nigeria and I pray that the next President will also pick up the baton and continue the race to make Nigeria one of the leading countries of the world by the end of this century.

14. Long Live the Nigerian spirit of oneness, togetherness, and unity. Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A happy and prosperous New Year.

God bless you.

https://punchng.com/full-text-buharis-last-new-year-message-as-president/

Defending champions Manchester City will host Everton at the Etihad Stadium in a Premier League fixture on Saturday. The Citizens are second in the league standings, five points behind leaders Arsenal and cannot afford to slip at this stage of the season.


City are unbeaten in their last 11 home league games against Everton and will hope to bag another routine victory in front of their own fans. Erling Haaland has been in a league of his own and became the fastest player to reach 20 Premier League goals in midweek against Leeds.

Everton continue to struggle for form as they succumbed to their third successive defeat in the league on Monday. They are currently reeling at the 17th spot with just 14 points from 16 matches.

JoeNL22:
We OBIDIENTs have passed that.
We are waiting for his swearing in cum may 2023

Ok!.

For Shehu to include a crass exchange between the president and his associate who suffers from the Nigerian “Big Man” disease of libidinal incontinence into official records, he—and even Buhari—did not think how much they demeaned the presidency. Even worse, they punctured through the whole lie they sold to us in 2015 that Buhari would be a reformer because he is personally disciplined. Look, for someone to approach the president of a whole country, ask for a parcel of land in a prime location, and boldly admit he would use the land to achieve licentious ends, it must mean they know Buhari to be similarly wanton and lacking discipline. If you do not know the president well enough as someone at ease with being surrounded by irresponsible and shameless freeloaders, you do not go up to him and ask for mere carnality to be gratified.

We are not talking about the cronyism of requesting land from your president to start a business that will employ Nigerians or to site a public library (or similar public service). No, the request is merely towards mere degenerate ends; non-regenerative activities that have paralysed economic development in this part of the world. Such nonsense always makes me wonder why—as a nation and as a race of people—we are so perversely blessed with the most unimaginative, self-seeking buffoons and entirely myopic set of leaders who cannot think beyond their orifices. If anyone is still wondering why a nation of an estimated 200 million humans cannot lead itself out of multidimensional poverty and perennial underdevelopment, just look at the priorities of the people in power.

If Buhari was the kind of person who thinks about things, that kind of request from his crony should have been a light-bulb moment. That could have triggered his mind to reflect on how the bureaucratic systems of land allocation in Nigeria allow people to gain access to premium real estate for no valuable purpose other than what affords them a few minutes of pleasure. A leader that thinks about things would have taken such a close-up illustration of the flaws and corruption of the system, and then consider introducing reforms. Unfortunately, Buhari is not the type of person who can rise above the company of wanton pleasure seekers that he keeps. From Shehu’s official release, Buhari’s reason for bringing up such a topic did not go beyond merely wondering how the FCT minister copes “with such people who are extremely serious about such things. And I think about 45 per cent of those who have been given land allocation in the FCT have sold it and didn’t develop it according to the laid down criteria (master plan).”

Yes, that is your president publicly admitting that those to whom they allocate land in the nation’s capital hold their administration’s established procedures in contempt. By deviating from the master plan, it is a matter of time before that place grows into another chaotic city. The fact that about half of the people who got land allocations strayed from the plan did not strike Buhari as a matter that demands accountability. He behaves like an independent observer in his presidency, but do you blame him? He is someone whom fate promoted, not just beyond his intellectual and administrative capacities, but also beyond his moral strength. That is why he will leave behind a legacy of a nation diminished by his lack of leadership acumen. We are worse off than where we were in 2015, and this man thinks anyone cares that he might meddle in national affairs after 2023? He might as well relieve us of the torture of his leadership by leaving for Daura tonight.

The Buhari that came to power roughly eight years ago was packaged as someone who had it in him to exercise the self-restraints necessary to administer a dysfunctional country like Nigeria. For a benighted nation, the thought of having a president with integrity and self-discipline was alluring. No thanks to Buhari and his legendary incompetence, we now know better. At the twilight of his leadership, he unironically announces that he is regularly solicited by those who want to exchange national resources for debauchery. Meanwhile, the same people who packaged his myth are back in the market. Now they are promising that 2023 will bring “renewed hope.” We have moved from the taglines of ‘integrity’ and ‘anti-corruption’ to “builder of city” and “builder of men.” That is how they will tell you that another messiah is on the way until somewhere down the line when the scam will unravel, first, through the failures of such leader; and second, through the person’s garrulous admission that none of what they told you was ever true.


https://punchng.com/the-buhari-scam-keeps-unravelling/

Chelsea's first home game of 2023 is a big one as we host Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. Ahead of kick-off we look at the two teams' shared history as well as all the key facts and figures.

Manchester City 6-0 Chelsea - 2018/19 - Premier League
Chelsea 6-0 Manchester City - 2007/08 - Premier League
Manchester City’s biggest win at Stamford Bridge - 4-1 in 1978/79 Division One

No side has beaten Pep Guardiola’s Man City on more occasions in the Premier League than Chelsea, who have five wins since the start of the 2016/17 season.

Nlfpmod!

!

Gbaja gba ASUU!

The House of Representatives has knocked the Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, for accusing the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, of deceiving the university lecturers into calling off their eight-month strike.

Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, in a statement issued on Wednesday, also stated that at no time did Gbajabiamila agreed with ASUU that lecturers would be paid for the period they downed tools.

In the statement titled ‘House of Representatives Response to Osodeke’s Allegations of Deception against Mr. Speaker,’ Kalu pointed out that the Federal Government legitimately withheld the salaries for the period universities were shut down.

ASUU had begun an indefinite strike on February 14, 2022. Gbajabiamila had led the intervention in the lingering crisis between the government and the lecturers, leading to the calling off of the strike in October.


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The House is, however, faulting some of the claims made by the ASUU president in his recent media interview.

The statement read, “On Tuesday, 27th December 2022, the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, granted an interview, accusing the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep Femi Gbajabiamila, of using deception to convince the union to call off its strike action. He specifically alleged that the Speaker failed to deliver on his written commitment that the government would, without delay, offset the arrears of salaries owed to members of the union for the time they were on strike.

“For the record, at no point did the Speaker of the House of Representatives commit to offset the arrears of salaries owed to union members for the time they were on strike. The House of Representatives helped resolve the strike by making commitments to improve the welfare package of university lecturers and revitalisation funds to improve the infrastructure and operations of federal universities. These commitments are reflected in the 2023 Appropriation Bill, which includes N170,000,000,000.00) to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers and an additional N300,000,000,000.00 in revitalisation funds.


“Furthermore, the House of Representatives continues to work with stakeholders – the Accountant General of the Federation and the Academic Staff Union of Universities to facilitate the adoption of elements of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System. This effort is being supervised by the Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Rep. Aminu Suleiman.

“Professor Emmanuel Osodeke knows that the Federal Government of Nigeria is under no obligation to pay university lecturers’ salaries for the duration they were on strike. This is a settled matter in law. See S. 43(1)(a) Trade Disputes Act, Cap T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN). The Executive decision not to pay salaries to lecturers for the time spent on strike is warranted by the government’s legitimate interest in preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions. Nonetheless, the Speaker has made interventions for an exemption in this regard, and Professor Osodeke is well aware of this.”

The House spokesman stated that the public interest in ensuring a well-functioning tertiary education sector is a matter of paramount concern for all who understand the transformational role of education in any society.

He stressed that it was for this reason that the 9th House had been consistent in its efforts to explore avenues for reform and improvement to the framework of public education in the country from primary education through tertiary.

“Our objectives in this regard will not be achieved when stakeholders choose to ignore substantive issues and the consideration of bold ideas in favour of cheap blackmail and immoral propaganda,” he stated.

The statement further read, “Professor Osodeke’s bad-faith approach to negotiations and his affinity for political brinkmanship are significant reasons the universities were on strike for so long. His ongoing interventions continue to threaten the progress being made to preclude the possibility of further disruptions to the academic calendar of the universities.

“Therefore, I call on him, in his capacity as President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities to desist from making further misleading statements against the House of Representatives and the Speaker, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila. There is no place for hostility and selfish agitation in this critical moment. This is the time for calm heads and steady hands, working together for the common good.”


https://punchng.com/negotiations-deceit-reps-defend-gbajabiamila-knock-ASUU-chairman/

Riyad Mahrez says Manchester City must hit the ground running if they are to defend their Premier League crown this season.

City will return to league action, after a six-week break to allow for the World Cup in Qatar, on Wednesday when they travel to Elland Road to face Leeds United.


However, the Blues will go into the game seven-point behind table-toppers Arsenal who face West Ham on Boxing Day evening.

“We have to hit the ground running. We are not currently top of the Premier League and that is where we want to be,” Mahrez told City’s in-house media.

“We will take it game by game but our aim is to try to win another title. There are lots of strong teams in England who could still win the league so we are not just focused on Arsenal, although they have been very good so far.

“If we want to win the league, we will have to be ready as soon as the league starts again.”

Leeds will be no easy opponent for the Pep Guardiola led-side who picked up form just before the World Cup break defeating Liverpool and Bournemouth in consecutively.

Despite beating Leeds by an aggregate score of 11-0 last season, Mahrez knows leaving Elland Road with three points will not be a walk in the park.

“Leeds are a big club and it’s a hard place to go but we know what to expect from them. We will be prepared for it and hopefully we can come away with the three points.”

Mods!

Mynd44!