Tuesday 20 October 2015

Buhari violating federal character in appointments – Ekweremadu

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has declared that President Muhammadu Buhari has violated the provisions of the federal character as contained in Section 14 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the appointments the President had made.
Ekweremadu, who spoke in a lecture at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University on Monday, argued that Buhari violated that section of the constitution in his initial appointments, contending that such appointments ought to reflect the diversity of the country.

He said the appointments “made so far by the current administration are clearly lop-sided that it left the South-East totally empty-handed”.

He added, “I think in this country that is just recovering from a most divisive and bitter fought presidential election in its history; in a country where vicious civil war had been fought and scars are fresh; in a country where a presidential election, believed to have been won by (someone from) a part of the country was annulled; in a country which has deteriorated from one that citizens held high political and civil service offices outside their places of origin to one in which they hardly do so any more; and indeed in a country where there has been consistent outbreaks of militancy and restiveness by people who believe they have been shortchanged, maltreated, and, therefore, better off outside the Nigerian commonwealth, I firmly believe from the depth of my heart and conscience that you do not even need a soothsayer or compulsion of the constitution to know that you must necessarily carry every part of the country along.”

In his lecture entitled, ‘The Politics of Constitution Review in the Multi-Ethnic Society’, organised by the Faculty of Law, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Ekweremadu said it had become imperative to review the nation’s constitution on grounds of ambiguity and failure to make provisions for some critical matters of state.

He noted that difficulties in amending the constitution were caused by mutual suspicion of the elite as “mutual ethno-sectional and religious suspicions have become so ingrained in our body polity that even the most patriotic and altruistic intentions are almost always interpreted from myopic prisms of such sentiments and interests”.

Nigeria’s former Ambassador to the United States, Prof. George Obiozor, said it would amount to fallacy for anybody to say that Nigeria’s unity was not negotiable, noting that Nigeria had failed to learn the lessons of history.

Obiozor stated, “The reality over the years remains that in spite of the best efforts of all our leaders past or present, Nigerian unity is not guaranteed. It is simply at best, an aspiration and not yet an achievement.”

The ex-envoy advised that if the country would realise its potential, it must stop “the syndrome of self- delusion about Nigerian historical exceptionality”.

“Today, if the truth must be told, our diversity has turned into disorder, and our democracy is an invitation to incremental anarchy,” Obiozor said.

Nigerian students not happy with Buhari over economy-Research - See more at: http://thechronicleofeducation.com/2015/10/19/nigerian-students-not-happy-with-buhari-over-economy-research/#sthash.kbJfy2mq.dpuf

5, 000 pupils benefit from NBC’s ‘Back to School’ initiative

In an effort to boost learning in public primary schools across the country, the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited, through its “Back-To-School Initiative,” has donated school kits containing educational materials to pupils.

The initiative designed to support educational development in the country, particularly in the area of enrolment and retention of pupils in public schools, has seen over 5, 000 schoolchildren benefitting in Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Onitsha, Okigwe and Asejire.

Presenting the kits to pupils of Odu-Obure Primary School and Alaba Primary School both in Mushin, Lagos, Managing Director, NBC, Ben Langat, said the initiative was aimed at supporting parents and guardians, and relieving them of financial burden as their children and wards return to school for a fresh academic session.

Represented by the company’s Chief Security Officer, Van Wilberding, Langat stressed that “the programme would also encourage enrolment in public primary schools as well as reduce the number of out-of-school children at primary level.”

Other strategic educational investments by the company in primary education, according to him, include the provision and upgrade of infrastructure in public schools, capacity building for teachers and school support initiatives towards the learning and development of the Nigerian child.

Responding, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Education Mrs. Olabisi Ariyo, who was represented by Director, Administration and Human Resources, Mrs. Omolara Akin-Adekibigbe, commended the effort of NBC in developing the intellectual capacity of the Nigerian child.

She said, “The initiative is in line with efforts at delivering qualitative education to our children, the future of our country and a manifestation of government’s call for private sector involvement in developing key sectors of the economy, particularly education. The gesture, no doubt, will go a long way in supporting and motivating pupils to be serious with their studies and be glad as they come to school, since children generally derive joy from receiving gift items.”

She urged other corporate organisations to partner government in fighting for the course for the wellbeing of the Nigerian child, as government alone cannot sponsor education.

FUTA VC urges students to acquire extra skills

The Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola, has urged students to acquire extra skills in order to have a unique selling point.

According to him, having good knowledge in foreign language, software skills or a higher degree in an uncommon course will give them added advantage in the labour market.

Daramola said this during an interaction with the student union officials of the university.

Daramola, who said Information and Communication Technology had made learning broader, urged the students to access diverse information and opportunities that would broaden their horizon.

The VC also challenged them to endeavour to engage in dialogue, saying that it is key to reaching mutual understanding with university authorities, government, communities and other stakeholders.

According to him, protests by students cause setback and destroy the system.

“The university is a civilised place where ideas can be cross-fertilised to achieve the best result,” he said.

He urged the student leaders to always embrace peace and curtail militancy among their members.

Daramola said he was optimistic that before the end of his tenure, FUTA would rank as one of the first five universities in Nigeria.

He said, “The process of building a world-class institution is a long process but FUTA is steadily becoming a first-class university globally. We have overtaken some of the old generation universities, but we can still do better.”

The student union team, which included Mr. Tesleem Okunlola and Miss Oyewunmi Balogun, thanked the VC for his advice, assuring him that they would continue to engage in constructive engagement with the authorities and other stakeholders.

Rethinking Nigeria’s well being

FIVE months into his tenure, President Muhammadu Buhari has no more time to waste before fixing the economy. Thus the government must recognise the urgency of articulating a blueprint and setting the machinery in motion to put the economy on the path of recovery.

Rescuing the nation from the brink of economic recession demands the implementation of new economic models as the existing models would seem to have failed to generate lasting development for the country. Fortunately, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who has responsibility for the economy as Chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC) is well aware of the nation’s challenges and the need to fix things quickly.
At the 21st Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Osinbajo rightly acknowledged that the implementation of strategies that would pave the way for the recovery of the economy would involve tough choices. However, such tough choices must not involve what has not worked for the country. The government must avoid embracing models that only end up satisfying the Paris Club, London Club, International Monetary Fund (IMF), among other global institutions, while impoverishing Nigerian citizens.
Rather, tough choices for the recovery of the economy should begin with planning and with the appropriate data too. The nation must have short-term, medium and long-term developmental goals. Many successful countries have laid-out plans that span 50-100 years and Nigeria must emulate these countries in order to succeed.
To be sure, the nation has had some long-term developmental objectives but not much was ever achieved as a result. Because the country has over the years been saddled with leaders who were short sighted, those long-term developmental objectives were never pursued or were pursued haphazardly.
Thus it is necessary for the Buhari government to break away from this pattern and embrace a culture of productivity and prudence that it should in turn inculcate in the citizens. For no matter how effective the models, their gains cannot be sustained as long as the nation is not productive and prudent in the management of its resources.
The enthronement of a culture of productivity and prudence should, of course, be followed by a weaning of the nation off its dependence on oil revenue. The government should foster an environment that would pave the way to a competitive, diversified and self-reliant economy.
Such an economy that would be all-inclusive must have especially agriculture and manufacturing as major planks. Nigeria must therefore return to the land, to an era when the sustenance of the economy was driven by cocoa, cotton, rubber, among other farm produce. Such goods would therefore constitute a buffer for the nation against the volatility of the international prices of oil. And a truly federal structure must be allowed if Nigeria would ever thrive.
Solid minerals, an abundance of which is available in all states and corners of Nigeria, should be free for exploitation and utilization by all in a federal system that allows resources in each state’s domain to belong and be exploited there while such states pay an agreed royalty to the centre. A true diversification of the revenue base should be predicated on freeing the nation’s full capacity in a true federation.
Thus there is the need for the government to place the focus of its governance on the citizens with a view to ensuring massive inclusive empowerment. The government must also intervene in the regime of high interest rates to enable the citizens meet the financial needs of their involvement in agricultural production, solid minerals and manufacturing. Also, the government must pay attention to critical infrastructure such as electricity, roads, communications and ports. Agriculture and manufacturing cannot take place when these infrastructure like roads and communications systems, railway system, sea and airports needed to transport goods to where they are needed are lacking.
Above all, for the people to meet the demands of the new world economy, they must be educated to the extent that their creative energies can be released and unleashed. Education must be seen as a pillar of democracy in which all the people can have a voice not only in their governance but also in the market. This kind of education can only be attained when the curricula in the nation’s schools are reviewed at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education to reflect the needs and values of Nigeria even in science and technology.
Rethinking the well being of Nigeria, of course, goes beyond just repudiating Western models. But raising a team of highly knowledgeable experts who would develop solutions to impediments to the development of the nation through local economic models is an imperative.
The Nigerian economy is big and the potentials are limitless. The challenge for the current government is to galvanise the citizens into seeing and realising that potential. The Buhari government should lead by getting the nation’s priorities right and creating the right environment for all. Muhammadu Buhari could not have come as President at a better time than now when the economic well being of Nigeria is assured if the entire nation is mobilised behind a honest and purposeful leader.

Alonge blog!

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Buhari violating federal character in appointments – Ekweremadu

5, 000 pupils benefit from NBC’s ‘Back to School’ initiative

FUTA VC urges students to acquire extra skills

Rethinking Nigeria’s well being

Christalholic Ezekiel, The Blogger!

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