By Fortune Abang

The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) has underscored the need for the National Peace Policy (NPP) Bill to be passed into law urgently, to proffer solutions to Nigerias conflict situations.

The NPP is a national framework, designed to guide efforts to prevent conflicts and build peace in Nigeria.

The Director-General of the IPCR, Dr Bakut Bakut, made the call while answering questions at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum on Sunday in Abuja.

Bakut lamented that the national peace policy had not yet been presented to the Federal Executive Council for endorsement.

He said that although Nigeria was the first country in Africa to develop that kind of policy, countries such as Ghana and Zimbabwe, who copied what Nigeria had done had since passed the policy into law with Nigeria still lagging.

We were the first in the whole of Africa to develop NPP. Ghana came and copied from us, went ahead and established their own.

Zimbabwe did the same. Other countries did their own and we now went back to try and copy what we are the originators of, Bakut said.

Asked to shed light on the issues contained in the national peace policy, the director-general said: The first thing we talked about was transmuting the institute to a commission and making sure there is a Commission for Small Arms and Light Weapons because that was where we saw the impending problem of harming Nigerians.

We needed to control that. It is there.

We also talked about the peace fund. We realised that you have to have money to do peace work and government cannot do all that alone.

The private sector can actually bring in money to do that but it is not there.

So if we have all these, the early warning issue came up from there too but we have extracted the early warning element, which is what we have institutionalised now and we have actually established an Early Warning Centre (EWC).

All our zonal offices and peace-building offices are linked to the EWC.

We get real-time information on what is happening and therefore, process it to where they should go, said Bakut. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Mohammed Tijjani

The Kaduna State Government said troops of Operation Thunder Strike (OPTS) have killed four bandits and recovered three rifles in Chikun Local Government Area of the state.

The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan confirmed this in a statement issued on Sunday in Kaduna.

Aruwan said: Four bandits have been killed and several others injured in an ambush operation conducted by troops around Gwagwada, Chikun local government area.

According to operational feedback from troops of Operation Thunder Strike (OPTS), intelligence was received on bandits movement from Katika village towards Antenna in Chikun LGA and in response to this, the troops laid an opportunity ambush at Antenna village.

The bandits approached the location and eventually sprang the ambush. The troops opened fire as they entered the killing range.

After the engagement, four of the bandits were confirmed dead, while several others escaped with gunshot wounds.

Three rifles and one axe were recovered from the scene, he added

The commissioner said Gov. Nasir El-Rufai commended the troops for swift action which led to the successful exercise and the elimination of the four bandits.

Residents in the area are urged to report individuals seeking treatment for suspicious injuries by calling the Kaduna State Security Operations Room on 09034000060 or 08170189999, Aruwan said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Obike Ukoh, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Since the release of the 2020 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceived Index (CPI), in which Nigeria was placed 149 out of 180 countries, there had been mixed reactions on the correctness or otherwise of the rating.

Denmark is first in the transparency index table as the most transparent and least corrupt country, while Sudan ranked 180, as the most corrupt country.

Expectedly, the government challenged the rating as the country dropped from the 2019 rating, while other commentators expressed divergent views, but advised that the rating should be critically analysed.

Leading the pack, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, said the CPI did not reflect the great strides the country has recorded in the fight against corruption.

He said the implementation of the various reforms, especially in the Ease of Doing Business was expected to yield positive outcomes in the countrys corruption perception and other relevant assessments in the next 12 to 24 months.

For instance, following the release of the 2019 TI-Corruption Perception Index, the government initiated reforms to improve on Nigerias Ease of Doing Business indices.

This is because we found that up to 40 per cent of the countrys corruption perception survey indices relate to business processes and general public service delivery processes.

Governments swift action has led to major reforms in the processes at our ports and business process points, he said.

Mohammed said in addition to placing more emphasis on corruption prevention measures and building of integrity systems, high profile corruption cases were currently under investigation and prosecution.

He said the emphasis on preventive mechanisms was in response to various local and international reviews and evaluation that Nigeria had gone through, including those from the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and even from the TI-CPI.

The information minister said that having analysed the 2020 TI-CPI rating for Nigeria, the Federal Government was interrogating a number of issues and discrepancies that had been observed in the rating processes.

These included some data sources in which Nigerias scores have remained flat over the past 10 years, reflecting no improvement, decline or fluctuation.

This is very improbable given the nature of behaviour of variables which are normally influenced by a variety of factors (which is the reason they are called variables).

In this case, the corruption scores would have been affected by changes in the size and structure of the public sector over the past 10 years.

Changes in policies and personnel and systems over the period, including for instance, process automation, etc.

There is therefore, the need to verify that there is no transposition of figures from year to year due to absence of current data, the minister said.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on his part, said the report was a reflection of corruption by Nigerians and not by the Buhari administration.

I will tell you that this one is a judgment on Nigerians because if you look at the indices they used at arriving at these conclusions; they used eight indices, six of which showed Nigeria as being more or less Nigeria in the same position.

The two that they dwelled on, that caused this backslide, are essentially Nigerian problems. Theyre talking about the political culture of this country, vote-buying, thuggery. Is it Buhari that is a thug? Were not doing thuggery.

And when they talked about the justice sector, they are talking about perceived corruption in the judiciary.

These perceptions are essentially not correct. Yes, there are issues in that sector, but so many changes are going on in that sector, it would have been nice if they acknowledged it so that you encourage those judicial officers that are upright.

The Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum, Salihu Lukman, said the TI 2020 CPI was designed to influence electoral outcomes ahead of the 2023 general elections.

He described the 2020 CPI on Nigeria as a poor attempt at politicising the fight against corruption.

Lukman tasked TI to go beyond perception and expose actual corruption.

It is a poor attempt to politicise the fight against corruption largely because it completely ignores all the empirical cases that should have provided objective indicators for the performance of the Nigerian government.

Beyond politics is also the funding reality, which has made Nigerian civil society groups to be very aggressive in legitimising the CPI 2020 report in Nigeria.

The challenge to Nigerian civil society groups and patriots is really to rise above cheap smear campaigns based on perceptions and sentiments.

Corruption is not a theoretical issue. It is a very practical challenge. It is beyond the perception of anyone. Where perception is to be our guide, we should be able to confirm it with evidence of reality.

If TI can conveniently rely on perception, any serious Nigerian organisation should be able to corroborate perception with empirical cases of corruption.

If one is to interpret the Nigeria CPI 2020 report, the conclusion is that the current government of APC under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has lost the fight against corruption.

For us to be able to fight corruption, based on the perception by Nigerian businesses and country experts, there has to be a change of government.

This is the underlying narrative in the CPI report. It is basically more of a political campaign, if you like for 2023. Nigerians, including local leaders of civil society groups and their international partners are free to make their political choices and decisions.

But they should be transparent about it. It mustnt be a case of shadowboxing Nigerian citizens and forcing them to kowtow political choices fraudulently contrived because Nigerian citizens are committed to the fight against corruption!

Lukman said that the claim of lack of adequate anti-corruption legal frameworks was outrightly false in todays Nigeria.

It will appear that this is most likely reproduced from old reports of CPI before all the anti-corruption laws that led to emergence of EFCC, ICPC, etc.

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), an NGO, on its part, called on the Federal Government and other stakeholders to constructively scrutinise the 2020 CPI.

Mr Auwal Musa-Rafsanjani, the Executive Director of CISLAC, also cautioned against playing politics with the report.

He echoed what Garba Shehu said that the report was a reflection of corruption by Nigerians and not by the Buhari administration.

Musa-Rafsanjani said that it was ironic to witness statements by opposition political parties referencing the 2020 CPI as evidence of corruption in the current government and politically and egoistically misusing the national failure to address corruption.

No single political party is responsible for the miserable state of affairs today.

It is a collective responsibility of the political establishment and leadership that transcends all political parties and indeed the Nigerian elite.

Musa-Rafsanjani stressed that it would be politically dangerous to dismiss the results without reflecting constructively on the drivers behind ranking.

According to him, many multinational companies consider the CPI ranking when deciding where to invest.

Governments around the globe include the CPI results in their political-economy analysis when deciding how to engage a particular country in terms of investments, development cooperation or diplomatic ties, the CISLAC boss said.

He suggested an analytical approach to problem solving in specific governance areas.

In the same vein, some lecturers at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), expressed divergent views on the rating.

Prof. Jonah Onuoha, the Head, Department of Political Science, who spoke on the issue, said that President Muhammadu Buharis administration had done a lot to tackle corruption since he assumed office in 2015.

If corruption is the only factor transparency used in its assessment and ranking, the present government has done well in the fight against corruption since Buhari assumed office in 2015.

It will be unfair to list Nigeria among the most corrupt nations of the world, he said.

Prof. Aloysius Okolie, also of the Department of Political Science, on his part, urged the government to put serious structure on ground to fight corruption.

He said the fight against corruption should not be used as guise to clamp-down on opposition political parties.

Okolie noted that the level of poverty and unemployment in the country had made people to do all sort of things in order to survive.

In the fight against corruption, adequate structures must be put in place and anybody found corrupt should be arrested and prosecuted, he said.

Dr Ifeanyichukwu Abada, immediate past Head of Department of Political Science, who also spoke on the issue, attributed the low rating, to poor framework in the fight against corruption.

The ease of doing business in the country is expensive coupled with high level of insecurity, this has scared many local and foreign investors from investing in Nigeria.

He said that Nigeria would join the league of least corrupt nations if our leaders should have zero tolerance for corruption, impunity, nepotism, as well as abuse of fundamental human rights of citizens.

Unarguably, the TI 2020 CPI rating is a human document. As canvassed by stakeholders, it should be constructively scrutinised, as no particular organisation, political party is to be blamed for the inherent failings pointed out in the report. (NANFeatures)

Source: NAN News

By Obike Ukoh, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) was introduced in 2004 by the then President Olusegun Obasanjos administration in order to address the problems of late payment of pensions and gratuities to retirees. The CPS established via Pension Reform Act, 2004, covered both the public and private sector workers.

For federal workers, the CPS is compulsory since inception, while some states are implementing the scheme.

However, the problems associated with the old scheme had started to rear its ugly head. Under the CPS, retirees are supposed to be paid their entitlements three months after retirement. That was so at the initial stage, but not now.

In addition, the monthly pension is nothing to write home about, which had necessitated calls for a review of the scheme.

Federal workers that retired from service in 2020 under the CPS, only started receiving the entitlement in 2021.

Alhaji Ahmed Dada, who retired as an Assistant Director on Jan. 8, 2020, from a parastatal agency under the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, after 28 years in service, was paid his gratuity few weeks ago.

He said that the 13 months of waiting without salary was not easy.

Dada said that as a result of the delay, what ought to be a comfortable life after public service is now usually greeted with fear.

For instance, it took me 13 months to receive my retirement benefit. At the peak of my travail of retirement, I became a borrower and sorrower and even made unsuccessful attempts to sell my car to feed my family.

Thank God for a loving, understanding and cooperative wife and children.

However, the bitter experience I went through before I could access my retirement is better said than experienced.

Besides the unjustified delay in paying pension entitlements, the take home of an average retiree in the federal service, particularly from the rank of deputy director downward, is nothing to write home about.

It is simply unimaginable to realise that an assistant director who was receiving say about N240,000 per month while in public service, now receives a paltry N55,000 monthly, depending on step.

This is another nightmare for retirees in this category, he said.

Dada said that to make life worth living after retirement, the Federal Government should take a second and critical look at the entire pension policy.

There must be timely payment of pension to those concerned, to enable them enjoy their life and have a sense of fulfilment and belonging that they served their fatherland and get commensurate remuneration for their meritorious service.

There should also be increased monthly pension for retirees.

The idea of the Federal Government paying the remaining amount after the lump sum without subsidizing it to beef up pensioners monthly take home, is not the best for the senior citizens of Nigeria.

A Federal Government worker, who retired with the last salary payment of say N250,000 monthly, should receive at least N150,000 or more as pensioner, depending on the step and other variables.

Once a worker knows that when he or she retires, there will not be any delay in the payment of his or her entitlement, he or she will not indulge in corrupt tendencies such as changing the date of birth and embezzlement of public funds among others, Dada emphasised.

An unsigned article, circulated sometime in the social media, had echoed the issues raised by Dada and other stakeholders.

It also drew attention to the perceived exploitation of retirees by Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).

They gave an example of what they said should be addressed.

The document titled: Pension Fund Administrators Are Exploiting Us, states inter alia: After attaining the age of 60 or spending 35 years in service, gathering all types of experiences, PFAs still term you as novice; you dont know how to handle your hard earned entitlements.

I will make a simple illustration here: Mr A retires at 60 and has N20 million as his savings. He accesses 50 per of the N20 million which equals N10 million.

The balance of N10 million is to be spread over 180 months (15 years) and Mr A earns N55,555 monthly for 15 years and he stops earning anything because he is expected to die at 75.

If Mr A will be allowed to have his total sum of N20 million, ceteris paribus (all things being equal), he could invest in the money market or government treasury bills.

Currently and authoritatively, N20 million can fetch up to a maximum of 15 per cent per annum on a span of four consecutive 90 days tenor.

Meaning N20 million gives about N3 million per annum.

Divide N3 million by 365 days and multiply by 30 days, gives Mr A, a monthly earning of N246,575 without depleting his capital of N20 million.

The sum given to an average pensioner is not up to the interest the administrators make on his/her savings.

This manipulation/exploitation made PFA among the most lucrative businesses in Nigeria.

It was based on this reality, that people like Dada and other stakeholders want the Federal Government to review the CPS in order to give it a human face.

The Federal Government is aware about the delay in the payment of entitlements to retirees under the CPS.

The delay is as a result of non-release of money (to fund the accrued right) to cover the period before the commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme.

Accrued right is a term used to describe what the Federal Government owes its workers who have been in service before the commencement of the Pension Reform Act, 2004 (which was reviewed and re-enacted in 2014).

This means that there are two components of benefits paid to Federal Government retirees who transited to the CPS: the contributions accumulated in their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) and the retirees accrued pension rights earned before they transited to the CPS.

For a Federal Government retiree entitled to accrued pension rights to have access to his or her RSA, the Federal Government must pay the accrued rights and same is consolidated with the contributed savings in the RSA before access it is granted to the retiree.

The Federal Government must pay the retirees their accrued rights before the total benefits can be paid out.

To redress the problem of delay in the payment of entitlements to retirees, President Muhammadu Buhari, had directed the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, to appropriate and release in full N62.83 billion to clear backlog of accrued pension rights of retirees in the next three years.

He directed the Budget Office of the Federation to include N12.83 billion, N25 billion and another N25 billion in the budgets of 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively, to settle the outstanding accrued pension rights of Federal Government employees.

The president also further directed the finance minister to ensure that the funds are fully released upon passage of the relevant Appropriation Bills.

He also directed the minister to ensure that adequate provisions are made in the annual appropriation for accrued pension rights and funds are fully released upon approval of the budget.

Regrettably, in spite the presidential directive, the delay lingers.

Stakeholders are of the view that payment of gratuity and pension should not be unduly delayed because of inability to release funds under the accrued right.

Mr Morayo Omolade, who retired from the Federal Public Service on Aug. 25, 2019, but paid his entitlements in October, 2020, said retirees should be given lifeline immediately after retirement.

He suggested that retirees should be given momentary lifeline from their personal savings, pending release of funds by the government.

He said that since the Pension Act did not envisage this delay, the law should be amended to reflect the reality.

The situation is precarious; you know for state workers that had not joined the CPS, they start receiving pension immediately, while payment of gratuity commences later.

Something should be done to check delay in the payment of entitlements under the CPS.

After all, the CPS was introduced by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration to solve the problem associated with the old pension scheme, characterised by endless wait by retirees for the payment of their retirement benefits.

The concern raised by stakeholders is germane and should be addressed. The CPS established to solve a problem should not become another problem. (NANFeatures)

Source: NAN News

By Oluwafunke Ishola

Ms Beatrice Kallay, Head, Gender, Sierra Leone High Commission, Lagos, says women need to change the narrative from what they can get to what they can offer to increase their global impact.

Kallay, who is also the Consular/Liaison Officer at the Commission, made the assertion on Monday at a virtual panel discussion in commemoration of the International Womens Day and the 2021 Commonwealth Day.

The programme was organised by the Commonwealth Business Women Network Nigeria (CBWN Nigeria) with the theme: Choose to Challenge.

The International Womens Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on March 8, to seek help to forge a gender equal world, celebrating womens achievements and increasing visibility, while calling out inequality.

Also, the Commonwealth Day is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations, often held on second Monday in March.

Kallay urged women to strive to give their best in whatever positions they were occupying, saying that they should make a big difference to the world by doing their best.

According to her, women should be intentional, persistent and refuse to be intimidated by challenges they might encounter in their various endeavours.

She advised that everyone should understand and appreciate diversity by recognising the uniqueness of others, saying differences shouldnt stop collaboration.

Also, Erelu Florida Okunowo, the Director, Nigerian Association of Indigenous Petroleum Explorers and Producers, urged the leaders to shun stereotyping and give position to people based on merit, irrespective of their genders.

Okunowo said that everyone should challenge inequalities, oppression and violence that limit women from exhibiting their God given talents in homes, organisations, businesses and society.

In her comments,Mrs Ngozi Oyewole, Vice Chairperson, CBWN Nigeria, said that for the first time in several years, the International Womens Day and the Commonwealth Day were being celebrated on the same day.

Oyewole said that the 2021 theme was in alignment with the global support for women, achieving an equal future and within the broader Commonwealth nations.

The theme celebrates the tremendous efforts by women around the world.

It calls for womens rights to decision making in all areas of life to build back better policies, local government, social, education, health and legal services, as well as ending all forms of violence against women and girls.

CBWN Nigeria promotes the empowerment of women and girls to be key change agents as gender equality will drive the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In CBNW Nigeria, we focus on SDG Goal Five- gender equality.

We know that the Coronavirus pandemic had threatened to roll back the hard won efforts of reducing the barriers to women effective participation and leadership in public life.

Globally, women remain significantly underrepresented in many aspects of decision making.

However, the efforts of the few women at the helms of institution of highest level of decision making should be recognised and built upon, the vice chairperson, CBWNsaid.

She said that supporting womens contributions in the home, community, organisation, networks, regional and international levels would ultimately shape the future of the country.

Oyewole added that in commemoration of the International Womens Day (IWD), CBWN Nigeria organised an essay competition inviting undergraduate girls in the universities to write on the theme for 2021 celebration.

She said that the competition had over 280 entries, with Miss Bolutife Afolabi emergingfirst; Miss Precious Oparanozie came second and Truth Nwabueze came third in the essay competition.

Oyewole said that the competition also sought to know the views of the undergraduates on a brave and courageous woman who challenged the norm to change the world,and inspire them to emulate such values. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Lizzy Okoji

The ECOWAS Community Court Justice and the ECOWAS Commission have pledged to advocate global women rights and gender equality as the world commemorates International Womens Day (IWD).

The ECOWAS Institutions made this known in separate felicitation messages made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.

The President of ECOWAS Court of Justice, Justice Edward Asante, said that the Court had been in the vanguard for the protection of the rights of women.

This, he explained, was in the context of its mandate as a human rights Court exemplified by two cases where women were deemed to have been unfairly targeted.

He cited the cases of Hadijatou Mani Karaou V. The Republic of Niger and Dorothy Chioma Njemanze

By Lizzy Okoji

The ECOWAS Commission Women Forum has called for gender equality and increased women representation across all levels in the commission.

Mrs Raheemat Momodu, President of the ECOWAS Women Forum, made the call at an event organised by the Womens Forum in commemoration of the 2021 International Womens Day.

Momodu who lamented women marginalisation in the commission stressed the need for an urgent conduct of gender audit of the entire ECOWAS community institutions.

She said the policy should contain a Strategy and Implementation Practical Guidelines/ Standard Operational Procedure.

ECOWAS remains mostly a boys club in terms of representation especially in management and decision making spaces.

A quick peep shows that we have three females out of 16 statutory appointees at the Commission (18.75 per cent) and seven female Directors out of 45 directors in all ECOWAS Institutions (15.5 per cent) including two female Special Representatives who are temporary staff.

This means that we have two female Special Representatives out of 14 (14.2 per cent). And please let no one tell me that representation is only numbers and do not matter.

Representation matters and counts, if not lets flip the situation. The ECOWAS commission should lead by example to the member states, so as to be in the position to insist the member states comply with the beautiful ECOWAS Gender Equality we have developed.

46 years after the birth of ECOWAS and its principal institutions, it do not have a Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and Gender Equality goals/targets for internal purposes.

It is time that we conduct a gender audit of the entire ECOWAS community institutions to inform a transformative Gender Mainstreaming Policy which will contain a Strategy and Implementation Practical Guidelines/ Standard Operational Procedures, she said.

Speaking on the forums contributions to the society during the COVID-19 pandemic, Momodu said that ECOWAS Women Forum provided relief to less privileged communities in the Federal Capital Territory to ameliorate their sufferings.

She added that the forum empowered women in Kpaduma Community near Asokoro, Abuja, to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Momodu said the forum had lined up other activities for 2021 which included capacity building activities, investment opportunities and multiple streams of income in a COVID-19 world.

Source: NAN News

By Olasunkanmi Onifade

The Nigerian Association of Women Entrepreneurs (NAWE) has urged Federal Government to provide agricultural input for rural women to enhance food production.

The National President of NAWE, Mrs Vera Ndanusa, said this at a news conference to commemorate the International Womens Day (IWD) in Abuja on Monday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IWD is annually celebrated on March 8 around the world.

It has Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 Worldas its theme for 2021.

Ndanusa said that the provision of agricultural inputs would reduce workload through the use of appropriate technologies.

She added that women, like their male counterparts, can be big time farmers in Nigeria, if given the necessary and desired support by government and corporate organisations.

Women are so enterprising but for lack of financial backing, they have gone back into their shields.

We have women who are very successful in other businesses, so why not in agriculture sector?.

Ndanusa noted that government could also assist in the establishment of women shareholders multipurpose cooperatives in both urban and rural settings.

The association president said such cooperatives could serve as channels for information dissemination among the women.

She noted that the provision of such assistance could help in dealing with health challenges like Malaria, Hepatitis, COVID-19 that increase maternal mortality.

A special gender-sensitive monitoring system should be developed and adopted by central and commercial banks to ensure that loans and cash transfers target reach vulnerable women.

The UN can develop gender-sensitive monitoring and impact checklists to assist countries with follow up and assessment of their achievements in all sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IWD is annually celebrated on March 8 around the world.

It has Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 Worldas its theme for 2021. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Olasunkanmi Onifade

Women Supporting Women Network (WSWN) has called on government at all levels to redouble efforts to ensure the safety of schools, students and staff in the country.

The founder of the network, Mrs Toyin Omozuwa, made the call in a statement on Monday in Abuja, while commemorating the 2021 International Womens Day.

The theme of the celebration is entitled: Women in leadership: achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.

Omozuwa said relevant authorities should renew their commitment to making schools safe where minds and characters were developed.

She described the theme as apt, adding there was need for collective reflection and social actions geared at eliminating barriers that confine women to infantile positions.

It is however sad to note that the future of the girl-child is gravely threatened as outlaws have declared war on education.

She said Nigeria could be left behind in the global march to achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world, if the access of the girl-child to quality education was undermined.

According to her, the desire to achieve an equal future in a COVID-19 world cannot be attained, if women are not enabled to control resources and regulations.

For Nigeria to develop sustainably and inclusively, womens participation in politics must be incentivised.

Every woman should be able to aspire to leadership, without fear of being stigmatised and side-lined merely because she is a woman.

The under-presentation of women in public sphere retards development, Omozuwa said.

According to her, the day offers the global community a rare opportunity to celebrate women and applauds their unparalleled contributions to human development.

It also forges alliance for progress and eradicates social norms and cultural practice that retard the growth of women in society.

It is important to salute the enterprising spirit of Nigerian women.

Due to the multidimensional ravages of COVID-19, women are still extending the frontiers of innovation, delivering high-value service, and strengthening the ties of national unity, she said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Douglas Okoro

Chief Elias Mbam, the Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) says the death of Justice Sylvester Ngwuta has left a vacuum that will take time to fill in the Nigeria judicial system.

This is contained in a statement signed by Mbam and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abakaliki.

Mbam described late Ngwuta as a legal icon who has left his footprints on the sands of time through his many contributions in the development of legal jurisprudence in Nigeria.

He said that the late justice of the Supreme Court was one of the best brains that the country has produced and served his nation with the best of his strength and ability.

It is with grave sadness that I learnt of the passing unto eternal glory of our beloved brother and friend, Justice Nwali Ngwuta.

Justice Ngwuta rose through sheer hard work to prominence as one of the leading justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

This was a great inspiration to many people, both his peers and the young, especially in our dear state of Ebonyi where there is need for more men of high status as the late Justice Ngwuta.

His death indeed has left a wide gap not just in our young state but in the entire country, where his wealth of knowledge of the law and jurisprudence will be highly missed.

I enjoin his family to be consoled knowing that their father and brother has left indelible footprints on the sands of time in Nigeria.

To the Ebonyi Government, and indeed the entire state, I ask that we take solace in the pride that he was our own and may God rest his soul and grant him paradise, Mbam said

Similarly, Dr Paul Okorie, former Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport, described the death of the late legal icon as shocking and tragic, saying that the entire nation has lost a rare gem.

He said that the deceased jurist was a foremost justice of the apex court who contributed immensely to the development of Nigerias jurisprudence, rule of law and the judicial system in general.

His death is very painful especially as he had few more days to retire from active service as justice of the Supreme Court.

It is a very very sad loss; he started from the state high court in Ebonyi and from there to the Court of Appeal before he was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2011.

In the course of his movement in the bench, he has left some major benchmarks in the sands of time in the judicial system in Nigeria and by this sudden exit, we have lost the opportunity of tapping from this wealth of experience, Okorie.

He prayed God to grant the soul of the deceased eternal rest in paradise, while urging the family to bear the loss with great fortitude, knowing that the deceased left a legacy of transparent and upright living while on earth.

Ngwuta, the Ebonyi-born jurist was born in 1951 and died on March 7,2021 peacefully in his sleep.

He was due to retire just in few days when he would have attained 70 years mandatory retirement age for judicial officers.

Also, reacting to Ngwutas death, Chief Jossy Eze, the Chairman, Ebonyi Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) said that he received the devastating sad news with grave shock.

He said: If the news is true, the implication is that we have lost one of our finest brains and one of our best jurists in the highest court of the land.

It is a big loss not just to Ebonyi but to the entire country and the legal profession because he was one of the best that has adorned the Supreme Court bench.

His erudite judgements and pronouncements will live after him; so, we are saddened by that news, but our prayer is that God Almighty will give him eternal rest and bless his soul. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Yinusa Ishola

Ex-Gov. Segun Oni of Ekiti has joined others to condemned the recent killings of farmers in Isaba, Ikole Ekiti, by unidentified assailants on Sunday, March, 7.

Oni in a statement in Ado-Ekiti on Monday called on security agencies to bring the perpetrators of the dastard act to swift justice.

According to him, this act of wickedness and callousness is totally unacceptable and I strongly condemn this inhumanity to farmers.

He said the recent killing of the farmers had not only created palpable fears among the farmers, but lowered their morale and the attendant consequence of food shortages and socio-economic dislocation.

Oni also called on law enforcement agencies to take holistic actions that will instill confidence in the farmers and encourage them to return to their farms.

He said that the state government must also, at this point do everything possible to ensure adequate protection and secure farmers and their farms.

The former governor who sympathised with the families of the victims appealed to the Federal Government to take the onslaughts of these criminals assailants seriously.

He also advised the Federal Government to accord security of the nation a matter of priority.

We must never allow insecurity to define our nation.

These latest killings must not be added to the numbers of similar killings where justice is yet to be served.

I deeply sympathise with the families of the farmers in Ikole Ekiti killed by these unknown assailants who are now said to be on the run, he added. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Yinusa Ishola

Former Gov. Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti has urged women in the country to remained resilience and keep hope alive.

Fayose made the call in a message in Ado-Ekiti, to mark the International Womens Day.

According to him, Nigerian women should be commended for their patience, resilience and tolerance in the face of recent happenings in the country.

The former governor said in spite of the situation the country found itself, women had demonstrated themselves as the hope of the world.

He stressed that women were custodian of men and children, noting that their love would take the nation out of captivity.

Considering the roles of women in our society, they are worth to be celebrated. They are the salt of the world.

We love them and we will not cease to celebrate them and they should not refrain from keeping hope alive, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that International Womens Day (IWD), is a day set aside each year on March 8 to celebrate women globally.

The day throws the spotlight onwomenand their rights.

Beginning early 1900s, IWD is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

The day also marks a call to action for accelerating womens equality, according to the official IWD website.

This years IWD has the theme: Women in Leadership: Choose to Challenge Inequality Amidst COVID-19. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Malam Wada Maida

By Mufutau Ojo
The Federal Government has approved the naming of the headquarters of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja after late Malam Wada Maida, the agencys former Managing Director.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, conveyed the approval in a letter dated Nov. 26.

Mohammed said the approval was in recognition of the immense contributions of Maida to the growth of the agency.

I write to convey my approval for the naming of the NAN headquarters building after the late Wada Maida, who served the agency in many capacities, including as Foreign Correspondent, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director.

It is my sincere belief that the decision to honour the late Wada Maida is well thought out and that he deserves such a great honour, considering his immense contributions to the development of NAN, he said.

Maida, Chief Press Secretary to President Mohammadu Buhari when he was military Head of State, died on Aug. 17 at the age of 70.

A pioneer staff of the Agency, Maida was its Northern Zonal Manager and later its Foreign Correspondent in London before becoming Head of the Political Desk.

He was appointed its Editor-in-Chief in 1984 and later became its Managing Director before he bowed out in 2003.

Maida was appointed Chairman of NANs Board of Directors in December 2017 and served in that capacity until his demise.

Source: NAN News

AKK gas pipeline

By Edith Ike-Eboh

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari, says the construction of Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano(AKK) Gas Pipeline project is currently at 15 per cent completion.

Kyari disclosed this at the inspection of the second leg of the project at Karogo community in Igabi Local Government Area, Kaduna State, on Tuesday.

The project is currently at about 15 per cent completion but what is important for us to know is that we are crossing the river Niger, what we call the Ndoni-Aboh river crossing in Rivers and Delta states that will deliver gas from the eastern part to the country into the western corridor.

That means expanding gas supply into the help line and also making gas ready. We are happy that this project is going on and we will deliver it on course and schedule.

We have all the assurances of government and particularly that this government is focused on delivering this project so that we clear the trans national gas pipeline which has eluded us.

By completing the project and expanding the L2 lines and crossing the Ndoniabo River, we would have created a major gas trunk line for gas delivery to our domestic market, he said.

In her remarks,the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiah Zaniab Ahmed, assured full funding of the project for delivery at targeted timeline.

She commended the NNPC and the contractors for the commitment and quality of job done so far with the project.

I have seen very high level of work that has been done and excellent quality, I can see the potential of what will happen to the cities that the project is passing.

It is going to bring huge businesses and employ a lot of people, already the project is employing people at the level the work is done so far.

This project is assured in terms of funding, we already secured a lone from China Eximbank of 2.5 billion dollars,the financing has been closed,all that is done now is disbursements for the contractors to continue doing their work, she said.

The minister urged all stakeholders to continue to collaborate to ensure full delivery of the project at the targeted period.

Also, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said the project symbolises transformation and revolution for development.

This project will create a corridor of opportunities for Nigeria and drive a lot of development. We just came back from Kano and seen what gas is already doing, a lot of factories are coming up.

A lot of factories closed down because of high cost of energy and running on diesel was unsustainable but with this now, it will be cheaper and cleaner and a lot of businesses will spring up around here.

It will be quite transformational and a lot of jobs will be created, I see a lot of opportunities growing from this project, he said

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the 40-inch x 614km gas pipeline project in June with 24 months timeline of project delivery target.

The AKK Gas Pipeline is a pipeline planned to transport natural gas from Ajaokuta, in Kogi State to Kano, in Kano State, through several states and urban centers, as part of the Trans Nigeria Gas Pipeline.

Upon completion, the project will enable the injection of 2.2bscf/d of gas into the domestic market and facilitate additional power generation capacity of 3,600MW.

Construction of the project commenced in July 2020.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

Media experts underscore importance of Press Freedom to national devt.

By Lizzy Okoji

Some media experts have stressed the importance of freedom of the press in nations development, advising practitioners to report in line with the ethics of the profession.

They gave the advice in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, on the sideline of a three-day workshop organised for journalists by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) in Abuja.

The three-day workshop had its theme, Freedom of the Press and the Codes of Conduct for Nigerian journalists.

They said that the media should re-assess the current state of press freedom for its improvement.

Speaking to NAN, Mr Dapo Olorunyomi, Executive Director, Premium Times and a facilitator at the workshop, said that freedom of the press was not a luxury but the core of development in every society.

Olorunyomi explained that the role of the media was key to effective development of any nation, and should have access to information and relay quality and truthful information to the public.

You cannot qualitatively achieve development where freedom of the press is lacking because of the value of the media particularly that of accountability, transparency and poverty reduction.

But that power can be seen in concrete terms or abstract terms. One way to look at it is the instrumental power that the media has.

The media has the power to trigger other kinds of processes.

Freedom of the media has become a factor like every other factor that you bring to a production process,Olorunyomi said.

He advised journalists to continue to practice within the best ethical standards of the profession, and try as much as possible to be truthful in their reportage.

According to Olorunyomi, accuracy in reporting is the primary definition of the job of a journalist.

He also urged the media to always provide effective verification for claims and avoid fake reportage.

Also speaking, Dr Tunji Ogunyemi, Head of History Department, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said that the independence of the media was essential and that every media organisation must operate within the ethics of the profession.

Ogunyemi said that the independence of the media entails the capacity of the practitioners to be able to decipher issues and publish them in so far as they were truthful, promote public interest and for public benefits.

This is essentially the purports of section 22 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which provides that the media is for the purpose of public benefits and interest.

The media should be able to publish the truth regardless of their proprietorship.

Independence of the media entails publishing news that are not dictated by any authority and that it does not become a mouth piece of only governments alone or any party, but rather a mouth piece of the Nigerian State.

Letting government know where she has not done well and then letting the people know where the government has done well. It is very possible to achieve objective reportage,Ogunyemi added.

Earlier, Mr Jide Ojo, Executive Director, Oja Development Consult, urged the media not to rely on social media as a primary source of information.

Ojo advised the media to always verify any information seen on social media from the verified source to avoid reporting fake news and causing embarrassment.

Said he: Protection from internet falsehood and manipulation and other related matters bill popularly known as the Social Media Bill, had been perceived by some to abridge freedom of expression.

He however called on the media not to abuse the use of social media while reporting, advising that government should have a better way of regulating the social media space.

We must learn to be responsible in the enjoyment of our fundamental human rights.

I will prefer a different type of regulation which civic education, and also, working with the internet service providers to be able to come up with more creative restrictions.

A journalist can use the social media as a secondary source of information and not as a primary source, Ojo added. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Stakeholders renew call for abolition of joint account system for LGs

By Angela Atabo

Stakeholders have renewed calls for the abolition of joint account system by state governments to enable local government councils in the country function effectively at the grassroots.

They made the call at a one day Public Policy Dialogue on Good Governance and Service Delivery at the Grassroots organised by PER-ECP in partnership with Democracy Vanguards in Abuja on Tuesday.

Speaking at the event, Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state said that his administration had strengthened local councils in the state because of their pivotal role in societal development.

He said that the his administration examined factors militating against quality service delivery by local government councils and discovered that proper funding was necessary for effective

functioning of the councils.

There is need to allow local councils full operation and management, hands off from their revenue,hands off their money ,let it come directly to them.

Let oversight function of state houses of assembly be strengthened so they can be monitored for effective service delivery.

I call on all other actors to allow local councils operate optimally because once they are given that liberty, things will be better ,more so abolish the joint account system to allow for proper service delivery, El-Rufai, represented byAlhaji Jaafaru Sani, the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs said.

Sen. Bala Ibn NaAllah (APC-Kebbi) said that the National Assembly had attempted to enact laws to ensure that local councils got their funding directly but was presented by those in government.

All agitations arising in terms of local government autonomy is guaranteed under section seven of the Constitution, meaning that a system is put in place to assuage the fears and grant electorate their request.

So the assumption is that those charged with the responsibility of occupying offices under the constitution will uphold the oath of their offices and not allow personal interest affect official decision and do justice to all without fear or favour.

If you will put that scale on every elected person, ask me how many will pass through it? So this is the situation that we are in.

Our problem in all honesty is not that we have not made effort to strengthen the administration of the local government ,our problem is political and only a very determined civil society and elite who wish this country well will move towards restructuring the leadership recruitment process in Nigeria, he said.

According to NaAllah, it is only then that the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians as enshrined in the constitution can be delivered so there is need to adjust the approach and attempt at corruption to make the system in a way that stealing is impossible.

Professor of Law, Auwalu Yadudu said that the local councils challenges the local government were those of the law adding that situation does necessarily mean that new laws must be made.

Yadudu said that existing legislations if respected and obeyed would solve the challenges because, respect for the rule of law would address the issue of local government autonomy.

Dr Adiya Ode, National Coordinator, PERL-ECP, said that the aim of the dialogue was to address Nigerias service delivery crisis due to socio economic, education, security and health challenges.

She said that the constitution made local governments in Nigeria the sole tier of service delivery adding their inability to function effectively raised many questions about Nigeria.

She said that the discussion would shed light on issues of how to improve local governance in Nigeria, how to ensure that those given responsibility lived up to expectations.

Source: NAN News

U.S. pays tributes to late Nigerian ambassador, Nsofor

The United States has paid glowing tributes to the immediate-past Nigerian ambassador to the country, late Justice Sylvanus Nsofor.

Nsofor, a retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, died in the U.S. on Dec. 10 after a brief illness.

He was aged 85.

In a statement on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of State said it was saddened by the passing of the diplomat.

It expressed condolences to the family of the late ambassador and staff of the Nigeria embassy.

Amb. Nsofor was an important and influential member of the diplomatic community in Washington, D.C., and helped to strengthen our partnerships across the West Africa region.

His long career in public service, which spanned both the law and diplomacy, was a testament to his dedication to the Nigerian people.

In striving to find common ground between the UN and Nigeria, he supported mutually beneficial programmes and initiatives across a wide range of sectors, including educational exchange, rule of law, and business investment.

He saw tremendous value in people-to-people connections and fostered a spirit of cooperation across the diplomatic corps, the statement said.

It added that the Department of State honours Nsofors leadership in promoting diplomatic exchange and understanding during his tenure in the U.S.

Source: NAN News

Japanese court sentences Twitter Killer to death

A Japanese court on Tuesday sentenced to death a serial killer, Takahiro Shiraishi, also known as the Twitter killer for murdering eight women and a man he met on social media.

Delivering judgment, the Judge, Yano Naokuni, said the death sentence against Shiraishi was prompted by the extreme seriousness of his crimes, the New York Times quoted the Tokyo court as saying.

Shiraishi did not just murder his victims but had trampled on the dignity of the dead, Naokuni held.

The convicted murderer had testified that he had at first considered denying his involvement but later changed his mind in the face of the overwhelming evidence against him.

Shiraishi, nicknamed the Twitter Killer had confessed to meeting with eight women and a man at different times on social media and luring them to an apartment, where he killed them all.

Shiraishi was arraigned before the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court in September.

He was charged with sexual assault, murder and theft of the victims belongings, as well as abandoning the victims remains in coolers.

The remains of the victims, aged between 15 and 26, were found at an apartment in the city of Zama in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, in October 2017.

The victims families and prosecution counsel had during the trial demanded a death sentence for Shiraishi.

His lawyers (defence counsel) had argued that the victims wanted to die and went to see Shiraishi on their own will.

Shiraishi had, however, rejected their submission before the court and made it clear that the victims did not give their consent to be killed by him.

Shiraishi confessed outright before the court that his aim was to rape the victims and take their money.

I had a hard time making up my mind to do it, but I had done illegal things on a daily basis as part of my work as a scout and had internalised the idea that its only a problem if you get caught, he was quoted as saying in court.

He had also told the court that after the first murder, the rest was easy.

Delivering judgment, the Judge held that none of the victims wanted to be murdered, and that the defendant was found to be fully responsible for the crime.

The Judge upheld the prosecutions demand and sentenced Shiraishi to death accordingly.

Source: NAN News

IPMAN

By Abbas Bamalli

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Kano State branch, has directed its members to sell petrol at N162.44 per litre as directed by the Federal government

The IPMAN Chairman in Kano, Alhaji Bashir Dan-Malam gave the directiveon Monday at a news conference in Kano.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Federal Government had reduced the price of the commodity from N168 per litre to N162.44 per litre following dialogue with the organised labour.

He said the directive followed the reduction of the price of the commodity to marketers by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from N153.17 to N148.17 per litre with effect from Monday.

According to him, since the Federal Government had reduced N5, the marketers have no option than to also reduce the price of the commodity at their filling stations to members of the public.

He said: I am therefore directing our members in the Kano zone to commence the sale of the commodity at N162.44 per litre from today in compliance with the governments directive.

I want to also assure the public that we are committed to transporting the product to all states under Kano State including Katsina, Bauchi, Yobe and Jigawa especially during the Yuletide to prevent scarcity.

He, however, commended the Federal Government for listening to the public complaint and outcry to reduce the price of the product.

According to him,IPMAN would continue to support the Federal Government to ensure uninterrupted petroleum products supply across the country. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Joe Biden

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Monday said it was time for outgoing President Donald Trump to stop grandstanding and concede the Nov. 3 election.

Addressing the nation shortly after the Electoral College confirmed his victory in the Nov. 3 general polls, Biden said the will of the people prevailed.

He said Trumps refusal to accept defeat after his several lawsuits failed up to the Supreme Court was an unprecedented assault on our democracy.

He stated that the countrys democracy had been pushed, tested and threatened but proved to be resilient, true and strong.

The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago, and we now know that nothing, not even a pandemic or an abuse of power can extinguish that flame.

This is the biggest voter turn out in the history of the United States of America.

The number is so big that this election now ranks the clearest demonstration of the true will of the American people.

Together, Vice President-elect Harris and I earned 306 electoral votes, well exceeding the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory.

Three hundred and six electoral votes is the same number of electoral votes that Donald Trump and Vice President Pence received when they won in 2016.

At the time, President Trump called the electoral college a landslide. And I respectfully suggest he does so now, the president-elect said.

Biden won the November election with received 306 electoral votes, against Trumps 232.

The next step is the transmission of the votes to a joint session of Congress presided over by Vice President Pence on Jan. 6 for counting and final confirmation.

This will pave the way for Bidens inauguration on Jan. 20.

Trump said in November that he would step aside in January if the electoral college ratified Bidens victory. (NAN)

Source: NAN News