Nigerian militant commander Ateke Tom addresses the media as arms surrendered by former Nigerian militants are displayed at an arms collection centre at the tourist beach in the oil hub Port Harcourt October 3, 2009. Hundreds of Nigerian rebel fighters gave up their weapons and accepted an amnesty deal on Saturday in the most concerted effort yet to end years of fighting in the oil-producing Niger Delta. Militant commanders Tom and Farah Dagogo, both responsible for years of attacks on the oil industry in the eastern Niger Delta, led gunmen from camps in the mangrove creeks to the oil hub of Port Harcourt to disarm. Picture taken October 3, 2009. REUTERS/Austin Ekeinde (NIGERIA CONFLICT IMAGES OF THE DAY)
The Bayelsa Police Command said on Saturday that four soldiers and a policeman were killed in an attack on Nembe waterways by armed gunmen, suspected to be pirates.
The command’s spokesman, Mr Asinim Butswat, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa that the Joint Task Force (JTF) base at Nembe came under attack on Friday’s night.
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“On August 7, 2015, at about 11:30p.m., four speedboats loaded with gunmen, suspected to be sea pirates attacked the Joint Task Force (JTF) base, at Nembe Water Front, in Nembe LGA.
“They killed four soldiers and one policeman. The gunmen carted away two HP guns and other arms from the base.
“A combined team of the JTF, Marine Police and the Navy are combing the creeks to recover the arms and arrest the culprits,” Butswat said.
When contacted, Lt.-Col. Isa Ado, Media Coordinator of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, confirmed that the attack by suspected sea pirates on JTF.
Ado, however, said that the casualty figures and loss of arms and ammunitions were yet to be ascertained.
EDITORS’ NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. A policeman walks past the car belonging to Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan at a blast site outside a university in northern Tehran January 11, 2012. Ahmadi-Roshan was killed by a bomb placed on his car by a motorcyclist in Tehran on Wednesday, and a city official blamed Israel for the attack, similar to attacks on nuclear scientists just over a year ago. REUTERS/IIPA/Sajad Safari (IRAN – Tags: CRIME LAW TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) – RTR2W4UC
Israel’s defense minister hinted on Friday that the Jewish state’s intelligence services were behind the rash of killings of Iranian nuclear scientists.
In an interview with the German-language Der Spiegel, Moshe Ya’alon said that he bore no responsibility “for the life expectancy of Iranian scientists.”
“Ultimately it is very clear, one way or another, Iran’s military nuclear program must be stopped,” Ya’alon said. “We will act in any way and are not willing to tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. We prefer that this be done by means of sanctions, but in the end, Israel should be able to defend itself.”
Ya’alon told Der Spiegel that he believed historians would one day look back on the Iran nuclear agreement as an instance in which Western politicians sought to “kick the can down the road” by preferring to avoid dealing with the issue.
The defense minister compared the nuclear deal to other examples in which Western leaders sought the path of reconciliation in an attempt to find a solution, only to discover that they paid a hefty price afterward – a reference to the Munich agreement between Britain and Germany just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War.
In the interview with Der Spiegel, Ya’alon repeated his stance that the nuclear negotiations between the world powers and Iran were “a historic mistake.”
The defense minister maintained that the agreement with Iran would enable it to remain a “nuclear threshold state” that would be permitted to enrich uranium within a decade.
Ya’alon said that the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran would provide the Islamic Republic with a windfall of hundreds of billions of dollars with which it can more easily “export the revolution.”
That means more money to Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shi’ites in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Ya’alon said.
The defense minister lamented the fact that the agreement did not address “missiles that endanger Israel and parts of Europe.”
He told Der Spiegel that the only effective strategy against Iran would be to leave the regime with a choice – either it acquires nuclear weapons or it is permitted to survive.
Earlier this year, a senior Iranian security official said that the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps thwarted a Mossad assassination attempt against one of its nuclear scientists.
“In the last two years, the Zionist enemy was trying hard to assassinate an Iranian nuclear scientist, but the timely presence of the IRGC security forces thwarted the terrorist operation,” Col. Ya’qoub Baqeri, the deputy chief liaison officer of the Flight Guards Corps, told the country’s Fars News Agency.
The Revolutionary Guards is “duty-bound to protect the lives of the country’s nuclear scientists,” said Baqeri.
According to a report by CBS News last year, the Obama administration pressured Israel to stop carrying out assassinations inside Iran against the country’s nuclear scientists.
Israel has never admitted to carrying out such killings. At least five scientists have been killed, mostly by car bombs. Mossad officials concluded that the assassination campaign became too dangerous for its spies, said the report. This came amidst Washington’s attempt to reach a nuclear deal with Iran.
Meanwhile, Baqeri also told Fars that Iranian air marshals from the IRGC have foiled Islamic State plots to hijack Iranian passenger planes in recent years.
“The ISIL [Islamic State] and other Salafi groups sought to hit a blow to our country this way, but fortunately, they couldn’t put their plots into practice,” Baqeri said.
Less than two years after he assumed office as the governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano has built a throne for himself among the gods. And this is not a hyperbole. Obiano’s tenure has been so eventful that one is tempted to assume that he has always been in office. What many people find perplexing is how great deeds and courageous acts seem to come natural to him. Quite naturally, against the backdrop of his 60th birthday, the Obiano mystique has come under an intense scrutiny. Interestingly, the picture that emerges from this exercise is the image of an onion; the more you peel, the more layers reveal themselves.
Obiano swept into the Amawbia Governor’s Lodge in a whirlpool of popular votes and raised the expectations of the people with his squeaky clean technocratic background. Among the crowd of politicians jostling to take over from former governor Peter Obi, Obiano cut the picture of an outsider; the one who stirred the most curiosity. Questions were asked by people who felt that leadership should be left in the hands of politicians…questions that carried a tone of derision but which lacked the completeness of vision. But they were also questions which Obiano began to answer long before he took the oath of office.
Running a whirlwind campaign that took him to all the local government areas in the state, Lagos, Abuja, Enugu and the Diaspora, candidate Obiano regaled Ndi Anambra with the story of his economic blueprint which he tagged the Four Pillars of Development. He told them that he would restore Anambra’s glory through Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, Industrialization and Oil and Gas. He also spoke eloquently about the Enablers – security, education, health, the environment, social infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, Tourism, Youth and Sports and Social Welfare among others. He assured the people that after more than twenty five years in the private sector, he had the access code to a prosperous Anambra State. He argued that unlike his rivals in the race, he had spent time to carve out distinct and measurable Vision and Mission Statements of making Anambra State the 1st Choice Investment Destination and a hub for industrialization and commercial activities and a socially stable, business friendly environment that would attract both indigenes and foreigners to seek wealth-creating opportunities.
Truth be told, fifteen months in the crucible has shown Obiano as a man who had devoted a serious time to mulling over the challenges of leadership before he took the oath. His systematic approach to governance as exemplified by his Economic Blueprint and his vision and mission statements marked a dramatic departure from the habitual unpreparedness of most of Nigeria’s political leaders for public office. He seemed certain of where he was going and how to get there. His very apt reading of the human condition in Anambra ensured his wise decision to make Security a priority on assumption of office. He subsequently invested enormous energy and resources into the fight against criminality and succeeded in weeding criminals out of the state.
What no one in Anambra State can deny is governor Obiano’s drive for excellence. Indeed if there is anything that draws tears to the eyes of Chief Willie Obiano with ease, it is the puzzle over what Anambra has done with the enormous endowments she has in human and material resources. Those close to him can testify that when he talks about his beloved Anambra he leaves one with the impression of an incredibly gifted people who can achieve whatever they set their minds on. Whenever he has the stage to himself in such moments, his face shines like a full-moon and an ethereal smile rests on his lips. To close observers, Obiano’s deep seated love for Ndi Anambra could be gleaned from his many acts of compassion towards the ordinary people. For instance, long before President Buhari and Vice President Osinbanjo announced a slash in their salaries in response to the deplorable state of the economy, Willie Obiano had announced a hundred per cent donation of his salary to the under-privileged people in Anambra State. Throwing some light on his decision Obiano had explained that “after spending many fruitful years in leadership positions in the private sector, I earn enough pensions to sustain the needs of my modest family. So, I felt that my salary would be more useful if it puts a smile on the faces of some underprivileged members of society to whom the smallest amount of money would make a huge difference.”
It was this compassion for the people that also informed his decision to give workers a salary raise at a time when oil prices were taking a massive plunge. Same with the clearance of outstanding debts to pensioners as well as the re-absorption of some staff of Anambra State Broadcasting Service that were whimsically laid off by the previous administration. In it, one cannot but see the image of a compassionate leader whose humanity is diminished by any act that nibbles away on the humanity of others.
Indeed, Obiano’s love for a better Anambra has continued to drive his actions and inactions. Desirous of a less fractious and more prosperous state, Obiano called a meeting of Anambra’s great sons and daughters early last year and feted them on the altar of brotherhood. At the event which was graced by the leading lights of Anambra State, Obiano appealed for their support and direct participation in the efforts to restore glory to Anambra State. He went beyond that threshold to work for a more inclusive administration, reaching out to opposition figures like Prince Engr. Arthur Eze, Sir Emeka Offor, Chief Chris Ubah and other great personages that have catalyzed development everywhere else except their home state. His efforts received a warm response from the people who rallied round him and gave him their solid assurances.
Obiano has also proven himself a man of his word. He has not only kept his promise to continue, complete and commission the projects he inherited from his predecessor, he has also commenced a number of critical interventions in agriculture, power generation from the rich gas reserves and a great number of bridges and roads to open up the food basins of the state. The International Trade Center being built in Ogbunike is yet another revolutionary initiative that will change the commercial landscape of the South East while Orient Petroleum has taken a new life under his watch with a projected production output of 3000bpd in September this year.
In truth, Obiano’s rising profile as the new Igbo leader manifested fully with Ozoemezina; the symbolic memorial he organized for Igbos who lost their lives in the Biafran War and other violent conflicts across Nigeria. Ozeoemezina revealed Obiano’s deeply reflective side which successive political leaders in the South East never seemed to have. Ozoemezina firmly placed Obiano on a whole new stratosphere from his peers, cloaking him in the spotless robes of a true Igbo leader and a man of the people.
Similarly, Obiano’s ascension onto the position of the National Leader and BoT Chairman of APGA seemed to be the tonic the party needed to stir into a new life, making remarkable inroads into new territories while consolidating on its strongholds. He showed his ability to hold his turf during the last elections when he shrugged off the shenanigans off the PDP to sweep the majority seats in the state house of assembly elections.
All things considered, Willie Obiano has proven himself a great leader who the gods had prepared for the exigencies of our times. He comes with the candour, the vision and the compassion that make for a purposeful leadership. As he turns 60, the world stands in awe of this man who has continued to change the paradigm of compassionate leadership in Nigeria.
About two decades now, I have been engrossed in finding the reasons and facts to fault my conviction that Nigeria does not have the requisite level of discipline that matches her development potentialities and aspirations. In other words, Nigeria’s level of discipline cannot carry and sustain the level of development she can attain and of which the entire African continent and indeed the World look forward to. Some may consider me to be a lazy thinker by asking: “What has discipline got to do with development? Why should it take him about twenty years to fathom what the reasons and facts are that supports this thinking?” But in this thinking profession, it is not done until it is done. Also in this profession, this type of laziness is not a crime.
To grasp the thinking flow here, it will be appropriate to provide my understanding of the two key words in the writing: development and discipline and see how they could be put together for a better understanding of the article.
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What is development? What is discipline? How exactly do they relate to each other in the development of society? From my understanding of society development, it could mean the ability of a people to consistently move-up who they are and what they have thereby achieving a sustained well-being of their lives. Development is about who you are and what you have and your ability to combine these factors such that a progressive standard of living is achieved at all times. So the key issues in society development are people, resources, capacity and well-being. Indeed the ultimate focus of development is the well-being of people and that was why late Professor Claude Ake said that development must come from within (the people), not without. Therefore any development that comes from outside the capacity of the people cannot qualify as development. Every developed society have their people, their resources and their capacity to combine all these in such a way that they produce their goods and services that meet their level of needs and sustain their well-being. Developed people are highly organized, they have high respect for the rule of law, they have high respect for their history and they protect common values and goods. They design, create, build and maintain their infrastructure and systems. An example of a developed people is the Peoples Republic of China.
With respect to discipline, two exposures informed my understanding of what discipline is. In 1984, Nigeria experienced a programme called War Against Indiscipline (WAI) introduced by the then military government of General Mohammadu Buhari (GMB), now transmuted to President Mohammadu Buhari (PMB). Among others, it required of us to be orderly in our daily public conducts. That was how I learnt to queue in public places like banks, post offices, students’ cafeteria and indeed all other places where many people are expected to access some public services. Even in private places we began to adopt first come first served and we began to learn how to prioritize our choices both as individuals and as families. With that era, I discovered that discipline helps to remain organized, obey the laws, create and sustain common goods etc. Also, I will never forget an article written in about 1996 by Prof. Tam David-West (my distant mentor) and published in The Guardian. It was about indiscipline and he enumerated acts of indiscipline to include placing or dropping of things indiscriminately in one’s room. Since that day, I became very conscious how I place/drop things in my room and that led me to have my room always well-arranged and neat. From these basic examples, one can say that discipline means doing things in the right way/manner or doing what is right such that what is done accords with your conscience and must be in consonance with secular laws of the land. It means being in order or acting in generally accepted ways that will not corrupt the society. Such behaviors yield both private and social goods. As a Christian, discipline involves being Christ-like and obeying your conscience at all times. The Peoples Republic of China is a good example of a disciplined society. In China, if you act against the law, even if you were a past president of the country, the law must take its course. The law is not a respecta of persons. Discipline sustains institutions, while indiscipline destroys institutions.
Lack of discipline or indiscipline can be seen in all acts like stealing of public and private funds, abuse of tribalism, refusal to carry out works based on the ethics of those works, giving undue preferences to people of your tribe (as practiced in Nigeria by the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba), disrespect for elders and the laws of the land, homosexuality, wearing bedroom cloths in the public, over dressing, giving and/or taking of bribe to do one’s job for which one is paid, sexual harassment, despoliation of the environment via pollution, urinating along the road, switching on of electric generation sets that disturbs the serenity of the neighbourhood, neglecting the minorities in Nigeria in having access to Federal offices and opportunities, speaking unofficial languages in the office to cheat others, etc. It means not being in order or acting in such a manner that is generally not acceptable. Such acts are very capable of ruining the society because it negates all efforts to ensure productivity, it destroys the values and common goods of the society. It is the parent and master-mind of disorderliness. It destroys goodness and enthrones whatever that is bad, ugly and generally unacceptable. It breeds unguarded behaviours like threatening to throw human beings into the lagoon without any moral justification, hiding under religious fundamentalism or resource control to kill, rape and kidnap people in order to be given amnesty and have access to the national wealth. As a bishop or imam, it is indiscipline not to see and speak truth to political leadership because you want to have access to the wealth of the state. Lack of discipline welcomes the unproductive rich and hates with great scorn the productive poor etc. Nigeria is a good example of a society ruined by indiscipline.
So, what is the relationship between development and discipline?
From Mathematics we know that when there exists a linear relationship between two variables, any change in one affects the other. For example, we were taught in basic Economics that the higher the price of commodity X, the higher the amount of commodity X supplied to the market and conversely. So if the price of commodity X rises by 10%, it will lead to a corresponding increase in the quantity of commodity X supplied to the market and vice versa. The implicit factors that enable the suppliers respond to the price increase are the strong desire in them to maximize profit and more importantly the supplier must have the capacity to produce and supply that incremental quantity, otherwise this principle fails. So it is with our instant case between society development and discipline. When the level of discipline is high in any given society, this thinking believes that it will lead to high level of development in that society. Example is the level of discipline that exists in most advanced World; remove discipline, they crumble. In other words, when discipline falls, development falls; when discipline rises, development rises (all things being equal). This linear relationship between development and discipline is crucially critical for understanding the reasons behind unprogressiveness suffered by most undeveloped societies of the World.
Yet in these undeveloped societies, people remain very anxious and expectant for development. Their argument is that they have all it takes to become developed. They have people, resources, some level of capacity, infrastructure and systems; yet they are not developed. Some high grammar speaking intellectuals in such societies even go as far as suggesting strong institutions as panacea; they forget that institutions that are administered by indisciplined minds cannot succeed in rendering services for which it was established. Discipline is the engine room that makes an institution function efficiently and effectively and succeed. No discipline, no institution and no development.
In Nigeria most of our big boys think discipline is not an issue and they always overlook it. I disagree. Lack of discipline killed Operation Feed the Nation (1976-1979), Green Revolution (1980-1983), WAI (1984-1985), MAMSER/DFRRI and Structural Adjustment Programme (1986-1993), Visions 2000, 2010 and 2020(1996-2010), NEEDS, SEEDS and MDGs (1999-2015). Lack of discipline killed NITEL/MTEL, NEPA/PHCN, NNPC and the Refineries, etc. Who can estimate the amount of money Nigeria spent and lost on these programmes and institutions? Only God knows! Yet they all failed. Why did they fail? Some people will simply answer: bad management and corruption. But they will not go further to ask: why were the managers of these efforts corrupt? They were corrupt because they lack discipline. With discipline, even without huge resources, you can record recognizable development. That is why in the World today, Ghana, Botswana, Cuba etc are being appreciated. So the level of development of a country has not much to do with resources which are given, but more to do with the level of discipline deployed in the management of the available resources.
It is discipline that can effectively organize the people and their resources using available capacity into a sustained flow of economic, social and political progress. In fact discipline is a factor of production because without it, no nation can develop. That is why I totally disagree with Acemoglu and Robinson in their book “Why Nations Fail”. They were of the strong view that the key difference between the developed countries (USA) and undeveloped countries (Mexico) is the lack of strong institutions in the latter. Our dear Prof. Pat Utomi is also of the same view. I disagree with them because in every human society, there must be institutions and systems created to administer society’s resources etc. But systems, institutions and their laws need human beings to function; recall that man is the most important agent of development. Discipline helps man to ensure that the systems, institutions and laws work. If man is compromised or lacks discipline, the systems, institutions and laws fail. The United Nations and indeed any developed country cannot function effectively if their leaders and administrators lack discipline. Therefore, in today’s undeveloped World, discipline is the issue in human development.
In Nigeria, we have an opportunity now to begin the search for discipline in the country’s development and that was the key factor which led to the election victory that transmuted GMB to PMB. PMB should keenly begin to dust-up the WAI files and thoughts so that Nigeria can have the discipline she needs to carry on her development efforts. Nigeria first and foremost needs to match or bring into equilibrium her level of discipline with the development she desires. As at today, Nigeria does not have the discipline to carry the development she deserves. Without requisite discipline, Nigeria’s development cannot be achieved. No discipline, no change!
Not less than 344 witnesses have been billed to testify as the definite hearing of the petitions filed by Chief Great Ogboru of the Labour Party, Otega Emerhor of the All Progressive Congress, challenging the electoral victory of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.
This followed a concluded report presented by the three man tribunal, headed by Justice Nasiru Gunmi, during its sitting in Asaba, where the report of the concluded pre-hearing section was issued to the legal teams of the petitioners and the respondents.
Issuing the reports to all the parties to the petitions, the tribunal fixed Thursday, 20th August, 2015 to start definite trial of the substantive suit of Chief Ogboru and LP, while proper hearing of the main suit of Chief Emerhor and APC was fixed for Monday, August 17th 2015.
The tribunal called on the parties to cooperate and do the needful to enable the tribunal conclude and deliver judgments on the petitions before it.
It would be recalled that during the last sitting of the court on the two petitions during the week, the state Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, through his lawyer, Mr. Ken Mozia, had informed the court that he intended to take evidence from nine witnesses in the case filed by Chief Emerhor of APC, the petitioner’s lawyer Chief Thompson Okpoko, also had told the court that he intends to call nine while PDP and INEC equally informed the tribunal that they intend to call nine and six witnesses respectively, making a total of 33 witnesses in all.
In the same way, in the petition of Chief Great Ogboru of LP against the governor, both the petitioner and the respondents indicated interest to take evidence from not less than 221 witnesses for the trial.
The breakdown is as follows: Dr. Okowa, 32 witnesses, Chief Ogboru, 36 witnesses, PDP, 30 witnesses while INEC intends to call the highest number of witnesses of 123.
Fifteen passengers who boarded a Delta Mass Transit bus, including the bus driver Thursday evening, crashed into a nearby truck leading to the immediate death of 14 persons while one was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Investigations reveal that the bus was heading to Agbor, a major town in Delta, but eye witnesses say the driver was on high speed and crashed on the truck along the Benin/Asaba Expressway, by Issele-Uku-Ubulu-Okiti axis of the state.
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The state Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Sector Commander, Mr. Kumven Rindom, who confirmed the accident and the death of the 15 passengers, blamed the accident on over-speeding and inability of the driver to observe the prevailing situation of the road.
He disclosed that the only surviving passenger is in critical condition in Mother and Care Hospital, Issele-Uku.
According to him “I am just coming from the scene and I can tell that the accident was caused by over-speeding on the part of the bus driver and the inability of the trailer owner who was towing a faulty trailer, to put danger signs on the road for other road users to know what was going on”
“What happened was, there was a breakdown trailer on a hilly point of the road, a vehicle was trying to tow it, while Delta Mass Transit bus was coming from Asaba going towards Agbor on top speed, as the driver saw the trailer, he tried to stop but the speed was very high, so he swiveled to the left in attempt to avoid the towing van and rammed on the stationary trailer carrying rods, and because, the driver was on top speed it had fatal result on the occupants of the bus, that was how 14 died on the spot, two were rushed to hospital but one gave up the ghost, while one is in critical situation,” he said.
The sector commander said the accident occurred at about 6pm and FRSC immediately sent rescuing officers to the scene, to rescue those alive for medical treatment and carry the dead to hospital mortuary.
He used the opportunity to advise road users, particularly drivers to avoid over-speeding, alcohol and observe changing conditions on the road to road crashes that could be avoided.
According to him “life has no duplicate, so drivers must stop driving under the influence of alcohol or other substances”.
One of the governorship aspirants in Kogi State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator Alex Usman Kadiri, has dexlared that he is more experince to govern Kogi state that the former governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu.
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Prince Audu has alleged that most of his co-contestants seeking the ticket of APC to contest the November 21 governorship election in Kogi state are young school leavers without required experience to do the top job.
Kadiri, who spoke to journalists at the APC national secretariat in Abuja yesterday shortly after obtaining his Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms, said: “I personally believe that I have more experience than Abubakar Audu, he knows that.”
While lamenting that bad governance is the bane of development in the Confluence State, promised that if given the opportunity to serve, he doesn’t need more than four years to correct the anomalies.
“It is not my intention to hang on to the governorship of Kogi state more than four years,” he declared.
He attributed margilisation of certain parts of the state since its creation in 1991 as part of the problem bedevilling Kogi state, adding that foremost businessmen like Omokore and Tunde Ayeni have no investments in the state because of disconnection between the government and the people of the state.
Kadiri promised to address youth restiveness and all other anomalies in the state and the sky will be the limit.
He also said that the idea of consensus was good one but may not work out now after the aspirants have been made to part with a whooping N5.5million each to obtain forms, adding that the timing is rather late.
While lamenting that the situation where the people of the state who have lived together for over 20 years don’t inter-marry each other, he stated that Kogi’s predicament is beyond mere electoral promises but addressing fundamental issues of unity among the populace and disconnection between the leaders and the led over time.
………Accuses Governor of executive rascality
Christopher Uche, Yenagoa
The All Progressive Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State has condemned the recent N25 billion loan obtained by governor Seriake Dickson, saying the executive rascality of the Governor in the state has reached an alarming rate.
According to the APC,though infrastructural projects and empowerment policies are needed by the people of the State, the series of borrowing including the recent loan approval of N25billion by the Seriake Dickson administration are targeted at funding phantom and white elephant road projects in the state without due Process, transparency and accountability.
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The leadership of the APC in Bayelsa State through its publicity secretary, Hon. Panebi Fortune,accused Governor Dickson of engaging in alleged desperate borrowing and mortgaging the future of the state for years to come.
According to the APC, “the latest loan of twenty five Billion naira (N25b) is capable of crumbling the already impoverished economy of BayelsaState.As the only people and development oriented party in Nigeria anchored on good governance and good leadership, the APC would not watch in akimbo the economic crucifixion of Bayelsa State in the hands of a Cabal championed and led by Governor Henry Seriake Dickson.”
” The party wants Dickson to explain to Bayelsa state what he did with the money he claimed he was saving since he assumed office and the recent bail-out shared by the federal government to states including Bayelsa from the proceeds of the tax remitted by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).”
“Unfortunately and regrettably, the law makers in the State House of Assembly who are empowered by law to check the excesses of the executive and stand/speak for the people have connived with the executive to loot and siphon available State resources. This unholy alliance between the State legislature and the executive is a veritable bugaboo to enrich the Cabal while Bayelsans wallow in abject poverty and economic hell.”
” As a party that believes in CHANGE, The APC will continue to draw the attention of Bayelsans, Nigerians and indeed the world to the executive financial rascality, impunity and malfeasance going on in the state.The APC is fully aware of the over 100 billion naira Governor Seriake Dickson borrowed sometime last year from banks without the approval of the State House of Assembly. Borrowing money to this magnitude without due process amounts to gross financial misconduct and it is an impeachable offense. Sadly, the State House of Assembly is docile because either they are collaborators or they are unaware of the consequences of the huge accumulated debts on Bayelsans.”
“The APC as a matter of urgency hereby calls on the State Assembly to live up to expectation for the interest of the state and not connive with the Governor to mortgage the future of Bayelsans so that our dear State will not turn into another Greece in Nigeria. Posterity will judge anyone who compromises with Governor Dickson’s style in this direction. The party also accused Dickson of being clueless, insensitive and confused in governing the state. Governor Henry Seriake Dickson is completely bereft of modern ideas, leadership acumen and strong political will to move Bayelsa forward. ”
“All he has done is to deceive the public with his sugar coated rhetoric since his true face has been unmasked. The APC assured all indigenous people as well as residents of the state for the umpteenth time that Bayelsa State is not for sale and nobody can mortgage her future. The wind of change is here and will soon blow Governor Seriake Dickson away for Bayelsans to enjoy the dividends of democracy. Bayelsa belongs to every Bayelsan
President Muhammadu Buhari has said Nigerians must stop paying mere lip service to agriculture, as crude oil and gas exports will no longer be sufficient as the country’s major revenue earner.
The president gave the charge at an audience with Dr Kanayo Nwanze, the Nigerian born President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday.
“It’s time to go back to the land. We must face the reality that the petroleum we had depended on for so long will no longer suffice. We campaigned heavily on agriculture, and we are ready to assist as many want to go into agricultural ventures,’’ he said.
Buhari pledged that his administration would also cut short the long bureaucratic processes that Nigerian farmers had to go through to get any form of assistance from government.
He told the IFAD President that improvement of the productivity of farmers, dry season farming and creative ways to combat the shrinking of the Lake Chad will also receive the attention of his administration.
“There is so much to be done. We will try and articulate a programme and consult organisations like IFAD for advice,’’ he added.
According to the president, foreign exchange will be conserved for machinery and other items needed for production “instead of using it to import things like toothpicks’’.
Nwanze had earlier congratulated Buhari on his victory at the general elections and assured him that IFAD was ready to give all possible assistance to the Federal Government and Nigerian farmers to boost agricultural production in the country.
Nwanze, who later spoke to State House correspondents, said IFAD had since 1985 been providing loans and grants in the nation’s agricultural sector to boost agricultural production.
“Nigeria has the largest portfolio of IFAD’s investment in Western and Central Africa and the second largest in Africa.
“But the case point here is that this country has all the endowments that it takes not only for it to produce enough food for its population but also to be the bread basket of region.
“And this is where my institution on my behalf, I offered our services and our support in the agenda of rural transformation as a key ingrate in this country’s economic and social development,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IFAD is an international organisation dedicated to addressing issues of agriculture and poverty alleviation.
It was established in 1978, and has been collaborating with Nigeria for over 30 years.
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