Dr. Precious Gbeneol, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals has advocated that global post 2015 development Agenda can only have the necessary impact on the development of developing nations if it has at its core eradication of poverty with focus of enablers of economic development and job creation.

The SSAP-MDGS who spoke at the informal dialogue titled: “Turning Commitment to Realities- Perspectives on The Post 2015 Development Agenda” during the 57^th Commission on the status of women at the United Nations headquarters in New York last week. She therefore listed issues that must be addressed in the post 2015 development framework to include access to sustainable energy, infrastructure, population demographics and governance.

She noted that the changing population demographics imply that the greatest challenge facing developing countries at the moment is providing   economic opportunities for young, educated segment of population of their population and ways to do this must be included in the framework of the new development agenda.

The presidential aide said Nigeria’s youth unemployment currently estimated at around 42 per cent poses danger to national political, social and economic stability as had happened in other countries.

“The UN Resident Coordinator for Morocco recently said an underlying factor in the Arab Spring was education not being rewarded with employment. Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa faces a similar trend, except on a far larger population scale, with far less infrastructural capacity and weaker social safety nets than that present in Morocco”, Gbeneol added.

The SSAP-MDGs however added that harnessing the potential of the increase in Nigeria working age population could drive Nigeria forward at an incredible rate, accelerating economic progress with potential for development of social infrastructure for future generations.

This, she said can only be done if appropriate environment that will lead to creation of jobs for youths are created. “There is therefore need for an expansion of enterprise, and such an expansion needs to be supported by better infrastructure. This is true not just for Nigeria, but also for the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa”, DrGbeneol who noted that it has been estimated that an additional 122 million workers will enter Africa’s labour force by 2020, added that by 2035, the size of the African labour force will be larger than any nation’s, including China.

“Therefore as a continent, we need to focus on increasing investment in infrastructure, particularly within energy and transportation. I suggest that ways through which infrastructure could be captured within the new framework would be to include indicators such as electricity power consumption per capita, density of road network, and percentage of population with access to electricity, improved water resources and roads”, said Gbeneol.

The presidential aide also suggested that rather than targeting increase in enrolment in primary education as contained in the present development framework, it is more important to target improvements in secondary and tertiary education whilst incorporating practical and vocational skills in tune with the reality of contemporary global development.

“Targeting investment in skills development of the youth population will enhance their productivity in the labour market. One way of capturing youth education and skills training within a Post-2015 Agenda would be to take a youth unemployment target informed by indicators such as participation rates in youth vocational training and tertiary education enrolment”, she said.

While giving the country’s scorecard, the SSAP-MDGs noted that in spite of the of the challenges, the country has made steady efforts towards the attainment of the MDGs by recording modest improvements in maternal and infant mortality, gender equity, HIV prevalence and access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

She also noted that Nigeria has started the implementation of United Nations MDGs Acceleration Framework (MAF) with focus on reducing the burden of maternal mortality.

“This first round of MAF will build on the success of policies such as the Midwives Services Scheme, Community Health Extension Workers Programme, the newly introduced Village Health Worker Scheme and the Saving One Million Lives Initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria”, said Gbeneol.

The presidential aide also revealed that efforts are being made across the board with other initiatives such as the use of ground-breaking mobile money technology to drive the new scale up of Conditional Cash Transfers for which the sum of N10billion half of which comes from 24 participating States of the Federation has been approved.

“This CCT Scheme, designed to stimulate demand for services, targets education, basic health care, as well as the transfer of agricultural enterprise, being a multi-faceted program implemented in the run up to the 2015 deadline”, she added.

Signed:

K.N Offie

Deputy Director, Information

The Kaduna state government goofed by appointing Ahmed Maiyaki as the D.G Media and publicity to the Governor. A man who is a public health practitioner and has been practicing public health ever since. He has been with the Ask Kaduna pilot project, a DFID funded project on priority health issues in Kaduna state, from where he was yanked and appointed D.G media. He claims to be the principal consultant and chief executive of a media firm, Media Aid Limited, a media firm based in Abuja and Kaduna whose address is not traceable. His only unverifiable claim of work is that he was a freelance journalist at Radio France Internationale since 2007

As D.G media, Maiyaki is more of a commission agent than a media practitioner he claims to be, that can positively promote the image of the governor and the state in general

What were the criteria used in appointing maiyaki as D.G media? Patronage

Here is a man with no prior public media experience and who has never worked for any known media organization in the country, thrust to manage the media of a state like Kaduna. His lack of experience has been manifested severally with the recent being the issuance of threat to the good people of Aduwan village when they were attacked by armed Fulani marauders. How could he be issuing threats and warnings to a grieving people on behalf of his boss instead of sympathizing and condoling them over the loss of their loved ones? The answer simply is INEXPERIENCE, INEPTITUDE AND UNPROFESSIONALISM

Ahmed Maiyaki is nothing but a misfit and mis-match for the office of the D.G media, we are sure that by the time the heat starts coming in, this chap will simply buckle under pressure and will simply not be able to help his principal (s), then the chicken would have come home to roost ad it would have been too late by then

Form our interactions with journalists, they all complain that he has a very poor media relationship and tends to boss himself on them; and that he is ineffective, inexperience and is not a professional.

Kaduna belongs to us all and it is our responsibility to point out issues as this when the wrong people are put in public positions not fitting for them and bringing the state to shame and ridicule through their actions and inactions. Governor Mukhtar MUST learn to put round pegs in square holes

National President

Caleb Samuel Abbott

On Tuesday, 9th March, 2013, the Council of States, an advisory body to the President in Nigeria’s infrastructure on Political governance, was reported to have assented to Presidential Pardon for Mr Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha (former Governor of Bayelsa State), Shettima Bulama (former head, Bank of the North), Lt Gen Oladipo Diya (former Chief of General Staff), Major-General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, Major-General
AbdulKareem Adisa, Major Bello Magaji, Mohammed Lima Biu, Major Seun
Fadipe. The decision was hinged on the Provisions of Section 175 (1-3)
of the Nigerian Constitution. Indeed, subsection 3 expressly states
that: The President, acting in accordance with the advice of the
Council of state, may exercise his powers under subsection (1) of this
section in relation to persons concerned with offences against the
army, naval or air-force law or convicted or sentenced by a
court-martial.
Understandably, there was palpable feeling of outrage among Nigerians
(at home and the Diaspora) on the amnesty granted to Mr Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha and Shettima Bulama. The reason for this was that,
these two Nigerians were convicted for obscene corruptive tendencies
and nauseous rapacity. Whilst Shettima Bulama was apprehended for
embezzling the funds of his employers, Bank of the North; Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha (as Governor of Bayelsa) was arrested in UK for
laundered $3.2million in cash and Bank accounts.

He subsequently jumped bail and returned to Nigeria before being impeached by 17 out
of the 24-member Bayelsan state assembly. The arraignment before a
Federal High Court found him guilty and was sentenced accordingly.
What is galling in the entire saga was the sheer impunity exhibited by
the obsequious apologists of this corruption-prone Presidency of Dr
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Dr Doyin Okupe, the garrulous and overly
cocky special Assistant to the President on Public affairs, told a
bewildered Nation (on behalf of his Boss), “I owe nobody any apology.”
The hubris of that assertion is seen in the inebriation with power
that is often linked with holders of executive authority in Nigeria.
The Nigerian state, as a State Party, is a signatory to the United
Nations Convention against Corruption enacted through the General
Assembly resolution: 58/4 of 31 October 2003. As reasons for this
legal instrument, the UN Secretary –General stated inter-alia that:
“Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive
effects on societies. It undermines democracy and the rule of law,
leads to violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the
quality of life and allows organized crime, terrorism and other
threats to human security to flourish. This evil phenomenon is found
in all countries—big and small, rich and
poor—but it is in the developing world that its effects are most
destructive. Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting
funds intended for development, undermining a Government’s ability to
provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice and
discouraging foreign aid and investment.
Corruption is a key element in economic underperformance and a major
obstacle to poverty alleviation and development.”
The Power of Prerogative of Mercy granted to Presidents in various
jurisdictions, though discretional, is expected to be exercised with
perspicacity and utmost circumspection. From President Gerrard Ford’s
amnesty to the impeached Mr. Richard Nixon (of the Watergate scandal
fame) to President Shehu Shagari’s pardon extended to General Yakubu
Gowon and Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Prerogative of mercy have
always been used to rehabilitate individuals convicted of political
transgressions after unmistakable show of penitence. From any
recollection of contemporary history on Prerogative of mercy, this is
the first time that convicted felons- individuals that have destroyed
the moral fabric of society through unbridled grand larceny- would be
granted presidential pardon! President Goodluck Jonathan, known for
devious schemes, had tried to conflate political transgressions and
criminal infractions in the lame attempt at hoodwinking a Nation with
this obviously nauseating Pardon to his former political benefactor.
Though the ostensible and much-trumpeted reason is for national
cohesion, we have on good authority that the main reason is a
self-serving agenda by the Jonathan regime ahead of the 2015 election.
Under the Nigerian extant law- which prescribes a 10-year
disqualification for any ex-convict- Chief Alamieyeseigha is
ineligible for any electoral contest in 2015 since his conviction was
done in 2006.
As a Party, we are aware of the burden of responsibility on us to lend
our voice to the vociferous condemnation of this ‘pardon for brazen
criminality’ by the Jonathan administration. The wider implications of
the infra-dig by this regime concerning the issue are very worrisome.
Section 175 (1d) of the Nigerian Constitution which deals with amnesty
states: ‘remit the whole or any part of any punishment imposed on that
person for such an offence or of any penalty or forfeiture otherwise
due to the State on account of such an offence. ‘Does this imply that,
by this amnesty, the assets unjustly accumulated by Chief
Alamieyeseigha and forfeited to the Nigerian state shall be remitted
to him in part or whole?

Would this not send wrong signals to the International community
that Nigeria is a big enclave of institutionalized corruption?
Would this not discourage potential investors and extirpate the
implementation of the much-touted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)?

By this action, is the Jonathan regime not festering the cankerworm
of corruption and implicitly encouraging the succeeding generation on
imbibing that culture?

Would this action not be antithetical to the spirit and letter of
the UN charter against Corruption to which Nigeria is a signatory to?
Without any scintilla of doubt, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, as President,
has ceased from serving the collective interest of the Nigerian people
and the Nation state. He seems more pre-occupied with political
maneuvers- that are deleterious to the corporate existence of the
Nation state- than ensuring good governance through enunciation of
policies that do not offend the ethno-religious balance of the polity.
It is therefore our considered view- in the Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC)- that the Nigerian Senate should mitigate this national
embarrassment from the President’s action by suing for rescission of
this amnesty order on Mr Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and Mr Shettima
Bulama; or in the event of refusal, to commence impeachment
proceedings for gross abuse of executive authority and total disregard
for the feelings of the Nigerian people.
God bless Nigeria.

–
Rotimi Fashakin (Engr)
National Publicity Secretary, CPC