PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe on Thursday lashed out at the “selfish” West for denying Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala the opportunity to head the World Bank.
Okonjo-Iweala, a respected economist, last month lost the World Bank president post to Korean-American Jim Young Kim, in a first-ever challenge to US domination of the job.
“We were very saddened that you didn’t make it,” Mugabe told a women’s conference in Harare, which the Nigerian minister was attending.
“You know the Europeans are very selfish, they want to retain power in these bodies.
“The World Bank, no African can head it. The IMF, no African can head it. So it will take us time to be equal,” said Mugabe.
Okonjo-Iweala meanwhile said her candidacy has proven that developing countries can lead global institutions. “I think they (World Bank) have absolutely no choice, they have to evolve,” she said.
“It was a game changer that we cannot have the same processes that have gone on for 60 years going on in future, therefore I am confident that going forward there will be a more level playing field, more competition will be allowed.”
Under a tacit agreement since the Bretton Woods institutions were founded nearly 70 years ago, the United States has always picked one of its citizens for the helm of the World Bank while Europe has held control of who leads the International Monetary Fund. The US nominee faced a challenge for the first time in 66 years from two strong developing country candidates.
The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), being aware of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s first year as an elected President, hereby takes a retrospective look at the impact of governance on the lives of the ordinary Citizens.
Beyond the grandstanding and abundant rhetoric of the government, there is nothing worthy of note that the Administration of Dr Jonathan had done to improve the infrastructural development, Education, Security and Economy of the Nigerian State.
The poor results of Nigerian students in NECO, WASC and JAMB Examinations really typify the sordid decadence of Educational standard under the Jonathan Administration. The regime has proven to be adept in making vain electoral promises. It is still beyond reasonable rationalization that an administration that has not provided good funding for the existing Universities found it expedient to set up new ones; worse still, the new Universities have not taken off for paucity of funds!
The Nation’s infrastructure is in comatose state with no strident plan for improvement. The Roads are in worse parlous state, with receding hope for rehabilitation; stability in Electricity supply remains a mirage!
The policy summersault in the economic management is enough indication of the confusion at the top echelon of the Nation’s governance. The leadership-induced sleazy tendency is still nightmarish, as the like had never been seen in the Nation’s checkered history.
The cloud of insecurity that had enveloped the Nation-space is symptomatic of the pervasive ineptitude of the Leadership! There is also the added ethno-religious divisiveness that is supervised by the leadership for vain political advantage.
Succinctly put, the Jonathan’s administration in the last one year has been a sordid tale in gross incompetence. As a Party, we shall continue to show the Nation the way out of the quagmire of this leadership deficit.
1. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), like most others, has the core mandate of maintaining price stability and ensuring a non-inflationary growth. It also has the responsibility to ensure a sound and stable financial system in addition to other developmental functions. These mandates and functions are peculiar to central banks all over the world, and no other institution performs such functions. These special responsibilities are enormous and have continued to pose increasing challenges to central banks, largely because developments in the domestic and international economies create more intricacies and complexities in the financial systems and the art of central banking. Indeed, the current trend of globalization exemplified by economic and monetary unions has increased the challenges to central banking. The effective discharge of these responsibilities requires that central banks be independent in the true sense of it, that is, shielded from political interferences, have administrative independence and instrument autonomy. In this short write up, this writer wishes to present issues in the administrative autonomy and budgetary independence of central banks vis-à-vis independence and autonomy and country experiences. It is my considered opinion to urge against making the Governor of the central bank subservient to a politically appointed Board Chairman as well as excluding deputy governors who are executive directors as board members, as these are against international best practices. I also urge against subjection of CBN budget to the National Assembly, if the operations/effectives of the CBN are not to be encumbered. Issues in Central Bank independence
2. The global trend for efficient and effective central banking is a truly independent central bank with both operational and financial independence. Financial independence involves four aspects namely; the right to determine its own budget; the application of central bank specific accounting rules; clear provisions on the distribution of profits; and clearly defined financial liability for supervisory authorities. These are particularly relevant especially in not-well developed political systems like ours where central banks are most vulnerable to outside influence. A central bank would be operating under imminent danger (as under a ‘Damocles’ sword’) if it depends on government for funding or waits for government/legislative approval for its financial needs. This point is best illustrated by the recent banking crisis in Nigeria in which the CBN promptly intervened in a manner that did not rock the boat. It is clear to everyone that if the CBN had waited for parliamentary debate on its lender of last resort function before injecting money into the distressed banks, there would have certainly been a run on the system even before parliament would finish debate. Even the banks that were not in grave condition would have been affected. Depositors would lose their money on a scale that has never been witnessed in this country. Also, usually, if bankers know in advance that insolvent banks will be closed and that lobbying to keep them open will fail, they will behave more prudently, thereby reducing the likelihood of a banking crisis.
3. Central bank independence has been an age long issue. As early as 1824, David Ricardo in a paper on the establishment of a national bank had advocated full independence for central banks. Similarly an economist of great repute, Keynes, in a testimony before the 1913 Royal Commission into an Indian central bank said, “it would be desirable to preserve unimpaired authority in the executive officials of the bank whose duly it would be to take a broad and not always commercial view of policy”. Our Central Bank, if it would serve the purpose for which it was established should be insulated from commercial pressure from “made for profit” financial houses.
4. Of recent, there has been a consensus in theoretical and empirical literature on the one hand and among both academic economists and central bankers on the other, that achieving and maintaining long-run prices stability is the unique goal of monetary policy and this appears to be a panacea for reducing inflation. It then follows that institutional arrangement through which this can be achieved has become critical. There is also a widespread agreement that the most important institutional arrangement in this respect is the delegation of monetary policy to a truly independent central bank and this is predicated on the causal link between monetary policy autonomy and inflation. Needles to emphasize here that inflation, if left unchecked can bring down any economy no matter how well founded or well funded.
5. In the last couple of years, there has been growing evidence that central banks, which operate outside government control, have performed better in achieving their primary mandate. Such evidence include empirical investigations by eminent researcher like Rogoff (1985), Persson and Tabellini (1990), Cukierman (1992), Alesina and Gatti (1995), Walsh (1995), Walter and Walsh (1996), among others. Each of these works concluded that central bank independence is very important to achieve price stability. In the specific study by Cukierman, in which financial independence of central banks was investigated, 16 out of the 23 central banks surveyed determined their budget. Beside that monetary delegation leads to lower basic inflation, other motivations for central bank independence are lower inflation variability and higher and more stable economic growth.
6. In addition, there are three other basic arguments that underline the causal link between independent central bank and low inflation. Central bankers are exposed to strong political pressure to adopt lax monetary policies due to budgetary and seigniorage considerations. An independent central bank will be less subject to short-term political influences, thus, is better able to commit to long-term policies for promoting price stability. The Sergeant Wallace argument says that in a situation of fiscal dominance, monetary authorities will sooner or later be compelled to monetize the budget deficit, ultimately generating inflation. A strong and independent central bank can force the government to take measures to reduce the deficit or the volume of outstanding debt. This calls for financial independence. The time inconsistency argument is the major contribution by Rogoff (1985). Very often, monetary policy making under the influence of politicians tends to focus too much on short term considerations, which easily lead to temporary, non-sustainable outcomes (where such outcome is positive) all the expense of sustained economic growth. Politicians all over the world appear to have come to appreciate these issues and decided to remove the temptation to pursue short term gains and make their central banks independent. Our case should not be different. Indeed, the literature has outlined that one of the solutions to the problem of time inconsistency is the delegation of monetary policy to an independent authority with a longer time horizon and a greater preference for price stability.
7. Moreover, a long held view, which has received rigorous analysis (Cukierman, 1986) in recent years, is that central bank independence raises policy credibility and transparency and dampens inflation expectations.
8. Furthermore, in the area of governance of central banks, the global practice has been, and still is that the chief executive officer of the central bank chairs the Board of Directors and the Executive Directors are members of the Board of Directors. This is the practice in most countries.
Country Experiences
9. Central banks of several countries including the US, the UK, Europe, Brazil etc, and African countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Botswana etc, determine their budgets.
In the most recent regional integration of a wide scale, the European Union (EU), a key element in the European Monetary Union was the formation of an independent supra-national central bank. Indeed, the EU’s view on central bank independence is defined by the provisions of Article 107 of the Maastricht Treaty: “when exercising the powers and carrying out the tasks and duties conferred upon them by this Treaty and the statute of the ESCB, neither the ECB, nor a national central bank, nor any member of their decision-making bodies shall seek or take instructions from Community institutions or bodies, from any Government of a member state or any other body. The Community institutions and bodies and the governments of the Member states undertake to respect this principle and not to seek to influence the members of the decision making bodies of the ECB and the national central banks in the performance of their tasks”. In addition, many of the transitional economies of the Eastern Europe have adopted reforms aimed at making their central banks more independent. Furthermore, the traditional practice of central bank governor presiding over the board of directors that include all the executive directors subsists across the globe including regional banking institutions such as the European Central Bank.
The CBN Case
10. The Central Bank of Nigeria has had a chequered history of autonomy since its inception in 1958, varying between autonomy and control. In the 1958 Act, the CBN was granted a measure of autonomy which gradually eroded until 1991 when the autonomy was restored. The erosion of the Bank’s autonomy between the years coincided with military interventions in politics in Nigeria. Again, the autonomy was gradually eroded until 1999 when administrative and instrument autonomy were granted to the Bank to shield it from political pressures in the implementation of policy. From the inception of the Bank, the administrative structure has been that the Governor or Deputy Governor of the CBN presided over the Board of Directors and Executive Directors or Deputy Governors had always been on the Board. This arrangement had ensured easier, smoother and faster implementation of monetary and financial policies.
11. Nigeria is a driving force in the WAMZ project. The establishment of the West African Central Bank (WACB) and the eventual take off of the Eco currency in 2015 is a very important step in the process of economic integration in the sub region. The WACB will most likely operate in the manner of the ECB and will thus, be an independent supra-national central bank along with the national central banks of member countries. This implies that any legislations or institutional arrangements in any of the member countries against central bank autonomy and budgetary independence will be a clog in the wheel of the monetary integration. Nigeria should actually be in the forefront of promoting such a stand-discouraging member interference with the operations of their central bank.
12. The central Bank of Nigeria requires full independence in the true sense of it to enable it act appropriately according to its expert and independent viewpoint. The global trends have been towards full independence for central banks. Indeed, budgetary and instrument autonomy are the reasons why most central banks are now proactive rather than reactive in the discharge of their responsibilities-central banks are able to anticipate and identify problems and unintended outcomes and respond immediately with appropriate policy actions. This is the trend all over the world-in both developed and developing countries.
Concluding Remarks
13. In this era of globalization, Nigeria cannot afford not to follow the global trend. A truly independent and autonomous Central Bank of Nigeria has become more imperative for the integration of our financial system with the world economy in general and the West African sub region in particular. It should be emphasized that instrument autonomy without financial/budgetary autonomy, as obtained in other countries, is meaningless. What is required now is not to erode the financial autonomy of the Central Bank but rather to build and strengthen relationships that would enhance complementality between the monetary and the fiscal autonomies and ensure accountability and transparency dictated by policies rather than budgetary constrictions and exigencies.
14. Given our recent experience with the approval process of the Federal
Government budget and the eventual passage of the Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly, it would be disastrous for the CBN in terms of its operations and overall performance, if its annual budget gets bogged down with the usual delays that had attended the Federal Government budget. The unique responsibilities that have been bestowed on the Bank require it to act expeditiously should the need arise without recourse to the political autonomies.
15. In the light of the foregoing, it becomes imperative to caution against subjecting the CBN annual budgets to the approval process of the National Assembly so as not to encumber its operations/effectiveness, particularly in this period of fragility in the impending legislation on the West African Central Bank. In addition, a central bank governor that is subservient to a political appointee that presides over
the board of directors that excludes executive directors is counterproductive and it is against the new paradigm of making central banks truly independent.
Oil edged up above $91 a barrel Friday as an inconclusive summit about Iran’s nuclear program outweighed demands concerns tied to Greece’s financial crisis and sputtering growth in China.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for July delivery was up 41 cents to $91.07 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 76 cents to settle at $90.66 in New York on Thursday.
In London, Brent crude for July delivery was up 46 cents at $107.01 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Crude has sunk about 15 percent from $106 three weeks ago amid dimming global growth prospects and easing tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.
On Thursday, however, Iran and six world powers ended talks without making any progress toward a deal, agreeing to continue meetings next month in Moscow. Crude rose to above $110 earlier this year as traders worried a pre-emptive military attack by the U.S. or Israel on Iran’s nuclear facilities would disrupt global crude supplies.
“Ahead of the talks there had been hopes of a breakthrough,” said analysts at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. “Now that these hopes have not been fulfilled, part of the risk premium may return, which would argue against any further fall in the price of oil.”
Weaker manufacturing data released Thursday in Europe and China suggests a sharper slowdown in the global economy and weaker demand for crude.
Some European countries, such as Italy and Spain, are already in recession. Political turmoil in Greece has increased the possibility that the country will leave the euro common currency, a move that would likely undermine investor confidence in the rest of Europe.
“Data for the world’s most important commodity consumer, China, point to signs of slowdown,” Citigroup said in a report. “Easing geopolitical concerns have also weakened bullish sentiment.”
Trading volumes were expected to remain low ahead of U.S. markets being closed Monday for Memorial Day.
In other energy trading, heating oil was up 1.03 cents at $2.8360 per gallon and gasoline futures added 0.92 cent at $2.8285 per gallon. Natural gas fell 3.2 cents at $2.615 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.
Information recently made available to 247ureports.com through sources close to the activities of the former governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau reveal that the former governor of Kano State may have had a veiled relationship with the then Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] candidate for president in the person of the then incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
It is recalled that the former governor of Kano State, Malam Shekarau had contested in the 2011 presidential elections under the All Nigeria Peoples Party [ANPP] against President Goodluck Jonathan under the PDP. Prior to getting the ANPP party flag, the former governor of Kano State had been at a logger-head with the then leader of the ANPP, General Mohammed Buhari. The two ANPP stalwarts had fought for the control of the party – leading to the ‘ejection’ of General Buhari out of the ANPP. Both Shekarau and Buhari wanted to fly the ANPP banner to contest for the 2011 presidential election – as the favored northern candidate. As thought, the year 2011 was reserved for a northern candidate for presidency.
With General Buhari successfully ejected out of the ANPP, the former governor mounted the stage to fly the banner to vy for the presidency. General Buhari, on his part, formed a new party, the Congress for Progressive Change [CPC]. General Buhari used the new party to mount his presidential campaign in 2011.
But a new document recently made available to 247ureports.com shines a suspicious light on the former governor of Kano. The document shows that the former governor of Kano State was supporting the candidacy of the incumbent president – whom he [and Buhrai] was competing against at the polls. The document – which is an official Kano State document – reveals that Shekarau donated a N48,500,000 Bulletproof Toyota landcruiser to Goodluck Jonathan. The date of delivery to Goodluck Jonathan, according to the document was April 25, 2011. The document was signed by two Permanent Secretaries on behalf of the Kano State government.
See document below.
It is striking that the N48million donation to Goodluck Jonathan originated from the Kano State treasury – a state the largest number of almagiri [homeless boys] in Nigeria.
A Nigerian politician was shot dead Saturday by gunmen suspected to be from the Islamist sect Boko Haram, the military said.
The man identified as Alhaji Ahmadu, chairman of the People’s Democratic Party in Nafada area of northeastern Gombe state, was killed in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, spokesperson of the Joint Task Force Lt. Col. Sagir Musa told Xinhua.
He said the military has uncovered plans by the sect to attack public buildings during the commemoration of Nigeria’s Democracy Day May 29.
African Outlook Newsdesk is able to confirm that the victim was earlier indentified as a chieftain of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party a second Republic political party established by the late Alhaji Aminu Kano and may be a mistyped identification for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
“Our operatives will keep working our sources to get the correct identification of the deceased politician” a JTF official said .
Founded in Maiduguri around 2002, Boko Haram aims to overthrow the government and establish an Islamic state in the west African country.
The group is known by several different names, including al-Sunnah wal Jamma — or Followers of the Prophet’s Teachings.
The official name of the group is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means “people committed to the propagation of the prophet’s teachings and jihad”.
But since its early years, residents have dubbed it Boko Haram, which in the local Hausa language means “Western education is forbidden”.
It is one year now since Governor Rochas Okorocha came into power. He came into power on a tidal wave of voters support for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He dispatched Chief Ikedi Ohakim in the governorship election, which saw the APGA take the top post in Imo State. Okorocha was sworn in as Governor of Imo State on May 29th last year. He promised to reinvent Imo and help create a climate for business and job growth. I once watched him in a workshop organized for his executive, introduce his postulated economic theory, the one he called “Rochanomics”. In that workshop he said that ‘Rochanomics’ is a political principle based on liberation from political bondage. The ‘Rochanomics’ political philosophy to him is grounded on restoring of the fundamental essence of government, which is to create jobs ,create an environment where the people are secured in their rights to good life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
One year of his four year tenure is over. The question is how has the Okorocha administration performed in Imo State so far? Is the Imo ‘Rescue Mission’ on track or do they need to go back to the drawing board? As usual his spin doctors have started celebrating his one year performance on the pages of newspapers with adverts just to buoy their egos and selfish interests. As I write, Okorocha’s one year of achievements in office is still running in several Newspapers and online blogs. In their spin they are saying he is not only a performing Governor but one who has more than the needed credentials to take over from President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
The irony of the matter is that our governor who is expected to wake up from his slumber is the one dominating the pages of Newspapers in the name of one year anniversary. These spin doctors are enumerating non-existent projects and policies as the governor’s achievements so far. We need to ask the spin doctors if insecurity and youth unemployment in Imo State are ways to celebrate ‘Rochanomics’. According to Abraham Lincoln, You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
If Imo citizens didn’t know who Okorocha was before, they do now. According to a recent SP poll, 88.6 percent of the 400 randomly selected Imolites dislike strongly Okorocha’s one year performance in office .They are praying he make amend for the better in his second year. They believe his actions are harming the state. Imo people have shown their anger on the governor twice this year. He has been booed twice. They booed Okorocha when he was addressing workers at the State Secretariat last month. In March too, he was booed during one of his state of the state address in Owerri.He was speaking to people of the state telling them that Civil Servants can now beat their chest that their salaries come to them by 25th of every month and their 20,000 naira minimum wage has been paid. The Governor was interrupted with shouts of No! Na lie!. The people began to boo him. The State SSG,Prof Anthony Anwuka was also booed and jeered this year at the May 1st workers day celebration. In Imo politics and governance, public goodwill is everything. If there is any politician who should understand it more than others, it is the Imo governor who rode on the wings of massive public goodwill to the Imo government house.
Okorocha’s problem started when immediately he came into power ,he sacked thousands of workers employed by the last administration. The youths that were employed to beef up the public service in Imo state were sacked and they remain without jobs till date.Secondly,the people got angry when he introduced military style of leadership in a democratic dispensation.
Anele, an employee with ISOPADEC, gave Okorocha a solid low grade in his one year in office.“I think he’s not done a good job,” Anele said. “I think he’s not got for himself pretty good advisers, and that’s why he is having a lot of problems with the masses. A good leader begins with a good team and uses the best qualified .A situation where MDAs are subjected to generate their salaries and allowances; where contractors are subjected to fund government projects to completion without payment, where more than 10,000 Imolites were deprived of their legitimate jobs without payment of their entitlements is bad’’
Obinna from Emekuku, in his own remark said he is down and angry about Okorocha’s one year in office. “ I got angry when he lied that he paid 12years pensions to retirees whereas he merely paid 3months arrears to them . I hate it when any one tries to attract undeserved applause’’Anayo from Umuoji,did not appreciate Okorocha’s efforts and vowed not to vote for him if he plans a second come back. ‘We all witnessed how he rebranded all the Hilux vans in the State to lunch a security outfit to secure our people but yet security situation in Imo State is worsening. Check out the current alarming rate of kidnapping, and armed robbery in the State. Checkout the embarrassing way and manner criminals abduct Imo citizens demanding ransom before their release. This is failure on the side of government. To me with high rate of insecurity in Imo state ,his one year in office is a dead one’’
Sidney,a businessman in Owerri is not on the Okorocha bandwagon. The introduction of a fourth tier Government and appointment of community speakers does not impress Sidney. ‘’I am against formulating policies in the state without due process; policies such as the creation of community speakers without the input of the house of assembly. Our governor knows that it is illegal to impose an unconstitutional process on the people. Nigeria does not have fourth tiers of government.What we have is third tier and it is enshrined in the constitution.We must make the legal local government councils functional in the constitutional way.’’
Okorocha’s words and actions have left some persons feeling a little disillusioned. “I found the governor’s style far more autocratic,” Nnenna said. “Okorocha has governed more like a right-wing extremist. Why must he be relocating workers to their communities? Why must he cripple all Ministries, Department and Agencies of government in the State by starving them of funds. He even made promises we have come to believe are not within his proven capacity to deliver. He promised N100million development fund to each of the LGAs in the State, which till date is yet to be realized. He also promised another N1billion to each of the LGAs which too has not been realised. The so-called N20,000 minimum wage has not been paid to civil servants. N11,000 is what is paid to Imo state civil servants.’
Ijeoma a student said that Okorocha has done well in the area of road construction but that the majority road works are all at their teething stages and should not warrant any self glory or applause. According to her ,he has awarded major road contracts, rehabilitated many,especially in Owerri which gulped into millions of Naira.She however lamented that the award of these contracts did not follow due process.
Iwuji and Jideofor both disliked Okorocha’s approach to free education in Imo State. To them impress to run the primary and secondary schools have not been made available, which invariably affects the quality of the free education in Imo State. Even the N100 a month stipend to public school children was last paid in November 2011. They see the promised free education scheme and mouth-watering bursary for all Imo State undergraduates as mere political sweet talk. They believe that he can never sustain the proposed free education for tertiary schools.
Madu an unemployed graduate, said he cannot praise the governor in his one year in office because for one year now he could not create jobs for Imo youths rather he sacked more than 10,000 Imo State graduates in the State Civil Service. To Madu, he has no reason to sack the workers.He believe that the governor has failed in the area of job creation. “Imo State unemployment rate remains far higher than the national average, our state has been downgraded again, and investors are eager to escape the abysmal business climate. All in all, it is a grim picture this one year.” Madu said .
Now the question on the lips of Imo people is “if Okorocha cannot give good account of one year with surplus money coming from here and there, where will the magic come from, also how can one expect performance from Owelle now that the economy is battered in terms of revenue whereas precious time and money were wasted on frivolous matters.The governor is borrowing too much money and wasting too much on useless jamborees such as the upcoming Imo Youths summit in America.
My friend Herbert Kinsley once asked, who is the rescue government actually rescuing or for whom is effort made in that direction? He also asked who borrowed the N10billion and N50billion respectively in 2011, and which were approved as supplementary budgets by the Imo State House of Assembly? Who borrowed N6billion for repayment of purported loan owed to UBA PLC by the past administration? Who borrowed another N6billion for supposedly counterpart fund for UBE, ETF, MDG, etc? Who, also, borrowed N5billion for fruitless adventure of re-surfacing good and motorable roads in Owerri municipal? Who, too, borrowed a whopping sum of N10billion for phantom infrastructural development? They should not forget that nobody that fails to perform well in public office will escape the wrath of Imo citizens whether you are redeeming, reforming or rescuing.
In spite of concerted efforts by the health authorities and experts in the country to drastically reduce and combat the high rate of maternal and infant mortality nationwide, the number unfortunately still remains among the highest in the world.
The worrisome assertion was dropped at the weekend in Anambra by a health expert and consultant, Prof Bryan Adinma of the College of Medicine Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi.
According to him, more than sixty thousand (60,000) mothers still die in pregnancy-related complications annually in the country.
Adinma who was the former Anambra state Commissioner for Health and Consultant to some agencies of the United Nations and the World Bank, spoke at a workshop on Women Reproductive Health and Rights, organized by the IPAS in collaboration with the Umu-Ada Igbo Nigeria Project, at the weekend in Nri, Anaocha council of Anambra state.
He emphasized that every expectant mother should register at a health institution, “not prayer houses or with quacks under whatever name”, for proper and close attention from conception till delivery. He also took the participants on a journey from the dynamics of male/female reproductive idiosyncrasies, selection of baby’s sex, menstruation, ovulation and menopause.
Mrs Nkem Anyogu, a lawyer also spoke on the reproductive rights of Women in marriage and in the choice of child rearing, when, how and why. These include their rights to decide how many children to have, when, safe motherhood, sexual and gender violence.
The National President of Umu-Ada Igbo Nigeria, Dr Kate Ezeofor in her address noted that the programme was part of the grassroots mobilization and sensitization activities of the Umu-Ada Igbo Project nationwide in relation to a better society through knowledge and awareness.
She bemoaned the current statistics that show a maternal mortality rate of 1000 to every 100,000 live births in South East geo-political zone. Whereas 34,000 women die annually in the country from illegal abortion, obstructed labour and hemorrhage.
His Royal Majesty Eze Obidiegwu Onyesoh, Nri-Enwelani, the traditional ruler of Nri, the fabled ancestral home cum origin of the Igbo race in whose palace the workshop was held urged them to step up the sensitization and mobilization drive, pointing out that that the maternal mortality issue remains a nagging national issue of all ages and class.
The monarch who was represented by his Palace Secretary, Chief Chijioke Ifeka prayed the participants to imbibe and put the teachings into practice. Also, to pass the new ideas and teachings down to others. He thanked the organizers for choosing his community for commencement of the programme.
There it was in black and white, down the bottom of a back page of the Washington Post yesterday. President Barack Obama, it turns out, is an American.
This of course is news to no one except those who will always believe that Obama is a Manchurian candidate from Kenya via Indonesia. The only reason it was in the Post at all was because Arizona’s Secretary of State, Ken Bennett, had just come around to the notion.
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Bennett had made the news last week after declaring that he would not put the President’s name on ballots in Arizona until Hawaii proved – yet again – that Obama was born there.
Hawaii duly provided the evidence, again, and eventually Bennett recanted. The President’s name would appear on the ballot “as long as he fills out the same paperwork and does the same things that everybody else has,” Bennett said. As though Obama had ever planned not to. As though Bennett was making a liberal concession.
“What is so sacred or untouchable about this question that you can’t even ask the question?” he said.
That’s the thing with birthers, they never ask any other candidates to prove their place of birth.
Bennett had perhaps jumped on the birther bandwagon having made the political decision that in Arizona at least, too much radical conservatism is never enough.
He claimed he was not a birther, but was simply responding to thousands of emails he had received from people demanding he remove Obama’s name from the ballot.
Also in Arizona, Sherriff Joe Arpaio, who was first elected in 1992, declared this week that he was not satisfied that Obama had proved his place of birth.
“I’m trying to determine if any fraud occurred and who’s responsible,” said the Sheriff, who has had a cold case posse working on the case for seven months now.
The Sheriff said the verification that the secretary of state received from the Hawaii registrar is not evidence enough. “Let me see the micro film or an original copy of the birth certificate and I’d go home.”
Most Republicans are now embarrassed by the birther movement, which was effectively ridiculed in Arizona this week by an email campaign to have Bennett investigate claims that presumptive Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, was a unicorn.
Meanwhile in Topeka, Kansas a nine-year-oid boy has taken on the Westboro Baptist Church, the mob that for years has been rallying with obscene signs at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the belief that God is punishing America for its tolerance of homosexuality.
Josef Miles stood before church members holding their “God Hates Fags” signs with his own sign reading “God Hates No One”.
Asked on Thursday afternoon by National Public Radio how he came up with his slogan he said, “I just thought about it for a minute.”
Drug ingestion as a means of evading arrest has turned suicidal for a 34 year old commercial bus driver in Lagos who met his untimely death over a wrap that ruptured. The deceased, Ozoani Sunny Edwin allegedly returned from Brazil onboard a South African Airline flight at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA).
During screening, he tested positive to drug ingestion and was placed on observation. He excreted 10 wraps of substances that tested positive for cocaine weighing 180 grammes. While still under observation, he complained of stomach pain and was rushed to the hospital where he eventually died. A post-mortem examination revealed that his death was due to one of the wraps of cocaine he ingested that ruptured in his stomach.
Worried by the sudden demise of the drug suspect coupled with other Nigerians in death roll in foreign countries over drug related offences, the Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade reiterated his call for stiffer penalties for drug trafficking.
According to Giade, “until we get the penalty right, drug trafficking will remain attractive. Every case of drug trafficking involving type A drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine runs into several millions of naira. We must therefore wield the big stick against offenders to serve as deterrence. I am optimistic that adherence to stringent bail conditions and minimum of 15 years jail term will turn the tide of events”.
Giade described the death as sad and painful. “This death is sad and painful. The deceased would have been alive to face trial and ultimately given opportunity to learn from his mistakes. I urge members of the public to shun drug trafficking and make quality choices that will enable them maximise their destinies” the NDLEA boss opined.
NDLEA Airport Commander, Hamza Umar added that the family members of the deceased have applied for the corpse to be released to them after the autopsy. “Following the sad incident, we made contact with the family members. They also witnessed the operation where the ruptured wrap of cocaine that killed their son was recovered from his stomach. The Agency has also granted their request for the corpse to release to them” Hamza explained.
Preliminary investigation showed that the deceased Ozoani Sunny Edwin travelled to Brazil in search of greener pastures on 3rd of March 2012. He told investigators that the drug deal was not in his plan when he left the country. In the words of Ozoani, “I am a bus driver and I came to Lagos in 2000. I was able to save 850,000 naira that I used in travelling to Brazil in search of better jobs. The condition I met in Brazil was unbearable. I had language problem and also lacked work permit. I suffered until a Brazilian lured me into the drug deal as a last resort because I was almost stranded”.
Ozoani hails from Enugu State. He attended Nwueodobo Primary School Ngwo and Christ High School Abor both in Enugu State. He lived at Ejigbo area of Lagos.
