REMARKS BY DR. GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCON, GCFR,

President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

AT THE 50^TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GHANA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (GIMPA) AND CONFERMENT ON HIM OF A HONORARY DOCTOR OF LAWS DEGREE BY GIMPA

ACCRA, SATURDAY, 8^TH OCTOBER 2011

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PROTOCOLS

1.  I would like, first of all, to warmly thank my Dear Brother and Friend, His Excellency, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, for extending to me an invitation to participate in this important celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).

2.   My appreciation also goes to Dr Christina Amoako-Nuama, Chairman, GIMPA Council, the Rector, and the Deans and distinguished members of Faculty for their kind invitation. I wish to commend all of you for the brilliant efforts that you have put into organizing this historic event. I am glad and touched by your invitation, and the recognition that you have given me and Nigeria by this gesture.

3.     Golden Jubilees are important occasions for reflection and stocktaking. They also indicate to us how far we have gone with a project, and what we need to do to sustain the labours of past leaders, and chart the course for a successful future.

4.   Occasions such as this also offer us one crucial opportunity – they inspire us to do our utmost best to excel and to make a difference in whatever we do. Management and planning after all are about foresight, prudence and organization aimed at judicious use of persons and resources.

5.   The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration stands on a unique pedestal among its peers.

6.   Your Excellency, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me seize this opportunity to convey to you what Ghana means to us in Nigeria. Ghana is not a country apart, distinct in the sense of a separate and alien entity. Ghana is us and we are Ghana. This country inspired and challenged us to reach for our independence when the odds were not too brilliant, and the obstacles were seemingly insurmountable.

7.   Our two countries and people have shared values and cherished the idea of freedom and democratic governance. The ties between us predate the colonial period. In modern times, our relations have remained fraternal, cordial and satisfactory on all fronts.

8.   Our close relation has enabled us to share a common vision not only for our respective people, but for our entire sub-region. We committed ourselves to making our sub regional body, ECOWAS, a leading and indeed exemplary organ of integration and close cooperation among our nations.

9.   We have jointly pushed for, and attained with our friendly and brotherly nations, a purposeful and forward-looking regional organization, which seeks to ensure integration and the achievement of the common aspirations of our people. We have made appreciable progress in many policy areas in the organization.

10.                   This dynamism must be maintained and indeed encouraged. We can only do so with the right calibre of technocrats and managers, the training and production of which are the primary business of GIMPA and its sole objective.

11.                   Your Excellency, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, my invitation letter required me to articulate my vision for ECOWAS.

12.                   My specific vision for ECOWAS rests on the following important pillars:

(i)The creation of a sub-region without frontiers where the people have access to its economic resources and enjoy them by creating opportunities for social production and jobs in the framework of equitable distribution systems;

(ii)The provision of an enabling environment within which people ply their business and live in peace;

(iii)The emergence of a zone that is an integral part of the African continental space, where all human beings live in dignity and benefit from fair trade and mutual solidarity, and guided by shared principles.

13.                   It is within these parameters that I recognize the attainment of the following objectives by our organization and its member states:

·        The implementation of the ECOWAS Protocol and common tariff;

·        The Trade Liberalization scheme;

·        The Free Movement of Persons, Goods and Services; and

·        The Right of Establishment which has greatly facilitated good neighbourliness and peaceful co-existence in our region.

14.                   Your Excellency, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a clear duty to ensure that about 230 million of our brothers and sisters in our sub-region  live in harmony, peace and security, and to pursue their trade and vocations without undue hindrances imposed by states and their agencies. The days when states dictated exclusivity of interests and carved out boundaries and spheres of interest in commerce, industry and trade are veritably over.

15.                   Today, in this rapidly globalizing world, we in this region must use the state as an agent of change, development and progress. We must transform the state to be positively receptive to the yearnings of our people for integration, commerce and free movement of goods and services. Indeed the state must unleash the creative genius of our people and their unbounded energy and industry that in past centuries, gave rise to the Trans Saharan Trade and sustained our people for generations.  

16.                   We all know the capacity of our people to excel in the area of commerce and industry. The ancient Empire of Ghana, the Ashanti Empire of old, the Songhai Empire, the Empires of Mali, Kanem-Borno Empire and others, all rose up and prospered on account of this historic trade. Likewise, the kingdoms of Dahomey and Benin and the southern states in our region benefited enormously from this interaction.

17.                   Today, many of us look beyond our shores to other lands and climes for inspiration. But I say to you that we should rather look inwards to our past and present conditions to gain the needed motivation to move our collective project called ECOWAS forward.

18.                   Your Excellency, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to emphasize the point that my vision for ECOWAS, especially the integration of the sub-region, is not limited to economic matters only. My vision includes the integration of our people as one family. In spite of the differences in languages, and inherited cultures, our people should think and act with one purpose.

19.                   The integration that I hope for should include the politics of our region, the education and training of our people, our approach to globalization, and the harmonization of other essential values such as cultural exchanges as well as youth empowerment programmes.

20.                   I believe the signs are good and the trend is encouraging toward full integration of our region.  For the first time all the countries in the sub-region are under a democratic dispensation. All the governments in the region came into office through the exercise of their people democratic rights by popular elections.

21.                   Ensuring democratic governance and peace in our sub-region, however, needs more than merely putting elected officials into office. It requires substantial manifestations. Good governance and accountability, probity and objectivity, and above all, expertise in enterprise and competence, are the ingredients that are needed to ensure that the dividends of democracy reach all our people, and the institutions that we have established work for us effectively.

22.                   When all is said and done, what matters to our people is the sustainability of their daily lives driven by useful labour and gainful employment. These are some of the things that we need to constantly address when we discuss governance and public administration. I have no doubt that these are among several other subjects that GIMPA teaches its students. Management and public administration are at the heart of governance. 

23.                   Without competent management and conscientious administration, the goods cannot be easily delivered to our populations, and governments would merely be shadows without substance. The economic challenges that we wish to overcome, and the social transformations that we aim to achieve in our countries, cannot be addressed if we do not imbibe the ethos of professionalism and expertise in management and public administration.

24.                   It is a testimony of the great wisdom and foresight of the founders of this institution that they established it and gave it the important mandate which it has so far discharged with brilliance and competence. GIMPA is celebrating its 50^th Anniversary today. I am informed that it has established many collaborative programmes with many foreign universities, international organizations and professional bodies.

25.                   I note with satisfaction that one of the countries that has benefited and continues to do so from GIMPA’s services is Nigeria. I wish to encourage the institution to search for more avenues for cooperation with Nigeria’s public and private sector organizations, and like-minded state institutions to expand their horizons and render valuable services to our two countries, and our region at large.

26.                   May I also congratulate GIMPA’s council on the decision to build a befitting library for the Institute. Libraries are depositories of knowledge and even in this age of computers and electronic libraries, the presence of such a befitting edifice on the campus will go a long way to encourage diligence among students and researchers, and provide testimony to the value of education and excellence that the Institute upholds.

27.                   I wish to congratulate my Dear Brother and Friend, His Excellency President Atta Mills, on the occasion of this Anniversary. You should be proud that such an Institute as this, is the common heritage of all Ghanaians and a legacy for future generations.

28.                   I call upon the administration, management and students of this noble Institution to redouble their efforts and ensure that the torch that was lit by the founding fathers is not only held aloft by you, but also made to shine even brighter and more lustrous than before. I want you all to be a beacon of hope and an example to all of us in the sub-region as you take your rightful places in the various administrations and commercial enterprises of your respective countries.

29.                   I feel very much honoured to be part of this celebration.  With hope and confidence in God Almighty, GIMPA will successfully celebrate its Diamond Anniversary. Let me also thank the Governing Council of GIMPA for the honour done to me and my country, with the award of a Honorary Doctorate Degree.

30.                   God bless the Republic of Ghana; 

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria;

And God bless Africa.

I thank you all

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The activities of the governments of the South East States against the agitators for the peaceful actualization of the republic of Biafra under the auspieces of the group MASSOB led by the freedeom activist, Chief Ralph Uwazurike appear to be gradually unearthing its secret injustices tucked away in the many mortuaries scattered in the five [5]South East States of Ebonyi, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Enugu State.

A new discovery at one of the mortuaries in Onitsha, Anambra State blew the lid off the 5year old secret  kept by the current State administration. As gathered by 247ureports.com through sources within the State Security Services [SSS] indicates that 3 corpses of MASSOB were recently discovered at the Idenmili Mortuary located along the Owerri/Onitsha expressway, 2 corpses were identified at the Boromi Mortuary located in Onitsha. Others which are yet to be identified were said to have been deposited at the mortuaries in and around the Onitsha metropolis.

The unidentified corpses, as gathered, were deposited secretly into the mortuaries following the “shoot at sight” order given by the then new governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi [the All Progressive Grand Alliance. APGA governor] in April/May of 2006. The “shoot at sight” order was given to the Nigerian military men to kill at sight any member of MASSOB seen in Anambra State, particularly in Onitsha. Field reports of 2006 had it that many members were killed/murdered. Among the killed were also innocent residents of Onitsha who were suspected to be members of MASSOB.  

As the killings began to escalate to careless levels, it began to resemble a masacre of MASSOB members in the hands of northern dominated Nigerian military. The residents of Anambra and the Anambra indigenes scattered across he disapora began to frown at the slow masacre that was sanctioned by the State government of Anambra State through the leadership of Gov Peter Obi. The Peter Obi administration, in an effort to control the killings, and to douse the angry reaction rising from the international Anambra community, chose to hide the corpses of the murdered in order to articifially deflate the number of murdered victims reported to the public. Many of the dead bodies were stashed in the mortuaries located in the environs of Onitsha.

One of the many mortuaries where Gov Peter Obi personally instructed for the corpses to be deposited was one owned by a former Anambra State House of Assembly member, Hon Frank Anthony Igboka. As gathered, the Govenor pleaded with the owner to tamper with the actual number of corpses deposited at his mortuary in order to affect the total tally of the murdered members of MASSOB. The owner is yet to be compensated for his services.

Indications are that many other corpses belong to MASSOB are littered across the mortuaries in Anambra and the other South East States.

…As NUJ gives company 21-day ultimatum to pay outstanding salaries

The crisis rocking the Nigerian Compass Newspaper may have gotten messier as the management of Western Publishing Company Limited, publishers of the Nigerian Compass, has gone into a hide and seek game with the Chief Promoter of the venture, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, over a N150 million bailout fund the now embattled former governor provided to the company for the payment of outstanding salaries and allowances.

This followed realization that the management, led by the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Sina Kawonise, and assisted by a Director and former Editor-in-Chief of the Nigerian Compass, Biodun Oduwole; and the General Manager, Finance and Control, Toyin Segun-Oderinde, could not convincingly account for the N150 million in the face of the strike action embarked upon by the company about two weeks ago when Daniel requested for an account of how the fund was spent.

This situation has been further compounded by a 21-day ultimatum given to the management of the company by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to pay the outstanding salaries and allowances of its members working in the company.

Sources in the company said that it was only when the staff of the company threatened to go on strike that Kawonise opened up that Daniel had indeed provided N150 million for the payment of the outstanding salaries.

Kawonise, when asked about the whereabouts of the money, told the protesting staff that it had been invested in a venture that he refused to disclose, saying that the staff would only be paid when the fund starts to yield interest.

But he refused to disclose the venture or company in which the fund was invested.

He also declined revealing when the investment would start yielding profit for the staff to be paid.

The insistence of some of the staff on getting details on the investment eventually led to the strike by the staff, the result of which was the sack of 42 of them.

Now, the newspaper, which emerged as the fastest growing newspaper in the country less than three years after its debut, faces a possible picketing by the NUJ if it does not pay the 42 sacked staff their terminal benefits and the outstanding salaries of its members.

Kawonise, at a meeting with the executives of the NUJ last week, promised to pay the dismissed staff latest October 21, 2011.

A source said the NUJ at a meeting with the management of the company, which had in attendance Kawonise and Oduwole, agreed that the backlog of salaries, pensions and other entitlements of the former staff will be paid on or before October 21, 2011.

The delegation of the NUJ to the meeting included its National Vice President, Sanya Akindele, who stood in for the National President, Muhammed Garba; the Chairman of the Lagos State chapter, Deji Elumoye; and his Ogun State counterpart, Tunde Shodeke.

The management of the company had failed to honour an earlier agreement on the same issue reached with the Ogun State chapter of the NUJ.

The NUJ has said it would picket the company if it reneges on the agreement.

A source said the NUJ has concluded arrangements to involve the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the execution of the picket plan on the Nigerian Compass from October 22, 2011.

It would be recalled that trouble started for the Nigerian Compass when some staff of the company could no longer take the series of failed promises to pay their outstanding salaries of between four and seven months,while not remitting almost four years pension deducted at source; cooperative society fund totaling about N6.7 million, and about N38 million tax, among other indebtedness put at over N500 million.

When Kawonise met with the staff before the strike, he said though Daniel gave him a N150 million grant when he was appointed about four months ago, he invested N87 million of the fund into an undisclosed business, which he believes would start yielding soon.

Unsatisfied with Kawonise’s explanation and his refusal to disclose the type of investment and when exactly it would start yielding dividends to pay them, the staff issued an ultimatum to the company to pay the outstanding monies.

The response of the management was the sacking of all the staff who signed the memorandum.

Though the management had allegedly agreed at a meeting with the Ogun State chapter of the NUJ when the crisis started that it would withdraw the letter of disengagement, it reneged on it almost immediately the executives of the union left.

By: Our Reporter

As the tussle for who becomes the next Isoko South Local Government Chairman heightens, a contender, Hon. Evans Egbo has called on Isoko people to watch out carefully so that they will not be undressed of their mandate during the local government election.

Egbo said the local government is the closest to the grass root and as such needs an experience grass root man who understand and knows the pains of his people to pilot it’s affairs for maximum dividends of democracy.

Making the assertion in an exclusive interview in his country home at Oleh, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State Egbo said, he is the right person with the right qualification to mount the council Chairman considering his educational background, his experience as a former leader of the Isoko South legislative arm and a board member of the Delta State sport council.

On his priorities, he said the projects and programs that will directly affect the lives of the common man will be initiated as he intend to use such projects and programs to ameliorate his people from perpetual poverty and suffering. He stated that the local government is the best place for him to touch lives.

Egbo who said he will be contesting the Isoko South chairmanship seat under the platform of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) appealed to the electorate to watch out carefully as there are desperate contestants whose only plan is to steal mandates.

Speaking on local government autonomy, he said whether the federal government approves it or not, he will use the little resources available to touch the lives of his people promising a cordial relationship with the representative of the various local wards (the Councilors) will go a long way in identifying the problems of every ward with the view of proffering solutions.

He added that since the local government legislators will not make laws that will be detrimental to the people they represent, he also does not have any option than to implement such laws putting the interest of the masses into consideration.    

On sports, the council lawmaker and chairman, Isoko United Football club expressed dissatisfaction on the neglect of the club by government and appealed to the state governor to revamp the club and make sports his most priority in the scheme of things in the state.

Egbo while lamenting over the demise of Nigerian elder statesman, doyen of Isoko polities and former Midwestern region premier, Chief James Ekpre Otobo, he described the death of the Isoko pioneer council boss as an irreparable lost.

The Church in Nigeria has been charged to lead the battle against corruption in the country. This was the key message of the Primate Church of Nigeria at the burial service for the late former Dean Church of Nigeria, Most Rev Jonathan Arinzechukwu Onyemlukwe at Onitsha.

The remains of the former Dean of the Church of Nigeria and Archbishop of former Province II of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), and Bishop on the Niger, were thereafter laid to rest yesterday at Nanka, Orumba North council of Anambra state, his country home.

Okoh, in his sermon, bemoaned the high level of corruption in Nigeria and said for the battle against graft to succeed, the church must lead in the battle.

“We are going to start from ourselves, the church, our offices and family,” Okoh said.

He decried the unholy quest for money by Nigerians. “Nigerians love money. The common religion is money,” he lamented urging Nigerians to change their ways.

Archbishop Okoh urged Nigerians to emulate the good qualities of the late archbishop, who he said fought a good fight and has gone home to rest with the Lord.

The Vice-Chancellor of the Anambra State University, Prof. Fidelis Okafor, said Onyemelukwe was a great inspiration, who was always there to offer his words of wisdom and encouragement.

“I will suffer his loss. But I pray God pays him for his good works and the many souls that he brought to Jesus,” Okafor said.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Umeh, said Onyemelukwe lived an exemplary life. He wished him eternal peace in the bosom of the Lord.

Onyemelukwe died in July at the age of 81. He was appointed Bishop on the Niger in 1975 and archbishop of Province II of the Church of Nigeria in 1996.

He became the Dean of the church of Nigeria in 1999 and retired in 2000 at the age of 70.

He introduced the conferment of the Knight of St. Christopher in Nigeria, and saw to the completion of the All Saints Cathedral, Onitsha in 1992, a project that was begun in 1949, when he was a student at the adjoining Dennis Memorial Grammar School.

He led a lot of outstanding works in the missionary work within and outside the Diocese

The Church in Nigeria has been charged to lead the battle against corruption in the country. This was the key message of the Primate Church of Nigeria at the burial service for the late former Dean Church of Nigeria, Most Rev Jonathan Arinzechukwu Onyemlukwe at Onitsha.

The remains of the former Dean of the Church of Nigeria and Archbishop of former Province II of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), and Bishop on the Niger, were thereafter laid to rest yesterday at Nanka, Orumba North council of Anambra state, his country home.

Okoh, in his sermon, bemoaned the high level of corruption in Nigeria and said for the battle against graft to succeed, the church must lead in the battle.

“We are going to start from ourselves, the church, our offices and family,” Okoh said.

He decried the unholy quest for money by Nigerians. “Nigerians love money. The common religion is money,” he lamented urging Nigerians to change their ways.

Archbishop Okoh urged Nigerians to emulate the good qualities of the late archbishop, who he said fought a good fight and has gone home to rest with the Lord.

The Vice-Chancellor of the Anambra State University, Prof. Fidelis Okafor, said Onyemelukwe was a great inspiration, who was always there to offer his words of wisdom and encouragement.

“I will suffer his loss. But I pray God pays him for his good works and the many souls that he brought to Jesus,” Okafor said.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Umeh, said Onyemelukwe lived an exemplary life. He wished him eternal peace in the bosom of the Lord.

Onyemelukwe died in July at the age of 81. He was appointed Bishop on the Niger in 1975 and archbishop of Province II of the Church of Nigeria in 1996.

He became the Dean of the church of Nigeria in 1999 and retired in 2000 at the age of 70.

He introduced the conferment of the Knight of St. Christopher in Nigeria, and saw to the completion of the All Saints Cathedral, Onitsha in 1992, a project that was begun in 1949, when he was a student at the adjoining Dennis Memorial Grammar School.

He led a lot of outstanding works in the missionary work within and outside the Diocese

The Economic and Financial Crimes  Commission, EFCC has declared former governor of Gombe state, Alhaji Danjuma Goje  wanted over allegations of mismanagement and diversion of over N52 billion state funds.

The Commission in a statement on Friday October 7, 2011 explained that

 it has to come to the decision of publicly declaring the accused person wanted after an endless search for him and his failure to submit himself for interrogation  over the alleged fraud even when he was in receipt of a letter of invitation giving him up to 12noon today to come out of his hiding.

According to the statement, “ Patriotic Nigerians who may have useful information on the whereabouts of the wanted person are urged to kindly send same to any of the EFCC’s offices across the country or the nearest police station.”

The Commission further said that while it will continue its search for the accused person, it will always work within the ambit of the law in the discharge of its responsibility and expects all citizens especially those being investigated to respect and obey the laws of the land.