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Opinion: Ekiti Polls and the Near futility of Election Petitions

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By Raymond Nkannebe; Esq.

Last Monday, the Ekiti State Election Petition Tribunal which sat in Abuja over the July 14th gubernatorial election delivered its judgement. The three-man panel led by Justice Suleman Belgore in a unanimous judgment affirmed the victory of the incumbent governor Kayode Fayemi and dismissed the Petition of the Petitioners─ Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Professor Olusola Eleka at that keenly contested poll. The PDP has since indicated its position to challenge the decision at the appellate courts from what one could infer from the statement of its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan in the wake of the decision. Barring when they do that, what the judgment of the tribunal has shown again, is that it is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible for a candidate at an election to be returned through an election petition. And the reason for this is not hard to seek.

As much as the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) operates as a substantive and procedural legal framework for aggrieved candidates at an election to challenge the outcome of same, a calm consideration of the Act as well as the cases, will leave the objective reader with the irresistible impression that it was never the intendment of the draftsman of that legislation that our electoral process be exposed to undue litigation before the actual winner can be known. The smoking gun of this hypothesis is made manifest in the sisyphean onus thrust on the shoulders of a Petitioner at an Election Petition Tribunal before he or she can prove to the required standard of proof that the entire proess of the election was fraught with widespread irregularity and non compliance with the extant laws; so material that it should tantamount to the nullification of the entire election, or a return in his favour

A very fine jurist PATS-ACHOLONU J.S.C (as he then was) underscored the daunting task faced by a petitioner in challenging election to the office of president or Governor in Nigeria in the popular case of Buhari v Obasanjo [2005] 13 NWLR (Pt.941) 1 thus, “The very big obstacle that anyone who seeks to have the election of the president or Governor upturned is the very large number of witnesses he must call due to the size of the respective constitutency. In a Country like our own, he may have to call about 250,000-300,000 witnesses. By the time the court would have heard from all of them with the way our present law is couched, the incumbent would have long finished and left his office and even if the petitioner finally wins, it will be an empty victory bereft of substance”.

While time for the presenting and determination of election petitions have been abridged by the subsequent amendments to the Electoral Act between then and now, it has not taken away the evidential obstacle faced by a petitioner, which as has been shown in many cases is difficult to discharge in a way that would lead the court to order a return of a petitioner.

I like to think that this evidential burden thrust on a petitioner was purposely written into our laws, to discourage candidates at an alection from challenging the process in the event of a loss, in the same way the legal burden thrust on the prosecution in criminal trials is purporsely written into the laws to further cement the presumption of innocence enjoyed by an accused person. Little wonder why the courts have in several cases held that every election is presumed to have been conducted in full compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act and its guidelines until proven to the contrary.This line of thought will however beg the question: should candidates who participated at an election be shut out or recused from contesting the result of the polls especially in the face of wide spread irregularity or evidence of rigging such as was alleged by the petitioners in the recently conducted Osun and Ekiti State polls? This admittedly is the crux of the matter.

Granted that there is no easy way of attempting and answer to the legitimate poser; but when one factors the near impossibility of winning back a perceived lost mandate through an election petition given the current state of our laws, the need to imbibe the values of equanimity becomes instructive.

Since the return to uninterrupted democracy in 1999, thousands of election petitions have made it to election tribunals, with many of them going up all the way to the Supreme Court, only to end up in a debilitating defeat for a Petitioner as the attitude of the courts is one that seldom likes to meddle in the choice of who becomes the holder of an elective office. The tribunals as well as the appellate Courts have betrayed these sentiments in a long chain of cases with the incumbent president Muhamadu Buhari being a serial ‘victim’.

Except for the isolated cases of Adams Oshiohmole, Olusegun Mimiko, Peter Obi and few others who at different times were returned through an election Petition, several other petitions have gone all the way to the apex Court without ending in a return for the petitioners or a rerun.

In order to institutionalize this judicial disposition to election petitions, the courts in their wisdom have devised several ingenious means within the ambit of the law, most of them tending to technicalities, to further shore up the presumption of regularity which every election enjoys to the detriment of Petitioners who allege fowl play. Anyone who appreciates the jurisprudence of election petitions will have no doubt that it is an exercise in undue legalese which in many cases edges off a petitioner no matter the grounds of the individual petition.

At the risk of sounding too hypothetical, some instances might sufice: It is a fashion for petitioners to make a criminal allegations against electoral officers at large in the body of the petition, but almost always fail to join them as parties to the Petition for obvious reasons; thereby leading to a striking out of the portions of the pleading alleging criminal wrongs against those persons in line with the extant position of the law. The apex Court in the popular case of Buhari v Obasano (supra) had reason to pronoune on this recurring procedural blunder thus: “allegations of the commission of a crime must be proved beyond reasonable doubt whenever they are made in an election petition. It is therefore inappropriate for a Court to infer that a particular candidate at an election was responsible for the violent acts committed during an election in the absence of evidence which shows beyond reasonable doubt that he was”.

But that is not all. It is also a fashion for petitioners to allege the compromise of security operatives on election day; an allegation which usually takes the form of emasculation and intimidation of supporters and party members as was the case in the ongoing Osun election petition, but always fail to make the indicted member(s) of the security operatives parties to the petition, understandably due to the near impossibility of identifying the particular officers who were involved in these alleged acts of intimidation and compromise. This procedural ommision at the instance of the petitioners almost always receive the backlash of the tribunal and a subsequent striking out of those portions of the petition in line with the extant law on pleadings and leading of evidence.

The story is also the same for allegations in a petition taking criminal coloration such as one, that an electoral officer was involved in the mutilation of results, forgery or wrongful balloting to confer advantage to a particular candidate. This specie of allegations being criminal in nature, are almost always not proved as Petitioners often find themselves unable to do so to the required evidential standard, which is ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’. By practice, these collateral and recurring procedural misteps, takes the shine off the petition thus earning it an order of strking out, irrespective of what might have played out at the polling units on election day.

It is this rather convoluted nature of our electoral jurisprudence that has aggregated to put the resolution of electoral disputes out of the reach of petitioners. Yet, for candidates at any election to be able to cultivate the habit of accepting the result of the process since only one candidate can emerge victorious at a time, it goes without saying that they must be convinced that the entire process of the election conformed with the minimum requirements of the electoral laws and its guidelines without inteference from any quarters.

Many candidates that have queued up to contest one elective office or the other in the forthcoming general elections have said as much. For instance, when Professor Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) was asked recently whether he’d contest the result of the presidential election if he loses, his simple response to the interviewer, was that if the entire process is free and fair, he’ll of course accept the result. From this response, one could easily infer the workings of the minds of other candidates in the forthcoming election on the issue of acceptance of the result of the polls.

Which brings us to the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies in the scheme of things. While one must commend the INEC for its efforts thus far in cleaning up and enhancing the integrity of our elections, the fact of the matter remains that there is still a lot of work to be done. What the recent elections in Ekiti and Osun States respectively show, is that there are still missing links here and there in its internal processes which operate to cast doubt on the state of its aloofness in the conduct of elections. The forthcoming elections it is expected, will be another test of its capacity to midwife an election that will be accepted by all and sundry without the imperatives of contest before any election tribunal. If they fail to live up to this billing, it’ll leave aggrieved candidates with no option but to challenge the results without giving any considerations to the possibilities (however slim) of a return through the tortious runway of election petitions.

On the part of security agencies, their roles in the conduct of elections have been anything but complimentary. By deploying acts of intimidation of voters and taking sides when they ought to be neutral, they give away their compromised stance. And needless to say, when opponents at an election perceive the police and other security agencies to be doing a yeo man’s job for a particular candidate (usually the incumbent), it does not augur well for their confidence in the entire process.

A very eminent but retired justice of the Court of Appeal (now Nigeria’s Amabssador to the United States) Per. S.A Nsofor painted graphically the unprofessional performance of the Nigerian police in the 2003 presidential election in his dissenting opinion in the notorious case of Buhari v Obasanjo [2005] 2 N.W.L.R (Pt. 910) CA 241 thus: “And there was a patent demonstration of connivance, “bias” on the part of the police against the petitioners and in favour of the 1st and 2nd Respondents. They turned blind eyes to the attrocities being inflicted on the innocent Nigerian citizens; by the army and the police. And INEC was passive. See the evidence by Dr. Okilo (PW. 69), D.W 23 (Lt. Col. Sotunde Aina Songonuga). In Bayelsa state there was evidence galore of violence, which i believed. See P.W. 52, 53 and 54. Dr. Okilo (PW. 69). In Rivers State evidence abound and I accepted it, (see P.W. 32), that there were armed gangs shooting at random intimidating the Petitioners and their supporters in the face of the police. And the Police did nothing and said nothing…” Some 13 years after this very profound findings by the erudite jurist, the Nigeria police and other security agencies are yet to turn a new leaf from what one can gather from their performance in recent polls.

For elections to be adjudged free and fair, they must not be fraught with any form of intimidation on the part of security agencies whose role at elections is delimited by the provisions of the Electoral Act; the extant legal framework for the conduct of elections. Consequently, the security agencies must not only be neutral, but manifestly seen to be neutral in all their engagements with the electoral process. Given the woeful conduct of the Nigerian police force particularly, under the leadership of the former Police Chief, Idris Kpotum, one can only but expect that the force under its new leadership will turn a new leaf and use the opportunity of the forthcoming elections to assert its professionalism.

Whichever way one looks at it, it is not in the best interest of our democracy for our periodic elections to be contested at election tribunals especially with a disturbing frequency, so much that it has become a part of the electoral process, if not the definitive part. Per Abdullahi PCA (as he then was now rtd.) voiced his reprehension for this anomaly in a notable pronouncement in the Buhari v Obasanjo case (supra), “I think it is appropriate at this juncture to make some observations. I believe the time has come in our learning process to establish the culture of democratic rule in this Country to strive to do the right thing, particularly when it comes to dealing with electoral process, which is in my view is one of the pillars of democracy”. This couldnt have been said any better.

Election petitions are energy sapping, time sensitive, and financially tasking when one considers all that goes into its prosecution both for the Petitioners and the Respondents. For the Petitioners, it is another long walk to a destination that may not be reached. And for the Respondents, it is a needless distraction from the business of governance. But more than anything else, it is the opportunity it offers the courts to be the ultimate decider of who is the actual winner at an election against the democratic principle of franchise that highlights its undemocratic contours.

Flowing from the above, I do not envy his Excellency Kayode Fayemi despite his victory at the tribunal and I have nothing but sympathy for his opponent, Professor Olusola Eleka. Both men are in my considered opinion, victims of an electoral process that urgently needs an overhaul. No democratic state should be at the mercy of election tribunals at periodic elections to decide the colouration of its leaderhip.

Raymond Nkannebe is a Legal Practitioner and Public Affairs Analyst. Comments and reactions to raymondnkannebe@gmail.com.

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Opinion

Catalyst of Exploits (Pt. 1)

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By Tolulope A. Adegoke

“Look past the exterior, and see that there is so much more within. Then decide to unleash that potential to the fullest” – Lincoln Patz

I have no doubt that you have stepped into a greater realm of inspiration with the discovery of the potentials of the so-called zero. The next question therefore is, how can the possibilities embedded in a perceived nonentity become a reality? The answer, as you may have observed from the various examples that we considered in the previous chapter, is consciousness development. Or simply put, TRAINING.

Training has been rightly described as the process of acquiring the skills needed to succeed in a profession, vocation or venture. It is training or conscious development that turns trash into treasures, just as processing turns raw materials into finished products. Training is an indispensable requirement for bringing out the best in people. Even the most gifted people must go through some form of training to sharpen their innate abilities – how much more those who appear to be deficient!

The interesting truth here is that regardless of a person’s level of natural abilities – whether you consider it zero or zillion – training will always bring about a noticeable transformation in their lives. Take the case of Abraham as an example. Being an exceedingly great man, he had hundreds of servants who had been born in his house by his labourers and domestics. These might have been considered nobodies, having been born by lowly people. Yet, Abraham so trained them that they became valiant soldiers. And they were the ones who accompanied him to wage war against the captors of Lot and his household, and the expedition proved mightily successful (Genesis 14:14).

Two vital truths can be gleaned from the above. One is that you never can tell the true measure of a person’s potential until they have been thoroughly trained. This clearly tallies with our earlier assertion that everyone needs some form of training, whether formally or informally. The second vital truth is that everybody can indeed be trained to thrive.

From Vagabonds to Champions

Here is another proof that there is innate greatness in everyone that can be unlocked through training. 1 Samuel 22:1-3 says, “David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.”

The first thing to notice here is the deliberate reference to the profile and pedigree of these men who joined themselves to David. I believe that the purpose is to make us see that no one can be rightly written off as a failure or a never-do-well. As subsequent exploits of David would reveal, these average men who enrolled in the military academy of David were soon transformed into mighty men of valour.  2 Samuel 23:8-17 narrates the accomplishments of three of these men:

“These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time. And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder. And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.”

Isn’t this amazing! See what a bunch of men that people would have described as “frustrated failures” had become! What was the secret? Someone believed in them enough to train them, and they themselves were humble and disciplined enough to submit themselves to the training process. And the result was that they were transformed from being men of no repute, men of no value (more or less human trash, or simply zero) to history-makers!

Self-Application

So, what’s in all of this for you? What has all that we have discussed so far have to do with you? I’ll unravel it for you shortly. But, first, here is an insightful quote from Bishop David Oyedepo, “We go to school to acquire the literacy skills required to train ourselves most effectively in our fields of choice. Schooling is not the same thing as the real training! That is why there are many certificated, uneducated people! They have degrees but cannot deliver, because they are not trained to deliver!”

This is exactly what I wish to point out here. Everyone must take personal responsibility for being the best that they can be. Success is not an accidental occurrence. You cannot be wasting your precious time on irrelevances and expect to amount to much in life. You must wake up to the task of being positively responsible, deliberately reaching out and taking advantage of opportunities to enhance and deploy your skills.

As the example of the men who placed themselves under David’s tutelage shows, you are the one who must make up your mind not to settle for a worthless, defeated or frustrated life. Regardless of what people say or think of you, it is up to you to decide the direction you want your life to go!

As I earlier observed, training is not only meant for the ignorant or the inexperienced. It is an on-going activity that everyone must actively and constantly engage in, as long as we wish to stay afloat and be ahead. In other words, while schooling is periodic, training is for a lifetime!

The Place of Discipline and Diligence

Let’s face it: Training – whether formal or informal – is never an easy process. Even the Bible admits, “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful…” (Hebrews 12:11). It is in the fallen nature of man to prefer the comfort of self-indulgence to the stress of self-enhancement. This is why many visions are aborted and many destinies are ruined. It is for this reason that discipline plays a crucial role in being a beneficiary of the power of training. It takes plenty of discipline to maintain a training lifestyle so as to emerge a relevant and dominant force in your generation!

It is possible to waste a whole lifetime if you do not understand the place of discipline and responsibility in achieving greatness in life. So, you must settle it in your mind from the outset that you are undoubtedly a Kingdom treasure that cannot afford to be comfortable with a substandard, mediocre or “trashy” life. The possibilities that God has wired into you must be empowered to find expression. You must therefore be ready to pay whatever price it requires. Let me quote Bishop Oyedepo again, “You belong to dignity, royalty, excellence and you have your excellence in Jesus Christ. Therefore, you have the mind of Christ. You have the creative, intellectual capability of the mind of Christ. You are not an ordinary person; you are a peculiar person in the order of existence!”

Closely attached to discipline is diligence. The two must function together to produce the expected result of excellence. Diligence simply means hard work. Interestingly, “hard work” is a term that many in this generation hate to hear. I often hear youths talk about “soft-work” almost everywhere now. They want the easy route to success. Of course, they may get what seems like success but because such is not built on the solid foundation of diligence, it often crumbles within a short time.

Proverbs 22:29 says, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.” Proverbs 12:24 (NKJV) adds that: “The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labour.” The revelation here is that it is diligence that establishes enthronement. There is no future for an idle man in the Kingdom. Christ Himself demonstrated this when He said: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17).

Make no mistake about it – it is work that defines your worth! In other words, it is how much you work on yourself that will determine your ultimate worth. Work is a must for anybody who desires to take the lead. Even with the abundant favour and grace of God upon your life, you still must work because that is the God-ordained pathway to the top. In fact, the grace of God being upon you to guarantee success in all your ventures should spur you to attempt greater ventures than the average person. Paul the Apostle shares his own experience thus: “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all…” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Every successful person (empowered zero) is a product of favour from the factory of labour. You can never take out of life more than what you have invested into it. Galatians 6:7 says it accurately, “Be not deceived…whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” 2 Corinthians 9:6 explains it further, “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”

It is only hard workers who become great leaders (heroes)! There is nothing called “luck” in determining leadership or empowering a zero! The harder and smarter you work, the greater the level of your success. This is why someone ironically says, “I’m a great believer in luck and I found that the harder I work, the luckier I become.” So, dear friend, if you can concentrate more on empowering your zero, rather than wasting time lamenting, complaining, regretting, envying others, chatting on social media, listening to irrelevant talks or spending so much time watching the television, you will soon find your circumstances changing on their own. You will not even need to shake the Heavens before your blessings unfold!

Personal Experience

Permit me to use myself as a case study here. There was a time I sowed out my television in order to be on television. There was also a time that, for over a year, I did not subscribe to any cable channel, just to be able to meet up with the demand of delivering possibilities beyond the ordinary frequency. Here is Bishop Oyedepo again: “I have invested an average time of 16 hours a day from the time I stepped into ministry to date, no matter how odd the night may be, I still have my night to work. Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings and not mere men…Our business that did not look like anything – it was trash when we came into ministry; it had no form of comeliness that anyone should look for it. It is what you invest or put into a trash that will bring forth its treasure! You need to show the world out there that you are on a mission (that is to take the lead in your field). But you cannot take the lead without doing the work to make it happen. So, go on and do the work!”

You can always change your level. It all depends on your level of investment. Just by re-aligning your mentality to believe that you do not belong to mediocrity brings you closer to excellence! Just by evaluating your activities and relationships and severing all unprofitable ties will give your life a sharper focus and clearer direction.

Note it again – hard workers fly higher! Nothing is a substitute for hard work. Be ready to go through the incubation process of becoming a hero. Subject yourself to the diligence and discipline that will transform you to a solution-provider to the people of your generation.

Sacrifice: The “Extra” in Extraordinary

Added to your discipline and diligence is the need for sacrifice, or going the extra mile. Essentially, it is not enough for you to be disciplined and diligent – you must also go the extra mile in doing these. Sacrifice is the scar (or scars) that we bear in the process of carrying our crosses towards getting our crowns.

There is no star without a scar! The scar of every star is sacrifice. It is nothing else! It is simply the ticket towards delivering possibilities. Sacrifice is going the extra mile, paying the extra price and taking the extra steps towards delivering your mandates! Your extraordinary inputs will precede your extraordinary impacts. You must go the extra mile in discipline and diligence – and then the star in you will emerge.

So powerful is sacrifice that it can turn a “dummy” into a genius. It can make a so-called misfit become a maestro. There have been cases of people who had great gifts and potentials but found themselves in fields that were different from what they were meant to do in life. Many of these have had to put themselves through the rigours of returning to their natural passions and getting trained to live out their dreams.

See, you cannot have your cake and eat it! You cannot make omelette without breaking eggs! Not even faith is a substitute for sacrifice. Vision is not a substitute for sacrifice! Sacrifice is a covenant requirement of every Kingdom star! Apostle Paul again says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians1:21). The apostle is simply saying, “I’d rather die than allow anyone despise my glory in Christ”. This is a classic portrayal of what sacrifice entailsBeing crucified with Jesus Christ is sacrifice!

Every star has a story of sacrifice to tell. It is a must for you to rouse yourself from slumber and invest your time in creating the future that you desire! Until you do what others do not do, you will still remain on the same spot as others! You must therefore wake up and tell yourself the bitter truth and design for yourself an enviable destiny. Never let a year end without preparing a schedule of accomplishments for the following year. This will show that you are really on a mission to deliver your world from its aches!

Jesus Christ, the most anointed Achiever, says in Luke12:49-50: “I am come to send fire on the earth…But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” That was someone who had a clear picture of His mission and what it would take to accomplish it.  Anyone who desires to have a “global impact” must pay a “global price”. Yes, you cannot accomplish that glorious dream of yours without understanding its true worth and paying the necessary price!

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Enhancing Food Security: Governor Umo Eno’s Worthy Interventions

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By Michael Effiong

 

Today, the biggest threat to the survival of mankind is food security. Indeed, the phenomenon has taken a global dimension and is not confined to the borders of any nation.

 

Growing hunger has been fueled by a toxic mix of climate change, insecurity and a global economic crisis that has exacerbated poverty and inequality, affecting the ability of many families and communities to cope.

 

In Nigeria, at least in the last few months, there is no topic that has been more discussed than that of the rising cost of food stuff and the hunger in the land.

 

As US President John F. Kennedy once said, “The war against hunger is truly mankind’s war of liberation.” This is a war that must be fought with vigor and won.

 

On his visit to Niger State on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu called on states to support the federal government’s effort in the area of agriculture and food security.

Interestingly, long before this call by Mr. President, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno has already taken action.

 

How? Well, you can call him the modern day Nostradamus and will not be wrong. It was not that he was clairvoyant but we can adduce it to his power of vision because agriculture was one of his focus areas even before his overwhelming victory at the polls on March 18, 2023.

 

The then candidate Umo Eno had developed an economic blueprint for his campaign dubbed the ARISE Agenda. A of the A-R-I-S-E stands for Agricultural Revolution.

 

Having had this as part of his economic blueprint, it is no wonder that the Umo Eno administration had already hit the ground running and has been laying out plans, programmes and projects that are worthy of emulation in a bid to stem the tide of the current national crisis.

Perhaps what can be described as the most impactful and innovative intervention in the area of food sufficiency and sustainability in the country at the moment was signed into law on Thursday, March 14, 2023 as the Akwa Ibom State Bulk Purchase Agency which aims at ensuring that staple foods are available, accessible and affordable to the most vulnerable in the state.

 

Everyone knows that implementing this kind of programme can be herculean, but the government set up a committee with a well-laid out plan to ensure this works efficiently.

 

This programme, like others the Governor has initiated, would be devoid of any political coloration. Already, government has met with traders and market associations. Foodstuff agents will be selected and trained.  They would all sign an agreement with government and would be the ones to operate branded shops and redemption centres that will be located in selected markets and points across the 31 LGAs.

 

The Agency would use a voucher system akin to the Food Stamps now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the United States.

 

The Akwa Ibom equivalent when deployed, will operate in a similar fashion because it would be strictly for vulnerable indigenes who will exchange the monthly vouchers for staple food items.

 

The beneficiaries would get direct subsidies as they would pay well-discounted prices to the agents for the value of the food item on each voucher. The accredited agents would later present these vouchers to government for reconciliation and reimbursement.

 

Furthermore, the Governor’s 368 Personal Assistants in the wards are to help implement the programme at the grassroots while names of all agents and beneficiaries ( drawn from the state social register which had recently been updated) would be published.

 

It is expected that from this arrangement and involvement of many stakeholders, the Agency’s mandate would be delivered within a short period of time.

 

Knowing full well that the Agency’s work is a short term measure, Governor Eno is also thinking long term and has started preaching the “Back-To-Farm” message. His goal is to inspire Akwa Ibomites from all walks of life to see the benefits of farming.

 

In his words: “Please everybody, no matter how small your land is even if it is just behind or beside your house, sow something. We must return to the farm”

 

Let us cast our minds back to what used to be the norm back in the day. Our parents and grandparents used to have little farms around the house where green vegetables, tomatoes, pepper, okra, maize, yams, cassava e.t.c. were grown. Some even reared chickens and goats too.

Governor Umo Eno signing an MOU with Prof. Godfrey Nzamujo of Songhai Farms Initiatives Nigeria

 

Many may see this as a call to subsistence farming in today’s technologically-advanced world, but in truth, if we are able to grow a few of what we eat, it will not only reduce the hunger in the land in a matter of months, but it will free up funds for people to use for other things.

 

This initiative by the Governor for rural and urban dwellers to go back to the farm is already being practiced by other countries to boost their food supply. It is called urban farming.

 

Countries such as Argentina, Australia, Canada and China are way ahead and have incorporated this into their urban planning and city regeneration projects.

 

A good example of the success of this initiative is the city of Rosario in Argentina. Rosario’s Urban Agriculture Programme (Programa de Agricultura Urbana, or PAU) started small, but now grows nearly 2,500 tons of food each year. What started as a means of feeding the population in the wake of an economy in tatters is now a cornerstone of the city’s food sustainability initiative. This shows that the Governor’s call is a much needed step in the right direction.

Also, the government has commenced Phase II of the AK Cares Programme. Beneficiaries across the 31 LGAs would get farm implements, seedlings, poultry birds or fish juveniles and adequate training.

The Ministry of Agriculture is also being galvanized to distribute improved seedlings and support agriculture cooperatives to help increase their productivity. And the Ibom FADAMA Microfinance Bank has been restructured in line with the present realities.

That is not all, the Governor who takes the welfare of the citizens seriously also signed the Akwa Ibom State Agricultural Loans Law (Amendment) Bill, a private member bill sponsored by Hon. Mfon Idung. The law has increased the amount to be granted as loans to individual farmers, corporate entities and cooperative societies  and would enable them expand their operations, embrace modern farming techniques, boost productivity and ultimately, drive economic transformation.

 

It is worth mentioning also that Governor Eno’s people-centred intervention strategy also includes a rejuvenation of the rural communities through construction of rural roads and provision of key amenities. This idea is well captured in R (Rural Development) of the ARISE Agenda. The nexus between rural development and agriculture are as inseparable as a set of conjoined twins!

This school of thought concerning the importance of rural development as a way of boosting agriculture is also held by former Agriculture & Rural Development Minister and current President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina.

He expressed these sentiments most succinctly while delivering his acceptance speech on his conferment with the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership in Lagos recently.

According to him “Nigeria must completely transform its rural economies to ensure food security for all. A better Africa must start with the transformation of rural economies. That is because some 70% of the population live there. Rural poverty is extremely high. At the heart of transforming rural economies is agriculture, the main source of livelihoods.

“As a young student who attended high school in the village, I witnessed the high correlation of agricultural performance with education. “It was common then to hear the phrase “Agbe lo ba” . (farmers are kings), uttered with great pride

“The transformation of rural economies must therefore be structural, systemic, strategic and comprehensive. Doing so, means agriculture must be turned into a wealth creating sector. Sound public policies transform the lives of people”.

No one can dispute the need for sound policies as enunciated by Dr. Adeshina and this is reason as an ardent advocate of agribusiness and with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 in mind, the Governor’s earliest move in the agricultural sector on assumption of office was to sign an MOU with Songhai Farms for the development of Ibom Model Farms.

 

This long-term partnership is aimed at driving a technologically-driven agricultural revolution that will boost food production, tourism, youth development, knowledge transfer and job creation.

 

While construction has already begun at the first farm located in Nsit Ubium LGA (others will spring up when LGAs make land available), the Governor has shown his seriousness for this project by sponsoring some youths on training programmes in preparation for the Farm’s take off.

With all hands already on deck and machinery put in motion to operationalize the multi-layered approach initiated by the Gov. Umo Eno-led administration, the indigenes of Akwa Ibom State are soon going to heave a sigh of relief. Not only would the issue of high cost of foodstuff be history but food sufficiency would become the new normal in the state.

 

 

.Effiong, a journalist, is Senior Special Assistant (Lagos Liaison) to Governor Umo Eno

 

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Opinion

Opinion: The Truth Nigerians Do Not Want to Hear

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By Femi Fani-Kayode

Sadly most Nigerians will not read or appreciate this contribution because frankly it is beyond them.

Worst still many of them, particularly in the younger generation, find it difficult to read more than three lines even though it is to their own shame and detriment.

For those that have the gravitas, insight, foresight, profundity and intellectual virility to read and comprehend the counsel I have offered in this write-up I urge you to bookmark it and wait and see what unfolds unless and until we quickly identify and recognise the problem and address the issues raised.

There are two reasons for the mass abductions and kidnappings that we are witnessing in our country today.

Firstly to garner cash which is then sent abroad to buy more arms and fund terror and secondly to destabilise our country and to discredit and undermine the credibility of our President and the Federal Government.

I hope and pray that someone is listening because this is precisely what we witnessed when the Chibok girls and other children were abducted over the years and the motives are the same.

Those that think it is only about the acquisition of money are naive and ignorant.

There is far more to it than that and there are numerous shady and sinister characters, international criminal cartels, foreign Governments and intelligence agencies and local accomplices and facilitators that are involved in this great evil.

Nigeria has been targetted for destruction, division and disintegration by those that see us as a threat to their regional hegemony, strategic national interests and imperialist aspirations but most of us still don’t get it and perhaps never will.

They do not want a strong, united, prosperous and regionally dominant Nigeria but would rather turn us into a pathetic and pitiful shadow of our former selves, a cowardly and quivering caricature of what we once were and a weak, divided, incredulous and headless pawn and set us up for self-destructive economic and military annihilation.

They know that a strong Nigeria, like a strong South Africa, would stand up to them in the arena of world politics and international affairs and ensure that our collective interests as Nigerians and Africans would be protected and they do not want this.

As a matter of fact for us to achieve that enviable status is not just their greatest fear but their worse nightmare.

They ask themselves in their corporate boardrooms, presidential palaces, cabinet meetings and legislative chambers, who can stand up to a strong Nigeria?

They wonder where else they would get their free mineral resources and be in a position to manipulate and dictate to servile leaders if not Nigeria?

And if Nigeria were to fail, fall and go the way they want us to who would stand and speak for Africa and the black man in the comity of nations?

If the truth be told without a strong, flourishing and virile Nigeria Africa is nothing and the black man is nowhere and this is precisely why the powers that be, when it comes to world politics and the international community, do not want us to succeed.

As far as they are concerned we are too weak, corrupt, ignorant, primitive, backward, servile, self-hating and dumb to achieve anything meaningful and we are more than happy to spend the next 100 years as a nation and a people that seek nothing but validation, leadership and guidance from them.

Yet how wrong they are. They have no idea who and what we are and deep down they fear us and recognise the fact that an unbound and unfettered Nigeria with strong, bold, articulate, confident and fearless leaders that do not seek their approval or validation and that have no interest in remaining as their slaves would be their worse nightmare. Such leaders would be dangerous to their evil cause and their attempt to sow the seeds of civil war, hardship and economic paralysis in our country.

It is time that we confront the matter with an iron hand and fight back to save Nigeria.

It is time for us to get off our knees, to throw away the begging bowl, to stop constantly seeking validation from those that do not wish us well, to stop blindly implementing their disastrous economic models which seek to impoverish and destroy our people, to uproot and reject their well-planted seeds of division and to stop tolerating their subversive activities.

Ask yourself, who funds the terrorists and bandits and where do they get their weapons from?

They did it in Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria and so many other countries over the years and decades and now they are doing it here.

Ask yourself who was behind the attack on a mosque in which worshippers were killed on Friday in Kaduna and what was the purpose of this abominable and condemnable act of terror if not to destabilise us and create panic and chaos in our nation?

Again how is it that just a few days after the mass abduction of women in Gamburu Ngala, Borno state and just one day after the kidnapping of 280 female students in Kuriga, Kaduna state yet another 15 students were abducted in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto state just yesterday.

All this nonsense must stop and we must desist from refusing to acknowledge that we now have and indeed have always had a major problem which needs to be acknowledged and be solved.

None of these things happen by chance and what we are witnessing is a deep seated and long term conspiracy to literally end our nation as we know it and throw us into a state of fear, poverty, anomie, anarchy, fratricidal butchery and carnage.

Worst of all is the fact that our so called “best friends” and “allies” in the west and the international community are the ones behjnd it.

We need help and if we can get it from the Russians, the Chinese and even the Iranians in order to restore our peace, self respect, freedom, dignity and prosperity we should do so.

Asking the West for help either in intelligence gathering, advice or covert Military operations when it comes to the fight against the terrorists and insurgents in Nigeria is like asking the big bad wolf to save little Red Riding Hood.

It cannot work because ultimately they are the hidden hand behind our numerous travails and they are the enemy.

May God open our eyes and deliver our nation and may we cultivate the fortitude and courage to come together as a people, eschew our differences, resist the evil and save our nation.

(FFK)

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