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Pendulum: Tony Elumelu, the President Africa Needs Desperately
Published
5 years agoon
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EricBy Dele Momodu
Fellow Africans, I have chosen to address many of you gathered in Abuja today, at the instance and invitation of the Tony Elumelu Foundation. My sincere welcome and gratitude goes especially to the several African Presidents who have chosen to identify with the young entrepreneurs who are the future of our continent. By coming to support the enigmatic founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, you have all made a most powerful move towards empowering many of our brightest souls who wish to make meaningful impact in their societies but are incapacitated by lack of funding and a myriad of other challenges. Your support is as much an inspiration for them as the endowment, assistance and mentorship they receive from Tony Elumelu and his foundation.
Let me confess that I had always been of the firm belief and conviction that governments alone cannot solve the problems of Africa. The infrastructure deficits alone are so daunting that it is virtually impossible to have enough resources to tackle the suffocating burden of unemployment all over Africa. Indeed, there is nowhere in the world, other than the wealthy communist and socialist countries, that the largest number of the employed legion actually work for government and its agencies. However, we find that in Africa we almost expect this to be the case despite the paucity and impoverishment of most of our governments. Not just that, African governments are generally not equipped to create and distribute wealth. Where they possess the wherewithal, issues of corruption make it difficult to empower majority of those who need jobs desperately. There are other major afflictions militating against our young ones. The quality of education has dropped dangerously in many of our countries. Therefore, even if the jobs are available, many of our graduates are not employable. Those who have studied hard in our higher institutions opted for wrong subjects that may not readily offer them opportunities. They have not marched with the times and still study subjects suited for the 20th century when the rest of the world is already looking towards the 22nd century. The technologies of the 20th century have become poor and distant relations of that which is necessary to survive and excel in the 21st century, but we remain firmly rooted to those, archaic systems and technologies. Furthermore, even our artisans, who do not need university training but learn on the job as apprentices and interns are usually poorly trained and miserably equipped, because those they learn from are themselves poorly trained and ill-equipped.
African leaders need a quick rethink about the way forward for African youths. Tony Elumelu has offered the veritable template for them to follow. Just a few years ago, he established one of the most ambitious charities in the world by pledging the sum of $100m spread over 10 years to offer $10m per annum towards empowering 1,000 entrepreneurs. Tony was not seeking to be a Santa Claus, but a Good Samaritan with a conscience who thought and knew that the spread of poverty would always constitute a major threat to all. He has made good his promise by continuing his annual pledge. We are witnessing today the launching into orbit of another group of direct beneficiaries of the Foundation and look forward to seeing the thousands more indirect beneficiaries of this worthy and noble cause. The seeds planted by Tony are already bearing fruits, not just for the entrepreneurs he has mercifully empowered but also his own foundation, with several international donors, including UNDP, the Red Cross, AfDP, Benin Republic and others queuing up to partner with one of the most reputable charities in Africa. Tony has even reached out to Washington and he is hopeful for a partnership with the White House in his bid to change the narrative about how to rescue Africa from the vestiges of poverty, wars and diseases. The best approach is to turn our huge and fast growing populations into successful entrepreneurs.
Poverty alleviation is a necessity in Africa today if we truly want to live in peace and prosperity. Those of us who can, must strive to emulate the Tony Elumelu Foundation and create many more entrepreneurs who will themselves become mass employers of labour. For Africa to become great we must get our youths gainfully employed in 21stcentury activities and projects.
HOW NIGERIA MAY BECOME A STRATEGIC FAILURE TO THE WORLD
I felt that I should share this thought-provoking piece on Nigeria written by someone who has had the opportunity to serve in our country and thus observed us from near and afar! Princeton N. Lyman, the former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and South Africa, delivered a superlative speech on the panel titled “The Nigerian State and U.S. Strategic Interests” at the Achebe Colloquium at Brown University, USA.
TRANSCRIPT OF SPEECH (TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM THE VIDEO SPEECH)
Thank you very much Prof. Keller and thanks to the organizers of this conference. It is such a privilege to be here in a conference in honor of Prof. Achebe, an inspiration and teacher to all of us.
I have a long connection to Nigeria. Not only was I Ambassador there, I have travelled to and from Nigeria for a number of years and have a deep and abiding vital emotional attachment to the Nigerian people, their magnificence, their courage, artistic brilliance, their irony, sense of humor in the face of challenges etc.
And I hope that we keep that in mind when I say some things that I think are counter to what we normally say about Nigeria. And I say that with all due respect to Eric Silla who is doing a magnificent work at State Department and to our good friend from the legislature, because I have a feeling that we both Nigerians and Americans may be doing Nigeria and Nigerians no favor by stressing Nigeria’s strategic importance.
I know all the arguments: it is a major oil producer, it is the most populous country in Africa, it has made major contributions to Africa in peacekeeping, and of course negatively if Nigeria were to fall apart the ripple effects would be tremendous, etc. But I wonder if all this emphasis on Nigeria’s importance creates a tendency of inflate Nigeria’s opinion of its own invulnerability.
Among much of the elite today, I have the feeling that there is a belief that Nigeria is too big to fail, too important to be ignored, and that Nigerians can go on ignoring some of the most fundamental challenges they have many of which we have talked about: disgraceful lack of infrastructure, the growing problems of unemployment, the failure to deal with the underlying problems in the Niger-Delta, the failure to consolidate democracy and somehow feel will remain important to everybody because of all those reasons that are strategically important.
And I am not sure that that is helpful. Let me sort of deconstruct those elements of Nigeria’s importance, and ask whether they are as relevant as they have been.
We often hear that one in five Africans is a Nigerian. What does it mean? Do we ever say one in five Asians is a Chinese? Chinese power comes not just from the fact that it has a lot of people, but it has harnessed the entrepreneurial talent and economic capacity and all the other talents of China to make her a major economic force and political force.
What does it mean that one in five Africans is Nigeria? It does not mean anything to a Namibian or a South African. It is a kind of conceit. What makes it important is what is happening to the people of Nigerian. Are their talents being tapped? Are they becoming an economic force? Is all that potential being used? And the answer is “Not really.”
And oil, yes, Nigeria is a major oil producer, but Brazil is now launching a 10-year program that is going to make it one of the major oil producers in the world. And every other country in Africa is now beginning to produce oil. And Angola is rivalling Nigeria in oil production, and the United States has just discovered a huge gas reserve which is going to replace some of our dependence on imported energy.
So, if you look ahead ten years, is Nigeria really going to be that relevant as a major oil producer, or just another of another of the many oil producers while the world moves on to alternative sources of energy and other sources of supply.
And what about its influence, its contributions to the continent? As our representative from the parliament talked about, there is a great history of those contributions. But that is history.
Is Nigeria really playing a major role today in the crisis in Niger on its border, or in Guinea, or in Darfur, or after many many promises making any contributions to Somalia? The answer is no, Nigeria is today NOT making a major impact, on its region, or on the African Union or on the big problems of Africa that it was making before.
What about its economic influence? Well, as we have talked about earlier, there is a de industrialization going on in Nigeria a lack of infrastructure, a lack of power means that with imported goods under globalization, Nigerian factories are closing, more and more people are becoming unemployed. and Nigeria is becoming a kind of society that imports and exports and lives off the oil, which does not make it a significant economic entity.
Now, of course, on the negative side, the collapse of Nigeria would be enormous, but is that a point to make Nigeria strategically important? Years ago, I worked for an Assistant Secretary of State who had the longest tenure in that job in the 1980s and I remember in one meeting a minister from a country not very friendly to the United States came in and was berating the Assistant Secretary on all the evils of the United States and all its dire plots and in things in Africa and was going on and on and finally the Assistant Secretary cut him off and said: “You know, the biggest danger for your relationship with the United States is not our opposition but that we will find you irrelevant.”
The point is that Nigeria can become much less relevant to the United States. We have already seen evidence of it. When President Obama went to Ghana and not to Nigeria, he was sending a message, that Ghana symbolized more of the significant trends, issues and importance that one wants to put on Africa than Nigeria.
And when I was asked by journalists why President Obama did not go to Nigeria, I said “what would he gain from going? Would Nigeria be a good model for democracy, would it be a model for good governance, would he obtain new commitments on Darfur or Somalia or strengthen the African Union or in Niger or elsewhere?” No, he would not, so he did not go.
And when Secretary Clinton did go, indeed but she also went to Angola and who would have thought years ago that Angola would be the most stable country in the Gulf of Guinea and establish a binational commission in Angola. So, the handwriting may already be on the wall, and that is a sad commentary. Because what it means is that Nigeria’s most important strategic importance in the end could be that it has failed. And that is a sad sad conclusion. It does not have to happen, but I think that we ought to stop talking about what a great country it is, and how terribly important it is to us and talk about what it would take for Nigeria to be that important and great.
And that takes an enormous amount of commitment. And you don’t need saints, you don’t need leaders like Nelson Mandela in every state, because you are not going to get them.
I served in South Korea in the middle of the 1960s and it was a time when South Korea was poor and considered hopeless, but it was becoming to turn around, later to become to every person’s amazement then the eleventh largest economy in the world. And I remember the economist in my mission saying, you know it did not bother him that the leading elites in the government of South Korea were taking 15 – 20 percent off the top of every project, as long as every project was a good one, and that was the difference. The leadership at the time was determined to solve the fundamental economic issues of South Korea economy and turn its economy around.
It has not happened in Nigeria today. You don’t need saints. It needs leaders who say, “You know we could be becoming irrelevant, and we got to do something about it.”
Thank you!
POSTSCRIPT: The conclusion of Ambassador Princeton N. Lyman’s speech has always been my opinion and position. Nations are never governed by saints, but by performers who may be crooked but are straightened out by strong institutions. We Nigerians, unfortunately, continue to delude ourselves that there are Angels and Messiahs who will help turn everyone into good guys while ignoring and neglecting the priorities of good governance like solid infrastructure, education, healthcare, rule of law, employment and so on. No individual or nation is built solely on the goodness or saintliness of the person or its citizens. Nations are built on competence, diligence, innovation, passion and vision. As long as we ignore these vital attributes and focus on irrelevances and frivolities we cannot progress to any level. If we continue with this mindset that has become almost all pervading in our polity, monumental tragedy is beckoning, sadly…
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By Eric Elezuo
When the story of former governor of Rivers State, who is currently the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, is told in the future, one of the many catchphrases that may accompany the narrative may read, here was a man, who lost everything while attempting to grab everything.
Prior to, during and after the 2023 general elections, Wike became a bride of no particular groom, when he chose to hobnob between two political parties, betraying his own party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and working for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in an alliance that compensated him with the FCT job in the bargain. Technically, Wike remains the only politician who is not identified with any political party as at the moment, a source has told The Boss.
The Boss has also realised, in addition to a recent interview granted by Wike, that the former governor’s inability to declare for one party is rooted in his ambition to make a dash for the Presidency in 2027, banking on the possibility that President Bola Tinubu will not contest in the next election.
But the APC apparatchiks, who would not tolerate the Wike inroads into a political alliance that would not favour them, has constantly put the FCT minister on leash, caging every of his moves, especially with the crises in his home State against his anointed governor, Siminalayi Fubara, who suddenly sought his independence from Wike’s choking hold.
“Wike’s ambition has driven him into claiming the FCT job, and desiring to remain the defacto governor of Rivers State, a move some of the Rivers people have rejected, leading to a political quagmire in the oil rich state. Wike is just using the APC for his future. His target is 2027. But unfortunately for him, a lot of APC bigwigs are wary of his antics, and have created artificial hurdles for him, including the crises in his state. He has been caged,” the source said.
That has primarily explain his continuous face off with Fubara, whom he referred to as the ‘other person’ in a recent interview.
“When some peeople come to talk to me that beg your lawmakers now to do this. I said do you want them to obey me? They say yes. I said fine but what of the other person? He is not obeying me? He should assert his own? He should assert Independence,” he was quoted as saying in the interview that featured selected media houses.
Below are some of the excerpts from the close to two hours interview:
I thought Mr President has sorted it out?
The lawmakers cannot assert independence. You know, we we blow hot and cold. And that’s why I say anybody who supports an ingrate is a natural and ungrateful person.
People feel that agreement is loopsided. That you are not telling the lawmakers to return back to the PDP because every other thing was upturned?
How can the president tell me that I should go back to a party? How can you!
People that resigned were brought back?
For whose interest? Do you know what they said will draw impeachment? Do you know what that is, who benefited from it all? Tell me the truth. Whose office was under threat? When you say these people have gone to a party, it’s a matter of court interpretation. If you say I’ve left the party, it does not rely on you to say I’ve left the party. You need to challenge it in court. The speaker had to hit gavel. It’s not when you have interest, and you don’t want to look at the whole thing. As far as I’m concerned, the lawmakers have respected Mr President when the that agreement was reached. It didn’t take them 24 hours, they would do impeachment notice. What is the point that you brought Commissioners? Are they working? I didn’t know you will go into this kind of discussion, I’m busy! I’m busy with the metro line, how to achieve metro line…I’m busy with other projects, very busy. I don’t even have time to talk about politics. I have time for governance.
Which party do you belong to?
I’m a member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Have you ever seen me change any day?
And you are not interested in the elections in Edo, whether your party wins or not?
The Wike that Nigerians know will always throw his heart behind his party. The one I supported before, what happened? The one I supported before now, what happened? So I have decided take a break now.
From politics?
No! As you see me here, I have decided to carry my cross. You see, at a point I was in PDP, I didnt hide it. When I said I was not going to support their Presidential candidate, is it that I spoke in a way people did not understand? Is it that I acted in a way people did not understand? Even the deaf can hear. What I said, the deaf can hear. But if this is not done, I wont do this.
But the party is to discipline you for that?
Discipline me for who? Who violated the party’s constitution? Who should be dissciplined? I am an advocate for the implementation of the constitution. It was you who breached it, and it still you that want to discipline me? In the first place, you shold have thank Rivers. Assuming we lost the governorship, would they have being talking about Rivers State being a PDP state?
Forget about this peoople who are galivating today who say they cannot serve master and serve boy. Now, they are serving boy on the road now. Like I told you, now is time for governance. Now, it is time to do your own assignment. The President has given me an assignment, and Im busy carrying it out. When the time for politics comes, then we would know who is where and who is not where? Running is not everything. I was a minister of state when I went to run for governorship? Did we not win?
You were the governor for eight years, and now the minister of FCT, which one has been more daunting for you?
Here is Nigeria, I dont have the kind of executive power I have when I was the governor. Most of the things I do here, I must seek the approval of Mr President. And anytime I seek his approval, he has always given me. Which has made my work easier, but I can tell you that it’s not easy. All kinds of people are here, the past presidents are here, former army generals are here, field marshals are here, everybody is here. Senate president is here, speaker is here, chief justice is here…so, it is not like in the state. But for whatever it is, if you have capacity, have capacity. It doesnt really matter where you find yourself.
When I was minister of state education, everybody thought that office is a hard office. When I left somebody was there, and someone said was it not where Wike was? It’s not the office, it is you that will tell us how the office will be.
Thank you honourable minister for this time…
Analysts and stakeholders have said that Wike’s responses betrayed his longing for the presidential ticket, which he lost in May 2022 PDP presidential primary in Abuja, and which he is coming to the realization that the APC will not oblige him come 2026 when the primary election tons are held. Consequently, he is maintaining his cronies in the PDP while frolicking with a very unsupported APC machinery.
As a result, he is making frantic efforts to realign with his colleagues, especially members of the G-5, who lost out in the last election including Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Okezie Ikpeazu and Samuel Ortom, and reaching out to some other governors like Adamawa and Bauchi for additional financial muscle.
“The deal is simple. He is banking on Tinubu not contesting in 2027 so he can unleash his full force on the PDP for the ticket, knowing it will be next to impossible to get the APC ticket. That explains his tenacious and opportunistic hold on two fronts, neither a confirmed member of the APC nor has he officially left the PDP,” The Boss source further alleged.
It is believed that except for Tinubu, no one will match him in resources and Finance, and so explained why APC caged him with the topsy-turvy situation in Rivers.
“So with his being busy in Rivers, which is his golden goose, and managing a complex centre like Abuja, where all eyes including Tinubu’s are on him, it is most unlikely that he can take a queenly step in the chess game playing out. They have reduced him to more of a pun, a disposal knight, especially with Fubara’s perceived independence from him, which is causing rancour. It is even interesting to note that the Tinubu/APC camp is supporting Fubara. They know that a weak Wike will not give them hassles on the national political level,” an analyst posited.
Another source has also claimed that the reason behind the PDP’s inability to call a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting is all boiled down to checkmating Wike’s perceived excesses. The party rather chose to keep the National Working Committee (NWC) intact.
While both stakeholders and analysts believe that 2027 is still far ahead, politicians in the likes of APC apparatchiks and the FCT minister are already locked in a battle of wits to see who holds the upper hand when the time comes. Wike has already said that ‘when 2027 comes, we would know who is who’. Though it was a veiled allusion to the Rivers governor, it still posits a general connotation to the war of relevance that has continually played out since the end of the 2023 political season.
minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), says the 2027 election will be a walk in the park for his political camp.
At a thanksgiving service by Barinada Mpigi, a federal lawmaker, in Koroma, Tai LGA, where he made the remarks, Wike said the election will be easy for his camp because of the alliance it has forged with other parties as well as controlling the structures of both APC and PDP in Rivers State.
He said the alliance between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers state cannot be challenged.
“With the forces we have, I don’t know of anybody who can challenge us,” Wike boasted.
But time will tell how the whole scenario plays out in this political game of chess involving Wike and the APC, and PDP.
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Enhancing Food Security: Governor Umo Eno’s Worthy Interventions
Published
4 days agoon
March 14, 2024By
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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.
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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Budget Padding Allegation: PDP Condemns Ningi’s Suspension, Calls for Akpabio’s Resignation
Published
5 days agoon
March 13, 2024By
EricBy Eric Elezuo
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi in the National Assembly, over his allegation that the Senate padded the 2024 Budget with a whopping N3.7trn for non-existent projects, and called for the immediate resignation of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Party made its position known via a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, calling for an independent investigation into the alleged budget padding as well as other of Akpabio’s alleged misdemeanor including looting of N108 billion Akwa Ibom fund during his tenure as governor.
In addition, the party insists that the senate president should as a matter of urgency report himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The PDP viewed the suspension of Senator Ningi as a ‘desperate move to suppress investigation, conceal and sweep the facts under the carpet,’ and questioned the rationale behind the All Progressives Congress (APC)-Senate leadership refusing to refer the matter to the appropriate Senate Standing Committee for an open investigation in line with the extant Rules of the Senate, adding that it was obvious the leadership of the senate is hiding something.
The statement in details:
Step Aside, PDP Tells Akpabio Over N3.7t Budget Allegation, N108b A/Ibom State Fund
…Says It Stands With Senator Ningi
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demands that the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio immediately step aside and allow for an independent investigation into the allegation that a staggering N3.7 trillion was discreetly inserted into the 2024 budget for alleged non-existent projects.
The Party also demands that Senator Akpabio immediately reports at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the pending case of alleged looting of N108 billion belonging to the people of Akwa Ibom State under his watch as Governor of the State.
Furthermore, the Senate President should speak out on the reported N86 billion contract scam in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) during his tenure as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
The PDP firmly condemns the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi by the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership in the Senate without a detailed inquest into the issue of budget padding which he raised.
The suspension of Senator Ningi is apparently a desperate move to suppress investigation, conceal and sweep the facts under the carpet.
Moreover, the frustration of investigation by the APC Senate leadership further confirms PDP’s repeated alert that prominent APC officials in the National Assembly and a top official in the Presidency have been using ministers and other government functionaries to siphon budgeted funds from the national coffers.
We ask, why did the APC leadership in the Senate not refer the matter to the appropriate Senate Standing Committee for an open investigation in line with the extant Rules of the Senate? What is the APC Senate leadership afraid of and what is it hiding from Nigerians?
It is even more absurd that instead of recusing himself, the Senate President sat as a judge in the matter; a situation that has the capacity to bring the institution of the Senate to further public disrepute.
This is especially as the issues at hand heavily border on alleged gross misconduct and criminal betrayal of public trust which are serious offenses under our laws.
Nigerians can now see why the APC leadership in the National Assembly, especially in the Senate continues to condone the unbridled looting of public resources including funds meant for palliatives for poor and vulnerable citizens.
This apparent inclination towards covering up sleaze in the polity is already pitching the institution of the Senate against Nigerians who are demanding for answers on the matter. Of course, the widely condemned suspension of Senator Ningi does not provide answers to the budget padding allegation.
It is indeed unfortunate and a huge smear on the image of the Senate, as the highest lawmaking and probity Institution in the country, that its Presiding Officer has found himself in a quagmire of alleged sleaze and betrayal of public trust.
Our Party therefore stands with Senator Ningi for his courage in seeking probity and accountability in the polity.
What Nigerians expect at this moment is for the Senate President to come clean by stepping aside, allowing for an independent investigation into the budget padding allegation as well as clearing his name at the EFCC over alleged looting of N108 billion and N86 billion under his watch as Governor of Akwa Ibom State and Minister of Niger Delta Affairs respectively.
Signed:
Hon. Debo Ologunagba
National Publicity Secretary
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