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Pendulum: Why Are Our Leaders Hiding Behind One Finger?

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By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, permit me to borrow one of those wisecracks popularized by Chief Moshood Abiola, “no one can hide behind one finger.” He should have been here today to see how our leaders are struggling to hide behind one finger. His initial complete confusion would have been replaced by subsequent total amazement!

I don’t know if you have noticed the jamboree going on between Abuja and Daura, this Sallah season. Visitation upon visitation by both the high and the lowly, the rich and the poor, even the military Chiefs have joined the fray, with one thing in mind to fawn over a leader that has been turned into a swan! It is becoming sickening for those who realise and discern that we are now living in a circus and making merry when the serious business of nation building is in abject neglect and the country is generally unravelling and falling apart at the seams. Indeed, any visitor to Nigeria is likely to be instantly dazed about the parlous state of our nation and our national ethos and progress juxtaposed with the reckless, comical and jejune behaviour of our leaders when they should be serious and sober. This leads me to think that the strategy of our politicians is borrowed from the aphorism, “if you can’t convince them, confuse them.” Terrible.

How can a nation bedevilled by some of the worst disasters known to mankind continue to live in fool’s paradise? How can a President we once adored for his simplicity and frugality encourage these flights of fancy and comic relief? How can a President threatened with a barrage of Law suits and under siege by the scourge of fratricidal and secessionist talks, terrorism, insecurity, unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, poor health and failing infrastructure fall for scammers who are only out to deceive him and his band of merry makers by treating him like an Emperor and them as his courtiers? It is astonishing and unbelievable!

I am beginning to subscribe to the view that there must be some irredeemable and incorrigible demons inside the Aso Rock Presidential villa, walahi. Is it that Buhari is not aware that Nigeria has virtually collapsed under his watch? Is it that Buhari is blinded to the fact that the people are groaning under the weight of poverty and famine in the land? Is it that Buhari believes he has performed so wonderfully that everyone must come to worship at his feet for doing Nigeria a big favour like none before him? Too many questions begging for answers. Let me tell our President what my unlettered but intelligent Mum used to tell anyone who cared to listen, “if someone is deceiving you, please don’t deceive yourself.”

Unless Buhari lives on another planet, our dear President should know that Nigeria is haemorrhaging dangerously on many fronts and may actually bleed to death if all hands are not on deck to salvage what is fast becoming a monumental disaster. The nation is running adrift, rudderless with seemingly no pilot or captain at the helm. Instead, the President is furiously fiddling, plucking violently at his violin, whist the nation is consumed by a conflagration of epic proportions. It is time for President Buhari to be told that he should please, in the name of Allah, stop this frivolous crap of behaving like all is well with Nigeria and he can, therefore, copy and replicate the Hollywood style of the American President. He should know that the politicians who, on a good day, have been looking for opportunities to misbehave and go on a binge, will go all out, ostentatiously, with little encouragement, such as that presently being offered by the President and his government. The few reflective, sincere, hardworking and cerebral members of the Government are being made to look like fools as they helplessly watch the debacle unfolding around them knowing that the hound no longer seems to hear the whistle of the hunter. This is not the end. This cannot be the end. We may be at the precipice, but we can still be pulled back and saved. There is only one human saviour on this ride to perdition apart from God. That is the President himself. He must be prepared to do what it takes to shear his government and himself of the deadweight, the cankerworm, the jetsam and flotsam if indeed Nigeria is to survive the gathering storm.

What the President needs to do, speedily, is to climb down from his high horse and face the job he’s been asked to do by Nigerians. What I see is a clear validation of Paulo Freire’s thesis in Pedagogy of the Oppressed; tempt a man who was once poor by elevating him to a higher status and see how he will scatter ground. No serious-minded soul can defend the current abysmal profligacy and recklessness that we are being assailed by.

Rather than wait at home for his acolytes to come and pay obeisance to “he who must be obeyed” President Buhari should take time out of his gilded cage and go around Nigeria to see the desperate, desolate, disastrous and despicable state of things. He should muster the same or a higher amount of energy than he expended on his national campaign and speak to his people. They yearn to hear from him. Such a simple gesture will again endear him to the people who loved him because he appeared to be one of them. It would dispel their current belief that he has sold out to the rich and the powerful. It is not too late to rekindle and find the love and support of the people. This second term offers President Buhari the last chance to do what is right and what is just. It offers him an opportunity to stamp and etch himself positively on our minds and give him a legacy that he would be proud of. I proffer that there are seven basic tasks ahead of Buhari if he is to change the present narrative that portrays him as a ceremonial President intent and content with only the pomp and pageantry that attends his lofty position.

The first task would be for him to unite Nigerians. This is probably the most important task because he would otherwise be infamously and ignominiously known as the man who set the country ablaze again and divided Nigeria for good. I believe I know the President, who fought in the last civil war, to the extent that this would be the furthest thing on his mind. Despite his current posture, it is my feeling that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable to the President for all manner of reasons. However, the reality is that the President has offended most of the regions outside his own. His policies appear designed to curry the favour and further the interests of only one section of the country. His appointments are lopsided. The few that seem fair are in the end merely tokenism and crudely patronising.  The President may be told that there are no complaints from the generality of the people and that the shrieks are coming from the wailers on whose feet he has cruelly trodden. However, the President should not believe all that he is told by lackeys and charlatans. He should not take the silence of the usually rambunctious Nigerians for acquiescence or stupidity, it is just that they are tired, frustrated and weakened. They have been pummelled into submission by the harsh and bitter vagaries of life that the government regularly serves on them as slop for the condemned man. Nigerians are wounded externally and hurting internally, like victims of an accident and ulcer respectively. They may not wear it on their faces and visible body parts, but the indelible scars are there when the covering and layers are removed. Baba, simply put, Nigerians are going through excruciating pains. They live in hell on earth. These glee, boisterousness and rumbustiousness that we daily witness from your flunkeys, hustlers and mountebanks are totally reprehensible and unjustifiable.

The second task, even if it sounds simplistic in the midst of the major problems facing the country, is for him to take off his babanriga dress some of the time because it makes him look too ceremonial when worn on a daily basis, like someone who is simply enjoying the good life, not busy at all, and certainly not in a hurry to fix the myriad of problems afflicting Nigeria. As a retired Major General, he should treat the security challenges, especially, the cases of terrorism and herdsmen menace, wherever they came from, as a declaration of war and should roll up his sleeves to show seriousness and purpose in his determination and effort to deal decisively with the peril that threatens to engulf us. There is nothing more disdainful and disgraceful than the sad reality that we have a hawk in power who cannot catch chickens in his territory, notwithstanding the fact that they are in his eyrie and thus within reach for him to deal a deadly blow.

The third task is how to persuade his foot soldiers to take it easy on Nigeria in the manner of their spending spree. As poor as Nigeria is right now, our leaders should work and look more like those old communists and not like people on fashion parade. Their lavish and ostentatious lifestyle beggar’s belief when the rest of the country are impoverished and lacking.  President Buhari no longer has the excuse that he was surrounded by enemies in his first term. He now controls heavens and earth in the form of both the legislature and the judiciary, in addition to the executive. He should now be able to get things done easily, readily and cooperatively. A leader who controls all the different tiers of government should know that the days of flimsy excuses are over.

The fourth task is for President Buhari to make up his mind about his cabinet. Even if he was waiting for the Oracle to return the list of Ministers to him, it should have been done by now. After the backlash received in 2015 when he could not assemble a simple cabinet for approximately six months after his election, there is no reason or justification for the same scenario to play out again. One tends to go superstitious by concluding that there is a spiritual problem in the affairs of our Leaders. It is again about six months since the elections took place and we are still in limbo, even after the National Assembly that used to be the scapegoat has confirmed the Ministers. I cannot fathom why the Ministers need to be sworn in after an induction course. To make matters worse, they will not even know their portfolios until the conclusion of this new-fangled adult education. What then is the essence of this rigmarole? Where is this ever practised? A grave error of judgment at a time when only solemnity is needed. Methinks it is just another avenue of jobs for the boys!

The fifth task is the President should give the nation a clear blueprint of what to expect from him and his cabinet in these next three and a half years plus commensurate milestones for targets set. The people need to know what to expect and the basis for assessing the President and his performance. A situation where the nation is just floating and gliding, relying only on gossip and guesswork for governmental policy and direction cannot augur well for the country. What we will get is half-baked, ill-thought and sometimes highfalutin ideas which cannot take us out of the dense inhospitable woodlands that we currently find ourselves. All these are preposterously inimical to progress and development.

The sixth task is that President Buhari should act urgently on the rule of Law. Nigeria seems to have descended further into anarchy since 2015 to date with no hope or sign in sight that a miracle may happen. Courts are ordering the release of detainees and the law enforcement agencies and the Attorneys-General are refusing to obey them. Courts are mindlessly granting bail in staggering sums and demanding that public servants put up this sum in a banal endorsement of corruption. Pray tell, how is a civil servant meant to have saved even 25 million Naira that he would frivolously imperil as bail for another person? Yet bail is being set in multiples of hundreds of millions of Naira. Properties are being summarily seized with reckless abandon and no regard to law or lawful court orders on the whims and caprice of some anti-corruption czars! To worsen matters dog is now eating dog and soldiers are beating up, shooting and killing their own colleagues in the Police Force to facilitate the escape of hardened criminals. Why? Their body language suggests that they feel protected by one of them who happens to be the President. And truly nothing has happened to the irresponsible culprits. The harassment of our hapless citizens must stop before we have a mass rebellion in our hands.

The seventh task is the President must urgently reverse the ugly state of our infrastructure. It is just too archaic, especially our healthcare, education, power, transportation systems and roads. A country that neglects its infrastructure or does not even maintain them has nowhere to go.

Nigeria is in its dying throes. The President must now awaken from his slumber and jollification and live up to his responsibilities. Nigerians are not asking for too much.

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How APC Apparatchiks Caged Nyesom Wike

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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

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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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Budget Padding Allegation: PDP Condemns Ningi’s Suspension, Calls for Akpabio’s Resignation

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By 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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