Connect with us

Headline

Why We Signed Samoa Agreement – FG

Published

on

By Eric Elezuo

The Federal Government of Nigeria has come under severe condemnation following the signing of the Samoa agreement, which many believe come with contrary conditions including the legitimisation of gay marriages and other related matters associated with it, which runs foul of the Constitution of the country, and moral values of the various traditional practices and institutions across the geo-political regions of the nation.

The name ‘Samoa’ is a derivation of the place where the agreement was first signed.

But in a counter response, the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government assured Nigerians that it will not enter into any international agreement that will be detrimental to the interest of the country and its citizens, adding that whatever that was contained in the agreement are to the basic interest of the nation and its citizens.

In a statement he personally signed, where the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris made this known, he debunked all allegations and controversies trailing the recent signing of Samoa Agreement by the Federal Government, maintaining that the agreement was signed to promote sustainable development, fight climate change and its effects, generate investment opportunities, and foster collaboration among OACPS Member States at the international stage.

“On 28 June 2024, Nigeria signed the Samoa Agreement at the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) Secretariat in Brussels, Belgium.

“The partnership agreement is between the EU and its Member States, on one hand, and the members of the OACPS on the other.

“Negotiations on the agreement started in 2018, on the sidelines of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly.

“It was signed in Apia, Samoa on the 15th of November 2018 by all 27 EU Member states and 47 of the 79 OACPS Member states.

The Minister added: “The agreement has 103 articles comprising a common foundational compact and three regional protocols, namely: Africa –EU; Caribbean-EU, and Pacific-EU Regional Protocols with each regional protocol addressing the peculiar issues of the regions.

“The African Regional Protocol consists of two parts. The first is the Framework for Cooperation.

“The second deals with Areas of Cooperation, containing Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth and Development; Human and Social Development; Environment, Natural Resources Management, and Climate Change; Peace and Security; Human Rights, Democracy and Governance; and Migration and Mobility.

“Nigeria signed the Agreement on Friday 28 June 2024”.

Idris stressed that the agreement was signed after extensive reviews and consultations by the Interministerial Committee, convened by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Federal Ministry of Justice.

He said the government in signing the agreement ensured that none of the 103 Articles and Provisions of the Agreement contravened the 1999 Constitution as amended or laws of Nigeria, and other extant Laws.

“In addition, Nigeria’s endorsement was accompanied by a Statement of Declaration, dated 26th June 2024, clarifying its understanding and context of the Agreement within its jurisdiction.

“This is to the effect that any provision that is inconsistent with the laws of Nigeria shall be invalid.

“It is instructive to note that there is an existing legislation against same sex relationship in Nigeria enacted in 2014.

“It is necessary to assure Nigerians that the President Bola Tinubu Administration, being a rule-based government will not enter into any international agreement that will be detrimental to the interest of the country and its citizens,” he said.

In negotiating the Agreement, our officials strictly followed the mandates exchanged in 2018 between the EU and the OACPS for the process.

The Minister reiterated that Samoa Agreement is nothing but a vital legal framework for cooperation between the OACPS and the European Union..

 

The Federal Government has however, opted to sue a media house that broke the news, reiterating that the signing of the Samoa agreement was done in the country’s interest.

The agreement, according to reports, has some clauses that compel underdeveloped and developing nations to support the agitations by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community for recognition, as a condition for getting financial and other support from advanced societies.

Named after the Pacific Island Samoa, where it was signed, the agreement is gradually gaining traction, despite opposition by many countries that cherish Islamic and Christianity values, in addition to the sensitivity of their cultures.

The issue has generated controversy, with some clerics and human rights activists, criticising the government over the agreement.

But amid the responses and clarifications from the government, Nigerians have continued to react wildly, criticising the President Bola Tinubu-led administration over the agreement, and accusing the government of greed and inordinate ambition to acquire wealth at the expense of the citizens.

The various social media platforms have been a beehive of attacks and criticisms targeted at the government for ‘insensitivity’ to the mood of the nation.

A respondent, who felt threatened as a practitioner of Islamic religion, wrote, “To hell with the American Pentagon-funded conspiratorial CIA-FBI treacherous anti-muslim monetised homosexual cult project!

“We as true believers in Islam, Allah’s ordained and divine faith, cannot be compromised because we are worshippers of Allah Ubangji SWT alone, like all our Prophets and nobody is a greater role model than All our Prophets in the Holy Qur’an!

“This is the end of the road for the implementation of the controversial Satanic American Pentagon-instigated Samoa Deal.

“To hell with America and those who believe in promoting their LGBTQ experimental lifestyles fan zone therapy here in Nigeria.”

In the same, another, writing from the Islamic point of view added: “To my fellow Muslims, those who were deceived to vote for the Muslim-Muslim Ticket thinking that Tinubu & Shettima will emulate Islamic style of leadership, look at where we’re today!

“We will now sit back, fingers crossed, and watch whether the clerics that promoted Muslim Muslim Ticket will come out and condemn Tinubu or not. Elections have consequences!”

More and more respondents from all walks have said that signing the agreement was never a well thought it policy, condemning the government as controversial and shameless.

Many other Nigerians have said that until the citizens stand up for themselves as it was done in Kenya, leaders will not earn to respect the views of the people or take decisions that are people-oriented.

“I thought such sensitive agreements and decisions that affect our religious and cultural lives are supposed to be dialogue before being signed. With this singular act, it shows the government is only interested in money and what the West wants just to please the international community at the expense of its citizens,” a social media user concluded.

The government has however, maintained that it has done nothing wrong in signing the Samoa agreement.

Additional information: NAN

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Headline

Peddle Drugs and Die: NAFDAC Goes for the Jugular

Published

on

By

By Eric Elezuo

Drug peddlers and their sponsors are in for a harder time if recommendations and proposal of death penalty, by the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs Mojisola Adeyeye, sails through.

The formation of NAFDAC was inspired by a 1988 World Health Assembly resolution requesting countries’ help in combating the global health threat posed by counterfeit pharmaceuticals

Speaking bitterly at a live television show on the hard-heartedness of peddlers, whose actions, direct and indirect, have caused the deaths of not a few Nigerian children, and in some cases, adults.

According to the Director-General, only stiff penalties will deter peddlers, especially when it leads to the death of children.

She noted that “Somebody bought children’s medicine for N13,000 or something like that, another person was selling about N3,000 in the same mall,” the NAFDAC chief said on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief. 

“That raised an alarm. Guess what? There was nothing inside that medicine when we tested it in our Kaduna lab. So, I want the death penalty.

“Because you don’t need to put a gun on the head of a child before you kill that child. Just give that child bad medicine,” Adeyeye said.

The NAFDAC DG is also seeking the cooperation of the judiciary and the National Assembly to make such a move a reality. According to her, the agency is open to partnering with lawmakers and other stakeholders on the matter.

“You cannot fight substandard, falsified medicine in isolation. The agency can do as much as it can but if there is no deterrent, there’s going to be a problem,” she said.

“Somebody brought in 225mg of Tramadol that can kill anybody, fry the brain and you give a judgment of five years in prison or N250,000. Who doesn’t know that that person will go to the ATM and get N250,000?

“That is part of our problem. There are no strict measures to deter [people] from repeating the same thing. We can do as much as we can but if our law is not strong enough, or the judiciary is not strong enough to stand up, we’re going to have a problem.

“So, our judiciary system must be strong enough. But we are working with the National Assembly to make our penalties very stiff.  But if you kill a child by bad medicine, you deserve to die,” she said.

While NAFDAC has a lot on its plate in stemming drug peddling, Adeyeye decried the shortage of manpower in the agency.

She believes with about 2,000 staff members nationwide and limited funding, NAFDAC is constrained in carrying out its activities.

“So, when it comes to staffing, you’re right on the point. We are short-staffed and I am hoping things will be better,” the NAFDAC DG said.

It would be recalled that in times past, and in recent times, the deaths of children from medicine intake has been rift, prompting a form of emergency in the medical sector to checkmate the activities of the saboteurs, who are bent on reaping gains at the expense of life and wellbeing.

Mrs Adeyeye has promptly toed the lines of former NAFDAC DG, the late Dora Akinyuli, who declared an all out against drug peddlers and couriers.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is a federal agency under the Federal Ministry of Health that is responsible for regulating and controlling the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, distribution, sale, and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, and packaged water established in 1993 under the health and safety law.

 

The establishment of NAFDAC was to counter the production and sales of adulterated and counterfeit drugs, which has become a menace in Nigeria, and to Nigerians. It would be recalled also that in one incident in 1989, over 150 children died as a result of paracetamol syrup containing diethylene glycol, among a list of other horrifying incidents.

At a certain stage, fake drugs issue was so severe that neighbouring countries such as Ghana and Sierra Leone officially banned the sale of drugs, foods, and beverage products made in Nigeria.

Continue Reading

Headline

El-Rufai Lacks Capacity to Win Even Senate Seat – Presidency

Published

on

By

Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, has stated that the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the lacks the influence to “unsettle” President Bola Tinubu.

Bwala made the remarks during an interview with TVC News on Thursday, stating that former Kaduna State governor does not have the capacity to win even a senate seat.

He emphasized that President Tinubu is not troubled by El-Rufai’s ongoing criticisms of his administration.

Bwala also noted that el-Rufai only gains political prominence when aligning with a strong, revolutionary leader, adding: “Let me tell you something about my elder brother, el-Rufai, and whether we should be concerned.

“There’s a dynamic around him. El-Rufai needs a solid revolutionary figure to thrive. On his own, El-Rufa’i might not even secure a Senate seat.”

Continue Reading

Headline

Reps Propose Creation of 31 More States

Published

on

By

The House of Representatives Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution has proposed the creation of 31 additional states in the country.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who presided over plenary on Thursday read a letter from the committee containing the proposed states.

If approved, this will increase the number of states in Nigeria to 67.

The letter read: “This is to inform members that the House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered), has received legislative proposals for the creation of states and local governments in the following order:

NORTH CENTRAL

1. BENUE ALA STATE from the present Benue State.
2. OKUN STATE from the present Kogi State
3. OKURA STATE from the present Kogi State
4. CONFLUENCE STATE from the present Kogi State
5. APA-AGBA STATE from Benue South Senatorial District
6. APA STATE from the present Benue State.
7. A 37th state, namely FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA

NORTH EAST

8. AMANA STATE from the present Adamawa State.
9. KATAGUM STATE from the present Bauchi State.
10. SAVANNAH STATE from the present Borno State.
11. MURI STATE from the present Taraba State.

NORTH WEST

12. NEW KADUNA STATE and GURARA STATE from the present Kaduna State.
13. TIGA STATE from the present Kano State.
14. KAINJI STATE from the present Kebbi State.
15. GHARI STATE from the present Kano State

SOUTH EAST

16. ETITI STATE as the sixth (6th) state in the South East geopolitical zone.
17. ADADA STATE from the present Enugu State of Nigeria.
18. URASHI STATE as the sixth (6th) state in the South East geopolitical zone.
19. ORLU STATE from the South Eastern Region of Nigeria.
20. ABA STATE from the South Eastern Region of Nigeria.

SOUTH SOUTH

21. OGOJA STATE from the present Cross River State.
22. WARRI STATE from the present Delta State.
23. BORI STATE from the present Rivers State
24. OBOLO STATE from the present Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

SOUTH WEST

25. TORU-EBE STATE from the present Delta, Edo, and Ondo States.
26. IBADAN STATE from the present Oyo State.
27. LAGOON STATE from the present Lagos State.
28. IJEBU STATE from the present Ogun State.
29. LAGOON STATE from the present Lagos State and Ogun State
30. IBADAN STATE from the present Oyo State.
31. OKE-OGUN and IFE-IJESHA STATES from the Present-day Ogun, Oyo, and Osun states.

The request for states’ creation can only materialise if at least “the third majority of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives (National Assembly) and the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and the Local Government Council in respect of the area is received by the National Assembly.”

Continue Reading

Trending