With escalating conflict in several areas of the war-ravaged Syria, all is still not well with the country. Rights experts appointed by the United Nations are saying that the future for its citizens is “increasingly bleak”, highlighting a return to siege tactics and popular demonstrations linked to the plummeting economy. According to the UN Commission of inquiry on Syria, the country is not safe for refugees to return to, after a decade of war. The panel’s findings come amid an uptick in violence in the northwest, northeast and south of the country, where the Commissioners highlighted the chilling return…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
Ahead of national and state elections in 2023, United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a nonpartisan organisation says Nigeria has significant work to do in improving national, state and local security and governance This is coming amid deepening distrust in the Federal Government and institutions. According to USIP, a weakening economy, rising insecurity and violent conflicts are threatening progress made in the country’s democratic development. Besides being nonpartisan, USIP is also an independent institute dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for US and global security. In conflict zones, the Institute works with…
Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) is advocating for the recapitalisation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) as a potent instrument of tackling the country’s huge housing deficit. ‘’We believe that recapitalising FMBN will solve the housing deficit because FMBN is the only bank that gives loans to developers at an affordable rate. They give loans to developers at 6, 9, and 10 percent’’, REDAN says. REDAN’s President, Aliyu Oroji Wamakko, was speaking while commending efforts by Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, in the sector, advising that the construction of the houses should be private-sector…
From this coming October, the lives of more than 100,000 displaced people in parts of South Sudan will be on a cliff hanger. United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says funding shortages is forcing it to suspend lifesaving food assistance for them until the start of 2022. Country Director of WFP in South Sudan, Matthew Hollingworth, says “drastic times call for drastic measures. We are forced to take these painful decisions and stretch our limited resources to meet the critical needs of people who were on the brink of starvation and now risk slipping back into catastrophe, if their access…
Governors of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are currently worried about the foggy political future of Nigeria under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari. For them, only a nationalistic electoral reform will rescue the country from continuous downward drift. To this end, the PDP Governors’ Forum is turning to the Legislative arm of the Nigerian government to rescue the country from disintegration. The Forum is therefore enjoining the National Assembly to as a matter of national interest, immediately set up its Conference Committee that to harmonise the different versions of the Electoral Act Amendment Bills passed by its two Chambers.…
Parties to the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia are allegedly committing severe violations of human rights, humanitarian and refugee law. United Nations human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, has already deplored what she described as “multiple and severe reports of alleged gross violations of human rights, humanitarian and refugee law” committed in the region. In an update to the UN Human Rights Council (OHCHR) on the situation in the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia, Ms. Bachelet said the conflict has “continued unabated,” and “risks spilling over to the whole Horn of Africa”. In the last few months, “mass detentions, killings, systematic…
Nigeria’s continued security approach to crises across the country has come under severe attack by United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a nonpartisan, independent institute dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for US and global security. According to the US group, mass kidnapping of Nigerian schoolchildren underscores that the crumbling of human security in Africa’s most populous nation is worsening a deeper impairment, hollowing out Nigeria’s education system to create a “lost generation” of youth across much of the country. ‘’Purely traditional security responses to Nigeria’s crises — whether Boko Haram, banditry…
The alleged serial ills of the Buhari administration is being showcased in New Yourk, the headquarters of the United Nations in the US. The essence, according to the Chairman of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS), Professor Banji Akintoye, is to bring the horror Nigerians are facing to the global stage. Already, Yoruba nation agitators and other self-determination groups have arrived at the United Nations headquaters in New York. Akintoye, a renowned historian says the people of the South and the Middle-Belt want to show to the world the crimes against humanity, attacks on press freedom, free speech and…
Agitators for Oodua Republic and other self-determination activists are currently asking United Nations to declare Miyetti Allah, whose members are alleged to be responsible for the unending bloodletting in farming communities, a terrorist organisation. Chairman of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, Prof. Banji Akintoye, made the new development public in a statement,. The statement came ahead of their million-man freedom march sheduled to hold at the United Nations Headquaters in New York, United States of America from this September 14 through 24. “We want an end to the ethno-religious killings in Nigeria. We want the Government of Nigeria…
Kaduna State Government says 12 people were killed in an attack by unidentified assailants in Peigyim village, Atyap chiefdom of Zangon Kataf Local Government Area just as no fewer than four persons were abducted along Ayetoro Ekiti-Otun Ekiti Road in Ekiti State when gunmen waylaid some travellers. The victims, according to local sources, were said to have been ferried into the bush by the gunmen.It was also gathered the incident involved two buses conveying passengers from the Otun Ekiti. The assailants were said to have succeeded in holding four persons while others escaped by the whiskers. A source says one…
Nigerian governors have been identified as players in local conflicts rocking the world’s most populous black country, and its military and police hobbled by massive corruption as well as their pattern of human right abuses. In a special report, United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a nonpartisan, independent institute dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for US and global security, says many governors are seen by their opponents as interested players in local conflicts. This, according to USIP, makes impartiality a key challenge for any state peace agency when some parties presume…
Spokesman for Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Olusola Odumosu, says Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has promised to sustain his administration’s support for the Corps. He said the commitment is coming as part of the governor’s efforts to rid Oyo of all forms of criminality, adding, ‘’that is why Governor Makinde has promised continuous support to the Corps in carrying out it’s security duties and obligations to the citizens of Oyo and Nigerians in general.’’ The governor, according to Odumosu, made this commitment while on a courtesy visit to the Commandant General, Ahmed Audi, at the Corps…
Refinery workers in Nigeria under the Buhari administration that has always been quick to threaten striking workers with ‘No Work, No Pay’ rule, were paid a total of N69.07billion in 2020 for doing nothing. The plants generated zero revenue since they did not process a single barrel of crude oil. Reportedly, the refineries suffered a combined loss of N108.29 billion last year, compared to N162.22 billion in the previous year. Data collated from their audited financial statements released by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) gave out the facts. University teachers, judiciary workers, and medical doctors have been threatened by…
Depending on the seriousness of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, the educational qualification for public office seekers will be beyond the current level for the 2023 polls. Expectedly, there will be provision for independent candidates in the country’s electoral system. Senator Istifanus Gyang (PDP, Plateau) is sponsoring a Constitution Alteration Bill in the Senate that seeks to increase the minimum educational qualification of candidates contesting for the offices of President, Governor, National and State Legislature. Senator Stella Oduah (APC, Anambra) is also sponsoring a Constitution Alteration Bill before the Senate to provide for independent candidates for elective…
Backstage realignment of political forces ahead of the titanic power contest in Nigeria is hotting up across the political parties. In the months ahead, it is expected that power seekers will be criss-crossing the two big parties – All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Except there is a major political earthquake in the country, 2023 is not likely to produce nationalistic leaders. Since 2015, parochial considerations appear to be gaining the upper hand in the affairs of the most populous black country in the world. The emerging pointer is that if APC zones its presidential ticket…
Attacks on schools by armed security forces and non-state armed groups, are currently causing serious concerns in the United Nations. UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, citing the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack says between 2015 and 2020, over 13,000 strikes on education, or the military use of educational facilities, were recorded around the world. “And this threat is not lessening – as the horrifying events in Afghanistan are showing us so starkly”, the UN chief said, and reminded that these are not numbers on a page, but thousands of individual lives and individual futures. “The loss is incalculable”, he stated. In February last year during the International…
Except President Muhammadu Buhari urgently sets a machinery in motion for the much sought after restructuring of the twisted Nigerian federal system, some of the aggrieved states of the federation are likely to achieve that through legal means. Spurred by the success of Rivers State on Value Added Tax (VAT) collection, attorneys general of the 38 are in court to extract more revenue from Abuja. They have sued the Attorney General of the federation, Abubakar Malami, for non-remittance of stamp duties fund generated from the states. The chief law officers of the states are claiming that funds generated from stamp…
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta), is currently locked in a seeming radical move to amend the Executive Immunity Provision in Nigeria. To this end, he is sponsoring a Constitution Alteration Bill. Section 308 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution provides for executive immunity for the President, Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor from civil and criminal proceedings while their tenures subsist. This, according to Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), a civic group, means that persons occupying these positions cannot be charged to court or sued, except in their official capacity in the case of civil proceedings and in…
Close to one million people in Haiti are currently living with acute food insecurity since the August 14 earthquake in the troubled country. A new food security data by the United Nations specifically states that 980,000 Haitians in the four districts most affected by the earthquake are now living with acute food insecurity. Humanitarian workers supporting relief efforts in Haiti following the devastation caused by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, have been contending with widespread insecurity, including gang violence, as well as logistical challenges, as they try to reach hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people. The earthquake in August came as the country was already reeling from…
Given the larger than life messianic image of Nigeria’s former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Nigerian Army Major General, before the controversial 2015 presidential poll, there are certain elements within the Buhari All Progressives Congress (APC) administration who were not expected to smell any public office again. But, by whatever consideration and in a glaring betrayal of the promised anti-corruption war, President Buhari appointed them into public offices. Now, the putrefying stench of corruption oozing out of the Buhari administration is denting the image of our hitherto Saint Buhari whose cabal may have succeeded in turning into…
United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has explained how the global body’s peacekeeping missions can support the transition towards enduring peace. He told the Security Council that though UN peacekeeping missions can help put a country on the right track following conflict, he added that only a commitment from national governments can keep it there over the long term. At a meeting of the Security Council examining support for the transition towards lasting peace, Guterres shared four lessons learned from the UN’s experience in peacekeeping and peacebuilding, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan. He said the path to a successful post-conflict transition…
United Nations and its partner agencies, responsible for the multilateral COVAX initiative have said that the global picture of access to COVID-19 vaccines is unacceptable. It is a year since the innovative scheme was born, in a bid to guarantee timely access to everyone, regardless of their income, status or location, to life-saving jabs, as the pandemic gripped the world. Sadly, the global access to COVID-19 vaccines is not pleasing to UN. 80 per cent of citizens in high and upper-middle income countries have had a dose of COVID-19 vaccine. That figure stands at just 20 per cent for those living below the top tiers, going…
Except the international community takes a decisive action to ensure a free and fair polls in Nigeria in 2023, opposition leaders do not appear to have confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari conducting a credible election in the country. President Buhari has been promising free and fair elections. But, one of the front line Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is skeptical about any promise from the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration. As a result, he has started to persuade the United Nations and other world bodies to take serious interest in the next elections…
Despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s order on the country’s service chiefs to find tactics to solve the embarrassing security challenges in Nigeria, particularly in the North-West and North Central, the presidential directive is not likely to be accomplish pretty soon. It appears, some entrenched interests do not want the Buhari administration to succeed in resolving the deep-rooted security mess. It also seems the administration lacks the political will to go after the sponsors of the Boko Haram insurgency months after it was presented with the report. Already, an outspoken Islamic scholar based in Kaduna, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has ruled out…
Senior officials of World Health Organisation (WHO) say despite the emergence of the new Mu COVID-19 variant, the Delta strain of the rampaging killer virus still remains a top concern globally. The Delta variant, according to the global health agency, appears to be “outcompeting” others. This came just as the General Assembly of the United Nations on Tuesday held a High-level Forum on the Culture of Peace, focused on building resilience and a fair recovery against the continued ravages of COVID-19. Opening the event, the President of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, said “the global pandemic has arguably brought humanity closer together”, adding, “rarely have we been so…
The Value Added Tax (VAT) between the Federal Government and Rivers State Government has taken a new dimension with Governor Nyesom Wike accusing the Buhari administration of corruption. At an interactive session with representatives of corporate organisations at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Wednesday, Wike said corruption is not only about kickbacks. Wike who was stating the position of the law to the business community in the state said, ‘’corruption is also about doing something illegally’’, pointing out,. ‘’we were in court in 2020. On July 1st 2021, Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) wrote to the National Assembly through the…
Amina Mohammed, has underlined the importance of limiting temperature rise to the internationally agreed goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Her warning is coming as extreme weather events are increasingly impacting countries across the world. According to her, “the entire planet is going through a season of fire and floods.” Amina Mohammed told a high-level meeting on climate action, primarily hurting fragile and vulnerable populations in rich and poor countries alike. Speaking via video message to the Dialogue on Accelerating Adaptation Solutions Ahead of COP26, the annual UN climate conference, which will take place in Glasgow in…
Doyen of Nigeria’s human rights and pro-democracy activism, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, has taken a look at the country’s journey in civil rule, and has also explained why he was detained as a soldier fighting on the side of Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War. In the latest edition of PLAC BEAM, an online magazine published by Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), a civic group, Agbakoba said whatever misgivings he has about President Muhammadu Buhari’s rule, he thinks the problems of Nigeria stems more from those who see politics as merely a tool to plunder the public treasury. “Nigeria is fragile.…
Poor weather conditions are still wreaking havoc in some mango-producing countries with many growers seeing reduced volumes. While countries such as Italy, Spain and Egypt are driving up prices, China has the opposite problem in some areas, with key varieties seeing overproduction. Despite this, hopes for good quality and even better demand remain high across the board, and many growers and exporters expect to receive good prices for their mangos in their target markets. Italy In Sicily, a producer growing mangoes on 4.5 hectares reports a lower yield this year (due to unfavourable weather in December 2020 and February…
Prospects of Eastern Nigeria, the hotbed of Biafra agitation producing President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in 2023 are not getting bright. Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State who allegedly defected from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC) to pursue a presidential dream, is now saying that the region cannot produce Nigeria’s number one citizen without an expressed approval of God. While insisting that the region needs the anointing of God to succeed President Buhari in 2023, Governor Umahi also explained why the people of the area and residents are adhering to the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous…
