Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), a civic group, has taken President Muhammadu Buhari to the cleaners, saying Nigeria’s civic space under the Buhari All Progressives Congress (APC) administration is shrinking. In the latest edition of its online magazine, PLAC BEAM, the group points out that the public sphere is a crucial element of modern democracy for providing an avenue to people to air and exchange views, which might in time crystallize into a kind of public consensus that informs the government of the thinking of the governed. According to the PLAC’s publication, ‘’in a modern democracy, it’s a means…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
Some fifth columnists within the Buhari administration are allegedly out to ignite a fresh violence in the relatively calm oil creeks of the Niger Delta. They are alleged to be releasing some sensitive money documents that are capable of sparking renewed blood and crude oil spill in the region. Concerned repentant militants from the Bayelsa State axis of the oil region, are claiming if the unknown public officials are not quickly contained, the creeks can erupt in a fresh orgy of violence that could mess up the economy of the country. Public officials with access to bulk payment deals…
More than 540,000 children in the South-West axis of Haiti are currently at risk as life-threatening waterborne diseases is raiding the troubled country. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says the crippling earthquake that rocked the country is now followed by plummeting rains. According to UNICEF Representative in Haiti, Bruno Maes, “the lives of thousands of earthquake-affected children and families are now at risk, just because they don’t have access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.” A 7.2 magnitude earthquake that ripped through the Caribbean island State on 14 August, was followed days later by Tropical Depression Grace, which exacerbated…
Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has started to push for a new revenue sharing formula that will allow States and Local Governments get more than the Federal Government. The agitation is coming as Northern Governors’ wives are saying that the shut down of schools in the region is a short term solution to protecting the children from banditry ravaging the area. Northern Governors’ Wives Forum (NGWF) stated its position in Abuja during an interactive session with Journalists during which they unveiled their agenda for 2022, noting that though the closure of schools in the North cannot be sustained,…
Being more proactive is currently a mandatory requirement for officers and men of the Forensic and Behavioural Unit of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.They are also expected to competently deploy their professional skills towards the growth of the agency. Commandant General of the Corps, Ahmed Audi, who gave the charge says the requirement is aimed at creating an opportunity for the actualisation of the strategic vision of making personnel who are highly motivated, stable and capable of applying Forensics International Best Practices to provide litigation support that will be infallible in prosecuting cases at the open court. In line…
Apparently shaken by the hellish climate change, organised labour is currently taking a bold step to promote nature conservation in the work place. A deal between International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will be giving the green initiative a boost. ILO and IUCB have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to raise awareness on the interdependence between jobs and nature. The MoU is intended to formalise the already ongoing collaboration between the two organisations to promote and support, among other things, Green Works, the creation of decent jobs through investments in…
The spectre of bloodletting and abduction by non-state armed groups is still having a strong hold even as the security agencies are battling to contain the horrific situation in Nigeria. Already, heavily armed bandits invaded Ruwan Doruwa district in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State, killing four persons and abducting several others. Local sources at Ruwan Doruwa community say the bandits came to the town in the early hours of Friday and started shooting sporadically, forcing many residents to flee for their safety. The invaders allegedly killed four persons and embarked on house-to-house search for abduction. Channels Television reported that…
Indigenous territory, Mayagna Sauni Bas, in the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve. Photo credit: Richard Salgado. The government of Nicaragua is under intense heat to safeguard the right of the country’s Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples. A civic group, Land is Life, is strongly urging the government to protect lives, culture and collective ancestral heritage of the indigenous peoples. The group in a statement says it is standing in solidarity with the indigenous Miskito and Mayangna peoples of Nicaragua, and condemns the recent massacre in their territories and communities Land is Life was however, founded in June of 1992 in a forested valley in Brazil. Nearly…
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has flagged-off a 3-year participatory research project to identify transformative approaches to indigenous women and young people’s engagement in integrated livelihood and conservation initiatives. The project titled Transformative approaches to livelihood and conservation: Learning from indigenous women and youth—IWY (TALC) aims to investigate the impact of existing livelihood and conservation efforts on indigenous forest-dependent women and youth (Baka and Bagyeli) in the North of the Dja Reserve and around Kribi, Cameroon. IITA is a non-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural…
The latest intelligence report on Libya by Menas Associates says tensions are rising in the troubled North Africa’s oil sector. According to the report, existing tensions between Minister of Oil and Gas, Mohamed Aoun, and National Oil Corporation’s (NOC) Chairman, Mustafa Sanalla, have escalated in recent days. The political risk consultancy reports that on August 24, Aoun said he was appointing Jadallah al-Awkali, one of the NOC’s board members and the Brega Oil Marketing Company chairman, as the corporation’s interim chairman because of Sanalla’s absence from the country. Al-Awkali according to the Menas report, replied that he could not…
The Buhari administration has reportedly recorded a fiscal deficit of N15.35 trillion even as the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) is agog with jubilation over the surrender of 5,890 terrorists, including foot soldiers and their commanders in the North-East. Director of Defence Media Operations, Brigadier General Benard Onyeuko, who broke the news on Thursday said they surrendered with their families to soldiers fighting the counterterrorism war in that volatile axis of the country. According to him, another 565 Boko Haram terrorists, comprising three Commanders, four Amirs, five Nakibs and five cattle rustling specialists, out of the surrendered BHTs and their family members…
No matter how those in the inner recesses of the Buhari administration in Abuja, and indeed, most of Africa try to conceal it, there is a resonance of the development in Afghanistan in their governments that have been excluding the popular people in the affairs of state craft. As Menas Associates, a political risk consultancy rightly noted, rarely has President Muhammadu Buhari been so quick to explain the impact of a geopolitical shift on Nigeria to the international press. That the famous Baba Go Slow chose to release an op-ed by his top foreign policy advisers, to the Financial Times just…
All Progressive Congress (APC) National Caretaker Chairman and Yobe State Governor, Mala Buni, Is claiming that neither the party nor him is restrained from conducting a nationwide Local Government Congresses by Asaba High Court in Delta State. But, the supposedly progressive party has expelled the Caretaker Chairman for Yola South Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Sulaiman Adamu, for allegedly making derogatory statements about President Muhammadu Buhari. APC claims that Adamu was pushed out of the party for allegedly bringing its image to disrepute. In a seeming unusual speed, the party’s Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) has ratified Adamu’s…
A new International Labour Organisation (ILO) report has rubbished Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch and a number of others for lacking in adequate social protection. The report says despite the unprecedented worldwide expansion of social protection during the COVID-19 crisis, more than 4.1 billion people around the world, including Nigerians, remain entirely unprotected. It finds that the pandemic response was uneven and insufficient, deepening the gap between countries with high and low income levels and failing to afford the much-needed social protection that all human beings deserve. Social protection includes access to health care and income security, particularly…
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State is currently battling to repositioned the economy of the state on the path of self-sufficiency. To this end, the Sule administration is leveraging on private sector expertise and capabilities. In a seeming frantic bid to make things happen, the state Executive Council has approved the ratification of five signature projects to be delivered through Public Private Partnerships. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nasarawa Investment and Development Agency, Ibrahim A. Abdulahi, says the approval is a demonstration of confidence in the private sector by the Sule administration and puts to test the state’s new Public Private Partnership Framework under the Nasarawa…
As global oil prices are projected to drop to $40 per barrel by 2030, the Buhari administration now appears to be interested in a blueprint that will lay a solid foundation for Nigeria’s economic diversification. President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, the country’s capital city, on Wednesday charged the new board of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) to make more investments that will support economic diversification. President Buhari gave the charge while inaugurating the third Board of the NSIA, assuring his administration’s commitment to implementing long term projects and programmes that create jobs for Nigerians. But, the opposition Peoples…
Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers in Rivers State has waded into the deep-seated disturbances that have been rocking the homeland of the famous Ogoni leader, the late Ken Saro-Wiwa. To all the parties in the Ogoni conflict, the monarchs are saying, ‘’enough is enough’’, pointing out that the rancour, bitterness and division in that axis of Rivers, ‘’have no doubt adversely affected our progress and stability.’’ Spokesman of the Ogoni monarchs, the Paramount Ruler of Kpite Tai (Gbenemene Tua Tua Tai), Samuel Nnee, who made this known in a statement said, ‘’it is undeniable that they are no less…
Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC), a civic group, has charged the Buhari administration and the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, to pay more attention to youth and human capital development issues. YEAC wants President Muhammadu Buhari, and all the governors irrespective of their party affiliations, make real their frequent promises to create jobs, create deliberate social and agricultural programmes aimed at transforming the food production systems through youth innovation for human and planetary health. Executive Director of the youth group, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, who made the charge in a statement, says in the…
Baring any unforeseen circumstances, from 2023, more women will be in the Legislative arms of government across Nigeria. To this effect, a bill seeking to create additional separate seats for only women in the National and state Houses of Assembly as a temporary measure to promote women’s political representation is in the works in the House of Representatives. The legislation is sponsored by Deputy Chief Whip of the House, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, and 85 other members. A civic group, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) says the under representation of women and other disadvantaged groups…
Deepening agitation for republics of Biafra and Oodua out of Nigeria, appears to be receiving a boost with the United Nations quest to ensure the right to a nationality. UN refugee agency, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says eradicating statelessness is more pressing than ever. The agency was speaking as it marked the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. This came as UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, urged countries to fulfil their obligations to prevent and prosecute cases of enforced disappearance, a “cowardly practice” which the COVID-19 pandemic has made even more difficult…
Currently, there are conflicting signals on the hike in energy tariff in Nigeria. With effect from this September 1, electricity tariff will be racing upward going by a directive from Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to the 11 Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) to do so. But, Eko Electricity Distribution Plc, has denied sending out information regarding hiking its tariff. In a statement signed by its Managing Director, Adeoye Fadeyibi, an engineer, “our attention has been drawn to news making the rounds in the media from unsubstantiated sources of a planned adjustment in electricity tariffs. Eko Electricity Distribution Plc would…
The United States is currently experiencing what one paleoclimatologist describes as “potentially the worst drought in 1,200 years”. But, the US is not alone. Many other parts of the world are reeling under the impacts of severe drought. Western US has had many droughts in the past, including “megadroughts” that last decades, but climate change is making dry years drier and wet years wetter. Higher temperatures heat the ground and air faster, and the increased evaporation dries the soil and decreases the amount of precipitation that reaches reservoirs. Warming also leads to less of the snow-pack needed to replenish rivers, streams,…
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, a major oil and gas state in Nigeria has revealed the secret behind his administration’s massive infrastructural projects in the state. According to him, the enormous infrastructural achievements recorded by his administration has been made possible by the prudent management of state resources. Wike was speaking after inspecting the ongoing construction of Rumuepirikom, Rumuola, G.R.A junction, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo flyovers; dualisation of Ezimgbu road and Tombia road extension in Port Harcourt, the state capital on Monday. Governor Wike says he has been approaching governance with human face through ambitious investment in basic infrastructure and creation of the necessary environment for economic growth in…
A global rights group, Amnesty International is currently raising a potentially dangerous allegation that could further tarnish the human rights record of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Amnesty is alleging massive ‘’disappearances’’ in Nigeria under Buhari’s watch, pointing out that the country is bound by international legal obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance both of which it has acceded to – to investigate, prosecute, punish and provide remedies and reparation for the crimes of enforced disappearance. “The authorities must demonstrate zero tolerance for…
Continuous bloodletting in Nigeria is a currently a matter of serious concern for some young people of the troubled country. A civic group, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC) says the security situation in the country does not speak well for the country. YEAC’s Executive Director, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, who was speaking against the backdrop of the festering attacks in the country, also decried what he described as ‘’the continuous invasion of farms’’ by suspected herdsmen, shooting, raping, abducting and abusing the rights of farmers despite the passage and assent to Anti-Open Grazing Law in some states. Fyneface who is…
A study has provided the largest peer-reviewed evaluation of the safety of a COVID-19 vaccine in a nationwide mass-vaccination setting. The study was conducted in Israel, an early global leader in COVID-19 vaccination rates. In collaboration with researchers from Harvard University, Clalit Research Institute, analysed one of the world’s largest integrated health record databases to examine the safety of the Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162B2 vaccine against COVID-19. Previous efforts to characterise vaccine safety have relied on voluntary active reporting by vaccinated individuals, which is known to be incomplete. The present study relies on the analysis of millions of anonymised electronic medical records, which…
By Akanimo Sampson Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and his Kogi State counterpart, Yahaya Bello, have numerous morners around the world in commiserating with the Uwaifo family, Bini kingdom and music buffs, over the passing of legendary musician, Prof. Victor Uwaifo. The Speaker described the death of a legendary singer and guitarist, Sir Victor Uwaifo, as a sad development, pointing out that the musical icon accomplishments would never be forgotten as he used his genre of music to entertain and educate Nigerians. Gbajabiamila recalled how Uwaifo became popular in handling the…
Across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, 266,000 cases of grave violations against children have been verified by the United Nations over the past 16 years. Two top UN officials brought these figures to public knowledge while marking 25 years since the global body released a groundbreaking report on the issue. Graça Machel had through her seminal report The impact of war on children, lurged the international community to take concrete action to protect children from the scourge of war and called on the UN and the global community to act to protect children Executive Director of the UN Children’s…
United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres has expressed profound regret over the tragic events in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, warning the global body’s Security Council that a catastrophe is unfolding in the African country. “It is heart-breaking to see many young Ethiopians being instrumentalized and mobilised in the war effort” with their energies channelled into a path of division and destruction, rather than one of building a better future for all Ethiopians, he said, calling them “the ultimate casualties in this needless conflict”. “In every sense, the future of Ethiopia is at stake”, said the UN chief, adding, “let us pledge…
Exports of Chinese onion nose-dived by 22 per cent in the first seven months of this year. China exported around 59,700 tons of fresh onions in July. The export value was around $41.5 million at an average export price of $0.70 USD per kg. The export volume shrunk by 3.89% compared to the previous month, and decreased by 23.98% compared to July last year. The combined export volume in the first seven months of 2021 reached 325,153 tons, which is 21.61% less than in the same period last year. Of late, export conditions have not been great. China mainly…
