08/04/23

DANIELS G.O

President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the recent spell of killings in Benue State in which tens of people were killed in Umogidi community of Entekpa-Adoka in Otukpo Local Government Area of the state, urging that all efforts be made to end the “extreme violence.”

The President also condemned the use of terrorism as a tool in inter communal conflicts, urging that the attackers be found and dealt with swiftly under the law.

The President in a statement issued by his senior special assistant on media and publicity garba shehu on Saturday conveyed his grief and sympathy to the families of those who lost their lives due to the attack and directed the secret services, police and military commanders to enhance surveillance on every front and to immediately review the security management in the affected areas.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those murdered. The entire nation stands united in the fight against the forces of terror and evil,” said the President.

8-4-2023.

Not less than four bodies have been found dead following a boat mishap that occurred along the Okoroma axis in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The local boat conveying passengers and goods from Yenagoa, the state capital to Okpoama in Brass LGA had on Thursday this week capsized near Iwokiri in Okoroma.

An eyewitness account revealed that the boat which departed Swali waterside for Okpoama was loaded with goods beyond its capacity.

The Bayelsa State Maritime Union Chairman, Comrade Ogoniba Ipigansi confirmed that a search team had since been deployed which led to the rescue of several persons.

He said the exact number of casualties cannot be confirmed yet because the effort is being intensified to look for more bodies.

Also the Bayelsa State Police Command, through its Police Public Relations Officer, Asinim Butswat has confirmed the incident.

Meanwhile,Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, is deeply saddened by the fatal boat incident at Okoroma community along the Brass waterways in Brass Local Government Area of the state.

Yet to be confirmed number of persons are said to be missing in Thursday’s mishap involving a local passenger boat.

The boat was said to be carrying scores of passengers and goods worth millions of Naira from Yenagoa to the Brass island and neighbouring communities when it suddenly went under reportedly due to overweight.

Governor Diri has directed the relevant government agencies, including security agencies, to collaborate in the search-and-rescue efforts and ensure the recovery of all missing persons.

The Bayelsa helmsman sympathised with injured victims and the families that lost persons in the sad incident.

He prayed that God will succour them over the unfortunate mishap.

He added that the government would review the cause of such incidents to take steps to ensure the safety of lives and goods on the state’s waterways.

08/04/2023

SHINA J O

Curbing Indecent Dressing: Unical Bans Students,Staff From Wearing Bum Short,Sagging Trousers On Campus

With Effect From May 2,2023, Any Student or staff of the University Of Calabar clad in indecent dressing would either be denied access into the university or be appropriately sanctioned.The management position on indecent dressing in the institution, was contained in a statement signed by the University Director of SERVICOM, Professor Patrick Egaga,saying the increase and proliferation of indecent, provocative and unofficial dressing, mostly by students and some female employees of the school will no longer be tolerated.

The statement said management of the institution has set up Taskforce which comprised both security and management staff to carry out the news directive from the slated date .

Some of the clothes or dressing identified by the University as indecent are short skirts or gowns, above-the-knee, open backs, crop tops, braless tops and gowns, spaghetti finger, sleeveless tops, handless gowns, bikinis, see-through, transparent, apparel and revealing contours

Others are handless gowns, bum short revealing laps, slit skirts, body hugs, V-necks exposing breasts, tubes, strip-less, rag jeans, shorts above the knee, sleeveless shirts, singlets, lingerie, sagged trousers and others.

Efforts to get reaction from the outgoing President of the Student Union Government, Comrade Tyron Bassey was unsuccessful but some students who spoke under anonymity described the new directive as timid,uncivilised and an attempt to deprive students from their fundamental human right.

07/04/23

Shina J.O

At least 46 people have been reportedly killed in Umogidi village of Entekpa-Adoka district in the Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State by armed herders.

The same village suffered invasion by the gunmen on Tuesday during which three people were killed.

The Chairman of Otukpo Local Government Area, Bako Eje, whose son was killed in the latest attack, told our correspondent on the telephone that the armed men surrounded the village again on Wednesday evening barely 24 hours after the first attack and opened gunfire on the inhabitants.

Eje said so far, this afternoon (Thursday), 46 corpses had been recovered while many people were still missing.

The chairman said his son and other relatives were victims of the latest attack which occurred about 5pm on Wednesday while mourners were burying the three other deceased.

PPRO Sewuese Anene confirmed the unfortunate incident saying 8 corpses have been recovered including a police officer.

Adding that more police teams have been deployed to the area to forestall futher breakdown of law and order.

06/04/23

Anyone who fails to see and utilize an opportunity when it presented may end up waiting for eternity for another one to come. Luck and chance can happen but our understanding of the time matters. Sometimes, if not most times, the how, not the why or when, makes the visible difference.

Those who abused privileges, for whatever reason, may pay dearly for their actions even years after the deed had been forgotten.

Every viable seed has the potential to germinate and grow especially when planted in the right environment. What seems irrelevant or looks miniature today might form the rallying point tomorrow – and it will become worrisome when such has a connotation of evil.

The one who set a bubble trap for another person might be entangled and end up in the web. Sometimes, we become victims of our own wishes for others. Nature has ways of paying every man in his coin.

In the covenant of day and night with a well defined reward system, people reap what they sowed. The man of the moment can become a lonely bitter soul and an object of caricature.

No condition is permanent. History is full of stories of the big and mighty falling from grace to grass. The affluent can end up in abject poverty. It is no more news that the rich can also cry but some of them have lost everything and began to beg for bread.

It is the way of Nature that at the appointed time, the predator may become the prey. Those who aid and abet evil might end up as victims of the same evil. The one who cut the bridge after using it might end in the belly of a fish.

The current Nigeria situation is enough lessons on nemesis. Every species doesn’t just reproduce its kind; we get what we give. It is not possible to murder the conscience and sleep with both eyes closed.

One might succeed and pomp champagnes after a successful sordid deed but such a person would surely know no peace at the end. No one can stand and walk upright by pulling others down.

Little minds can go to any length for evil, and in their myopic mindset forget that no one is immune from pains and death. The man dies many times that kills another person for no just cause.

Woe unto him that is hired for dirty jobs and wicked deeds. Those with a penchant for destroying others end in shameful destruction.

There will always be consequences for every evil done. Anyone who derives joy from seeing others suffer should prepare for the worst. He will end up fetching water with a basket in the dry season!

Human beings have a common fate. Harsh economic reality is not a respecter of sex, age and class. Disasters do not select victims. No one is insulated from pain. Crisis does not know boundaries.

We can only get to the extent that we can see or imagine. Our creations depend on our imaginations but it pays to create something good rather than bad.

Everyone gives what he has in abundance. No man can give what he lacks.

Appearance can be deceptive yet anyhow one scratches the anus even with the best perfume, there will be some foul smell.

A man can lie to everyone every time, but he can never lie to his conscience even if it is dead. We cannot run away from our shadows.

We grow in proportion to our development and exposure, but the man who is never happy with the success of another person will remain unhappy regardless of what he possesses and accumulates. You cannot hold someone down and expect to walk upright and free.

If no one can stop the sun from shining then it is effort in futility trying to be a clog in the wheel of progress of another person. We are created by one God and most of the things we have and enjoy are given to us free by Nature. Except in cases of emergency, we use free air. The sun shines without borders and the same goes with the rain.

Day and night obey the rule of unconditionality – and everyone has equal time in a day.

That there is a light at the end of every tunnel is proof that every problem has a solution even if at infinity. Your time is coming. Rejoice and be glad for your season of celebration will not fail to come.

The mystery of life in the covenant of day and night is a good reminder that we live to die. Everyone is important for a while – and we die at the appropriate time so stop the mischief. Repent of evil.

The world is big enough for everyone. Discover your niche and explore it without plotting on how to put off another person’s light. We will achieve more with complementation than with competition – and if you must compete, compete with yourself.

It is a waste of time trying to please everyone. You cannot be everything to everyone so be yourself and do your part but without denying anyone his fundamental rights. Don’t give to anyone what you won’t take if given. Treat people the way you would love to be treated.

Nothing can make a man stronger and wiser than the betrayal of a loved one. It comes with regrets and sometimes tears but its associated lessons are valueless. To avoid being carried away, expect everything from everyone, everywhere, every time.

Certain things will happen that will cause you to have an inward self assessment and re-evaluation. Some experiences are not just invaluable but they are needed more in life if we are to fulfill our purpose of being here.

“Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.” The glamour is not in the possession but in the provision. What matters is what you do with what you have not the worth of what you have so in your lacks and needs, be a blessing. Reach out and touch lives no matter the cost.

How have you used the resources God blessed you with?

How have you impacted lives, especially those of the people that cannot be able to pay or thank you in return? Impact your generation.

Age is a number but time is of essence. What we do with time, and how we do it, matters. There is a reason why you are here now. Discover yourself and fulfill your purpose.

Vision is good but perception is the key. Our knowledge can only become wisdom with approach. One thing may mean different things to different people or even the same person based on time and space.

There may be no end to the provision of tenable reasonable reasons even with a touch of foolishness. But is your justification for that action right? Done to you what you have done to others, will you not complain? Oftentimes, it pays to see others in you or through you.

Have a good look at the mirror!

What or who did you see?
Are you satisfied?

It is often the case that we support evil when our enemy is a victim but will cry out blood when the evil is visited on us. Anyway, nature has a way of paying us in our own coins. Call it retributive justice or nemesis; somehow, we will get what we give.

The professor of penis envy rarely gets erection when karma visits. And the man that kills hardly sleep with his two eyes closed.

Everyone has some degree of lack and want. We nurse our pains even when we try to hide them or do everything possible to live in denial because pain is real to the sufferer.

The way out is simple: share what you want to multiply. Be ready to receive what you wished for others. Live not for the endorsement of anyone. Cry your own cry in the best way possible to you but without infringing on another person’s right or crossing boundaries.

Given the opportunity, what is the one thing you would like to repeat even better without regret? However, a second chance rarely comes so do the best you can where you are and now. Maximize your potential, and make the world a better place for human habitation.

06/04/23

SHINA J.O

……..Wants incoming administration to facilitate moral rearmament, reconciliation

……” I am now too old to keep quiet and watch Nigeria seemingly clueless launch into dystopia”- OBJ

Elder States Man And Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says what was witnessed during the 2023 general elections have further divided Nigeria and wear down the nation.

He therefore called on the incoming administration to urgently facilitate the process of National moral rearmament and national reconciliation which he says must be done with national value orientation.

Obasanjo was speaking on Thursday in Abuja at a seminar tagged “from Elections to governance & performance” and presentation of a book titled ” The unending quest for reform: An intellectual memoir by Prof. Tunji Olaopa.

He says:” Let me suggest three ideas that I think can enrich the direction of the conversation here today.

One, given what we saw during the election, Nigeria is now even more divided and more corroded than we thought. This places a deep onus on any administration following the current one, to urgently facilitate the process of national moral rearmament and national reconciliation that the potential will enhance skilled for the aggrieved and will lead us across Nigeria and to assuage the youth.

This must be done in sync with the imperative of national value orientation that Nigeria requires to build a collective sense of enduring and local values and national belonging.

Two, governance in Nigeria now calls for thinking outside the box in terms of development financing, this has become inevitable in the face of Nigeria’s dwindling fortune, in oil revenue, Nigeria’s huge foreign indebtedness and the urgency of diversifying the Nigeria’s neocultural economy.

We cannot be spending like drunken sailor on frivolities and corruption and expect development and growth. such situation cannot take us into the fourth industrial revolution already underway or be fair also defeat.

My experience and understanding however, is that the money to develop and grow our economy is out there if we provide conducive environment for it to come and stay.

three political will, political action and administrative efforts must be invested on reforming the public service into a capability ready institution that could enable Nigeria development agenda beyond 2023.

All of these and more are necessary to correct and not to repeat the sickening and painful show of shame which the elections of 2023 generated into.

Let me conclude by stating clearly that I am now too old to keep quiet and watch Nigeria seemingly clueless launch into dystopia. All efforts are now required from all well many and committed patriots to rescue the nation from the precipice. And when I look at the audience I have a feeling that among the people who can do it and who must do it are some of you here.

It has become my own personal obligation, continuing in my relentless service as letterman, dedicated in my twilight years to say the truth, as I see it, so as to push Nigeria, in the direction of our collective aspirations. What is our collective aspiration? a better society where all Nigerian can become what the Almighty God destined to be.

At times like this, some of us have to adopt the attitude of being known to be blind and not being afraidof the dark. But we must continuall work for the light of all”

The former President congratulated the Author of the Book Tunji Olaopa saying the memoir must find its way into all federal and state Ministries as well as the National Labraries in Nigeria considering the intellectual work done by the Author.

Other speakers at event including Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Bishop Matthew Kukah said there is need to focus more attention on governance issues if the country must get it right.

The event was organized organised by Nextier, a public policy firm.

06/04/23

Shina J O

The Nigerian senate has indicted 37 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government
In the 2016 Auditor General of the federation report over various financial infraction and procedures

This follows the adoption of the senate committee report on Public Accounts
presented by Senator Matthew Uhrogbide.

According to senator Uroghide 92 MDAs were issued queries, 80 submitted written responses and appeared before the committee to defend their queries but did not appear before the committee while , four failed to either appear nor submit written response to the committee despite several reminders from senate public accounts.

Out of the over 80 MDAs that appeared before the committee, 43 had their queries vacated while the queries of 37 MDAs were sustained and recommendations accordingly presented to the Senate.

The MDAs that failed to submit written submission and did not appear before the Panel are Federal Ministry of Health, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, National Orthopedic Hospital, Kano, Nigeria National Merit Award, Abuja.

Some of the 37 MDAs whose queries were sustained include
Accountant General Of The Federation, Federal Ministry Of Information, National Population Commission, Ministry Of Labour, Ministry Of Defence , NDLEA, Ministry Of Finance , FIRS, Budget Office

According to the chairman of the committee, it took the panel over one year and half to come up with the findings and recommendations as well as punishment to the infractions

He lamented that, various reports from the auditor general office has not been implemented since 1999 and yet these agencies come yearly to the national assembly for appropriation

He added that the auditor general ‘s report of 2015 sent to president Buhari for implementation, was expected to recover five trillion naira from MDAs and civil servants yet no agency has responded to the report and some of them told the national assembly that they will not appear to defend the monies already spent

He further stated that as it stands the reports of 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 are yet to be submitted by the auditor general to the national assembly for proper scrutiny

06/04/23

Shina J.O

Ahead of the June 2023 Fuel Subsidy removal, The Nigerian goverment says it has secured $800m from the World bank as part of its post subsidy palliatives.

Responding to question from Correspondents after the meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation, The Minister of Finance , Budget and National planning Zainab Ahmed said the government is resolute on ending subsidy in June.

She explained that the government is already engaging with the Presidential Transition Council and the incoming administration with a view to driving the palliative program.