Africa’s biggest comedy season ends…PMB signs 16 bills…Soludo clocks 1…Aguleri Cathedral takes off…plus South East Digest…
Photos of The Week
Africa’s biggest comedy season ends
Africa’s biggest comedy season, otherwise known as the Nigerian General Elections, comes to a close within the next 24 or 48 hours. As usual, the season has been featuring thuggery – sometimes with loss of lives and limbs, voter suppression, vote buying, and declaration of leaders and representatives by legal fiat irrespective of their legitimacy or otherwise. This year’s edition of the four-yearly circus did not disappoint. Indeed, all the features were taken to new and higher levels!
Little wonder the nation has been consistently walking backwards in recent years!!
Buhari signs 16 Constitution Amendment Bills
President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law the constitutional amendment allowing states in the country to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid. This is one of the 19 bills the President assented to yesterday, 16 of which altered some provisions of the 1999 Constitution – Fifth Alteration Bills 2023.
Another of the Constitution alteration bills assented to (Constitution Fifth Alteration Bill No. 45, Timeframe for the Submission of the Names of Ministerial or Commissioner Nominees) mandates the president-elect to transmit names of his minister-nominees to the National Assembly within two months of his inauguration. The law, which takes immediate effect, is also applicable to all the governors-elect as they are expected to seek the approval of the state assembly for their commissioner-nominees within 60 days from the date of their swearing-in.
A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to The President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare explained that the President had also signed into law financial independence for State Houses of Assembly and States’ Judiciary – Fifth Alteration Bill 2023 No 9.
He said the provisions were part of the 16 bills in the Constitutional Alterations of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), transmitted to the President by the National Assembly early this year.
With the Fifth Alteration Bill No. 33, Devolution of Powers (National Grid System), Nigeria’s 36 states can now join the electricity generation business
Another Constitutional alteration approves the renaming of the Nigeria Prison Service to the Nigeria Correctional Service -Fifth Alteration Bill No. 31, Devolution of Powers for Correctional Services.
Another one granted rights to the state governments to establish their own railway service – Fifth Alteration Bill No. 32, evolution of Powers, Railways. With this, the railway moves from the Exclusive Legislative List to the concurrent list.
Preface to commentary
Our week’s commentary which is on the 2023 General Elections is written by veteran journalist, broadcaster and Advertising practitioner, Emiko Aruofor.
Emiko’s piece sent me on a long reverie earlier today. I remembered how a Yorubaman, the late Victor Osho (then Chairman of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Lagos State Chapter), kick-started my rise in the politics of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) to the level where I played key roles in deciding who became State Chairman or National President.
I was sitting on my own jejely at one of the NIPR Lagos State Chapter meetings holding at the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC)’s conference hall at Ebute Metta in the mid-1980s, when Chief Victor Osho announced me as Chairman of a four-man committee to source for a permanent accommodation for the Chapter. Other members were my good friend, Chief Fassy Adetokunboh Olaore Yusuf (who was used to being Chairman while I acted as Secretary on other Marketing Communications gatherings where we also belonged), Barr. Wale Kolapo, another very good friend, although my egbon, and the late Banji Abiodun-Alfonso.
We discharged our duty very well and with dispatch. The next thing I knew, I had been nominated to vie for the post of Hon. Secretary, NIPR Lagos State Chapter. Two other candidates emerged – Banji Abiondun-Alfonso, and Gbenga Obasa. Before I knew it, the predominantly Yoruba caucus decided that there must be some sort of shadow election (or primary). We had one at Art’s Place immediately that evening. After addresses by each of the three contestants, I was declared winner. The two others were told they could aspire to run as my assistant. Banji made it known that he would support and work with me but would not be vying for office. Gbenga ran and was elected as my assistant in the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
I served my first term successfully and as God would have it, shortly before the end of my tenure, I was transferred from UACN’s Public Relations Department to a Marketing position in one of the UACN Divisions. I decided that I would not run for a second term as I was no longer fully engaged in Public Relations. My Marketing Director, Lawrence Jemerigbe (Itsekiri) heard it and called me to say that I should run and that UACN would give me all the time I needed. That was after Banji Abiodun-Alfonso had come to seek my endorsement for the same position. I did not hesitate in giving him same. Before long, he heard from the grapevine that I would be running and he came to ascertain from me. I told him I had had a change of mind as a result of the guarantees by my employers. He told me he would step down immediately for me – he had printed and distributed posters, while I had not even scribbled a simple note to any of the stakeholders
I went ahead and ran, with my erstwhile assistant Gbenga running against me. After I won, Gbenga was returned unopposed as assistant secretary. That’s how I became the first Hon. Secretary of NIPR Lagos State Chapter to serve for two consecutive terms (none of my predecessors including Alhaji Lai Mohammed (today’s Hon. Minister of Information) and late Gbenga Oyalowo who succeeded him, and from whom I took over had good enough records to consider a second term). I will leave the rest of the story for another day.
Tribal Cults and Deities as Political Tools - The
Lagos Experience
By Emiko Aruofor
The Governorship and State
Assembly elections have come, but the odious stench of the build up to it will
remain in the air long after it has been decided and the results accepted.
Never in the history of political aspiration, either on the national or local pedestal, has serving aspirants descended to the abysmal level of utilising ethnic divisionism, tribal cults ‘òró’ and deities as instruments of self-entrenchment.
While voting was smooth and quiet at most polling areas and it was in fact better handled than the last time around, the presence and threat of ‘Area Boys’ and sponsored brigands as recorded across the state put a sour tone to the atmosphere.
Despite the campaigns of intimidation and thuggery, the results should still reflect what we stand for as a state.
As in all democracies,
opinions are as divergent as the complexity of our society.
While many, especially the young, enlightened folks are tired of the same old thread mill of characters, a vast milieu of citizens for fear of change and it’s disruptive consequences are determined for things to remain the same.
Not since the Civil War of the 60s has ethnicity been brought to the fore as a political tool, creating a vicious atmosphere of ‘us and them’ among friends and family.
One really can’t fathom how we hope to climb out of this self-inflicted mess we have dug ourselves into, particularly because a lot of the evil narrative was spun and propelled by the President Elect’s own political machinery.
A week after being
(s)elected, rather than build bridges across the sociopolitical divide, his
minions, in response to their shocking loss in his own state of Lagos,
engineered deep tribal dynamites to blow up the last vestiges of multi societal
understanding into smithereens.
The fear is that they have
succeeded too well, and _we_ shall likely pay for the outcome in the not too
distant future.
(Emiko (itsekiri), by the way, was Toast Maker at my wedding in 1987, while Ogie Eboigbe (Bini – Edo) was my Best Man!)
Aguleri Cathedral takes off
The Canonical Erection of the Catholic Diocese of Aguleri and the installation of the first Bishop, His Lordship, Most Reverend Dr Denis Chidi Isizoh, took place last Friday. We bring you some of the photo highlights.
(A digest of latest reports on the Economy, Industry,
Politics, Sports, and developments around the South East of Nigeria)
ANAMBRA STATE
Soludo clocks 1 year in office
By
Sir Paul Nwosu, Anambra State’s Commissioner for Information
Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, started out as the Governor of Anambra State with the promise of delivering to the people a peaceful, liveable and prosperous homeland. After only one year in office, Mr. Governor has elicited overwhelming support and hope from all sections of the state due to his unprecedented developmental drive. The belief of Ndi-Anambra is that the right man is on the saddle of power with the requisite solutions.
From the day of his swearing-in, Governor Soludo set forth with an ennobling can-do spirit shorn of the trappings of power. His pioneer activity of going to the Okpoko slum on the outskirts of Onitsha city showcased a governor who wanted to see and do things hands-on. He truly came prepared, knowing that the problems were legion and needed his painstaking attention and leadership.
In addressing the multiform problems, Soludo came armed with his manifesto, the report of the 80-member Transition Committee he instituted, and the document of the Anambra-2070 Committee he headed.
Governor Soludo did not mince words in his inaugural speech when he said: I know the lean financial base of the state. I know the limitations imposed upon a subnational state such as Anambra by the peculiar structure of our federation. But here’s my promise: I will give it my all. I will work very hard every day, with you, to make Anambra proud. Every kobo of your tax money will be deployed to provide you maximum value.
A global thinker and doer, Soludo banks on the plans, values, passion, and accomplishments of some of Africa’s liberation-cum-independence leaders such as Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba, Nnamdi Azikiwe, etc. His template is set on transcending the feats of Dr Michael Iheonukara Okpara in the old Eastern Region.
Mr. Governor knew that changing an enshrined old order was fraught with many dangers, as he wrote in his essay, The Purpose and Price of Disruptive Change, thus: Disrupting the existing social order is dangerous. Beneficiaries of the current order are powerful enough to organise and fight back viciously to protect their privileges. On the contrary, the masses who are the ultimate beneficiaries are not organised enough to act as a bulwark against the special interests. As things stand currently, we are between a rock and a hard place. With the objective to retain power within the context of short electoral cycles, politicians are afraid to undertake the necessary disruptive changes to guarantee long term safety and prosperity for all. On the other hand, the existing trends are totally unsustainable and the system is living on borrowed times. Everyone is sleepwalking to the hard place, and praying that somehow a miracle will happen along the way.
As things have shaped up, Soludo has proven to be that leader who is ready to put his head on the line to lead such productive but dangerous disruptions.
The kind of disruptive change Soludo is bringing to bear on Anambra State is akin to that wrought in Singapore, as Mr. Governor once stated: I recently re-read Lee Kuan Yews book From Third World to First, and cant stop being inspired. The combination of competence and driven by a higher purpose produced such a transformational leadership that orchestrated a miracle in development. In one of his last speeches before his death, Lee Kuan Yew observed that he and his colleagues were prepared that even if they died trying to make Singapore great, they would have been happy to die for a worthy cause.
The courage of Governor Soludo manifested early on when he restored security to the seven local governments in Anambra State, namely Aguata, Ihiala, Ekwusigo, Nnewi North, Nnewi South, Ogbaru, Orumba North and Orumba South, that had been taken over by the so-called Unknown Gunmen. The security agents were empowered to sack the hoodlums from their evil camps that had the full complement of shrines and cash registers for the payment of humongous ransoms.
With the guaranteeing of security, Soludo went ahead in delivering his politics of development instead of handouts. He initiated the landmark recruitment of 5,000 teachers through a rigorous competitive exercise.
Agriculture now has a new lease of life in Anambra State. The issue of hospitals without doctors is now a thing of the past. The Soludo administration has put ill-assorted touts and illicit tax collectors on the run away from the state. Anambra State is today a vast road construction site. The list is endless.
It is worthy of depiction that the Soludo Solution drive is anchored on Eat-Buy-Use-Made-in-Anambra. He insists that everything must meet the Anambra Standard which is Excellence, with him serving as the Chief Marketing Officer. The Akwete revolution which he initiated is already getting buy-ins from across the country even opposition politicians!
The joy is that after one
year in office the global brand that Anambra voters overwhelmingly chose to
govern them is admirably conquering the challenges of change as published
hereunder from security to the environment.
261 Road Projects ongoing across Anambra – Works Commissioner
Against the background of Professor Chukwuma Soludo’s one year in office, a lot of ndi Anambra have been counting the breakthrough recorded by the state government not just in terms of road construction but also in terms of quality and durability of the roads.
Anambra state Commissioner for Works Engineer Ifeanyi Okoma while reacting on the development said that Anambra state government has designed four hundred kilometers of roads in the state while construction work has commenced on two hundred and sixty-one out of the four hundred kilometers.
Engineer Okoma who said that this is a major milestone achieved by the present administration listed some of the roads already completed to include Club Street Road Awka, Millennium-back of CBN road Awka, Isuofia-Nanka road, over eighty percent of the over twenty-six kilometers Amansea-Ndiukwuenu-Ndiokpalaeze-Awa-Ufuma Road with a major flood control, Isuifia-Igboukwu axis of Nnobi-Ekwulobia road with a major flood control and others like Okpoko and Akpaka roads being asphalted presently.
On the over ten kilometers Mmiata-Anam-Nzam road, Engineer Okoma said Governor Soludo decided to give succour to people of the area to end the difficulties of having to go through Delta state to access the Anambra West headquarter, Nzam, as according to him, sand filling and sand blanket on the nine kilometers of the road have been completed, remaining about two kilometers to complete the road adding that the road can be now be easy accessed.
He also said that many of the roads have flood control channels and bridges of varying dimensions.
While calling on everyone onye Anambra to rally round Governor Soludo for efficient dispensation of dividends of democracy, Engineer Okoma said that Ndi Anambra have enjoyed uninterrupted development since the past seventeen years under APGA because every Governor starting from the former Governor Peter Obi has worked in synergy with the law makers in the state.
Soludo Is Transforming Anambra State Health Sector –
Health Commissioner
Feelers from across the State indicate Governor Chukwuma Soludo has done well in various sectors of the state economy under his first one year in office. Health correspondent Chibuzor Okoye takes a look at the giant strides of the Governor in the Health Sector.
Taking the ABS down memory lane of the achievements of the Governor in the health sector, the Anambra state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike thanked him for giving Ndi Anambra and other residents of the state a health system that is affordable and accessible.
Dr. Obidike explained that the Soludo administration has done things both in infrastructural development, human capacity development and service delivery that are verifiable and has equally provided a template for the Health Ministry to function optimally in years to come.
The Commissioner revealed that after they had completed gap analysis when the administration came on board, and noticed shortage of health personnel, Governor Soludo employed over three hundred health experts to fill the gaps to ensure efficient service delivery.
Dr. Obidike noted that currently, the state government is upgrading three general hospitals namely, Umueri General Hospital, Enugwu-ukwu General Hospital and Ekwulobia General Hospital for improved service delivery.
He maintained that they are currently screening and treating Anambra women on servical cancer and that their target is to screen and treat about twenty thousand Anambra women and commended the wife of the Governor, Mrs. Nonye Soludo for her support.
According to Dr. Obidike, a medical oxygen plant has been completed in Onitsha General Hospital to serve the oxygen needs of the people of the area and euologized the governor for all the support his administration is giving the ministry to excel.
An indigene of Umueri, Mr. Emmanuel Agbata commended Governor Soludo for giving the hospital a facelift, and prayed God to bless him.
IMO STATE
Power supply restored in Imo after industrial action –
EEDC
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) assured on Wednesday that power supply would be restored in all parts of Imo soon after NLC has called off its strike.
The face-off between the NLC and the state government led to total blackout in Owerri since Thursday and grounded the operations of the EEDC, which feeds power to Imo.
It also led to the sacking of the Imo Commissioner of Labour and Productivity, Mr Ford Ozumba. by Gov. Hope Uzodinma on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, hoteliers in Imo urged the state government and the state’s chapter of the NLC to settle their differences to save the tourism industry in the state from a collapse.
EEDC’s spokesman, Mr Emeka Ezeh, however, assured in a statement he issued in Enugu on Wednesday that power supply would soon be restored.
“An understanding was reached on Tuesday between the Imo government and the NLC to suspend the industrial action.
“Imo government was given two weeks to harmonise and implement all issues raised by the labour union.
“As a result, the Transmission Company of Nigeria has been informed by the labour union to restore supply immediately to enable the EEDC to distribute power to its customers,’’ Ezeh stated.
He added that all staff of the company were expected to immediately resume normal duties at their respective districts in Imo.
Greetings Mike,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. It's always a great joy for me to read about developments in the South East.
Thank God that the Governors are working.