“Our swagger is gone!”…A prayer for Nigeria…Our Mothers shine at the Coronation…The slide in pecking order continues…Who’s the real JAMB highest scorer?...plus South East Digest…

“Our swagger is gone!”

“…Nigerians are so collectively frustrated that it is almost impossible to convince them that they can find justice.  Everywhere you turn today, Nigerians look forlorn, disconsolate, lugubrious, and despondent. Our swagger is gone. We look like men and women returning from a funeral, murmuring discontentment in hushed tones. It is therefore not surprising that even the victors are blowing a muted trumpet.”  That was how Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, captured the mood of the nation in nine sub-headings in his 2023 Easter message.

A prayer for Nigeria

Concluding his message, Bishop Kukah recommended the following prayer for Nigeria:   “Oh God, our creator, we thank you for the gift of our dear country. We have not lived up to the vision that you have for us – a vision of justice, peace, unity, and prosperity for all our children. Yet, we thank you for your mercy upon us.  Father, please guide our transition to a new dawn. Banish evil and insecurity from our land. Give us the spirit of forgiveness and heal us from our infirmities, that blindness which makes us forget that we are brothers and sisters, children of One Father. In your mercy grant eternal rest to those who have died and give us the strength to start again.  May the power of our Risen Christ be upon us and our dear country. Amen. A happy Easter, Nigerians.”

Our Mothers shine at the Coronation

Eva Omaghomi and Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu were present and pivotal to the coronation of England's new monarch last weekend.

Eva Omaghomi is British-Nigeria, but she has never failed to showcase the Nigerian tradition. She has worked for King Charles and Queen Camilla when he was the Prince of Wales and she was with the Duchess of Cornwall for 13 years. She is their longest staff and also their longest black staff.

Charles in 2021 appointed Eva Omaghomi as the director of community engagement, a newly created role to improve diversity and culture in royal households.

For the occasion, she stunned in what seemed like a peach gown by Ghanaian designer, Durba Serwa or at least inspired by the designs of the fashion house that uses rectangular shapes to make gowns. She wore beautiful peach stilettos and a peach gele. 

During her investiture at Buckingham Palace, she also wore a gele and buba - traditional Yoruba outfits.

She wasn’t the only Nigerian woman in attendance, Dame (she was invested dame by Queen Elizabeth) Elizabeth Anionwu, an emeritus professor, who was the first sickle cell nurse specialist in the UK and spent her life working with black and minority ethnic communities carried the orb. 

She wore a blue lace shirt and skirt and a white gele. She also wears a lot of Nigerian attire and wore it at her investiture.

The slide in pecking order continues

It would seem that the South East has continued with its slide in the pecking order in the Federal Government, first noticed in 2015, if current permutations on a possible Tinubu administration are anything to go by.

Lawmaker Benjamin Kalu from Abia State, a three-time ranking House of Reps member, is now favoured by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to become Deputy Speaker of the 10th National Assembly, sources in Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s camp hinted on Saturday morning. 

Kalu represents Bende Federal Constituency in the National Assembly. 

It was gathered that the decision to slate Hon. Kalu for the position of Deputy Speaker was made official to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC on Friday, May 5, 2023, the day he was to mark his 52nd birthday.

Who’s the real JAMB highest scorer?

There have been several claims as to the highest scorer in the 2023 JAMB UTME.  Two of such claims have been most outstanding – with stories coming from Enugu and Anambra States.  Interestingly, however, the two students being projected are both from Anambra State.

The first report which came from Enugu State was that of Lotanna Azuokeke, a 15-year-old student of Bishop Otubelu Juniorate who was said to have  smashed the highest score record of the just-concluded 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE).  He has been offered a fully funded scholarship to study medicine at Godfrey Okoye University (GOU), Enugu State. The 15-year-old Azuokeke is a native of Ọba in Idemmili South LGA of Anambra State. Vice Chancellor of the institution, Rev. Fr. Christian Anieke, made this known on Friday, May 5, at the presentation of a car to a student who was made the Vice Chancellor of the institution for a day. Azuokeke smashed the UMTE record scoring 337 points out of 400.  Azuokeke was reported to have scored a staggering 99 points in mathematics, 86 in physics, 88 in chemistry and 64 in English.

Yesterday, reports came in from Anambra State that, Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, a student of the Anglican Girls Secondary School Nnewi (AGSS) emerged the overall best student in the 2023 Joint Admission Matriculation Board examination with an aggregate score of 362.  The breakdown of her score goes as follows : Eng 98; physics 89 Biology 94; and Chem 81.

This excellent feat has brought joy and celebration to her school and the state, as her teachers, parent and fellow students were thrown into an euphoric and exhilarating mood following this outstanding academic performance.

 

(A digest of latest reports on the Economy, Industry, Politics, Sports, and developments around the South East of Nigeria)

ABIA STATE

Aba Power Crisis:   landlords laud Minister for Intervention

The over 20,000 landlords in Aba, the Abia State commercial nerve centre, have lauded the Minister of Power, Engr Abubakar Aliyu, for his intervention last weekend in the disconnection of feeders belonging to the electricity distribution companies in Aba, Kaduna, and Kano that were cut off from the national transmission network for debts owed Federal Government agencies in the power sector.

While all 29 Aba Power feeders were cut off for 10 days as a result of the N896m indebtedness that threw the entire Aba Ringfence comprising nine local government areas into darkness, three Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company feeders were taken off the national grid for four days for owing the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) N33bn. 

In a letter to the power minister made available to journalists this morning, the Aba Landlords Protection and Development Association (ALPADA), led by Chief Alphonus Udeigbo as the president general and Engineer Leonard Onyemesiri as the deputy president general, expresses gratitude to the minister “for heeding the call to cancel the erroneous disconnection order by the Transmission Company of Nigeria made against the Aba Power Electric Company Ltd which was obviously a breach of the market rules”.

Pledging to ensure that all their tenants and businesses pay their bills promptly henceforth, the landlords noted that the order by the TCN “threw Aba and environs into darkness, untold hardship and humongous economic and human losses”.

ANAMBRA STATE

In the march towards a liveable and prosperous homeland, Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Sir Paul Nwosu, writes on what the government is doing to rid the state of illegal structures:

War against impunity of illegal structures in Anambra State

By Paul Nwosu 

The menace of illegal structures all over Anambra State has become of huge concern, and government has resolved to deal with the nuisance posed by these unapproved shacks. A sustainable Clean and Green Anambra can only be guaranteed by removing the odious presence of the illegal structures on the roads, streets, drainages, parks, playgrounds and waterways. The drive for complete urban regeneration cannot continue to be desecrated by these almost ubiquitous structures.

Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, is determined to put a permanent stop to the impunity of illegal structures in his bid to ensure a pleasurable and prosperous homeland. It is therefore incumbent on the erectors of the illegal structures to remove them or they will be compelled to pay for the removal if the government does that.

From the colonial times, our towns and cities were well planned and paved in conformity with contemporary urban planning at that time. In the course of time, some irresponsible people undertook the nefarious task of undoing the well-laid plans. People recklessly erected shops in front of their buildings and on the gutters. Some in their greed to grab any available space built houses across the roads and water channels, making a mess of the original masterplan. 

The frenzy to encroach on every available piece of land reached a point where fire-fighting vehicles cannot navigate the easiest alleyways to save a building on fire from being completely razed down. A person suffering from sudden health crisis cannot even get a vehicle close to the house to take him/her to the hospital. And because the original sidewalks have been converted to shops, stalls and workshops, humans and vehicles tango as they compete for space on the roads.

The areas allocated for the building of parks in the many markets of the state have all been appropriated by ill-assorted land speculators. Places that ought to be parks in the markets have all been built up. Going to the market has thus become an ordeal. These illegal buildings must necessarily give way for the markets to be given a new lease of life.

As the old Igbo proverb goes: if an abnormality is allowed to last for long, it ends up becoming a tradition. Many prospective developers no longer bother to get proper approvals from the requisite authorities before erecting buildings. They break the law with impunity in the belief that they can always sort things out through bribery and corruption. The “man-know-man” syndrome is their stock-in-trade in these untoward transactions.

Governor Soludo has come determined to clean the Augean stable. Anybody caught in the web of building illegal structures must henceforth pay the steep price of having the structures removed or pay government for removing them. In the same vein, government officials who gave the crooked approvals will also answer for their actions even if they have retired from service.

In recent times we have witnessed the frequent collapse of buildings in the upper class neighbourhood of Banana Island, Lagos and other parts of the metropolis. Investigations have revealed that illegal approvals and non-adherence to directives by authorities concerned to discontinue the construction of ill-conceived structures have been responsible for some of these calamities.

Our cities are already bursting at the seams with mammoth buildings all over the place. The need to bring sanity to them will entail that government moves in with the original plan of the cities in order to restore their prime essence. The people who broke the rules will of course pay the price for their impunity.

It is obvious that illegal structures are some of the reasons for the flooding devastating the state. When drainages are blocked, floodwaters take over the roads and streets. This man-made tragedy cannot be allowed to go on for years on end. It only takes the will for the right order to be restored.

Awka, the state capital, is already leading the charge in the removal of illegal structures so that Anambra can have a befitting capital city. The Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) under the leadership of Ossy Onuko, recently went to work on the illegal structures stretching from the popular UNIZIK Temporary Site Junction in Awka to the Okpuno section within the capital city. ACTDA had marked the affected structures and facilities for demolition since January, with seven days’ notices given to the owners to vacate the places. As the authors of illegality stayed adamant, ACTDA struck. About 80 shops, residential houses and other structures were removed in the exercise.

The war against illegal structures in Anambra State has started in earnest. 

IMO STATE

Imo State Pilgrims Complete Their Pilgrimage Rites in Israel …to arrive Owerri Sunday

The three hundred Pilgrims that left Imo State on April 28, 2023 for Holy pilgrimage in Jordan and Israel have successfully completed their pilgrimage rites in the Holy land yesterday, Saturday, May 6, 2023.

The Chaplin of Government House Chapel and Chairman of Imo State Pilgrims Board, Rev Fr Gibert Alaribe in his speech while presenting “Jerusalem Pilgrimage” JP certificates to all the participants commended them for being good Ambassadors of Imo state at the Holy land, pointing out that there was no negative reports from the host Countries all through their stay at the Holy land.

 

Rev Fr Alaribe maintained that both Israel and Jordan authorities are very impressed with the way Imo State Pilgrims conducted themselves during the Pilgrimage, adding that Imo State Pilgrims were described as the best organized and well behaved team by the host Countries

He used the opportunity to thank the management and Staff of Tabar Tours for the pains they  took to organize this pilgrimage in Israel, noting that Imo state Pilgrims were treated well by their host Countries. 

Rev Fr Gibert Alaribe who gave a special commendation to an Imo State Pilgrim and a special citizen, Hon Samuelson Emehibe for returning $1.2 million he picked during the Pilgrimage to the owner, further commended Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission

He thanked NCPC delegates from Abuja for their support, advice and partnership towards the successful end of the Pilgrimage exercise.

Hon Samuelson Emehibe who  is a Special Adviser to Governor Hope Uzodimma on Special Citizens received a gift of $100 for honesty and sincerity.

Mrs Shadia Srour, the Managing Director Tabar Tours in her thank you speech expressed profound gratitude to Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo state for beating the records of pilgrimage sponsorship in Africa by sponsoring one thousand pilgrims from his State in one swipe, adding that Imo State has secured a special place in the history of pilgrimage in Israel.