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cars
• Commends UN Security Council on IDP response
• Saraki seeks affordable healthcare for Nigerians
The Senate has asked the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to suspend the implementation of the proposed plan to collect duties on old and new vehicles in the country.
The resolution of the Senate followed a point of order raised by the Senate Deputy Leader, Bala Na’Allah.
Adopting the motion yesterday, the Senate said the status quo should be maintained until the Controller-General of NCS appears before the relevant committees of the Upper Legislative Chamber to explain the rationale behind the policy.
Senate President Bukola Saraki said the NCS new policy contravened the law and would therefore not stand.
“This is a very straightforward motion and our responsibility here is to ensure that we oversight agencies and ensure that they comply with the law. It is very clear that this circular does not meet the requirement of the law. The Customs committee should quickly look into this matter and come out with a way forward,” Saraki noted.
Also, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, called on his colleagues to resist the new directive by NCS.
He said the directive was illegal and lacked common sense.
In the same vein, Dino Melaye, who seconded the motion, said that if allowed to stay, NCS officers would be corrupted, while suffering Nigerians would bear the harsh brunt.
Other lawmakers, who indicated interest to speak on the issue, were not allowed by Saraki. Instead, he referred the issue to the Senate Committee on Customs and Excise.
In another development, the Upper Chamber has commended the 15-person delegation of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, led by Matthew Rycroft, the UK Permanent Representative to the UN and the Security Council’s President for the month, for deeming the crisis in the North-East worthy of a high level delegation and response.
Speaking on the development in Abuja yesterday, Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, stated that the Senate fully aligns with the stance of the UN delegation.
Abdullahi, who stated that the Senate had categorised the passage of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) Bill as pivotal in Nigeria’s efforts to restore peace and security in the region, said the Upper Chamber would continue to work with the UN Security Council as development partners.
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Thirty-six-year-old mother of two, Mrs. Tammy Ivo, who was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in April 2016, requires N10 million for immediate renal transplant.
Her husband, Mr. Chinwe Ivo, told The Guardian his wife undergoes hemodialysis two to three times weekly at the cost of N25,000 each.
According to a medical report signed by the Consultant Nephrology/Physician, Lagos State Government General Hospital, (ODAN), Dr. S.C. Alagbe,
“Tammy is diagnosed with chronic kidney disease stage V, secondary to malignant hypertension and is currently undergoing medical treatment two to three times weekly until a renal transplant can be performed.”
Ivo, who is an iron bender, said he had spent over N3 million on his wife’s dialysis and is appealing to the government, kind-hearted Nigerians, non-governmental and corporate organisations to assist him in saving his wife’s life.
To help, you can send your donations to First Bank, Ivo Chinwe Francis, Account number, 3030320847 or call 08028099370, 08072454288.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2mk4jsu
cars
• Commends UN Security Council on IDP response
• Saraki seeks affordable healthcare for Nigerians
The Senate has asked the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to suspend the implementation of the proposed plan to collect duties on old and new vehicles in the country.
The resolution of the Senate followed a point of order raised by the Senate Deputy Leader, Bala Na’Allah.
Adopting the motion yesterday, the Senate said the status quo should be maintained until the Controller-General of NCS appears before the relevant committees of the Upper Legislative Chamber to explain the rationale behind the policy.
Senate President Bukola Saraki said the NCS new policy contravened the law and would therefore not stand.
“This is a very straightforward motion and our responsibility here is to ensure that we oversight agencies and ensure that they comply with the law. It is very clear that this circular does not meet the requirement of the law. The Customs committee should quickly look into this matter and come out with a way forward,” Saraki noted.
Also, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, called on his colleagues to resist the new directive by NCS.
He said the directive was illegal and lacked common sense.
In the same vein, Dino Melaye, who seconded the motion, said that if allowed to stay, NCS officers would be corrupted, while suffering Nigerians would bear the harsh brunt.
Other lawmakers, who indicated interest to speak on the issue, were not allowed by Saraki. Instead, he referred the issue to the Senate Committee on Customs and Excise.
In another development, the Upper Chamber has commended the 15-person delegation of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, led by Matthew Rycroft, the UK Permanent Representative to the UN and the Security Council’s President for the month, for deeming the crisis in the North-East worthy of a high level delegation and response.
Speaking on the development in Abuja yesterday, Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, stated that the Senate fully aligns with the stance of the UN delegation.
Abdullahi, who stated that the Senate had categorised the passage of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) Bill as pivotal in Nigeria’s efforts to restore peace and security in the region, said the Upper Chamber would continue to work with the UN Security Council as development partners.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2ncuTRQ
North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un, who at the time declared his country had the ability to strike Seoul and the US whenever it pleased.
China on Wednesday called on North Korea to suspend its nuclear and missile activities in exchange for the US and South Korea halting military wargames, to avoid what it called a “head-on collision.”
“To defuse the looming crisis on the (Korean) peninsula, China proposes that as a first step, the DPRK may suspend its nuclear and missile activities in exchange for the halt of the large-scale US-ROK exercises,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, using the acronyms for the two Koreas.
“The two sides are like two accelerating trains coming toward each other with neither side willing to give way,” Wang said at a press conference on the sidelines of China’s annual parliament session.
“The question is: are the two sides really ready for a head-on collision? Our priority now is to flash the red light and apply the brakes on both trains.”
A cascade of events have led to a dramatic spike in tensions in northeast Asia.
Pyongyang blasted at least four missiles across the ocean toward Japan on Monday, and three of the rockets splashed down into waters within Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
Seoul and Washington have begun annual joint military exercises that always infuriate Pyongyang, and the US has said it has started deploying an anti-missile system directed at North Korea but which Beijing has taken as a threat to its own defence interests.
“This ‘suspension for suspension’ can help us break out of the security dilemma and bring the parties back to the negotiating table,” Wang said of his proposal.
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INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu
More than any other state in the federation, the political intrigues that led to the unprecedented change of power in Aso Rock Villa, Nigeria’s seat of government on May 29, 2015, are taking their toll on Rivers State.
Months after the elections, when other parts of the country have moved on with the new realities, the gladiators in Rivers State are still at each other’s throat in their desperation to outwit one another thereby unleashing a deadly cycle of violence in the state.
While these political elephants, each with enormous weight of either federal or state influences behind it, continue their untiring and protracted wrestling for control of the people’s resources, the grass of democracy and its dividends suffer under their mindless stomping.
Like Lagos in the West and Kano in the North, the stakes are quite high in Rivers because of the state’s capacity to deliver mega votes, a highly conscious electorate and volatile political environment that has a lot of influence on national direction, making it one of the tripods of the country’s regional voting strengths.
In the cut-throat intrigues and struggle for political power that have gripped the state in the last three years, alliances and loyalties have been broken and quite a number of the characters in the macabre drama have been labeled traitors because of their antics to place self far above the collective interests of the people.
As the power tussle continues, the creeks are turning red with the blood of scores of victims, including security operatives deployed to ensure peace, members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) engaged to conduct elections, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and members of the opposition camps.
To underscore the extent to which the beast in man has taken over his mind, some of the victims were beheaded or killed in other blood-cuddling ways, painting a new picture of Rivers as a state peopled by desperate politicians who would stop at nothing to have their way.
Sources put the number of those killed in the recurrent mayhem at over 500 since the crisis began while a thousand others have sustained various degrees of injuries. The loss in property is in billions of naira.
At every voting exercise, of which there have been several in recent times, more than in any state of the federation because of the inconclusive nature of the elections, armed hoodlums, at the behest of their sponsors always unleashed an orgy of violence on the citizenry causing socio-economic disruptions in a state that contribute substantially to the national economy.
Of course, characteristic of politicians, each camp has been blaming the other for the mayhem. When during the preparation for the rerun elections last year, three soldiers, including an officer with the rank of Major were killed by unknown gunmen in Abonemma, Akuku-Toru local council, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led state government blamed the All Progressive Congress (APC).
A statement by the State Commissioner of Information, Austin Tam-George said “we strongly believe that APC-sponsored cultists may be behind the killing of these soldiers in their ugly plot to pitch innocent Rivers communities against the military.”
But the APC, reacting through its governorship candidate in 2015 elections, Dakuku Peterside, who is now the Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), blamed the killings on what he called provocative statements by the state governor, who he also alleged “was camping 3,000 boys in the area of the attack on the soldiers.”
While each party is pointing accusing fingers at each other, attempts at getting to the roots of the crisis and ending it have proved generally unsuccessful. Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to end the spate of violence in the state saying, “We will deal decisively with all sponsors of violence. I have given the security services clear directives in this regard. We will show that violence in any form will no longer be tolerated before, during or after elections.”
In the same vein, the House of Representatives once directed its Committee on Justice and Judiciary to investigate all the issues of election infractions that caused the tempers to boil over and expressed worry about the grave situation that portends great danger for the country’s democracy.
Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi
And in its attempt to investigate the crisis and identify the perpetrators, the Police High Command, which had earlier dismissed six of its men attached to Wike for engaging in “illegal duties,” set up an investigative panel that indicted some unnamed INEC officials for allegedly collecting over a hundred million naira from the governor to subvert the electoral process.
The Rivers State government, not wanting to be outdone in the game of buck-passing that has become another name for the various investigations into the crisis, accused the police of being instrument in the hands of the Federal Government to “intimidate Rivers’ people.”
Because these efforts to calm the tempest and stop the carnage have so far been self-serving and only attempted to find scapegoats, the warring parties continue to dig further into the trenches and violence persist unabated with armed cultists roaming the state to wreak havoc.
Only a fortnight ago, during the conduct of the rescheduled elections into national and state legislative seats of Etche constituency, the hand of a staff of INEC was chopped off by suspected hoodlums in another of the bizarre incidents in the oil-rich state.
A bitter rivalry
From 2007 when Rotimi Amaechi, the current Minister of Transportation defied his benefactor, former governor Peter Odili to emerge as the governor, to the last gubernatorial election when he was paid back in the same coin by incumbent governor, Nyesom Wike, the Rivers political debacle has been revolving around individuals whose relationship to each other and the polity is cast in the mould of treachery and unbridled ambition bordering on selfish control of the commonwealth.
Without minding the effects on the generality of the people whose interests they claimed to be protecting, the crisis in Rivers has been reduced to a supremacy tussle between Amaechi and Wike and the duo, heading rival groups, have so far been implacable.
This bitter rivalry among players in the state’s political field is traceable to the intrigues that culminated in Nigeria’s first major power change when Rivers State became a factor in the emergence of new power blocs in the national horizon.
The state became the hotbed of national politics and a gauge to measure the country’s political temperature which was then almost at boiling point making political analysts, including foreign ones, to predict that the approaching election may well be the cause of Nigeria’s final disintegration.
Before this, political normalcy took a flight from the state in mid-2013 following a crack that appeared on the wall of the ruling PDP over the removal of the state chairman, Godspower Ake, causing frosty relationship among supporters of Amaechi, the then governor, and Wike, his former aide who was the Minister of State for Education.
The Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), of which Amaechi was chairman, was then being turned into a potent instrument by a focused opposition against the administration of Goodluck Jonathan in the grand plan to prevent the incumbent from securing a second term.
With an ally in Amaechi, who later became a pillar in the opposition camp’s formation of the APC, an amalgam of politicians across political parties desirous of chasing the ruling PDP away, the battle was taken to Jonathan’s backyard.
Swimming against the current
In joining the opposition, Amaechi, a two-term Speaker of the House of Assembly on the verge of completing a second term as governor, was swimming against the current in a state that gave the highest number of votes to Jonathan in the 2011 presidential elections.
This expectedly had its consequences and Amaechi had many tales of woes, including withdrawal of security guards, curtailment of movement, alienation from the presidency and several state-backed attempts at impeachment, to tell.
Indeed, the configuration of the politics of Rivers State, which was and still is solidly based on the sentiments of the people for Jonathan making them to see anything against the former president as an affront against their sensibilities, is proving too much for an Amaechi to surmount. But like a determined power broker that he is, even while almost dressed in the garb of a Brutus to his peoples’ collective aspiration, the former governor is not relenting.
His tenure (between 2007 and 2015) ended on a not so palatable note. For close to two years, the state’s judiciary and legislature were under key and lock and he had operated more like a sole administrator. Coupled with his open quarrel with Jonathan and his wife, Patience, Amaechi and his APC team in Rivers State had entered the 2015 electoral contest with a heavy baggage.
Stripped bare, the choice of the people was not so much between contestants from both parties (the PDP and APC) in the 2015 general elections but between Jonathan and Amaechi. The people naturally would go for the former. This is the point the APC establishment in Abuja has not come to terms with hence perhaps the endless push to reverse the PDP electoral gains in the state.
The foundation of today’s carnage and political unrest was laid during the period with news of fracas among lawmakers in their hallowed chambers, take-over of the state legislature by the National Assembly and clashes of cult members loyal to the two political divides making the headlines.
Building on this massive support for Jonathan’s second term bid by the people of the South-South geo-political zone, of which Rivers State is the melting pot, and of course with support from Abuja, it was easy for Wike to become the centre of another power base in the state.
This was consolidated with a 87.77 percent win in the April 11, 2015 governorship contest with Peterside of the APC during which the PDP swept the House of Assembly seats. Two weeks earlier on March 28, the party also won all the three Senatorial seats as well as the 13 seats in the House of Representatives.
Although Peterside, citing violence, outright rigging, voter intimidation, official collusion and other electoral malpractices as reasons for his request, lost the bid to have the governorship elections cancelled at the apex court, the judiciary upturned PDP’s victory in the senatorial seats, 11 in the House of Representative and 22 out of the 32 seats in the House of Assembly in the stream of litigations that followed the exercise.
Reversal of roles
With Amaechi’s appointment as a member of the Federal Cabinet in Abuja’s new dispensation despite strident opposition from “his people” including the three Senators from Rivers State and Wike’s confirmation, through the January 27, 2016 Supreme Court verdict, as the governor of the state, a new cycle of the protracted crisis, with the two gladiators swapping positions and power bases, commenced.
Like before, the battle line was drawn between Abuja and Port Harcourt but with reversal of roles for the leading gladiators as the warring camps sought to use whatever influence they can muster within the system to outdo each other.
The rescheduled election of March 19, 2016 proved to be the first test of strength between the two forces with Amaechi allegedly flooding the state with soldiers to intimidate opposition elements and Wike, unsparing in his efforts to deploy state resources and the popularity of the PDP, to ward off the “invasion”.
Few days to the exercise, Amaechi in a statement that confirmed allegations that security forces have been compromised along partisan lines, told APC supporters in Etche and Gokana councils that soldiers would be deployed in the election because the state governor had bought the conscience of the police. He reportedly said, “The Commissioner of Police in Rivers State has failed. So anywhere you see the military on Saturday, know that the police have failed.”
What followed were alleged massive clampdown on the opposition prompting the state government and the PDP to petition international bodies and foreign governments on the threats to democracy in Nigeria urging them “to urgently initiate and maintain diplomatic pressure on the Federal Government to allow a free, fair and violence-free election in Rivers State.”
At the end of the exercise that proved to be bloodier than any election ever conducted in Nigeria, another usage was found for INEC’s new lexicon for aborting the voting process. The poll was declared inconclusive in the 8 local councils of Khana, Bonny, Gokana, Andoni, Tai, Eleme, Etche and Asari-Toku.
While announcing the suspension, INEC said the conduct of the exercise in the councils was greatly marred by such violence and irregularities that cannot make the election stand the test of a credible exercise.
According to the commission, “There were reports of numerous attacks resulting in fatalities, kidnappings, ballot snatching, diversion of officials and materials, amongst others.
“Several permanent and ad hoc staff engaged have been attacked, again resulting in fatalities, while some have been forcibly abducted and taken to presently unknown destinations. Under such difficult circumstance, the Returning Officers were only able to collate and declare results in one Federal and nine State constituencies.”
Although Amaechi’s APC was able to secure the Rivers South East Senatorial seat for Magnus Abe in another round of rerun elections held in December last year, the cost in human and material was huge on the polity as the exercise, like the ones before it, was also held in an atmosphere of insecurity.
And the losers are….
A week to the first in the series of the rerun elections, Amaechi, to confirm that the lingering power tussle between him and Wike is more of personal pride, told the people of Rivers State “to please, remove shame from my eyes by voting APC next Saturday.”
While their supporters are losing lives and limbs, the gladiators in the crisis that is disrupting socio-political and economic development of Rivers State only measure their loss in terms of bruised egos that have been masked as the collective will of a people that desire dividends of democracy.
Apart from the monetary cost of conducting endless elections by INEC and all relevant authorities including security agencies and monitoring bodies running into billions of naira, the effect on the psyche of the average Rivers State indigene, in terms of anxiety, trepidation and social disturbance cannot be quantified.
Before and during the conduct of these elections, the state is always locked down with state and self-imposed restrictions on the people with negative consequences on the economy and social interactions.
With a troubled government that could not focus on development because of these distractions, the people of Rivers State are on the receiving end of the stick while united leadership continues to elude them.
When the acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo visited the state two weeks ago to discuss development issues, the crack in the political leadership was on display as he had to hold separate meetings with Governor Wike at the Government House and another one with Amaechi and his APC followers at the party secretariat. The ability of the people to speak with one voice has been lost.
But by far the greatest loser in the protracted crisis is the institution of democracy, which main pillars, election and representation, face direct assaults from the warring groups who engage in the game to frustrate quality representation through compromised voting processes.
For the better part of the current term, the people of Rivers State had no legislative voice at federal and state levels, denying them an important ingredient of representative government crucial for a people to demand for what is rightly theirs in a multi-region structure that Nigeria is and constituting a clog in the wheel of effective running of government at the state level.
With the approaching mid-term appraisal of the Wike administration, it is time for the gladiators in the two power bases of Abuja and Port Harcourt to spare a thought for the state by sheathing their swords and allowing the people to enjoy the fruits of democracy.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2n49xXE
Super Eagles Coach, Gernot Rohr.
Super Eagles’ former assistant coach, Joseph Erico, has described as unfortunate the exclusion of players from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) in the squad for the national team’s forthcoming international friendlies in London. But he enjoins Nigerians to support the team as they prepare for important qualifying games this year.
Nigeria will meet Senegal and Burkina Faso in preparatory games this month ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations and Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Cameroun respectively. And for these games, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) recently released the names of players needed by the technical crew for the matches holding on March 23 and 27 in London.
FC IfeanyiUbah’s goalkeeper, Ikechukwu Ezenwa is the only home-based included in the squad.
Speaking to The Guardian at the weekend, Erico said there was no point discussing the matter since the players were the ones Coach Gernot Rohr wanted.
“Sincerely, I think those that made the list are purely at the coach’s discretion. His decision to pick players in the list may be the ones that may be useful to him for the AFCON and World Cup qualifiers. That is the way I look at it.
“His decision to me, definitely, is not fair to the players playing in the NPFL. These games are merely friendlies and not competitive matches and these would have given some of these boys leverage. But the success or failure of a team is the coach’s problem. It is his responsibility to take decision that may work for me.
“What I can say about this is that this is not good for our football. We are not treating these boys well by not giving them opportunities to develop themselves and also build their confidence,” he said.
The defunct Julius Berger Football Club of Lagos former coach said if he had the power, about four or five players would be in the list.
“I would have added three good players from our league to be part of the friendlies. But what do we do… I think that is how we want it in our country with the employment of an expatriate. We do not need to complain, we should allow the coach do his job. But if I have the power, I would have instructed him (Rohr) to include four to five players from our league,” Erico stated.
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PHOTO: Public Radio International
The International Women’s Peace Group (IWPG) yesterday stressed the importance of women and the strategic roles they play in society with an injunction that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is dangerous to the health of women in all climes and cultures.
This was the focus of this year’s IWPG forum, held in Lagos to commemorate the International Women’s Day (IWD) with the theme: Female Genital Mutilation. It also doubled as workshop for women and girls in society.
The South Korean-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) was founded by Mrs. Nam Hee Kim to foster peace in the society through women.
Representative of IWPG in Nigeria, Kemi Olalokun, said the group comprises women who embrace life with a motherly heart for peace and well-being of women around the world.
She pointed out that all women in the world were becoming one to end wars globally so that the younger generations were no longer sacrificed in wars.
“The group looks into women’s welfare, protection of the female gender. The reason being that when there is war, women and the girl-child are always the victims. This is the reason why women should be enlightened to know their rights and try to follow peace,” she said.
Olalokun restated that female genital mutilation must be stopped because the way they go about it was wrong, adding: “They use the same tools for dozens of women. It is disastrous and we must stop it.”
Speaking on ways the IWPG improves the lot of the Nigerian women, President of Health for the Aging Foundation, Jumoke Kolawole, who is also member of IPWG said: “We create awareness through workshops and empowerment programmes for members.”
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House of Representatives
• Malami, Adeosun, Emefiele’s absence stalls probe of legal fees
• Summon NNPC, oil players for alleged $1b products’ diversions
The House of Representatives yesterday constituted a six-member delegation to visit South Africa and interface with its parliament over the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.
The House leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, ahead of a five-day trip to South Africa explained that the delegation would find lasting solutions to the perennial xenophobic violence often targeted at Nigerians.
He disclosed that the delegation comprising the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Nnena Elendu-Ukeje would push for the compensation of Nigerians whose properties worth N84 million were destroyed in the recent xenophobic attacks.
Elendu-Ukeje, representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State said: “We will be looking at pieces of legislation that says to them that they must resist structural racism, xenophobia. We will be reminding them that they are signatories to the United Nations treaties against xenophobia and racism.
“We will be reminding them that silence is complicity. I don’t see how that can fail because we are taking a message to them. Now in the event that now fails, we shall be reminding them that retaliation is only to the mutual detriment of both countries. And we will be reminding them of their businesses in Nigeria.”
Gbajabiamila explained that the delegation would also preoccupy itself with the task of engaging the South African parliament and other authorities on areas of mutual benefit and how much both countries could lose from xenophobia and possible retaliatory actions or severing of diplomatic ties.
Meanwhile, the absence of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami and his counterpart in the finance ministry, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun yesterday stalled the probe into alleged diversion of $86 million legal fees due to the legal firm Edwards and Partners that facilitated the recovery of $3.189 billion from the Paris and London Club.
The absence of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu and his counterpart of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) did not help matters as the chairman of the House committee on public petition, Mr. Nkem Uzoma Abonta saddled with the responsibility to resolve the issue had to postpone hearing on the issue sine die.
Abonta maintained there was no way he could commence work on the issue without the presence of both Adeosun and Emefiele who played “principal” roles over the alleged diversion of the monies.
He threatened to issue a warrant to compel their physical appearance if within 48 hours they fail to notify the committee on when to make themselves available.
Also, the House of Representatives ad-Hoc committee on the review of petroleum pump price yesterday invited Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and some major oil companies to appear before it next week to explain alleged diversions of products amounting to $1 billion.
According to the committee chaired by Raphael Nnana Igbokwe, the head of the division of the corporation in charge of crude oil marketing and sales, is to turn up with the management of Oando Plc to further give insight into its role in the recent upward review of PMS in the country.
Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2m0OGDq
Chairperson, Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ), Aisha Ahmad (right), Director, Special Duties, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Hajiya Lami Tomaka, Chairman/Publisher, Guardian Newspapers, Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru, Executive member, WIMBIZ, Funmi Robert and Guest Speaker, Mo Abudu at the WIMBIZ Annual Lecture tagged Bold Steps in the Face of Uncertainty held at Muson Centre, Lagos…yesterday PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI
Nigerian women in business have been advised to support one another to grow by employing women over men as a way to fix the patriarchal problems in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of EbonyLife TV, Mosunmola Abudu, made the call yesterday in Lagos at the ‘Women In Business (WIMBIZ) annual lecture tagged, “Bold steps in the face of uncertainty.”
Addressing WIMBIZ heavyweights, which include the Chairperson, Aisha Ahmad, Chairman/Publisher, Guardian Newspapers, Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru and Funmi Robert, executive member and others, Abudu said if women were to succeed in a men-dominated society, they have to put in twice the efforts of men, adding, “People may not always buy into your dreams, there are the dream killers as well as the dream makers, and in most cases, the strangers that walk into one’s life are the ones that help one to progress and succeed.”
According to her, her TV show, Moments with Mo was aimed at promoting Nigerian culture, featuring male and female entrepreneurs and showcasing them to the rest of the world. “It is sad that we have left the narratives of who we are for so long, for someone to tell us who we are, this was why we launched EbonyLife TV.’’
Still on her success story, she said though this period is the longest recession the country had experienced in 25 years, her film, The wedding party was a hit, all thanks to her crew. She advised the women to always find the right people to work with in their businesses, encouraging them to put in their best through good remuneration of staff.
The mother of two while fielding questions from the audience said that it was difficult being a working mother, but advised that one should just find the best option that works. “I would always make sure that when my children need me, they come first, because children would always understand and appreciate when the mother is working hard. I make the effort to spend more time with them, and if I have to leave whatever I am doing today for them, believe me I would,” she added.
She advised the women to strive to make their business recognizable in the global space, rhetorically asking, “How relatable is your business, what are your marketing strategy, and what are you doing to ensure that your business grows?’’
Urging women to be more creative and leave no stone unturned in looking for opportunities, she advised her audience to seek profitable partnerships, engage and interact more with like minds. Describing herself as a serial entrepreneur, she said not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur but are meant to be a part of a team and should strive to do their best wherever they find.
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PHOTO: LinkedIn
• Foreign minister says no Nigerian killed in xenophobia attacks
• Wake up to your responsibility, group charges Onyeama
The statement credited to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, urging Nigerians to disregard another presidential directive to steer clear of the United States (U.S.) pending the clarification of its immigration policy is now a subject of controversy.
Speaking in Abuja, the minister had maintained that there was no basis for such caution, as the relationship between both nations remained cordial. But some Nigerians yesterday picked holes in Onyeama’s position saying there was enough evidence that US-bound Nigerians with valid visas were being returned on “next available flights.”
The office of the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Abike Dabiri-Erewa had on Monday issued a statement urging Nigerians who do not have pressing needs to shun the U.S. It also claimed that citizens with valid documents were being denied entry.
The conflicting directives from two top officials of the administration obviously underscore a lack of cohesion in information dissemination within the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government.
The minister dismissed the earlier information and enjoined the media to limit their sources of information on foreign affairs matters to either the spokespersons of the president or their counterparts at the ministry.
He said: “On the trendy news that Nigeria should be wary of the U.S., this is not the case. If government is speaking about international relations, the most authoritative foreign affairs issues’ sources are the media team of the presidency or the ministry.
“The American leader recently called President Muhammadu Buhari to congratulate him on the good work he is doing and extended a hand of assistance to Nigeria.
“It is business as usual between Nigeria and the U.S., and a very good business too. Anything else you hear is incorrect. So, any Nigerian with valid documents should travel.”
But the Nigerian Coalition For Quality Governance, a non-governmental organisation, yesterday accused the minister of “parading the corridors of the country’s media establishments in his effort to deny and dismiss the effects of the Executive Order of the US President Donald Trump banning nationals of select countries from the United States despite their possession of valid US visa.” The group agreed that “Nigeria is not officially among the countries whose citizens have been banned from entering the US, but noted that “enough evidence has already surfaced that not a few Nigerians had been put on the next available planes from the US airports back to Nigeria despite their possession of all travelling documents including the US entry visa.”
To the group, Mr. Onyeama’s denial that Nigerians have been affected by the US president’s Executive Order “may not have been unconnected with the Travel Advisory issued over the weekend by the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa that advised Nigerians who have no compelling or urgent reason to travel to the US to postpone their travel plans until the new administration’s policy on immigration is clear.”
Dabiri-Erewa’s advisory had added that “in the last few weeks, the office has received a few cases of Nigerians with valid multiple-entry US visas being denied entry and sent back to Nigeria” with “no reasons…given for the decision by the US immigration authorities.”
“It does not really matter,” Dabiri-Erewa yesterday told The Guardian on telephone while insisting that she has good working relationship with the Minister. Although she would not respond to the minister’s comments, she said the most important thing was for the media to analyse her message to Nigerians. “My message is to Nigerians (and) I can give two examples of people returned to Nigeria. Even schools in the US are telling people not to travel because they may not be able to return.”
A public commentator and journalist, Mr. Dele Agakemeh, had on a television programme Tuesday morning painted a picture of how his friend was denied entry into the United States and returned in next available flight to Nigeria through Johannesburg.
“While we’re not questioning the right of the Foreign Minister to an issue that borders on foreign policy as this, Mr. Onyeama has undoubtedly put the wrong foot forward in calling on Nigerians to ignore this Travel Advisory in the face of verifiable evidence that Nigerians are being unfairly targeted and included in the dragnet of the US immigration authorities,” the Nigerian Coalition For Quality Governance said in its statement yesterday.
On the reports that some Nigerians were turned back from a U.S airport, Onyeama dismissed the claims, saying nothing of such was received from Nigerian embassies. He added that he had engaged the U.S. consulate in Nigeria, which equally denied the allegation.
Onyeama continued: “We have embassies and consulates in the U.S. which we rely on for information. We have absolutely no report from them that any Nigerian has been returned from a U.S. airport.”
The minister also refuted earlier reports that over 100 Nigerians were killed in the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
According to him, no such information was received from the Nigerian High Commission in that country.
“Figures are being bandied about the number of Nigerians killed in South Africa. No Nigerian was killed in the country in the course of the xenophobic attacks.”
Onyeama added that since the incident began, the Federal Government had engaged its South African counterpart in “trying to ensure that the incident does not repeat itself.”
He noted that he would be leading a delegation to the country over the matter and brief Nigerians appropriately after returning.
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