How Obasanjo caused Nigeria’s woes – Falana

Human rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN), has said former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s rejection of the Minority Report of the Constitutional Drafting Committee of 1976, co-authored by Drs. Segun Osoba and Yusufu Bala Usman, is one of the major causes of Nigeria’s woes.

He spoke at the public presentation of the Minority Report and Draft Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1976) at the University of Lagos auditorium on Tuesday.

The event had in attendance dignitaries such as Comrade Hassan Sunmonu, former President of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC); Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu; Dr. Abubakar Siddique Mohammed, Executive Director of the Centre for Democratic Development Research and Training (CEDDERT), and Omoba Tunde Ajibulu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Going down memory lane, Falana, who reviewed the draft constitution, said majority of the problems being experienced in Nigeria today such as the raging insecurity, kidnappings, youth unemployment would have been addressed if the minority report had been adopted.

Falana, who said the military government headed by Obasanjo rejected the report in a hostile manner, added that “Nigeria could possibly have avoided the current obstacles to genuine democracy and sustainable human development if some of the questions posed and the answers provided by Osoba and Usman, two leading lights of the Nigerian left, in their unambiguously progressive Report and Draft of 1976 had been considered.

“As part of the initial steps towards the transition to civil rule in 1975, the regime of General Murtala Mohammed gave a committee of 49 eminent Nigerians the job of producing a draft constitution for the Second Republic, which was scheduled to begin on October 1, 1979.

“Two members of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) fundamentally disagreed on ideological grounds with the report supported by the majority of 47 others.

“On the question of human progress, the philosophical divergence between the minority and the majority within the CDC was too wide to expect a compromise. Hence, the minority came up with the document under review today.

“By the time the report was ready, Murtala had been killed in an abortive coup and his second-in-command, General Olusegun Obasanjo, was now in charge. 

“Regrettably, the Obasanjo regime rejected, in a most hostile manner, the Minority Report, as it is now known in Nigeria’s political history.

“The report of the majority was decreed into the 1979 constitution, the basic content of which has formed the nucleus of the subsequent constitutions including the Decree 24 of 1999, otherwise called the 1999 constitution.

“Let us quickly dispense with the regrets, as the actual spirit of this occasion is to engender hope about the future of Nigeria.

“A critical reading of the publication being presented today would bring to the fore the radical diagnosis and the extraordinary prescience in the prescriptions for the Nigerian condition made by the authors.

“This is despite the fact that the authors, Dr. Olusegun Osoba and Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman, both radical historians, wrote 43 years ago that they never pretended to put forward ‘a perfect document’.

“In the true tradition of self-criticism that is the hallmark of leftist thinkers, they readily admitted ‘faults and inadequacies’ in the document.”

Falana also said the Minority Report was pro-masses as it addressed majority of the challenges being faced by the average Nigerian as well as accountability by public officials.

“Other similarly remarkable provisions encapsulated in the draft, but were regrettably rejected by the Obasanjo regime, include those on accountability by those in power; the purpose and management of political parties, as well as the appointment of a prime minister by the elected president for the purpose of diffusing power.

“In fact, given the progressive ferments of the 1970s, these two progressive constitution writers could not have imagined the current crisis of the economy, society and politics,” he said.

- DAILY POST

NCC says SIM registration of 95.7 million subscribers invalid

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says a total of 95.7 million SIM cards being used by subscribers were not properly registered.

Speaking on Tuesday at a regional sensitisation workshop that held in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, NCC officials said the agency will send the owners of the SIM cards back to registration centres for recapturing.

According to Sunday Dare, NCC’s executive commissioner for stakeholder management, who was represented by Efosa Idehen, director for compliance monitoring and enforcement, perpetrators of fraudulently registered SIM cards will be charged with felony and risk a 25-year jail term.

Of the total 151.4 million subscribers registered, only 55.7 million are valid.

“A total of 151,449,837 registration data of subscribers have been processed, with only 55,749,652 records valid, making 63.2 per cent of the total records invalid based on invalid face capturing and fingerprints”, thereby underscoring the importance of proper SIM registration,” Idehen said.

The NCC director said the agency has put various sanctions in place to deal with the menace of pre-registered SIMs.

He said sanctions will extend to the head of marketing of mobile network operators and even the chief executives of licensees who illegally benefit from such illegal SIM registration activities to meet their marketing targets,

“The NCC will begin to plead national security and national interests against anybody found culpable of fraudulently-registered SIM cards in the telecom industry,” he said.

- THECABLE

LAND OF FRAUDSTERS !! EFCC arrests ponzi scheme operator who ‘defrauded Nigerians of N7bn’

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested Babagana Dalori, chief executive officer of Galaxy Transportation and Construction Services Limited, for allegedly defrauding Nigerians through a ponzi scheme.

The commission said 27,400 Nigerians lost N7 billion through fake promises of high returns on their investment in Dalori’s companies.

In a statement, Tony Orilade, EFCC spokesman, said Dalori was discovered to have initially paid investors 200 per cent interest on their deposits in his companies.

He said the suspect later reduced the interest to 135 per cent “before the scheme crashed in 2018.”

“Dalori, who is currently undergoing interrogation in the Commission, had incorporated the firm in 2012 with one tricycle (Keke NAPEP), which through pool investments by members of the public later boasted of 50 tricycles,” the statement read.

“The entrepreneur later diversified into other business ventures while promising mouth-watering returns to investors.

“To suck as many unsuspecting victims into his ponzi net, Dalori engaged in massive advertisements on radio and television, including a production of a movie by A-list Nollywood actors, which aimed at convincing members of the public to invest in his companies.”

The anti-graft said a victim lamented the frustrations of unsuspecting investors who can no longer get their funds back.

According to the victim, “at the moment, he has used the investors money to incorporate different entities without getting their consent. He now has Galaxy Global Energy Concept Ltd, Galaxy Miners Concept Ltd, Galaxy Global Farms, Galaxy Computers, Galaxy Block Making Factory, Galaxy Hospital and Galaxy Hotel.”

The commission accused Dalori of committing a criminal act, saying all bank accounts belonging to his company have since been frozen.

Last year, EFCC cracked down on a similar ponzi scheme shortly after the shut down of Mavrodi Mondial Movement (MMM).

- THECABLE

Northeast: AfDA invests $258m on rehabilitation of damaged infrastructures

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has so far invested 258 million dollars towards the rehabilitation of damaged infrastructural facilities in the Northeast region of the country.

The President of AfDB, Nigeria’s Dr Akinwumi Adesina, disclosed this when he fielded questions from State House correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said the affected areas of intervention which included health, education, sanitation and water were damaged or destroyed as a result of the destructive activities of the insurgents in the region.

“We have also invested heavily in the northeast of nigeria, we have put in almost 258 million dollars to support the rehabilitation both in terms of health, education, sanitation and water as a way of reviving areas that have been battered,” he said.

Adesina, who had earlier met behind closed-doors with President Buhari at the Aso Villa, Abuja, said the bank had also invested heavily in mobilizing financing for the country.

He revealed that the African Investment Forum which was organised by the bank in 2018, had succeeded in mobilizing about 38.7 billion dollars of investments to African, adding that about 7.1 billion dollars of the amount would be invested in Nigeria.

Adesina, who commended President Buhari for his support to the AfDB, pledged that the bank would continue to support Nigeria in its efforts toward boosting power supply in the country.

“We are in the period of general capital increase for the bank and with that support, we believe you will see a different Africa completely under this new general capital increase of the bank.

“One of the things that we said was that Nigeria’s contribution under the last general capital increase of the bank was 360 million dollars but we lend to Nigeria 4.5 billion dollars, almost 15.5 percent.

“Every dollar that Nigeria gives to the bank, we lend 15 dollars in return, so it’s a great investment.

“I assured Mr. President that under the new general capital increase of the bank, we are talking to our investors about this, so if we get enough money, hundreds of people will be connected to electricity,” he stated.

On new strategy Nigeria needs to adopt to get power sector right, Adesina said “the country needs to get the tariff structure because if you don’t have good cost reflective tariff structure, investments from private sector becomes very difficult in the energy sector”.

The AfDB president also stressed the need to address the liquidity constraints in the power sector.

“We in the bank have invested over 400 million dollars in the transmission company of Nigeria to support it.

“But at the end of the day it’s to diversify the energy sector that we have.

“We have gas here, we should use a lot of those gas; we also have hydro and solar. The African Development Bank is investing heavily right now in the north, in the Jigawa area in solar projects.

“So, God is good to Africa and He gave us tremendous amount of sunshine, water, everything is good for Africa, all we need to do is take a cable and connect to the sun and we will be fine.

“So, we just have to optimize the renewable energy potential that we have,” he added.

= PM NEWS

Human trafficking: IOM, ECOWAS, NAPTIP launch campaign

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday embarked on a cross-border roadshow to sensitise people in West African coasts on the ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card (ENBIC).

The five-day campaign which took off at Mile-2 ECOWAS Motor Park, Lagos was also expected to enlighten transporters plying West African coasts on the fight against human trafficking.

The project, which was jointly funded by ECOWAS Commission and European Union in partnership with National Agency of the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), was in support of Free Movement of Persons and Migration in West Africa.

NAN reports that the banner promoting ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card was unveiled while T-shirts and posters containing information on anti-trafficking were given to the transporters leadership by sponsors.

Mr Albert Siaw-Boateng, ECOWAS Director of Free Movement, said that the sensitization campaign would promote the use of the ENBIC and other valid travel documents to better facilitate mobility throughout the region.

He said it would address the incessant cases of trafficking in persons, harassment at the border and vulnerability of ECOWAS travellers.

IOM Chief of Mission, Mr Ofrantz Celestin, said his organisation was supporting the project because it believed in migration, stressing, however, that anyone migrating should do that through legal channels.

Celestin advised that anyone migrating should also beware of traffickers on the prowl in ECOWAS member states, urging them to be vigilant.

The Assistant Controller General of Nigeria Immigration, Zone A Ikeja, Mr Mohammed Aphar, said ENBIC card would help in securing the borders and also identifying who comes into or leaves the sub-region at any given time.

Mohammed said the card, which replaced ECOWAS Travel Certificate, would also assist member countries to share information and enhance data collection.

“Once you have the card, all the features in international passports are embedded in it. At the border point, the official only swipes it, and all information about the traveller is revealed,” he said.

He advised transporters against carrying passengers without necessary travel documents, assuring them that all their complaints about harassment and extortion by security officials along Lagos-Seme route would be looked into them.
Director General of NAPTIP, Julie Okah-Donle, said transporters were major players in the movement of victims and traffickers, appealing to them to join hands with the agency to fight traffickers.

She urged the transporters to always sensitise travellers on the danger of being trafficked, urging them to alert the agency immediately they suspected some people were being trafficked.

Responding, the transporters commended the organisers for the programme, stressing that if the card could be used without any hitch in Nigeria, such card would be used elsewhere without a problem.

The transporters, however, lamented the ill-treatment they received from Nigerian security agencies, including the police, NDLEA and Immigration Service whom they claimed always extort them.

“In Nigerian border, there are too many security agencies at the border; drivers spend between N9, 000 and N10, 000 before crossing the border. We spend almost all our earnings on paying bribes at all these checkpoints.

“We appeal to ECOWAS representatives to use your offices and authority to bring sanity to our road. Reduce the number of these checkpoints on Seme road,“ one of the transporters said during the interactive session.

The Togolese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs Paulette Adejovi-Yekpe, called on the transporters to check passengers information before carrying them, noting that every month, she always returned some of her citizens trafficked to Nigeria back to Togo.

She warned ECOWAS citizens against false religious leaders who were trafficking persons in the name of God.

- PM NEWS

Oshodi Transport Interchange begins operation May 2

The new Oshodi Transport Interchange in Lagos State will begin operation across the state and major cities in the country from 2 May.

Speaking with journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, Biodun Otunola, Chief Executive Officer of Planet Project Limited, the company executing the project, said the multi-level bus terminals was fitted with world-class facilities to make travelling pleasurable.

President Muhammadu Buhari will inaugurate the $70 million project on Wednesday during his one-day working visit to the state.

Otunola said when the transportation challenge is solved, it will be easier to address all other issues affecting the state.

“Oshodi Transport Interchange is to address the traffic, environmental safety and transportation problems around Oshodi and Lagos at large. As you all know, a lot of us travelling from one part of Lagos to the other have to use this particular spot where we are, which is Oshodi. Oshodi is perhaps the busiest transport interchange in Africa. Based on the study we carried out at the initial stage, we discovered that over 76% of the open space in Oshodi is occupied by transport activities,” Otunola said.

“As a result of that, we know that the problem here is not just environmental. The problem is transport. If we can solve the transport problem, we can deal with other issues. And because we don’t have enough land around here, hence the concept of having multi-level bus terminal in Oshodi. So, we have to provide a terminal that can handle at least one million people every day. Not in the immediate, but we believe that when this terminal opens, we should be able to handle 300,000.

“Here, we have three terminals. Terminal one is for inter-city transportation. So, if you are travelling to any part of Nigeria, including West Africa, you will be able to get the bus here and the terminal will run for 24 hours. The whole terminal has been designed to have all world-class facilities.

“Terminal two is to serve Lagos west and all the people going towards FESTAC, Mile 2, Abule Egba, Oshodi, Isolo and Ayobo. Terminal three will also serve people going to Lagos east and Lagos Island, Ojota, Ikorodu, Marina, Obalende, including Berger.

“Bus operation will start from terminal three on May 2,” he added.

- PM NEWS

My generation has failed Nigeria – Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has said his generation has failed the country.

Soyinka spoke on a BBC programme, “Hard Talk.”

According to him, the dreams people of his generation had about the country have not materialised.

Anchor of the programme, Zeinab Badawi, had asked the literary scholar: “Has your generation of older Nigerians failed the people?” and he responded, “Yes, I believe so.

“I compare today with dreams and aspirations we had when we all rushed home after studies abroad. We considered ourselves the renaissance people that are going to lift the continent to world standards, competitors anywhere. It hasn’t happened.”

Asked to comment about the 2019 presidential election, he said: “The 2019 election is one of the most depressing elections we’ve been through. Talking for myself, it wasn’t possible for me to make a choice for the simple reason that both candidates (President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar) both had histories— one immediate, one past —which made one look for alternatives.”

He explained why he was soft on Buhari in 2015 when he referred to the president as a born again democrat.

Soyinka said Buhari did not win the 2015 election because the people were endeared to him but for the fact that Nigerians could not continue with former President Goodluck Jonathan in office.

“General Buhari didn’t really win the first election, he won by default. It was impossible to continue with Jonathan (back in 2015),” he said.

“As it happened, yes, I did use that expression ‘born again democrat’. When somebody competes in an election three, four times and persists, he must believe in democracy… the circumstances in Nigeria, the fact that Nigerians have shown the military what a huge failure they were makes it possible for one to identify the possibility of exceptions when they seem to behave like democrats.

“But in any case, I kept emphasising that Nigerians had a very difficult choice and as I said, It was between the devil and the deep blue sea.”

- PM NEWS