Sahara Reporters Latest News Saturday 22nd December 2018
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 22/12/18
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target=_blank>Wike Terminates Sale Of State-Owned Power Plants Bought By APC Gov Candidate’s Company
The Rivers State Government has approved the termination of the share sale contract for the sale of 70-percent equity of the state government-owned power generation assets held by First Independent Power Limited in Omoku, Afam, Trans-Amadi and Eleme Gas Turbines to NG Power-HPS Limited.
Sahara Energy, owned by Tonye Cole, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is most affected in the decision.
Also terminated was the Olympia Hotel owned between Rivers and Bayelsa States, which is being run by Cenpropsaroten Hotel Management Limited.
The state government further terminated the concession agreement between the Government of Rivers State and Kild Concession Limited, with respect to the construction of a toll road and secondary developments in Abonnema Wharf, Port Harcourt.
These were part of resolutions at the State Executive Council meeting presided over by Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, on Friday at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
According a statement by Simeon Nwakaudu, Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media, the three companies involved in the contracts/concessions terminated are subsidiaries of Sahara Energy Limited, used by the immediate past Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, to acquire state assets.
Briefing journalists after the State Executive Council meeting, Information and Communication Commissioner, Emma Okah, said the state government arrived at the resolutions in line with yet-to-be-implemented recommendations of the White Paper on the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry for the investigation of the administration of former Governor Rotimi Amaechi on the sale of valued assets of Rivers State and other related matters, under the chairmanship of Justice George Omereji.
The Rivers State Government directed the Attorney General of the state to take further steps as contained in the White Paper.
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target=_blank>Fear Grips Ondo Students, Lecturers After 15 Highway Abductions In Two Months
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu
Worried by the spate of kidnapping on the Akure-Owo-Akoko highway, lecturers of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko (AAUA) in Ondo State, have expressed worry over their safety.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Friday, the lecturers noting the need to take urgent steps towards ending the incessant kidnappings on the Akure-Owo-Akoko highway.
SaharaReporters had recently reported that the Akure-Owo-Akoko road that leads to the northernsenatorial districts of the state had become a nightmare for road users.
Sola Fayose, Chairman of ASUU at the government-owned institution, signed the statement, which noted that the situation had caused psychological trauma among members of staff of the state university.
Fayose added that the rising scourge of kidnapping in the state had also forced the institution’s students transiting on the Owo/Akoko routes to live in palpable fear. He called on security agencies and the state government to tackle the activities of the those, using the bushes as cover.
“Our union is constrained to draw your attention to the worrisome state of the security of lives and property on the Akure-Owo-Akungba highway, which is our regular route to work. The incessant nature and unmitigated brazenness with which armed robbers and kidnappers operate on this road are reflectively anarchistic and perilous,” he said.
“These untoward developments have negatively affected smooth movement on the road, particularly to our work place to ply our trade. To say the least, our members, staff and students of AAUA and other commuters now live in perpetual fear of any eventuality while plying the road.
“We, therefore, call on Mr. Governor to use his good office as the Chief Security Officer of the state to take urgent and drastic measures to address this ugly situation. The union also calls on the Police, the DSS and other security agencies to rise up to their constitutional duty of protecting the lives and property of the citizens.”
There have been at least 15 different abduction incidents on the highway in the past two months.
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target=_blank>Two Arrested At Enugu Airport For ‘Carrying’ $2.8m Cash For ‘Some Notable Banks’
The Enugu zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has intercepted $2.8million cash by two persons suspected to be money launderers, at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
A statement by the anti-graft commission on Friday gave the names of the suspects as Ighoh Augustine and Ezekwe Emmanuel, who were alleged to be working for a company: Bankers Warehouse.
The men were nabbed based on intelligence report on Thursday.
The statement read: “Upon their arrests, they were caught with consignments of two suitcases, containing $1.4million each, totalling $2.8million, at the departure lounge of the airport while about to board an Arik Air evening flight to Lagos.
“During interrogation, the suspects confessed that they have been in the business of conveying cash for ‘some notable banks’, for over six years and were in the process of doing same for Union Bank Plc, located at New Market, Onitsha, Anambra State, when they were caught,” the commission said.
“The suspects further confessed that they had so far carried out such assignments, ‘four times this year’. They are presently giving useful information to operatives of the Commission, and will be charged to court soon.”
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target=_blank>Our Leaders Are Sick… They’re Using Our Destinies For Rituals, Says Sowore
Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), says there isn’t any progress in the country because our leaders are “sick” and they are using our future and destinies for rituals.
He therefore warned Nigerians that they cannot afford “another four years of hunger, poverty and suffering”.
He called on the people to ensure active participation in the 2019 general election in order to bring an end to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the country.
He stated this on Thursday, when he campaigned in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, as part of his party’s activities in the build-up to the 2019 general election.
Speaking on the need to usher in a new administration, he said: “We have been oppressed for years; your resources have been looted for years. There has been hunger, poverty and suffering in this country for years. You have to stop voting for the heavy weight parties so that they won’t continue to give heavy weight punishment to our people.
“We want to put an end to the government of PDP, APC. We have to stop voting for PDP and APC because that are giving us heavy duty of hunger, starvation and poverty. We want you to have a country where you can send your children to school, not to be hired as political thugs. That is why our party AAC is here to encourage you to take your country back next year.
“We cannot wait for another four years of suffering in this country. We cannot wait for another four years of sickness for our people. Our leaders are sick; our leaders are using our future and destinies for rituals that is why there isn’t any progress. But we can say with fresh ideas, we can make this country a fantastic country, to make Nigeria to start working like a country. Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa are not better than Nigeria. Nigeria should be compared with Brazil, South Korea, Malaysia and the rest, but the suffering is too much. In Nigeria, APC (Association of Poverty Congress) and PDP (Papa Deceiving Pikin). The suffering they are imposing on us is too much; the money that should be used to send our children to school and to build hospitals has been squandered.
“Vote for our party so that this will be state of progress and not poverty, problem or hardship state. We want a situation where you will be able to send your children to school. Our minimum wage is not N30,000, it is going to be N100,000. If your children did not go to school, we promise to give them free education. Anyone who does not have job, we are going to provide them jobs; not that you will be an oil-producing state and it will be a white man that will be exploring the oil. Any of your children who is a graduate will work in our company.
“Do not vote for N500 or N5,000 again, because if you divide N5,000 in four years, what will be your gain? The rest of it will be hunger and poverty. Our religion is not Islam or Christianity. It is hunger and poverty that is our religion. How can we survive if we are unable to change the government that destroyed us? Vote for me so that I can drive away the ‘Baba’ that is in Daura also Atiku, so that we can have a Nigerian who has fresh ideas.”
He also spoke on his plans to ensure economic development, such that will affect people across all sectors and at all levels.
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target=_blank>Dear Santa, I Am Part Of The Nigeria Problem By Fredrick Nwabufo
Fredrick Nwabufo
Fredrick Nwabufo
In the past, I used to ask myself, “What has Nigeria done for me?” But these days, there is usually guilt when that thought intrudes. There is now the thought of, “What have I done for Nigeria?”
I have come to understand that I have been a part of the Nigeria problem. I have been more interested in taking from the country than in giving to it. I have been fiercer in criticising the country than in delivering solutions to its challenges. And I have expressed more passion for sentimental nothings than for real issues.
The bigger problem is that there are many of us citizens who are more interested, like me, in taking from the country than in giving to it, and who are imbued with ethnic and sectional passion. But I hope Santa Claus helps deliver this memo to many Nigerians like me.
Nation-building is not about building infrastructure. It is not about allocating projects to a section of the country to appease them. It is not about giving people from a certain ethnic stock federal appointments to pacify a region or group of people. It is not about distribution of state resources, even though that is inclusive.
It is about the people coming into a peaceful accord with one another; treating one another fairly; respecting one another’s views, religion, beliefs, culture and political leanings. It is about the people understanding their differences and protecting the other’s right to be different.
It is true; leadership plays a pivotal role in fostering unity and in nation-building. But leadership will fail if the people are unwilling to build the nation. That an Igbo man calls a Hausa man “aboki” is symptomatic of latent resentment; that a Hausa man calls an Igbo man “Nyamiri” is also symptomatic of the same.
What can the government do in this case? It is up to citizens to build that country they desire. And it starts by ending stereotypes, needless conspiracy theories and imaginary plots. It also starts by giving – thoughts, time, energy – to Nigeria.
In conclusion, the government should consider framing a policy to encourage inter-ethnic marriage. The government should be intentional about this. Marriage is an adhesive; it will help in bonding families and cementing ethnic ties.
In the old world, kings often give their daughters in marriage to other kingdoms to hold the peace and to solidify international relationships.
This may appear simplistic; but I do not think anyone will want to take up arms against his in-laws.I will be better for Nigeria.Merry Christmas.
Fredrick is a media personality.
He can be reached on Facebook: Fredrick Nwabufo, Twitter: @FredrickNwabufo
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target=_blank>Eni’s Clash With International Finance
The hearing of the Eni-Shell trial in Nigeria on Wednesday was entirely taken off the examination of witness Karina Litvack, representative of the institutional funds of large international finance in the board of directors of Eni. And the process has finally started.
Born in 1962 in Montreal, Litvack worked for more than 20 years in New York and London, representing banks and funds in relations with the large companies in which they invest. With a smile ready for everyone, an almost university-like attitude that was prepared and precise and an excellent Italian — sometimes supported by a flash of key words on her tablet — Litvack immediately explained the governance of companies in the “only” Italian system. Even when they are on the market, they almost always have a reference shareholder who controls them, so investors covering more than half of the capital have at least guaranteed a minority stake in the board of directors: in Eni, three of the nine places on the board.
Like Zingales, Litvack, since her appointment to the Eni board in May 2014, has also been perceived as a problem by management. The first problem was the generous liquidation for the outgoing company Scaroni. Zingales called Litvack, who sits on the board’s Risk and Control Committee (CCR), and asked her to suggest to the Chairman of the committee that the payment be delayed by 30 days because it is the practice of the CCR to decide on the new board and not the outgoing one. The answer was a no-dry. Zingales tried to discuss the matter with Emma Marcegaglia, Chairman of the board, but at the first meeting of the board in June 2014 the President announced that the payment had already been made. If good morning is seen from the morning…
The evening before being elected to Eni’s board of directors, Litvack had read the article of the prestigious Economist who was very critical of the OPL 245 affair. At the same time, she had learned from the anti-corruption groups of the papers of the London trial of the EVP of Obi against the Malabu of Dan Etete. For this reason, at the shareholders’ meeting at which she was appointed, she asked Eni’s legal counsel, Massimo Mantovani, about the matter and he saw her in London. Litvack was concerned that the triangulation used through the Nigerian government to acquire Malabu’s licence was in compliance with the U.S. anti-corruption law, which she feared.
The US authorities, in fact, apply the letter but also the spirit of the law and often push for heavy sentences with various expedients. But Mantovani said that everything was okay and organized a meeting with the then head of compliance of Eni, the lawyer La Rocca, to have access to the files of the internal due diligence. Litvack asked the same question and asked of the previous Eni with the US Department of Justice. “If U.S. law were applied as you suppose you would no longer do business in Africa,” replied La Rocca. In June 2014, the bubble OPL 245 exploded in the Italian and international media with news on the investigation of the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office. On July 3 at the meeting of the joint JRC with the Board of Statutory Auditors it was unanimously decided to commission an external review of the ENI due diligence. But Litvack asked that those who supervised the client had not been involved in the negotiations. “Immediately there was a strong disagreement” and all the other members defended that it was Mantovani who took care of the client, even if involved in the deal.
“The President of the board of auditors Caratozzolo warned me and forbade me to use the word ‘involved’. I had nothing against Matovani, but for me, especially in large deals, each head of structure is responsible, it’s normal. Neutrality in the definition of the mandate and in the investigation had to be guaranteed. That’s how these things are done in the rest of the world”, Litvack politely vents herself, always smiling at the college of judges. The matter was sent back to the board. In the meantime, Zingales wrote to Marcegaglia on 11 July, raising all his doubts about the OpPL 245, from which it emerged that “there are problems in the decision-making process and in the flow of information on this type of operation”. Hence the risk of repeating the same mistakes in the future.
Litvack agreed with Zingales’ five points of doubt in the note, although he admits to having a softer, more collaborative style than his colleague. The board is seen on July 18, each councilor was asked to make a declaration of loyalty to Descalzi, but Zingales and Litvack abstained. It was updated to July 30, with an “excited” meeting. Descalzi arrived furiously and began by saying that “the leaders feel paralyzed, they perceive the hostility of the council and the lack of trust”. To be precise, Litvack opened her high school notebook in which she took all the notes of the meetings. The ad continued: “No one wanted to take risks, but some people made groundless accusations about the integrity of the leaders. This is intolerable. Those who criticize executives criticize me. If you don’t trust managers, you have to fire me.” Litvack admits that on that occasion she learned from Descalzi many vulgar words that she did not know in Italian, and that she does not want to repeat in court. “But I know it’s a different culture here, you can’t hear those words on the boards of British companies. She and the other board members felt intimidated. Zingales, on the other hand, had no problems in the video conference and replied by saying that the attitude of the ad was unacceptable. Litvack was anguished, she tried to stitch up explaining that the idea of not involving Mantovani had been her own. He wanted there to be confidence, but then he admitted that he couldn’t handle the tension and burst into tears. At the end of the theater, it was decided that there are no blacklists but are white lists of executives who can oversee the external investigation. And Mantovani was among them.”
In the meantime Consob asked Eni for information on the case (Litvack has not explained why) and the minutes of the JRC at the time of the approval of the operation. The Chairman of the Committee immediately informed the members that from that moment on the minutes of the meetings would be more concise and the comments would not be attributed to the individuals. Litvack was not there and always asked for its positions to be recorded, but this did not always happen, and the questions asked were not explained in the minutes.
The climate on the board continued to deteriorate, so the company proposed a review of the board’s governance. On April 29, 2015 there was a first meeting, not mandatory, so that Zingales, who was on the American spindle, did not attend. Marcegaglia announced that this time it would be a more extensive and even individual review of the individual members according to a peer review mechanism in which everyone could comment on each other.
“The advisors were not enthusiastic. But the President cut short and said that this was an opportunity for everyone to say what they really thought of Zingales. Because the time had come for this to go away and so would the tensions”. Litvack was shaken by this “strong” statement and asked Marcegaglia to speak with Zingales. But the situation fell and Zingales then left the board and slammed the door. In July 2015 Litvack invited Descalzi to dinner. He talked about everything but not about OPL 245. At the end of the dinner Karina confessed to him that she believed that he was honest but had received wrong advice. She replied that “if I accept advice I’m responsible, I’m the boss” in a mogie tone that Litvack calls almost repentant.
She remains on the board but will not have an easy life. On May 11, 2016 Marcegaglia called her to inform her that a very hard press article would come out about her involvement in the parallel investigation of the “Opl245 plot” conducted by the Syracuse Public Prosecutor’s Office. The President confessed that she had tried to stop the piece but without success. At Litvack it all seemed absurd: you would pass on confidential information to Nigerian subjects who wanted to blackmail Eni and influence the appointment of Descalzi in 2014. On July 7 Litvack raised a point at the JRC on OPL 245, but it was not included in the minutes with the excuse that it was better to discuss it at the next meeting. No one told her that a guarantee notice had arrived for her from Syracuse that day.
On July 14 Litvack learned from a colleague that she was considering her position on the board in the light of the infamous accusations. The hearing ignites the defences repeatedly try to block the examination of the witness on this point that would be part of another investigation also underway in Milan. Litvack broke the protocol and countered the stir to Avv. Neri Diodà, who defended Eni, said: “That’s not true, it has to do with OPL 245!” The judges agree with her and it continues.
On July 27, Karina presented herself at the JRC meeting. Her colleagues Lorenzi and Gemma told her that there will be no meeting (and the discussion on Opl245) but only an informal meeting. They talked about the notice of guarantee received by her and Virgin of Saipem and told her that it was convenient for her to suspend herself from the JRC. She had to decide immediately because after two days there was the board and everyone would go on vacation. Litvack did not stay there and said she did not suspend herself. Marcegaglia invited her to dinner to convince her, talked about her conflict of interest in the case, offered to continue to pass documents for her opinions, but not on Opl245. In short, from accuser, Litvack becomes accused inside Eni. On 29 July the board decided to remove her, talking about a “turnover”. Litvack pointed out to the judge that she spoke of “expulsion”, attacking the communiqué issued by Eni at the time.
On the other hand, the tension mounts in the courtroom. The former minister Severino, who defends Descalzi, urges you to say that you supported the statement of the board of 20 December 2017 that on the day of the indictment of Descalzi has confirmed the “highest” confidence. For Litvack it was a collegial decision and a due act because it is the role of the board to defend the accused until proven otherwise, without taking the place of the judicial authorities. The exchanges with Diodà are even more nervous. Litvack does not want to answer the question whether there is an investigation into Eni in the United States concerning Opl245, even if it makes it clear that it has heard this from several people. The judge protects her. The witness remembers how she also raised the Congo question in 2016 – as chance would have it before being expelled from the JRC. In the end, she confirms that Pepper Hamilton’s external report on Opl245 had certified the compliance of Eni’s JRC’s work with the procedures then in force, which were more loose than those adopted later.
This concludes a strong clash between those who represent the international funds in Eni and the top management of the company, Marcegaglia, in the lead — match that will inevitably continue as well as the criminal proceedings on the case.
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target=_blank>Leo Ogor’s Supporters Accused Of Destroying APC Candidate’s Billboards In Delta
Supporters of Leo Ogor, member representing Isoko federal constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have been accused of destroying billboards belonging to the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Isoko Federal House of Representatives, Joel-Onowakpo Thomas.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that the destruction of the billboards at Oyede and other parts of Isoko came after Wednesday’s inauguration of the Joel-Onowakpo Thomas campaign committee at Oyede ward 12, Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State.
The destruction of the billboards, alleged to have been carried out on Wednesday night, was said to have been done with the support of Leo Ogor, who is currently suffering from partial stroke.
An Oyede youth simply identified as Mano, who saw the supporters destroy the billboards belonging to the APC candidate, said: “We saw Honourable Leo Ogor’s supporters and thugs on Wednesday midnight destroying Joel-Onowakpo Thomas billboards for no just cause. As they carried out the destruction, we heard them say: “We don’t want to see Joel-Onowakpo’s billboards in Oyede town or any part of Isoko land. Apart from our Oga, Rt. Hon. Leo Ogor’s posters and billboards, we don’t want to see Joel Onowakpo’s billboards in our community or any other community. Our Oga, Leo Ogor, the Oyibo of Isoko, is aware of this and there’s nothing anybody can do to us.”
Condemning the act, the Joel-Onowakpo Thomas campaign organisation said the destruction of their principal’s billboards had been going on across Isoko, stating that it is “uncivilized and inhumane” and “a sign of defeat on the side of the opposition party sponsoring the act in the land”.
The campaign organisation, however, noted that no amount of sponsored destruction of its principal’s billboards or intimidation of any kind would stop the people of Isoko nation from giving their mandates to “the tested and trusted Joel-Onowakpo Thomas” to represent them at the House of Representatives come 2019.
“On Thursday morning, we got a report that our billboards were on Wednesday night destroyed at Oyede and other parts of Isoko land. Let them continue to destroy our billboards, but that will not stop the good people of Isoko nation from giving their mandates to Hon. Joel-Onowakpo Thomas, a tested and trusted technocrat to represent them at the House of Representatives come 2019. As the destruction of our billboards is going on, we have warned our party members and supporters never to retaliate but go about campaigning for our principal in the most civilised manner,” the campaign organisation said.
All efforts to contact Ogor on the issue proved abortive. However, one of his political associates who did not want his name mentioned because he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the federal lawmaker, debunked the allegation, but added that “though it is possible that some overzealous supporters of Right Honourable Leo Ogor may have done that, they cannot be said to have been sent by Leo to carry out such condemnable act”.
Meanwhile, the Isoko Development Union (IDU), the parent body of the Isoko nation, has condemned the underdevelopment of the Niger Delta region.
Iduh Amadhe, President General of IDU, stated this last weekend while playing host to the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Isoko Federal House of Representatives, Joel-Onowakpo Thomas and his campaign organisation when they visited the IDU secretariat, Oleh, headquarters of Isoko South Local Government Area of the state.
Amadhe admonished Thomas not to fritter away opportunities to bring development to his constituency, if elected in the 2019 general election.
“IDU is for everybody, not for any particular political party. Immediately the news of the consultation of the APC candidate and his campaign organisation filtered into town, PDP tried all it could to stop the leadership of IDU from receiving the APC candidate and his entourage, but we have made it clear that IDU is not for any political party and as a parent body, we will welcome and give our blessings to all Isoko sons and daughters vying for elective positions not minding their political affiliations,” he said.
“Joel-Onowakpo, once you are voted into power in come 2019, please don’t be a lawmaker and at the same time a contractor. Rather, allow your followers and supporters to execute such contracts as empowerment to them. Always carry IDU along in the scheme of things, especially budget inputs. Don’t leave us in the dark and you must always do things to bring glory to Isoko nation.”
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target=_blank>Childhood Education As Middle Class Child Abuse In Nigeria By Moses E. Ochonu
The Nigerian Middle class is a brittle collectivity of people; brittle because it is insecureand unmoored to any abiding institutions and because its members suffer from status anxiety. The fear of falling back down the socioeconomic ladder to return to the low-level hustle from which they climbed their way up is ever present and it over-determines the actions and worldview of members of the Nigerian middle class.
Like all fragile classes, the Nigerian middle class worries both about intra-class and inter-class perception. Members of this class obsess about how their peers perceive them and about how members of the upper class, occupants of their aspirational destination, see them. Insecurity thus causes members of the Nigerian middle class to consume conspicuously, to loudly advertise their accomplishments, and to engage in a competitive one-upmanship, a higher iteration of the “I better pass my neighbor” competition among the Nigerian working class.
This middle class contest for recognition, attention, and prestige encompasses the entire gamut of members’ socioeconomic existence, from the homes they rent or build to the cars they drive and the places in which they shop and eat.
The mantra of the Nigerian middle class seems to be that one must do as other members of the class are doing or even eclipse them. Peer influence generates further anxieties about keeping up. There are multiple arenas in which these anxieties manifest and can be located.
I want to comment briefly on one of them, education, because I earn a living in the education industry and have a passion for how Nigeria educates her young people.
One strange practice in the growing repertoire of self-fashioning of the Nigerian middle class is that of sending children to formal schools too early. It’s now common to see children as young as 8 and 9 starting secondary school and as young as 14 and 15 sitting for JAMB to get into university.
Parents are living vicariously through their children, using them as bragging points– “look at my son; he’s so brilliant he started secondary school at age of 8.Look at my daughter; she graduated from the university at age 18.” The competition to raise children that seem to defy the limitations of age and are seemingly capable of punching above their educational weight is fierce among Nigerian middle class families. I was told of 8 year olds who have trouble bathing and looking after themselves being sent to boarding schools and struggling to live the lives of teenagers when they should be left to live like the children they are. One parent is said to have sent her 15 year old daughter to Bulgaria to study medicine in the university by herself. Bulgaria is not an English speaking country and the cultural contrast between Nigeria and the country could not be sharper. Yet this child is expected to weather the culture shock all by herself while navigating a strange educational system.
I’m no child psychologist or early childhood education expert, but there is a strong consensus in the literature and among experts about the necessity of letting children be children and of not burdening them with formal education or advanced learning until they’re ready. Study after study has demonstrated the harm that passing unready children through the grind of formal schooling or through the crucible of advanced learning can do to their long term development in terms of intellectual sensibility, emotional intelligence, social confidence, and awareness of the world around them. When it comes to early childhood education, the axiom “all work and no play makes jack a dull boy” is a truthful, scientifically proven one. The derivative wisdom of lettingchildren be children is quite literally a recipe for wholesome child development. From the age of 1-5, a child literally learns through play and socialization, not through the unnatural rigors of classroom learning. But nowadays in Nigerian middle class families you see 3 and 4 year olds already in primary 1.
Cognitively, the child may cope if pressured, but at great psychic cost to him/her. Accelerating children through the educational system and causing them to learn material that is beyond their cognitive level and maturity is a form of child abuse.I know that some parents doing this probably mean well and want their kids to get a head start. But clearly, others are doing it for bragging points and damaging their children in the process. So that I’m not misunderstood, there are precocious children, specially gifted and thus capable of learning advanced materials above the level of their peers. That’s why some children skip grades so they don't become bored and so they can learn at their cognitive level. That determination is, however, made by teachers and experts when the child is enrolled at first at the appropriate level and is observed to be too cognitively mature for that level. It is not a decision that parents should make on a whim. The trend in middle class Nigeria is not about gifted children. Parents are making their children skip grades arbitrarily because they can and because, as long as they pay the high fees charged by private schools, the schools do not question such decisions as a way of protecting the child.
The problem in Nigeria is thus one of starting kids in formal education too early and pressuring them to move through the educational system rapidly by skipping grades andadvancing to harder material before they’re ready, thus robbing them of their childhood and doing lasting psycho-social damage to them.
Some say parents are being proactive in setting their children up with a built-in advantage given the amount of time it typically takes for graduates to secure jobs and the corporate and governmental practice of implementing an age cutoff for advertised employment. If a child completes university at 18, so the argument goes, that gives her time to wait out the long job search process without passing the age limit of private sector and governmentemployment. It is a valid point, but it does not justify the psycho-social cost to the child’s long term sdevelopment and happiness. Most of these children are socialized into believing that all there is to life is schooling and thereafter securing a job and building a family. When they finish school so early without both of these things happening, the resulting frustration takes a huge toll on their mental and psychological health. More mature graduates are able to deal with this stress, having acquired an all-round life education and socialization.
Less mature graduates have a difficult time dealing with the issues and vicissitudes of life on their own independent initiative. Secondly, these young people being pushed prematurely through the conveyor belt of structured education are learning by rote; they are simply mastering materials under the pressure of punishment or examinations. They are being trained without being educated.
There is a difference. Education around the world is moving away from by-rote learning to a system that empowers and challenges the child to think critically and creatively aboutthe world around them and about problems. It takes both maturity and the proper temporal sequence in passing through the educational system for students to develop critical thinking skills and independent research and problem-solving acumen. These skills, along with certified training, not paper qualifications and credentialed education alone, are the advantageous asset of a future where there will be even greater competition for jobs and opportunities.
Most children will rise to the occasion and master advanced material under the threat of punishment, humiliation, ostracism, or shame. The problem is that they will be incapable of applying the knowledge creatively to situations and problems around them until and unless they acquire the emotional and psychological resources to go with the learning. The best way to give a child a head start, unless he/she is a gifted child, is to avoid exposing them too early to formal learning and to keep away from them materials that are too advanced for their age and cognitive station. The next step is to enroll them in schools that not only teach them how to pass exams brilliantly but also how to think critically,how to be creative intellectually and practically, and how to cultivate an empathetic understanding the world.
Professor Ochonu can be reached at meochonu@gmail.com
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Moses E. Ochonu
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target=_blank>Was There Ever An Era Of Benue Exceptionalism? By Ihembe Martin
My boss, dear friend and uncle, Mr Adagbo Onoja introduced a new concept in media lexicon I find useful in making a very important statement on governance in post-1999 Benue State. While analyzing the politics surrounding the selection of Barrister Emmanuel Jime’s running mate – the All Progressives Congress gubernatorial candidate, he concluded by asking “who, between Ortom and Emmanuel Jime, is going to change the sorry story in favour of that elusive thing called Benue Exceptionalism….”? Millennials in Benue State who had a little dose of military dictatorship and much of bad leadership since the return to civil rule in 1999 are less inclined to contemplate a moment of Benue exceptionalism which Mr Onoja talked about. To them, there has never been anything like Benue exceptionalism, and there will be anything like that. At least not in the foreseeable future. Is that really true? Perhaps a bit of historicism would help provide an answer.
After its creation in 1976 by the Murtala/Obasanjo led junta, nothing was achieved in terms of development under the Abdullahi Shelleng and Adebayo Lawal administration, both of which served between March 1976 and October 1979, respectively. Having served as Chairman of Kwande Local Government under the Shelleng’s administration in 1977, Aku run and won the gubernatorial election in 1979 under the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), and became the first executive Governor of the State. While in office, Aku pursued an aggressive policy with a style of governance that was focused on turning the three year old State into an emporium that would be investors’ destination by tapping into the State’s agriculture potentials while he also develop human capital. This was not a mean task by any standard.
However, he pursued his vision with determination under a harsh political environment amid series of challenges. Aku was a man of many parts. This reflected in his style of leadership and what he was able to accomplish in four years. By the time the military took over in December 1983, one would say it mission completed for Aku, even though he left unceremoniously. On the industrial plane, Aku established Benue Brewery, Benro Packing, Benue Bottling Company, Benue Links Limited, Taraku Vegetable Processing Industry and Oturkpo Burnt Bricks. Recognizing the special gift of nature to the State – fertile land suitable for agriculture, Aku gave agriculture maximum attention by establishing the massive Ber-Agbum Fish Farm. Aside the Fish Farm, this is place where rice can be cultivated in export quantity. He also setup a Cattle Ranch at Ikogen while he also supported other agricultural courses which saw the State recording bumper harvest in a lot of cash crops as a result of these intervention in the agric. sector. He started a massive water scheme which he could not complete before the Buhari led junta struck in December 1983 and ended civil rule.
Aku did not only establish industries, his love for commerce led him into conceiving Lobi Bank as well as an International Market with a vision to dredge River Benue and create a port where goods can be shipped into the state. Unfortunately this idea died with him. The Market is now an eyesore. He built a magnificent Secretariat, which arguably, is the best in Northern Nigeria. His love for entertainment led to the construction of international stadium and Art Council which has helped many. Oh, did I forget The Voice Newspaper! In the area of human development, aside building schools, Aku made scholarship opportunities available and accessible to Benue indigenes irrespective of ethnicity. Garba Shehu has detailed Aku’s exceptional strides in this in one of his pieces which I have taken the liberty to share
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by-garba-shehu.html.
This impressive feat Aper Aku recorded in such a short time answers the question the title of this piece posed. This is exactly what my boss, uncle and dear friend Adagbo Onoja had in mind when he spoke about Benue Exceptionalism. That Aku is referred to as a visionary leader ahead of his time and the father of modern Benue is not out of place. Take away his achievements and there will be nothing to talk about in Benue. With the foundation he laid, Aku placed Benue state on the springboard for succeeding administrations to launch the State to its rightful place. Sadly, his vision was not shared by his successors. The MILADs (Military Administrators), beginning with our own Atom Kpera in 1984, to Jonah Jang, Yohanna Madaki, Ishaya Bakut, Idris Garba and Fidelis Makka sentenced Aku’s achievements to death by abandoning the projects he initiated. The reverend Father Moses Orshior Adasu who took office in 1992 under the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)reversed the sentence as he embarked on restoring Benue Exceptionalism by travelling the Aku road. His administration was truly reminiscent of Aku’s. Between January 1992 and November 1993, Adasu built the first state University in Northern Nigeria. He improved Oju College of Education which was initiated by Aku, and went ahead to build BENCO roofing tiles factory.
He setup Joseph Saawuan Tarkaa Foundation, Katsina Ala fruit juice factory and constructed roads. The good thing about the developmental strides of Aku and Adasu is that Benue people were empowered. I know a lot of people who were gainfully employed in those state-owned corporations before some of them were corruptly ran down. Today, Benue State University provides employment to thousands, thanks to the wonderful vision of late Father Adasu. But as it turned out again, the trio of Joshua Obademi, Aminu Kontagora, and Dominic Oneya who served as MILADs between December 1993 and May 1999 sentenced Adasu’s vision of Benue Exceptionalism to death. And since then, the notion of Benue Exceptionalism has been “elusive” as uncle Onoja rightly observed. Let me explain why it is elusive; and I will be “brutally truthful” in my explanation. Brutally truthful not because I am out to insult those who are culpable, but because I want them to reconsider putting Benue first in their quest for power and influence ahead of 2019 instead of their narrow interest which has detained Benue in a state of despondency.
While the MILADs succeeded in sentencing Benue state to death by killing the vision of Benue Exceptionalism pursued bt Aku and Adasu, the post-1999 political class executed the death sentence handed by the MILADs. Having served out two consecutive terms of eight years each, none of the post-1999 Governors could achieve a fraction of what Aku and Adasu achieved in their five years and eight months in office, combine. Instead, they embarked on privatizing the state-owned corporations Aku worked so hard to establish. Sometime in April this year, the current administration put up eleven more of those corporations for sell. The Question is: if Aku had embarked on the kind of profligacy and looting of the state treasury with reckless abandon as we have seen in the past eighteen years, would there be any state-owned corporations to for those who privatized, and are privatizing, to privatize today?
Visionary leaders do not offer themselves for service in order to help themselves with state resources and bring untold hardship on the people they swore to govern as we have seen in our State, but to protect the people and better their lot by pursuing policy objectives that promote public goods. In the last eighteen years, governance in Benue State has been everything but beneficial to the suffering masses with the sad phenomenon of none payment of salaries, insecurity, growing rate of cultism, drug problems, infrastructural deficit, widespread poverty to mention a few. Al of these ills coupled with lack of vertical accountability on the part of the, leaders, one is inclined to ask: how different is this civil rule from the reign of the MILADs?
The 2019 general elections is less than three months from now. From the look of things, it is going to be a two horse race even though there are other contenders. Who are we going to bank on that can deliver the glorious era of Benue Exceptionalism once experience under Aku and Adasu? Is it the current inept government which has an F in all aspects? Or Emmanuel Jime? Should we consider other alternatives outside the two? If so, are the alternatives credible and reliable? Whichever way the people we decide, here is my candidate advice to the good people of Benue.
While it is true that every society gets the kind of leaders it deserves, we have vote and make we get what we deserve. As prepare to cast your vote, keep in mind the warning of the underperforming government of President Muhammadu Buhari. The government has warned of an impending hardship come 2019. Already revenue from petrodollar is dwindling; which is why that warning should be taken seriously. Casting your vote on someone who does not think beyond going to Abuja to collect rent in the name of revenue allocation from the Federation Account will not do you any good. Casting your vote on someone who shares Aku’s vision on education, economy, agriculture, infrastructural development, tourism, and social policy will do you and your suffering family a lot of good. Casting your vote on someone who is selfless and is not interested in accumulating wealth, but like Aku, is interesting in channeling it into developmental courses will serve Benue right. This is the only way that we can attain the now elusive quest for Benue Exceptionalism. A vote for this government and someone who shares the same vision with it on another platform is a vote that will finally perform the burial ceremony of Benue State. To be forewarn is to be forearmed.
Ihembe, Ayankaa Martin is a Political Scientist with research interests in Political Development, public policy, Democracy and Democratization Governance, and Political Theory. He can be reached via07036396194
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Abuja Court Sets Deji Adeyanju Free But Kano Court Sends Him To Prison Till February
Deji Adeyanju
A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja has ordered the immediate release of Deji Adeyanju, Convener of Concerned Nigerians.
Adeyanju was taken to Kano a few days ago to stand trial for an old case, for which he had been discharged and acquitted by a court in Kano years ago.
He had been arraigned before a Kano Magistrate Court earlier during the week, and remanded in custody. The court had adjourned till Friday, December 21, 2018, for hearing on his bail application.
However, counsel to Adeyanju, Mike Ozhekome (SAN), had filed a suit in an Abuja court, seeking the enforcement of Adeyanju’s fundamental human rights.
Delivering judgment in Abuja on Friday, the presiding judge, Justice Sandhi, ruled that the allegations brought against him do not warrant his being kept in detention, and therefore ordered his immediate and unconditional release by the Police.
The matter was adjourned till January 7, 2019 for hearing.
But in a separate ruling, the court sitting in Kano ordered that Adeyanju should be remanded in Police custody.
Ruling on the matter at the Chief Magistrate Court in Kano, Hassan Fagge said he lacked the power to take hearing on the case, and issued an order for Adeyanju’s remandment in custody till February 6, 2019 when the matter could be heard at a higher court.
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