The Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt, has ordered the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, Martins Amaewhule and 24 other members of the House to appear in court on subsequent sitting dates, following a motion filed before it by some elders of the state.

Ten members of the Rivers Elders Forum approached the court, seeking a leave to serve the lawmakers court processes on a suit they filed, questioning the lawmakers rights to remain in office after defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The lawmakers had defected from PDP to APC following a recent political altercation between the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

Not comfortable with the actions of the lawmakers who are loyal to the former governor, Wike, the elders insisted that their interest are no longer protected with the 25 lawmakers still occupying their officers, hence they approached the court for interpretation of their actions.

First, the elders approached the State High Court in Port Harcourt, to grant them an exparte order of subsistence service to the lawmakers, but the trial judge, Justice Chinwendu Nwogu struck out the motion, even before parties’ appearance in court.

Yesterday, the matter was filed before an Appeal Court in Port Harcourt, presided by a three man panel of judges led by Justice Oluwayemisi Williams-Dawodu, the court agreed that Amaewhule and 24 other lawmakers be served through subsistence means or WhatsApp.

The lead counsel for the applicants, Wilcox Abereton, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) had informed the court that it had been difficult and life threatening to serve the Speaker and the Assembly, as a result of tight security details around them occasioned by the political tension in the State.

The SAN also informed the court on how the bailiff of court who went to serve the respondents, was allegedly warned and threatened not to come to serve any further process, but that he can paste it if he has the order of court to do so.

Amongst the other prayers granted by the court, include an order of accelerated hearing of the appeal. The court however, adjourned the matter till April 8, 2024 for accelerated hearing.

Speaking with journalists outside the courtroom immediately after the Court order, one of the counsel for the applicants, Emmanuel Erukari, said: “Before now, the purported House of Assembly members defected from PDP to APC or wherever, and so we have gone to court on behalf of our clients to say no, that they do not longer have such powers to run the state House of Assembly.

“We went to the court with our clients who said their interest is no longer protected if they continue to allow Martins Amaewhule to continue to oversee the affairs of the Assembly. So as Rivers people they felt their interest should be protected, that is why they approached the court”.

One of the parties in the matter, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe expressed satisfaction at the proceedings of the court, saying that “Rivers people are very interested in and want justice to be done”.

He said Nigerians should be on the alert on the natter to know if the country has a constitution that embraces rights, equality and justice.

Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal high court sitting in Lagos, has ordered three India nationals to pay the sum of N98.2 million and additional $325,000.00 to an 87-year-old businessman, Isaac Oluwole Oginni for breach of fair hearing and the clear provisions of section 262 of Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).

Justice Faji also declared that the octogenarian remains a director of his three companies, Bolawole Enterprises Nigeria Limited, Lesag Nigeria Limited and Intermanagement Nigeria Limited.

The Indians affected by the court order in a suit marked FHC/L/CS/1431/2019, are: Mr. Jai Bhagwan Gupta, and his two sons, Vineet Gupta and Rachit Gupta.

The octogenarian had in his statement of claims, filed and argued by his lawyer, Yakubu Galadima, sought for a declaration that he was a director and remains a director of the three companies listed as first, second and third defendants in the suit.

He also sought for a declaration that the he being a first subscriber and director in the first to third defendants, is entitled to certain benefits, advantages and reliefs from the activities of the three companies.

He also prayed the court for an order compelling the 4th Defendant to render a comprehensive account to the Plaintiff of the N7,000,000,000.00 (Seven Billion Naira) granted to the 1st Defendant by the Export Expansion Grant Scheme.

But the first to sixth defendants through their lawyer, Festus Afeiyodion, in a 45-paragraph counter-affidavit urged court to dismiss the plaintiff’s originating summons for lacking in merit.

The seventh defendant, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) did not file any counter, and it was not represented by any lawyer for three years that the suit lasted.

Delivering judgement, Justice Faji held that no reasons were given by the defendants for the removal of the plaintiff, which showed that a breach of the right to fair hearing and the clear provisions of section 262 of CAMA.

The judge noted that the crux of the issues being whether or not the provisions of the law as regards notice for extra-ordinary general meetings have been fulfilled.

Highlighting relevant sections of CAMA 1990, the Justice Faji held that “Section 262 of the law stated that reasons must be given in the notice requesting a Director’s removal, before a director can be removed”.

Consequently, the court restrained the first to sixth defendants either by themselves, or their agents, privies, officers from any act that may curtail or impede the rights of the Plaintiff as a member and director of the first, second and third defendants.

On the defendants contention that the fourth defendant holds 40,000.00 fully paid up shares in the 1st defendant, as at 1987, the court stated that in exhibit 1009, it was clear that the company’s share capital is now 100,000,000.00 ordinary shares of N1.00 each.

The court held “the fourth defendant holds 38, 000, 000. 00 of those shares which are not even paid for. The defendants have not controverted exhibit 10009 and same is deemed admitted. I must therefore hold that the defendants do not have 10 per cent of the paid up capital of the companies.

The court held that even plaintiff’s exhibit 1009 showed that the 5th defendant has 15,000,000.00 of 100, 000, 000 but the shares were not paid for.

“The 4th defendant had 38 million shares as at 1st February, 2023 does not show that as at the date of the extra-ordinary general meeting in 2019 that he had the requisite shareholding. What is more, no reasons were given for the removal of the plaintiff and that to my mind shows a breach of the right to fair hearing and the clear provisions of section 262 of CAMA.

“I must therefore resolve issues 1 and 2 in favour of the plaintiff and hold that the first relief that is the plaintiff is a director and remains a director of the 1st to 3rd defendant has merit and is granted as prayed.

“It is obvious that the plaintiff is entitled to the following sums after prorating and deducting the figure relating to NIBCO Ltd and the Plaintiffs deceased wife to wit: Directors’ payments of N13.9 million,
Vacation benefit of N12 million, Annual bonus of $150,000.00 and N55, 500, 000. 00.

“I therefore grant the plaintiff the sum of N81,000,000.00 and $150,000.00. This sum covers the benefits up to 17th august 2017, when Exhibit 1003 was made. The vacation allowance was N1,000,000.00 per year. The period from 2017 to date is 7 years. An additional sum of N7,000,000.00 is thus due to the Plaintiff as vacation allowance.

“The yearly bonus is $25,000.00 per year making a total of $25,000 for 7 years $175, 000.00, Directors payment of N1, 400, 000.00 for 7 years is N9, 800, 000. 00. Up to date therefore, the plaintiff is entitled to the sums of N98, 200,000.00 and $325,000.00,” the court held.

Justice Faji, however, refused the plaintiff’s request for an order directing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Defendants to pay to him the sum of N500 million, being his benefits, commissions and brokerages from the activities of the first to third defendants.

In his Reactions after the judgment, the Plaintiff lawyer, Yakubu Galadima described the verdict as sound and unassailable.

He said “The Judgment was a sound and unassailable and also to say victory at last! It was a lesson learned. That is, our client Chief Oginni set up an indigenous company called Bolawole Enterprises Nigeria Limited in the 80s and brought a friend of his that is the 4th Respondent who was sacked from another organization to manage the company. As time goes by, the 4th Respondent brought his children into the company as directors, altered the initial shares and ultimately trying to remove our client and his late wife as directors. That was when we approached the court.

“The 7th Respondent had been directed by the order of court to audit the affairs of the companies in question. After their interrogations, appropriate sanctions will be imposed.

“As I stated elsewhere, it is a big lesson for the indigenous companies to trade with caution whenever they are dealing with foreign partners so as not to take over their companies. Our clients passed through a lot of pains while dealing with these aliens called business partners”.

“Hunger is the cry of a god and two gods do the humans worship – the head and the stomach ...We know the body will survive without head Sustenance, but the Stomach, the god that rumbles and thunders when sacrifice is late, this God cannot be slighted” – Wole Soyinka

Salutations to the Gut is the title of an 84-page essay published over 40 years ago by Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate in Literature, Wole Soyinka celebrating the splendour of Yoruba cuisine and gastronomic hedonism, how “the true hedonist has felt in every morsel the soul of the open kitchen”, a witty, whimsical essay about the importance and the culture of food, indeed life itself.  Soyinka wrote that “It is sad - daily the business of the world becomes more hurried, and the few who still possess leisure lack true poetry of food.” How so true, not just for the Yoruba race, but for the whole of humanity. It is not for nothing therefore that the Yoruba also have a popular saying that “the path to the stomach is the path to Heaven.” Where there is no true poetry of food and hunger persists, not only is paradise lost, hope is trampled upon, anger reigns, poverty stalks the landscape. This is summarized in a local saying that “ebi ki n wo inu, ki oro mi wo be”, which means literally that a hungry man is not ready for any kind of communication, because he is angry. 

This explains perhaps why some of the major crises in human history have been woven around the search for food, and the expression of frustration around the lack of same, explained with different phrases: hunger, famine, poverty, scarcity or derivation.  Historically, the scarcity of food, or the non-availability or non-affordability, has often resulted in riots or revolutions. In 1648, there were riots on the streets of Moscow because government imposed a salt tax, which drove up the cost of salt. One of the reasons for the French Revolution was in part because the ordinary people could not afford to buy bread. In 1789, the market women of France marched on the Versailles, and the protest was quickly taken over by revolutionaries who no longer wanted the Monarchy. In 1846, in Ireland, there was the famous Great Famine which led to food riots. During the American Civil war, in 1863, Southern women looking for food organized protests in places like Boston and Richmond, taking over the streets and plundering warehouses where they could find them. The problem was hyper-inflation. During World War I, there were potato riots in Europe, and rice riots in Japan, as the people looked for food to eat. Hunger was also one of the causes of the February 1917 Revolution in Russia. In more recent times, we have had the Egyptian Bread riots of 1977 – food became so expensive, Egyptians rioted; in 1981 – there was the Bread riots in Casablanca, Morocco, and in 1984, the Moroccan Hunger Uprising. There have also been food riots in Venezuela, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the UK, Zambia, France, Haiti, Bangladesh and anywhere else in the world where the god of the stomach rumbles, after being slighted by scarcity, and ignited to rebellion by hunger. When the god of the stomach rumbles, there are casualties. 

What is common in all the narratives is that people become desperate when they cannot feed themselves. Food prices trigger political instability as seen in the Russian and French Revolutions, the Great Depression and during the Arab Spring. The politics of hunger is oftentimes triggered by poor leadership, including corruption, or in other cases by failures in agricultural production such as crop failure or post-harvest losses, and a crisis in one place can translate into further crisis in other states, given the existence of an established global food supply chain. When food prices rise beyond the people’s purchasing power, social unrest is never too far away. This is the tough lesson Nigeria is confronting at the moment. It is sad that this is happening in a country that once advertised agriculture as the mainstay of its economy, and whose leaders still believe that deepening agricultural production could rescue the country from the mono-cultural, oil dependent ditch in which it has found itself. Today, the country faces a “food intifada”, the same country with an arable land area of about 36.9 million hectares, where there were once cocoa plantations in the West, rubber plantations in the Mid-West, rice pyramids in the North, as well as aquatic splendour and a fluorescent blue economy along its coastlines. In living memory, Nigerians talked about “Operation Feed The Nation” (1979) and the “Green Revolution (1980)”, and indeed it was in this same country that a certain Umaru Dikko, Minister of Transport, and Chair of the Committee on Rice Importation, under the Shehu Shagari administration once scandalized the public when he quipped that there was no hunger in Nigeria because no one was yet eating from the dustbin, and that Nigerians should be grateful because government was paying salaries without borrowing – a big favour! Dikko would later become famous for the botched attempt by the succeeding military regime to kidnap him from the UK in July 1984. He died in July 2014. If he were alive today, he would have lived to see that Nigerians now eat from dustbins, and that hungry and angry Nigerians are telling their government that they are “hungry”. And that the government goes a-borrowing and a-sorrowing. 

There have been protests in Minna, Niger State, Ota, Sagamu and Abeokuta in Ogun State, Oyo and Ibadan in Oyo State, Kano in Kano State, Port Harcourt in Rivers State, Sokoto in Sokoto State, Lokoja in Kogi State, and in Lagos, the country’s commercial capital. The reports of the various protests clearly underline the people’s desperation in the face of hunger. In Lagos, we saw reports of people practically falling over themselves, and being beaten as they struggled to buy loaves of bread at a discounted price. Also in Lagos, a Good Samaritan had provided a truck load of tubers of yam to be given out for free. The people didn’t wait for the tubers to be distributed. Chaos ensued as they seized the initiative and grabbed the tubers of yam in a classical, Darwinian, “survival of the fittest” scramble. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) also tried to intervene by offering to sell seized, contraband bags of rice at a discounted price to the public. It made good on its promise. But at its Yaba depot in Lagos, over 10, 000 people showed up, scrambling, struggling. To cut a long story short, seven persons reportedly died. The initiative has been suspended. In Katsina, villagers and hoodlums besieged an accidented truck bearing grains, and looted the commodities. In Rivers state, aggrieved women added another twist to the matter when they asked the government to address their suffering because they had become sex-starved as their husbands no longer attended to their conjugal duties due to excessive heat in the other room on account of epileptic power supply and confirmed loss of libido because of the psychological pressure induced by the high cost of living! 

In Ibadan, the protesting youths and market women told President Tinubu: “This is no longer Emilokan. This is Shege!.”  In Osogbo, the people chanted: “We can’t cope again”.  In Sokoto, they said: “We are being pushed to the wall.” In Ogun, the people told the government, “We are in pains”. In Lagos, they said: “Baba Tinubu Nigerians are Hungry, Rescue Us”. On February 10, in the midst of all this, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners announced that its members will go naked on the streets in protest. As of January 2024, Nigeria’s headline inflation had risen to 29.90%. Food inflation was over 35.4%- much higher in some of the states. In practical terms, a measure of rice is now N2,000 and a bag of 50kg rice – N70, 000, a bag of maize is as high as N60, 000. People can no longer eat three square meals per day, certainly not those pensioners who receive as low as N450 per month. The country’s minimum wage in the face of hyper-inflation cannot feed one person not to talk of a family. 

It would have been strange if the Nigerian government did not respond to these developments, with the god of the stomach and the gut wreaking havoc across the land having been so badly bruised, and the people so disconcerted. In July 2023, Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu had in fact foreseen the food crisis that the country was likely to face. He declared food insecurity a national emergency, set up a Committee on Food Emergency and moved the assignment to his office and the office of the National Security Adviser. This was understandable. Food inflation was rising. Farmers could not access their farms. The country’s Food Belt had become a theatre of terror and insurgency. But as the harvest became real, and protests showed up in parts of the country, with the people of Lagos even directly confronting the President screaming: “Ebi n pa wa” (“We are Hungry”) as the President went for Friday worship in Central Lagos, and other Nigerians screaming for help, government just had to be seen to be doing something. The Emergency Committee on Food Insecurity met, and the people were told at the end of the deliberations, that the Federal Government would provide 102, 000 metric tonnes of grains - 42, 000 from the National Grains Reserve and another 60, 000 to be provided by big farmers. In the event that this would not be enough, the Federal Government would import grains. 

The big tragedy is that the government appears completely overwhelmed, confused even. Students of Policy Evaluation would readily agree that a government does not announce a state policy on an ad-hoc or impulsive basis. It must be thought through from beginning to the evaluation, in the interest of the people. It looks like the Tinubu team failed the test. About one month later, nobody has seen the promised 102, 000 metric tonnes. As recently as the last National Economic Council meeting held a few days ago, they were still talking about partnership with major fertilizer companies, and promises to make grains available. Nobody has seen any grains. Nobody is even sure that there is anything in the National Grains Reserve. At one point, we were told by the Vice President, that the government will introduce a Commodities Exchange Board. The President showed up later to say that there will be no Commodities Board and that his government will not control prices, nor will it import food. In that breath, the President openly contradicted his own Minister of information, his Vice President and dismissed a court judgment by the Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos, (re: Femi Falana SAN vs AG federation) which had ordered the Federal Government to fix the prices of goods and petroleum products in seven days in line with the Price Control Act, 2004 per Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, J.  

Confusion galore… and nothing could be more confusing than the Presidency summoning a selected team of 16 stakeholders over the weekend and setting up what they called a “tripartite” Economic Advisory Committee to solve Nigeria’s tripartite problems: a national currency on a free fall and foreign exchange crisis, hyperinflation, and the high cost of living. I suspect that someone in government has suddenly discovered the word “tripartite” and so everything has become “tripartite” including the setting up of a “tripartite” 37-member committee to review the national minimum wage. The optics may look good to the extent that government appears as if it is trying to do something, whatever that is, at least to show the people that “we are trying.” The problem is that the same advisers that Tinubu has invited, with the exception of two or three, were the same people who have been advising government since 1999, as investors and stakeholders – what new thing do they have to offer, apart from the privilege of their access to the corridors of power?  What happens to the National Economic Council (NEC), a constitutional body chaired by the Vice President? And why has the President not appointed a Chief Economic Adviser whose task is to help the President link all possible loose ends between the monetary and fiscal sides of things? Nigeria needs one, and preferably a properly educated Economist.

The biggest response to the confusion referred to parenthetically above, has been the announcement of a two-day warning strike by Organized Labour, led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), beginning from today. NLC has been abandoned by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), its partner-union with which it originally gave government a 14-day ultimatum to honour a 16-point Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in October 2023, or face a strike. In a confusing twist to the tale, TUC now says NLC is acting unilaterally. A total of 64 other groups have reportedly pulled out of the planned protest. Even the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) told the leadership of the NLC to seek dialogue with the Nigerian Government and shelve its strike. NLC says it would go ahead. Femi Falana, NLC Counsel has written the AG Federation to affirm the constitutionality of the right to protest and the ineffectuality of the two interlocutory injunctions ordered against the NLC by the National Industrial Court in the light of an extant Court of Appeal decision on the right to protest. Again, so much confusion. It is nonetheless important to state that peaceful protest is legal, valid and constitutional and whether or not the NLC succeeds or fails with its two-day warning strike, the key point is that there is disquiet in the land about inflation, the rising cost of living and the hardship that the people face. The people want tangible results not talks, promises, preachments, or optics. 

Many of the states, notably Lagos, Ogun and Borno have introduced palliative measures to help their people. These are welcome interventions. The Federal Government cannot do it alone. The people must see that their home governments care for them and have empathy for them as they experience what for many is the nightmare of a lifetime. The nightmare is so serious that the Federal Government in an attempt to show empathy, and to be seen “to be trying” has now announced that it will implement the Steve Oronsaye Report. I hope someone has read that report and tried to understand it properly. The Report recommends a lean, pruned down, more efficient government, shorn of waste, fat and duplication. President Tinubu does not need months or “a tripartite” committee to implement that. No further confusion, please.

First Word: There is hunger in the land. Prices of food items are skyrocketing daily resulting in increased number of Nigerians who cannot afford food. The Nigerian government needs to act beyond providing food stamps. Short term measures should be replaced by longer term approaches to solve the hunger problem in Nigeria which in part is caused by food terrorism nuanced with the present insecurity experienced in Nigeria. To stem the tides of insecurity as a long-term approach to solving hunger, there is need for the government and law enforcement to clamp down on those who make inciteful statements that have the tendency to stir up violence.

A Crime Punishable by Law

Recently, a video of an Islamic Cleric speaking in Hausa against Nigeria's First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu for being a Christian went viral on social media. In the video, the cleric declared that the First Lady deserves to die for not just being a Christian but also a pastor. According to him, the First Lady is not the kind of “people of the book” that Prophet Muhammed said a Muslim man could marry. In Hausa, he said: "Now, Tinubu, his wife is an infidel. As an infidel, she is a leader among the infidels. “God's judgement says she must be killed. She's a pastor . . . a leader of infidels (Christians); Allah says they must be killed . . . " Publicly calling for the assassination of a First Lady is a crime punishable under Nigerian law which prohibits any threat to kill or do bodily harm to a public official - in this case the President - or his family. This is not only an issue of religious intolerance but of public order and national security. Although the cleric in a subsequent video, has offered an apology for his incendiary remarks, the reality is that the brazen disregard and levity with which the lives of Christians are treated in Nigeria is a serious threat to national unity and internal security. It is strange that Christians who believe in God and are followers of Christ, something recognized in the Koran as people of the book will be referred to as arne or infidels by some Muslims. In reality, prescribing death warrants on innocent people in the name of religion is anti-religious and goes against the grain of any godly belief system. This manifestation of religious bigotry and intolerance are hallmarks of radical extremism. It MUST be stopped through constitutional/legal means. Our collective silence on such matters is our collective doom as a nation and we become a laughing stock of nations.

Why the Silence?

The recent threat on the life of Nigeria’s First lady for the singular reason that she is a Christian, married to a Muslim, who is moderate and a nationalistic leader should be condemned by all well-meaning and progressive Nigerians. The Muslim community and leaders in particular cannot afford to remain silent. There needs to be a major release by the Sultan, who commands the respect of many both Muslims and Christians. Why is there yet to be a word from MURIC which claims to be fighting for justice. Why has there not been total condemnation by JNI? Even though notable Muslim voices such as Hon. Mohammed Bello El-Rufai and Sen. Shehu Sani have condemned the cleric’s pronouncements and called for his prosecution. Is it a crime for her to be a Pastor? Recall that this dignified citizen of Nigeria, our First Lady, was at some point a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. How audacious for a cleric to resort to such deadly tactics, dressed in religious bigotry, to intimidate a public official of such high standing! The cleric is also heard saying the Muslim-Muslim ticket that brought President Bola Tinubu to power was a scam. Furthermore, he accuses the President of not being able to convert his wife. And so, what? Is the ability to convert a non-Muslim wife to Islam a qualification for becoming President of Nigeria? Is that what the Muslim-Muslim ticket is all about? Well, I have had one or two occasions to listen to both the President and the Vice President speak and they sounded both as if they want to work for a better Nigeria. They claim to be ready to serve this nation and we need to give them the chance to prove themselves. Religious extremism exhibits ignorance and selfish ambition, and will lead us nowhere, except towards anarchy and chaos.

Therefore, as a Social Justice and Peace Advocate group, we condemn this unprovoked call for the death of the First Lady in its entirety. Such flagrant threats to public safety should not be ignored, or there will be no Nigeria as we know it. Clerics who resort to such extremist ideologies and tactics should be condemned within Christendom and more frequently within the Muslim community where such has been rampant. In this instance, it is the responsibility of Islamic leaders not to allow such voices to go uncensored within their fold.

An Affront to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB)

Many problems are currently plaguing Nigeria. One is the total disregard for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB). Due to Nigeria’s multifaceted complexities, the disregard for FoRB has ripple effects that have resulted in violence and have a tendency to spiral out of control, if care is not taken. Consequently, we declare that the Federal Government must take this threat seriously and deploy its legitimate instruments to ensure that nothing happens to Senator Pastor Oluremi Tinubu.

Our country is currently battling a protracted insurgency that has lasted for over a decade. FoRB issues such as this must be handled within the full ambit of the law. Freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental human right which Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees everyone. Chapter 4, Section 38 of the Nigerian constitution also gives every Nigerian the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. To protect the rights of everyone, the government must be seen upholding the rule of law without prejudice or preference. In doing so, government must be bold enough to call a spade a spade. Failure to do so had caused impunity to abound. When religious clerics like the one in the video make such outrageous public remarks, they promote disaffection and ill-will, and give their followers reason to perpetuate mayhem and violence in total disregard for FoRB. Their hate speech and politically-motivated religious rhetoric is a threat to social cohesion and peaceful coexistence because it breeds religious intolerance and disregard for human dignity and life. Such religious leaders are not patriots, as they do not have the interest of the nation at heart.

Recommendations

1. Leading religious leaders, through NIREC, should meet over this threat to the First lady. This should be addressed and tackled in the open and not through a back door approach.

2. Mr President should give priority to peace building and conflict transformation approach on a national scale.

3. A National Peace and Reconciliation Commission should be set up to promote peaceful coexistence among Nigerians.

4. Respect for Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB) should be elevated to the level of national discourse and social action as a conversation, practice and structural framework.

5. The public use of words that depict religious intolerance such as arne (infidel) and kafir (pagan) amount to hate speech and should be outlawed not only in our Criminal and Penal Codes, but also in our Constitution.

Conclusion

Religious diversity should not be a source of grief for Nigerians. True religion should be an instrument of peace not destruction and death. Like Maya Angelou said, “We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.” She added: “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.” And as the current UN General Secretary, Antonio Guterres, said: “We have to transcend our differences to transform our future.” Nigerian religious and political leaders need to instill these social and religious truths into our national consciousness and discourse in word and practice. The Revd Dr Gideon Para-Mallam (President and CEO

…As EKSG moves to support households, formal and informal sectors

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, has approved a set of carefully designed relief programmes to alleviate the hardship being experienced by the people of the state in the face of the current global economic downturn.

These programmes include the payment of one month salary arrears to State and Local Government workers totalling over N2.7 billion. With this payment, the Government has cleared the salary arrears owed to State Government workers, and will ensure the arrears owed Local Government workers are cleared this year.

The Governor also approved an increase of N600 million per month in the subvention of autonomous institutions including the Judiciary and all tertiary institutions. This is to allow the institutions implement the wage award being implemented for State and Local Government workers.

In the same vein, Governor Oyebanji also approved the payment of two months pension arrears owed State and Local Government workers totalling N1.5 billion, as well as N100 million monthly gratuity payment to state pensioners and an increment of the current N50 million monthly gratuity to local Government pensioners to N100 million. (This brings total monthly gratuity payment to N200 million).

The State Government has also committed the sum of N1 billion to improve food production, especially to embark on land preparation, driven by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security’s tractorization subsidy scheme, and an input supply programme to support small scale farmers. Similarly, the Government is also committing a whopping sum of N1.2 billion it recently got as first tranche of the World Bank-financed Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support ( L-PRES) Project to transform the livestock subsector.

The money would be spent on empowering livestock farmers, boosting livestock productivity as well as creating a conducive environment for youths and private sector involvement in livestock businesses. This will include revamping all veterinary clinics across the local government areas and the state veterinary hospital; development of poultry sector across the value chain from production to processing; Feed formulation and artificial insemination (AI) training and support, among others.

Additionally, the State is also launching a N500 million loan programme in partnership with Access Bank to support medium and small scale businesses. This is in addition to N1 billion cooperative fund to provide low interest working capital for cooperatives and members. These programmes will ensure that small scale businesses, a critical part of the State economy, also benefit from the relief programme, and help kick start the economy.

The final set of the programmes include a continuation of the conditional cash transfer to low income households as well as the CARES programme which among other focuses on livelihood support, labour-intensive support, technology support for small businesses and support for agric produce and for which the sum N3.5 billion is earmarked.

It also include the free bus service for students and workers within Ado-Ekiti and Ikere-Ekiti, which will now be extended to Ekiti State University (EKSU) and other major towns; and the distribution of food items to the 177 wards of the State being coordinated by the Local Government Councils and Community Development Associations.

All these are in addition to ongoing infrastructure projects across the State, boosting power supply to critical areas including connecting the EKSU Campus to the IPP; which will also help lower the cost of logistics- a big driver of commodity prices; the free malaria treatment for elderly citizens and children as well as free delivery for pregnant women at all primary health care centres across the state.

Governor Oyebanji assured the people of the state of his administration’s commitment to the welfare and wellbeing of the citizens, urging them to cooperate with government at the local, state and federal levels as concerted efforts are being made not only to cushion the effect of the economic situation, but to grow the economy in line with the shared prosperity agenda of the administration and the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Olayinka Oyebode
Special Adviser, Media to the Governor
26-02-2024.

A mass protest is ongoing on the streets of Benin City, the capital city of Edo State, organized by Civil Society Organizations (CSO), over the prevailing economic hardship in the country.

Naija News understands that the members of these CSOs stormed the streets displaying various placards, including ones that read “Put an End to Economic Hardship” and “Federal Government, Address the Hunger Crisis in Nigeria Immediately.”

The latest demonstration in Edo follows a similar protest by residents of Ibadan, Oyo State capital, who also voiced their concerns regarding the economic challenges they are facing.

Earlier, a human rights group known as the “Take It Back Movement” also organized a protest in Lagos State to denounce the exorbitant food prices and the overall high cost of living in the nation.

It is worth noting that this protest in Lagos occurred despite the warning issued by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, on Sunday.

Naija News reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has reiterated its commitment to organizing a protest starting tomorrow (Tuesday).

The NLC made the announcement on February 16, stating that the protest would take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The reason behind this protest is the alleged failure of the government to fulfil the agreements made on October 2, 2023, after the removal of the fuel subsidy.

This decision comes after a 14-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government to address the prevailing hardships.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has told the federal government to put aside the national pride of striving to achieve local food sufficiency and immediately begin importing food.

The TUC stressed that it is a population that is alive that can celebrate the gains and beauty of any government policy.

Speaking on behalf of the congress, the TUC President, Festus Osifo, during a press conference in Abuja on Monday, said Nigerians are hungry and battling economic hardship, so it is time for the federal government to begin the importation of food in order to mitigate the soaring prices of food across the country.

According to him, Nigerians have never witnessed this level of hardship before, even during military regimes, adding that it is time for the government to jettison policies that are not effective and get capable hands to man the affairs of the country.

“Nigerians must live to see tomorrow before we can understand how beautiful a government policy is. The national pride of striving to achieve food sufficiency locally should be temporarily relaxed. Governments at all levels should immediately purchase sufficient quantities of food items from different parts of the world and share them with vulnerable Nigerians.

“Importing food abroad at this point will assist to reduce the hyper-inflation of food in the country. FG should allow importation of food items for Nigerians consumption within the next two weeks,” Osifo submitted.

The TUC President further called on President Bola Tinubu to, without considering partisanship, ethnicity or tribal issues, strengthen the economic management team of his administration and get them to develop homegrown solutions to the hardship facing the country.

The National Examination Council, NECO, has released the 2023 Senior School Certificate Examination, SSCE, external results with a total of 50,066, out of 74,342 candidates, representing 67.35 per cent, scoring five credits and above including English Language and Mathematics.

The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Professor Ibrahim Wushishi disclosed this while releasing the results/launching of the Automated Annual Posting Calendar at the Council’s headquarters in Minna, Niger State.

He said about 74,950 candidates registered for the exams, out of which 74,342 participated.

The NECO registrar added that about 62,530 candidates representing 84.11 per cent scored five credits and above, irrespective of English Language and Mathematics, adding that a total of 29 subjects were examined by the candidates.

The registrar also disclosed that two supervisors, one each in Oyo and Lagos states, were blacklisted for poor supervision, inability to control the candidates and for aiding and abetting examination malpractice.

He also revealed that one centre in Borno State was blacklisted for aiding and abetting malpractice by sharing WhatsApp messages to candidates.

Wushishi added that a total of 8,518 candidates, as against 11,419 in 2022, were booked for various forms of exam malpractice.

President Bola Tinubu has created an economic advisory committee comprising the federal government, sub-nationals and the private sector.

This resulted from talks between the President and key stakeholders at the State House, Abuja, on Sunday evening.

The development came as the falling naira exchange rate, rising inflation and other economic headwinds have continued to worsen the cost of living crisis.

Some of the prominent members of the private sector that made the list include the Chairman of United Bank for Africa, Mr. Tony Elumelu, and the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote.

Speaking at the meeting on behalf of the federal government, Tinubu said the goal “is to provide additional efforts” in stabilising the economy and ensuring the “best economic future” for Nigerians.

He said, “Let’s look at what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong to bring life back to the economy. As I have said many times, the people of this country are only the people we have to please.

“And we are very much concerned from students to mothers and fathers, farmers, the traders and realising that everyone of us will have to fetch water from the same well. We’re looking for additional efforts that’s might help the downtrodden Nigerians and we will provide hope and reassurance that economic recovery is on its way.

“We are not saying that we have all the answers. But we will not be blamed for not trying. We assure Nigerians that we will do our best to get our marshall plan in place and fashion out the best economic future for this country.”

At the meeting, Tinubu discussed food security, job creation and the exchange rate.

Dangote, who was part of the private sector delegation on the committee, said Sunday’s gathering stakeholders the opportunity to clarify the specifics of their roles in President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

He explained, “I think we had a very good meeting. What we discussed is generally about the economy, food security and security of the nation. We discussed everything in detail.

“The economic presidential advisory committee which has been set up…will look at all the issues and address them, coming from job creation and food security.

“So, all these things have been discussed in detail. I can’t give you all the details right now, but we are hopeful and we’re a great nation. We have what it takes to turn around the economy and we’re going to do that.”

Meanwhile, Elumelu noted implementing the decisions made that the gathering “will have propel our economy and help alleviate the poverty in the land, help create employment and help put food on the table of Nigerians.”

The Chairman of the BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, revealed that the committee held frank and exhaustive discussions with the President on the foreign exchange rate.

Citing the recent volatility of the naira against the dollar, Rabiu said, “We discussed on how to bring the foreign exchange rate down because we all know that what is happening as regards the foreign exchange is artificial. It is manipulative and thank God the CBN is doing quite a lot.”

Meanwhile, states have expressed readiness to partner with the federal government’s welfare interventions to alleviate the hardship on Nigerians. They said the advisory committee’s decision would only yield results when execution is prioritised.

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State said, “As a governor, I can assure you that all hands on deck. All governors have resolved to join hands with Mr president to ensure that he provides the necessary intervention to cushion the effect of what we’re going through while we are waiting for the implementation and the evidence of the fiscal and monetary policies already in place.

“In my state and other states, we are bringing in rice, we’re bringing food items and selling at rates that can be obtained before the downslide of the naira. So we are going to be doing all these to bring succour to the common man until we begin to see the evidence of the fiscal and monetary policies.”

On his part, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State said the tripartite committee “will be meeting from time to time to evaluate how things are going and make recommendations to Mr. President and the nation as well.”

The Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, affirmed that the private sector “will play a very significant role” in promulgating workable recommendations to the President on economic matters.

A former Chief Whip of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Evans Bipi, has alleged that the outcome of the 2023 general election was manipulated under the watch of the then-governor of the state, Nyesom Wike.

Bipi made the allegation in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, while speaking at a solidarity rally for the state governor organized by women groups across the 23 local government areas.

He specifically alleged that the Labour Party, LP, “won all their elections” in tge stage.

A trending video clip from the event captured the former Chief Whip reacting to a recent outburst by Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

DAILY POST recalls that Wike, who has been at loggerheads with his immediate successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, recently claimed that nobody would challenge him and his allies in the next general election.

The former governor was apparently assuring his supporters that Fubara would be evicted from the Government House in the next governorship election.

Reacting, Bipi, who represented Fubara at the rally, said with the level of mobilization by the women, Fubara would win convincingly in any election.

He further alleged that Wike and his allies did not win any seat in the 2023 elections.

He said, “It is written in Exodus 14:13 that the Egyptians you see today, you shall see them no more. Last weekend, they went to a thanksgiving party and bragged that they wished tomorrow was 2027.

“With you, can they win 2027? They are bragging about 2027 as if they won in 2023. The Labour Party won all their elections. We know how we did it. Chijioke told us that he was one of those who assisted them.

“We also wish that tomorrow is 2027 so that they can see our performance.”