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Tag: Abubakar Sulaiman

  • Ex-Minister urges Nigerians to shun money politics

    Ex-Minister urges Nigerians to shun money politics

    Nigeria can get its leadership recruitment right with less emphasis on money politics, says a former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman.

    Sulaiman made the remark on Sunday in Ilorin while receiving the leadership of the Kwara Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ).

    He said monetary inducement in the nation’s polity had made voters to forfeit the opportunity of interrogating the capacity of aspiring leaders put forward to lead them.

    Sulaiman, current Director General, the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), admonished politicians to eschew monetary inducement of voters.

    According to him, Nigerians must ensure that the right leaders are elected from the local government to the state level.

    He also challenged the media to lead the campaign of educating the citizenry to be wary of repeating past mistakes on the choice of leaders they entrust with power.

    “Our society is undergoing serious challenges. We have responsibilities as journalists to educate the people, and shape the narratives, positively.

    “Journalists also owe the society a responsibility to do reportage with the fear of God and patriotism,” he said.

    Sulaiman called on NUJ to educate its members on the ethics of journalism and marry the fear of God with the profession’s ethics.

    According to him, journalists should make it a duty to critically examine events in the country vis-a-vis societal goals and development.

    ”I want to reiterate the fact that journalists are the eyes and ears of the society. Nigeria’s history is incomplete without the media as the fourth estate of the realm; after the three tiers of government.

    “That shows how important the media is in the society. Any government or individual that wants to operate without the media is bound to fail,” he said.

    Sulaiman, however, commended the federal and state governments for the various measures implemented to alleviate the suffering of the masses,

    He said these efforts demonstrated a commitment to addressing pressing socio-economic challenges and ensuring the well-being of the citizens and were critical in ensuring stability and progress.

    Speaking earlier, the state NUJ Chairman, Abdullateef Ahmed, called for a synergy between NILDS and the union in mutually exclusive areas.

    Ahmed said this was particularly in the training and retraining of journalists to deliver in line with the prevailing trends in the profession.

    The NUJ chairman emphasised the importance of stemming the tide of the preponderance of fake news, including its associated dangers.

  • NILDS makes case for more funding for NASS members

    NILDS makes case for more funding for NASS members

    The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) has called for more funding for members of the National Assembly (NASS) for effective monitoring of budget implementation by the executive arm of the government.

    Director General of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman made the call in Abuja on Friday while lamenting the difficulties and challenges faced by the standing committees in the NASS in carrying out their oversight functions.

    Speaking during a visit by the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) FCT Correspondents Chapel, Prof. Sulaiman said proper funding will ensure standing committees of the NASS carry out their assignments without fear or favour.

    “There are issues that border on oversight assignments and I keep saying those issues will not be corrected until we provide more funding for the parliament to do their oversight, and that is what Nigerians will not want to hear.

    “When the parliamentarians are going to oversight Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) and the only vote of budget you could give them is N3 million to oversight an agency that will remit trillions and you say they will not be vulnerable?” he queried, adding “then, we are just deceiving ourselves”.

    He added: “When the agencies you are to oversight are the one funding the oversight, then the oversight is dead on arrival. Proper funding of oversight functions of the parliament would ensure accountability and transparency on the part of the committees”.

    Speaking further, Sulaiman stressed media practitioners have a role to play in the reportage of oversight functions of the parliament with the view to probe and scrutinize the executive arm of government in budget implementation.

    He said journalists as critical stakeholders in democracy and, therefore, have the statutory responsibility and role in keeping Nigerians abreast of the workings of their elected representatives even beyond sitting for the proceedings during the plenary session.

    He said Nigerians have the right to know that the parliamentarians are only charged with the responsibility to make laws, oversight and represent their constituents, and not to physically implement projects like road construction.

    He said the press is not just a stakeholder but a cornerstone that has been the bridge in giving feedback on what Nigerians are going through and what the government is doing.

    “This is where journalists have to come in and interrogate how much is there for the National Assembly and State Assemblies to perform their functions especially the aspect of oversight and this is the area you can call MDAs to question and account. I think we need to do more.

    “The history of this country’s independence is not complete without the press. Governance is not complete without the press,” he said.

    Sulaiman expressed the readiness of the Institute to partner with NUJ in providing capacity building for journalists even for those who are not directly covering the National Assembly.

    On his part, the Chairman of NUJ FCT Correspondents Chapel, Comrade Jide Oyekunle commended the Director General of NILDS for his untiring and unrelenting efforts in enriching and deepening the reportorial knowledge and skills of members through periodic capacity building training particularly those covering the National Assembly.

    He said the visit was aimed at bringing to the notice of the Director-General the need to extend the capacity building to other journalists in various beats, such as the judiciary, finance, crime, energy, health and others in order to acquaint them with the workings of the legislative arm of government.

    “This will go a long way to erase the wrong and negative perception which Nigerians still harbour about the legislative arm of government, particularly the issues surrounding the official vehicles saga,” Oyekunle said.

  • Kogi assembly fire: Conference of Speakers seek immediate investigation

    Kogi assembly fire: Conference of Speakers seek immediate investigation

    The Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria (CoSAP) have called for immediate probe into the fire that gutted the Kogi Assembly Complex in Lokoja.

    This is contained in a statement issued by the media aide to Mr Abubakar Sulaiman, Chairman of the CoSAP, Mr Abdul Bura in Bauchi.

    Newsmen reports that on Oct. 10, the assembly was razed by an early morning fire which began in the middle of the night, but security agents were able to notice it at about 7a.m.

    The conference expressed shock over the ugly fire incident .
    Sulaiman who is the Speaker Bauchi state House of Assembly sympathised with the Speaker of the Kogi Assembly Mr Matthew Kolawole over the fire incident.

    The chairman called on relevant authorities to investigate the incident to unravel what triggered the fire with a view to forestalling its recurrence.

    “All culprits must be prosecuted after the investigation. We pray against recurrence of such unfortunate incident,” he said.

    The chairman advised members of the Kogi assembly to remain calm and resolute over the incident and allow investigation to take place.

    Newsmen reports that the most affected place was the Hallowed Chamber of the lawmakers, which was completely razed down, including chairs, tables and roof of the building.

    Speaker Kolawole and the state security adviser, Jerry Omodara were among early callers at the assembly complex.

    Kolawole, who spoke to newsmen, said he suspected sabotage, but did not mention where the suspected sabotage was coming from.

    “We should leave security people to do their work and give us a report going forward,” the speaker said.

    Also, the state Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, in a statement noted that security and technical experts have began work to unravel the cause of the inferno, which had caused significant damage to the complex.

    “As new findings emerge, the state government will notify the general public,” he said.

    He added that the state government will also make provisions for temporary arrangements to ensure that the legislative business is not completely halted as a result of the unfortunate incident.