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Tag: better nigeria

  • We must all join forces to make Nigeria work – NCPC

    We must all join forces to make Nigeria work – NCPC

    At the departure ceremonies for the 12th batch of Christian pilgrims traveling to Israel and Jordan, held in both Abuja and Lagos, Bishop Stephen Adegbite, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), appealed to the intending pilgrims to actively participate in building a successful Nigeria.

    Mr Celestine Toruka, Deputy Director and Head, Media and Public Relations of NCPC said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

    The batch comprised mainly of pilgrims from Ogun, as well as consular officers.

    According to Adegbite, the pilgrims are expected to have a glorious and wonderful journey.

    He emphasised the importance of conducting themselves decently and being good ambassadors of Christ and Nigeria.

    “Pilgrimage is a sacred journey, and we must approach it with reverence and respect.

    “I urge you all to shun any negative tendencies that might tarnish the image of Nigeria in the holy land,”he said.

    Adegbite reiterated the commission’s zero-abscondment stance, urging the pilgrims not to consider abandoning their journey.

    He reaffirmed his belief in Nigeria’s potential, stating that it remains the best nation on earth.

    “I encourage you all to pray for the success of the present administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda,”he said.

    The NCPC boss also urged the pilgrims to align themselves with the theme of the commission’s 2024 Main Pilgrimage Exercise: “Pilgrimage of Renewed Hope for Total Restoration.

  • Ex-president, Obasanjo reveals his greatest legacy

    Ex-president, Obasanjo reveals his greatest legacy

    Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed what his greatest legacy is.

    The Egba high chief when asked to comment on his greatest legacy during an interview with media personality, Chude Jideonwo said God has been so merciful to him.

    “That I came here [earth] and God was immeasurably kind to me and showed His grace on me.”

    Asked about Peter Obi, Obasanjo, said that  Peter Obi is still a candidate for a better Nigeria.

    Recall that Peter Obi came third behind Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and the eventually winner Bola Tinubu of the All Progressive congress.

    The announcement was tailed with legal suits from the opposition parties and their candidates, including LP and Obi, challenging the process that produced Tinubu as winner.

    He said, “For the Nigeria that I believe we need to have at this point in time, Peter Obi is still the best candidate.”

     

  • I see a better Nigeria after #EndSARS – Lai Mohammed

    I see a better Nigeria after #EndSARS – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said he envisions a better Nigeria where fundamental human rights of people will be respected after the #EndSARS protests.

    The minister, who spoke at a Special NAN Forum on Monday in Abuja, said that the vision would, however, be achievable if the protesters would give peace a chance, end the protest and allow the government to implement its unprecedented reform of the nation’s security architecture.

    The minister, who described #EndSARS as “one of the most popular and successful protests in the history of this country”, regretted that the peaceful protest with genuine demands had been hijacked by hoodlums and people with a selfish motive to destabilise the country.

    He said that the government had started the process of unprecedented reform of the Police and the entire internal security structure following the #EndSARS protest.

    “With every challenge, there is always an opportunity and the opportunity this protest has given us is to look at a more holistic approach to reforming our internal security.

    “For the first time in the history of this country, a special Police tactical unit is being formed which will be supervised not by a Police Command but a committee to be chaired by the Governor of each state with representatives of youths and Civil Society Organisations.

    “The committee chaired by the governor will have the responsibility to supervise the way the special security unit relate to the public and carry out its responsibilities.

    “The panel being put up will take complaints from the public with regards to human rights abuses; this has never happened in the history of this country,’’ he said.

    Mohammed said that following the #EndSARS protest, the government unprecedentedly has directed the setting up of a judicial panel of enquiry in each state to investigate and prosecute erring security officers that had engaged in brutality and extrajudicial killings.

    He said that it was also the first time that a government is setting up a Victim Support Fund to compensate victims of Police brutality and extrajudicial killings in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

    “In line with the new Police Act, officers to be enlisted in the new tactical Police unit will be tested psychologically and mentally to be sure that they are fit for the operations.

    “This will put a big check on Police abuse and extrajudicial killing which we have witnessed over the decades,’’ he said.

    Mohammed said that while the government is in the process of implementing all the reforms, the #EndSARS group should end the protest which had already turned violent.

    He reiterated that by giving the government the opportunity to implement the reforms, the#EndSARS group would write their names in gold as champions of reformed internal security of Nigeria.

  • No amount of threats will stop me from clamouring for a better Nigeria – Obasanjo

    A former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, says no amount of threats and intimidation will make him abandon his clamour for a better Nigeria.

    He said this on Sunday while receiving a former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, who came to consult the former president on his (Bafarawa’s) presidential ambition.

    Bafarawa came with members of his campaign organisation and political associates.

    Obasanjo, who noted that no right-thinking Nigerian would be satisfied with the situation in the country currently, said he had made sacrifices for the nation, fighting to defend the country during the civil war and even being sent to jail over a phantom coup allegation. He said he would continue to make sacrifices.

    The former president said he had been threatened and intimidated because of his conviction for a better Nigeria, but he said they had all amounted to nothing.

    He called on Bafarawa, who is one of the presidential aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, to pursue his dream of making Nigeria better if elected president in 2019.

    He said, “The situation of Nigeria today is not the one any right thinking Nigerian should applaud. And my own strong belief is that Nigeria deserves better than we have now. And we can get better than what we have.

    “And so, you are to see what you can do, that is why you are aspiring to make Nigeria better than what it is today.

    “Nobody who loves Nigeria will not want it to be better than it is today. I, definitely, have made personal sacrifices and I will make again. Talk of fighting in the battlefield and shedding of one’s blood, or even talk of going to prison, because I believe in democracy.

    “I went to prison for doing nothing wrong. I have also been intimidated and threatened. What would you do to intimidate somebody like me? Whatever you are trying to do to me, people have tried to do it to me in the past, and it amounted to nothing and it will amount to nothing.

    “Because before I act, I pray to God to guide me and I think of Nigeria first, particularly the majority of Nigerians who are underprivileged, whose situation we need to improve upon.”

    He called on Nigerians to remain resolute in their quest for a better nation, advising that they should shun divisive tendencies.

    Obasanjo added, “If we do not act together as we should act together, Nigeria will not be what it should be in 2019. Aspiration? Yes, but the objective must be clear. If the opposition starts going in different directions and pulling in different ways, Nigeria’s situation will not change.

    “A population of 200 million, for us to continue to complain that things are not right, we are doing the same thing as we have done before. And if we keep doing the same thing, the result will not be different. If we want a different result, we must do things differently. And I believe we can do things differently.”

    Obasanjo, who described Bafarawa as a detribalised Nigerian, said Nigerians should see themselves in this light if they really wanted a new Nigeria.

    The former president noted that there were three attributes he wanted to see in a leader, which he claimed to have seen in Bafarawa. They include diligence, humility and non-discrimination against other people.

    He said since Bafarawa had said he wanted to improve Nigeria, he would support him and his ambition, adding that though between 1999 and 2007 when they had interactions, as president and governor, they had their areas of genuine differences.