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Tag: Country

  • SYRIA: Bashar al-Assad finally admits his country now in the hands of terrorists

    SYRIA: Bashar al-Assad finally admits his country now in the hands of terrorists

    Bashar al-Assad said Monday that Syria is in the hands of terrorism, the former president’s first statement since his ouster.

    Assad his departure from Syria was not planned and that Moscow requested his evacuation from a military base that was under attack.

    “My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles,” said a statement on the ousted presidency’s Telegram channel, adding “Moscow requested… an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday December 8” after he moved to Latakia early that day.

    “When the state falls into the hands of terrorism and the ability to make a meaningful contribution is lost, any position becomes void of purpose,” the statement added.

  • Nigeria drops from 95th to 102nd world’s happiest nation – Report reviews

    Nigeria drops from 95th to 102nd world’s happiest nation – Report reviews

    Nigeria ranked 102nd happiest nation in the world with 4.881 points, according to the latest edition of the World Happiness Report released Wednesday.

    This represents a drop of seven places from 95th in the 2023 report by Sustainable Development Solutions.

    According to the report, released annually to mark the International Day of Happiness, designated by the United Nations and celebrated on March 20, Nigeria now ranks 102 out of the 143 countries surveyed.

    Finland remained the world’s happiest country for a seventh straight year in the report published.

    And Nordic countries kept their places among the 10 most cheerful, with Denmark, Iceland and Sweden trailing Finland.

    Afghanistan, plagued by a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban regained control in 2020, stayed at the bottom of the 143 countries surveyed.

    For the first time since the report was published more than a decade ago, the United States and Germany were not among the 20 happiest nations, coming in 23rd and 24th respectively.

    In turn, Costa Rica and Kuwait entered the top 20 at 12 and 13.

    The report noted the happiest countries no longer included any of the world’s largest countries.

    “In the top 10 countries only the Netherlands and Australia have populations over 15 million. In the whole of the top 20, only Canada and the UK have populations over 30 million.”

    The sharpest decline in happiness since 2006-10 was noted in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Jordan, while the Eastern European countries Serbia, Bulgaria and Latvia reported the biggest increases.

    The happiness ranking is based on individuals’ self-assessed evaluations of life satisfaction, as well as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption.

    Jennifer De Paola, a happiness researcher at the University of Helsinki in Finland, told AFP that Finns’ close connection to nature and healthy work-life balance were key contributors to their life satisfaction.

    In addition, Finns may have a “more attainable understanding of what a successful life is”, compared to for example the United States where success is often equated with financial gain, she said.

    Finns’ strong welfare society, trust in state authorities, low levels of corruption and free healthcare and education were also key.

    “Finnish society is permeated by a sense of trust, freedom, and high level of autonomy,” De Paola said.

    This year’s report also found that younger generations were happier than their older peers in most of the world’s regions — but not all.

    In North America, Australia and New Zealand, happiness among groups under 30 has dropped dramatically since 2006-10, with older generations now happier than the young.

    By contrast, in Central and Eastern Europe, happiness increased substantially at all ages during the same period, while in Western Europe people of all ages reported similar levels of happiness.

    Happiness inequality increased in every region except Europe, which authors described as a “worrying trend”.

    The rise was especially distinct among the old and in Sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting inequalities in “income, education, health care, social acceptance, trust, and the presence of supportive social environments at the family, community and national levels,” the authors said.

  • Small but mighty Trinidad and Tobago freed after 464 years – By Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa

     

    IT was like a seamless gathering. Diplomats and academics. Practitioners of two assertive professions: lawyers and journalists. Cultural ambassadors and traditional chiefs. It was evening in Abuja on Monday, August 22, 2022.

    We were gathered for the pre-independence 60th anniversary of Trinidad and Tobago, T&T which comes up on August 31. The representative of the Nigerian government, the youthful-looking Ambassador Mustapha Tunde Mukaila who is in charge of the world’s Regions in the Foreign Ministry described T&T as a small but mighty country. It was quite an apt description. T&T has a ‘very large’ population of 1.4 million which is no more than the population of a Lagos suburb. Its landmass of 5,128 kilometres is like a tiny speck if situated in Nigeria’s 923,768-kilometre landmass.

    But it has the qualities of a mighty country. An oil-rich nation, it has over a century of experience in oil and gas exploration and production. It has produced over three billion barrels of oil. Back in the early 1990s, it moved its hydrocarbon sector from an oil dominant to a mostly natural gas-based one.

    In terms of purchasing power, T&T has the third-highest GDP per capita in the Americas after the United States and Canada. It is not surprising that it decided on a choice of an oil expert, Wendell De Landro, as High Commissioner to Nigeria. He had also worked in the Nigerian oil industry.

    This Monday, he told the News Agency of Nigeria: “We have our gas development. I know for a fact that there is gas flaring in Nigeria and that is a sacrilege to me… Right now, Nigeria is flaring probably half to three-quarters of an LNG train … Nigeria has six trains and is working on the seventh. We (Trinidad and Tobago) have four. We are using our gas, our LNG and we sell. Nigeria is doing that but they can do much more by harnessing the flared gas.”

    A cultural giant, T&T gave the world the calypso, Soca, chutney music, and the steelpan while also producing famous musicians like Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener, Heather Headly and Nicki Minaj. On the steelpan, Ambassador Landro informed that the High Commission has been in talks with some Governors in Western Nigeria on the possibility of introducing the steelpan into the Nigerian school curriculum.

    The country also produced sports greats like Brian Charles Lara and Hasely Crawford, along with the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Sir V.S. Naipaul. Indeed, the 1992 winner, Derek Walcot, had cut his literary teeth in T&T and made it his home.

    When Africa and the Black World was repressed internationally, T&T gave us two of the greatest intellectuals and fathers of Pan-Africanism who help reset the brains of the world in relation to the Black people, their humanity and right to independence. Cyril Lionel Robert, CLR, James, born in 1901, was father to generations of Black leaders across the world. He was a noted historian and writer who wrote books like The Black Jacobins, Toussaint Louverture – The Story of the only successful slave revolt in history, The World Revolution,

    Notes On Dialectics: Engels-Marx-Lenin’ and Every Cook Can Govern. His novel, Minty Alley, was the first by a Black West Indian to be published in Britain. In April 1939, for about one month, he met and discussed with the legendary revolutionary, Leon Trotsky in exile in Mexico. While Trotsky argued that a Bolshevik-like revolution would lead the African Americans to freedom, CLR argued that a self-organised Black struggle in the United States would birth a far larger radical social movement that would also emancipate Africa and the Caribbean. CLR in his famous book, A History of Pan-African Revolt, analysed the struggles for liberation in South Africa, the Congo, Ghana, San Domingo and the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya.

    George Padmore left T&T to study medicine in the US but ended revolutionising Black people across the world. One of his mentees, Kwame Nkrumah, led the struggle for independence in Ghana and persuaded him to resettle in Accra. His 1931 book was The Life and Struggles of Negro Toilers; the following year he published How Britan rules Africa, and a year later Africa and World Peace. Four years before Ghana’s 1957 independence, he wrote: The Gold Coast Revolution and in 1956, Pan-Africanism or Communism.

    The Trinidadian population is 35.4 per cent African origin while another 15 per cent is of African-East Indian ancestry. Indeed, the first time I met Ambassador Landro, I told him that except for his ascent, he looked every inch a Nigerian, while there is virtually nothing to differentiate the Head of Chancery, Mrs Odette Peterson-Thomas from any Nigerian lady. Landro spoke to this close affinity with Nigerians: “It is also known that the Yorubas settled in their own ethnic enclave as a free community of Africans in the north-eastern section of Trinidad. Today, the Orisha tradition in Trinidad, is now numbering in the tens of thousands. The community now boasts of an Orisha public holiday on the calendar of Trinidad and Tobago. Yoruba is one of the languages taught in the School of Languages at one of the nation’s top universities, UTT.”

    On relations with Nigeria with which it established diplomatic relations in 1973, Landro said: “Trinidad and Tobago is home to a large Nigerian population who occupy top positions in the fields of education and medicine just to name a few. So much so that one can easily buy ‘suya’ in various parts of the country.”

    The country’s journey to independence had been a hard and torturous one. It had existed 5,000 years before Christ. Its enslavement began in 1498 when Christopher Columbus visited both islands and claimed them for Spain. They were later occupied by the British, French, and Dutch. In 1606,  470 slaves from Africa were brought by Dutch slave trader, Issac Duvern. The British, following the 1814 Treaty of Paris eventually took over the islands but continued the slave trade until 1838. The twin islands were incorporated into one political entity in 1889. It took T&T 464 years from the ‘visit’ of Columbus to be independent in 1962.

    In looking back at the path his country had come, Ambassador Landro’s conclusion is that: “Over the past 60 years Trinidad and Tobago has grown by leaps and bounds, though a tiny nation with a population of just about 1.4 million Trinidad and Tobago stands on any world stage with the biggest and the brightest.”

    As the socials kicked off with some diplomats and guests taking to the floor, the Nigerian cultural icon and former chief executive officer of the National Troupe of Nigeria and the National Theatre, Tar Ukoh, tried his hands on the steelpan.

  • No country like Nigeria, By Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa

    WATER is life. Yet it gets scarce. Deserts are advancing. Although floods are causing havoc in some parts of the world, dry patches are becoming common. There was so much water shortage in Southern Africa over the years, that countries like Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa were gasping for breath.

    Three years ago, the water scarcity in Cape Town, South Africa was so serious, that the residents preferred their beautiful city to stink than use precious water to flush toilets, take a decent bath or wash clothes. The city banned car washing, filling swimming pools and fountains. Residents were restricted to 50 litres per day and there was also water quota for wetting farms.

    Over the years, although most of Nigeria has no immediate water problem, I have always been conscious of my water usage. A few months ago, the Water Board cut off my water supply and sent me an accumulated bill. I went to its offices, cleared the bill and asked that it restores my water supply.

    I was directed to some officers on the field who said my supply could not be restored because my water meter was faulty. I wondered why, and was told that my water consumption was so low that the meter literally switched off, and since my consumption remained too low, it malfunctioned. I had to get a new meter.

    On reconnection, the water officials advised me to use as much water as I can. I could not understand the logic that a meter malfunctions because consumption is low. So, while water management is preached across the globe, here in Abuja, capital of Nigeria, I am being penalised for managing my water consumption, and advised to use lots of water even if I have to waste it. This is uniquely Nigerian.

    In September 2016, fire gutted my house. My neigbours called the Fire Service office. When the firemen delayed in showing up, some went physically to the fire office only to be told the fire truck driver had gone to eat and was not picking his calls.

    When with the help of neigbours the fire had been brought under control, I drove to the fire station. Luckily, the driver had showed up, and I led them to my house. By the time we arrived, the fire had been completely put out but I insisted the firemen should comb the entire building to ensure there were no more flames anywhere.

    Then I asked them to help ascertain the cause of the fire. Their findings was that power surge caused it. I asked the team leader for his phone number which he obliged. But on dialling it, I observed the Truecaller gave a different name. I asked him if he was not the original owner of the phone.

    He said he was. I then pointed out that his name tag was different from the one on the phone. He said for security reasons, firemen do not wear their true name tags. I asked him if those worn by the rest of his men were fake, he confirmed they were. Until today, I cannot fathom why this was so. My only explanation is that this is Nigeria.

    In the Apartheid days, I published an article on the struggles in South Africa. Then a number of persons told me that the then President of one of the student unions was complaining that I plagiarised his piece.

    Apart from the fact that I wrote the entire article, I had never read anything he had written. When I ran into him, I challenged him to show me where he had published the piece he claimed I had plagiarised.

    He replied that he wanted to write a similar article but decided not to after reading mine as I seemed to have read his thoughts hence his complaint that I had plagiarised, at least his thoughts. I concluded he was either mentally unbalanced or had been trying to show off without thinking that this could filter into my ears. The fellow is now an international pastor, winning souls.

    A few years ago, I stopped at a popular bookshop in Lagos. A book of essays on the origins and spread of a particular religion written by academics attracted my attention. I flipped through the voluminous book and noted some articles I would love to read. In particular, there was an essay on a nationalist I had written on some dozen years before.

    When I returned to Abuja, I quickly began to read this particular essay. It seemed strangely familiar. It then dawned on me that I was reading my essay! The new ‘author’ had merely rearranged some of the paragraphs and passed it off as his own work. I had been plagiarised a few times, but not on this scale and by a man introduced as a well versed and widely published academic.

    The editor of the book, a professor, is an old friend I had attended university with. I called him to complain and directed him where he can get a copy of my plagiarised essay. He sighed. It was not just about the reputation of his new book. On this, he said he could yank off my plagiarised essay and print a new edition. His fear is about the plagiarist, a retired professor.

    He said if I persisted on pressing the case, the man’s reputation would be ruined and he is not sure, he would survive for long. I thought about it and decided to drop the case. Yes, I am wedded to the truth and against fraud in any sense, but was I ready to smash the reputation of the retired academic and possibly send him to an early grave?

    There is a serving governor who is sworn to upholding the constitution which is categorical on who is a Nigerian citizen. But this governor argues that there is a nationality in the continent who are “global citizens” and, therefore, have the right to live in any African country especially Nigeria without naturalising.

    To him, this group is above the Nigerian constitution and are automatically Nigerian citizens once they set foot on our soil. Is there any elected official in the world who can display so much disdain for the constitution? I suspect not; this is uniquely Nigerian.

    The late General Sani Abacha is the most infamous ‘lootocrat’ in Nigerian history. He looted enough not just for himself, but also for his next four generations. Some European countries have been returning what has become known as the ‘Abacha Loot’ for two decades now.

    Yet some elected officials who on behalf of Nigeria, are receiving the returned loot, swear that Abacha never stole. True, only in Nigeria do you find experienced prostitutes who are virgins.

  • A Dirge For My Beloved Country, By Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua

    A Dirge For My Beloved Country, By Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua

    Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua

    Oh God, you remained forever blessed for you are the source of all blessings. You hate evil and no sinner is your guest. From age to age you are victorious in battle. We cry to you like Rachel who weep for her slaughtered children. She refused to be consoled. Her voice could not reach the powers that lacked the capacity to protect her children (Jeremiah 31:15). The rulers of the nation are not touched by the violence that is ravaging the poor. They do not value justice no matter how loud the poor cry in anguish (Job 19:7). Succor the pains of those who weep because human comfort is far from the land. There is no one to revive our courage. Our children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed (Lamentations 1.16). Do not stay afar off and watch the terrorists, kidnappers and impious people revile your name. Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals; do not forget the life of your poor forever. Have regard for your covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of violence. Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and the needy praise your name again. Rise up, O God, plead your cause; remember how the impious scoff at you all day long(Psalm 74:18-22).

    The eyes are spent with weeping as the empty stomach churns. The bile is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of the people. The infants and babes faint in the streets of the city as they cry for food (Lamentations 2:11-12). Human beings are slaughtered and beheaded like sacrificial lambs. Almighty Allah, teach those who use your name in terrorist operations that you are not the God of violence. You are the same God of different tribes and nations who call you Ubangiji, Chineke, Olodumare, Abasi, Osanobwa, Osenobulua, Osinegba etcetera. Oh God of our fathers! Where are you? Can’t you see that evil has clouded our land and an evil root have taken over the hearts of some people who vow to kill everybody who do not assent to their criminal ideology?

    Our ancestors taught us that it is you who creates kings to rule over the land. The Holy Books taught us that it is you who sent to the earth prophets to teach us your ways. Jesus Christ came that we may have life and have it in abundance (John 10:10). The prophet of Islam revealed that if you save one life, it is as if you have saved the whole world and if you kill one person, it is as if you have saved the whole of humanity (Quran 5). Why then do evil people kill in your name? The Catechism teaches that you Oh God created us to know you, love you, serve you and to be happy with you on the last day. It appears that your silence is enabling human beings to be soaked in the ocean of blood. The value of the human person has been reduced to zero and killing a human person has become a game. Oh God arise and scatter the thoughts of the criminals who have invaded your land. We do not pray for their destruction but the destruction of the evil root that has possessed their hearts. Convert them to know that life is sacred!

    Oh God of divine protection, the kidnappers have over-run the land. Kings, Priests, Consecrated Women and those who have no political security are kidnapped for ransom. Human beings are used for rituals and money has become a deity. Our Seminarians and many others are languishing in the dens of the kidnappers. On the evening of January 8, 2020 in the “Good Shepherd of Kakau” Major Seminary along the Kaduna-Abuja highway, a village located near Kaduna, the capital of the State of Kaduna, in central Nigeria, between 10:30 pm and 11:00 pm some bandits attacked the Seminary, firing indiscriminately. The attack lasted about thirty minutes and the bandits “had access to the school dormitory, which houses 268 students”. Touch the heart of their evil captors to release them Lord. Let them not be killed like they beheaded our dear brother, Reverend LawanAndimi, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika Local Government Area and the District Church Council Secretary of the Ecclesiya Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN) Church in Michika, Adamawa State.

    Lord God, blood is flowing in Nigeria like a river. Grant eternal rest to all who have been killed especially those who were killed while over a hundred people kidnapped after gunmen opened fire on commuters along Kaduna-Zaria Highway recently. Thanks for saving the Emir of Potiskum, Umar Bubaram who was among those who sustained severe injuries in the warfare on Nigerian highways! At this point, some Prophets have told us who will win elections but have not yet prophesied how long this suffering will last. The security apparatus has broken down and every state is raising hunters to secure the innocent people in their lands. Our version of democracy has shown the greed and selfishness of those who aspire to rule over the people in a land where life has lost value. We now see the emptiness of those who seek political office who are only loyal to those in power. Political prostitution is rampart as aspirants of political offices decamp from one party to the other without sense of shame. Rescue your land and save your people. In this time of Armageddon, we cannot cry to the security agents who are also victims and vulnerable like every one of us.

    If the gallant soldiers could be killed by the terrorists, then what is the hope of the armless person? If a Police officer could remove his police uniform at the sight of hoodlums, to whom shall we go for safety? This is why we are crying to you who is able to arise and scatter the thoughts and powers of the enemies. Save your people from the hands of bandits, unknown gunmen who could also be those paid to secure life of the innocent people. Lord deliver Nigeria from the abyss of hell and make our land habitable again. How can we repay the unknown soldiers and all security agents who have sacrificed their lives for the nation? The gallant men and women in uniform who keep awake so that the common man and woman can sleep. Is it enough to remember them on Armed forces remembrance day with a wreath? Of what use is a flower to a widow and orphan who are dying of hunger? The families of those who have died in the hands of terrorists and civil war to keep Nigeria one need more care than a wreath of flowers.

    Oh God give to our soldiers and police the grace and capacity to carry out their duties with unity of purpose for the common person in the nation. Teach them not to betray the nation by aiding criminals. It is alleged that His Royal Highness (HRH), Godwin Aigbe Esq the Enogie of Ukiri, near Benin City Edo State and a retired CSP in the Police force was kidnapped, maimed, released and later attacked again. The kidnappers were arrested by the Edo State Police Command through intelligencegathering. Some men who claimed to be police officers from Abuja came to release them despite protestation from the Edo State Police Command. Like the deer yearns for running waters, so we long for you, O God. We thirst for God, for the living God. When shall we come and behold the face of God? Tears have been our food day and night, while people say to us continually, “Where is your God?” These things we remember, as we pour out our soul: how we went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God every Sunday and Friday. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for we shall again praise him, our help and our God (Psalm 42:1-6).

    Rev. Fr. Cornelius Omonokhua is the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC -nirec.ng@gmail.com) & The Secretary General of the West Africa Inter-Religious Council (WA-IRC – wairc.rfp@gmail.com).

  • I want a new country, not another one – Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa.

    Many Nigerians want to leave. That is why a citizen would gather a lot of money and pay a human trafficker to be taken through the horrors of the desert with the possibility of dying of thirst, arriving in unfriendly countries where he can be enslaved and then making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea where many have found watery graves. All these, just to end up in Europe with no welcome, no shelter, no warm clothes, no job, and no guarantee of food or the future.

    Simply put, we have created a generation of desperate people or citizens who have given up. Yet we have some of the most intelligent, resourceful, innovative and hard- working people on earth. I have interacted and worked with various peoples in the world from Europeans to Americans, Arabs to Chinese, Latin Americans to Asians and know this to be a fact.

    So, Nigeria is a puzzle, an irony; how such a resourceful people are led by unimaginative persons; hard working people led by parasitic elites; a soulful people led by a soulless ruling class with weak institutions built on weak foundations and run by the incompetent on behalf of the incompetent in the name of a competent people.

    Let us take a straight forward case. A Nigerian, Anthony Okolie in December, 2018 bought a SIM card. He was later arrested by the State Security Service (SSS) for being in possession of a SIM card belonging to a young lady called Hanan who happens to be a daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari. All that was necessary, was to clarify from the seller if Okolie truly bought the SIM and from the cellphone company if it actually released the line for sale. That, in a serious country should take just some minutes or at the maximum, a day. Rather, Okolie was bundled from Asaba to Abuja through deathly roads which our leaders are incapable of maintaining, and detained in a cell. Our constitution provides in Section 34(5)b that a Nigerian should not be detained for more than 48 hours without being charged to court, Okolie was thrown into a cell without trial for 10 weeks! Our judicial system gives the citizen the right to legal representation, he was not allowed access to his lawyer.

    The SSS alleged that Hanan had complained about her phone line being hijacked, but it did not supply Okolie with a copy of the complaint nor did the complainant, Hanan show up as she was schooling in the United Kingdom. Assuming the SSS thought there was need to wait for the complainant to return to Nigeria, all it needed was grant Okolie bail, it did not. Rather, it simply abandoned him in a cell!

    So, a Nigerian who fends for himself in a country without social security, is deprived of his freedom, income, made to pay lawyers and his family had to make fruitless trips to Abuja without being allowed access to him. All these, over an issue that could have been administratively sorted out within hours.

    When eventually he was released, the SSS simply threw him out on the streets of Abuja like some trash. Not even the basic gesture of providing him the less than N10,000 road transport fare back to Asaba. Okolie went through this ordeal because he is not the child or relative of any member of the ruling class. Were he the son of a Minister, top politician or business mogul, he would not have been so treated.

    If the SSS were law abiding, it would have issued Okolie a public apology and compensated him in accordance with Section 34(6) of the constitution. It would also have sacked the clearly incompetent officers who needlessly incarcerated a fellow Nigerian and made the agency appear quite incompetent. If I had any connection to Ms. Hanan Buhari, I would have reminded her that the kind of impunity displayed in this case would not have happened in the United Kingdom where she is studying, and that as a cultured, well-bred young lady, she should apologize to Okolie for causing him so much pain and distress.

    It is this type of cases that lead to frustration and the desperation of many to leave the country even if it means embarking on suicidal travels.

    There is also the unnecessary hardship heaped on Nigerians by a visionless political class whose only motive is to make more money and spend. In the last one year, I have lost count of the number of additional taxes heaped on us and the policy summersaults we are forced to watch. But one that I cannot get out of my mind is the proposed 59.7-78 percent hike in electricity tariff in a country where mainly darkness is supplied, meters not given or read and manufacturing cannot be competitive because the cost of energy and providing alternative power supply is crippling.

    I am further irritated by the usual lie production line in the country from government to the private sector. For instance, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Chairman, Joseph Momoh and Compliance Commissioner, Dafe Akpeneye on December 31, 2019 issued the tariff increase order to all electricity distribution companies. The NERC said its new order which was published on its website, supersedes: “other orders issued on the subject matter, and shall take effect from January 1, 2020”

    When Nigerians protested against the stifling and increasing insensitivity of the Buhari administration, the government agency denied there is such an increase. Its Public Affairs General Manager, Usman Arabi in a public statement claimed that for there to be tariff increase: “the commission will widely consult with stakeholders and a final decision will take due regard off all contributions” Meanwhile, the distribution companies announced that the new tariffs will be enforced from April, 2020. So, who is lying?

    The Buhari government had claimed variously that fuel subsidy is a fraud, and announced in August, 2016 that it had saved N1.4 trillion by not paying the subsidy. But the truth is that it pays fuel subsidy and that the year it claimed to have saved the N1.4 trillion, it actually spent more than that in subsidy payment.

    The falsehood that oozes out is so much that if a government official greets you good morning, you better look outside to confirm that it is morning and not nightfall. It is like the unitary constitution being proclaimed as that of a “Federal Republic”.

    All these, including the divisive, sectarian, regional and ethno-religious politics foisted on us, do not mean we should vote with our feet. We do not need another country outside Nigeria, what we need is a different Nigeria; we need to save and repossess our country from the parasitic political class.

  • There was a country called Libya By Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa

    Saif al-Islam Ghaddafi, P.hd, London School of Economics, and the best known son of Muammar Ghaddafi was set free this week. He had been detained for six years since November 19, 2011 when following the Libyan ‘Civil War’ he was captured by the Abu Bakr al-Sadiq Brigade while attempting to flee to Niger Republic. Announcing his release, the Brigade said “We have decided to liberate Saif al-Islam Muammar Gaddafi. He is now free and has left the city of Zintan” where he was being held.

    Saif is released into a country with at least five factional governments. The Government of National Accord (GNA) or ‘Unity Government’ led by Fayez al-Serraj, is recognized by the ‘international community’ and ensconced in a Naval Base secured by an armed militia it does not control. The Islamist National Salvation Government led by Khalifa al-Ghawi shares Tripoli with the GNA where it controls strategic places including the airport. A third government, led by Aguila Saleh, has capital in Tobruk; the Islamic State with over 6,000 armed fighters has its headquarters near Sirte, Ghaddafi’s home base, while renegade General Khalifa Hafter, calls the shots in Benghazi.

    He is released into a society where his father was cornered like a rat and executed like a stray dog. A society in which his brothers, Mutassim and Khamis were killed and his youngest brother, Saadi is still held in Tripoli for alleged war crimes. He knows another of his brothers, Hannibal is in exile in Lebanon, with his mother, Safia and sister, Aisha in Oman, on exile. With these, his losing some fingers, and his experiences in detention and the circumstances of his release, it will be difficult to conclude if Saif still holds to the fierce patriotism and spirit of service he was identified with. We cannot now know if he is still dedicated to the reforms he was spear heading – including the release of political prisoners – before the uprising.

    Also, his reactions may be determined by the actions of the West which had set his country on fire; armed thugs, bandits and Islamists to overthrow his father; bombed the Libyan military into submission; and today, under the International Criminal Court, declares him wanted for alleged ‘war crimes’ His release is by the Tobruk government which declared amnesty as part of reconciliation moves; moves not backed by the two rival governments in Tripoli that may still want to arrest and send him for trial.

    Whatever may be the case, Saif, given his father’s legacy, his own force of character and the anarchy in the country, is a force to be reckoned with. Many of those who knew peace under Ghaddafi, had perhaps the best social security in the world and the joy of being able to carry out basic human activities like going to the market, taking children to school and family on a picnic, might be nostalgic for the old era. Many in the middle and upper classes who could go to the airport and take an international flight rather than risk a road journey to neigbouring Tunisia, might yearn for the return of the Ghaddafi days. Many of those who lived in a secured and peaceful Libya would long for the days they had a country worthy of its name. Therein lie the appeal of Saif.

    A freed Saif may be crucial in national dialogue, restoration of peace, national reconstruction and unity; a country with multiple governments cannot be said to be a country. But in a large sense, his role will be determined by the forces on the ground, the logic of the Libyan trajectory, his perception of the various armed groups in the country, and of course, the extent of the intervention of Europe and America in the internal affairs of Libya.

    It was these international policemen from Brussels and Washington who setup Libya for the kill. It was they and their agents who for decades sold the crap to the world that President Ghaddafi was a lunatic seating on huge oil wells that they can put to better use. They were the forces that isolated Libya and were alarmed that Ghaddafi was not only bankrolling African unity but also wanted an international monetary medium of exchange independent of the NATO countries. They are the forces that cooked up the lie that Libya agents planted a bomb in the Pan Am Flight 103 which on December 21, 1988 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland killing all 259 on board and 11 on ground. These are the same people who accused Libya of sponsoring terrorism and on April 14, 1986, without a declaration of war, bombed Tripoli killing over 70 people. They are the same gang that imposed a No-Fly-Zone over the entire country threatening to shoot down any aircraft that violated the ban, until the unforgettable Nelson Mandela flew into Libya daring them to bring down his aircraft. It is these same forces that engineered the February 2011 uprising from Benghazi and provided the insurgents massive air power to smash the Ghaddafi government and impose the present chaos.

    But for these forces of colonialism and neo-colonialism, Libya might not today, be a basket case. But for them, tens of thousands of Libyans might not have died in half a dozen years of chaos, and the over five thousand Libyans who perished in the Mediterranean Sea trying to reach Europe, might still have been alive. Libya was prosperous and self-sufficient, today, thanks to the West, 2.5 million Libyans are in need of humanitarian aid including food. Saif’s transformation since 2011, might be for good. On the other hand, he could have become a battle axe cutting both ways and returning with a vengeance against those that destroyed Libya.Doubtlessly, the NATO powers that sunk Libya would not want to see the country refloat under Saif; but if faced with a choice between him and the Islamic State, they may prefer the former. For Africa and the rest of the underdeveloped world; it is a shame that we allowed Libya to be destroyed, adding to our litany of woes. The fall of Ghaddafi triggered the rise of the Islamists in Mali, and is partly responsible for the renewed flow of illegal arms across West Africa including to the Boko Haram who continue to terrorize Nigeria, Niger, Cameroun and Chad. Tragically, it does not appear we have learnt useful lessons from the Libyan experience.

     

  • FG will release calendar of festivals across country in 2017 – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said on Thursday the Federal Government would in the new year release a calendar of festivals across the country.

    Mohammed made this known in Offa, Kwara State at the 2016 Edition of the ”Íjakadi Festival”, a traditional wrestling event, which started in the 14th century.

    The minister said that the aim was to attract tourists and enable them plan their trips around the festivals.

    “We believe that this is one of the best ways to attract global visitors to our festivals and help to make them viable entities,” he said.

    The minister, represented by Mr Raphael Arulogun, General Manager of NTA Ilorin, said the government was also working with the private sector to make major festivals attractive to domestic and foreign tourists.

    He said the government also planned to leapfrog the major events to the top cadre of global festivals, adding that the starting point would be to train the managers of the festivals.

    ”As you may be aware, the training of festival managers is contained in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that we signed with the British Council.

    “Also included in another MoU, which we signed with the Tony Elumelu Foundation, is the need to ensure that festivals like Ijakadi are not just a mere jamboree but also a source of economic empowerment for the people.

    “It will help to inject foreign exchange into the economy and create jobs, especially for the communities in which such festivals are situated,” the minister said.

    Mohammed said the beneficiaries of the partnership with the private sector would include major festivals like the Abuja Carnival.

    He said the training would bring out their full potentials and become household names like the Edinburgh International Festivals, the Rio Carnival in Brazil and the Notting Hill Festival in London.

    ”Our ultimate aim is to ensure that our festivals are among the top 20 festivals in the world,” he said.

    The minister lauded Offa Descendants Union (ODU) , the organiser of the ”Ijakadi Festival” for reviving and sustaining the age-long event.

    He said the festival “reinforces the community’s tradition of strength and determination and addresses the notion of equality among all the indigenes of Offa.”

    Kwara Governor, Abdulfatai Ahmed also commended the organiser for reviving Ijakadi Festival, adding that it will go a long way in uniting the community.

    The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Otunba Taiwo Joseph, said the state would partner with the community to make the festival a tourist attraction.

    The National President of ODU, Alhaji Najeemdeen Yasin, said the Offa community is known with a popular slogan “Ijakadi Loro Offa’, meaning Ijakadi is the tradition of the Offa people.

    “This slogan does not translate to the ordinary meaning that the Offa people are pugnacious or that they fight for no cause, rather it depicts the struggle to achieve or excel.

    “Offa people are always on top of whatever challenges that confront them and they fight and find solutions to such problems.

    “This concept is now demonstrated in two wrestlers trying to defeat each other,’’ Yasin said.

    According to him, the festival is a forum to bring the sons and daughters of Offa together to work for the progress and development of the community.