Nigeria and the Poverty debate By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Nigeria has become a spectacle of negative narratives.

Not over 24 hours ago when the fuel laden tanker caught fire and engulfed several cars killing scores of commuters in Lagos, a friend from the United States of America contacted me to find out why Nigeria has become a cesspool of all the negative indices.

The caller reminded me that in this same June of 2018, over 200 villagers were slaughtered in Barkin Ladi near Jos, in plateau state, by armed Fulani herdsmen.

The caller then reminded me that a 15 year old school girl Miss Liah Sharibu is still been held by boko haram terrorists since two months after nearly 100 school girls from Dapchi in Yobe State were snatched away from their school even with the pretentious heavy security by armed soldiers and police. This young Christian was left behind by President Muhammadu Buhari's government which negotiated the release of other girls who are all Moslems and these other hostages were conveyed back home by armed boko haram terrorists amidst cheers and encomiums by villagers.

The friend from the United States then reminded me that a British Broadcasting Service news recently alleged that the Nigerian Army troops were suddenly recalled and asked to retreat in Sambisa forests when they were at the verge of killing or capturing Alhaji Abubakar Shekau, the reclusive leader of the blood thirsty boko haram terrorists.

The Lagos fire disaster for this caller was just the icing in the cake to demonstrate that Nigeria is not just badly administered but that the total lack of leadership competences amongst the ruling political class has started to take dangerous tolls on the lives of Nigerians.

I then interjected by reminding my concerned American caller that Nigeria has also become the nation with the largest concentration of poor human beings and that this unpalatable rating makes us the worst even making us occupy a position of global opprobrium and infamy far worst than India that used to be the nation with the highest poverty stricken people Worldwide.

Look at it this way: Nigeria has less than 40 percent of India’s population of over a billion people even with the heavily doctored census figure of 160 million, Nigeria is still far behind India but sadly, we now have the largest number of poor human beings in the World.

The most annoying fact is that Nigeria has a notoriously and criminally manipulated statistics given that the National Bureau of statistic that ought to be professionally administered has been hijacked by politicians with scant regards to professional code and ethics so can easily manipulate statistics to curry favours from the appointing political authority.

The National Bureau of statistics and the National Census Commission have therefore become very unreliable for students of statistics therefore compelling researchers to look towards external statisticians for reliable data on Nigeria.

This is why the current poverty rating of Nigeria is disconcerting and has engineered palpable fears.
It is not as if most Nigerians are unaware of the enormity or gravity of poverty situation in Nigeria because almost every household in Nigeria must be confronting the demon of poverty amongst some of her members.

Nigeria as the nation with the largest concentration of blacks globally, is deeply involved in the African traditional family system of extended relationship so every family knows the economic status of her members.

With the heavy presence of African traditional values including extended family units, it is easier for members of each family to be able to reach a determination of how poverty is affecting any of their members.

It is therefore much more easier for genuine statisticians to conduct scientific verification of real data regarding poverty. But the local statisticians affiliated with the Nigerian government are playing politics.

A whole lot of statistical data on poverty in Nigeria have been circulated in the past in both official and unofficial quarters with a recent frightening version that told us that there are over 100 million poor households in Nigeria.

It is as a result of the apprehension created by the realization that poverty has inflicted heavy economic damage on Nigerians that successive administrations have implemented one pro-poor policy or the other. Also wives of governors use the excuse of fighting mass poverty to extort money heavily from local contractors just for self-enrichment whereas poverty has continued to grow amongst their people.

The immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan implemented several of such policies. Olusegun Obasanjo set up NATIONAL Poverty eradication programme but without legal frameworks this body disappeared as soon as another administration came on board. There is also the National Directorate of Employment. All these institutions that have become embroiled in bureaucratic bottlenecks were set up in the first instance because poverty of the extreme specie has become hydraheaded in Nigeria.

The current government is also implementing the conditional cash transfer to some poor homes. Infact, Muhammadu Buhari appointed a special Adviser who is in charge of free school feeding programme that is embroiled in alleged widespread corruption.
So why is the current government doubting the veracity of the statistical nightmare of the extent of poverty in Nigeria?

If poverty is not so much of a problem, why is the government spreading the propaganda of feeding school children.
Dr Dan Mou is a top bureaucrat in government and has recently written a big book to state clearly that millions of Nigerians are afflicted by poverty.

In one of his major scholarly works titled: “National Security, democracy and good governance in Post-Military Rule Nigeria”, Dr Dan Mou went as far as recommending the establishment of a national empowerment and inclusive growth commission to take care of seventy percent of Nigerians still in mass poverty, excluded from enjoying dividends of democracy and development in their own country.

It therefore follows, that the government of president Muhammadu Buhari should stop living in denial and realize that poverty has ballooned out of control and also initiate practical measures to curb the expanding frontiers of poverty which is a menace afflicting a clear majority of Nigerians who are the owners of the sovereignty of Nigeria. Poverty spreads because of corruption amongst political office holders. Poverty is widespread because government spends 70 percent of annual budget to service huge wage bills of political office holders and spends a fraction building infrastructure. Poverty spreads due to lack of respect for the rule of law and human rights. Poverty spreads due to absence of good governance and lack of transparency and accountability in government. Poverty spreads when government can't check the widespread violence unleashed on farmers who are the major producers of agricultural produce that feeds the nation. Poverty spreads when boko haram terrorists destroys farmlands and homelands of millions of farmers in the North East of Nigeria and the money budgeted for reconstructing those places are stolen by top government officials. So the Government must yell herself the truth and take action to check the expansion of poverty.

The report that Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the largest number of extreme poor as of 2018 as issued by the Washington-based Brookings Institution is empirically accurate and factually correct and must not be belittled by politics.

The report titled, ‘The Start of a New Poverty Narrative,’ obtained on the institution’s website, pointed out that the Democratic Republic of the Congo could soon take over the number two spot.
It said, “At the end of May 2018, our trajectories suggest that Nigeria had about 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared with India’s 73 million. What is more, extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall.

“In fact, by the end of 2018 in Africa as a whole, there will probably be about 3.2 million more people living in extreme poverty than there are today. Already, Africans account for about two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor.

“If current trends persist, they will account for nine-tenths by 2030. Fourteen out of 18 countries in the world—where the number of extreme poor is rising—are in Africa.”
It noted that between January 1, 2016, when implementation of internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) started, and July 2018, the world had seen about 83 million people escape extreme poverty.

However, it noted that if extreme poverty were to fall to zero by 2030, “We should have already reduced the number by about 120 million, just assuming a linear trajectory.”

According to the Brookings Institution, given a starting point of about 725 million people in extreme poverty at the beginning of 2016, there was need to reduce poverty by 1.5 people every second to achieve the SDGs, “and yet we’ve been moving at a pace of only 1.1 people per second.”

“Given that we’ve fallen behind so much, the new target rate has just increased to 1.6 people per second through 2030. At the same time, because so many countries are falling behind, the actual pace of poverty reduction is starting to slow down. Our projections show that by 2020, the pace could fall to 0.9 people per second, and to 0.5 people per second by 2022.

“As we fall further behind the target pace, the task of ending extreme poverty by 2030 is becoming inexorably harder because we are running out of time. We should celebrate our achievements, but increasingly sound the alarm that not enough is being done, especially in Africa,” it added.
The hasty response by the current government dismissing this well thought out report of the real life situation is therefore scandalous.

Is the government of Nigeria operating in a wilderness of loneliness whereby the members of the ruling class are alienated from the realities of most Nigerians and their daily encounter with poverty?

Is it because for instance, the presidency budgeted over N90 million to be used to cut the hairs of president Buhari this year that it does not know that N90 million can build two standard world class schools for the poor anywhere in Nigeria? Is it because President Muhammadu Buhari spent 103 days and another one week in a London hospital at huge public expenses that it is not sensitive enough to note that poverty is a major issue in Nigeria?

The minister of Trade and Commerce Mr. Okechukwu Enalamah who spoke tongue -in -cheek must know that even in his Abia state of origin, that poverty is real even in his own family.
Hear him: "The latest Brookings Institute's rating of Nigeria as the headquarters of poverty in the world should not border Nigerians because the report may have been compiled when the nation was in economic recess".

In his unsophisticated sophistry, the minister of Trade and Investment said also as follows: "We need to understand when we get these reports that there are reports that are lagging in indicators which means, people are reporting on history. There are reports that are leading indicators, which means that they are forward looking and, of course, there are reports that capture generally what you do which is current. "

He continued his illogicality thus: "They are actually dealing with what is current. So, when you get reports from Brooking Institutes or all sorts of people, you need to look at the context. Somebody may have written a report when we were in recession. Remember that if you are in a recession, what it means is that even though your population is growing, people don't stop procreating, which means that in theory, depending on how they run those numbers, you will be going the other way," says the Minister.

The Federal government must be told in black and white that for millions of poor Nigerians, there is no difference between when Nigeria was said to be in recession and after the recession (if indeed it has ended) since most people are still in absolute poverty.

Millions of Nigerians are still in absolute poverty.
Extreme/absolute poverty is the situation where even the selected minimum consumption requirements are not met.

The UN has defined extreme poverty as a “condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.”

The World Bank is the global institution dedicated for fighting poverty (www.indianecomomy.net).
The World Bank has developed several attempts to measure and compare poverty levels across countries. One such tool is its international poverty line which is expressed as dollar earnings per day that can meet minimum consumption requirements in all countries.

The Bank’s extreme poverty is now emerged as the international scale to measure poverty globally and to make comparisons among countries.

In 2015, World Bank upgraded its extreme poverty line by increasing the income requirements.
As per the World Bank’s latest poverty measurement methodology, international extreme poverty line is US$1.90 (2011 purchasing power parity [PPP] U.S. dollars) per individual per day.

Previously this extreme poverty line was earning of $1.25 a day, at 2005 international prices.
As per the new estimate, the World Bank estimates that less than 10% of the world’s population live under its new threshold of $1.90 a day.

"There occurred a dramatic fall from more than 1 billion population in extreme poverty in 2011, when the poverty line was $1.25 (measured in 2005 US dollars). Following are the main global poverty trends: In 2013, 10.7 percent of the world’s population lived on less than US$1.90 a day, compared to 12.4 percent in 2012. That’s down from 35 percent in 1990", so wrote Tojo Jose.
In 2013, 767 million people lived on less than $1.90 a day, down from 881 million in 2012 and 1.85 billion in 1990.

Half of the world’s poor live in Sub-Saharan Africa and a third in South Asia.
A report from World Bank says that inequality is the biggest threat for realizing poverty reduction. ‘Hence we need Poverty and Shared Prosperity’. Bringing shared prosperity of the bottom 40 percent of populations in every country is the best way to eliminate poverty."

Will President Muhammadu Buhari and his officials accept the reality of our situation and reduce the huge wage bills that go into servicing salaries of political office holders and bridge the income gaps and also practice equality of rights? Only time will tell. 

* Emmanuel Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com;www.huriwanigeria.com; www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

As Europe battles Immigration By Emmanuel Onwubiko

These are certainly highly perilous times for a modern day African.

As I watched the international news channels and see little babies strapped to the mothers' backs in some derelict boats off the shore of the perilous Mediterranean Sea, my heart jumps to my mouth in trepidation and unmoderated consternation. Why Africans?

These times for the Africans seems like the mid 1940’s Europe when the World War II (September 1^st 1939 – 2^nd September 1945) has just ended and European territories faced tumultuous times with internal displacements of her citizens especially within the front line nations. Hundreds of Europeans were actually compelled to flee by boats into exiles in some safer places around the World as refugees in those days of the World wars.

In those days of the Post-World War II Europe, the United States of America implemented the Marshall plan which was an initiative to aid Western Europe, even as the United States gave over $13 Billion in Economic assistance to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of the World War II.

However, there are sharp and indeed fundamental differences of existential experiences between what the Western Europeans went through during the Post-World War II era to what Africans are going through now.

Whereas the World power symbolized then by the United States of America generously aided the reconstruction of much or all of Western Europe soon after the devastating War and most European refugees effortlessly settled into new lives in their host Countries in which for the first time, a whole lot of the African nations which are ruined by wars, famine, poverty, arms proliferation and lack of good governance, are left to their cruel fate thereby occasioning a deluge of migrants in their thousands who are fleeing these cruel situations back home in Africa in search of safety for their lives and Western Europe seems the nearest safe haven.

The African Union which ought to formulate and implement effective policy frameworks on migration has consistently gone to the European Union cap in hand to beg for funding assistance. African Union by the way is a meeting of despots who in the first place are directly responsible for creating wars and poverty which are factors that have continued to compel many youngsters to flee for their lives. Only the brave stay back.

Africa’s refugees’ crises are not basically due to economic collapse of the African Nations but is due to a combination of external and internal factors or what I may sum up as centripetal and centrifugal forces at play.

African nations experienced years of colonization from Western empire builders from the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and Portugal amongst others.

At independence, most of these European powers that carted away the choicest resources and had for years enslaved our people left Africa in gross under development with no reparations or compensations for these years of the locusts.

But the political independence was supposed to be used by the locals to build enduring homelands whereby prosperity of their people, equality of rights and equity would reign supreme. But these were never actualized.

Rather, the different persons that gained power in the various African Nations abandoned developmental blueprints in preference for perpetuation of their class, clan, and ethno-religiously affiliated persons to control powers thereby alienating other people in which case wars set in, followed by devastation, poverty and famine. In Nigeria whereby war was fought for 30 Months around the Eastern region of Nigeria with the attendant destruction of infrastructure and the slaughter of 3 million people, the East was never rebuilt by government and neither did the Western powers that sold weapons to the Federal force to battle the then Biafra aided in redeveloping the devastated Eastern region of Nigeria. The people of this region have been abandoned to their cruel faye but for their resilience and community development drive the Eastern region would have remained in shambles.

Again, the Western European and the United States of America have never showed positive interest in demanding that those who hold political powers in the different African Nations must play the game by the rules.

The basic interests of the Western powers have always revolved around how they can make use of natural resources in some African Nations to enrich their local economies. As in write, the Western powers are in competition with China on which of these blocs will gain more footholds in and around African areas whereby natural resources are found in commercial quantities.

The Bretton Woods Institutions of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) which were basically set up around the periods between the first and the Second World Wars to carry out economic and infrastructural rebuilding processes around the devastated Western European Nations have remained sources of curse for Africa and not blessing.

Alongside the Paris and London clubs, these funding institutions have conspired with some corrupt African Nations to build up dubious debts which have become major developmental obstacles. Not long ago, Nigeria paid out $12 billion to Paris and London clubs as part of settlements for some furiously accumulated debts. These huge cash would have changed the infrastructural landscape of Nigeria if the political elite would be mindful to put it into better uses. But the huge cash went to the same advanced Western nations.

Again, corruption amongst African political elite has impoverished nations such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Kinshasha amongst others.
The Western Nations have benefitted from the menace of political corruption in such places like Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Congo, Gabon, Angola all in Africa.

This is because those who hold political offices divert public fund till date to their off shore bank accounts and safe havens in Europe and the United States of America even as these privileged few from Africa have bought up several choice housing assets in Western Nations. Governors in Nigeria divert public funds to buy up choice housing assets in Europe and America as I write.
The African despots who continuously destroy their nations through corruption, lack of respect for human rights and poor governance standards, have also taken away their children to the best schools in Western Europe whereby they are far away from the poverty stricken environment that much of African schools have become.

In Nigeria, the 36 states of the Federation have progressively become insolvent and rely heavily on revenues generated from sale of crude oil which come from the Niger Delta just as the Niger Delta remains poor, neglected, environmentally abused and the state of infrastructure is near zero.
Poverty and violent crimes have surged around the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

In the North East and South East, political corruption has left all the public utilities in very bad shape thereby forcing parents to send their children to places such as Ghana and Benin Republic in search of education in poorly standardized faculties.

The North East of Nigeria has been in a state of war since the last seven years just as girls are kidnapped by boko haram terrorists at will and government is too weak or compromised to fight back. At times the security forces sabotage the anti-terror fights for financial gains.

So when you look around the Mediterranean seas and see thousands of Nigerians fleeing into Europe, they are not just searching for economic wellbeing but they are forced to flee from unperalled violence, war, poverty and poor governance standards at both the central and sub-national levels.
But Europe and America have continued to sale weapons to African and Nigerian despots.

These weapons find their ways in the hands of armed Fulani herdsmen who deploy these sophisticated weapons to seek to wipe out the entire Christian dominated North Central states of Plateau, Benue, Taraba so they can occupy by force these lands belonging to the indigenous communities and the Federal government has done nothing to stop it. Government of Nigeria is accused of nepotism in the appointments of top security chiefs who are all Moslems same as the armed Fulani attackers. So the issue of irregular migration from Nigeria is a disturbing phenomenon coupled with the fact that Nigeria has a leader who doesn't fully appreciate the enormity of the crises but has instead continued to tell the press that Nigerians abroad want to return. Since African despots who created these problems of irregular migration are unwilling to solve the problems, Europe has embraced the challenge.

Now that the European Union’s leadership has moved to Austria which is absolutely against migration, there has to be strategies in place both in Europe, America to stop the weaponization of African despotism, insists on transparent elections, and respect for the rule of law and respect also for the human rights of Africans. By that way irregular migration will reduce. The Western powers must stop the hiding of African wealth in their jurisdictions by African thieving political elite. If these steps are not adopted, then the European commission under Austria's control may not achieve much even if they stop the inflow of African migrants.

We just read that Austria plans to use its presidency of the European Union this year to shift the bloc’s focus away from resettling refugees within the EU and toward preventing further waves of arrivals, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Friday. So reports www.haaretz.com.

Kurz is governing in coalition with the anti-immigration Freedom Party, making Austria the only western European country to have a far-right party in government. This follows an election last year dominated by Europe’s migration crisis.
Austria will take over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union in July, giving it an important say in setting the agenda at the many meetings between member states.

The bloc has been bitterly divided over immigration and eastern member states like Poland and Hungary refuse to take in their share of refugees under a resettlement system. Kurz, an immigration hard-liner, has pledged to use his good relations particularly with Hungary to bring the two sides closer.

“Our aim is very clear - that in Europe there should not only be a dispute over redistribution (of refugees) but also at last a shift of focus towards securing external borders,” Kurz told a news conference outlining Austria’s priorities for the presidency, which it will take over from Bulgaria.
Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have repeatedly rebuffed requests from Brussels and western EU states to host some of the hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim refugees that have streamed into the EU since 2015.

The bitter row has undermined trust between the bloc’s members and weakened their unity.
Austria has moved from calling on the eastern Europeans to carry their share of the burden to, under Kurz, criticizing the debate on quotas and calling for a new system altogether.
Kurz has said there is no point arguing over the current system of quotas because eastern states refuse to accept them. He has argued in favor of a system in which migrants rescued in the Mediterranean are returned to Africa rather than brought to Europe, and pledged to stop illegal immigration altogether.

“Protection (of borders) alone will not solve the migration question but the decisive question is what happens to people after their rescue - so are they brought to central Europe or are they taken back to countries or origin or other safe regions where they can be provided for?” he said.
When asked what solutions he had in mind, he said expanding the mandate of Frontex, the EU border agency, was one option but there were others and it would depend on talks with leaders at events including a summit on migration and security on Sept. 20.

Other priorities Austria has set itself include promoting Europe’s competitiveness and working towards EU accession for Balkan countries, particularly Serbia and Montenegro, he said.
But the African Union must wake up and take responsibility for the deaths of Africans during the dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea to sail to Europe.

Sede Alonge wrote in The Guardian of Britain that African Union must wake up.
Thousands of migrants, the writer stated, many of them Africans, have died trying to get into Europe this year alone. News stories of drownings and shipwrecks during hazardous sea journeys on the Mediterranean have become depressingly familiar.

What can be done to prevent such tragedies? So far, one could get the impression that the problem is considered solely Europe’s to deal with; after all, it is the EU’s borders that are being besieged. But that would mean absolving the African Union of any responsibility for its own borders and citizens, letting it off the hook far too easily.

African societies pride themselves on their regard for culture, family life and community in general. The actions of individuals are considered reflective of their families and the communities they come from. If a son turns out to be a thief, this is deemed shameful not just to his parents but also to the community he comes from. His family is expected to accept full responsibility for his actions and to undertake to do something about the situation. Similarly, we are also fond of emphasizing our sense of brotherhood and solidarity with our fellow African citizens.

However, it is difficult to reconcile all this with the seemingly indifferent AU response to the migrant crisis. What exactly is it doing to secure its borders and prevent smugglers from transporting thousands out of the continent, often to their deaths? What is it doing to encourage those Africans who feel forced to leave their countries, or who are displaced, to choose African destinations rather than European ones? Not much, is the answer.

"The fact that African migrants tend to seek refuge in countries that have well-developed human rights systems only accentuates the AU’s failure. Increasing Europe’s border security should not be solely the EU’s headache. Africa’s leaders have a responsibility to work towards solving a problem they helped create in the first place."

*Emmanuel Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) andblogs@www.emmanuelonwubiko.com, www.huriwanigeria.com; www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

HURIWA TASKS FEDERAL HIGH COURT ON APC’S BILLBOARD: *Faults administration of oath on Oshiomhole by Malami:

Calling it the most audacious display of disrespect and sacrilege against the temple of justice that is constitutionally institutionalized to be neutral and politically impartial, a pro-democracy group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked the chief judge of federal High Court to order the dismantling of a campaign billboard of All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman Mr. Adams Oshiomhole mounted strategically in front of the court’s complex for days now.

Besides HURIWA has faulted the decision of the Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice Alhaji Abubakar Malami (SAN) to desecrate his high office by administering the oath of office on the partisan chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) Mr. Adams Oshiomhole after the NATIONAL convention at the Eagles Square. HURIWA wondered why a private senior lawyer affiliated to the political ASSOCIATION such as the erstwhile national legal adviser was not tasked with the partisan job of conducting the swearing in of the chairman of one amongst the over 65 registered political parties in Nigeria. 

In a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said by virtue of section 150(1) of the Nigerian constitution of 1999 (as amended) the holder of the office of the Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice, is the chief law officer of the federation and not of a political party. The Rights group cautioned the current federal Attorney General and minister of justice to stop forthwith from abusing his official privileges to service partisan interests. 

On the campaign billboard of APC strategically mounted in front of the Federal High Court, HURIWA says it symbolizes that the nation’s judiciary may have become a conquered territory of a band of political warriors belonging to the All Progressives Congress (APC). It expressed shock that the positioning of this campaign billboard is done in such a way that international and local visitors to Abuja would think that the Federal High Court's Complex at the Abuja Central Business District is the secretariat of the All progressives congress. 

“The siting and location of such a partisan and mundane political contraption such as a campaign billboard in such a sacred place whereby the Federal High Court is located is an affront to the constitutional tenet of checks and balances and is offensive to the neutrality and independence of the judiciary”.

“We are shocked that the hierarchy of the judiciary including the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court have over looked such a grave sacrilege of the sanctity of the judicial system as symbolized by the location of the billboard of a politician just by the fence of the Federal High Court’s complex.”

“We demand a public apology from the APC and an immediate action by the leadership of the federal High Court to cleanse the monumental damage done to the image and sanctity of the judiciary by the location of a campaign billboard by the fence of the Federal High Court”.

Herdsmen Attacks: Stop chasing shadows-: HURIWA to govt: *Demands Arrest of Miyetti Officials:

A pro-democracy and Non-Governmental body – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to stop comparing the rate of killings by armed Fulani herdsman/hoodlums in Zamfara, Benue and Plateau states just as the Rights group says such insensitive statements from the President amounts to undue chasing of shadows and paints the President as a leader who takes joy in dancing naked on the graves of the deceased.

Besides, the Rights group has challenged President Buhari to direct the Department of State Services (DSS), and the military to arrest key officials of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association (MACBAN) including the regional official in North Central Alhaji Danladi Ciroma who reportedly justified the killings in Plateau state as a revenge for the alleged rustling of 300 cows.

Condemning the decision of the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest notable Christian leader in Jos Pastor Isa Elbuba for condemning the Fulani instigated genocide across North Central, HURIWA described as despicable the sectional approach to law enforcement and the selective persecution of Christian leaders and the apparent immunity to kill farmers granted Miyetti Allah Association. The Rights group warned that these incessant wrongful arrests of Christian leaders and outspoken opposition politicians by the secret police under the supervision of President Muhammadu Buhari just for expressing their disgust over the lack of effective battle against armed Fulani insurgency. "Why is the DSS picking and choosing who to arrest when in our very before the chairman of MIYETTI Allah Cattle Owners Association confirmed that the 200 Plateau indigenes were slaughtered because Fulani herdsmen lost 300 cows?. What can be more direct circumstantial evidence linking Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association to these attacks than this callous, reckless, irresponsible and vicious comments by Danladi Ciroma?"

Describing Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association as the most dangerous terrorist group in Nigeria, HURIWA has therefore urged the United States government; the United Kingdom; Germany and European Union to declare armed Fulani herdsmen backed by Miyetti Allah Organization as a terrorist group. HURIWA says it is becoming clearer just like daylight is to darkness that President Muhammadu Buhari has not even the remotest political will to crush the armed Fulani herdsmen even as the Rights group faulted Buhari's reliance on supernatural forces to end the killings when the President has the powers under the Constitution to declare armed Fulani herdsmen as terrorists and order the systematic and strategic crushing of these killers whose sponsors have unveiled themselves as officials of Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association. Muhammadu Buhari was not elected as a prayer or Ethno religious warrior but as the President of all Nigerians and therefore must remain loyal to the Constitution or he resigns immediately and allow a much more competent Person to step in and implement decisive steps to combat the growing and expanding frontiers of armed Fulani terrorism in Nigeria. 

“We are shocked that President Buhari has consistently attempted to down play the gravity of the terror campaigns by armed Fulani herdsmen targeting largely Christian minority communities in the North by illogically comparing the casuality figures of the attacks in the Moslem dominated Zamfara state and the Christian dominated North Central. This comparison is not only nebulous but vexatious and toxic and will bring about mutual recriminations and divisions amongst the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria".

“Most Nigerians we have talked to are in a bottomless pit of shock, trepidation, traumatic panic, that Nigeria’s President has become the defender of Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association to the detriment of the national security interests of all of Nigeria. This is unconstitutional.”

“Why should Mr. President use this sort of offensive comparison and narratives concerning the death tolls recorded in Zamfara vis-à-vis those figures of the deaths in Plateau, Benue and Taraba? The Commander-in-chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces should be seen ordering the arrest of the sponsors of these spates of blood chilling attacks in which children, toddlers, babies, women, old men/women and the sick are slaughtered by armed Fulani herdsmen. The government must pick up the officials of Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association of Nigeria since there must be no sacred cows in the enforcement of the laws.”

“The statement credited to President Buhari stating that less people are killed in Plateau and Benue than Zamfara is both insensitive and reprehensible. All lives are precious and sacred and no particular person deserves to be killed.”

HURIWA faulted Buhari’s claim that security has improved and stated that this statement reflects a government that is delusional and living in denial. The Rights group said at no time since the fratricidal civil war has innocent blood been shed as it has happened under the watch of President Buhari. 

HURIWA stated that as long as President retains the one sided heavy dominance of Hausa/Fulani as heads of all strategic national security forces, the armed Fulani killings will continue since Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association believe that they can wipe out indigenous people and occupy their lands with the protection of security forces therefore they will even escalate these violent attacks. 

Nigeria's integrity challenged leadership By Emmanuel Onwubiko

For about three weeks this month, I spent a short vacation in some parts of Central London in the United Kingdom.

During this brief period, I took time to read through the metrol newspapers and evening standards which are distributed free of charge to all train commuters in the mornings and evenings respectively.
I also took time to move around and interacted with some British people including some of their law enforcement officials. Let me say it here that the Metropolitan police operatives are some of the most friendly police officials you can find anywhere in the advanced Western Societies.

These interfaces and the prolonged period I took to go through not just the British print media but also watched and listened to some of their local broadcast stations of television and radio, was basically to learn one or two factors that has or have shaped the outlook of the strategic interventions of the law enforcement authorities in swiftly resolving any violent crimes and the efficient speed that the judicial wheel of progress moves in reaching certainty in determining such cases.

My understanding is that the British judicial system is alive and working optimally even with some of the imperfections and setbacks caused by shortage of funds for such vital law enforcement agencies as the police.

I came out with the logical and scientifically verifiable impressions that most people in Britain are aware that the law enforcement institutions are operated in such a way that whomsoever commits a crime must be caught in no time and the process of criminal investigation, prosecution and convictions are clearly well spelt out and there is appreciable speed.

The workability of the law enforcement and judicial system of Britain makes it certain that there is effective deterrence for crimes.
Psychologically and sociologically, it has been proven that if a potential offender knows that there are higher possibilities of being caught and punished, then the motivation for offending is drastically reduced.

Reaching home in Abuja, the earliest stories that have broken are the killings going in Benue, and most recently Plateau state.
In Plateau state, over 200 human beings were killed by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen and these communities whereby these mass killings happened are approximately near the security points where soldiers and policemen are supposed to prevent such mass killings from happening but these killings have happened in any case.

The Plateau killings started on Saturday and lasted till Sunday this past weekend.
But President Muhammadu Buhari and his political party were in Abuja, approximately two hours drive from Plateau state, engaging in a jamboree they called national convention to elect party leaders who are already handpicked.

The All Progressives Congress is the party that produced President Buhari and this party members gathered in Eagles Square which is approximately the size of one football pitch.
But the size of the venue is not in issue. What is worrisome is the high presence of soldiers, police and even privately hired security operatives numbering over 10,000 who were detailed to secure such a small venue with very few persons.

The Plateau communities that were contemporaneously attacked by armed Fulani herdsmen whilst the Abuja jamboree lasted, were abandoned to their cruel fate. Survivors said they saw soldiers escorting cows and Fulani herdsmen even when the killings were happening. THIS allegation is grave and must not be swept under the carpets. There is another allegation in other flashpoints and frontline states of armed Attacks by Fulani herdsmen that jets were noticed dropping off weapons in some forestry areas where Fulani are amassed readying for attacks. In Plateau the consequences of collusion between soldiers and Fulani herdsmen are enormous if proven.

The outcome is that hundreds of women, toddlers, children and old men including the sick and aged were slaughtered like cows all because there is the allegation that Fulani herdsmen lost 300 cows.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) explained why perpetrators of Sunday’s Plateau killings struck.

In a statement, the Chairman, North Central Zone of MACBAN, Danladi Ciroma, said: “These attacks are retaliatory. As much as I don’t support the killing of human beings, the truth must be told that those who carried out the attacks must be on revenge mission.

He claimed ridiculously, that there have been recent reports of cow rustling and destruction of farms between Berom farmers and Fulani herdsmen. 'The people carrying out these criminal activities are well known to the communities, but the communities are hiding them', he stated.
Hear his remaining irrational claims of why innocent citizens were killed because of some missing cows: "Fulani herdsmen have lost about 300 cows in the last few weeks: 94 cows were rustled by armed Berom youths in Fan village. Another 36 cows were killed by Berom youths. In addition to that, 174 cattle were rustled and the criminals disappeared with them to Mangu. ”

Shockingly, even as this official of the cattle owners owned up to this dastardly criminal act of mass killings in a very unambiguous way, President Buhari was in Abuja playing the blame game and shifting the responsibility for the terror attacks away from Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association to his perceived political enemies.

Buhari’s government has consistently shielded this Miyetti Allah Association whose leadership has never shied away from instigation of these killings and shortly thereafter claiming responsibility for the killings and offering some illogical reasons but they have never been arrested talk less of declaring them as terrorists. Same government erroneously manipulated the Federal High Court to obtain a kangaroo court declaration of unarmed indigenous peoples of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist group just for demanding self-determination but Buhari has become the chief defender of Miyeyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association and is abusing his office and power by not crushing these identifiable terror gangsters.

It is very clear that Nigeria is a country facing integrity deficit amongst the political class and a nation whose populations are left to be killed by violent advocates of land grabs and members of Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association whose members are alleged to be holding strategic positions in the current government.
Rather than crack down on the armed Fulani herdsmen this government chose to be dancing naked on the graves of the victims and the president is playing blame game even as his sectionally dominated and biased security chiefs look the other way whilst Nigerians are killed massively but the government kept blaming political opponents.

Only few days back, the former governor of Benue state Gabriel Suswam of PDP whose community is affected in the ongoing genocide by armed Fulani was allegedly arrested by Department of State Services headed by Buhari’s kinsman, a Fulani, only because he is a political opposition leader but there is an attempt to rope him in as a sponsor of the armed Fulani killings. What an irony!
This same government has arrested an outspoken senator Enyinnaya Abaribe who has consistently criticized Buhari’s poor handling of security matters only because he is a political opposition leader. These tendencies by the heads of national security agencies are not only illegal but poses a grave threat to national security.

Political rulers in Abuja especially those in the executive arm of government beginning from President Muhammadu Buhari have turned Aso Rock Villa into a cesspool of nepotism, corruption, and evil plots against perceived political opponents all in an attempt to intimidate, harass, and violently downgrade any viable opposition standing in the way of the second term gambit of the current president.

Mr. Scott McClellan in his book “What Happened inside the Bush White House and Washington’s culture of deception” painted a graphic picture of what the current administration looks like.
His words: “As I explain in this book, Washington has become the home of the permanent campaign, a game of endless politicking based on the manipulation of shades of truth, partial truths, twisting of the truth, and spin. Governing has become an appendage of politics rather than the other way around, with electoral victory and the control of power as the sole measures of success. That means shaping the narrative before it shapes you. Candor and honesty are pushed to the side in the battle to win the latest news cycle.”

NIGERIA is not just in an autopilot dimension but in a 1-chance bus and may crash unless rescued by all good Nigerians.

The other day the Minister of Defence who is Fulani was blasting and condemning the Benue and Taraba states’ governments for passing laws against open grazing even as he blamed this for the killings by his kinsmen who seem to value cows more than human life.

This is the worst show of shame, depravity and irresponsible insensitivity that I have ever seen amongst any modern day government official anywhere in the World talk less of a country that claims to be practicing constitutional democracy.

All these deceptions, incompetences and irrational insensitivity in this Nigerian government pose serious threats to national security and to the survival of Nigeria as an entity over a long period of time.
I will explain what I mean shortly but let us consult experts to learn one or two things about why officials should not jeopardize or sacrifice national security over the alter of ethno-religious pursuits.
“In the 1960s, it used to be believed that the greatest challenge to national security in Nigeria, especially with reference to rapid economic development, nation-building and political co-existence, was ethnicity. This was partially correct given that ethnicity was at the heart of the Nigerian Civil War 1967 –1970".

"Since the end of the civil war, especially in the late 1980s to 2000s, religious crises appear to have become the greatest threat to Nigeria’s internal peace and harmony. Many well-meaning Nigerians now argue that if not carefully handled, a religious war is bound to occur in Nigeria in the not-too distant future. The attention of policy makers and analysts has become squarely focused on religious conflicts as the most serious national security problem in Nigeria. From the Maitatsine religious crises in Kano, we now have the Boko Haram religious sect, especially in Northern part of Nigeria, causing the greatest violence destruction of human life and properties surpassed in Nigerian history by only the civil war.” (From the book titled “National Security, Democracy & Good Governance in Post-Military Rule Nigeria” Volume One by Dr. Dan Mou).

THESE killers must be rounded up, prosecuted and sentenced to death and executed or else in the near future those whose loved ones are killed will carry out surgical revenge. We are also in an era of advanced technology so we must deliver closure and justice to these victims of armed Fulani terrorism or else Nigeria will not know peace in the near future. Peace is only that of graveyard if there is no justice and equality of rights. Government of the day must stop the imminent doomsday scenario coming to us soon.

* Emmanuel Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com; www.huriwanigeria.com; www@huriwa.blogspot.com.

Mrs. Onyedikachi Dinma (Nee Ngoforo): HURIWA wants Lagos AG; IGP to step into case of domestic violence:

A pro-constitutional Non-governmental organization – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has charged the Lagos state Attorney General; the inspector General of police Alhaji Ibrahim Idriss, Kpodum and the Lagos state governor to intervene to ensure justice in the alleged murder by Mr. Samuel Mgbeodinma of his wife Mrs. Onyedikachi Dinma (Nee Ngoforo) in Lagos state.

HURIWA has also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to reorganize the ministries of youth/sports and women Affairs so these beats can be headed by pro-human rights ministers even as there is the urgent need for states in the federation and the federal government to establish functional directorates to take care of domestic violence. The Rights group said there is an epidemic of domestic violence because the justice sector has been crippled by many factors and because there is high level of governmental impunity in high places and because ordinary people see their elected officials behave recklessly without adherence to the Rule of law so they too believe that they can commit murder and manipulate the dysfunctional system to go unpunished. Federal government needs to embark on massive advocacy campaigns to sensitize Nigerians on the inevitable fate that await them should they be involved in domestic violence.

The Rights group lamented that the allegedly killed Mrs. Onyedikachi Dinma (Nee Ngoforo) who was 12 weeks pregnant and murdered allegedly by her husband Mr. Samuel Mgbeodinma, is the fourth woman  to have been killed by their spouses in the last two weeks. The group has there called for a national summit on domestic violence and for the law to be fully carried out against suspected murderers.

“Whilst we call on the Lagos state police commissioner who is building a reputation for himself as a non-nonsense officer to take direct charge of this case of suspicious death of this youngster Mrs. Onyedikachi Ngoforo in the hands of her husband, we are petitioning the Inspector General of police so his attention is drawn to the allegations that the parents of the alleged killer husband who is on the run, are beginning to build up some conspiracy theories on the cause of the death of their daughter-in-law even before a scientific autopsy is carried out on her remains.”

“May we call the attention of both the Lagos state police commissioner and the Inspector General of Police to the statements made by the mother of the allegedly murdered house wife Mrs. Onyedikachi Dinma (Nee Ngoforo) to the friend of her daughter in which she narrated the ugly scenarios of domestic violence and abuses her late daughter was subjected to before her suspicious death. “Meg Barn, a trusted friend of the murdered lady wrote that Gloria's mother Mrs. Josephine NGOFORO who resides in Ilorin Kwara state and her younger sister Ogoochukwu Arinze called her yesterday
Excerpts of the call goes thus:  "SAMUEL MGBEODINMA, met her daughter in the month of August 2017, proposed to her in January 2018 and married her February 2018."

"That was how Gloria moved in with Samuel at 72b Okeamu Street, Off Governor Road, ikotun Lagos. There have been series of complains from my daughter regarding her sisters in law Onyinye and peace. (Who are married)....who frequents her house to come and make trouble with her."

"Few days before... the ugly incident Gloria called me and told me, that her father in-law... slapped her.... when I heard this ( I planned to come down to Lagos and see things for myself, but couldn't immediately, because I was nursing my husband, Gloria’s father who has partial stroke).On Saturday 16th of June 2018.... Gloria called me from this her number... (08060465493)... sounding very frightened, when asked what's the problem was again? She told me her husband and sisters in law (Samuel... Onyinye and peace) were fighting her... In confusion, I told her to run into the toilet and lock the door...... I tried several times to reach my daughter Gloria again, but her number was switched off.... Even her husband's phone number too was switched off"

"I couldn't reach my daughter or the husband from that Saturday afternoon till Sunday morning, when Samuel MGBEODINMA called me and told me he was with Gloria in the house, when she ""slipped"" and fell and died, Gloria is not epileptic. Gloria my daughter was 12 weeks pregnant..... When she was murdered...Samuel MGBEODINMA give me back my daughter, her mother cried”.

HURIWA at the press conference in Abuja praised some female rights advocacy groups like Project Alert for waging relentless advocacy against domestic violence even as it charged the Lagos based Project Alert not to allow Gloria Onyedikachi Dinma (nee Ngoforo) to die in vain.

CAN Condemns Attacks On Plateau By Herdsmen ...Demands response over alleged recruitment of ex-terrorists

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is disappointed and shocked at the spate of killings that was unleashed on three local government areas of Plateau State by herdsmen.
We noted that the affected communities are yet to come out with the exact figure of the death toll, we are alarmed that no fewer than 86 lives, as confirmed by the police, have been lost, including defenceless women and children.
We are sad that despite assurances and promises by President Muhammadu Buhari that his government is committed to safety of lives and property, these coordinated and premeditated attacks on Plateau towns were not only horrendous but also unprecedented.

CAN is at a loss how scores of people can be killed without any form of resistance by soldiers deployed to contain the security challenge. How could dare devil criminals assault communities without resistance by security agencies to stop these killings. Are these herdsmen in bed with soldiers to unleash mayhem on these peaceful communities?
Of what relevance is the intelligence gathering by the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies? If communities can be attacked and hundreds slaughtered without security organisations providing rescue efforts, then, it becomes obvious that the Nigeria’s security system has been compromised. From all indications, these attacks on the Plateau clearly show that the Federal Government needs to review its security machinery in a bid to make it effective.
Considering the level of human carnage of these attacks, we once again call on government not to rest on its oars until these criminals are brought to book as promised.

CAN and relations of victims of these attacks need more than assurances and promises of tracking down these criminals by the President. Much as these assurances are needed; they have become irrelevant in the face of incessant attacks that have claimed the lives of thousands of Christians.
Against the backdrop of the wave of attacks on innocent citizens, CAN has come to the conclusion that the Federal Government has been overwhelmed by the current security challenges. We once again call on the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations and the African Union, among others, to assist the Nigerian government to protect us against these criminals.

Meanwhile, following media reports of a secret ongoing recruitment of former members of Boko Haram into some military and paramilitary formations by the Federal Government, CAN is concerned over the security implications of such recruitment that pose security to our nation if the report turns out to be true.

In authenticating the veracity of the report, CAN had called the attention of the Federal Government to the disturbing media report and sought responses from Nigeria Army, Nigeria Police, with other relevant security organisations, to either deny or confirm the report. 

Sadly, after two weeks of CAN’s request on relevant security organisations to speak on the matter, we are shocked that silence has been the answer. While we insist that silence, on this matter, can never be golden, we call on the Nigerian Army and other relevant security organisations alleged to have been involved in the recruitment of the former members of the militant Islamic sect to speak out.

While we continue to pray for the peace of our nation, we are, however, constrained to call on the Federal Government to respond to our fears over the alleged recruitment of former members of Boko Haram into the nation’s military and paramilitary formations.

CAN is particularly worried with report that the Federal Government allegedly recruited former members of Boko Haram group into security agencies. If the report is true, we are at a loss on how the former terrorists could be so trusted with the protection of people they once killed with reckless abandon.
Unlike the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua that offered amnesty to former members of Niger Delta militants, none of them was recruited into any of the nation’s security agencies.

While CAN commends the Federal Government in embarking on the de-radicalisation programme for the former Boko Haram fighters, we are quick to advise that they should not be recruited into any of the nation’s military and paramilitary organisations.

Kindly help us disseminate this information to the public through your credible media.

Thank You for your usual support and assistance.

Signed
Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant,  (Media &Communication) to the CAN President, His Eminence, Rev Dr Samson Olasupo Ayokunle 

Hold President Buhari responsible for Plateau genocide: – says HURIWA

A prominent Civil rights group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has blamed federal government’s deliberate refusal to arrest, prosecute and punish sponsors, of armed Fulani terrorism for the ongoing blood bath in parts of Plateau state.

HURIWA said from all indications some highly placed officials in the current administration including the minister of Defence have already taken sides and may have decided not to take any measure to bring the armed Fulani herdsmen to book due to Ethno-religious considerations which runs contrary to the tenets, letters and spirits of the Constitution just as the group asks the presidency to stop shedding crocodile tears each time armed Fulani herdsmen slaughter unarmed Nigerians in the hundreds. 

“We have consistently called on President Muhammadu Buhari who ought to behave like the father of the nation for the duration of his four year tenure but we have called on him in the last three years to declare Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association a terrorist group and to round up and prosecute the top officials of this body who had in the past granted media interviews threatening to stop the implementation of the anti-open grazing law just as the plateau and Kaduna states’ branches had threatened to go after alleged cattle rustlers in parts of plateau and Southern Kaduna shortly before each of the deadly attacks had happened but our calls have fallen on deaf ears and indeed our national coordinator had instead come under direct threats twice by a powerful serving military General holding a strategic command position questioning why our group has consistently condemned the armed Fulani terrorism. Our lives are now under severe threats for speaking out to condemn the bloodcuddling attacks by armed Fulani herdsmen."

"But rather than respect the constitutional oath of office he subscribed to and employ decisive legal based mechanisms to tackle the killings President Buhari had chosen to always issue dry press statements mourning the victims even as his Defence Minister had on many occasions blamed Benue, Taraba for the attacks by armed Fulani herdsmen because of the anti-open grazing law. On his own part the minister of interior whose officials have failed to stop the proliferation of sophisticated weapons used by armed Fulani herdsmen has stayed put in office and has refused to behave like a gentleman and quit honourably so Nigeria can have an effective Interior security minister."

In a statement to the media, HURIWA’s National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said the one hundred percent blame for the spate of attacks by armed Fulani herdsmen falls squarely on the desk of the Commander-in-chief of Nigerian Armed Forces who has retained all the security chiefs who are of Fulani/Hausa Moslem affiliations just like the alleged perpetrators of the armed Fulani terror attacks in direct breach of the Federal Character Principles and indeed the ease with which armed Fulani herdsmen operate freely, killing, maiming and destroying Nigerian farmers in the North of Christian origin shows that there is a serious decision at the top not to take action against the killings.”

“Nigerians must understand that the solution to these spate of killings rests squarely with President Muhammadu Buhari who has all the constitutional powers to decisively crush the sponsors and attackers who are not ghosts but are linked to Miyetti Allah because of the numerous threats this group had issued in the media before attacks are carried out but the President prefers to issue tepid press statements and after which another spate of organised killings by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen take place. ”

“By his constitutional oath, Mr. President ought not to pamper or tolerate Miyetti Allah even if the officials and members share same religious and ethnic background unless the current government is bent on scuttling constitutional democracy.”

“We totally condemn the spate of killings in parts of Plateau state and other parts of Nigeria masterminded by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen. We totally reject the press statement by President Buhari reportedly regretting the killings when he has the power to declare the killers as terrorists but the government is currently planning to spend N170 Billion of tax payers’ money to seize/confiscate ancestral lands of Nigerians for the purposes of erecting ranches for private Fulani owners of cows. This is totally illegal and unconstitutional.”

“How can this government be so insensitive and irresponsible to carry on with a jamboree of the political party in power at the center in the name of  a charade called national convention with 5,000 armed policemen guarding less than 2,000 people but over 100 innocent children, women and old men were killed same time by armed Fulani herdsmen ?.”

HURIWA also condemned the National Assembly for engaging in empty political rhetorics/talks each time armed Fulani terror gangs kill Nigerians instead of exercising their constitutional power of impeachment of the president for failing in his primary constitutional duty which is to protect lives and property of Nigerians.

“Nigerians must speak out and hold sustained public protests and civil disobedient actions in absolute condemnation of these selective genocides now before armed Fulani herdsmen take their killings to other parts of Nigeria.”

 

HURIWA wants world leaders to stop crack down on political opposition in Nigeria:

Condemning as despicable and abuse of power, the arrest recently of the erstwhile governor of Benue State Mr. Gabriel Suswam by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and also the reported whisking away by DSS of the leader of South East caucus in the senate of the Federal Republic Chief Enyinnaya Abaribe, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked World leaders to demand an end to vicious crackdown by President Buhari of political opposition.

The Rights group has also demanded that the Department of State Services must give access to lawyers of the political detainees even as they must be charged to competent court of law within 24 hours if there is any charge at all in line with the rule of law and the provisions of the Nigerian constitution or free them unconditionally and immediately.

The prominent civil society group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) in a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf lamented that the current administration is transforming itself into a brutal dictatorship just as it charged Nigerians to defend Nigeria's democracy and stop it from being demolished by the incumbent who is on a politically motivated roller coaster to manipulate next year's Presidential Election to self-perpetuate.

“We worry that whilst Nigeria under the current administration is rapidly becoming like the Yoweiri Museiveni type of tyranny, the World leaders are not particularly interested in mounting legitimate pressure on the Nigerian president to respect the nation’s obligations to human rights and all international human rights treaties. The arrest of vocal political opposition is antithetical to constitutional democracy because democracy is anchored on free speech and respect for the fundamental human rights of all citizens as enshrined in the Constitution, the Universal declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Human and Peoples RIGHTS."

“The current dispensation has become an administration whose head of the executive arm of government had since the last three years embarked on a destructive voyage of emasculating and muzzling the judiciary and the legislature even as independent opinions in the organized civil society are either bought over or intimidated or harassed into silence.”

HURIWA condemned the tendency of the presidency to ridicule the legislature and the use of brute force and subtle threats to blackmail the judiciary into an uncomfortable compromise and silence as against the unambiguous provisions of the constitution in section 4, 5 and 6 which states that as a constitutional democracy, Nigeria must run a check and balance system.

“The current government has not only disrespected the clear provisions of the constitution on federal character principle on appointments into strategic military and security positions, but Mr. President has succeeded in handing over the entire national security offices to Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri Moslems which is now a well-organized set up to be deployed to haunt and harass political opposition and all those who share a difference of politico, socio-cultural and religious ideology. This speedy self-destructive drive to dictatorship will not do Nigeria any god but would inevitably lead to an implosion and God forbid that democracy collapses in Nigeria, Africa cannot accommodate the number of refugees that will pour out of Nigeria massively.”

HURIWA cited copiously from the Nigerian Constitution to derive legitimacy of her absolute condemnation of the destructive clampdown by Security forces of political opposition.
“Section 35 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution stated thus: (1) Every person shall be entitled to his personal liberty and no person shall be deprived of such liberty save in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure permitted by law – (a) in execution of the sentence or order of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty; (b) by reason of his failure to comply with the order of a court or in order to secure the fulfillment of any obligation imposed upon him by law; (c) for the purpose of bringing him before a court in execution of the order of a court or upon reasonable suspicion of his having committed a criminal offence, or to such extent as may be reasonably necessary to prevent his committing a criminal offence; (4) Any person who is arrested or detained in accordance with subsection (1) (c) of this section shall be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time…; (5) In subsection (4) of this section, the expression “a reasonable time” means – (a) in the case of an arrest or detention in any place where there is a court of competent jurisdiction within a radius of forty kilometers, a period of one day; and (b) in any other case, a period of two days or such longer period as in the circumstances may be considered by the court to be reasonable.”

“Section 36 (1) of the Nigerian constitution stated as follows: “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations, including any question or determination by or against any government or authority, a person shall be entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court or other tribunal established by law and constituted in such manner as to secure its independence and impartiality.”

HURIWA recalled that the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested a former Governor of Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, over alleged security issues in the state.

The Rights group quoting media sources alleged without ant shreds of factual evidence that the former governor was arrested after the incumbent governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom, allegedly petitioned the DSS over the security situation in the state as he (Suswam), was allegedly planning to make it ungovernable.

HURIWA stated that a section of the media affiliated to President Muhammadu Buhari stated that an aide to the former governor (Suswam) who pleaded anonymity confirmed the arrest as well as the petition.

HURIWA also stated that the media reported that the aide, however, said although Mr. Suswam is being questioned, the DSS has not linked him to any crime.

Also HURIWA recalled that earlier today, the Department of State Security reportedly arrested the lawmaker representing Abia-South Senatorial District, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe.

HURIWA quoted his Special Adviser, Mr. Nwokoma Okorie, Senator Abaribe was picked up on Friday morning at his barber’s shop in the Apo area of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

HURIWA was told by a very reliable source close to Abaribe that his arrest may also not be unconnected with his constant criticism of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The President’s Budget Speech: Our Response, by the National Assembly

GENTLEMEN OF THE PRESS.

1.     We appreciate the fact that the 2018 Appropriations Law which was passed by the National Assembly on May 16^th, 2018 was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, June 20^th, 2018.

2.    In his speech at the signing ceremony, certain observations were raised about the work of the National Assembly and its Constitutional responsibility to modify and amend the budget estimates submitted to it by the Executive.

3.     You may recall that when the National Assembly passed the 2018 budget, it gave reasons why the budget was increased and why certain projects and programmes had to be provisioned for.  However, due to recent developments, it is once again necessary to let Nigerians know the justification for our actions on the 2018 budget, which were based on our Constitutional responsibilities.

4.      Adjustments and reductions in the locations, costs and number of projects approved were made in order to address geo-political imbalances that came with the Executive proposal. The introduction of new projects was done to ensure the promotion of the principles of Federal Character as contained in Section 14, subsection (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended which states that “the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria...” The number of projects had to be increased in order to give a sense of belonging to every geo-political zone of the country to ensure socio-economic justice, equity, fairness, and to command National loyalty.

5.     Within the context of the provisions of Sections 4, 80 and 81 of the Constitution, everything that the National Assembly has done is within its powers.

6.     Furthermore, Chapter 2 of the Constitution emphasizes the need for balance, inclusivity, and equity in the distribution of national resources. The annual budget, which symbolizes the distribution of these resources must reflect the aforementioned values, which we swore to uphold.

7.      These Constitutional provisions, in addition to a recent Court judgment have affirmed the fact that the budget process is a ‘joint effort’ that must reflect the input of both the executive and the legislature -- the latter being the closest representatives of the people. However, we are fully aware that the Executive has the exclusive responsibility to execute all parts of the Appropriation Act once it is signed into law.

8.      It is our firm belief that if the President had been properly briefed by his appointees, he would not have raised most of the concerns that he did in his remarks at the budget signing. It is therefore inevitable for the legislature to give members of the public an insight into what transpired during the appropriations process and how we arrived at the decisions that are contained in the 2018 budget.

9.          With the aforementioned background, let us respond to each of the issues raised.

10.    On the issue of the period when the budget proposal was submitted and when it was passed by the National Assembly, it is necessary to remind Nigerians that although the budget was submitted in November, as at March 15^th 2018 (5 months and 8 days after the budget submission), Mr. President was still directing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to compel the Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government to appear before the committees of the National Assembly to defend their respective budget. In addition, up till April (6 months after the budget submission), the Executive was still bringing new additions to the 2018 budget which the National Assembly in good faith and in the spirit of collaboration and harmonious working relationship accepted.

11.    More importantly, the 2017 budget, was signed into law on June 5th, 2017 and by the provisions of Section 318 of the Constitution, which defines the Financial Year as “any period of 12 months beginning on the first day of January in any year, or other date as the National Assembly may prescribe” – the 2017 budget lapsed on the 5^th of June 2018. This same provision is replicated in the 2017 Appropriation Act.

12.    It is important to also note that if not for the fact that the 2017 budget elapsed on the 5^th of June 2018, the Federal Government would not have recorded notable capital projects for the just ended financial year. This is because the Federal Government only started releasing funds for capital projects in December 2017 when the funds from the Federal Government’s loans were released and disbursed to contractors.

13.    On the issue of an Organic Budget Law to improve the budgetary process, the proposed law is pending in the National Assembly and cannot be considered without the amendment of Section 81 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which gives the President the power to propose “estimates” at ANYTIME in the financial year. Nigerians need to know that during the last Constitutional Review exercise, the National Assembly in its wisdom amended this provision and it was approved by over two-thirds of the State Houses of Assembly. The new Constitution Amendment requires the President to submit the budget not later than 90 days to the end of the financial year. As of today, the President has not yet signed this Constitutional Amendment Bill which would have helped us to have a proper budget calendar, which shall eventually lead to the realization of the proposed January to December budget cycle.

14.    It was stated that the legislature made cuts amounting to N347 billion which were meant for 4,700 projects.  Again, these reductions of N347 billion were made from low priority areas to higher priority areas to support the generation of employment for our youth by MSMEs. We took the decision to reduce the funds in some areas in order to ensure balance and equity in the spread and utilization of our national funds. Additionally, the figures given amounts of the reductions made by the National Assembly were unduly exaggerated as we did not make any substantial reduction on any project to the extent of affecting its implementation.

15.    To give the exact detail of the projects where we made deductions, it should be noted that the counterpart funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/Ancillary roads, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Express Road and Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project, was reduced by only N3,956,400,290 – which represents only 1.78 % of the total N222,569,335,924 submitted by President Buhari. This left these projects with N218,612,935,634 which cannot negatively affect their implementation. This obviously contradicts the claim that these projects lost “an aggregate of N11.5 billion”.

16.    Specifically:

a.     The counterpart Funding for 3050mw Mambilla Hydropower Project was reduced from N8.5billion to N8.2billion (a reduction of N300million);

b.     The construction of the Second Niger bridge including access roads phases 2a and 2b in Anambra and Delta states and other projects in the South East were reduced from N10billion to N9.1billion (a reduction of N900million);

c.     The construction of Bodo-Bonny road with a bridge across the Opobo channel in Rivers State was reduced from N10billion to N8.7billion (a reduction of N1.3billion);

d.      The funding for the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was reduced from N20billion to N18billion (a reduction of N2billion), which would not significantly affect the construction of the road in one appropriations cycle;

e.      The Railway Projects (Counterpart Funds): 1. Lagos-Kano (ongoing) 2. Calabar-Lagos (Ongoing) 3. Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Aladja (Warri) (Ongoing) 4. Port Harcourt- Maiduguri (New) 5. Kano-Katsina-Jibiya-Maradi in Niger Republic (New) 6. Abuja-Itakpe and Aladja (Warri)-Warri Port and Refinery including Warri new Harbour (New) 7. Bonny deep Sea Port & Port Harcourt of N162,284,335,924 was retained by the National Assembly as presented by Mr. President; and

f.      The National Assembly increased the aggregate funding for the East-West Road from N11,285,000,000 to N12,085,000,000 because we realized the strategic importance of the road to the entire oil producing areas of our country and the fact that the road project has lingered for too long.

17.   Addressing the issue of the Second Niger Bridge project, apart from early works, as of today, there is no existing contract for the Second Niger Bridge in spite of frequent requests from the National Assembly. The N900million reduced from the N10billion proposed by the Executive was deployed to fund ancillary roads that connect to the Bridge. It should again be noted that the N12.5billion and the N7.5billion appropriated for the Second Niger Bridge in the 2016 and 2017 budget by the National Assembly were never utilized for the project.

18.   We also need to call the attention of the public to the fact that the National Assembly allocated an additional N2billion to the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway project. This was more than the Executive proposed.

19.   As part of the implementation of the 2017 budget, the contracts for 15 roads were awarded by the Federal Executive Council with no budgetary provisions. Realizing the importance of these projects, the National Assembly decided to spread the N3.9billion saved from the earlier mentioned projects funding to facilitate the take-off of these projects that include: the rehabilitation of Ikorodu-Shagamu road in Lagos State; the rehabilitation of 9th Mile-Orakam to Benue Border; and the general maintenance of Pankshin - Ballang - Nyelleng - Sararele - Gindiri road in Plateau State, etc. These are the projects purported to be “project inclusions without conceptualization.” On these projects, the National Assembly needs to be commended by Mr. President for helping to to support the take-off of these awarded but unfunded projects.

20.   Furthermore, it was stated that the budget of the FCT was cut by N 7.5 billion. This is true. The legislators stand by this decision because, through its oversight of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the National Assembly discovered that in the 2016 and 2017 budget cycle, there was a severe non-performance of the budgetary allocations to the FCT. During the two years in question, over 50% of the funds that were allocated and released to the FCT were not utilized. These funds were ultimately returned to the treasury. Hence, in order to ensure that scarce resources were allocated in accordance to ‘needs over wants’, funding for the FCT which has historically been under-utilised were allocated to other MDAs that have demonstrated the capacity to implement their allocation for the development of the nation and its people. It was part of the allocation that we spread over the roads for which contracts were awarded with no budgetary allocation.

21.      On the provisions for strategic interventions in the health sector which were said to be cut by an aggregate of N7.45billion, it is on record that for the first time since the National Health Act was enacted in 2014, the National Assembly made provision of an additional N55billion for funding primary healthcare through the Basic Primary Healthcare Fund which will be sourced from 1% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Thus, contrary to the claim that the health sector suffered any budgetary cuts, we actually provided more funds that will make access to health services possible for over 180 million Nigerians.

22.      The presence of this provision for primary healthcare will help us to eliminate the prevalence of maternal, infant and child mortality as well as create a healthier population.  With this increased funding, we will be able to ensure that all Nigerian children get the necessary immunization that keeps various diseases away from them and ensure that mothers are well-catered for during childbirth.

23.       On the issue of the 104 Unity Schools across the nation and the claim that N3billion was cut from their funding, Nigerians need to know that after careful consultation by the committees of the National Assembly with stakeholders in the sector, the National Assembly actually provided an additional N3.7billion more for meal subsidies in these 104 Unity Schools.

24.      Furthermore, it was claimed that the provision for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport was cut from 2 billion Naira to 500 million Naira and that this will further delay the completion of this critical project. However, for the avoidance of doubt, it is necessary to again clarify that during the budget defense and oversight processes, the National Assembly discovered that out of the N2billion contract for the Enugu Terminal Building, N1.7billion had already been paid to the contractor. And what is left to complete this project is justN300million. Hence, the National Assembly approved N500million for the project — which is even N200million more than was required. We refer Nigerians to a publication in THISDAY newspaper published in April and titled “Giving Enugu Airport a Facelift” and written by the newspaper’s Aviation correspondent, Chinedu Eze, where the Minister of State (Aviation), Mr. Hadi Sirika was quoted as saying “We just last week released N1.7billion to the contractor and hopefully also, within the shortest possible time, we will release another N300million for him so that they can quickly finish the airport terminal. This will bring the airport to its desired standard.”

25.      In the case of statutory transfers where the increase in the National Assembly’s budget was isolated, it is important to note that the increase in the oil price benchmark from the projected $45 to the actual price of $51 generated additional N523.65 billion for the Federal Government.

26.       Thus, based on agreement between the National Assembly and the Executive as represented by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, the additional revenues were allocated among the three arms of government as follows:

a.       The Executive’s proposal for the National Judicial Council was N100billion, however, the National Assembly appropriated N110billion which represents N10 billion increase;

b.        The Executive’s proposal for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was N71,195,023,529, however the National Assembly appropriated N81,882,555,891 — which represents a N10,687,532,363 increase;

c.        An additional N33,981,437,188 was also appropriated for the outstanding liabilities to the NDDC by the Federal Government to enable the commission settle some of its contractors that were owed over N1 trillion  ;

d.        The National Assembly received an additional N14.5billion in funding;

e.         In order to ensure that they are able to meet their mandate, the National Assembly increased the Public Complaint’s Commission’s budget from the N4,200,000,000 proposed by the President to N7,480,000,000 — which represents a N3,280,000,000 increase; and

f.          Lastly, the National Human Rights Commission’s budget was increased from N1.5billion to N3,013,745,000, which represents a N1,513,745,000 increase.

27.     It is therefore very clear that the three arms of government benefited from the increase which was mutually agreed on with the Ministry of Budget and Planning. In fact, we have correspondences addressed to the leadership of the National Assembly from Ministry of Budget making requests on how to spread the increment arising from the Benchmark differentials.

28.     It should be noted that the budget of the National Assembly as at 2014 was N150billion, which is still N10.5billion more than our current figure despite increased national challenges that requires: frequent public hearings held on almost a daily basis at high costs; and intense oversight, which has become more thorough and incisive in order to check the Executive. The N139.5billion budget of the National Assembly represents less than 1.5percent of the entire N9trillion budget. Does it not make sense to use 1.5percent to protect the other 98.5percent?

29.     The public should note that this increase in the legislature’s budget was also necessitated by the drastic inflation of the last four years; the need to rehabilitate the National Assembly’s deteriorating facilities, like the elevators which shutdown almost weekly; spending hundreds of millions to procure diesel to constantly power the entire complex; and the need to immediately upgrade the security facilities of the complex. It is important to point out at this juncture that the collapse of the CCTV system facilitated the mace theft in April.

30.       Finally, the following 24 additions, which were done to the 2018 Appropriations Bill, due to the increase in the benchmark price of oil were duly appropriated by the National Assembly after full consultations, and in many cases, requests by the Executive branch through the Ministry of Budget and National Planning:

a.       Augmentation to unity schools meal subsidy in Education Sector. 3,701,587,104

b.      Outstanding liability on exchange rate differential for 2015 & 2016 Bea ongoing remittances to 12 Bea countries (scholarship). 3,265,720,064

c.       Rehabilitation of block C, D, G & H at the Headquarters and Lagos state office of Federal Ministry Of Industry, Trade & Investment. 1,207,942,115.

d.       Construction of Kashimbilla/Gamovo multipurpose dam. 2,000,000,000

e.        Strengthening public health against LASSA fever/other outbreaks: procurement and installation of incinerators, procurement of personal protective equipment, ribavirin and laboratory reagents and training of health personnel, construction of isolation ward at university of Abuja teaching hospital, Gwagwalada. 2,000,000,000

f.         Fast Power Programme Accelerated Gas and Solar Power Generation. 12,500,000,000

g.        Expansion and reinforcement of infrastructure in  11 distribution companies to reduce stranded generation capacity. 30,000,000,000

h.       Alternative energy development fund. 1,000,000,000

i.        Completion of headquarters building (FMWA). 500,000,000

j.         Construction of 3000 capacity maximum security prison in Abuja (Phase I). 6,031,862,972.

k.        Procurement of  3 x jf17 thunder aircraft. 12,792,939,682

l.         Security vote (including augmentation of  shortfall in operational funds) for Nigerian Navy. 3,000,000,000

m.      Department of state security - pensions (including arrears). 6,318,326,710

n.         Contributions to international Organisations. 11,000,000,000

o.         Contingency. 2,800,000,000

p.         Military operation: Lafiya dole & other operations of the armed forces. 3,000,000,000

q.         Subscription to shares in international Organisations. 11,000,000,000.

r.           SDG special projects 3. 8,000,000,000

s.           Contingency (capital). 2,000,000,000

t.            Promotion, recruitment & appointment for police service commission. 5,393,947,080

u.         Additional provision to some security agencies. 10,000,000,000

v.         Additional provision of 82b naira on critical federal roads e.g. rehabilitation of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano 10b naira, rehabilitation of Lagos-Badagry-Seme road 4b naira, rehabilitation/dualisation of Calabar-Itu-Ikot Ekpene-Aba-Owerri Road 7b. 92,000,000,000

w.      Additional 12b naira to new federal universities. 12,000,000,000

x.         National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS). 4,000,000,000.

y.         TOTAL. 245,512,325,726.

31.      It is important to state that on many occasions, Mr. President emphasized to the nation the urgent need to develop our human capital, which are our people and especially the youth. It is on this note that the National Assembly should be commended to the degree that most of the human development projects were captured in the budget by the legislature.

32.     Nigerians should note that due to the back and forth that we have experienced in the past, the improvement of the budgetary process should be a higher priority than trading blames. This trading of blames and unnecessary scapegoating is not healthy — as it creates needless conflict between the two arms of government.

33.    Finally, in order to ensure that all Capital Projects in the 2018 budget receive their necessary financing in the 2018 budget, we call on Mr. President to present the borrowing plan to the National Assembly so that we can approve it.

34.    We therefore want to urge all Executive appointees to ensure that they brief Mr. President with the truth and facts of their engagement, to promote healthy and harmonious relationships between the Executive and the Legislature.

Signed:

Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi

Chairman, Senate Committee on Media & Public Affairs

  

Signed:

Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media & Public Affairs