YOU ARE MISUSING THE MILITARY: HURIWA TELLS F.G. * INSISTS ON REVERSAL TO N65, PER LITER OF FUEL

A pro-democracy group-the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, (HURIWA) has condemned the unnecessary show of military force by the overwhelming presence of armed soldiers on Lagos streets and other major cities to forestall peaceful protests by Nigerians still unhappy about the intransigence of the Federal Government to reverse the pump price of premium motor spirit to N65 per liter.

Convinced that the military deployment on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan was meant to intimidate and induce psychological fear on the minds of Nigerians not to venture out on the streets of Nigeria to ventilate their anger peacefully and democratically over the recent illegal hike of petrol, the Rights group urged President Jonathan to redirect the military deployment towards tackling the unprecedented violence and killing of innocent citizens by armed religious extremists in the North East region of the Country.

The Rights Group warned the armed soldiers already deployed in the streets of different cities across Nigeria to know that extra judicial execution of innocent civilians carries heavy penalty in the International Criminal Court [ICC] and that individuals responsible for such despicable crime are meant to face the music in their personal capacity.

HURIWA also accused the Federal government of engaging in empty rhetoric and chasing shadows in the war against corruption even as it criticized the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] for comically waiting to be invited by the Minister of Petroleum Mrs. Alison Madueke before embarking on comprehensive investigation and prosecution of members of the crude oil cartel indicted in the forensic audit report in the running of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

“This damaging audit report by an internationally reputable team of forensic auditors hired by the Federal Government has been in the possession of Government and even in public domain but the nation’s anti-graft agencies namely the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] and the Independent corrupt practices and other offences commission [ICPC] went to sleep and consequently failed to take action to bring the indicted culprits to face the full weight of the law in the competent courts of law but only waited to be so dramatically invited by the same Petroleum ministry so indicted in the audit report because the overwhelming opinion of Nigerians who demonstrated all over Nigeria in the last one week demanded immediate prosecution of the indicted ‘sacred cows. This is a public relation gambit of the Federal Government,” HURIWA affirmed.

Besides, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA advised President Jonathan to reverse the pump price of petrol to N65 since he has clearly admitted over-pricing the commodity when government on January 1^st 2012 arbitrarily hiked the pump price of premium motor spirit to N142.05 per liter. The group argued that the decision by the President to reduce the pump price to N97 per liter is an open admission of gross error of judgment even as it urged President Jonathan to respect the popular opinion of the clear majority of Nigerians by returning it to N65 per liter.

On what it calls unconstitutional deployment of armed soldiers to psychologically torture Lagosians and other Nigerians not to demonstrate publicly any further, the Rights group in a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National media officer Miss. Zainab Yusuf said the military deployment is an abuse of sections 14(1) (a), (b) and (c); 40, and 41 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. The Rights group said the peaceful nature of the protest in Lagos and Abuja among other places makes it impossible for the Federal government to rely on section 45 (1) of the constitution which makes provision for restriction on and derogation from fundamental rights for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.

HURIWA urged the Federal government to stop infringing on the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the Nigerian citizenry to demonstrate peacefully and lawfully.

Citing the heavy presence of armed soldiers in Lagos that have stopped would-be protesters from gathering at certain flashpoints and also the illegal confiscation by armed police of the occupy Nigeria’s Abuja space at Ascon filling station in Wuse two in the nation’s capital as instances of unconstitutional violation of the rights of Nigerians, HURIWA called for the withdrawal of these armed troops because of the danger inherent in driving opposition voices underground.

“We are worried that these illegal styles of military harassment and intimidation of unarmed civilians by armed soldiers are draw-backs to the despotic military era. These Gestapo military occupations of streets of major cities of Nigeria will inevitably drive voices of democratic opposition underground and this scenario will undermine the advancement of democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism in Nigeria,” HURIWA asserted.            

16/1/2012

NLC/TUC MUST CARRY NIGERIANS ALONG

AFTER ONE WEEK OF TUMULTUOUS STREET PROTESTS OVER THE GENERAL REJECTION OF THE ASTRONOMIC HIKE IN THE PUMP PRICE OF PREMIUM MOTOR SPIRIT(PETROL), THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO SALVAGE THE NATION BY ADHERING TO THE WISH OF THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE AND CANCEL THE ILLEGAL HIKE IN PRICE OF FUEL...NIGERIAN LABOR CONGRESS AND THE TRADE UNION CONGRESS ARE CURRENTLY NEGOTIATING WITH GOVERNMENT ON THE BEST WAY FORWARD...THE WORRY OF A LOT OF PEOPLE IS THAT THE FAILURE OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AT THE FEDERAL AND STATE LEVELS TO HEARKEN TO THE POPULAR DEMAND OF THE PEOPLE IS A BREACH OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT ENTERED INTO BY THE PRESIDENT WITH THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE WHO ARE THE REAL OWNERS OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF NIGERIA...BUT BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT NIGERIANS WILL NOT ALLOW THE OFFICIALS OF THE CURRENT FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION TO LET NIGERIA COLLAPSE BECAUSE THEY HAVE ADEQUATELY MADE ARRANGEMENT ON STRATEGIES FOR FLYING ABROAD TO MEET THEIR IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBERS WHO STAY IN LOOTED ASSETS, THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE ARE PREPARED TO ALLOW NLC/TUC REPRESENT THEIR LARGER INTEREST BUT THESE REPRESENTATIVES MUST ATTEND THE MEETINGS WITH BROAD BASED STAKEHOLDERS FROM THE ORGANIZED CIVIL SOCIETY AND NOT FEW FRIENDS OF THE LABOUR UNION LEADERS IN THE CIVIL SOCIETY COMMUNITY BECAUSE THE ISSUE ON GROUND CONCERNS THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE....

LIES OF SUBSIDY REMOVAL PROPONENTS By Emmanuel Onwubiko

With all due respect to the office and person of President Goodluck Jonathan, I do not intend to ridicule him as a liar over his strident effort to convince Nigerians on why his administration plans to remove fuel subsidy from January 2012.

From a very close observation at a meeting that select leaders of the organized civil society groups held last weekend with President Jonathan in which I attended, I came out with the impression that President Jonathan means well for Nigeria and Nigerians but he seems to be under some formidable pressure from certain external forces from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to pull out whatever government now pays as subsidy on petroleum products.

These scientific liars that have invaded Nigeria have also drawn up spurious blueprint on the programs and so-called palliatives that the subsidy withdrawal funds would be used to achieve in the shortest possible time and they have cleverly titled the document as “subsidy Reinvestment and empowerment program” or “SURE Programme”.

The proponents of the subsidy withdrawal who have populated the seat of power were however clever by half because they disingenuously padded up the subsidy withdrawal reinvestment blueprint with the same projects that for the last ten years have always appeared as part of the annual budgets approved by the National Assembly but which never get executed by the executive arm of government.

The subsidy reinvestment blueprint [SURE] is also a beautiful piece of lies intended to hoodwink Nigerians to see fuel subsidy as one big ‘demon’ that has frustrated development and the building of basic social amenities for the poor Nigerians by the government over the years.

From the briefing sessions that some of us in the civil society received directly inside the presidential villa by the Minister of Finance Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, Vice President Namadi Sambo and the President himself, I came out with the impression that the proponents of this subsidy withdrawal have surely run out of ideas and have chosen to use fallacies beautifully presented in the form of statistics to deceive Nigerians.

The subsidy reinvestment programme is so full of projects that traditionally ought to be done as capital projects of some Federal Ministries and if indeed as we were told by President Jonathan that government is tired of borrowing fund to service capital projects and that only funds to be saved from the subsidy withdrawal can enable the Federal government to deliver these deliverables and projects, then why wont the Federal government collapse all the ministries into a unified office so that Nigerians can now know that their hard earned funds are not funneled into servicing the hundreds –of- thousands of lazy bureaucrats in these good-for-nothing Federal ministries?

For instance, if Government insists that subsidy fund ought to be withdrawn before the health sector can offer effective social safety nets to twelve million pregnant women, then what is the essence of running the ministry of health?

This cheap lie by the proponent of the fuel subsidy withdrawal that part of the fund would be used to assist twelve million pregnant women to have safe delivery is a soft propaganda meant to win the support of the women even when government does not know that the impression that this proposal is conveying to rational thinkers is an admission that the Federal ministry of Health and the State ministries of health have recorded abysmal failure and can only function when subsidy money is withdrawn and used to provide services to Nigerians in the health sector.

Another populist lie told by the proponents of subsidy withdrawal is that the second Niger Bridge  for which the then President Obasanjo told South Eastern voters prior to the 2003 election that the federal government had awarded, can only be achieved with the subsidy money.

Even the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja dual carriage way that was said to have been awarded by the then Yar’adua/Jonathan Presidency has found its way into the subsidy reinvestment and empowerment programme that is now being paraded by the Federal government as the only solution to Nigeria’s developmental challenge.

Why has the Federal government failed to find alternative sources of revenue rather than implement this draconian and punitive withdrawal of subsidy on petroleum products that will adversely affect the survival of millions of seriously impoverished citizenry?

Why is government not thinking of waging an-all—out war on corruption to recover the over four hundred Billion United States Dollars of public funds looted by known officials that served successive administrations in Nigeria so that the proceeds can be used to reinvest in the critical areas of the economy?

Why has government failed to plug all the loopholes that have frustrated the efficient implementation of the fuel subsidy scheme for poor Nigerians in order to stop the so-called criminal mafia from benefiting through illegal smuggling of these subsidized petroleum products to the neighboring countries?

Why is the Federal government not thinking of taxing the rich Nigerians more and ensure transparent utilization of the proceeds of these taxations rather than over burden the poorest Nigerians by removing the subsidy on fuel which will automatically lead to increased poverty and high cost of living?

Why is the government not thinking of looking towards the area of maximizing benefits from Nigeria’s maritime industry as alternative source of revenue generation?

Why is the government offering importation waivers to the rich to bring in all manners of products that can even be locally produced if the right environment is provided?

I told President Jonathan to his face at the recent meeting that the indiscriminate award of import waivers to the rich elite is undermining Nigerian’s local industry but President Jonathan denied ever engaging in indiscriminate award of waivers. But twenty four hours after our encounter with President Jonathan, This day Newspaper ran an editorial to show how bad the award of waivers is.      

On Monday December 12th 2011, This day wrote in its editorial thus; “Between January and October this year… the federal government granted import waivers amounting to about N150 billion to some companies to import all manner of edibles, including palm oil and rice….”

The Federal government must fight corruption, reorganize internal security mechanism to check out flow of subsidized fuel, arrest the members of the so-called fuel cartel that are standing between poor Nigerians and the intended benefits of the fuel subsidy.

What I see from this campaign of government officials to withdraw fuel subsidy is like a group of greedy/selfish politicians who managed to enter a ‘mansion’ whereby milk and honey are flowing freely but have locked out millions of poor Nigerians outside the ‘mansion’ to undergo intense period of economic hardship even while some of these government officials are looking out from the well -secured windows to talk down to hungry Nigerians outside the ‘mansion’ to be patient and resilient.

This attitude is selfish and irrational and may precipitate social revolt by the impoverished masses that will surely pull down the ‘mansion’ that is flowing with milk and honey but that have been captured by the few political elite and their affiliates in the corrupt business World in Nigeria.

*          Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION of Nigeria and can be reached on doziebiko@yahoo.com; www.huriwa.blogspot.com.               

12/12/2011.

DIM CHUKWUEMEKA ODUMEGWU OJUKWU; ONE OF THE GREATEST PROMOTERS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.

RIGHTS GROUP CALLS FOR NIGERIANS’ BOYCOTT OF BRITISH AIRWAYS

Worried by the groundswell of established claims of human rights violations, unfair method of competition and deceptive practices by the British Airways and other foreign Airlines, a call has gone to Nigerian travelers to boycott these airlines for indigenous airlines that offer better services.

In a media statement endorsed jointly by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National media Affairs officer Miss Zainab Yusuf, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA; (HURIWA) also tasked the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to activate effective and efficient mechanism and strategies for ensuring that British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways pay the Compensation of N3.3 Billion to their Nigerian passengers for the identified violations and trade malpractices.

HURIWA recalled specifically that recently, the British mega carriers, British Airways and virgin Atlantic Airways were ordered by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to pay $235 million USD as compensation to Nigerian passengers for their unfair method of competition, deceptive practices and gross violation of Nigerian law.

The Rights group which lauded the decision of the nation’s aviation minister Stella Oduah for the current decision to ensure that foreign airlines are not allowed to continue to exploit Nigerian passengers, also stated that soon it will begin an aggressive advocacy campaign to encourage prospective travelers from Nigeria to embrace the use of clean and human right friendly airlines especially those that are indigenously owned as one way of providing employment opportunities for Nigerians and to restore the dignity of the Nigerian travelers in the eyes of members of the International Community.

HURIWA said it will in January 2012 begin the collection of signatures from at least two million Nigerians who are in support of the sanctions imposed on the British Airline and the Virgin Atlantic Airways by the Nigerian authority for the maltreatment of Nigerian air travelers and the gross violation of the extant local statutes in the operations of these foreign airlines.

HURIWA stated that; “We have always frowned at the discriminatory ticketing regimes that prospective air travelers are subjected to by the foreign Airlines and especially British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways. We are shocked that these defaulting foreign Airlines have remained adamant about whether the Nigerian passengers should be validly compensated even in the face of overwhelming evidence that these foreign Airlines are already compensating similar consumers in Britain – their home country and the United States for similar violations of extant laws. The failure to pay this compensation to the Nigerian passengers of these foreign airlines could be likened to racism”.  

“We are shocked at the recent revelation that British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways operate approximately 90 percent of the direct flights between Nigeria and the United Kingdom thereby operating a duopoly which consequently limits the choices of airlines for Nigerian consumers and forcing them to cough out outrageous ticketing fees”.

The Rights group asserted that legal facts available to it indicate clearly that beginning from 2004 and continuing to 2006, British Airline and Virgin Atlantic Airways allegedly colluded together and started a conspiracy to fix, periodically, increase and maintain Passenger Fuel Surcharges (PFS) as a component of the fare passengers pay to travel.

“We are aware that this collusion and conspiracy was ultimately discovered and became the subject of investigation in the US and UK and several class actions to protect consumers. British Airline has since pleaded guilty to the criminal conduct in the US and paid a criminal penalty of $300 Million and a fine of £121 Million in the U.K based on investigations by the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) and U.K. Office of Fair Trading (OFT)”, HURIWA added.

The Rights group wondered why the foreign airlines have failed to pay their Nigerian passengers this compensation even when both airlines have settled consumers in the U.S. and U.K. approximately $204 Million in compensation of the anti-competitive method of setting and conspiring to increase the passengers’ fuel surcharges.

HURIWA charged the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to vigorously enforce the Nigerian law which prohibit these unfair trade practices and these unacceptable financial burdens imposed on hundreds of thousands of Nigerian passengers by the British Airline and Virgin Atlantic Airways even as it called on Nigerians to patronize Nigerian owned airlines that are equally providing similar or even better services to international air travelers from Nigeria.

“The ball is in the court of Nigerians seeking to travel to make wise choice not to allow these foreign owned airlines to keep violating Nigerian laws and subjected them to horrendous and unfair trade practices”, HURIWA stated.

The Rights group said it has also authorized a letter of protest to the British government to object to the current unfair trade practices by the British Airlines (BA) and Virgin Atlantic Airways (VAA) which have created further unemployment for Nigerians.

HURIWA said: “We are worried at the disclosure by the Nigerian civil aviation authority that the passenger fuel surcharges (PFS) has “denied hardworking Nigerian travel agents from earning the appropriate commission on the real and true calculation of the fare that the airlines received. This anti-labor practice must be stopped”.    

1/12/2011

DOES MR. LABARAN WANT FRCN DEAD? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Does Nigeria still harbor some vestiges and residue of those draconian dictatorial tendencies for which the then military dictators that held Nigeria hostage for decades were condemned by all and Sundry?

Put differently, are the current crop of political office holders inflicted by/with the virus of military tyranny and dictatorship which is characterized by total lack of tolerance for dissenting voices?

The above questions were inspired by the experiences of the Osun state governor Mr. Rauf Aregbesola in the hands of the Minister of the Federal ministry of information Mr. Labaran Maku who unilaterally cancelled a live radio program that was to have been aired last weekend on the air waves of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.

On November 27th 2011, the Nation Newspaper ran a story that the federal Minister of Information Mr. Labaran Maku unilaterally cancelled the Radio link live program of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria at the eleventh hour even after the technical crew of the Radio Nigeria network studio were already in Osun state and had put all machinery in motion for the take off of the program which was arranged as part of the elaborate events to mark the one year in office of the civilian administration of Rauf Aregbesola of the leading national opposition political party - Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

The spokesperson of Osun state governor Mr. Semiu Okanlawon was reported to have confirmed the development but stated that the Federal Minister of Information did not offer any cogent and verifiable reasons for the action to put off a scheduled program with his boss.

Shocked by this ugly and undemocratic tendency exhibited by the current Federal Minister of Information who used to be a professional media worker prior to his foray into partisan politics, I decided to put several calls to his line but he never picked the calls. Mr. Isa Dan Buram, one of his known aides who spoke with me declined comment when asked to confirm if the information minister did actually ordered the cancellation of the program.

This is not the first time that politicians in the office of the Ministry of Information will interfere in the affairs of publicly funded broadcasting stations and especially the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria. Successive military and civilian administrations have Controlled Radio Nigeria as if it is their asset whereby they can put into selfish use and stop opponents or perceived political rivals from gaining access to the air waves of these publicly funded broadcasting stations.

The consequences are that these broadcasting stations have progressively lost respect in the minds of the general public and the level of listenership or viewership has radically declined and professionally if people do not listen or watch your broadcasting activities then the essential aim of communication is defeated because communication is necessarily two way traffic and the audience is king.

But why does Mr. Labaran Maku who used to be a professional media worker be the one that will perpetuate the draconian, unprofessional and illegal style of running down the publicly sponsored broadcasting stations especially now that the same Federal Government is struggling to convince the critical segments of the society that it is open, transparent and democratically accountable using the signing of the freedom of information law as an example?

The British government will risk impeachment if any of their officials interferes with the running of the publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation.

Is the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria loyal to the Nigerian people or to the political party in power? Is Radio Nigeria a political asset of the Peoples Democratic party-led Federal administration or to the People of Nigeria who are the constitutional owners of the Nigerian sovereignty?

Ironically, the official website of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria is sugar -coated with false information which fraudulently claims that Radio Nigeria is out to serve the public interest.

For instance, the website stated thus: “The present Management of the FRCN has transformed the Corporation to truly “Uplift the People and Unite the Nation”, a responsive radio catering for the diverse needs of Nigerians”.

It further lied thus; “Today the FRCN, as a public service broadcaster reaches more than 100 million listeners, broadcasting in 15 languages, catering to the diverse broadcasting needs of a multi-ethnic Nigeria, uplifting the people and uniting the nation”.

The truth is that not more than one million people made up largely of illiterate Fulani herdsmen, rural farmers still have the decorum to listen to the heavily teleguided and slanted broadcasting activities of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria no thanks to the interferences of political office holders who over the years have manned the federal ministry of information. I can bet that even Mr. Labaran Maku does not listen to FRCN [I stand to be corrected].

* Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria. www.huriwa.blogspot.com

28/11/2011

HURIWA CONDEMNS FG OVER CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS FOR FESTIVAL

The ongoing closure for ten days of all public schools within the Abuja municipal area by the Federal Capital Territory Administration for the use of the participants at the ongoing Abuja carnival has been condemned as ‘retrogressive’, ‘unproductive’ and ‘backward’.

A call has therefore been made to the minister of Federal Capital Territory Mr.Bala Mohammed and Minister of Education Professor Ruqayyatu Rufai to put in place legal framework that would make it impossible for the educational rights of Abuja residents to be abridged whenever the annual Abuja cultural festival is to take place. The Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory Administration has also been asked to pay heavy financial compensation to the students of the affected schools for the loss of valuable learning periods and the extracurricular opportunities that are their inalienable rights as bonafide students. 

HUMAN Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), a democracy inclined and development focused non-governmental organization which made the call in a media statement jointly authorized by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs officer Miss Zainab Yusuf said the closure for ten days of those public schools in the nation’s capital to allow for Abuja carnival to take place has conveyed the wrong impression that Nigeria places more premium on cultural dances and other mundane celebrations rather than on the core value of human capacity development, skill acquisition and educational empowerment of the youths.

It said; “We are shocked beyond comprehension that at a time that clarion calls are being made to the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the educational sector in order to arrest the sharp decline in standards and other man-made institutional imperfections, the Abuja Federal Capital authority has decided to close down schools for ten days so that the members of the political class could assemble to watch as female teenagers dance naked in the streets of the nation’s capital. This is shameful, reprehensible and deplorable and must not be repeated”.

The Rights group questioned why the secretariat in charge of the Abuja carnival has not deemed it appropriate to establish play grounds where such events could take place every year rather than embark on the annual retrogressive rituals of forcing the school children in the Abuja metropolis to vacate the premises of their schools to allow participants in the Abuja carnival to use them as residential quarters through out the duration of the cultural festival.

HURIWA said it will approach President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Assembly and the Federal ministry of Education to protest against the arbitrary and force closure of public schools in Abuja for Abuja carnival even when it is clear that students ought to be writing their end of year examinations at this period.

HURIWA said thus; “We seriously condemn this primitive and anti-education decision by the federal capital Territory Administration to close down public schools, for ten days to allow participants at the poorly attended annual Abuja carnival to use the schools as residential quarters. This barbaric and unproductive practice amounts to a violation of section 18 of the constitution of Nigeria and stated that the practice is a clear case of robbing Peter to pay Paul in the most brazen dimension.”

Specifically, section 18(1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended provides that “Government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate education opportunities at all levels”. HURIWA argues that the closure of the public schools for ten days deprive the students of equal opportunities to education and called on the federal government to put a permanent stop to this practice.

“We urge the Minister of Federal Capital Territory to desist from this primitive practice and to commence immediate measures to erect befitting permanent structures for the holding of the annual Abuja carnival so as to stop depriving hundreds of thousands of students in public primary and secondary schools from enjoying their educational rights for ten days”, HURIWA, stated.       

29/11/2011