A non-governmental organisation known as the Nigerian Northern Education Initiative, NEI, has said that about 65.5 per cent of girls lack access to basic education in the North East zone of the country.
NEI is funded by the United State Agency for International Development, USAID.
This was made known during the public presentation of gender assessment findings on basic education and living conditions of orphans and vulnerable children by the Bauchi State Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Development in collaboration with NEI in Bauchi, yesterday.
An expert, Hajiya Bintu Abba Ibrahim who spoke during the ceremony said that 49 per cent of boys attend primary school while 37 per cent of girls attend school in the North East region.
According to her, Nigeria has 17.5 million Orphans and Vulnerable Children, OVC; who lack access to education.
"The need for the education of the girl child, especially in the North-East region where literacy level is very low cannot be overemphasised. From baseline assessment studies, gender enrolment in non-project local governments is 68.87 per cent while in project local governments, the percentage is 65.65 per cent just as Islamiya schools had more female than male enrolment. "
She attributed religion and gender sentiments as factors militating against girl child education and called on stakeholders to support education of the less privileged children, especially girls, in their communities.
Also, the Bauchi State Head of Service, Mr. Abdon Gin said that education was not only fundamental to human existence, but ranked next to air and water in terms of need and demand.
In his remarks, the Emir of Dass, Usman Othman, called for the education of the girl-child, so as to represent a balance in gender equality in sensitive professions like medicine. He also condemned street hawking by under-aged girls.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Pension scam: Ex-pension Director to Remain in Prison Indefinitely
A former Director of Pension in the office of the Head of Service, Sani Shuaibu Teidi, who is standing trial before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja is to remain in Kuje prison indefinitely. This
is as result of an indefinite adjournment given by the presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola for accusing the trial judge in his case of been bias and lacking diligent prosecution.
Teidi is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly defrauding the Head of Service pension accounts to the tune of N18.3million.
Teidi had earlier been remanded in Kuje prison alongside Omoefe Uduesegbe on June 7.
The duo were arraigned alongside nine companies over alleged conspiracy and fraud charges to the tune of N6billion slammed on them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the tune N6 billion.
The court had fixed Monday to rule on their bail application, but the court held that it would be in the interest of justice to await the CJ's directive before taking any further step.
According to him, "in a situation like this, I have to adjourn to await the directive of the chief judge. It is better I thread on the path of caution."
Teidi's counsel, Sunday Ameh (SAN), who denied knowledge of the petition, told the court that he might withdraw from the case as his client had shown by writing the petition without his knowledge that he lacked confidence in him.
Counsel for Uduesegbe also told the court that his client had nothing to do with the petition even though Teidi had mentioned his name in it.
is as result of an indefinite adjournment given by the presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola for accusing the trial judge in his case of been bias and lacking diligent prosecution.
Teidi is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly defrauding the Head of Service pension accounts to the tune of N18.3million.
Teidi had earlier been remanded in Kuje prison alongside Omoefe Uduesegbe on June 7.
The duo were arraigned alongside nine companies over alleged conspiracy and fraud charges to the tune of N6billion slammed on them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the tune N6 billion.
The court had fixed Monday to rule on their bail application, but the court held that it would be in the interest of justice to await the CJ's directive before taking any further step.
According to him, "in a situation like this, I have to adjourn to await the directive of the chief judge. It is better I thread on the path of caution."
Teidi's counsel, Sunday Ameh (SAN), who denied knowledge of the petition, told the court that he might withdraw from the case as his client had shown by writing the petition without his knowledge that he lacked confidence in him.
Counsel for Uduesegbe also told the court that his client had nothing to do with the petition even though Teidi had mentioned his name in it.
Pension scam: Ex-pension Director to Remain in Prison Indefinitely
A former Director of Pension in the office of the Head of Service, Sani Shuaibu Teidi, who is standing trial before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja is to remain in Kuje prison indefinitely. This
is as result of an indefinite adjournment given by the presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola for accusing the trial judge in his case of been bias and lacking diligent prosecution.
Teidi is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly defrauding the Head of Service pension accounts to the tune of N18.3million.
Teidi had earlier been remanded in Kuje prison alongside Omoefe Uduesegbe on June 7.
The duo were arraigned alongside nine companies over alleged conspiracy and fraud charges to the tune of N6billion slammed on them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the tune N6 billion.
The court had fixed Monday to rule on their bail application, but the court held that it would be in the interest of justice to await the CJ's directive before taking any further step.
According to him, "in a situation like this, I have to adjourn to await the directive of the chief judge. It is better I thread on the path of caution."
Teidi's counsel, Sunday Ameh (SAN), who denied knowledge of the petition, told the court that he might withdraw from the case as his client had shown by writing the petition without his knowledge that he lacked confidence in him.
Counsel for Uduesegbe also told the court that his client had nothing to do with the petition even though Teidi had mentioned his name in it.
is as result of an indefinite adjournment given by the presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola for accusing the trial judge in his case of been bias and lacking diligent prosecution.
Teidi is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly defrauding the Head of Service pension accounts to the tune of N18.3million.
Teidi had earlier been remanded in Kuje prison alongside Omoefe Uduesegbe on June 7.
The duo were arraigned alongside nine companies over alleged conspiracy and fraud charges to the tune of N6billion slammed on them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the tune N6 billion.
The court had fixed Monday to rule on their bail application, but the court held that it would be in the interest of justice to await the CJ's directive before taking any further step.
According to him, "in a situation like this, I have to adjourn to await the directive of the chief judge. It is better I thread on the path of caution."
Teidi's counsel, Sunday Ameh (SAN), who denied knowledge of the petition, told the court that he might withdraw from the case as his client had shown by writing the petition without his knowledge that he lacked confidence in him.
Counsel for Uduesegbe also told the court that his client had nothing to do with the petition even though Teidi had mentioned his name in it.
FG set to merge EFCC, ICPC, others; plan to restructure NYSC
Anti-graft agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices (ICP) and other related offences Commission will all merge under one umbrella, the Federal
Government has announced. The new convergence is part of the government's decision to implement the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on the rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies.
Details of the merger were found in the report from the review committee on the White Paper chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to reports, the National Youth Service Corps is also to be "restructured with a view to developing a framework to cover critical areas of national socio-economic development to which corps members would be deployed for their primary assignments."
The EFCC was established in 2003 to investigate financial crimes such as Advance Fee Fraud (419) and money laundering. Its establishment by the ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration was seen to be an urgent response to pressure from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, which had named Nigeria as one of the 23 countries non-cooperative in the international community's efforts to fight money laundering.
The ICPC was also inaugurated by the Obasanjo administration to, among other functions, receive and investigate reports of corruption and prosecute the offender[s]; and to examine, review and enforce the correction of corruption-prone systems and procedures of public bodies with a view to eliminating corruption in public life.
Both agencies were set up by enabling laws.
Also the Federal Executive Council has ordered the scrapping of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, the National Poverty Eradication Programme and 218 other agencies established by it.
The names and number of federal agencies ordered to be scrapped or merged are included in a list already approved by the FEC, a copy of which was obtained by one of our correspondents on Monday.
Reuben Abati, spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan, had disclosed on June 12, 2013 that the FEC was considering the scrapping of 220 out of 541 federal parastatals, commissions and agencies.
But the Presidency said on Monday that no final decision had been reached on the implementation of the Oronsaye committee report.
"The report is still at the FEC level and a committee was set up to review the White Paper. There is no final decision yet on the recommendations, anything outside this is mere speculation. Nigerians should wait until government releases the White Paper. They should not rely on speculation," Abati told journalists in Abuja.
Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, had at the end of the FEC meeting last Wednesday told journalists that the council had concluded its three-week discussions on the draft White Paper on the report of the committee.
The FEC list also shows that the Fiscal Responsibility Commission has been abolished with its functions transferred to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Responsibility, while BPE has been ordered "to conclude its assignment" and be wound up.
The Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation Commission will also assume the responsibilities of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, which has also been abolished by the Federal Government.
Also abolished is the Public Complaints Council, whose responsibilities are to be taken up by the National Human Rights Commission.
The development followed months of speculations about government's plan to cut down cost of running the government and to re-invigorate federal ministries, departments and agencies for greater efficiency.
Among the recommendations of the Oronsaye-committee rejected by the FEC was the scrapping of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission and the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria.
"The government rejects the recommendation of the Presidential Committee that the NCPC and the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria be abolished and their functions be transferred to a department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," President Jonathan's review committee stated.
Affected by the mild shake-up recommended by the Oronsaye committee are two professional organisations, the Council for Registered Engineers and Surveyors Registration Council which the Federal Government had ordered would no longer receive budgetary allocation from the 2015 Fiscal Year.
Shake-ups which the Federal Government had also carried out on some of the parastatals, commissions and agencies include a recommendation that "the law establishing Police Service Commission be amended to make Hon. Minister of Police Affairs to head the commission".
The Federal Government has also directed that "the withdrawal of the Military from the Contributory Pension Scheme be reversed," while the enabling law of the Nigeria Football Association "will be amended to reflect the directive of International Federation of Association Football (otherwise known as FIFA) that the organisation should be renamed Federation".
Among the agencies to be retained by the government are the Nigeria Police Council, Bureau of Public Procurement, Infrastructural Concessionary and Regulatory Commission, National Sports Commission, National Institute of Sports and Citizen Leadership Training Centre.
Also to be retained are the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, which is to incorporate the Federal Highways Department of the Federal Ministry of Works and transformed into an "extra-ministerial department", National Boundary Commission, Border Communities Development Agency and National Merit Award.
Othes are the Debt Management Office, Niger Delta Power Holding Company, National Bureau of Statistics, Centre for Management Development and New Partnership for Africa's Development and the National Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS.
Abati on Monday described as speculative reports that the government had resolved to scrap some of its agencies and merge others.
Maku had said that the FEC secretariat had been directed to tidy up the draft White Paper with a view to producing a clean copy that will be presented to Nigerians.
But the minister had given an insight into one of the areas where the changes expected might be more pronounced as the research institutes and centres under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Maku had said while some of the research institutes would be scrapped, some others would be placed under existing universities for improved efficiency.
He added that a committee chaired by the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, was set up to take another look at a section of the Oronsaye report that has to do with research agencies spread across the country.
The idea, according to him, is to bring a report that will rationalise the agencies and ensure that they become more effective and result-driven.
Maku had said, "From what we have done, it is very clear that major decisions will be taken in many of the key sectors to reduce the number of agencies, particularly those that are performing duplicating duties and whose functions overlap.
"For example, there are so many research agencies under the Ministry of Science and Technology and when you look at some of the agencies, some of the functions they perform could indeed be coordinated by universities."
Government has announced. The new convergence is part of the government's decision to implement the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on the rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies.
Details of the merger were found in the report from the review committee on the White Paper chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to reports, the National Youth Service Corps is also to be "restructured with a view to developing a framework to cover critical areas of national socio-economic development to which corps members would be deployed for their primary assignments."
The EFCC was established in 2003 to investigate financial crimes such as Advance Fee Fraud (419) and money laundering. Its establishment by the ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration was seen to be an urgent response to pressure from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, which had named Nigeria as one of the 23 countries non-cooperative in the international community's efforts to fight money laundering.
The ICPC was also inaugurated by the Obasanjo administration to, among other functions, receive and investigate reports of corruption and prosecute the offender[s]; and to examine, review and enforce the correction of corruption-prone systems and procedures of public bodies with a view to eliminating corruption in public life.
Both agencies were set up by enabling laws.
Also the Federal Executive Council has ordered the scrapping of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, the National Poverty Eradication Programme and 218 other agencies established by it.
The names and number of federal agencies ordered to be scrapped or merged are included in a list already approved by the FEC, a copy of which was obtained by one of our correspondents on Monday.
Reuben Abati, spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan, had disclosed on June 12, 2013 that the FEC was considering the scrapping of 220 out of 541 federal parastatals, commissions and agencies.
But the Presidency said on Monday that no final decision had been reached on the implementation of the Oronsaye committee report.
"The report is still at the FEC level and a committee was set up to review the White Paper. There is no final decision yet on the recommendations, anything outside this is mere speculation. Nigerians should wait until government releases the White Paper. They should not rely on speculation," Abati told journalists in Abuja.
Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, had at the end of the FEC meeting last Wednesday told journalists that the council had concluded its three-week discussions on the draft White Paper on the report of the committee.
The FEC list also shows that the Fiscal Responsibility Commission has been abolished with its functions transferred to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Responsibility, while BPE has been ordered "to conclude its assignment" and be wound up.
The Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation Commission will also assume the responsibilities of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, which has also been abolished by the Federal Government.
Also abolished is the Public Complaints Council, whose responsibilities are to be taken up by the National Human Rights Commission.
The development followed months of speculations about government's plan to cut down cost of running the government and to re-invigorate federal ministries, departments and agencies for greater efficiency.
Among the recommendations of the Oronsaye-committee rejected by the FEC was the scrapping of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission and the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria.
"The government rejects the recommendation of the Presidential Committee that the NCPC and the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria be abolished and their functions be transferred to a department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," President Jonathan's review committee stated.
Affected by the mild shake-up recommended by the Oronsaye committee are two professional organisations, the Council for Registered Engineers and Surveyors Registration Council which the Federal Government had ordered would no longer receive budgetary allocation from the 2015 Fiscal Year.
Shake-ups which the Federal Government had also carried out on some of the parastatals, commissions and agencies include a recommendation that "the law establishing Police Service Commission be amended to make Hon. Minister of Police Affairs to head the commission".
The Federal Government has also directed that "the withdrawal of the Military from the Contributory Pension Scheme be reversed," while the enabling law of the Nigeria Football Association "will be amended to reflect the directive of International Federation of Association Football (otherwise known as FIFA) that the organisation should be renamed Federation".
Among the agencies to be retained by the government are the Nigeria Police Council, Bureau of Public Procurement, Infrastructural Concessionary and Regulatory Commission, National Sports Commission, National Institute of Sports and Citizen Leadership Training Centre.
Also to be retained are the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, which is to incorporate the Federal Highways Department of the Federal Ministry of Works and transformed into an "extra-ministerial department", National Boundary Commission, Border Communities Development Agency and National Merit Award.
Othes are the Debt Management Office, Niger Delta Power Holding Company, National Bureau of Statistics, Centre for Management Development and New Partnership for Africa's Development and the National Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS.
Abati on Monday described as speculative reports that the government had resolved to scrap some of its agencies and merge others.
Maku had said that the FEC secretariat had been directed to tidy up the draft White Paper with a view to producing a clean copy that will be presented to Nigerians.
But the minister had given an insight into one of the areas where the changes expected might be more pronounced as the research institutes and centres under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Maku had said while some of the research institutes would be scrapped, some others would be placed under existing universities for improved efficiency.
He added that a committee chaired by the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, was set up to take another look at a section of the Oronsaye report that has to do with research agencies spread across the country.
The idea, according to him, is to bring a report that will rationalise the agencies and ensure that they become more effective and result-driven.
Maku had said, "From what we have done, it is very clear that major decisions will be taken in many of the key sectors to reduce the number of agencies, particularly those that are performing duplicating duties and whose functions overlap.
"For example, there are so many research agencies under the Ministry of Science and Technology and when you look at some of the agencies, some of the functions they perform could indeed be coordinated by universities."
Monday, July 1, 2013
Patience Jonathan’s excesses must be curbed - Punch Report
A report written by Punch Editorial Board
Each time the wife of the President, Patience Jonathan, hits the road with her long motorcade, including bulletproof and bombproof limousines, or is having a whale of a time at an event, drivers and commuters who find themselves on her routes always have to live with the bitter experience of the encounter. As police empty the roads of traffic, forcing drivers to wait as her glamorous convoy drifts by, motorists are trapped in traffic for hours on end, while social and economic life of the affected community is brought to a halt abruptly.
The recent visit of Mrs. Jonathan to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, in which her security details forcibly grounded the movement of residents, is the latest of such excesses that Nigerians have been forced to endure for the past three years. This impunity must stop.
Acording to newspaper reports, Mrs. Jonathan’s security arrangement paralysed activities in the Port Harcourt Government Reservation Area for the four days of her visit. Armoured personnel carriers were deployed at two points, while gun-wielding operatives manned the points leading to her private residence. Many people missed their appointments because they were prevented from moving in and out of their houses.
When she came to Lagos last year, on a “thank-you visit” to some women groups for electing her husband president, she enacted a similar repulsive scenario. During the visit, Lagos residents were subjected to an unprecedented road blockade, which gave rise to an unnerving five-hour traffic that grounded all human and economic activities. The First Lady was attending that event at Ocean View Restaurant on Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island.
Mrs. Jonathan’s misdemeanour, which still resonates more than a year after it happened, forced Governor Babatunde Fashola to lament, “Lagosians were needlessly inconvenienced…. It dawned on me the need for public officers generally to be more sensitive to the people we serve. It is particularly worrisome that this (she) is not an elected person. I think we all must check how security agencies use the movement of high officers, especially VIPs, to disrupt citizens and taxpayers, whose money is used to fuel all the vehicles and all the apparatus that we use to block the roads against them. It should not get to the level that we close the roads in the state because VIPs want to pass.” It cannot be said better.
But not long after the ridiculous show of power in Lagos, Mrs. Jonathan headed for Warri, Delta State, where she also caused hardship to residents through her security arrangements. Needless to say, these foul-ups compound gridlocks on our roads. On a few occasions, the First Lady has also broken protocol. During President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the United States in September 2012, she breached protocol by disembarking from the aircraft before the President, and shaking hands with officials waiting on the tarmac while her husband was still coming down from the plane. The First Lady is setting a bad example for wives of governors.
The position of the First Lady in the United States, from where the convention spread to other countries, is not an elected one, carries no official duties, and attracts no salary. But it glows with much glamour and the occupier is expected to handle the position with sublime grace. In the United Kingdom, the role of the Prime Ministerial Consort is not official and as such whoever occupies the office is not given a salary or official duties. Many of them prefer to remain very much in the background. Indeed, the late Denis Thatcher once summed up the role of the ideal prime ministerial spouse as “always present, never there.” This is the ideal.
But operating under the loosely-defined, unconstitutional office of the “First Lady,” Mrs. Jonathan has been bringing the highest office in the land into disrepute since her husband assumed full duties as President in May 2010, by her public conduct. Her behaviour – when there is no reason for it – is leaving many citizens who have had their rights trampled on bitter but helpless.
This is not the practice in civilised societies. The basic requirement of civilised democracy is that everyone plays by the rules and that the rules command public confidence. In October 2011, it was reported that a stunned 27-year-old Indian woman was so agitated that she enquired from David Cameron, who chose to travel in a tube train during rush hour, “Excuse me, are you the Prime Minister?” The Prime Minister was reportedly travelling on the London Underground for an appointment. The United States’ security services offer maximum protection to Michelle Obama while, at the same time, causing minimal inconvenience to other motorists and citizens. It is as outrageous as it is gravely uncivilised for official cortèges to take pleasure in inflicting pains on the people that such officials claim to be serving.
The itinerary of the First Lady can be smoothly planned without compromising her safety and the convenience of the citizens. Mrs. Jonathan must recognise that power is ephemeral and should learn from the past occupants of the office who history does not favourably remember because they did incalculable damage to the image of the First Family. Fashola, who, as a governor, does not use sirens in his limited convoy, and does not harass other road users, offers a useful lesson in public morality and decorum. Even with the aura surrounding the office of President of the United States, whenever Barack Obama is visiting any part of America, information is fully circulated to the locality well ahead of time, and locals are given alternative routes that cause minimum inconveniences to use.
It is President Jonathan’s duty to caution his wife to stop this regime of offensive illegality that has tainted the Presidency and presented Nigeria in a bad light.
Each time the wife of the President, Patience Jonathan, hits the road with her long motorcade, including bulletproof and bombproof limousines, or is having a whale of a time at an event, drivers and commuters who find themselves on her routes always have to live with the bitter experience of the encounter. As police empty the roads of traffic, forcing drivers to wait as her glamorous convoy drifts by, motorists are trapped in traffic for hours on end, while social and economic life of the affected community is brought to a halt abruptly.
The recent visit of Mrs. Jonathan to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, in which her security details forcibly grounded the movement of residents, is the latest of such excesses that Nigerians have been forced to endure for the past three years. This impunity must stop.
Acording to newspaper reports, Mrs. Jonathan’s security arrangement paralysed activities in the Port Harcourt Government Reservation Area for the four days of her visit. Armoured personnel carriers were deployed at two points, while gun-wielding operatives manned the points leading to her private residence. Many people missed their appointments because they were prevented from moving in and out of their houses.
When she came to Lagos last year, on a “thank-you visit” to some women groups for electing her husband president, she enacted a similar repulsive scenario. During the visit, Lagos residents were subjected to an unprecedented road blockade, which gave rise to an unnerving five-hour traffic that grounded all human and economic activities. The First Lady was attending that event at Ocean View Restaurant on Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island.
Mrs. Jonathan’s misdemeanour, which still resonates more than a year after it happened, forced Governor Babatunde Fashola to lament, “Lagosians were needlessly inconvenienced…. It dawned on me the need for public officers generally to be more sensitive to the people we serve. It is particularly worrisome that this (she) is not an elected person. I think we all must check how security agencies use the movement of high officers, especially VIPs, to disrupt citizens and taxpayers, whose money is used to fuel all the vehicles and all the apparatus that we use to block the roads against them. It should not get to the level that we close the roads in the state because VIPs want to pass.” It cannot be said better.
But not long after the ridiculous show of power in Lagos, Mrs. Jonathan headed for Warri, Delta State, where she also caused hardship to residents through her security arrangements. Needless to say, these foul-ups compound gridlocks on our roads. On a few occasions, the First Lady has also broken protocol. During President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the United States in September 2012, she breached protocol by disembarking from the aircraft before the President, and shaking hands with officials waiting on the tarmac while her husband was still coming down from the plane. The First Lady is setting a bad example for wives of governors.
The position of the First Lady in the United States, from where the convention spread to other countries, is not an elected one, carries no official duties, and attracts no salary. But it glows with much glamour and the occupier is expected to handle the position with sublime grace. In the United Kingdom, the role of the Prime Ministerial Consort is not official and as such whoever occupies the office is not given a salary or official duties. Many of them prefer to remain very much in the background. Indeed, the late Denis Thatcher once summed up the role of the ideal prime ministerial spouse as “always present, never there.” This is the ideal.
But operating under the loosely-defined, unconstitutional office of the “First Lady,” Mrs. Jonathan has been bringing the highest office in the land into disrepute since her husband assumed full duties as President in May 2010, by her public conduct. Her behaviour – when there is no reason for it – is leaving many citizens who have had their rights trampled on bitter but helpless.
This is not the practice in civilised societies. The basic requirement of civilised democracy is that everyone plays by the rules and that the rules command public confidence. In October 2011, it was reported that a stunned 27-year-old Indian woman was so agitated that she enquired from David Cameron, who chose to travel in a tube train during rush hour, “Excuse me, are you the Prime Minister?” The Prime Minister was reportedly travelling on the London Underground for an appointment. The United States’ security services offer maximum protection to Michelle Obama while, at the same time, causing minimal inconvenience to other motorists and citizens. It is as outrageous as it is gravely uncivilised for official cortèges to take pleasure in inflicting pains on the people that such officials claim to be serving.
The itinerary of the First Lady can be smoothly planned without compromising her safety and the convenience of the citizens. Mrs. Jonathan must recognise that power is ephemeral and should learn from the past occupants of the office who history does not favourably remember because they did incalculable damage to the image of the First Family. Fashola, who, as a governor, does not use sirens in his limited convoy, and does not harass other road users, offers a useful lesson in public morality and decorum. Even with the aura surrounding the office of President of the United States, whenever Barack Obama is visiting any part of America, information is fully circulated to the locality well ahead of time, and locals are given alternative routes that cause minimum inconveniences to use.
It is President Jonathan’s duty to caution his wife to stop this regime of offensive illegality that has tainted the Presidency and presented Nigeria in a bad light.
Patience Jonathan’s excesses must be curbed - Punch Report
A report written by Punch Editorial Board
Each time the wife of the President, Patience Jonathan, hits the road with her long motorcade, including bulletproof and bombproof limousines, or is having a whale of a time at an event, drivers and commuters who find themselves on her routes always have to live with the bitter experience of the encounter. As police empty the roads of traffic, forcing drivers to wait as her glamorous convoy drifts by, motorists are trapped in traffic for hours on end, while social and economic life of the affected community is brought to a halt abruptly.
The recent visit of Mrs. Jonathan to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, in which her security details forcibly grounded the movement of residents, is the latest of such excesses that Nigerians have been forced to endure for the past three years. This impunity must stop.
Acording to newspaper reports, Mrs. Jonathan’s security arrangement paralysed activities in the Port Harcourt Government Reservation Area for the four days of her visit. Armoured personnel carriers were deployed at two points, while gun-wielding operatives manned the points leading to her private residence. Many people missed their appointments because they were prevented from moving in and out of their houses.
When she came to Lagos last year, on a “thank-you visit” to some women groups for electing her husband president, she enacted a similar repulsive scenario. During the visit, Lagos residents were subjected to an unprecedented road blockade, which gave rise to an unnerving five-hour traffic that grounded all human and economic activities. The First Lady was attending that event at Ocean View Restaurant on Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island.
Mrs. Jonathan’s misdemeanour, which still resonates more than a year after it happened, forced Governor Babatunde Fashola to lament, “Lagosians were needlessly inconvenienced…. It dawned on me the need for public officers generally to be more sensitive to the people we serve. It is particularly worrisome that this (she) is not an elected person. I think we all must check how security agencies use the movement of high officers, especially VIPs, to disrupt citizens and taxpayers, whose money is used to fuel all the vehicles and all the apparatus that we use to block the roads against them. It should not get to the level that we close the roads in the state because VIPs want to pass.” It cannot be said better.
But not long after the ridiculous show of power in Lagos, Mrs. Jonathan headed for Warri, Delta State, where she also caused hardship to residents through her security arrangements. Needless to say, these foul-ups compound gridlocks on our roads. On a few occasions, the First Lady has also broken protocol. During President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the United States in September 2012, she breached protocol by disembarking from the aircraft before the President, and shaking hands with officials waiting on the tarmac while her husband was still coming down from the plane. The First Lady is setting a bad example for wives of governors.
The position of the First Lady in the United States, from where the convention spread to other countries, is not an elected one, carries no official duties, and attracts no salary. But it glows with much glamour and the occupier is expected to handle the position with sublime grace. In the United Kingdom, the role of the Prime Ministerial Consort is not official and as such whoever occupies the office is not given a salary or official duties. Many of them prefer to remain very much in the background. Indeed, the late Denis Thatcher once summed up the role of the ideal prime ministerial spouse as “always present, never there.” This is the ideal.
But operating under the loosely-defined, unconstitutional office of the “First Lady,” Mrs. Jonathan has been bringing the highest office in the land into disrepute since her husband assumed full duties as President in May 2010, by her public conduct. Her behaviour – when there is no reason for it – is leaving many citizens who have had their rights trampled on bitter but helpless.
This is not the practice in civilised societies. The basic requirement of civilised democracy is that everyone plays by the rules and that the rules command public confidence. In October 2011, it was reported that a stunned 27-year-old Indian woman was so agitated that she enquired from David Cameron, who chose to travel in a tube train during rush hour, “Excuse me, are you the Prime Minister?” The Prime Minister was reportedly travelling on the London Underground for an appointment. The United States’ security services offer maximum protection to Michelle Obama while, at the same time, causing minimal inconvenience to other motorists and citizens. It is as outrageous as it is gravely uncivilised for official cortèges to take pleasure in inflicting pains on the people that such officials claim to be serving.
The itinerary of the First Lady can be smoothly planned without compromising her safety and the convenience of the citizens. Mrs. Jonathan must recognise that power is ephemeral and should learn from the past occupants of the office who history does not favourably remember because they did incalculable damage to the image of the First Family. Fashola, who, as a governor, does not use sirens in his limited convoy, and does not harass other road users, offers a useful lesson in public morality and decorum. Even with the aura surrounding the office of President of the United States, whenever Barack Obama is visiting any part of America, information is fully circulated to the locality well ahead of time, and locals are given alternative routes that cause minimum inconveniences to use.
It is President Jonathan’s duty to caution his wife to stop this regime of offensive illegality that has tainted the Presidency and presented Nigeria in a bad light.
Each time the wife of the President, Patience Jonathan, hits the road with her long motorcade, including bulletproof and bombproof limousines, or is having a whale of a time at an event, drivers and commuters who find themselves on her routes always have to live with the bitter experience of the encounter. As police empty the roads of traffic, forcing drivers to wait as her glamorous convoy drifts by, motorists are trapped in traffic for hours on end, while social and economic life of the affected community is brought to a halt abruptly.
The recent visit of Mrs. Jonathan to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, in which her security details forcibly grounded the movement of residents, is the latest of such excesses that Nigerians have been forced to endure for the past three years. This impunity must stop.
Acording to newspaper reports, Mrs. Jonathan’s security arrangement paralysed activities in the Port Harcourt Government Reservation Area for the four days of her visit. Armoured personnel carriers were deployed at two points, while gun-wielding operatives manned the points leading to her private residence. Many people missed their appointments because they were prevented from moving in and out of their houses.
When she came to Lagos last year, on a “thank-you visit” to some women groups for electing her husband president, she enacted a similar repulsive scenario. During the visit, Lagos residents were subjected to an unprecedented road blockade, which gave rise to an unnerving five-hour traffic that grounded all human and economic activities. The First Lady was attending that event at Ocean View Restaurant on Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island.
Mrs. Jonathan’s misdemeanour, which still resonates more than a year after it happened, forced Governor Babatunde Fashola to lament, “Lagosians were needlessly inconvenienced…. It dawned on me the need for public officers generally to be more sensitive to the people we serve. It is particularly worrisome that this (she) is not an elected person. I think we all must check how security agencies use the movement of high officers, especially VIPs, to disrupt citizens and taxpayers, whose money is used to fuel all the vehicles and all the apparatus that we use to block the roads against them. It should not get to the level that we close the roads in the state because VIPs want to pass.” It cannot be said better.
But not long after the ridiculous show of power in Lagos, Mrs. Jonathan headed for Warri, Delta State, where she also caused hardship to residents through her security arrangements. Needless to say, these foul-ups compound gridlocks on our roads. On a few occasions, the First Lady has also broken protocol. During President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the United States in September 2012, she breached protocol by disembarking from the aircraft before the President, and shaking hands with officials waiting on the tarmac while her husband was still coming down from the plane. The First Lady is setting a bad example for wives of governors.
The position of the First Lady in the United States, from where the convention spread to other countries, is not an elected one, carries no official duties, and attracts no salary. But it glows with much glamour and the occupier is expected to handle the position with sublime grace. In the United Kingdom, the role of the Prime Ministerial Consort is not official and as such whoever occupies the office is not given a salary or official duties. Many of them prefer to remain very much in the background. Indeed, the late Denis Thatcher once summed up the role of the ideal prime ministerial spouse as “always present, never there.” This is the ideal.
But operating under the loosely-defined, unconstitutional office of the “First Lady,” Mrs. Jonathan has been bringing the highest office in the land into disrepute since her husband assumed full duties as President in May 2010, by her public conduct. Her behaviour – when there is no reason for it – is leaving many citizens who have had their rights trampled on bitter but helpless.
This is not the practice in civilised societies. The basic requirement of civilised democracy is that everyone plays by the rules and that the rules command public confidence. In October 2011, it was reported that a stunned 27-year-old Indian woman was so agitated that she enquired from David Cameron, who chose to travel in a tube train during rush hour, “Excuse me, are you the Prime Minister?” The Prime Minister was reportedly travelling on the London Underground for an appointment. The United States’ security services offer maximum protection to Michelle Obama while, at the same time, causing minimal inconvenience to other motorists and citizens. It is as outrageous as it is gravely uncivilised for official cortèges to take pleasure in inflicting pains on the people that such officials claim to be serving.
The itinerary of the First Lady can be smoothly planned without compromising her safety and the convenience of the citizens. Mrs. Jonathan must recognise that power is ephemeral and should learn from the past occupants of the office who history does not favourably remember because they did incalculable damage to the image of the First Family. Fashola, who, as a governor, does not use sirens in his limited convoy, and does not harass other road users, offers a useful lesson in public morality and decorum. Even with the aura surrounding the office of President of the United States, whenever Barack Obama is visiting any part of America, information is fully circulated to the locality well ahead of time, and locals are given alternative routes that cause minimum inconveniences to use.
It is President Jonathan’s duty to caution his wife to stop this regime of offensive illegality that has tainted the Presidency and presented Nigeria in a bad light.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)