Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Abdullahi Suleiman Sabo
CITY NEWS
Kuje Chair Takes LEA Staff Attendance During Visit
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 2:01:37 AM
ABUBAKAR SADIQ ISAH
The Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Alhaji Abdullahi Suleiman Sabo, on Friday, took attendance of staff when he paid an unscheduled visit to the Local Education Authority (LEA) secretariat in the area.
Sabo, who was accompanied by some of his aides to inspect the ongoing annex office building at the secretariat, met only two Heads of Department (HODs) and the officer-in-charge of salary when he arrived.
The chairman, while addressing the staff present, expressed displeasure over the absence of most of the senior staff, adding that gender, tribe, religion or political affiliation of any staff didn’t matter to him but their passion, dedication and commitment which the system needs if it must work.
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He, therefore, advised staff to ensure they were dedicated and committed to their work at all times, saying the senior staff must learn how to lead by example in order for the juniors to emulate them.
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City News reported that primary school teachers and staff of LEAs across the FCT were demanding the payment of their new minimum wage by the six area council chairmen.
Several stakeholders meetings between the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the six area council chairmen to come to a compromise on the payment has continued to hit a brick wall.
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Uproar In APC Over ‘Plot’ To Shift ConventionSAAWUA TERZUNGWE & JOHN CHUKS AZU
Edo Poll: Residents Worry Over Violence ThreatsUSMAN A. BELLO, BENIN
Ogun Battles To Close 500,000 Housing DeficitPETER MOSES, ABEOKUTA
Police Nab Man Over Vehicle Theft In KubwaABUBAKAR SADIQ ISAH
Kuje Chair Takes LEA Staff Attendance During VisitABUBAKAR SADIQ ISAH
POLITICS
Uproar In APC Over ‘Plot’ To Shift Convention
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 3:53:14 AM
SAAWUA TERZUNGWE & JOHN CHUKS AZU
There is anger in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over an alleged plot to shift the party’s national convention, earlier slated for December 2020, to the first quarter of 2021.
The APC had proposed to organise an elective national convention this year at which a new crop of National Working Committee (NWC) members of the party would emerge.
But credible sources told our correspondent on Sunday that some party stalwarts were planning a revolt if the decision to shift the convention later than December 2020, was considered.
The APC National Executive Committee (NEC), the second-highest decision-making organ of the party, had dissolved the Adams Oshiomhole-led NWC in June, this year.
The NEC also constituted a 13-member National Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee headed by Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni, to take charge of the day-to-day running of the party and to, within six months, organise a national convention for new leaders to emerge.
Contacted on Sunday, Buni’s spokesman, Mamman Mohammed said mischief-makers were at work.
“One can attribute such mischief to opposition parties or their agents probably working to create disaffection to divert the attention of party men from the task of delivering Edo and Ondo states in the forthcoming governorship election.
“His Excellency the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee is currently committed to delivering the Edo and Ondo states governorship elections as well as organising a successful national convention for the party.
“The caretaker committee under the leadership of Governor Mai Mala Buni is indisputably working hard to reposition the party and this is evidenced in the achievements recorded so far. And you can see the likes of former Speaker Yakubu Dogara and thousands of supporters have returned to the party. In Ondo state, the numerous factions have been united,” he said.
Daily Trust reports that the committee has so far recorded milestones in the areas of membership drive and reconciliation of aggrieved members which is still on-going.
However, key players in the party told our correspondent that there was discontent as ‘a cabal’ was planning a tenure extension for the committee on grounds of time factor which would lead to the shifting of the convention to next year.
A top party actor in the North said, “Extending the tenure of the caretaker will mean shifting the convention to 2021. Unfortunately, we heard it on good authority that this is in the making.
“But it’s imperative to note that extending their tenure and postponing the convention will spark fresh constitutional crisis and protests in the party. It will create room for anarchy and pave way for another round of confusion.
“We need a new NWC that can come in and prepare grounds for the party to win the 2023 general elections. And to do this it is necessary that we hold our elective national convention this year.
“We shouldn’t allow the old order, the impunity that characterised the APC in the past to resurface in another form. It will be counterproductive.”
Another source said, “The point is, there is already an aberration because of the way and manner they (committee) came into office. So it will be unhealthy for the party if things are not done properly.
“We are in September now but the national leadership of the party is saying nothing about the convention. They are not rolling out any programme for the convention, so what does that mean to you?”
When our correspondent asked the APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, on when the national leadership of the party would roll out a programme for the convention, he said, “When we get to that point, we will let you know.”
Asked to confirm protests in the party and whether there were plans to extend the tenure of the committee, he said, “When we get to that point, we will communicate all organs of the party.”
However, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP who is now a chieftain of the APC, Barrister Abdullahi Jalo, called for calm in the party and asked aggrieved members to meet with the leadership of the party to ventilate their grievances and views.
Chieftain seeks nullification of Buni’s c’ttee
A chieftain of the APC, Lateef Kayode Arigbaruwo has asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to nullify the appointment of Governor Mai Bala Buni as the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party “for being invalid.”
In the suit marked FHC/1/CS/759/2020, Arigbaruwo is asking the court to declare that the meeting, which was convened on June 24 by Victor Giadom, who was acting as national chairman of the party following the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole from office by the Court of Appeal, was not valid as he was not a member of the party having been suspended by the Rivers State chapter on June 21.
Arigbaruwo, who is also a lawyer, also asked the court to declare that the meeting convened on June 24, which was 24 hours’ notice to the June 25 date when it held, was a violation of Article 25, Paragraph B (1) and (ii) of the APC Constitution.
He also contended that the appointment of the three governors by the NEC was not valid based on Article 17(iv) of the APC Constitution.
He, therefore, asked for an order allowing Prince Hilliard Etagbo Eta, who is the Vice-Chairman, South-South of the party to pilot the affairs of the APC as acting chairman and to preside at all meetings of the NWC and the NEC.
Justice Taiwo Taiwo ordered that the case be heard by a vacation judge but refused the application for accelerated hearing of the suit as it was not a pre-election matter.
The judge fixed October 12 for hearing.
Obaseki and Ize-Iyamu
POLITICS
Edo Poll: Residents Worry Over Violence Threats
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 3:36:53 AM
USMAN A. BELLO, BENIN
Ahead of Saturday’s Edo State governorship election, anxiety and fear are palpable in the state over threats of violence during and after the poll.
Daily Trust learnt that the development was as a result of the violence that heralded the electioneering campaigns in the state.
Aside from the violence witnessed at the Oba’s palace when Governor Godwin Obaseki and the PDP visited, there were several other attacks in the state, with the parties blaming each other.
The violence, it was learnt, however, subsided following the recent peace meeting organised by the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, for the two major political parties and their candidates, Governor Godwin Obaseki of the PDP and APC’s Pastor Osagie Ize-lyamu.
However, our correspondent reports that residents of the state are still expressing fear that the election may be marred by violence.
One of the residents, Mr James Uyi, expressed concern that the desperation by the political parties, their candidates and supporters have raised tension in the state.
“As you can see, their campaigns have not been very peaceful. There have been pockets of violence and attacks. This is a sign that the election will not be peaceful,” he said.
Another resident, Edith Ogbe, said she may not exercise her franchise due to the violence she witnessed during the PDP visit to the Oba of Benin palace.
“If politicians can be attacking each other during the campaign, I am afraid of what will happen during the election,” she said.
But Jimoh Ebaghi is of the view that the election will be peaceful despite the threat of violence heralding it.
On his part, the state INEC Resident Electoral Commission (REC), Johnson Alalibo, assured that the commission was ready to conduct a free and fair election.
He also assured that the threat of violence had been taken care of with the Oba of Benin’s intervention.
The police command in the state has assured of peaceful election.
Julius Berger
PROPERTY
Julius Berger Opens Virtual Showroom
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 2:21:51 AM
TERKULA IGIDI
Abuja Furniture Production (AFP), the furniture and interior solutions provider subsidiary of the Julius Berger Nigeria PLC group, has opened a virtual showroom for its customers.
AFP also organized a 10 kilometre walk in the serene Maitama environment on Saturday, as part of activities to mark the company’s customers’ appreciation month (September).
A statement by the Sales Manager of AFP, Mr. Uchenna Uzoewulu, said customers are afforded the opportunity to tour the virtual showroom to have an experience in the world of furniture and interior designs.
“The virtual showroom tour is to provide customers the opportunity to discover and experience an unrivalled display of furniture and interior solutions at AFP’s state-of-the-art showrooms.
“Our locations feature fully-operational kitchens equipped with top-end appliances, modern relaxation lounges, refined executive offices, impressive dining table settings, lavish bathroom vanity units and cozy bedroom solutions.
“AFP now displays its portfolio in a new light with an interactive VR experience tailored to meet your needs.
“Additionally, the AFP virtual showroom offers an exquisite showcase of modern interior design and innovative home technology concepts, and a fully functional five-star hotel suite and a luxury home cinema,” he said.
Uzoewulu added that the concept allows AFP the opportunity to showcase its portfolio in virtual reality, giving customers the ability to discover and engage with the company’s entire product range.
PROPERTY
Ogun Battles To Close 500,000 Housing Deficit
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 2:18:28 AM
PETER MOSES, ABEOKUTA
The Ogun State Government is battling to close the gap of over 500,000 housing deficit in the state, the Commissioner for Housing, Jangumolu Akande Omoniyi, has disclosed.
Omoniyi, while speaking with newsmen in Abeokuta, said the wide gap inherited by the current administration on May 29, 2019, would, however, be filled by at least 50 per cent before expiration of the incumbent administration.
Omoniyi explained that the government had commenced 2,500 housing projects in various locations in the state, hinting that the first phase was completed in May this year.
“We met on ground, a very wide gap of housing deficit in the state, and by our postulation, we have nothing less than 500,000 housing gap in Ogun State.
“And we know that four years, eight years down the line, we may not be able to fill that gap but we should be sure that at the end of the day, we achieve nothing less than 50% of that gap. It looks as if it’s a tall order but with the market in place, we believe that we can achieve that, not forgetting the fact that Ogun State today is the industrial hub of the nation,” the commissioner said.
Omoniyi maintained that the affordability of the state’s housing projects for the subscribers “in line with global best practices” is assured.
“I know what is obtainable nationally when it comes to affordable housing; the houses that we have, the price of our houses in Ogun State today is within N5.5million, and if we talk of affordability, it does not mean that the common man will have to cough out N5.5million to build or buy those houses. In advanced countries nobody pays more than 5 or 10% to be able to get mortgage and that is what is obtainable in Ogun State today.
“We have a funding partner, Federal Mortgage Bank, and Family Homes that have shown interest in partnering with us to offer best digit rates and a long tenured one for to-be subscribers,” he added.
CITY NEWS
Police Nab Man Over Vehicle Theft In Kubwa
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 2:15:08 AM
ABUBAKAR SADIQ ISAH
The FCT police command has arrested a man, Benson Arthur, 65, for allegedly stealing a vehicle at Byzahin area of Kubwa, Abuja.
In a statement, the spokesman of the command, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, said the suspect was arrested by police operatives from Byzahin division during a stop and search operation deployed to recover the vehicle.
He said exhibits recovered from the suspect included one silver-coloured Toyota Carina-E with registration number KWL-345HZ and a master key.
The command, while reaffirming its commitment to protecting lives and property, enjoined residents to promptly report or call its emergency numbers – 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653 and 08028940883 – in case of any distress.
He said the suspect would be arraigned after investigation.
CITY NEWS
We Advertise Iphone X On Jiji.Com To Swindle Ignorant Buyers – Suspects
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 1:50:34 AM
EUGENE AGHA, LAGOS
The police in Lagos said they have arrested two suspected online fraudsters who had been advertising expensive mobile phones at cheaper prices on jiji.com to defraud ignorant buyers.
The police said the suspects, Chukwu Emeka Ogbonna, 45, and Olabode Kehinde, 34, are both mobile phone technicians at the popular Computer Village, Ikeja.
The police disclosed they arrested Ogbonna and Kehinde at Olowu Street, Ikeja, in two separate incidents.
It was understood that the suspects had a trick of showing buyers the original phone but substituting it with a fake one within a twinkle of an eye after collecting money for the original, and fleeing immediately from the scene, leaving their victims stranded.
According to Ogbona, “Ibrahim is the leader of our gang. He advertises on jiji.com and supplies us with the real Iphone X and the fake Iphone X. The real Iphone X is N240,000, while the fake is an android phone made to look like an Iphone X. It is N30,000.
“The Iphone X was advertised for N155,000. The buyer negotiated for N120,000. Knowing what I wanted to sell to him, I encouraged him to meet me at Olowu after changing meeting locations twice to ensure that we were not being baited by the police.
“I showed him the real Iphone X for him to confirm it, while the fake was in my back pocket. I took the real one back from him again for us to settle our bargain. Meanwhile, I had arranged with other gang members to come around and distract the attention of the buyer so as to create a room for me to swap the real Iphone X with the fake version. This I did and we shared the victim’s N120,000. Unknown to me, the police baited and arrested me after the third day of the fraud.
“Times are hard. I had once stopped doing it. But I needed money to feed my family. That is why I came back into it. We are many doing it. We call it street hustling.”
The second suspect, Kehinde, was arrested by the Decoy Team of the Rapid Response Squad for allegedly collecting N100,000 and an Iphone 6S from one Obinna, whom he was said to have lured to the Computer Village after assuring him he would swap for him the Iphone 6S with an original Iphone X, but ended up fraudulently giving him a fake Iphone X.
The police said the suspect also confessed to be a member of the same syndicate that Ogbonna belonged to and they were actually many of their ilk at the Computer Village.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr Hakeem Odumosu, commenting on the arrest, advised consumers to be wary of suspected fraudsters masquerading as phone dealers.
File Photo
CITY NEWS
2 Children Swept Away In Lagos Flood
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 1:47:13 AM
ABDULLATEEF ALIYU, LAGOS
Emergency officials in Lagos were by evening still searching for the bodies of two toddlers washed away by flood on Saturday.
The children were swept away at Oyebanjo Solarin Street, Ketu, in the flood that accompanied Saturday’s downpour in many parts of Lagos.
Daily Trust reports that emergency officials were notified of the incident at about 8pm on Saturday, but the bodies of the children were yet to be found by the time of filing this report.
The Director-General of the state emergency management agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyitolu, giving an update on the incident yesterday, said, “The agency received distress calls concerning the incident. On arrival at the scene of the incident, it was discovered that around 8pm, two children had been caught up by flood water.
“A joint team of responders comprising agency responders, LASG Fire Service and LASAMBUS were at the scene. The Agency’s tiger team commenced a search-and-rescue operation along the path of the flood water.”
Emergency responders were said to have continued the search for the bodies of the children yesterday morning, with the LASEMA Director of Operations, Engineer Olatunde Adesanya, leading the exercise.
A spokesman of LASEMA, Nosa Okunbor, told our correspondent yesterday that a more stringent search was extended to about a 500-metre radius along the canal way, with the officials also enquiring from residents if they found the missing bodies.
LASEMA also commenced sensitization in the entire area, urging the residents to desist from dumping their wastes inside the drainage systems to allow for free flow of water.
CITY NEWS
Retired Director Donates Tree Seedlings For Beautification Of Abuja
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 1:41:07 AM
TERKULA IGIDI
Aformer Director of Parks and Recreation, Luka Bulus Achi, has donated 67 tree seedlings to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Department of Parks And Recreation to mark his 67th birthday.
Achi said his gesture was inspired by his belief in the mandate setting up the department and would be happy to see Abuja remain an eco-friendly capital city.
A statement by Josie Mudasiru, Assistant Director, Information, in the department, said the retired director, who was accompanied by his former colleague, Nathaniel Atebije, a retired deputy director and some members of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), made the donation on Saturday.
Receiving the seedlings, the Director of Parks and Recreation, Hadjia Riskatu Abdulazeez, said it was a thing of joy to have the support of her former boss.
She said the donation underscored the fact that developing, and beautifying Abuja is not a task to be left in the hands of government officials alone.
She expressed appreciation to the former director who, she said, had shown by his gesture that he wants the progress and success of not only the department but the Federal Capital Territory Administration as a whole.
The FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu
CITY NEWS
FCT Area Councils’ Pensioners To Be Paid N512m
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 1:21:57 AM
TERKULA IGIDI
The Director, Federal Capital Territory ((FCT) Area Council Staff Pension Board (ACSPB), Dr Nanzing Nden, said pensioners on the payroll of the board would soon be paid their emoluments.
Nden, who disclosed this at the weekend, said the Minister of State, FCT, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, has approved the sum of N512 million as pension payment to 132 retiring and deceased officers of FCT’s six area councils and Local Education Authorities (LEAs).
He said the payment covered accrued rights and death benefits for mostly personnel who retired or died before the COVID-19 lockdown.
The director, however, said the claims for payment were being processed through the Treasury to the retirees’ Pension Fund Administrators’ accounts.
He added that after the payment, the board would process files received after the easing of the lockdown for possible payment sometime in October or November 2020.
“We intend to start real-time payment for those whose files are being brought to us in advance of retirement,’’ he further said.
“At the time I took over, the board had a pension liability of N3.9 billion in unpaid pension and accrued rights benefits. But over the period of time, we’ve been able to pay this liability and improve on the pay-out.
“As of today, we’ve paid over N6.1 billion as accrued rights benefits and death benefits to 1,464 retired and deceased officers of the area councils and LEAs with over N1.2 billion as monthly pension. We have also implemented a group life assurance policy for staff under our management,” he explained.
Jabi Lake
Photo credit: africancityguide.com
CITY NEWS
Union Advocates Implementation Of FCT Tourism Master Plan
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 1:19:16 AM
TERKULA IGIDI
The Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN), the umbrella for all private sector tourism bodies in Nigeria, has called on the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to implement the FCT tourism master plan.
The president of FTAN, Alhaji Rabo Saleh, who made the call in Abuja, noted that the full implementation of the master plan would make the FCT a destination of choice in the tourism industry.
He stressed the need to involve the private sector in efforts to actualise a speedy economic recovery plan.
Saleh revealed that 80 per cent of all tourism and tourism-related businesses that provided over 30,000 jobs in the FCT were private-sector driven, and noted that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic left the world economy in a devastated state, hence the need for diversification.
He, therefore, urged the FCTA to initiate a public, private sector collaboration to develop domestic tourism sites like the Jabi Lake, parks, and Katampe Hills, aimed at promoting tourism in the territory.
The FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, while responding, acknowledged the potential of the tourism sector in the area of job creation.
According to a statement by Mr Austine Elemue, the minister’s media aide, she was represented by her Senior Special Assistant on Administration and Strategy, Prof. Muhammad Usman.
She informed members of the association that the Abuja master plan was not cast in stone, stressing the need to review the FCT tourism master plan.
Dr Ramatu also noted that the nation’s projected population by 2050 would be about 450 million people, adding that with such a huge population, it is important that all sectors are active in order to avoid a crisis.
FILE PHOTO
EXCLUSIVE COLUMNS
In Order To Be Like China
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 1:05:40 AM
MAHMUD JEGA
Why did I involuntarily yawn on Wednesday last week when I read stories of President Buhari inaugurating the National Steering Committee to develop a Nigeria Agenda 2050 and a Medium-Term National Development Plan, MTNDP? I am not a chronic pessimist. In fact for most of my life I was a chronic optimist until a series of dashed hopes and disappointing events and outcomes over several decades made me to reconsider my outlook in life.
According to the president, the Agenda 2050 to be worked out is because two subsisting national development plans, namely Vision 20:2020 and Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017-2020, both expire in December. If your plan is about to expire and you are thinking of making a new plan, is it not fair to ask yourself whether the outgoing plan made any progress? Because if it didn’t, why do you want to make an even grander plan and what makes you think it will succeed? According to Vision 20:2020, this country should be one of the world’s 20 largest economies by this year. I am not sure what our ranking is today but I take note that we were not invited to the G-20 meetings.
Vision 20:2020 itself succeeded Vision 2010, which was elaborately crafted by the Abacha regime with Chief Ernest Shonekan in the lead. As soon as Abacha died in 1998, no one mentioned it again. President Olusegun Obasanjo, for one, would never touch anything to do with Abacha even with a long pole, so he made his own plan, called National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS). States too were goaded to do State Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (SEEDS). Both plans fizzled out after a few years.
Nigerians of my age were not very surprised because previous governments had touted national plans and promised even loftier than those three, only for them to wither away. Universal Free Primary Education [UPE], which took off in 1976, was one of them. After 44 years, we still hear of 12 million out of school children. From 1977, government propounded another, highly publicised plan called Health For All By The Year 2000. We were convinced it will happen but 20 years after the target date, we still have rustic public hospitals with doctors frequently on strike and with everyone of means running to foreign hospitals to treat basic ailments.
This newly envisaged Buhari plan has a thirty year life span. Unlike the aforementioned ones, I do not expect to be around to witness its outcome. But I will not be surprised if it turns out to be another waiting for Godot, the way my generation of Nigerians did over several decades. In his speech inaugurating this plan, Buhari spoke about other supra-national plans that Nigeria should key into. They include ECOWAS Integration Agenda 2050, African Union Agenda 2063 and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Not one of those three international bodies has proved itself to be capable of delivering on lofty development goals. Where is UNESCO’s New World Information Order? Where is FAO’s Food For All By The Year 2000? Where is ECOWAS’ free movement of goods and persons? Where is OAU/AU’s African Peer Review Mechanism?
I agree with the president that we should always have some kind of national development plan because as one sage said, if you don’t have a plan to succeed then you are planning to fail. However, I am skeptical about the lofty goals he set for this plan. I do not want our children and grandchildren to suffer the same raised and then dashed hopes as my generation did. Buhari said the new plan should aim to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in ten years’ time, since the World Bank projected that Nigeria will have 400 million people by 2050.
You see, when any company manager is balancing his books, the prudent thing to do if he cannot increase revenues is to cut his expenditure. Instead of doing a plan to lift 100 million people out of poverty by 2030 and still be left with a surplus 200 million people by 2050, isn’t it better to ensure that we disappoint the World Bank and not reach that number by 2050? I know some people who still argue that population is an asset, but not when you will have millions illiterate, in poor health and in abject poverty.
One of the biggest problems we have in Nigeria is lack of continuity. Every new government spends half of its tenure heaping blames on the previous one. Vice President Atiku Abubakar, for example, spent the better part of 1999-2003 blaming the military for every societal woe. President Obasanjo himself constantly said in his media chats how many Nigeria Airways planes and Nigeria National Shipping Line ships he left behind in 1979 and the very few that he found when he returned in 1999. The Buhari administration also spent the better part of the last five years blaming PDP for “the rot.”
To get an idea of how serious this problem could get, I recall a story that a state governor once told us in 2004. Elders from an area that gave him a lot of votes came and demanded that he complete a hospital in their town that his predecessor started. His answer was, “Alright, since it is a hospital you want, I will give you a hospital but I will not complete that one, because forever people will say it was my predecessor that built it. So you should show me another space somewhere and I will build a hospital for you within six months.”
President Buhari awakened to this national malaise because he charged this new committee to “recommend measures to ensure continuous implementation of the Plans even after expiration of the tenure of successive administrations.” This is a tough nut to crack, honestly. He suggested that this could be done through legislation. In so far as too many Nigerians regard law as a mere inconvenience to be circumvented, I don’t think so.
How then do we get around this problem of discontinuity? President Buhari mentioned China, which he said lifted 700 million people out of poverty in four decades and had a positive economic growth rate from 1992 until the pandemic halted it this year. I am glad he mentioned this example because to be able to replicate it, we need to identify some of the elements that made China to succeed in such a spectacular manner.
To begin with, we need not 100 years of Amalgamation but a 3,000 history of civilisation, including inventing writing, forming huge empires, building the only man-made structure visible from outer space, having a Confucian-style unifying national philosophy, introducing Europeans to tea drinking, and adroitly repelling all foreign invaders. That is for a start. More modestly, we need a visionary national leader like Deng Xiao-ping. Though nearly a dwarf, he propounded what turned out to be the tallest ambition in modern human history.
Deng’s plan was not conceived by a committee, as far as I remember. It was very short, called The Four Modernisations. He identified four areas, namely agriculture, industry, defence, and science and technology and set out to modernise them. They impacted all other areas and within a decade, China’s economy was galloping along in double digits.
Deng’s plan, however visionary, would never have succeeded without the Communist Party of China. CPC has its tentacles in every nook and cranny, highly organised, superbly motivated, ably led and all its cadres imbued with missionary zeal. Compare CPC to APC or PDP. There is also the stability factor. Nine years ago when President Jonathan publicly marveled that Saudi Arabia had one oil minister for 25 years, the media here ridiculed him and said he wanted to elongate his tenure. If only PDP or APC has shown the capacity, focus and selflessness of CPC, personally I would have pleaded with Nigerians to allow it to rule for 60 years and deliver this plan. Afterward, you can have a democracy if you like.
SPORTS
Vardy Inspires Leicester To Beat West Brom 3-0
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 12:32:45 AM
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Jamie Vardy converted two penalties to help Leicester City get off to a winning start in the Premier League season with a 3-0 victory at promoted West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.
Vardy, the league’s top scorer last season, and Dennis Praet both had drilled efforts well saved by West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone in bright sunshine at the Hawthorns, with the hosts offering little in attack in the first half.
The visitors continued to dominate after the break and took the lead in the 56th minute through debutant Timothy Castagne – a summer signing from Italian side Atalanta – when the full back headed home a Praet cross.
Vardy was fouled by Kyle Bartley in the penalty area 17 minutes from time, and the striker stroked home the spot-kick to score for the fifth successive trip to West Brom as a Leicester player.
Leicester were able to give substitute James Maddison his first minutes since March after undergoing hip surgery, before Vardy made the win more comprehensive six minutes from time with another penalty.
The visitors, looking to forget their poor end to last season that cost them a place in the Champions League, were much too sharp for West Brom on their Premier League return.
Meanwhile, Everton ended a miserable run of form against Tottenham Hotspur as Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s second-half header earned them a 1-0 away victory in their Premier League opener.
Carlo Ancelotti gave debuts to three new signings including Colombian James Rodriguez but it was Sheffield-born Calvert-Lewin who gave Everton a dream start to the season as he headed powerfully home in the 55th minute.
Tottenham also gave debuts to right back Matt Doherty and midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg but were disappointing as they suffered a first defeat by Everton since 2012.
Their best chances came before the break as Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford denied both Dele Alli and Doherty.
SPORTS
Bernal At A Loss After Brutal Tour De France Failure
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 AT 12:22:25 AM
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Defending champion Egan Bernal was at a loss to explain the brutal failure that ruled him out of contention on the Tour de France in the 15th stage on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Colombian was suddenly dropped by the main group of favourites in the ascent to the Col du Grand Colombier, a 17.4-km effort at an average gradient of 7.1 per cent, and he never managed to fight his way back, losing 7:20 on the line.
Now out of the top 10, the Ineos-Grenadiers team leader conceded he could not even dream of a podium finish in Paris.
“I really don’t think the podium is an option, I don’t even know how far behind I finished,” an exhausted Bernal told reporters after his 174.5-km ordeal in the Jura mountains.
“I just need to go to the team bus, rest, rethink the race and see what the team wants.”
Bernal had been struggling since the beginning of the Tour and Sunday came as a terrible confirmation of his shortcomings.
“I was suffering in the first climb already, I think I lost three years of my life today, I was going full gas hoping for a miracle that didn’t come,” he said.
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