POLITICS
INEC Will Continue to Set the Pace in Africa— Yakubu
By Jude Opara, Abuja
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu has assured that the electoral management body will continue to strive to deliver free, fair and credible elections which he said has become the yearning of most African countries.
Yakubu made the statement at the weekend while speaking at the Retreat on the Optimization of the Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC) Operational Structure which took place in Keffi, Nasarawa State.
The INEC Chairman further reassured that under his watch, the Commission will continue to consolidate on the gains of the last Commission (2010-2015) in building systems for the continuous and effective management of the electoral process.
He added that the goals were not only to address the challenges encountered during the 2011, 2015 and 2019 General Elections, but to also develop proactive and knowledge-driven systems that would address these challenges going forward.While elaborating on the effectiveness of the EMSC, the INEC boss added that the outfit is involved in many positive ways including; as an electoral early-warning, monitoring, implementation and management tool. He added that the EMSC, relying on field offices and personnel across the 36 States and the FCT, alerts the Commission to the challenges, identifies electoral risks/threats and provides real-time information on the status of an election.
“In doing so, the EMSC makes available to the Commission the necessary information in making real-time interventions to avert or mitigate potential risks or threats to an election.
“In the build-up to the 2019 General Election, it became increasingly clear to the Commission that a coordinated early warning, monitoring and implementation system was necessary to track hundreds of inter-related electoral activities in the Election Project Plan for the 2019 General Election. Accordingly, the Commission accepted the recommendations of the 2019 Election Project Plan Committee (EPPC) to integrate the three monitoring mechanisms of the Commission – the EMS, ERM and EOSC – into a single unit called the Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC).”
Yakubu further noted that the positive contribution of the EMSC has continued to encourage other African countries to come to Nigeria to understudy their system.
“The EMSC has greatly helped the Commission in managing the electoral process. As a testimony to its robustness as an election management tool, many countries in the West African Region and beyond have shown interest in studying and adopting the system for their use. The Ethiopian and Malawi Electoral Commissions are already considering the deployment of some aspects of the tool in the management of their elections. The EMSC may well be another contribution of INEC (and indeed Nigeria) to election management in the world.
“I am glad that this retreat is taking place six weeks after the commencement of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise. Over the last five weeks, eligible citizens have been given the opportunity to commence their registration online and then complete it physically at designated centres. At the same time, those who prefer the in-person option can register at any of our State or Local Government offices nationwide. The two processes are going ahead simultaneously. We are glad that INEC is the first Election Management Body (EMB) to introduce online voter registration in Africa.”
The INEC Chairman equally stated that the benefits are already encouraging as citizens are served promptly and seamlessly without congestion at the registration centres and in full compliance with COVID-19 protocols.
POLITICS
2024 FCT Budget: Wike presents N1.15trn to NASS
By Laide Akinboade, Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike, on Monday, defended the details of the proposed N1.15 trillion 2024 statutory budget aimed at transforming both the capital city and rural communities.
Presenting the budget before the Senate and House Committees on FCT in Abuja, Wike outlined the allocation of funds towards recurrent and capital expenditures, emphasizing infrastructure development and ongoing project completion.
Of the total budget, N421.44 billion is allocated for recurrent expenditure, while N726.3 billion is designated for capital expenditure.
Notably, N80 billion is earmarked for SUKUK loan projects, and N29 billion is allocated for the Abuja Light Rail project.
Additionally, N500 billion is designated for commercial loans to complete ongoing capital projects in the federal capital city and satellite towns.The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) and Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD) received the largest share of the capital budget, with FCDA allocated N457 billion and STDD N116 billion.
Major road projects included in the budget proposal are the completion of Roads B6 and B12, construction of access road and car park for Abuja Light Rail, and the extension of Inner Southern Expressway (ISEX) among others.
The transportation sector receives N69 billion, with significant allocations for the construction of bus terminals and development projects in education and health sector
The proposed budget also allocates funds for agriculture and rural development, aiming to improve agricultural production, engage youths in agriculture, and enhance food security.
Additionally, allocations are made for social development, legal services, Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS), and Area Council Services Secretariat to ensure effective service delivery and rural transformation.
Meanwhile, the Minister of FCT, also explained vote of no confidence he placed on all the lawyers working as staff members of the FCT Administration.
He added that there is no going back on his decision to hire Senior Advocates of Nigeria to stand for FCTA in court.
The Minister said on assumption of office in FCT, he was shocked to discover that land racketeering has remained endemic in Abuja because the notorious syndicate was Collaborating with FCT lawyers in court.
He stated that it was not just shocking, but also embarrassing that the lawyers were always losing simple land cases in court.
According to him, more worrisome was the fact that FCTA gets over one thousand five hundred land cases monthly.
He added that he has vowed not to allow any lawyer who is a staff of the administration, to represent it in any court over land cases.
He equally expressed concerns over another discovery that directors in the Land Department, were involved in arbitrary land allocations, which gave rise to the court cases.
Wike lamented, “Recently Director of land gave 500 hectares of land to one company, you can’t believe, that before we knew it, the company colluded with lawyers in the FCTA, went to court and got a judgment against the administration. It is terrible”.
POLITICS
Our Legislative Agenda ‘ll Enhance Standard of Living, Says Akpabio
By Eze Okechukwu, Abuja
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has said that the legislative agenda of the 10th National Assembly will bring about tremendous improvement in the standard of living of Nigerians.
Akpabio stated this during the Public Hearing of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tetfund and House of Representatives Committee on Students Loan, Scholarship and Higher Education Financing on Student Loan (Access to Higher Education), repeal and reenactment Bill 2024, at the Senate, on Monday.
“The present 10th National Assembly at its inception in 2023 set out for itself a legislative agenda whose implementation will surely bring about a tremendous improvement in the living conditions/standards of the citizenry with Mr.
President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, ” he said.Represented by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, he commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his foresight and uncommon passion in supporting the students of the country with the loan scheme.
He said the scheme will address the problems of lack of funding among Nigerian students.
In amending the bill, he said the opinions of all stakeholders would be considered to have the best legislation.
“I wish to urge you to freely express your views and opinions either for or against the subject of this hearing in a manner that will bring about the sustenance of our collective will to be together as a nation to call ours.
” Public Hearings are one of the primary legislative processes that offer the general public and especially relevant stakeholders the opportunity to contribute their quota to law-making.
“There is no doubt that your views at this Joint Public Hearing will go a long way in assisting the committee make an informed recommendation (s) to the Senate and the House of Representatives respectively.
“It is this submission/recommendation of the Committees that the Senate and the House of Representatives will rely on to pass/make relevant laws for the good governance of our citizenry as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended,” he said.
POLITICS
How Nigeria Can Reach Its Potential–Anyaoku
A former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, says Nigeria is still struggling to fulfil its potential as a nation owing to lack of true federalism.
Anyaoku spoke at the “National Dialogue on the Constitutional Future of Nigeria” in honour of the late renowned constitutional lawyer, Prof.
The dialogue was organised by The Patriots ,a pan -Nigerian group of eminent national leaders of thought.
The programme had the theme, “Lawful Procedures for Actualising a People’s Constitution for Nigeria.”
Anyaoku, who is the Chairman of the Patriots, said Nigeria had failed to develop like other pluralistic countries in the world because of its inability to devolve powers to federating units.
According to him, other pluralistic countries are far ahead of Nigeria in terms of development because they have implemented true federalism.
“First, Nigeria is a pluralistic country that is still struggling to become a nation with assured political stability and progressive socio-economic development.
“The fact from across the world is that some pluralistic countries have succeeded in becoming developed nations ,while other pluralistic countries have failed and disintegrated.
“The lesson from this is that pluralistic countries ,which have succeeded in becoming nations have generally practiced true federalism with considerable power devolved to the federating units.
“This fact was acknowledged by our founding fathers who negotiated painstakingly and agreed on the Independence Constitution of 1960-1963,” Anyaoku said.
He said that the Nigeria’s present constitution lacked the legitimacy that should flow from a democratically -made constitution.
The diplomat added that the constitution had proven to be unsuitable for tackling many of the serious challenges confronting our country.
He said: “It is a widely recognized fact that the crucial areas of the country have significantly deteriorated and continue to deteriorate.”
Anyaoku said Nigeria had suffered deterioration in many fronts in security, healthcare, education, economic well-being of the citizens, infrastructure.
He said that the country had equally suffered in the area of social cohesion, social values and the sense of national unity.
He said that Nigeria had the option of getting a truly federal constitution by adopting the recommendations of the 2014 National Confab organised by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Prof. Nwabueze was the pioneer Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo , also a Senor Advocate of Nigeria and a leading thought leader.
Nwabueze died on October 28, 2023 at aged 92.