Nigeria News
Nebo: The New Spirit In The Power Sector
By Sunny Igboanugo
When the Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Ositadimma Nebo, stood before the Senate earlier this year to declare that he was going to exorcise the demons in the power sector, it immediately made media headlines. It could not have been otherwise because the approach was completely new. Nobody before him had openly pursued it. If they contemplated it, they never brought it to the public space. That Nebo has blazed this trail, is not surprising.
He possesses what many of his ilk lack or overlook. It is strange that many people who have gone through the academic mills and acquired the first-grade credentials, as he has, soon abandon the most crucial part – God.
That, of course, is one of the major fundamentals the former Vice Chancellor of two federal universities in Nigeria is bringing to the table which, rather than serving as a footnote, is likely to define his era in his present job and from there, create the template for Nigeria to leap into a future of greatness that has become so elusive in the past, but which everybody, including its enemies, believe is waiting right at the next bend.
And nobody is guessing here. It was the same talisman that Nebo used to end the many years of rot at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, which, before his arrival, was already gaining notoriety for being a suburb of hell that many of the nation’s tertiary institutions have become in recent years because of cultism. Under Nebo’s predecessor, Professor Ginigeme Mbanefo, was kidnapped and for a few days, became game for the unconscionable elements. Also under Mbanefo,15 students were killed at a go in 2003 and a former dean butchered thereafter.
How did Nebo clear the putrefaction to ensure that his five-year tenure, between June 2004 and June 2009, rendered a totally different narrative, not only via the eradication of cultism, but infrastructural development?
His story at the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, provides a hint of how. There, he practically squeezed water out of stone in his attempt to build a first class institution. Needless to say that he was still at this project when his new appointment came.
This streak of successes, where many had failed, can only mean one thing: Nebo possesses the credentials to achieve his goals and applies them with a rare single-mindedness.
That is exactly why his vow to succeed in the power sector and deliver on President Goodluck Jonathan’s promise of making Nigerians enjoy constant electricity must be taken seriously.
In fact, he recently restated what he said at the Senate screening that it has become a kind of peculiar mantra. Reading the riot act for the umpteenth time, during an interview on a Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, programme, Platform, last week, the minister said: “We are setting up a very robust monitoring device. One thing I can assure you is that all leakages will be plugged. It’s not going to be business as usual. The legacy that we have now will not tolerate the so-called Nigerian factor and leakages. It is time for everybody to know that it is no longer business as usual. If anyone wants to continue in the old games, then we will hold them accountable. I can assure you that we have put in place a solid mechanism to ensure that when government puts in funds somewhere, government gets a concomitant, good, quality work that it has paid for.”
Amplifying his position last Monday, Nebo lamented how a cabal had grown out of some people seized by evil forces. These elements, whom he described as powerful, Nebo stressed, are opposed to progress in the power sector because of the benefits they have been reaping from the suffering of the people by gorging on funds they obtained for specific power projects.
“I mean, it is all too obvious that lots of funds have gone into the sector but in some areas, you don’t see a concomitant development in the sector, so there are problems within and without. There is the issue of Nigerian factor, cartels that feel that once there is power, they lose their own businesses,” he added.
Reiterating his resolve to solve the problem in line with the President’s resolve, Nebo, who said he was equally troubled, vowed to do everything required to ensure that the present crisis is resolved in favour of Nigerians.
And this resolution, according to him would mean a robust economy, where the giant will wake up again; where virtually the about 70 per cent or more of all the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), that have died would wake up again; where the barbers, hairdressers, vulcanisers, welders and others in similar trades would be alive and well; where Nigerians would go back to work and earn their living honestly and as a result, reduce the vices idleness has yoked the nation with. Nebo is also looking at how big businesses, like the telecommunication companies, would cut down operational costs by half because they would no longer rely on diesel, thus producing competitive goods and services like telephone tariff that is currently the highest in the world.
It is a common saying in Nigeria that only a tree will hear that it would be cut down and still stand in one place. A human being would shift grounds. Is it not time for this cabal to rethink their position?
Indeed, many people have argued that cabals are not necessarily bad by their name, but in what they do. They insist that most developed economies have their own versions of cabals, which corner all the big contracts and businesses, make huge profits, but still deliver. In so doing, they may even become instruments for checking charlatans and quacks.
Perhaps, Nebo may not be as virulent in his resolve to end their reign if the Nigerian version would adopt this option. But it is indeed up to them to explore it and see what happens next. But to obdurately remain a clog in the wheel of progress could become a recipe for their doom.
The blacksmith, who doesn’t know how to make the gong, it is said, must study the shape of the kite’s tail. Most of the big business empires in America today, who have established foundations to help humanity, according to some history, were actually bandits involved in all manner of crimes. But they had to give up, do a rethink when the time was up for them.
A similar wind is blowing in Nigeria today. The momentum is so fierce it will certainly destroy all obstacles on the way.
It is hurricane Nebo.
–Igboanugo, a journalist, wrote from Lagos
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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: PM News
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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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