A new era in environmental protection has emerged in Nigeria and 94 other countries, where environmental violations by Transnational Corporations, especially those involved in oil and mineral exploration are rife, as new laws that stipulate stringent punishments for crimes against the environment in these countries are being worked out.
Dr Uyi Ojo of ERA/FOEN
This may put an end to the era when multinational oil and other companies in the extractive industry that pollute the environment where they work, would rather than take responsibility by cleaning up the mess, preferred to engage in divide-and-rule as a strategy of evading justice as seen in Nigeria’s Niger Delta area.
It followed a resolution through an overwhelming vote by the United Nations Human Rights Council at a recent in Geneva against Transnational Corporations’ (TNC) voluntary mechanisms. The participants instead voted for an international legally binding mechanism to regulate the activities of TNCs relating to the protection of human rights.
The resolution was supported by over 610 organisations, 400 individuals, and 95 countries while 13 states abstained.
Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, Executive Director of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), who was at the meeting, gave insight on the resolution shortly upon arrival in the country, saying modalities are being worked out to domesticate the treaty in Nigeria.
He, however, said this victory ushers in a period to play up ecocide, as a crime that should go with a minimum life jail term for perpetrators.
Speaking in Lagos, Ojo said, “While we celebrate this victory we call on the United Nations to recognise the crime of ecocide being perpetrated at the sites of extraction on a global scale.”
Should ecocide become embedded in Nigeria’s law, he said, “TNCs and their Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) who repeatedly and fragrantly take operational and managerial decisions that have repeatedly resulted in ecological destruction, loss of lives and livelihoods are guilty of ecocide or crime against humanity that must be punished.”
Ojo said a uniform binding mechanism would ensure that “environmental racism as practiced by TNCs, Shell and other oil companies in Nigeria will come to an end because the same standards deployed in Europe and America will be the same standards to be applied in Nigeria and elsewhere.”
He also disclosed that the new legal regime would end the disdain of Shell against national oversight agencies such as National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
“Recall that a fine of N1.84 trillion was imposed on Shell by NIMASA for compensation for lost livelihoods for over five million affected fishermen and women, and US$5 billion for administrative fine imposed by NOSDRA.
“Unfortunately till date Shell holds both institutions in disdain in the manner it has dismissed them and refused to pay up these fines,” Ojo said, adding that the non-implementation of the UNEP report and failure to set up $1 billion fund for the clean-up and restoration of the Ogoni were part of the evidence supporting the case for a legally binding mechanism.
“The Nigerian situation of resource violence worked seriously against TNCs and Shell’s activities in Nigeria, and Chevron refusal to pay over $9 billion by the Ecuadorian Supreme Court judgment were major evidences that swayed the votes in favour,” he said.
Meanwhile, it has also emerged that the UN treaty will ensure that production costs cannot be externalised to third parties, but fully paid for in the production process including environmental remediation, compensation and risks management.
Meanwhile The ERA/FoEN boss has said ecological devastation and destruction of rural livelihood sources could be responsible for armed conflicts emanating across parts of Nigeria.
He said, “Since oil extraction has destroyed rural livelihoods in the Niger Delta, the environment of northern Nigeria is not less in devastation due to desertification. Western Nigeria is also faced with deforestation while eastern Nigeria is ravaged by gully erosion.
“In all these, rural people throughout Nigeria have been impoverished and sentenced to slow deaths thereby resulting in reactive tendencies that can no longer be ignored.”
Consequently he has recommended that a social security in the form of National Basic Income Scheme (NaBIS) of about N10,000 payable to all Nigerians who are unemployed could be the solution to the spate of resource conflicts and violence.
In what looks like a doomsday prediction, meteorologists have said the weather is preparing to go wild before the end of this year, as the tropical climate system is primed for a big El Niño. Unfortunately, the world may be at its mercy, as they say no adequate preparation is on ground to contain it.
The El Niño, a splurge of warm water in the Pacific Ocean, as predicted by a cross section of Climate and Weather experts, will wreak havoc and deaths around the globe later this year, as it is set to unleash floods in the Americas, while South-East Asia and drought in Australia.
Prof. Olukayode Oladipo
Although the effects have been predicted for South-East Asia and Australia, Nigeria may also get a bit of its effect, according to Climatologist, Prof. Emmanuel Olukayode Oladipo.
Oladipo said the consequence of the predicted wild weather events may have been captured by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) already.
“NIMET has noted in its annual predictions that Nigeria will witness shorter period of rainfall this year with droughts in parts of the north.
“This may force the herdsmen to move forward downwards. Unless urgent steps are taken to prepare ahead of time, this may still cause tension between them and the crop farmers,” Oladipo said, while also advising the government of Nigeria to immediately commission renown researchers and scientists to study the prediction, with a view to proffering steps to prevent and cope with any likely weather event.
“On occasions like this, the best approach would have been to get scientists and researchers to do studies on the prediction and also to hear from them how to get around the situation. Unfortunately, in Nigeria we are only interested in spending money on immediate situations.
“Why wait for a catastrophe before we act, when we can actually do a long-term preparatory programme?” he queried.
A big El Niño that occurred in 1997-98 killed not less than 20,000 people and caused almost $97 billion of damage. This year, it has been predicted that the weather would go wild causing floods, storms and droughts around the Pacific.
An El Niño begins when warm water near Indonesia spreads eastwards and rises to the surface of the Pacific. The warm water carries rain with it, so El Niño takes rain from Asia and Australia and dumps it on the Americas.
Meteorologist with Australia’s national research agency, in Melbourne, Wenju Cai, was quoted as saying the more heat in the Pacific, the bigger the El Niño, and that right now, 150 metres below the surface, a ball of warm water is crossing that ocean.
On May 5, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the odds of an El Niño would exceed 50 per cent this year.
It is expected that Asia and Australia will see less rainfall as a result of El Niño, leading to drought and wildfires. But, reports have said many impacts depend on how El Niño affects the monsoons, which is hard to predict. El Niño also brings warmer weather, which melts ice.
Roadshows in connection with the launching of the proposals for the Second Cycle of the West African Forum for Clean Energy Financing (WAFCEF 1) will take place in Abuja and Lagos on the 9th and 11th of September 2014.
Prince Lekan Fadina
The events are designed to share the successes of the WAFCEF 1 and to promote WAFCEFI 2 with the objective of increasing the pool and quality of applications for WAFCEF to project developers and prospective applicants.
The event will provide guidance on the essentials of project proposals as well as highlight the benefits of the WAFCEF programme to prospective applicants. The events are organised by the CTI Private Financing Advisory Network, USAID, Sustainable Energy Fund Africa and Winrock International.
According to the organisers, the events will assist participants to have better understanding of the necessary requirements for project development and financing.
Prince Lekan Fadina of the Centre for Investment, Sustainable Development, Management & Environment (CISME) added that, after the roadshows, participants would be better placed to access the Clean Energy Financing facility.
Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has said that the citizens should have the courage to vote out any government that is non-performing to their expectation and should reward the performing one by keeping it in office as long as the constitution allows.
The governor gave the advice during the 15th Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture series with the theme, “The Power of Your Vote: A catalyst for A Stable and United Nigeria”.
The event was part of the Lecture and Awards Ceremony for the Mike Okonkwo Educational and Youth Initiative Essay Competition (MOEYI) which took place at the Shell Hall of the MUSON Centre, Onikan.
Fashola said it was no longer democratic when the people have allowed a bad government to serve out its full terms before saying it should be changed.
Base on this, he charged that just as the voting public must be ready to change a bad government, it must also work vigorously to keep a good one in government, adding that that is where the choice is inherent and embedded in a democracy.
The governor explained that the United States of America and the United Kingdom have had several scores of Presidents and Prime Ministers in position but no one can easily recall the names of at least a quarter of them off hand because in those countries the voting public have been quick to remove those who perform below expectation and also kept those who performed very well for as long as the constitution allowed it.
Noting that there was a connection between politics and what happens in the day to day life of every individual, Fashola said people who are fond of saying they cannot participate in politics fail to realize the fact that everyone is a political animal stressing that everybody should show interest in who and how they are governed.
While quoting from a Social Scientist: Berthold Bretch to buttress his point, he said: “The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he hears nothing, and he sees nothing. He takes no part in political life, he doesn’t seem to know that the cost of living, the prices of beans, flour, rent, medicine and all depend on political decision. He even prides himself on his political ignorance, sticks out his chest and say he hates politics, he doesn’t know that from his political non- participation comes the prostitute, the abandoned child, the robber and worst of all corrupt officials- the lackeys of exploitative multinational corporations”.
He stressed that after several voting exercises and the results were released, it is often observed that not more than 35 percent of the registered voters come out to exercise their voting rights, saying another opportunity now beckons as it does once in four or five years period for citizens to exercise such rights.
The man was found on Oldham Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, in the early hours of this morning.
A man was found bleeding in the street after being stabbed repeatedly early this morning.
The 23-year-old was taken to hospital following the attack, on Oldham Road in Ashton-Under-Lyne, at around 5am on Friday.
He had suffered multiple stab wounds to the leg, and separate head and chest injuries, police said.
Officers believe he was attacked by a group of men near the junction of Cranbourne Road, north of Ashton town centre, in the early hours.
A spokesman for the North West Ambulance Service confirmed that three teams – an ambulance crew, rapid response vehicle and separate paramedics – were sent to Oldham Road at 5.01am.
They found a man in his 20s with stab wounds to his legs and other chest and head injuries. The man was taken to the Manchester Royal Infirmary by ambulance. Hospital staff were notified in advance that the victim was on his way.
Lufthansa said a pilots’ strike later on Friday will mean cancelling 200 flights and hit the travel plans of about 250,000 passengers.
The German airline has been locked in a dispute with the Vereinigung Cockpit union over an early retirement scheme.
Lufthansa said short-haul and medium-haul flights leaving Frankfurt airport, Europe’s third largest, will be hit.
Pilots at Lufthansa’s budget carrier Germanwings went on strike last week over early retirement.
Friday’s strike will involve a six-hour stoppage from 1500 GMT.
“We will continue to strike until Lufthansa brings an end to the confrontational way in which they deal with staff,” union official Joerg Handwerg told the Reuters news agency.
The pilots, who staged a three-day nationwide strike in April over the same issue, want Lufthansa to retain a 50-year old scheme that allows pilots to take early retirement at 55 and still receive up to 60% of their pay.
The carrier, which had wanted to scrap the scheme entirely, wants to increase the average age at which its pilots retire to 61.
Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr has said changes are necessary to keep the airline’s costs down.
Although Friday’s strike will not cause as much disruption as April’s industrial action, it coincides with the end of the summer holiday period in some German states.
Last Friday’s Germanwings strike meant the cancellation of more than 100 flights, hitting the plans of about 15,000 passengers.
The immediate past National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ambassador (Dr) Bamanga Tukur, has called on Nigerian politicians to ensure the enthronement and sustenance of equity and justice in their political crusade and dealings.
According to him, equity and justice remain the bedrock for the consolidation of democratic structures and ideals.
Speaking during a one-day sensitization seminar organized by the Party’s State Executive in Yola for elected PDP delegates for Saturday PDP Governorship Primaries, Tukur said that the exclusion of fair play, equity and justice in our political dealings will have catastrophic effect on our resolve to use democracy our choice of government.
He said that it was such vices of exclusion of equity and justice that have given room for acts of dictatorship and imposition in our political structure and parties.
Ambassador Tukur warned that the act of imposing candidates on political parties was absolutely adverse and negative to democratic principles and ideology.
He made it clear that democracy is an avenue through which people choose and decide who will rule or govern them in elections that are free and fair.
He added that one of the cardinal policies and principles he introduced and fought for as the National Chairman of the Party was election instead of imposition; discipline; equity and justice.
He urged Nigerian electorates to stick to the exercise of their Constitutional rights by always using their votes to vote-in people they want and vote-out people they do not want.
Tracing the history of PDP formation of which he is a founding member, he submittedthat the founding fathers formed the PDP as a Party for the people by the people and for the people.
He warned of the dangers of imposing people from opposition parties against the interest of consistent and loyal members of the Party who have suffered for the Party for the sake of being the flag-bearers of their new party on executive or legislative elections.
Tukur finally urged the delegates to always use their votes wisely saying their votes should not be for sale and any act to make their votes a mercantile affair will be inimical to internal democracy of our political parties and political dispensation.
A former Federal Minister of Education, Dauda Birmah, who also addressed the delegates, commended Ambassador Tukur for his efforts and struggles for the enthronement and sustenance of democracy in in Nigeria.
He remarked that Tukur was one of those who fought for the democracy we are enjoying today even at the risk of their lives.
The Deputy Chairman of the State PDP Executive, Jingi Rufai, who spoke earlier also thanked Tukur for his services to the Nation and the PDP.
The Deputy Governor of former Gongola State, who served as Deputy Governor to Bamanga Tukur, Barristerr David Barau described Tukur as a detribalized Nigerian who has no place for tribe, ethnicity or religion.
The delegates sensitization seminar ended on Thursday, 4th September, 2014.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State Chapter, has chided the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, describing it as an agent of darkness.
“It is a big shame that despite endless promises of improved power supply and billions of naira sunk into the purported power reform programme of the Jonathan administration, the power situation in the country today is worse than ever,” Rivers APC said in a statement issued Thursday in Port Harcourt by its Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya.
The party refereed to a new report by the international sustainable energy charity Ashden which showed that Nigeria has the highest number of citizens without electricity in Africa, accounting for about 10 per cent of the total 1.3 billion people in Africa who are without electricity.
Rivers APC also referred to the recent statement of Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, admitting that 120 million Nigerians, representing 60 per cent of the country’s estimated 170 million population, are yet to be connected to the national grid.
“Even for those connected, it does not make much difference since the Jonathan administration has only succeeded in perfecting the culture of epileptic power supply,” Rivers APC said, adding:
“All this go to show that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration is nothing but an agent of darkness.
Nigerians, however, do not have to continue to wallow in darkness as they have a golden opportunity to vote out this agent of darkness during the 2015 elections and cast their vote for an APC Presidency, which will end this evil covenant with darkness and give Nigerians stable power supply as obtains in other progressive societies of the world.”
1. Great, progressive pillars of Igboland, I am indeed very happy to join you today in this unique initiative set aside to celebrate excellence and reaffirm the joint vision for the continuing development of Ndi-Igbo and Nigeria as a whole.
2. As you gather in Houston to re-dream a better Igbo society with a united and greater Nigeria in mind, it is befitting and positively symbolic that the World Igbo Congress of this year is taking place at a time we have just concluded a successful National Conference where your sons and daughters together with other Nigerians gathered to dialogue on ways of moving our country forward.
3. We convened the 2014 Conference to engender unity and to advance our collective development as a people in Nigeria, Africa, and the world.
4. Let me therefore use this opportunity to reiterate my commitment to work in concert with all arms of government and all stakeholders to implement the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference Report.
5. All through our history, the Igbo have cut a distinguishing niche in all aspects of our national life in the areas of Education, Sports, Politics, Science and Technology, Literary Excellence, Enterprise, Diplomacy, among others.
6. Ndigbo, wherever you have deployed your energy and skills, you have excelled. Many in Nigeria and elsewhere see mainly your talents in Enterprise which clearly stand out, but the Igbo, from our point of view, are much more than that.
7. For observers and admirers who see the enterprising nature of the Igbos, cite great Igbo names like Chief Louis Ojukwu, who, legend has it, was the first Nigerian to own a Rolls Royce in Lagos, and of course his equally unforgettable son, our own Ikemba Chief (Dim) Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu!
8. Let me very quickly say that Chief Louis Ojukwu’s amazing life story will need a special telling on another occasion. We must also celebrate the first Nigerian to own an ocean going crude oil conveying tanker and engage in the crude oil export trade, Sir Onyechere Anyiam Osigwe.
9. My brothers and sisters, there is much more out of Igbo land! In entertainment, the Oriental brothers, the golden Chief Dr. Oliver De Coque, the stallion Lady Onyeka Onwenu, and many others who all donated their amazing voices and talents to an appreciative Nation as we dance in happiness.
10. In literary excellence, Chinua Achebe stands tall, supported by Cyprian Ekwensi, Chris Okigbo, Flora Nwakpa, Chinwezu and in recent times Chimamanda Adichie and many others. The Igbo donated Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, scholar, journalist, nationalist, foremost politician and first President of Nigeria, who in concert with Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Dappa Biriye and others, fought for our independence from Great Britain.
11. The great Zik of Africa’s power of leadership example was so captivating it overwhelmed my paternal grandmother to name me after him. So, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I became at birth Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan.
12. We must not also forget that in the train of politics were great giants like Sam Mbakwe, Akanu Ibiam, Michael Okpara, Jaja Nwachukwu, the first Speaker of the Federal House of Representative, and others who played diligent politics in service to our nation.
13. In sports, one of the most decorated in Nigeria’s football history is Nwankwo Kanu and he is a Nigerian from Igbo land. My brothers and sisters, I could go on and on throughout the remaining days of this convention recounting great Igbo sons and daughters who have shown the way, in various fields and trades and we will not be done.
14. Very distinguished guests and participants, there is no time more apt than now to reflect on the factors that have put the Igbo on the pathway of achievements. Personally, I believe hard work, excellence, persistence and resilience are at the heart of Igbo success story.
15. I also believe that the time is now to build on the foundations laid by the elders and leaders in Igboland by adopting technology and planning, so as to deliver better planned functional modern cities that would attract the growing population of the Igbo in the diaspora, so that they can come back and settle to a lifestyle commensurate with what they have helped to develop elsewhere.
16. Such planning must integrate and harmonise the industrial and trading activities of entrepreneurs in a way that they become more mutually beneficial and also take advantage of economies of scale and engender a more modern, friendly and comfortable business environment. Such an effort will ease tension and encourage domiciliation of affordable technology and wealth creation. The integration will also attract investors, small and big and from far and near.
17. Distinguished World Igbo Congress attendees, such more modern endeavour will help support the many young men and women who are based in the hinterlands, so that they are not tempted into crime and other anti-social behaviour. For us as a Government, we are responding to hinterland challenges by building several Skill Development Centers across the country, and the South-East is not left out. The young men and women who wish to learn alternative means of livelihood will have an alternative.
18. I believe our advancement in the 21st century will be dependent on how we can mobilize human and material resources most efficiently and in furtherance of our objective. It is in this regard that I want to reaffirm that the Federal Government will support you even as we support other nationalities, so as to meet this great goal, for the benefit of all Nigerians.
19. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, in pursuit of productivity and excellence, we have appointed competent and capable men and women to positions of high authority and strategic responsibility in all fields of national endeavour. In our dogged determination to develop our country, the Igbo are well represented and in some of these appointments, the Igbo are having them for the first time.
20. Some have said that this government has done more in appointments than any other in our history for the Igbo, but that is a matter for the pundits and historians. Let me state that appointments by this administration, across the country, will continue to be based on equity, fairness and competence.
21. Even when some utilise politics to undermine our commitment to fairness and justice, we will deploy the Principle of Federal Character to progressively correct it. No part of Nigeria under my leadership will be short changed.
22. Similarly in projects and policies, we have continued to do our best. Throughout the South-East, we inherited federal roads in very poor conditions. In spite of the highly competitive demand and constraints on funding, we have taken on most of the major roads, realising the impact that their improvement will have on business and life in our country.
23. The Owerri-Onitsha Road, which was under construction at the outset of my administration, has been virtually completed. Three other very important roads, the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, the Enugu–Port Harcourt road and the Nguju-Edda-Nporo-Ohafia road which cuts across Ebonyi and Abia States, are steadily progressing. Our hope is that improved budget and Sure-P funding will see quicker action in the months ahead.
24. The Obiziora-Iziagu road and Enugu-Abakaliki road are some of those that have progressed to good standard. Further attention will be focused on the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene road which is already being addressed remedially by the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).
25. The Igbo, being a very mobile people, have also benefitted from works in other leading roads nationwide. The Ore-Benin road long known as a death trap has been totally transformed and now provides a safer and more reliable ride. The Lagos-Ibadan road is similarly being reconstructed and the Benin-Lokoja-Abuja road is now being dualised as we are doing in other roads in the far North.
26. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, after many decades of planning, history was made in March this year as the Second Niger Bridge project commenced. It is expected that the contractor will hasten, according to the funding plan, for early completion of a project that will do so much to ease business and movement.
27. The revival and rehabilitation of the Eastern Corridor of the Nigerian Railway, which runs from Port Harcourt via Aba to Enugu and Maiduguri, is almost ready. Very soon, children of Ndi-Igbo will not learn about trains through cartoons and pictures. They will see and hear the “Chaka-chaka, Gbim-gbim” sound, as trains travel through the country side of our Nation.
28. The Onitsha River Port has been completed and we are progressing on the concession agreement for its efficient operation. Other River Ports like the Oguta River Port project is also under focus.
29. In the aviation sector, the Akanu Ibiam International Airport has started living up to its name, taking travellers from all over the world and vice versa, direct into the Igbo hinterland. Efforts are now on to expand the airline flight traffic in order to address the high demand, and a new befitting International Airport Terminal, under construction.
30. My belief is that the sons and daughters of Ndi-Igbo must arrive safely in Igboland without connecting flights, if they so wish. The Sam Mbakwe Airport, like others across our country, is receiving repositioning.
31. In agriculture, we have, in association with the Ebonyi State Government and private farmers in the area, begun a renewed revolution in rice production. Today, we have 10,000 farmers registered under the Growth Enhancement Scheme, and an integrated chain wide system of improvement, involving enhanced inputs, adaptable technology, milling and marketing strategies. These initiatives are beginning to yield good returns.
32. We are also paying attention to the revival of palm production, for which the South East has always been known. Intense rehabilitation programmes are underway in almost all the South Eastern States, in partnership with oil palm cooperative societies and farmer groups.
33. The scourge of erosion which destroys livelihood, farmland and property is being vigorously addressed by my government. We have had to set up a Presidential Erosion and Flooding Committee to look into this dangerous trend and the report has been accepted.
34. Erosion sites in Umuoza-Ugiri in Isiala-Mbano, Oko, Nkisi, Alo, Nekede, and the Onitsha Main Market Saka Mori/Nwangene floodplain and several other sites across the entire South-East States are being attended to.
35. We have also done our part in encouraging enterprise and industry in Igboland. One of the flagships of our new National Automotive Policy and best examples of local industry is the Innosons Auto Company in Nnewi. We support Innosons and will continue to support him. By supporting Innosons and all others who are dedicated to creating jobs and wealth, through the practical and profitable development of local technology, we are advancing our overall development as a people.
36. We have established and delivered a New Federal University in Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, bringing the state at par with others in the country in the number of Federal Universities. We have also upgraded, in categorisation and certification, as well as in infrastructure, various other educational institutions across the South East.
37. We have taken a number of steps to put in place an effective security infrastructure across the South-East and in other zones around our country. The rehabilitation and commissioning of the Ohafia Army Barracks is one of such examples. Not too long ago, the insecurity in Abia led to many people leaving the state. I can confidently report to Ndi-Igbo that we have reversed the situation.
38. This is just a brief overview of what we are doing in the South East and we will continue to do the best we can within available resources, without denying other parts of the country their due.
39. As President, I will ensure justice to all Nigerians in my daily exercise of powers allotted to me by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
40. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are approaching election season, and it is a time for honest reassessment and reappraisal. I urge you all to take great interest, wherever you live, in the quality and pedigree of people you give your mandate.
41. By all accounts and as attested by compatriots and the international community, we have recorded emphatic success in the consolidation of the democratic culture in Nigeria. We were hopeful that this good augury will serve as impetus for greater political stability and development regardless of the evil visitation and arrival of a full blown terrorist insurgency into the shores of our beautiful country.
42. In this wise, we have done a lot to improve the electoral process and imbue confidence in the people and in the system. We hope that the peaceful expression of the will of the people which has been laid down in recent elections will continue to prevail in all others to come.
43. So what should be the position of the Igbo in today’s fast moving world? What is most desired for progress and for rapid development? I would say, on my own part, that the greatest asset required of the Igbo today to move this great community to its rightful place in the country and in the scheme of things is Unity. Unity above partisan politics, Unity against internal division, Unity against external hostility, but more fundamentally, Unity in planning and in development as well as in the reawakening of the positive Igbo cultural resources. You have so much to offer our country and our government will encourage you to do so.
44. I am delighted to note that this programme is also being used to honour distinguished Igbo sons and daughters as well as friends of the Igbo and Africa. This type of honour engenders partnership and fraternity and is also a catalyst to further development. The Igbo must continue building bridges across our country and our continent because it is in the interest of Nigeria and Africa to do so.
45. I congratulate those being honoured today, as well as those who, though not receiving honours, are effectively playing their part in the upliftment of Igboland, Nigeria and West Africa by their untiring efforts.
46. At the last Presidential elections in 2011, Nigerians, in large numbers, reposed their confidence in me by the emphatic and overwhelming victory they bestowed on us. I appreciate the utmost goodwill and affection of all Nigerians towards me and my administration and I hope this goodwill will continue to wax stronger in the months ahead.
47. It has been proposed several times in the recent past (and I believe it is among the recommendations of the national conference) that Nigerians in diaspora be constitutionally enabled to vote in their countries of residence. This is a cause I am committed to support and champion with all the wherewithal of my office; and I am fairly certain that working together we can bring this to reality. Your vote for whoever you want must not be denied.
48. I urge you all to keep up your support for our administration, I assure you that at all times, I will remain a brother to all, and a partner in progress, for the advancement of the community and our great country, Nigeria.
49. I cannot end this address without saying a word or two about this conference. I am impressed by the organisation and participation at this event, and I commend and congratulate the organisers, who have contributed worthwhile time and resources to its success.
50. Societies are founded on strong institutions of competence and integrity, and it is my earnest hope that the World Igbo Congress will guard jealously its strong position as a rallying point and trusted bastion of the community.
51. On behalf of my family, the Government and the good people of Nigeria, I wish you a most rewarding and fruitful congress, dedicated to the peace and progress of the Igbo and our great country, Nigeria.
The executive governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi has distributed a total sum of N120 million to over 2,500 traders in the state, with an assurance that his administration will continue to ensure enhanced trading activities through government policies, so as to actualize a stable economy of its desire.
The governor, while addressing a horde of market men and women at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan on Wednesday. He also dispelled the rumours being peddled by the opposition that his administration had been demolishing shops and other means of livelihood of the people of the state.
According to him, the only structures that his government ever removed were those trading by the roadsides.
Governor Ajimobi, who was assisted in the distributed of cheques by his deputy, Chief Moses Alake Adeyemo, his wife, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi and the Chairman of the State Market Advisory Council, Alhaji Dauda Oladapo, said that the gesture was in fulfillment of his earlier promise to the market men and women, artisans, caterers, traders and indeed the people of the state that his government would positively touch the lives of everyone.
“Trading, as we all know, is the livewire of commerce in any given economy. Our administration is very much aware of this and is doing everything humanly possible to make life better for the people of the state,’’ he said.
It would be recalled that interest-free loans had earlier been given to traders and artisans in the state, the first time ever in the history of the state, one of which was the N20 million given to traders at the newly-constructed Scout Camp Market at Challenge, Ibadan.
On his administration’s urban renewal and environmental sanitation programmes which culminated in the removal of traders from the streets, Governor Ajimobi said it was done to ensure the environmental, health and safety of the people of the state.
“We removed illegal traders only in Ibadan, said to be, before now, the dirtiest city in Nigeria. By removing illegal traders from underneath the bridges and roadsides where there were no toilets, we have reduced the incidence of cholera and communicable diseases to the barest minimum.
“Those trading under high-tension wires were also removed for their own self-safety while flood-prone area traders who were removed have reduced our flood incidences,’’ he said.
The governor, who said that people still sell by the roadsides till today, added that they had only been moved away from deadly road paths.
“Check traders at Bode in Molete up through that stretch of road to Gate area, we never demolished a single shop. We only asked the traders to move from dangerous road-paths to enhance city aesthetics and give even the traders long life,’’ he said.
Governor Ajimobi further stated that his administration also took a step further by instructing all the 11 local government councils in Ibadan to construct at least two neighbourhood markets each, pointing out while many councils had completed the construction of their own markets, others were at advanced stages of completion.
He listed some of the market already constructed by the council chairmen in Ibadan metropolis to include the Oloosaoko Market, Bodija Market, Bode-Igbo Market, Jonku Market, Alesinloye Market, Gbekuba Market, Bode market, Olorunsogo Market and many others.
The governor assured all the traders in the state that government would not rest on its oars in making life better for them, urging them, therefore, to keep on supporting his administration so that dividends of democracy could get to all parts of the state.
He also implored market leaders to ensure that the interest-free loans go round, adding “our traders must ensure that the loans get to all those who need them, so as to boost their market capabilities.
“The loans are revolving and interest-free. Therefore, it is necessary to make available records of the loans’ disbursement and repayment to the supervising ministry for accountability purposes,’’ the governor said.
