Ihedioha, Imo And The Verity Of Least Corrupt State

Emeka Ihedioha, Imo State Governor

BY WALTER DURU

Two weeks ago, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released its Report on the State of Corruption in Nigeria, in which it acknowledges Imo as the least corrupt state in Nigeria. The same report also indicates that Kogi is the most corrupt state in Nigeria.

The NBS report titled “the 2019 Corruption in Nigeria: Pattern and Trends” was published by the NBS in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and UK Aid. The report reads in part: “this second survey on bribery and other forms of corruption, which was conducted in May and June 2019, covered more than 33,000 households across the country, providing data for each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The survey's primary focus is to assess the actual experiences of Nigerians whenever they come into contact with up to 20 different types of public officials.”

Presenting highlights of the Report on Friday, December 6, 2019 at the State House Conference Center, Abuja, Statistician-General of the NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale emphasized that the 2019 report rated Imo State as the least corrupt state in Nigeria, with an aggregate score of 17.6%, followed by Jigawa and Plateau states.

The state-by-state corruption index result of the survey which shows states with statistically significant increase or decrease in the prevalence of bribery also shows Kogi State as the most corrupt state in Nigeria. Kogi is leading in corruption with 48%, followed by Gombe at 43%. The report also suggested that there is a remarkable decrease in the prevalence of corruption in Imo State. In the survey report, Nigerians identified unemployment, insecurity and corruption as the country’s most arduous challenges.

The Big Question to ask though, is, how did Imo rise from the abyss of one of the most corrupt states in Nigeria (under the last administration of Mr. Rochas Okorocha) to become Nigeria's reference point for anti-corruption just within six months of Governor Emeka Ihedioha? How many people have so far been jailed in the state, to instil fear in public servants to have refrained from corrupt practices? How many public office holders in Imo have been paraded for corrupt practices under Governor Emeka Ihedioha? How did all this happen?

Twenty First century approach to fighting corruption does not only entail catching people and throwing them into jail. While that could serve as a deterrent, a more sustainable approach is putting systems and structures in place to discourage and prevent corruption. This has emerged as the strategy being preferred and vigorously pursued by the present administration of Chief Emeka Ihedioha in its drive for probity and accountability in the public space.

When the Imo State Government recently applied to join the Open Government Partnership, Nigeria, many, probably did not understand the implications of attempting to sign onto the OGP. The State has made some key commitments in the area of Open Governance, thus, consolidating the gains already made in entrenching transparency and accountability in governance. Some of the commitments made by the State include: Access to Information, Anti- Corruption, Open Budgeting, Fiscal transparency, Open Contracting and Citizens Engagement.

Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative that focuses on improving government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovation.

For the first time in eight years, Imo State's annual Budget has been published online on the state's official website. This is part of the proactive disclosure obligations of the state government under the FOI Act. This, no doubt is a step in the right direction. Her strides in e-governance are also worthy of mention.

The giant strides of the Governor Emeka Ihedioha-led administration in the areas of ease-of-doing business and open contracting, again, cannot also go without mention.

What about the Treasury Single Account? By signing Executive Order 005, the Government of Chief Emeka Ihedioha and Engr. Gerald Irona activated the Treasury Single Account. The implication is that all revenues accruable to the State are paid into a consolidated account. Many leakages in the state treasury have been plugged, thereby drastically curbing the incidence of diversion of Imo State public funds into private pockets.

The undeniable immediate impact of that singular act is that today, from a paltry N260m, the Imo State monthly Internally Generated Revenue has hit almost a billion Naira, within just six months of Ihedioha's/Irona's ascent to office, without tax increase in tax. The over 250 Bank accounts operated by the last Rochas administration have been collapsed into one, via the TSA.

This same administration has implemented the International Public Sector Accounting Standards- IPSA, aimed at ensuring that the State’s accounting principles and practices conform with global best practices. In addition, an Efficiency Unit has been set up in the Ministry of Finance, which over-arching mandate is to speedily reduce the overall cost of governance.

More so, an ease-of-doing business desk has been set up and an in-charge Officer appointed, with a mandate to ensure the reduction of the turnaround time (TAT) for undertaking lawful and legitimate Government businesses in Imo is reduced.

The vast majority of Nigerian citizens and residents who partook in the NBS Survey identified unemployment as one of the cardinal problems of the state. Although we prefer to defer any discussion of the problem of unemployment to another day, it is pertinent to quickly acknowledge and applaud Government's efforts to date, towards tackling the albatross of unemployment. Principal among these critical interventions is the recent refurbishment and retrofitting of the four moribund technical colleges in Imo state, with a view to promoting technical education in the state, with the knowledge that equipping young people with relevant skills to be productive is a major coup.

As if the aforementioned are not enough, Imo State public pensioners, once abandoned for over six years, and derided across the country are today being rehabilitated and restored by a responsible and sensitive Government on behalf of a grateful populace, and paid what is due them, following a successful verification exercise. From this alone, the State Government has saved at least four hundred million Naira monthly being monies that otherwise would have been lost to ghost pensioners. What more? An aggressive programme of road rehabilitation has been unfurled across the state, especially in the Owerri capital city.

For an Administration that inherited a vast array of public infrastructure in various degrees of collapse and decay; as well as crestfallen, despondent citizenry whose confidence in the institutions of government had sunk to an all-time low; to engender this sphinx-like rise to the apogee of public service honour as the country’s least corrupt state is certainly a study in socio-economic re-engineering. Without a shadow of doubt, many drums of midnight oil; not to mention, many hours per day of tedious work, have gone into achieving the unprecedented milestone. It is a feat worth celebrating by the straight and crooked alike!

Be that as it may, it may not yet be uhuru; ascending to the top is not always as challenging as remaining at the top. Deliberate steps must be taken to not only consolidate the gains made so far, but to ensure that no system or programme, or a combination of same, is permitted to reverse the progress so far made. Imo State must take steps to sustain this feat, as a panacea for progress in the future.

First of all, for transparency, accountability and other good governance features to endure, systems and processes must be put in place to ensure that they are enthroned in every aspect and sector of public service.

The initiative of Citizens Dialogue and other stakeholders’ engagement activities should be intensified and made more regular. Citizens of the state have the right to know what those in authority are doing and how public funds are spent. Regular citizens’ interface is therefore necessary.

In addition, there is an urgent need to set up a "Committee for Transparency in Governance", whose primary mandate would be to ensure effective and holistic coordination of the transparency and other good governance initiatives of the present administration. The set-up of a Center for Transparency and Good Governance in Imo State, complete with its enabling legal framework, will certainly be a helpful and welcome idea to serve as a tombstone denoting the irreversible commitment of the Ihedioha/Irona Administration to accountability, probity and transparency in public service.

This proposed Committee may serve as the clearing house for initiatives aimed at entrenching/mainstreaming transparency in public service in Imo State. The team will set an agenda for issues around transparency and accountability in governance, while identifying other good governance initiatives that will enhance the fortunes of the state.

The foregoing notwithstanding, does Imo State under the present administration deserve to be named the least corrupt state in Nigeria?

Certainly, yes! Governor Emeka Ihedioha’s administration is on the right track towards mainstreaming transparency and accountability in public service in Imo State. His body language, activities, comments, initiatives and actions have never suggested otherwise.

The tempo must therefore be sustained; else public officers and servants will return to their old ways. All Government structures, systems and processes must be strengthened if Imo State must be corruption free.

Let the music play on!!

SOURCE: THE NIGERIAN VOICE

Biafra: Ikedi Ohakim Issues Strong Warning To Nigeria Political Leaders

Ikedi Ohakim. Image: Twitter

BY JOHN OWEN NWACHUKWU

A former Governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, has issued a stern warning to Nigerian political leaders, telling them to avoid the mistake British made in Northern Ireland in handling the Biafran agitation and the Independent People’s of Biafra, IPOB.

The former Governor stated this when he delivered a lecture titled “Nigeria: The Leadership Question,” at the 2019 Public Service Lecture and Award ceremony of the University of Ibadan Alumni Association, Imo State chapter on Saturday.

He said the British made avoidable mistake in Northern Ireland, calling on political leaders to embrace peaceful negotiation to solve the problem of agitation.

“They fell in the trap of believing that because they had power, weapons, soldiers, and experience that dwarfed those of the insurgents, it did not matter what the people thought of them.

“History tells us that Britain couldn’t defeat the Northern Ireland insurgents for more than twenty years,” he said.

Ohakim.noted that late President Musa Yar’ Adua heeded this advice and succeeded with the Niger Delta militants and amnesty programme.

Quoting Attila the Hun, he said “it is never wise to gain by battle what may be gained through bloodless negotiations.”

SOURCE: DAILY POST

Igbo Canadian Community Association (ICCA/Umunna) To Petition Canadian Parliament On Human Rights Abuses/killings Under Buhari.

Muhammadu Buhari

BY AHAOMA OJI KANU

TORONTO, CANADA (THE NIGERIAN VOICE)--The Igbo Canadian Community Association (ICCA/Umunna) has made known its intention to petition the Canadian Parliament on the now worsening human rights abuses, killings and indiscriminate state sponsored kidnappings going on in Nigeria under the leadership of President Mohammadu Buhari who has shelved democracy thereby subjecting the country to tyranny.

In a statement issued in Toronto, Canada by the President, Chief Ugochukwu Okoro, through the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ahaoma Kanu, the socio-cultural and political group, said, “What we are witnessing in Nigeria today under this president is incomprehensible and unconscionable, devastating and condemnable. The momentum with which Buhari and his handlers are fast turning Nigeria into a dictatorship without regard to the fact that we are in a democracy poses a major problem to the collective unity of this nation hence our decision to take action.”

“In the past few days, we have seen actions taken by security agencies headed by the Executive arm of government and witnessed the recklessness and utter disregard for the rule of law with these supposed law enforcement organizations have debased Nigerians. First was the condemnable manner with which the Nigeria Police acted at Oraifite in Anambra State when they went on rampage at the home of Barr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor and secondly is the brazen desecration of the judiciary by agents from the Department of State Security (DSS) who were attempted to arrest Mr. Omoyele Sowore, founder and publisher of Sahara Reporters and the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) and human rights activist, Olawale Bakare. The actions taken by these government since inception and the catalogue of human rights abuses, killings by the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Army show the continuous descent of President Muhammadu Buhari to the level of tyranny and dictatorship and should be treated with antidotes that surprises such excesses.

Under this President, Nigerians have been killed indiscriminately by the Nigeria Army led by a Chief of Army Staff (COAS) that has outlived his usefulness: an Inspector-General pf Police that has no knowledge of how many police officers are in the force and a Director-General of the DSS that has turned the agency into a domestic terror group. Recent revelations in the media have shown how the DSS have been abducting innocent Nigerians and incarcerating them, some times for years, without being charged to court. The Nigeria Police, a police force rated the worst in the world in 2017 and currently among the top 10 most corrupt police worldwide by the World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI), have not shown any sign of leaving its circle of ineptitude and ineffectiveness going by incidents recorded during the Kogi elections where a serving IGP said criminals dressed in police uniforms overpowered over 60,000 police officers deployed for the election.

On the part of the Nigeria Army led by a man whose hands are dripping with the blood of innocent Nigerians killed in broad daylight, the failure of the military to defeat the Boko Haram insurgency show how weak the Nigeria Army have become that they have constantly become an embarrassment to Nigerians all over the world with recurrent announcement of eliminating Boko Haram and its leader.

These security agencies have now been turned to attack Nigerian citizens and her institutions under instruction by the Presidency. The DSS have in times past invaded the National Assembly; stormed the residences of judges and have now taken their home grown terror to the courts. They have constantly disobeyed court orders and shoot live bullets at unarmed Nigerians under the watch of President Buhari. We make bold to say that the DSS has been turned into an agency of terror and fits into the level of the infamous Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) unit of the Nazi era.

With the Nigeria having a Legislative arm of government which have become an appendage of the Executive, the dangers in UMUNNA and other socio-political organizations keeping quiet and not taking actions is very grave as our collective identity and freedom is being suppressed and there need to be action.

The Judiciary, which seems to be operating in a manner to please the Executive, should wake up to its responsibilities. Since the inception of the Buhari regime and his deliberate and unconstitutional attack on the judiciary by first busting the homes of judges and the unconstitutional removal of the CJN, the judiciary seems not to act as a separate arm of government and have exhibited this by some of the injunctions they grant to the FG. For example, proscribing the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist group within hours of the prayer brought to them, show a judiciary that is very dependent on the Executive. Now that the thugs of the Executive have started desecrating the court spaces, the Judiciary ought to live up to its role as a separate arm of government and not entertain any apology from the DSS but demand that the agents that were part of the invasion of the court be prosecuted according to the law.

The ICCA/UMUNNA have commenced cataloguing the various human rights abuses, killings and domestic terror to which this government have subjected Nigerians to and will, in the coming days, write a petition to the Canadian Parliament informing them of the brazen strangulation of democracy by President Buhari who we believe has dictatorship in his DNA. This petition will be hand delivered at Ottawa and will be publicized for records purposes.

In October 2018, at the Convocation lecture at the University of Ilorin, US envoy, William Symington in a lecture entitled, Citizen Leadership and the link between Economic Diversity and Democratic Good Governance warned Nigerians that injustice and disregard for the rule of law are worse than stealing of public funds.

We at ICCA/UMUNNA consider upholding our democracy a call to duty and will defend the constitution and our country with all we have from the grip of tyranny.

Still On Imo Governorship Tussle

BY IFEANYI EMEKA

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad’s recent advice to the judges of superior courts in Nigeria — against the use of technicalities in deciding cases brought before them, has reinforced our sound argument that justice cannot be scarified on the basis of technicalities, in the recent Court of Appeal’s judgement in the governorship election petition — involving Senator Godwin Ifeanyi Araraume Vs Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, who was returned by INEC in the last governorship election in Imo State.

Justice Muhammad, who noted in a conference of judges in Abuja recently that the judiciary play a critical role in sustaining the nation’s democracy, scolded judges and advised them to leave above board, so as to win the ‘’confidence’’ of Nigerians at all times.

According to him relying on technicalities in justice dispensation contributes to delay of justice delivery; while stressing that technicalities in itself sometimes constitute ‘’unreasonable’’ delay in dispensing with cases. We agree with the CJN in his sound judgement.

It is our considered opinion that the recent Court of Appeal ruling, affirming the victory of Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of Imo State, was merely based on technicalities, against the altar of substance and reviewing the document (EC8D) that was the basis for the return of Ihedioha, as governor of Imo State.

The petitioners had argued that Ihedioha did not obtain the constitutionally required one-quarter of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 27 local government areas of the state, as provided under Section 179 of the Constitution and consequently, asked the court to set aside the decision of the election petition tribunal and order a rerun.

But, the three-member panel of the tribunal refused and had in a unanimous decision delivered on September 21 held that Mr Ihedioha was lawfully declared the winner of the governorship election by INEC. The panel led by Justice Malami Dongondaji had in the judgment dismissed APGA and Ararume’s petitions for lacking in merit on the grounds that they failed to prove the allegations made in their petitions.

Apart from the submission that Ihedioha did not obtain the constitutional one-quarter of the votes in at least two-thirds of the 27 local government areas of the state, in line with the provisions of the law, the petitioners had also alleged substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act and Guidelines, including other irregularities.

But the court in its judgement held that the case of the petitioners was unmeritorious because they failed to call relevant witnesses and that evidence of witnesses called were based on hearsay.

The tribunal, in addition, rejected documents presented by the petitioners in support of their claims on the grounds that those who led evidence in the documents were not the makers of the documents.

For many senior lawyers, including the petitioners’ counsels – many of them Senior Advocates of Nigeria, the judgement was suspicious, especially when the judges refused to examine the evidences presented before them.

The fundamental principle of law is that ‘’justice must not only be done, but seen to be done.’’ And it is extremely difficult to find grounds for the judgement of the Court of Appeal on this matter. In fact, it is safe to argue that ‘’justice’’ of the judgement of the Imo State Election Tribunal, chaired by Justice Malami Dongondaji, and the Court of Appeal by five-man panel led by Justice Oyebisi Omoleye, can definitely not be seen from the judgement of the courts.

Because, the well-known trust of APGA and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume’s petition, is the obvious breach of the constitution by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) — by the declaration and return of Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, as Governor of Imo State, despite his failure to meet the constitutional minimum requirements of scoring 25% of the votes cast in each of at least the two-third of all the Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state.

Imo State has 27 Local Government Areas. And that two-third of 27 is 18 is not rocket science. That Hon. Emeka Ihedioha scored up to 25 % of the votes cast in only 11 local government areas out of 27, is an established fact – as can be clearly seen on Form EC8D (Summary of Results from LGAs Collation at State Level, Imo State) — personally certified as Certified True Copy (CTC) by the Head of Legal Department, Imo State INEC, O.Elekwa Esq, on March 20, 2019. The CTC was tendered and admitted in evidence at the Election Petition Tribunal.

That an expert, who holds a BSc (Maths), Msc (Maths) and Ph.D (Maths), and heads the Department of Mathematics at Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, and gave evidence — analysing Form EC8D (Summary of Results from LGAs, Collation At State Level), to show that two-third of 27 is 18; and that 11 is below 18.

Yet, his evidence was rejected by both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal — on the grounds that he did not prove that he is an expert. And one now wonders who an expert is – if a holder of Ph.D in Mathematics with over 40 years as a lecturer, is not regarded non-professional.

The requirement of Section 179 (2) of the 1999 Constitution as Amended, in respect of spread, does not require any legal gymnastic for interpretation. It therefore baffles one’s imagination why and how the learned Judges can find legal reasons to ignore such a brazen wrong against the constitution. We begin to wonder whether the days Ubi Jus Ibi RemedIun (where there is a wrong, there is a remedy), has come to an end.

Otherwise, how else can one explain the reason by judges to brand documents, personally certified in long-hand with the name of the Certifying Officer and the office he occupies, as hearsay? Has our law degenerated to the point, where CTC of documents are now branded as hearsay?

As we approach the final court of the land – the Supreme Court, and in line with the CJN’s advice, we hope that the apex court will rise to the demand of justice by scarifying technicalities on the altar of substance and review the document (EC8D) that was the basis for the return of Hon. Ihedioha, as governor of Imo State. Because, as many democratic institutions have canvassed, the legitimacy of democratic government is established, in large measure, by genuine elections. It is our strong view that Ihedioha is not a product of genuine election in view of the electoral fraud and other infractions that characterised the last Imo State governorship election.

SOURCE: THIS DAY LIVE

UNN Inaugurates Chinua Achebe’s Literary Court

Commissioning of the Chinua Achebe Literary Court by the Dean, Fculty of Arts, Prof. Nnanyelugo Okoro. Image via Vanguard

BY IKECHUKWU ODU

NSUKKA (VANGUARD) — The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, has inaugurated Chinua Achebe's Literary Court to promote artistic creativity amongst the students of the institution.

The institution, Thursday, said the idea behind the court is to create a condition that would ignite creativity and Literary art competitions amongst the students in order to produce more Achebes.

Speaking after the inauguration of the court in the Faculty of Arts, UNN, which was also part of the activities to mark the 3rd Distinguished Personality Lecture of the Faculty of Arts, the Dean, Prof. Nnanyelugo Okoro, said "Chinua Achebe stands for arts. His immense contribution in this Faculty is invaluable.

" We decided to inaugurate his court in order to promote and ignite other Literary arts competitions amongst the students of this institution. We want to promote prose, poetry, drama and other literatures generally speaking. The idea is to ensure that UNN produces artists in the like of Chinua Achebe, and even people that can surpass his records," he said.

Okoro, also proposed Chinua Achebe Study Centre, which he said would be headed by a professor whose chair would be endowed by an institution, corporate organisation, a foundation or an individual.

He added that the centre, given Achebe's towering scholarly stature, would attract scholars from all over the world who would visit the centre to impart knowledge on the students, adding that the it would also generate revenue for the development of the nation.

While delivering his lecture entitled ' Re-engineering Igbo Apprenticeship Model in Era of Digital Economy' the lecturer, Engineer Ken Nwabueze, said the lecture became imperative in order to align the old Igbo apprenticeship approach which revamped the economy of the South-east in the 80's to be in line with the present digital economy era.

He added that the model is the longest and perhaps the largest informal capitalist venture in the world which has continued to reduce mass-scaled inequality and elimination of abject poverty in any society.

"Igbo apprenticeship is a model that needs to be studied, analysed, and innovated to keep up with changes in business environment and technological advancements. The lecture will focus on looking at comparable models around the world, especially, the venture capitalist models used in building up wealth in US, China, India, and so many other countries.

" The Igbo Apprenticeship model is model is the longest, and perhaps, the largest informal venture capitalist system in the world.

In order to re-engineer this model in this era, we need to identify those challenges with the current model and possibly proffer solutions for the present digital economy," he said.

He said that acts of sabotage and corruption has marred the system as being practiced today.

He said the model can still be used to engage the unemployed graduates in Nigeria today, by mentoring them to explore opportunities in the ever changing world of the digital technologies.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Charles Igwe, said academic lectures are needed for effective collaboration between the town and gown in order to find solutions to challenges facing the nation.

The Vice Chancellor who was represented by his deputy, Prof. James Ogbonna, described the lecturer as an experienced entrepreneur whose vast knowledge would be needed in mentoring the youths towards securing a better future for themselves.

OHIO STATE GRAD ASSISTANT KENNY ANUNIKE, A MAN WITH A DEEP AND PASSIONATE BACKGROUND, IS POSITIONING HIMSELF AS A POTENTIAL SUCCESSOR TO LARRY JOHNSON

Ohio State grad assistant Kenny Anunike, a Columbus native and Olentangy High School alum, could replace Larry Johnson as the Buckeyes' defensive line coach one day. Image via Eleven Warriors

BY ZACK CARPENTER

INDIANAPOLIS – Kenny Anunike stands in the south end zone of Lucas Oil Stadium just a few yards in front of his boss, Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson, holding a pair of arm pads as he puts the Buckeyes’ Rushmen through their regular pre-game warmups.

A deep, booming “Set, HIT!” from Anunike, and off goes Chase Young, DaVon Hamilton or Tyler Friday, pulling their fists from the dirt, side-scissoring Anunike’s pads to the left, curling around the imposing 6-foot-5 defensive line assistant and powering their way toward Johnson, punching through their main position coach’s own arm pads to the right before jogging to the back of the line.

When each player on the country’s leading sack unit pushes through Anunike and gets to Johnson, maybe they don’t know it, but there’s a chance they’re running from the future and into the past.

Anunike, who joined Ohio State’s staff in 2017 and is in his second season as a graduate assistant, was chosen by Johnson to help lead a group of men that has grown to respect him as a mentor and football guide. So much so that Anunike (pronounced AN-NU-NICKY) has emerged as a worthy potential candidate to replace Johnson one day.

The next step for most graduate assistants who stick around the program for two years is a promotion to quality control coach. If he does stay with the Buckeyes past this season, that seems the likeliest option for Anunike, who’s trying to stay focused on the here-and-now but admits a potential takeover of Johnson has crossed his mind.

“I would absolutely love that,” Anunike said. “I’m from Ohio. I was born in Ohio. Scarlet and gray bleeds through my veins. I would love that. If that is in store for me – which is what I pray to God for – then that’s what it is. But if it’s not, then I’ll deal with it wherever I end up. I’m just excited to be where I am right now, with this amazing team and this amazing group of athletes, amazing group of players and amazing group of coaches, man. This is a place unlike anywhere I’ve ever been before. The brotherhood is truly, truly real on this team.

“I just worry about this moment. I worry about what’s right in front of me. I let that worry about itself because if I take care of what’s right in front of me right now, then I know those chips will fall in place right where they need to be, you know what I mean?”

Retirement rumors seem to run rampant for Johnson at this time of year. There’s been nothing concrete, only conjecture, as he continues to remain king over all other college defensive line coaches in terms of player development. But whenever Johnson does decide to hang up the spurs, he will need a successor to the crown, and there’s a very real possibility Anunike could slide in as the Buckeyes’ next defensive line coach.

“With the path he’s on right now, I think he could take over any D-line in the country,” Friday said. “I feel like, in a year or so, whenever Coach J wants to be done with this, Coach Kenny’s been built to take over and take us in the right path.”

Hamilton, a former three-star defensive lineman, mainly has Johnson to thank for evolving into a starter and the team’s second-leading sack getter.

Anunike had a strong hand in that development as well, bringing a more youthful, fiery side to the defensive line room and also providing different angles and perspectives learned during his time in the NFL while playing for the Denver Broncos. All reasons why Hamilton says he could see Anunike becoming Johnson’s successor.

“Yeah, I definitely could,” Hamilton said. “He works really hard at what he does, and hopefully he gets an opportunity to do what he loves to do. He’s definitely capable of doing whatever he dreams of doing.”

The team’s most talented defensive lineman has also gained an admiration and respect for Anunike and says he “definitely” could see Anunike stepping in for Johnson.

“If he really takes the teaching from Coach J – ‘cause Coach J’s gonna give him everything that he has – if he takes it and runs with it, I think he’ll be very good,” Young said. “He went to Duke. He had a 3.8 GPA. He can do whatever he wants in life if he wanted to, but he chooses to come here and coach us. We can’t ask for a better coach. Kenny, he can be the best that he wants to be.”

Those are incredibly strong words to describe the potential supplantation of a living legend by a guy who has zero position-coaching experience at any level.

Having a staffer go straight from grad assistant to position coach rarely happens because of the obvious risk. It happened recently for the Buckeyes when Brian Hartline took over for Zach Smith. That’s been a wildly successful move, but Hartline wasn’t replacing a beloved figure like Johnson, who in just six years has become immortal among loyal scarlet and gray die-hards.

Even without that desired experience, though, Anunike could be the perfect man for the unenviable task. Johnson has been grooming him for two years and has increasingly given him more challenges and tasks, at times putting Anunike solely in charge of the defensive line room.

He also has rapport and relationships with many of the Buckeyes’ defensive line targets, having taken on more recruiting responsibilities, especially since the summer, and he’s become one of the main assistants who many Ohio State recruits have referenced they have loved spending time getting to know.

Anunike wouldn’t be given that responsibility if he wasn’t worthy. He came to Ohio State with plenty of credibility and a local connection.

He was born in Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital in Westerville and was bred down the street from the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, becoming a three-star defensive end at Olentangy High School for former Braves coach Ed Terwilliger, now heavily involved in recruiting as the Buckeyes’ director of high school relations.

Anunike was never recruited by Jim Tressel, instead taking a scholarship to become part of David Cutcliffe’s first class at Duke in 2008 as a tight end.

That’s where he made a name for himself, switching to defensive end full-time before his redshirt sophomore season, grinding through an assortment of injuries and five surgeries during a six-year career. He became a two-time All-ACC selection and the program’s all-time sacks leader when he left, earning the nickname “The Night Train” and creating a reputation as being a tough, unrelenting and respected player who coaches had to hold back on the field. Almost never the other way around.

“I’m a really highly passionate guy,” Anunike said. “That’s how I played the game. I flew around. Coaches didn’t have to tell me to hustle. They’d have to tell me to slow down and hold back a little bit. But you’d rather tell a horse to ‘Woah!’ than to ‘Giddy up!’ I’ve always thought that, and I’ve always had a drive and a passion. If I want something, I go get it and do it with everything that I’ve got.”

Two years after signing as a rookie free agent with the Broncos, he became a Super Bowl champion in 2014 while getting a front row seat for the teachings of Von Miller, which Anunike has passed down to Young.

“He’s (given) me tips on how to watch film and things like that,” Young said. “I would definitely use that and watch my opponents. I think that’s the biggest thing he’s really helped me with is how to watch film. He played in the league and played with one of the best, Von Miller, and Von taught him a lot. Some of the things that Von taught him, he’s teaching me.”

Anunike’s playing career ended in April 2017 when he was waived by the New York Jets, and in the summer he was brought onto the Buckeyes’ staff.

More than two years later, the 29-year-old has been on the field for those pre-game sessions, coaching with the same passion with which he played and thunderously echoing his voice at the Shoe, the Big House and Lucas Oil as an explosive coach who’s harnessed that energy by utilizing what Johnson has taught him.

“Coach J just teaches me how to hone it. It’s like when Cyclops takes off his glasses it’s like,” Anunike says, floating his hand across his face while making a laser noise in reference to the X-Men superhero. “Coach J just taught me how to put the glasses on and make it laser focused and to hone it – hone my skills, hone my voice, hone my attitude and everything – and just put it toward developing the players.”

But it’s more than just energy with Anunike. He’s learned three pillars of coaching from Johnson – motivation, inspiration and discipline of players.

“If you do those three things and you do them properly, and you show your players love and give them ownership, these players will run through walls for you,” Anunike said. “When you can do that and truly show these players that you love them, man, they’ll do anything for you.”

He’s also discovered how to better evaluate talent and character. It’s crucial to get high-quality character in your position room and to get players “who are great students, because I can give you a great correlation between a great student and a great football player and great athlete.”

The two sit in Johnson’s office weekly, an eclectic group of conversations being tossed around as the two have formed an air-tight bond by bouncing ideas off one another about how to attack zone reads and which packages they want to shuffle in and out on third downs against air raid offenses, while often finding time to share personal information and anecdotes.

“The conversations that we have are just unlike any other that I’ve had with any other coach or any other man in my life aside from my father,” Anunike said. “But the crazy thing is, me and Coach J are one in the same with just how we think and how we approach the game, which is how we really clicked. I have a deep, deep, extreme passion for the game of football. Coach J has the same exact thing. Coach J just may not voice it as loud as I do, but that’s me. I’m just a super passionate guy, and I’m not gonna change for nobody.”

Anunike didn’t develop that passion during his college or pro days. He was born with it. It’s quite literally in his blood.

Anunike is Nigerian. His father, Emmanuel, knew that for his son to have the life he wanted for him, he would have to be born on American soil. So he emigrated from his village in Onitsha, Nigeria to Boise, Idaho, working up every dollar he could in order to buy Anunike’s mother, Oby, a Visa and put her on a plane to America. She didn’t speak much English at the time, only fluent in Igbo – the principal native language of southeastern Nigeria – and she was eight months pregnant with Kenny, forced to sign a waiver so the airline would not be liable for her if she were to give birth mid-flight.

She landed in April, gave birth to Kenny in May in Ohio, and that’s when a career in education was supposed to begin that would land him in college

“In Nigerian culture, education is everything, man. Education, education, education,” Anunike said. “But I started getting good at football so my father was like – I would tell him, ‘Hey, I made a touchdown today,’ and he’d say ‘OK, how was your math test?’ … And then when he figured out he wouldn’t have to pay for school, he was like, ‘When’s your next game?’”

Football did get him into school, but the education came with it too. Anunike worked for that high GPA to earn a bachelor’s degree in biological anthropology and a master’s degree in liberal studies. He’s not alone in that academic success.

Anunike is the oldest of four, and he knew he couldn’t afford mistakes as he hoped to lead his two sisters and his brother down a straight path, which he certainly did.

One sister broke program records in shot put and discus for the Miami (Ohio) track and field team and serves as a seller of medical devices for Philips. Another sister recently passed her MCATs and is on the path to becoming a doctor (their father always wanted a doctor in the family). His brother played football for Toledo, being medically disqualified after suffering too many concussions but more than making up for it with a 4.0 GPA and nearing graduation with a business degree.

All this Anunike family success stems from Emmanuel and Oby’s high standards they set, and it’s all critical in how Kenny has become the Buckeye leader he is today.

“My dad set the bar so high, coming from Nigeria with nothing, and he got a Ph.D. in philosophy,” said Anunike, whose father also earned bachelor’s (architecture) and master’s (urban studies) degrees. “He works for the state of Ohio. He runs the solar department. If he can do all that with nothing, then how can I do nothing with everything? That’s really where my passion got sparked is from seeing his success.”

That’s why, when you see or hear him on the field, he wears those emotions so fervently on his sleeves. He knows no other way and would have it no other way.

Buckeye fans would be wise to get more acquainted with Anunike’s passion or start enjoying him while they’ve got him. Because no matter where it is, he will be a defensive line coach someday. That could mean for Ohio State next year or in two years. That could mean for another Power 5 program, or even a Group of 5 team down the road.

But whether it’s next season or years down the line, if all goes well, he’ll end up right back at Ohio Stadium and right back here in Columbus, where it all started. It would certainly make Emmanuel and Oby even prouder of their son. If that’s possible.

In the meantime, Anunike won’t rush anything. He’s going to wait patiently for his moment, and when that right moment comes, he’ll know exactly how to seize it.

Larry Johnson taught him that too.

SOURCE: ELEVEN WARRIORS

South-East Governors And Politics Of Development

BY CHIDIEBERE NWOBODO

Politics, according to bookmakers, is the contestation of power and authority. Politics embodied in human existentialism, has defined and redefined man activities, in cyclical form, since creation. It has instinctively become part of man’s DNA to engage in political intrigues, albeit willfully and unwillingly. This narration probably must have inspired Great Aristotle, in his legendary literary works, to classify man as a political animal, whose first need in nature, is survival.

The crafters of political philosophies, principles and rules, knew that without checks and balances rolled in written and unwritten principles guiding the game of power play and how it is dispensed, for the good of all, human cravings have the insatiable tendencies of tending to the extremes. These postulations gave rise to distinctiveness of politics into two major characteristics: constructive and destructive. The easiest way to decipher the type of politics dominant in a state, region or country, is to take a close look at how its politics positively robs off on its governance quality, which ultimately dovetails to development.

Flowing from this trail of thoughts, I decided to scrutinize the politics of South-East Governors’ Forum vis-a-vis its rosy relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari, especially when juxtaposed with voting pattern of the zone in the last two general elections. There is no gainsaying that Mr. President, since his sojourn into partisan politics in 2003, has never been popular in the southeastern flank of the country. Even when he chose sons of the zone as his running mates in 2003 and 2007, respectively, yet, it did not sway voting sentiments in the region in his direction.

It appears, albeit arguably, that there is ideological differences between electorates in Southeast and President Buhari, if electoral map cum results might be used as touchstone. The course of that aged-long obstinate differences, will be the subject of another piece, presumably when the need arises. What baffles the mind of this writer, is the political sophistry being displayed by South-East Governors Forum via bipartisan stabilizing roles, as shown in their correspondences with Mr. President regarding issues of development affecting the region. This is true constructive politics in action.

Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, David Umahi of Ebonyi State, Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and Wille Obiano of Anambra State, collectively, have been able to rise above tribal and party politics to establish a healthy relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari, of which is necessary for development to thrive. That the five governors of the zone, are of the opposition parties, arouses more curiosity in the minds of discerning political keen observers, especially those from the zone. South-East Governors Forum has been able to bridge the yawning gap between the people of the region and the Presidency. It takes uncommon wisdom to connect two extremes on the same ideological spectrum, without hurting either interests.

Some people are unreasonably disappointed that South-East governors are not antagonising President Buhari in the cloak of opposition politics, at least publicly. Rather, they have adopted political diplomacy in handling issues affecting the region—and, it has been proven to be working. Its results can be seen in the ongoing rehabilitation of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu-Port Harcourt road (two lanes), continuation of work on Second Niger Bridge, etcetera, made possible by adequate funding via prompt capital releases.

Recently, South-East Governors Forum took advertorials in some major newspapers to tell President Buhari that: “we are grateful”. The Forum appreciated the President for keeping to his words of promise made to stakeholders of the zone, regarding rehabilitation of key infrastructural facilities that are of socio-economic importance to Ndigbo. Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola and his Aviation counterpart, Hadi Sirika, were also acknowledged in the advertorials.

Unfortunately, propagandists, who are purveyors of politics of hatred and destruction, began spinning the sincere message of appreciation, made by the governors, to the President. Their ill-fated mission, as usual, is to incite Igbo populace against their leaders. They have termed the Governors’ message as “sycophantic”, “slavish”, “praise-singing” and so on. These irrational critics opined that South-East Governors Forum condescended low, by massaging egos of the President and his close aides, to do what should have been their constitutional responsibilities, regarding South-East.

The same assertion was made by these social media bees, when President Buhari approved N10 billion naira for the rehabilitation of Enugu Airport. They propagated the jaundiced narrative that South-East governors should not have gone to Villa, “cap-in-hand begging” Mr. President to approve funds meant for Enugu Airport—which was closed down for operational deficiency. They have insinuated strongly, riding on their propaganda machinery, that President Buhari has “intimidated” South-East governors into capitulation. And that is why the President is not being maligned by governors of the zone. This is not only fallacy but height of conjectures exemplified in mischief.

I had had occasions of criticising South-East governors, and even coming hard on the President (you can google some of my past articles), but, at this juncture, I think there is limit to criticisms. I did not vote for President Buhari in the last election (of which I reserved that right of choice), but he remains my president. Supreme Court has affirmed so—not minding my reservations. 2019 electioneering and its resultant shenanigans, is over. And so should grandstanding associated with it.

Politics of development as being shown by South-East Governors Forum, should prevail over destructive politics of bitterness. Its time to move on. Ndigbo should not see cordial relationship between South-East Governors and President Buhari as a sign of weakness on the opposition governors. Rather, it is a hallmark of political maturity highlighting strength.

An average Easterner is not interested in whether South-East governors got approval for the release of funds to reconstruct Enugu Airport, dilapidated federal roads, etcetera, in the zone, on their knees (if there is anything like that). We are only concern about development of the zone. If political diplomacy—if you like: call it sycophancy or praise-singing, is the strategy that works for the governors, in attracting federal presence to the zone, so be it.

Ndigbo need development not bitter politics, that creates more enemies for us. Naysayers and obstinate critics, should know that Buhari is not an enemy to Ndigbo but our president. We might have disagreed with some of his actions and inactions in the past, but that does not entail that our minds have been conditioned to dislike anyone associating with, especially when that relationship is in our best interests—as being demonstrated by South-East governors.

If it takes a thousand “we are grateful” to get our ailing infrastructures fixed; the zone adequately represented in terms of appointments, I stand with South-East Governors Forum! There is time for everything under the sun. It is time for constructive politics of development not opposition just for the sake of it.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

INTERVIEW: Onuigbo: Nigerians Won’t Deny That Igbos Have Capacity To Govern The Nation

Samuel Onuigbo, House of Representatives, Ikwuano/Umuahia North-South Fed Constituency, Abia State. Image: Twitter.

BY PHILIP NYAM

Hon. Samuel Onuigbo represents Ikwunano/Umuahia North/South Federal Constituency of Abia State in the House of Representatives and is the Vice President (Africa) Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE). In this interview with PHILIP NYAM, he speaks on a wide range of climate issues and the contentious agitation for a president of Igbo extraction in 2023

You were recently elected the Vice President (Africa) of an international environmental organisation known as GLOBE. What does the organisation stand for?

GLOBE stands for Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment. What is it? It is an international association of national parliamentarians in well over 99 countries of the world and the aim is for these parliamentarians to take interest in sponsoring bills and also supporting policies of the executive arm that are geared towards the preservation and protection of the environment.

The environment covers ecology, deforestation, agriculture, climate change, petroleum resources etc. All these are supposed to be done in a sensible and sustainable way; in a way that preserves the environment and leaves something for generations yet unborn. So that when you are carrying out your activities to make profit from your business, you also consciously know that you have to preserve the environment and by so doing, your actions are done in such a sensible, sustainable way to avoid taking from the environment and destroying it. So, globally, this association has grown phenomenally, it started with G8 countries asking their legislators to take interest in the environment, knowing that a lot of damages are taking place across the world from those either looking for timber, who cut down trees without replanting same.

Ideas like these gave rise to something like Great Green Wall of the Sahara and Sahel Initiative, which of course came from the African Union (AU). So, an organisation like GLOBE champions bills such as the one I sponsored recently on climate change. You can also sponsor on other aspects of the environment such as agriculture, petroleum and all these are geared towards ensuring that when you are taking from the ground, forest or ocean, you have to do it in a sensible and sustainable manner bearing in mind generations yet unborn.

GLOBE came to Nigeria through the efforts of the former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, in 2012 and the Nigeria chapter came into existence 2013 when the immediate past President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki was Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment. In the 8th National Assembly, the President of GLOBE was Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim while I was the Vice President and today I am the president of GLOBE Nigeria, and the Vice President (Africa) of GLOBE International.

You chaired the House Committee on Climate Change in the 8th Assembly and now you are Vice President of GLOBE. How are you mobilising other lawmakers on issues of environment?

I must say that in my first term in the House of Representatives, I made verifiable achievements both in terms of my cardinal mandate, legislation and facilitation of projects in my constituency. I am looking forward to further making solid contributions in this Assembly like I did in the 8th Assembly by facilitating laudable projects in my constituency.

My re-election, the first time an honourable member was re-elected in my federal constituency, which is an acknowledgment of my towering achievements in my first tenure and what my people did was to say; ‘we are happy for what you did in the development of our constituency’. In that way, to who much is given, much is expected.

So specifically I am going to pursue those things like the climate change bill, which I sponsored in the 8th Assembly. Fortunately it has gone through the second reading and has been referred to the committee of the whole. And what does that hope to achieve? It hopes to bring to the fore those issues that are involved in the bill. For instance, it is proposing the establishment of a National Council on Climate Change to be chaired by Mr. President and that Council will be peopled by so many ministers whose mandates are crosscutting in nature.

Apart from the focal ones as far as climate change is concerned there are others such as agriculture, environment, finance, transportation, education, petroleum, industry, Niger Delta, water resources, mining, etc., that their activities are climate change related. The Council is also expected to have in its composition the National Security Adviser, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), President of ALGON, a representative of the private sector (especially the manufacturing and extractive industries), youths, etc.

This broad representation is important because if you pass a law at the national level without involving all these stakeholders who are expected to enforce it, its implementation becomes very difficult. Some persons asked me why I want the National Security Adviser in the Council and I explained to them that the effects of climate change are far reaching. It is crosscutting. It is not only limited to those component parts of environment like petroleum, deforestation etc. Therefore, those negative impacts, those devastating effects now affect the security of the nation and I can give you a good example; the Boko Haram saga.

The Boko Haram saga was actually made worse by the fact that a place like Lake Chad that provided means of livelihood for well over 40 million people, who depended on it for animal husbandry, fishing and other forms of agriculture eventually found that the lake had shrunk to less than 10 per cent and therefore they could no longer perform those things they used to sustain themselves. What they did was to move into the city where they have no skills to survive. Unfortunately since their skills which are fishing, farming, and animal husbandry have been denied them they quickly became easy tools in the hands of those recruiting hungry but able-bodied youths for Boko Haram insurgency.

Another saga that we have in our hands is the herdsmen/farmers clashes. So, when we had green areas around Lake Chad, around some parts of the North where people were rearing their cattle, they did not bother to push down South or the Middle belt in a violent manner. But today, you see there is no green vegetation in most parts of the North, rather there is desertification and therefore the herdsmen are everywhere looking for pastures for their cattle. So that is why it is important to have someone like the National Security Adviser in the Council to provide advice. I am focused on this bill because of its importance to the nation and I am hopeful that this time around it would be assented to by the president. Once that is done, it would attract investors in renewable energy and other aspects of the economy, while checkmating the devastating effects of climate change. But this cannot happen if there is no governing law on climate change in the country.

The need for a president of Igbo extraction in 2023 has continued to dominate national discourse to the extent that while the South-West is insisting that it would produce the next president, the North is also plotting to retain power beyond 2023. As a lawmaker from the South-East geopolitical zone, what is your take on this?

It is difficult to predict now because the parties as far as I know today are significantly fluid and a lot of the party members have been moving from one party to another. You have pieces of evidence to support my assertion. On the issue of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, it is not out of place to believe that yes we can get a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction if Nigerians in their wisdom look down and say okay.

Well, this country is built on a tripod; forget whatever reconstruction or restructuring that has produced the six geo-political zones of today. You should also remember those who made contributions to the federation gaining independence in 1960. I remember that most of them were of Igbo extraction then. After reviewing these scenarios, you will convince yourself to expect that Nigeria can happily and satisfactorily get a president of Igbo extraction who will fit the bill and who will do extraordinarily well.

You will recall that in the 60s the eastern region was the fastest growing economy in the world. It is documented; it is not a baseless talk. And I also remember that the eastern region was also the first region to build a full-fledged university by first passing a law on May 18, 1955 for the first university to be built and they did not stop there. The 1955 law provided that the Eastern Nigeria Marketing Board should set aside £500,000 annually for the successful development of the university. That long term planning was what led to the successful take-off of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on October 1, 1960.

You were recently elected the Vice President (Africa) of an international environmental organisation known as GLOBE. What does the organisation stand for?

GLOBE stands for Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment. What is it? It is an international association of national parliamentarians in well over 99 countries of the world and the aim is for these parliamentarians to take interest in sponsoring bills and also supporting policies of the executive arm that are geared towards the preservation and protection of the environment.

The environment covers ecology, deforestation, agriculture, climate change, petroleum resources etc. All these are supposed to be done in a sensible and sustainable way; in a way that preserves the environment and leaves something for generations yet unborn. So that when you are carrying out your activities to make profit from your business, you also consciously know that you have to preserve the environment and by so doing, your actions are done in such a sensible, sustainable way to avoid taking from the environment and destroying it. So, globally, this association has grown phenomenally, it started with G8 countries asking their legislators to take interest in the environment, knowing that a lot of damages are taking place across the world from those either looking for timber, who cut down trees without replanting same.

Ideas like these gave rise to something like Great Green Wall of the Sahara and Sahel Initiative, which of course came from the African Union (AU). So, an organisation like GLOBE champions bills such as the one I sponsored recently on climate change. You can also sponsor on other aspects of the environment such as agriculture, petroleum and all these are geared towards ensuring that when you are taking from the ground, forest or ocean, you have to do it in a sensible and sustainable manner bearing in mind generations yet unborn.

GLOBE came to Nigeria through the efforts of the former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, in 2012 and the Nigeria chapter came into existence 2013 when the immediate past President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki was Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment. In the 8th National Assembly, the President of GLOBE was Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim while I was the Vice President and today I am the president of GLOBE Nigeria, and the Vice President (Africa) of GLOBE International.

You chaired the House Committee on Climate Change in the 8th Assembly and now you are Vice President of GLOBE. How are you mobilising other lawmakers on issues of environment?
I must say that in my first term in the House of Representatives, I made verifiable achievements both in terms of my cardinal mandate, legislation and facilitation of projects in my constituency. I am looking forward to further making solid contributions in this Assembly like I did in the 8th Assembly by facilitating laudable projects in my constituency.

My re-election, the first time an honourable member was re-elected in my federal constituency, which is an acknowledgment of my towering achievements in my first tenure and what my people did was to say; ‘we are happy for what you did in the development of our constituency’. In that way, to who much is given, much is expected.

So specifically I am going to pursue those things like the climate change bill, which I sponsored in the 8th Assembly. Fortunately it has gone through the second reading and has been referred to the committee of the whole. And what does that hope to achieve? It hopes to bring to the fore those issues that are involved in the bill. For instance, it is proposing the establishment of a National Council on Climate Change to be chaired by Mr. President and that Council will be peopled by so many ministers whose mandates are crosscutting in nature.

Apart from the focal ones as far as climate change is concerned there are others such as agriculture, environment, finance, transportation, education, petroleum, industry, Niger Delta, water resources, mining, etc., that their activities are climate change related. The Council is also expected to have in its composition the National Security Adviser, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), President of ALGON, a representative of the private sector (especially the manufacturing and extractive industries), youths, etc.

This broad representation is important because if you pass a law at the national level without involving all these stakeholders who are expected to enforce it, its implementation becomes very difficult. Some persons asked me why I want the National Security Adviser in the Council and I explained to them that the effects of climate change are far reaching. It is crosscutting. It is not only limited to those component parts of environment like petroleum, deforestation etc. Therefore, those negative impacts, those devastating effects now affect the security of the nation and I can give you a good example; the Boko Haram saga.

The Boko Haram saga was actually made worse by the fact that a place like Lake Chad that provided means of livelihood for well over 40 million people, who depended on it for animal husbandry, fishing and other forms of agriculture eventually found that the lake had shrunk to less than 10 per cent and therefore they could no longer perform those things they used to sustain themselves. What they did was to move into the city where they have no skills to survive. Unfortunately since their skills which are fishing, farming, and animal husbandry have been denied them they quickly became easy tools in the hands of those recruiting hungry but able-bodied youths for Boko Haram insurgency.

Another saga that we have in our hands is the herdsmen/farmers clashes. So, when we had green areas around Lake Chad, around some parts of the North where people were rearing their cattle, they did not bother to push down South or the Middle belt in a violent manner. But today, you see there is no green vegetation in most parts of the North, rather there is desertification and therefore the herdsmen are everywhere looking for pastures for their cattle. So that is why it is important to have someone like the National Security Adviser in the Council to provide advice. I am focused on this bill because of its importance to the nation and I am hopeful that this time around it would be assented to by the president. Once that is done, it would attract investors in renewable energy and other aspects of the economy, while checkmating the devastating effects of climate change. But this cannot happen if there is no governing law on climate change in the country.

The need for a president of Igbo extraction in 2023 has continued to dominate national discourse to the extent that while the South-West is insisting that it would produce the next president, the North is also plotting to retain power beyond 2023. As a lawmaker from the South-East geopolitical zone, what is your take on this?

It is difficult to predict now because the parties as far as I know today are significantly fluid and a lot of the party members have been moving from one party to another. You have pieces of evidence to support my assertion. On the issue of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, it is not out of place to believe that yes we can get a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction if Nigerians in their wisdom look down and say okay.

Well, this country is built on a tripod; forget whatever reconstruction or restructuring that has produced the six geo-political zones of today. You should also remember those who made contributions to the federation gaining independence in 1960. I remember that most of them were of Igbo extraction then. After reviewing these scenarios, you will convince yourself to expect that Nigeria can happily and satisfactorily get a president of Igbo extraction who will fit the bill and who will do extraordinarily well.

You will recall that in the 60s the eastern region was the fastest growing economy in the world. It is documented; it is not a baseless talk. And I also remember that the eastern region was also the first region to build a full-fledged university by first passing a law on May 18, 1955 for the first university to be built and they did not stop there. The 1955 law provided that the Eastern Nigeria Marketing Board should set aside £500,000 annually for the successful development of the university. That long term planning was what led to the successful take-off of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on October 1, 1960.

It was after that, that other regions followed suit: the Federal Government established the University of Lagos in April 1962, while the Western Region established the Obafemi Awolowo University in 1961, and the Northern Region, Ahmadu Bello University in October 1962, while the law establishing the University of Ibadan as a full-fledged university was signed in December of 1962.

Under the leadership of late Chief Michael Okpara as the Premier of the Eastern Region, an agreement was signed with Sir Kenneth Hutchinson and Mr. C.C Filstead of Conch Methane Services Ltd for the 18,000,000 gas production plant in the then Bonny Province. Then you think about the Obudu Cattle Ranch, the Hotel Presidential in Enugu and Port Harcourt, Trans-Amadi industrial layout in Port Harcourt, Golden Guinea Breweries and Ceramics Industry in Umuahia, Steel Industry Emene, Nigeria Glass Industry and Eastern Michelin Tyre Factory, Port Harcourt, were all built by Okpara. These initiatives came early and I do not think you will find such initiatives from those who lack the capacity and training to be able to exercise leadership up to the presidential level.

It is a known fact that the Nigerian presidency is not won on a platter of gold, that you have to work for it. Now that the South-East is neck deep into the PDP, under which political party is the region going to contest and win the 2023 presidency?

My dear friend, I told you from the outset that the political structure of this country today is fluid. Today you have APC, which is a conglomeration of so many other po litical parties, the CPC, ACN, ANPP and all that. You would recall that many opposition parties fused together and metamorphosed into APC, which is the ruling party today. Four years prior to that time, if anybody told you that this would happen you wouldn’t have believed. So, when I said this is a fluid political environment, I expect you to speak with caution. The PDP is there now, yes it has survived the test of time having been pushed left, right and center, yet it’s still standing strong. The space is open. You cannot say this is strictly an APC or PDP affair because this is a fluid political environment.

Today, President Muhammadu Buhari has provided leadership for the APC and we must acknowledge that and give him credit. Perhaps you have also heard someone like Senator Rochas Okorocha and others speculating that APC would probably go the way of PDP when President Buhari leaves the stage in 2023.There should not be any fear regarding who is in PDP and who is in APC when it comes to occupying that seat. Again there are no strong ideological differences between these parties. So, if you accept my analysis on this argument then you will then know that there is nothing to worry about.

If Nigerians agree with the contributions of the Igbos from how we got independence to when the Eastern region was the fastest growing economy till now and some other contributions we have been making and then acknowledge that the Igbos have demonstrated good faith and that they truly believe in this nation called Nigeria, they will then acknowledge that the Igbos deserve to lead this country. By the way, who else invests outside of its region more than the Igbos in Nigeria? No other tribe in Nigeria invests in this country outside their own region more than the Igbos. So, the South East can produce a president of Igbo extraction who has the potential to turn things around, reposition this nation, and restore confidence and trust in all Nigerians.

The House of Representatives has in the last few weeks being issuing resolutions on rehabilitation of infrastructure in the South-East. What are you doing in your own way to attract development to your constituency and South-East?
I have been able to facilitate many projects within my federal constituency; so many of them have been completed while some of them are ongoing. I do not intend to look back or stop. So, I want my constituents to really know that I will redouble my efforts to make sure that I continue to serve them well. You know funding constituency projects has been a big problem like the one I did in my place, the government has not been able to fully fund it. It was funded less than 40 per cent and it was abandoned and I had to look for money to complete the reconstruction of our hospital that was built in 1984 but was allowed to decay.

I will continue to facilitate projects that impact on the lives of the people. I will focus on hospitals, schools and training (human capital development). These are the things that I will continue to do and to the glory of God I think I have done things that are verifiable – things that are there for people to see in terms of projects that have been successfully executed. Without being exhaustive, let me mention just a few but impactful projects that I have successfully facilitated in my federal constituency.

When in 2016, the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Federal Road which was cut into two in many sections and consequently became impassable, I vigorously pursued the request for urgent palliative work to be done to restore the road. I received support and encouragement from Senator T.A Orji, to actualise that project. Also, I facilitated the erosion control work at Ukwudara, Amachara, Umuopara in Umuahia South LGA; erosion control work at Okwe-Obuohia road in Ikwuano LGA; construction of a block of classrooms at Afo Ugiri Girls Secondary School and a water project at Ohuhu and Avonkwu Ibeku in Umuahia North LGA; a massive skills acquisition centre at Apumiri Ubakala; blocks of classrooms at Umutowe Olokoro and Nsirimo Ubakala; hospital projects at Obuohia Obi-Ibere and Ahiaeke Oloko; electricity projects in all the Local Government Areas. I also facilitated the award of the total reconstruction of the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Federal Road.

I am currently working with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing on an interchange at the Abia Tower to end the perpetual traffic gridlock and to achieve a proper dualization of the federal road from the Tower to Amawom Oboro in the first phase. There are many more federal projects that I am working on that are at the initial planning stages, including the building of a federal secretariat in Abia State.

Whereas democracy has become a globally accepted form of government with a leadership recruitment system built on candidates’ popularity and people-friendly political manifestoes, indications are rife that this system of government and indeed political stability on the African continent is under threat.

SOURCE: NEW TELEGRAPH

Experts Say Pope’s Metaphor Of A ‘Field Hospital’ Has Special Punch For Africa

BY CHRISTOPHER WHITE

ENUGU, NIGERIA (CRUX) - According to a range of scholars at a Pan-African Congress on Theology, Pastoral Life, and Society, the pope’s metaphor for the Church as a “field hospital” provides particular resonance for the African continent - and, they say, must guide pastoral practice in the realms of education, liturgy, and the laity.

The pope used the phrase in his first major interview after his election in 2013 where he emphasized the need for the Church to respond to immediate and pressing needs of the people before less life-threatening concerns.

“It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars,” he said at the time. “You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.”

During the December 5-8 congress at the Bigard Memorial Seminary in southeastern Nigeria, a number of the delegates relied on the pope’s metaphor to cast a vision of a church in Africa that encourages a reshaping of their ministries and programs more closely modeled after the pontiff’s method of dealing with a wounded flock.

Father Osita Asogwa, a lecturer in philosophy at Bigard Memorial Seminary, told attendees that the pope’s vision of a field hospital must focus on “pastoral care in concrete situations.”

Asogwa’s remarks focused particularly on the realm of education, and he encouraged a complete rethinking of the way it is approached in the African context.


Motivated by the pope’s call for greater missionary activity, Asogwa said the “good news must speak directly to the person,” with a particular focus on “renewal and revival.” He went on to add that education should focus on the “reality on the ground,” to better understand the field hospital in which the Church is operating and focus less on intellectual concerns and more on the need to speak to people about their particular sufferings and situations.

He criticized the fact that to this day, there are no pontifical universities in Africa - a question that he said he has posed to Roman curial officials, and it has gone unanswered. Further, he said educational programs have too often been shaped with the Vatican in mind, and that “Rome may not like it” is “a mantra that has killed most of our academic activities.”

For Professor Patrick Chibuko, chair of Sacred Liturgy at the Catholic Institute of West Africa, Francis’s lifestyle of simplicity and a focus on the margins “portrays the type of ecclesiology he is proposing to the Church.”

The field hospital, Chibuko maintained, “demands a corresponding liturgy in content and expression.”


Liturgy, he went on to argue, must appeal to the head, the heart, and the hands and that the appeal to intellect, emotion, and service must all be present. Chibuko also noted that liturgy could not be “strict and static,” but should reflect the life of the Church.

“It is, by nature, dynamic, since it is at the service of the Church,” he noted, adding that in the field hospital, liturgy cannot be only Roman but one that appreciated local culture and “helps Africans understand themselves.”

Dr. Nontando Hadeb, who teaches pastoral and systematic theology at St. Augustine College in South Africa, said that the field hospital of the Church must be outward focused and that the laity should serve as the “focal point of the hospital” and that programs and ministries should be shaped based on different needs and realities.


“Just like a hospital has different patients with different health needs, the laity is not homogenous. They have different needs, different voices, different wounds,” she continued. “They are the ones having to live in the world, and they represent different voices, the able bodied see things differently than the disabled, there are sexual minorities, there are the divorced, the remarried, and others. We have to listen to them.”

“You must walk with them and provide different solutions,” she concluded. “You can’t just give one medicine.”

Follow Christopher White on Twitter: @cwwhite212

OPINION: For Ndigbo It Is Raining!

Ralph Egbu. Image: Facebook

BY RALPH EGBU

These are not the best of times for Ndigbo. Everything seems stacked against them. The government at the centre is against them and the people from the other tribes don’t seem to be happy with Ndigbo. The Nigerian environment is becoming too hot for this very industrious group of people called Ndigbo. Those who know the history of the country are likely to say what is this guy talking about, afterall, the Igbo have not had it good since the country became independent in 1960. Anybody that takes this line of thought would be correct to the extent that, yes, the path of Ndigbo has been rough all this while, but he would be wrong from the standpoint that the affliction of the Igbo has assumed a new and very dangerous dimension, far worse than anything that has happened to them before now.

There seems to be a new agenda by a group of Nigerians to undo the Igbo by means that has never been applied in our country before. Igbo have been killed before and someone is likely to ask what could be greater than death. Straight application of the death solution is far better than introduction of systematic terror, dehumanization and then emasculation of a people. Ask any felon to choose between outright death and slow death which begins with cutting the nails, the fingers, the hands and the limbs, plucking out the eyes before eventual termination of life, the idiot is likely to choose outright death. The current fate of the Igbo is like the latter part of the above story: their enemies have not come frontally, they have chosen to come in from the back door and extermination is taking place in a way that nobody is conscious of what is happening. Before I go into specific examples, it is important to state that the new agenda against Ndigbo tallies with the contents of a leaked television conversation between a former Northern governor and his South West counterpart.

In that leaked conversation, there was this intension to suppress businesses in which Ndigbo have comparative advantage. Specific mention was made of drug business and commerce in general. There was intension to close up pharmaceutical shops. True to that discussion, Kano and Kaduna have taken actions in that direction. There was also the plan to make the Igbo’s stay in Lagos tenuous, that plan has also witnessed some degree of implementation. The Constitution grants citizens right to political choices but in Lagos, Nigerians heard the Oba of Lagos threaten publicly to drown all the Igbo if they dared exercise that right in a direction different from those of the indigenous people. That outburst was definitely sacrilegious, yet everybody kept quiet as if it was not serious enough. Because we kept quiet, the affront magnified in the 2019 elections with hired thugs storming predominantly Igbo areas during the polls, carting away electoral materials, beating and maiming innocent citizens alongside. Igbo traders in that state today live in perpetual fear of eviction from their traditional trading points to other areas not yet developed. It has become the lot of Ndigbo to be used by some states to develop their undeveloped areas.

The other day, the head of the Customs revealed to the country that there were months in recent times the agency raked in trillions of naira from Custom duties. It was good news to the ear and the impression created was that of a new Customs department that had woken up from slumber and now effectively and creatively discharging her functions to the benefits of the country. What he did not tell Nigerians was that what was happening was make believe, a façade; that the income was at the expense of the well being and life of a targeted section of Nigeria. He did not tell Nigerians that Customs now leave the borders and go after supposed contraband goods in shops in towns and stalls in market places. He hid from Nigerians the fact that Lagos-Shagamu-Benin-Onitsha-Aba expressway has the highest numbers of checkpoints one can find anywhere in the world. As a military man heading Customs, Col Ali failed to tell Nigerians that forensic analysis of checkpoint has shown that checkpoints do not only stifle businesses, they kill them. They make the atmosphere very unconducive for business initiatives.

Igbo are the champions in commerce and they use our national borders more frequently than others and now the land borders are closed because our leaders say they want to improve local rice production. Closing national borders in the 21st century as a solution for economic productivity; you can laugh if you like. Now look at the fate of Igbo giant businessmen, they are being systematically confronted and made to surrender. Ibeto is a cement merchant and he desired to crash the high price of cement in the country. Instead of commendation and encouragement, enemies of Ndigbo went for him using the Federal Government, powerful individuals and even the courts to harass him. Today no one is sure whether he is still in business or whether he has ran away to save his life. Innocent Chukwuma is proving that the Blackman can build his vehicles. Again, instead of applause and encouragement he is being hunted by government, security agencies and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for no plausible reason just that he has service charges disagreement with his bank.

Ifeanyi Uba had a business deal with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation. They owed him and them, a disagreement that should be resolved on a table was turned to financial crimes against the nation and this is in spite of the fact that Mr. Uba was owed more money than he owed NNPC. Few days ago he was again charged to court. Orji Kalu is down and before him Rochas Okorocha, a man who helped build up a ruling party was dragged to the market place, flogged and shoved aside with ignominy. Chima the founder of Air Peace is having his own baptism of fire. We have not been told he stole anybody’s money but they are harassing him for wrongly transferring money for the purchase of his aircraft. The way they are going he may go down together with his thriving business, employing thousands of Nigerians. The roads in South East are in terrible state and the only airport with the fake status of an international airport is closed down. As we talk not one Igbo is heading any security agency in this country. If this is not systematic genocide somebody should please educate us. In these days of “Hate Speech” do not say I told you but you heard it.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

Wike Releases N500m Grant To Boost Varsity Transformation

BY TONY JOHN

PORT HARCOURT (DAILY SUN)--Rivers State Governor has directed the immediate release of N500 million grant to the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education to enable it continue its transformation programmes.

Wike stated this at the weekend, during the 37th convocation ceremony of the institution, in Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt.

The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Ipalibo Harry Banigo, said under his watch, the state government would continue to invest and take necessary practical measures to strengthen the university to deliver on its mandate, for the development of Rivers people.

He said the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education was a leading institution for the training of educators in Nigeria, stressed that teachers were the foundation of any viable educational system.

According to him, the university was established by the state government as a specialized institution for the practical training of graduate teachers for our educational system.


He commended the Vice Chancellor and his team for enhancing the university’s carrying-capacity, successfully mounting new academic programmes and graduating its first set of doctorate degree students.

Governor Wike re-emphasized the state government’s zero tolerance for cultism, sexual harassment, examination malpractice, sorting, sale of hand outs and extortion of students.

He directed the university administration to investigate and weed out any lecturer or staff, who engages in money-for-grade, sex-for-grade and other untoward practices in the tertiary institutions.

“We must rescue our universities from moral and sexual perverts and keep them safe and healthy for effective impartation of knowledge to take place”, Wike further stressed.

He expressed gratitude to the Senior Pastor of Salvation Ministries, David Ibiyeomie, for fulfilling his promise to donate a female hostel block for the university and prayed the Almighty God to continue to prosper church.

Wike said university graduation was the triumph of toil, the effect of effort and the outcome of hard work, stressing that it is always a proud moment for parents, guardians, teachers and the university administration.

He urged the graduands to set their priorities right, locate prospects and opportunities in the seeming challenges and invest more of their time, energy and resources into productive ventures.

In his address the Pro- Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Aaron Ikuru, expressed gratitude to Governor Wike for re-appointing him and his colleagues as the 11th Governing Council of the university reassured the governor that they would continue to work with uncompromising zeal for excellence, integrity and service.

Also speaking the Vice- Chancellor of the University, Ozo-mekuri Ndimele, said a total of 3,169 graduands made up of 45 Doctor of Philosophy, 1,070 Masters Degree, 391 Postgraduate diploma, 1,654 Bachelor’s Degree and nine Certificates.

According to him, 19 out of the graduands obtained the first class Honours Degree.

Highlights of the occasion were commissioning of projects and presentation of prizes.