Nigeria Property

Friday, October 10, 2014

By Henry Umoru
ABUJA--Supporters of Minister of State for Education, who is also a governorship aspirant in Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike yesterday unleashed terror on opponents and journalists in Abuja.
The venue was the PDP Presidential Campaign Office, Legacy House, Maitama, at the second day of the Senator Iya Abubakar led Peoples Democratic Party, PDP South South Integration Committee's sitting.

The Committee had on Wednesday met with PDP stakeholders, leaders and members from Akwa Ibom and Edo States and it was the turn of Rivers State for reconciliation.
Soon after the minister arrived the venue, the atmosphere was charged as his supporters blocked and stopped members of PDP perceived not loyal to Wike from entering the hall to submit or defend their memoranda which they had earlier submitted.

Journalists who had covered the previous meetings were harassed, humiliated and beaten. Television camera men working with Channels Television, Silverbird as well as a Vanguard correspondent were molested.

The supporters manhandled the reporters and attempted to seize their cameras,recorders and telephones. The supporters who blocked the entrance to the hall, were prepared to beat up anyone. Some of the aspirants like Kenneth Ibikani Dublin, Chief Larry Allison; Major Lanstort Annyayan, among others could not enter the venue.

Displeased with the development which saw Rivers PDP stakeholders prevented from presenting their memoranda to the Iya Abubakar Committee, former Commissioner for Water Resources in the state and Rivers State Coordinator, Yar'Adua/ Jonathan Campaign Organisation in 2007, Hon. Lolo Ibienye expressed strong concern. The protest attracted instant rebuke from the minister.
Throughout the period the Minister was in the hall with members of the committee, other aspirants were not allowed to come close to the venue as the hefty looking supporters of Wike molested and stopped everyone.

The waiting room of Legacy House was completely taken over by the Minister's supporters.
Narrating his experience to Vanguard, Lolo Ibienye claimed he was shoved by the minister, warning that if the national leadership of PDP fails to address these problems, the party in Rivers State was sitting on a keg of gun powder, waiting to explode at any time. He added that with the molestation of party members and journalists by the Minister of State for Education's thugs. It would have been disastrous if the exercise had taken place in Rivers.
Ibienye who noted that the molestation and punching was not necessary, said that the Committee received 22 petitions from the state and of the petitions received, only four persons from the state were allowed to defend their petitions.

How it happened -- Ibienye
He said: "I am Hon. Lolo Ibienye, Commissioner for Water Resources during former governor Peter Odili's tenure and Rivers Coordinator, Yar'Adua/ Jonathan Campaign Organisation in 2007. What happened there was that the group led by the Honourable Minister of State, Education, Nyesom Wike brought people intended to stop petitioners from going to defend their petitions. Only a few people were allowed into the hall. 22 petitions were received from Rivers State and only four out of the 22 persons who petitioned were allowed to defend their petitions. Professor Israel Owate presented his, Chief Paworiso Samuel Horsfall presented his report, while Barrister Alalivo Frederick and Elechukwu Ogbowu presented theirs as well.

"In an attempt to stop the molestation and harassment of party stakeholders and preventing them from entering the hall to defend their petitions, Wike then shoved me. That is not what we expect at the moment at all; the molestation of stakeholders and journalists should not have happened, it is not necessary at all. If it happened in Abuja with few of us in attendance, what would have happened if the meeting had taken place in Rivers State?

"The national leadership of the party must know that it is not well with Rivers PDP, it is a clear indication that PDP in the state is sitting on a keg of gun powder."
When asked to comment on the fracas, he said: "It happened, go ahead and use it that way, what happened there was not necessary at all."

When Vanguard called Mr. Wike and sent a text message for his response, he said he was at a meeting and would call back. He had not responded at press time. Meanwhile, a group stormed thhe Legacy House , the Wadata Plaza, National Secretariat of the party, demanding the zoning of governorship seat to the riverine area of the state was stopped by security operatives.

Addressing the group, PDP national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh who advised them to always imbibe democratic tenets and the rule of law, urged them to ensure that they they put their house in order to ensure that PDP wins the election in Rivers State.
There was however a reprisal action at Legacy House at 11. 40 am when an aggrieved member, and legal adviser to Network for Defence of Democracy and Good Governance, NDDGG, Barrister Tubotamuno Dick, led a group of boys who carried bottles of soft drinks, forced themselves into the premises, and it became a free-for-all among the two groups, but the police intervened.

Policeman hit me -- Dick
Barrister Tubotamuno Dick who sustained injury in his left eye in the course of battling with the Police to gain entry told journalists that the act of not allowing justice and fair hearing to prevail was not good for the nation's democracy, adding, "They were stopping people but I said we came to defend our petition. They molested our people, pushing them down. I went there and presented myself as a lawyer. Can you imagine a Nigerian Policeman hitting me in the eye? This means that the committee set up by the federal government has already been compromised.
"In Rivers PDP, we have only chairman and secretary and we have written to the national secretariat that if we allow a two-man exco as constituted to go for elections, we will have so many legal issues. As we speak, 70 per cent of PDP exco members decamped with Amaechi to APC."
Nyesom Wike who was there from 9 a.m, left the place at 12.32 p.m with his supporters, thereby giving room for some persons to enter.

Speaking with Vanguard, a governorship aspirant who was locked outside, Kenneth Ibikani Dublin, said: " I was not even allowed in; I expect that PDP National Secretariat will look at the issue. Iam going back to my people, inform them of what happened, then we will come up with a communique."

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Governor Fashola’s Key Note Address @ Real Estate Unite 2014…

Oracle Launches Capacity-Building Programme to Close IT Skills Gap in Africa

Strategy to develop relevant skills among youth, graduates, employees and entrepreneurs

Oracle Corporation today announced an initiative designed to enrich and increase the skills capacity of IT practitioners in Africa. The four-pronged program was devised as a response to the rapid adoption of new technologies by governments and businesses in Africa, exacerbating the shortage of suitably skilled practitioners to use the systems to best advantage.

According to Oracle, the dramatic advancement of technology over the past five years has resulted in a gap in IT competencies and skills availability. Organizations in Africa are adopting new technologies at a rate which is outstripping the availability of appropriately qualified staff.

"Today IT holds the promise to promote social inclusion, combat corruption, expand the digital economy and enable stronger links between citizens and governments, businesses and customers, NGOs and the communities they serve," said Alfonso Di Ianni, Senior Vice President, Oracle East Central Europe, Middle East and Africa."They can do this and at the same time dramatically reduce costs and improve efficiency. However for technology to support such transformation, organizations must have ready access to people capable of setting up and maintaining these systems."

Consisting of four elements â€“ employee readiness, ecosystem readiness, workforce readiness and youth readiness, Oracle is reaching out to governments, the private sector and non-profit organizations to implement a long term skills strategy that will help fulfill demand for relevant IT skills.

Supporting Quotes

"Using the materials and manpower from Oracle University, Oracle Academy, Oracle Partner Enablement, Oracle Sales Consulting and the Public Sector Center of Excellence, Oracle will, in partnership with the organization or community, create programs addressing their skills need," said Orfhlaith Ni Chorcora, Senior Director, Business Development at Oracle."Two such partnerships are already underway with the Lagos State government in Nigeria and Equity Group Foundation in Kenya to jointly drive successful initiatives tailored to the local needs.

"Building a competitive pool of IT-skilled youth in the state is a priority for Lagos State," said Governor Babatunde Fashola(SAN). "To successfully achieve this goal, it takes multi-stakeholder support and long term collaboration with organizations such as Oracle who share our deepest commitment to building skills and creating exciting job opportunities for the youth of Lagos. We are off to a good start and look forward to increasing that impact in the coming months."

"In the emerging economic order, basic computer literacy means the ability not only to use software, but also to modify or create; in other words, to program," said Dr. Helen Gichohi, Managing Director of Equity Group Foundation. "For them to compete internationally we must also raise their ICT competencies to global standards and keep them intellectually curious, creative and motivated to critically think about their surroundings."

Supporting Resources

Download Capacity-Building Program Infographic

Video interview: Alphonso Di Ianni, Oracle Vice President, East Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Orfhlaith Ni Chorcora, Senior Director, Business Development, describe the components of the capacity-building programme and its importance for the Africa region.

Source: APO

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Nigeria: How Policy Somersaults, Corruption, Indiscipline Plague Public Schools, By Educationists

By Ujunwa AtueyiOPEN Educational Resources (OER) programme specialist for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Mr. Abel Caine, has commended the management of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) for its efforts towards converting its courses to OER.

When courses are converted to OER, they are delivered as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
Caine who spoke during the opening ceremony of a recent two-day UNESCO-NOUN OER/MOOC's sensitisation workshop in Lagos, said the purpose of the workshop was to extensively assess six existing NOUN courses for transformation into fully licensed OER and MOOCs format.
The OER-MOOCs are teaching, learning and research resources that reside in the public domain, or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.

The workshop, which is a direct follow-up of the first Africa workshop for the Globalising OpenUpEd project, according to Caine, would allow participants and NOUN to have a clear understanding of the challenges, time frames and required resources.
"OER would create a platform for NOUN to share their huge intellectual wealth so that other educational institutions within Nigeria, Africa and globally could use them free of cost, as well as with the legal freedom to adapt them," Caine stated.

"It would interest you to know that through the vision of the Vice Chancellor of NOUN, Prof Vincent Tenebe, the institution has become the first tertiary institution in Nigeria and West Africa to have made a significant commitment to OER and MOOCs," the UNESCO chief informed adding, "MOOCs would also allow NOUN to deliver their courses in a new format especially for mobile phones so that millions of learners can access knowledge."
"If the NOUN OER-MOOCs project is successful, it could be highlighted at the 2015 World Education Forum in Seoul, South Korea in May 2015, and this will bring global prestige and partnership opportunities for NOUN and Nigeria as a country," he added.

He called on other tertiary institutions in the country to key into the vision in order to create opportunities to address the tertiary education access challenge facing the country's education system.
Caine further stated that if tertiary institutions in the country embrace the initiative, it would to a large extent, open more doors to, not only Nigerians, but also Africans yearning for qualitative education in the most stress freeway.

His words, "NOUN has made efforts to transform its course materials to OER and we all know that it is currently the only institution in Nigeria committed to this project. Meanwhile, in Africa, there are several institutions in South Africa and Ghana that have keyed into this project. Our organisation is always set to introduce OER to the tertiary education system in different countries."
He said the project allows access for personalised learning; fosters innovation; improved availability of materials; improved technical quality as well as improve coherence across courses.

Tenebe in his remarks hinted that OER has emerged as a concept with great potential to support educational transformation, adding that NOUN being a forerunner in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in Africa was set to key into it.
"There is only one key differentiator between an OER and any other educational resource, which is its licence. The OER incorporates a licence that facilitates re-use and potential adaptation without first requesting permission from the copyright holder. NOUN has decided to embrace this concept and run it in order not to be left behind," Tenebe informed.

Nigeria: Navy Impounds 2,000 Gallons of Petroleum Products

The Nigerian Navy on Tuesday in Lagos said it impounded over 2,000 gallons of petroleum products from some suspected vandals' hideout at Majidun in Ikorodu, Lagos State.
The products, which were concealed in 50 litres jerry cans, were lifted from the hideout by the Navy.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that men of the Nigerian Army and other security agencies assisted the Navy in the operation.

The Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ilesanmi Alade, told newsmen that the operation, which took his men sleepless nights, was carried out following a tip-off from the public.
He said "as you may be aware the Federal Government has been confronted with the challenges of combating illegal oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism.
"These illegal activities have not only led to significant loss in revenue accruable to the Federal Government, but also cause damage to strategic installations which require colossal amount of money to repair.

"Pipeline vandalism has also led to pollution of the maritime environment and in some cases, fire disasters resulting in loss of lives and property.
"Communities like Majidun, Arepo, Ogolonto and Makoko in Ikorodu Local Government area of Lagos State are renowned for illegal oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism.
"The perpetrators use self-propelled barges and wooden boats to ferry the stolen products to their destinations.
"They are also usually armed to confront anyone that attempts to stop their operation."
Alade said the operation, code-named "AWATSE", which literally means SCATTER, was aimed at dislodging the perpetrators of the illegal act.
"The operation was initiated by the Nigerian Navy and supported by the Nigerian Army and it is still ongoing.

"The operation has yielded success and so far; persons arrested after interrogation and confirmed as culprits, would be handed over to the appropriate prosecuting agency.
"The products will be handed over to the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) for storage, pending termination of the operation," he said.
The Naval chief said that on completion of the operation, the Navy would consider establishing a base in the area.
He appealed to residents of Majidun to be patient and assured them that the operation would soon be over.

"Whatever we are doing here is also in the interest of the residents of Majidun and the economic survival of the nation," he said.
Alade also appealed to the public to provide the Navy with useful information to assist it in apprehending the perpetrators.
He said that the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, had zero tolerance for maritime crimes in the country.
A resident of the area, Mrs Kafaya told newsmen that she was aware oil bunkering was taken place in the area but did not know it was illegal.
Another resident, Mr Kazeem Ariyo, commended the Navy saying its men had done 'a good job.'

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Nigeria: Enough of Crocodile Tears for Adekunle

By Adewuyi Adegbite
The demise of Brigadier Benjamin Maja Adekunle, the commander of the 3rd Marine Commando of the Nigerian Army during the civil war between 1967 and 1970, has exposed further the hypocrisy of the Nigerian elite. History is replete with the exploits of Adekunle in the war, but for his truculence, the war would have dragged on for years. However, he was not acknowledged by the government of his days because of his larger than life personality, his brilliance, and fame, which overshadowed those of his peers and superiors in the Army. His unceremonious retirement might have resulted from envy rather than allegations levied against him. Unfortunately for him, he was neither here nor there after the cessation of hostilities, because the Nigerian side, which he laboured to keep one, did not reward him, and the Biafran side, which he helped in taming, detested him.

The refusal of some Igbo members in the House of Representatives to observe a minute silence to honour him was symbolic of hatred for him, even in death. In actual fact, Adekunle belongs to the class of Nigerian heroes and heroines who were denied recognition by the State for their lofty contributions to the development of the nation. Inversely, many Nigerians of shady characters with no clear cut contributions to the development of the nation except being political office holders or close to the corridors of power, either at the state or federal level are honoured with the national awards.

What an irony?

Eulogies and tributes trailing the demise of Adekunle from eminent Nigerians are surprising because he had been bedridden for quite some time, with very few people paying attention to him. But for one of his juniors in the military, Gen. Alabi Isama, who brought his pathetic condition to the open through an interview he had in some national dailies, Adekunle would have died in solitude, and this is the way the hypocrites would be hailing his dead body.

It is pathetic that providence had foisted on Nigeria its second eleven in major positions of responsibilities. The travail of Adekunle in the hands of the military and the government of his day could be understood in the above context.

One takes solace in the words of the ex-Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, in a letter he wrote to Luis Conte Aguero in 1953, "Epitaph is not at the moment a monument to the martyrs who have fallen. We cannot even speak of peace for the dead in this oppressed land, but posterity which is always more generous with the good will build these monuments in their memories, and in due time, future generation will revive the tribute/honour owed those who saved the fatherland's honour in the time of infinite shame".