26052020 - We'll jail parents who enrol children into Almajiri system

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2020 — 21
22 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2020 :Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 GENERAL MEETING: From left Tony Okpanachi, MD, CEO, Dr. Shehu Yahaya, Chairman, DBN Board of Directors, Uche Orji, Non-Executive Director and Shofola Osho, Company Secretary during the DBN's 3rd Annual General Meeting in Abuja. COVID-19: INEC to pilot e-voting in 2021, seeks cancellation of bye-elections •It's good but dangerous, says Ahamba It creates Vagabonds in power -Attah •We are studying the situation -APC By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA – IN the wake of lifestyle changes occasioned by the COVID- 19 Pandemic, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said it would be using more technological tools in discharging its mandate, disclosing of its resolve to pioneer electronic voting in the country by 2021. This was as the electoral umpire decried the rising cost of elections in the country, saying it would be liaising with the National Assembly to see how political parties can nominate replacements for dead representatives in line with a Supreme Court judgment that votes belong to the parties and not individuals. INEC disclosed this in a 17-page document released Monday in Abuja which was tagged: "Policy on Conducting Elections in the Context of the Covid- 19 Pandemic", and signed by its Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu. The commission also added that voters without face masks would be disallowed from voting in the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states. While the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, said it would study the policy to come up with an appropriate reaction, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN, Chief Mike Ahamba, said while the policy on bye-elections could reduce costs, it could however assume a dangerous dimension if not well handled. Former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, however, kicked against it, saying the electorate vote for individuals and not just parties, adding that the development could create vagabonds in power. Cost of bye-elections INEC said its records showed that it is only in 10 percent of all bye-elections conducted since 2015 that the party which originally won the election went ahead to lose, saying it would engage federal lawmakers and other stakeholders to explore ways of defraying the costs associated with bye-elections. "As already announced by the Commission, the dates for the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states remain 19th September 2020 and 10th October 2020 respectively. Dates for the four postponed bye-elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Plateau states, as well as other bye-elections that became due during the COV- ID-19 pandemic will be announced by the Commission following its established procedures. "The Commission will engage with the legislature and other stakeholders to explore ways of responding to the rising cost of conducting frequent byeelections, especially in consideration of the Supreme Court position that votes belong primarily to political parties, as well as the Commission’s records, which show that only in 10% of all bye-elections since 2015 did the party that won originally lose the election. "The Commission will engage relevant authorities, including the legislature, to designate election as an essential service to enable the Commission function effectively in times of national emergency", INEC said in the policy. e-Voting in 2021 The Commission stated that it would suspend the Continuous Voter Registration CVR due to the Covid-19 pandemic while by 2021, it would pilot the use of electronic voting in the country. The policy states that INEC shall; "Suspend the Continuous Voter Registration CVR for the time being to prevent the health risks associated with it in the context of COVID-19. Continue to make available its electronic channels for voters to check their registration status. "Pilot the use of Electronic Voting Machines at the earliest possible time (not Edo and Ondo), but work towards the full introduction of electronic voting in major elections starting from 2021". We are studying the situation — APC When contacted, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Lanre Issa- Onilu said the party would take time to study the new policy once it is in the public domain before coming By Jimoh Babatunde LAGOS — The call by the United States government for a fresh and in-depth investigation into the allegations against the President of African Development Bank, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, after he was cleared of all allegations of impropriety and fraud by the ethics committee recently, is seen as a plan to destabilise the bank. On May 5, the ethics committee of the continental bank, headed by Takuji Yano, said in its report that Mr Adesina was not guilty on all counts. Mr Yano is a Japanese executive director charged with the responsibility of investigating allegations by some concerned employees against the official. The committee described the allegations that he (Mr Adesina) violated the code of conduct of the institution as “spurious and unfounded”. But the U.S. government, in a letter dated May 22, 2020, to Ms Kaba, through the Secretary, Department of Treasury in Washington, D.C., faulted the decision of the committee to exonerate Adesina of all allegations, saying it was not yet time to make such a declaration. Some of the African countries are saying there was no need for the probe except the US was saying Adesina was guilty of the allegations. But a source close to the Dr Adesina said last night that he remained calm, resolute and would not be distracted as all up with a response. "I will not respond immediately. I do not have to jump into that. We will study it very well and then respond", he said. It's good but dangerous — Ahamba Chief Ahamba said the policy is good but should not be implemented without wide consultations. According to him, in the United States of America, when a lawmaker dies, it is the governor of the state who would have the responsibility of nominating a replacement. FG evacuates 69 Nigerians stranded In Lebanon By Lawani Mikairu & Victoria Ojeme ABUJA — The federal government has evacuated 69 Nigerians who were stranded in Lebanon. Those evacuated include 50 trafficked girls and 19 others who were stranded in the Middle Eastern country as a result of closure of airports across the world due to COVID-19. This came as Ethiopian Airlines yesterday denied having any existing contract to evacuate stranded Nigerians from Canada. According to the airline, it is the responsibility of the Nigerian government and its agencies to choose partner airlines for such evacuation The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, who announced evacuation of 69 Nigerians from Lebanon via his official Twitter handle, said they were evacuated with the support of the Lebanese government and the Lebanese community in Nigeria. “With the financial and logistic support of the Lebanese government and Lebanese community in Nigeria, 50 trafficked Nigerian girls and 19 stranded Nigerians were successfully evacuated from Lebanon and arrived in Nigeria today (Sunday). “Profound gratitude to Ambassador Houssam Diad, 55 African Heads of State and Governments as well as critical non-regional members of the Bank have applauded the achievements of the Bank in the last five years. The source said the ultimate objective of the call by the US was clearly to destabilize the African Development Bank and “this is a typical colonial agenda.’’ “They have watched with disdain, the steady rise of the Bank in global reckoning and they want to systematically assault the Bank’s AAA rating. “The AfDB has been declared to be at par with the World Bank and on some parameters to even exceed the World Bank by independent rating agencies. So, the Americans have set out to create a ‘phoney crisis’, based on petty, roundly unsubstantiated and in some cases ridiculously idiotic allegations. “One of such is the fact that the Bank’s Director of Agriculture is the brother-in-law to the Bank’s President. ‘’How, with all their sophisticated intelligence gathering, they cannot determine that Dr. Bunmi Oloruntoba is the brother-in-law of the President who resides in the USA, and not the wife of Dr. Martin Fregene. "It is, therefore, tantamount to gross negligence and demonstrates the level of desperation and near thuggery for a whole country’s Treasury Secretary to write supporting such silly allegations, let alone that it is the American Treasury Secretary.’’ He added that the plan was to decimate Af- *Akinwunmi Adesina rican development bank triangle. Undermine AAA who is US trained and globally respected and who has made the Bank a world class bank, which they see as competition with the World Bank and the US agenda to control Africa; destroy through fake news the Bank by lies and innuendoes and then take full control. The question is whether African leaders will let them! “African leaders are not stupid, they can see the game being played. The AfDB is having the best run in its history.” Yesterday, the Minister of Finance, Economy and Planning, Equatorial Guinea, Cesar Mba Abogo, threw his weight behind Adesina. He said: “We are certainly satisfied with the Bank’s performance and the visionary leadership of its President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina. “I would like to commend the credible and exhaustive work of the Bank’s Board-constituted Ethics Committee, chaired by the Takuji Yano. The committee’s report refer- Lebanese Ambassador in Nigeria and Ambassador Goni Zannabura, Nigerian Ambassador in Lebanon,” Onyeama tweeted. The Federal Government, as part of its efforts to evacuate Nigerians stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic, evacuated no fewer than 300 Nigerians from the UK a few weeks ago. A total of 160 Nigerians were also evacuated from the United States; 256 others from Dubai, and 292 other from Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines has denied having any existing contract to evacuate stranded Nigerians from Canada, saying it was the responsibility of the Nigerian government and its agencies to choose partner airlines for such evacuation The airlines also said it evacuated 187 Canadians and resident permit holders from Nigeria on May 21 from the Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on B787 to Addis Ababa for onward transfer to Canada. A statement released yesterday and endorsed by General Manager Ethiopian Airlines in Nigeria, Firihewot Mekonnen, said the airlines had been operating regular flights between Addis Ababa and Toronto Canada for years. Mekonnen also said more Canadians would be evacuated from Nigeria as arrangements were ongoing. US call for fresh probe of Adesina, plot to destabilise AfDB, says Bank's Ethics C'ttee encing sixteen allegations by whistle-blowers against Dr Adesina and other executives of the Bank, unequivocally stated that “these allegations are not valid and should be rejected.” Concerning the whistle-blower’s rejection of the conclusions of the Ethics Committee, ‘’we express our deep concern about how this not only undermines and affects Dr Adesina’s credibility but is also contributing to the erosion of the bank’s credibility, especially the strength of its internal institutions. ‘’We believe that this is just the opposite of what humanity needs at this time when we are facing an unprecedented crisis. We, therefore, echo the call by the chair of the Board of Governors, Honourable Niale Kaba, for “restoring peace and serenity within the bank. ‘’In conclusion, and as a testimony of my support for Dr Adesina and all the Bank executives who are personally and adversely affected by this situation and unfounded allegations, a few verses penned by John Donne (and popularized by Hemingway) come to mind. “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod is washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or thine own were: Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and, therefore, never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
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26052020 - We'll jail parents who enrol children into Almajiri system

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