11082020 - Insecurity: Defend yourselves, Catholic bishops tell Nigerians

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6 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2020
Vanguard, TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2020 — 7 :Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 • Na'Abba • Utomi State of the Nation: Why we’re returning to trenches —Utomi, Na’Abba, others By Clifford Ndujihe & Olayinka Ajayi ABUJA—LEADERS of the National Consultative Front, NCfront, a frontline political pressure group, yesterday dissected the state of the nation and returned grim verdict: Nigeria is on the edge the brink and all hands must be on the deck to save the country. Consequently, the leaders said they are returning to the trenches to halt the free fall into the abyss. Leaders of the group, who spoke yesterday at the maiden press briefing also held via zoom include former Presidential Candidate, Professor Pat Utomi; and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’Abba. We’re at ‘if we die, we die’ stage Apart from his speech, Professor Utomi told Vanguard they could no longer afford to stay in their comfort zones because ‘’ we are at the stage of if we die, we die.’’ “The NCF is a child of necessity, it is clear that our country is drifting badly. The executive branch and legislative branch seem to be confused over what their roles are. It just seems that what they are doing is struggling for spoils. Corruption has become so frightening. We saw the reality show from the National Assembly on the NDDC probes. By the time they get to key parastatals, we will all be on the ground. That’s how bad it is,’’ he said. How Nigeria can move out of despair Noting that the basis of politics is to right the wrong when something goes wrong, Utomi continued: “How can Nigerians move out of despair that we see everywhere? How can democracy be by the people and for the people rather than for politicians and by politicians? “If we don’t stop these things (President Muhammadu) Buhari will want to extend his stay. We must massively mobilise people and have the kind of orange revolution that they had in Ukraine to take our country back. Politicians must be sensible, rise to the occasion “If politicians are sensible and don’t want to end up the way Nicolae Ceau’escu ended up, that he was killed on the street like a dog, they better begin to wind back now and make laws that would stop the godfatherism business and have people who are willing to serve selflessly for a limited period of time. We want a part time legislature. NCF’s aim “Our aim is to layout a system that will bring out people who are ordinarily not interested in politics and in what is going on in the society, especially the youth because it’s their future that is being ruined. We will mobilise them massively. So, it’s a coalition of interest that will advance all. “I was in Cairo, when the Arab spring started, I saw ordinary people passionate about taking their country back. So that can be done here. There is nothing different. Youths keep talking about the fear of being arrested, in our days, we were arrested several times and were released. “When late Solomon Lar and others went to see late General Sani Abacha, they said, ‘we have to go, if we die, we die.’ We must get to the stage of if we die, we die and that is where we are now.” Duty to save Nigeria Before the chat with Vanguard, Utomi had in a speech titled: ‘’A Duty to save Nigeria,’’ recalled many times the people and leaders had risen in the past to save Nigeria, saying leaders of the NCF are determined ‘’to take action, mobilize the people and insist on a peaceful path to progress in the face of deteriorating conditions in our national life.’’ He decried the flickering flames of violence and killings across the country, highwire graft, and cost of governance, saying: ‘’Sadly, for our history, I have been here several times before. I was here when as a 19-year-old student leader Nigeria went through two coups resulting in the end of the Gowon era and the killing of General Murtala Mohammed. And we had to get on the streets to protest the state of the nation. How patriots saved Nigeria in the past ‘’I was there in 1993 when the election of Chief MKO Abiola was annulled by a handful of officers. I was on the streets even though I was a dozen years past typical age of street protests. I then helped call out professionals who were concerned for their country. The Concerned Professionals helped end military rule. ‘’Again in 2009 when the Ex-PHCN staff severance benefits gulped N409bn, says BPE •N7.48bn paid to union By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief ABUJA—FEDERAL Gov ernment has spent N409.915 billion on payment of severance benefits to exworkers and death benefits of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. The Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, disclosed this in a statement by its Head of Public Communications, Amina Othman, yesterday. According to the agency the payment streams were categorized into two - severance payments to former active staff of PHCN and the payment of PHCN retirees/ death benefits which PHCN could not pay before it handed over to the successor companies. It explained that for active workers, the total number submitted to the BPE by PHCN was 47,913, adding that of the number, 47,275, representing 99 percent, had been fully paid. BPE said these were forwarded to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, OAGF, for payment in 36 batches. The 638 outstanding active staff, BPE said, consisted of 167 duplicate and blank ABUJA — ALLEGATION of sex/human trafficking, which led to the arrest of Mr Dafe Sejebor, former Group General Manager of National Petroleum Investment Management Services, NAPIMS, has been described as entirely false. Sejebor was arrested in the United State over his alleged involvement in human trafficking. The allegation and charge of sex trafficking against Sejebor were dismissed on February 19, 2020. His counsel, Mr Mark Bennett, confirmed the dismissal of the charge against his client in a statement. He said, ‘’Mr Sejebor was arrested on March 27, 2019, and erroneously charged with misdemeanour prostitution’ spaces on the list; 414 that never turned up for verification; 25 that had been audited and were awaiting cashbacking; nine with initial documentation problems soon to be audited; and another 23 with documentation problems. The agency added that in the course of the verification, 81 people were found to be short-paid, which had been corrected and cash-backed, while 180 cases recently treated and recomputed for short–payment were awaiting cash backing. BPE explained further: “4,438 PHCN Retirees/NOKs (Next Of Kins) have been submitted to BPE in eight batches and to date, 3,131 representing, 71 percent of the beneficiaries have been fully paid their entitlements with 1,307 yet to be paid. ‘’This is as a result of 15 of them having error in serial numbering, 66 possible duplicates in submissions which 14 of them have been recently audited; and 196 have been cleared and are awaiting cash-backing, 392 cleared and sent to the pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, for pension related benefits and 694 to the Presidential Initiative for Continuous Auditing (PICA) for Gratuities and Deceased Benefits.” ‘’ Reports that Mr Sejebor was arrested for or accused of sex trafficking are entirely false. The charge against Mr Sejebor was dismissed on February 19, 2020, and the official records have been expunged by Court order of May 20, 2020 (Expunction Order 2920-15803). There will be no legal consequences from this arrest. He may lawfully deny, even under oath, that the arrest ever occurred.’’. However,” Also reacting to the dismissal of the allegation against Sejebor, an Urhobo youth leader, Mr Edewo Umukoro, congratulated Sejebor, adding that the dismissal has vindicated Sejebor. Mukoro noted that the development was good for the image of Urhobo Nation in Delta State and Nigeria as a country. COVID-19: All 774 LGAs likely to be affected soon — FG • 1,000 fatailty mark a wake up call – Ehanire By Chioma Obinna & Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA—AS the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria continues to rise, the Federal Government has warned that the nation is at a very dangerous stage of community transmission, even as it expressed concern that the pandemic may spread to all the 774 Local Government Areas, LGAs, of the Federation. Currently, only 85 LGAs, spread across 20 states, in which tests have not been conducted are yet to record a positive case of the disease. Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce, PTF on COV- ID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha who disclosed this at Monday’s briefing of the Taskforce, said the number of LGAs with 50 percent of the COVID-19 burden has now extended to 20 from 11 previously, adding that for technical reasons it has not been feasible isolating those areas for precision lockdowns. He said: “Nigeria, with 46, 577 confirmed cases and 945 cumulative deaths, remains respectively the third and fourth highest in these parameters. As we emphasised at the last briefing, Nigeria is yet to reach the peak of the pandemic. Therefore, the low test/ case confirmation numbers coming out daily should not be misinterpreted to mean that we have overcome. We have Presidency was taken hostage by a cabal and a very gravely ill President (Umaru Musa) Yar’Adua battled for his life, I was there. We called out citizens to A Save Nigeria movement. And we saw a doctrine of necessity pull us through. ‘’In recent weeks as many of us watched corruption reality shows from the National Assembly, looming constitutional crisis between the executive and legislative arms of government, terror on the streets and our rural backyards, insurgency, and banditry, mixed with harrowing kidnapping and rape cases, we have come to a realization that the imperative of now is that of awakening Nigerians to the urgency of saving Nigeria. We face an existential crisis today.’’ Nigeria sliding into anarchy Concurring, Na’ Abba said: Over the past two decades of our new democratic experience, we have had to watch our dear country, with dismay, disappointment and utter shock, slide into anarchy, collapse, ruin and rot. The promise that democracy held for us has become elusive to realize. The country has been left to drift. ‘’Hardly can any sector of the country be said to be working as government seems ineffectual, irresponsive and incompetent. Unemployment, particularly among our youths has reached and passed unprecedented levels, while unnecessary loss of human lives due to insecurity has become a recurring decimal with scores of Nigerians being killed on a daily basis."" over time ramped up testing but more needs to be done to raise the quantum of test per million population. “Our analysis has however shown that five States still account for 60 percent of cumulative cases; 689 out of 774 LGAs have reported a case; 85 LGAs in 20 States still remain with no testing done and no case reported; and 50 percent of all cases are in 20 percent LGAs”. Further, the PTF Chairman said even though the country has capacity to test 10, 000 people daily, only about 2,000 tests are currently being conducted, urging state governments to ramp up testing in their areas of responsibility. 1,000 fatailty mark a wake up Alleged sex trafficking: Court dismissed charge against ex-NAPIM’s boss, Sejebor, says, counsel call —Ehanire Also speaking, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire who expressed worry that the country was approaching the 1,000 mark in COVID-19 fatality, said it was a wakeup call to the reality of the pandemic. Stating that the strategy of the government was to reduce fatality rate to less than 1 percent, Ehanire announced that the Federal government has reactivated the Basic Health- Care Fund, BHCPF. He said National Council of Health, has reversed the guidelines for monitoring and disbursement of BHCPF funds, adding that the suspended funds were resumed to support the much needed efforts to COVID response. “The new system has better structure and transparency and accountability. Development partners are urged to support the new system and the ministry of health is available to attend to concerns of donors. COVID will surely give us the opportunity to strengthen our health system. Ehanire said government is turning its preferences therefore to gadgets that provide oxygen, like oxygen generators to be in many facilities, including General hospitals and larger Primary Healthcare Centres PHCs. “Solar-powered aggregates, where available, will be prioritized. Federal Health Institutions with oxygen plants should activate them as a matter of priority and ensure they can deliver to their A & E Dept. The other measure is the activation of the Ambulance service to move patients to treatment centres."
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11082020 - Insecurity: Defend yourselves, Catholic bishops tell Nigerians

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