ABIA STATE 2012 BUDGET; A CLEAR MANIFESTATION OF GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMATION

On Monday 19^th December, 2011, His Excellency, the Executive Governor of God’s own State of Abia, Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji, dutifully presented the state’s 2011 fiscal year budget to the State’s House of Assembly. In the words of the governor, the budget is that of transformation.               -

The budget, which has a cumulative of one hundred billion, one hundred and two million, three hundred and eighteen thousand, four hundred and seventy naira, (N100,102,318,470,) shows an increase of nineteen point eight percent; (19.8%), over the 2011 fiscal year budget of eighty billion, two hundred and forty-four million, four hundred and fourteen thousand, five hundred and forty naira, (N80,244,414,540).

The objectives of the budget include, among other things, transformation of God’s Own State and sustenance of successes recorded in the state’s democratic experiment since May 2011, as well as repositioning the state on the path of sustainable economic growth and development.

It is expected that the budget will implement some components of the medium term expenditure framework for the state vision 20:2020, which will motivate integrated multi-sectoral grass-roots’ developments predicated on enhancing sustainable socio-economic well-being of the people of the state.

As would be expected, strategies have been mapped out for the successful implementation of the 2012 budget. They include:

1. Transformation of Aba city as the commercial cum industrial hub of the nation.

2. Consolidation of the state government’s efforts in protecting the lives, property and businesses of the citizenry.

3. Transformation of moribund government-owned industries via public-private-partnership approach.

4. Reinvigoration of enabling environment for investment into the oil and gas sector, including a refinery, and

5. Consolidation on the achievements of government in the general health-care delivery in the state and adhering to a knowledge-based economy.

A breakdown of the budget shows that it will be financed by the under-listed projected recurrent revenue;

> Internally Generated Revenue (I.G.R)        = N22,202,318,470

> Federation Account (FAAC)                         = N58,900,000,000

> Value Added Tax (VAT)                                 = N10,000,000,000

> Derivation                                                           = N 9,000,000,000

According to the budget out-lay, recurrent expenditure in 2012 will be fifty-six billion,nine hundred and ninety-seven million, two hundred and fifteen thousand and seven hundred naira while the capital expenditure amounts to sixty-five billion, three hundred and ninety-two million, nine hundred and twenty-four thousand, two hundred and twenty naira. The sum of forty-three billion, one hundred and five million, one hundred and two thousand, seven hundred and ninety naira is proposed to be transferred from the recurrent revenue and an expected capital receipt of twenty-two billion, two hundred and eighty-seven million naira will be generated by way of grants and loans. The capital budget is separated into four main sectors as follows:

1. Economic Sector                          = N34,206,595,410

2. Social Sector                                  = N5,132,200,000

3. Regional Sector                            = N 6,124,000,000

4. General Administration              = N18,613,128,800,

amounting to the sum of sixty-four billion, seventy-five million, nine hundred and twenty-four thousand, two hundred and ten naira. The economic sector of the budget encompasses

1. Agricultural

2. Manufacturing and Commerce

3. Energy and Power

4. Roads and Bridges.

In the social sector, qualitative and affordable education, quantifiable health, well-managed information services and sporting activities will receive a lot of boost. On the other hand, the regional sector will pay adequate attention to environmental and allied matters. General administration will gulp the sum of eighteen billion, six hundred and thirteen million, one hundred and twenty-eight thousand and eight hundred naira.

All in all, the state budget of transformation is expected to take the state to its desired level of social, economic and political transformation. Successful implementation of budget 2012 is anchored on the state government’s adherence to due process, and uncompromising insistence on and pragmatic application of transparency.

May God continue to bless Abia State.

Chief (Sir) Don. Ubani, KSC, JP.

Source: www.abiastate.gov.ng

Senate stops move to restrict corps members’ postings

The Senate on Wednesday, rejected a bill seeking to amend the Act establishing the National Youth Service Corps. The bill seeks to prohibit the posting of corps members to states where there are conflicts.
It also rejected another bill seeking to amend the Central Bank of Nigeria Act to ban the valueing of goods and services in Nigeria in foreign currencies.
The first bill sponsored by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, also advocated a N50bn insurance package for corps members.
Presenting the lead debate on Wednesday, Adetunmbi said it would increase the monetary allowances paid to the corps members in view of the declining purchasing power of the naira since the last time their remuneration was reviewed.
The bill provided for the evacuation of corps members in conflict areas, making it the sole responsibility of the state governments.
He said, “The first amendment proposes that section 1 of the Principal Act be amended by inserting some provisions which prohibit the posting of corps members to states where conflict exists.”
Senators, however, opposed the bill on the grounds that the amendments sought could be effected by administrative means.
It was argued that since the changes could be brought about through administrative means, based on the NYSC Act No 84, there was no need to undertake an amendment through legislation.
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, noted that the bill was a long way to achieving changes that could easily be achieved administratively.
He said, “In view of section 315 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the NYSC Act can only be amended through constitutional amendment.”
President of the Senate, David Mark, adopted the views canvassed against the bill, saying that it would be wrong to seek to amend the NYSC Act on the basis of insecurity.
He said, “Whatever insecurity that exists today is temporary and we should not fashion our laws along that line. The insecurity we notice today is temporary and will not last for long.”
According Mark, most of the changes proposed in the NYSC bill are not things that ought to be in a bill but can be effected through administrative processes.
The bill was subsequently withdrawn as opposition to it was sustained.
Also, the Senate also stood down a bill seeking to amend the CBN Act to criminalise the denomination of goods and services offered in Nigeria in foreign currency.
The Senate was of the view that such legislation could endanger the economy.
Ekweremadu said the world had become a global village and such laws would be counter productive.
Other senators spoke in the same vein, arguing that the naira is used in many other countries.

Girl, 17 flees home over forced circumcision

Yenagoa – 17-year-old girl, Miss Patricia Youmgbo, has been declared missing by family members after she reportedly fled home to avoid circumcision.
It was learnt that the girl’s decision to run away from home followed the death of her younger sister, Joy after she was forced to undergo circumcision on Jan. 15.
An uncle to the missing girl, Mr Jonah Youmgbo, said that Patricia had fled the family home in Amassoma, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa since Feb. 14.
Youmgbo said that the two sisters, who lived in Lagos, had came home in December 2012 to spend the Christmas with their grandmother in Amassoma.
He said that the girls’ grandmother and some extended family members had ordered the girls to be circumcised before returning to Lagos.
The decision of the family led to the forced circumcision of Joy, a development that triggered the excessive bleeding that eventually led to her death.
Youmgbo, who lamented the death of the teenager, said that Joy, who was full of life before the forced circumcision, died from injuries as a result of the crude traditional practice of female genital mutilation.
He explained that the victim, suffered severe excruciating pains for days after the mutilation of her genital before her death.
Youmgbo said that medical reports obtained after the death of Joy, showed that the 15-year-old died of “Post Circumcision haemorrhage”.
It was the fear of falling victim of the same circumcision that made the elder sister, Patricia to flee the community since Feb. 14.
Youmgbo, who is a brother to the girls’ father, said  that a case of missing person had since been reported at the Amassoma Divisional Police headquarters.
He used the opportunity to call on Nigerians and Ijaw people in particular to desist from the “obnoxious” tradition of female genital mutilation.
When contacted, the Bayelsa Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Eguavoen Emokpai, (ASP), who expressed shock at the development, however, said he had not received any report on the incident.
Emokpai said he had been unable to reach the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the Amassoma Police Division for confirmation due to poor telephone network.
WHO, an organisation that had been in the forefront of global campaign to stop the female genital mutilation, had described the act as procedures that involve the partial or total mutilation of the external female genitalia.
The practice has been described globally as illegal and an infringement on the rights of women and should, therefore, be rejected in its entirety. (NAN)

Atiku's Political Adviser Attacks Femi Fani-kayode On Sovereign National Conf:

Malam Bashir Yusuf, the political adviser to former vice President, Atiku Abubakar has hit out at former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, for calling for a Sovereign National Conference. In a posting on Twitter (see below), Malam Bashir heavily criticised FFK calling him "dishonest" and "driven by hate".

Malam Bashir Yusuf has become notorious for attacking those whose opinions he disagrees with. In a post on his Twitter profile, he had attacked the character of the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) calling Pastor Ayo a bigot who is driven by childhood grudges against his own mother and insinuating that he was under the influence of drugs (see below).

Malam Bashir also heavily criticised President Jonathan for closing Nigeria's border with Niger republic because of the Boko Haram menace, claiming that it could be construed as an act of war by Niger Republic which could then initiate a pre emptive attack against Nigeria.

Obasanjo arrives in restive Senegal ahead of polls

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo arrived in Senegal on Tuesday saying that he would not rule out intervening to mediate over “undesirable” events as protests again rocked the capital ahead of weekend polls.

Africa’s top envoy is the head of a joint mission between the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), but the opposition hopes he will talk President Abdoulaye Wade out of seeking a highly disputed third term in Sunday’s election.

“The mandate we have is of election observation, but because of the situation that is on the ground we will not say that we are observing elections and where the need arises that we should do something to be proactive and prevent what is preventable, that we will fail to do so,” Obasanjo said.

The former Nigerian leader later added that part of his mission entailed preventing “what is undesirable and unwanted” as fresh clashes erupted in downtown Dakar between police and opposition protesters.

An ECOWAS statement said Obasanjo’s mission was “to engage all the political stakeholders in Senegal with a view to promoting dialogue and ensuring peaceful, fair and transparent elections.”

Wade’s critics have recalled that he was among the African leaders who pressured Obasanjo not to seek a third term in 2007 elections when he attempted to change the constitution to do so. His plan was thwarted in parliament.

Source: Vanguardnews

Obasanjo, who appered not to recall Wade’s urging, said that if it was true “maybe he can best advise himself.”

Asked what message he had for the country’s leaders from the African Union, Obasanjo said: “This country is a very beautiful country, and nothing should be done to destroy it.”

Man rapes 6-year-old girl

Yenagoa – Bayelsa Commissioner of Police, Mr Chris Olakpe, Thursday in Yenagoa, paraded one Godswill Williams, 45 for the alleged rape of a six-year-old girl in Edepie, a suburb of the metropolis.
Olakpe told journalists that the man was arrested after the mother of the girl reported the matter to the police.
The commissioner said the police had concluded investigation and the man would be charged to court “next week”
“We are here to parade suspects whose activities in the state, when narrated are so bizarre; even stranger than fiction.
“We have with us today one Godswill Williams aged 45 who raped a six-year-old girl,” he told journalists.
Mother of the victim, who was at the briefing informed  that the suspect, who was their neighbour, had allegedly lured the girl to his apartment by asking her to buy him sachet water about two weeks ago.
The mother, claimed that William forcefully had canal knowledge of the girl.
She said the incident which occured in broad day light, was immediately reported to the police, while the girl was taken to hospital, “where she is still receiving medical attention”.
The police also paraded two suspects Kingsley Wilcox and Ebipre Yenasome-Wilson said to belong to a cult group.
Olakpe said, “the suspects were found in possession of a locally-made pistol and have confessed to being members of Greenlanders and Bobo confraternity.”
The groups, according to him, are responsible for the death of many innocent Nigerians.
“They have been wrecking havoc in the state, killing people with matchets, beheading them and even using guns.”
Three suspected cocain peddlers, including a couple, Godswill Oweika and Lillian Oweika, were also paraded.
The commissioner said, “We also have a drug peddler who, Iam sure, is responsible for the untoward conduct of these teenagers who are in these cults.”
Olakpe disclosed that Godswill Oweika had just finished serving a two-year prison term.
He assured that all the suspects would be prosecuted. (NAN)

Abia State Local Organizing Committee For the Burial of Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu

For many great men who had traversed the planet earth, hardly did any of them have more than two very important dates in their lives. Ordinarily-speaking, man born of a woman is naturally associated with two eventful dates; the day of his birth and the day he joins his ancestors in the world beyond.

But in the case of the former military governor of defunct Eastern Region of Nigeria; Late Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, there exists an outstanding difference. Because of the distinctiveness of his rare and unique personality, it stands evidently incontrovertible that late Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu had, willy-nilly, unprecedentedly contributed immensely in shaping the course of Modern Nigeria.

His social and political engineering in the firmament of the Nigerian dynamics was inevitably captured and recorded by history and unequivocally constitute landmarks in Nigeria's March to Nation-hood.

Many contemporary writers and commentators have already written and said much about Ojukwu's date and place of birth, his privileged family background; with a golden spoon, not silver, and, of course, the bourgeois elitism that surrounded his brilliant academic career, culminating in his displayed astuteness in intellectualism and capped his pursuit with a masters' degree in History.

With his rare intellectual background, Dim Ojukwu, driven by a combination of vision, selflessness, determination, 'patriotism and humility willingly resolved to enlist into the Nigerian Army as a mere recruit. By that singular act, Dim Ojukwu carved a niche for himself as the first University graduate of African extraction to join the British Colonial Army as an ordinary recruit.

Some writers, purely for selfish destructive reasons, had insincerely and most unpatriotically labeled Dim Ojukwu as a rebel and an ethnic jingoist. This is an indecent and unacceptable manifestation of parochialism of an intolerable dimension. Such narrow-minded writers had pitiably failed to appreciate the fact that the Late Dim Ojukwu, as a Battalion Commander of the Nigerian Army in Kano, as at January 15, 1966, had bluntly and successfully refused to recognize the military coupd'etat plotted by the late Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu. He condemned the coup as he reasoned that, even though the political conflict, intolerance, and rivalry between the Late Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo and Late Chief Samuel Akintola had turned the defunct Western Region of Nigeria into a regional disaster and catastrophe, resulting into uncountable deaths and equally threatening the corporate existence of the new Independent Nigeria, Military Coup was not the solution to be applied to the 'Wild West'.

When the Late First Military Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria; Major-Gen. Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-lronsi, eventually took over the reins of the country after Late Kaduna Nzeogwu had surrendered to espirit de corps of military regimentation and superiority, history recorded another significant date for Dim Ojukwu as the first military governor and Chief Executive of the defunct Eastern Region of Nigeria.

On July 15 1966, Nigerian Military Officers of Northern Nigeria extraction, led by the then major Theophilus Danjuma, staged a counter-coup, during which they killed Major-Gen Ironsi who was a guest of the Military Governor of defunct Western Region, Lt. Col Fajuyi. The Danjuma-led coupists also killed Fajuyi who had attempted resisting the killing of Gen. Ironsi as his official guest.

As at the time of the Northern-plotted -Danjuma led coup in July 1966, the most Senior Nigerian Military Officer, after Gen. Ironsi, was Brigadier Ogundipe, of Yoruba extraction.

In the established culture of military leadership and sequence, leadership of the Nigerian state should have naturally been trusted upon Brig. Ogundipe. But the Northern Military Coupists installed Lt Col Yakubu Gowon, a relatively Junior Officer to Brig. Ogundipe. This act was, for sure, not acceptable to Dim Ojukwu, who saw it as a contravention of military discipline and ethics. As a well-bred intellectual and quintessential soldier, this was an overt injustice and flagrant display of indiscipline and its attendant impunity that had to be resisted.

With the successful over throw and killing of Gen. Ironsi, the North broke lose and embarked on a rampage that ended up as a pogrom targeted at ethnic cleansing of the people of forrrier eastern Region of Nigeria, especially Ndi Igbo, resident in such Northern cities as Kano, Kaduna, Maidugiri, Bauchi, Sokoto, Jos, Zaria, Markurdi and the smaller towns.

As the Military Governor of former Eastern Region, that period was the most challenging in the life and times of Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu. He found himself between the devil and the deep blue sea. He was principally committed to the Unity of Nigeria but at the same time he had to do something in order to stop the orgy of wanton massacre of Easterners in the North.

The situation in the North compelled Dim Ojukwu to embark on wide consultations. The outcome of the consultations with leaders of the defunct Eastern Region was the declaration of the Federal Republic of Biafra on 30^th May, 1966. This date became water shed in the political history of Nigeria.

It is equally important to state that the 30^th May, 1966 declaration of Biafra spontaneously gave rise to Gowon's administration splitting the country into twelve states; with the former Eastern Region being divided into three states; (I) East-Central State, (2) Rivers State and (3) South-Eastern State.

It should be mentioned that for thirty months, starting from May 1967 to January 1970, Dim Ojukwu, as the General of the Biafran Army and Head of state, sustained the struggle for his people's protection against total annihilation. He achieved this uncommon feat despite total blocade by the Federal government of Nigeria and hostilities by both Britain and former soviet union of Russia.

The Magic behind Dim Ojukwu's sustenance of a struggle that Gen, Gowon had boasted would be crushed in less than forty-eight hours was his vision, transparency, discipline, selflessness and ingenuity throughout the war, the people in the 'Biafran' enclave never witnessed short -fall in fuel supply. Yet Biafra had no functional refinery. The International air-port the former Biafran war-Lord constructed at Uli was one of the busiest in Africa. Yet it operated only in the nights because of air-raids. The Electronic Explosive device called "Ojukwu bucket 'or Ogbunigwe' which had the capacity to kill hundreds at a time, was purely an indigenous creation; courtesy of Dim Ojukwu's wonderful ability to harness talents amongst his people.

The Ojukwu Bunker at Umuahia which housed the administrative headquarters of Biafra after the collapse of Enugu, and which measures 29 feet underground and was built only in ninety days despite incessant bombardment of Umuahia, is a super-master architectural edifice that is capable of dwarfing the famous Hanging Towers of Babylon.

As Ojukwu's body is brought to Enyimba International Stadium at Aba Today; Tuesday 28 February, 2012, Governor T.A. Orji and the Local Organizing Committee for this burial of 'the people's Leader and Hero, invite all Abians and admirers of heroism to come out en-masse and give honour to whom it is due and at the same time urge all Nigerians to conduct a critical frank study of those virtues that were inherent in the Late Governor of Former Eastern Region of Nigerian State. The Abia Local Organizing Committee for the burial of this quintessential leader must have to express immense gratitude to His Excellency; Governor T.A. Orji (Ochendo), for graciously providing enough fund for the L.O.C to accord befitting honour to our former military governor of defunct Eastern Region of Nigeria. May the soul of Ikemba find peace in the bosom of the Lord, Amen!

CHIEF (SIR) DON UBANI; KSC, JP

(OkwubunkaofAsa)

Chairman Sub-Committee on Media & Publicity.

Abia State Local Organizing Committee

For the Burial of Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu

Culled from abiastate.gov.ng