Text of President Muhammadu Buhari’s remarks at the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, March 24, 2016.

 PROTOCOLS
We are members of the legacy party, plus APGA and DPP. We realized since 2005 that to remove the PDP from power, we must sink our differences, come together and form a party. God willing, that eventually happened and that is why we are where we are today, coming together inspite of our differences, both personal and ideological. We must not forget that. Having identified that as members of the legacy party, we again identified three fundamental things facing us. First, security, second, economy and unemployment and thirdly, corruption. We campaigned throughout the country on these three fundamental issues and nobody successfully challenged us and these issues remained relevant. On security, we have made progress. It was a very courageous decision that the party took and executed by the Executive by removing most of the military hierarchy and appointing those to take over from them, acquiring some new hard and soft ware and raising the morale of the military to go secure the rest of the country which was then 14 out of 774 local government. I have said it often that as far as I know and the service Chiefs who are on ground, they are not holding any local government. But they still have some capability especially on soft targets by using technology. For Niger Delta, the militants are sending some conflicting messages. Some have said they are ready to drop their arms and join the rest of the nation to build it. But part of them are still sabotaging installations which is making investments in that lucrative area of Nigeria difficult because nobody will submit his riches to financial institutions, get money only to suffer huge loss. So, the environment for investment is being sabotaged by our own selves, Nigerians. We are doing our best with the military by trying to persuade them to join the rest of the country because in unity lies our strength. Of course the leadership of INEC has been changed, but I appeal to the leadership of the military, security agents and INEC that what I want Nigerians to remember me for, even if I have to leave the Presidency tomorrow is that I respect them. I want all Nigerians to believe and hold their PVC as personal entitlement as Nigerians and use it the way the like, and vote for whoever they like at which ever election. If they voluntarily sold it, it is part of their right and so, let them sell it and remain at home and not participate in any election. But let the law enforcement agencies give them the confidence that nobody will come out who has money to hire thugs, give them drugs and stop them from exercising their fundamental right. I am afraid I did not succeed in the election in Kogi, Bayelsa, Rivers. I think that more Nigerians are killed or killed themselves in Rivers than in any particular state. At this stage of our political development, to remain brutal is shameful and as a government, I promise we will do something by the next general election. On the economy, the fall of oil prices after Nigeria has made itself a mono economy is a disaster. I wonder why people could not believe that in Nigeria, about 27 out of 36 states have difficulty in paying basic salaries of their workers. If from 1999 to at least 2003, oil is above 100 dollars per barrel and an export of about 2 million barrel per day, how come Nigeria failed to make some arrangement to cushion the effect of a probably volatile oil market? Again, it show failure of the last administration. But we are now to pick the pieces as an APC government and so, there is no need complaining, but let us concentrate and see how much we can do with whatever remains of the economy. We realized that agriculture and solid minerals are two areas that can quickly come to help us to recover economically, at least in terms of employment and feeding ourselves and more importantly, saving the hard currency to make sure that what is left our industries remain open, employing Nigerians and producing goods and services which is very important. The policy we are trying to implement is TSA. When we insist that we have to know what comes in and what goes out for us to make a comprehensive amendment to the economy. If you go and see the Central Bank Governor, he will tell you that in the TSA, we have more than N3 trillion. Where would this money have been if TSA was not in vogue? I was made to understand that vouchers would have quickly been raised towards the end of the financial year and checks made. Whether they are going into projects or private pockets, nobody can prove it to you. But that money is there, it is identified, if is quantified and when the budget comes back eventually, the Ministry of finance will see how to allocate it to the rest of the country. We have tried to make sure that NNPC is reorganized, so that we know how much of our crude is taken, how much it is sold and to which account the money is going. But I tell you that up to the time we came, if anybody told you that he knows how much of crude exchanges hands either on the high sea or reaching their destination and the accounts the money goes into, that person is not telling you the truth. We are getting the cooperation of countries that has received this crude. But we have to be sure of the facts in our hands before we start prosecution so that Nigerians will believe what we have been telling them. Again, I have to repeat myself here for you to appreciate what I am going through because you are closer to the people than myself. I was telling a British team that came to supervise the training team they sent, that when I was in uniform, you took the perceived corrupt ones and put them in safe custody and quietly told them they were guilty until they can prove themselves innocent. But now under multi-party democratic system, I see some of them ride Rolls Royce, some of them have built estates here, but they are innocent until we can prove them guilty. This situation is true and you don’t need to stress your imagination to find out. If you can find out, you discover that a level eight officer has five houses, while you, as a Permanent Secretary or Commissioner is still living in a rented house. We have to get credible evidence to carry out successful prosecution and get judgement from the Judiciary. But effort is being made to give a list of recoveries in whatever currencies so far so that Nigerians will know that it is not all about long stories. For the party, I will like you to continue to make sacrifice. I know you are being harassed since the election that they haven’t seen anything on the ground. Well, if you have any explanation that could be accepted, is that you have three more years to go. When we came in after 16 years of PDP, each government had 42 ministries. We reduced them to 24, removed 21 Permanent Secretaries. We sat down and reflected seriously. We were all in the process of taking over at a time of national budget. So, imagine the volume of work and with what happened in the National Assembly, the padding, it would appear that below the Permanent Secretaries, there are still a lot of bureaucracies that are still with them. So, you have to appreciate the position we are in. Having cut 42 to 24, correspondingly, the parastatals will be cut down to some size and realigned and the boards reconstituted. We gave a blanket order which we had to rescind when we said all boards are suspended or dissolved. We had to go back and lick our vomit in terms of university boards because we found out that according to their laws, they cannot choose Vice Chancellors unless the Boards seat down, interview prospective candidates who wants to be VCs. So, there is nothing wrong in saying sorry and going back on your decision. So, we said sorry and allow all the universities to continue with their boards. But for the rest, eventually, we will make it. So, please, try to bear with us as we reflect on where we found ourselves. For globetrotting, sometimes, you need to present your case on personal basis to your economic colleagues and neighbors. Nothing is better than personal touch and I believe that we are learning a lot and eventually, the nation will realize so, I don’t envy you on the harassment you are going through from your constituencies. Take it with a lot of determination and we will be all right, God willing.

Many feared dead as Ijaw, Urhobo clash in Delta

Many residents of Aladja, in Udu Local Government Area, and Ogbe-Ijoh, in Warri Southwest Local Government Area, both in Delta State, were feared dead yesterday in a renewed clash.

Several others were injured and property worth million of Naira were destroyed.

There has been an age-long communal rivalry between residents of Aladja and their Ogbe-Ijoh counterparts.

It was gathered that youths from Ogbe-Ijoh invaded the community’s Divisional Police Station, carting away arms and ammunition.

Aladja, an Urhobo community, and Ogbe-Ijoh, an Ijaw community, have been engaged in protracted civil strife over land ownership and access to road.

Although security agents comprising the Army and the police have taken over the communities to stem hostilities, it was gathered that residents of both communities abandoned their homes because of the fears that the confrontation might worsen.

At the time of filing this report last night, sources said several persons had been injured while two homes – one each in Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh – had been razed.

A car inside the Ogbe-Ijoh property was damaged.

It was also gathered that yesterday’s clash started in the morning when some Aladja youths blocked the only access road from their town to Ogbe-Ijoh, leading to a free-for-all.

Giving the account of the incident, the Coordinator of the Ogbe-Ijoh Peace Movement, Friday Deinghan, said although the crisis started early, it was curtailed through the swift intervention of the Army.

Deinghan said: “One man, identified as Freedom from Ogbe-Ijoh, is lying critically injured as a result of the clash. But for the quick intervention of the Army, there would have been a total breakdown of law and order in the area.

“The area under contention has been declared a buffer zone, but some persons carried blocks and sand to erect structures there. The evidence is there. This morning (yesterday), Aladja residents started restricting people from passing to Ogbe-Ijoh; they beat up our people. Before we knew it, they had started advancing to Ogbe-Ijoh, and there were some little skirmishes.”

But a community leader in Aladja, who spoke in confidence, said: “Ogbe-Ijoh drew first blood. Their youths held and molested Ajadja women who wenre farming in the bush. In reprisal, our youths restricted their passage through Aladja to their community.

“There has been confusion since then. We can’t give a clear report of casualties now.”

Udu Local Government Area Chairman Solomon Kpoma said he was told that even when security forces demarcated both communities, some Ogbe-Ijoh residents still used the waterway to attack Aladja.

Kpoma said: “The police and the Army formed a barricade to cordon off Ogbe-Ijoh and Aladja and prevent the two sides from attacking each other. But somehow Ogbe-Ijoh residents, from the report I got, came through the river to attack. That was the report this morning.

“When Ogbe-Ijoh residents were gearing up for this fight, they attacked the Ogbe-Ijoh Police Station, which is very close to Aladja, and carted away their arms and ammunition. With that, the police became helpless. That was when they called for reinforcement.”

A truce, involving the chairmen of Udu Local Government Area, for Aladja; his Warri Southwest counterpart, for Ogbe-Ijoh, and 10 representatives of both communities, was being convened last night by the Warri Area Commander of the police, Mohammed M’uazu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).

TheNation

Saraki may say ‘Bye Bye’ to being Senate President sooner

By Amako Nneji 

The ruling of the Justice Umar Dalandi-led Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, on Thursday, March 24, that it has the jurisdiction to hear the case against the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, for allegedly declaring false assets while he was Governor of Kwara State, seems to have knocked Saraki down to his knees.
This came barely 48 hours after Justice Abdukadir Abdu-Kafarati, of the Federal High Court in Abuja disqualified himself from a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Saraki to quash his trail at the CCT.
Related: CCT delivers judgment against Saraki
Kafarati, had fixed Tuesday, March 22, for delivery of judgment on the suit. However, he announced his withdrawal from the case on the basis that his integrity had been called to question in the matter.

“It is only in this country that people can wake up and start calling people names.
“In the circumstance, I disqualify myself from this case. I will hereby send the case file to the chief judge for re-assignment to another judge,” the judge had announced.

Political pundits averred that the Dalandi Umar-led Tribunal seemed to have nailed Saraki’s political coffin by the decision to go ahead with the trial.

“There are fears that the CCT chairman, Danladi Umar, has not left anyone in doubt that he is on a mission to convict Saraki by all means,” a source said.

The source added: “Therefore, to subject himself to be tried by this tribunal and by this chairman is to commit political suicide.
“The Senate President has gone to every judicial length to stop this trial by the CCT not because he is running away from justice, but because he knows there is no way he is going to get justice off the case, if it goes to trial”.
Saraki was arraigned by the Federal Government on a 13-count criminal charge that bordered on corruption, false declaration of assets, and illegal operation of a foreign bank account while in office as a public servant on 22nd September, 2015.
Already, Saraki has allegedly come under immense pressure from within the National Assembly to resign and face his trial.
Some senators are canvassing the appointment of a Senate President in the interim to allow Saraki effectively take care of his trial while still being assured of the safety of his position at the end of the CCT trial.
To them, “with President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso Rock, the chickens are coming home to roost.”
However, other lawmakers still loyal to the embattled Senate President have opposed calls for his resignation citing the issue of fair hearing and justice.
Post-Nigeria learnt that the charges of false declaration of assets, if proven, carry grave consequences for Saraki.
Related: Saraki in total disarray as APC ‘gods’ sentence him to ‘death’
If he is convicted on any of the allegations, the guilty verdict would have deleterious consequences for him at three levels.
First, a conviction could see Saraki relinquishing the position he currently occupies as senate president.
Second, a conviction could also damage irreparably his reputation as a two-time governor of Kwara State, a qualified medical doctor, and a rising politician with an eye on the 2019 Presidential ticket.
Third, by law if the CCT finds that a public officer contravened any provision of the Code of Conduct, such person could be punished by being asked to vacate the office he/she occupies, seizure and forfeiture of assets in contention, or made to suffer any other penalty as may be imposed by the National Assembly.
Recall, that Saraki emerged Senate President on the floor of the Red Chamber on June 9, 2015, against the wish of some leaders of the APC, who had indicated their preference for his rival, Senator Ahmed Lawan.
Since his emergence as Senate President, the body language and certain utterances of those who opposed to his emergence had shown that they would have their pound of flesh.
This perhaps was why Saraki, while being put in the dock at his first appearance at the CCT disclosed that the reason why he was being tried was because he is Senate President.

Banks, elite not interested in agric, says Ogbeh

March 25, 2016

Cocoa

Everest Amaefule, Abuja 

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said that his greatest challenge since assuming office in November 2015 is convincing the Nigerian elite on the need to support investment in agriculture.

Also, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has earmarked $6m for cassava and rice production in three states in the country.

Ogbeh, who spoke to newsmen at the inauguration of the State Partnership for Agriculture by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Abuja on Thursday, said systemic support for agriculture from the banks was also lacking.

He said, “The biggest challenge has been trying to persuade the Nigerian elite – political, academic and professional – who are totally disconnected from agriculture. They talk about it on television and newspapers but agriculture happens in practice on the soil.

“Getting them reconnected will take quite a while. Bankers are not interested. There is no support to agricultural credit, fertiliser quality and management, seed control and seed quality. These are severally lacking in the system. And we have to reengineer the consciousness of Nigerians to respond to the new reality of our situation. It will take a while.”

Also speaking with newsmen, the Deputy Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. James Nyoro, said the State Partnership for Agriculture would enable Nigeria to move from being net importers of food to net exporters of food.

He added that the foundation would spend $6m on the programme in which Kaduna, Benue and Kogi states had been picked as pilot states.

Nyoro said, “For us at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the programme is going to be catalytic in helping the Nigerian government to achieve its vision for food security, reduce food imports, and increase agriculture productivity so that they can raise many millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

“Therefore, one of the areas we are going to work on is state partnership because we do know that action takes place at the state. That is where innovations are tested, whether you are talking about cassava processing and marketing or whether you are talking about rice; action takes place at the states.”

 In a prepared speech read on behalf of the ministry, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, said more than 35 varieties of cassava had been developed and registered in the country.

The varieties, he said, had considerably increased the production of cassava to make Nigeria the largest producer of cassava in the world with an annual output of 45 million metric tonnes.

He said, “Flour mills are being encouraged to substitute at least 10 per cent high quality cassava flour for wheat flour.  The master bakers have been more positive in responding to this policy and we will sustain our demand for inclusion of high quality cassava flour in bread in Nigeria.

“The impact of the quest of government to achieve food sufficiency is most evident in the production of rice.  A total of six million rice farmers have been reached with improved rice varieties through the e-wallet system in the past few years.  This has resulted in the rise of the total cumulative cultivated rice area by two million metric tonnes in 2015 even as the number of integrated rice mills in the country grew from just two in 2011 to 21 by 2015.

“The aggregate milling capacity of the large scale integrated rice mills in the country at present is put at 1,041,200 metric tonnes of paddy rice per annum.  Three existing mills are expected to embark on expansion to add 602,800 metric tonnes per annum to their collective capacity.  Another seven new mills expected to come on stream soon would add another 439,000 metric tonnes per annum to the national milling capacity.”

He added that the development of strategic partnership like the SPA would go a long way to contribute to the country’s quest for food self-sufficiency in the next few years.

PUNCH.

Buhari breaks silence, replies Fayose, Others

By Post Nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari, has explained why he decided to spend most of his time travelling on oversea trips since he assumed office 10 months ago.
President Buhari disclosed this on Thursday, March 24, at the All Progressives Congress, APC, National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting held at the party’s headquarters in Abuja.
The President, among other things disclosed his government’s efforts to strengthen the economy, fight insecurity and improve the electoral system.
He slammed his critics by defending his frequent trips abroad despite the damming economic and security challenges confronting the nation.

“For globetrotting, sometimes, you need to present your case on personal basis to your economic colleagues and neighbours.
“Nothing is better than personal touch and I believe that we are learning a lot and eventually, the nation will realize so.”

The president concluded by urging party members to accept criticisms in their strides.

“I don’t envy you on the harassment you are going through from your constituencies. Take it with a lot of determination and we will be alright, God willing,” he said.

Recall, that recently the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose decried President Buhari’s frequent travels, maintaining that the President was wasting the nation’s scarce revenue on fruitless foreign trips.

“From available records, in June 2015 alone, the President travelled to Niger Republic, Chad, Germany and South Africa. Also in 2015, the President travelled to United States of America in July, Benin Republic in August, Ghana and France in September, India in October, Iran, France and United States of America in November and in December, he travelled to South Africa, Benin Republic.
“This year alone, President Buhari has travelled to the United Arab Emirate, Kenya, Ethiopia and he is leaving for France and United Kingdom today to spend four days abroad.” Fayose said.

Although, the presidency has consistently put up a defence that Buhari’s globetrotting has been yielding fruits, we are however yet to see any of such results.

Kachikwu Under Heavy Fire as Fuel Crisis Lingers

By David

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu has been heavily criticized and asked to resign in the face of the lingering fuel crisis. This came after he announced on Wednesday that despite the efforts being put in place by the Federal Government, fuel queues might not be completely eliminated until about two months.

Kachikwu who said he can’t do magic said he and members of his team were working hard to resolve the fuel crisis. The scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, has lingered since January as hundreds of motorists crowd at filling stations daily without seeing fuel to buy.

“One of the training I did not receive is that of a magician, but I am working very hard to ensure some of these issues go away.

 

“And let us be honest, for the five or six months we have been here, NNPC has moved from a 50 per cent importer of products to basically a 100 per cent importer and the 445,000 barrels per day that were allocated were to cover between 50 and 55 per cent importation.

 

“So it is quite frankly by sheer magic that we even have the amount of products at the stations. We are looking to see how to get foreign exchange input; the President and I discussed extensively on how to get more crude directed at importation.

 

“His Excellency (Buhari) will rather have less crude but have individuals in the society suffer less with inconveniences than have more crude and have them continue to suffer.

“So we are going to put a new model to enable us to increase the pace and actually get majors as part of the crew of those to bring in more products so that the NNPC will sort of go back on the capacity of what it used to do and the majors will take over the balance of importation.

 

“I think if we do that, although I don’t want to put a time frame, but I will expect that over the next two months, we should see quite frankly a complete elimination of this (fuel queues).’’ Kachikwu said.

Kachikwu has come under heavy criticism from various stakeholders, including the organised labour, petroleum marketers, oil industry workers, manufacturers and experts in the oil sector because of the comment as he has been asked to resign due to his incompetence to tackle the issues at hand and save many Nigerians from this suffering.

According to Punch, the Trade Union Congress specifically asked the minister to resign instead of giving Nigerians excuses on why it would be impossible to get fuel easily in the country before June.

The TUC, through its President, Mr. Bala Kaigama, called on Kachikwu to resign to give room for a better person to be appointed if he lacked the capacity to solve the current problem.

Kaigama said the positions occupied by the minister were too demanding for him and urged Buhari to appoint a group managing director for the NNPC.

Kaigama stated, “If he is not a magician, he should resign now. What we are saying is that Nigerians are getting impatient with him.

 

“So, if he has no quick fix to it, he should just quit. We are getting impatient. He is moving from one unpopular policy to another, yet we cannot see any quick fix.’’

The Chairman, NUPENG, Lagos Zone, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, said, “For the first time in the history of Nigeria, we have an official of the government accepting government’s failure. I have said it several times that they have been rationing, and it is going to linger.

 

“But they shouldn’t allow it to get worse beyond this current situation,” he said, adding that tanker drivers were being subjected to unnecessary workload.

 

“They will say, ‘Discharge one compartment at Apapa; second compartment at Agege, and the third at Abeokuta. So, the job the truck driver is supposed to do within an hour, he may end up doing it for two days.”

The surprising benefits of smoking weed

By Jennifer Ajimande

So much has been said about weed, as many believe that smoking it makes one stupid, with about 9 percent of cannabis users developing a dependence on the drug and could lead to withdrawal symptoms for people who try to quit.
However, with all the negatives associated with smoking marijuana, there are also some surprising health benefits of smoking pot when taken in “moderation”.
1. Weed can be used to treat Glaucoma

Marijuana in recent years has been used by medical scientist to treat and prevent a host of diseases including, glaucoma (eye disease) which increases pressure in the eyeball, damaging the optic nerve and causing loss of vision.
According to the National Eye Institute, NEI, Marijuana when smoked, lowers Intra Ocular Pressure, IOP, in eyes of people with normal pressure and those with glaucoma, thus preventing blindness.
2. Migraines

Marijuana has anti-inflammatory properties that assist in pain relief. In fact, the effects are said to be “several hundred times more powerful than that of aspirin.”
Doctors in California have treated more than 300,000 migraine cases with medical marijuana. It has shown to be effective in treating a host of illnesses and conditions, such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
3. Cancer

It is not news that marijuana helps cancer patients when they undergo chemotherapy, but recent studies found that marijuana can play a role in curing aggressive cancer.
Researchers in the U.K have successfully killed cancer cells in leukemia patients using marijuana.
How does it work? According to the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, marijuana turns off the ‘gene’ and in turn, stops cancer.
4. Boost metabolism and keeps you skinny
Medical reports show that pot smokers are skinnier than the average person and have healthier metabolism and reaction to sugar, even though they do end up eating more calories.
5. Boost creativity

There is a general belief that marijuana makes one stupid, but researchers have since found that the stereotype was based on co-relational evidence, instead of cause and effect.
Weed has proven in some studies to boost mental creativity, at least to a degree.
British researchers have found that marijuana increases the verbal fluency in users who ordinarily tested low for creativity.
Even though people’s short-term memories tend to function worse when high, people get better at tests requiring them to come up with new ideas.
However, it is important to note that higher doses can increase anxiety and make you paranoid.