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Nigerian Army and General Buratai’s drive on infrastructure

Nigerian Army has landed in its best of times on infrastructural provisions and exceptional welfare packages under the leadership of the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lieutenant General Buratai, says Thomas Uzah, Ph.D, Head of Department, Mass Communication, Kwararafa University Wukari, Taraba State, in this piece made available to NAOSRE

It will be twisted logic and misplaced sense of judgment of the exact reality to assert that the Nigerian Army (NA) is having good times in infrastructural provisions under the supervision of its current Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, more appropriate to say, the Nigerian Army has landed in its best of times on infrastructural provisions and exceptional welfare packages under the leadership of the COAS, Gen. Buratai.

Before the reality of the leadership of Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari, discerning Nigerians knew several other salient reasons accounted for the persistent open anger expressed by soldiers in the warfront. The persistent mutinous actions by troops at the frontlines fighting Boko Haram was partly attributable to poor troops’ welfare occasioned by absolute neglect and dilapidated infrastructur and accommodation for officers and soldiers.

Soldiers experienced and endured dilapidated Barracks, acute shortage of office and residential accommodations, poor state of Army Guest Houses and camps throughout the country. Some Army Barracks had not tested any flavour of renovation or rehabilitation since Nigeria’s first post-independence era Defence Minister, Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu built the structures in the early sixties. History has recorded him as a leader who massively built new Barracks and renovated old ones.

Like Ribadu; Gen. Buratai has carved an enviable niche for himself in the new Millennium as an Army Chief who has generously built new Barracks for the Army and massively renovated old ones in virtually all parts of the country. African proverb says, a chic which would grow into a cock is known the very it is hatched.

So, Gen. Buratai started exuding the signs of a genuine leader, reformer, a positive minded personality and charismatic goal-getter on all fronts the first day he assumed office as Nigeria’s COAS. He toured Army formations and units across the country; bemoaned the competitively dilapidated state of Army Barracks and facilities, whilst he silently took notes on the urgent interventions each of the Barracks required to transform into a habitable befitting dwelling place for soldiers.

The Army boss believes in the philosophy that a soldier deserves the best in peacetime because he faces death every minute in wartimes.Though, Gen. Buratai sauntered unto the leadership of the NA at the time Nigeria was plunged into economic crunch. But the reality of meagre budgetary votes and insufficient funding of the Army to date did not deter Gen. Buratai from putting smiles on the faces of officers and soldiers.

With a supportive Commander-In-Chief, President Buhari, Gen. Buratai has propelled the NA on an unprecedented and incredible structural expansion and physical development in the last five years. He corrected and normalized what appeared to have been a carelessly institutionalized structural decay and degeneration of almost three decades in barely five years of his leadership.

And the real good news is that the Army Chief has not felt he has done enough to assuage the depravities of his Comrades in the profession of arms’ yet. Therefore, he hungers to accomplish more in impactful legacies for the NA. And to properly uplift Army personnel’s welfare, Gen, Buratai has starched an extra mile to partner with private estate developers to berth his vision of normalizing the accommodation deficits, which hitherto plagued the NA for decades.

Reputed as a focused, dynamic and foresighted leader, with a functional mind, Gen. Buratai has conceptualized and delivered his development agenda for the NA under the broad divisions of policy frameworks of NA Property Limited and NA Welfare Limited by Guarantee, Army Post-Service Housing Scheme and NA Farms and Ranches among a motley of others.

Gen. Buratai is a man of taste and elegance. And one unique feature of Buratai’s touch on structural transformation of the Army is that he has phased out the Lord Lugard’s structures which dotted Army formations/Barracks across Nigeria and replaced them with modern, befitting and well furnished accommodation. And the new buildings are also an aesthetic consummation of the dynamism of architecture’s latest wonders of awful edifices. They are a sight to behold anywhere in the world. He replaced obsolete amenities, facilities and equipment in the Army Barracks and units with state-of-the art latest models.

The establishment of two new Divisions of the NA by Gen. Buratai in conformity with the Presidential directive on new NA Order of Battle (ORBAT) is not the most cheering news. But it is the pleasant shock that the new Divisions 6 and 8 in Port Harcourt, Rivers state and Sokoto are fully operationalized. And it is because the Army Chief worked assiduously to get all the needed structures, manpower and equipment ready within record time.

Gen. Buratia has replicated the same portrait in the new and novel Nigerian Army University Biu (NAUB); the first Nigerian Army War College, the Nigerian Army Aviation Command, Nigerian Army Women Corps, Command Engineering Depot Kaduna, Special Forces Command, Special Forces School at Buni Yadi as well as the renovation and construction of new buildings at the Nigerian Army School of Artillery in Kachia, Kaduna State. He renovated and modernized the Office of the Military Secretary at the Army Headquarters Abuja; built and equipped the first well organized and effectively manned think thank Centre per excellence – the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) located at strategic area of Asokoro Abuja, which is serving the dual purpose of an alternate office accommodation and modern resource venue for workshops and seminars for the army and qualified public organisations and individuals.

Still in Abuja, the fanciful modern structures at the recently built and commissioned Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment at Giri, consisting of new 150 flats of accommodation in the Barracks accommodating 150 families of officers and soldiers is legendary in the recent history of the Nigerian Army. Okene in Kogi State has also hosted a new Army Forward Operations Base and military barracks. So also the latest building, manning and equipping of Cyber warfare Command Office Complex, Cyber Operations Centre and Nigerian Army Intelligence and Cyber Warfare School at Giri-Abuja.

The testimony also reflected at the newly built various Nigerian Army Super Camps across the volatile locations in Nigeria to facilitate the defeat of terrorism, Armed banditry and other insecurities across the nation.The structural development inclination of Gen. Buratai started quite early in his leadership. By 2016, the renovation of 10 blocks of 30 flats each at the Maxwell Khobe Cantonment, Jos was completed. So also the dramatic renovation and expansion of Army headquarters Complex in Abuja.

The development streak descended on the 3 Brigade Kano, where new blocks of multiple flats of accommodation for soldiers in the Bukavu Barracks, Kano have been completed. It amazingly displays two newly constructed blocks of 24 flats each and five renovated blocks of 12 flats each. Still under Gen. Buratai’s leadership, the NA renovated and remodeled accommodation for 120 soldiers in Ribabu Cantonment and Dalet Barracks, under 1 Division Kaduna, comprising of flashy 120 flats.

Similarly in 8 Division Lagos area, – specifically – in 9 Brigade Ikeja multiple accommodation for soldiers and officers have been renovated and new ones were built. There, in ikeja Cantonment, a befitting accommodation for NA pilots has recently been completed and commissioned by Gen Buratai.

And the NA’s partnership with Betonic West Limited has launched a N7.5 billion Army Post-Service Housing project in Otukpo and Ohimini LGAs of Benue state. The same rewarding partnership with Belemaoil Producing Limited, has earned the Army a 3-story building containing 30 flats at the 16 Brigade Headquarters, Camp Buratai, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Gen. Buratai has intentionally established a dozen Army Forward Operations Bases throughout Nigeria with all the necessary facilities to checkmate all forms of insecurity in Nigeria.

Quite impactfully too, the NA under Gen. Buratai has rehabilitated, re-equipped all existing Army hospitals, medical facilities and Referral hospitals across Nigeria. Two new reference hospitals have been approved and are under construction in 7 Division Maiduguri and 82 Division Area of Responsibility located at Abakaliki in Ebonyi State.The aim is to give the best medical care to Wounded in Action troops and members of their families as well as members of the public/host communities.

The reference hospitals are meant to provide effective healthcare services, – more accessible and affordable to soldiers, their families and members of the host communities. Gen. Buratai is indeed, the NA’s Mr. Infrastructure. He is indefatigable, charismatic and pragmatic leader and military commander of the highest order!Even at the risk of flattery, it is more accurate to say that NA has never experienced these robust structural developments and expansions in her over 100 years of existence as seen during the period of Gen. Buratai. There is a saying in the NA that the period 2015 – 2020 is the Golden Moment of the Nigerian Army as factually articulated in the Compendium of Nigerian Army Transformation: The Buratai Years – 2015 – 2020. This book objectively presents the remarkable transformation of the Nigerian Army under the leadership of Gen Buratai.

Therefore, it is obvious that there is no COAS since post -independence Nigeria that has dramatically upgraded structures, welfare, training and professional standing or disposition of the NA like Gen. Buratai. He has evidently done so much to better the lot of his officers and men more than any other COAS in the history of the NA.

Gen. Buratai represents the changing face of NA’s professionalism, rich history, records of operational achievements in the various theatres of Operations. One wonders what our country would have become in the absence of men and women of Buratai’s caliber especially in the face deliberately and politically engineered insurrection like the “ENDSARS cannibalism” in Nigeria.

ODUMOSU APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF NEW DEPUTY PPRO AS LAGOS COMMANDS CAUTIONS AGAINST SPECULATIONS ON OJORA’S DEATH

The Lagos State Police Command has commenced thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of one Dapo Ojora, a socialite and Polo Buff, who was alleged to have shot himself in the head on Friday, 11th December, 2020, in his Lagos residence.

The Lagos State Police Command therefore urges the general public to disregard media speculations making waves on the cause of his death until the investigation instituted by the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu, to unravel the cause of his death is concluded and the findings made public.

The police command condemns all sorts of speculations making round in the media. These are not only unfounded and baseless but could jeopardise police investigation on Dapo’s death.

The Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, while commiserating with the family, friends and business partners of the deceased, assures that police experts in the Homicide Section of the command’s State CID will do the needful on the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, CP Hakeem Odumosu has approved the appointment of DSP Matilda Umiah Ngbaronye as the new Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command.

DSP Matilda Umiah Ngbaronye was enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force on 19th April 2010. She has served in various capacities in Lagos State Police Command. Before her appointment as the DPPRO, she was the Crime Officer, Dolphin Estate Division, Ikoyi, General Investigation /Fingerprint Expert at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCIID Panti, the Officer-in-Charge, Public Complainants Bureau, (PCB), after which she was deployed to African Union Mission in Somalia AMISOM where she made the country proud and excelled as the Public Information Officer (PIO).

DSP Matilda Umiah Ngbaronye, a good image manager, has attended the Advanced Detective Course, (ADC), Human Rights Protection Course and many others courses both within and outside Nigeria.

NCOY: FirstBank is powering the Next Generation of Nigerian Innovators and Entrepreneurs

What did (the various territories that were later to be amalgamated into) Nigeria look like in 1894? How about a hundred years later in 1994? And what could Nigeria look like in the year 2094? History provides elaborate answers to the first two questions. Answers – accurate or near-accurate answers, that is – to the third, however, will rely entirely on the ability to predict/envision the future and work to invent and create the predicted future.

With a continuing shining legacy of nation building – supporting innovative financial, commercial and other developments in Nigeria and even Africa – one bank is already projecting beyond today to the year 2094 – exactly 200 years from its founding in 1894. The bank, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd, is not just predicting a bright, innovative future for Nigeria but is going all out to foster what is required to invent it. FirstBank is putting its money where its mouth is. The bank has been betting the farm on Nigeria’s young and emerging generation for decades.

Take the last two decades, for example. FirstBank has been involved with Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) for over twenty years as one of the many ‘fronts’ in the bank’s engagements with the next generation of Nigerians to collaboratively create the bright, innovative future that Nigerians dream of. For ten years now, FirstBank has been supporting the National Company of the Year (NCOY) competition, an extension of the JAN Company Programme, designed to help senior secondary school students better understand how businesses are organised and operated. The students will be required, during the course of the competition, to develop a business plan, establish production and sales of goods and services for their company, monitor progress toward goals at regular department and company meetings, maintain complete financial records, compile a report to stockholders, and liquidate the company at a given period with the support of a volunteer.

FirstBank’s partnership with JAN on the National Company of the Year competition has meant a decade of impact and innovation illustrated by the very nature of innovative products and services created by young minds to solve real problems facing society and the business systems they put in place in form of student companies to successfully produce and market the products and services sustainably and to impact their local communities. Consider the growing problem of fire accidents and deaths from gas explosions resulting from gas leakage in homes, offices and industries. The students from Taidob College, Abeokuta, through their student company, TC Achievers, created an innovative solution to address it.

TC Achievers produced a domestic and industrial gas leakage detector – a device which raises an alarm and sends SMS to the owner’s mobile phone once there is any gas leakage. Their innovative device fetched TC Achievers first position in the regional competition in Ogun State and at the national level in Lagos, earning them the right to represent Nigeria in Ghana at the 2019 African Company of the Year competition. Taidob College emerged from Ghana with four awards, the most by any of the participating Junior Achievement member countries, including Botswana, Eswatini (Swaziland), Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Nigerian representatives won the following: Client Focus Award, Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, Facilitator of the Year Award and were second runners-up for Company of the Year Award.

The 2018 National Company of the Year competition winners who went on to emerge the grand winners at the Africa Company of the Year competition in Ghana same year, Inventive Explorers from Caro Favoured College, Ajegunle, Lagos were concerned about traffic accidents, especially in areas with school children crossing busy streets. Their innovative device, a rechargeable handheld LED traffic light, was designed to solve this real problem faced by various congested communities. Besides the grand prize at the Africa Company of the Year competition, they also brought back home the Access Award, given to the business that best exhibits the principles of global connectivity.

Guided by the same spirit of innovativeness and enterprise and a passionate desire to solve a real problem facing society that were at work when TC Achievers and Inventive Explorers devised their award-winning innovative solutions, the first runners-up in 2018, Brain Max, the student company formed by student representatives of Government Girls Secondary School, Abaji, Abuja designed a website and software application for connecting local produce farmers directly to their customers. Brain Box also won Best Corporate Social Responsibility Project Award on account of which they visited camps of Nigeria’s internally displaced persons (IDPs) to provide financial literacy and entrepreneurship education to occupants, including helping the IDPs to secure seed funding. It was the same inspiration for the second runners-up, Sharon Glory Ventures, the student company formed by students of Sharon Rose College, Saki, Oyo State who produced a water-level indicator to enable homeowners to determine the level of water in their tanks. Sharon Global Ventures also received the award for the Most Innovative Product.

In 2020, given the global COVID-19 pandemic, the FirstBank-sponsored National Company of the Year competition will be conducted virtually. The virtual format will, however, not take anything away from the allure and competitiveness that the competition has been noted for over the years. This year’s unique competition, holding on Saturday, 12 December 2020 at 3 p.m. (West/Central African time), will bring together six outstanding student companies across Nigeria to lock horns for a lifetime opportunity to carry Nigeria’s flag at the JA Africa Company of the Year competition later in the year, and possibly repeat the feat achieved by the 2018 Nigerian representatives.

The Virtual Company of the Year (VCOY) competition is the culminating point for the implementation of the Virtual Company Programme. The goal of the VCOY is to create a signature showcase for JAN and the students who benefited from the impact of the digital JA Company Programme. This pilot programme will be in two stages where the first stage will identify the top business ideas from each region and select the top five most viable business ideas and reward them with seed funding to fully develop their ideas into businesses. The second stage of this competition sees the introduction of top professionals across different sectors who would serve as the panel of judges to determine each student company’s performance against a set of established criteria. Judges look out for evidence of innovation and application of new ideas in all aspects of business and select the best team to represent Nigeria at the Africa Company of the Year competition.

Whichever student companies emerge as winners of the 2020 National Company of the Year competition, one thing is certain: All the participants, not just at the national level but also at the regional levels, will join the ever-growing and rapidly-expanding crop of young minds engaged, trained, prepped and reoriented in a FirstBank-sponsored empowerment programme to become innovative and entrepreneurial thinkers and problem solvers. The bank is supporting such programmes so the young participants will join it in the arduous task of nation building and inventing the desired future for Nigeria. FirstBank is confident that the young minds who come through the JAN Company of the Year competition will be Nigeria’s future Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. In their time and in the envisioned future for Nigeria, the country will stand tall, unintimidated by her Western counterparts, having been catapulted to the status of a leading developed nation by the young and emerging generation FirstBank has been betting big on for years.

DON’T BE DEMORALISED BY ICC INVESTIGATION AND AI POSTURE, BURATAI TELLS NIGERIAN TROOPS

The Nigerian Army’s attention has been drawn to a Press Release by the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday 12 December 2020, alleging that she has found a reasonable basis to believe that “members of the Nigerian Security Forces (“NSF”)” have committed acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes. This was immediately followed by a release by the local branch of Amnesty International (AI) in Nigeria “demanding full investigation of atrocities by Nigerian forces.”

There is no doubt such statement and instigation can distract the Nigerian Army troops with its demoralising effects. It will have negative consequences on troops morale, interest in military service by Nigerians and severe setback to all our internal security operations in the country. However, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General TY Buratai, enjoins Nigerian Army troops to ignore the distractions and call on the gallant troops never to be worried or demoralized by these moves.

The COAS who is currently in self-isolation as part of precaution against the COVID-19, would soon be joining our gallant troops in the North East at the end of the mandatory isolation period to continue giving the desired leadership and support to the gallant and patriotic troops of the Nigerian Army. He said we must fight on to secure our country and people.

He further enjoined troops to ignore the wicked, unnecessary distractions and direct troops to fully concentrate on the final defeat of Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists group which is in sight. He also charges the troops to work hard and be guided by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Rules of Engagement, the Code of Conduct and the Standing Operating Procedures for all Nigerian Army Operations.

The COAS wishes to assure and reiterate that the Nigerian Army is not only protecting human rights but also sustaining human rights nationally and globally. Our professional conduct over the years and most recently during the #ENDSARS protest at Lekki Village near Lagos are clear testimonies to the Nigerian Army’s posture on promoting sustainable human rights policy.

The Nigerian Army wishes to advise local or international organisations not to allow themselves be used to destabilize or destroy the troops’ morale by the sponsors of mischief in Nigeria.

NAOSRE Security Discourse: Ned Nwoko Sues For Adequate Funding For Personnel, Partners Health Ministry To Tackle Malaria

The former House of Representatives member and founder of STARS University, Prince Ned Nwoko, has said never before had Nigeria faced wanton insecurity, as in recent times with reckless killings, kidnappings and armed robberies among others by bandits.

He spoke at the Annual Dinner Night & Discourse organized by the National Association of Online Security Reporters (NAOSRE) held in Lagos on Friday, was represented by Dr. Tony Akposeri

Speaking in his capacity as Grand Patron on the topic, “2021 Nigeria Security: Issues, Finding and Prospects”, Nwoko said: “Today is not the issue of sacking the service Chiefs as being advocated by some Nigerians. That will not solve the issue of security challenges.”

He stated that if the President sack the service chiefs and we don’t do the right thing, the issues affecting the security of lives and properties will still continue.

Nwoko enjoined the government to remunerate the security personnel, as well as recruit adequate personnel to safeguard the nation.

“The Nigeria Police is the principal law enforcement agency. It is the lead security agency in Nigeria with a staff strength of about 371,800. There are currently plans to increase the force to 650,000, adding 280,000 new recruits to the existing 370,000.

“Nigeria has more than 370,000 Police officers and a Police-to-citizen ratio of 1 to 400, which more than meets the UN’s recommended figure. Also, they need sophisticated weapons. Again, their salaries and pensions must be given priority.”

Elaborating more, Nwoko suggested to the government that the children of all security personnel should enjoy free education from primary to the university level, pointing that it will be a moral booster to them and helps get the best from them.

Furthermore, Nwoko spoke on funds and prospects. The former House of Representatives member stated that personnel should be aware of funds coming to their Cadre, stressing that it will give room for transparency

Finally, Nwoko added that security is not just the task of government and security agencies. He said it’s the responsibility of all citizens, urging all Nigerians to give useful and accurate informations on the activities of hoodlums, bandits and anti peace organizations.

He said churches, mosques, schools and others have a great role to play in promoting moral instructions that will set the values of honesty, discipline and hard work in the society.

He added, “Our security personnel are not immune against the bite of mosquitoes which causes malaria, either at home or at their duty post. However, my foundation in partnership with the federal ministry of health and other relevant stakeholders are planning to eradicate malaria in Africa starting with Nigeria.

“I urge you all to join hands with me as we take care of our environment, fund vaccine development and fumigate the entire country. It’s possible with your mobilization and advocacy of our strategies so that all our security personnel will also be free of malaria and Nigeria will be a malaria free nation,” he concluded.

Dapo Ojora Allegedly Commits Suicide

Dapo Ojora, a socialite and one of the sons of board room guru, Otunba Adekunle Ojora and his wife, Erelu Ojuolape Ojora is dead.

Dapo who is also an in law to the former Senate President, Bukola Saraki who married his younger sister, Toyin, reportedly shot himself in the head this evening according to sources close to The Street Journal.

Having mysteriously escaped death sometime back via a ghastly power bike accident, which forced him to beat a retreat from the public space, it therefore comes as a shock that the polo buff would take his own life in such a gruesome manner.

There are indications that his death may not be unconnected to his marital woes with wife, Patricia who is a trained lawyer and and an entrepreneur. Their much celebrated marriage began having hiccups a few years ago and both decided to go their separate ways for undisclosed reasons.

His marital woes was a huge blow to him especially because of the love he shared with his wife, Patricia. And much as he tried to put up a brave face, his marriage problems was too hard for him to handle as he couldn’t bear to loose his loving wife..

Just last year, himself and his wife put their differences aside when they both hosted the creme of society to their daughter, Tara’s wedding to her beau, Folajimi Ayodeji, at their family house in Ikoyi, Lagos.

His parents and two siblings left, Toyin Saraki and Yinka Ojora would no doubt be badly hit with this sad news as just nine years ago, they lost the scion of the family, Gboyega Ojora, fondly referred to as Gbegi. He died at the age of 50 of heart attack at First Consultant Hospital, Ikoyi. He left behind a wife, Solveigh Omosalewa and a son, Toluwani.

Insecurity: Senator Na’ Allah urges FG to enhance institutional capability of security agencies

…Calls for Committee to regulate sales and distribution of cattle

Worried by the rising insecurity in the country, Senate Deputy Leader and Senator representing Kebbi South District, Senator Bala Ibn Na’ Allah has called on the federal government to as a matter of urgency enhance the institutional capability of those who are charged with the responsibility of ensuring law and order to see how to get the country out of the woods.

Na’ Allah who made this call in his submission at the first Annual Dinner Night & Discourse organized by the National Association of Online Security Reporters (NAOSRE) held in Lagos on Friday regretted that all attempts to ensure that the Police had been reformed over a long period of time had been rebuffed by people in leadership simply because the system worked for them and therefore, effort to have it remain within the circle of government becomes the work of the day.

He however noted that if Nigerians work towards a system that works for them, whether they are in government or out of government, one would have seen that the quest to be in government would reduce.

The Senator noted that no country in the world had witnessed the uniqueness of the insecurity that Nigeria was facing today adding that the development had more to do with the past misdeeds of the leaders.

“We never thought that a situation will get as bad as this. We were thinking that the people will continue to endure our excesses and I think that now, time has come that it is no more possible to rule the people based on deception.

“Take for example, cattle rustling; when you take these cattle, they are not consuming them. They are sending them somewhere. So, why can’t we come up with a committee that will regulate the sale and distribution of cattle? We can do it because you cannot carry cattle on your head from let’s say Abuja to Lagos or Kaduna to Imo or to any other place where they go to sell these cattle, they go by road in a trailer. So, it is not difficult to regulate this kind of thing.

“So, what is difficult to regulate this kind of thing so as to make sure that whatever it is that is being transported is coming from a source that is genuine? But you see there is no institutional commitment to do this kind of intervention and therefore, it is easy for cattle to be rustled, load them in a trailer and then deliver them in Lagos or elsewhere and sell them and make money and go.

“So, our control strategies are at variance completely with the intended intervention. It is really a bit difficult but I am beginning to think that with the level we reached now, it has dawned on everyone whether in government or out of government that there is the need to secure this country and that need overrides any other need. And I hope that government will begin to look at the wisdom in trying to enhance the institutional capability of those who are charged with the responsibility of ensuring law and order to see how we can get out of where we are”, he stated.

The senator who further observed that the Boko Haram issue had more to do with fundamentalism arising from lack of adequate knowledge about the religion of Islam itself blamed the incidences of kidnapping and banditry on the inability of the policies of government to help develop the northern part of the country economically over a period of time.

“Reason being that the creators of our constitution wanted us to develop evenly and that was why consideration was given to the population and then land mass as a way of creating local government so that the resources of the country can adequately be distributed in such a manner that the country grows evenly and then, then welfare of the citizens becomes a priority.

“But unfortunately, government became a little bit not in accordance with the constitution. Governors refused to allow local government to use their resources and everything was cornered within the state thus economically strangulating the local government which is the grassroots. And then, if you notice carefully, this issue of banditry actually arises from or occurs monthly in the rural areas and it has to do with cattle rustling and then kidnapping for money and all that.

“I think that if we sit down and then soberly reflect on where we were and how we came to this place; it is an issue that I believe can be easily reversed in the sense that first, let us grow our institutions. Secondly, let the rule of law rule; thirdly, let everyone who goes against the law of this country be made accountable irrespective of his religion or ethnic background. So, let us see the country as one country with laws that have the capacity to regulate the affairs of men. But the issue is that you and me know that that is not what we have today”, he said.

He however called on Nigerians to see the country as one with laws that had the capacity to regulate the affairs of men saying “you and me know that that is not what we have today.”

According to him, “The country will do itself good if we jettison politics and jettison everything and then go back to the root cause of where were before and how we come to where are today. Could it be prolong wrong policies of government that didn’t work out well? Could it be the breakdown of institutions that have the responsibility of ensuring lives and properties of citizens are secured? What other issues could have landed us to where we are?”

The Yoruba: A New History by Akinwumi Ogundiran.

The book, is the first transdisciplinary study of the two-thousand-year journey of the Yoruba people, from their origins in a small corner of the Niger-Benue Confluence in present-day Nigeria to becoming one of the most populous cultural groups on the African continent.

The author, Akinwumi Ogundiran is Chancellor’s Professor and Professor of Africana Studies,
Anthropology & History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

He is co-editor of Materialities of Rituals in the Black Atlantic, named a Choice magazine 2015
outstanding book.

Weaving together archaeology with linguistics, environmental science with oral traditions, and material culture with mythology, Ogundiran in his new book examines the local, regional, and even global dimensions of Yoruba history.

The Yoruba: A New History offers an intriguing cultural, political, economic, intellectual, and social history from ca. 300 BC to 1840. It accounts for the events, peoples, and practices, as well as the theories of knowledge, ways of being, and social valuations that shaped the Yoruba experience at different junctures of time. The result is a new framework for understanding the Yoruba past and present.

The following personalities have these to say about the new work:

“In this brilliantly conceived and successfully executed project, Akinwumi
Ogundiran deploys a cultural-historical approach to pose new questions on how
the Yoruba as historical subject created their own epistemology, new eras of
aspirational values and principle, and conceptions of honor and respectability.”
— Saheed Aderinto, author of Guns and Society in Colonial Nigeria
On his part, “An exquisitely detailed and evocative portrait of the Yorùbá

“community of practice” that will change the ways we think about Yorùbá history and culture and become a seminal source for present and future scholars.”
—Henry John Drewal, Evjue-Bascom Professor Emeritus of African
and African Diaspora Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison

“This book will command the attention and respect of scholars, students,
researchers, and the general reader in the fields of history, archaeology, anthropology, sociology, and culture for a long time. It is an excellent addition to the literature and reference works on African Studies.”

—Olutayo C. Adesina, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
The Yorùbá: A New History is the first transdisciplinary study of the two-thousand-year journey of the Yorùbá people, from their origins in a small corner of the Niger-Benue Confluence in present-day Nigeria to becoming one of the most populous cultural groups
on the African continent.

ORDER VIA https://iupress.org/9780253051493/the-yoruba/

Nigerian Army Cancels Remaining Activities Of 2020 Annual Conference

The Nigerian Army has cancelled the ongoing Chief of Army Staff’s Annual Conference 2020 that took place in Abuja.

The military formation announced this haven realised that an officer who participated in the conference tested positive to COVID 19.

According to the Acting Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Sagir Musa, all the participants of the conference, including himself have been mandated to immediately proceed on self isolation in line with the Federal Government’s protocol for COVID 19 and to prevent any further spread of the disease.

The statement reads;

“The Nigerian Army wishes to inform members of the public that due to resurgence of COVID 19 Pandemic in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja in what appears to be a second wave of infection cycle and the unfortunate incident on Tuesday 8 December 2020, where an officer participating in the ongoing Chief of Army Staff’s Annual Conference 2020 here in Abuja tested positive to COVID 19, the remaining activities of the conference have therefore been immediately cancelled.

“All the participants have been mandated to immediately proceed on self isolation in line with the Federal Government’s protocol for COVID 19 and to prevent any further spread of the disease.

“All inconveniences hereby regretted please. Thanks for your usual understanding and cooperation please.”

Oyeyemi And Modernisation Of FRSC: An Overview Of Anti Corruption Campaigns By Bisi Kazeem

MmWhen the Federal Government of Nigeria established the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) on 18th February, 1988, it was generally seen as the culmination of all past efforts to address the growing menace of road traffic crashes in the country which put Nigeria road as the most dangerous to drive vehicles on, second only to Ethiopia. The responsibility of bringing down the rate and fatalities of the crashes fell on the founding fathers of the organisation who had earlier proved their mettle in road crash management campaigns through private initiatives.

With the Nobel Laurette, Professor Wole Soyinka as the founding Chairman of the Commission working in tandem with Dr Olu Agunloye who was the pioneer Corps Marshal of the FRSC, the foundation of a modern organisation built on the ideals of knowledge, service delivery and technology was solidly laid. The coming of the FRSC with its young men and women bubbling with youthful idealism and armed with various degrees and certificates as the pioneer Marshals took Nigerians by surprise, with their calm mien in public enlightenment programmes, aggressiveness in traffic law enforcement and efficiency in rescue operations which saw them earning instant respect from the generality of Nigerians and giving legitimacy to the new outfit.

After 32 years of its corporate existence and producing six Corps Marshals, including those that served briefly in Acting positions who continued to sustain the modernisation process of the Corps, the mantle of leadership fell on Dr Boboye Oyeyemi on 24th July 2014 with his inauguration as the first insider that was appointed into the exalted position. In carrying out this onerous national assignment, Oyeyemi has never looked back in addressing any intractable challenge that could have defied past efforts, having distinguished himself as someone that saw the organisation from its very beginning.

One area that his impact on sustaining the vision of the FRSC as a distinct law environment agency and a lead agency in traffic management and safety administration in Nigeria has remain focused is the area of anti corruption campaign which aligns fully with the philosophy of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR. In playing its historical role as a model organisation that has been supportive of the socioeconomic goals of the federal government, FRSC under Corps Marshal Boboye Oyeyemi enthusiastically embraced the anti corruption posture of the government and has continued to lend supportive hands to the campaign.

As many stakeholders pointed out recently, FRSC’s demonstration of anti corruption agenda has been evidenced right from the organisation’s conceptual framework as evident from the institutionalisation of its operational and administrative structures to make service delivery the cornerstone of its ethics. Thus, many questions of corruption and corrupt practices were already answered by the Corps through its diligent administrative and operational mechanisms before they could even become manifest. In his commitment to the success of anti corruption campaign in the FRSC, Oyeyemi ensures that the commands are run efficiently on budgeted allocations which are paid as regularly as the financial releases are made by the federal government to avoid a situation where the commanding officers and patrol teams could be tempted to compromise their responsibilities by resorting to illegal sources of funding their operations.

Through this mechanism, commanding officers are sure of finances to routinely carryout repairs of their operational vehicles and other administrative costs without resort to self-help that could compromise them. Consequently, any operational staff that is found to have compromised the trust of the Corps while on patrol or other official assignments by indulging in bribe taking are not only diligently tried in accordance with the FRSC disciplinary codes, but netted out with the strictest punishment to serve as deterrence to others.

Furthermore, while the law clearly spelt out the amount of fines to be paid by traffic violators as published on the Notices of Offence, Management under Oyeyemi has ensured that the process of effecting such payments are clearly explained to members of the public through regular public enlightenment programmes. Accordingly, whoever goes out of his way to abuse the process by collecting cash from the offenders on the road or in the offices in lieu of the stated procedures are made to pay dearly through appropriate trials and punishments.

In the same vein, though FRSC designs and produces the National Driver’s Licence and number plates, it does not involve itself or the staff in the direct dealing with members of the public who use the documents. Rather, it deals directly with the state government through their agencies such as Vehicle Inspection Officers and State Boards of Internal Revenue under the tripartite arrangement. That’s why Management under Oyeyemi has ensured that the information on the process for acquiring the documents are pasted at strategic locations in the FRSC offices to guide the licence applicants.

In addition, in the deliberate efforts to upgrade the monitoring system of the Corps for efficient outcomes, the Oyeyemi-led Management recently partnered with relevant anti corruption agencies like ICPC and DSS to embark on sting operations where arrested personnel across the country are being tried under the FRSC Disciplinary Panels. And in further demonstrating its commitment to corruption- free society which aligns with the philosophy of the present administration, Oyeyemi-led Management went into partnership with an NGO known as Akin-Fadeyi Foundation to launch an anti corruption App by which victims of corruption from members of the Corps can immediately activate and send report of the transactions to the FRSC Headquarters for immediate remedial action.

In furtherance of its policy on transparency, the present Management of Corps Marshal Oyeyemi last year established the National Traffic Radio (NTR) to provide ample opportunity for members of the public to not only get information on traffic updates and road conditions across the country, but report any negative encounter with members of the Corps including demand for bribes directly to the studios. The traffic radio which has been in operation is providing direct access to members of the public through various communication tools for unhindered fight against impunity and corruption among the FRSC personnel and other incidents.

As some keen observers of FRSC and players in the fight against corruption have rightly observed, regardless of whatever negative practices that some few bad eggs in the Corps may indulge themselves in to tarnish the hard earned image of the organisation which have no institutional backing for such operational misconduct, Management under Oyeyemi has no doubt been very committed to addressing such ills in the Corps through its aggressive pursuit of anti corruption programmes and more public support could lead to the realisation of the overall success.

We therefore call on every Nigerian of goodwill as well as international partners to see the campaigns for safer road environment and a nation free of corruption as shared responsibilities for which they should all remain committed through robust use of the platforms the FRSC has provided. As Corps Marshal Oyeyemi has continued to restate in his statements, “FRSC is a public trust and its commitment to protecting public interests through transparency programmes would continue to be vigorously pursued by the Management.”

Assistant Corps Marshal Bisi Kazeem, fsi, is the Corps Public Education Officer.