Month: November 2023

By Deborah Coker

The Minister of State for Defence, Dr Bello Matawalle, has advised Gov Dauda Lawal of Zamfara to focus on his job of governing the northwestern states and leave him alone.

Matawalle gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Abuja.

He was reacting to some allegations by Dauda concerning his tenure as governor of the state.

The allegations bordered on mismanagement of resources, heavy debts and non-payment of examination and school fees for students at home and abroad, among others.

“I think the man is not ready for governance. He’s always shifting blame instead of him to concentrate and make sure that he delivers dividends of democracy to the people of Zamfara.

“He only engages in fighting, looking back at what happened long ago; how many governors have governed the state? four or five of us.

“Over the years, none of them has looked back and tried to rubbish their predecessor, but this one, instead of him to concentrate on the issue of security, he is playing blame games.

“When students of Gusau University were kidnapped, Mr President mandated all of us, all the security agencies, to go to the place and console with the people of the state and the parents.

“He wasn’t in the state. He was away. He was not in Nigeria. We called him, he did not respond. We had to go through a third party before we got his phone number and we called him.

“He pleaded with the minister here, that he was away but that once he comes, he would tell us so that we can come.

“This is a team that Mr President mandated to go to the state. Till today, no communication from this person.

“He is just pushing blames instead of him to concentrate. My advice is to him is that he should remember that he was elected to tackle the issues in his state.

“As Dauda’s predecessor, I always pray for him to succeed, to ensure that the issue of insecurity, terrorism and banditry become history in the state.

“That is because no matter what it is, that is my state, my family and everybody is there, including my extended family.

“So, I’m always praying each and everyday for God to free and protect us from this kind of situations.

“As stakeholders, we must come together, team up and fight these criminalities.

“I feel that they just want to distract me from my responsibility that was given to me as Minister of Defence. They don’t want me to oncentrate on my responsibility. I won’t allow them.

“God knows I have done my best and I’m going to try to do more. And for Nigeria, we are working hard to make sure that all sort of criminalities will go.

“I believe he should sit down, do a critical analysis, and he would know that the people advising him wrongly are his enemies.

“With every complaint, people would begin to see the governor as a perpetual complainant.

“He is not a woman, he is a man. Let him concentrate. Let him stand. Let him be firm on his responsibility. He should not be like a woman crying all the time.”

The minister said that he would not respond to the governor again as the Northern Elders Forum and the Police had advised him not to.

“Let him continue saying whatever he wants to say. I have said my own. We have so many things to say about him that I’m not going to say because our elders have talked about it. I respect them and I’ll make sure that I respect what they advised me to do.

“I think all we need to do is to come up together and solve the issue of insecurity in Nigeria, particularly our geo-political zone.

“There are so many challenges known to us, so why are we fighting ourselves?

“I will concentrate to make sure that the people of the North-West are free from these criminals. This is what we’re supposed to do as leaders of that zone.

“We should come together and fight these criminals together instead of engaging in fighting ourselves,” he added

NAN

) A former board member of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Oluwafidipo Falade, was laid to rest at his Sango-Ota residence in Ogun, on Saturday.

 

 

 

Falade died Oct. 19, at the age of 70.

 

 

 

In a sermon held in Agege, Lagos before the interment, Ven. Sup. Evang. Adebayo Johnson, of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), Mafoluku, Phase 1, described the late Falade as a a father, mentor and source of inspiration in his lifetime.

 

 

 

Johnson, who drew his Bible reference from the book of Revelation 14, verses 6-13, charged everyone to prepare for eternity while still living in this world.

 

 

 

`Make your decision now that you are still alive on where you want to be after death,” he said.

 

 

 

Sup. Evang. David Omotola, one of the officiating ministers, described Falade as a dedicated member of the Parish who gave his moral and financial support for the development and progress of the church.

 

 

 

“ We have lost a great member in the person of our Special Most Superior Evangelist Falade, a strong member, a giver, supporter and active; however, we believe that God loves him more,” Omotola said.

 

 

 

Oluwaseun Falade, first son of the deceased, in an interview with NAN, described his late father as a man of honour, with high principles and standards, blunt, a life-changer, mentor, accommodating and honest.

 

 

 

He said that his father was passionate about progress and community development, and was privileged to serve the country under PDP and later APC.

 

 

 

“We used to quarrel a lot, but I must declare that he was a loving father, prayerful, approachable, kind- hearted, dedicated to the service of God, and humanity.

 

 

 

“ His demise has created a vacuum which no one can fill in my heart and family, I will really miss him, but will continue from where he stopped and even surpass his feats,” he added.

 

 

 

Alhaji Olawale Mogaji, Otun-Balogun of Epe Kingdom and former Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Service Commission, (LAHASCOM), said that late Falade was a man of peace and lived an exemplary life.

 

 

 

According to him, Falade impacted lives and was recognised in his community, which made him to rise up to the level of community leader, a former board member of NAN and of Lagos State Cooperative College Governing Council.

 

 

 

In a tribute, Mr Tosin Osunnuga, Secretary, Lekki Local Council Development Area, said that late Falade was a man with high native intelligence, which gave him an edge and helped in proffering solutions to community crises in the community.

 

 

 

“ Your efforts to ensure that everyone, both indigenes and non-indigenes, are given fair treatment by investors in Lekki and Lagos Free Trade Zone will not be forgotten,” he said.

 

 

 

Falade was also Community Representative and Board Director, Lekki Worldwide Investment Limited, and Baale of Ebute Kosu in Lekki, LCDA.(

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that one of its supervisory presiding officers, who was abducted on the eve of the governorship election in Bayelsa State

The victim, who was abducted at the Amassoma jetty in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, regained his freedom on Saturday.

 

This was confirmed in a statement by Wilfred Ifogah, INEC’s Head of Department of Voter Education and Publicity in Bayelsa State., has been released.

In the official statement, Ifogah said: “The Independent National Electoral Commission, Bayelsa State Office, is pleased to inform stakeholders and concerned citizens in Nigeria that the INEC SPO earlier abducted on the eve of the election has been freed and is doing fine.”

 

INEC had earlier reported the abduction of one of its supervisory presiding officers in Bayelsa State on the eve of the election. The officer was assigned to Registration Area 06 (Ossiama) in Sagbama LGA and was abducted whil

The Labour Party governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Udengs Eradiri, on Saturday, faulted the conduct of Saturday’s governorship election in the state, saying it was fraught with irregularities bordering on alleged selling and buying of votes.

 

He also claimed that the identities of LP polling agents were changed by INEC prior to election day.

 

Speaking in an interview with reporters after casting his vote in his Agudama-Ekpetiama community, Yenagoa Local Government Area, Eradiri said, “Unfortunately, vote-buying was the order of the day, and the people were encouraging it and being bought.

 

“I was talking to somebody, and the person was telling me that she was ready to sell her vote for me, and I told her I can’t buy votes. Secondly, I didn’t contest because I’m looking for people to induce to be governor. I came to the contest because I felt that things were not right, and I felt that I could do things differently.

Behind the scenes, you see the buying and selling of votes going on, as you vote you collect your tallies, and you can see people are showing their votes to confirm. So, people don’t care about what you do. All they are after is money.”

Shedding light on the alleged changing of the names of LP polling unit agents, he said: “In our case, we had filled the forms, 2, 244 agents complete. INEC sent printed tags and on the tags, especially four local government collation agents, which were our local government chairmen, but on the tags, it’s your name but not your face.

 

“They just mixed the faces, so it was deliberate. So I insisted and called the national chairman (of INEC) and we sent him a letter. So we have a received copy from INEC. Given that these are errors that you committed because you printed the tags, you didn’t ask us to print them. We filled out forms on the portal, but when you printed them, the names were different. The names were different from the faces. Our agents were refused in a lot of polling units because this problem was deliberately put.”

The LP standard bearer blamed the electorate for the inability of the state to make progress in terms of good governance, quality leadership, and development, saying that he was disappointed in the system.

 

“I am disappointed. I’m disappointed not with the process alone but with the people themselves because I thought that the people understood now because everybody has seen the nakedness of poverty, neglect, and incompetence of leadership and so that will define the voting pattern, but I was fooled.

 

“People don’t care about the educational situation and economic situation. All people care about is money in their hands. And that’s why I feel very sad because probably I misjudged the people before I decided to embark on this journey. I thought that the people, going through this process, they would have been able to express it in the ballot.”

 

 

The mobile telecommunication corporation, MTN, has alluded to the recent debt cancellation status on its subscribers’ network as a system error.

 

The network provider made this known in a tweet on its official handle on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday.

 

The firm explained that an unexpected glitch in its system caused the cancellation of debt owed by its network subscribers, stressing that the debt status remained unchanged.

 

Recall that Netizens have expressed their satisfaction with the debt cancellation, with many believing that MTN deliberately erased their debts.

One user, Fatai said, “Debt has been paid. MTN debtors, check your account, MTN don clear una gbese

Another user, Ikechukwu Amara, said, “What a time to be alive. I actually thought it was a joke until I did it myself, my N5,000 debt has been cancelled.”

 

Too Cute, another X user opined that MTN is doing giveaways to its customers across the country, and that’s why they cancelled all the debt owed

.However, one Bukola declared that MTN could never give anything free without them benefitting in the end, adding, “Una dey trust company for this country. How will MTN which is facing this economic downturn, dash Nigerians such huge money? How will they make it up? This one na Shege pro max all of una go see (sic).

 

Reacting, MTN on its support handle wrote, “Yello, we are aware that some of our customers’ xtratime debt was cleared. It was a system glitch, the airtime was not cleared.

 

“The issue is receiving attention from our support team and feedback will be shared once received. Thank you,” it stated

 

 

By Ademola Ogunde, Public Affairs Analyst

(Flowerbudnews):   For the public, July 1st 2020, holds no memory as it is either marked as a special day in Nigeria or in a global calendar to be celebrated.

Nonetheless, this day has become part of history with the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) and the Free Trade Zone in Nigeria.

You may recall that His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR on June 26th 2020 announced the appointment of a new sheriff,

Professor Adesoji Adesugba to oversee this very important agency of the Federal Government, NEPZA as its Managing Director/ CEO. Professor Adesugba, a seasoned technocrat, and a thoroughbred private and public sector Investment Promotion and Development expert, chose July 1st to resume duty, a day that signified a fresh start and a new dawn in the management of both the Authority and the Free Trade Zone Scheme ostensibly set up to fast-track and sustain economic growth and industrialization of the country.

Professor Adesugba, assumed duty during the period of the covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, but that did not deter him from activating the series of reforms and positive changes the sub-sector has witnessed during his three years stay.

Professor Adesugba had set out to tenaciously embrace the mandate assigned to him by his principal, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, albeit with a compelling mindset to succeed no matter the odds. Needless to mention that his taskmaster, the president was confident of his ability to deliver.

Known for his proficiency and organizational ability and institutional reforms, Professor Adesugba was well prepared for the job ahead having worked in the private sector for most of his career from the Nigeria Customs Service, (NCS), the Bureau for Public Enterprise, (BPE), the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council, (NIPC) as well as Ministry of Labour and Productivity respectively.

He adopted a hands-on approach to his task and brought his wealth of experience and expertise to actualizing his strategic plan at NEPZA. Being a strong stickler for teamwork, he rested much on assistance from his highly effective and efficient Board, management team and staff; and this paid off. No wonder, the staff have variously described his three years at the Authority to be some of the best times of the Free zones scheme in Nigeria since its introduction in 1992.
It was amazing that few months into his administration, the public and key stakeholders in the sub-sector could see the positive direction this enigma was driving the scheme. Suffice to say that there was a deliberate focus on increasing the number of functional Special Economic Zones and also ensuring the provision of key infrastructure internally and externally to attract more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as well as to optimize production within these special business cities.

This period also saw significant improvement in advocacy visits to lure sub-national governments to buy into the scheme. Consequently, states such as Lagos; Delta; Katsina; Kano; Sokoto; Ebonyi; Kwara; Gombe; Taraba; Ekiti; Enugu; Anambra; as well as Taraba took the right steps to further leverage on the scheme to grow their local economies.
Issues of infrastructure deficit which had been the bane of the success of the scheme in the country was given the serious attention it deserved.

Key infrastructure needs such as access roads, electricity, water, warehouses, administrative buildings were given attention in the two public zones located in Calabar and Kano.
Professor Adesugba’s martinet for excellence is also etched on Kofo Abayomi Street, Lagos as he delivered a masterpiece of an ultra-modern liaison NEPZA office codenamed “Adebayo Adeniyi House.’’ He also replicated similar office edifice in the Kano Free Trade Zone, codenamed “Maryam Katagun House.’’ No doubt, the Free Trade Zone landscape in Nigeria under the Professor Adesugba witnessed tremendous attraction of both foreign and local investments in addition to other ground-breaking achievements. Typical examples in this regard included the completion and commissioning of the Lekki Deep Sea Port, Nigeria’s first deep sea port owned by the Tolaram Group based in Singapore and operated by the Lagos Free Zone plus the inauguration of the Dangote Refinery scheduled to significantly reduce petroleum importation and to boost the power generation.
The following are some of the deliverables that marked breakthroughs in the success story of the Professor Adesugba-led administration.
The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS0, to improve administration of taxes in the Free Zones.
The settlement of the lingering dispute between the LADOl Free Trade and SAMSUNG, which helped to restore over 300 million US Dollar investment and 3000 employees.
Setting the stage for the listing of Free Trade Zones’ Enterprises on the Nigerian Stock Exchange Market.
Designation of four International Airports as Free Trade Zones
Establishment of new Special Economic Zones in Lagos, Kwara and Katsina State respectively.
Establishment of the Free Trade Zone Training Institute, Kano.
Establishment of the Special Economic Zones Security outfit.
Digitalisation of NEPZA/Free Trade Zone operations.
Establishment of the NEPZA Alternative Resolution Center.
Establishment of Health, Safety and Environment Unit.
Establishment of the Anti-Corruption Unit.
Free Trade Zones growing from 42 to 52, and Enterprises in the Free Zones growing from 500 to 612.
Increase of combined Free Trade Zone Investment value from 25 US Dollar to 30 US Dollar.
Other milestone achievements included the ongoing review of the Authority’s Legal Regulatory Framework which is critical to support the current Epecial Economic Zones concept in the country; adoption of a national Single Registration/Operational License Regime under the National Economic Development Policy which gives potential investors the right to situate and operate their enterprises within any zones of their choice.

For those who care to know, Professor Adesugba was instrumental to the establishment of the Nigeria Economic Zones Association (NEZA), an umbrella body for all the Free Trade stakeholders to handle all matters relating to effective zone operations nationwide.
The wind of change for greater performance of the free zones scheme was also experienced at the internal workplace of NEPZA with the restructuring of its operations. In this regard, staff development and motivation, capacity building through trainings, improved welfare and the creation of new units to support new strategies were some of the initiatives of the NEPZA Management under Professor Adesugba.
There is no doubt that in three years of dedicated service, Professor Adesugba left an indelible mark and has set a solid foundation for the continuous growth of the Free Trade Zone scheme, which of course, is a testament of hard-work, diligence, impeccable leadership and above all, a strong display of political-will cum unwavering commitment to national service.

In conclusion, to further show how likeable Professor Adesugba was within the management and staff ranks, his handover ceremony looked more of a well-organised send-forth party as the event was graced by the presence of scores of well-wishers covering wide spectrum. His joy, however was that, he handed the baton to his childhood friend and brother, Dr Olufemi Ogunyemi, himself a visionary leader in Business Development, Policy Implementation and Global Diplomacy with palpable ability, capacity and finesse to improve on the Professor Adesoji Adesugba’s high velocity in using the Free Trade Zone Scheme to lead the country’s economic pathway and industrialisation. (Flowerbudnews)