Month: December 2023

Alleged unpaid salaries, entitlements: Ex-worker files N492m suit against Nicon Insurance

Abuja: Mr Sunday Akintunde, former Assistant General Manager (AGM), Technical of NICON Insurance Company Limited, has filed a N492 million suit against the company over allegations bordering on backlog of unpaid salaries and other entitlements.

Akintunde, in an amended suit marked: NICN/ABJ/264/2023 filed at the National Industrial Court, Abuja, prayed the court to declare that his former employer was in breach of the terms of the contract of employment with him.

The former staff, who said he had discharged his duties effectively and consistently from the time of his employment till the date of his disengagement on July 13, 2022, averred that his employment termination was unlawful and without any justifiable basis.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while Akintunde is the claimant, NICON Insurance Company Limited is the sole defendant in the suit filed by his lawyer, Mr. Noah Ajare.
Akintunde, in a statement of claim, alleged that the insurance company did not pay his six months backlog of salaries before the unlawful termination of his employment.
He also said that the firm was still holding among other things; his terminal benefit, the unremitted pension deducted from his salary for several months, and the mandatory employers contribution to his Pension Fund Account (PFA) for the period of over four years he worked with them.

The claimant said though he was not denying his obligation to pay back the N3, 099,401.88 net debt owed his former employer which NICON Insurance paid on his behalf while he was in its service, he said the organisation too should do a proper accounting of his entitlements and make provisions for all the financial benefits due to him.
He said he was ready to schedule the payment of the net balance if any because he neither usurp on anyone’s right nor take over another person’s property.

He alleged that as soon as his employment was terminated, he was asked to return the N3, 099,401.88 or return his KIA Optima vehicle which NICON Insurance accused him of fraudulently absconded with.

“Not long after that, he received a memo from the Admin Officer and later from the ED Finance and Admin that he should surrender the vehicle documents because it has become NICON Insurance Company’s property,” he said.
The claimant, who averred that the vehicle particulars and change of ownership documents indicated that he was the true owner, insisted he had been using the KIA Optima car before joining the company.
Akintunde alleged that the company had resulted to using the police to threaten and harass him through continuous invitation.

He, therefore, sought an order directing the insurance firm to pay him the sum of N200 million, “being special damages for character assassination, thereby hurting the claimant’s status as a preacher, a church leader and a man of principle holding responsible positions in the corporate settings and the society.”

He also sought an order directing the company to pay him N200 million in damages for alleged wrongly termination of employment and for falsely accusing him “of stealing and converting the defendant’s car as his personal car,” among other reliefs amounting to N492 million.

The suit, which was assigned to Justice R.B. Haastrup, had been fixed for Dec. 18 for hearing.(NAN)(www.nsnnews.ng) / Flowerbudnews

December 11, 2023
Popular Ewi Exponent, Olanrewaju Adepoju Is Dead

Veteran poet, music producer and Yoruba culture promoter, Chief Olanrewaju Adepoju is dead.

PMParrot can authoritatively confirm that the popular artiste died at his Idi Orogbo off Ring Ring Road, Ibadan, Oyo State residence around 7pm on Sunday evening after a rather protracted old-age related ailments.

A family source informed that the age of Chief Adepoju cannot be officially quoted for now.

Said the family source “our father’s age cannot be officially quoted yet until we go through his records. But his contemporaries are aged 100 and above”.

The late valiant ‘ewi exponent’ who waxed several records to fight against societal ills and military adventure in politics once told PMParrot that he never experienced being in classroom to learn.

Our source, however, confirmed that the respected Islamic cleric will be buried according to Islamic rites on Monday by 4pm.

December 11, 2023
CATALOGUE OF LOOTINGS IN NIGERIA – Femi Falana, SAN

*CATALOGUE OF LOOTINGS IN NIGERIA:*

*By Femi Falana, SAN*

Globally, subsidies, whether for food, transportation, energy or housing, are part of good governance. So, the issue is not subsidies but who benefit from them.
In Nigeria, subsidies are primarily of the rich, by the rich and for the rich.
I will highlight a few, how they are being manipulated and how huge sums of money can be recovered not just to subsidize fuel but also provide funds for development.

*1. Diversion of N40 billion from Federation Account*

A company,
Continental Transfert Technique had been hired by the Ministry of Interior to collect the Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Alien Card (CERPAC) Fee of $2,000 per annum from every expatriate in Nigeria.
The revenue from 2019 comes to an average of N40 billion per annum.
This collection which violates Section 162 of the Constitution and provisions of the Immigration Act 2015, is then shared on percentages of Federal Government,
30, Interior Ministry,
7, Immigration Service,
and Continental Transfert Technique, 58 per-cent.

We challenged this illegality at the Federal High Court and won the cases.
The court directed the NIS to collect the funds henceforth and remit same to the Federation Account.
But the contractor and the federal government appealed against the judgment and have continued to share the N40 billion per annum 😔

*2. Additional Revenue of $1.5 billion payable to Federation Account*

In July 2015, I drew the attention of the Federal Government to the fact that the 15-year fiscal incentives given to the oil and gas companies operating under the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act had expired in June 2014.
When the Federal Government ignored our request, we drafted a Bill for the amendment of the law.
The Bill which was adopted and sponsored by Senator T. Orji scaled the first reading in the Senate but was not passed before the dissolution of the 8th National Assembly.

However, the same Bill was modified and passed by both houses of the 9th National Assembly and assented to by President Buhari on November 4, 2019. In justifying the passage of this Bill, Senate President Ahmed Lawan announced that the new law would increase the revenue of the nation by not less than $1.5 billion per annum.

*3. Outstanding royalties of $62 billion*

In campaigning for the amendment of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act,
I requested the Federal Government to collect outstanding royalties payable by the International Oil Companies under the Act.
The Federal Government admitted that the country had lost a whopping sum of $60 billion.
But my demand for the collection of the huge fund was ignored.

The governments of Rivers,
Akwa Ibom
and Bayelsa States then approached the Supreme Court which on October 20, 2018 ordered the Federal Government to collect the royalties for the past 18 years.
The Federal Government confirmed that the outstanding royalty withheld by the IOCs is $62 billion but has refused to collect it.

*4. FG denied revenue of $500 million by a group of corrupt public officers*

The international Cargo Tracking Note Scheme to protect international shipping and prevent the movement of dangerous cargo and arms shipments was introduced into Nigeria in 2010 via an agreement between the Nigerian Port Authority and TPMS, a private company.
Barely a year later, the agreement was suspended.
When our attention was drawn to the illegal suspension of the Cargo Tracking Note system, we protested and the suspension was lifted on May 28, 2015 only to be suspended again in 2016.

In 2022, President Buhari issued an executive order which authorized a company to operate the Cargo Tracking Note.
But 5 companies sponsored by top government functionaries overruled the President and hijacked the contract.
The company that won the contract has since sued the federal government at the Federal High Court.
Meanwhile, Nigeria has lost at least $500 million while the security of the nation has been compromised by a bunch of corrupt public officers.

*5. Sale of public assets and enterprises*

Successive regimes have been selling assets and enterprises owned by the Federal Government to members of the ruling class in the name of privatisation.
The buyers turned round to engage in asset stripping.
According to the Bureau of Public Enterprises,
between 2004 and 2002,
the federal government sold 142 public enterprises to members of the ruling class.
The 10 per cent shares reserved for the staff of every privatised enterprise have been cornered by the so called “core investors” contrary to the provision of section 5(3) òf the Privatization and Commercialization Act.

*6. $7 billion fixed in 14 banks*

Sometime in 2006, the CBN yanked off $7 billion from the nation’s foreign reserves and fixed it in 14 commercial banks in Nigeria.
The deposit and the accrued interests were not recovered from the banks.
When I reported the matter to one one of the anti-graft agencies, the CBN claimed that it had forgiven “the forbearance”.

*7. Sale of Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Union Bank and Polaris Bank by CBN*

The CBN took over
Heritage Bank,
Keystone Bank,
Union Bank
and Polaris Bank,
spent trillions of Naira to revitalise them only to turn round to sell them under the table.
For instance, CBN invested N1.3 trillion in Polaris Bank but sold it for N50 billion!

*8. Theft of Crude oil*

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has revealed that Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at N16.25 trillion ($46.16 billion) to crude oil theft between 2009 and 2020.
Immediate past National Security Adviser, General Babagana said that Nigeria might lose $23 billion in 2023 to crude oil theft.

*9. Theft of gold and other solid minerals*

The theft of the nation’s mineral resources is not limited to crude as solid minerals are equally smuggled out of the country by highly placed criminal elements.
Former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uche Ogah recently disclosed that private jets are being used by the rich for gold smuggling in Nigeria.
He stated this at an investigative hearing on $9 billion annual loss to illegal mining and smuggling of gold organised by the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Mines, Steel Development and Metallurgy.
During his contribution at the hearing, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu disclosed that Nigeria lost close to $54b from 2012-2018 due to illegal smuggling of gold.

*10. AMCON is owed N5.4 trillion by the rich*

A few years ago, commercial banks were going to collapse due to toxic loans taken by members of the ruling class.
To prevent the impending economic doom, the Federal Government set up the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to buy off the loans with trillions of Naira provided by the CBN.
AMCON has not been able to recover the loans of N5.4 trillion from about 370 corporate bodies.

*11. Indiscriminate import duty waivers*

A few privileged members of the business community buy dollars at official rate while they are allowed to import all manners of goods into the country.
In the last 5 years, import duties worth N16 trillion were waived for them.

*12. Effort to track and monitor tankers conveying fuel sabotage by NNPC*

On August 8, 2018, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the installation of technology monitoring schemes and structures under the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) for N17 billion.
The technology which was designed to track and monitor tankers conveying fuel and other petroleum products was not acquired while the N17 billion approved for it was diverted.

*13. N10 trillion diverted by CEOs of Government enterprises*

The Buhari government revealed on December 19, 2018 that government enterprises including the CBN owed about N10 trillion in unremitted operating surplus as at August 2018.
The details were provided. The said sum of N10 trillion remains unpaid.

*14. N6 trillion unpaid ground rents by buyers of Government properties*

On March 29, 2023, the Senate noted that since 1992, over two million houses across the 36 states and the FCT had been built and allocated to beneficiaries by the federal government without evidence of payment of ground rent on the properties.
Consequently, the Senate set up an Ad Hoc Committee to recover over N6 trillion unpaid ground rents from property owners in the country.

*15. Stolen crude oil valued at $29.17 billion*

A group of lawyers engaged by NIMASA confirmed that 60.2 million barrels of crude oil valued at $12.7 billion of crude oil was stolen and illegally exported to the United States of America between January 2011 and 2014.
This has not been recovered.
Also, the House of Representatives investigated and confirmed that undeclared crude oil worth $17 billion was exported to global destinations during the same period.
The affected companies are known but government seems to lack the will to bring them to book and recover the sum of $29.7 billion being the value of the stolen crude.

*16. Oil theft of N16.25 trillion*

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) revealed that between 2009 and 2020
Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at N16.25 trillion ($46.16 billion) to oil theft.
The security forces have not been able to stop the stealing and smuggling of crude oil from Nigeria.

However, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Ltd (TSSNL), a private company discovered pipelines through which crude oil was being diverted from a 40,000 barrel per day Forcados pipeline to the high seas for export.
The indicted oil companies including an IOC involved in this grand theft are yet to be prosecuted.

*17. Deduction of collection costs by FIRS & NCS*

The Federal Inland Revenue Service and Nigeria Customs Service are allowed by their enabling laws to deduct percentages of the taxes and duties collected by them as collection costs.
Thus, the FIRS between 2016 and 2020 made N533.39 billion deductions
while Nigeria Customs Service withdrew N128.64 billion as cost of collection in 2022.

The laws which allow agencies of the Federal Government to deduct collection costs are contrary and inconsistent with section 162 of the Constitution which provides that all revenues collected by the Government of the Federation shall be paid into the Federation Account.

*18. Diversion of $6.065 billion approved for turn-around maintenance of refineries*

Between 1993 and 2016,
successive regimes spent,
through the NNPC,
about $6.065 billon on the so-called turn around maintenance and rehabilitation of the four refineries at various times.

It is public knowledge that the turn-around maintenance of the refineries was not carried out.
Therefore, the contractors should be invited by the EFCC and compelled to refund the said sum of $6.025 billion.

*19. Investment in Dangote refinery and rehabilitation of 4 refineries*

The Federal Government has invested $2.7 billion in Dangote Refinery
while the NNPCL will supply the refinery with 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Furthermore, the Government has awarded the contracts for the rehabilitation of the two refineries in Port Harcourt for $1.5 billion,
as well as Kaduna and Warri refineries for $1.4 billion.

We are compelled to call on the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress to monitor the ongoing rehabilitation and upgrade of the 4 refineries.

*20. Special salaries for top public officers, security votes, and pension for governors*

Top public officers have illegally taken themselves out of the general salary structure.
For instance, contrary to section 70 of the Constitution which provides that the salaries and allowances of legislators shall be fixed by the Revenue Allocation Mobilization and Fiscal Commission
the members of the National Assembly are paid emoluments ranging from N13 million to N15 million per month.

In addition to their salaries the 36 State Governors are paid security votes running into hundreds of millions per month.
The largesse has since been extended to all senior public officers,
including heads of ministries,
departments,
and agencies of the federal
and state governments,
as well as local government chairmen.
The security votes paid to senior public officers are about N241 billion per annum.

As if such subsidy is not enough, state governors have been placed on scandalous pension of billions of Naira.
But due to public criticisms, the Lagos State Government has halved the pension for ex-governors
while the Governments of Kwara,
Imo,
and Zamfara States
have abolished the payment of the outrageous pension to former governors and deputies.
We call on all other state governments to emulate the example of the aforementioned 3 state governments.

*21. Diversion of dividend and feed gas of $33 billion by NNPCL*

Nigeria LNG Limited is jointly owned by Nigeria and the OICs.
The 49% shares of Nigeria in the joint venture were paid for from the Federation Account in 1989. On March 29, 2021,
former President Buhari disclosed that the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) had generated $114 billion in revenues,
paid $9 billion in taxes,
$18 billion as dividend
and $15 billion in Feed Gas Purchase to the Federal Government.
However, rather than pay the fund into the federation account as constitutionally directed,
the $33.9 billion dividend and feed gas was diverted by the NNPCL.

*22. Diversion of trillions of Naira through fuel subsidy fund*

Notwithstanding the allocation of 445,000 barrels of crude oil to NNPC per day for domestic consumption,
it has been confirmed that the figures for fuel importation in Nigeria between 1999 and 2023 are as follows:

1. 1999-2006 =N813 billion;

2. 2007-2009= N794 billion;

3. 2010-2014= N3.9 trillion;

4. 2015-2023= N11 trillion.

Last week,
the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL),
Mr. Mele Kyari stunned the nation when he said that the federal government still owes the company N2.8 trillion in fuel subsidy payments.
But the monumental fraud that has characterized the fuel subsidy scam has been confirmed by the Buhari regime.

Thus, on March 27, 2022, former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources,
Mr. Timipre Sylva publicly lamented the controversies surrounding the amount of petrol that the nation consumes daily,
said the subsidy regime encouraged criminal activities like smuggling,
which in turn impact negatively on the nation’s oil resources.
He said that, “I am told the figure sometimes rise to as high as 90 or over 100 million litres.
I don’t know how that happens.
At this rate, I have said if anyone is looking at a criminal enterprise, look no further than the fuel subsidy.”
The criminal enterprise ought to be probed by the Bola Tinubu administration.

*Conclusion*

It is crystal clear from the foregoing that members of the ruling class are heavily subsidized by the peripheral capitalist system
while the masses are subjected to excruciating economic pains.
We are therefore compelled to call on the
Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress
as well as the progressive extraction of the civil society
to mount pressure on the federal government to stop the dollarisation of the national economy,
indiscriminate grant of duty waivers,
theft of crude oil,
gold, and other mineral resources
and recover the nation’s looted wealth.
In other words, these ‘subsidies’ should be recovered while the nation’s refineries are fixed so that the country can provide genuine subsidies that can make life livable in Nigeria.

Note:
There is also the recent *NIGERIA AIR* open looting.

December 11, 2023
NAFDAC Takes Custody of 1,290 Cartons of Unwholesome Pharmaceutical Products from NCS

Flowerbudnews

Kano: The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in Kano. has received a total of 1,290 cartons of unregistered pharmaceutical products from the
Nigeria Custom Service (NSC).

NAFDAC Kano State Coordinator, Kasim Ibrahim took custody of the unwholesome products which was handed over by the Comptroller of Customs, Kano State Command, Mr Dauda Chana.

Chana had also handed over 665 pieces of Donkey skins to the North-West Coordinator of the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services, Dr Adamu Gano, and over 450 blocks of compressed Indian hemp to the Commander of NDLEA in Kano.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event, which took place at the Customs House, Bompai, marked a significant step in the collaborative efforts of the organisations to combat illegal activities and safeguard public health.

Speaking at the recent occasion, Chana, said that the collaborative efforts have continued to be fruitful.

“The successful coordination and cooperation between our organisation and our esteemed partner agencies exemplify our shared dedication to maintaining a safe and healthy environment for all citizens.

“We remain resolute in our commitment to eradicating illegal activities that pose a threat to our society,” Chana said.

Representatives of various organizations who spoke lauded the support from NCS and sought for sustained inter-agency cooperation in addressing the prevailing complex challenges. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng) /Flowerbudnews

December 11, 2023
Health Benefits of Pawpaw, the King of Fruits !

Abuja: Flowerbudnews) PAWPAW: the king of fruits (WHO) (papaya is the King of Fruits 】

In the future, the new treatment method for malignant tumors is no longer Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy or Surgery, but Changing One’s Diet to improve the new Blood Vessels !

Great medical Knowledge ! A high-quality diet is the natural chemotherapy three times a day. The following information should be taken seriously, it is simple and easy to implement, and it is very good!
‭‭
What you may not know is: Papaya, which we usually find strange and easy to obtain, is the King of Fruits ! The tomato that the doctor praised was nothing compared to Papaya.

Papaya has been selected by WHO ( World Health Organisation ) as the fruit with the highest nutritional value for two consecutive years, that is, the King of Fruits !

The nutritional value of Papaya is :

1. Calcium : Papaya is 2 times that of apples.

2. Vitamin C: Papaya is 13 times that of apples, 7 times that of bananas, 7 times that of watermelon, 8 times that of cherries, and 1.3 times that of pineapples.

3. Vitamin A: Papaya is 10 times that of kiwi, 18 times that of apple, 1.5 times that of guava, 15 times that of banana, 1.5 times that of watermelon, 15 times that of cherries, and 16 times that of pineapple.

4. Vitamin K: Papaya is 5 times that of bananas, 2.5 times that of watermelon, and 4 times that of pineapples.

Great again ! Related to eye protection…

5. Carotenoids, lycopene, B carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, etc.:
Papaya is 2000 times bigger than kiwi! Kiwis, apples, cherries, pineapples, bananas, guava, none of these ingredients.

Great ! The above data source is of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2016.

[Note] I have been suffering from cancer for 16 years. I have undergone chemotherapy. Some doctors told me to eat more papayas. The heart of gratitude is indescribable, I just hope that more people can benefit from it!

When you go to visit in the future, if you choose fruit as a gift, you can bring papaya!
According to a
Doctor from US:
After the age of 50
one may experience
many types of illnesses.
But the one I am most worried about is Alzheimer’s.
Not only would I not be able to look after myself,
but it would cause
a lot of inconveinence to family members

One day, my son Sushil
came home and told me
that a doctor friend
has taught him an exercise using the tongue.

The tongue exercise is effective to reduce the onset of Alzheimer’s and is also useful to reduce / improve

*1* Body weight
*2* Hypertension
*3* Blood-Clot in Brain
*4* Asthma
*5* Far-sightedness
*6* Ear buzzing
*7* Throat infection
*8* Shoulder / Neck infection
*9* Insomia

The moves are very simple and easy to learn

Each morning, when you wash your face, in front of a mirror, do the exercise as below :

stretch out your tongue and move it to the right then to the left for 10 times

Since I started exercising my tongue daily, there was improvement in my Brain Retention.

My mind was clear and fresh and there were other improvements too…

1 Far sightedness
2 No giddiness
3. Improved wellness
4. Better digestion
5. Lesser flu / cold

I am stronger and more agile.

The tongue exercise helps to control and prevent Alzheimer’s…
Medical research has found that the tongue has connection with the BIG Brain. When our body becomes old and weak, the first sign to appear is that our tongue becomes stiff and often we tend to bite ourselves.

Frequently exercising your tongue
will stimulate the brain, help to reduce our thoughts from shrinking and thus achieve a healthier body.

Senior Citizenss Please forward

I encourage each person receiving this newsletter to forward it to another ten people, certainly at least one life will be saved. I’ve done my part, I hope you can do your part. Thanks 🙏🏽🙏🏽 (Flowerbudnews)

December 11, 2023
Police foil kidnap attempt in Katsina, kill 3 suspects

By Abbas Bamalli

Katsina The Police Command in Katsina State says it has foiled a kidnap attempt along Dutsinma-Kankara highway, killing three suspects in the process.

ASP Abubakar Sadiq-Aliyu, the command’s spokesman, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Katsina on Sunday.

“On Dec. 10, 2023, at about 4:30 p.m, based on credible information that some suspected armed robbers and kidnappers, wielding dangerous weapons such as AK-47 rifles, blocked the Dutsinma-Kankara highway in an attempt to kidnap unsuspecting members of the public.

“Upon receipt of the report, Area Commander Dutsinma, promptly mobilised a joint team of police operatives and members of the vigilante and responded to the scene.

“On reaching the scene, the suspected kidnappers opened fire on the operatives, to which the officers valiantly returned fire and succeeded in neutralising three members of the gang.

“While one Masa’udu Sani, a member of the vigilante, sustained a gunshot wound on his right hand,” the police spokesman said.

Sadiq-Aliyu added that Sani was currently responding to treatment as efforts were underway with a view to arresting other fleeing suspects as the investigation continued.

According to him, Mr Aliyu Abubakar-Musa, the Commissioner of Police in the state has commended the operatives’ professionalism, synergy and bravery.

He disclosed that the commissioner also urged the officers to sustain the tempo.

Abubakar-Musa also called on the good citizens of the state to keep providing the command and other security agencies with crucial and timely information on criminal activities.

“So that swift and decisive action could be taken to stop any criminal activity in the state.

“And also to report to the nearest police station any person seen with suspicious injuries, as some of the bandits have escaped the scene with gunshot wounds,” Sadiq-Aliyu quoted the commissioner as adding. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng) / Flowerbudnews

December 10, 2023
Budget: Gov Mbah should beware of squeezing N1/4 trillion out of stone – Okechukwu

By Flowerbudnews

Enugu: Foundation member of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has cautioned Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu State to beware of the dangers of squeezing water out of stone in his 2024 Budget projections.

Okechukwu, who is the immediate past Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), gave the warning while speaking to journalists at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, on Sunday.

He spoke on the possible impact of the 2024 Enugu State Budget proposal of ₦521.6 billion, recently delivered by the governor, christened: “Budget of Disruptive Economic Growth” to the Enugu State House of Assembly.

Okechukwu, who reminded the governor of the economic hardship and suffering being encountered by the people of the state, stressed that it would be inhuman to subject them to extreme taxation.

He reminded the governor that the good people of Enugu State, like most poor Nigerians, had for long been in dire economic straits, where cost of food items, transportation, medication and sundry items have hit the roof tops.

The APC chieftain maintained that the people do not need further disruption, adding: “One personally admires the zeal, passion and ambition of His Excellency, Dr Peter Mbah, to budget half a trillion naira for the 2024 fiscal year.

Okechukwu, who is an elder statesman in Enugu State, said: “However, one has to caution him to beware of the dangers of squeezing N1/4 trillion (N250 million) out of stone.

“I shivered when I heard the governor mention the word maximisation of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), and I imagined if it is not from the same impoverished folks of which over 40 per cent fall under multidimensional poverty cadre.

“And my question is this N250 million, Gov. Mbah’s disruption on the move?”

Reminded that IGR drive is universal in all the states of the Federation and not restricted to only Enugu State; the APC chieftain agreed, but singled out the multidimensional poverty status of majority of the indigenes of Enugu State and the contradiction of over taxation.

“I do not know the current National Bureau of Statistics poverty ranking of my state, but the little one knows is that there is abject poverty, gross unemployment and palpable insecurity which have driven a lot of farmers out of their farms,” he said.

On his advice to Gov. Mbah; Okechukwu advised him to rely on the Federation Account Allocation Committee’s (FAAC) monthly revenue accruals as his seed money and make sure it is transparently utilised.

“The problem is that most governors utilise FAAC monthly allocation as pocket money and squander it for personal expenses instead of tangible investment.

“Secondly, he should establish cordial relationships with the Federal Government so as to benefit from projects like the Enugu Urban Water scheme initiated by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources; other programmes in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) among others.

“And, thirdly, he should intensify collaboration with his colleagues in the private sector so as to fund 1,000 megawatts; sulphur dioxide emission controlled Coal-Fired Power Plant.

“This will attract investors as experts believe that power supply is fundamental to simulating investment and economic growth,” he advised.

Reminded that climate change advocates will frown at Coal-Fired-Power Plant; Okechukwu pointed at the existence of Flue Gas Desulfurisation (FGD), which are air pollution control devices for sulphur dioxide emissions, that take care of climate change.

He regretted the crass hypocrisy of the developed countries, where as of July, 2023, China has 1,142, India 282, USA 210, Japan 93, Germany 58 of Coal-Fired-Power-Plants respectively. (Flowerbudnews)

December 10, 2023
ECOWAS to Ready Standby Force for Counterterrorism, Agreed to Ease Sanctions on Niger Republic

By Flowerbudnews

Abuja (Flowerbudnews): ECOWAS leaders have resolved to urgently review efforts to activate a standby force for counterterrorism operations in areas infested by terrorist groups.

A communiqué read by Dr. Omar Touray, President of ECOWAS Commission, at the end of the 64th ordinary session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, on Sunday in Abuja, said the leaders reiterated their commitment to the eradication of terrorism and other threats to peace, security, and stability in the region.

They also resolved to hold an extraordinary summit on unconstitutional changes of government aimed at promoting peace, security, and democracy in the region.

The ECOWAS leaders directed the commission to embark on deep reflection and explore the possibility of convening the extraordinary summit.

The Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, chaired by President Bola Tinubu, established a committee of Heads of State to engage with CMSP, the military junta in Niger Republic, on the need for a short transition roadmap and the emplacement of monitoring mechanisms.

The Authority promised a gradual easing of sanctions based on outcomes of the engagement, emphasizing the need for the immediate and unconditional release of detained President Mohammed Bazoum.

“The Authority deeply deplores the continued detention of President Mohammed Bazoum, his family and associates by the CMSP regime.

“The Authority further deplores the lack of commitment on the part of the CMSP to restore constitutional order. Consequently, the Authority calls on the CMSP to release President Mohammed Bazoum, his family, and associates immediately and without precondition.

“The Authority decides to set up a committee of Heads of State made up of the President and Head of State of the Republic of Togo, the President and the Head of State of the Republic of Sierra Leone, the President and Head of State of the Republic of Benin, to engage with the CMSP and other stakeholders with a view to agreeing on a short transition roadmap, establishing transition organs as well as facilitating the setting up of a transition monitoring and evaluation mechanism towards this speedy restoration of constitutional order.

“Based on the outcomes of the engagement by the committee of Heads of state with the CMSP, the Authority will progressively ease the sanctions imposed on Niger.

“In the event of failure by the CMSP to comply with the outcomes of the engagement with the committee, ECOWAS shall maintain all sanctions, including the use of force, and shall request the African Union and all other partners to enforce the targeted sanctions on members of the CMSP and their associates,” the communique read.

At the meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu, the regional leaders commended the efforts being made by member states and the ECOWAS commission to work on the consolidation of democracy, peace, security, and stability in the region.

The Authority noted, in particular, the peaceful elections that took place during the year in Nigeria, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, and welcomed the peaceful resolution of the electoral dispute in Nigeria, as well as the peaceful outcome of the dialogue between the opposition and the government in the Republic of Sierra Leone.

On the fight against terrorism and other related security matters, the leaders instructed the commission to expedite the convening of the meeting of ministers of finance and defence to agree on the modalities for the mobilization of internal financial, human, and material resources on a mandatory basis to support the deployment of the regional counterterrorism force.

“The Authority takes note of the commencement of assignment by the Special Envoy on Counterterrorism, Ambassador Baba Kamara, and directs the commission to facilitate his mission. (Flowerbudnews)

December 10, 2023
From the River to the Sea, By Femi Fani-Kayode

“There is no peace for the wicked”- Isaiah 48:22.

By Femi Fani-Kayode

There is no greater truism than that which Prophet Isaiah, one of the greatest & most reverred Prophets in the Holy Bible, has enunciated in the scripture above.

What he is saying is that callous, merciless & bloodthirsty men & oppressors, subjugators, persecutors, slavers & the occupiers of the land of others, whether they be the biblical Egyptians, the Ancient Romans or anyone else, coupled with those that trample on the rights & liberties of others with impunity & that repay good with evil can NEVER escape the wrath of God & neither will they ever know or experience lasting peace.

This is a lesson that evidently the Jews themselves & particularly the Zionists amongst them have failed to appreciate or learn.

That you were oppressed, subjugated, murdered, robbed, humiliated, enslaved, subjected to genocide & mass murder, ethnically cleansed & treated with scorn & contempt yesterday does not give you the right to do the same to others today.

That you were once occupied, enslaved, thrown into captivity, scattered all over the earth, butchered, gassed to death, subjected to the holocaust & deprived of your beloved homeland yesterday does not permit you to do the same to others today.

That you have experienced God’s love, mercy, blessings, grace & restoration does not mean that you are the chosen race or master race, it simply means that God has shown you His tender kindness & opted to restore you despite the fact that you also killed & oppressed others in the past & that you crucified His only Begotten Son, our Lord & Saviour, Jesus Christ & sought to destroy Christianity even at the advent of its coming.

Those that have suffered so much in the past surely have a greater duty to ensure that that they desist from inflicting such suffering on others today lest they lose everything.

It is in this context that I view the State of Israel & the Zionists.

No matter what they have suffered in the last two thousand years in the hands of their numerous haters, oppressors & persecutors they have no right to inflict the wickedness that they are inflicting on the Palestinian people today & as long as they continue to do so they shall know no peace.

They shall also continue to stir up hatred & opprobium for themselves & their cause from all right thinking people, including millions that once had sympathy for them, from all over the world.

This is what we see unfolding today.

Now to the title & essence of this piece.

First coined by Yasser Arafat’s Palestinan Liberation Organisation & other Arab nationalist movements in the 1960’s, the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is the popular refrain & battle cry for the Palestinians & those that support their cause & struggle for self-determination & emancipation from Israeli occupation & oppression.

And given what is happening in Gaza & the West Bank today who can deny them the right to achieve this noble quest for freedom & the right & aspiration to exist as an independent sovereign state?

I have always loved the State of Israel & believed in the two-state solution but I hate what her leaders are doing to the Palestinians today.

I equate the actions of the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza today with the heinous & horrendous atrocities that Hamas inflicted on their civilian population on October 7th.

I have always made the point that the Jewish State must be accorded the right to exist & reserves the right of self-defence.

I concede that she is also entitled to a measure of vengeance against those that visited the deplorable violence on her civilian population that we witnessed on October 7th but the targetting of innocent civilians in their thousands, the infanticide, the ethnic cleansing, the mass murder, the genocide, the crimes against humanity, the war crimes, the unprecedented & massive amount of bloodshed, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the destruction & utter annihilation of Palestinian homes & infra-structures & all the other beastly & inexplicable horrors that are being unleashed & foisted on the women, children & elderly of Gaza today, including journalists, aid workers, hospital workers, doctors, nurses & other defenceless non-combatants & innocent civilians is unacceptable & indefensible.

20,000 civilians (mainly women & children) slaughtered in Gaza & 85% of her 2.5 million people displaced in two months!

Worse still 50% of the population of Gaza is facing starvation.

Such suffering, butchery & slaughter beggars belief & as painful, traumatising & tear-jerking as it is, the world can witness it in real time thanks to Al Jazeera.

And frankly what we are seeing is unspeakable.

Israel may consider this to be her finest hour & a glorious manifestation of her military strength & prowess but in actual fact it is nothing but evidence of her irretrievable & inescapable descent into notoriety, savagery & barbarity & her relentless, degenerate, bestial & reprobate disposition.

This is not her finest hour or her best moment but rather her greatest mistake.

I say this because the Israel that millions of people from all over the world, including yours truly, once loved, cherished, defended & empathised with no longer exists.

What we have in its place is an unforgiving, unthinking, cruel, brash, barbaric, brutal, racist, evil, power- drunk and thoroughly repugnant fascist/apartheid state that is being led by a political class that comprises of deluded monsters, narcisstic savages, obsessive psychopaths and bloodlusting child-killers who have lost their minds, who are devoid of any pretence to even a semblance of humanity, who are hell bent on wiping out the Palestinian people and who do not believe that they are bound by the rules, regulations, canons & strictures of civilisation & international humanitarian law.

Given this, Israel should no longer be welcomed into the comity of civilised nations & neither is she worthy of the western world’s consistent & unconditional support.

She has not only lost her right to be regarded as a responsible & law- abiding member of the international community but, as long as she denies the Palestinians the right to exist in peace & freedom and refuses to lift the occupation, she stands the risk of forfeiting her own right to exist.

What was once the inspiration, promise, pride & joy of millions from all over the world & the darling of civilised nations is now nothing but a vacuous, vicious, vengeful, lawless, petty, pitiful, tyrannical & bloodthirsty pariah state which celebrates & prides itself on its own barbarity, hatred, madness, war-mongering & rage, which openly espouses a racist & repugnant ‘Zionist’ philosophy, which considers itself racially & religiously superior to all others, which thrives on the suffering & pain of its Arab vassals & which is hell-bent on provoking the entire world into WWIII in an attempt to satisfy its senseless & dangerous delusions about re-establishing a biblical Zionist state & wiping out the Palestinian people.

Zionism is the greatest evil that has been foisted on earth since the advent of the Nazis.

It is an irony of fate & history that the Jews that are now calling themselves Zionists are the very same race whose forefathers suffered more persecution & cruelty at the hands of the Nazis than any other.

I have no doubt that if Israeli PM Netanyahu had the power, wherewithal & horrendous gas chambers that Hitler once did he would, without any hesitation, gas to death every Arab on earth & kill every Muslim & Christian in the Middle East.

That is how evil he & those that share his insane delusions are.

They are the greatest threat to world peace & stability & the only way to free us from their insidious & sinister power & pervasive influence is by establishing a free & sovereign Palestinian state “from the river to the sea”.

Just as Nazi Germany was brought to her knees by the civilised world after WW11 because of her heinous atrocities, Zionist Israel needs to be brought to her knees today.

Does a murderous, racist rogue state that considers itself above the law & delights in slaughtering children have the right to exist?

I doubt it.

To those that say “but Israel is a democracy and indeed the ONLY democracy in the Middle East”, I say the following:

Nazi Germany was a democracy too & Hitler was a democratically-elected leader yet look where they took the world!

In the light of all this it is indeed a great shame that Israel’s greatest friend & ally, the United States of America, not only firstly vetoed a motion for a second ceasefire in Gaza at the United Nations Security Council last friday but that secondly the American Congress passed a resolution that any criticism of or opposition to Zionism would be regarded as a manifestation of anti-semitism.

The first is nothing but yet another inglorious & graphic display of American immorality, hypocrisy, double standards, insensitivity & depravity & the second of the wilfull blindness & glaring ignorance of the majority of members of the American Congress.

To equate political Zionism, a concept which only came into existence as an organized nationalist movement after it was enunciated and founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897, with Judaism which has existed for thousands of years is not only antedelluvian idiocy and intellectual bankruptcy in its most raw, primitive, vulgar, crude & glaring form but also ignores the fact that millions of both right-wing, conservative religious Jews such as the Torah Jews & secular ones residing in Israel, America & Europe vehemently oppose the concept of Zionism themselves & deplore its malevolent & sinister delusions & political aspirations.

I love the Jews & the State of Israel but I despise & deplore the Zionists & what they have turned the latter into.

I despise them not because of their religious faith or semitic racial identity but because of the evil political philosophy of subjugation, occupation, enslavement & destruction of others that they choose to espouse.

It is for this very reason that for millions all over the world & not just the Arabs of the Middle East, the battle cry & war song of ‘from the river to the sea’ resonates so loudly.

Permit me to conclude this contribution with the following observation which is particularly relevant to those of us that are from Africa.

At the end of WW11 In 1945 when the great debate began amongst the leaders of the victorious Allied powers, including America, France, Russia & the UK, about where to send the Jews after the holocaust, there was a very strong lobby to send them to Uganda where they would have established their long-awaited new Jewish homeland.

Uganda, like Palestine, was a British colony & the colonial power believed that, unlike the Palestinians, the local African population would not present much of a threat or even raise an objection to the appropriation & occupation of their land by millions of western-backed European Jews who had suffered the most horrendous form of persecution in Europe for thousands of years.

Yet this interesting proposal was initially made forty two years earlier in 1903.

Known as the ‘Uganda Scheme’, it was a proposal by British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain to create a Jewish homeland in a portion of British East Africa.

It was presented at the Sixth World Zionist Congress in Basel in 1903 by Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionist movement.

In a short piece titled ‘Expolring The Middle East Uganda Scheme For A Jewish Homeland’, the Middle East Monitor wrote the following:

“Did you know about the intriguing chapter in history where Israel was almost established in Africa? This “almost” moment was known as the Uganda Scheme & was proposed by Theodor Herzl the father of political Zionism, in 1903. Herzl presented the plan to the World Zionist Congress envisioning a Jewish homeland in East Africa, then under British colonial rule. The proposal came at a time when Jews in Eastern Europe were facing severe persecution & massacres, making the idea of a safe haven, even in distant Africa, appealing. Despite initial approval by the Congress the plan faced opposition from the White settlers in East Africa who did not want to be displaced by other settlers. They formed an anti-Zionist commitee & their disapproval led to Britain withdrawing the offer, altering the course of history”.

Isnt that amazing?

Now to the point.

Given the disposition of the Zionists I am of the view that had the Uganda Scheme been successfully resurrected, accepted & implemented by the Allied powers in 1945 & the State of lsrael established in Uganda as opposed to Palestine in 1948, the history of the Middle East & indeed the world over the last 82 years would not only have been very different but the local African indigenous population in Uganda may well have either been totally enslaved or, worse still, extinct or exterminated by today.

I say this because Zionism is a deeply racist & supremacist philosophy that takes no prisoners, that seeks to disposses, subjugate, humiliate, emasculate & enslave others & that does not believe in sharing.

If the local indegenous African population had sought to resist Zionist hegemony & occupation in the same way that the Palestinians have been doing for the last 82 years they would have been subjected to something even worse than the genocide we are witnessing in Gaza & by now there may well have been no black Africans left alive in Uganda or indeed the whole of East Africa!

Such is the danger that political Zionism presents to humanity wherever it is entrenched & wherever it goes.

And if anyone considers the elimination or extermination of entire races to be a far-fetched proposition in this day & age they should find out what happened to the black population in Argentina, the Native Indians of North America & the local indigenous tribes like the Incas & Aztecs of South America in the hands of foreign & non indegenous settlers & occupiers.

The world really is a very cruel place & the Ugandans & East Africans should count themselves lucky that Lord Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, did a deal with the immensely wealthy Jewish Rothchild family & presented what was then known as British Palestine as a gift & offering on a silver platter to them in the form of a Jewish homeland in 1948 rather than Uganda.

Meanwhile we shall continue to speak out against the evil in Gaza, agitate for a ceasefire & call for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. (Flowerbudnews)

FFK

December 10, 2023