The recent hospitalization of 17 persons in Ibadan, Oyo State, after a meal of yam flour, known in local parlance as amala, has again thrown up the issue of food control and safety in the country.
This is not the first time this kind of incident is happening and it may not be the last if our food regulatory agency does not rise up to the challenge of containing it.

It is sad that many Nigerians have lost their lives through the consumption of lethal and unwholesome food products in recent times. The relevant agency should help prevent a recurrence by ensuring that all foodstuff sold in Nigerian markets meet required safety standards.

The Ibadan incident affected six families in the Hope area of Alakia, in the city. According to reports, the victims ate the poisonous meal between Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27. Four of the victims that ate the meal on Saturday took ill before dawn, while 13 who took it on Sunday morning feel ill after some hours. Six of the victims were children.

The yam flour was said to have been bought from a female trader at Gbagi market. All the victims were rushed to Al-Hayyu Hospital after they became unconscious and were treated. They were said to have developed various ailments such as stomach pains, diarrhea, vomiting, convulsion and loss of consciousness, after the meal.

Meanwhile, the woman who sold the yam flour to the families of the victims, Mrs. Aminat Asabi, had denied any foul play in the incident. She told investigators she had been selling yam flour to the families for several years, without any incident.

Dr. Junaid Ogundiran of the Al-Hayyu Hospital, Ibadan, where the victims were treated has suggested that the yam flour might have contained chemicals used in preserving it. He explained that a shrewd trader with intent to make quick money may have pushed the product into the market without waiting for the required period for the neutralization of the poison in the preservative. According to the medic, the poison can last for months, or even years.

We deplore the incessant cases of food poisoning in the country, which, at times, lead to deaths. If it is not yam flour, it is cassava flour or mushroom. It is necessary to put a stop to this kind of unpalatable situation.

Therefore, we call on the Federal Ministry of Health, its Oyo State counterpart and the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to investigate the matter properly. The three bodies should unearth the cause of the incident so that the public can be advised to take precautionary measures to avert a reccurence. We urge that proper scientific analysis be done on the lethal amala to determine what actually went wrong. There is the need to locate the source of the toxic amala with a view to recalling it and halting further sales.
Foodstuff sellers, especially those dealing in foods that require preservatives, should be enlightened on how best to use them to stop the unpleasant situation from repeating itself.

Without preempting the outcome of the investigation of the matter, it is not unlikely that indiscriminate use of preservatives might, indeed, be the cause of the incident. This is the time to educate users of food preservatives, especially market women, on their potential hazards and how to avoid them.
We sympathise with the victims of the ugly incident and enjoin the Oyo State government to foot their hospital bills. NAFDAC should step up its food regulatory and control activities to cover local edibles like yam and cassava flours, beans and other foodstuff that have become lethal of late.

“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” Those words of Rastafarian song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican reggae group, The Melodians, in 1970 but made popular worldwide by Boney M, in their single hit of 1978 titled: “Rivers of Babylon,” re-echoed last week, as stakeholders, including President, Goodluck Jonathan, gathered in Abuja, to brainstorm on the problems of, and solutions to, education system.

But the weeping, the lamentation, the biting of fingers, the sighing and shaking of heads, that took place at the spacious and exquisite Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, between Monday, October 3 and Tuesday, October 4, turned out to be, not for the city of Zion, this time around, but for what life used to be, as far as education in Nigeria was concerned, a far cry from what it is now. In all, the summit which has as its theme, “Reclamation, Restoration and Sustenance of Quality and Ethics in Education in Nigeria” provided the much-needed opportunity for participants which included management and senior officers from the Federal and states’ ministries of education, examination bodies like JAMB, WAEC, NECO, NABTEB, Pro-chancellors, chancellors, vice chancellors, politicians, religious leaders, traditional rulers, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, expatriates, to reflect on where we are coming from, where we derailed, but also to chart a course to where we should be in the next few years, all things being equal.

“We have to start the process of rebuilding our country, in all sectors,” the President noted in his opening remarks. “Today, we are going to talk about education. We are going to have similar sessions in every sector. We are starting with education because we all know the relevance of education. Without having a well-educated crop of young men and women, we cannot change this country.

We cannot get the Nigeria of our vision. No matter how intelligent one is, if you don’t have that opportunity of formal education, you will be so limited that you will not be able to use your intelligence to change your society and to contribute to the economic development of the country. You may be able to operate at the community level, but you will not be able to operate beyond the community level. For you to get to the level that you can influence, change the country or represent the country, you must have basic formal education”
The nature and content of that formal education was what participants gathered in Abuja to deliberate on, in the two-day summit.

“We all know the problems. That’s why I said I wasn’t going to present any formal speech,” the President further remarked. “I have my speech. I worked on my speech but I am not going to deliver it. I’ll rather want to listen to key stakeholders here. You people should give me the idea of what you believe is wrong with our education system, then from there we will divide into working groups. Whenever they want to make their presentations, I should be called back. I want to listen.” This remark was greeted with a round of applause.

“But one thing that keeps disturbing me is that even at the highest level, we keep ‘ruralizing’ education. Take the university for example, which we look at as the citadel of learning. The university environment is supposed to be an international setting where, ordinarily, you are supposed to bring lecturers from all over the world to expand and explore the horizon of knowledge.”

Then at this juncture, the President went back to school, into memory lane of what school, at the primary, secondary and university levels used to be for him, in years gone by and wished we can return to that status quo. “In fact, as late as 1977 when I went to university, I was taught by lecturers from all over the world,” he said. “But now, to appoint a vice chancellor, people insist it must be from their locality.” (Again, this comment was greeted with a round of applause).

Continuing, he said: “Even at the village level, the headmaster and many of the teachers who taught me were not from my village. But today if you are talking of a teacher, headmaster or vice chancellor, people insist it must come from their village. I think, we must go back to that era. These things must change. I will have to consult with the governing councils of the universities and we must agree that any university that wants a vice chancellor must advertise it and the best brain from anywhere in the world must be recruited to do the job. I don’t see why a good Professor from ABU (Ahmed Bello University) cannot be made the Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan nor why a good Professor from University of Ibadan cannot be appointed the Vice Chancellor of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. We must change.

“If the state-owned university wants to ruralize their appointments, so be it, but in Federal-owned institutions, anybody can be posted anywhere. We must begin to do things right in this country. We are becoming too personal, too nepotic and too narrow-minded in everything.” At this juncture, he stopped and said, “I don’t want to say anything that can bias your mind. Rather, I want you to be free to say what you have in mind. That’s why I didn’t want to present a formal speech because if I do, I may raise up some issues that some people may not be too happy with.”

Even so, he was to raise some dust when he, in unequivocal terms, condemned as too theoretical the purports and goals of the 6-3-3-4 system of education. Apparently frustrated by the failure of the education system to translate the country into the much-talked-about technological and technical El Dorado, President Goodluck Jonathan asked the former Minister of Education who introduced the 6-3-3-4 system of education to apologise to Nigerians, for recommending such unwieldy and unworkable system.

“6-3-3-4 is not working,” he sadly noted. “In fact, the Minister of Education who advocated 6-3-3-4 needs to apologise to Nigerians. It is one of those theoretical concepts that did not work. The secondary school education system has been dislocated but it is not working. In fact, there is nowhere it is working because it’s all theory. So, I appeal that those who are going to discuss at this stakeholders meeting to come up with policies that we can implement.”
President Jonathan further noted that education as a social service for the development of the human resources of the country must be insulated from politics because Nigeria cannot achieve its   vision without a quality education. He then added that the Federal Government would review the stringent guidelines of the special intervention funds like the Universal Basic Education and the Education Trust Funds (ETF) to attain faster delivery of education at the basic levels.

The President also hinted that reports from the summit would be presented to the governors for action so as to make the nation meet the desired expectation.
Earlier, in her welcome speech, the Minister of Education, Professor Ruquayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i decried the decadence in the education system. Commenting on the quality of graduates from Nigerian universities, the Minister said that graduates from Nigerian universities in the 70s and 80s were a source of pride to the nation and were globally competitive but today they are a source of concern to the nation.

The Minister who cited the recent mass failure of students at the Senior Secondary School examinations organized by both West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) noted that such failures are an indication of a systemic failure.
She admitted that the challenges facing the sector are enormous but not insurmountable. Such challenges, she said, include inadequate facilities and infrastructure, access to good and high quality education, equity matter, teacher quality, efficiency and effectiveness, curriculum relevance and coverage and outdated pedagogy.
Others include obsolete and non-availability of syllabi in schools, lack of adequate data for planning  purposes, lack of transparency, probity and accountability, brain drain, political influence on purely educational matter that ought to be sacrosanct, frequent changes in educational policies and system, non-adherence to mandates by institutions, warped value system, immoral behaviour and non-readiness to study by students and which has given rise to ‘sorting’ by both teachers/lecturers and students.

“In addition, the perennial unrest which plagued our tertiary institutions in the recent past must be addressed so that the current industrial harmony across most of our institutions will be sustained,” she said.
According to her, it was the moral decadence in the system that led to the balkanization of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) into five factional presidents being supported by the powerful and rich Nigerians.

“The resultant effect of all these are the low quality of global non-competitiveness of our graduates. This and other ills have found their way into the lower levels of education and have resulted in the abysmal performance in the senior secondary certificate examinations.”
The President who discarded his written speech and opted to speak, ex tempore, remarked that “this is a moment of hard talk and I want us to talk to ourselves, to see the way that we can move this country forward. I directed that this stakeholders meeting should be convened by the Minister of Education. I’m quite aware that a number of meetings, conferences, seminars on education, have been held.

“When I think of these meetings, it makes me remember one of late Ola Rotimi’s drama, Holding Talks.  It depicts a situation where, in those days, two countries or one country had a civil war or two countries are fighting and world leaders are moving from one table to the other, drinking coffee and tea and talking on how to solve the problem. Yet people are dying, and nothing concrete is being done about it. 
“I would not want this meeting to take that form of Holding Talks. That’s why we invited our opinion leaders, religious leaders and traditional rulers to be part of this meeting. These are special stakeholders. What worries me is that Nigerians are very intelligent. We can vouch that we produce quite a good number of highly intelligent men and women.”

Speaking at the summit, Chief Edwin Clark, the highly-celebrated Ijaw leader, started his speech by noting that such a summit is long overdue. Clark who said he was a primary school teacher in 1947 and became a headmaster in 1951, remarked: “The first thing I will like to say, Mr. President, is, you have to examine the policy in education. A situation whereby the Federal Government, the State government and the local government are competing for the opening of primary schools will not help us. In those days, there were three regions. The North had its own primary education system, the West had and the East had its own. No one was forced to move at each other’s pace. Free primary education was introduced in Western Region by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, at that time. Other regions that could not do it, waited.

“Today, you find a primary school teacher looking like a labourer walking along the street. In dressing, in posture, in personality, he has nothing to show because he is not being paid promptly. The very pupils he taught in school are hundred times earning more than he earns. Today, nobody forces him to write lesson notes, nobody examines to see whether he did or not, in those days, you burnt the lantern writing lesson notes because your headmaster must see it. But today, everybody is on his own. Those they taught in school are riding big, big cars whereas the teachers who taught them are asked to wait for their rewards in heaven. So, Mr. President, what I advise you is that you should examine the policy in education. There should be division of labour; Federal Government should concentrate on tertiary education while state government should concentrate on secondary and primary education. Above all, you should make sure that teachers are well-remunerated. Thank you.” His speech was greeted with a prolonged applause.

But on the second day of the summit, Professor Eunice Okeke was to throw the audience into spasmodic laughter when she asked the President whether nothing can be done about having a credible national data to aid our national planning on education.
“Since over 27 years I have been in service, each person reports lack of data, Mr. President, is there a virus in our ministries of education, eating up this data?” Her question which took everyone by surprise set the participants and those at the high table, quaking with laughter, including the President. All others, except the elderly woman, who continued her contributory talk with a deadpan mien:

“When I was doing my Ph.D abroad, I got reliable statistics from all other countries, but none from Nigeria. When I finished my Ph.D and wanted to get segregated data, I tried but I started seeing “incomplete”, “not available.” Even when you get, the one you get from NUC, is different from the figures being quoted by the National Planning, and the one you get from the National Planning is different from the one you get from the institution itself. Sir, I think there is a virus you will need to attack so that we can get a reliable data.” Again, the participants laughed and applauded.

“Don’t worry, I will try and attack that virus,” the President said, causing more laughter.
Other concerned stakeholders who spoke at the summit on the state of education in Nigeria include Dr. Mrs. Sarah N. Jibril, a foremost Nigerian  female politician and chairman, governing council, Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba, Mrs. Sarah Sosan, Deputy Governor, Lagos State who called on teachers to be alive to their duty while the issue of adequate remuneration and other motivations are being looked into, Alhaji Najib Useini Adamu, Emir of Kazaure, Jigawa State, Professor Folahan Ayorinde, of College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, U.S.A. who pleaded that the appointment of vice chancellors be extended even beyond Nigeria to capable  hands in other countries, as it is done elsewhere in advanced countries, Dr. Wale Babalakin, great industrialist and builder of Murtala Muhammed International Airport 2 and Chairman, Nigeria’s Committee of Pro-Chancellors, Professor Julius Okojie, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Professor Ngozi Osarenren, Commissioner for Education, Edo State, Professor Godswill Obioma, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Professor Promise Okpalla, the Registrar of NECO, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, registrar, JAMB, Dr. Aminu Ladan Sharehu, Director-General, National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, Professor Abiye Obuoforibo, of Rivers State Economic Advisory Council, Professor Otonti Nduka, President, Nigerian Academy of Education, and Dr. Olu Ayenoh, Policy Consultant Education, Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

Past Ministers of Education who attended the summit include Professor Tunde Adeniran (1999-2001), Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike (1982-1983). Some Deputy Governors and Commissioners for Education from almost all the states of the Federation attended. So did General IBM Haruna (retd.), chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr. Steve Oresanya, Head of Service, Senator Atiku Bagudu, Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Alhaji Lawan Faruku, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Education and Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, Minister, National Planning, among others.
Most of the speakers praised Rufa’i for her foresight, tenacity and doggedness in seeing that education is restored to its former glory.

In another development, the President, denied making a policy statement that the 6-3-3-4 should be abrogated, a statement which was widely reported in many newspapers on the last day but only claimed to have said that it is not working in his state. “If you know any state where the system is working, come and tell us,” he challenged.

Giving her perspective on the summit in an interaction with newsmen, Ahmed Rufa’i noted that “it was a very relaxed interactive session with the President who summoned the education summit in the first place. It was a session whereby the President listened to all the stakeholders who have something to say on how to solve the major issues facing the sector, particularly on how to move forward.

“The President is so much concerned about the fact that many reforms had been made, many seminars and meetings had been held, many positions and policies taken, yet the situation sector is still nothing to write home about. That’s why he summoned for this emergency stakeholders meeting and people were able to say their views on how they feel the sector should be able to move forward. He is very much ready to reposition, to restructure, to ensure that the sector was actually moving toward a greater height. What the President is concerned is if we have wrong policies, we better now drop them and adopt new one. What are we doing wrong that we are not making headway in the education sector after 50 years of independence?

His concern is that if there is anything that we are supposed to be doing which we are not doing, let us now do it and if there is anything wrong with policy that we are adopting, we need to restructure, we need to look inward and ensure that what we are going to do will help in terms of developing the sector in the shortest possible time.”

“Well done is better than well said,” the Transcorp Hilton Hotel beamed again and again on its wide screen for the benefit of its workers before the formal opening and commencement of the summit on the first day. Although the quote, culled from behospitable.com was done to remind its workers of their eternal duty to their highly esteemed customers/clientele, it serves as much a reminder to Transcorp Hilton Hotel workers as it is to all stakeholders in education who gathered at the Congress Hall of the five star hotel, between Monday, October 4 and Tuesday, October 5, to brainstorm on the state of education in Nigeria and on the way forward.
Only time will tell whether it will be “well said” or “well done,” at the end of the day.

Troubles now loom for beggars and hawkers in Abuja, as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed, on Monday, directed the Social Development Secretariat to intensify their arrest and evacuation out of FCT to their various states of origin.

The minister, who insisted that his administration had not lowered its zero-tolerance to street begging, also directed that the war against street prostitution in Abuja be sustained to rid the city of commercial sex workers.

Giving the directives in Abuja, Senator Mohammed gave a two-week ultimatum to all the agencies under FCT Administration to complete their procurement process, as he was not prepared to take any excuse for failure to deliver good governance in the capital territory.

To that effect, the minister directed all the FCT Administration agencies and parastatals, including the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), to immediately resolve all administrative and technical issues connected with the procurement process.

He noted that since the performance of the procurement process impacted on the budget performance, as well as project execution, every step must be taken to accord the process the seriousness it deserved.

While directing all heads of the Procurement Departments/Units in all the FCT Administration Agencies, as well as the FCDA Executive Secretary and mandate secretaries to meet every two weeks to appraise the situation, Senator Mohammed equally directed the FCDA Executive Secretary, Mr Muhammad Alhassan, to liaise with the contractors handling the rehabilitation and expansion of the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Murtala Mohammed expressways with a view to hastening jobs on the road corridors.

THE presidency is set to tidy issues on the 2011 general election following fresh request by President Goodluck Jonathan for amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 to give room for the inclusion of special delegates in primaries of political parties, just as the president has proposed a bill to this effect.

The amendment of 2010 Electoral Act forms part of the main legislative issues which members of the House of Representatives will be addressing this week as they resume legislative business today.

The fresh amendment to the just amended Electoral Act by the National Assembly as proposed by President Jonathan is meant to repeal section 87 which had initially outlawed the idea of special delegates which made room for political appointees to vote during governorship and presidential primaries by political parties.

Already, the House Committee on Rules and Business had scheduled the Bill for Electoral Act Amendment for today’s schedule of business, an indication that the bill would be laid for First Reading during today’s plenary.

The National Assembly had during the last Constitution and Electoral Act Amendment processes taken off the clause on special delegates in the Electoral Act 2006, having insisted that the primaries by political parties must follow democratic norms, thus making it mandatory for all aspirants to undergo electoral processes.

Before today’s resumption by the House, Nigerian Tribune learnt that President Jonathan had lobbied the leadership of the National Assembly to look into the amendment he had proposed to the Electoral Act and then grant it accelerated passage.

Findings have revealed, however, that some National Assembly members are not favourably disposed to the president’s request, citing time constraint as reason, while many of them were said to have complained bitterly that the time they had spent on the initial amendment of the Nigerian electoral law would have amounted to a waste.

The Senate Constitution Review Committee has kicked against the request for the amendment of that section of the Electoral Act.

A member of the Senate Constitution Review Committee, Senator Ahmad Sani (Zamfara West), disclosed this  while speaking with newsmen at the weekend at Bakura.

According to him: “It is true that President Goodluck Jonathan had sent a proposal or a bill requesting for the amendment of that section, but, that request was not accepted or honoured by the Senate. The request was not even deliberated on at a time.

“Section 87 ( of the Electoral Act states that “A political appointee at any level shall not be a voting delegate at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of nomination of candidates for any election.”

The senator revealed that already, the committee had met with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and endorsed the proposed areas agreed upon during their deliberations, pointing out that the particular section was not among the areas discussed at their sessions.

He said that, “INEC chairman had just submitted the proposal to the National Assembly’s constitutional review committee, which I am a member and we endorsed the proposal, but the constitution has to be amended first.

“You know constitution has been amended which led to the former timetable, and later on, INEC, in consultations with the presidency, decided to change the date. They said it was not possible for them to conduct elections in January. After our consultations, we all agreed to conduct elections in April. And May 29 will remain the swearing-in date for the new elected president and governors respectively.”

The Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Honourable Mohammed Ali Ndume, had also said the House would not look into the proposal by the president on the grounds that  doing so would complicate preparations for 2011 elections.

The House is, however, expected to hold debate on the request for a shift in the dates for the 2011 elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), with a view to suggesting new dates for the commission.

INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, is expected to visit members of the House on the issue of new dates of elections during the week, as a notice to that effect was said to have been sent to him.

Meanwhile, the INEC chairman has called on the National Assembly to speed up the process of further amendment to the 2010 Electoral Act.

Jega, who made the call when he received a delegation of heads of the European Union (EU), on Monday, said speedy amendment of the act would ensure the implementation of the commi-ssion’s masterplan.

The INEC boss expressed delight that 80 per cent of the recommendations of Justice Uwais Committee report was incorporated in the  amended act, adding that “there is need to hasten up with the current one.”

Jega highlighted some of the defects in the last voter register to include poor picture quality, inaccurate entries, outright lack of picture, multiple entries and underage registration.

He said the procurement of Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines had suffered some setbacks for about two weeks, but failed to name them.

He called on the EU to give the commission technical support in the purchase of the DDC machines needed for the exercise.

Earlier, the leader of the EU delegation, Mr David Macray, said the union was in support of INEC’s bid to review the voter register, as it would help to restore the confidence of the electorate.

AARE Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Arisekola-Alao, has been advised to drop the grab of being a religious leader and test his popularity by contesting the 2011 governorship election in Oyo State.

The G2011, a group campaigning for the actualisation of the second term bid of the state governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, gave the advice while reacting to the statement credited to the Ibadan-based businessman that there would be a new government in the state in 2011.

Arisekola-Alao had, in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune last week, said that the governor was not popular in the state, declaring that he could not get 20 per cent of the total vote in his hometown, Ogbomoso, during the forthcoming elections.

However, the Oyo State Secretary of G2011, Mr Ralph Elebute, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, described the statement as unfortunate, stating that Arisekola-Alao was a known businessman and religious leader who could not see issues beyond the point of view of his major areas.

“Alhaji Azeez Arisekola-Alao is more known as a religious leader and a successful businessman. That is why he cannot differentiate between politics, business and even religion. His attack on Governor Alao-Akala stemmed from the fact that he rated himself higher than what he is in the political calculations of Oyo State.

“Probably, he wants to equate himself with the late Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, forgetting the fact that the only business the man had was politics. But his comment was not totally surprising because his philosophy has always been any government in power.

“I can recollect that the late Chief Bola Ige, while reacting to the outburst of Arisekola-Alao in 1982, asked the people of the state to advise him not dabble into the murky waters of politics, but should rather face his business squarely.

“Now, the man has stripped himself off the respect of a religious leader and he would henceforth be seen, recognised and addressed as a politician,” Elebute said.

Again, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has said since it was primarily established to cater for the interest of the North and what affects its people, its position that the North must produce the president come 2011 still stands.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Kaduna State chapter of the ACF, on Monday, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Anthony Sani, said  that when it was in its interest, the  South  supported zoning  contrary to what was happening now.

Anthony said that, “since they  wanted zoning and they are our own people and the zoning is not against Northern interest, we have no basis whatsoever to go against it because it is in our interest. So what we want is that if all the political parties have all their candidates from the North the final outcome will be that of Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae in 1999, it will be a family affair.

“Why we came to that decision that all political parties should field Northerners as presidential candidates in 2011, but people thought that we just came to that decision like that. That is not true, we actually thought seriously about it. So I’m pleading with you that are now in this forum to find a way of coming together so that all our decisions can be one.”

The ACF publicity secretary stated further, “the other issue that has been engaging our attention is whether the ACF has been partisan or not. For example in the past, there has  been politics of resource control, there has been politics of federal character  and a lot of issues, these issues are not partisan, there was the issue of third term and it is not partisan, now people say because we are not partisan that we cannot take political decisions but we normally take positions when it comes to political issues that affects the North.

“I know some people will ask why you people said you wanted zoning, that it is a PDP affair. Our answer is that at the moment if you want to get power you cannot ignore the PDP; you cannot ignore the character of the presidential candidates. Nigeria is almost becoming a one party state and you want us to close our eyes to what is happening in such a party?”

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), on Monday, disclosed in Abuja that about 60 per cent of the African population live on less than one dollar per day, adding that the authority of the heads of state and government has decided to revive the integration process, by adopting Vision 2020 at its June, 2007 session held in Abuja.

This disclosure was made at the regional meeting of national committees on Community Development Programme(CDP) held at the ECOWAS secretariat in Abuja.

The meeting disclosed that Vision 2020 was aimed at moving from an ECOWAS of states to ECOWAS of people and also to create conducive environment where people live in dignity and peace under the rule of law and good governance.

It further stated that ECOWAS was committed to achieving a borderless West African region and establishing a region well integrated into global village and deriving maximum benefits from globalisation.

A former Minister of Education, Prof. Babatunde Fafunwa, has died at the age of 87.

His nephew, Dr. Hakeem Onikoyi, said the octogenarian died of natural causes, while on a trip to Abuja on Monday morning.

When we called his Lagos home, a female member of his household, who identified herself as Juliet, confirmed the late former minister’s demise.

“Sorry, you cannot talk with Baba again. He is dead.

“They called us from Abuja where he travelled to this morning to tell us that he is no more. He was in Abuja with mummy,” she said in an emotion laden voice.

However, Onikoyi later confirmed the development to newsmen at the late Fafunwa’s residence in Lagos on Monday.

According to him, the ex-minister had left Lagos for Abuja on Thursday accompanied by his wife to receive an award at the second convocation of the National Open University of Nigeria. But when the management of the university postponed the award, Fafunwa, who served as minister between 1990 and 1992, decided to return to Lagos on Saturday.

“Before he went to Abuja, he was not ill; but on Saturday, he complained of minor weakness of his body and he was taken to one hospital in Abuja. He was there till this morning (Monday) when he died around 7am,” he said.

As at 6.30pm when one of our correspondents left his Ikoyi residence, his corpse was still being expected from Abuja.

Family sources said this was due to flight delay in Abuja. The family, THE PUNCH learnt, would finalise plans for his burial on Monday night, after the arrival of one of his children, Tanimola, from the Philippines.

One of the early callers at the Lagos residence of the former minister was the mother of Lagos State Deputy Governor Sarah Sosan, Alhaja Serifat Onikoyi, who is one of the sisters of the deceased.

A former vice-chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Prof. Wale Omole, and a former chief judge of Lagos State, Justice Abdulfatai Adeyinka, were some of the prominent Nigerians that visited the family to pay their condolences.

Meanwhile, some Nigerians have expressed shock at Fafunwa’s demise. They noted that he would be remembered for his devotion to research and struggle for the adoption of local languages as the mode of instruction in the nation’s primary school system.

One of them, the former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola, said Fafunwa’s death was “a huge loss to the development of education in Nigeria as a nation and Africa as a region.

“His contributions were monumental, which he sustained even till his old age. As minister of education, he stimulated the setting up of the 6-3-3-4 system and leveraged the visibility of African education systems in UNESCO and other global bodies. His forte was in mentoring younger ones, to keep the flame of quality education burning.

“He takes credit for setting up several innovative mechanisms to bolster quality in the education system, including the National Examination Council, National Board for Technical Education and Business Board and the Fafunwa Educational Foundation.

“Even as an octogenarian who could spend retirement in a reclusive corner, he was not shy of sharing his views on topical issues in education in Nigeria. We lost a legend. May his soul rest in peace,” he said.

Fafunwa, fondly called Babs by his former students, associates, friends and colleagues, was born in September 1923 in Isale-Eko Lagos.

Fafunwa’s educational philosophy was centrally focused on the Nigerian child.

The deceased, in an interview he granted on September 30, this year, said he would love to be remembered as a man who tried to make every Nigerian literate and numerate in his mother tongue and in English as a second language.

Family sources said his remains might be buried on Tuesday (today).

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday said that despite the consensus on the need to shift the dates of the 2011 general elections from January to April, the exercise was still under serious threat.

It attributed the threat to the delay by the National Assembly in amending the 2010 Electoral Act which would provide the direction for the electoral body and politicians aspiring for elective offices.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, made this known while receiving a delegation from the European Union Mission in Nigeria, led by Mr. David McRae.

The Electoral Act, if amended, will alter the elections timeline.

INEC had at a meeting with party leaders sought for the postponement of the elections scheduled for January to April. It had fixed party primaries for between September 11 and October 30.

The registration of voters was to begin on November 1 and end on November 14.

Jega told the EU delegation that any delay beyond November in the amendment to the Act would substantially erode the progress so far made by the commission in its preparations for the registration of voters and the elections proper.

He said, “A quick amendment to the 2010 Electoral Act is among the challenges currently confronting the commission’s determination to carry out its registration implementation plan and ensure credible elections in 2011 and beyond.

“Delay in the amendment of the Electoral Act will affect the implementation of the master plan. INEC needs a clear legal framework to proceed with the implementation of the plan.”

The First Reading of the amendment to the Electoral Act 2010 is, however, expected to take place at the House of Representatives on Tuesday (today) as the members reconvene from their two-month annual vacation.

The Senate resumed last Tuesday.

Reiterating the commission’s readiness to make the elections credible, Jega said, “We are getting conflicting signals. And if there are any delays in the National Assembly, it will affect us. The faster they are able to complete the amendment process, the better for us.

“If we have to get extension around November or December, then, we will be back to square one. We do not want any extension that would affect the May 29th handover date.”

Jega, who noted that the challenges before the commission were enormous, described the delivery of a fresh voter register as a “National Emergency.”

The INEC chairman said although the Federal Government had implemented about 80 per cent of the recommendations contained in the Justice Muhammed Uwais-led panel report on electoral reforms, there were still challenges inherent in Nigeria’s electoral process.

He admitted that the procurement of the Direct Data Capture Machines had suffered some setbacks, but said the commission was on top of the situation.

“The acquisition of the DDC machines has reached an advanced stage. We have had some setbacks, but we have made tremendous progress. The training of the trainers will commence next week,” he said.

Jega added that INEC had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Youth Service Corps on the use of its members as ad hoc staff for the voter registration.

“Very soon, we will commence the training of the trainers next week. We are calling on our donor bodies, particularly the European Union for support both technically and financially,” he said.

The INEC boss highlighted some of the defects in the last voter register to include poor picture quality, inaccurate entries, outright lack of pictures, multiple entries and underage registration.

Jega also said that INEC had made contingency arrangements to ensure the success of the elections and the voters register.

He said, “We have a Plan B, which we are keeping close to our chests. We are committed to the success of the voter registration and elections on the new timeline.

“The background was that when we appeared before the National Assembly we gave a confidential timeline;

“So, technically, we are waiting for the amendments before we announce the new timetable and once we get that extension, there is no doubt that things will be much more relaxed.”

Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Mr. Macrae, told Jega that they were at the commission to acquaint themselves with the level of preparation for the 2011 elections.

Macrae, who is also the EU Ambassador to Nigeria, said, “Our main interest is to have interest from you regarding a new timetable for the elections and the level of your preparations. We are also here to show our support to the commission.

“We want to also use this occasion to inform the EU exploratory mission, which will start tomorrow (today) the mission will later metamorphose into the EU support group to INEC. We are very aware of the challenges and the pressure to conduct free and fair elections.

“And we are ready to partner with the commission we are going to provide support and technical aid not only on the election day.”

There were, however, indications on Monday that INEC had already started work on a new timetable for the elections.

Investigations revealed that based on a tentative plan by the commission, party primaries would be held in December, while voter registration would take place in January 2011.

When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said that the timetable released in September, was unworkable.

“The commission has received reasonable assurances of a little more latitude of time. In any event, the old timetable is unworkable strictly as it is; and inevitably needs adjustment; and so a new timetable is likely,” Idowu said.

Crimes Commission and presidential aspirant of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Nuhu Ribadu has accused the federal government, under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan of unjustly retiring him from the Nigerian Police Force, Empowered Newswire reports.

In an interview with Nigeriavillagesquare, a US-based Nigeria website, the full transcript of which was released over the weekend, the former EFCC boss reacted to claims that he was a mere front for the Jonathan presidency in his political campaigns.

Confirming the existence of such speculation, Ribadu said “you know one thing that is surprising me is about this President Jonathan rumours. This is a government that has retired me for no reason, I have not done anything, I have given 25 years of my life into public service and they retired me.”

Ribadu added that “what Jonathan did was just to change it from dismissal to retirement. And I am yet to be told what I have done for me to be retired from public service.”

Criticising the Peoples Democratic Party, which he said had nothing to do with his presidential aspiration, Ribadu submitted that the party itself had “been extremely unfair to Nigerians and unfair to me.”

Said he “I did, to the best of my ability, what I thought was the right thing and they went after me, they punished me, they humiliated me, they took me out of public service, they retired me, and I have not got one penny up to this moment. And people are talking about me being used? I think that is very unfair to me.”

The stand-in coach of the Super Eagles, Austin Eguavoen, has expressed disappointment over the 1-0 defeat of the team by the Syli Nationale of Guinea on Sunday in Conakry.

Eguavoen said the players did not do well enough to get a result in the lack-lustre encounter decided just two days after FIFA provisionally lifted the ban placed on Nigeria.

The coach said the players approached the match casually and that resulted in the early and only goal scored by the home team.

The former Eagles captain said, ”The players were so very casual as if we went there for a party. We did not work enough to get a result in that match.

”In the first ten minutes, we played poorly and that was all Guinea needed to win the match. In the second half, we played better and things went well for the entire team but we were just unlucky not to have scored.

”The attackers did not find their bearing at all and that was just the summary of the whole situation because that gave Guinea so much confidence to swoop on us.”

Eguavoen commended the home based players that featured and made impact in the game.

Ahmed Musa of Kano Pillars and John Owoeri of Heartland were introduced late in the game. They displayed good knowledge of the game and fighting spirit.

”They did well and it is encouraging. We have to continue to try until we are able to rebuild the team to the expected standard,” he added.

There is palpable fear in Gusau, Zamfara State capital following a text message purportedly being circulated by members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) that President Goodluck Jonathan should expect another bombing as he plans to commission electricity projects in the state.

The message was sent to a journalist with a national newspaper (not Daily Sun) and other prominent individuals in the state through the mobile number: +2348185474732 and reads unedited:

Attention, MEND being a strong body in the Niger Delta province and protesting against so called Jonathan …XE are ready die in the struggle at all cost the special message to d service is that we are very much aware of the Ebele visit to Zamfara possibly something will happen no body will stop it what happen on October 1, 2010 is real. Lets innocent shy away from d venue as we shall surprise Nigerians bomb is terrible innovation and we are afraid of it please advice people to distant themselves or lost life okey Sokoto airport Zamfara govt house Zamfara

The text message came on the eve of the President’s visit to the state and there is panic among the people, especially, top government officials and security personnel.

It was gathered that as at press time special bomb squad had been deployed in areas within the state capital and the venue for the commissioning of the electrification project at Talata Mafara, which would connect Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi States to the national grid.
It was further gathered that armed and plain clothes security personnel had been deployed in major streets in the state capital to provide adequate surveillance and security.

When contacted the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Zamfara command, ASP Sanusi Amiru said the command was aware of the security situation in the country and had drafted special squad on bomb disposal to ensure adequate security at the venue.
He advised the public to remain calm and not panic as policemen were on red alert.