Category: Politics

GOVERNOR BAGUDU OF KEBBI COMMENDS OONI OF IFE FOR HIS SUPPORT TO THE PEOPLE OF KEBBI IN FIGHTING COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

According to the press secretary to the state’s Deputy Governor, Abdullahi Musa Yalmo,
the Kebbi State Governor Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu has commended the Arole Oodua & Ooni of Ife Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, for his love to the people of the State in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Governor Bagudu who was represented by His Deputy, rtd. Colonel Sama’ila Yombe Dabai mni, fss, psc+ MBA, and State Coordinator, Kebbi State Task Force Team made the commendation while recieving a Motorized Modular Fumigator donated by Ooni Ogunwusi in his capacity as Co-chairman, National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria(NCTRN) to States across the Country and Federal Capital Territory, the FCT.

The Kebbi State Governor expressed appreciation of the Government and people of Kebbi over the gesture and congratulated the royal father for leading the fight against the pandemic, saying Kebbi Government will look forward to emulating the effort of the Royal Father in fabricating its own in the State towards complimenting his stride in ensuring a COVID-19 free Nigeria.

“Kindly extend our profound gratitude to His Imperial Majesty, for the bold step he has taken to fighting the scourge, hoping to see individuals borrowing a leaf from him’ the Governor said.

In her remarks, Chairman of Ooni Covid-19 Intervention Team, a Professor of Public Health, as well as Head of Department, Community Health at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Professor Olapeju Esimai said the Motorized Modular Fumigator is an invention of House of Oduduwa Machine and Tools, part of His Imperial Majesty the Ooni of Ife’s response to COVID-19 Pandemic and that the Machine has a Cabin which is about 75 Kilogram, a tank of about 1000 litre which holds the disinfectant, Sodium Hypochlorite in 0.5 percent concentration and covers a wide range of about 20-30 litres radius.

Professor Olupeju said outside COVID-19 infection, the Fumigator can be used in Agricultural Industry to dispense Pesticides and Insecticides in addition to other invention of House of Oduduwa which included disinfection Cabin which can be placed in Shopping Malls, Schools to disinfect people and Small Machines that can be used for indoor fumigation in Schools, Worship Centres and homes.

At the Ceremony were Members of Kebbi State Task Force Team led by the Chairman and Commissioner for Health, Rt.Hon. Ja’afar Muhammad Clean among others.

Main point of the occasion was formal presentation of 2 No. Motorized Modular Fumigator on behalf of the Ooni by the Asoya of Isoya in Osun state, Oba Muraina Adedini supported by the Ooni’s Director of Media & Public Affairs, Comrade Moses Olafare and another member of the team, Mr Daramola Morakinyo, to the State Deputy Governor for unward transmission to the State Governor.

In a statement signed and released today by the Secretary of the Oyo State Chapter of the Party, Comrade Ayodeji Adigun, Socialist Party of Nigeria SPN calls on workers to prevail on their union leadership not to accept any attempt to make working people victims of the consequences of accumulating debt burden of the State.

The Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN Oyo State Chapter faults the decision by Engr Seyi Makinde-led government to issue another fresh bond of N100 billion under the usual pretence of investing on infrastructural development when the State is obviously groaning under a huge and crushing debt burden already. The fresh N100billion bond which was reported to be for the facilitation of the execution of 50km Iseyin-Ogbomosho road, the Ibadan circular Ring road and expansion of ibadan airport road is the fourth loan facility the Engr Seyi Makinde-led government has accessed in barely 14 months in office.

SPN is not enthused with the news of the 100 billion bond. This is not to say that the highlighted projects reportedly tagged priority projects for which the Makinde’s government purportedly got the latest loan are not important. We acknowledge the potential of these highlighted projects to attract a huge economic development to the State but obviously this should not be at the cost of plunging the State into an avoidable economic bankruptcy and bondage.

Already, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the total debt burden incurred by the successive governments in Oyo State including the late Senator Abiola Ajimobi-led regime before the advent of Engr Seyi Makinde-led government in May 29th, 2019 was over N126billion. This figure which comprises over N94billon of domestic debt and over N32billion of external debt did not translate into any meaningful improvement in the Infrastructural development and the well-being of the people of the State. As things stand now, this huge debt burden has now been increased by over N140billion by Engr Seyi Makinde-led government in just 15 months in office. Now, the debt burden of Oyo State hovers around N266billion

This is a very worrisome figure of debt for the State and it means the State is now at the verge of being plunged into economic insolvency considering the cost required for the servicing and repayment of the newly issued 100billon bond alone on the top of the previous ones. At 12% interest rate which is the least for the bond issued by States, it will require nothing less than N20billion naira annually to service the bond while the cost of repayment annually range from N5billon to N20billion depending on the year for the repayment which usually range from 5 to 20 years.

Obviously, with this huge amount for the servicing of the 100billion bond and the previous loans to be deducted from the State’s revenue with over 80% of the it coming from the Federal allocation and considering the fact that the Federal allocation itself has recently dropped considerably owing to the decline in the international prices of crude, then the volume of funds available for the State will be drained away only by debt servicing. This will be at the expense of the provision of social services like education, health and the well-being of mass of workers and the poor people across the State.

The economic implication of this is that fees may be hiked across schools in the State while the health sector will suffer a deeper neglect than before hence, making the health institutions in the State weaker and unable to attend to the health need of the citizens. The sustainability of the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage and prompt payment of salaries and pension is most likely to be threatened, thus compounding the current economic hardship the mass of the working but poor people in the State are going through at this present time.

This will mean a double jeopardy for mass of the working people in the state, moreover, the Private Public Partnership, PPP arrangement through which the so called priority projects are planned to be executed has shown on several instances to be a monumental fraud of using public resources for private profits. Therefore, the N100billion bond like the previous loans will end up being shared among the pro-capitalist politicians and not translate into any significant improvement in both the well being of the working people and level of Infrastructure in the State.

This is why the SPN calls on mass of the workers in the State to commence the process of prevailing on the leadership of their respective unions particularly the State’s leadership of the NLC and TUC that at no time should they accept any attempt to make the workers, youth and the poor in the state to bear the burden of the economic consequences of the debt burden currently hanging on the State. Civil servants outsides the core civil service like tertiary institutions across the State including the LAUTECH teaching hospital workers who are currently being denied the implementation of N30,000 minimum wage despite the huge noise and propaganda Engr Seyi Makinde-led government is making around the implementation of the new minimum wage must continue to demand the implementation in addition to the 2019 promotion which is yet to be implemented across tertiary institutions in the State.

SPN urges leadership of the workers organisation to begin to demand that the political office holders be placed on the salary and allowances earned by the civil servants. Also the exact amount of security votes earn by Engr Seyi Makinde-led government must be declared and same should be dissolved into the pool of funds available for the State to meet the economic need of the people of the State. Also importantly, is the need for workers to begin to demand that the execution of all public works in the State should be through a public work programme by the ministry of works that will be equipped with adequate manpower and machinery under a democratic control of the committee of elected representatives of workers and communities.

With democratically run public work programme instead of the fraudulent PPP or contract system, placing political office holders on salaries and allowance of civil servants and scrapping of wastages and fraudulent emoluments like security votes and pensions for ex-governors, there might not be any need to borrow in the first instance. But these measures are not possible on the basis of a capitalist government. This is one of the reasons workers, youth and the poor masses should join the SPN which will run the government on a socialist programme which include above stated measures and agitate for the nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy under democratic management and control of the working people in order to raise adequate resources for social programme and infrastructure development.

It was learnt on Sunday that a resident of Inisa town, Tunde Oyeniran, has allegedly killed his wife and two children.

Oyeniran, a Nurse allegedly perpetrated the act on Friday, around 11pm, using a cutlass to kill his wife, Sarah, and the other two victims.

He also allegedly inflicted cuts on himself in the hand and stomach and raised the alarm, claiming that his family was attacked by hoodlums.

The Osun State Police Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, said Oyeniran was arrested where he was receiving treatment.

She said preliminary investigation revealed a foul play, adding that the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department was already investigating the matter.

Opalola said, “From the information available to us, the incident happened around 11pm last Friday in Inisa. The suspect reportedly used a cutlass to kill his wife, Sarah, and the two children living with them.

The Landlords and residents of Agbado-Okearo in the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State have appealed to the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun to stop an alleged attempt by the Lagos State Water Corporation to demolish over 400 houses in the area.

It was learnt that The Chairman of the Agbado-Okearo Community Development Association, Samson Abegunde, made the appeal in a statement delivered to the PRESS men on Sunday and urged Governor Abiodun to prevail on his Lagos State counterpart, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to order the LSWC to stop further demolition of houses in the area.

Abegunde said houses numbering about 400 had been marked for demolition to pave the way for pipelines that the LSWC plans to lay in the area through to Lagos State.

According to him, most of the landlords have been living in the area since 1972 without any problem.

He said, “We implore the State Government to come to their aide and stop the proposed demolition.

“The community has been in existence since after the civil war, while the water corporation was established in 1986.

“Also, most landlords in the community have the necessary documents, including approved plans by the Ogun State Government.”

Abegunde said the last time the corporation embarked on laying of water pipes many landlords died without getting compensation.

He advised that the LSWC could lay the pipelines behind the waterworks in the area as an alternative route to Lagos.

Abegunde also appealed to the corporation to use the pig farm in the Oke-Aro area as an alternative route to Lagos.

Eyitayo Jegede SAN has been declared the flag bearer of Peoples’ Democratic Party in the forthcoming Gubernatorial Election in Ondo State. The declaration was made known by the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa who was the Chairman of the Primary election that was concluded today.

Eight aspirants sought the party’s ticket at the primary.

They are Agboola Ajayi, Eyitayo Jegede, Boluwaji Kunlere, Eddy Olafeso, Ben Okunomo, Bode Ayorinde, Godday Erewa and Sola Ebiseeni.

With his emergence as PDP flag-bearer, Mr Jegede is again the main challenger to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who is the candidate of the governing party, the APC.

It will be recalled that Mr Ajayi, the deputy governor, had rushed out of the APC and joined the PDP hoping to clinch the opposition party’s ticket.

His defeat now appears double jeorpardy for him as he will now have to fend off an aggressive plot to remove him from office.

Let’s Embrace Family Planning, Fewer Children

In a statement released today by the Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Debo Ogundoyin via his Twitter handle read as thus:

The economic reality and inevitable need for healthy families in Nigeria as the most populous country in Africa makes family planning an essential health concept.

The heavy stigmatization and misunderstanding of Family planning and contraception among couples deserve aggressive reorientation considering the Hundreds of thousands of women die in childbirth every year, child malnutrition and other family based social responsibilities.

Today’s Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative, NURHI 2 END OF PROJECT DISSEMINATION MEETING in Ibadan pointed clearly at the need for increase use of modern contraceptive methods and similar increase in the desire of women to have fewer children.

The Oyo State House of Assembly shall continually collaborate with NURHI and other local and international bodies towards improving both the supply of and demand for modern contraception. Policies shall be made to make working with health care workers and community clinics, religious leaders, government officials flexible to improve health care quality and access to contraception, ensuring there is adequate supply of these services.

Thank you for supporting our dream and lab our for healthy and safe families in Oyo State. I equally appreciate the recognition bestowed on me in acknowledgement my efforts in the public service.

Thank you.

Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Sunday expressed worry over violation of the COVID-19 regulations in the state, especially the failure my many residents to wear face mask.

The governor, who spoke through the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Olawale Fapohunda, in Ado Ekiti, said special offences court where the violators would be prosecuted had been set up in the state, adding that in addition to fines, convicted offenders would be made to undergo community service.

Fapohunda said, “Mr Governor is very concerned about what appears to us to be widespread lack of compliance with the COVID-19 regulations in Ekiti State, particularly with the wearing of face mask.

“We are concerned that a large and an unacceptable number of our people continue to believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is not real. The state government is keen to correct that wrong impression. From Monday, the state government will begin the enforcement of these regulations.

Violators will be arrested and prosecuted in our special offences court. We are adopting various sanctions in addition to fines. Persons who are convicted may also be required to undertake community service. That is without prejudice to other punitive measures that the presiding magistrate may decide to impose.”

While reminding transport operators the need to reject passengers without face masks, Fapohunda said, “If somebody is not wearing mask, no okada rider should carry such person. We have told the road transportation union members that before they carry passengers, they must be sure that such passengers are wearing mask. They have the right to reject passengers that are not wearing mask. This is not about them; it is about all of us.” Fapohunda said.