Oduduwa News

For the umpteenth time, the leading governorship aspirant on the platform of the Official Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Nigeria (PDP) in Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, has restated his commitment to a Southern successor if given the opportunity to govern the state again.

Oni, however, pleaded for the understanding of the people that only a party in power in Ekiti could make a deliberate decision to pick a southern successor and use resources to get it done.

The PDP governorship hopeful has repeatedly said that he is committed to one remaining term arrangement and a southern successor if he is picked by his party and elected by the people.

Oni had recently said on Channels Television that “the Southern agitations are in a way, right and fair.

“If I am governor, I can muster the resources of the state; I can put it behind anybody from the South and say let us try.”

But according to Oni, the superior push for a governor from the South was an option that may be limited to the party in power, because since 1999 every zone had contested the governorship seat in Ekiti.

“If I have an opportunity to be in power, of course, we can deliberately go back to the south for a successor.

“I don’t fool around; when I say things I mean them. I will push for a southern successor,” said.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Segun Oni Campaign Team, Yemi Arokodare, has asked the public to ignore rumours that Segun Oni may consider doing a second term if elected as governor.

“Chief Segun Oni served the people of Ekiti State meritoriously between 2007 and 2010, and that is why the people are yearning for his return and praying for his emergence as the PDP candidate.

“He is committed to the one more term left if given the opportunity, and he will be very deliberate about the Southern agenda.

“Segun Oni is a team player and conscientious politician; he will work with the other aspirants to win Ekiti for the PDP,” he assured.

Arokodare said the clarification had become necessary to correct falsehoods and allay fears and concerns in some quarters.

Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, a former Minister of Works on Saturday said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) needs eight years of planning including hard work of they can get close to winning Lagos State.

Ogunlewe who spoke in an interview with DAILY INDEPENDENT was reacting to the reception of the convener of the Lagos4Lagos Movement Movement and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdulazeez Adediran, aka Jandor, into the PDP at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS).

National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu; Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde; former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and five other governors on the platform of the PDP received Jandor and his supporters into the PDP on Friday

The governors in attendance are host governor, Makinde; Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike; Akwa Ibom Governor, Deacon Udom Emmanuel; his Abia State counterpart, Okezie Ikpeazu; Enugu State Governor, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; Bayelsa State and Senator Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State.

During the event, which had in attendance members of the National Working Committee of the PDP, including the Deputy National Chairman, Taofeek Arapaja, and the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, as well as former PDP Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George; former governors Peter Obi and Olusegun Mimiko, the PDP said it is ready to take over Lagos state in 2023.

Reacting to their threat, Ogunlewe a former PDP chieftain said winning an election, especially Lagos state which is firmly under APC’s control requires a lot of hard work.

He said “Some governors came to Lagos state yesterday for ‘Lagos4Lagos’ declaration and they said they will take over Lagos state in 2023. It is a tall order and a heroic statement. Atari ajanaku ni, kiise eru omode (the dismembered head of an elephant is not what a child can carry)”.

“To win an election is not by mere talking. You must walk the talk because you don’t win by mouth. You have to work very hard. Somebody is controlling 57 local councils, all the councilors, all the Road Transport unions, market women, primary and secondary school teachers and you say that you will defeat him. Where are you going to get your votes from?”

“Those are the voters that are already part of APC and so you need to work to convince them to vote for you? How many teachers does PDP have in primary and secondary schools? How many supporters do they have in the markets? How many students in the tertiary institutions who are getting scholarships and bursaries do you have?”

“My advice to PDP is that they need a minimum of eight years planning plus hard work to get near winning Lagos. They need money, structures and the ability to convince people. I said ‘convince the voters’ because the attitude of people towards elections today is not right at all. People don’t like to vote again. Where you have less than 10 percent of registered voters”.

“They only register because they need the document for one thing or the other, not necessarily because they want to vote. On the day of the election, they will sit down at home watching television or playing football on the streets. No matter how you beg them to vote, they won’t listen”.

Comrade Lekan Badmus is a columnist with Oduduwa News.

One of the political weapons to woo voters in any election is promises. This is not peculiar to Nigeria. It is the common practice in the world. After all, governance has to do with impactful programmes on the lives of the electorates.

The recent promise made by one of the presidential hopefuls, Asiwaju Tinubu has become another subject of discussion amongst pundits. The APC stalwart has willingly and under no duress, promised to pay the WAEC fees of the students across the nation. As soothing as this promise seems, Nigerians are sceptical about the pledge; thus, the various reactions.

Those who have made scathing remarks on this promise may not be totally wrong. We have had failed promise in the past. We have had a government who promised to reduce oil pump price but ended up eventually by increasing it. We have had a government who claimed to have a clue to put an end to terrorism but ended up by playing upon our intelligence by swapping and branding terrorism, banditry. We have had a government who promised to being us out of economic doldrum but who ended compounding our economic woes. One who claimed to be an apostle of fundamental human rights ended up wiping a clan out of the surface of the earth at Odi village. We have not forgotten how a leader promised to promote freedom of speech but later are his words by forcing padlocks on the mouth of the press. The examples are endless. Most have become promises that could not hold water. They were promises on the tip of the tongue.

Apparently, the scepticism stemmed from the various unfulfilled promises of the past.Nigerians are not suffering from insomnia. We have been disappointed. As soon as the politicians gained power, they turned their back; forgetting the proverbial ladder which they used to climb to the top! It is at this comfort apex office that they begin to differentiate between the mathematical angles of elevation and depression.

In reality, I have never believed in bursary award. Most often than not, the bursary welfare has always fallen to wrong hands. The indigents students are on most occasions denied and deprived because local government certificate of origin is easy to procure at a cheap price by non-indigenes. And this is the criteria for disbursing the sum. Aside this, the number of beneficiaries are usually doctored by the politicians. More nauseating is the fact that the money are spent on frivolity by the beneficiaries. This is peculiar to the south west anyway.

From the immediate above, I prefer the payment of WAEC fees for students but with a caveat. Currently, the 2022 WAEC candidates have been requested to pay between #22, 000 to #25,000. This is a collosal sum. I bet you, many students might not write the examination due to financial incapability of their parents. WAEC is a terminal examination and a certificate one for that matter. Any student who unavoidably missed the examination stands to waste the six years of schooling. Thus, the logic in the payment of WAEC fees by Tinubu.

Be that as it may, what Asiwaju has failed to tell us is the way and manner with which he hopes to achieve this. In the developed nations, political office seekers would not just give an ambiguous statement. Rather, they would follow it with empirical statistics to establish the feasibility of the promise. Asiwaju needs to be explicit and vivid. In Nigeria, politicians seldom giving volatile and vague promise because they do not mean what they say. I am not waving Asiwaju’s promise with the back of the hands. He has the clout based on his success in Lagos state. But did he consider the number of potential WAEC candidates across the nation with reference to the payable fees ?! How does he plan to prevent conspiracy?

Anyway, someone like Tinubu would have sat down and thought about this promise. But at the same time, he owes us the explanation.

Let us be factual, students in the north have continually enjoyed free education, bursary and scholarship. One begins to wonder how they are achieving this! There is also a special grant for the exceptional students but such package has not been extended to the south. Could this mean the southern political leaders are scuttling the gesture ! We are all aware of the free feeding programmes that is well coordinated in the north, the covid-19 palliatives, the tradermoni and a host of other welfare programmes. Are we under spell in the south ?

On a final note, one of the banes of bursary award and “WAEC subsidy” or outright payment is the deliberate and callous inflation of the potential WAEC students across the schools because schools lack viable data and school management sometime act in connivance with the rogues within some examination bodies in Nigeria to hike the figure so as to get some returns. My submission here is subject to verification in schools across south west. It is not my habit making fallacious claim. I stand to be challenged. Move to schools and find out whether there are no special registers !

Anyway, the payment is not impossible. I only pray that it won’t be a dangling carrot and a bait from the predators to the unsuspecting preys.

For comments:
lekanbadmuscolumn@gmail.com

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has on Thursday launched the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus, to be implemented with a $750m World Bank facility.

Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement he signed on Thursday titled, ‘World bank $750m support will complement FG’s social investment, job creation, poverty reduction programmes–Osinbajo’.

The inauguration was a prelude to the National Economic Council meeting chaired by the Vice President at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.

According to him, the NG-Cares, which would be for two years (2021-2023), will avail states with $20m, while the Federal Capital Territory would receive $15m.

“NG-Cares is a multi-sectoral programme designed to support vulnerable and poor Nigerians to provide essential emergency relief to smallholder farmers and MSMEs, especially those that were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Programme will build on the varied and extensive Federal Government interventions developed as part of the president’s plan for taking 100 million Nigerians out of poverty and in response to the severe socio-economic fallouts of the pandemic, especially those programmes and plans contained in the Economic Sustainability Plan.

“The essential addition to the Federal Government’s Programme is that the NG-Cares programme will leverage on existing programmes in the states, especially job creation programmes, wealth creation, poverty reduction programmes at the community level such as state cash transfer units, state Fadama or agriculture development agencies, state job creation units and MSME units. All of the support by Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme,” Osinbajo said.

The Vice President further explained that “the World Bank loan is in the order of $750m and this will be over two years (2021-2023); the intervention allocation to each state is $20m and $15m to the FCT; there is also $15m for the Federal Cares Support Unit.”

He noted that the states would drive the Programme, and there will be a programme for result-delivery mechanism type, in which case, performance must be shown.

He noted that “subsidy and grants to support individuals, households and MSMEs in the multi-year development plan for 2021-2024 was developed in the context of the response to the COVID-19 crisis and the ESP.

“That plan serves as a bridge to ensure successful programme implementation. The Federal Government will provide quality assurance, monitoring, capacity building and technical assistance to states and the FCT on project activities and results.

“Consequently, the Federal Government has inaugurated the Federal Cares Steering Committee, the Federal Cares Technical Committee and the Federal Cares Support Unit to provide overall policy direction, technical support to all the states and the FCT and to advise the president appropriately.”

Osinbajo, who urged stakeholders to deploy their wealth of experience and expertise to ensure successful take-off and implementation of the Programme, said he looks forward to prompt and effective implementation of the Programme both at the federal and state levels.

In attendance were State Governors, members of the Federal Executive Council, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and development partners, including the World Bank Country Director, Shubham Chaudhuri, who made a presentation on State Eligibility for the Programme.