Wey the ice block? - Bola Agboola

When few weeks after Pa. Buhari assumed office as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria we experienced improved electricity supply in Ado Ekiti and by extension Nigeria, I thought within myself that this dudes who purchased PHCN had succeeded in sabotaging former President Jonathan's effort at giving Nigerians stable power supply since it was so obvious that Pa. Buhari hadn't done anything significant to warrant the improvement we experienced within those few weeks after he assumed office. I could remember I discussed the power improvement with The Special Assistant to Governor Ayodele Fayose on New Media and Communications, Lere Olayinka back then and he attributed the improvement to the rainfall we experienced at that time, he said that is the norm when we have much water at the dams, I disagreed with him. I told him the improvement was borne out of the fear that licences granted this electricity coys may be withdrawn by the new administration if what we experienced in the past continued. Days later, the social media space was designed with iced blocks, beers that broke its bottle and so on, obviously, those on Bubu's side were happy, they made jest of the Wailers even when Bubu's government has yet to add a Megawatt to whatever GEJ left behind. Today is the 30th day of October, it's still raining, in fact, it rained so heavily two days back that am still mopping the rug but electricity supply in Ado Ekiti has gone bad, bad beyond what we used to have before Bubu came in. I know there is water in the dam, more water than we had in June. Those thoughts that ran through my mind are here again... Is it that those in charge of electricity has discovered that Pa. Buhari can only bark and not bite or that a compromise has been reached to continue to protect this people's interest to our detriment? The decline is nationwide, not just in my hood. I sincerely hope Bubu will do something, and quickly too for as it is, nothing seem to have changed 5 months after. No one has been jailed for corruption, only PDP stalwarts are being interrogated by the EFCC while Timipre Sylva, Amaechi and Fashola moves freely, confirmed penrobbers now confirmed ministers, FERMA no longer working, our roads has remained where GEJ left it, petrol has become #100/litre, those who know about the economy said we are in trouble, Ajaokuta steel factory not yet working, unemployment has not abated, Boko Haram still killing people in the north, politics apart, nothing has changed. Na beg I for just beg Bubu, anyhow wey e be, re enacting that "body language" that stabilised electricity won't be a bad idea even though language don become odour, any which way, just give us the block. The iced block!

Agrochemical Giant Celebrates Super Governor Fayose

In recognition of Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose's unflinching support for cocoa growth and production in Ekiti, FITSCO NIG LTD; an agrochemical company with over twenty years agricultural technical experience has deemed it fit to celebrate the Farmers' Governor by presenting to him through the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Hon. Kehinde Odebunmi a branded Knapsack Sprayer. Ekiti state is outstanding in cocoa growth and production amongst other southwest states in Nigeria. A workshop/seminar for cocoa growth and production recently held in Ghana attest to the fact that Ekiti State has the highest quality cocoa beans. This achievement would not have been possible without the support of Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose for cocoa production in the state.

The Nigeria Economic Metamorphosis By Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye

Unarguably, ever since the current administration in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria got the insignia of power, the economy of the country has never remained the same. The economy which was hitherto on a state of semi-periphery has been retrogressing under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) despite the torrent of change and progressive developments promised to corner the votes of Nigerians during the March 28th Presidential election that ushered in Muhamadu Buhari as the country’s 15th President. Today, the manufacturing firms are disquieting and dangerously frightening. Instead of the wrinkled firms to be reopening production, more companies are shutting down. Oil and Gas giants like Addax Petroleum, Chevron, Exxon Mobile and Shell etc have placed embargo on employment till further notice. Small scale businesses and sales are falling due to lack of cash in circulation. There’s bankruptcy everywhere. States without crude oil and bumpy IGR are unable to pay workers salaries as at when due. Multinational Corporations such as Cadbury, Coca-Cola, Tom-tom, Guinness and insurance firms and auditing and tax consulting firms like Philips Consulting, KPMG, May and Bakers etc are retrenching on daily basis. What Nigerians are anxiously expecting at present is reduction of fuel price due to the crash of crude oil in the international market from $96 to $48 per barrel; however, instead of such happening, queue is back to our filling stations, leading to oil marketers increasing the price of PMS from the official N87 to N97/N110. The banking industry is internally bleeding at the moment. Treasury Single Account (TSA) initiated by Buhari has sent many bankers back to labour market. The industry has been down-sizing abysmally. As smaller Unity Bank PLC is, 320 of her employees have been sacked. Reports have it that Zenith Bank has sacked over 1000. Access Bank has sacked close to a thousand of her employees ditto, Skye and Heritage Banks PLC. Also, Diamond Bank PLC has been sacking consistently since July without the knowledge of the media. According to some impeccable sources, over 300 have been given sacked letters in Diamond Bank within the last two months. The capital market is currently wailing as Nigeria remained deleted from JP Morgan Index. According to Financial Times of London, stocks Investors have lost over two trillion naira under Buhari. As the economy bleeds, poverty, starvation and hunger takes over the grassroots. The Millennium Development Goals’ war against hunger and poverty is now gloomy. Local investors who have invested heavily on rice plantation are presently in tears of disappointment in protest against the decision of President Buhari’s man in charge of the Nigeria Customs Service, Hamid Alli to lift the ban slammed on importation of rice by the previous administration. Today, trade has been liberalized in our country, apparently to please some foreign masters to the detriment of Nigerian farmers and investors, making our nation a dumping ground. I urge Nigerians across party interest(s) to patriotically rise-up and demand explanation(s) from Buhari on why the nation of Nigeria rated on March 2015 by the World Bank and United Nations as the number one destination of investors in Africa is now missing amongst the first ten destinations of investors on the continent of Africa. President Buhari should tell Nigerians why the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of 6.5% handed over to him on May 29 crashes horrendously to 2.5% within five months. Nigerians want to know why the nation’s Excess Crude Oil Account (ECA) is now empty and why foreign reserve crashes by 21%. Despite President's Buhari's gargantuan vow during the electioneering campaign to stabilize Nigeria currency, today, the value of naira is shamelessly falling in the international financial market. A dollar is now traded for N236 at parallel market while a pounds sterling goes for N333. President Buhari urged Nigerians to wait for five months to know the people of impeccable character who would fix the failing economy of their country only to be blessed with same people who ruined the economy and emptied the patrimony. Today, the dreaded Islamic fundamentalist group, Boko Haram has institutionalized killings and bombings in the Northern Nigeria. The hitherto peaceful Abuja is now a bomb den. Sorrowfully, all these are happening under the watchful eyes of a retired military officer. Buhari who rode to political stardom under the catchphrase of integrity and for being a modest man and an epitome of virtues has been doing what are antithesis of modesty, integrity and positive change. Nigerians were promised a war against sleaze but frankly and sincerely speaking, what we have today is war against opposition. Today, thieves who allegedly stole their states dry and used part of the stolen funds to oil the acclamation of Buhari are now being compensated with ministerial appointments. Those not made ministers are in National assembly making laws for our nation while some are silently dictating the tune of things in Abuja. When asked to give account of his steadwarship when he was saddled with executive powers in his state, a member of Buhari’s clan claimed he doesn’t sign cheques, hence, he should be absorbed of corruption allegations slammed against him by his people. Also, a saint nominated by Buhari for Minister outrageously boasted that he built a house for himself with N3.2bn because he wasn’t comfortable living in the house his predecessor lives. Same saint also constructed 2km of roads with N2.350bn on a dry land without building a bridge. On the other hand, opposition men and women who didn’t support the presidential aspiration of Buhari are presently being hounded and intimidated by security agencies. Buhari preached virtues but sadly, he has been practicing vices. The much celebrated increment in power supply witnessed since June (thanks to Presidential Body Movement), has started derailing. Epileptic power supply is gradually retuning to Nigeria. Sadly and most unfortunately, Instead of facing the reality on ground that that the economy of the nation of Nigeria is profusely bleeding and hemorrhaging, the ruling party and its supporters have been celebrating presidential itineraries, oversea trips and speeches as achievements using the already compromised media industry to coax, wheedle and camouflage Nigerians audaciously. Adeleye writes from Magodo, Lagos Maxwell_adeleye@yahoo.com @maxwelladeleye on twitter

Ekiti Govt Begins 2015/2016 Free JAMB Programme

Ekiti State Government has concluded arrangements to procure free Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for indigenes of the State seeking admission into University, Polytechnic and College of Education. The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Jide Egunjobi, said in a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Thursday that over N10 million will be spent on the programme. He said 1,300 students will benefit in the free JAMB programme, which will include one-week e-training. The commissioner said; “Interested and qualified candidates are expected to have a minimum of six (6) credits in Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), including Mathematics and English Language at one sitting. “All interested and qualified candidates are to visit the Area Mass Literacy Officers in the Area Education Offices located in all the 16 Local Government Areas of Ekiti State for registration. “Interested and qualified candidates should contact the Agency for Adult and Non-Formal Education, Phase 4, State Secretariat, Ado-Ekiti for more information.” Egunjobi, who said the Governor Ayodele Fayose led government in the State was determined to reclaim the State’s lost glories in education, added that no effort will be spared by the government to revive the sector.

PDP proud of Fayose’s criticism of Buhari, others should speak up – Metuh

The Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday said that the leadership of the party appreciates comments by Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose on actions and policies of President Muhammadu Buhari. The governor is known for issuing statements even before the PDP makes its official position known. Newsmen caught up with National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, yesterday and asked if he feels the governor may take over his job. Responding, Metuh said: “Governor Fayose is doing a fantastic job and we are proud of him and his comments. “We are proud of his achievements as governor just as we are proud of the achievements of the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Olusegun Mimiko and his statements”. “We like the fact that our elected representatives are speaking on behalf of our great party. As a leader of the party, there is nothing wrong to make comments on key issues which governor Fayose is doing. ”So, we are enjoying Fayose’s comments and we need more from him and other governors as well. I don’t feel threatened by his comments at all”, he added.

APC As Judiciary’s New Friend ~ Lere Olayinka

While growing up in Okemesi-Ekiti, one of the stories my grandfather told me was that of a certain bird. This bird, according to grandfather will sing “hun o kuo ngbo yi” (I must leave this forest) whenever it was hungry and could not find anything to eat. However, the moment it was able to feed sufficiently, it will sing “Igbo yi dun pupo” (this forest is very sweet). The story of this double-speak bird came to my mind when I read a statement by the APC, accusing the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of launching out on large-scale smear campaign on the Nigerian judiciary. The APC went on to say that the PDP was “casting aspersions on the integrity of respected members of the bench whose only offence is that their meticulous and balanced judgments have exposed PDP’s fraudulent and violent escapades during the 2015 general elections.” This, coming from a party that once accused judges of collecting N3 billion bribe to give judgment in favour of PDP cannot but be laughable. On December 19, 2014, the APC in Ekiti State, while rejecting the tribunal judgment validating the election of Governor Ayodele Fayose and casting aspersion on the integrity of the judiciary, said; "It is worrisome that the judiciary appears not ready to tackle the flagrant abuse of the courts by desperate politicians.” In the double-faced political dictionary of the APC, saying that the judiciary was not ready to tackle flagrant abuse of the courts would be complimentary while the PDP complaints about miscarriage of justice on Rivers and Akwa Ibom States would be derogatory. In the past, APC in its desperation for power, did not only threaten war against the judiciary, the party also threatened to turn Nigerians to refugees in their own country with possible return of Operation wetie witnessed in the Western Region in the mid-sixties. A day to the June 21, 2014 Ekiti State Governorship election, APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, at a press conference in Lagos threatened war if the election was rigged and of course, the only election that is not rigged is the one in which the APC emerges the winner. At the press conference attended by APC chieftains such as Rotimi Amaechi, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Senator Osita Izunaso (National Organising Secretary), Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Chief (Mrs.) Kemi Nelson (APC Women Leader), Alhaji Lai Mohammed (the party’s spokesperson), among others, the party openly called for war against the people of Ekiti State. Chief Oyegun warned that the road being charted by the Federal Government in handling today’s Ekiti State governorship poll, among others, can lead to a repeat of Operation wetie in the Western Region and would make every Nigerian a refugee if care is not taken. When APC was known as Action Congress (AC) and later Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the judiciary was openly blackmailed, ridiculed and some cases compromised by the party in the Southwest. For instance, when the Justice Hamma Barka-led tribunal in Ekiti State gave its majority judgment in favour of the PDP in 2010, the ACN used one of its agents of media terrorism, Sahara Reporters to accuse the judges of receiving N3 billion bribe. The N3 billion cash was claimed to have been transported to Ogere Toll Gate, Lagos-Ibadan expressway where it was changed to dollars! On May 5, 2010, Prof Itse Sagay, a notable apologist of the APC described the judgment of the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal as a disgrace. He said; “The verdict is a disgrace. I watched part of the tribunal’s proceedings on television, when I saw the way the judge was going, puncturing the case of the petitioner, it was clear to me that the Action Congress would not get justice.” In June 2010, Sunday Akere, who was then the Osun State ACN Director of Research and Strategy reacted to the State governorship election tribunal judgment saying; “We, the Osun AC, came to seek equity at the tribunal with clean hands. But what we got is a shame and a blot on the integrity of the Nigerian judiciary. It is shameful that a panel of five judges could sit down and write such an incoherent judgment.” In his own reaction to the judgment, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who was the ACN governorship candidate said; “The judgment is dubious,” meaning that the tribunal judges were themselves dubious because only dubious judges could give dubious judgments. Instead of robbing themselves in the garment of sainthood and presenting themselves as defenders of the judiciary, the APC and its multiple-mouth leaders should rather concentrate on their dubious use of a section of the judiciary to manipulate themselves to power as they have done before; and leave posterity to judge who the real friend of our judiciary is. Olayinka is the Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to the Ekiti State Governor.

SKILL ACQUISITION; PARAMOUNT TO NATIONAL SECURITY - By 'Deji Adesogan

Guthrie (1952) defines skills as the ability to bring about some end result with maximum certainty and minimum outlays of energy or of time and energy. Such abilities can be only be made possible through practice, it is the process of developing such abilities through consistent practice that is referred to as skill acquisition. In fact, skill acquisition is often a complementary knowledge but for some a source of livelihood. Common skills withing the Nigerian environment include Fashion Designing, Farming, Soap Making, Shoe-Making, Welding, Painting, Information Technology etc. The widening gap between the demand and supply of jobs in the labour market has made the acquisition of skills necessary in the 21st century especially in developing countries like Nigeria. To create balance between the growing needs for jobs and the availability of it. There is indeed a need for an intervention plan. So far, skill acquisition has proven to be a panacea for National Security and a sure guarantee for sustainable development particularly for youths as they constitute the larger force within the society that is at the receiving end of the drought in jobs in Nigeria. Skill Acquisition is a capital intensive, there is urgent need for our governments (local, state and FG) to channel more resources into skill acquisition programmes so as to make loans readily available and easily accessible for many that are interested in developing and making livelihood through an acquired skill instead of depending on a "white collar" job that is not even available enough. The Nigerian government led by President Muhammadu Buhari must create more Technical and Vocational Schools because I believe firmly that they will serve as an effective medium in encouraging the acquisition of skills among our teeming jobless youths, and also to create a sustainable youth development, government must consider to give her youths Vocational and Technical education that can equally provide formal education for them. It is often said that an idle hand is the devil's workshop, Nigerian youths must on their on part seize every possible opportunity available to develop themselves in one skill or another because everyone can or should rely on prospects of western education whether in the arts, science or humanities. Skill acquisition could actually be a money spinning venture for future dream actualization. Nigerian Youths must learn to imbibe the virtue of patience and avoid being ruled by the "get quickly and anyhow" syndrome because there is dignity in labour. Skill acquisition guarantees self empowerment which of course is a great mark of true freedom, they should not rely on certificates but acquired a skills. White collar jobs are no longer what they used to be so, it is high time for each Nigerian youth to fold his/her sleeves and acquired skill(s) aside formal education. 'Deji Adesogan, a Security Expert and Media Consultant, writes from Abuja. Tweets via @DejiAdesogan