The district head of Daura, in Katsina State, Musa Umar-Uba, who was abducted in his residence in Daura, has now spent 32 days in the dungeons of these heartless fellows. So far, his abductors are yet to make any contact with his family. Security agents have also failed to locate him. Are these security agents really working to rescue him and bring his abductors to justice? I have my doubts. It seems our security agents have all gone to sleep. The ancient town of Daura is gloomy because the Magajin Garin Daura is still not back at home. No positive news after 32 days.
If this can happen to a high profile personality like the Magajin Garin Daura, then, the poor have no hope in this country. The abducted Magajin Garin is a retired Customs Controller and cousin of the Emir of Daura. He is married to Hajiya Bilki, a niece to President Muhammadu Buhari. The Magajin Garin is also the father of Fatima, who is married to Buhari’s Aide De Camp, Colonel MohammedAbubakar. You can see all the massive connections, yet, 32 days after his abduction, security agents are yet to rescue him. I challenge the military, police and DSS to redeem their image by liberating Magajin Garin and hundreds of other Nigerians in the cells of bandits, Boko Haram and killer herders.
On the flip side, thousands of Nigerian refugees, mainly from Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara States are languishing in communities in nearby Niger Republic. These refugees, largely women and children, prefer to remain in Niger Republic, with little food and medicines, because the country is safe. The exiles were displaced by bandits from Isa and Sabon-Birni local government areas of Sokoto State and Shinkafi and Zurmi local government areas in Zamfara. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is aware of this, but has done very little to help these hapless Nigerians.
The Head of NEMA’s operations in Sokoto, Dr. Kofoworola Soleye, confirmed that the agency staff visited the refugees in Niger Republic and conducted need assessment exercises towards supporting and reducing hardship in the camp. That was where the story ended. Over two weeks after, nothing is happening in terms of aide to these unfortunate Nigerians. Today, I challenge the governments of Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara states to move in and assist these refugees with food and medicine, pending when it would be safe for them to return to Nigeria.
These refugees are so frightened to return home because bandits are still ravaging their communities. Some days back, the bandits invaded Mara Zamfarawa village in Danmusa Local Government; Sabon-layin Galadima community of Faskari Local Government and Yar Gamji village of Batsari Local Government of Katsina State, killing no fewer than 26 persons and leaving scores with varying degrees of injuries. In protest, frustrated Batsari youths ferried the corpses from Batsari to Katsina, the state capital, where they displayed them before the Emir of Katisna, Dr. Abdulmumini Kabir Usman and Governor Aminu Bello Masari.
Despite numerous attacks in communities in Katsina and Zamfara states and pledges by security agents to tame them, the bandits still move freely. They are unleashing mayhem unchallenged by anybody. Only God knows where the security agents deployed are hiding. That was why the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Batsari LGA, Mr. Mannir Mu’azu, openly declared that the security personnel in Katsina State were not doing anything to tackle the deadly attacks confronting residents in the area. The level of lawlessness in many communities in Zamfara and Katsina is indeed terrifying.
Yes, the federal government controls the languid security agencies, the governors must think out of the box to tackle the insecurity. This is not the time for showboating, as shown by the new Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Mohammed (Matawalle Maradun), on Wednesday, “warning armed robbers, kidnappers and other criminals in the state to repent or face the consequences of their actions.” As a first step, these governors should use their massive security votes to engage quality hunters with capacity to terminate the bandits. They should no longer rely on federal forces alone.
Money Wasted on Social Investment Programme
Federal government has spent N470.8 billion on the implementation of its social safety programme since itsinception in 2016. Yes, N470.8 billion. Many states did not smell this much cash in the last three years. How I wish the Presidential Adviser on National Social Welfare Programme, Maryam Uwais, would pick up courage and give Nigerians a transparent report on the activities of this comical National Social Investment Programme since its inauguration. The truth is that this programme that aims atimproving the living conditions of Nigerians, through capacity building, investment and direct support, has failed woefully. I have said this severally on this page. It was heartwarming seeing First Lady, Aisha Buhari, agreeing and also launching a ferocious attack on the lethargic scheme this week.
Millions of Nigerians slipped into abject poverty in the first four years of the Buhari government, notwithstanding this comical Social Welfare Programme. Uwais wants Nigerians to believe that over 11.5 million people have directly benefited from her programmes. She says there are over 700,000 indirect beneficiaries. She is unaware that over 1.1 million Nigerians slipped into extreme poverty just in four months – June, July, August and September – of 2018, while the Social Welfare Programme falters. Uwais is unaware that over 88 million Nigerians now live in extreme poverty (below $1.90 a day), while her programme continues to gulp billions of naira. Earlier in June 2018, the Brookings Institution named Nigeria as the poverty capital of the world, with 86.9 million extremely poor people. Nigeria overtook India as the world’s poverty capital, despite being six times smaller in population than the Asian country.
Buhari’s Social Welfare Programme is incapable of changing the fortunes of the poorest of the poor in our dear country. Let’s take the school feeding programme, which Uwais claims serves food to 9.5 million pupils in 30 states and has empowered 101,000 cooks. In practical terms, the story is not true. Just visit any of the schools involved and you will be shocked by the miserable food served to the pupils. The Cooks are also struggling to survive because of the fraud in the payment system.
The Tradermoni, Farmermoni, and Marketmoni remain charades incapable of reducing poverty in Nigeria. This is why poverty is on the rise in mother Nigeria. Under Buhari, more Nigerians wallow in darkness, rising fuel and food prices, disease, insecurity, hunger, unemployment and malnutrition, all leading to more people falling into extreme poverty. These are the issues the government must properly address to reduce poverty. This government should come up with pragmatic steps to pull more Nigerians out of poverty, instead of regaling us with stories of a failed Social Welfare Programme. The N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfers, National Home-Grown School Feeding and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programmes, are lousy projects incapable of truly impacting on the lives of the masses of the people.
Lagos Government Using Corrupt Tax Consultants
I shed tears after watching the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Obadiah Mailafia, analyse the rot in the collection of tax in Lagos State. Mailafia, who spoke on a television programme on Tuesday, said the Lagos State Government had for years been using corrupt consultants to collect tax from the people. The former CBN deputy governor, who described the act as daylight robbery, called on the people of Lagos to rise against such extortion and corruption.
He praised the Lagos government for being able to increase its Internally Generated Revenue, but said there was room for doing things in a better, transparent and more effective manner. Mailafia is convinced that tax consultants in Lagos receive as high as 20 per cent commission in some instances “which is against the norm in other advanced climes.”
He said: “When the people see that their taxes are being put to good use, they will be willing to pay more hence the spike in IGR during the administration of former Governor Babatunde Fashola. Lagos, which was the poster child for success in internally generated revenue, still has a lot of issues there…The cost of extracting this taxation is one of the highest in the world. They have invited very dubious consultants who keep between 15 to 20 per cent of this tax. I think it is a form of iniquity and I don’t know why for the life of me, Lagosians tolerate that nonsense.
“It is their money and it is daylight robbery. Employ people, train them; let the government collect the tax, not private consultants. In France, there are schools dedicated to training people in public finance and tax administration. These are the people you should set about to collect your taxes, not some iniquitous and corrupt private consultants.”
Mailafia did not say anything new about the massive leak of the tax collected in Lagos State. He did not say anything new about the fraud in the process. What he simply did was to again alert Lagosians to the naked fraud being perpetrated by tax consultants engaged by the state’s government. It is a shame that such a huge percentage go to consultants while majority of Lagosians wallow in poverty. I sincerely hope that the new governor, Babajide Sanwoolu, will pick up courage to end the use of consultants for tax collection in this state. The Joint Tax Board (JTB) had long ago outlawed the use of consultants for tax collection. Lagos government and some other states have refused to abide by this for selfish reasons. Civil servants must be allowed to do their job of collecting tax in Lagos State.
Justice Tijjani Ringim’s Incisive Ruling
For those who have not been following the story, Justice Tijjani Ringim is of the Federal High Court, Owerri, Imo State. He delivered a landmark judgement on Monday May 27 on a pre-election case involving two members of the All Progressives Congress in the state – Harrison Nwadike and the member-elect (APC) for Nkwerre/Nwangele/Njaba/Isu Federal Constituency, Ugonna Ozurigbo. Nwadike had approached the court asking it to declare that he was the rightful winner of the APC primary election in the federal constituency and that his name ought to have been submitted to INEC. He argued that the automatic ticket given to Ozurigbo was unknown to the constitution of the APC. The petitioner also wanted the court to order INEC to issue a certificate of return to him “as the lawful candidate of the party” in the election.
In his ruling, Justice Tijjani Ringim agreed that Nwadike, was the “rightful winner” of the primary election in the federal constituency and that automatic tickets were unknown to the constitution of the APC. However, the judge refused to order INEC to issue Nwadike a certificate of return as the rightful winner of the election. Rather, he ordered INEC to issue a Certificate of Return to Kingsley Echendu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who came second in the election into the House of Representatives.
Neither PDP nor Echendu was a party to the suit. Justice Ringim’s submission was that Nwadike did not participate in all the stages of the election, and so, cannot be declared elected.
The implications of this judgement, which I believe will sail through all the way to the Supreme Court, are numerous. A candidate, who has not participated in an entire electoral process, should not inherit the general election victory of another candidate for any reason at all. If a primary election is declared illegitimate by a court after a general election victory of that candidate, the person that comes second should inherit the mandate. This is now the position of the law. Parties issuing atrocious automatic tickets to favoured candidates and conducting sham primaries will sit up.
