Vision Africa Radio Volunteer Team

27/08/2025

27/08/2024

Hardship: Nigerians no longer at ease with you – Catholic Bishops to Tinubu

he President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, has called on President Bola Tinubu to revisit his economic policies, noting that Nigerians are no longer at ease with them.

It was reported that Ugorji, who is also the Archbishop of Owerri, stated that the economic policies put in place by President Tinubu have caused Nigerians more harm than good.

He made the call on Sunday while delivering his welcome address at the opening session of the 2024 Second Plenary Assembly of the CBCN held in Auchi, Edo State.

He said the socio-economic problems of the nation were unmistakably beyond what economic reforms alone can effectively resolve, no matter how well thought-out and how meticulously implemented.

Most Rev. Ugorji, who opined that it seemed that the policies were no longer working, however, advocated for the return to a regional system of government to checkmate corruption and put the nation at the right footing.

He said the calls to return to the regional system was because the problems in the country have gone beyond mere economic reforms.

“When all is said and done, we must admit that the cost of running our military imposed presidential system of government with so many elected officials assisted by numerous support staff is staggering and unsustainable.

“We must also acknowledge that the corruption level of many Nigerian politicians have gone beyond scale and measure and that controlling our national resources at the federal government level creates more opportunities for corruption to flourish.

“Having experimented on the presidential system of government for over 25 years and having groped in the dark in search of solutions to our socio-economic problems, now seems to be the opportune time to heed the advice of some of our best minds canvassing for our return to the former regional system of government as envisaged by the founding fathers of our nation or devolve power to the present six geo-political zones”, he said.

The Archbishop, who said the bishops acknowledged the feats enumerated by President Bola Tinubu on his 4th of August speech, noted that they cannot fail to admit that the present state of the nation was worrisome.

He listed the numerous problems bedeviling the nation to include increased debt burden of $2.25 billion loan facility from the World Bank in June 2024, with a repayment period of 40 years.

He said the debt increased the nation’s public debt profile by 2.46 percent to $93.7 billion.

Ugorji also listed multiple taxation, hunger and hardship induced by insecurity as the major challenges faced by the citizens.

He posited that proactive steps must be taken urgently to address the situation before it snowballed into a huge crisis.

Earlier in his homily, Most Rev. Fr. Gabriel Dunia, Bishop of Auchi Diocese, called on those in authority not to lord it over those whom they have been called to serve.

Dunia noted that the led must know that they were duty bound to respect those in authorities because God had placed them there to lead

He contended that banditry, corruption, and bad governance can come to an end through fasting and prayers.

The Bishop of Auchi Diocese, who disagreed with the insinuation that God has stopped hearing the prayers of His people, assured that He hears but that Nigerians have to pray more.

He explained that the bishops were in Auchi to pray for the country and that they believed that God in His infinite mercy would turn the fortune of the country around for good.

27/08/2024

Anambra perm sec accused of beating HoD to coma

The Anambra State Government, on Sunday, said it would take necessary action to address the fight and alleged “strangulation” that occured between the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs Chinwe Achugbu and one of the Heads of Department, a female, in the ministry, whose identity had yet to be ascertained.

Achugbu was one of the new permanent secretaries recently appointed by the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.

Our correspondent gathered on Sunday that the fight between the duo reportedly happened on Thursday, August 15, in the office during an argument over a yet-to-be-disclosed matter which led to one of them strangling the other person to a coma.

Although the cause of the fight had not been fully ascertained, reports have it that it took the intervention of some persons around the ministry who separated the two persons before normalcy returned to the ministry.

A reliable source in the ministry, who craved anonymity, disclosed the development to journalists, on Friday, alleging that the permanent secretary inflicted severe injuries on the HOD, to the extent that she was immediately rushed to the Emergency Ward of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital Amaku-Awka, before she was resuscitated.

It was further gathered that physical assaults had become a recurring act among top staff members in the ministry while subordinates were afraid of reporting the excesses for fear of being victimised.

The source said, “Yes, the incident happened. Everything in that story happened. I was there that day and everything happened before my face. The two of them fought over a yet-to-be-disclosed matter and the PS tried to strangle the HOD, as she held her neck for several minutes.

“It was a very chaotic moment. It took the intervention of other persons around before normalcy returned after the HOD was rushed to the hospital because she fell into a coma.”

Another source and employee in the ministry also confirmed the development, to newsmen on the condition of anonymity, saying the matter had not been officially complained to the appropriate quarters because of the status of the personalities involved.

According to him, some top officials in the ministry were trying to sweep the matter under the carpet.

However, when contacted at her office at the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare located at Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka, for her reactions to the allegations, the Perm. Sec. declined comments, saying that she was forbidden to speak, as a person under authority. She further directed the reporter to “go and ask the Head of Service.”

When also contacted on what steps had been taken to address the development, the Head of Service, Theodora Igwegbe, said she was aware of a reported fight at the ministry through social media but had yet to officially be briefed on what happened.

Igwegbe vowed to take action after an investigation and findings had been concluded on the matter.

“I saw the report on social media on Friday, August 23, 2024. I have not received a formal report against the Permanent Secretary in question as provided by Section 7, Chapter 10 of the Public Service Rules (2021).

“That notwithstanding, I have started asking questions to ascertain what happened while I await a formal report, which should be the beginning of a process. Thank you,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, on her part, could not be reached for comments on the development as messages and calls to her telephone line were not responded to.

Section 7 of the Public Service Rules (2021) includes sanctions for erring workers and misconduct, guidelines for worker conduct, penalties for failure to discharge functions by established practice. These penalties aim to ensure that public servants maintain a high standard of conduct and performance in their duties.

27/08/2024

State Police Is long Overdue, Says Aiyedatiwa

State police is long overdue in Nigeria, and the time has come for it to be created in all states as part of the critical solutions to security challenges in the country.

This was the view of the Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, who spoke on Monday at the Annual General Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.

While delivering a lecture at the Breakout Session tagged, ‘Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu Leadership series: Is state police a solution to national insecurity?’, Aiyedatiwa declared his support for the creation of state police in all the states of the federation while giving the assurance that the South West Security Network also known as Amotekun has come to stay in Ondo State and will be funded to improve its operations.

He said, “The centralised policing structure, once envisioned as the protector and servant of the people, has proven inadequate in the face of the complex and evolving security challenges of our time.

“It has failed to shield us from the marauders who strike fear into the hearts of our citizens. It is limited in its capacity to bring to justice those who have turned our highways into death traps and our farmlands into killing fields”.

“Interestingly, a glimmer of hope emerged from the heart of Ondo State, with the birth of the Western Nigeria Security Network, known as Amotekun Corps”.

“Under the visionary leadership of my late Principal, and former Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN, CON, in collaboration with his fellow governors in the South-West, this groundbreaking home-grown initiative evolved. Amotekun has soared to unprecedented heights, becoming a shining example of the transformative power of state-level security.

“Amotekun Corp’s lofty journey has been one of remarkable achievements and unwavering resilience. Our brave men and women have scaled the most daunting challenges, confronting terrorists, bandits and kidnappers with unwavering courage. They have forged deep connections with our communities, earning the trust and respect of the very people they serve,” he added.

The governor praised the NBA leadership for organising the session while calling on other states of the federation to replicate the Amotekun model ahead of the establishment of state police.

27/08/2024

South East govs, lawmakers move to resolve student loan hiccups

South-East governors and lawmakers representing the region in the National Assembly have stepped in to help students from the region benefit from the Federal Government’s student loan scheme.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

Kalu assured students from the region that the issues would be resolved and they would soon be included in the Federal Government’s student loan programme.

The assurance followed concerns raised by the South-East caucus in the National Assembly over the alleged exclusion of the region after the Nigerian Education Loan Fund released the list of institutions eligible for the loan nationwide.

The release by NELFUND showed that institutions in the North took advantage of the programme, as well as those in the South-West and South-South.

However, no institution from the South-East had benefited from the fund initiated by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

The development generated reactions on social media, as NELFUND had to clarify that no institution in the southeast had done its verification on its platform.

In a statement on Monday, the Deputy Speaker noted that his office had engaged with the authorities responsible for the student loans and expressed optimism that the issue would be resolved in the coming days.

Kalu said during the engagements, it was identified that low student registration from the South-East and errors in completing relevant forms, such as missing Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board results, were the primary reasons for the region’s exclusion.

He noted that affected institutions in the South-East had since taken steps to address the issues.

“The governors of the region are also actively involved in increasing the number of participating students, and members of the National Assembly have been encouraged to reach out to their constituents for immediate compliance,” he said.

To raise awareness, he said his office had initiated several measures, including the production of jingles in English, Igbo, and Pidgin English, which would be aired on various radio stations across the region.

He said Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, had 2,543 eligible students, but none could apply due to missing JAMB numbers.

For Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, only 406 applications were submitted out of the 21,342 students.

In Abia State University, Uturu, there was no application from the 17,928 eligible students, while for the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with 40,769 eligible students, only 781 had applied.

In the University of Medical and Applied Sciences, Enugu, with 610 eligible students, only 34 applications were made while at the Federal Polytechnic, Ohodo, none of the nine eligible students applied.

Only 11 applications were received from the Federal College of Education, Eha-Amufu, out of 2,491 eligible students; Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, had 930 applications from 19,221 eligible students, while Ebonyi State University with 15,622 eligible students had 331 applications.

There were 28 applications from David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, out of 831 eligible students, Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana had 188 applications from 4,774 eligible students, while none of the 128 eligible students of the Federal College of Education, Isu, had applied.

In Imo State, there were 1,114 applications from the 27,371 eligible students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri; 14 applications from the 736 eligible students of the Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Umuagwo, while only 11 applied out of 1,109 eligible students of Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri, among others.

There were 253 applications from 39,334 eligible students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; none applied from the 1,577 eligible students of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, while there were only 44 applications from the 2,778 eligible students of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze.

Kalu urged the institutions to encourage their students to apply for the loan and called on stakeholders to set up registration points in their communities to increase participation.

“The governors are also working to ensure more students participate, and members of the House of Representatives and Senate from the South-East have been tasked with reaching out to their constituents for immediate compliance,” Kalu stated.

He appealed for patience among South-East students and residents while assuring them that the necessary steps were being taken to resolve the issue.

27/08/2024

WASSCE: ASUU, NUT differ as FG bans under-18 candidates

The Nigeria Union of Teachers has condemned the Federal Government’s decision to ban under-18 candidates from sitting for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and the National Examination Council, even as the Academic Staff Union of Universities backed the policy.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ programme that the Federal Government had instituted a new age policy for secondary school leaving examinations, setting the minimum age at 18.

This means underage candidates will no longer be allowed to sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and the Senior School Certificate Examination, both crucial for advancing to tertiary education.

The directive also affects the West African Examinations Council, which administers the WASSCE, and the National Examinations Council responsible for the SSCE. Additionally, Mamman confirmed that the age limit to undertake the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, overseen by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, will also be 18.

He added that this was not a new policy.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy; this is a policy that has been there for a long time,” Mamman stated.

“Even basically, if you compute the number of years pupils, and learners are supposed to be in school, the number you will end up with is 17 and a half – from early child care to primary school to junior secondary school and then senior secondary school. You will end up with 17 and a half by the time they are ready for admission.

“So, we are not coming up with a new policy, contrary to what some people are saying; we are just simply reminding people of what is existing. In any case, NECO and WAEC, henceforth, will not be allowing underage children to write their examinations. In other words, if somebody has not spent the requisite number of years in that particular level of study, WAEC and NECO will not allow them to write the examination.”

The minister went further to give a breakdown of the number of years pupils were expected to spend between child care and senior secondary school. According to him, early care is expected to last for the first five years. Pupils are expected to begin primary one at the age of six, spend six years in primary school and move to junior secondary school at the age of 12, spend three years, before moving to senior secondary school at the age of 15, then spend another three years before leaving for university at the age of 18.

Last month, Mamman, in a meeting with JAMB and other education stakeholders, insisted that the UTME should be set at 18 years.

Mamman stated, “JAMB is hereby notified that there is now a ban on underage students, those under the age of 18, from our tertiary institutions for the 2024 admissions… It doesn’t require a statement of the minister… we are only restating what is in the law.”

However, the law sparked criticisms, particularly from university stakeholders, as many of those categorised as underage candidates had already taken the UTME without anticipating the directive. This posed a threat to potential 16 and 17-year-olds, who had already passed the UTME and were seeking admission into universities.

Following the disapproval, the minister reversed the directive, allowing candidates from 16 years to be admitted into the university as it previously stood until 2025.

However, following Sunday’s pronouncement, Mamman insisted that there was no going back on the policy.

The minister said, “It is 18 (years). What we did at the meeting that we had with JAMB (in July) was to allow this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents that this year, JAMB will admit students who are below that age but from next year, JAMB is going to insist that anybody applying to go to university in Nigeria meets the required age, which is 18.”

But the Secretary-General, NUT, Dr Mike Ene, in an interview with newsmen, said that changes in society, like early enrollment in crèches due to economic pressures, made it unrealistic to restrict learning based on age.

“The only way this policy could work is if it’s implemented from the foundation. By that, I mean starting at the primary school level. In the past, before a child was allowed to start school, they had to pass a basic test — like reaching their hand over their head to touch the opposite ear. If they couldn’t, they were sent back home.

“However, things have changed. Nowadays, due to economic pressures, parents enroll their children in crèches early, which means both parents have to work,” Ene told newsmne.

“Teachers at these crèches begin to educate the children, and they start learning quickly. You can’t stop them from learning because the brain is structured to keep developing—once learning stops, the brain stagnates.”

27/08/2024

NNPCL Announces LNG Shipment To Japan, China

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) says it has commenced shipment of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargoes to Japan and China on a Delivered Ex-Ship (DES) basis.

In a statement on Monday, a spokesman for the company, Olufemi Soneye, said NNPCL achieved this through the collaboration of two of its Downstream subsidiaries – NNPC LNG Ltd and NNPC Shipping Ltd – which delivered its first DES LNG cargo from the 174,000m³ LNG vessel, Grazyna Gesicka at Futtsu, Japan, on 27th June 2024.

Since then, the company said it has expanded its footprint to China with the delivery of one LNG cargo on a DES basis.

“Delivered Ex-Ship (DES) is an international commercial term that requires the seller to deliver the products/goods at a specific port.

“The seller takes responsibility for the shipping and insurance for the products/goods until they get to the specified port of delivery. It requires expertise and a higher level of efficiency to execute than the Free on Board (FOB) system,” Soneye said.

The spokesman said the company has been involved in LNG trading since 2021 with its first LNG cargo sale in November of that year. It has since traded over 20 cargoes into the European and Asian markets on an FOB basis.

He said NNPC LNG Ltd, in collaboration with NNPC Shipping Ltd, is scheduled to deliver at least two more LNG cargoes to the Asian market on a DES basis by November. More orders are expected before the end of the year.

The Executive Vice President, of Downstream, Dapo Segun, said, “The DES system, apart from being more financially rewarding, allows NNPC Ltd. inroads into the downstream segment of the LNG sector and positions it to capture more market shares while building in-house capacity and ensuring that global customers are familiar with the NNPC Ltd. brand.”

“NNPC Shipping intends to build a shipping portfolio (including owned vessels) so that we can provide our sister company and other clients all the shipping flexibilities they need,” Managing Director of NNPC Shipping, Panos Gliatis, enthused.

27/08/2024

Tinubu may become worse than Buhari – Ex-APC vice chair Salihu Lukman

Former National Vice Chairman, North-West, of the All Progressives Congress APC, Salihu Lukman has said President Bola Tinubu is on track to becoming worse than former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Lukman said governance in Nigeria is currently deteriorating under Tinubu.

In a statement he signed, the former APC Vice Chairman lamented that the past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari was worse than that of Goodluck Jonathan.

He noted that the same fate may befall whoever becomes President in 2027.

According to Lukman: “If APC is defeated in 2027, what is the guarantee that the new government to emerge post President Asiwaju Tinubu will not be worse?

“As Nigerians, we are witnesses of how governments at all levels progressively become worse.

“With all the confidence many of us had in former President Muhammadu Buhari, arguably his performance failed to meet public expectations, perhaps worse than former President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Certainly, President Asiwaju Tinubu is on track of becoming worse than former President Buhari.”

27/08/2024

The NFF has announced the appointment of Bruno Labbadia as the new Coach of the Super Eagles. 🦅 🇳🇬