Boko Haram Can Only Be Defeated If Corruption Ends

July 04th, 2014 | SOURCE:Leadership

Pembi David-Stephen
July 4, 2014

An Italian nun, Enza Guccione, has declared that Boko Haram can only be defeated if corruption ends in the country.
According to Enza, Nigerian terror group Boko Harams deadly attacks will only end if corruption is eliminated in the country.
Drawing on her years of experience in the country, the Nigeria-based Italian nun said Boko Haram insurgency is as a result of Nigerias internal instability and politicians lack of effort to promote the countrys development.
I believe Nigerian politics famous for its great corruption does not aim at promoting the countrys development, Sister Enza told IBTimes UK.
Politicians only interest is to get rich by exploiting the countrys oil. There is a continuous fight over oil production.
Alluding to this spate of scandals, Sister Enza said: Boko Haram will stop only when politicians corruption ends.
To defeat terrorism, leaders must build a solid future for the nation by providing education for everybody, creating jobs for the youths, using the countrys natural resources to help Nigerians and guaranteeing the recognition of basic human rights to all the citizens.
If the insurgency is a religious war, Boko Haram would have focused their attacks on the southwest of Nigeria, instead of the north, mainly inhabited by Muslims and which is close to Muslim-majority countries Chad, Niger and Cameroon, she said.

National Confab Delegates Divide Over State Creation

July 03rd, 2014 | SOURCE:TheTrent Online

Delegates at the ongoing National Conference were sharply divided yesterday, over agitation for creation of more states in the country. The delegates, while considering the report of the Conference Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government, agreed that there was the need for the country to create more states contrary to the committees recommendation that only one state in the South East was necessary. Some argued that it was inappropriate for the committee to have recommended the creation a single state for the South-East geo-political zone without considering others.

The committee, during its sittings, had received requests for creation of 22 states, cutting across the various geo-political zones. But the committee, while drawing its conclusion, recommended that there shall be created an additional state for the South-East zone and that all other requests for state creation should be considered on merit, just as it said criteria for the creation of states should be based on economic viability. Such states, according to the committee must also have human, natural and material resources besides having minimum land mass.

The committee equally said the proposed states to be approved, must have cultural and historical antecedents, with strong cultural affinity amongst the population of the new states with a minimum population of one million people. But while contributing to the debate on the committees report,former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party and delegate representing the party,Senator Ahmadu Ali,wondered how the committee came up with its recommendation of a single state for the South East. I dont know what criterion was used in awarding a state for the south-East state.

All of us must go and fight to state creation. I said it before that the old eastern region has 11 states. I believe that states that wish to merge should merge. Regionalism is retrogressive. The zone we also talk about is a dangerous precedent and is not constitutional. There is an attempt to smuggle it not the report of the Conference,he said. Another delegate of the party, Chief Olabode George, while speaking, appealed to the conference to approve the creation of Isale Eko State out of present Lagos State. But Festus Okoye, Sergeant Awuse and former Senate President,Ken Nnamani hailed all those who have supported the creation of an additional state for the South-East. Former governor of Osun State,Chief Segun Osoba, while also speaking faulted the creation of more local government areas in Kano State than Lagos State, which he noted,was more populous.

Local government should be taken out of the Constitution. A state like Lagos with over 12million people and must 20 local government is unjustified. Therefore, states should be allowed to create their local governments,he said. On her part, a former Minister of Industry, Chief Nike Akande, solicited for the creation of a state from the present Oyo State. In this regard, I propose the split of Oyo State into two, which are Ibadan State and the rest. Oyo State has a landmass of about 28,245.26km square. It is one of the most urbanized in the country. In the 2006 census, the state has a population of about 5.58million ranking in the fifth most populated among the 36 states federation. The splitting is justifiable, expedient and necessary given the position of the state. The proposed state meets the generally accepted criteria for state creation including population, viability, historian considerations, culture affinity and contiguity. Creation of another state from Oyo State would ensure social and economic development of the states. But in his contribution, Mr. Lawrence Ikpeazu, opposed the proposal for creation of states insisting that there was no basis for comparing the country with America.

He said United States of America had a few states at the beginning but that some of the states that joined the union came with their land, people and resources. We should not be asking for the cake when we have not contributed to the baking of the cake,he said just as he added that local government creation should not be thrown to the state to avoid abuse of the process. A delegate from Zamfara State,Belo Aliyu, while also speaking suggested that there should be no short cut to creation of new states in the country, insisting that those at the forefront of state creation should be made to

follow the laid down criteria.

JAMB Cut-Off Marks For Universities, COES And Polytechnics by vexy

Federal Government Tuesday pegged the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) cut-off marks for 2014 admissions into Universities at 180, while Polytechnics and Colleges of Education(COE)were placed at 150 respectively. The cut off points were arrived at on Tuesday, after the 5th Combined Policy meeting on admissions to tertiary institutions held at the National Universities Commission. Supervising Minister of Education,Nyesom Wike who declared the meeting open frowned at the inability of most tertiary institutions to utilise their admission quota. Wike however said in view of efforts to boost access, institutions which fail to utilise their admission quota for 2014 will be sanctioned. He reiterated Federal Government’s commitment to the development of ICT training, which he said has already been inculcated as part of the standard curriculum at the secondary school level. “I have been brief that despite the rising demand for higher education vis-a-vis the availability of a large number of qualified candidates,some institutions did not fully utilise the admissions quota approved for them by relevant regulatory agencies in 2013. “This disservice to the Nigeria child is totally unacceptable,in line with efforts of the federal government to improve access,let me urge you all to with effect from today,work assiduously to ensure that all admission spaces in your institutions for the current year are fully utilized within the approved time frame,”he stated. Registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB,Dibu Ojerinde in his presentation gave a statistical run down of candidates preference for tertiary education. He said after the conduct of the 2014 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination(UTME) candidates who applied for degree awarding institutions or universities totalled 1,584,348 representing 97.070, NCE applicants totalled 25,767 representing 1.579, ND a paltry 22,072 representing 1.349 while NID had just 46 representing 0.003. Ojerinde wondered while Nigeria’s educational system has consistently failed to embrace technical education in its quest for industrialization, saying the British which Nigeria copied the polytechnic education from now award degree in all its polytechnics. http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/national-news/168872-jamb-pegs-varsities-cut-off-marks-at-180-poly-coes-at-150

Professor of Animal science Returns as the new DEAN of IMSU Faculty of Agriculture

source star news

Prof. F.N Madubuike has been named the new DEAN FAVM IMSU for the 2nd time. the Don who took up a post as the DEAN of Student affairs before his sabbatical l...eave early last year said he is happy and ready to turn things around in the FAVM. In 2012 the Don became the first Academia in the Faculty of Agriculture IMSU to present an Inaugural series lecture. Congratulation

Latest Kaduna Bomb Blast: Kaduna Governor Yero Calls For Calm

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caption: Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, Calling for calm Police and the Nigerian military are on the scene in the aftermath of the bomb blast that rocked the Asikolaye/Bakin Ruwa area along the Kaduna western bypass on Tuesday.

Nerves are frayed with what is believed to be yet another terrorist attack by the Boko Haram in Nigeria’s northeastern region. Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, the governor of Kaduna state issued a press release to the national media that SaharaReporters obtained. Below is the release coming within hours of the blast. “His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State,

Dr. Mukhtar Ramalan Yero has called on residents of Kaduna and indeed entire citizens of the State to remain calm over the minor blast that occurred in Asikolaye area of the State Capital Tuesday evening. “In a statement by his Director General, Media and Publicity, Malam Ahmed Maiyaki, Governor Yero urged citizens of the State to be more vigilant on happenings around and should not hesitate to report suspicious characters or activities to nearest security agencies.

“The minor blast which happened around Asikolaiye area of Kaduna metropolis claimed no casualties, except for two persons who sustained minor injuries and were rushed to hospital for treatment. “Governor Yero said investigations into the blast has already commenced while security operatives are already combing the area for suspects. He pledged the administration's commitment to protecting life and property of citizens of the State. “He urged citizens of the State to go about their lawful businesses without fear as security agencies are on high alert to avert plots by agents of darkness aiming attack innocent people. While praying that God should expose those trying to cause mayhem in the land, the Governor called on the people not to despair and to remain confident of the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

“Nollywood Is Bland And Mediocre” – Genevieve Nnaji

I don’t think I can return to the blandness and mediocrity that characterised Nollywood One of the best actresses the Nigerian movie industry, Nollywood, has produced, Genevieve Nnaji, has come out to state the reasons she is not seen in movies as often as she used to be.

The delectable Genny, as she is fondly called by her fans, say that she cannot come back into an industry characterized by mediocre who churn out bland, dull, uninteresting, predictable and unexciting movies every other time. Genevieve has taken her art to an international level and has acted in such movies like Mirror Boy, Ije, Tango With Me and the internationally acclaimed half of a Yellow Sun, and she does not see herself lowering her standards to accept scrappy scripts all in the name of acting in Nollywood. In a recent interview, Genevieve said:

 I guess I haven’t found the right script yet. Creativity and depth are the qualities that I look out for in a script. In the beginning, the movie industry emphasized quantity but things are changing and there is an improvement in trend. I am among the people who advocate for the improvement of the industry. So said, I am constantly watching out for the kind of stories I take part in. I am in support of movies that show a great deal of professionalism and creativity. Having practised my art in international and professionally produced stories like ‘Ije’; ‘Mirror boy;’ and ‘Tango with me’, I don’t think I can return to the blandness and mediocrity that characterise Nollywood. I have respected myself as an artiste. I think the success stems from the fact that I have given acting my all.

Remember that the Brand Ambassador for Etisalat and Amstel Malta as well as the Faced of Lux was the first Nigerian actress to be profiled on the Oprah Winfrey show where the Queen of Talk-Show called her the Julia Roberts of Africa, so she sure knows what she is talking about.

Most Boko Haram Weapons Are Stolen From The Nigerian Army by Nafeesa AA

Boko Haram Not Sponsored By Anti-Jonathan Politicians: US Officials Expose Group *Group gets most funds from lucrative kidnapping *Very little evidence and tiny substantial value of any anti-Government politician financial support *Group receives no substantial aid from al-Qaeda and AQIM *Group’s weapons are obtained from the Nigerian armory * How Boko Haram is beating U.S. efforts to choke its financing By Phil Stewart and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When Washington imposed sanctions in June 2012 on Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, he dismissed it as an empty gesture. Two years later, Shekau’s skepticism appears well founded: his Islamic militant group is now the biggest security threat to Africa’s top oil producer, is richer than ever, more violent and its abductions of women and children continue with impunity. As the United States, Nigeria and others struggle to track and choke off its funding, Reuters interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. officials who closely follow Boko Haram provide the most complete picture to date of how the group finances its activities. Central to the militant group’s approach includes using hard-to-track human couriers to move cash, relying on local funding sources and engaging in only limited financial relationships with other extremists groups. It also has reaped millions from high-profile kidnappings. “Our suspicions are that they are surviving on very lucrative criminal activities that involve kidnappings,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in an interview. Until now, U.S. officials have declined to discuss Boko Haram’s financing in such detail. The United States has stepped up cooperation with Nigeria to gather intelligence on Boko Haram, whose militants are killing civilians almost daily in its northeastern Nigerian stronghold. But the lack of international financial ties to the group limit the measures the United States can use to undermine it, such as financial sanctions. The U.S. Treasury normally relies on a range of measures to track financial transactions of terrorist groups, but Boko Haram appears to operate largely outside the banking system. To fund its murderous network, Boko Haram uses primarily a system of couriers to move cash around inside Nigeria and across the porous borders from neighboring African states, according to the officials interviewed by Reuters. In designating Boko Haram as a terrorist organization last year, the Obama administration characterized the group as a violent extremist organization with links to al Qaeda. The Treasury Department said in a statement to Reuters that the United States has seen evidence that Boko Haram has received financial support from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), an offshoot of the jihadist group founded by Osama bin Laden. But that support is limited. Officials with deep knowledge of Boko Haram’s finances say that any links with al Qaeda or its affiliates are inconsequential to Boko Haram’s overall funding. “Any financial support AQIM might still be providing Boko Haram would pale in comparison to the resources it gets from criminal activities,” said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Assessments differ, but one U.S. estimate of financial transfers from AQIM was in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars. That compares with the millions of dollars that Boko Haram is estimated to make through its kidnap and ransom operations. LUCRATIVE KIDNAPPING RACKET Ransoms appear to be the main source of funding for Boko Haram’s five-year-old Islamist insurgency in Nigeria, whose 170 million people are split roughly evenly between Christians and Muslims, said the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In February last year, armed men on motorcycles snatched Frenchman Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, his wife and four children, and his brother while they were on holiday near the Waza national park in Cameroon, close to the Nigerian border. Boko Haram was paid an equivalent of about $3.15 million by French and Cameroonian negotiators before the hostages were released, according to a confidential Nigerian government report later obtained by Reuters. Figures vary on how much Boko Haram earns from kidnappings. Some U.S. officials estimate the group is paid as much as $1 million for the release of each abducted wealthy Nigerian. It is widely assumed in Nigeria that Boko Haram receives support from religious sympathizers inside the country, including some wealthy professionals and northern Nigerians who dislike the government, although little evidence has been made public to support that assertion. Current and former U.S. and Nigerian officials say Boko Haram’s operations do not require significant amounts of money, which means even successful operations tracking and intercepting their funds are unlikely to disrupt their campaign. Boko Haram had developed “a very diversified and resilient model of supporting itself,” said Peter Pham, a Nigeria scholar at the Atlantic Council think-tank in Washington. “It can essentially ‘live off the land’ with very modest additional resources required,” he told a congressional hearing on June 11. LOW-COST WEAPONS “We’re not talking about a group that is buying sophisticated weapons of the sort that some of the jihadist groups in Syria and other places are using. We’re talking AK-47s, a few rocket-propelled grenades, and bomb-making materials. It is a very low-cost operation,” Pham told Reuters. That includes paying local youth just pennies a day to track and report on Nigerian troop movements. Much of Boko Haram’s military hardware is not bought, it is stolen from the Nigerian army. In February, dozens of its fighters descended on a remote military outpost in the Gwoza hills in northeastern Borno state, looting 200 mortar bombs, 50 rocket-propelled grenades and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. [ID:nL3N0OD3BU] Such raids have left the group well armed. In dozens of attacks in the past year Nigerian soldiers were swept aside by militants driving trucks, motor bikes and sometimes even stolen armored vehicles, firing rocket-propelled grenades. Boko Haram’s inner leadership is security savvy, not only in the way it moves money but also in its communications, relying on face-to-face contact, since messages or calls can be intercepted, the current and former U.S. officials said. “They’re quite sophisticated in terms of shielding all of these activities from legitimate law enforcement officials in Africa and certainly our own intelligence efforts trying to get glimpses and insight into what they do,” a former U.S. military official said. U.S. officials acknowledge that the weapons that have served Washington so well in its financial warfare against other terrorist groups are proving less effective against Boko Haram. “My sense is that we have applied the tools that we do have but that they are not particularly well tailored to the way that Boko Haram is financing itself,” a U.S. defense official said. (Additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Abuja. Editing by David Storey, Jason Szep and Ross Colvin) http://news.yahoo.com/boko-haram-beating-u-efforts-choke-financing-052820382.html