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FACT CHECK: Ita Enang lied, Buhari already approved funds for arms purchase before seeking legislators’ consent

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FACT CHECK: Ita Enang lied, Buhari already approved funds for arms purchase before seeking legislators’ consent

By Kingsley OBIEJESI.

President Buhari had already approved the withdrawal of the sum of $496 million (N151 billion) from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), before seeking the approval of the National Assembly.

This is contrary to comments attributed to Ita Enang, a former senator and current Special Adviser to the President on Legislative Affairs, who claimed that Buhari has not, and could not have approved such spending without first seeking legislative consent as provided for in the constitution.

The National Economic Council (NEC) had agreed that $1 billion be withdrawn from the ECA to be used to procure arms for Nigeria’s anti-terrorism operations. Buhari later gave approval that the money be withdrawn, in spite of the fact that the legislative arm of government had not been informed and its approval not gotten, as required by the constitution.

Section 80, subsection (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution states:

“No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation unless the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly.

“No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.”

However, Buhari wrote a letter, addressed to Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, in which he explained that he granted the approval for the withdrawal of the said $496 million, in anticipation that the National Assembly would approve of the deal.

“It would be recalled that, for a number of years, Nigeria had been in discussions with the United States Government for the purchase of Super Tucano Aircraft under a direct Government-to-Government arrangement,” Buhari stated in the letter dated April 13, 2018 sighted by ThisDay newspaper.

“Recently, approval was finally granted by the United States Government, but with a deadline within which part payment must be made otherwise, the contract would lapse.

“In the expectation that the National Assembly would have no objection to the purchase of this highly specialised aircraft, which is critical to national security, I granted anticipatory approval for the release of US$496,374,470.00. This was paid directly to the treasury of the United States Government.

“I am therefore writing, seeking approval of this House for the sum of US$496,374,470.00 (equivalent to N151,394,421,335.00) to be included in the 2018 Appropriation Bill, which the National Assembly is currently finalising. The balance of the requirements for critical operational equipment is still being collated from the different security services and will be presented in the form of a Supplementary Appropriation Bill, in due course.

“The Honourable Minister of Defence and other appropriate officers will be available to provide further details, as may be required.”

Already, the National Assembly had issued a summons to Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance, Mansur Dan-Ali, Minister of Defence, and Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, to come and explain why money was withdrawn from the ECA without an approval by the legislature.

However, before Buhari’s letter became public knowledge, Ita Enang had denied that the President approved the withdrawal. He insisted that “the said sum has not and cannot be approved for spending by Mr. President”.

“As of now, the process of approving the money for use is inchoate and still undergoing executive standard operating procedure before laying same before the National Assembly for appropriation,” Enang said in a statement he issued on April 9.

“The processes now being worked on is to fast-track these procedures so that it may be forwarded to the National Assembly while it is still considering the 2018 Appropriation Bill (budget) for incorporation as Mr. President’s supplementary request under the 2018 budget, or if completed after the 2018 budget, it may be forwarded as a Supplementary Appropriation Bill.

“Succinctly stated, Mr. President has not approved the sum for any release of this procurement or application howsoever, the executive is conscious of the provisions of Section 80 (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution.

“We are also conscious of the provision of Sections 4 and 5 of the 2017 Appropriation Act (relating to Excess Crude Account) and would not take any action in breach thereof.

“Therefore, the matter of the security fund is still undergoing standard processes, the said sum can only be spent, and in the manner, as shall be approved by the National Assembly, and assented to in the Appropriation Act or Supplementary Appropriation Act.”

ThisDay reports that an official of the US government has confirmed the payment of over $400 million by the Nigerian government, adding that the weapons, which include bombs and rockets, will arrive Nigeria by 2020.

FACT CHECK: Has Buhari reduced rice importation by 90%? NO!

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FACT CHECK: Has Buhari reduced rice importation by 90%? NO!

By ‘Kunle ADEBAJO.

President Muhammadu Buhari apparently considers the huge cut to rice importation from Thailand one of his administration’s greatest achievements. During his ongoing visit to London, he has boasted to Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, and British Prime Minister Theresa May about Nigeria’s ‘road to food self-sufficiency’.

HIS CLAIMS

According to statements released on Wednesday and on Monday by Femi Adesina, Buhari narrated to the two personalities ― in what appeared almost like memorised speech ― how Nigeria has cut rice importation by 90 percent.

“I am very pleased with the successes in agriculture,” he told Prime Minister May, on Monday. “We have cut rice importation by about 90%, made lots of savings of foreign exchange, and generated employment. People had rushed to the cities to get oil money, at the expense of farming. But luckily, they are now going back to the farms. Even professionals are going back to the land. We are making steady progress on the road to food security.”

This claim by the President is backed by figures released by the Thai Rice Exporters Association, which detail rice exports from Thailand to all countries, including Nigeria, from 2015 to 2017.

In 2015, the Asian country exported 644,131 metric tons (MT) of parboiled rice to Nigeria. In 2016, this figure dropped drastically to 58,260MT. And, in 2017, it fell even more to 23,192MT, resulting in a 96.7% decrease in just two years. This is apparently great news for the country ― except that these figures do not tell the whole story.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Benin Republic has always been another major importer of rice from Thailand. In 2015, Thailand exported 805,765MT of parboiled rice to the West African country. This figure, however, skyrocketed to 1,427,098 in 2016, and 1,811,164 in the year that followed. The same trend can also be noticed regarding Cameroon, another country bordering Nigeria. It imported 449,297MT of rice in 2015, 505,254MT in 2016, and 744,508MT in 2017.

According to the 2013 Benin Coarse Grains and Rice Report, the total demand for white rice in Benin is 385,000 metric tons, thus provoking the question, as asked by Lai Mohammed two weeks ago: “Who are they importing for?”

“Nigerians, of course,” Mohammed had himself confessed. “In fact, as Nigeria’s rice import falls, Benin’s rice imports increase. Most of the parboiled rice imported by Benin eventually land in Nigeria through smuggling.”

Even Audu Ogbeh, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, admitted in 2016 that Benin traders imported parboiled rice shipped in from Thailand, “station themselves at our borders and smuggle these items into our economy”.

According to data from the International Grains Council, over half of Nigeria’s imports in 2015 entered from neighbouring Benin, where the duty on rice is only 12%, and most of Benin’s rice imports, up to 30,000 truckloads per year, are routed via transit shipments through Niger to the northwest of Nigeria.

It is also suggested that since Nigeria is the only West African country that exclusively consumes parboiled rice, it is easy to deduce that the 85% share of Benin imports that are parboiled are Nigeria-bound through the orchestrations of clever traders.

THEREFORE…

President Muhammadu Buhari has, therefore, been economic with the truth in his conversations with his English friends. Under his administration, Nigeria may have cut lawful rice importation by more than 90% but unlawful importation is still booming, which clearly means suggestions the country has equally made 90% progress on the path towards agricultural self-sufficiency are completely false!

NBS pulls down misleading education statistics after fact check by ICIR

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NBS pulls down misleading education statistics after fact check by ICIR

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has secretly pulled down inaccurate and misleading ‘Education Statistics’ uploaded on its website after the ICIR fact-checked the data.

The education statistics gave a breakdown of school enrolment across the country from 2014 to 2016.

NBS published the statistics on its website on February 16, 2018 and by February 24, the data had been downloaded 303 times.

In analysing the data, NBS said children who enrolled in public early childhood education dropped from 4,672,908 in 2015 to 2,694,787 in 2016.

According to NBS, enrolment in private early childhood education also reduced from 2,076,420 in 2015 to 1,457,461 in 2016.

Subsequently, several media houses published stories based on the education statistics, quoting NBS on the substantial drop in preschool enrolment in 2016.

A FACT CHECK by the ICIR showed that the education statistics was highly inaccurate and misleading. Rather than the reports that enrolment decreased drastically in 2016, evidence indicates that enrolment in early childhood education has been steadily growing since 2001.

After the ICIR fact-checked the education statistics, NBS pulled it down secretly.

To be fair to NBS, the misleading statistics was not generated by the NBS — the custodian of national statistics. The education statistics originated from the Federal Ministry of Education as the third edition of Nigeria Digest of Education Statistics.

While NBS has removed the education statistics from its website, the Ministry of Education still has it on its.

The failure of Ministry of Education to retract the misleading statistics means unsuspecting persons will continue to download and make decisions based on the wrong data.

Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education, had described the education statistics as a “masterful effort to marshal education data”. He said the education statistics would fulfill the need for reliable and accurate data for effective planning and decision making.

“I would, therefore, wish to urge researchers, planners and policymakers to use the data presented here with confidence for all purposes,” he said.

FACT CHECK: Did Metuh take N1.4bn from NSA, as claimed by Lai Mohammed?

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FACT CHECK: Did Metuh take N1.4bn from NSA, as claimed by Lai Mohammed?

By Kingsley OBIEJESI.

Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, says Olisa Metuh, former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is being tried for defrauding the nation of the sum of N1.4 billion.

Mohammed said this when he addressed a press conference in Lagos on Friday, in response to PDP’s charge that APC should mention names of those it claimed looted the country’s treasury.

“Well, I am sure they know that the treasury was looted dry under their watch, yet they decided to grandstand,” Mohammed said.

“Let’s just give them a teaser with this list: PDP Chairman, Uche Secondus (on the 19th of February, 2015, he took N200m only from the office of the then National Security Adviser).

“The then PDP Financial Secretary (on the 24th of October, 2014, he took N600m only from the office of the then NSA).

“The then National Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh (on trial for collecting N1.4bn from the office of the then NSA).

“Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of DAAR Communications, (on trial for taking N2.1bn from the office of the then NSA).

“Former SSA to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, (on trial over N830m kept in accounts of four different companies).

“Former President Jonathan’s cousin, Robert Azibaola, (on Thursday, a Federal High Court ruled that he has a case to answer for collecting $40m from the office of the then NSA.)”

FACT

While it is true that Olisa Metuh is on trial for allegedly collecting money from Sambo Dasuki, former NSA, it is not true that the amount he was accused of collecting is N1.4 billion.

According to information of the official website of the EFCC, Metuh is alleged to have received N400 million from Dasuki, from funds meant for arms procurement. This is way lower than the amount Mohammed said Metuh was being tried for.

One of the charges against Metuh by the EFCC reads: “That you, Olisa Metuh and Destra Investments Limited on or before the 24th November, 2014 in Abuja within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable court took possession of the sum N400,000,000 (Four Hundred Million Naira) only, paid into the account of DESTRA INVESTMENTS LIMITED with DIAMOND BANK Plc account number: 0040437573 from the account of the National Security Adviser  with the Central Bank of Nigeria without contract award when you reasonably ought to have known that the said sum formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity of Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the then National Security Adviser (to wit; criminal breach of trust and corruption) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2), (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended in 2012 and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act”.

Metuh pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him.

Though the EFCC would file fresh charges against Metuh, they were not for any financial crime, but rather for destruction of evidence.

The charge reads: “Olisa Metuh on the 5th day of January 2016 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory destroyed a document, to wit: a statement made under caution to investigators/operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on the 5th of January 2016, with the intention of preventing the same from being produced or used as evidence in a court of law.”

According to the EFCC, the offence is punishable under Section 166 of the Penal Code Cap 532 laws of the Federation of Nigeria, (Abuja) 2004.

Mohammed stressed that the cases he mentioned were not made up as “many of these cases are in court and the records are available”.

However, there’s presently no court case against Uche Secondus, National Chairman of the PDP for collecting N200 million from Dasuki. So Mohammed’s claim to this effect remains debatable unless he has provided evidence to back it.

Secondus has already issued a statement saying Mohammed should get ready to establish his argument in court.

FACT CHECK: Did Dapchi girls return from captivity with ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags?

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FACT CHECK: Did Dapchi girls return from captivity with ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags?

By ‘Kunle ADEBAJO.

The mood in Nigeria has generally been celebratory since Wednesday, following the release of 105 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Yobe State.

But this has not stopped allegations, counter-allegations and even conspiracy theories from seeping into the ongoing conversations. Most prominent of all, the APC-led Federal Government has been accused of staging the saga, from the abduction to the eventual release of the girls.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) levelled this allegation on Wednesday through its official Twitter handle, and called on “the  and the International Criminal Court to declare this evil by the  Federal Government a war crime against humanity and immediately commence investigation on the matter”.

Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, made the same allegation at a press conference in Abuja.

“Nigerians know that the main aim of this devilish act was to delude the public, set the stage for an orchestrated rescue, create a heroic myth and false sense of achievement around the APC administration and serve as a spur for President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration to contest the 2019 presidential election, perhaps in the coming weeks,” he said.

More specifically, eyebrows have been raised regarding a picture making the rounds, showing the Dapchi girls in pink hijabs and heavily-loaded “Ghana-must-go” bags. The picture was used by PremiumTimes Hausa in a report published on Wednesday about the ordered closure of boarding schools in Dapchi and Borno.

One of the prominent personalities who have raised questions respecting the photo is lawyer and former minister, Femi Fani-Kayode.

In an article published on Thursday, he wrote: “So many questions need to be answered. For example how do you explain the Ghana Must Go bags that the girls were carrying on their return? Did they go shopping in Sambisa Forest? Or is it that when they abducted them they gave them time to pack all their clothes and allowed them to bring them back when freed?”

Another blog has the picture uploaded and asked two similar questions, “Were they kidnapped or did they go on vacation? How did they come by the Travel Bags and the items therein when they were kidnapped from the School?”

Many other Nigerians have shared the picture on the social media with questions and allegations along the same line.

Picture with caption uploaded by a Facebook user

THE SOURCE OF THE PICTURE?

Although the exact source of this picture is unclear, it has been on the Internet for at least a month before yesterday’s release of the Dapchi schoolgirls, also in connection to the case.

In fact, The Cable used it on February 24 in a story titled ‘FULL LIST: The 105 missing Dapchi girls’.

Daily Post had used it two days earlier in another story: ‘2 Yobe schoolgirls killed in rescue operation, others still missing’. The same platform again used it on February 25 in a published list of the names of the missing schoolgirls.

Also on February 25, 2018, Business Online used the same picture in a report of the Federal Government’s confirmation of the abduction.

FACES OF THE REAL DAPCHI GIRLS

Let us start with this photo news by Daily Nigerian with eight pictures showing some of the released schoolgirls in light brown hijabs.

PM News also uploaded a similar picture on Wednesday with the caption, ‘The released Dapchi girls’.

Picture uploaded by PM News

A story from Punch contains even greater detail. The feature image used has the caption, ‘Freed 106 Dapchi girls assembled at the Nigerian Air Force Base in Maiduguri on Wednesday. Source: @buharisallau Instagram page.’

Buhari Sallau, who describes himself as a news personality, has even more pictures showing the schoolgirls indoors on his Instagram page.

The Guardian Nigeria has also uploaded an image showing the released girls, which was credited to Ola Lanre of Reuters. The caption states: ‘Some of the newly-released Dapchi schoolgirls are pictured in Jumbam village, Yobe State, Nigeria March 21, 2018.’ Similar pictures were published by The Cable and Vanguard.

Picture uploaded by The Guardian

CONCLUSION

It is NOT TRUE, based on available evidence, that the released Dapchi girls were wearing uniform pink hijabs, bearing large travel bags colloquially known as ‘Ghana Must Go’.

On the contrary, many of the schoolgirls wore brown hijabs upon their return and were seen nowhere close to the ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags suggesting they had time to pack their belongings before the abduction or that their abductors gifted them the bags and their contents.

Whether or not the government played an active role in the abduction and release is in doubt, but the circulated picture DOES NOT substantiate the theory that it was “stage-managed”.

Did Nigeria record a reduction in preschool enrolment?

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Did Nigeria record a reduction in preschool enrolment?

By Chikezie OMEJE.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently reported that the number of children who enrolled in public early childhood education dropped from 4,672,908 in 2015 to 2,694,787 in 2016. Enrolment in private early childhood education also reduced from 2,076,420 in 2015 to 1,457,461 in 2016.

The report was contained in Education Statistics (2014 – 2016) that NBS published on its website on February 16, 2018. Subsequently, the report made the headlines in several media platforms.

This early childhood education refers to children attending organised education programme before primary school. It is a form of education that is also known as pre-primary, preschool, playschool, kindergarten or nursery.

WILD SWING IN ENROLMENT

Enrolment in public pre-primary school increased by 70.6% from 2014 to 2015 and decreased by 73.4% from 2015 to 2016. In private pre-primary school, enrolment increased by 34.1% from 2014 to 2015 and decreased by 42.5% from 2015 to 2016.

DETERMINANTS OF EARLY SCHOOL ENROLMENT

A study by Olanrewaju Olaniyan of the University of Ibadan points out that parents’ education, income and geographical zone influence early school enrolment in Nigeria. Educated parents are more likely to enrol their children in school early. Also, parents with stable income are likely to enrol their children in school. The influence of geographical zone means that children from certain parts of the country are more likely to enrol in school than children from other parts.

Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of 2017 shows that 35.6 percent of children between the ages three and five years attend an organised early childhood education programme but there is a huge regional disparity. While only 23.2 percent of children in northern Nigeria are attending preschool, 80.5 percent of children in the southern part of the country are enrolled in preschool.

Early school enrolment is influenced by social, cultural, economic, policy and historical factors, according to Unicef, the UN children’s agency. Curiously, there is no evidence of unprecedented economic, social and policy disruptions in Nigeria that accounted for the disproportionate increases and decreases in pre-primary school enrolment between 2014 and 2016.

TRENDS IN ENROLMENT

Enrolment in pre-primary school has shown a steady increase since 2006, according to Nigeria Education For All Review Report (2000-2014), published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The report indicated that enrolment in both public and private preschool rose from 2 million in 2006 to 2.7 million in 2010. Improvement in enrolment was sustained in subsequent years, as enrolment in public pre-primary school rose from 2.1 million in 2011 to 2.2 million in 2012 and 2.9 million in 2013.

These enrolment figures in the UNESCO report were based on the first Nigeria Digest of Education Statistics from 2006 to 2010 and the second in the series from 2011 to 2013.

QUESTIONABLE DATA FROM STATES

The education statistics uploaded by the NBS on its website show that enrolment in public schools in Rivers State increased by 5,470.7% from 2014 to 2015 and decreased by 11,520.3% from 2015 to 2016. In private preschool, enrolment decreased by 1,050.4% between 2015 and 2016 in the state.

The state recorded 1.8 million children in public preschool enrolment in 2015. Overall, the state had 2.4 million in both public and private pre-primary school in 2015. This number of children in preschool was not proportionate to the population of the state.

The Rivers State’s population as of the 2006 census was 5,198,716. In view of Nigeria’s annual population growth of 2.6 percent, the state’s population would have been projected at 6,549,714 in 2015. It was unlikely that more than one-third of the population of Rivers State in 2015 was enrolled in pre-primary school in 2015.

Other states in the southern part of the country also showed disproportionate increases and decreases in enrolment between 2014 and 2016. For example, Lagos State recorded 134,578 children in public preschool in 2014 but only 90,640 in 2015 and 69,240 in 2016. Similarly, Ondo State recorded 668,494 in public preschool enrolment in 2014 and 671,341 in 2015, but the figure fell to 296,369 in 2016. Also, Imo State recorded 50,600 in 2014 and 54,255 in 2015 but skyrocketed to 172,597 in 2016.

ORIGIN OF THE CONFLICTING FIGURES

The education statistics (2014 – 2016) published by NBS was the third edition of the Nigeria Digest of Education Statistics compiled by the Federal Ministry of Education.

In presenting the data, Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education, described it as a “masterful effort to marshal education data” to address obvious gaps in education statistics. He said the education statistics would fulfill the need for reliable and accurate data in education for effective planning and decision making.

“I would, therefore, wish to urge researchers, planners and policymakers to use the data presented here with confidence for all purposes,” Adamu said.

NBS is the custodian of nation’s statistics, but it analysed and published the data without validating it.

CONCLUSION

It is most certainly inaccurate and untrue that enrolment in pre-primary school decreased drastically in 2016. The fluctuations in enrolment reported by several media platforms based on NBS education statistics were based on invalid and unreliable data that originated from the Federal Ministry of Education.

There is no evidence that enrolment in pre-primary school decreased in 2016. It is more likely that there has been a steady increase in enrolment since 2001.

FACT CHECK: Did ‘Kano underage voting’ happen in Kenya as claimed by INEC?

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FACT CHECK: Did ‘Kano underage voting’ happen in Kenya as claimed by INEC?

By Kingsley OBIEJESI.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has exonerated the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission from allegations of gross underage voting in the last local government election in the state.

Abubakar Nahuce, Chairman of a special panel set up by Mahmood Yakubu, INEC National Chairman, to probe the allegations, made this known while briefing newsmen on Friday.

Nahuce said there was no concrete evidence to prove that the pictures of underage voters making the rounds on the Internet were from the Kano LG elections.

He said that some of the pictures were from the recently held Kenya presidential elections.

The Kano LG election was won by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in all the 44 council areas in the state.

“From the interaction with civil society organisations and media, no evidence of underage voting has been presented,” Nahuche said.

“We have discussed with you media men, but none of you said he saw any underage voter in the line on election day.

“All what we saw were from social media and they are not verifiable… some of them are not even from Nigeria, some are from Kenya elections but people are attributing them to Nigeria.”

Earlier, Mohmmed Garba, Kano State Commissioner of Information, had claimed the pictures were taken during the 2015 general election.

FACT

In one of the videos posted online and seen by ICIR, the children were seen chattering gaily as they queued up to vote and the cameramen who spoke in Hausa could be heard chanting APC.

Checks by ICIR showed that no political party with the acronym APC exists in Kenya. The closest are AP for Agano Party; ARC for Alliance for Real Change and APK for Alliance Party of Kenya.

So it would be out of place for voters to be chanting APC in Kenya.

Secondly, the children in the video spoke Hausa; and of the many languages spoken in Kenya, chief of which is Swahili, Hausa is not one. The Hausa ethnic group is found mostly in West Africa.

CONCLUSION

INEC must acknowledge the seriousness of underage voting. To continue denying it will do no one no good.

The video above was shot during an election that held in Nigeria, whether it was during the recent Kano LG polls or the 2015 general election is another matter entirely.

Lai Olurode, a Professor and former INEC Commissioner, admitted during a recent interview with Punch that there were places in Nigeria where INEC personnel were being compelled, sometimes even threatened, to register underage voters.

“There are certain areas of this country where even if they know the person is a kid, they will insist that the child must vote,” Olurode said.

“I had to run for my life at one of the election centres in a part of the country because these people said children must vote or there would be no election at all. It was that bad.”

INEC’s first reaction to the latest claims of underage voting was was to deny responsibility, saying it had no legal powers over state electoral commission. It was cheery news, therefore, that Yakubu made an about-face and ordered a probe into the allegation.

However, INEC probe panel’s dismissal of the reports as mere hearsay not backed with evidence leaves a lot to be desired.

Did Buhari promise to revitalise 10,000 PHCs, as denied by Adewole?

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Did Buhari promise to revitalise 10,000 PHCs, as denied by Adewole?

On Sunday, Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health, said the Federal Government never promised to revitalise 10,000 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across the country.

While saying this on Sunday, he explained that what the FG said was that it would love to see about 10,000 PHCs revitalised — not that it would undertake the project itself.

“It’s not FG that is revitalising, what we said is that we want to see 10,000 PHCs revitalised in Nigeria. Because if 10,000 is done, it will cover about 100 million people and we did this to stimulate the governors and many of them have taken it up,” Adewole had said.

He added: “PHCs are not under us, they are under LGAs. Why we made PHC a focus is that we just have to take care of it. But normally, PHC is not the responsibility of the FG.”

But is it true that the Federal Government never said it would revive 10,000 PHCs?

INAUGURATION OF KUCHINGORO MODEL PHC

On January 10, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari flagged off of what he described as one of the cardinal programmes of his administration – revitalization of PHCs — with the inauguration of a “Model” PHC at Kuchingoro, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

“We shall focus more on the people living in the rural areas and the vulnerable population in our society, such as women, children under five years of age and the elderly in collaboration with national and international partners,” Buhari said at the time.

“Our vision is to revitalize 10,000 Primary Health Care Facilities in Nigeria using a phased approach. The first phase of this approach is what we are flagging off today. It will signal the revitalization of the first 109 Primary Health Care facilities across the 36 states and the FCT.”

CONCLUSION

While Adewole’s claim that primary health care is the responsibility of local governments is true, the same cannot be said of his claim that FG did not promise to revitalise 10,000 PHCs.

President Buhari did so promise.

Also, during the interview, Adewole said that over 3,000 PHCs had been revitalised nationwide by the Federal Government, state governments, and international partners, including the World Bank, European Union, and the British Government.

However, these claims cannot be true, since a series of investigations by the ICIR on the state of PHCs across the states of the federation show that many of them are still in decay. Some that were renovated are not in use and have been overgrown by bushes.

Journalists, supported by ICIR, toured the six geo-political zones of the country, from the North Central, to the North West, South East, to the South South and South West. The reports remain the same: abandoned PHCs scattered all over with citizens groaning under the pains of ill-health.

FACT CHECK: Is INEC really handicapped to curb underage voting in LG poll?

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FACT CHECK: Is INEC really handicapped to curb underage voting in LG poll?

By Kingsley OBIEJESI.

Following the reports of massive underage voting in the just held Kano State local government election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it had “no legal control or responsibility whatsoever” over State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs).

INEC reacted to the scandal by saying it could not be held “directly or vicariously liable for an exercise outside our legal purview”.

“The attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been drawn to videos and pictures purportedly showing some underage thumb printing ballot papers in a recent election. These images have been circulating online since Saturday,” it said in a statement by Oluwole Osaze Uzzi, its Director of Voter Education and Publicity.

“The Commission wishes to inform the public that the images do not relate in any way to any election organised, conducted or superintended by INEC.

“As far as the Commission can ascertain, they relate to a Local Government election conducted at the weekend, and over which we have no legal control or responsibility whatsoever…

“It should be pointed out here that Local Government elections are exclusively the constitutional responsibility of the respective State Electoral Commissions, who are in no way under the control or supervision of INEC.”

On Friday, however, Mahmood Yakubu, INEC National Chairman, said the commission had formed a panel to investigate the reports so the anomaly would be corrected.

The nomenclature ‘State Independent Electoral Commissions’ seems to suggest that INEC, as the national electoral body, cannot in any way exercise influence over the electoral bodies of the various states of the federation, since they are all independent bodies. But is that really the case?

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION PROVIDES

The 1999 constitution, as amended, provides that SIECs shall have power “to organise, undertake and supervise all elections to local government councils within the state”, and that INEC shall have power “to organise, undertake and supervise all elections to the offices of the President and Vice-President, the Governor and Deputy Governor of a State, and to the membership of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the House of Assembly of each State of the Federation”.

Also, that same section of the constitution, among other things, empowers INEC to “carry out such other functions as may be conferred upon it by an Act of the National Assembly”.

Now, the Independent National Electoral Commission Establishment Act states the functions of INEC thus: “To organise, conduct and supervise the elections into the office of chairmen and vice-chairmen of local government councils and area councils, membership of the local government councils and area councils, office of Governor and Deputy Governor, membership of the Houses of Assembly of the States, the office of President and Vice President and membership of the Senate and House of Representatives as may be specified in any enactment or law”.

CONCLUSION

Since INEC is empowered by its establishment Act to conduct local government council elections, and the constitution also empowers INEC to carry out any functions conferred on it by an Act of the National assembly, it can be argued, therefore, that INEC does have the power to conduct or at least supervise the various SIECs during LG elections.

FACT CHECK: Jonathan or Buhari, who launched the first made-in-Nigeria drone?

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FACT CHECK: Jonathan or Buhari, who launched the first made-in-Nigeria drone?

By Kingsley OBIEJESI.

On Thursday, President Muhammadu Buhari launched what the Nigerian Air Force described as the first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), popularly known as drone, that was completely manufactured in the country.

“The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), in its resolve to promote innovation and enhance its Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, today, 15 February 2018, inducted its first indigenous operational Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) nicknamed, Tsaigumi,” read a statement issued by Olatokunbo Adesanya, NAF’s Director of information.

But ‘Tsaigumi’ is not the first made-in-Nigeria drone to be launched by NAF, and this is according to the same NAF. However, it could be the first that becomes operational.

In December 2013, then President Goodluck Jonathan also launched a UAV (named Gulma), which Nigerians were told was the first of its kind to be built in-country.

During that ceremony, Jonathan praised the Nigerian Air Force to the high heavens, describing the achievement as “historic”.

“Considering the potential impact of its benefit and versatility, I cannot but say how proud I am of the men and women of our Armed Forces,” Jonathan said at the time.

“Apart from their commitment to the protection of our sovereignty, they are helping to keep our nation ahead in military science and technology and to keep their civilian counterparts on their toes.

“Today, as we stand in appreciation of the gallant men and women of our Air Force, we are reminded that hard work and diligence can break many barriers.”

Also speaking at the event, Alex Badeh, then Chief of Air Force, said the drone could be useful to media practitioners, and urged the government to sustain the tempo of development by ensuring adequate funding for technology-based initiatives.

“The GULMA, as a qualitative, timely and reliable source of information, could serve as a powerful tool for media practitioners. To sustain the current tempo of development, the NAF would require the assistance of government in infrastructure and human capacity development,” Badeh had said.

Thursday’s statement by NAF, however, claimed that the Gulma UAV launched by Jonathan was a “prototype”, unlike the Tsaigumi UAV, which is “a much more advanced and operationalized version”.

The explanation corroborated an earlier statement issued by Yusuf Anas, a NAF spokesperson, in May 2014, which noted that ‘Gulma’ was only a prototype and could not  be operational.

“The Nigerian Air Force unmanned aerial vehicle ‘Gulma’ is yet to be deployed for operational uses. Meanwhile, training of the NAF UAV operators is currently ongoing,” the statement read.

Later on Thursday evening, the Presidency, on its official tweeter handle, clarified that the drone launched by Buhari, is the first “OPERATIONAL” made-in-Nigeria UAV.

CONCLUSION

A NAF engineer demonstrating how the ‘Amebo’ UAV works. Photo credit: www.beegeagle.wordpress.com

Before the ‘Gulma’ UAV, there was a drone named ‘Amebo’, also built by the Nigerian Air Force in 2012, but that too, according to NAF, was a prototype and did not become operational.

Apparently, if or when ‘Tsaigumi’ becomes operational, it will be the first made-in-Nigeria drone to so become.

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