Access Holdings Plc has posted a gross earnings of over N591 billion for the half year 2022, the financial giant has said. The figure, according to the Herbert Wigwe-led corporation is more than 31 percent compared to the same period in the 2021 financial year.
The company disclosed this in its unaudited half-year financials submitted to the Nigeria Exchange Limited, NGX seen by the magazine.
The result showed that the bank made significant performance in key metric areas, despite the prevailing economic situation under which the financial sector has struggled, sector analysts say.
The breakdown of the results indicates that the bank’s profit before tax, PBT slightly rose to N97. 791 billion from N97.379 year-on-year.
Also, Profit After Tax, PAT stood at N88.739 billion from N86.819 billion recorded in 2021.
Interest income also rose to N342.530 billion from N279.594 billion recorded in the half year of 2021.
The Board of Directors of the corporation has therefore proposed an interim Dividend of 20 Kobo per ordinary share of 50 Kobo each on the 35,545,225,622 issued ordinary shares of 50k each payable to shareholders on the register of shareholding at the closure date.
Foremost Media Rights Group, Journalists For Democratic Rights, JODER, has faulted claims by a Nigerian Medical Doctor, Mahdi Shehu, suggesting he knew how and why a journalist, Baguada Kaltho was killed.
Following this revelation by Shehu, the Media Organization has called on the National Assembly to institute a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to investigate Shehu’s claims so as to know the facts about the murder of Kaltho.
Speaking in an interview on Arise Television early this week, Shehu claimed he refused a parcel bomb given to him by one Russel Hanks and left Nigerians with the the impression that Kaltho was later given a parcel bomb by the American which led to his death.
JODER, in a Statement through its Executive Director, Adewale Adeoye said that: “Dr Shehu’s fresh attempt to link the death of Bagauda Kaltho to an official of the United States Embassy has raised fresh concerns not only about the heinous crime committed against the late Kaltho but also against the Nigerian media. This is one issue that should not be allowed to go unprobed”, Adeoye stated.
The Group said Shehu’s position has added a new twist to what has remained an unresolved murder and that it should be in the interest of free speech for the media to pursue every angle to its logical end.
JODER said for now, Shehu has left many gaps in his story which make his conclusion to appear questionable and, therefore, calls for further investigations by independent parties so that those responsible for Kaltho’s death will be held accountable based on convincing and incontrovertible evidence.
It added that Shehu’s claims are too plain to be believed especially his statement that the American gave him a parcel bomb to attack Durbar Hotel in Kaduna in June 1995 for N1million .
‘‘It looks too curious that an American diplomat would work so openly, handing over a parcel bomb to someone he met in few days and sounds difficult to believe that the official, even if he was a secret agent, would make himself so vulnerable to easy exposure by relatively unknown third party,” JODER said in the complex realm of international diplomacy, it is difficult to believe that the Political attaché of the US would personally hand over a parcel bomb in a public place like Durbar Hotel without even the fear of a set up by the Nigerian state.
“But if this was the case, Shehu needs to come forward with more information that will help unravel the murder of Kaltho.
“It is also curious that while Shehu claimed he reported the issue to the late General Sani Abacha, the same dictator did nothing about it to expose the alleged conspiracy knowing the bitter feud at that time between Abacha and Western nations.
‘It raises serious suspicion that Shehu claimed he shared the information only with the ruling brutal military regime at the time but not with the Nigerian Union of Journalists, (NUJ), any media rights group nor any civil society organization at home and abroad questioning the character of Shehu, his background, what he stands for and the interest he represents.’’
JODER called on the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ and all Media Institutions to rise up to the occasion and help unravel one of the most grievous crimes in the history of the Nigerian Media
It stated that Shehu owes the Nigerian Media broader explanations why he did not come forward during the Oputa Panel to speak on Kaltho’s death and why he had to wait for 27 years. The group said Shehu should come up with coherent and indisputable evidence, else he would leave the media and Nigerians with the strong suspicion that Kaltho’s death is being used to reap cheap political gains.
JODER said unless Shehu establishes a more realistic proof, two issues will be associated with his statement: a conscious attempt to promote some political interests and an unhidden intention to destroy the legacy of forces that fought against the draconian military regime that stunted Nigeria in the 1990s which prompted the emergence of pro-democracy forces supported by democratic nations, including but not limited to the United States.
JODER said Shehu needed to be held accountable by Nigerian Journalists to explain in full the circumstances of his position and, if possible, ) other of his hidden motives unknown to Nigerians.
Before his death, Kaltho was a correspondent with The News Magazine and until now was believed to have been murdered through a bomb linked to State Agents during the brutal reign of the late General Sanni Abacha.
The Media Office of Obi-Datti Campaign says that the NOI Poll result conducted and released to the public on Thursday by a frontline International Body, ANAP Foundation, is an energizer for the obidient family to do more work ahead of 2023 elections.
The Group was reacting to the poll which placed the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, well ahead of the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and that of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu respectively. Both tied in the second position. The candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso, trailed in the fourth position.
“For us in Obidient family, our primary task is to take back Nigeria and rebuild it. To achieve this Herculean mission every observations either in the inform of surveys or public criticisms about our efforts are a welcome development as such views provides us with further knowledge of our weaknesses and strengths”, it said in a statement.
The statement said that “Obidient Movement remains devoid of religious, tribal and geographical inhibitions but with the report some lessons have been picked on some vital areas for more efforts.”
‘Taking back Nigeria’ which is the unmistaken goal of the Obi-Datti candidacy is a task that must be done if we still desire a strong country and it should involve everybody of all class and creed who are pained by the state of our dear nation. All efforts therefore must be to bring all progressive minds onboard, it emphasised.
It noted: “Even if we have grey areas in the report, our responsibility is to pick the lessons therein and remain focused with our eyes glued to the ball while noting the credibility of the organization (ANAP Foundation) that conducted the survey”
The Obidient Movement then charged its members across the country, especially support groups, “to study the report diligently with a view to utilizing it for the advancement of the course of taking back our county.”
Women in the Niger Delta on Friday condemned promoters of Interim Management Committee, (IMC) for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
This is coming just as President Mohamadu Buhari approved the appointment of Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (retd) as Interim Administrator of the Amnesty Programme.
The appointment was disclosed via a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina.
According to the women, “The interim management committee will breed hostility among the oil states in the country. The inauguration of substantive board is the best possible course under existing circumstances’’
They also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to end one man or a three man rule in the commission.
At a gathering in Port Harcourt, the women appealed to leaders of key nations and world statesmen to implore Buhari to constitute the commission’s board.
“It will be a tragedy if Mr President let himself be diverted from consideration of the NDDC Board by the proposal of another interim management committee.
“Such a tendency shows a singular lack of understanding of the region’s problems and a failure to remember the larger purposes for which the NDDC was established. The composition of a substantive board is primary and fundamental’’
They also appealed to presidential candidates, traditional rulers and religious leaders to impress it on President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute a board for the Commission.
The women described interim management committee agitators as predators, destroyers and zombies.
A statement by the President of Niger Delta Women in Politics (NDWIP), Josephine Ekong said without the board, it would be practically impossible to assume a leading role in attempting to bring about a lasting peace and development in the oil rich region’’
‘’At inception, NDDC gave the Niger Delta people new confidence and a tremendous sense of regional solidarity. It taught the people the meaning of development.
“We will have nothing to do with the interim management committee or another sole administrator.
‘’The delay in constituting the board and the zero implementation of the recommendations of the NDDC Forensic Audit Report are enough to move the people of the region to anger.
‘’The obligation of the government is to supply the focal point where problems could be integrated and resolved.
“The way out lies not in attempting to sack Akwa and putting in place interim management committee but in completely inaugurating the commission’s board.”
“But if you have grudges, is the next thing murder of Policemen, Soldiers at checkpoints, and other uniformed men deployed to your area for the protection of your people? Do you burn down Police Stations and other public and private buildings? Who first kills a people they claim they want to liberate, I ask again? Who first urinates in a well, where he would later fetch drinking water? Who first murders the leading lights of its own geopolitical zone as a way of protest? I mean, it is mind boggling.”
It was not a triumphal entry. It was not designed to be. It was just a duly and legitimately elected President visiting a part of the territory he presides over.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s working visit to Owerri, Imo State on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, had no measure of braggadocio, bravado, or vainglory. Count the man out of such conceit. A father was just visiting his children, despite rattling of the sabre by some misguided folks, who had ordered everyone to stay at home, and shun the August visitor.
The President was in Imo, and what a breath of fresh air the visit turned out to be. Despite a ‘Sit at home order,’ which is often enforced by mayhem and murder, a good number of people turned out to welcome the President. Men, women, boys, girls. Those who didn’t congregate at the venue of road commissioning, and at the precinct of the newly rebuilt State House of Assembly, and the Government House, were in front of their houses, waving to the convoy, as the President drove past.
You know what I saw in Owerri and environs? A people fed up with shackles, waiting to burst loose, and enjoy their liberty once again. “Man is born free, but everywhere, he is in chains,” (Rousseau, in The Social Contract). Owerri people cast off their shackles, came out singing, dancing, and welcoming their President. That was what they wanted, and it was what they got.
Who first puts a people they say they want to liberate under bondage? They cabin and crib them every Monday, (Ghost Monday, they call it, when no business must be done), at huge social and economic costs. And any other day the leader of the separatist movement currently standing trial also appears in court, they compel the people to sit at home, to their disquietude and sorrow. Tuesday was one of such days.
But did all the people stay at home? Not so. They were tired of being turned to slaves, when they were born free. You could see the excitement, the joy on their faces, as they turned out to receive their President. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by the yoke of slavery. “ (Galatians 5:1).
The Owerri/Orlu, and Owerri/Okigwe roads, being done in sections, were commissioned. Well built roads with good drainage, which will guarantee longevity. And then the rebuilt ultra-modern State House of Assembly. The President entered the complex, shook his head in wonderment, and told Gov Hope Uzodimma: “You have written your own history.” Wonderful!
At the reception and lunch later in Government House, the Governor could not stop recounting all that President Buhari has done in the region, despite what seems eternal antagonism by some brainwashed people. Let me adopt this chronicle I’d seen on social media, which rather satirically speaks to those entrenched in certain unfounded positions in the South East. It goes thus:
This is how President Muhammadu Buhari and his APC Government marginalized the South East geopolitical zone in Nigeria for 7½ years.
Femi Adesina
(Adapted by alofenews.com and alofenews.wordpress.com.)
Apart from the 2nd Niger Bridge at Asaba/Onitsha, the following projects were used to “Marginalise” the South Eastern Nigeria to punish the people because they did not vote for PMB and his party, the APC in 2015 and 2019.
Evidences of gross marginalization of the East:
PMB marginalized the South East. Here is proof of that.
▪︎ Rehabilitation of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
▪︎ Re-construction of Port Harcourt – Maiduguri Rail Line, linking the South Eastern States to a planned new Sea Port in Bonny and to Northern Nigeria (Ongoing).
▪︎ 2.8MW Solar Power Plant at Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi State under the Energizing Education Programme (EEP).
▪︎ Ariaria International Market (Aba) Independent Power Plant supplying electricity to 4,000 shops in the market under the Energizing Economies Initiative (EEI).!
▪︎ Brand new $5.5m Medical Diagnostics Center in Federal Medical Center (FMC) Umuahia under the NSIA Healthcare Investments. (Completed and Operational).
▪︎ Approval for new Air Force Base in Owerri and Naval Base in Oguta, both in Imo State.
▪︎ Revitalization of the moribund Fertilizer Blending Plant in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State which now supplies NPK Fertilizer to farmers in the State and beyond under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI).
▪︎ Financial Close on the ANOH Gas Processing Plant, with a processing capacity of 300 million standard cubic feet of gas and 1,200MW of electricity generation potential, in Imo State which is a Joint Venture between Seplat Petroleum Development Company and the Nigerian Gas Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC Limited).
▪︎ President Buhari approved the investment of $10 million by the Federal Government into the Waltersmith Modular Refinery in Imo State, with a production capacity of 270 million liters of petrol annually. First phase was commissioned by President Buhari in 2020.
▪︎ Imo State was selected as one of 7 pilot States for the Special-Agro Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Programme, which is a $500m partnership between the FGN, AfDB Group and other stakeholders including the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Bank of Industry, with the goal of establishing modern agro-processing centres across the country.
▪︎ President Buhari approved the establishment of the following: A new College of Education in Isu, Ebonyi State; a new Federal Polytechnic in Ohodo, Enugu State; and a new Federal Science & Technical College (FSTC) in Amuzu, Ebonyi State.
▪︎ Alvan Ikoku College of Education Owerri is to be upgraded to a Federal University of Education while the Federal Medical Centre Owerri also in Imo State is to be upgraded to a Teaching Hospital to serve the Federal University of Technology Owerri Medical school.
▪︎ At the last count in 2021, more than 60 Federal road and Bridge projects, across the five South East states are ongoing, completed or at various stages of progress and completion; financed through SUKUK Bond and other deliberately designed funding mechanisms, including:
Sections 1 to 4 of the Enugu – Port Harcourt Expressway.
Construction of Ihiala – Orlu Road in Isseke Town – Amafuo – Ulli with Spur (Ihiala – Orlu – Umuduru Section) in Anambra State.
Rehabilitation of Oba – Nnewi – Okigwe Road Route Section II: Anambra/Imo States Border – Ibinta – Okigwe Road.
Construction of Oseakwa Bridge in Anambra State.
Rehabilitation of Old Enugu – Port harcourt Road (Agbogugu – Abia Border Spur to Mmaku).
Rehabilitation of Nsukka – Obollo – Ikem – Ehamufu – Nkalagu Road in Enugu State.
Rehabilitation of Owerri – Umuahia Road Sections I, II & III spanning Imo & Abia States.
Rehabilitation of Oba – Nnewi – Okigwe Road Section II: Anambra/Imo States Border – Ibinta – Okigwe Road.
Rehabilitation of Bende – Arochukwu – Ohafia Road Section I in Abia State.
Rehabilitation of Abakaliki – Afikpo Road Sections I and II in Ebonyi State.
Plus Others Road Projects.
▪︎ As at 2021, a little over N60 Billion out of the N362.5 Billion Naira raised in Sovereign Sukuk Bonds since 2017 which has been shared equally across the 6 geopolitical zones had been allocated to the South East.
▪︎ MTN Nigeria is to reconstruct the Enugu – Onitsha Expressway, under President Buhari’s Executive Order 7 (the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme), signed in 2019.
▪︎ The committed implementation of the Automotive Policy of the Federal Government under President Buhari has helped support the revival of the old Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company Limited (ANAMMCO Limited) factory in Enugu State. Since 2016 the revived factory has assembled more than 4,000 trucks, valued at tens of billions of Naira.
▪︎ POWER/ELECTRICITY
▪︎ Completion of the following
A new 120MVA 132/33kV Substation in Awka, Anambra State that will deliver an additional 70MW of electricity capacity.
Installation and Commissioning of 2Nos 132kV circuit breaker at Abakaliki Transmission Substation (T/S).
Installation of 33Kv Nnewi Industrial CB at Onitsha T/S, Anambra State.
Construction of a new 33kV IGI Feeder at Aba 132KV T/S, Abia state.
Energising of the 1X40MVA Substation at Nsukka, Enugu state.
Installation of a 60MVA Transformer at GCM, Onitsha, Anambra State, another 60MVA Transformer in Aba, Abia State; and 2X60MVA Transformers in New Haven, Enugu in Enugu State.
Completion of installation and commissioning into service of a brand new 300MVA 330/132/33kV power transformer in the Alaoji Transmission Substation, increasing the station’s installed capacity from 450MVA to 750MVA; making it the biggest substation in Southern Nigeria which has boosted supply to Enugu Distribution Company (EDC); benefiting Abia North (Ohafia, Arochukwu, Item, Abriba), Imo State (Okigwe, Arondi-izuogu), and parts of Ebonyi and Rivers State.
Construction of 2x60MVA Substation in Amasiri and a 150MVA 330/132kV Substation in Abakaliki, both in Ebonyi State.
Construction of a 2x60MVA transmission substation in Ogbunike/Ogidi communities of Anambra State.
Completion in 2016 (after ten years of stalled construction) of a 330kV Switching Station (and associated Double Circuit lines) in Essien Udim/Ikot Ekpene local government area (LGA) of Awka Ibom State, to serve the South East and North Central Nigeria. The Switching Station wheels power from 4 power plants into the National gridat, at Ugwuaji, in Enugu State and onwards to other parts of the country.
Plus Others
▪︎ Payment, in 2017, of Pension arrears to police officers who were granted Presidential pardon in 2000 after serving in the former Biafran Police during the Nigerian Civil War. These officers, and their next of kin, waited for their pensions for 17 years since the Presidential pardon. No other administration deemed it fit to clear the backlog.
▪︎ Completion and Commissioning in 2018 of the Zik Mausoleum in Awka, Anambra State, 22 years after construction started.
▪︎ Partnership between the Nigerian Army and Innoson Motors, for the local production, modification and repair of armored fighting vehicles and other military hardware.
▪︎ Ongoing deployment of the Federal Government’s Electric Vehicle Pilot Project, spearheaded by the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State.
▪︎ Under the Buhari Administration’s National MSME programme, the completion of an MSMEs Shared Facility at the Ogbunike Leather Trading Cluster, in Anambra State.
▪︎ Completion of Adada Dam in Enugu State and Amauzari Earth Dam, Imo State; and Completion of the Inyishi Regional Water Supply Project in Imo State; Ofeme Water Supply Project in Abia State; and Uburu Water Supply Scheme in Ebonyi State.
▪︎ Development of Nigeria’s Eastern Ports, to decongest Lagos and to better serve the population in the South East and South South of the country. The Calabar, Rivers, and Onne Ports have witnessed significant infrastructure upgrades and fiscal incentives to promote their attractiveness. An LPG tanker berthed in the Eastern Ports (Rivers Port) for the first time ever in October 2019. That year Onne Port also received its first container ship in twelve years, while Calabar Port received its first container vessels in eleven years.
▪︎ Successful Concession of Onitsha Inland River Port for a 30 year period to Universal Elysium Consortium Ltd in July 2022 after decades of dilly-dallying by successive administrations.
Plus Others
Food for thought, isn’t it? Yes, there’s no part of the country that doesn’t have one grudge or the other against government at the center?
But if you have grudges, is the next thing murder of policemen, soldiers at checkpoints, and other uniformed men deployed to your area for protection of the people? Do you burn down police stations and other public and private buildings? Who first kills a people they claim they want to liberate, I ask again? Who first urinates in a well, where he will later fetch drinking water? Who first murders the leading lights of its own geopolitical zone, as a way of protest? I mean, it is mind boggling.
A lot of trepidation had preceded our trip to Imo State. Family, friends, relations, well-wishers were full of prayers, with some even wondering why we were going into such area in the first place. They were all very relieved when we came back in one piece. Should that be the case in a country?
I think those agitating for one thing or the other should change strategy. Engage. Convince. Dialogue. Play better politics, that would emancipate your region. Stop the orgy of bloodletting, because even your own people are tired. They are like men and women in servitude and subjugation. They wanna be free. That was what we saw in Owerri, and it’s a perfect picture of what is happening in the entire South East region.
Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity
On the day the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, constituted a Presidential Campaign Committee, one of its chieftains, Chief Bode George, insisted that National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, must step down before the beginning of Campaigns.
George, a former National Chairman, said Ayu must give way to a Southerner. The election campaigns start on September 28, 2022. The Presidential election is scheduled for February, 2023.
Speaking at a Press Conference in Lagos on Thursday, George said Ayu’s refusal to fulfil his promise to step if the Party’s Presidential flag-bearer emerged from the North meant that members of the party in the South were of no importance.
He said, “ Let me reiterate again that the will of the people must be respected and the six top offices in the country must be distributed equitably and fairly because PDP is not a private company. The office of the National Chairman must come to the South before we commence the presidential campaign if victory is to be secured in the next general election.
“In May this year, we elected our presidential candidate in the person of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, setting aside the principle of rotation as enshrined in the constitution of our party in the interest of peace and unity of our party. Today, we are in a situation in which our National Chairman is from the same zone as our presidential candidate.
“Some people are insisting that there is nothing wrong with this present arrangement. Some have argued that this happened during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, where the candidate and the national Chairman were from the same zone.”
It would be recalled that during the South West Meeting with the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde made it clear that the South wants Ayu to resign his position as the National Chairman of the Party before the 2023 General Elections campaign begins.
Neither Ayu nor the candidate, Atiku, is likely to yield to the pressure.
Ahead of the commencement of campaigns, the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) has set up 278 member Presidential Campaign Council.
The Council, made up of former political office holders, is headed by Governor Emmanuel Udom.
Rivers state Governor, Nyesome Wike, who is currently having running battle with the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and leadership of PDP is a member.
It has Governors Seyi Makinde as vice chairman south and Bala Mohammed, vice chairman, north.
The list also created a National Campaign Management Committee, (NCMC) with Waziri Tambuwal as director general.
NCMC has four directorates, with each headed by a deputy director general.
Liyel Imoke heads operations, Prof Adewale Oladipo, administration; Raymond Dokpesi, technical and systems; Okwesili Nwodo, research.
The indiscriminate dumping of refuse at the Ladipo and Oyingbo Markets in Lagos State has forced the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to, beginning from next Thursday, shut down both markets indefinitely.
The Waste Commission said that the reckless dumping of refuse,the refusal to pay for waste services, and general poor waste management situation at the markets are the reasons for the planned closure of the markets.
Ibrahim Odunmboni, the Managing Director/CEO of LAWMA, noted that the unwholesome environmental practices by traders in those markets, despite repeated warnings, called for necessary and immediate sanctions.
He said: “Our attention has been drawn to the deplorable state of the environment around Ladipo Market, Mushin and Oyingbo Market, resulting from reckless waste dumping by traders. Despite serving them abatement notices, they have continued the mindless environmental violation. We are left with no other choice than to evoke the necessary sanction of shutting down the markets. This is also meant to serve as a deterrent to other nonchalant markets”.
He said that the authority had, in recent times, redoubled its efforts to ensure that business activities in all Lagos markets were carried out in a clean and safe environment, for the good of all.
Odumboni noted further that: “We have intensified our sanitation efforts by deploying trucks to clear black spots across the metropolis, especially business facilities.
“However, these efforts are being tainted by the activities of mischievous persons who would rather dump their waste indiscriminately on the roads, than pay for waste services”.
He urged traders in other markets to adhere strictly to environmental hygiene or risk indefinite closure of their markets.
In another development, a Mobile Court sitting in Oshodi has sentenced two environmental offenders, for waste burning and dumping of refuse in the drain during rainfall. Both were apprehended at Ikeja and Lekki axis.
The first offender was sentenced on a two-count charge: one year imprisonment or a ₦50,000 fine, and one month imprisonment, without the option of a fine. The second offender was remanded in a correctional facility, pending bail conditions.
The LAWMA boss reiterated the determination of the agency to stamp out all forms of indiscriminate waste disposal in the metropolis, adding that the enforcement team has been mandated to monitor the environment and arrest persons bent on derailing efforts of the Authority to make Lagos cleaner and livable.
He appealed to residents to imbibe the habit of effective waste management, by bagging and containerising their waste, for easy and evacuation by assigned PSPs, adding that delay of evacuation by PSP should be reported to the Authority, using its toll-free lines, as excuse when caught would not be entertained.
The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, (NUP), South-West Zone, has decried the rate at which its members are dying in droves across the country due to poor health care, unpaid pension and gratuity.
The union’s leadership spoke in Ado-Ekiti, on Thursday, at the Annual South-west Zonal Council meeting, lamenting the negative impacts on its members due to the economic issues and insecurity that has bedeviled the country.
According to the NUP, South-West Publicity Secretary, Segun Abatan, who spoke on behalf of the pensioners, government should rise up and prioritize the welfare of its members, describing the trend as worrisome and detrimental.
While calling on other state governors to emulate Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, they charged their members to vote candidates that will prioritize their welfare ahead of the 2023 general election.
“The governors should emulate the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, who placed all retirees on Health insurance and this had reduced the level of deaths. The governors must put in place robust health insurance for pensioners.”
He specifically condemned the Southwest governors for allegedly failing to initiate timely implementation of the increment in pension that can match the economic realities of the nation.
“I regret to tell you that the governors have taken the issue of pension and gratuitues off their tables for consideration.
“Apart from Ondo and Lagos, other states have not paid the 33.4 percent pension increase, likewise the Minimum Wage consequential adjustment for workers.
“So our pensioners must study the political firmament very well, so that they won’t vote for those that will make lives more miserable, but those that will make their lives better.
“The Southwest governors are also defaulting in the payment of check off dues to the union. If you are paying pension regularly and you are not paying check off dues, you can’t be boasting that you have paid in full.
“Lives of some people in the last seven years had been shortened in a brutish manner due to insecurity. We appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to make the life of pensioners and other Nigerians safe by putting in place measures to check criminals.
“It was sad that when we were coming into Ekiti, Christians amongst us were reading Psalms and the Muslims were reciting for our safety.”
To further encourage talents, President Muhammadu Buhari put smiles on the faces of some athletes who made the Nation proud during the recently concluded Commonwealth Games.
The President Thursday approved National Honours and rewards for the athletes who participated in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games and World Athletics championships.
The President, who hosted the athletes to a reception, said his Government is committed to rewarding excellence, no less for members of Team Nigeria who ignited the spirit of victory in the nation through stellar performances at international competitions.
A sum of N200 million was approved as cash reward for the athletes.
A statement by Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, to the President, Femi Adesina said ”I watched with millions of Nigerians those exciting moments when you all brought smiles to us and our homes by breaking world, national and games records, as well as achieving personal best in your careers.
”Your outstanding performances in recent times are consistent with the determination of a nation always yearning for excellent performance.
”You all, members of Team Nigeria have ignited the spirit for victory in our nation but even more you have been victorious in major sporting championships and games.
”I have followed keenly your achievements at the World Championships in Oregon USA and indeed your remarkable performance at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
”And I am very pleased that you displayed at both the personal and group levels great sporting talents and delivered for your country great podium performances.”
President Buhari told the athletes that their hour of sporting glory beamed the ‘‘radar of the world on Nigeria’’, adding that their exploits have gone a long way in projecting the positive image of the country.
”Twelve times the world stood still as our green, white green national flag was hoisted and the National Anthem recited. Thirty-five times we made it to the podium. You all Team Nigeria made that possible.
”You brought glory and honour to our country. And today, on behalf of the nation- I say, thank you.”
Reiterating the commitment of his administration in providing the enabling environment for youths to ascend to the pinnacle of their chosen careers, the President expressed satisfaction with the impact the Adopt-An-Athlete Initiative of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports had on the performance of athletes.
He urged more private individuals and corporate organizations to support government’s investment in sports, which has been reclassified from being a recreational activity to being a business in line with modern practices worldwide.
President Buhari also acknowledged the many giant strides witnessed in the sports sector under the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare and his team, commending the numerous and sustained successes recorded in the last few years.
Also speaking, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare, described 2022 as an outstanding year in the history of Nigerian sports, which shall not be forgotten in a hurry.
He said it was a year where many Sporting Federations have surpassed and are surpassing their previous performances, while many athletic records were broken.
The Minister thanked the President for being a great source of encouragement and support to the teeming youth in sports and other areas, saying ”this administration’s investment in youth and sports development, will continue to yield dividends years after you might have completed your term as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
