BREAKING NEWS

1. BREAKING: North East elders ask Buhari to sack service chiefs.

THE Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development, yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack his service chiefs, accusing the military of deploying massive strength during the #EndSARS protests in parts of the country, thereby leaving the zone at the mercy of Boko Haram, and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists.

According to the elders, scores of civilians were killed as a result of the strategic and operational blunders, which they argued, was avoidable, had greater tact been adopted. In a statement signed by the chairman, Engr. Zana Goni, the North East elders said pro-active intelligence would have revealed this lapse to the military high command, had the service chiefs not been lethagic in their responsibilities.

Consequently, the elders, for the umpteenth time, called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to show the service chiefs the way out, having exhausted all applicable ideas which they insisted were now obsolete.

In their considered view, the sack of the heads of the Armed Forces of Nigeria will, no doubt, pave the way for the appointment of a new set of senior officers who will approach their jobs with the highest degree of commitment and enthusiasm.

This, they noted, was moreso that new appointees will bring fresh ideas to bear on the onerous task of defeating the 11-year-old insurgency, that has since altered the North East equation.

“Though, the protests in parts of the country may have been suspended, with deaths and destruction of both private and public properties in the trail, we wish to state that the North East also suffered similar fate during the period of the demonstrations,” Goni said in the statement.

He regretted that the unbridled quest to quell the protests by all means possible, and the desire to prove that they were indeed on ground, left the security of the North East worse than it was.

Goni said: “We had thought that the high command of the military will, at least, be proactive enough to know that these insurgents take advantage of loopholes, to perpetrate their wicked acts.

“We are disappointed that these gaps were not covered, thereby giving the terrorists a free rein in many communities, a situation that culminated in many unreported deaths and destruction of property.

“Our men, women and children are tired of these needless attacks on communities, in the face of huge budgetary expenditure on the defence and security sub-sector of the nation.

“We are concerned that our dear President, who is so passionate about leaving an enviable legacy of a prosperous nation in all respect, has remained adamant, as far as the military heads are concerned. This position is despite the unanimous resolution by the Senate and the House of Representatives requesting the sack of the Service Chiefs.

“May we, therefore, reiterate our earlier calls for the removal of Service Chiefs, as their replacement will never be difficult, considering the fact that there are younger generals that are now better positioned to deliver on our expectations.

“We know that our dear President will lose nothing, as loyalty among officers and personnel of the military, is total, absolute and unalloyed, not withstanding who is saddled with whatever responsibility”.

2. JUST IN: How to achieve timely recovery from COVID-19, by Osinbajo.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday declared that dealing with the disruptions caused by COVID-19 on economies and livelihoods, stronger international cooperation and collaboration among countries was crucial to expedite economic recovery.

Osinbajo stated this during the 8th German-Nigerian business forum that held virtually. The event also featured presentations by representatives of the German and Nigerian business communities.

Emphasizing the importance of building stronger collaboration and cooperation in post COVID-19 era, the vice president said: “As it turned out, the pandemic is no respecter of borders, and has forced us to ponder on the importance of collaboration and international cooperation in solving some of our most pressing problems.

“This year will probably go down as perhaps the most challenging in recent global history. No one can be blamed for the circumstances that led to it. However, history will hold us responsible as individual nations and collectively if we do not see and seize the immense opportunities that the moment presents.

“Bilateral cooperation is a major plank of that effort. We must use the German Nigeria forum to snatch growth and prosperity for our countries from the jaws of the pandemic.”

On the German-Nigerian business cooperation, Osinbajo said: “There are several reasons the economic relationship between Nigeria and Germany is important and natural.

“With its population of nearly 200 million people and as the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria is a natural partner of Germany, which is also the largest economy in the European Union and also its most populous country. Both countries have a shared experience of paving the way in their respective continents and serving as strategic entry points for investors across industries.”

Osinbajo, who noted that the cooperation between Nigeria and Germany has become more important than ever, said: “We already have an excellent example in the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), a power infrastructure upgrade and modernisation programme, agreed to by the Nigerian government and Siemens AG of Germany, with the support of the German government.

“Under the initiative, the Nigerian government will on behalf of the other shareholders in the DisCos invest in infrastructure upgrades in the form of improved payment systems, distribution substations, transformers, protection devices, smart meters and transmission lines.”

The vice president said the focus of the Nigerian government’s interventions was aimed at addressing the fallouts of the pandemic.

“The priorities we, as a government, have set for ourselves are centered around nine inter-related and inter-connected areas, which include

stabilising the economy, achieving agriculture and food security, attaining energy sufficiency especially in power and petroleum products, improving transportation and other infrastructure and driving industrialization with a special focus on SME’s.”

Other participants at the meeting include Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar; Germany’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Birgitt Ory and the Chief Executive Officer of Afrika-Verein, Christoph Kannengiesser.

3. Senior citizens to mediate between ASUU, Fed Govt.

SENIOR citizens under the aegis of Association of Nigeria Universities Alumni (ANUA) yesterday declared their readiness to mediate between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government, to end the eight-month strike.

The association said it has resolved to ensure that unemployed graduates are registered, to secure social security allowance for them from the Federal Government.

The newly-elected Chairman of the group, Dr. Stephen Fasakin, said at the national convention of the association in Imo State University, Owerri that one of his mandates was to unify the alumni associations of the universities under one umbrella.

He said: “Under my leadership, we shall embark on the creation of a website where every unemployed graduate shall be registered. We shall pursue a bill for the payment of social security allowance to the unemployed graduates, to be taken by the National Assembly

“Under my watch, we shall encourage graduates to be more interested in politics so that we can salvage this country from the greedy office holders. Graduates must take over the position of leadership and responsibilities. We shall facilitate a better serving condition for corps members.

“One area where university growth has suffered is the area of alumni associations’ collaboration. We shall not close our eyes to that. On that note we shall take a bold step in resolving this current conflict between the government and ASUU so that universities will resume.”

The chairman urged members to be committed to the association, saying: “The association shall be committed to you too.”

4. Fresh Mass Protests Inescapable If…, Lawan Warns.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has warned that Nigeria may not escape another mass demonstration in the mode of #EndSARS protest if the Federal Government fails to effectively address youth unemployment.

Lawan gave the warning in Abuja yesterday at the 2021 budget defence of the Ministry of Agriculture.

He urged the government to take practical steps in its 2021 budget to meaningfully engage the youths.

“Our budget, especially for 2021, should be mindful of what we do to provide employment opportunities for these youths.

“They demonstrated. They protested because they could do so. There are so many other people who may not be youthful but are also in the same need and they didn’t protest.

“Let’s meet them where they are. We don’t have to wait until they also try to grumble or protest. We should be proactive. We should reach them and they are in the rural areas. Most of them.

“So, we should meet them there. Give them what we can and what they need to some extent, within the purview of our resources and give them there, to make them live a productive life and that is the only way we can make a difference in the lives of the people.

“On our part, we are going to be accountable. If we escape this one (#EndSARS protest), the other one is inescapable. And I am sure people will know what I am saying,” Lawan said.