The wife of the governor of Nigeria’s Central bank who was kidnapped on Friday has been freed.
Margaret Emefiele was abducted at Ugoneki, a few miles from Benin City, Edo State but was released in the early hours of Saturday after a massive police operation in the area.
A source told the Guardian on Friday that Emefiele’s orderly died when the kidnappers struck.
The source said Mrs. Emefiele had boarded a flight from Abuja and landed safely at the Benin Airport, from where she left for Agbor in Delta State by road.
It was gathered that the hoodlums intercepted the Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) she was travelling in and shot her orderly, who attempted to resist the operation.
It was not yet clear how the heavily armed men escaped with their captives into the bush, but sources said that two persons, including Mrs. Emefiele, were whisked away.
Source:The guardian
Women need their men to spend quality time with them and shower them with loads of love, care and affection which is the top priority of every marriage.
In Nigeria, there are certain jobs that deprive men from satisfying their wives romantically and intimately. This may be due to long hours of working, and the strenuous nature of the jobs and which puts them in a position to starve their wives of romance and intimacy
Without wasting here, below are the categories of these jobs
1. Banking Jobs
Banking jobs is one of the time consuming jobs coupled with stress and fatigue which might perhaps cause a lot of psychological damage to men. The nature of banking jobs demand that a man resumes very early at dawn and goes home at odd hour at night. At the end of the day, the man arrives home at mid night with much fatigue which makes it difficult for him to satisfy his wife except during weekends.
2. Importing and Exporting
International successful business men such as Alaba boys who are car importers, electronic importers, etc are always worried about their containers and the delivery of goods to their customers. They spend more time traveling than staying with their wives at home. Sometimes, their wives are forced to cheat on them when they're being starved of love making 8)
3. Military and Paramilitary Jobs
Occupation such as Army, Airforce, Navy, etc, are jobs that doesn't give room for men to spend quality time with their wives, especially those ones sent the war front to fight for peace and justice. However, some of them may travel for months without having the privilege to set their eyes on their wives. By the reason of this, some of them resort to sugar mummy while in active service
4. Entertainment Jobs (Acting, Modeling and Singing)
Celebrities are usually restless and only spend a few fraction of time with their wives because they're wanted here and there. Most of these celebrated men womanize a lot that they might serve their wife of romance and affection. Last week, I was discussing my future plans with my fiancee when I told her about my interest in "acting". She flared up and started curses and abusive words on me, threatening me to consider her gone with the claim that she can't consider dating a man that will starve her joystick after marriage. Tosyne2much, the man of God, just shook his head and quickly turned it to a joke because I don't want to lose her 8)
5. Aviation Jobs (Piloting)
Pilots too are always busy traveling from one country to another after which they will return home after a few days. Most of them might even travel for two weeks before returning home. Their chances of satisfying their women is very relatively low
6. Logistics and Driving
The stress and danger of this job reduces the intimate performance of men which makes their wives unsatisfied. One cannot blame Dangote or the Young Shall Grow drivers who travel miles away for for several weeks without rest. These men are likely to under-perform at the end of the day
7. Sports (Footballers, Athletes, etc)
This occupation demands that men refrain themselves from sex so as not to lose fitness. Some of them are forced to avoid making love with their wives so that they can prevail in their career. Most Nigerian footballers are not so disciplined in this area that's why many of them who themselves strikers find it difficult to score 2 goals in a season :D
8. Sailing
This job also keeps men away from their wives for a very long time. Sometimes, they travel on the sea for as long as three months before they return home. To be very frank and sincere, this job deprives them from spending time with their wives when they're in need of them.
9. Medical Jobs
Medical experts such as surgeon and doctors are usually very occupied with a lot of work as patients keep disturbing them every now and then. Many a time, some of them come home tired and may not perform more than 30 seconds before they climax. KingTom, I throway salute 8)
10. Engineering Jobs
To be very sincere with you, engineering job is very strenuous. They are always at site working tirelessly in order not to disappoint those who gave them contracts. They come home very tired and exhausted and can use cutlass on any woman that disturbs their sleep
I drop my pen at this juncture
Original Writer: Tosyne2much
D r. Maryam H. Ati, a former lecturer at the Federal University, Dustinma in Katsina State, has described, as a parade of lies, the attempt of Mr. Habibu Garba Matazu to paint the institution as a hotbed of ethno-religious bigotryunder the former Vice Chancellor, Professor James Ayatse. Mr. Matazu, a Principal Public Relations Officer of the university, had written a piece, published by SaharaReporters, in response to an article, similarly published bySaharaReporters, alleging ethnic and religious cleansing at the institution by Professor Ayatse.
According to Dr. Ati, Mr. Matazu’s claim that the former Vice Chancellor and the Governing Council were removed and replaced with a new Vice Chancellor, Professor Haruna Kaita, and Governing Council was inaccurate.
What happened, she said, was that Professor Ayatse honourably left the university on 16 February, following the completion of his tenure as Vice-Chancellor. Dr. Ati similarly described, as absurd, Mr. Matazu’s allegation that indigenes of Katsina State have not been employed by the institution. Addressing the claim, Dr. Ati wrote: “Even a small child will see through the lies here. How can a university that has two principal officers from the state (the Registrar and the Librarian), that conducted regularization interview on 10th and 11thFebruary, 2016, with the Federal Character Commission, the University Registrar, a consultant from outside the university and other senior management staff in attendance, as required by law, not have a single Katsinaindigene on the nominal roll? This is stretching the truth to an absurd limit.”
Responding to Mr. Matazu’s claims that almost all the staff recruited by the university aremembers of the Deeper Life Christian Ministry and that no Muslim or Christian of other denominations was appointed as dean, director or head of department under the Vice Chancellorship of Professor Ayatse, an indigene of Benue State, Dr. Ati said Mr. Matazucompletely turned truth upside down. She pointed out that Professor Ayatse, his deputy, Professor Johnson O. Fatokun; and the bursar, Mr. Momohjimoh Sadiq, were correctly identified by Mr. Matazu as Deeper Life members.
But Dr. Ati also pointed out that Sir BoyeOyewande, Director Physical Planning andWorks, is a Knight of the Methodist Church, not a Deeper Life member, as claimed by Matazu. The case of Mr. Jack A. Ebe, Director Procurement, presented by Matazu as a Deeper Life Christian, is similar. According to Dr. Ati, Mr. Ebe is a member of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA).
Professor. Joshua Ogunwale, the university’sDirector Advancement and Linkages, whom Mr. Matazu claimed was a Deeper Life member, said Dr. Ati, belongs to the Baptist denomination. Another lie said to have been told by Mr. Matazu concerned Dr. Godwin O. Adejo,Director Academic Planning. Dr. Adejo was presented as a Deeper Life Christian by Mr. Matazu. However, Dr. Ati said he is a member of the Living Faith Church.
Also identified as off-target was the presentation of Mr. Agber Torkuma, as a Director of ICT and Deeper Life Christian. Mr. Torkuma, said Dr. Ati, is a coordinator, supervised by a director, and not a director. He is also said to attend Chapel of Truth, not Deeper Life. Mr. Matazu, Dr. Atiadmitted, correctly identified Dr. OlabisiTanimowa, Director, University Health Service, and Professor Friday Ati, Dean of Social Sciences, as Deeper Life Christians.
But again, Dr. Ati said, he goofed in the case of Dr. Yunusa Magaji Matazu, a Katsina State indigene and member of the ECWA Church. Dr. Matazu is also said to be a cousin to the man who has lied against him. Both, maintained Dr. Ati, hail from Matazu Local Government Area of KatsinaState.
Similarly dismissed as hogwash was Mr. Matazu’s identification of Mr. Raymond C.O, the university Chief Security Officerand ECWA member as a Deeper Life Christian
Others wrongly identified as Deeper Life members are Professors Shade Omokore, Dean of Arts and member of JAWOM; A E Kighir, Dean Management Sciences and a Catholic; Benjamin A. Ladani, Dean of Education and member of Mountain of Fire; and Mr. Q. Amua, Dean of Student Affairs, a member of Christ Embassy.
Dr. Ati noted that Mr. Matazu was agenda-driven, the reason for which he avoided providing the full list of people occupying strategic positions during the Vice Chancellorship of Professor Ayatse.
“In his attempt to hoodwink the reading public,Habibu Matazu failed to give the full list of people occupying strategic positions in the university during the former Vice-Chancellor’s administration,” she wrote.
These, she said, included Alhaji Abubakar Muhammed, Registrar and Muslim from Katsina State; Dr. Babangida Dangani, Librarianand Muslim from Katsina State; ProfessorHamisu A. Bichi, Dean of Agriculture and Muslim from Kano State; Professor Baba Kutigi, Muslim from Niger State; Dr. Aminu D. Kankia, Director SOGAPS and Muslim from Katsina State; Tijjani Nadoro, Chief Internal Auditor and Muslim from Katsina State; andMatazu himself, who was the Principal Public Relations Officer and a Muslim from KatsinaState.
“It is obvious Matazu kept all these details away to convince the reading public that his fabrications are true. However, conscience is an open wound,” wrote Dr. Ati.
On Mr. Matazu’s allegation that the former Vice Chancellor ensured that most of the university’s junior staff were employed from Benue State, in alleged breach of the regulation stating that lower cadre staff be employed from the area where the federal institution is located, Dr. Atiwrote: You (SaharaReporters) may wish to send your reporter to Dutsinma on a fact-finding mission and you will realize that the university is plagued with a crop of indigenous staff who cannot communicate in English. This group constitute not less than 80 percent of junior staff on the nominal roll.”
On Mr. Matazu’s claim that the Governing Council of the university has established a committee to verify the status of all staff, Dr. Ati wrote that a staff audit had indeed been directed to be carried out by the Audit Committee. However, she said the incumbentVice Chancellor, Professor Kaita, did not wait for the report of the audit committee to be considered by council before terminating the appointments of close to 300 staff.
She said she was one of those affected, adding that there are issues with the exercise that the public needs to be aware of.
Explaining the issues, Dr. Ati wrote: “No part of the letter indicated that if I fail to regularize, which is the responsibility of only the Governing Council, I would be terminated. The paragraph 4 which was referred in the termination letter became null and void on 20thJuly, 2015. My services were fully acknowledged and remunerated as Lecturer I by the university after the said expiration for one full year. Attached are sample pay slips, lecture schedules, SIWES supervision schedule, appointment to represent the Faculty on the Board of Faculty of Management Sciences among others. Also, minutes of Departmental and Faculty Board meetings will testify to this. I have been used to teach and perform Departmental, Faculty and University meetings after 20th July 2015. I was upgraded one step higher in October 2015. This is a clear indication that my services were deemed regularized and well remunerated by the university. An official annual leave was approved for me by the Registrar, from which I resumed on 17th August, 2016. I was invited for and attended a regularization interview organized by the university on 10th of February with other staff members and have been waiting for the result before the purported termination of my appointment.
The university has, at all times, deducted my pension since then. Only indigenes of KatsinaState have been secretly given a regularization letter since the recent appointment of the Vice Chancellor. The Vice Chancellor has been terminating the appointments of non-Katsinaindigenes. The Vice Chancellor has usurped the powers of the Governing Council.”
Dr. Ati also demanded, among other things, thatMr. Matazu should immediately retract his article because it is full of falsehood, deliberate misinformation and outright lies. In addition, she is requesting that SaharaReporters to compel the university, using the Freedom of Information Act, to produce the nominal roll of the university as a confirmation or rebuttal of Mr. Matazu’s claims.
Source:Sahara reporters
The Code of Conduct Bureau has begun massive verification of assets declared by top serving and former public officers at the federal, state and local government levels. A statement by the Chairman of the CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, released by the Press and Protocol Unit of the Bureau on Thursday, stated that the exercise involved the physical appearance of the concerned public officers before the bureau for conference and field verifications of their declared assets.
The Code of Conduct Bureau has begun massive verification of assets declared by top serving and former public officers at the federal, state and local government levels.
A statement by the Chairman of the CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, released by the Press and Protocol Unit of the Bureau on Thursday, stated that the exercise involved the physical appearance of the concerned public officers before the bureau for conference and field verifications of their declared assets.
Conference verification requires public officers to present documents relating to their declared assets to designated officials of the Bureau.
On the other hand, field verification involves public officers taking CCB officials to locations of their declared landed, fixed and other assets that could not be conveniently moved to the bureau’s office.
He stated that by virtue of Paragraph 11 of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended), “every public officer is required to submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a written declaration of all properties, assets and liabilities and those of his/her spouse (if not a public officer) and his unmarried children under the age of 18 years.”
He added that any statement in the declaration, found to be false by any authorities or persons authorised to verify it, “shall be deemed to be a breach of the code”.
He stated, “To this end, the Bureau has commenced its 2016 4th Quarter Cycle of Conference and Field Verification of Assets of top public officers. Accordingly, letters of invitation have been dispatched to ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, service chiefs, and other top public officers.
“All invited public officers are to note that failure to honour the invitation by the CCB in this regard is a breach of the provisions of the constitution and could lead to prosecution under the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Ngige, Amaechi and Fashola
“Public officers not yet invited are to await their letters of invitation.”
He listed 76 public officers that had been invited by the Bureau with a threat of the possibility of prosecution if they fail to honour the invitation.
Among the 76 invitees are 30 ministers whom, according to the Bureau, have yet to submit themselves to the exercise.
According to the Bureau, ministers who have yet to submit themselves for the verification are Rotimi Amaechi (Transportation); Babatunde Fashola (Power, Works and Housing); Ibe Kachikwu (Petroleum Resources (State); Abubakar Malami (Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice); Adebayo Shittu (Communications); Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Solid Minerals and Steel Development); Audu Ogbeh (Agriculture and Rural Development).
Others include Senator Aisha Alhassan (Women Affairs and Social Development); Solomon Dalung (Youths & Sports Development); Osagie Ehanire (Health (State)); Usani Usani (Niger Delta Affairs); Prof. Anthony Anwukah (Education (State)); Lai Mohammed (Information and Culture), and Gen. Ali Mansur (retd.) (Defence).
The list also includes Senator Udo Udoma (Budget and National Planning); Ibrahim Jibril (Environment (State)); Suleiman Adamu (Water Resources and Rural Development); Mustapha Shehuri (Power (State)); Prof. Claudius Daramola (Niger Delta Affairs (State)) and Kemi Adeosun (Finance) as those who have not submitted themselves to verification.
The rest are Prof. Isaac Adewole (Health); Okechukwu Enelamah (Trade, Investment and Industry); Geoffrey Onyema (Foreign Affairs ); Muhammadu Bello (Federal Capital Territory); Senator Hadi Sirika (Aviation (State)); Hajiya Khadija Bukar (Foreign Affairs(State)); Senator Chris Ngige (Labour and Employment); Heineken Lokpobiri (Agriculture and Rural Development (State)); Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu (Science and Technology); and Abubakar Bwari (Solid Minerals (State) ).
The rest of the public officers still expected to submit themselves to the bureau are the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Oyo-Ita Ekanem; Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olanishakin; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Abubakar Sadique; and the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibas Ibok.
Also on the list are the immediate past Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase; Chairman, Police Service Commission, Chief Mike Okiro; Controller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Babatunde Mohammed; Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Waziri Adio; Director-General of National Pension Commission, Mrs. Chinelo Amazu; and Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Export Promotion Council, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo.
Also yet to turn up for the CCB verification are the Director-General, National Youth Service Corps, Brig.-Gen. Sule Kazaure; Executive Secretary, Nigeria Sao-Tome & Principle Joint Development Authority, Kashim Tumash; Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru; Controller-General of Federal Fire Service, Anebi Garba; Director-General, Budget and National Planning, Mr. Ben Akabueze, and Managing Director, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission, Ibrahim Umaru.
Others include the Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission, Prof. Abubakar Adamu; Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Mrs. Hadiza Usman; Managing Director, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, Ahmed Kuru, and Controller-General of MSCDS, Muhammad Abdullahi.
The Deputy Inspectors-General of Police, who are on the list, are Ntom Chukwu, Folusho Adebanjo, Emmanuel Inyang, Maigari Dikko, Joshak Habila, Shuaibu Gambo, and Hyacinth Dagala.
An Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Abdul Bube, is also on the list.
Military officers, whose names appear on the list, are Real Admiral Joseph Osa (Commandant, Operation Delta Safe) and Major General M. A. Koleoso (GOC Tradoc).
The CCB also listed a number of Federal Commissioners of the Civil Service Commission and three Group Executive Directors of the NNPC, who are yet to submit themselves to the CCB’s verification.
In the statement, the CCB stated that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, and five other ministers, among 15 other former and serving public officers, had submitted themselves to the asset verification.
Buratai recently became the target of scathing public scrutiny when reports of his choice $1.5m properties, which he claimed were acquired in the name of his wife in Dubai, hit the public space.
Saba confirmed to our correspondent on the telephone that all the 15 persons, whose assets had been verified, had been issued a certificate of Conference Verification/Field Verification.
“The Chief of Army Staff was the first to be issued his certificate. We started issuing to others last week,” he said.
Responding to further inquiry about whether the certificate issued by the CCB implied that the cleared public officers were free from liability of criminal prosecution, Saba stated, “Even though the tribunal (Code of Conduct Tribunal) is the institution with the power of adjudication in asset declaration breaches, the certificate means that from our own end, we are satisfied with the verification that we have done.”
The five cleared ministers are Abdulrahman Dambazau (Interior); Zainab Shamsuna (Budget & National Planning); Adamu Adamu (Education); Aisha Abubakar (Minister of Trade, Investment & Industry (State)); and Amina Mohammed (Minister of Environment).
The rest of the former and serving public officers already cleared by the CCB are the immediate past Secretary of the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim; Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood; a former Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie, and a former Controller-General, Nigerian Prisons Service, Ezenwa Peter.
They also include the Acting MD/CEO, Niger Delta Development Commission, Semenitari Tamunoibim; Controller-General, Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Ibrahim Ali (retd.); Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris; Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, Boboye Oyeyemi; and Federal Commissioner, Civil Service Commission, Hope Ikrirko.
The CCB boss commended those that had turned up for the exercise.
Source:punch newspaper
Following the criticisms that have trailed the suspension of the teaching of history in schools, the federal government on Thursday ordered the reintroduction of the subject in basic schools across the country.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who called for the disarticulation of social studies in the current curriculum of basic schools and reintroduction of history as a subject, said this has become imperative given the critical nature of history to the nation’s socio-political development.
The Minister made the call in Abuja Thursday while addressing delegates at the 61st Meeting of the National Council on Education Ministerial Session.
He also urged the Council to consider making the study of Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Religious Knowledge compulsory for both Christians and Muslims to the end of Senior Secondary School.
Adamu said the reintroduction of history as a subject on its own in basic schools will give the Nigerian child a self identity of who they really are.
He added that Nigeria owes both the present and future generations the responsibility of removing all inhibitions against opportunities of acquiring morals and ethics as taught in the religious traditions.
“It is only the study of history, our own history, that can explain and give meaning to our very humanity and that is why we must study it and teach our little ones. It is also not enough that they merely know who they are; we must teach them about their God.
“Since it is said that if you want to destroy any nation, it’s either first the family is destroyed, then the education is destroyed and the third the social morals are destroyed and in Nigeria we owe both the present and future generations the responsibility to remove all inhibitions against making our children acquire morals and ethics”
At the Council Meeting, the Minister also launched the National Teacher Education Policy , NTEP, and the National Quality Assurance Policy, NPEQ
According to the Minister, the National quality Assurance Policy, NPEQ, is an assurance system for institutions below tertiary level and for expected standard of practice in Nigeria. On the other hand, the policy identifies the pivotal role of qualify teachers in the provision of quality education at all levels.
“The objective is to produce highly skilled knowledgeable and creative teachers who are capable of producing globally competitiuve students,the policy seeks to ensure that teachers recruited,trained and re-trained based on explicit standards,” he said.
On the theme, ‘Education Council Meeting ; Teacher Quality: A Tool for Sustainable Human Capital Development’ , Adamu stated that it was informed by the need to draw the attention of policy makers, technocrats, professionals, and stakeholders in the education sector to the indispensability of the teacher in human capital development for the achivement of national goals.
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Edo Guber: APC Maintains Lead In Results Released So Far
Founder of One Love Family, Satguru Maharaj Ji, has faulted the call by Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State on Niger Delta leaders to account for how they spent about $40 billion said to have been pumped into the region in recent years.
Maharaj who in a release titled, “Gov. Aminu Masari Is A Joker” and made available to journalists on Thursday, was reacting to Masari’s statement that the Niger Delta people have no basis for their agitation. He said the governor must look inward before pointing accusing fingers at another section of the country when it comes to accountability.
He said while the governor has done nothing wrong by asking Niger Delta leaders to be accountable, it is also true that no one will be saying anything illogically or constitutionally offensive by calling on Northern leaders to account for all they have received and extracted from the country.
According to him, it is an open fact that the Northern part is the country is the most backward area despite all the money in billions of dollars that its leaders have handled on its behalf, stating that Nigeria is gradually becoming a major African theatre of greed and graft, where stealing is a standard way of life punishable only when you either cannot bribe your way out of legal nemesis or when you enroll with the wrong political party.
He said, “Northern Nigeria leaders of today may deny all the accusations that they choose to avoid, they are free to issue all the threats they can and are at liberty to apportion all blames they can afford against their counterparts. Whatever it is they choose to do against love and truth can never erase the fact that they are predominantly responsible for Nigeria’s disgraceful state of destitution.”
Finance Minister Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, yesterday said Nigeria was already walking out of the economic recession following some positive measures the Federal Government had taken.
Mrs. Adeosun added that the recovery plan was to invest more in infrastructure and stop wastage in governance.
The Minister, in an interview with reporters after the closing ceremony of the 2016 National Council of Finance and Economic Development (NACOFED) conference in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, noted that the economic recovery process would be driven from the local, state and the Federal Government levels.
“We are investing more in capital expenditure than we have ever invested. We are sorting out infrastructure; we are stopping wastage and so the sign of recovery is already there.
“We are already getting out of recession because of the actions the Federal Government is taking. If you are in a problem, the day you start to step towards progression, you are already getting out of it; we are getting out of it.
“Agriculture and solid minerals are already starting to grow and so they are responding to our policy initiative and we are expected to continue in that direction.”
“Nigeria is getting out of the trouble that we have found ourselves. We are turning things around and I believe everybody is united and everybody that was here (conference) represented the 36 states of Nigeria and this recovery will be driven from the state and local governments,” she said.
According to her, the diversification of the economy from oil to agriculture and solid minerals is yielding positive results.
She urged the Finance Commissioners from the 36 states and other stakeholders at the conference not to see economic recovery as the Federal Government’s responsibility, but rather join hands to save the economy.
“There are no Federal people; everybody lives in the states. So having everybody together working in the same direction is very important and I want everybody to be included,” Mrs. Adeosun said.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the social reorientation campaign, ‘Change Begins with Me’ that was introduced this month was not scheme to silence Nigerians.
His response was contained in a statement issued yesterday to a story by The Economist published on September 24, 2016, entitled: ‘Nigeria’s war against indiscipline, Behave or be whipped.’ Mohammed said the article was pejorative, loaded with innuendos and couched in a language that was downright racist.
He tackled the magazine which accused President Muhammadu Buhari of ‘’taming’’ Nigerians
with the ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign, saying the use of the word ‘tame’’ was unpardonable as it connoted that Nigerians are some kind of wild
animals that must be domesticated. He also said the usage was a deliberate put-down of a whole people under the guise of criticising a government policy.
“The paper, in striving to reach a preconceived conclusion, also insinuated that some 150,000 volunteers are being trained as enforcers of the ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign. This is not true. In his speech at the launch of the campaign on September 8, 2016, the President, a globally-acknowledged leader who believes strongly in the rule of law, left no one in doubt that moral suasion, the very antithesis of force, will be employed to achieve attitudinal change among Nigerians.
“In that speech, the president said: ‘I am therefore appealing to all Nigerians to be part of this campaign.’ To the best of our knowledge and, surely the knowledge of those who own the language, the words ‘appeal’ and ‘enforce’ are not synonymous.
“In its rush to discredit the ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign, The Economist, a widely respected newspaper, fell below its own standards by choosing to be economical with the truth. Enforcement is not part of the strategies to be employed under the campaign, and nowhere has it been said that the ‘moral police’ will be unleashed, as reported by the newspaper. In writing the story, the paper did not even deem it necessary to speak with any official of the government, thus breaching one of the codes of journalism, which is fairness. It chose instead to quote a ‘critic’ of the president in a perfunctory manner,” Mohammed said.
The minister accused the paper of committing the same gaffe that most critics of then ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign have made by rushing to comment on a campaign they do not understand., adding that critics have ended up shooting themselves in the foot by hauling darts at the campaign shortly after it was launched. Mohammed described the campaign was an all-inclusive campaign that was designed to start with the leadership not designed to shift any responsibility to Nigerians,, saying that was explained by Buhari when he said the government would ‘’drive the campaign’’ and that it must be strongly supported by all concerned individually.
The minister insisted that aside from Nigeria, many countries had also launched similar reorientation campaigns to remodel social value assets.
‘In 1979, Singapore launched the National Courtesy Campaign to encourage Singaporeans to be more kind and considerate to one another. In 2011, Mozambique launched a campaign to educate students
on how to treat foreign tourists as part of preparations for the country’s hosting of the All-Africa Games that year. In 2015, China launched a campaign to ‘name and shame,’ any of its own tourists who behave badly, either at home or abroad. And this year, the Tokyo Good Manners Project was launched to improve manners in the metropolis of the Japanese capital. It is therefore uncharitable for The Economist to hide behind the facade of its own prejudice to denigrate Nigeria’s genuine effort at national re-orientation,’’
