FIREWORKS OVER WHO REPLACES OSHIOMHOLE IN BENIN

FIREWORKS OVER WHO REPLACES OSHIOMHOLE IN BENIN

BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU.

 GOVERNOR ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE IS WORKING UNDER COVER TO INSTALL PETER ESELE AS NEXT GOVRNOR OF THE STATE

…………………………….Oshiomhole picks Esele as successor.

…………………………..No,we have not picked Esele by Governor’s aide who stood in for Esele

……………………………Esele and Governor Oshiomhole were trade union comrades of

Several years in Nigeria

……………………………….Esele,two  Obaseki siblings,Emuan battle to replace Oshiomhole in All Progressives Congress [A.P.C]governorship primaries coming up soon.

………………………………………..Emuan plans to set up Development Bank ,says it will not suffer the fate of erstwhile New Nigerian Bank

………………………………………Emuan plans to inject $70million as foreign Direct Investment within the first years of ascension

………………………………………..smooth talking Don Pedro ,says he will resuscitate Bendel Insurance

………………………………………Obaseki push for a Health Insurance Scheme worth N4.8Billion yearly

Except if Governor Adams Aliu Oshiomhole is able to hoodwink Nigerians and tell the world that Paedia Express Multimedia is flying a kite,then it would appear without a doubt that he is working silently through his body chemistry to install ,Mr Peter Esele,the immediate National President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria [T.U.C.]as the next Governor of Edo State as we now understand.

At the Governorship primaries organized for the candidates of the A.P.C by the highly influential cultural group, Edo Forum,a high powered delegation from the office of the incumbent led by a special Adviser to Governor of Edo State,Mr Aiyemenkhue Edokpolo was mandated to stand in for Mr Esele who surprisingly could not make it for the debates.

It is not known immediately if it is a wise move by the seating Governor to have asked a serving state official to present a speech for an aspiring candidate for the position of the Governor if there was no grand plot for the coveted seat.

In the presentations of the aspiring professionals gunning for the Governorship position,the duo of Architect Austin Irenle Emuan and Don Pedro Obaseki stood out of the park with their very engaging plans of how they intend to turn things around in the once vibrant state.

Light skinned Architect Emuan told the parked gathering at t5he event venue in Lagos, Nigeria that  Edo state was presently at a cross road over who to replace Governor Oshiomhole and advised the people to vote wisely by voting him to office as he had the magical wand to solve their problems.

He paid tributes to Governor Oshiomhole for giving the state a sense of direction as against what was witnessed before now.

He pointed out that as at today the people of Edo state were now fully alert and prepared to vote in the right candidate for the top job  because they had learnt from the failures of the past.

He lamented the fact that Edo state which was largely an agrarian environment  before now has taken a shift to the worse as food is now taken  from neighboring states to them at the moment.

The Architect turned  politician also moaned  over the lack of basic infrastructures in the state  such as pipe borne water,high taxes on otherwise poorly performing businesses aside from other features.

He fingered the aforementioned as factors that have led to serious decline in productivity thus leading to an upsurge in the crime rate and poverty in the land.

He assured the gathering that he was running for the highest position in Edo state because he symbolizes the spirit of resourcefulness that the people of the state were well known for.

His words:”When we travel by road and got to Ofosu  recently during one of our trips  and then we decided to eat    ,in the past Bendel Line will normally drop by as they have a terminus  and this allowed a lot of people to eat as at then”

“Today,Ore has taken over the market ,Ore had over 40 percent of the market in the past because at the time Ofosu was reigning,but Because Ore had an economy created around it by the Ondo State government they have taken this over by 94 percent leaving out just six percent for Ofosu”

“I intend to create a big park in Ofosu ,I also want to help to strengthen the industrialization of Edo state”

“we want to create an economy that will be useful for the people of Edo state and managed by the same people as well”

“There is a huge gap amongst us,some says that a lot of our lands have now being taken over by foreigners ,today our children born in Edo state cannot speak a word of our language  and this is bad”

“when you lose your language ,what happens is that you have lost your identity and this is very dangerous”

Emuan in retrospect insisted that if elected to public office he will use his good offices to empower the people through the provision of the basic necessities of life.

He revealed that he was turbo charged to solve the people ‘s infrastructural deficits when he pulls resources together to float a new Edo state Developmental Bank to launch the state into an industrialized giant that it was supposed to be if resources were properly harnessed.

He also added that he was going to create a future imagination and creative centres so that ideas could be incubated and helped to nurture.

The business man also noted that despite the fact that they system frustrated him when he wanted to help to push at least $30bilion into Nigeria as foreign direct investments ,he will still be able to do this as his foreign business associates have promised to push at least $70 billion into the state if he was elected to office soon.

The immediate President of the Trade Union Congress,Mr Peter Esele who was represented by an aide of Governor Oshiomhole said he was going to devote his time to three areas ,mainly agriculture, culture and education.

The special aide however denied in very strong terms this reporter’s direct accusations that the Governor had made up his mind to hand over power to Mr Peter Esele thus putting the issues of fairness to the waste paper basket.

In his own contributions,Dr Don Pedro Obaseki said that he was the right man for the Benin City most coveted job.

Obaseki with a towering and intimidating background like the other contestants  said he did not belong to any Godfather  but God almighty.

He revealed to the gathering that he and his team built his campaign slogan on empowerment and development

He spoke glowingly of his plans to create an Edo state Health Insurance Scheme with a start up fund of around N4.8billion  on a yearly basis to fight any ill health scourge in the state so as to boost productivity in all ramifications.

He also affirmed that he will build a concise database that will help to provide up to date information on the citizenry in the state.

He added that if voted to power he will work very hard at making sure that all tobacco legislations signed into law by the Federal Government are respected even at state level

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WHO OWNS AJAOKUTA “STEAL”?

WHO OWNS AJAOKUTA “STEAL”?

BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU.

IF NIGERIA'S ECONOMY BECOMES TRULY DIVERSIFIED,STEEL DEVELOPMENT MAY TAKE A CENTER STAGE AND BECOMES THE BEDROCK OF NIGERIA'S INDUSTRIALISATION

Except true justice is meted out over who truly owns Ajaokuta,the mineral rich zone between the Ebira’s and the Igala’s in kogi state ,central Nigeria  there may soon be a major bloodshed over the steel industry territory.

As at press time ,it was learnt that the paramount ruler, members of the state House of Assembly and even the Federal House of Representatives were from Igala land even as superior arguments eventually proved this to be wrong however ,God in his own wisdom used River Niger to divide the Ebira’s and the Igala’s but the latter which was invited to join Kogi state as against their own wish for Okura state now claim that they own Ajaokuta because of the steel complex.

Ebira land which is believed extends as far as Okpella in Edo state where limestone deposits are mined for cement production with royalties even paid to the Ohinoyi of Ebira Land,Alhaji Adogu Abdulrahaman Ibrahim has also come up for grabbing by the crafty Igala people from across the River Niger.

In an exclusive investigations  by the News Office Desk of Paedia Express Multimedia in Ihima,Okehi Local Government Area of Kogi State ,it was discovered through a top civil servant in the state that a government white paper on demography viz-a-viz census  but which was set to have being destroyed by the Captain Idris Wada regime was now causing a lot of tension in the state.

The source explained to this reporter how expatriates were employed for the trial census conducted by the state government last year from Germany and against established norms revealed that Kogi central had more population than Kogi East.

The insider noted that the foreign experts who conducted the trial census  wondered why Kogi East could lay claim to the type of population they claimed  that they had when there was no evidence of any form of urban development unlike Kogi Central where there were lots of houses, basic Amenities and even infrastructures .

An Ebira legend says that the name Ajaokuta is from a local bird called “Aja”,which usually is seen on the rocky but mountainous ranges  which is the source of the Iron and Steel industry in Nigeria.

The Igala people on the other hand lay claim to Ajaokuta on account of the presence of their people in the area who are involved in paddy rice farming and fisheries ,two trades Ebiras are said not to be keen on from the ancient times.

In a related issue,the Ohi of Ihima ,His Royal Highness,Alhaji Ahmed Abdulraheem Ogido debunked the claims in some quarters that Igala people will soon take over Ajaokuta Steel.

He noted that top tribal chiefs like the Ohi of Ajaokuta ,Adogu of Eganyin,the Chairman of the local government ,Mr Okino were all Ebiras ,with the legislator  in the state house of Assembly  from Bassa  area which he insists was still part of Kogi Central.

 He accepted that due to the commercial nature of the Ajaokuta Area there were several non-natives in the area doing one form of business or the other but if anybody was to be blamed for anything at all in the unfolding drama over who owns Ajaokuta Steel then it would have to be the people selling their lands.

THE 2016 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET : WHAT HOPE FOR The Common Man

THE 2016 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET : WHAT HOPE FOR The Common Man

IT IS HOPED THAT  AGRICULTURE AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF BEING IN THE DOLDRUMS WILL FINALLY BE THE BEDROCK OF NIGERIA'S ECONOMY

As usual, the official presentation of the 2016 Federal Government Budget by President Buhari before a joint-session of the two Houses of The National Assembly, has generated heated public debate.  The debates that followed since then have been further complicated by the inauspicious visit of the Managing Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, to the presidency just a few days after the Budget presentation by the president.

The visit of the IMF Chief undoubtedly signifies the importance of the Nigerian economy to the global capitalism and most definitely signpost the support of the IMF for the economic measures being proposed by the federal government to revive, stabilize and stimulate  economic activities in the Nigerian economy.

The IMF Chief’s visit also serves a clear signal to allay fears in the mind of potential foreign investors on the downward slide of the Nigerian economy which would have significant negative    reverberating impact on the global economy, and particularly on the economies of Nigeria’s West African neighbours.  It is very clear therefore that economic failure is not an option for Nigeria policy makers.

However, commentaries on the 2016 Budget in the domestic scene have been most divergent and irreconcilable to most observers. Nevertheless, Nigerian economic policy-makers must have been better informed with the oversupply of suggestions and opinions generated in the course of the intense debate. It is fair however to conclude that the 2016 budget has been generally well-received by the Nigerian stakeholders, despite all its perceived short comings.

Nevertheless, the single major economic challenge facing the government presently is how to quickly resolve the unacceptably high labour-deficit cutting across all skills and professions.  In the 2016 Budget, government has proposed to resolve the unemployment issue by offering direct employment to 500,000 unemployed graduate teachers. In addition, government has committed itself  to creating additional 3 million jobs in the medium term through strategic private sector-led economic initiatives. 

Indeed, most commentators regard these twin objectives as “heroic tall dreams” considering the absence of accurate official statistics on the magnitude of Nigeria’s mammoth unemployment burden, The problem presently however is the general fears that government has again (as in the past) opted to pursue the same pedestrian policy paths that have failed woefully under successive governments since Independence.  Therein lies the danger in the proposed approach to Job and Wealth Creation in the strategic efforts to clear the high labour-deficit that has remained a potent threat to Nigeria’s socio-economic stability.

It is apparent that government is working on a set of over-simplistic assumptions about the character and nature of the Nigerian unemployment situation. The government has therefore been misled into undue optimism about the prospects ot the proposed Employment policy. It is extremely simplistic to propose to implement this employment policy measures via orthodox economic theory of the market in which the private sector is expected to play a leading and commanding role. The truth is that the Nigerian economy is yet to attain the level of economic sophistication in which the private sector, acting as the primary economic agents of fiscal and monetary economic adjustments, can be effectively induced by palliative incentives into creating enough jobs to absorb the large army of unemployed youths roaming the streets. Definitely this is not the best option to building wealth for the general prosperity of all Nigerians because the Nigerian private sector is economically too vulnerable to macroeconomic shocks to bring about required reduction in the presently high unemployment rate.

                                                                                                          Besides the Nigerian private sector is largely dominated by extremes of rent-seekers and profiteers who adds no real value to the Gross Domestic Product.  The success of  the proposed economic policy depends largely on the private sector attitude towards doing business on strong corporate ethics rather than the present practice of maximizing profits at all cost. Government has a duty to ensure that the common man is gainfully employed by selectively using its huge spending power in such a way that benefit only private businesses that are relatively more intensive in their operations.

There is also the fears that Nigerian private sector is pathologically import-dependent, globally uncompetitive and chronically surviving on obsolete technology.  In addition, operational constraints such as prolonged exposure to malfunctioning public infrastructure, high operating cost and relatively poor entrepreneurial disposition towards innovation, are challenges that have completely crippled the capacity of the Nigerian private sector to play any significant role in addressing the huge unemployment in the Nigerian economy.

Moreover, Government perpetual penchant for noisy-sloganeering about “Foreign Investors” has become an embarrassing misdirection of economic policies priorities.  Invariably, these so-called  “foreign investors” are no more than rent-seeking international portfolio capitalists. As usual these global ‘economic migrants’ would turn round to insist on the creation of a “conducive business environment” in the country.  The truth is that no such thing as “conducive business environment” really exist in capitalist economies.  The market will always function to the satisfaction of both buyers and sellers; any other consideration is completely irrelevant.  There is good reason for Government to suspect that the chants of “conducive business environment” is inimical to our national interest. In normal cases, genuine foreign investors are merely interested in the safety of their investment in an economically and politically stable economy.  The 2016 budget must not place to much value on attracting foreign investors who are exclusively looking for “conducive business environment”.

Again the budget objective to lay a solid foundation for the rapid industrialization of the Nigerian economy is as disturbing as the general tendency by Nigerian economic policy makers’ penchant for raising false hopes on the possibility of achieving “high growth rate”. In the face of current economic challenges  With collapsed infrastructure, shrinking productive capacity, high national debt burden, pathological import-dependence and rapidly  declining foreign exchange earnings and falling education standards, the projected two-digits growth is most unrealistic. Moreover, Nigeria does not yet have the requisite caliber and quality of technical and managerial manpower to achieve this, in spite of our huge human-resource endowment.

It is suggested Government can identify the strategic growth-centres of the domestic economy as a first step towards brightening Nigeria’s economic outlook as a potential ‘industrialized economy’ in the long term. Government can effectively achieve this objective by                                building a strong economic base in the light-industrial subsector and the agro-allied industries. There are also good prospects in the lower levels of Engineering and Construction that are largely labour-intensive sectors This strategy will facilitate rapid expansion in domestic production by creating a large derived demand for labour. Expansion of employment in these labour-intensive sectors is a more realistic path for laying the foundation for the long term industrialization objective.

             

Nigeria is largely a labour-suplus, capital-scarce economy.  The Nigerian economy therefore needs to put its active labour force to productive use in order to reduce the presently high unemployment rate in the country.  The Nigerian economy is thereby strictly constrained in the large-scale applications of labour-saving innovations and technology.  Nigeria should do-away with any policy measure that encourage unrestrained investment in labour-saving innovations and technology that potentially threaten employment.

Undoubtedly Nigeria is blessed with huge human and material resources.  The sad economic reality in Nigeria however is the existence of extreme poverty despite the endowments of a huge human and material resources. Labour-saving innovations and technology with harm rather than improve the living conditions of Nigerians.  The drive towards unbridled innovations in non-labour intensive economic sectors is more pronounced in the service sectors (especially in the the Financial subsector) in the last decades. The so-called “disguised benefits” have been more than harmful in terms of the large number of staff who have had to be disengaged as a consequence of the introduction of  labour-saving innovations in financial service delivery. For instance, This despite the massive labour-saving innovations being deployed in the Nigerian financial sector, most Nigerians banks have remained relatively weak, fragile and debilitative over the last five years.

Besides, the touted “benefits” of innovations in the financial sector are not even sufficient to compensate for the huge unemployment directly “induced” in other sectors attributable to the relentless financial services innovations.

Therefore there is the urgent imperative for government to shift emphasis to economic activities and job creation in the labour-intensive sectors of the Nigerian economy.  This may sound “old fashioned” economics to some people, but there is no doubt that it makes better economic sense in the present circumstances.

These labour-intensive sectors are easily indentified by the extremely low level of capital-labour ratio utilized in production and high wage-bill relative to investment in capital equipments.  Economic activities that fall within the category of labour intensive sectors include: Agriculture and Agro-allied (especially the food pressing chain), cottage industries (e.g. furniture making), road construction and production of light industrial and household goods. The hope of the common man is inextricably tied to the performance of labour-intensive production activities.

MISSING RATS "SHOCKS"FOOD CHAIN

MICHAEL JACKSON SANG A HIT ON RATS

•  

MISSING RATS “SHOCKS”FOOD CHAIN

BY OLADUNNIN KOSOKO,

OWONIFARI ADEDAMOLA AND

 ABDULMUMINI ADEKU

The lack of rats in our ecological system has sent shock waves to the food chain.

Investigations by the News Office Desk of Paedia Express Multimedia in Lagos,Nigeria suggests that virtually all the rats in the city of Lagos and environs were either dead or on the verge of extinction due to the recent kill the rat campaign in the polity to avert the deadly Lassa Fever virus.

A source who spoke to this reporter explained that he had it been said by some local farmers  that the lack of rats in the environment has taken its toll on them as the rodents were actually  amajor part of their diets on a daily basis.

The source told this reporter that the farmers were not happy at the campaign against rats as the  animals provided them with a ready piece of meat rather than beef or pork which could eb expensive and not even available for them to eat.

The farmers according to the source pointed out that the Lassa Fever thing was blown out of proportion as they did not have issues with the animal at all as they did not see  them as threats.

The source added that the farmers usually throw  away any part of their food that had being contaminated by Rats defecates and urine and wondered why the hate campaign against the animal

In her own contributions,Mrs Nwafor Dinwawor lamented the pains the entire  nation had gone through in recent times due to the health implications of Lassa Fever.

In a related issue,Dr Daniel Banjo will not be drawn into arguments about which of Ebola Virus or Lassa Fever was more deadlier than the other but will quickly add that he strongly believes that Ebola Virus which was over hyped in his opinion was more contagious.

As at press time,Paedia Express Multimedia’s investigations shows that the viral strains of Lassa Fever were very virulent in at least 18 out of the 36 states in Nigeria with fears rife that this may even spread to other zones if not contained immediately.ith at least 2,000 species, rodents are the largest group of mammals in the world. These diverse creatures live on all major continents except Antarctica, as well as most islands. They adapt to life in most any habitat and can be found from swamps and tropical rainforests to deserts. Some spend all their time high in trees, while others live underground and seldom venture above the surface. Wherever they are found, people often treat them as pests and nuisances, but they play important roles in the ecosystems they inhabit.

Source of Food

Nearly every kind of animal preys on rodents to some extent, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, other mammals and even fish. Rodents also play host to a number of parasites such as mites and ticks, creatures people may find just as problematic as the rodents themselves. All over the world, people have hunted and killed various rodent species for food. In Africa, poachers kill larger rodent species for meat when larger game has been exhausted.

Seed Spreaders

Biologists have long known that tropical forest rodents play a key role in spurring growth of new trees in the forest by spreading seeds. At least one African rodent, the Kivu giant pouched rat, has an equal responsibility in encouraging plant growth by dispersing seeds. They scatter-hoard larger seeds, as well as build sizable caches of seeds for later consumption that are often not consumed. Where the seeds germinate, they grow into new vegetation. Similar rodent behavior occurs in North America, where seeds sprout from stores made by burrowing rodents such as kangaroo rats and pocket mice. These creatures cache seeds along with other organic matter for winter consumption.

Soil Aerators

Many rodents such as ground squirrels, pocket gophers and prairie dogs bury underground, digging extensive burrows and tunnels. These tunnels not only create habitat for many other underground species, they also provide important benefits for the soil. Digging tunnels turns over the soil, mixing the top layers of litter and feces with the deeper layers. This process fertilizes the soil and buries carbon, essential for plant growth. The tunnels allow water to flow deep into the soil rather than running off, and also carry oxygen through sediment layers, aerating the soil to encourage root growth.

Fungus Distributors

Plants in forests have mutually beneficial relationships with fungi in the soil. Fungi provide plants with nutrients, while the plants give fungi energy to grow and reproduce. The seeds of some plants, like orchids, won't even germinate and sprout without being attached to a fungus. Rodents such as red squirrels and voles harvest and store mushrooms, exposing the spores to the elements and encouraging their spread. Underground fungi rely almost entirely on rodents to disperse their spores and reproduce. When the rodents eat their mushrooms, they distribute the fungal spores in their scat, facilitating another generation of healthy forest.