Michael Ojuroye Initiative (Ngo)

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE Nigeria needs a minimum of one billion dollars annually to implement an integrated plan to address environmental challenges in the country, a professor of Climatology, Emmanuel Oladipo, has said. Oladipo Abuja on Tuesday said that Nigeria needed to be consistent in tackling environmental problems by investing adequate funds in the sector. He expressed regret that Nigeria had not been able to come up with an approved national integrated plan of action for management of the environment. According to him, all kinds of programmes and projects across the country need to be situated in a coherent manner to get the desired results. He underscored the need to identify the environmental problems and map out strategies to address them.   In addition, he urged the three tiers of government to allocate adequate funds to solve these problems. “ If we want to solve them, we need a minimum of one billion dollars every year for the next 10 or 15 years to tackle these prob...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the Federal Government to honour its agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in order to end the ongoing strike that has paralyzed academic  activities in the nation’s public universities. In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said no government worth its salt can afford to play with education, because it is the path to national development. It said ASUU was not making any fresh demand beyond the agreement it reached with the government in 2009, adding: ”Agreements are meant to be honoured, and breaching them comes with some consequences.” APC said the strike which has kept students in public universities at home for many weeks is a further blow to the country’s education system, which has deteriorated so much that no Nigerian university is currently listed in the top 100 universities in the world and onl...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE Gunmen suspected to be Islamist militant of Boko Haram earlier today raided  a police station in Kaduna killing yet-to be determined number of police officers. A police source who witnessed the attack told Saharareporters that the gunmen stormed Kajuru Police Station, situated in Maraban Kajuru, Kajuru local government area along Kaduna-Kachia Road in the predominantly christian southern parts of Kaduna State. The area, according to the source witnessed heavy gun fire that overwhelmed the policemen on duty. Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Olufemi Adenaike is said to be on his way to the scene of the attack to assess damages and verify the number of officers killed or injured.

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE Negotiations  between the Federal Government and the  leadership of the Academic  Staff Union of Nigeria Universities (ASUU)  over the on-going strike  by members of the union  ended in a deadlock in Abuja  yesterday. Speaking to journalists after the meeting which lasted several hours, the Governor of Benue State Gabriel Suswam who is Chairman of the Needs Assessment Implementation Committee set up by the Federal Government  stated that President Goodluck Jonathan had pledged to commence release of N100 billion for the  infrastructural  development of the universities from the beginning of  September. He further stated that due process for the release of the funds to execute the identified projects in all federal universities across the country had already started. Said he: ” Among the  infrastructures that would be provided  are chairs, classrooms, laboratories , libraries and  student host...

FUNMI OJUROYE REPORTING FROM LAGOS WARRI — THERE was confusion in Egbemene community, opposite Macver Market, Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State, as soldiers attached to the Joint Task Force, JTF, raided the quiet neighbourhood in alleged pursuit of suspected female crude oil bunkerers. Vanguard gathered that the suspects, who were conveying diesel in a boat to Warri, ran into the community and fled in a desperate attempt to escape from the soldiers, who were chasing them. They abandoned the boat on the riverbank, while the soldiers ransacked homes in search of them. A community source said that the military men harassed villagers, including Chief Perebina-bin Ebiton and a married woman, Mrs. Akren Yodiowei, who was said to be innocent. The source said: “As I speak to you, the whereabouts of four kids are not known. “One of the victims was asked by the soldiers to roll and destroy the drums of diesel and he refused, which led to beating and maltreatment. “Th...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE IN February 2012, a gang of heavily armed robbers attacked the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja. They carted away N700 million from a bureau de change operator. Each member, including the informant, a cart pusher at the airport, got N90million, an amount that could have turned their lives around. But barely one year after that operation, Felix Sunday, a.k.a. K-Money, a native of Delta State became broke and went back to robbery. The 32 year old man, who is currently cooling off at the Specail Anti-Robbery Sqaud, SARS, Ikeja, narrated to Vanguard how he robbed with the notorious Southwest robbery czar, Abiodun Ogunjobi, a.k.a. Godogodo and how he lavished his N90million share of the loot. Excerpts.    My name is Felix Sunday. I am a resident of Lagos State and  I was a commercial bus driver. I joined my first robbery gang in 2009 and  was the gang’s driver. Members of my gang then were old men and all of them are dead now. They...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE ABUJA — A Karu Senior Magistrates’ court, yesterday, sentenced a 25-year-old woman, Victoria Alonge, to one-year in jail for pouring hot oil on her boyfriend, Roland Nna, over his refusal to marry her. The Senior Magistrate, Omolola Akindele, summarily sentenced Alonge without an option of fine after the convict admitted to committing the offence in court. Alonge was arraigned by the police on a one-count charge of causing grievous hurt on Nna, her boyfriend, who lives in Kurudu, Abuja. The Police Prosecutor, Cpl. Paschal Njoku, had earlier told the court that Nna reported the incident at Kurudu Police Station on August 11. Njoku said Alonge went to Nna’s house at about 4:30 a.m. on the fateful day and poured hot oil on him while he was asleep, resulting in grievous hurt on his body. He said she was immediately arrested by the police, based on the report and confession to committing the crime before the police. Njoku said while in detention, Alonge threatened ...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE THE year was 1965.  I was an innocent starry-eyed 13 year-old and Nigeria was in turmoil.  It was the era of the “wetie,” when the houses of politicians and key public-figures were burnt down in the brouhaha that was then Western Nigeria. We lived in Oke-Ado in Ibadan and our next-door neighbour was Chief Ogundiran, a minister in the government of Chief S.L. Akintola, the Premier of the Western Region.  (Ogundiran was famous for only wearing white.)  In the spirit of the times, a mob came early one morning and burnt down his house.  He jumped out of the window and managed to escape. Fani-Power:  I was having private lessons in Mathematics at the home of a colleague, Enitan Abiodun, when we heard the noise of a crowd outside.  We rushed to the veranda to see Chief Remi Fani-Kayode (alias Fani-Power), then Deputy Governor of the Western Region, standing on the seat of a moving convertible.  He was surrounded by a mob, which...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE There is confusion over reports of the death of Imam Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Boko Haram sect, as pronounced today by the Nigerian military in Maiduguri, Borno State. This is the second time in four years that security agencies are declaring Shekau dead.  In July 2009, after the killing of Boko Haram’s pioneer leader, Mohammed Yusuf, the agencies publicly announced that Shekau was also killed in a confrontation.  Shekau then resurfaced in deadlier attacks against the Nigerian state in 2010.  It is that background that makes today’s pronouncement that Shekau may have been killed in a gun battle in the past three weeks a source of debate. Although SaharaReporters is still investigating the announcement, it was further gathered that the military based their conclusion largely on confessions made by some sect members captured in the course of its recent clamp down.  They are still being interrogated. A source in the know about how Boko...

BY:FUNMI OJUROYE Nigerians and government at all levels must provide necessary assistant to the poor people for even development in the society, the Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation has urged. Executive Director of the group, Abdullahi Shuaib, gave the advice during a Mini-Zakat distribution in Lagos. He noted that assisting the less-privileged would give hope to the needy. He said, “We must constantly be adding value to the lives of distressed Nigerians who were almost losing hope and faith in search for their succour. Their happiness is our happiness and their sadness is ours. “Just as we feel the pain of the less-privileged in our midst, our hearts are gladdened that some Nigerians (Zakat payers) have donated to assist the needy. Thus 46 people that are benefitting from the N5.2m raised.” Shuaib called on well-meaning Nigerians to assist government in its fight against poverty. “We are committed to completing the efforts of both local and state government bearing in mind t...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE Rafael Nadal will head to the US Open as world number two after winning the Cincinnati Open on Sunday. He has overtaken defending champion Murray, who is set to be named third seed for the final major of the year which starts in New York on 26 August. Roger Federer drops to seventh, his lowest ranking for 11 years. Laura Robson is in line to be the 31st seed – the first time a British woman has been seeded at a Grand Slam since Jo Durie at the 1987 Australian Open. The 19-year-old, who made her major breakthrough by reaching the fourth round at Flushing Meadows last year, is an injury worry because she has been struggling with a wrist problem. Heather Watson, the 2009 junior champion and world number 77, is the other Briton with direct entry into the US Open singles draw. Nadal is enjoying his best ever run on hard courts. The Spaniard, 27, beat John Isner to claim his ninth title of 2013 at Cincinnati. He has won all 15 matches on the surface in 2013, taking ...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE THERE is a paradox governments have built around education – they are spending billions of Naira on education, yet the financial issues around education are not being resolved. The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, strike is only one of many matters that are dogging education. Government’s supposed interests in negotiating with ASUU, the speed being applied, and the uttermost neglect of other aspects of education confirm the diminishing importance that governments attach to education. ASUU’s case is exceptional, in that governments appeared concerned. When the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, went on strike, it took almost three months before governments started talking to the union.  The issue remains partially resolved. With the ASUU strike, the failure of governments and their programmes are obvious. Governments sign agreements they do not intend to keep. ASUU is on strike over a 2009 agreement. Governments want to re-negotiate ...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE The activities of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, have destroyed economic and commercial activities in the Northern part of the country. The 2011 World Investment Report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, noted that the Nigerian economy had lost over six billion dollars (N1.3 trillion) as a result of attacks by the sect. Mr. Shedrack Madlion, a businessman based in northern Nigeria, lamented the situation. He said: “Business activities in northern Nigeria today have gone to almost zero percent. There is no way anybody can come and put up any investment where there is insecurity. I was thriving on N3 million daily in business, in my agricultural inputs, but today, I don’t see N80,000.” Madlion disclosed that farmers in Plateau, Kaduna and Sokoto states no longer go to farm for fear of what will happen to them, adding that it was a serious threat to food production in the North. He said: “If we don’t have peace, there would be ...