2023: INEC Disenfranchising Hundreds Of Thousands Of Prospective Voters

 

 

...Several Duly Registered Prospective Voters Frustrated As Their PVCs Are Not Yet Printed

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission is on the verge of disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of prospective voters in Nigeria unless urgent steps are taken to remedy a dire situation.

 

A good number of people who visited the Commission’s office in Garki, Abuja early this month were turned back without their Permanent Voters Card.

 

The Network investigation revealed that many prospective voters who transferred their voting units are affected as their cards are not yet printed by the INEC.

 

While some people were lucky to have gotten their cards, INEC officials simply told their less fortunate prospective voters that the cards were not printed.

 

The Network correspondent who was also affected, presented a slip from INEC after the transfer of his voting unit from Wuse Zone 5 to Gwarimpa in the FCT without any convincing explanation for the non availability of his new PVC by INEC officials.

 

The INEC officials simply said those affected should wait while admitting that producing PVCs is beyond them.

 

Disturbed by the increasing prospect of disenfranchisement, the Network contacted the INEC Commissioner in charge of Information and Voters Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, on January 6, 2023. Okoye read the message on WhatsApp but ignored him.

 

Okoye responded to another message sent to him on WhatsApp on Friday January 20, promising to check and revert.

 

Curiously, seven days after, Okoye has not provided any explanation on the predicament of those who successfully transferred their voting units to new locations with their cards still not printed as at date.

 

As it stands, the inquiry to the Commissioner for information and voter education of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, did not yield any fruitful result.

 

Okoye simply said he would check and revert. Since then he has refused to respond to messages on the matter thereby signifying that INEC has no solution to the seeming deliberate disenfranchisement of eligible Nigerian citizens from voting in an election.

 

“Good morning Sir, I went to INEC to collect my PVC but was told it was not printed. I have done a successful transfer of the polling unit. Do I use my old voter card to vote in the new point or do I use it to vote in the former. I am confused now that the transfer has been made.

 

Please kindly advise at your own convenience what I should do in this situation where I am facing possible disenfranchisement.”

Thank you Sir.

 

Sadly, Okoye could not respond to the inquiry and has continually ignored all messages to him.

 

A similar message to the Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, did not yield any result.

 

The INEC Chairman spokesman neither picked his calls nor did he respond to a message to his mobile telephone on WhatsApp.

 

Meanwhile, the Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu has insisted that no eligible voter in Nigeria will be allowed to cast vote in the forthcoming general elections without a Permanent Voter Card (PVC).

 

Thousands of people whose cards were scheduled for printing but were not are facing disenfranchisement.

 

With the transfer of their polling units, their old voter cards seem to be invalidated. Even the INEC Commissioner in charge of information and voter education does not seem to have an answer to this situation.

Adeboye, Source Of Encouragement - Diri

 

...As RCCG Overseer Dedicates Pavilion In Gov’s Community

Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has said the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, remains a source of encouragement to his administration.

Senator Diri stated this yesterday during the dedication of the new pavilion built by his administration in his country home, Sampou, in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area. 

In a Press statement by Chief Press Secretary to the Bayelsa State Governor, Daniel Alabrah noted that the Governor expressed gratitude to the respected cleric for his love and concern for his Prosperity Government and people of the state, particularly during last year's floods, the governor recalled that the RCCG General Overseer did not only commiserate with him but also donated over 100 bags of rice to support victims.

He said that as part of Adeboye's  visit to the state to attend the 17th National Biennial Conference of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), he would also visit victims and flood affected areas in the state to see things for himself.

While dedicating the pavilion, Pastor Adeboye described Senator Diri as an exceptional leader that has the fear of God.

Quoting from the scriptures, he said rain signifies blessings but whenever it was in excess, it causes flooding thereby endangering lives and property.

Adeboye, who noted that the flooding was a wake-up call for the people to draw closer to their creator, prayed God to prevent the natural disaster from wreaking another havoc in the state.

Atiku’s Visit To Ijaw House Historic - Diri

 

By Ebi Kesiena

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has described the visit of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to the Ijaw House as historic. 

The PDP candidate met with Ijaw nation stakeholders under the auspices of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) and the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) immediately after the party’s presidential campaign rally in Yenagoa on Monday. 

Governor Diri said Atiku was the first and only candidate contesting the 2023 presidential election to visit and interface with the Ijaws directly.

A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, quoted the governor as describing the PDP candidate as unassuming and humble when he accepted to meet and share his ideas on issues bordering on the Ijaw struggle.

He said: “When we requested that the PDP presidential candidate visit the Ijaw House, he said, “why not? I am part of the Ijaw nation.”

“Presidential candidates have come here to campaign and gone. They never thought there is the Ijaw nation headquarters here in Yenagoa. 

“When we had the unprecedented flood of 2022, only three presidential candidates visited us, one of which was Atiku Abubakar. Not only did he visit, he also donated N50 million to the flood victims.”

Diri maintained that the PDP and its candidate were the only ones talking about restructuring and the issues that the Ijaw nation had enunciated over the years, including resource control.

“I believe that working with the PDP and Atiku, who already has restructuring, devolution of powers and resource control in his manifesto, is the way that will bring the Ijaw nation to realize the dreams of Isaac Adaka Boro and all our heroes past. 

“Let it be known that the Ijaw nation can no longer be used as a militancy point to satisfy the ego of some politicians from within or without.”

In his remarks, Alhaji Abubakar recalled that in 2004, he gave his first lecture on restructuring while serving as vice president, an act for which he was queried by President Obasanjo but that he still went further to publish a book on restructuring. 

The former vice president stressed that to prove his commitment on the burning issue, he has assembled a team of constitutional lawyers that have drafted an amendment to the country’s constitution.

He stressed that restructuring was not only the wish of the Ijaw nation but that of the Nigerian people.

“Call it restructuring, devolution of powers or resource control, they all mean the same thing. To show you how committed I am, as far as this aspect of our governance is concerned, I have already assembled a team of constitutional lawyers and they have drafted an amendment to our constitution.

“I have that amendment with me. It will be one of my first legislative laws to be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration. It is a document in working and the only party determined to implement it is the PDP.” 

Speaking earlier, President of the Ijaw National Congress, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, emphasized that the Ijaws will only vote for the candidate that factors their hopes and aspirations into his agenda as president of the country.

Also, Spokesman of the Ijaw Youth Council, Comrade Ebilade Ekerefe, said one of the demands of the Ijaw people includes the relocation of headquarters of the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta to their region, noting that it should be a major consideration for the former vice president upon assumption of office.

We Have Not Canceled Presidential Amnesty Programme Scholarship Scheme-PAP

 

The Presidential Amnesty Office has dismissed speculations that it has cancelled its students’ scholarship scheme.

 

The Special Assistant, Media, to the Interim Administrator, Mr. Freston Akpor, said in a statement on Saturday that the PAP has not announced any outright cancellation of the scholarship scheme.

 

The PAP Spokesman restated an earlier statement of the office which announced a temporary suspension of the programme due to the huge debt profile of the scheme.

 

He stressed that the recent scholarship award carried out by previous leaderships of the agency were done without necessary budgetary consideration and planning with its attendant effects on the agency’s financial management.

 

Akpor noted that the leadership of PAP appreciates the place of education in the development of the Niger Delta and would do all to ensure the creation of opportunities for formal education for beneficiaries in the region.

 

“The attention of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has been drawn to contents trending on various social media platforms with a rumoured outright cancellation of the students’ scholarship scheme by the Programme.

 

“For the avoidance of doubt, the PAP had not at any time announced the cancellation of the scholarship scheme to eligible beneficiaries.

 

“According to an official statement issued by the PAP on 06/01/2023 which clearly emphasized that the Presidential Amnesty Programme scholarship scheme has temporarily been placed on hold due to financial constraints occasioned by the huge debt profile associated with the Formal Education component of the programme.

 

“Evidently, the recent award of scholarships (not by the present management) were done without recourse to budgetary considerations and efficient financial planning thus having an adverse effect on the organisation's balance sheet.

 

“It will therefore defy any logical reasoning on the part of the PAP office to commence award of fresh scholarships without adequately restructuring it's current debts and effectively planning it's available resources vis-a-vis intended new programs.

 

“The PAP under it's current leadership recognizes and acknowledges the importance of education to the growth and development of the Niger Delta and will therefore not relent in doing everything possible to ensure that formal education opportunities are made available to beneficiaries of the PAP,” he said

Humanitarian ministry inaugurates committee on implementation of strategic roadmap

 

 

By Ere-ebi Agedah

 

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has inaugurated the Committee on the implementation and institutionalisation of its Strategic Roadmap and Coordinating framework.

 

The Committee with members drawn from departments and Agencies under the Ministry was inaugurated by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Dr Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, mni, NPOM, in Abuja, recently.

 

According to the Permanent Secretary the Roadmap aptly themed "Mapping out a life of dignity for all " was conceived from the mandate given to the Ministry on its establishment in August, 2019 which is "To develop humanitarian policies, coordinate National and International humanitarian interventions, ensure strategic disaster mitigation, preparedness and response and manage the formulation and implementation of fair focused social inclusion and protection programmes in Nigeria".

 

He said in order to achieve this Mandate, the Ministry developed it's Strategic Roadmap outlining its initiatives, action plans and strategies. This he said is contained in its seven (7) strategic pillars enumerated as follows: strengthening policies and Institutional Frameworks, Building Evidence-Based systems for Transparency and Accessibility, Enhanced Programme Delivery through Effective Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism, Optimizing Funding and Resourcing Opportunities, Strategic Partnership, Collaborations and Disability Inclusion, Implementation of a robust Humanitarian Coordination system for improved strategic Communication & Governance and Mainstreaming of sustainable Development Goals and Integration of Social Initiatives and Investment Programmes.

 

Dr. Sani-Gwarzo explained that the Ministry in  actualising the seven pillars of the Roadmap identified the need for an effective coordination and synergy of actions. For this reason he said a standardized Coordination Frameworks was developed to enable the Ministry to "Lead an Inclusive Innovative Future-Thinking Ecosystem (L.I.F.E), this Framework focuses on collaboration between the Ministry, its Agencies and programmes so as to have a central task of aligning all Independent Mandates to execute the overall Ministry's vision which is "To create sustainable and inclusive systems that promote human dignity in Nigeria.

 

He said that the Roadmap was launched on 14th February, 2022 and the constitution of a Committee and Institutionalizing the strategic Roadmap and Coordination and Framework is long overdue because the document will help serve as a supportive blueprint for the Ministry and Agencies under its supervision in conceptualizing and driving all its activities, initiatives and programmes in line with the objectives of the National Development plan 2021-2025 of the Federal Government.

 

He urged all departments and Agencies under the Ministry to take the task of implementing the contents of the document seriously. He urged the members of the committee to move into action immediately, harmonies the work and put up a time line of action.

 

 He also stated that the Ministry will be organising the first Nigeria International Humanitarian Summit on the 9th of February 2023 and encouraged all stakeholders to key into the event.

 

Also, in his opening remarks, Director Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr.Peter Nwakpa, said the Roadmap is a five year strategic plan of action built on seven pillars and developed to provide policy direction for the Ministry and its Agencies with the aim of achieving the  Mandate, vision and mission of the Ministry in Coordinating the activities of the humanitarian sector.

 

He said the Roadmap is such an important document in the life of the Ministry that the Committee should give it all the desired attention, urging the the Committee to work seriously to achieve the aim and also do their best in achieving their target.

 

In an overview on the Strategic Roadmap by the Deputy Director (PRS), Hajara Ahmed, she said the Roadmap was born out of the National Development Plan which was launched in December 2021, by His Excellency Mr. President, and the roadmap is a follow up of that National Development Plan and it has specific strategic pillars.

 

She said "some may be aware and some may be seeing the document for the first time, the whole idea is for everyone to key in. As we are aware, the vision of the Ministry is to create sustainable and inclusive social systems that promote human dignity for all, that is why we're all here to be able to achieve this vision.

 

The Implementation plan could be done according to the seven pillars so the coordination of this Implementation exercise will be done quarterly. I urge the members for full compliance because this is what is going to drive all the activities of the Ministry going forward".

 

The Director General, National Senior Citizens Centre, Mrs. Emem Omokaro, PHD, in her contribution said she was privileged to have the document during the Launch and have studied it. she said it came at the appropriate time because they had just been inaugurated as an Agency and being newly inaugurated, the strategic Roadmap was very important to them.

She said they could not have started without using the document to develop the Agency's specific strategic Roadmap that the document guided the Agency in developing it's Roadmap.

 

In attendance were Directors of the Ministry, National Coordinator NSIP and Heads of Agencies of the Ministry.

NSF: Diri Rewards, Offers Automatic Employment To Medallists

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has announced a reward package for athletes that represented the state at the 2022 National Sports Festival held at Asaba, Delta State.

Bayelsa placed a historic second behind Delta, surpassing its earlier best position of third recorded at the 2020 festival hosted by Edo State in 2021.

Governor Diri, who received the state’s contingent on Wednesday inside the Executive Council Chambers of the Government House, Yenagoa, recalled that Bayelsa won 109 gold, 104 silver and 87 bronze medals.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, the governor announced one million naira each to individual gold medallists and N750,000 each for team gold.

He also rewarded individual silver medallists with N500,000 and N300,000 for team silver medallists while individual bronze medallists got N300,000 and N150,000 for each team bronze medallist.

 

Coaches and secretaries of gold medal teams got N500,000 each while their assistants got N300,000 each. Those in silver category N300,000 each and their assistants N200,000. 

The governor also rewarded non-medallists with N50,000 each.

He equally announced automatic employment for those yet to be employed in the state sports council and directed the Ministry of Youth and Sports to work out the modalities.

His words: “You have broken your own record and now Bayelsa is the number two sporting state in Nigeria. Your record and the state’s exploits in football and other sporting activities have resulted in my being nominated as the Best Sports Governor in Nigeria. That award will be dedicated to all of you. Let us continue to raise the image of the state like you did in Asaba.”

Earlier, the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Daniel Igali, said Bayelsa was the only state that rewarded its athletes instantly at the games, which inspired them to exceed their target.

While thanking the governor for approving funds for the contingent, Igali stated that the team broke six records in swimming in  the men and women categories as well as in weightlifting.

He stressed that as one of the premier sporting states in the country, there was need to upgrade its sporting facilities in order to be able to host the National Sports Festival in no distant time.

Gov Diri Promises Soft Loans, Urges Bayelsa Women To Form Cooperatives

Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has urged women in the state to form cooperative societies in order to take charge of the local economy.

To this end, the governor said his administration will provide soft loans for women without stringent conditions to encourage them to own businesses and boost the state's economy.

He noted that this is in furtherance of the government’s grants to 210 small scale business owners in the 105 wards of the state monthly.

Senator Diri stated this yesterday at this year's Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area (KOLGA) Annual  Thanksgiving Day in Sampou.

He said the initiative was among several other empowerment schemes put in place by his administration to enable Bayelsans, particularly women become self-reliant.

Governor Diri explained that the soft loan was in addition to the N100 million monthly grant to small and medium scale entrepreneurs across the 105 wards in the state.

According to him, other empowerment schemes of the government include the ICT empowerment programme for 8,000 Bayelsa youths in the eight local government areas under the Diri Digital Entrepreneurship Empowerment Programme (D-DEEP), more than 400 youths already trained in integrated farming at the CSS Global Farms in Nasarawa State, presentation of start-up packs to 366 youths trained under the Sustainable Development Goals programme as well as about 2,000 trained under the Douye Diri Skills Acquisition Programme.

His words: “Development is two-pronged - infrastructure and human capacity development. Under my government, we are doing something in infrastructure development. We are also doing something in the area of human capacity development. 

“We want our women to form cooperatives. Government will give them soft loans so that dependence on government will reduce.

"Let us think along economic indices as a people. The moment you are free to do your own business, you will become free economically. We are poised to ensure that our people will not continue to live in poverty."

Diri, who also spoke on the importance of thanksgiving, implored the people to re-dedicate themselves to God. 

He expressed gratitude to the General Overseer, Royal House of Grace Church International, Apostle David Zilly-Aggrey, for instituting a special thanksgiving day for the KOLGA people.

He said January 17 was set aside annually for the thanksgiving, noting that the programme would continue to be a part of the KOLGA people.

Diri also expressed appreciation to people of the state for their support to his administration and urged them to continue to pray for the progress of the state.

In a sermon, Apostle David Zilly-Aggrey gave a brief historical perspective of KOLGA, recalling the exploits of some of its heroes such as late Maj. Isaac Adaka Boro.

He stressed the need for people to know their history as well as sacrifices made by founding fathers for the growth and development of the area.

While applauding Senator Diri for his administration's infrastructural transformation of the state, Apostle Zilly-Aggrey equally underscored the need to nurture the youths across Ijaw nation to become leaders of tomorrow.