NEWS
WE DID NOT ORDER LEKKI SHOOTING - SANWO-OLU
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has, again, spoken on the ugly incident that happened at the Lekki Toll Plaza on Tuesday evening, in which military personnel used live ammunition to disperse EndSARS protesters who camped at the tollgate to demand for the end to police brutality.
Sanwo-Olu maintained that the State Government did not order the military shooting, which left about 11 of the youths severely injured. The Governor also sustained his earlier assertion that, no protester died in the incident, stressing that he and officials of the State Government had gone round private and public health facilities across the State without being able to identify bodies of those allegedly killed in the incident except one that died from blunt force trauma and another corpse that was recovered by the police in the Victoria Island area with bullet wounds.
The Governor appeared on The Morning Show programme aired live on Arise News, said the State was already investigating whether the deceased was a protester.
Sanwo-Olu asked members of the public with credible information on anyone or group of persons killed in the incident to come forward with the claim. He said the social media overblew the proportion of the incident with what he described as “false information” being shared by those who were not at the scene of the incident.
He said: “There have been several false information that we have seen over the incident and we will appeal to people to show more restraint in posting information that cannot be verified.”
The Governor spoke on the alleged removal of Close-Circuit Television (CCTV) security cameras at the Toll Plaza before the shooting started, debunking the claims that he ordered the action. Sanwo-Olu said the cameras that were removed were not security cameras but laser cameras meant to capture vehicles’ electronic tags and number plates. He said the removal of the laser cameras was a decision taken by Lekki Concession Company (LCC) that owns the facility.
He said: “When I spoke to the Managing Director of LCC over the matter, he told me the company took the decision to remove installations critical to their service when the curfew was announced. Those cameras that were displayed in the viral pictures were not security or motion cameras. They are laser cameras for vehicles, specifically designed to pick electronic tags and number plates on cars. Security cameras installed at the Toll Plaza are still there as I speak and the footages from them are the ones that we will be using in probing the Lekki incident. Since Tuesday, the security cameras at the Toll Plaza are still there and nobody can touch them.”
Sanwo-Olu said multi-agency investigation into Lekki incident may begin next Monday when order would have been fully restored across the State, pointing out that the recordings of the CCTV security cameras at the Toll Plaza would be useful in unraveling the circumstance that surrounded the incident.
Members of the public, the Governor said, will be part of the investigation for transparency. He added that security experts would be involved to analyse the recordings of the CCTV security cameras to ensured the footages captured since the time the protesters started camping at the tollgate were not tampered with.
On the allegation that he influenced the switching off of the billboard that illuminated the Toll Plaza area at night, Sanwo-Olu said the concessionaire that operates the billboard took the decision independently after the curfew order was announced.
Speaking on the aftermath of the organised attacks on government properties, iconic buildings and private assets, Sanwo-Olu said the nature of the destruction indicated an attempt by the arsonists to keep the State in limbo. He said the attacks were specifically targeted at emergency response infrastructure of the State to weaken its response in the case of large-scale violence.
The Governor disclosed that the arsonists, in the organised destruction, razed four State-owned fire stations and five fire trucks. He said the reconstruction of the damaged assets would cost billions, but said the State would bounce back after the devastation.
Sanwo-Olu said it would be insensitive for him to buttress the narrative linking the arsonist attacks on public buildings to sectarian elements, saying his immediate priority was to salvage the damaged assets and prevent further attacks. He, however, said all materials suggesting the arson may have been organised by secessionists would be left for security agencies for proper analysis.
Clarifying his statement that forces beyond him were behind the deployment of troops to Lekki axis, the Governor said: “The hierarchy and chains of command in the military are not within my purview. This is not something I have responsibility for. I do not have such power to control or activate the military. That essentially is what I was trying to say in that particular phrase.”
He also explained that he reached out to President Muhammadu Buhari on two occasions to seek for more help as public assets in the State were being destroyed. He said the President responded, directing the Chief of Defence Staff to liaise with him.
He said: “I made phone calls to speak to the President twice yesterday (Wednesday). The first time, he (president) hadn’t come to the office. The second time, he was at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. Indeed, I haven’t spoken to him directly. He was actually the one who directed the Chief of Defence Staff to call me and I feel that it was when he got my message. Because, when the Chief of Defence Staff called me, he said to me it was the President that asked him to call. But, I haven’t spoken to the President directly; maybe later today, that might happen.”
Aftermath of the destruction, Sanwo-Olu urged the residents of Lagos to come together and heal the wounds inflicted on the State by the arsonists. He said the ugly incident put citizens’ patriotism to test, urging them to unite and re-build the State from the ruins left by the attacks.
He said: “We are at a point where all of us as a people living in the State must come together more than ever before. Our patriotism has been put to test and we need to re-engage ourselves and heal the several wounds that have been inflicted on us. We do not have any other country; this is our country.
“In Lagos, we cannot afford to put to waste what our forefathers and the generation of leaders before us have put in place. We need to preserve our heritage and we need to know that indeed we can build a future for our children. We need to put an end to any form of anger, protest, confrontation and bleeding. Let us come together and start a real healing process.”
President Muhammadu Buhari Friday held a video conference with Mr Charles Michel, President of the European Council, during which the latter reiterated Europe’s support for Nigeria’s Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The President is leading Nigeria’s charge for Okonjo-Iweala, the country’s former Minister of Finance, to emerge as the first Black and female WTO DG.
President Buhari thanked the European Council for its support for Nigeria’s candidate.
Also discussed during the conference were issues bordering on debt relief for Africa, EU-African relations and recharge of the Lake Chad, which has currently shrunk to less than one-third of its usual size, and throwing about 130 million people who depend on the Lake into dire straits.
Recharge of the Lake Chad is an issue the Nigerian President had vigorously canvassed at diverse global fora in recent time.
President Buhari expressed appreciation to Mr Michel for expected positive developments on the issues.
Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
October 30, 2020
NEWS
African Development Bank launches a Training of Trainers Program for Developing Project Proposals to access Green Climate Fund
The African Development Bank (https://www.AfDB.org/) has designated representatives from 80 government institutions, civil society organizations and universities for training as experts in developing climate financing proposals.
The trainees will pass on their knowledge to potential beneficiaries of the Green Climate Fund, a $10 billion endowment set up in 2010 to help countries implement their climate agenda through loans, equity, guarantees and grants.
The 120-hour training program is managed by the Climate Change and Green Growth Department of the African Development Bank, with funding from the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Trust Fund.
The scheme builds on ongoing work by the African Development Bank, the Green Climate Fund and other partners to support the Bank’s regional member countries to directly access Green Climate Fund resources.
“The Green Climate Fund is expected to be a major source of climate finance for the African continent. Accessing finance from the Fund is challenging because of the complexities of designing climate change projects to fulfill the funding criteria. This training will boost capacity amongst African nationally determined authorities, governments and consultants by training trainers to run future training courses,” said Gareth Phillips, Manager of the Environment and Climate Finance Division in the Department of Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank.
COVID-19 has resulted in the training shifting from in-person to online. This has the advantages of making it less costly to run and more carbon efficient.
The project’s theory of change is based on three main components, which complement ongoing work by the Bank to enhance the capacities of several African countries to access Green Climate Fund resources through small grants from the Africa Climate Change Fund (http://bit.ly/34JgdzF). These components include: developing training materials and an online platform to support direct access to the Green Climate Fund, training a pool of experts and certifying them to support African governments and institutions, and facilitating south-south learning.
Following a thorough independent selection process, 80 participants were chosen, with approximately 40 from English-speaking countries and 40 from French and Portuguese-speaking countries.
According to the book of Proverbs chapter 29 verse 2, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” (New King James Version)
This inspired holy statement came into play in the affairs, students and staff of University of Port Harcourt when Prof Steve Okodudu was appointed as the Acting Vice Chancellor of the Institution. In this regard, as a righteous leader, he embarked upon actions that have brought peace and hope back to the University.
His peaceful conduct and action came into climax when he granted pardon to students of the University of Port Harcourt, whose futures have been stocked in limbo since 2016, when the institution implemented its policy on ‘No School Fees, No Examination’, which saw the fortunes of over 1,000 Students hanging on a scale.
Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party- nPDP, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, in a statement released to the Media on Thursday, commended the University management under the headship of Prof. Stephen Okodudu, Acting Vice Chancellor, Uniport, for the magnanimity shown the affected students.
Describing the grant of pardon as humane and an act of kindness, the party chief said the students may now hive a sigh of relief, adding that the VC’s gesture has laid to rest all speculations and uncertainties about their almost-dashed futures.
Eze reiterated that the students were unduly mistreated by the previous management which ignored appeals from all quarters, including the ruling of a competent Court of Jurisdiction, directing that the students be mobilized for the mandatory NYSC, having met all necessary requirements to be enrolled for the scheme.
A memo released Wednesday 21 October, 2020, by the Registrar of the University, Dr. Otto Dorcas, partly reads …”Prof. Stephen Okodudu, has on behalf of the University Senate, granted amnesty to the following category of students…”
- Those who obeyed Senate’s directive and repeated the 2015/2016 academic session in 2018/2019 session but failed courses which they previously passed;
- Those who did not obey Senate’s directive to repeat the 2015/2016 Session in the 2018/2019 academic session and their results were released and certificates issued;
- Those who did not obey Senate’s directive to repeat the 2015/2016 session and their results were withheld;
- Those who has issues of late payment of school charges after closure of school portal as at 2018/2019 session;
- Those who for one reason or the other failed to apply for temporary withdrawal from studies and needed an extra y at to graduate as at 2018/2019 session; and
- In view of closure of schools owing to Covid-29 pandemic, students who may wish to make submissions that are applicable to any of the categories (S/NOs 1 - 5) above, could be considered for amnesty”.
The statement further directed affected students to see their Heads of Departments for guidance and added that the school portal is opened for those who may pay charges.
Similarly, Chief Eze described the reinstatement of Prof. Andrew Efemini, to his position as worth commending, after many years of undue disengagement by the former management led by Prof. Ndowa Lale, whose only legacy is leaving the university, staff and students in ruins and melancholy.
Eze hailed Prof. Andrew Efemini for putting up muscle and a rare courage to absorb the shocks and difficulties that accompanied his years of gory travails, while appreciating the Ag. VC. for his determination to pursue noble objectives for the good and service of humanity.
He appealed to the University Management to also consider paying the backlog of salaries and emoluments owed Prof. Efemini, given the fact that his disengagement has remained a destitute of verifiable basis, as it was borne out of sheer witch-hunt, malice and hate.
Eze further reiterated that his good friend, Dr Mike Huckabee must have had the likes of Prof Steve Okodudu in mind when he expanded the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ on peace by postulating that, ” Blessed are the peacemakers.’ And I think a lot of people don’t understand that there’s a difference between a peace lover and a peacemaker. Everybody loves peace, but wearing jewelry around your neck and saying ‘I love peace’ doesn’t bring it.” Prof Okodudu has walked, worked and brought peace to University of Poet Harcourt and surely peace will forever follow him in all his endeavours, Eze maintained.
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