Dino Melaye Vs Governor Yahaya Bello

All is not well in Kogi State, as Senator Dino Melaye tackles Governor Yahaya Bello over unpaid civil servants. The Kogi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress is backing Melaye. They have jointly given the governor four weeks ultimatum to reconcile the ongoing staff audit in the state and pay the distressed workers or face the rage of the people. “About 80 per cent of workers’ salaries and entitlements have not been paid since January 2016,” remarked Dino. This Senator and his gang are threatening a statewide protest against Bello if things remained as they are. No doubt, the strategy adopted for the staff

The storm of departure of foreign investors from Nigeria has continued, with leading e-classified advert player, Efritin.com shutting its office in Nigeria. This is coming just about 17 months after its official launch. Workers are already being sacked at the head office in Ikeja, Lagos, while office properties are being auctioned. Nils Hammar, CEO, Saltside Technologies (owners of Efritin) confirmed the decision to close down its Nigerian office, blaming harsh economic conditions in the country as the primary factor. He also fears that the current economic recession in the country may remain the same up to last quarter of 2017. Cost of data in Nigeria was furthermore cited as a challenge for Efritin. com. “We are reducing our investment in Nigeria. That effectively means we are reducing our staff; everybody has to go. But in terms of using the site, it will continue as before. By investment, we mean the investment we made from the audit is causing so much pain among the genuine civil servants, with many of them going without salaries for almost a year. I know that there is a lot of politics here. Governor Bello should come up with pragmatic tactics that will reduce the time spent on this staff audit. Spending over a year doing staff audit is outrageous. This governor should also provide empirical evidence on how the N30 billion bailout fund and N11.2 billion Paris Club refund from the federal government were utilised. This will help reduce the heat in Kogi. For me, Dino and his clique are surely making sense. launch, it will be reduced,” Hammar said. Hundreds of jobs have gone down again. Our unemployment crisis is compounded daily, as these investors pull out of Nigeria. There is an urgent need to rejig our crooked forex policy.

I am also worried that Nigeria’s capital imports slumped to a nine-year low in 2016. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed this week that capital importation into Nigeria fell 47 per cent last year to $5.12 billion, largely because the weak currency meant fewer dollars were required for the same naira investment. It said $9.64 billion was imported in 2015. “This was the lowest value since the (data) series started in 2007, which reflects the numerous economic challenges that afflicted Nigeria in 2016,” the statistics office said. Any government that is genuinely interested in the welfare of its people should take pragmatic steps to reverse this trend. This economy is in a big mess.

Dear General Gabriel Olonisakin, this is to remind you of the pending appeal of 30 out of the 38 senior officers compulsorily retired by the Army Council in June last year. According to the Army, they were retired for reasons ranging from alleged money laundering and arms procurement scam, to illegal sale of military vehicle and professional misconduct in election matters. Thirty of them have appealed against their retirement and are asking for reinstatement. Some said that they were not granted fair hearing, while others claimed that they were falsely accused and wrongfully retired. Unfortunately, seven months after these men filed their petitions, they are yet to get feedback. The last seven months have been harrowing for these retired officers, while waiting for the result of their appeals. Most of the affected officers are believed to have been retired without query or indictment by any panel. This is preposterous and a contravention of Army rule. Some were not even in the country when the alleged offences were committed. One of the affected officers remarked: “I did not participate in any elections, was not invited anywhere for investigation, was not mentioned for defence contracts scam but yet I was retired without being queried.”

I wonder if you know that one of those waiting for the result of this appeal, Lt Col Ojecho Adah Baba-Ochankpa is dead. Baba-Ochankpa was the Commanding Officer 343 Air Defence Regiment , Elele, during the 2015 general elections. He was alleged to have been involved in electoral malpractice and appeared before the army panel in 2015. However, he was not court-martialled and had appealed his summary retirement. His family has lost a husband, father and son who was not found guilty of committing any offence by a competent court and was not granted fair hearing by the army. Similarly, his appeal is yet to be treated. How would his young wife and kids feel? Doesn’t he deserve justice and fairness even in death?

The Army authority clearly breached its own laws by ending the careers of these brilliant officers abruptly. They are looking forward to getting justice through you. They want to be reinstated into the army. The story in town is that their appeals have been passed to the President. Kindly do everything within the ambit of the law, to ensure that they get justice. Justice delayed is justice denied.