AS NIGERIA OUTSOURCES MEDIA PUBLICATION

By Emmanuel Onwubiko                     

The emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29th 2015 as the newly inaugurated President for the next four years was significant in a few ways that merits a quick highlight herein. First, President Muhammadu Buhari came with a new political cliche of change mantra. Secondly, Nigerians were told that within the framework of this change mantra that government business won't be done in the business as usual fashion and that transparency and accountability would be the watchwords.

Anyway, few public debates that preceded the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to partially make good his resolve to publicly publish his assets declaration go to show that achieving fundamental change of mindset amongst political office holders in Nigeria is never going to be a tea party. Vociferous members of the organized civil society community persistently shouted from the rooftops practically before President Muhammadu Buhari accepted to release in piecemeal the assets declarations he and his Vice filed before the Code of Conduct Bureau. The current administration is again in the public eyes for disclosing partially a rash decision devoid of transparency to hire some foreign media workers to churn out a publication that would strictly be a public relations gambits on the Nigerian economy even when from abundance of empirical evidence Nigeria is blessed with good enough Media experts and consultants that can as well implement this undertaken if hired. More so the current Nigerian Government in doing this outsourcing didn't to the best of my knowledge advertise and invited public bidding for this job which from every indications will cost the country a huge chunk of cash going by the job specifications highlighted in the published story which emanated from the signing of memorandum event that happened in the Presidency few days back.               

 Specifically, in the public relations statement issued by the Presidential Adviser on Media and Publicity and published extensively by a national paper, Nigerians were told that a leading research firm (how and who rated the firm is opaque) and publisher of yearly economic resources on national economies, The Business Year (TBY), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Presidency of Nigeria.

In the MoU, signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, on behalf of the government, agreed that:

• The Presidency of the Republic of Nigeria will be designated the official partner of TBY for production of The Business Year: Nigeria 2016.

• The Presidency and the TBY team will work in partnership to produce a comprehensive new edition – TBY’s second publication on Nigeria’s economy.

• With the Presidency’s support and guidance, TBY will examine all major sectors of the economy as well as present the goals and ambitions of President Buhari’s new administration.

• The Business Year: Nigeria 2016 will examine all of the major sectors of the economy through interviews with business leaders and the captains of industry that are powering economic growth and diversification. TBY will survey the energy sector and highlight companies that have dynamically adapted to low oil prices. Special attention will be paid to the telecommunications sector, whose tech-based solutions are driving Nigeria’s ambition for greater transparency.

• As well as highlighting landmark projects, TBY will investigate the investment climate within Africa’s largest economy and provide useful information about the country’s legal and tax structures. The Business Year: Nigeria 2016 will be presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, giving a global platform from where to outline the multitude of opportunities developing in Africa’s largest economy.

• With more than 150 exclusive interviews, The Business Year: Nigeria 2016 will be the most comprehensive publication of its kind on the Nigerian economy and an invaluable tool for investors seeking opportunities in the region. TBY’s interviewees, readers, and partners comprise an international network of thought-leaders helping to define the future of the global economy. In addition to widely circulated digital versions available on iPad, iPhone, and Android applications. Physical copies reach over 97,700 subscribers worldwide.

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria and blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.rightsassociationngr.com, www.huriwa.org.

*ARE VICTIMS OF TERROR PERPETUALLY TERRORISED?

*ARE VICTIMS OF TERROR PERPETUALLY TERRORISED? 

By Emmanuel Onwubiko 

I have had the rare privilege to have served as a member of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and restoration of peace in Northern Nigeria for two years under the immediate past Federal administration and my major thematic area of interest was on the challenges confronting the victims of terrorism in Northern Nigeria.           

The gritty and grimy details of my experiences as a panelist in the nine member high profile but very quiet Presidential Committee are topics for another day but suffice it for me to state without any fear of contradiction that I'm not impressed with the ways and manners the Government officials view these unfortunate victims but are always willing to fall head over the hills into the traps of some fraudulent kingpins parading around in the corridors of political powers as negotiators who enjoy direct links with the hierarchy of the armed terrorists known as Boko Haram.      

 Sadly though, the committee made far reaching recommendations which were passed on to the Government of Nigeria in the immediate past dispensation but the implementation of these recommendations have been caught up by the recent electoral misfortunes that befell the immediate past government because Nigeria isn't run as an organised political entity whereby succeeding administration picks up from wherever the preceding government stops but in our own clime the government of the day seems to be in a battle royal to discard whatever initiatives and actionable recommendations passed on to it by its predecessor.  The Muhammadu Buhari led Federal government has successfully dislodged the erstwhile holders of the office of National Security Adviser who coordinated the activities around the issues of counter terrorism war and has picked another National Security Adviser who as the Nigerian tradition goes must have originated his modus operandi for carrying on the tasks of the counter terrorism or is it counter insurgency activities. But a nexus between the old and new order is their common mistreatment of the victims of terrorism in Nigeria.  Even with the existence of a multibillion Naira Terrorism Victims support endowment fund headed by a former Defence Chief retired General Theophilus Danjuma the affairs and issues around the treatment of the victims of terrorism is still being relegated to the background regrettably but the government seems willing to fall on its knees begging the real terrorists for negotiations with the generous pledges of softlanding.  

Two things have happened under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate the lack of interest in attending rapidly to the aid of these victims of violence and terrorism. The first is of global dimension whereas the second has local dimension. Internationally, the President Muhammadu Buhari led a delegation to the United Nations 70th General Assembly in New York in the United States of America and amongst his salient objectives is to rally international efforts against Boko Haram but the Nigerian delegation stayed away from a meeting called by the United Nations Humanitarian Aid Chief Mr. Stephen O'brien to discuss Islamic extremist group Boko Haram's insurgency and the millions of displaced people in the Lack Chad Area. US and European Union Diplomats attending the UN General Assembly expressed their disappointment that Nigeria did not attend the event while other African delegations did, so reported Reuters news agency.  But the Nigerian delegation showed no remorse for this show of shame eve as the media assistant to the President Mr. Garba Shehu put up an indefensible position claiming the meeting wasn't properly tabled by the UN as an official engagement.  But a clear fact has emerged from all of these shenanigans and that is the shameful fact that government officials have little regards for the welfare of victims of terrorism in Northern Nigeria. Then the second event that happened although locally was the formation of a committee to reintegrate members of Boko Haram.  There is so far no far reaching legal strategy from the office of Federal Attorney General of Nigeria or the States Attorneys General of the Northern States that remain the flash points of terrorists attacks for the swift, decisive and professionally competent prosecution and judicial sanctions for the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity and genocides who are members of Boko Haram.

Rather what is of importance to government is the resettlement of terrorists because only few hours back the Federal Government inaugurated a committee to oversee the successful reintegration of Boko Haram members, who have renounced the sect into the sane Nigerian society, with the mandate to within one month identify sources of funding and technical assistance needs of the repented terrorists, even as 315 terrorists that surrendered are being interrogated.

The Committee according to a statement from the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) signed by Group Captain Wap Maigida for acting Director of Defence Information (DDI) said the creation of the committee is in accordance with Presidential directive to see to the creation of a safe space in the society for their assimilation, with membership drawn from Governors of the Northeastern states, representatives in the Ministry of Defence other agencies of government and Defence headquarters, Police and other security agencies.

“Members of the committee comprise relevant federal government agencies involved in the counterinsurgency operation and representatives of states in the North East and Jigawa”.

Recall that the adoption of new strategies and operational designs to curb the insurgency and the gradual spread of terrorism attacks in the country, coupled with the Presidential directive to end the menace before the end of 2015, has yielded results with substantial part of the terrorists stronghold overran by the Nigerian military, with thousands of the members killed and hundreds others captured or willingly surrendering to the troops.

According to the statement, there is a category of repented terrorists that would be considered for reintegration, it said the Presidential directive instructs the Committee to “oversee the creation of safe passageway into the mainstream Nigerian society for members of the Boko Haram terrorists.

“Boko Haram members penciled for reintegration are those forcefully conscripted into the group and those who have already surrendered and given up their membership of the sect and those willing to renounce their membership.

“The Committee’s terms of reference include; to identify implementation partners and establish their responsibilities, to establish a framework for coordination of implementation agencies, to determine funding requirements and sources, to identify technical assistance needs and possible sources, to outline broad information strategies in collaboration with implementation agencies, to determine location of assembly areas, encampment sites, IDP Camps as well as safe corridors and routes, and, finally, to determine the overall security requirements and concerns in the counterinsurgency operation.”

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria and blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.rightsassociationngr.com, www.huriwa.org.

*ON KANO'S TOUGH ANTI -RAPE LAW

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

KANO State government has approved life jail sentence for any convicted rapist. This piece of news is one that would gladden the hearts of all lovers of human rights. But it's not entirely the first time that good news is coming out of Kano State under the current dispensation whereby virtually all the principal political players are doctorate degree holders in different choice academic fields.  The current government in Kano has taken the education of street children and the disadvantaged to phenomenal heights.

Mr. Socrates, the iconic Greek Philosopher had indeed affirmed rightly that the best way to achieve good governance is to inaugurate a government headed by a philosopher-king. 

By philosopher -King this great thinker who transited to the great World beyond many centuries back, meant a person who is endowed with wisdom to do what is right at every given time as a political leader to improve the living conditions and social conditions of  the greatest percentage of the populace. 

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has been in the forefront of waging relentless advocacy campaigns for a legal regime that would be tough enough to dissuade 'animals' in human skin who can't control their sickening supersonic libido but are roaring round like hungry lions seeking for young girls and boys to sexually molest and harass to satisfy their irrational sexual desires. 

Kano has done well by instituting this tough legal mechanism and we hope and pray for a successful enforcement of the legal regime. The Nigeria Police Force charged with the statutory mandate of investigating crime must take up the gauntlet and train their operatives to comprehensively become competent and professionally efficient to handle rape cases in Kano State which in recent times have become very troubling.  The organized civil society groups such as ours (HURIWA) which has registered members on ground in Kano State will monitor the enforcement of this good piece of law.    

 Still on the legal revolutionary approach that Kano state has just kicked off to combat sexual violations of teenage Nigerians the solicitor General of Kano state, Barrister Sani Daniji, who disclosed the new development, told journalists that this review which was submitted by the state Justice Sector Reform Committee has been approved by the government due to increasing cases of rape of minors in recent time.

He reportedly expressed strong displeasure at the current rate of sexual assault and gender-based violence in Kano even as he stressed that the new law would be enforced without fear or favour.

The Kano State  Legal expert who spoke at the Justice for all (J4A) conference on Integrated Response to Sexual and Gender-based Violence, maintained that government efforts through the Justice Sector Reform Committee on sexual assault is currently yielding positive result with significant number of cases being reported for investigation and persecution. We are aware that this claim is accurate. 

The Kano State Solicitor General then stated thus; “We now have reasons to celebrate because of the positive response in the number of reported cases. We are currently investing on media campaign against sexual assault and the need for people to report their case to security agencies or the government for immediate action. Before now many people are being stigmatized in their environment and that is the major reason why people don’t report their cases.”

The media report quoted the solicitor general as rendering the State Government's assurance to Justice for All and all credible Non-Governmental and civil society platforms of government's unalloyed support to effectively execute its project, calling for civil society groups, media and community leaders to support government to check the ugly trend.

 From available report which emanated from that event we were told that the national Programme Manager J4A, Dr. Bob Arnon, explained that the project, being funded by UK Department of International Development (DFID) was initiated to fight sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria through its Sexual Assault Referral Centre’s (SARCs) in Lagos and Enugu.

Dr. Bob emphasized J4A’s collaboration with security apparatus, ministries of justice and civil society organizations to bring justice to rape victims in the country. 

 On the extant difficulty in proving evidence on the part of rape victims before the law court, Bob posited that J4A is strengthening training of medical personnel and security officers on forensic analysis to prove the technicalities against suspected rapists.

“SARCs is being supported and funded to coordinate our civil organizations, ministries of health and justice and other collaborating groups including the security agencies to fight sexual assault. Through these efforts we provide medical and counseling services to almost 1,200 survivors of sexual assault, 800 of whom are under 18 in Enugu and Lagos states.”

He noted that the conference was organized to review its activities in Enugu and Lagos as well as draw plans to tackle emerging challenges, adding that J4A is working with Justice Sector Reform Committee in Kano, Jigawa and Niger states ahead of SARCs implementation in those states.

But why is there no committed national effort and legal process for strictly enforcing laws that prohibit sexual violations even when these acts are classified as crime against humanity under the International Criminal Court's Rome statutes which Nigeria is one of the earliest signatories? Professor Joy Ngozi Ezeilo a well respected human rights scholar and practitioner wrote in her book titled 'Women, Law & Human Rights; global and national perspectives ' that rape and other forms of sexual violence are serious crime against humanity. Accordingly, she wrote as follows: "the crime against humanity is defined as such when enumerated acts under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack. It includes sex and gender-based crimes such as rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of Comparative gravity. These sort of crimes have happened repeatedly in much of the North East of Nigeria where Boko Haram terrorists have unleashed sexual violence on an unprecedented scale on thousands of innocent girls and boys but not much has so far happened in the area of prosecution of these offenders both in the Nigerian Court system and the International Criminal Court in The Hague Netherlands.  

The Kano law against rape is therefore coming at a very good time to reawaken our justice sector officials in the North East of Nigeria and the Office of the Federal Attorney General to do the needful to bring perpetrators of sexual atrocities against vulnerable girls and boys to swift justice.  Negotiations of any kind of truce with terrorists who have committed widespread crime against humanity such as rape is unacceptable.  The Chibok girls kidnapped by these terrorists in their hundreds are still facing uncertain but horrendous treatment including sexual violence from their captors. 

There is no doubt that Kano State has set a good example on how best to tackle the ugly social crime of rape and sexual violations of children and it is our expectation that this wouldn't go down in the business-as-usual fashion that most other states approach the disturbing cases of rape.

 Those who commit these heinous crimes must be prosecuted and the law enforcement authority which over the years has come under increasing scrutiny for conspiring with rapists to undermine the rule of law must ensure that in this administration of change mantra that things are done in compliance with the tenets of the law. Rape has a very long lasting adverse psychological injury it inflicts on the victims for life and so if serial rapists are left to wander freely and to persistently recommit same vicious crime then the society has contributed in perpetuating these dastardly crimes against humanity. Kudos to Governor of Kano state for standing up to defend the voiceless.  We are solidly behind you.

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human rights Writers association of Nigeria and blogs

@www.huriwa.blogspot.com,www.rightsassociationngr.com, www.huriwa.org.

*HURIWA WANTS ABA DECLARED A DISASTER AREA BY FGN; *WANTS MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY DOMICILED IN ABA:

*HURIWA WANTS ABA DECLARED A DISASTER AREA BY FGN;

*WANTS MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY DOMICILED IN ABA:

In order to save indigenous industrialization and salvage the commercial hub of South East from imminent collapse due to natural and man-made disasters, the Nigerian Government has been asked to declare Aba city in Abia State as a disaster area and approach the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for assistance through the granting of completely interest free credit facilities for the immediate facelift of this rapidly dying commercial city.                 

A pro-Democracy Non-governmental organization - HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA  (HURIWA ) which made the clarion call to President Muhammadu Buhari after its investigate team visited Aba in Abia State to assess the extent of infrastructural damage occasioned by floods and poor electricity power and the negative implications to the growth of small and medium scale industrialization, also canvassed the relocation of the headquarters of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Trade and Industry to Aba in Abia State because of the obvious fact that the city houses the greatest percentage of local small and medium scale genuine manufacturers and investors. Alternatively the Nigerian Government should set up a subregional office of the Federal Ministry of Trade and Industry with the full complement of a Federal Permanent Secretary heading the office.    

 Besides, HURIWA in a statement signed jointly by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf has called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to visit Aba with a view to distributing immediate relief materials to thousands of traders that have so far lost their precious wares to floods and other natural disasters like erosion.    

 HURIWA stated that; " from the benefit of hindsight and based on our evidenced based findings, we can state without equivocation  that traders in some parts of Ariaria International are facing series of infrastructural and natural disasters occasioned by persistent floods and the degradation of road infrastructures.  We can attest that the debilitating flooding that is ravaging the popu­lar A –Line and the drug section of the market is a major commercial threats to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Nigerians. We learnt from credible sources and from verifiable eye witness accounts that indeed the past eight years have not been the best of times for traders in this part of the city".

"From our discreet probe those who should know reliably informed us that in the year 2014 alone, patent medicine deal­ers at the drugs section of the market lost goods worth over N2 billion to the flood. The traders alleged that flooding of the area was aggravated by a building erected on a water way adjacent the market close to the portion of the State Fire service. This obstructive structure is reported to be owned by the son of a powerful former government official. The flooding, the traders said is further made worse by the deplorable nature of roads in the market and the Ukwu Mango area which the last administration in the state claimed to have rehabilitated but which can not be verified".

HURIWA also said a meeting of its management team would be convoked this Wednesday in Abuja to draft letters to President Muhammadu Buhari and copy to the  Director General of National Emergency Management Agency  (NEMA) and to the Federal Ministry of Trade and Industry in Abuja to draw the attention of the Nigerian State to the emergency situation of Aba in Abia State and to call for urgent but comprehensive remedial measures to arrest the decline and save hundreds of thousands of Nigerians from going out of their respective jobs as owners of small businesses.

RMAFC:  A CASE FOR ENHANCED FUNDING

BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO

The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission is created by virtue of the constitutional provisions in the part one of the 3^rd schedule.

Amongst its fundamental powers and functions are; to monitor the accruals to the disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account; review from time to time, the Revenue Allocation formulae and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities provided that any revenue formula which has been accepted by an Act of the national assembly shall remain in force for a period of not less than five years from the date of commencement of the Act. The Commission also has the power to advise the Federal and State Governments on Fiscal efficiency and methods by which their revenue can be increased; and significantly, to determine the remuneration appropriate for political office holders, including the President, Vice President, Governor, Deputy Governor, Ministers, Commissioners, Special Advisers, Legislators and the holders of the offices mentioned in section 84 and 124 of this constitution. In section 84(1), the offices mentioned included those in judicial officers' cadre whilst in section 124 mention was made of the offices of Governors, Deputy Governors, Auditor General, the State Independent Electoral Commission and The State Judicial Service Commission.

From the above constitutional provisions, it is crystal clear that the commission is pivotal to the smooth democratization process of Nigeria particularly  because of the  obvious fact that if the enabling environment is provided for the agency to work effectively, all the leakages from the fiscal assets of corporate  Nigeria that bleed away into private pockets would be curtailed  and effectively checked. 

The question set out to be tackled in this piece is why the commission is not adequately funded and why the relevant statutes enabling its existence not amended to confer enforcement rather than advisory roles on it. Again why is the process of the amendments of the 1999 constitution still in abeyance and why has the Supreme Court of Nigeria not expedited action on the hearing of the suit instituted by the office of President challenging the passage and coming into effects of the just concluded amendments done by the defunct National Assembly?  The seventh session of the National Assembly had recommended funding autonomy for the RMAFC just as the last National political conference also recommended same and the Justice Modibbo Belgore led committee on constitutional reforms also recommended that the funding of the revenue commission be drawn from the first line statutory charge.

There is no gainsaying the fact that in terms of political will and the leadership vision, the hierarchy of the Revenue mobilization allocation and fiscal commission are clearly ready and willing to do the needful to ensure the efficient enforcement of those strategies that could check any leakages and improve the revenue generating profile of Nigeria.

The commission’s chairman is Engineer Elias Mbam who was once a minister of state for Finance who according to several testimonies by respected Stakeholders recognised his sterling qualities as a gentleman  of proven integrity and a Statesman.

Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui Okauru, a one time Executive Chairman of Federal in-land Revenue Service and Chairman Joint Tax Board had on February 15^th 2011 during the management retreat for members and management of the Revenue Commission which held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State described Engineer Elias Mbam in the following superlative terms: “ let me also note that the chairman of the commission Engineer Elias Mbam is well known as a committed and diligent person who has acquitted himself impressively in all national assignments and I have no doubt that his appointment will positively impact the ability of the commission to discharge it’s mandates”.

This Testament was immediately given a life of its own  when an ad-hoc committee set up by the chairman went to work and expertly identified the challenges facing the agency even as pragmatic steps and measure were put in place to actualize the stated solution to each and every fundamental institutional challenges besetting the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

By way of Emphasis the committee found  out as far back as year 2011 that there are cases of variation in the provision of the 1999 constitution and the enabling laws of the commission enshrined in CAP R7 laws of the federation of Nigeria of the year 2004. 

This committee further proceeded to proffer panacea that the enabling Acts of the commission should be comprehensively reviewed to harmonize with the provision of the 1999 constitution.

The committee which was the brain child of Elias Mbam led hierarchy suggested the opportunity provided by the review exercise should be used to correct all inadequacies in the legal framework including special funding of the commission just as it asked that a draft bill reflecting the review should be presented to the national assembly.

This was done but as so well known, the different  sessions of the national assembly move in a snail -speed  that it has become increasingly difficult for this aspiration of the management of the commission to be achieved in good  time. 

Conversely, the committee also found out that certain provisions of the 1999 constitution central to the functions  of the commission need judicial interpretation and gave example with that which states that “all  revenues” and also the extent of monitoring of the payments into the federation account .

The Human Rights writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has extensively examined the operational modalities of the revenue commission  and we  can state without any fear of contradiction that given the salient constitutional roles of the commission the current funding profile must be consolidated.

To demonstrate how seriously committed to the enthronement of transparency and accountability this commission under the leadership of Elias Mbam is, one just have to look at the summary of issues, recommendations and action plan submitted to the commission by the ad-hoc committee in 2011 which graphically painted grim picture of the issue of lack of transparency and accountability in crude oil sub sector of the economy. These facts have now come to the front burners of national debate. 

 In other words, the negative impact of the JVCC, petroleum subsidy, non-remittance to the federation account, Exchange rate differentials, external loans deductions, first line charges amongst others  are enormous,  they stressed.  

To put it mildly this is superfluous. How can the constitution empower the empanelling of such a commission but only dress it up with advisory roles? This lacuna must be effectively reviewed and amended so the commission can be offered the constitutional authority to enforce compliance similar to what such important bodies as bureau for public procurement does even when it is not encompassed or contained in the Supreme body of law guiding Nigeria -  the Nigeria constitution.

The committee pointed out that section 162 of the constitution provides the establishment of the federation account into which “all revenue” shall be paid and the agency indicated intention to initiate a legal process to seek for interpretation of the section to determined the legality or otherwise of the government agencies withholding remittance or portions of their collections to the federation Account.

However, the revenue commission drew the attention of the federal government to this practice of withholding funds due to the federation account. From all indications, since this matter was tabled to the federal government in 2011 till the emergence of the current federal government no action was taken.

This is a clear indication that the engineer Elias Mbam led RMAFC were amongst those who championed the current enforcement by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Government of the Treasury Single Account which took off with effect from September 30^th 2015.

The current management team headed by engineer Elias Mbam is credited with organizing national dialogues on the best Revenue Allocation formula.

The Nigeria observer newspaper praised Engineer Mbam thus;

“There is no Nigerian who is not excited or captivated by Mr. Mbam’s delightful gesture to the nation – a national debate on revenue allocation formula that has epistemological phenomena of a child embroiling in festivity". 
"Many Nigerians thought the day would never come as many damages have been done and incurred by Nigeria for the late awakening to this reality of fiscal federalism formula review. Any country that is a federation must have a formula for sharing nationally derived funds, (coded national cake in Nigeria) amongst the tiers of government that make up the federation. The formulae are similar in many forms but environmental circumstances demand that different countries formula’ takes note of their environments hence the difference in the formula’s characteristics. Therefore the Nigeria’s formula would be different from that of the USA, Canada, or Ethiopia.”

“Mr. Mbam the Chairman of Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has thrust the whole country into a pandemonium, by demanding a national dialogue in respect of revenue sharing formula. The paradox could be one of high hopes with the resultant consequences of consolidated unity for Nigeria or a hoax that could result in discord, despair and which could finally put the nail on the coffin to seal the faith of Nigeria in disarray and possibly split. His call for review and national discourse in the matter has a salutary effect even though we have been in such a call before only to be covertly deceived.”
There are indeed cogent and verifiable reasons why RMAFC should be granted autonomy if truly we mean to wage relentless war against corruption and financial leakages in government agencies that generate revenues for Nigeria.

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria and blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.rightsassociationngr.com, www.huriwa.org. 

ARE VICTIMS OF TERROR PERPETUALLY TERRORISED

*ARE VICTIMS OF TERROR PERPETUALLY TERRORISED? 

By Emmanuel Onwubiko 

I have had the rare privilege to have served as a member of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and restoration of peace in Northern Nigeria for two years under the immediate past Federal administration and my major thematic area of interest was on the challenges confronting the victims of terrorism in Northern Nigeria.           

The gritty and grimy details of my experiences as a panelist in the nine member high profile but very quiet Presidential Committee are topics for another day but suffice it for me to state without any fear of contradiction that I'm not impressed with the ways and manners the Government officials view these unfortunate victims but are always willing to fall head over the hills into the traps of some fraudulent kingpins parading around in the corridors of political powers as negotiators who enjoy direct links with the hierarchy of the armed terrorists known as Boko Haram.      

 Sadly though, the committee made far reaching recommendations which were passed on to the Government of Nigeria in the immediate past dispensation but the implementation of these recommendations have been caught up by the recent electoral misfortunes that befell the immediate past government because Nigeria isn't run as an organised political entity whereby succeeding administration picks up from wherever the preceding government stops but in our own clime the government of the day seems to be in a battle royal to discard whatever initiatives and actionable recommendations passed on to it by its predecessor.  The Muhammadu Buhari led Federal government has successfully dislodged the erstwhile holders of the office of National Security Adviser who coordinated the activities around the issues of counter terrorism war and has picked another National Security Adviser who as the Nigerian tradition goes must have originated his modus operandi for carrying on the tasks of the counter terrorism or is it counter insurgency activities. But a nexus between the old and new order is their common mistreatment of the victims of terrorism in Nigeria.  Even with the existence of a multibillion Naira Terrorism Victims support endowment fund headed by a former Defence Chief retired General Theophilus Danjuma the affairs and issues around the treatment of the victims of terrorism is still being relegated to the background regrettably but the government seems willing to fall on its knees begging the real terrorists for negotiations with the generous pledges of softlanding.  

Two things have happened under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate the lack of interest in attending rapidly to the aid of these victims of violence and terrorism. The first is of global dimension whereas the second has local dimension. Internationally, the President Muhammadu Buhari led a delegation to the United Nations 70th General Assembly in New York in the United States of America and amongst his salient objectives is to rally international efforts against Boko Haram but the Nigerian delegation stayed away from a meeting called by the United Nations Humanitarian Aid Chief Mr. Stephen O'brien to discuss Islamic extremist group Boko Haram's insurgency and the millions of displaced people in the Lack Chad Area. US and European Union Diplomats attending the UN General Assembly expressed their disappointment that Nigeria did not attend the event while other African delegations did, so reported Reuters news agency.  But the Nigerian delegation showed no remorse for this show of shame eve as the media assistant to the President Mr. Garba Shehu put up an indefensible position claiming the meeting wasn't properly tabled by the UN as an official engagement.  But a clear fact has emerged from all of these shenanigans and that is the shameful fact that government officials have little regards for the welfare of victims of terrorism in Northern Nigeria. Then the second event that happened although locally was the formation of a committee to reintegrate members of Boko Haram.  There is so far no far reaching legal strategy from the office of Federal Attorney General of Nigeria or the States Attorneys General of the Northern States that remain the flash points of terrorists attacks for the swift, decisive and professionally competent prosecution and judicial sanctions for the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity and genocides who are members of Boko Haram.

Rather what is of importance to government is the resettlement of terrorists because only few hours back the Federal Government inaugurated a committee to oversee the successful reintegration of Boko Haram members, who have renounced the sect into the sane Nigerian society, with the mandate to within one month identify sources of funding and technical assistance needs of the repented terrorists, even as 315 terrorists that surrendered are being interrogated.

The Committee according to a statement from the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) signed by Group Captain Wap Maigida for acting Director of Defence Information (DDI) said the creation of the committee is in accordance with Presidential directive to see to the creation of a safe space in the society for their assimilation, with membership drawn from Governors of the Northeastern states, representatives in the Ministry of Defence other agencies of government and Defence headquarters, Police and other security agencies.

“Members of the committee comprise relevant federal government agencies involved in the counterinsurgency operation and representatives of states in the North East and Jigawa”.

Recall that the adoption of new strategies and operational designs to curb the insurgency and the gradual spread of terrorism attacks in the country, coupled with the Presidential directive to end the menace before the end of 2015, has yielded results with substantial part of the terrorists stronghold overran by the Nigerian military, with thousands of the members killed and hundreds others captured or willingly surrendering to the troops.

According to the statement, there is a category of repented terrorists that would be considered for reintegration, it said the Presidential directive instructs the Committee to “oversee the creation of safe passageway into the mainstream Nigerian society for members of the Boko Haram terrorists.

“Boko Haram members penciled for reintegration are those forcefully conscripted into the group and those who have already surrendered and given up their membership of the sect and those willing to renounce their membership.

“The Committee’s terms of reference include; to identify implementation partners and establish their responsibilities, to establish a framework for coordination of implementation agencies, to determine funding requirements and sources, to identify technical assistance needs and possible sources, to outline broad information strategies in collaboration with implementation agencies, to determine location of assembly areas, encampment sites, IDP Camps as well as safe corridors and routes, and, finally, to determine the overall security requirements and concerns in the counterinsurgency operation.”

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria and blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.rightsassociationngr.com, www.huriwa.org.

NIGERIA CYBER CRIME ACT AND POLICE STATE

*NIGERIA CYBER CRIME ACT AND POLICE STATE

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

No doubt the activities of cyber fraudsters have over the last two decades given Nigeria bad image globally. It got to a crescendo when crime statisticians adopted the phrase 419 to describe the crime of obtaining money by tricks. The number 419 is the section of the criminal code in Nigeria that out laws obtaining money through false pretences and fraudulent means.

There is hardly any Nigeria adult that can claim not to have encountered this internet rats who are on rampage and using different dubious techniques to hood wink unsuspecting members of the public to part with their hard earned money. It was a big relief then when in the year 2003 or so when the then Nigerian President set up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and followed it up with the appointment of the born police state officer Mr. Nuhu Ribadu as the First Executive Chairman of the Agency. Ribadu went to work primarily to dethrone advanced fees’ Fraudsters from their diabolical thrones of destroying other people genuine business.

The proactive measures and modus operandi adopted by the then Chairman of EFCC send fears into the spines of major fraudsters just as the crack team headed by this cops made successful; raids which destroyed many evil enterprise set up by leading fraudsters who had even penetrate the political space and some of them bribed their ways to become legislators in both the sub regional and national legislature.

However, the exit of Mr. Nuhu Ribadu has left a yawning gap because of the credibility deficits of the holding forte as the leadership of EFCC. EFCC has therefore unraveled and has become mired in the widening spectra of allegations of bribery and fraudulent conversion of confiscated exhibits and cash kept in their custody.

Following the declining efficiency and effectiveness of the current hierarchy of the Efcc, the fraudsters who had taken flight whilst the Nuhu Ribadu-led board lasted, have powerfully returned back to their old ways. The resurgence of the widespread activities of the internet fraudsters made most Nigerian to clamor for the making of strict Cyber Crime Act that could be used as a tool by all law Enforcement Agencies to check the dare devilry of internet fraud kingpins in Nigeria. The immediate past Federal Administration, therefore heard the cries of worried Nigerian and decided to partner with the National Assembly which resulted in the Emergence of the year2015 Cyber Crime Act which to all intents and purposes is set to work as a unified and comprehensive legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the prohibition prevention, detection prosecution and punishment of Cyber Crimes in Nigeria.

Accordingly, the Cyber Crimes ( prohibition, prevention, etc ) Act of 2015 is put in place to also ensure the protection of critical national information infrastructure, and promotes cyber security and the protection of computer systems and networks, electronic communications, data and computer programs, intellectual property and privacy rights.

The move made successfully by the Nigerian Government to enact legislation against Cyber Crimes is in compliance with global expectations from nations to battle the rising economic damages done by the criminal activities of hackers and other cyber criminals to the national economy. Cyber security is widely becoming an important issue, so says experts. Writing under the title of “could hackers devastate the U.S economy?” Mr. Jacob Silverman said as follows: “cyber security is becoming an important issue. Many media organization and government officials rank it just as grave threat as terrorist attacks, nuclear proliferation and global warning. With so was Commercial, Government and Private systems connected to the internet, the concern fees warranted”

Putting all the prevailing factors together regarding the extensive and economic devastation unleashed by Cyber Terrorists and Criminals, the need for Nigeria to put into place a Cyber Crimes prevention law is overdue. But is doing this, there appears to be some hidden plots by officials of Government to include some obnoxious prevention that specifically target independent social media voices and writers and if these insidious and damaging potions are not eliminated and the law amended, the possibility of Nigeria evolving into a police state is not farfetched.

I will return back to the definition of the characters that makes for the police state to as to call on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to quickly move to around the extant Cyber Crimes Prevention Act of 2015

Few weeks back, some social media communicators and bloggers were apprehended and arranged in the Lagos state High Court under this Cyber Crimes Act just for circulating opinions some big men felt was libelous or damaging to their institutional and reputational status in the society. One of the blogger spent over two weeks before public pressure compelled the judge of that Lagos state High Court to grant him bail.

The most disturbing portion of the Nigerian Cyber Crimes Prohibition, Prevention Act of 2015 is section 24 (2) (A) which provides thus; “ a person who knowingly or intentional transmit or causes the transmission of any communication through a computer system or network (a) to bully, threaten or harass another person, where such communication places another person in fear of death, violence or bodily harm to another” and (c) continuing any threat to harm property or reputation of the addresses or of other or the reputation of a deceased person or any threat to access the addresses or any other person of the a crime to extort from ant person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value” if the accused is convicted he/she could face the following prospects; fine of #25,000,000.00 and in the case of paragraph (c) of thus subsection, to imprisonment for a term of 5 years or a minimum fine of #15,000,000.00.

Apart from the articles (b) of this subsection 2 of section 24 of the anti Cyber Crime Act of 2015 which rightly punishes severely the dastardly crime of the kidnapping for ransoms, the worry is the articles (A) and  (c) of that subsection which specifically serves as booby traps for “ rebellious” and anti-government social media communicator. These whole articles of this law offend relevant provisions of the fundamentals freedoms enshrined in chapter four of the Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria and must be amended forthwith. Section 39 (1) of the Constitution says thus; “every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference”.

These obnoxious sections of the anti Cyber Crime Act, 2015 must be amended unless Nigeria wants to evolve into a police state.

www.thedailybell.com/glossary/3444/Police-State  says of police state thus, “The term "police state" was first used in Austria in 1851 to describe the creation of a national police force. Prior to that, order had been maintained at a local level and response was on a per-incident basis, as was the case in most societies. In 1865, the New England state of Massachusetts in the US, established a state police force, the first example of such in the United States.

Over time, however, as state and national police forces have become commonplace, the term has shifted. The connotation of police state now closely relates to totalitarianism, or at least extreme authoritarianism.

Dictionaries now define police state as "a state or country in which a repressive government maintains control through the police" or "a nation in which the police, especially a secret police, summarily suppresses any social, economic or political act that conflicts with governmental policy." From Merriam-Webster: "A political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known procedures."

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria and blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.rightsassociationngr.com, www.huriwa.org.