Economy & Politics
Nigerians knock Aisha Buhari over comments on “Social Media Bill”
The controversial “Social Medial Bill” is once again trending on social media, and this time, it is due to statements credited to Aisha Buhari.
The highly controversial “Social Medial Bill” is once again trending on social media, and this time, it is due to statements credited to Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari.
As reported by Punch, the First Lady at the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs General Assembly and National Executive Council in Abuja, stated that China regulated the social media of its over one billion citizens and Nigeria should be able to control its own population which is about 200 million.
Aisha’s statement reads, “On this issue of social media, you cannot just sit in the comfort of your house and tweet that the Vice President has resigned. It is a serious issue. If China can control over 1.3 billion people on social media, I see no reason why Nigeria cannot attempt controlling only 180 million people.
Aisha Buhari
Also, the First Lady Aisha Buhari slammed state governors and ministers for failing to provide basic social amenities and infrastructure, lamenting that things were getting out of hand.
“We either fasten our seatbelts, do the needful or we all regret it very soon because at the rate things are going, things are getting completely out of hand. The VP (Yemi Osinbajo) is here. Some ministers are here. They are supposed to do justice to the situation.
“People cannot afford potable water in this country while we have governors. Since this is the highest decision-making body of Islamic affairs, for those that are listening, we should fear God, and we should know that one day, we will return to God and account for our deeds here on earth.”
[READ MORE: Nigerians react to Social Media Bill, mock lawmakers over similarity with Singapore]
Meanwhile, Nigerians are not having it
Nigerians took to Twitter to heavily criticise the First Lady, describing her statement as largely unpatriotic.
According to a Twitter user, Osas Cruz, China executes its corrupt politicians, so the First Lady should advocate for that also.
@theOsasCruz wrote, “Dear…. Aisha Buhari, Now I know Buhari was Right, – Maybe you truly belong in the kitchen. China executes their corrupt politicians, let’s attempt that. Social media is not the problem of Nigeria, Corrupt politicians are the problem we have.”
Twitter user, @Zaddy_Nomso stated, “Dear Aisha Buhari China also kills their corrupt Politicians, we would love Nigeria to start practising that first. Your Aide stole over N2bn, where he saw that money only you know.”
@TosinOlugbenga tweeted; “Since the cabals threatened Aisha Buhari with marrying a new wife for Baba Buhari, the following has happened. She begged Kogi people to re-elect failed Yahaya Bello, She’s supporting the Social Media & Hate speech Bill. The cabal is so powerful, they can shut down anyone.”
Another user, @ayeMojubar says the First Lady’s speech is laughable, “If China can control over 1.3bn people on social media, I see no reason why Nigeria cannot control only 180m people” – Aisha Buhari. Is it not a miracle to see that our First Lady cannot distinguish btw Unitary / One Party State and Democratic State with all our education”
@Obi_Nwosu stated “Dear Aisha Buhari, in china, if a government official is found guilty of corruption, he/she will be shot to death and the bullet is paid for by his/her family. How about we copy this from China, not just social media control”
Another user, @Elhay16 disclosed, “One minute Aisha Buhari is acting like she’s with the masses, the next minute she’s supporting the social media bill and playing solicitor for Yahaya Bello.”
Economy & Politics
INEC to introduce election results viewing portal
INEC says the policy would be tested at the Nasarawa State Constituency Bye-Election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced the introduction of a dedicated public portal called the INEC Result Viewing (IreV), which would enable Nigerians to view real-time results in polling stations.
This was announced Thursday evening in a statement signed by Festus Okoye, INEC’s Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee.
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PRESS RELEASE#INEC Introduces Election Result Viewing Portal pic.twitter.com/VOVWagi6pW
— INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) August 6, 2020
“ The Commission is aware that result management has remained a major source of mistrust in our electoral process. INEC is determined to address any source of this concern through enhancing the level of transparency in the conduct of elections,” INEC said.
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INEC also said that it is an important principle for votes during elections to be correctly counted. This new initiative is a major step towards achieving that goal. However, INEC said this does not constitute electronic collation of votes just yet. Instead, “the collation of election results shall remain as provided for by law, a manual process of completion.”
IreV would be tested during the Nasarawa State Constituency Bye-Election scheduled for August 8th, INEC said.
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Concerned Nigerians are advised to visit inecresults.com, create an account, and fill in their details which will lead them to the portal to oversee the collation of votes.
Economy & Politics
Chinese Loans: Clauses are international standard terms – Amaechi
The probes into Nigeria’s use of foreign loans could negatively affect how foreign lenders perceive the country.
Nigeria’s Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, said the clauses contained in Nigeria’s Chinese loans for infrastructural development are standard international commitment clauses. In other words, such are regular, applicable clauses whenever a country goes into a trade agreement with another country.
The Minister revealed this while on Channels Television’s evening political talk show, Politics Today.
I have said that these are standard clauses in international commercial agreements. We have been keeping to our repayment plans and we will repay our loans. pic.twitter.com/XGnakdgQsq
— Chibuike.R. Amaechi (@ChibuikeAmaechi) August 5, 2020
Back story: The Nigerian Senate called a hearing last week, asking the Minister to explain the clauses on Chinese-funded infrastructure projects in Nigeria. Instead, the Minister argued that the probe into Nigeria’s use of foreign loans to finance infrastructure projects could negatively affect how foreign lenders perceive the country and also impact further financing for future projects.
(READ MORE: China more willing to restructure Africa’s debt than private creditors)
Later during his recent Channels TV interview, the Minister said Nigeria is not Madagascar or Sri Lanka and has been keeping up with payment plans for the loan. “ No country has complained about Nigeria’s loan obligations,” Amaechi said.
Although he acknowledged Nigeria has debt over revenue problems, he made it clear that “that does not mean we have at any point in time refused to pay our loans.”
Amaechi then claimed that only a criminally-minded person would have issues with the loan terms. “Only those who don’t want to repay are worried about the clauses. If we repay our loans we won’t get arbitration,” he said.
The Minister also disclosed that the Ministry of Finance has repaid up to $98 million of the loans, adding, “those are standard international commitment clauses” and that no loan can be taken by the government without the approval of the National assembly.
Economy & Politics
NDDC reveals more lists of contracts awarded to federal legislators
The Commission said it released the list to expose committee chairmen in the National Assembly.
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) said there is another list of emergency contracts that were awarded to National Assembly members in 2017 and 2019. This list was not submitted to National Assembly following the recent probe of the NDDC.
This disclosure was made in a press statement by the NDDC earlier today which was signed by the commission’s Director for Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili. According to the statement, the initial list that was submitted by the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, was actually compiled by the former management of the commission in 2018, not the minister himself.
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The statement by the NDDC went further to note that the Interim Management Committee of the Commission stands by the list which came from the files already in the possession of the forensic auditors.
“The Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Commission stands by the list, which came from files already in the possession of the forensic auditors. It is not an Akpabio list but the NDDC’s list. The list is part of the volume of 8,000 documents already handed over to the forensic auditors,” the statement said in parts.
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In the meantime, the NDDC has urged prominent indigenes of the Niger Delta, whose names appeared on that list, not to panic, because the NDDC is aware that their names were used to secure contracts. The ongoing forensic audit would help to unearth those behind those contracts, the NDDC said in the statement.
Furthermore, the commission disclosed that it released the list to expose committee chairmen in the National Assembly who used fronts to collect contracts from the NDDC, some of which were never executed. Interestingly, the list did not include the unique case of 250 contracts that were signed for and collected in one day by one person, ostensibly for members of the National Assembly.
While assuring that the forensic audit exercise is on course, the NDDC noted that the commission had positioned 185 media support specialists to identify the sites of every project captured in its books for verification by the forensic auditors.
READ MORE: NDDC Probe: Akpabio accuses NASS members of getting most of the commission’s contracts
The NDDC then enjoined members of the public not to be distracted or swayed by a lot of misinformation and falsehood that are being orchestrated by mischief makers, even as more of such will be expected by those opposed to the IMC.
It can be recalled that Akpabio, while appearing before the members of the house of representatives ad-hoc committee probing the N40 billion corruption allegation against the IMC of NDDC, said that most of the contracts that are being awarded at the commission were given to members of the national assembly.
READ ALSO: Akpabio denies accusing Reps of receiving 60% of NDDC contracts
Not that likely, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, asked the minister to provide within 48 hours, the names of the legislators that benefitted from such contracts with full details or face legal action.
Senator Akpabio, in response to the ultimatum, sent an official letter to the Speaker, providing the names of the national assembly members that benefitted from such contracts.
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