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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
67th United Nations General Assembly (Photo Essay)
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THE RACE: Politics infuse Obama, Romney speeches
President Barack Obama had an audience and megaphone that Republican challenger Mitt Romney could only envy: addressing an array of global leaders as the head of the world's largest economic and military power.
It doesn't get much more presidential-appearing than that.
Most U.S. chief executives come to enjoy their time upon the world stage, despite the ever-present laundry list of intractable problems.
They mostly don't have to worry about a contentious Congress and they can ignore, at least for a time, the roar from domestic critics— and turn instead to issues affecting all humankind.
On the other hand, the immediate audience is a group of foreign leaders who can't vote for you and have little influence over the course of American electoral politics.
But as Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, the U.S. election six weeks ahead loomed close — both physically and thematically.
Romney, joking that "a few words from Bill Clinton can do a man a lot of good," spoke at a global forum also in New York sponsored by the former president, an active Obama supporter.
Obama dealt with foreign-policy issues that have cropped up in a U.S. campaign otherwise focused on the economy.
He denounced attacks on U.S. missions in Libya and elsewhere, but also the anti-Muslim video triggering them, calling it "cruel and disgusting" — but constitutionally protected.
Obama said time for diplomacy to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions was running short and boasted of toughest-ever sanctions now in place, indirectly addressing Romney's charge he'd been lax on Iran.
He also denounced "those who turn their backs on the prospect of peace" between Israelis and Palestinians, a dig at Romney's expressions to donors doubting the Palestinian commitment to peace.
Obama later spoke to Clinton's forum while Romney headed to Ohio to join running mate Paul Ryan on a bus tour.
............TOM RAUM/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rochas Okorocha Founds A Tuition Free University
Rochas Okorocha University: The Governor of Imo State, Nigeria, Rochas Okorocha, who chairs The Rochas Foundation has founded a tuition free university that would take off within range. Okorocha disclosed this in Abuja during activities co mmemorating his 50th birthday and the 10th anniversary of the Rochas Secondary Schools across the country which are tuition free. The Director-General of the foundation and daughter of the governor, Uloma Okorocha also added that "the university which would only be for students from poor family backgrounds would have a touch that would compete favorably with other universities in the world," stating it would be a Western standard institution of higher learning. Foundation of the university has already been laid at Ogboko, Imo State, according to the governor. Rochas' five tuition free secondary schools are located in Ogboko, Owerri, Ibadan, Jos and Kano.
Top Bidders For Nigeria's Ailing Power Supply Named
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and surrounded by oil wealth, having forced its citizens to rely heavily on personal generators for its electric supply announced Tuesday, September 25, 2012, by the nation's Bureau of Public Enterprises top bidders for five power plants to replace the aging and dysfunctional plants, in its new move towards free enterprise, which would provide stable power supply to millions of its population. Private companies in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Oman, South Africa and Israel were top bidders, among others.
Boko Haram Sect Leader Shot Dead; 156 Arrested
Over the weekend and placing the town of Mubi, Adamawa State under a 24 hour surveillance and curfew, Nigeria's military announced Tuesday, September 25, 2012, that a total of 156 suspects were rounded up in raids of suspected [Boko Haram] hideouts." The statement also said that Abubakar Yola also known as Abu Jihad, was shot dead in a shootout with the military forces. Abubakar Yola was the sects area commander considered to be the base of the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram.
The Ndugu Chancler 60 Years Of Life And Music @ The Bovard Auditorium
It was begun by Chris Simpson, the Associate Dean of the Department of Jazz and Popular Music at University of Southern California, on Sunday, September 23, 2012, inside the Bovard Auditorium sitting on the 3551 block of Trousdale Parkway in the campus, where Simpson opened the show and introduced the host of the evening, Mykelty Williamson, in a show presented by the University of Southern California Visions and Voices: The Arts and Humanities Initiative, and organized by the USC Thornton School Of Music.
It was also an evening prepared to roast the most important drummer in the business, Ndugu Chancler, the cat on some of Michael Jackson's greatest hits, the cat who have traveled all over the globe doing his thing, the cat who have been in sessions and have worked with the top notch performers in the business -- Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Donald Duke, Carlos Santana, Ernie Watts, Patrice Rushen, Greg Walker, Alphonso Johnson, Frank Sinatra, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, John Lee Hooker, Kenny Rogers, Stanley Clarke, The Crusaders, Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, Tina Turner and several others -- over the years from the first day he handled the sticks to test the drums at Locke High School in Los Angeles through his academic pursuit with a degree in music education at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Ndugu, drummer, percussionist, producer, composer, clinician, educator, father and leader, gets the chance to conduct and arrange for jazz orchestras in Houston and elsewhere around the United States every summer. In addition, Ndugu teaches at the Stanford University Jazz Workshop for three weeks every summer. Ndugu has been teaching music at USC the last 20 years and in 2006 was made the school's Adjunct Associate Professor at the Thornton School Of Music.
On Sunday, September 23, 2012, Ndugu Chancler was roasted in a grand style at the Bovard Auditorium, University of Southern California to celebrate "NDUGU CHANCLER: 60 YEARS OF LIFE AND MUSIC," and was presented with a Certificate of Recognition by the United States Representative for California 33rd Congressional District, Karen Bass.
The Meeting (Quartet) (L-R) Patrice Rushen, Ernie Watts, Alphonso Johnson and Ndugu Chancler leaving the stage after performances and the last jam to bring the evening to an end.
Ex-LA gang member exonerated of murder, released
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former gang member imprisoned for 19 years for a murder he didn't commit has been exonerated and set free.
John Edward Smith, wearing glasses and a tan striped polo shirt, walked out of a Los Angeles County jail on Monday night and was greeted by a host of TV cameras.
"I had good days and bad days, I stayed hopeful and that's all I could do," the 37-year-old said outside the downtown jail. "I'm not bitter at all, because that ain't going to get me nowhere. I've got to move on."
Smith said he was looking forward to "going home and seeing my grandmother," 79-year-old Laura Neal, who raised him. Family members drove him to her house, which she had mortgaged to pay for his initial defense, said Smith's lawyer, Deirdre O'Connor.
Earlier in the day, Neal used a walker to attend the hearing where a judge vacated Smith's convictions for murder and attempted murder in a gang-related drive-by shooting. She wept when Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg announced her decision.
Neal had waited anxiously for the hearing, which was delayed from Friday.
"It was hell," Neal said. "Friday was a big disappointment."
Prosecutors told the judge they were convinced that the lone eyewitness to the 1993 shooting had lied at Smith's trial, naming him as the gunman. Smith maintained he was at his grandmother's house when the shooting occurred several blocks away.
After Schnegg announced her decision, the courtroom erupted in applause, cheers and shouts of "We love you" as Smith smiled broadly. The judge thanked the crowd for their "enthusiasm" and the lawyers for both sides for "the opportunity to do justice."
Adding to the Hollywood-style courtroom drama, those applauding for Smith included pop star Chris Brown, who was in the same courtroom for his probation hearing involving the 2009 beating of his then-girlfriend Rihanna. Outside court, O'Connor said Brown shook her hand and congratulated her.
"I always knew he didn't do it," Neal told reporters after court. "I'm happy and sad. But the part of me that was in there with him — I'm free now too."
Smith was 18 when he went to prison. He told authorities he was at his grandmother's house with family when the shooting took place on Sept. 9, 1993, in a gang-infested area.
He said he knew nothing about the crime until his mother called to tell him about it.
The only eyewitness — a victim who was shot and survived — said police pressured him to identify Smith as the shooter. Prosecutors told the judge they now believe he lied, and Schnegg found the conviction was based on perjured testimony.
Smith's exoneration was pursued by Innocence Matters, a public interest law firm in Torrance.
The eyewitness, Landu Mvuemba, met with Innocence Matters representatives in 2010 and immediately blurted out that he had lied at the trial, said O'Connor, who heads the group.
"Within the first two minutes of the interview, Mvuemba recanted," O'Connor said. Mvuemba was 16 at the time of the shooting.
He told representatives of Innocence Matters, "The police told me they knew who did it," a defense motion stated.
O'Connor said Smith wept when she called him with the news about Mvuemba. "He said, 'Why did he do it? Why did he lie?'" O'Connor recalled.
Mvuemba said police pointed to Smith, whom he had known in elementary school, and told him other witnesses had identified Smith as the shooter. Mvuemba said he also was shown a photo of his friend DeAnthony Williams, who died in the shooting.
"I felt a lot of pressure to go along with it," Mvuemba said.
The two victims had been on the street examining the scene of another shooting the night before when a car pulled up and someone opened fire.
Mvuemba said he tried three times to tell authorities that he didn't see enough to testify, but his pleas were ignored.
"Mvuemba knew it was wrong to identify Mr. Smith as the man who shot him," according to the defense motion. "But when he saw his deceased friend's crying mother in the courtroom, he felt as if he had no other choice."
Mvuemba is currently imprisoned on a rape conviction.
Schnegg said she held many meetings with the defense and prosecution in the year since the recanting was disclosed. The judge said they lacked sufficient information to declare Smith factually innocent, but she vacated his convictions for murder and attempted murder, and ordered him released.
O'Connor said Smith's trial was undermined by ineffective assistance of attorneys who failed to investigate the case properly at trial and on appeal.
Smith's sister, Tiana Goodman, 25, said he would be meeting nieces and nephews who were born while he was in prison.
"This is a big day for our family," she said, tears running down her cheeks. "He kept his faith and never gave up."
...............LINDA DEUTSCH, AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Monday, September 24, 2012
South-West is most marginalised - Investigations
THE South-West is the most marginalised region in the current administration, followed by the North-East, findings have shown.
According to investigations, the North-East got its status redeemed with the election of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the national chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while the North-West is the most favoured region.
Investigations also showed that reports of northern marginalisation in the current administration could not stand in the face of evidence as the North-West geopolitical zone strongly dominates the security, finance and education sector appointments under the Goodluck Jonathan presidency.
Key northern leaders had, in recent times, accused the Federal Government of systematically sidelining the northern region both in terms of appointments into critical sectors and in terms of access of the zone to presidential decision-making caucus.
However, checks by the Nigerian Tribune showed that the North-West has, so far, maintained its hold on decisive positions within the government, despite the fact that the South-South is holding the number one position in the administration. While the president maintains the number one spot in the administration, findings showed that one of the two most influential figures in terms of closeness to the president and his day to day actions and decisions is from the North-West, in the person of the Principal Private Secretary to the President, Mallam Hassan Tukur. The other influential position is the Chief of Staff, which is held by Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, from Edo State.
Tukur and the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Oghiadomhe, are said to be the most powerful aides of the president who see to the day to day running of the presidency and the Federal Government as a whole.
Apart from the Principal Private Secretary, the North-West also produced the vice-president, who is regarded as one of the most powerful vice-presidents of this era. He oversees the all-important power sector reforms through the oversight on the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and coordinates the National Economic Council.
The number four citizen in the government hierarchy, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, is also listed as one of the strong holders of levers of power in the administration.
Besides its strong presence on the political turf, the North-West also controls all the three major sources of revenue generation in the economy of the federation, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, the Comptroller General of the Customs service and the acting chairman of the revenue service are all from the North-West zone. While the three agencies above are said to be the sources of over 90 per cent of national revenue, the North-West further adds to its control of the economy, when it produced the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. The Minister of State for Finance, who oversees the Federation Account Allocation, is also from the North-West.
Incidentally, a similar situation was obstructed by the Senate under Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, when a Yoruba man from Kogi State was to emerge as the Auditor General of the Federation. The Senate had argued then that it was opposed to concentration of all positions in the economic sector in the hands of the South-West, since the then governor of CBN was from the South-West.
Leaders of the South-West have, however, objected to the marginalisation of the region even while the institution, such as the Senate, refused to stand straight on such issues. They had argued that while the appointment of a Yoruba from the North was obstructed by the Senate in 2003, the Senate later sanctioned the concentration of all economic positions in the South-East and now North-West.
“The South-West is the most marginalised in all these and the zone cannot continue to keep quiet,” a leader said, adding that some elders from the zone recently met President Goodluck Jonathan on the increasing marginalisation of the zone.
Curiously, if the North is well placed in the political and financial sectors, the zone is also maintaining its grip on the security sector, as its men dominate key positions across the security establishments.
Until the removal of the Minister of Defence, Dr Haliru Mohammed, who hails from Kebbi State, the region was holding tight to the number one slot in the Defence portfolio. Even at that, the North-West still has the National Security Adviser from Sokoto State, the Inspector General of Police from Kano State and the Chief of Air Staff, also from the zone.
An administration official, who craved anonymity, expressed surprise at the constant accusations of bias against the Jonathan presidency, declaring that “no zone has the level of high-profile presence the North-West enjoys in the present administration.”
“It is unfair to accuse Jonathan of bias against the North. He ceded so much powers and functions to the core North that I see no difference to when (Musa) Yar’Adua was in power,” the official, who is also from the North, said.
He stated that the president had also ensured a spread in the appointment of his personal aides.
But while the president appears to personally maintain a spread in the appointments, the same cannot be said of agencies under his watch. Only recently, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega was accused of breaching the Federal Character Principle by filling a majority of directorate positions in the commission with northerners.
How North-West rules Jonathan’s government
North-West
•Vice-President •Speaker, House of Representatives •CBN Governor •GMD NNPC •Acting Chairman, FIRS •Comptroller-General of Customs (Chairman, FCCA)
North-East
•National Chairman, PDP •Executive Secretary TETFUND •Executive Secretary UBEC •Head of Service
North-Central
•President of the Senate •Attorney-General and Minister of Justice
South-East
•Deputy Senate President •Secretary to the Government of the Federation •Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives •Minister of Finance •Minister of Aviation •Minister of Power •Minister of Labour •Minister of Health
South-West
•Minister of Agric •Minister of Police Affairs •Minister of Trade and Investments •Minister of Foreign Affairs
South-South
•President, Federal Republic of Nigeria •Senate Leader •Minister of Petroleum
..........Taiwo Adisa and Olawale Rasheed, Abuja/Nigeria Tribune
NIGERIA: LOKOJA FLOOD: Stranded passengers sell personal effects to eat
As FRSC closes Abuja-Lokoja road •Crocodiles, other dangerous animals invade area
SOME passengers travelling from the southern part of the country and heading to the North but got stranded in Lokoja, Kogi State, as a result of the flood are now selling their belongings and personal effects to survive.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the passengers who got stranded in Lokoja since Friday as a result of the flood, could no longer bear the situation because some of them did not have money.
A female passenger, who confirmed this to Nigerian Tribune said she had to sell one of her gold earrings for her to survive.
According to her, she left Onitsha, Anambra State, with just her transport fare but when they got to Lokoja, she discovered that the road had been submerged as a result of the flood.
She further said that since she did not have money on her, she decided to sell her gold earring to survive as she was not sure when they are going to leave the place.
Other passengers, who could not hide their feelings while speaking with Nigerian Tribune equally lamented, saying there was no hope in sight yet.
According to them, many of them had lost so many things since they could not make it to their destinations, because their trip was purely on business.
One Mr Okon, who spoke with Nigerian Tribune while lamenting, said he was travelling to Abuja for an urgent business, noting that he had lost the opportunity since he could not get to Abuja to finalise the business.
Another victim, Mrs Teresa Okeke, said she was coming from Enugu in the hope of getting to Kaduna on Friday but, unfortunately, she got trapped as a result of the flood which cut the Abuja-Lokoja highway.
A pregnant woman, who also narrated her experience to the Nigerian Tribune, said the situation was critical.
She noted that she was told before she left Delta State that River Niger had submerged the road, adding that she thought it was a lie until they got to Lokoja.
She appealed to the Federal Government to find an alternative route for motorists, so that they could get out of the situation.
Meanwhile, victims currently at the St Luke Primary School relief camp are complaining of inadequate feeding.
Some of the victims, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune, said since the camp was opened on Friday, they had not been having three square meal daily, adding that the environment was not conducive.
According to one of the victims, who only gave his name as Ibrahim, he was only given bread in the morning and was not sure of another meal.
Another victim, who craved anonymity, said officials of the camp were only distributing raw rice to them, saying they were not comfortable at the camp.
According to him, most of them did not sleep due to mosquito bites, as the nets distributed by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) officials did not go round.
Other victims also complained of not feeding well, saying that the government was not doing enough to help their predicament.
However, the head of the Red Cross team at the camps, Charles Akubo, denied the claims, saying they were well taken care of.
“We when we came, we had the plan of cooking for them, but when we sampled their opinions, they said we should give them raw food so that they can be cooking for themselves. If we were doing the cooking, at least a bag of rice is enough for a day. They all eat well,” he said.
According to him, 734 persons were at the camp, adding that since it concerned the government, people must always complain.
Reptiles now attack residents
Meanwhile, as flood from River Niger continues to paralyse activities in Kogi State, residents of Lokoja and other areas now live in fear, as reptiles now attack people in the state.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that animals washed away by the flood were making their way to where the people resided.
Lokoja-Abuja highway closes
The state sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has announced the temporary closure of the Lokoja-Abuja highway, due to increase in the volume of water on the road.
The state sector commander of the FRSC, Muhammed Garba, who disclosed this to newsmen, said the road had to be closed temporarily to avoid casualty.
He said since the volume of water on the road kept increasing, thereby making it dificult for vehicles to ply, they were directed to close the road to motorists.
In another press statement, the Corps Public Education Officer, Jonas Agwu, the FRSC said it had mapped out four designated routes for motorists to ply.
FG assures on immediate solutions
Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolemen, has assured Nigerians that immediate solutions will be put in place to address the plights of those affected by the overflow of Niger and Benue rivers.
The minister, who named the flooding in Kogi State as “a national disaster,” gave the assurance on Monday, during his visit to the state governor, Captain Idris Wada, in Lokoja.
Leading the presidential team, which included the Minister of Environment and chairman, Presidential Committee on the Assessment of Flood Disaster, Hajia Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia; Minister of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Ochepe; Executive Secreatary, Red Cross, Alhaji Bello Diram and chief executives of Julius Berger, RCC, Dantata and Sagoye, the minister said “the level of water currently devastating the state has not been witnessed in the last 100 years.”
He said the team arrived in the state with the construction giants to evolve ways to solve the problems caused by the disaster.
Governor Wada expressed gratitude to President Jonathan for the intervention, saying that “the Federal Government has shown that it is willing to share in the pains of the people.”
..........YEKINI JIMOH, LOKOJA/NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Saudi Arabia Detains 400 Nigerian Female Hajj Pilgrims
Four hundred female pilgrims from Nigeria, who arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday for this year’s hajj, have been separated from their male counterparts and detained by Saudi authorities.
Local media report that the Saudis requested each female pilgrim to provide her muharram – the approved male companion accompanying her on her trip, usually a husband, father or brother – those that couldn’t produce any, were detained.
The authorities further threatened to deport the pilgrims to Nigeria.
The pilgrims arrived Jeddah in two separate Max Air flights Sunday afternoon. One of the planes, conveyed pilgrims from Jigawa State while the second conveyed pilgrims from Sokoto State.
The nearly 400 women were only allowed to be supplied with water and food by the Saudis after strenuous efforts by the Nigerian Consul in Jeddah and a Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad, who is the Amirul Hajj, has condemned the action of the Saudi authorities, describing it as “an insult to Nigeria and to this country’s millions of Muslims.”
The Sultan said, “They never raised this issue and never demanded that the female pilgrims must have a muharram. They did not make this a requirement for issuing visas.
“They issued visas to all these pilgrims, only to embarrass, detain and threaten to deport them when they arrived in the holy land. How can they do this to us?
“The chairman of the National Hajj Commission assured me that the Saudis never asked for this during all the meetings they held. This is very unfortunate. We have done a lot over the years to improve on our hajj operation and we do not deserve this humiliation.”
The Sultan also said that he had ordered the Nigerian pilgrims to resist any attempt to deport them.
“Let the Saudis physically carry them into the planes and deport them,” he said. “They issued them with valid visas, only to shift the goal posts at the very last minute, when they had already arrived in Jeddah.”
..........Channels television News
Sunday, September 23, 2012
NIGERIA: North-South Food Supply and the Threats of Blockage
Against the backdrop of quest for resource management by states where such resources are found, and recent threat by some South-South leaders to cut off food supply to the North, LEADERSHIP SUNDAY probes into the claims that aside petroleum products which are sourced from the South-South states, even the food that the North consumes also comes from the South-South. GEORGE OKOJIE, Lagos; STANLEY UZOARU, Owerri; Nnamdi Mbawike, Enugu; David-Chyddy Eleke, Awka; Abba Abubakar Kabara, Gusau; Onyekaozulu Ofoma, Abakaliki; Mathias Nwogu, Umuahia, and Salisu Ibrahim, Kano, file in these reports on the food distribution between the North and the South.
The threat to impeach the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, by the House of Representatives, before the National Assembly went on recess, drew the ire of some South-South leaders, who saw it as a ploy to shift power to the North, hence their decision to throw a hard knock on the northern part of the country.
Prominent among those drawing the sword against the North is Alhaji Mujahideen Asari Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), who argued that it was part of a "Northern Agenda" against the Ijaw president. Among his threat was the cut-off of food supply to the North.
Dokubo threatened to teach the "arrogant North" a lesson by blocking the region from the sea and cutting off supplies of fuel and food from the region.
However, the natural disasters that have befallen the country due to global climate change have already put the food supply issue in the front burner.
If you had been out of food stock recently and had gone to some markets in Lagos and other states of the federation, you would have noticed the nominal price hike in food stock which the people have to contend with.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY visited not less than 10 markets last week in Lagos and some other South-West states, and noticed the experiences of some marketers and consumers, which were not too palatable.
The development, especially as it concerned foodstuffs like beans, which price had risen almost 100 per cent, has shown that the hike was as a result of crises in the North.
Lawrence Ovhuehor, an economist, said: "Today, break the country elements are currently manifesting in Boko Haram menace and terrorism in the Northern part of the country. This is threatening to ruin the economy of the North and the North undisputedly is the food basket of this country.
"Agriculture has been adversely affected and traders from the South are afraid to go to the North to buy foodstuff. That is why prices of foodstuffs had gone up in the South. Both side must complement each other and embrace dialogue."
Markets visited in Lagos, Ogun and Edo states included Sango-Otta, Ifo, and Agbara main market. Markets visited in Benin City included Uselu, Eki-Osa and New-Benin markets. The Lagos markets were the popular Mile 12, Iyana-Iba, Iyana-Ipaja, Agege, Oshodi, Mushin, Daleko and Bariga markets.
In these markets, a basket of fresh tomatoes sells for between N15,000 and N20,000 in Mile 12 market in Ketu, Lagos. It sold for about N10,000 between May and June, this year. Market price variation reared its head when the same basket of tomato sold for between N12, 000 and N17,000 at Mushin market.
Medium-size basket of pepper goes for between N6,000 and N6,500 in Mile 12 against the old price which stabilised at N5,000 few months back.
Mrs. Nike Ayansanwo, a tomato seller at Mile 12 said the increase has its root in the problems in the North, pointing out that inability of the government and stakeholders to resolve the issue affected the supply of tomatoes and pepper.
"The problem of insecurity has also been compounded by deteriorating roads across the country which has made the cost of transportation to be very high," she added.
Corroborating earlier claims, Mrs. Eniola Bakare, another tomato seller at the Mile 12 market, said the current price hike of tomatoes was higher than what obtained throughout 2011.
Bakare, who also traced it to effects of climate change, said farmers they usually bought the commodities from in the North attributed the increase to heavy rainfall and flooding of their tomato farms.
Prices of beans, an important source of protein, have also increased by over 100 per cent in the South. Traders who spoke with our correspondent in some markets fingered insecurity challenges in the North as the cause of the soaring prices.
At Daleko market where most of the food products are supplied, the traders said they had been subjected to pressure from their customers to sell at a reduced price, pointing out that they could not sell below their regular profit margins, as the food item had been purchased at higher rates from their suppliers from the North. A bag that sold for N8,000, now sells for between N13,000 and N15,000.
Mrs. Daramola Catherine, a Lagos civil servant, called for quick resolution to the crises in the North to curb the price increase.
According to her; "The Hausa people are the ones bringing foodstuffs like beans, yams, tomatoes and pepper all year round to the South. Those South-South people have oil, but not food; even they don't have fish because of the pollution of their environment.
They should stop causing problems in the country. Look at the consequences now, beans is the only affordable protein food the poor people in this country have access to in order to balance their diet. Now the poor cannot afford it again because of politics."
Interestingly however, meat seemed to be insulated from the soaring price of foodstuff, as Chicken, turkey and meat maintained their prices simply because many of the stock that formed the bulk in the markets were also derived from within the western region.
In the Eastern part of the country, the story is the same. In Owerri, the Imo State capital, Miss Angela Obiajunwa, a tomato and pepper seller at the Relief Market, said she got her supplies from the North, adding that her business would suffer if Dokubo's threat becomes a political problem, and the North decides to retaliate.
"We need each other. If we keep our palm oil, are we going to eat it all? We need food items such as yam, tomatoes, groundnut, beans, cattle and others, which come in large quantities from the North," she added.
According to Barrister Uche Wisdom Durueke, the acting National President of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO); "Such statement should not have come from Asari Dokubo, who was granted amnesty by the Federal Government. The statement makes nonsense of the whole amnesty programme.
How can he cut food supply from the South to the North? Does he have the power to do so? That means, he is going to use arms, and that is violence. His threat is against the unity and peace of this country. Asari Dokubo should have been cautioned. If the statement was from MASSOB, there would have been public outcry."
Investigations in Enugu revealed that most foodstuffs consumed in the state come from the North.
According to sellers of foodstuffs at the Ogbette Main market in Enugu, food items such as garri, yam, palm oil, bananas that are produced in the South-East and taken to North are very infinitesimal when compared with the volume of food items from the North to the South-East.
A foodstuff dealer in Kenyata Market, Enugu, Mr. Obinna Anuyua, said "how can such a threat make an impact. Most foodstuffs are brought into the South from the North. It is only the threat of the North that can make impact here."
A food trader, Mrs. Blessing Obasi, in Awka added that the two divides complement each other with supplies of food items, as most food items not grown in the southern part are grown in the North.
Obasi mentioned beans, yams, sugarcane, groundnut, onions, oranges, pepper, tomatoes and cattle, among others, as foodstuffs from the North. She attributed this to Northerners interest in farming.
In Ebonyi State, the agricultural state and food basket of the South-East geopolitical zone, foodstuffs like rice, yam, palm oil, cassava (both raw and processed gary), different vegetable seeds are produced. The state is popular for its rice production.
According to the SSG, Chief Fidelis Mbam, "before the civil war, our rice went up to Senegal. Since after the civil war, the oil boom put paid to agriculture, it has eliminated agriculture indirectly. So this administration decided that we are still good farmers, we are still good producers of staple food in Nigeria; rice. Abakaliki has the greatest rice mill cluster in Nigeria."
However, the rice and yam from the state are exported to states in the South-South and South-East, such agricultural produce are not exported to the North. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Elder Stephen Orogwu, also stated that palm oil is heavily exported to the North from Ebonyi State.
Also, the former chairman of Ebonyi Rice Mill Limited, Mr. Tony Muoneke, stated that palm oil, Ogbono seed and Okro are heavily supplied to the North. He said that rice goes to the South-South and South-West.
A survey carried out in Umuahia, Abia State, revealed that the number of food items traded between the zone and the North tilts in favour of the North as only palm oil is the major commodity that the North depends on from the South. It was gathered that food items from the North to the South-East are in larger quantities.
At the Good Shade Market, a dealer in palm oil, Chief Onyemachi Ahu, said any stoppage of oil supply to the North will be too much, as they almost entirely depend on the South for that product. He added that there was hardly a day without more than 20 tonnes of oil leaving Umuahia to the North, adding that since the Boko Haram insurgency, the volume has decreased by about 50 per cent, because traders are afraid to take palm oil to the North.
However, a large-scale farmer and chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono, has said that the North feeds the nation, and has no reason to fear any empty threat from any section of the country. He said the North is capable of feeding itself, while feeding the rest of the country.
Nanono said while the battleground will soon shift from oil to underground water, which he noted is available in the North, he added that "agriculture is contributing 40 per cent to the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which in practical terms means contributing to total production wealth of the nation more than oil, construction, banking and tourism, put together.
In economic terms, the oil contributes only 15 per cent to the nation's GDP, because the entire business in the oil industry is done by foreigners, since they only pay salaries and wages to their workers and do the major business in the industry."
Nanono, who has worked in the banking sector for most part of his life, said "at least 70 per cent of food is being produced in the North, and there is no question about that. And by simple inference, the way livestock and food items are being transported from various parts of the North to the southern part of the country will show you how the North is feeding the country.
"When you look at the figures of food and livestock transported to the South, without apology to anybody, the North is the food basket of the country. The North produces virtually all the grains the nation needs. The availability of oil in the South is simply by climatic condition. I don't know what the South is producing. I have not seen one. Even mangoes and oranges are produced more in the North than in the South," he stressed.
Nanono, however, attributed the slow development in the North to bad leadership and said that our leaders must brace up and do the right thing to harness the resources available in the region and make the people highly productive.
"The people in the North are very productive. Whenever you travel from Ilorin to Ngru, hardly you see where people are not working. That's a sign of productivity, showing you that the North is capable of standing alone, since it can feed itself and even go beyond that level. We have all the technical conditions to produce rice that the country needs. Niger and Taraba alone can produce the rice requirement of the country," he added.
Nanono therefore called for the total re-vitalisation of the railway system to enhance the distribution of fertilisers in the country, saying the call was necessary to ensure efficient distribution to farmers across the country.
"If there is effective railway system, where you can transport fertiliser at cheaper cost, the cost of the commodity will reduce by between 20 per cent and 25 per cent," he said, adding that "we have to really take agriculture as a national security item, because the best way to secure ourselves is to feed ourselves."
Supplies from states within the North-West zone indicate that the South largely depends on the North for food items. Indices from Kebbi, Sokoto Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa and Kano states underscore these areas as part of the largest northern suppliers of assorted food items to the South.
The North-West Zonal Chairman of the Cow Dealers Association, Alhaji Bello Bungudu (Sarkin Zango), said there are more than 1,000 cow dealers in Gusau Town, Zamfara state, who jointly transport to the South, an average of 30,000 cows daily. He said average daily supply from Kano and other large cities like Sokoto and Maiduguri is 100 trailer-loads, while from other towns like Zaria, Kebbi, Gusau and Katsina, an average of 30,000 cows are transported daily to the South.
Mallam Ladan Musa is the publicity secretary of Zamfara State Vegetable Dealers Association, who said from Zamfara alone, an estimated number of 30 trucks loaded with assorted vegetable items like onions, tomatoes, pepper and other related items are supplied to the South on a weekly interval.
Also the Chairman of the Grains Dealers Association, Gusau branch, Alhaji Ismaila Abubakar Samrawi, disclosed that major types of grains like guinea corn, maize and soya beans are supplied to the South daily. He said though these products are cultivated in the North, more than 80 per cent of them are consumed in the South, particularly soya beans, which is used as industrial raw material for the production of powder milk, cooking oil, and many other products.
He further explained that from Gusau, an estimated number of 50 trucks of soya beans are supplied to the South on weekly basis, while more than 200 trailers of sorghum, used in the production of beverages by industries in the South, are also transported on daily basis.
Written by George Okojie, Nnamdi Mbawike, David-Chyddy Eleke, Stanley Uzoaru, Abba Abubakar Kabara, Salisu Ibrahim, Mathias Nwogu, and Onyekaozulu Ofoma/Leadership Newspapers.
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