Sahara Reporters Latest News Friday 19th April 2019
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 19/04/19
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target=_blank>Abuja: Saving A City Growing On Drugs
A young man took a girl on a date and bought her a bottle of alcohol. She had never tasted beer before, and she declined. But she remained seated and continued to listen to the guy’s persuasion. For how long can she hold on?
But the same guy takes another girl on a date to the same place and offered her alcohol. The girl politely refused the offer, saying she doesn’t take alcohol. The guy tried to press her into having the drink, but the girl sensing what he was trying to do, politely excused herself and walked out of the bar!
“The first girl did not have assertiveness, and she stood the risk of being persuaded to start using alcohol. But the second girl had more assertiveness, that’s why she walked away, and the guy would never try to persuade her to drink again,” said Alexander Agara, a clinical psychologist, on why it isn’t enough to just say ‘No to Drugs.’
Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, is believed to be the fastest growing city in Africa, growing from a population of 776,298, in 2006 to an estimated six million residents by 2016. Now, it may also have become the city with the fastest growing drug use prevalence in the country.
According to the National Drug Use Survey released in January, the first comprehensive drug use survey in the country, the number of drug users in Nigeria is estimated at 14.4 per cent or 14.3 million people aged between 15 and 64 years. Out of this number, an estimated 180,000 people in the Federal Capital Territory are among people with drug dependency.
But Agara, who works as a mental health expert believes the figure is changing. He said nearly eight out of nine young people in the city use drugs, especially alcohol, codeine and marijuana. Breaking down the figures, he revealed that 60% of youths aged 12- 17 use drugs while 80 % of those aged 16-22 use drugs. More alarming is the revelation that 84 % of the age groups who use drugs are females.
Agara is one of the facilitators at a weeklong workshop for young people in Abuja organized by Reclaiming Futures In Northern Nigeria (REFINN), a project funded by the United States Department of State with the support of the US Embassy in Abuja.
It was a gathering of 50 youths and teenagers who spent one whole week listening, talking and playing love games about drug abuse and addiction. It was a carefully selected group comprising drug and substance users, those in recovery and those who haven’t used drugs-among them secondary school students.
Ejikeme McBishop Ogueji, leader of the REFINN team, said the project was designed to empowered young people with necessary skills that would strengthen their response to drug abuse challenges. “We have found out that saying No to drug abuse is not enough to protect students and adolescent against drug abuse. They also need life skills that can help them become more assertive,” he explained.
Through a series of ‘love’ games, presentations, and experience sharing the workshop showcased the dangers of drug addiction and why the youths must have the skills to resist going down the junkie land.
It started with a game where two boys blindfolded were each asked to seek out their female partners who were asked to stand apart. The boys whose eyes were covered staggered across the front of the hall stretching their hands in search of their partners even when they stood close by. The two, after searching for their partners in vain, ran into each and embraced, while the audience, amused, erupted in laughter.
The participants, which included students of Lugbe International Academy and the University of Abuja, were asked to explain the game and kickstart discussion around drug abuse and addiction. The game was to demonstrate how drug and alcohol affect the senses and impair the brain.
Different facilitators led the participants in discussions on opioids addiction, how to detect addiction, drugs of abuse, why you should say No, assertiveness against drug abuse and harm reduction, among others. They included Aisha Tafida, Projects Co-ordinator, Parents Against Drug Abuse and Marcus Ayuba of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
But there was also experience-sharing to educate participants on why and how to kick addiction. Some of those who’d used drugs and are able to stop shared their inspirational stories. Like Daniel Bala, 30, who started drugs before he was 18 after falling for peer pressure. He grew from taking “weed” (cannabis) to pharmaceutical opioids such as tramadol, rehypnol, morphine and even injected drugs.
Drug use eventually weighed him down and his academics began to suffer. He completed a four year course after suffering several carry-overs.
“Then I discovered that most of my peers who were not into drugs had gone far in life and doing well in their careers and I was jobless and not doing anything about it,” he said, admitting that apart from family pressure to kick addiction, it was the realization that he was behind that fired his determination to kick drugs.
Then there is Falimata Animam, 22, who was lured into drugs by her male and female friends. She had traveled to Lafia, Nasarawa State to re-write the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations five years back and had to share a room with a girl and three boys for nearly two weeks. The boys and girl were all using marijuana, tramadol and rohypnol. She initially resisted the invitation to “try” any of the drugs because she’d never smoked or used drugs.
But after persistent pressure, she felt the urge to get into the groove and started with the codeine cough syrup considered to be ‘soft.” ” I started with a bottle and then it increased, and I started taking the other drugs too,” she told her attentive audience.
But the drugs had unsavoury effects on her, unbalancing her mentally and physically. After a few years of drug use, she succumbs to family pressure to stop drugs and a chanced meeting with some drug abuse educators. Now she is helping to educate others as a Gender Focal Officer for People Who Inject Drugs (PWID), at YouthRise Nigeria.
There are some still struggling with opioids dependency but have cut down on demand, admitting they’ve been unable to completely stop. This is why facilitators recommended harm reduction as a national strategy to reduce number of people living with addiction.
Womboh Tyohe, a civic teacher who led six senior secondary school students to the workshop, said the interaction had further exposed the students to the menace of drug abuse and how to combat it. “We teach them about drug abuse in school, but this would even make our job easier. The students that are here will definitely pass on the message,” he declared.
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E2%80%99s-veto-budget target=_blank>Senate Inches One Step Closer To Passing Bill Overruling Buhari’s Veto On Budget
A bill to compel the President and state governors to lay their annual budgets before the legislature at most 90 days to end of a fiscal year has passed second reading at the Senate.
The second reading of the bill is the second stage of process. If the bill passes the third reading with the required by two-thirds majority, and it gets the concurrence of the House of Representatives, then it becomes a law.
The bill, The 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration, No. 28) Bill, was sponsored by Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Senate President, and was presented at plenary by Ahmad Lawan, Majority Leader of the Senate.
Rejected by the President in 2018, the bill, if passed, will return Nigeria to the era of January-December budget cycles, while similarly mandating the National Assembly to pass the budget before commencement of the next financial year.
Buhari had declined assent to the bill on the grounds that Section 2 (b) and 3 (b) of the proposal appears not to appreciate the provisions of Section 58 (4) of the 1999 constitution — an argument dismissed by David Umaru, Chairman of the Senate’s Technical Committee on Declined Assent to Bills.
The bill will ensure that the budget is laid not later than 90 days to the end of a financial year,” Umaru said.
“The legislative intent behind this bill is to ensure that we run a normal financial year. Therefore, the provision of Section 58(4) which Mr. President made reference to, does not apply in this regard.
“On the whole, we respectfully submit that the bill is not in conflict with the provision of Section 58(4) of the Constitution as implied by Mr President. It is, therefore, our concerted view that the Senate should override Mr. President’s veto.”
Section 58(4) of the Constitution being spoken of by the President reads: “Where a bill is presented to the President for assent, he shall within thirty days thereof signify that he assents or that he withholds assent.”
However, Section 58(5) also adds: “Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.”
As earlier reported by SaharaReporters, the Senate on Wednesday passed seven of the at least 16 bills rejected so far this year by the President.
The bills are the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Bill, National Research and Innovation Council Bill, Stamp Duties Act (Amendment) Bill, National Agricultural Seed Council Bill, Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill.
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target=_blank>Buhari Gives His Ministers One Week To Hand In Comprehensive Reports On Their Projects
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked his ministers to submit reports of projects in their various ministries by Wednesday, April 24.
The notice for submission was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday, by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity.
The submission of the reports forms part of activities to wind down the first term of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
According to the statement, the President has asked for a comprehensive “status reports on policies, programmes and projects” from cabinet members on their respective ministries, departments and agencies.
These reports have April 24 as the deadline for submission to the Presidential Audit Committee in the office of the Vice President.
A circular to this effect issued by Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), also requested members of the Federal Executive Council to “ensure that all outstanding memoranda they intend to present to the Federal Executive Council are submitted to the Cabinet Affairs Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, not later than Tuesday, 30th April, 2019.”
The circular also informed members that the “9th and 10th meetings of the Council have been rescheduled to Thursday, 25th April and Thursday, 2nd May, 2019, respectively” in view of the Easter break and May Day celebrations.
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target=_blank>Mother Weeps Profusely In Court As ‘Killers’ Of Her First Class Daughter Plead Not Guilty
Mother of the slain Miss Elozino Ogege, the first class 300 level student of Mass Communication, Delta State University (DELSU) who was gruesomely murdered sometime in November 2018 by suspected ritualists, wept profusely in court on Wednesday as the suspects arraigned before an Asaba High Court pleaded not guilty to the eight-count charge preferred against them by the state Attorney-General.
Mrs. Elizabeth Ogege, was in court to observe proceedings, and she burst into uncontrollable tears demanding for justice immediately the suspects pleaded not guilty in court. She refused to be consoled by the Director of Sexual Offences/Domestic Violence, Uche Akamagwuna, and other sympathizers as she wept profusely, saying “God will avenge the blood of my innocent daughter whose life was cut down in her prime.”
The accused persons — Macaulay Desmond Oghenemaro, Ojokojo Robinson Obajero, Nwosisi Benedict Uche and Enaike Onoriode — took their plea after the charges were read to them by the Court Registrar, and pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
According to the statement of offence in charge No A/2c/2019, count IV of the charge reads “That you, Macaulay Desmond Oghenemaro (m), Ojokojo Robinson Obajero (m), Nwosisi Benedict Uche (m) Enaike Onoriode (m) and one Emese Emudiaga Kelvin now deceased, on or about the 15th day of November, 2018 at Abraka, within the Sapele Criminal Division murdered one Elozino Joshualia Ogege, punishable under Section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code Law Cap C21, Volume 1, Laws of Delta State 2006.”
Other charges contained in the information filed against the defendants include conspiracy to commit a felony to wit: kidnapping punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C21, Volume 1, Laws of Delta State of Nigeria 2006.
The substantive offence of kidnapping punishable under section 4(1) of the Delta State Anti-Kidnapping and Hostage Taking Law, 2016, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and the substantial offence of armed robbery.
The accused persons, according to the charge, robbed one Elozino Joshualia Ogege (f) of her Tecno K7 Mobile phone while armed with a knife and other weapons.
S.C. Okehielem Esq, who announced appearance for the 1st and 2nd defendants, made an oral application for the transfer of the case to Sapele Judicial Division on the ground that the alleged offence was committed in Abraka, which falls within the Sapele judicial division and cited Ibori Vs FRN, Nigeria Weekly Law Report, 2009.
Opposing the application, Omamuzo Erebe Esq., Director of Legal Drafting, who led other Lawyers from the state Ministry of Justice, including the Director of Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence, Uche Akamagwuna Esq, urged the court to dismiss the application as it is frivolous and inapplicable to the case.
He said the state acted under the provision of Section 94 (2), section 99 and section 104 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, 2017, adding that the Attorney-General of the state, through the DPP, had earlier made an application to the Chief Judge of the State for assumption of jurisdiction, raising security concerns not only for prosecution witnesses but as well as for the accused persons. The application was granted by the Chief Judge and the case assigned before the trial judge to adjudicate.
Ruling on the application for transfer of the case to Sapele Judicial Division, the trial Judge, Justice Flora Ngozi Azinge, dismissed the application, saying that it was unmeritorious and holding that the case was before a proper venue to entertain the matter.
Justice Azinge further ruled that the High Court of Delta State is one, and that the Administration of the Criminal Justice Law, which governs Criminal matters in the state, has empowered the Chief Judge to transfer any case from one criminal division to other.
The matter was adjourned to April 30 and May 15 respectively for hearing.
Meanwhile, a few days ago, Mrs. Ogege had cried out to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa a few days ago to keep to his earlier promise of speedy justice for her daughter.
In a letter entitled ‘An Open Letter To The Governor Of Delta State From The Mother Of Late Miss. Elozino Ogege’, addressed to Okowa and obtained by SaharaReporters, she lamented the “slow and unfair proceedings so far from the court handling the matter” and appealed to the Governor to find time and pay a condolence visit to the family of the deceased.
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E2%80%94-third-time-three-years target=_blank>Ex Air Chief Amosun Plea-Bargains In N21.4bn Corruption Trial — The Third Time In Three Years
A former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (retd.), and his colleagues who are facing trial for alleged diversion of N21.4bn budgeted for security operations have again indicated their intention to enter into a plea bargain with the government.
Their lawyers — Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN), Norrison Quakers (SAN) and Wale Taiwo (SAN) — on Tuesday urged Justice C.J. Aneke, who is hearing the case at the Federal High Court in Lagos, to adjourn in order for them to explore plea bargain with the government.
Tuesday was the third time the defendants would be proposing plea bargain with government since June 2016 when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged them to court.
Those facing trial along with Amosu are Air Vice Marshal Jacob Adigun and Air Commodore Olugbenga Gbadebo.
The prosecution alleged that they used eight companies belonging to them to divert money budgeted for security operations by the Nigerian Air Force.
They first proposed plea bargain on July 8, 2016, weeks after the EFCC arraigned them before Justice Mohammed Idris who was elevated to court of appeal mid 2018. Their lawyers had then urged the judge to adjourn the case to allow them to go to the negotiation table with the EFCC.
But when they returned to court on October 20, 2016, rather than present the terms of settlement to the judge, the EFCC opened its case by calling its first witness.
It was learnt that the defendants were scared off by the conditions imposed on them by the EFCC.
After the trial had gone on for 16 months, the defendants again told the judge in February 2018 that they were then ready to enter into plea bargain.
Again, they pleaded for an adjournment, which the court granted.
But they later abandoned the proposed plea bargain and opted for full-scale trial.
When the defence counsel made a fresh request for plea bargain on Tuesday, the prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, said though the anti-graft agency was ready to prove the charges against them and had all its witnesses ready, it welcomed the plea-bargain proposal if the defendants were serious.
In January, the EFCC had obtained a court order permanently forfeiting to the Federal Government a sum of N2.2bn recovered from Amosu and another N101m recovered from Solomon Enterprises, a company linked to him.
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, who granted the forfeiture order, equally ordered Gbadebo to forfeit to the Federal Government a sum N190,828,978.15, which the EFCC recovered from him.
The judge ordered that the funds should be paid into the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (SA) at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Upon the fresh plea bargain proposition by the defence counsel on Tuesday, Justice Aneke adjourned the case till May 22.
The first prosecution witness, Tosin Owobo, had on Monday furnished the court with detailed information about how the defendants allegedly used their companies to divert funds meant to combat insecurity in the country between 2014 and 2015.
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target=_blank>BREAKING: EFCC To Arraign Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia On Thursday
Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is set to rearraign Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia on Thursday, SaharaReporters can report..
As reported by SaharaReporters, about 10 officials of the EFCC surrounded Ofili-Ajumogobia as she attempted to leave the courtroom of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja, at about 10:24 am on Tuesday after the ruling by Justice Hakeem Oshodi that struck out corruption charges against her.
Upon sighting the officials, the judge hastily retreated upstairs into Justice Oshodi’s courtroom to seek the protection of the court from the EFCC officials. However, when Justice Oshodi’s court rose, Ofili-Ajumogobia was apprehended at 11:47 am by some EFCC officials, who whisked her away in a white hilux van with an Abuja number plate.
EFCC subsequently explained that it made the arrest in order to file a fresh criminal charge against her.
SaharaReporters can now confirm that Ofili-Ajumogobia will be arraigned on fresh charges bordering on money laundering and other related offences, before justice Rilwan Aikawa at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday.
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target=_blank>Court Orders Arrest Of Dan Etete, Adoke Over $2.1bn Malabu Scam
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Jabi, Abuja, has ordered the arrest of Mohammed Adoke(SAN), the immediate-past Attorney-General of the Federation; Dan Etete, the Minister of Petroleum resources under General Sani Abacha, the late military Dictator, and four others.
The six are named in the charges filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in relation to the $2.1bn Malabu oil scam.
The other four affected by court’s warrant issued on Wednesday are Raph Wezels, Casula Roberto, Pujato Stefeno and Burrato Sebastino, and Aliyu Abubakar.
Justice Senchi issued the arrest warrant against the suspects following an ex-parte application by the EFCC on Wednesday.
The commission, through its lawyer, Aliyu Yusuf, informed the judge that the suspects had been at large ever since 2016 and 2017 that it filed two sets of charges against them before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
According to the EFCC, the charges bordered on fraudulent allocation of the Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL 245) and money laundering involving the sum of about $1.2bn, forgery of bank documents, bribery and corruption.
The alleged $1.2bn scam had spanned three successive administrations in the history of Nigeria. It involved the transfer of the OPL 245 purportedly from Malabu Oil and Gas Limited to Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Co. Limited and Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited.
The three companies are defendants in the charges pending before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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target=_blank>BREAKING: Senate Passes Seven Bills Rejected By Buhari
The Senate has passed seven of the at least 16 bills rejected so far this year by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The bills are the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Bill, National Research and Innovation Council Bill, Stamp Duties Act (Amendment) Bill, National Agricultural Seed Council Bill, Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill.
Buhari had expressed reservations about the constitutionality of passing the bills into law, and therefore wrote the Senate to reconsider them.
The upper chamber also initiated moves to the override the President’s veto on the Fourth Alteration Bill No.28 — a constitutional amendment that seeks to mandate the President and state governors to present annual budget estimates before legislature at most three months to the end of a financial year. It also seeks to encourage early presentation and passage of Appropriation Bills.
The President had rejected the bill, arguing that it didn’t capture the provisions of Section 58(4) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
With the Industrial Development Amendment Bill, which, if passed, will enable companies expand their operations in pioneer industry or product to apply for a new pioneer status, the President had declined, saying assenting to it would interfere with ongoing inter-ministerial consultations.
However, even though the Senate had listed both bills — the Fourth Alteration Bill No.28 and the Industrial Development Amendment Bill — in its Order Paper for the day as meant to be overruled. However, the two bills were not considered at the end of plenary.
SaharaReporters had reported exactly a week ago that a clash was brewing between the executive and the legislature in the about-to-expire life of the current political dispensation, as the Senate had resolved to overrule the President’s veto on two bills.
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target=_blank>16 Hours Of Agony With Arik Airline By Adewale Adeoye
One of Arik’s A340 jets
Act one Scene 1
If Arik Airline is owned by a Nigerian military despot and operating under a totalitarian regime, I would not have bothered. We have had democracy since 1999. A child born at that period is no longer a baby.
Go with me: Now, I have had agonizing stories from Nigerians at the Airport. Last week Thursday, it was my turn. My tormentor was Arik Airline.
The nightmare began on Tuesday. Arik had postponed the flight from Lagos to Abuja which had messed up my scheduled appointment in Abuja. At the airport, I boarded three hours behind schedule. This was after riotous encounters with unsolicited ‘corporate thugs’ who would collect the ticket slip, rush to the Arik counter and bring back the boarding pass. Passengers would slip some money into their palms.
We left around 3pm. As the balloon staggered into the sky, I looked down at Lagos from some 10,000 feet above. There were no announcements of safety measure. I even felt as comfortable as one inside a Lagos BRT bus. Just a little difference. Maybe Lagos BRT appears better, unlike Arik, where you need a hand fan, if you must board.
Act 1 Scene 2
Abuja: After encounters with Comrade Femi Falana, NLC President Wabba and an exceptional Assistant Inspector General of Police, (AIG), Ogunwade at the Rockview Hotel where we had a workshop on corruption, I took a walk across the city in the scorching sunlight. I had a deep sleep. I had booked 9am flight for the day of departure. It was the same chaotic scene. Hangers-on, jesters, airline officials flipping their phones as they attended to customers, people jumping the queue, workers sitting in filthy circles to weigh-in travellers bags and then a counter filled with noise makers. I made it to the departure hall some 40 minutes to the dot. Arik announced flight to Lagos, later. We rushed to the line. An official came and said “Not yet. The flight just arrived from Lagos.’ That was after 9am. I was sitting there with others when after about 40 minutes I went back to the Arik counter: “Oh, the flight just left.” He had a stern face as if my probing further would draw a punch in the nose. “What should I do” Him: “Go downstairs” I asked again: “To do What?.” Him: “Just go downstairs” He was already walking away.
Act 2 Scene 1
Downstairs to the Arik counter I proceeded. “Yes. You missed your flight!” He said, shrugging his shoulders. He collected the boarding pass and waved me aside as if dealing with a tiny fly.
“What should I do next?”
Him: “Wait till 6pm.” Yet, my luggage had been dispatched to Lagos.
Before I could utter a word, he was already prattling away with his colleagues, like Eye Ega, the tiny, noisy birds I grew up with in the village. Wait till 6pm. Wait till 6pm. The words hit my head constantly like a hammer. I went to another Arik official, he repeated the same thing:
“That’s the next flight. 6pm.” He dashed out of my sight. I felt lonely, like a rose trampled underfoot, ignored and rejected. Fear and mysticism took over me? Are some spirits from the village playing some pranks? Why me? Two postponements in one day?
I loitered at the airport, shuttling between Mama Angela’s bukateria and the port entrance waiting to see the tickling hands of the clock hit 6pm. When it was 4pm, I checked in again. This time, I glued to the Arik departure aisle. At some minutes after 6pm, a dark, strongly built man began to say in muffled tones:
“Arik, Lagos. Arik, Lagos” He sounded like a bus conductor on the Onitsha-Abalaliki route- or the one from Ikoro to Ijero in Ekiti State.
“Koro-Ijero; Koro-Ujero, lilo lilohin oo: ‘Arik, Lagos; Arik, Lagos.’
I dashed with the crowd. The children also scurried with their parents. There were no preferences for children. No preferences for the aged. No consideration for the physically challenged: “Arik, Lagos; Arik, Lagos.”
Act 2 Scene 2
The gate man took a sly look at my ticket.
“Hey! Which kin thing be this. You no go fly this PULANY OOO.”
Me: “What d’you mean?.”
I felt a dew of anger and rage settled on my nose tip. He shoved me aside:
“You didn’t check on yourself?”
What is the meaning of this: You didn’t check in yourself? What should I do:
Him: “Go downstairs.”
It sounded like asking me to walk into a furnace: Downstairs, the same sentence of guilt in the morning. Now I’m downstairs. The Arik official attending to me was speaking on phone conversing with someone else.
She would look at me and blink like “baby kingsway.” I had to knock her table to startle my presence. She glanced at my boarding pass and again waved me aside. I told her the problem.
“There’s nothing I can do. Wait till 9am tomorrow.” Contempt and hate wrapped her, then a thick air of pomposity. She shifted her gaze to another customer. There was no communication, no information, no logical engagement except some brutish, beastly posture.
Me: “Did you hear me? I have been at this airport since 9am. I didn’t miss my flight. The flight missed me. I was at the airport, at the departure. If I had missed the flight, I expected my name to be announced if I was not seen inside the aircraft.”
She looked at me conspiratorially: “Go and meet the other table.” I dashed to the table nearby. Another combative lady. She looked at me, not uttering a word. She just waved me back to the same lady, the way you would treat your bingo.
The lady said “Go and meet the manager.” There was no indication on who the manager was and where his or office was. A man directed me to a cubicle nearby. Some ladies and men were caged in. The place was a little better than a police barrack. I felt a disgusting, putrid, foul smell. I had to endure.
“You missed your flight? Eh! Go and pay money now.”
I challenged her: “ When you postponed my flight, did you pay me any money?” She shrugged, a kind of gesture that one could write a whole book: What’s my business with that; you can go to hell; what the hell can you do; we have your scrotum in our palms, you can’t do nothing; we are the boss here, you are nobody.
“Next time, ask questions”
Me: If I didn’t ask questions, I did I come here? If I didn’t ask questions, why was I told to come by 6pm for the flight?” She feigned busy, took her phone and began to converse in her dialect.
One arrogant fellow behind beckoned to me: “Yah maney na 11 thaison and 219 naira.”
So I should pay 11,219 naira? At this moment, not missing the 6pm flight was the biggest challenge. I pulled my wallet and paid.
“I don’t have change,” the fellow snapped.
“You must give me my change,” I scowled.
“Let me go and find it.” The crook disappeared into the crowd. He left with my change, less than 100 naira but worth a million naira if the grain of faith in the episode is considered. It was a little thing, but there is always a huge element of faith as big as monument in every distrust. I wanted my change. Arik would not have collected its own money less one naira. This attitude by Arik is nothing but corporate banditry. The workers behave as if the success of the enterprise meant nothing to them. They acted as if Arik had no public image they should preserve of guide jealously. They were full of contempt and irredeemably nasty. I wondered if they never had any training in public relations. I left for the departure hall without my change. The 6pm flight was gone. “Go wait till 10pm” Can you imagine. I stood there, fuming. There was no sense of remorse. I do not know how a country can develop where humans are treated like cockroaches on the sidewalk by profiteers whose wealth depends on our sweat. While waiting for my flight, cancellation of another airline flight was announced. I overheard two victims lamenting as they filed on a line from the departure hall. He was saying aloud: I”d rather stay inside the airport than to be lodged five people in a room.”
We took after later, with the aircraft sounding like an old Bedford lorry. Some passengers already had their hand fans to deal with the indoor heat. The attendant made matters worse when he came to me: “You are sitting at the exit door. In case of emergency, pull the red knob. If you land on water, use the so and so.” I told my inner self: “Go back from me, you devil !!!.”
I didn’t get home until 1.30 am, after 16 hours of torture for a one hour journey. I’m still wondering how a country that hopes to meet (not global standards) West African standards will have airlines who are the country’s first rubbish the nation and even pour faeces on her humanity.
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BREAKING: To Raise Policing To ‘Globally Acceptable Standards’, Senate Passes Police Reform Bill
The Nigerian Senate has passed the Police Reform Bill, 2019, following consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs at Wednesday’s plenary.
The report was presented by Senator Tijjanj Kaura, after Senator Gbenga Ashafa had urged the upper chamber to look at what the bill stands for and Senator Mao Ohuabunwa seconded it.
Among many other things, the bill seeks the establishment of a service-oriented and modern Police that will meet globally acceptable policing standards in a democratic setting.
It also seeks to modernise the current Police Force (which was conceptualised and established in the Colonial environment to protect colonial interests) as one geared towards protecting and safeguarding the lives and properties of Nigerian citizens.
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