National Assembly Will Investigate Crisis in South-east

1. Following the clash between the military and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), I hereby call for calm and restraint by all Nigerians so that we would all jointly find the right solution to the current problem rather than worsening the crisis.

2. Our brothers and sisters in the South-east, in particular, should continue to maintain peace and tranquility and go about their lawful business. This crisis will not benefit anybody but would only expose innocent people to unwarranted danger.

3. At this point, Nigerians outside the South-east who have worked to ensure that the crisis does not spread to other parts of the country deserve our commendation. I therefore call for continued efforts to sustain peace, unity and stability in all our communities so as to ensure that all residents, no matter their religion, tribe and creed remain protected and safe under the law.

4. It is also important that commentators and purveyors of information on all media platforms should be conscious of the need, at all times, to maintain the unity of the country. Therefore, they must refrain from circulating information that has the potential for aggravating the crisis. We should all realize, as individuals and as a collective, that Nigeria is all we have and it is in our individual and collective interests that we do not stoke the fire of crisis and fan the ember of discord through the message we are spreading. We must all protect and strengthen our country rather than contributing to her collapse and disintegration.

5. I also wish to state that the announcement of the proscription of the group known as Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by Governors of the South-east states and the categorization of the group as a 'terrorist organisation' by the Nigerian military are unconstitutional and does not follow due process. Our laws make clear provisions for taking such actions and without the due process being followed, such declaration cannot have effect. I am sure the President will do the needful by initiating the right process. This will go a long way in demonstrating to the world at large that we are a country that operate by laid down process under every circumstance. So, those who have been hammering on this point should maintain their cool.

6. We must commend the military for their efforts in restoring peace to different parts of the country and sustaining the unity of the country. However, in the face of provocation, the military should allow themselves to be guided by their training which emphasizes respect for human rights, even in war. Also, giving the nature of this particular situation, the military has every reason to be hesitant in the use of force.

7. Also, it is my view that we should not over-stretch the military. We need to protect our military against dissipation of their fighting strength. And this means we need to strengthen the police and equip them with the capacity to deal with civil crisis. That is why we, in the aNational Assembly, are already reviewing the Police Act and also looking at the possibility of enabling other para-military agencies to help in curbing civil unrest and maintenance of law and order.

8. I want to also make it clear that the National Assembly intends to embark on a fact-finding investigation aimed at determining what actually happened during the period of the military exercise in the South-east. We want to be able to sift the facts from the fiction and determine who did what. It is quite clear that all the facts are not yet known. We assure Nigerians that there will be no cover up. We intend to lay the facts bare.

9. On a long term, we want to remind Nigerians that the reason for embarking on constitution review by the National Assembly was to enable us look into issues that are agitating the minds of Nigerians and creating tension among us. We have promised that the exercise would be continuous. We intend to keep that promise by further taking decisions that would strengthen and improve on our structures. The Eighth National Assembly, on resumption, will play its constitutional role by addressing all those issues that are agitating the minds of our people and over which they feel so strong. I appeal to all our people to always direct their grievances to the right channels.

10. Let me further reiterate the need for all leaders of thought -political. religious and traditional- to continue to engage with our people on the need to maintain peace and be our brothers' keepers.

Signed
Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, CON
President of the Senate
September 18, 2017

Ikpeazu dedicates Abia's 26th anniversary to late Bob Ogbuagu

The Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu has dedicated the 26th anniversary celebrations of the state to one of its founding fathers, Chief Bob Ogbuagu, OON, who recently passed on at the age of 93. In a release signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Enyinnaya Appolos, Governor Ikpeazu described the late Dee Bob Ogbuagu as a major driving force of the state. "I dedicate the celebration of this year’s Abia Day to our just departed foremost father and elder statesman, Sir Bob Ogbuagu (Dee Bob). "He was a major driving force of this event over several years under the aegis of the Abia State Elders Advisory Council and today, I am sad that he is not here with us as he has been over the years. "I extend my deepest condolences to his family and assure them that the loss of Dee Bob is not theirs alone but that of the entire State who have lost an icon and a father. May his beautiful soul rest in perfect peace. The doyen of Africa’s Public Relations practitioners who was the President Emeritus of the Federation of African Public Relations Associations (FAPRA now APRA) remained an indomitable PR guru to his last days on earth and also served as a the Deputy Chairman (Administration) of Abia State Elders Advisory Council.

 

Dee Ogbuagu’s media career spans the broad communication experience in advertising, public relations and newspaper production. After working for John Holt Ltd in 1947, he ventured into journalism and became the publisher and editor of Northern Advocate, a newspaper that was based in Jos. It was there that he joined the Zikist Movement.

The erudite and ever jovial Ogbuagu, armed with qualifications from prestigious institutions abroad, held top positions in the then Eastern Region, the East Central and old Imo states. He was a press officer with the Eastern Region Development Corporation from where he launched himself into public relations, the profession that was after his heart. Cumulatively, he invested more than 63 years in those professions. Dee Bob was later seconded to the Central Office of Information in London to create public awareness during the civil war. Chief Ogbuagu was remarkable in government and outstanding in Public Relations and other social engagements. He was formerly the president of the Institute of Public Relations in Nigeria, president and founder of the Federation of African Public Relations and one and only FAPRA President Emeritus. He was also a member of the British Institute of Public Relations, Arab Public Relations Association, Nigerian Institute of Directors and Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) who held six different traditional titles. He was also listed in Who is Who in 1980-1981; 1987-1988; and in the Commonwealth (1982); in Africa (1987); and in Nigeria (1990) In 1995, Dee Ogbuagu at 70 years old accepted the challenge to be Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of Champion Newspapers Ltd and held that position for about 10 years. Ogbuagu was also a director of many companies, including Nigeria Glass Industry in Port Harcourt, Hotel Presidential, Golden Guinea, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Luncheon Vouchers (Nig) Ltd, and Eric Advertising. Born at Okaiuga Umuahia in Abia State, Dee Bob is married to Madam Cecilia Chinyere Ogbuagu and they have six children, three men and three women as well as many grand children. May his great soul Rest In Peace. Enyinnaya Appolos Chief Press Secretary to the Governor 26/08/2017

Only Mr Otti, the self-styled astute banker, seems not to know that states have long been stopped from borrowing from commercial banks at the prevailing double digits interest rates… Enyinnaya Appolos Chief Press Secretary to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu state the facts.

The Chief Press Secretary while reacting to Mr Otti’s assertion said that “A review of the contents of the document he circulated reveals a man who is either plain ignorant or full of deceit, as the press release contained outright lies, half-truths, contradictions and conjectures.”

Enyinnaya further described Mr Otti as an “acclaimed misinformer”, who wrote that Abia State Government received N5.3b Paris fund refund and Mr Obinna Oriaku the Abia State Commissioner for Finance told the citizens that he needed N700m to clear outstanding salaries and pensions.

Enyinnaya went ahead to reveal that “while the statement is expected from an unreal character who spreads misinformation as a hobby, it is important to state that when the state received the first tranche of Paris Club refunds totaling N10.6b, the Governor approached the state house of assembly to approve the investment of 50% of the funds on outstanding salaries, as suggested by the presidency, with the remaining 50% allocated to infrastructure development projects. It was on that basis that the state house of assembly approved the following expenditure in December 2016. The details are as follows: N5.3 billion on Salary arrears and pensions, N1.7 billion for road construction projects, N2.5 billion on bridges, N685 million on Hospital projects and N200 million for street lighting projects.

Labour leaders later approached the Governor to add N700m to the allocated N5.3b to ensure that the available funds are spread to more units of the state's civil service, and the Governor graciously accepted. At no time did either Labour or the Commissioner for Finance claim that the N700m was what was needed to clear all outstanding.

As at today, all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) in Abia State, constituting more than 70% of the state workforce, have received July salaries. Given that we are currently in August, it should be noted that more than 70% of the state's workforce are 100% on salaries. Yet there are still challenges that were not met with the received funds. The already issued payment mandates were not enough to cover the following salary arrears within the state workforce: primary school teachers still have 2 months’ salary outstanding while secondary schools teachers have 3 months. Local Government workers have 2 months outstanding with 5 months for pensioners while state pensioners have 6 months outstanding.

When the state applied for the second tranche of Paris club refunds, it was calculated that based on verifiable figures the state will receive a minimum of N15b. Given the available data that showed that outstanding salary and pensions stood at around N13b, the Governor who was eager and committed to paying off all workers outstanding declared without prompting that once the inflows, expected before end of July 2017, is received his government will clear all the outstanding salaries and pensions.

Sadly, the Federal Government only released N5.715b to Abia State with the balance still expected. Yet eager to do the greatest good to the greatest number of workers, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu directed the Labour-dominated committee to apply all the received money to payment of salary and pension arrears. Whereas the federal government recommended that states apply 70% to salary/pension outstanding and 30% to infrastructure development projects.”

Chijioke Nwakodo gave everything for Abia says Ikpeazu

 Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has described his late Chief of Staff, Chief Chijioke Nwakodo, as the engine room of his administration who gave everything for Abia State.
Governor Ikpeazu said this when he paid a condolence visit to the family house of the late Chief Nwakodo at Ndume Ibeku in Umuahia. Signing the condolence register, Governor Ikpeazu wrote: "This will perhaps be my most difficult assignment as a Governor. To have to write this for my brother, friend, leader, and compatriot. A man, so pure and hearty, so loving and caring. Chiji, you gave your all for our dear state and I assure you that your effort will not go in vain. My Caesar, my Cicero, my hero is gone, when will another come?

"You live in our hearts and on behalf of Abia State and my family, Rest in the bosom of your maker, who you loved and served. Adieu Nwannem"

Governor Ikpeazu who was received at the family house by Chief Obidike Nwakodo expressed sadness at the death of his friend and associate who died at a United Kingdom hospital on Thursday 10th of August 2017. "The news of the demise of my brother and friend, came as a shock to me. Never imagined such at this time", he said. He described the death of Chief Nwakodo as "a very damaging blow to Abia State Government and people, Ndigbo and all progressive minded individuals in Nigeria". According to Governor Ikpeazu, "Chijioke was committed and fearless in the fight for those things he considered fair. He was there for the common people. His efforts to write a good story is well known to everybody.

"He threw in his money, resources and intellect to support this present administration. He was an engine room upon which this administration came on board. The bullets I could not take, Chijioke took, he fought like a lion to his last breathe. He died for the state . "We will mourn and cry because there is a big vacuum to fill. It is difficult to duplicate his courage and vigor in fighting for the things he believed in. But there is hope here after. I will not tell anybody not to cry but whatever be the circumstance, he has left responsibilities on all our shoulders. The only way to immortalize him is to do all those things he would've wished to be done if he were alive."

In his response, Chief Obidike Nwakodo thanked the Governor for all he did for their late brother including taking care of him while he was ill and showing confidence him all through. He expressed the sadness of the family and assured the Governor that "we will all work hard to ensure that the legacies left by Chijioke are not erased" Enyinnaya Appolos Chief Press Secretary to the Governor 15/08/2017

Abia: Payment of outstanding salaries ongoing

Following the submission of the report of the Labour Unions dominated Committee charged with the disbursement of the N5.715b London Paris Club loan refund to Abia State, the Government has commenced payment of outstanding salaries to affected Abia workers.

It will be recalled that in anticipation of the Paris Club refunds Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had promised to settle all outstanding workers salary with the inflow which was initially expected to be around N14b. Unfortunately, Abia State only received N5.715b from the federal Government, which was far below the projected outstanding wage bill of around N13b.

But in keeping with his desire to ensure early end to the outstanding salary challenge in the state, Governor Ikpeazu directed the committee to apply all the N5.715b to settle, as much as possible, the outstanding salaries of the 24,000 state and 14,000 LGA workers in Abia State.

The committee completed its work last week and after reviews by the Governor he authorized additional funds from the state's allocation to be added to ensure that more benefits accrue to the hardworking Abia workers and pensioners.

Payment warrants have been released by the Commisioner for finance, Mr Obinna Oriaku, with many of the affected workers already receiving "gbagam" alerts since last week. Others are receiving this week.

NOTES:

1. The money received as Paris Loan refund was not enough to clear all the salary and pension arrears in the state. Abia was expecting N14b but got only N5.715b.

2. MDAs
As at today, payment warrants have been released for salaries of all MDAs in the state and they are now on 100% compliance

Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Abia State Government have effectively received July 2017 salaries.

*MDAs make up 70% of the state work force and they no longer have arrears, as at today.

3. LGA Workers
Local Government Workers had 4 months outstanding going into this process but have received 2 months payment warrants.

It is important to note that ordinarily the state govt shouldn't have bothered as the LGAs are on their own. But the Governor considered the fact that the current LGA executives inherited the outstanding and the workers are Abians.

*There are about 14,000 workers at our 17 LGAs.

4. Teachers

There are 2 categories of teachers in Abia state: primary school and secondary school teachers.

The salaries and pensions of primary school teachers are statutorily the responsibilities of local governments. It is that of secondary schools that the state pays.

Yet the Governor made an intervention with primary (4 months) and secondary (6 months) school teachers outstanding.
It is now confirmed that secondary school teachers have received 3 months salary warrants while primary school teachers received 2 months.

*Abia is left with only 3 months outstanding for secondary school teachers and 2 months for primary school teachers.

5. Pensions
There are two categories of pensioners with outstanding issues: local government (7 months) and state (8months) pensioners.

Both categories received 2 months payment warrants. Meaning that the state still owe pension arrears of 5 or 6 months respectively.

6. ABIAPOLY, ABSUTH & ABSU

These 3 institutions are revenue generating and by the law setting them up permitted to use their financial resources to pay their workers. As support, aimed at bridging any gap in revenue, the state pays subventions to the schools.

Clearly these institutions have not been properly managed, historically, and going into this process Abiapoly had 6 months outstanding while ABSUTH had 7.
I am not sure of the situation with ABSU but can confirm that Abiapoly and ABSUTH received warrants to pay off 2 months outstanding each. ABSU also received warrants to cover 2 months back pay.

7. HMB, COED and COHS

Again these are revenue generating institutions that ordinarily should use their IGR to pay their workers as at when due.

Health management Board (4 months) is in charge of the state hospitals that make money from patients while College of Education Arochukwu (7 months outstanding) and College of Health Aba (6 months) collect revenue from students as school fees and have other IGR sources. Why should there be unpaid wages at those institutions?

Well, they got money from this exercise to settle at least one month of their outstanding.

The management of the institutions should do more to sort out all issues related to workers salaries. Revenue generating institutions are expected to prioritize workers salary over any other expenditure.

8. ASUBEB and Abia Newspaper

Abia State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB) went into this process with 3 months outstanding while Abia Newspapers had 4 months outstanding.

They have received warrants for one month back pay each.

In summary, Abia achieved 100% of the Governor's target with MDAs that make up 70% of the state's workforce but couldn't hit same with all the others before the end of the July 31st set date.

The Commissioner for Finance, Mr Obinna Oriaku, is working very hard, under the guidance of Governor Ikpeazu, to ensure that other remaining outstanding are quickly zeroed out as targeted.

But it is important to note that Abia State is carrying the heaviest wage bill in the South East region. It is also the state with the highest non indigenous workers population in the region. Governor Ikpeazu is determined not to sack any genuine worker or slash salaries.

Governor Ikpeazu's target is to quietly remove all ghosts and those with fake credentials from the payroll, improve state IGR above monthly wage bill level and properly deploy all workers to ensure that everyone is productive and contributing to growth and prosperity of Abia State.

If anyone needed proof of the Governor's commitment and determination to defeat the outstanding salary challenge in the state, the person only needs to note that he willingly sacrificed N5.715b that belongs to 5m Abians for the exclusive settlement of 38,000 workers in the state. In fact he added to the N5.7b Paris Club Refunds he received to get to the point stated in this dispassionate report.

Thank you.

JOK

DR. IKPEAZU BACK TO ESUT

 Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, the Abia State governor was earlier today distinguished as the special guest of the 27th Inaugural Lecture of Enugu State University, ESUT.  The Lecture Titled: “Insects and Man: The Battle for Supremacy and the Emergence of Truce; And Doing More” had Prof. Dr. Doris U. Umeh who was Governor Ikpeazu’s mentor as the Inaugural Lecturer.

The Vice Chancellor Prof. Luke Okechukwu Anike, the Inaugural Lecturer Prof Ethel-Doris N. Umeh and the entire ESUT community were elated to welcome back their own; Governor Ikpeazu who served as the pioneer Head of Department of Biochemistry of ESUT and at that time, he was the only Ph.D holder in that department. 

The lecture venue; Prof. Julius Onah Auditorium, ESUT Agbani, was filled to capacity with very important guests of the school, lecturers, students and host of others. It will be an error, failing to report that Governor Ikpeazu and his entourage were overwhelmed by  love and affection shown to them  by the host academic community. 

 

We are Back.

Henceforth, it is going to fun all the way.

We will not be scared of treading on controversies and boiling issues. 

We will be here with our “own” expressions. But we are not promising to please everybody.

KEEP IN TOUCH