• Says continued abductions of girls cannot go on unchecked

The International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA Nigeria has questioned how Nigeria can possibly achieve success in advocacy for the future of the girl-child with the continued and unchallenged abductions of females in various institutions of learning across the nation.

FIDA in a statement signed by its Country Vice-President, Amina Agbaje in commemoration of the 2023 International Day of the Girl-Child said the persistence of violence, exploitation, and other ills in the society has robbed many girls of the chance of blossoming into their full potential.

The full text of the statement reads:

FIDA Nigeria solemnly reflects on the theme of the 2023 International Day of the Girl-Child, “Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-being”. This resonates profoundly as it underscores the harsh realities faced by too many girls globally. It is a stark reminder of the countless girls who grapple with daily violations of their rights worldwide, stifled leadership potentials, and extremely precarious well-being. Overt discrimination, violence, exploitation, still persists, robbing them of the chance to blossom into their full potential. In a world which is meant to nurture their dreams and aspirations, countless girls instead suffer in silence, their pleas for help often going unheard and unanswered.

In Nigeria, safeguarding the rights of the girl-child remains an uphill battle. Despite existing laws aimed at protecting these rights, numerous girls still face countless barriers such as lack of access to education, early and forced marriages, gender discrimination, and indeed abuse and heightened violence in various forms. The gap between legislative promise and stark reality continues to widen, casting a dark shadow over the futures of these vulnerable young lives.

Sadly, as the call for increased access to education and other opportunities for the girl-child is reaching a crescendo, there has been relentless attacks on the future of the girl-child through series of abductions and kidnappings. These have become rife and somewhat of a daily occurrence. Just recently, on the 22nd of September 2023, a large number of armed bandits invaded the hotels of undergraduates of the Federal University Gusau, Zamfara state and abducted an unspecified number of female students! Such ugly and disastrous occurrences have become one too many.

How do we advocate for the future of the girl-child and the need for qualitative education so she can fully achieve her potential, meanwhile barbarians masquerading under the garb of terror, continue to shatter these dreams and obliterate the future of these girls via unchallenged kidnappings carried out with impunity at schools and institutions of learning across the Nation.

This cannot be allowed to continue!

An investment in the girl-child has tremendous impact on any society, as an empowered and educated woman has the power to educate the whole family and indeed change the trajectory of nation building! Success stories of Nigerian girls who were invested into, with respect to education and given the right enabling environment to positively impact their generation, abound. Girls like 13 year old Nigerian born Emmanuella Mayaki who was the youngest person to be accepted into a university in the United States of America having achieved excellent proficiency in Microsoft programs at age  , or 16 year old Esther Okade, a Nigerian-British genius who bagged her PhD in Financial mathematics and had enrolled into a UK university at age 10, and Folafoluwa Oginni who won best student in WAEC at age 17 and became British University’s first Nigerian Valedictorian.

These few examples, are a clear testament to the tremendous potential embedded in the girl-child if properly harnessed. These girls grow up to become women like Hon. Justice Aloma Muktar. JSC (first female Chief Justice of Nigeria), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Director-General of the World Trade Centre), Amina Mohammed (Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations) to mention but a few.

FIDA Nigeria is making this urgent CALL TO ACTION for increased protection of the girl-child and calls on the Federal Government, all Security and Law Enforcement Bodies to confront head-on, the hydra headed scourge of terror, impoverishment, marginalization and disenfranchisement facing the girl-child. Government must lead the charge and move beyond rhetoric and speeches or half-hearted commitments and begin to take BOLD AND DICISIVE ACTIONS that will bring about needed changes. Civil Society organizations, Public and Private sectors, stakeholders and in truth all well-meaning individuals need to lend their voices to bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality.

FIDA Nigeria will continue to be a voice for the voiceless and stand as a beacon of hope for every girl. Despite formidable challenges, we remain resolute in our commitment to protect, promote and preserve the rights women and children. We shall continue to navigate legal complexities towards seeking redress and restitution for those who have suffered in silence as we envisage a world where the girl-child is an agent of change, free from terror and discrimination and allowed to soar to her fullest potential!

Together we must ensure that the girl-child enjoys the rights, leadership opportunities, and overawell-being that she rightfully deserves.

Signed

Amina Suzanah Agbaje, (Mrs.)

Country Vice President/National President

FIDA Nigeria

#Internationaldayofthegirlchild2023

#11thOctober

#Empowerthegirlchild

#protectthegirlchild

#genderparity

By IfeanyiChukwu Afuba

A public administration analyst, Mr. IfeanyiChukwu Afuba, has come down hard on the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC), saying the body has proved a major contributor to Nigeria’s governance crisis. 

Under the Third Schedule, Part 1 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) according to Afuba, the RMAFC is charged among other duties, with the power to review salaries of categories of public servants as well as revenue allocation formula.

But Afuba observed that the fiscal authority has been selective and self – serving in the approach to its constitutional mandate. 

He accused sets of RMAFC administrations from 1999 to date of  “harbouring the palace mentality” to issues of political office holders’ remuneration.

Speaking with journalists in Awka, Anambra State, the pubic affairs analyst said the RMAFC authorities had consistently ignored public outcry over unacceptable high earnings of elected officials and political appointees while glossing over the plight of States in the revenue allocation system.

“The Constitution mandates the Commission to determine remuneration appropriate for political office holders. Why have we seen only upward review of salaries by the Commission? Why  hasn’t any of the RMAFC regimes ever proposed reduction in the earnings of political office  holders?

“Recently, a kite was flown on pay raise for this same set of public servants by the Commission. This is coming in the face of protests by Nigerians over stupendous salaries and allowances enjoyed by  the political class in government. The national minimum wage of thirty thousand naira cannot buy a bag of rice. So it’s scandalous for the Commission to be considering upward review of emoluments for political office holders,” he said.

Afuba held that the policy of jumbo pay  for elective and appointive positions being implemented by RMAFC was at odds with the essence of public service.

“This practice is a declaration that the ruling elite are lords, rather than servants of the people. There’s a sense of entitlement propelling the financial awards. And, don’t forget that members of RMAFC, by extension, benefit from this special remuneration for political office holders.”

The public administration analyst  stressed on the negative ripple effects of such luxurious conditions of service. 

“The first fallout is obvious. You see it in the fierce battles to win elections. The second notable result is not so obvious but it’s a strong influence all the same. When you see associations like ASUU and NMA adamant on their demands on government, this is where they’re coming from –  the logic of precedent rule.”

Afuba called on the leadership of RMAFC to emulate the bold step of Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, who on assumption of office cut the salaries of political appointees by twenty – five percent. 

“Anambra is among the States with the lowest remuneration for political office holders. Every progressive Nigerian gives kudos to Soludo for that singular act because it sends a clear message that public office is an invitation to work, not to come and eat.”

The public administration practitioner lamented the short – changing of  States in fiscal benefits as a result of RMAFC’s inability to come up with an equitable revenue formula.

“Global best practices recognises States as the centres of development requiring greater funding but here we are, saddled with a “unitary” revenue system that allocates fifty – two percent of national income to the federal government at the expense of 36 States and 774 local governments. For the twenty – three years of the Fourth Republic, the RMAFC has failed to redress this skewed sharing law imposed by the military.” 

“What is worse is that even with their small share of national revenue, States are compelled by the demands of service delivery to bear federal responsibilities. Thus, States maintain federal roads; fund operations of the military, police etc and routinely support federal agencies in their States, whose heads never tire of pestering Governors to provide them with logistics.” 

Afuba concluded that Nigerians should demand performance  from RMAFC to facilitate good governance and development.

I don’t like parties. I don’t attend many and I find it very stressful organising one.

However, over the years, I have thought long and hard and concluded that there is one party that must hold every year.

Wedding anniversaries. Yes, couples must celebrate themselves and God’s favour each year their marriage remains intact.

The most fun part of a marriage is the beginning, the wedding ceremony. Right from when you step out of the venue, the challenges start. And there are a dozen of them. Some years are easier than others and there are times you are battling one demon or the other for a full decade. From fertility to prosperity issues; in-law hostilities to difficult children matters, there is usually no year without its marital challenges. For those who have been married for a while, there are times you think the waters would overwhelm you and then just on the brink of giving up, your marriage comes up for air and stays afloat.

After a while, the challenges become less challenging. Each bad patch leaves you stronger. That is why the Yoruba say that when a woman has been married for a long time, she becomes a ‘witch’. It is not that she joins a coven of red-wrapper-wearing blood-sucking demons; she simply becomes stronger by the year. When you throw stones at a wife for years, her palms get used to handling hard stuff and soon she can sing, cook and tie her ‘gele’ while juggling and dodging fiery darts.

The things couples go through. The pains they cover with a smile, a smart bow tie, perfect make-up. Marriage is serious business, major business. Forget all those books about how to make a marriage work; the manual that works for Jamila won’t work for Ebele. And every wife, every husband can write a new one. Check out the rate at which marriages are failing, the way couples separate, fight dirty right after staging 18-carat wedding parties and you’ll see why 365 days is a long time to still be wearing your wedding bands.

Girl, if you know how many older women want your husband and the number of desperate young girls who have taken his photographs to spiritual homes, you will not take your ‘Mrs’ title for granted.

Guys, if you know the number of richer and more powerful men who have moved for your impeachment as the husbands of your wives, you will hold the gavel better and celebrate the fact that you are not former husbands of your fine wives. The conspiracies are on-going concerns, trust me. Why do you think the divorce market is in bloom and marriages are in the doom zone?

So? My stand is let us celebrate wedding anniversaries every year. No, I don’t mean shut down the street every year but give each other a treat, spend a fun week or weekend away from all prying eyes and phone calls. Have fun, praise God for another year of His goodness.

Check out these three scenarios.

Our-wife-is-a-witch

Jamal was ordinarily a very healthy man. He rarely fell ill save for the occasional malaria and ‘appolo’ (conjunctivitis). But he woke up one morning feeling very weak. And then he slumped as he was getting into the car. He barely made it to the hospital. The hospital ran tests and more tests, from full blood count to MRI and CT scan. They found nothing. Joke, his wife of five years wept until she ran out of tears. Joke and Jamal had a good marriage but no children after five years of conscientious hard word behind closed doors. So, of course, all kinds of thoughts ran through her head. Was this the end? Who would love her like her Jamal? She called him MJ (My Jamal). Who would give her the little Jamals she had always longed for since their NYSC days? They moved from hospital to hospital but all the tests and the doctors could not find anything beyond malaria parasites. Joke watched as her six-footer husband shrank and faded before her eyes.

But that was just the beginning of Joke’s pain. The real troubles started when Jamal’s family decided that Joke was the witch who wanted Jamal for dinner.

What do you expect from a barren wife? What has she got to lose?

Exactly! She is a witch and since there is no child to donate at their evil meetings, Jamal is now her only option.

Well, that means she has no option. The only one who will die is this evil wife.

She doesn’t know who we are. We will show her where we are from.

And so on and so forth.

If Jamal died, Joke would die. Jamal got worse. Jamal’s family got more vicious. Joke’s family rallied round her, flew Jamal abroad for further treatment. Eight weeks later, Jamal returned to Nigeria. On his feet. While in the hospital in America, the couple discovered that Joke was pregnant. She’d missed her period just before Jamal fell ill and thought she was just late. And then the weeks of shuttling between hospitals and diagnostic centres and raising money for hospital bills blotted out all thoughts of her menstrual cycle from her head until she passed out in her husband’s ward in the US. The results showed she was 12 weeks gone. The concerned siblings of Jamal noticed Joke’s thickening waist and heavier breasts….

In one year, Joke was threatened with widowhood, accused of witchcraft, frightened beyond words, moved from being a ‘barren wife’ to being the mother of JJ (Jamal Jnr).

Isn’t that a year to celebrate, really celebrate? Why should a wedding anniversary like that go without some partying?

The ‘sonless’ wife

All Mena wanted were two children. She had hoped that she would get a boy and a girl and get on with her cosmetology business which she was hoping to put on hold for the children’s early years. Mena had two beautiful girls in quick succession. She was happy and sad. She decided to ‘accidentally’ let a third one happen. She prayed, fasted, went to prayer mountains, had vigils for the third to be a boy. But it was another pretty little girl. Her husband had never minced words about having a son.

To cut a long story short, Jude impregnated two other women in a desperate search for a male child but his production line seemed only capable of churning out only female babies. Each outside match Jude played threatened the marriage in many ways. Mena was totally stressed and had resigned herself to fate, waiting for the day she would be promoted to first wife when Jude knocked her up again. It was the longest nine months of the couple’s lives. Mena refused to have a scan. The day she was delivered of her twin boys, she cried and cried. The doctor had to sedate her.

Banke had a closer shave with divorce. Her husband was actually ‘stolen’ for three years by a richer big babe who wanted to marry by-fire-by force. For those three long years, Banke didn’t know if she was Miss, Ms or Mrs. One day, Tunji strolled back home from his sabbatical, with only the shirt on his back. Big babe was done with him. That was 10 years ago. Today, Banke and Tunji value their marriage more than ever.

These three instances illustrate some of the rough patches that put marriages asunder. And if yours is still standing, celebrate it, celebrate yourselves.

This is dedicated to all marriages and couples that are still standing, against all odds.

[email protected].

A former Nigerian senator’s wife, Tamara Ogembe been sentenced to 22 years in prison by a United States federal court for healthcare fraud and money laundering.

The 45-year-old Tamara Ogembe, wife of ex-Senator Ahmed Ogembe that represented Kogi Central Senatorial District from 2015 to 2019 at the Senate was found guilty in June 2023 on 20 counts of healthcare fraud, 2 counts of aggravated identity theft, and 1 count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Prosecutors revealed that from 2006 to 2014, Mrs. Ogembe was the de facto owner of a medical equipment company named Action Medical Equipment and Supplies based in Hawthorne, California. From 2013 to 2016, she also owned another company Kaja Medical Equipment & Supply in Ventura.

The companies were used to defraud Medicare by submitting claims for unnecessary durable medical equipment like power wheelchairs and repairs that were never done. Over 8 years, Action Medical billed Medicare over $18 million while Kaja billed $6.3 million.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. sentenced Mrs. Ogembe to 20 years for healthcare fraud, and 2 years consecutively for identity theft, amounting to a total of 22 years in federal prison. She has also been ordered to pay full restitution.

Senator Ahmed Ogembe has denied any knowledge or involvement in his wife’s fraudulent schemes.

The case demonstrates the U.S. government’s commitment to prosecuting healthcare fraud, including by relatives of foreign politicians.

A Nigerian Army Special Court-martial sitting in Abuja on Tuesday, October 10, sentenced a former Group Managing Director, Nigerian Army Properties Limited, Maj. Gen. Umar Mohammed, to seven years imprisonment for stealing the sum of $2,178,900 and N1.65 billion belonging to the Nigerian Army Property Limited (NAPL).

Mohammed was sentenced after the court found him guilty of 14 count charges out of 18 count charges brought before the court, bordering on forgery, misappropriation of funds, and conspiracy among others.

At the resumed sitting on Tuesday where the judgment was given, the eight-man panel led by Maj.-Gen. James Myam stated that the convicted senior military officer was found guilty in 14 out of 18 charges.

Myam said that count one was brought under section 383(1) of the Criminal Code Act Cap c38 law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and punishable under section 390 (7),  adding the charge was also brought pursuant to section 114 of the armed forces Act Cap A20 2004.

The charges and sentence are:

Count 1: Stealing 5 years imprisonment, and to return a total sum of 1,045,400.000 dollars to NA

Count 2: Stealing 5 years imprisonment.  480,000 dollars to NA

Count 3: Stealing 5 years imprisonment and relying on secti0 85,400 dollars to NA

Count 4: Stealing 5 years imprisonment and returning the sum of 35,300 dollars only to NA Properties

Count 5: Stealing 5 years imprisonment and to return the sum of 55,500 dollars to NA Pr

Count 6: Stealing and is sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and 174 of the Armed Forces Act cap 8 120 shall pay 46,500 dollars only to NA

Count 7 Criminal conspiracy to commit forgery (Not Guilty) Discharged and acquitted of

Court 8: Forgery (Guilty) sentenced to 7 years imprisonment.

Count 9: Offence is theft and is guilty and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.. The special court-martial relying on 174 Ordered 430,800 dollars to NAPL.

Count 10: Conspiracy to forge document (Not Guilty) discharged and acquitted on count 10

Count 11: Forgery (Not Guilty) discharged and acquitted

Count 12: Conduct prejudice on discipline and he is guilty and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.

Count 13: Theft sentenced to 5 years imprisonment shall pay 74,000,000 naira only

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Count 14: Criminal misappropriation and he is guilty. And sentenced to 2 years imprisonment and ordered 590,000,000 naira to NCC NAPIl

Count 15: Criminal misappropriation and he is guilty and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment and rely on 174 AFN. 255,000,000/to NCC NAPIL

Count 16: Criminal misappropriation and he is guilty and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment and the special count 174. Pay 559,172,000 naira to NCC

Count 17: Criminal misappropriation and he is found not guilty of count 17

Count18: Criminal misappropriation and the accused found Guilty and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment and ordered shall pay 172,000,000 naira to FCC NAPL

The panel explained that the prosecution counsels called 24 witnesses, while the defendant called two witnesses.

S

The panel, thereafter, in its judgment ordered that the convicted senior officer be jailed for 5 years each for some of the offences while some others carried 7 and 2 years respectively.

The court explained that the sentences would run concurrently, and directed that he should refund funds into the account of NAPL.

Myam explained that the sentences were subject to the confirmation of “confirming authority”.

Before the sentence, Mohammed had been in a Military detention facility at Mogadishu cantonment, Abuja where he spent years.

The Defence Counsel, Lekan Ojo (SAN), made an oral application that the convicted senior officer being moved to Kuje Correctional Facility but was denied by the court.

The Nation