Nigeria needs a stubborn electoral commission –Iwu

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Maurice Iwu, yesterday said Nigeria requires a “stubborn” electoral commission for the country to succeed in its socio- political development.

Iwu who spoke at the 2009 Better Society Lecture organised by Champion Newspapers entitled “2011: Political Behaviour and the Future of Elections in Nigeria”, said

“When an individual exists, as is still found these days, who single-handedly picks all candidates for a political party in all elections, the views and preferences of majority of party members notwithstanding, the grief for democracy becomes apparent. Nigeria therefore needs a stubborn electoral commission to succeed.”

He decried what he called the concept of African big man when individuals become “a lord whose word is law and to whom all those around him must bow in Nigerian politics”. Although he acknowledged that the electoral system needed reform, he insisted that the problems that had dogged Nigerian elections over the years were steeped in personal indiscipline and inordinate ambition of political players rather than the available laws.

Senate President, David Mark, in his remark said the INEC chairman is the not the cause of the nation’s electoral woes and challenged politicians who have Iwu’s signature on their certificates of return to resign first before calling for his head.

“Every elected politician that has Iwu’s signature of his certificate of return and wants Iwu removed should resign first before calling for his head. Iwu is not the problem of the nation’s electoral woes but our attitude, the electoral act is not the problem we should change our mindset before electoral reforms can work in the country,” Mark said.

extracted from www.dailytrust.com

Deregulation: NLC to protest October 29

A coalition of labour unions and civil society organisations led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) announced yesterday that it would stage a protest rally in Abuja on October 29, 2009 to protest government’s moves to deregulate the downstream oil sector.

The coalition said in Abuja that contrary to government’s claims, deregulation will only worsen the plight of Nigerians because of the attendant rise in the prices of commodities and essential services that it would create.

Speaking at a press conference, NLC’s Deputy President Peters Adeyemi said, “We are clearly opposed to it because it will further worsen the plight of Nigerians. We can’t deceive ourselves; nobody can tell us here that deregulation and price increase will not affect anything. It will affect everything that we do and that will not augur well for Nigerians.”

He added, “What deregulation means to our government is increases in price of petrol and petroleum products because there is nothing else for us to situate that statement on; you move from N65 to N94. It clearly shows that government has nothing beyond the increase in prices of petrol and petroleum products.”

He said the planned rally that will include Nigerians from all walks of life will be peaceful but would strongly reject the policy of deregulation “which would take us back to the period of long queues and hoarding and would further worsen the plight of Nigerians.”

According to Adeyemi, the proposed rally is part of the strategies mapped out by the coalition to oppose deregulation and to call for full implementation of recommendations of the Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee as well as for an increase in wages of workers.

The coalition also expressed worry with what it termed “the unusual zeal” with which Petroleum Minister Rilwanu Lukman was pushing the deregulation agenda, saying he was doing it for selfish reasons.

“We are also worried the Minister of Petroleum appears to be driving this process so hard. We are saying that he doesn’t have the moral justification to do what he is doing because we are aware that he has vested interests in some oil companies that stand to benefit from this deregulation. Whatever policy we are going to engage in this country should be a policy that will impact positively on Nigerians and not individual interests. When government functionaries are seen to be driving the process of policy implementation because certain agencies or companies for which they have vested interests are going to benefit, it then means that the policy is about serving self interest and not in the interest of the Nigerian people.”

Representatives of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Alliance for Credible Elections and the Civic Freedom Agenda, among others, all condemned the planned deregulation just as they urged all Nigerians to converge in Abuja on the 29th of October, 2009 to protest against it.

(extracted from: daily trust)

We’re ready to sink Germany –Siasia

As Flying Eagles prepare to face Germany today in the second round of FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt, Coach of the team, Samson Siasia says the squad is set to improve on their poor performance in the preliminary stage.Siasia said his boys were ready and highly motivated to get victory against the Germans.“Everyone is working really hard now to get it right. We won’t let you down, we won’t let Nigerians down. The boys are ready.“We are lucky that we still qualified to the next round and God has brought smiles on us despite the first two games, and we are ready to turn things around.“We want to put in hard work and dedication and turn our fortunes around,” Siasia pledged.