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PAGE 6—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 20, 2022
LAGOS STATE SCOUT COUNCIL 17TH EKO COMMISSIONER CAMP
From left: Engr. G.O. Akinlawon, Dr Olajide Abiodun Babatunde, Special
Adviser to Lagos State Governor and Alh. Adebesin Oyeyemi, State Scout
Commissioner, during Lagos State Scout Council 17th Eko Commissioner
Camp, held in Lagos, yesterday. Photos: KEHINDE SHONOLA.
Intentional and Strategic, Lagos demonstrates resolve
to tackle out-of-school children menace
By Lekan Bilesanmi
he United Nations
TEducational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation’s
(UNESCO) recent statistics on
Nigeria’s out-of-school children
have further bolstered the dire
straite of education in the
country. Recently, the
international body released
figures that have further alarmed
players in the education sector;
parents, government, teachers
and civil society organizations.
The figures have led to
recriminations about the party
responsible for the disgrace.
Disclosing that it used a new
and improved methodology to
arrive at the latest figures,
UNESCO said Nigeria’s out-ofschool
number is no longer about
10 million but 20 million. “The
new estimates, published online
by the UNESCO Institute for
Statistics (UIS) and the Global
Education Monitoring (GEM)
Report, show that sub-Saharan
Africa remains the region with
the most children and youth out
of school with 98 million children
and young people excluded from
LASUBEB field officers conducting community
engagement for pupil enrollment
education. It is also the only
region where this number is
increasing; out-of-school rates
are falling more slowly than the
growing school-age population.
“The region with the second
highest out-of-school population
is Central and Southern Asia
with 85 million. The top three
countries with the most children
and youth excluded from
education are India, Nigeria and
Pakistan,” the report noted.
It added that “important data
gaps have been filled in countries
that have large out-of-school
numbers but where no
administrative data of good
quality has been available for
over a decade, such as Nigeria,
which has an estimated 20.2
million children and youth out
of school, Ethiopia (10.5 million),
the Democratic Republic of
Congo (5.9 million) and Kenya
(1.8 million).”
While some education
stakeholders have disputed the
From left: Mrs Regina Amaraegbu, State Headquarters, Special Duties, Lagos,
Senator (Dr) Bode Olajumoke, Commissioner, Special Scout, Lagos State Scout
Council, Dr Olajide Abiodun Babatunde, Special Adviser to Lagos State
Governor, and Justice Emmanuel Dodo, Audu, Chair NSO, during the Lagos
State Scout Council 17th Eko Commissioner Camp.
2023: PANDEF sticks to pact with Afenifere, Ohanaeze,
MBF; rules out northern candidate
S
outh-South influential
group, Pan Niger Delta
Forum, PANDEF, is
sticking to the decision of
the Southern and Middle
Belt Leaders Forum (SM-
BLF) to mobilize support
for only parties fielding
southern candidates in the
2023 presidential election.
SMBLF comprises of
PANDEF, Afenifere (South-
West socio-political
group), Ohanaeze Ndigbo
of the South-East and the
Middle Belt Forum and
took the position to back
southern candidates based
on power rotation between
the North and South of the
country.
The group took the decision
sometime last year
ahead of the emergence of
the presidential candidates
for the 2023 election.
Whereas some parties
toed the line of SMBLF by
picking southern presidential
candidates to succeed
President Muhammadu
Buhari who is from the
North, others acted in blatant
disregard of the position.
The National Publicity
Secretary of PANDEF, Mr
Ken Robinson, at the weekend,
said “we will not support
any political party that
has a northern presidential
candidate in 2023”.
Asked pointedly if the
SMBLF stand stays ahead
of the 2023 elections, Robinson
told Sunday Vanguard
in an interview: “Exactly,
we will not support
any political party that has
a northern presidential
candidate in 2023.
“It is essential to emphasize
that this is a collective
position of the Southern
and Middle Belt Leaders
Forum (SMBLF) comprising
Afenifere, Ohanaeze
Ndigbo, the Middle Belt
Forum and, of course, PAN-
DEF.
“The decision was taken
at a meeting of SMBLF in
Abuja on the 30th of May
last year (2021) and it has
maintained that position to
date.
“And it is based, purely, on
the fundamental principles
of equity, fairness and
justice, and the age-long
pact of power rotation between
the North and the
South, particularly the office
of the President, which
has helped to stabilize the
nation’s polity since independence.
“Therefore, the collective
stance remains that President
Muhammadu Buhari,
a northerner, would be
completing the statutory
eight years for the office of
President in May 2023, it
would be unwelcomed to
have another northerner,
whether Muslim or Christian,
as President and
Commander-in-Chief of
the Federal Republic of
Tinubu vows on campaign promises:
latest UNESCO figures, others,
like Lagos State under Governor
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, have
continued working assiduously
to reduce the number of out-ofschool
children. Since assuming
office, Sanwo-Olu has
consistently increased
educational budgetary allocation
and other sustainable
interventions. In 2022, he
allocated the lion’s share of
N171.6 billion to education and
next year. It will take the third
largest share of the budget.
While 20.06 per cent (N339
billion) of the 2023 budget is
for infrastructure and 11.29
per cent (N191 billion) for
healthcare and the
environment, 9.07 per cent
(N153.5 billion) is for
education.
According to the Governor, the
education allocation enables the
government to consolidate the
gains of previous investments in
the sector. Though the portion
needs parity with UNESCO’s
recommendation, it is way higher
than other states. It affirms the
government’s commitment to
education and reducing out-ofschool
children.
Continues on
www.vanguardngr.com
Nigeria, in 2023.
“As the late South African
Nobel Peace Prize winner,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
eloquently surmised, ‘If you
are neutral in situations of
injustice, you have chosen
the side of the oppressor. If
an elephant has its foot on
the tail of a mouse, and you
say that you are neutral,
the mouse will not appreciate
your neutrality.’”
• Full interview
to be published next
Sunday
Go to Lagos and see record of devt
By Jimitota Onoyume
residential candidate of
Pthe All Progressives Congress,
APC, Asiwaju Ahmed
Bola Tinubu, has assured that
he would deliver on his campaign
promises if elected as
President next year .
Giving the assurance, yesterday,
at a rally of his party
in Warri, Delta State, Tinubu
lamented the deplorable state
of Warri, adding that he would
work with his governorship
candidate , Senator Ovie
Omo Agege, to address challenges
of underdevelopment
in the state.
Drumming up support for
election of Omo Agege as governor
of the state, he said the
Delta steel company was not
for sale, adding that he would
ensure the dreams of people
were achieved under his government.
“I will fulfill the promises
made to you. Your dreams
will be realized. Warri is going
down. They don’t know
the way, the knowledge, the
road to development. We
know the way,”the candidate
said .
“Go to Lagos and see record
of development and prosperity.
I am here, hope is here ,
prosperity is here .”
He said his government
would work with Omo Agege
as governor to create opportunities
for development for
the people of the state.
“You know that the Senate
President, Omo Agege, is the
next governor. He will work
with me , the next President to
bring development. Omo
Agege represents renewed
hope. Your steel industry is not
for sale, it is for development”
Earlier, National Chairman
of the party, Alhaji Abdullahi
Adamu, handed over the
party’s flag to Omo Agege as
the standard bearer of the
party in the Delta.
The Chairman, who was
represented by the Deputy
National Chairman, Chief
Emma Eneukwu, called on
the people to vote for all candidates
of the party in Delta.
Omo Agege and in his
speech earlier, challenged
Delta State governmentto
account for funds that accrued
to the state from the thirteen
percent derivation fund, internally
generated revenue,
stressing that the government
had failed to meet the aspirations
of the people..
Senate President Ahmed
Lawal, a former National
Chairman of the party, Comrade
Adams Oshiomhole,
and Tinubu’s wife, Oluremi,
were among those who called
on Deltans to vote for the party
at the general polls.
Governor Hope Uzodima
of Imo State and his Plateau
State counterpart, Simon Lalong,
were among dignitaries
present at the occasion.
Jubilation as Ubabiri Emerges Agadagba
-elect of Egbema Kingdom
I
t was jubilation galore on Fri
day as the people of Egbema
Kingdom in Warri North and Ovia
South West Local Government
Areas of Delta and Edo states,
respectively, elected Agadagbaelect.
The selection/presentation,
done at Ajakurama Town, the
ancestral home of Egbema Kingdom,
had members of the Regency
Council, Egbema Traditional
Councl, Egbema Leaders of
Thought, Ijaw Youth Council,
prominent chiefs, youths and
women in their thousands in attendance.
High Chief Cyrus Olopele,
Secretary of Egbema Traditional
Council, who briefed newsmen
after the ceremony, said it was
an important day in the history
of the kingdom as a new monarch
was unveiled to the people
of Egbema.
Olopele noted that the gazette
was properly followed in the presentation
of the Agadagba-elect
adding the process was still ongoing.
“Today (Friday 11 November,
2022), we unanimously selected
the Agadagba-elect from the Ogbudugbudu
ruling house and he
was unanimously accepted. The
Jamagie ruling house, who are
in position to raise his hand and
present him to the whole kingdom,
performed that function accordingly
through Chief Akin
German, the Perekorewei of Egbema
Kingdom,”he stated.
“The rest is left for the, priests
to exercise their functions, and
you can see the priest who stood
by him and they are the only
priests who have the prerogative
to perform such function as far
as the installation of the Agadagba
is concerned in this kingdom.
The process is already
ongoing”.
Kwankwaso joins
Carolyn Okem to
begin senatorial
campaign in Ogoja
By Dickson Omobola
igeria National Peoples
NParty, NNPP, Presidential
flag-bearer, Rabiu Kwankwaso,
has teamed up with
Northern Senatorial District
candidate of the NNPP in
Cross River State, Miss Carolyn
Okem to kick-off her senatorial
campaign in Ogoja.
A statement released by her
campaign team stated that
Okem had inked her name in
the history books of the Ogoja
people and the country at
large.
The statement reads: “She
is popular amongst her people.
By bringing the presidential
condidate to the Northern
Cross River, she has written
our name on the map as it
is the first time that a presidential
candidate would be
visiting the community.”
Okem, whose plan, among
others, is to formulate genderspecific
policies that would
improve the well-being of
women and children, disclosed
during her campaign
that she was keen on
improving the global
competitiveness of the district.
“Together, you and I will
improve productivity in our
district and attract development
across board, while ensuring
Sustainable Development
Goals are met,” She
added.
Erekosima
for burial
November 26
T
he remains of Madam
Florence Ibiba Adelu
Erekosima of the
Erekosima family in
Johnbull compound,
Buguma, Asari-Toru Local
Government Area, LGA;
Eruwa family of Obitugbo
community, Warri North
LGA, and Eku in Ethiope
East LGA, Delta State, will
be laid to rest on November
26th, 2022, at the Port
Harcourt cemetery.
According to burial
programmes released by
the families, the reception
will follow immediately
after the interment.
Madam Erekosima is
survived by a daughter,
M r s
Pepetual
Ahmed,
a
brother,
M r
Jimitota
Lucky
Onoyume,
uncles,
aunties
a n d
m a n y
other
relations.