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34— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2022 By Anayo Okoli, Vincent Ujumadu, Chidi Nkwopara, Peter Okutu, Ugochukwu Alaribe, Chinedu Adonu, Chinonso Alozie & Steve Oko ENUGU-PROVISION of infrastructure, particularly, roads, in the South East, by the governors is highly lopsided in rural communities. The rural communities are utterly neglected in the provision of social and economic amenities and this is adversely affecting life in the rural areas, and the residents are lamenting the hardship. Efforts by the governors to address this seem grossly inadequate. Rural roads in Anambra fast degenerating There was a time Anambra State was adjudged the state with the best road network in the country both within the rural and urban areas, but not anymore. Then, rural life was fun. There was no community that did not have a number of tarred roads, which made it easy for them, especially farmers who evacuated their produce from the rural areas to the urban centers as well as easy link with others. Some civil servants relocated to their communities from where they came to work in Awka, the state capital. But today, the story is different. The rot began with the Obiano administration. Today, driving through many communities in the state is a nightmare due to deplorable state of the roads. Sadly, most rural roads have signposts indicating that the state government had awarded contract for their construction, but no work was done on them for the past eight years. In some cases, preliminary works were done on the roads, but were abandoned, worsening the already bad condition. The Nkwo Okija ring road in Ihiala council area was flagged of by former Governor Willie Obiano and work started by the contractor. However, the government did not release money for it; the road was abandoned, making the road impassable. In Nibo, Awka South council, a road project started by the state government was later abandoned and people can no longer use the road. The rural dwellers are suffering the agony, with cost of transportation soaring. In most rural communities, transportation by vehicles has virtually disappeared, leaving the people at the mercy of commercial motorcyclists whose services have THE TEAM SUPERVISING EDITOR: Chioima Gabriel, Lagos. (08052201257) REGIONAL EDITOR Anayo Okoli, Enugu. (08034046839) Vincent Ujumadu- Awka Dennis Agbo- Enugu Chinedu Adonu-Enugu Chidi Nkwopara- Owerri Chinonso Alozie- Owerri Emmanuel Iheaka- Owerri. Peter Okutu-Abakiliki Chimaobi Nwaiwu-Nnewi Nwabueze Okonkwo- Onitsha Ugochukwu Alaribe- Abia Steve Oko- Abia Ikechukwu Odu-Nsukka. Our rural roads are in deplorable conditions — South East residents lament Ikpeazu tried, but many Abia rural roads are still in miserable conditions Enugu State did well on rural roads- Nsukka residents; We built rural roads to move goods and services —Ebonyi Govt Uzodimma needs to shift attention to rural areas —Residents Starving LGs of allocation by Govs, major source of rural hardship Bad road even become unaffordable Although the state government established the Anambra Road Maintenance Agency, with the mandate of fixing roads, particularly in the rural areas, the agency has virtually become moribund due to lack of funds to operate.A community leader in Amawbia, Mr. Sebastian Okoye said there is even no hope that the rural roads in the state would receive any attention in the near future as the state governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo is more concerned with fixing urban roads, which are even worse than the rural roads.Okoye said the rural roads would not have degenerated to the Bad roads in southeast level they are today if the local governments are getting their monthly allocations directly from the federation account. Abia has done well in rural roads — Abia House Leader The majority Leader of the Abia State House of Assembly, Chief Solomon Akpulonu, in his assessment, said that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has constructed many rural roads across the 17 council areas of the state. He claimed that Ikpeazu has done over 50 rural roads and could have achieved more if not for paucity of funds. Most of the rural roads, he noted, were asphalted for the first time in their history and opened the rural areas and helped rural farmers to move their farm produce to the cities. No, Abia rural roads are still in miserable condition —Residents However, some residents disagreed with Agbulonu’s position. They said most rural roads in Abia State are still in deplorable conditions. From Ukwa West to Ukwa East, Bende to Arochukwu; Umunneochi to Ugwunagbo, as well as every council in the state, many rural roads are begging for attention despite NNDC interventions. Ukwa land, the only oil-producing area in Abia State seems to be the worst hit by bad roads in the state. Virtually all roads leading to the entire Ukwa land have collapsed, making access to the communities very difficult. Even agrarian communities of Ikwuano also have their fair share of bad roads. Abam communities especially Ndioji/Ndiokereke communities towards Arochukwu have almost been cut off from their kinsmen due to bad road. The story is the same in agrarian communities like Ozuitem, and Akanu Item. Communities in Isuikwuato particularly Uturu and Lokpa/Umuchieze areas have been also battling with bad roads. Decrying the condition of roads in Umunneochi especially Isuochi, the paramount ruler of Isuochi, Eze Godson Ezekwesiri called for urgent Government intervention, lamenting that the State Government had not done anything beyond empty promises to alleviate the plights of his subjects. Also, the traditional ruler of Oriendu Autonomous Community in Umuahia North council, Eze Philip Ajomuiwe, expressed worry over the state of feeder roads in his community. He said that since 2018 when Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu approved the construction of a 2.5 kilometer Uhuoma/ Ubahu road leading to an agro-allied factory in the community, work was yet to commence on the road and called for urgent action. We dedicated attention to rural roads to uplift our rural people —Ebonyi Govt. In Ebonyi, the Umahi administration has done very well in the area of road construction, especially in the rural areas of the State. Virtually all the communities in the state have one or more rural roads to point at; it was a deliberate decision to transform the life of our rural people. The Special Assistant to Governor David Umahi on Media and Strategy, Mr. Chooks Oko, explained that it was a deliberate policy of the administration to open up the rural areas with good roads. “The state of our roads before Governor David Umahi took over was such that people had nightmares when they think of traveling. Past administrations did their bit but the roads were failing. Our roads under Umahi are the best you can get within any state in the country. There were done with a minimum of eight inches of concrete. It just can't be better. Goods and services are easily moved from place to place thus increasing commercial and social activities resulting in greater profitability and brighter economic gains for all”, Oko said. Ugwuanyi tried in building rural roads but much still needs to be done In Enugu State, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is believed to have done well in building rural roads. He is even accused of concentrating on rural roads to the neglect of urban roads. His intention, according a source close to him, was to link many rural agrarian communities to the urban cities to enable them evacuate their farm produce to the urban cities. “The government tried in doing rural areas but many are still left undone. You know, Enugu is a two-city state, Enugu and Nsukka. The rest are rural communities. Ugwuanyi has done many of the roads the rural areas but a lot remains because Enugu has many rural roads”, Mathias Eze from Ugwuoba said. But a community leader in Aguibeje autonomous community, Igbo-Eze North council, Elder Simon Ugwuanyi said they lack access rural roads in the community, lamenting that they are
Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2022 — 35 PDP CRISIS: How IBB, GEJ, others move to reconcile Atiku, Wike Continues from Page 5 "We are constrained to say that the agitation of the group to which he is part does not represent the thinking of the party and its members in the state. “Therefore, we wish to request that he should return to base in Plateau State and engage with his constituents to shed more light on how the positions taken by the Port Harcourt/Lagos group affect us in the state. 'On the average, members of the PDP in Plateau State do not sufficiently understand the basis for his decisions and actions. "As an important state in the North Central zone, we also seek to know what we are going to get in exchange for giving up the national chairmanship of the party, which he supports. "Since this position belongs to the North Central zone, since we do not hold the presidential ticket and since we have not been briefed or carried along, we see it as a disservice to us for the group to continue to demand the resignation of the chairman without spelling out the terms. ''We condemn the prolongation of conditions that will hurt our party and our candidates in any form." Naira appreciates to N445.38/ $ in I&E window By Elizabeth Adegbesan THE naira yesterday appreciated to N445.38 per dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window. Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for the window fell to N445.38 per dollar from N445.67 per dollar last week Friday, indicating 29 Kobo appreciation for the naira. However , the naira depreciated by N5 in the parallel market yesterday. Vanguard findings from black market traders showed that the exchange rate for the market rose to N785 per dollar from N780 per dollar last week Friday. From left, CAN President Daniel Okoh, CAN General Secretary, Joseph Daramola and Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi during CAN’s interactive session with presidential candidates of political parties in Abuja. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan. ROUNDTABLE: Media chiefs, operators adopt new co-regulation, code of ethics THE Nigerian media industry has adopted the new co-regulation and code of ethics to address ethical and professional concerns in the industry. The decision was reached at the end of a media roundtable organised on Monday, November 14 by the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) in conjunction with the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), and the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP). Media chiefs and operators at the roundtable also noted that the success of the co-regulation would be achieved via a workable enforcement mechanism. To achieve co-regulation, the Nigeria Press Organisation (NPO) comprising NPAN, NGE, and NUJ, along with BON, would work together to make the co-regulation system effective, particularly through the establishment of the ombudsman at local and central levels. This is contained in a communique issued at the end of the media roundtable convened within the context of the imperative of a strategic response to the challenge of institutionalising self-regulatory mechanisms by the media for the media. The communique was jointly signed by the president, NPAN/NPO, Malam Kabiru A. Yusuf, FNGE, president, NGE, Mustapha Isah, president, NUJ, Chief Chris Isiguzo, MFR, president, GOCOP, Maureen Chigbo and the Executive Secretary, BON, Dr. Yemisi Bamgbose. The communique noted that efforts must be made to avoid the creation of bureaucratic structures that may have high-cost implications and therefore constitute obstacles to the efficient operation of the ombudsman. The communique reads in part: “That sanctions for the violation of ethical codes and professional standards shall be determined by the Ombudsman, guided by the regulation. “That media professional bodies and associations shall partner with media organisations to give wide publicity to the decisions of the Ombudsman,” the communique said. On the revised Code of Ethics of Journalists in Nigeria, the communique noted that a bill of rights would be incorporated into the revised code to address concerns over some industry practices that tend to undermine the welfare and safety of journalists. The communique also said: “That the revised code shall protect investigative journalism by making the public interest exception to instances where undercover methods may be used to obtain information. “That the revised code shall distinguish between paid content and editorial content to preserve editorial integrity; and a new clause would be inserted to obligate journalists to promote the right of the people to know, freedom of the press and responsibility. ” The roundtable had two technical sessions in which presentations were made on “Pathway to Co-regulation through an Ombudsman Framework”. Speaking at the event, the Editor-in-Chief/Senior Vice Chairman of Leadership Group Limited, Mr. Azu Ishiekwene, based his presentation on the report of the committee of the NPO comprising NPAN, NGE and NUJ instituted in May 2021. The committee was mandated to develop a framework for a generally acceptable, workable and trusted self-regulatory platform for the industry, both at the local and central levels. The second presentation was on “A Guide through the Revised Code of Ethics for Nigerian Journalists” by the Editor-in-Chief, Diamond Publications/Founder of the Diamond Awards For Media Excellence (DAME) Trust Fund, Mr Lanre Idowu , FNGE. The revision of the existing code was predicated on the observation that the existing 1998 code is “outdated, not robust enough and too general in nature.” The committee was mandated to develop a framework for a generally acceptable, workable and trusted self-regulatory platform for the industry, both at the local and central levels. The round table is coming against the background of attacks on press freedom and media independence, through legislation by the government following the wrong perception that the media is unwilling to regulate itself; the poor state of compliance with ethical and professional standards by some journalists and editors and the pollution of the information sphere by disinformation and misinformation. The aim of the roundtable, supported by Daria Media and the MacArthur Foundation, was to obtain media stakeholders’ buy-in of the Ombudsman framework and the revised Code of Ethics of Journalists in Nigeria. The roundtable was well attended by eminent media-industry leaders. 20M OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN: Another ‘B’Haram’ looms – OBASANJO By Levinus Nwabughiogu A President BUJA-Former Olusegun Obasanjo declared yesterday that Nigeria's 20 million out-of-school children was another Boko Haram waiting to happen, if they were not put back in school urgently. He said the number constituted 10 per cent of the country's population which should not be ignored. Obasanjo, who spoke as a panelist at the National Summit on Tertiary Education Reform, with the theme, "Re-imagining Tertiary Education in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Solutions,'' in Abuja, said: "The greatest resources we have in this country are the people. How many are we today? We are about 216 million and that is a great resource. ''Tertiary education is very important but education, particularly education that has left 20 million of our children out of school and those twenty million have no access to education. ''They cannot be effectively part of nation building because they have not had the opportunity to develop their innate capacity to the extent that they can be useful to themselves, to their families and to their community, let alone their nation, let alone Africa. ''Now, tertiary education is important and my emphasis is on education properly, because the five points I have taken from your speech are zeroed on education in general, although we have the issue of ASUU and the government. That would be unending. ''In my time, we had it. And if any government had done anything for ASUU, my government did. They all started buying cars and building houses. Even primary school teachers were buying cars. But we must find a solution. "So, what are the issues? The issues to me are that we are cutting more than we can chew. Who is looking at our population ahead of time, five years from now and ten years from now, and what can we do about it? ''Apart from food, which is very important, who are the people thinking about that and working on that. After food and health, the next important aspect of our life is education. Now, if this is the position and these are rights that we must have, what do we do? We know that if we continue the way we are going, by the year 2030, 2040, 2050, what would our population be?. We have to think about it and how we would sort it out. "I believe, that you ask where did we miss the road? We missed the road when the whole world is talking of free education. Education for all. And we did not follow that. It was bad news. ''Today, we have 20 million out-of-school children, almost 10 per cent of the population. We continue to miss and we are still missing. That is a very bad one. Can we do anything about it? I believe we can. ''Those 20 million children that are out of school, we can get them back to school. If we do not get them back to school, we are preparing for Boko Haram of tomorrow. It will happen as sure as daylight. ''What can we do? Where are these 20 million children? Where are they located? Can we have schools in the morning and afternoon to get them in, at least, for six years. In the period of six years where this is happening, we would prepare for the transition from primary school to secondary school. ''Iif we are able to do that, we have started the process of lifting education, an instrument of nation building.'' Also speaking, the Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Nana Opia, said increasing population was affecting the funding of education, adding that universities had misused their autonomy. He said: "Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TEFUND, had released over N2.3 trillion to the various institutions to create more infrastructure, support research and improve documentation but with the increasing population, there was not much impact. "On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education, I extend all my sincere appreciation to the the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabimila and his team for passionately intervening in the face- off with ASUU and organising this summit which I believe is a continuation of the speaker's commitment to ensure that the legislature contributes to creating stable environment for our tertiary education sector. "As more universities were established to improve our access to the growing population, the dwindling economic realities made it difficult for government to sustain the adequate funding, to maintain the quality of teaching and learning, infrastructure as well as maintain the structures necessary for attracting global talents needed to sustain intellectualism.'' In his address, speaker of the House and chief host, Femi Gbajabiamila, cautioned that if the right measures were not taken, there might be another ASUU strikes. He said: "For eight months this year, students of federal tertiary institutions sat at home due to a litany of unresolved issues between the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and the Federal Government of Nigeria. ''These university strikes are almost perennial and preceded this government. The recent one was not the first and may not be the last unless we are determined to make it so. The end of the strike was a relief to all; it meant the resumption of academic activities and a return to routine for students. ''However, the end of the strike did not mean all the issues of funding, education standard, and student and staff welfare had been resolved. At the time, I called for the government, universities, unions, and citizens to see the moment as an opportunity to begin the critical conversation about the future of public tertiary education in the country. "This National Summit on Tertiary Education Reform (NSTER) is the manifestation of our commitment in the 9th House of Representatives to engender a national conversation to consider bold ideas and radical innovations to restructure and reform public tertiary education in Nigeria. ''How do we ensure that every child born in Nigeria in this generation and hereafter can compete favourably in an ever-changing world? This is the defining issue of our age,” the Speaker asked.
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