News
It’s a Lie: Nigeria Is Not Africa’s Wealthiest but One of Its Poorest — Donald Duke
The presidential candidate of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has described as “a lie” the notion that Nigeria is the wealthiest country in Africa.
The former Governor of Cross River State said Nigeria is, rather, one of the poorest countries on the continent and should not be regarded as Africa’s largest economy based solely on its overall GDP.
In an interview with selected journalists in Lagos, Duke said Nigeria is a poor country when its per capita income is taken into consideration.
According to him, even countries that Nigeria considers smaller have higher per capita incomes, adding that the country is “living a lie.”
“It is embarrassing that a country that was considered one of the wealthiest in Africa still thinks today that it is the largest economy in Africa. That is not true.
“We are living a lie. It is a nice sound bite, though, to say that Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa. No. Nigeria is just one of the poorest when you take per capita income into consideration, and that is what you should measure, not just growth.
“If all we were producing in Nigeria was kulikuli, as we have been advised to do, we would still be a large economy in terms of GDP. But individually, what is our capital base? It is very poor.
“Most of these countries that we laugh at have a higher income per capita than we do.
“So, it all comes down to productivity. The idle mind is the playground of the devil. That was true yesterday, it is true today, and it will be true tomorrow,” Duke said.
On security, Duke said he does not like the phrase “Islamic terrorists” because he does not believe the terrorists are driven by Islam.
He noted that the security challenges facing Nigeria, particularly in the northern part of the country, were aggravated by the collapse of Libya, which led to an influx of arms through Nigeria’s land borders.
He, therefore, suggested that Nigeria needs short-, medium- and long-term approaches to address the rising insecurity holding the country back.
“Right now, you have got to deal with the security problems as they exist today — kidnapping, banditry, terrorism and all that.
“But even beyond that, those things are consequences of other things. They are consequences of a very poor economy and, of course, the failure to properly manage our borders.
“With the collapse of Libya, a lot of arms have been moving south. We call them Islamic terrorists. I don’t like that phrase because I don’t think they are driven by Islam.
“The Islam I know is different. They just use that connotation to describe them. Rather, I think these are destructive elements. You can see that when they go into communities, they collect taxes and do other things. It is all geared towards collecting or building a resource base for themselves.”
For the medium- and long-term approaches, Duke suggested that the Nigerian government should focus on making citizens more productive.
He noted that as long as people are not productive, they will find their own means of survival.
He advised the government to focus on local production to improve productivity and to deploy modern technology in securing the country’s borders.
On reviving the economy of Northern Nigeria, the PRP presidential hopeful said that, if elected President, he would ensure that mining activities in the region are properly structured.
According to him, the structure should promote inclusive participation in the mining industry, ensuring that local and state governments become stakeholders in the sector.
“The rush to produce oil is not synonymous with wealth. You must have commercial quantities and all that. I sometimes think it is overplayed. The oil in the Chad Basin is not available in such commercial quantities. I think the real wealth of the North, beyond agriculture, is in the mineral deposits there.
“There must be a structured way of mining. Today, it is artisanal, and the broader community, the border communities, society and the nation itself do not adequately benefit from those resources.
“Take, for instance, the gold in Zamfara. It probably has — I don’t know — perhaps as much gold as all of Ghana does. Ghana was once called the Gold Coast, so that tells you how much gold there could be in Zamfara. But mining has also attracted banditry because Nigeria is largely an unpoliced state.
“So, I would make each state an economic entity. I think it would encourage states and their governments to focus on the minerals they have.
“If I were in charge, alongside the states, we would carry out an evaluation. I know some of this has already been done. We would evaluate what is available in each state and go further to determine the proven reserves.
“So, for instance, if you are looking for columbite or any other mineral and you know columbite exists in a particular place, let us go further and determine the proven reserves of columbite, lithium or whatever mineral we want to develop.
“Once you have developed it to that level, you make it more attractive for investors to come in. This should be a joint venture between the state and federal governments because the revenues from those resources will be shared by both levels of government.
“But nobody is going to invest if there is no security. We saw what happened in the South, in the Niger Delta region, when security broke down, which was also a function of increasing poverty in those areas.
“The investors there — the oil companies and international companies — moved out, and they now prefer producing oil from the deep sea, which is considered safer,” he said.
News
JIBWIS Calls For Arrest,Investigation Of Man In JIBWIS Uniform Over Viral Video Threatening Attack On Enugu On Sunday
The National Chairman of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS), Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, has strongly condemned a viral video showing a man dressed in the uniform of the organisation’s First Aid Group, participating in a jogging exercise and chanting provocative statements calling for AK-47 rifles to be given to them to enable them to travel to Enugu on Sunday and carry out an attack.
Reacting to the disturbing development, Sheikh Bala Lau called on the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force and other relevant security agencies to immediately investigate the incident, identify those responsible and ensure that anyone found culpable is brought to justice in accordance with the law.
The National Chairman categorically dissociated JIBWIS from the inflammatory statements, stressing that such expressions of violence, intimidation and threats against any community are completely alien to the principles, teachings and objectives upon which the organisation was established.
He emphasised that wearing the uniform of the JIBWIS First Aid Group or appearing among its members does not automatically establish that an individual is acting on behalf of the organisation or with its authorisation.
Sheikh Bala Lau further expressed concern that the incident could represent a deliberate attempt by individuals or external interests to misrepresent the organisation and damage its longstanding reputation. He therefore urged security agencies to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the video, including the identity, affiliation and possible motives of those involved.
The Chairman recalled that JIBWIS recently organised an international conference in Abuja, bringing together Christian leaders, Muslim scholars from different Islamic schools of thought, prominent personalities and participants from different parts of the world, with the central objective of promoting interfaith dialogue, mutual understanding, religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
He questioned how an organisation that has consistently invested its resources, leadership and institutional efforts in building bridges across religious and ethnic divides could reasonably be associated with statements advocating violence against fellow Nigerians.
For approximately 48 years since its establishment, JIBWIS has remained committed to the propagation of authentic Islamic teachings, the promotion of the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), moral reformation, education, humanitarian services and the peaceful coexistence of people irrespective of their religious, ethnic or geographical backgrounds.
News
Ebola: NCDC to Provide N100,000 Weekly Allowance for Isolated People
By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has announced the provision of a N100,000 weekly allowance for each of the 53 isolated contacts traced to the female Ebola patient in Abuja.
Jide Idris, NCDC director-general, told reporters on Sunday, stating that the stipend became necessary after isolated people complained about the financial impact of their isolation on their families.
“We are paying for their accommodation; we are paying for their feeding. Some of them are asking for a stipend to maintain their families,” the NCDC boss said.
He added, “We are providing N100,000 per person per week just to maintain their comfort and feeding, because they were complaining.”
Mr Idris explained that the allowance is an unplanned emergency measure that could be reviewed as the situation evolves.
“This was not planned for, but it is an emergency. We will continue to review it as we go along,” Mr Idris said.
That the Ebola patient was discovered in FCT, according to Mr Idris, did not mean the responsibility for managing the outbreak rested solely with the FCT government.
He enjoined other states to prepare to support persons impacted by public health emergencies, should any case be detected in their jurisdiction.
“This is not the responsibility of the FCT alone. What we have to do for the FCT, we have to do for any other state, just in case,” he said.
He confirmed the isolation of seven additional persons linked to the Ebola virus patient in Abuja, raising the number of isolated persons to 53.
Peoples Gazette last week reported that NCDC added the patient’s two domestic staff to the 44 isolated persons.
“As of now, we have 53 primary contacts. These comprise 44 people from the health facility where the patient was treated and nine additional contacts,” the NCDC boss said at a press briefing on Sunday.
He explained that the newly traced contacts were largely the healthcare workers who first attended to the patient in Julius Berger Clinic before she went to Nizamiye Hospital, where she was diagnosed with Ebola.
Mr Idris said none of the isolated people has, so far, tested positive to the virus.
A 42-year-old female patient, who was born in Uganda and married to a Swiss diplomat, tested positive to the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus disease on October 20.
She had departed Uganda for Nigeria on October 3.
Nigeria’s health minister Ali Pate said genomic analysis indicates that the virus identified in Nigeria is highly similar to the case reported in Kenya.
He implied that there was a high possibility that the patient in Nigeria crossed paths with a Kenyan man at the airport in Uganda. The Kenyan man died days after arriving in Nairobi.
Uganda’s Ministry of Health denied exporting the virus to Nigeria, reaffirming its Ebola-free status as declared by the World Health Organisation in August.
News
IGP Proposes 200% Gratuity, Pension for Retired Officers
By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa
Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu has proposed a 200 per cent gratuity and pension for retired police officers as part of the ongoing reforms in the Nigeria Police Force.
Mr Disu told journalists on Sunday in Abuja that the proposal was before a presidential committee set up to examine police concerns and recommend sustainable solutions.
He said the proposal was to intensify efforts to secure improved retirement benefits for personnel of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and address the longstanding pension challenges.
The IGP also said the committee was made up of representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
According to him, other representatives in the committee are the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, the Budget Office of the Federation, and the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
“Under the proposed arrangement, eligible officers can retire on pension benefits linked to their last salaries, alongside the enhanced gratuity,” the IGP said.
Mr Disu said the package was also expected to address recurring protests by serving officers, seeking to exit the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), a contentious issue within the force.
“The initiative is aimed at resolving the outstanding pension liabilities, providing more adequate retirement benefits, and creating a more efficient pension administration system.
“It also seeks to cover officers who retired before the new framework takes effect, with provisions to review their benefits in line with the revised terms, rather than limiting reform to future retirees,” he said.
The IGP said the intervention of President Bola Tinubu in the police pension crisis had raised expectations among retired officers, who had long complained about inadequate benefits, delayed payments, and administrative bottlenecks.
According to him, for many pensioners, timely access to benefits is essential for meeting household expenses and medical bills amid rising living costs.
He said the federal government had cleared the backlog of pension payments that previously left some retirees waiting for up to two years and introduced pension increment.
Mr Disu revealed that some of the beneficiaries currently receive almost double their previous payments.
“Our engagement with the presidency, PenCom, and other relevant institutions is seen as important to sustain the NPF reform momentum.
“The committee is expected to recommend measures on outstanding liabilities, funding arrangements, and benefit administration.
“It is also to provide a framework to resolve pension challenges and improve coordination among the institutions responsible for policy, funding, and administration,” he said.
He added that the proposal remained subject to the committee’s deliberations, relevant government approvals, funding arrangements, and implementation guidelines.
Mr Disu said the 200 per cent gratuity should not be regarded as approved or existing entitlement, adding that the final outcome would determine whether it would be adopted.
JIBWIS Calls For Arrest,Investigation Of Man In JIBWIS Uniform Over Viral Video Threatening Attack On Enugu On Sunday
Ebola: NCDC to Provide N100,000 Weekly Allowance for Isolated People
IGP Proposes 200% Gratuity, Pension for Retired Officers
Dagumawa Promises to Connect Wudil/Garko to Global Economy Through ICT Hub
Hamma Urges Political Candidates to Prioritise Unity, Ideology Over Personal Interests
PCACC Arrests Man Over Alleged ₦4.5m Sale, Illegal Leasing of Kano Government Horse Stable
Kano Monitors ₦48.9bn Projects Across Six LGAs
Kano Spends ₦10.36bn on Hospitality, Sitting Allowances, Others in Six Months
Goje’s Electoral War:The Confrontation With Tinubu,Governor Inuwa,Usman Kumo And APC candidates Ahead Of 2027
Open The Social Sciences “A Tribute to a Heterodox Scholar: Mallam Ibrahim Muazzam
JIBWIS Calls For Arrest,Investigation Of Man In JIBWIS Uniform Over Viral Video Threatening Attack On Enugu On Sunday
Ebola: NCDC to Provide N100,000 Weekly Allowance for Isolated People
IGP Proposes 200% Gratuity, Pension for Retired Officers
Dagumawa Promises to Connect Wudil/Garko to Global Economy Through ICT Hub
Hamma Urges Political Candidates to Prioritise Unity, Ideology Over Personal Interests
PCACC Arrests Man Over Alleged ₦4.5m Sale, Illegal Leasing of Kano Government Horse Stable
Kano Monitors ₦48.9bn Projects Across Six LGAs
Kano Spends ₦10.36bn on Hospitality, Sitting Allowances, Others in Six Months
Goje’s Electoral War:The Confrontation With Tinubu,Governor Inuwa,Usman Kumo And APC candidates Ahead Of 2027
Open The Social Sciences “A Tribute to a Heterodox Scholar: Mallam Ibrahim Muazzam
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