The report that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed concerns over the spate of violence at the ongoing campaigns and the plan by the Commission to summon leaders of political parties next week over the resort to violence dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Guardian reports that disturbed by increasing incidents of violence at campaigns and growing resort to incendiary comments barely three weeks after signing the Peace Accord, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed concerns over the spate of violence at the ongoing campaigns. The Commission said it would summon leaders of political parties next week over the resort to violence.
INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, raised concerns about the training of master trainers on technologies for the 2023 general elections in Abuja.
This is coming barely 24 hours after the PDP campaign was attacked by suspected thugs in Kaduna State.
Describing the development as worrisome, Yakubu cautioned parties and their supporters to focus on issues and steer clear of attacks on each other.
He noted that the violent acts were not only violations of the Electoral Act 2022, but also negate the voluntary commitment by all political parties and candidates to the letter and spirit of the Peace Accord.
Yakubu said: “As the Commission is working hard to ensure a credible process, reports of clashes among parties and their supporters are worrisome. So too is the reported denial of access to public facilities for parties and candidates in some states. Let me caution parties and their supporters to focus on issues and steer clear of attacks on each other.
“Parties, candidates and their supporters should not by acts of commission or omission further complicate the prevailing security situation in the country. A peaceful electioneering campaign is critical to the conduct of peaceful and credible elections.
“The Commission will continue to monitor the situation closely and will convene a meeting with leaders of political parties next week to discuss, among other issues, the imperative of peaceful campaigns and equal access to public facilities.
“In same vein, the Commission will also meet with the security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) next week.”
The newspaper says that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, yesterday, revealed that the Boko Haram insurgency led to the death of 100,000 persons, displaced over two million and caused damages worth $9 billion (N3.24 trillion).
Irabor made the disclosure during his presentation on the second day of the Third Ministerial Performance Review Retreat, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the insurgency is now restricted to a corner of the territories the militants previously inhabited, even though they have made some inroads into the northwest.
The CDS also said the Armed Forces of Nigeria received N2.5 trillion in seven years as budgetary provision and have been able to “tremendously” increase internal security operations.
He, however, regretted that the amount received was just 35 per cent of the Forces’ requirements and below 0.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Speaking on the Forces’ operations in the Niger Delta, he said militancy has transmuted to crude oil theft.
He noted that gaps exist in the National Security Strategy, which he said could be overcome through initiatives of the political leadership, military operations and the attitude of the population.
The Punch reports that the Federal Government has earmarked the sum of N29.87bn as working capital for the proposed national carrier – Nigeria Air, and for 46 new projects in the aviation sector.
An analysis of the 2023 budget presented to the National Assembly by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), showed the amount allocated for the different new projects and the new airline.
The national carrier, which was described as an “ongoing” project in the budget, got an allocation of N700m as working capital for its establishment.
Since its unveiling four years ago, various experts in the aviation sector have continued to raise concerns about its establishment.
They said the government should have identified with domestic airlines that had the wherewithal to run as flag carriers and assist them in accessing cheap funds and acquiring necessary equipment to achieve this.
A member of the Aviation Roundtable, a body of industry experts, Olamide Ohunayo, expressed fears about the partnership between Nigeria Air and Ethiopian Airline, as the government had given multiple false start dates for the commencement of operations of the national carrier.
Findings showed that in the 2023 budget, the sum of N19.7bn was allocated to the Federal Ministry of Aviation to fund 15 new projects.
Some of the items that were budgeted for/the amount allocated to them, include compliance and project assessment/upgrading in the aviation sector, N22.5m; infrastructure upgrade/EDMS solutions in the ministry, N30m; and public service reforms in relation to the aviation sector and others, N200m.
The budgets for multilateral/bilateral tied loans – four airport terminals expansion incremental project was N10.41bn; multilateral/bilateral tied loans – four airport terminals expansion ancillary project, N8.1bn.
The Nigerian Meteorological Services Agency was allocated the sum of N960m to fund five new projects; petro-fitting of National Weather Forecasting and Climate Research Centre (remodeling) phase ii & iii, got N280m, among others.
The newspaper says that a private company, Naebi Dynamic Services Limited, is to monitor the records of helicopter movements in and out of Nigeria and assist the country to boost Internally Generated Revenue from the sector.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos, the Managing Director, Naebi Dynamic Services, Stanley Chike, said the firm was investing in equipment to monitor activities in the aviation and oil sectors across the country.
Chike said the firm was investing in a multinational control room centre, radar equipment and navigational facilities to monitor the activities in the two sectors and beyond.
He stated through the firm’s feasibility studies, it was discovered that fewer than 200 helicopters were in operation in Nigeria.
He said stakeholders in the aviation, oil, gas, and security sectors were in sync with the new initiative.
“Before we started, I noticed some lacunas in the system. We did a feasibility study, processed it, and forwarded such to the government,” Chike stated.
He added, “After that, we had the stakeholder buy-in in the aviation and oil sectors. I want to thank the Federal Government for implementing this after passing the law.
“As we all know, aviation is a global practice, and whatever is done in one country is replicated in another, including Nigeria. The IOCs (international oil companies) will not pretend that they don’t know this is the practice that happens in their own countries.”
GIK/APA