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Reps Support Sanusi, Tell North to Stop Relying on Quota
The House of Representatives on Tuesday supported the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi’s warning to the North over the region’s poor attitude to education.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Benjamin Kalu, who stated this in an interview with one of our correspondents, said the North had not fully taken advantage of the quota system to develop itself.
He said the North should embrace education in order to compete with other regions and stop relying on the quota system.
Kalu stated this just as northern youths, under the aegis of the Coalition of Northern Groups, said the quota system and federal character should be removed from the constitution.
Sanusi, at the 60th birthday of Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, in Kaduna on Monday, said by failing to address its numerous challenges, the North was gradually destroying itself.
He listed problems facing the North as poverty, millions of out-of-school children, malnutrition, drug abuse, Almajiri, and the Boko Haram insurgency.
The emir, who said no “true Northern Nigeria leader” was happy with the problems, said the North should stop relying on the quota system and federal character.
The monarch stated, “We have been saying this for 20 to 30 years. If the North does not change, the North will destroy itself. The country is moving on. The quota system that everybody talks about must have a sunset clause.”
Admonishing young men and women from the North, Sanusi had said, “We need to get northern youths to a point where they don’t need to come from a part of the country to get a job. And believe me, if we don’t listen, there would be a day when there would be a constitutional amendment that addresses these issues of quota system and federal character.
“The rest of the country cannot be investing, educating its children, producing graduates and then they watch us, they can’t get jobs because they come from the wrong state when we have not invested in the future of our own children.
Supporting the emir, Kalu said, “The purpose of the federal character element of the constitution is to ensure the distribution of projects and opportunities in the country. If the implementation is faulty, that is where complaints should come.
“If you benefit from that particular provision of the constitution without being fully prepared for it, you are under-developing yourself. The problem is not with the law, the problem is with those who are accessing the benefits of the law.”
The House of Representatives spokesman said federal character did not mean that those who were not qualified should occupy positions.
Kalu stated, “I agree with him (Sanusi). If you access any opportunity that you are not qualified for, you are under-developing yourself and the country. One, you will not be able to fulfil the demands of that office. Two, you will deny those who are supposed to benefit from that office, what they are entitled to.”
The House spokesman noted that what Sanusi said was in the interest of the North and any other region where the issues he raised were.
He said, “The benefit of what the Emir is suggesting, to be sincere, is for the growth of the geopolitical zones in the North. I fully agree with him that the net gift we can give to any underdeveloped or undeveloped region in this country is education.
“Equip yourself in a way that you will be competent to rub shoulders anywhere in the world because of your qualifications; not just your certificate but that you know what you are talking about. We should not be local champions, depending on all the opportunities available. He is trying to raise great minds that will be able to walk outside, and I agree with him.”
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Abia State governor, Alex Otti, has revealed has revealed plans to recruit additional 4,000 teachers to raise the teaching workforce to 9,394.in the State’s primary and secondary schools.
The governor disclosed this during the June edition of his media chat, dubbed Governor Alex Otti speaks to Abians”, held on Thursday night at the Government House, Umuahia.
He said that the 5,394 first set of teachers already recruited would be deployed after their ongoing orientation in Aba and Umuahia.
According to him, the next set of recruitment will happen immediately after this orientation.
“We expect that the portal will be opened and applications will be received,” he said.
Otti said that the idea was to prepare the schools for the next academic session, given the massive enrollment witnessed since the introduction of free and compulsory education.
The government, in January, introduced free and compulsory education from primary one to junior secondary school.
The policy is to ensure that every child in Abia, regardless of their state of origin, had access to education up to the junior secondary school.
Otti emphasised the need to prepare and ensure quality teachers for primary and secondary schools across the State.
He reiterated his administration’s commitment to continue with the renovation of schools, including the tertiary institutions.
“In addition to the renovation, we are converting 20 schools into smart schools and work is already ongoing,” he said.
The governor also spoke on the government’s activities in the health sector.
He gave assurance that the ongoing renovation of 200 primary healthcare centres across the 17 local government areas of the State would soon be completed and that most of them were ready for use.
“The type of equipment you are expecting to see in the developed countries are already in Abia and we are not opening them without equipping them properly,” he said.
Otti, who highlighted some of his administration’s achievements in other sectors, including security, road infrastructure, sanitation and others, urged the residents to join hands with the administration in building a new Abia.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, on Friday, warned that Iran has a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid possible US air strikes, indicating he could take a decision before the fortnight deadline he set a day earlier.
Trump added that he is not inclined to stop Israel attacking Iran because it was “winning,” and was dismissive of European efforts to mediate an end to the conflict.
“I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” Trump told reporters when asked if he could decide to strike Iran before that.
He added that the aim was to “see whether or not people come to their senses.”
Trump had said in a statement on Thursday that he would “make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks” because there was a “substantial chance of negotiations” with Iran.
Those comments had been widely seen as opening a two-week window for negotiations to end the war between Israel and Iran, with the European powers rushing to talks with Tehran.
But his latest remarks indicated Trump could still make his decision before that if he feels that there has been no progress towards dismantling Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump meanwhile dismissed talks that European powers Britain, France, Germany and the EU had with Iran’s foreign minister in Geneva on Friday.
“They didn’t help,” he said as he arrived in Morristown, New Jersey, ahead of a fundraising dinner at his nearby golf club.
“Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said after the talks in Geneva that Tehran would not resume negotiations with the United States until Israel stopped its attacks.
But Trump was reluctant.
“It’s very hard to make that request right now,” Trump said.
“If somebody’s winning, it’s a little bit harder to do than if somebody’s losing, but we’re ready, willing and able, and we’ve been speaking to Iran, and we’ll see what happens.”
Trump meanwhile doubled down on his claims that Iran is weeks away from being able to produce a nuclear bomb, despite divisions in his own administration about the intelligence behind his assessment.
Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, said in a report in March that Iran was not close to having enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.
“She’s wrong,” Trump said of Gabbard, a longtime opponent of US foreign intervention whom Trump tapped to coordinate the sprawling US spy community.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
The National Opposition Coalition Group, led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has formally applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission for the registration of a new political party—the All Democratic Alliance.
The application, dated June 19, was acknowledged by INEC on Friday, signalling the coalition’s determination to float a new platform instead of aligning with any existing political party.
The formation of ADA, backed by some other key political heavyweights, including former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and Umar Ardo, convener of the League of Northern Democrats and former aide to President Olusegun Obasanjo, seeks to capitalise on mounting public dissatisfaction and political realignments to stop President Bola Tinubu at the next poll.
The application comes just a few days after INEC warned political groups that no amount of pressure or public sentiment would override the need for strict compliance with constitutional and electoral guidelines.
With Thursday’s application, the national opposition coalition has now put an end to weeks of speculation about whether it would revive a dormant political platform or launch a fresh one altogether.
A copy of the application letter, obtained by our correspondent in Abuja, was jointly signed by the association’s Protem National Chairman, Chief Akin A. Rickets, and Protem National Secretary, Abdullahi Elayo.
The letter partly read, “We respectfully write to the Independent National Electoral Commission, requesting the registration of our association, the All Democratic Alliance, as a political party.
“This is a sequel to the decision taken by the Nigerian National Coalition Group to sponsor our association for full registration.
“The name of the party shall be All Democratic Alliance with ADA as our acronym and ‘Justice for All’ as our slogan.”
The coalition also submitted relevant documents, including the party’s constitution, manifesto, logo, and minutes of its foundational meetings.
The party’s symbol prominently features a maize (corn), which the applicants say represents abundance, resilience, and sustenance—core ideals they hope to promote.
“We have further attached our manifesto encompassing details of our party ideology and our constitution providing the legal framework that defines our identity, structures, and organisation,” the letter continued.
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