Headlines
Sanusi Warns Against Electing Incompetent Leaders
Former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, on Wednesday, said elections of leaders for the country should be based on competence and not ethnicity.
He said candidates’ agenda should also be scrutinised “so as to know what we are going into before we get into it.”
Sanusi spoke at The August Event 2022 organised by the Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi Foundation in collaboration with St Nicholas Hospitals held in Lagos.
The event tagged, “Nigerian Healthcare System: The Past, Present and Future; celebrating the legacy of Chief Dr Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi,” is held every two years to celebrate the legacy of MAMF founder’s passion for growth and development in healthcare and education.
Sanusi, who was the chairman of the event, said, “Political aspirants should also be asked of their plans for hospitals and education amongst other key undeveloped areas in the country.
“The government has lost respect for the profession and no amount invested into education can be gotten back in salaries in this country. Doctors and teachers deserve a decent life and respect.
“Education and healthcare are the basic foundation for the development of a nation, and the rate of brain drain is high because prepared budgets in the health and education sectors have been embezzled and mismanaged.
“In 2016, 18 % of inflation was recorded which made the price of everything on average to double every four years. A bag of rice which sold for N8, 000 in 2015, now cost N35,000.
“In 2011, a debate was held right here in this same venue about fuel subsidy. We did everything within our powers to tell Nigerians to cater first for priorities, but we now spend a borrowed N6.7trn on fuel subsidy which will continue until June 2023.
“Inflation, exchange rates, cheap fuel that is not produced by our refineries all create negative impacts, and are also a brain drain of the economy which cannot be addressed in isolation.”
The Punch
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
