‘I’m Trying to Lay a Solid Foundation for Abia’

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Read Time:20 Minute, 45 Second
The Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji, discusses his “legacy project” and his administration’s policies, in this interview with Tunde Rahman and Vincent Obia. Excerpts: 
 
Your government has embarked on a number of projects, popularly called Legacy Projects. How are you sourcing the money for them?
 
We are not a rich state. But the thing is prudence in the management of the resources of the state.
I am not a businessman. I don’t have a company. It’s not my field. If I go into it, I would not do well. What I’m doing is what I know very well. Since I came out of the university this is what I have been doing, from the civil service till now: management of resources. The little that comes into your hands, use them very well for the benefit of the people. That is what I have been doing here.
Our civil servants are receiving the highest pay in Nigeria – N20, 100 monthly. Check if there is any other state paying that as minimum wage. That’s what we are paying, and we even paid arrears. We did not start paying minimum wage from the time we were able to pay it; we paid it from the time of implementation of the policy.
That is why we have industrial harmony here. During the commencement of the minimum wage, every other state in the South-east experienced strike by civil servants. It was only in Abia that the civil servants never went on strike, because I called them and told them, take it easy, whatever the federal government has decided, I would pay. They believed and trusted me and they never went on strike.
So we have been doing the projects with diligent management of the scarce resources that we get from internally generated revenue and the Federation Account. With what we are doing, making effort to increase our IGR, we are improving on daily basis.
If I have been able to sustain the minimum wage since the policy was introduced, then we will sustain any other thing we are putting on board. The projects we are doing are of high quality, no half measures. We choose the contractors that work for us, and they know what we want.
 
Can you mention some of these projects and their significance?
The projects are many. We are building a Government House. It is a legacy project. We are building a secretariat, e-library, a secretariat for the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, a secretariat for the Abia State Universal Basic Education Programme. We have built a complex comprising about 38 offices for the BCA.
In our diagnosis centre, we also have a dialysis centre, which was launched in July. We are also going to open the eye centre. We have bought the equipment, it has landed in Lagos. But they said we should model the building to suite the equipment that we have bought. By next month or thereabout, the equipment would arrive the state for installation.
We are building a 100-bed complex at General Hospital, Ama-Achara. In Arochukwu, Ohafia, Ugwa West local governments, we are building similar edifices. Also in Aba, Obingwa, etc.
We are not talking of schools we have built and renovated, or the many roads scattered across the local government areas of the state.
We are giving preference to Aba because Aba is the headache that we have. We are now working on Ngwa road in Aba. We are reconstructing the road.
We have built a new market and convinced the traders, and on their own, happily, they moved. Change is difficult to accept. But traders who are used to staying in Umuahia, the centre of the town, have moved,
We want to change the face of the capital city. People come to Umuahia, they see the old market, they don’t go to Ogurube Layout, and when they return home, they say, this place is still like that. Even if we don’t put anything on ground in the place where the market was, if you come to Umuahia now, you have beautiful scenery.
 
Have you been able to move your IGR to a level that matches what you get from the Federation Account? And are you sure you can complete these Legacy Projects in your tenure, given the level of work that still needs to be done?
 
That is a commitment that I have made, to complete these legacy projects. The ones I may not complete, perhaps, the airport that I want to start, any person coming after me can undertake that. But projects like the International Conference Centre, e-library, secretariat, BCA, etc, I intend to complete. From about February next year, what we are going to undertake is commissioning, commissioning, commissioning.
On the IGR, when I came here, I meet a monthly IGR of between N200 million and N250 million monthly. Abia State of all places, N250 million a month. But today, the difference is clear. We are moving towards the billions.
You know our people naturally hate tax. And Aba, where we should get the greatest income, is no man’s land. There are all manners of people there. What we are trying to do is to instill discipline in them, to change their psyche so that they can appreciate government and assist government. If we succeed in that, we will get whatever we want from there. And we are succeeding.
 
At the new market in Ubani, some of the traders raised concerns about security, because the place is far from the town, lack of water, fire service, and banks. How are you addressing these?
You would expect this from somebody who is making a change. When they were here, was security superb for them? It is the same security arrangement that was here that has been carried over to that place. When they were here, they made the security arrangement by themselves. There is a market management committee they have among themselves. It is that same security apparatus that was carried to that place, plus an additional one provided by government.
If you looked around, you would see security posts and fire service centre there. The only one we have not overcome is water. This is because it is difficult to get water there due to the topography. That is why we have said we will be bringing water to fill overhead tanks in the place until we are in a position to reticulate water from the stream close to the place.
We are conscious of the security needs and we have made arrangement for security. Since they went there, has anybody told you they have stolen their goods or that somebody has died? No.
There is a hospital, school, and housing estate there. What we are doing is to expand this city. The same thing is happening where we have the industrial market. The place is becoming a new town.
These things are not easy, but I’m happy that God is helping us, and we are succeeding.
 
There appears to be a general water problem in Umuahia. What are you doing to address this?
We are conscious of that, but that of Ubani, where the market is, is a totally different issue. It is difficult to sink a borehole there. We have a regional water scheme in Unuahia. We draw water from Onimo, filter it, and pump it to the station in Umuopara, which pumps it to the town. But our people have not been fair. They continue to vandalise the equipment. They have vandalised the generator set we bought for the station. But we are fighting them. The Commissioner for Public Utilities has told me that water will soon start running because we have made the necessary arrangement. We have repaired the equipment and bought the damaged materials. We are reticulating and re-piping because road construction has damaged some of the pipes. So we are tackling the problem.
 
What do you plan to do at the site of the old market?
 
We are going to put a structure there that would be beneficial to people of all classes and ages. The structure also will enhance the aesthetics of this city. I have asked town planners to give me drawings of an ideal thing we will put there. Be rest assured that what we will put there is something every person would like to behold. That is before May 29, 2015.
 
What informed your decision to undertake the huge investment in the diagnostic centre in Umuahia?
 
If you want to build a house, the house must have a quality foundation so that any other thing you put on top of it will stand. And it will protect every other thing that is inside the house. If the foundation is weak, and there is a heavy downpour, the house would collapse and people in the house would die and you will start again.
If you have this scenario in your mind, you can understand what informed what I’m doing.
I didn’t see a solid foundation in Abia State when I came on board. A state that was created in 1991; yet no Government House, no state secretariat, no conference centre, no diagnostic centre. I’m talking about the basic ones. No good e-library. No modern market, everything was congested in the town here.
These are basic things that had been in existence in other states that were created when Abia was created.
First, you have to have a secretariat for your civil servants, who are the engine room of your government. You have to provide for them for them to give you the best. You have to cater for the basic health needs of the people because you will be happy to be a governor of healthy people, not a governor of unhealthy or dead people. You have to have a conference centre because people will come to Abia to discuss. We must have a decent place where they can do that. You have to have guest houses; it’s not every time visitors come that you put them in hotels.
These are the basic things and I know that once they are on ground, you can then talk of other things about governance. Since these were not on ground, it becomes my responsibility to put them on the ground, lay the foundation, and if I still have the time, start building. Then wherever I stop, another person will come in. But there must be a solid foundation. Laying this foundation is what has informed the things I’m doing.
 
What are you doing to encourage the private sector and to restore the age-long culture of ingenuity to the state, especially, places like Aba?
 
Aba before the war was noted for many things. Their industriousness and hard work are still there. But during my own time, Aba and Abia had the challenge of kidnapping. Because of the commercial nature of Aba, wealthy people live there and it is a busy place, kidnappers concentrated in Aba. That affected the growth of the city, as many people ran away. Entrepreneurs ran away, factories closed, and banks closed. That drew Aba back for some time.
But because of our doggedness and the mercy of God, we were able to overcome that. I recognise that it was a major challenge. It is human beings that would develop a place and if they run away, who will come and develop it? I went to Aba during the kidnapping saga and it was empty, like a war-torn area.
Today, however, Aba is booming again. When we controlled the security situation of the place, people started coming back.
On the issue of orientation, we are trying to let the people understand that Aba is still what it used to be. Today, the Nigerian Breweries is undertaking an expansion project in Aba worth N18 billion. An economic summit will hold in Aba tomorrow (November 20). The essence is to attract people, tell entrepreneurs that Aba is still what it used to be. Today also, Greenfield, a private investor we are partnering with, is building a shopping mall at Osisioma.
What we are doing is to make the environment conducive for people to come and invest. Once you provide security, repair the roads, supply electricity, in fact, put in place infrastructure, those who want to invest would come.
We have Geometrics and NIPP all coming on board because of Aba. When these things come on stream, Aba will continue to boom. And we have also the ingenuity of the people. Aba is the only place where there is no unemployment. Any person you see in Aba is doing something – he is either plying a trade or learning a trade.
 
What economic empowerment programmes do you have for the low-income people?
 
During the era of kidnapping, when the people ran away, their apprentices also ran away. Most of them were tempted to go into criminality. We realised it was good to empower the people, especially, the youths, and we started this empowerment programme, giving out things that you can use to make money.
So far, we have given out 720 vehicles, thousands of tricycles and sowing machines. Last year, I gave N60 million each to the chairmen of the 17 local government areas in the state to build skills acquisition centres in their local governments to train people. They did it. We have one at Ogurube Layout, built by my wife.  The other time 302 people graduated from there and they were given equipment and money. We are encouraging people to establish businesses.
 
You recently reversed your policy of indigenisation of the civil service, citing increment in IGR, not long after it was started. Don’t you think the rapidity of the U-turn is an indication that the policy was not properly thought out from the beginning?
 
No. I don’t play politics with the welfare of the people. I am sincere. We know very well that it is not every person that would have the courage to do the indigenisation. Just like it is not every person that would have the courage to relocate the market from Umuahia. I believe in what I will do and have peace with myself.
Talking about indigenisation, this state is not the first to do that. Imo State did it, Enugu State did it, Anambra State did it, Ebonyi State did it. We have living evidence, people who were disengaged, who came back to Abia. That time people didn’t make noise about it. I was in government then. I was Chief of Staff here when those people who were disengaged came and they were all reabsorbed. I don’t know if anybody wrote about it. May be journalists were not very sensitive to issues as at that time.
There was something that made these states to do that. It was economic hardship. We didn’t bother when Boko Haram came and our people had to return home, we were reengaging them, with our people in the civil service, including non-indigenes. We didn’t have any problem until the minimum wage came. When I the accountants gave me the statistics of what it would take us to sustain the minimum wage I saw that we could not carry the burden. It was impossible for us to carry the burden. If we had tried to, we would have industrial unrest here everyday. Then the major headlines would be we are not able to pay salaries. But I didn’t want that. You cut your coat according to your cloth. We have to be sincere.
Why are organisations disengaging people? It’s because they don’t have the capacity to carry those people along. You employ the number you can cater for.
So when we were thinking about this, people brought this idea, that this was what some states did. And it took me time to undertake that policy because I knew the implication.
 
Would you say your government has enjoyed significant benefits from the indigenisation policy?
 
We did it and it worked for us. Like I told you, we are paying the highest minimum wage in the country. Check out in the country if all the states have started paying minimum wage. But we are paying the highest and we have paid arrears. There is industrial harmony here. Their entitlements are paid.
Like I told you, our IGR is picking up. I then decided that since the IGR is picking up, and I’m working as per what we have, it is good to bring this people back to service.
When the other states did their own, we reabsorbed all our people. Now when we did our own, how many people have been reabsorbed in their states’ services? So who loves the people more? Is it not myself who said, go and let me try to get some things and now that I’m okay, come back?
 
Were the other South-east states’ governments informed before your announcement of the indigenisation policy?
 
Actually, when we decided to do the indigenisation, I wrote to all the governors of the South-east saying, please, this is my predicament; I want a way out of it. No suggestion came. I had expected them to do what we did when our people were disengaged: reabsorb the people in their different states. But some of them started to play politics with it so as to brand me a wicked person while they are the angels. But today, we know those who are the angels and the wicked people.
 
How many of the previously disengaged workers have returned?
 
What we have done is to set up a committee, which is articulating how they are going to come back. Once we are ready, they will apply. From the applications we would know the number that would come back. Many would be happy to come back while others may have found something else to do.
Who is the kind man and who is the wicked one. If an indigene of your state is disengaged and you cannot reabsorb the person, yet you are talking everyday. After all, we receive our allocations, which are meant for the welfare of our own people. I had expected the states to take in most of them. But they left them, and I’m taking them back.
 
What is your reaction to the allegation by the chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum that $5 billion had been secretly withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account by the federal government? And as a member of the Jonah Jang-led splinter group of NGF, what plans do you have to reunite the body of governors?
 
I’m not a member of the NGF led by Amaechi, and the statement is not credited to us, the Jang group. So go and ask them, let them prove what they have said. I won’t comment on what they have said.
Who doesn’t like peace? You know how the NGF crisis started. We said there had never been a time since the inception of NGF that the chairman came by election; that we should maintain the status quo. It should be by concession. That is the crux of the matter.
 
But there was an election and your faction was defeated.
 
Forget about that one. What I’m telling you is what started the whole thing. If there was no election, there would not be this division. So it’s a premeditated action by them. And you see what is happening now. NGF is just the sign.
 
What are your plans for the post-2015 period? And how are you working towards your succession, especially in view of the need for continuation of your Legacy Projects?
 
I always believe that tomorrow will take care of itself. When tomorrow comes, nature will do its job and adjust people properly. My concern now is these Legacy Projects. If I complete these projects, it’s the people that would literally drag you into positions they want you to occupy. That’s why I’m concentrating on these projects. These are projects for which you and I will be remembered.
Of course, every incumbent governor would think of the person that will succeed him. We are doing that. But I’m not going to impose anybody on any person. It’s going to be a collective responsibility to bring out somebody. Once that person is brought out by the consensus of the people, for sure, if he stands for election he will win.
 
You have seen what imposition and godfatherism brought here. I have the experience and it didn’t work. It’s not a good practice at all. It’s good that if you have a governor, you allow him to perform. As a statesman, what you can do is to give advice. If the governor is derailing you say, no governor, don’t do that. And if the governor recognises your advice and asks you questions, you answer for the benefit of the state.
 
But when you become overbearing and dictate to the man, no person will take that. There is no governor who knows his worth that would like to be dictated to. When you want to appoint commissioners, they write a list and give to you. You as a governor cannot even make an input into the appointment of your cabinet. The list is given to you to read. This was what we saw in the first three years of this government.
 
At a time here, somebody called me a bishop without a cathedral because of the situation we were in then. That was the situation of Abia before the beginning of 2011. But from 2011 onwards, all of us became bishops with big cathedrals, and the difference today is very clear.
 
On the issue of succession, do you subscribe to the idea of zoning the governorship according to the three senatorial districts of the state?
 
We are Nigerians, we have a constitution. But we have to put our Nigerianness in our constitution. As an Igbo man, you know the perception of our people about politics: this is your turn, you have done your turn, go let another person come. You can’t deny that. In Abia, that is the situation.
Abia is made up of two ethnic blocks, and you cannot remove ethnicity from our politics. You have the Bende block and the Ukwa-Ngwa block. These are the people who own Abia. Constitutionally and by political arrangement, they are now in three senatorial zones – Abia North, Abia Central, and Abia South. But on zonal basis, even in Abia South, there are Ukwa-Ngwa people in Abia Central, but majority of them are in Abia South. But on ethnic basis, there are Ukwa-Ngwa and Old Bende.
 
In terms of governorship of Abia State, Bende has had two slots. The former governor and I are from the Old Bende. On senatorial basis also, Abia North has had a slot, with the former governor, who is from Abia North. I am from Abia Central. It is Abia South, inhabited mainly by Ukwa-Ngwa, that has not had. Well, there is room for every person to come and contest. After all, when I contested, they all came out, when the former governor contested, they all came out.
But I am saying that for peace, equity, and fairness, the best thing is for our brothers who have tested the governorship to pipe down for some time and allow those who have not. Our people say manu akara di uto onye ratu ibe ya aratu (bean cake oil is sweeter when one licks and allows others to lick also). When Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon were military leaders, they instilled discipline – turn by turn attitude – in Nigerians and everybody liked it. When it is your turn, you take and go, nobody would agitate.
We should enshrine morality in the politics of this modern Nigeria. Though, some say there is no morality in politics. That’s what makes politics to be a dirty game. It is our job to polish politics. That is why we are encouraging members of the clergy to come and contest.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Fani-Kayode on Mimiko’s Landmark Achievements

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Read Time:8 Minute, 53 Second
Perspective
 
Femi Fani-Kayode gives an account of a recent tour of some of the projects in Ondo State
 
It is not often that I am left speechless and at a loss for words. Yet this is how I felt the other day after my friend and brother, Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo State personally took me on a five-hour tour of his state and showed me some of his landmark achievements. As they say, seeing is believing!
 
We went to the massive, ultra-modern, state-of-the-art, all-purpose conference centre (which is still under construction in Akure); the Medical Village in Ondo Town (which houses the most advanced, best equipped and most sophisticated set of hospitals in Nigeria- catering for virtually every known aspect of medical care from serious accidents, to childbirth and to major surgery and whose services are completely FREE OF CHARGE).
 
There is the beautiful Mega Schools (which are state-run high schools that are, in terms of infrastructural facilities and equipment, including computers etc., at par with any state-run high schools in Europe or America and whose infrastructure is absolutely astounding), the free school-bussing system for children, the ''ten minute response'' ambulance systems all over the state, the smooth roads and street-lighting systems all over Akure and other parts of the state and so much more.
 
The truth is that I was ashamed of the fact that so much is going on in Ondo State in terms of development and services to the ordinary people and yet we as Nigerians, and particularly as Yoruba people, have refused to acknowledge or admit it either for self-serving political motives or for other reasons which are best known to ourselves.
 
 
Instead of playing politics and indulging in the usual grandstanding that so many others have been doing in their states, Mimiko is one governor that is clearly rolling up his sleeves, working extremely hard for his people and looking within. It appears to me that he believes that the work itself and the purposeful establishment of an intimidating legacy of good governance and massive infrastructural development throughout the state will do the talking for him. And he is right.
 
As I told him, knowingly or unknowingly, he is clearly basing his system of governance on the Danish model, which basically espouses the view that the state must be compassionate to the poorest and weakest in society and must provide the highest quality of amenities, including schools, hospitals, housing, transport systems and virtually everything else for them either free of charge or at minimal cost.
It is this philosophical and ideological position of compassion for the poor and weak and opportunities for the rich and powerful that has made Denmark, according to various international studies and reports, one of the happiest, most stable, most prosperous and most enviable places to live in the world.
 
Over the years the Danes have managed to create a fine balance between the imperatives and great benefits of private enterprise and investment and the forces of the free market on the one hand and state intervention and governmental responsibility for the poor and less fortunate on the other. This is what Mimiko, wittingly or unwittingly, is actually doing in Ondo State.
 
I had never been to or heard of any place in my life where children from fee- paying private schools prefer to go to state-run high schools until I got to Ondo State. This is because of the excellent facilities and the high quality of teaching and services that are being provided in those schools today.
 
I had never seen the offices of Nigerian state-school principals looking and feeling more like the offices of an average bank manager in a high street bank until I got to Ondo State. I had never seen the sheer pride of young children from less privileged homes in their beautiful new schools, shining new uniforms and brand new buses (all at minimal cost) until I got to Ondo state.
 
When I got to what they have called the Medical Village, which is in fact a sprawling new self-contained town and massive community in itself and which is a star attraction for all those that are interested in medical tourism I was very impressed. I went into the wards of some of the hospitals, saw the patients, saw the ''mother and child centre'', saw the equipment, saw the tiny premature-born babies (some only 6 inches long) safely closeted in the most expensive life-saving incubators.
 
I saw the burns centres with all their sophisticated equipment and machinery; saw the surgery rooms and all the facilities, saw the beautiful homes of the doctors and surgeons and, most important of all, I saw and felt the clean and fresh ambiance of the whole village and community. I also saw the looks of pride and joy on the faces of the hundreds of patients and workers there who clearly appreciated the fact that they were getting and providing the very best of health care there, with a full supply of all the necessary drugs, medication and everything else that they needed- all completely free of charge.
 
So good was the deal that I saw people that came from a number of other states just to benefit from and take advantage of these excellent facilities and services that the Ondo State government is providing.
 
I have never seen the poorest people getting the best quality of free healthcare in this way anywhere else in the Third World. I have never been to a state hospital that is so fresh and clean and in which you cannot smell that frightful and depressing clinical aroma that is associated with most hospitals until I got to Ondo State.
 
Frankly I am just amazed and it is only a man that is filled with the deepest compassion for the less privileged and one who appreciates the fact that political power and leadership is bestowed upon individuals for one purpose only- to transform the lives of the ordinary people, to make their community a far better and easier place for them to live, to provide the opportunities and environment that will enable them to achieve their full potentials and to bring hope and succour to the poor, the needy and the less privileged- that can do all this.
 
How Mimiko manages to fund all these things and at the same time pay his salaries and take care of all his recurrent expenses is a wonder to me. Yet as he rightly said, it is simply a matter of priorities. His priority is clearly to transform the face and fortunes of the people of the state and to ensure that he helps the poor and leaves a robust legacy of massive infrastructural development, decency and compassion.
 
What I saw has brought me immense joy and hope for Yorubaland and indeed, Nigeria. If Mimiko had the kind of financial resources available to the governors of Lagos, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta states respectively, I can only imagine what he would have achieved by now. His efforts in Ondo State are a testimony to the fact that when the right man is given the opportunity to serve the people, things really can and do change.
 
When it comes to the South-west, my friends and brothers Biodun Ajimobi, Rauf Aregbesola and Kayode Fayemi the governors of Oyo, Osun and Ekiti states respectively have provided good leadership too. Yet many have claimed that Tunde Fashola of Lagos State, who has undoubtedly done a very good job as well, is the real star of the South-west but I beg to differ.
 
Fashola's efforts are geared primarily towards the interests of the rich and he has turned Lagos into a city for the rich and for the elites only. That is good enough but the real prize for compassionate and purposeful leadership in South-western Nigeria must go to Segun Mimiko. He, together with Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State who, in my view, takes the prize for the North-west, impressed me immensely with the great work that they have done in their respective states.
 
From literally nothing, they have built and established something that will speak for them both into eternity and they have brought joy, solace and hope to the ordinary people in their respective states. Interestingly they are both clearly slightly left of centre, which is an ideological bent that I share. To them, the welfare of the ordinary people and the establishment of enduring institutions matter far more than anything else.
 
They do not belong to the ideological grouping that is prepared to sacrifice the welfare state and the interests of the people on the altar of big business. They are clearly wary of the unfeeling and unrelenting monetarist forces of free enterprise and the philosophy of minimal government involvement in the lives of the ordinary people because they know full well that such forces are only interested in ensuring that the rich get richer, that the powerful get even more powerful and that the poor get poorer. This is very refreshing.
 
Yet, perhaps, more interesting is the fact that they were both loyal and reliable Ministers in President Olusegun Obasanjo's government at one time or the other yet clearly neither of them share his right-of-centre ideological bent and his fondness for economic policies that were essentially right-wing and that were designed specifically to cater for the interests of big business more than anything else.
 
For example, I doubt very much that you would ever see the monetarist and economic hardliners that were recruited from the World Bank and other international monetary agencies by Obasanjo being given pride of place or indeed any role in a federal government that was presided over and led by either a Lamido or a Mimiko.
 
I intend to write more about this in the next few weeks. I also intend to share what I saw in Sule Lamido's Jigawa State in more specific terms and I will begin with the magnificent airport that he is building there and the beautiful roads that he has put in place. What all this proves to me is that Nigeria can be a success. The bottom line is that if we can just get the right quality of leadership, then there will certainly still be hope for our people.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Yusus: PDM Committed to Internal Democracy, Discipline

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Read Time:1 Minute, 53 Second
National chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Alhaji Bashir Yusus has said the party was committed to internal democracy and discipline.
He equally disclosed that 5 million registration cards had been printed for manual registration of new members.
 
In a statement made available, Yusuf dropped the hints in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while addressing stakeholders of the party in the South-south zone on party guidelines and structures of offices.
 
According to him, the on-line registration of more than 2.5 million members was on-going, adding that the congress and formal launching of the party would take place  after the formation of party structures in states and local government areas across the country.
 
He disclosed that stakeholders’ committees had been constituted to organise election into various offices in the party two months after the congress.
 
“The party wants to make a difference from what is going-on today in the country. Nigeria is the only country in the world where people are ready take away from and are not ready to put in anything; if we bring the right attitude and be ready to sacrifice, the change will come,” he said.
Yusus assured that party secretariat and funds would be made available to states in the zone to enable them fulfill the party’s dream.
 
According to him, the Peoples Democratic Movement was three and half months old in politics but poised to make a change in the Political landscape of the country.
 
In his remark the National Treasurer of the party, Dagogo Emmanuel who is from the zone welcomed the National chairman to the South- south and pledged the commitment of the zone to work for the development and success of the party. remarking that the over 270 delegates who attended the zonal meeting were very committed to the party.
 
Rivers State Chairman of the party, Honorable George Ngbor, said efforts are being intensified to mobilise the People to embrace the change PDM offers.
 
Ngbor said efforts are on top gear to reach out to eminent persons   in the Senatorial districts, local government areas and wards in Rivers State and assured that the party would win election come 2015.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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INEC and Jega’s Declining Performance

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Read Time:3 Minute, 20 Second
The INEC chairman’s admission of electoral gain reversal following the Anambra State governorship election is a confession that he may have lost steam ahead of the critical 2015 general election, writes Vincent Obia
 
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, has been on the spot since the generally condemned Anambra State governorship election. He has been hard-pressed to explain INEC’s failure to deliver a credible election in the South-east state on November 16, despite all the time, money, and personnel that went into the conduct of the poll.
On Wednesday in Abuja, Jega admitted during a dialogue with a civil society group, the Nigeria Civil Society Election Situation Room, that the Anambra election was flawed.
 
“Anambra is an election we fully prepared for. We worked more than we had ever done in any state. Regrettably however, what we saw was evidence of reversal in Delta and Anambra. We are disappointed with the reversals,” the INEC chairman said. “But we are not leaving any stone unturned at unraveling what actually transpired. We will investigate Anambra thoroughly and meticulously. We will do a thorough enquiry in Anambra. We cannot afford to lose hope. We will do better in the future.”
 
Virtually every person or group that monitored the Anambra State governorship poll had concluded that the exercise was flawed. Jega merely echoed the verdict on many lips.
Yet Jega’s remarks have sparked debate, as it is pored over for deeper meaning. With the admission of gain reversal after the controversial Anambra State election, many think that he has either lost control over the all-important electoral body as an umpire or is now incapable of warding off a systematic plot to defraud the Nigerian electorate.
The question many asked after Jega’s admission of the flawed elections was, “Is he just learning about the monumental flaws?”
 
The INEC chairman had apologised to Nigerians regarding the Anambra election before now. But he had also, prior to that apology, complained on television on the election day about some worrying logistic lapses that he had noticed.
 
Some Nigerians had expected Jega to cancel the Anambra election after observing the curious logistic hitches that had tended to be concentrated in the opposition strongholds, many of which were less than 30 minutes’ drive from the state capital. Interestingly, in areas controlled by the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance in the state, materials and personnel were available in good time, even though many of the areas were about three hours’ drive from Awka.
 
Rather than discontinue the election, as he had done in April 2011 during the National Assembly elections, Jega chose to carry on with the flaws. A decision to take the same recourse as he did at the National Assembly poll would have saved the country the ignominy that is now threatening to erase whatever gains that have been made in the past in efforts to resolve the crisis of election.
The popular feeling is that Jega might have been minded to call off the Anambra election, but there were voices at his elbow that warned him not to let the thought cross his mind. The INEC chairman certainly failed the popular expectation.
 
Jega knew that whatever the outcome of yesterday’s supplementary election will not change the result of the governorship election or heal its defects. He has tended to stylishly push the responsibility for any decisive action on the poll to the judiciary and play safe.
The public admissions of flaws regarding the Anambra election and the apologies by Jega are okay. But the seemingly serial nature of the flaws and apologies are indications that the INEC chairman may be overwhelmed by pressure to do the wrong thing.  It is a sign of declining performance.  Jega should be wary of acts that can sully his hard-won integrity.  

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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A Legacy of Monuments and Service

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Read Time:6 Minute, 2 Second
Abia State Governor Theodore Orji may not be the world’s most charismatic politician, but his commitment to the erection of development edifices is so enthralling that you cannot fail to be impressed, as Vincent Obia finds out
 
  “There must be a solid foundation. Laying this foundation is what has informed the things I’m doing,” is how Governor Theodore Orji describes the quiet infrastructural revolution is he is leading in Abia State with his “legacy projects.” Looking closely at these projects that are changing the skyline of Umuahia, the capital city, and other major towns across the state, they are monuments complete with contemporary and historical significance.  
Legacy Projects
 
The International Conference Centre, e-library, and the new secretariat complex are among edifices erected by the Orji administration that dominate the skyline at Ogurube Layout in Umuahia, a new area being developed by the government to expand and decongest the city centre.
The International Conference Centre, a massive architectural ensemble, sits in the middle of the new layout. It has a main auditorium with a sitting capacity of 4, 000 and five galleries with a combined sitting capacity of about 1, 000. The building being constructed by Charbel Limited was started in November 2011. The structural engineer, Chinedum Ikechukwu, says the project is 90 percent complete and may be completed this year.
 
The new secretariat is a three-block complex right beside the domed, rather outmoded, structure that currently houses most of Abia State government’s ministries, departments, and agencies. Work is yet to commence on the third block of the building that was started in 2011.
Close to the new secretariat building is another enormous structure that is planned to house the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Joint Accounts Allocation Committee, and the state’s traditional rulers’ secretariat. Work here is said to have started about six months ago.
 
Within the new Umuahia area is also the new Abia State Government House and Governor’s Office, which are under construction. Officials at the site say visitors are not allowed to look at the buildings’ interior for security reasons.
At the Broadcasting Corporation of Abia State, a complex of about 40 office spaces is added to give the government’s radio and television outfit a facelift. A similarly new structure adorns the premises of the state high court in Umuahia.
Motivation
 
Orji says he is spurred on by the embarrassing dearth of basic infrastructural foundation in a state that was created in 1991. “These are the basic things and I know that once they are on ground, you can then talk of other things about governance. Since these were not on ground, it becomes my responsibility to put them on the ground, lay the foundation, and if I still have the time, start building. Then wherever I stop, another person will come in,” he says.
 
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Eze Chikannaya, says, “In conceptualising these projects, the Theodore Orji government is not just thinking about the present. The administration is thinking beyond the present, innovating, and creating historical monuments that every Abia indigene or resident would be proud to be associated with.”
Decongestion
 
Until recently, Umuahia was a city deformed by markets located without any particular order. It was the burden of a state peopled by highly ingenious indigenes that were, however, in dire need of proper governmental direction. The state government provided the badly needed direction recently when it relocated two major markets in the town.
The industrial market was relocated to an expansive area at Azueke-Ibeku where thousands of stalls are built for the traders. The city’s main market, which had created an ugly gateway to Umuahia, was also relocated to Ubani-Ibeku.
 
Orji says the repositioning is to decongest Umuahia and add some aesthetic colour to the city.
The traders are also happy in their new site.
“The relocation is very much acceptable because it has helped to decongest the town. Honestly, this new place is very good. We like it. The space is okay,” says Chukwuemeka Eze, who owns a shop at the Ubani-Ibeku market where he sells cloths. “The only thing is that being something that has just started, we are waiting for a good turnout of buyers.”
 
But Eze complains about lack of electricity and pipe borne water at the new market. “As for transportation, the government made it easy for people to come here. The government provided buses that run between here and the town for just N30. We only pray that they would increase the number of buses.”
 
Another trader, Mrs. Kate Amadi says, “We give glory to God for the relocation of this market. People are jubilating over the relocation. Here is quite specious. Some people who had one shop at the old market now have two, some who had two now have four. Shopping here is made easy.
“At the old market, there was congestion, smoke, in fact, commotion everywhere. There was no order; people just put their goods wherever they found space. But now, the market is well organised.”
However, Amadi wants banks to be located in the area without delay. She also expresses reservations about the adequacy of security measures at the new market, saying, “Though, the Bakassi people (local vigilante) are here. And we have not experienced any robbery incident here.”
 
The traders were relocated to the new site in September.
Health
In the area of healthcare, the Orji administration has made one its most significant investments at the Specialist Hospital, Umuahia. The dialysis centre built and equipped at the hospital by the government has six dialysis beds, two for patients with hepatitis B and C, and HIV, and the rest four for normal patients. It was commissioned by the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, on July 22 and conducted its first dialysis on August 28.
 
Treatment at the dialysis centre is subsidised by the state government.
Medical director of the centre, Professor A. U. Mbanaso, says the normal cost of dialysis is N25, 000, covering the cost of materials, which is N21, 000, and N4, 000 service charge. But he says the governor directed that the hospital should charge only N21, 000 while the government bears the rest.
“The dialysis centre has been very effective, it has been highly utilised,” he says of the centre, which is the first of its kind in the state.
 
Security
Orji won the 2013 Businessday Good Governance Awards in Health and Security for his effort in transforming Abia State, which used to be one of southern Nigeria’s kidnapping headquarters. Evidence of this transformation is everywhere in the state, but it seems especially noticeable in the return of nightlife to Umuahia and other major towns in the state.
The governor says he wants to be remembered as a leader who delivered true happiness, health, and security to Abia State through prudent management of the people’s resources.
He speaks more…

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Sanusi: Nigeria Banks Have Solid Liquidity Ratios

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Read Time:2 Minute, 28 Second
The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has maintained that the nation’s commercial banks possess  strong liquidity ratios.
 
A strong liquidity ratio is an indication that a bank’s current assets will be sufficient to meet the company's obligations as and when due.
Sanusi spoke at the 50th anniversary dinner and gala night of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos at the weekend.
 
Attesting more to the strength of the banking sector, he said Nigerian commercial banks provided  80 per cent of funds for the  acquisition of the power assets during the recent privatisation.
 
Besides, he said CBN had instituted a number of fundamental changes in the banking industry, such as the competency framework, to make sure that key operators in banks were highly qualified.
 
Speaking on the planned biometric system, Sanusi said: “In March next year, we are commissioning a centralised banking system where everyone using a bank account, those trading on the stock exchange, the pension and insurance industries, would  have one centralised information through the biometric.”
 
On the declining rate of inflation in the country, the CBN governor explained: “In 2009, we had an inflation rate of 15.3 per cent. Now as at October this year, we had 7.8 per cent and we have kept inflation below 10 per cent from January till date. We intend to keep inflation below 10 per cent throughout 2014 and we hope that inflation in Nigeria would go down to the range of four to seven per cent in 2015.”
 
Sanusi added: “The first address I gave when I resumed office was in the middle of the banking crisis. Then the capital market had lost 72 per cent of its value, oil prices had crashed, many Nigerian banks where in heated situation and then I stepped in.
 
“I made a comment in 2009 that we would fix the banking crisis and that not a single depositor would lose a single penny in a Nigerian bank. So it is a matter of pride and satisfaction for me to stand before you after the resolution of the crisis and on behalf of my colleagues, congratulate all of them for going through this crisis without anyone losing money.”
 
The CBN governor reiterated that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) would always consider stability in making decisions around the benchmark interest rate.
 
“I hear comments that every time we have MPC meeting, we would leave the rate at 12 per cent, I smile because that is what we want it to be. We want people to have an idea of what their salaries is going to buy for them, budget for your children’s school fees and not worry tomorrow about the naira. To us, stability is important,” he added.
 

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Oshiomhole donates N2m to widow

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Read Time:1 Minute, 59 Second
Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo on Monday donated two million naira to a widow he allegedly insulted while on an inspection tour of the state.
 
The widow, Mrs Joy Ifije, who was invited to the Edo Government House by the governor, was also offered automatic employment by Oshiomhole.
 
Oshiomhole had invited the widow to personally apologise to her over his uncomplimentary remark that had generated controversies in the conventional and social media in the last few weeks.
 
‘’ Let me apologise to you for the way I spoke to you, I am very sorry about the statement.
 
“I have also realised that even in anger, one could still achieve the same result that he set out to without provocative outburst.
 
‘’ I apologise from the bottom of my heart, but sometimes you get angry when people compromise your efforts.’’
 
He said that government was trying to change the face of the state capital by doing its best to make the city beautiful.
 
The governor said that it was frustrating and bad for some people to truncate government efforts.
 
He stressed that trading on the road and walk ways could hinder free flow of traffic as well as cause accidents.
 
Oshiomhole, therefore, appeal to the widow to join in the campaign against road and walkways trading.
 
The governor said that exposing consumables to unhygienic sanitary conditions could also cause ”disease and pose dangerous health hazards to humans”.
 
Oshiomhole, who also announced the automatic employment to the widow, said that the employment would help her ease the burden of widowhood and give her children good and proper education.
 
He further assured the widow that his family would assist the widow’s second child in furthering his education, while also appealing to her to resist the temptation of law breaking.
 
The widow had earlier apologised to the governor for her action, saying ‘’ I know I was wrong, that was why I quickly knelt down to beg when I realised I was face to face with the Governor’’.
 
She promised to work with the state government in its campaign against street trading and obstruction.
 
She also promised to make judicious use of the money donated to her by the governor.
 
Punch
 

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Revenue Allocation Shortfall Undermines Lagos Capital Projects

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Read Time:2 Minute, 36 Second
The Lagos State Government at the weekend blamed the delay in the execution of capital projects under the 2013 fiscal regime on the shortage in revenue remittance to the Federation Accounts.
 
It also lamented the erection of residential apartments under the high-tension power lines in different part of the state, noting that such buildings would soon be demolished.
 
The state’s Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, said this during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Ayobo, which he monitored with the Chairman of Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon. Yusuf Shakiru and Special Adviser on Works, Mr. Ganiyu Johnson.
 
At the sanitation also monitored by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba and Managing Director of Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Mr. Ola Oresanya, Bello acknowledged that funding “has been a major challenge in executing the state’s capital project.”
 
He explained that the state government “has challenges this year, and this is well-known. It has been reported in several newspapers and so on. The financial situation of this country is having impact on Lagos.
 
“In fact, Lagos is even trying. There are a lot of challenges. There are a lot of things we should have dealt with. This year has been a little slow, particularly from the middle of the year. We have challenges in funding our projects. It is the most important aspect,” the commissioner explained.
He, also, expressed disappointment at the rate at which some residents “are building residential apartments under the high-tension power infrastructure across the state,” thereby directing a sister ministry, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development to start demolishing such buildings.
 
“Ordinarily, according to him, how can people be erecting structures under high tension cable? It is a noted matter over the years that people should not build under the high tension cable and pole. The entire area was unplanned, and they are demanding for drainage. That place was ordinarily a wet land,”he said.
 
He explained that every resident “knows the nature of wetland especially what it does to nature. They want us to construct drainage under high tension, who will ever do that? We cannot do drainage under high tension.
 
“In fact, what we should do is to demolish the entire houses under the high tension pole. I have instructed the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development to take note and deal with that. They have invaded the place and destroyed the natural habitat. On drainage, before the end of the year, we will give the accurate account of the drainage that have been constructed and cleared in the last one year.”
 
Also speaking, the Special Adviser on Works explained the progress made on the Ipaja-Ayobo Road, which he said, had been defined and the right of way “has been established. The drainage lines have been marked and the interlocking blockings are ready for fixing. We all saw various inner roads at different levels of completion.
 

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Keshi Appointed UBA Chairman

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Read Time:1 Minute, 18 Second
The appointment of Ambassador Joe Keshi as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) has put to rest the speculation on the return of Mr. Tony Elumelu as the chairman of the bank.
 
Elumelu retired from UBA as the group managing director on July 31, 2010, and there had been speculation that the founder of Heirs Holdings might return to the UBA Board following the expiration in August 2013 of the three-year regulatory restriction placed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
 
A statement quoted Elumelu to have expressed satisfaction over the appointment of the new chairman.
"The choice of Ambassador Keshi as the Chair of UBA is one that will bring significant value to the shareholders of the bank. He is highly qualified and experienced to lead the board. His international clout and strong experience in policy formulation and execution will definitely bring significant insight to board deliberations," he said.
 
He further stated: "It is clear that UBA is strongly pushing for industry dominance whilst exploiting the abundant opportunities in Africa through its unique platform."
 
However, it was gathered that some industry watchers who are close to Elumelu, believe his status is now beyond banking board room affairs following the success of Heirs Holdings, which has significant investments in power, oil and gas, hospitality, real estate, agribusiness and healthcare.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation he founded in 2010 is also helping him to actualise his passion to create more entrepreneurs across Africa.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Court Okays Bi-Courtney’s Takeover of GAT at Lagos Airport

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Read Time:2 Minute, 33 Second
Bi-Courtney Group may have moved a step closer to reclaiming the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2), Lagos, which was taken over in controversial circumstances by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), in purported violation of the concession agreement between both parties.
 
Justice I.N. Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos, last Monday  struck out FAAN’s application to restrain Bi-Courtney from taking possession of the GAT, despite a judgment of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed Bi-Courtney’s ownership of the terminal.
 
According to court documents obtained at the weekend, FAAN had filed the application on December 5, 2011, seeking several reliefs against Bi-Courtney “in respect of the use and operation of the Murtala Mohammed Airport Domestic Terminal 2, Ikeja, Lagos, by the defendant (Bi-Courtney) pursuant to a concession agreement executed between the federal government and the defendant.”
 
The essence of the suit by FAAN was “to restrain the defendant from taking over the control of the General Aviation Terminal of the airport”.
 
FAAN  also filed an ex-parte application seeking certain interim injunctive reliefs which were granted by the court on December 6, 2011.
 
Bi-Courtney, however, filed an application seeking an order of the court to set aside the interim order granted to FAAN on the grounds that it concealed and/or failed to disclose material facts to the court in its application upon which the ex-parte interim order of December 6, 2011, was granted.
 
The court delivered a ruling on February 27, 2012, setting aside the interim order.
Bi-Courtney, subsequently, filed a notice of preliminary objection dated April 10, 2012, challenging the competence of the suit and seeking “an order of court to strike it out for failure to fulfil condition precedent as contained in the concession agreement between the parties or alternatively an order dismissing the suit for being an abuse of court process”.
 
Bi-Courtney contended that FAAN instituted the action “without any resort to the dispute resolution mechanism provided in the concession, which is to the effect that any dispute arising from the agreement must first be referred to the co-ordinating committee for resolution”.
In his ruling, Justice Buba held that FAAN failed to comply with a condition precedent by commencing the suit without first referring the dispute to the co-ordinating committee in accordance with the terms of the concession agreement.
 
The court, however, refused the relief seeking to dismiss the suit on the grounds that the suit having already been declared incompetent cannot be subsequently dismissed. It, therefore, struck it out.
 
The issue of the ownership of the GAT has been a subject of numerous litigations, including five appeals, all of which have been decided in favour of Bi-Courtney; the most recent being the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which affirmed the company’s ownership of the disputed terminal.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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