Blame it on the devil and God

Have you ever wondered how it is all so easy for many Nigerians to namedrop God or even the devil? Well, I am assuming you are not as guilty as the next citizen. We love to lace our conversations with expressions like, ‘by God’s grace’, ‘God knows’, ‘true to God’, ‘God forbid’ and ‘the devil is a liar’ etc. They all go to show our religiosity, which we virtually wear on our sleeves. Even those who run our affairs in every tier of government have elevated religiosity to state art, sometimes organising prayer sessions for the state, even if some parts of the organisation (cost, honorarium etc) are soaked in corruption. And we hardly see a nexus between the praying states and efficient states. Someone once quipped that even when people (civil servants as an example) hold a meeting to share the loot, they often start and end their meetings with, you guessed right, prayers.

One has no problem with being religious, but more with the attempt of many to excuse or blame everything to some divine or other spiritual being. What can one make of the provocative statement, made penultimate week, by the then president of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) that the fire incident in the football association’s headquarters was ‘an act of God’. That was startling for me, even sacrilegious. What did God have to do with it anyway?

The Glass House had for some time now been embroiled in controversies such as leadership tussle, financial mess and fraud. And in the middle of that came the fire incident which destroyed part of the building and then the man who superintended over the body had the temerity to blame that act on God! It was as provocative as when someone said in 2011 that the violent killing of some young persons on national youth service assignment, during the post-election violence, was an act of God. That was fatalism taken to the hilt.

Saying it was an act of God took away the responsibilities of people to account for their acts of freewill actions, inactions and consequences. It simply suggests that we are pawns or programmed to act in certain ways by some powerful force beyond us. It doesn’t therefore matter if someone carelessly left combustible materials in the house or used naked flames therein, leading to the fire. Similarly, arming and mobilising youths to take up violence in the name of politics shouldn’t be blamed for any resulting mayhem because in both cases, there is a divine power that allows everything to happen.

On the reverse side of the religiosity is the attempt to excuse our failures also to the devil. This is often the case when a criminal is finally picked up after years of atrocities covering different criminal and evil acts. It is now a refrain to hear things like “it was the devil that led me to do it”. An armed robber is caught, and instead of accepting responsibility, he blames it on the devil. Does he then want us to excuse him and go after the devil, wherever it is found? Truth is the devil we know for the moment is the very person we have caught and should be so treated.

Still talking the blame game, Nigerians also love to blame the victims for what befalls them. We blame women for being violated because of how they dressed, how they talked and how they carried themselves. We blame citizens for being attacked by terrorists because they have failed to identify the bad eggs in their own part of the country.

 And just last week, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blamed citizens for not getting registered for elections because some people who shouldn’t have turned up to register did so or they were disorderly in their behaviour while on the line in the scorching heat and all that blah. So what was INEC thinking when it chose to use just five days to register thousands of potential voters, many of whom turned 18 in the last four years and were unable to register in 2011 despite attempts just as now or were outside the country in 2011? What were they thinking by trying to register that number of people in one location per local government as opposed to the usual practice of registering at every polling unit, yet the single ward registration point was not advertised, even as some wards cannot be covered within two hours travel on bad roads?

So now where lies the blame – God, devil, citizens INEC? The least INEC can do is to accept failure for this and re-strategise immediately on how to provide opportunity to all the excluded potential voters to get on the voter’s list. The idea of asking them to go to the local government offices of INEC to register runs against reasoning. If at ward level it didn’t work, widening that to local government is a disaster in waiting.

http://www.thenicheng.com/blame-it-on-the-devil-and-god/#sthash.OcIRyVj4.dpbs

Public officers and public-private costs

The news on Thursday night was that President Goodluck Jonathan would be travelling Friday morning to Germany for a ‘private visit’. The statement gave very limited information. Such limited information about a public officer of the rank of a country’s president, and coming so suddenly, leave much room for speculations and rumours.

But truly, is there or could there really be any such thing as ‘privacy’ for a (Nigerian) president, if virtually every cost associated with the person is borne by the state? It would truly be private if the president did not fly the presidential jet or carry his official passport. It would be truly private if the aides, limited as they may be, who travelled with him were not paid for by the state.

Actually, that would be asking for too much because once elected, a person remains president of Nigeria, wherever he is at any given time. Even if he is on leave, he remains the ‘property’ and responsibility of Nigeria. He carries that responsibility everywhere he goes and is perpetually under the scrutiny of Nigerians.

This really is not about President Jonathan; it is about how and when we draw the line between the official and private activities of public officers at all levels.

Even if we limit such officers to the president, governors, local government chairpersons, leadership of parliamentary houses and heads of the judiciary etc, we still have to draw the line. Drawing those distinctions may often be difficult. This is because the distinction covers responsibilities, rewards and costs.

For one, most of those positions are served by a team of personal aides and officers maintained by the state. There are protocol officers, media aides, security aides and a team of media operatives attached to those offices. They not only cover and report official activities about the officers, but are often bugged down with covering mundane private activities and events of these officers. Sometimes, this coverage goes beyond the officers to their spouses, children and other family members. In such situations, privacy is virtually lost. And what is more, public funds are heavily taken toll of.

While the distinction may be difficult to draw some times, any responsible public official should know when some of their activities are clearly outside official duties and thus do well to save the state the costs for some of those.

It is a no brainer to distinguish state duties from private political interests. Take the case of partisan politics. Why, for instance, do our presidents and governors host meetings and dinners of their political parties in Government House with costs absorbed by the state? Why did the president, vice president and Senate president all travel to Ekiti and Osun states recently to attend campaign rallies for the candidates of their political parties? And for the state governors of the major political parties who regularly abandon their duty posts to attend political party rallies for state level elections in other states, who pays for all those?

Who bears the cost of fuelling and maintaining the aircraft and vehicles? What about the cost of mobilising and maintaining security officers, some of them quite overzealous, during all those non-official events? I observed the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun states and can attest to the use, misuse and abuse of some of these perks of office by many politicians in public office. I saw armed police personnel sitting by the doors to hotel rooms of politicians. I noticed them sleep away in that sitting position with their arms beside them many nights.

Every day, the threshold of what we tolerate keeps moving because each new occupant of public office comes with his/her own ideas, style and means of doing things, while the institutions we build keep losing their capacity to whip their occupants into line.

How do we begin to stop this madness in the land? One way is through strict application of public service rules or creation of new ones, if the present ones are not enough to cope with present realities. We need to also strengthen the audit of the processes, activities and costs in public offices to ensure that state resources are not squandered by public officials to meet their private ends.

When that happens, most of the costs transferred to the public would be billed on our overly pampered public officers. The president, vice president, Senate president, many state governors of the PDP and the APC should refund or defray the costs they have run up in the last six months doing politics across the country, particularly in relation to the Ekiti and Osun elections. That’s the decency we expect from our politics and it isn’t too much of an expectation.

- See more at: http://www.thenicheng.com/public-officers-and-public-private-costs/#sthash.6GmonxW7.dpuf

Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) Centres in Cross River State

Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) Centres in Cross River State

http://www.inecnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/CROSS-RIVER.pdf

CVR Centres in Abi LGA

1 ADADAMA 01 ADADAMA PRI. SCHOOL ADADAMA PRI. SCHOOL

2 AFANYI/IGONIGONI 02 PRI. SCHOOL AFANYI PRI. SCHOOL AFANYI

3 EBOM 03 PRI. SCHOOL EBOM PRI. SCHOOL EBOM

4 EDIBA 04 P.C.N PRI. SCHOOL EDIBA P.C.N PRI. SCHOOL EDIBA

5 EKUREKY I 05 PRIMARY SCHOOL EKUREKU PRIMARY SCHOOL EKUREKU

6 EKUREKY II 06 COMMUNITY PRI. SCH. AGBERA COMMUNITY PRI. SCH. AGBERA

7 IMABANA I 07 IMMACULATE PRI.  SCH.IMABANA IMMACULATE PRI.

SCH.IMABANA

8 IMABANA II 08 EGBENG TOWN HALL EGBENG TOWN HALL

9 ITIGIDI 09 COMMUNITY PRI. SCH.ITIGIDI COMMUNITY PRI. SCH.ITIGIDI

10 USUMUTONG 10 ABEUGO PRI. SCH. ABEUGO ABEUGO PRI. SCH. ABEUGO

CVR Centres in Akamkpa LGA

1 AKAMKPA URBAN 01 ST. JOHN PRIM. SCH. AKAMKPA ST. JOHN PRIM. SCH. AKAMKPA

2 AWI 02 PRIM. SCHOOL AWI PRIM. SCHOOL AWI

3 EKU 03 PRIM. SCHOOL AKOR PRIM. SCHOOL AKOR

4 IKO 04 PRIM. SCHOOL IKO-EKPERAM PRIM. SCHOOL IKO-EKPERAM

5 IKPAI 05 PRIM. SCHOOL NYAJE PRIM. SCHOOL NYAJE

6 MBARAKOM 06 PRIM. SCHOOL MBARAKOM PRIM. SCHOOL MBARAKOM

7 OBAN 07 PRIM. SCHOOL OBAN PRIM. SCHOOL OBAN

8 OJUK NORTH 08 PRIM. SCHOOL MFAMUSING I PRIM. SCHOOL MFAMUSING I

9 OJUK SOUTH 09 PRIM. SCHOOL ANINGEJE PRIM. SCHOOL ANINGEJE

10 UYANGA 10 PRIM. SCHOOL UYANGA PRIM. SCHOOL UYANGA

CVR Centres in Akpabuyo LGA

1 ATIMBO EAST 01 P/G ATIMBO/NEAR POLICE COLLEGE P/S IKOT OFFIONG AMBAI

2 ATIMBO WEST 02 P/ SCH. ETO MKPE YELLOW DUKE P/S ETO MKPE YELLOW DUKE

3 ENEYO 03 P/G EBISA ENEYO ENEYO MEMO PRI. SCH

4 IDUNDU/ANYAGASE 04 PRIM. SCHOOL IDUNDU P/S ANAYANGANSE

5 IKANG CENTRAL 05 PRIM. SCH. IKANG TOWN P/S EKPRI IKANG

6 IKANG NORTH 06 PRIM. SCH. IFIANG NSUN P/S AWKA UBOM

7 IKANG SOUTH 07 PRIM. SCH. ESIGHI P/S ESIGHI

8 IKOT EDEM ODO 08 PRIM. SCH. IKT. EDEM ODO PRIM. SCH. IKT. EDEM ODO

9 IKOT EYO 09 :PRIM. SCH. IKT. EYO EDEM :PRIM. SCH. IKT. EYO EDEM

10 IKOT NAKANDA 10 :P/G IKOT NAKANDA :P/G IKOT NAKANDA

CVR Centres in Bakassi LGA

1 ABANA 01 IKANG CENTRAL, IKANG ABANA TOWN HALL

2 AKPANKAYAN 02 NORTH & IKANG SOUTH P/G AKPANKANYA

3 AKWA 03 NORTH & IKANG SOUTH AKWA TOWN HALL

4 AMBAI EKPA 04 NORTH & IKANG SOUTH P/G NDOR

5 AMOTO 05 NORTH & IKANG SOUTH P/G INE UNYA

6 ARCHIBONG 06 NORTH & IKANG SOUTH ARCHIBONG TOWN HALL

7 ATAI EMA 07 NORTH & IKANG SOUTH ATAI EMA SEC. SCH.

8 EFUT IWANG 08 NORTH & IKANG SOUTH P/G INE AMBENNO

9 EKPOT ABIA 09 NORTH & IKANG SOUTH HEALTH CENTRE EKPOT

10 ODIONG 10 NORTH & IKANG SOUTH P/G ETITIM EFFIOM

CVR Centres in Bekwarra LGA

1 ABUOCHICHE 01 ST. DAVID’S SCH. OCHAGBE P/S ABUOCHICHE

2 AFRIKE OCHAGBE 02 ST. DAVID’S SCH. OCHAGBE ST. DAVID’S SCH. OCHAGBE

3 AFRIKE OKKPECHE 03 ST. IGNATIUS PRIM. SCH. (B) H. CHILD CON.P/S OKPECHE

4 BETEN 04 PRIM. SCH. BETEN PRIM. SCH. BETEN

5 GAKEM 05 ST. MARKS’S P/ S A. GAKEM ST. MARKS’S P/ S A. GAKEM

6 IBIARAGIDI 06 PRIM. SCH. IBIARAGIDI PRIM. SCH. IBIARAGIDI

7 NYANYA 07 NYAN/P/GYA SAC.HEART P/S IDIGWE

8 OTUKPURU 08 PRIM. SCH. OTUKPURU UKUI P/S OTUKPURU AFAA

9 UGBORO 09 COMM. SEC. SCH. UGBORO P/S UGBORO

10 UKPAH 10 CON. SEC. SCH. UKPAH P/S UKPAH

CVR Centres in Biase LGA

1 ABAYONG 01 PRIM. SCH. IJOM PRIM. SCH. IJOM

2 ADIM 02 PRIM. SCH. ADIM PRIM. SCH. ADIM

3 AGWAGUNE/OKURIKE 03 P/G AKOGBENYIM P/S AKURIKE

4 AKPET/ABINI 04 PRIM. SCH. AKPET CENTRAL PRIM. SCH. AKPET CENTRAL

5 BIAKPAN 05 PRIM. SCH. BIAKPAN PRIM. SCH. BIAKPAN

6 EHOM 06 PRIM. SCH. BETEM BIASE SEC.SCH. EHOM

7 EREI NORTH 07 PRIM. SCH. IPENE PRIM. SCH. IPENE

8 EREI SOUTH 08 PRIM. SCH. ABANWA PRIM. SCH. ABANWA

9 IKUN/ETONO 09 PRIM. SCH. ETONO CENTRAL PRIM. SCH. IKUN

10 UMON NORTH 10 PRIM. SCH. IKO/OPARA PRIM. SCH. IKO/OPARA

11 UMON SOUTH 11 PRIM. SCH. UMON ISLAND PRIM. SCH. UMON ISLAND

CVR Centres in Boki LGA

1 ABO 01 PRIM. SCH. ABOTAKC P/S BASUA

2 ALANKWU 02 PRIM. SCH. BETRIKO POLICE STATION BATERIKO

3 BEEBO - BUMAJI 03 PRIM. SCH. OWANBE P/S KAKWE

4 BOJE 04 P/G BOJE PRI. SCH. BOJE

5 BUDA 05 P/G OKUNDE PRI. SCH. KACHUAN

6 BUENTSEBE 06 P/G BOKALUM COMM. SEC. SCH. WULA

7 BUNYIA/OKUBUCHI 07 P/G BUNYIA CUSTOMARY COURT BUNYIA

8 EKPASHI 08 P/G NTAMANTE PRI. SCH. NTAMANTE

9 KAKWAGOM/BAWOP 09 P/G BAWOP CENTRAL PRI. SCH. KAKWAGOM

10 OGEP OSOKOM 10 PRIM. SCH. OKUNDI CUSTOMARY COURT OKUNDI

11 OKU/BORUM/NJUA 11 P/G EBAN PRI. SCH. OKU

CVR Centres in Calabar Municipal LGA

1 ONE 01 PRIM. SCH. BARRACKS RD GOVT. PRI. AKIM

2 TWO 02 OTU ANSA/OQUA AIRPORT FIELD

3 THREE 03 UPPER EDIBA N.A.A.STAFF QTRS.

4 FOUR 04 PRIM. SCH. EDIBA HOUSING EST. PRI. SCH.

5 FIVE 05 BY WAPI WAPI SEC. SCHOOL

6 SIX 06 NSISUK JUNCTION ISHIE PRI. SCHOOL

7 SEVEN 07 PALIAMENTARY GATE WOMEN DEV. CENTRE

8 EIGHT 08 TTC T.T.C CALABAR

9 NINE 09 AGROFEED RD JUNC. PRI. SCH. IKOT EFFANGA

10 TEN 10 ST. AUGUSTINE PRI. SCH. ST.AUGUSTINE PRI.SCH.

CVR Centres in Calabar South LGA

1 ONE 01 CULTURAL CENTRE RED CROSS

2 TWO 02 MARINA/U. A. C. ANWA NYORO

3 THREE 03 NATIVE COURT DUKE TOWN P/S

4 FOUR 04 DUKE TOWN SEC. SCH. CHRIST CHURCH P/S

5 FIVE 05 PRIM. SCH. HAWKINS ANCILLA GIRLS SEC. SCH

6 SIX 06 SALV. ARMY PRIM. SCH. SALV. ARMY PRIM. SCH.

7 SEVEN 07 EMMAN. CHURC PRIM. SCH. EMMAN. CHURC PRIM. SCH.

8 EIGHT 08 PUBLIC COMPLAINT COMM. HENSHAW TOWN SEC. SCH.

9 NINE 09 RONBAR PRIM. SCH. IRONBAR PRI. SCH. ATU

10 TEN 10 LUTHERAN PRIM. SCH. LUTHERAN PRIM. SCH.

11 ELEVEN 11 PRIM. SCH. AMBO PRIM. SCH. AMBO

12 TWELVE 12 PRIM. SCH. MAYNE AVENUE G.S.S MAYNE AVENUE

CVR Centres in Etung LGA

1 ABIA 01 PRIM. SCH. ABIA ABIA TOWN HALL

2 ABIA 02 PRIM. SCH. ABIJANG ABIJANG PRI. SCHOOL

3 AGBOKIM 03 AGBOKIM WATER FALL P/G AGBOKIM TOWN HALL

4 AJASSOR 04 AJASSOR PRIM. SCH. AJASSOR PRI. SCHOOL

5 BENDEGHE 05 PRIM. SCH. EKIMKAE BENDGHE SEC. SCHOOKL

6 EFFRAYA 06 EFFRAYA THREE CORNERS EFFRAYA COUNCIL SECRE.

7 ETOMI 07 OKUNDI COURT YARD ETOMI TOWN HALL

8 ITAKA 08 PRIM. SCH. ITAKA ITAKA PRI.SCHOOL

9 MKPOT 09 MKPOT PRIM. SCH. MKPOT TOWN HALL

10 NSOFANG 10 NSOFANG PRIM. SCH. NSOFANG PRI.SCHOOL

CVR Centres in Ikom LGA

1 ABAYUM 01 PRIM. SCH. EDO PRIM. SCH. EDOR

2 AKPARABONG 02 BUS-STOP AKPARABONG AKPARABONG SEC. SCH.

3 IKOM URBAN I 03 HOLY CHILD CONVENT SCH. HOLY CHILD CONVENT SCH.

4 IKOM URBAN II 04 P/G ADIJINKPOR P/G ADIJINKPOR

5 NDE 05 PRIM. SCH. NDE 3 CORNER PRIM. SCH. NDE 3 CORNER

6 NNAM 06 TOWN HALL ALOK TOWN HALL ALOK

7 NTA/NSELLE 07 PRIM. SCH. ENJEMETOR PRIM. SCH. ENJEMETOR

8 OFUTOP I 08 COMM. SEC. SCH. COMM. SEC. SCH.

9 OFUTOP II 09 PRIM. SCHM EKUKUNELA PRIM. SCHM EKUKUNELA

10 OLULUMO 10 PRIM. SCH. OKUNI PRIM. SCH. OKUNI

11 YALA/NKUM 11 P/G OROM COMM. SEC. SCH. NKUM

CVR Centres in Obanliku LGA

1 BASANG 01 PRIM. SCH. BAYASUNG PRIM. SCH. BASANG

2 BEBI 02 SANKWALA MKT. SQR. SANKWALA MKT. SQR.

3 BECHEVE 03 OGBANKOKO TOWN HALL OGBANKOKO TOWN HALL

4 BECHEVE 04 PRIM. SCH. KETTING PRIM. SCH. KETTING

5 BENDI II 05 PRIM. SCH. BEGIAGBA PRIM. SCH. BEGIAGBA

6 BISHIRI NORTH 06 PRIM. SCH. BISHIRI PRIM. SCH. BISHIRI

7 BISHIRI SOUTH 07 PRIM. SCH. ABLESANG PRIM. SCH. ABLESANG

8 BISU 08 PRIM. SCH. BAYAYAM PRIM. SCH. BAYAYAM

9 BUSI 09 BIKKA TOWN HALL BIKKA TOWN HALL

10 UTANGA 10 PRIM. SCH. KUNDEVEI PRIM. SCH. KUNDEVEI

CVR Centres in Obubra LGA

1 ABABENE 01 GOVT. PRIM SCH. ABABENE GOVT. PRIM SCH. ABABENE

2 APIAPUM 02 COMM. SEC. SCH. PCN APIAPUM

3 IYAMOYONG 03 IYAMOYONG MKT. SQR. IYAMOYONG ROUNDABOUT

4 OBUBRA URBAN 04 PRIM. SCH. OGADA I PRIM. SCH. OGADA I

5 OCHON 05 PRIM. SCH. OCHON PRIM. SCH. OCHON

6 OFAT 06 PRIM. SCH. OFAT PRI. SCH. ONYADAMA

7 OFODUA 07 HOLY CHILD CONV. PRI. SCH. HOLY CHILD CONV. PRI. SCH.

8 OFUMBONGHA/YALA 08 PRIM. SCH. ARARAGHA PCN OFUMBONGHA IV

9 OSOPONG I 09 PRIM. SEC. OFONMANA COMM. SEC.SCH.OGURUDE

10 OSOPONG II 10 PRIM. SCH. ONYADALOG ISOBI OTAKA PLAYGROUND

11 OVONUM 11 PRIM. SCH. OVONUM CPS OVUNOM

CVR Centres in Obudu LGA

1 ALEGE/UBANG 01 PRIM. SCH. OKORDEM PRIM. SCH. OKORDEM

2 ANGIABA/BEGIAKA 02 PRIM. SCH. IBONG PRIM. SCH. IBONG

3 BEGIADING 03 PRIM. SCH. IGWOI PRIM. SCH. IGWOI

4 IPONG 04 ST. THERESA P/ S KAKUM ST. THERESA P/ S KAKUM

5 OBUDU URBAN I 05 GOVT. SEC. SCH. OBUDU GOVT. SEC. SCH. OBUDU

6 OBUDU URBAN II 06 PRIM. SCH. OKWEL-OBUI PRIM. SCH. OKWEL-OBUI

7 UKPE 07 PRIM. SCH. ASHOKPE PRIM. SCH. ASHOKPE

8 UTUGWANG CENTRAL 08 ST. COLMAN’S PRIM. SCH. ST. COLMAN’S PRIM. SCH.

9 UTUGWANG NORTH 09 PRIM. SCH. UKWUTIA PRIM. SCH. UKWUTIA

10 UTUGWNAG SOUTH 10 PRIM. SCH. UKPADA PRIM. SCH. UKPADA

CVR Centres in Odukpani LGA

1 ADIABO/EFUT 01 PRIM. SCH. EFUT IBONDO PRIM. SCH. EFUT IBONDO

2 AKAMKPA 02 P/G AKAMKPA P/G AKAMKPA

3 CREEK-TOWN 1 03 PRIM. SCH. GREEK TOWN PRIM. SCH. GREEK TOWN

4 CREEK-TOWN II 04 PRIM. SCH. IKT. ESSIEN PRIM. SCH. IKT. ESSIEN

5 EKORI/ANAKU 05 POSTAL AGENCY OKURIK POSTAL AGENCY OKURIK

6 ENIONG 06 PRIM. SCH. ATAN ONOYOM PRIM. SCH. ATAN ONOYOM

7 EKI 07 PRIM. SCH. ATAN EKI PRIM. SCH. ATAN EKI

8 OBOMITIAT/MBIABO/EDIONG 08 P/G OBOMITIAT P/G OBOMITIAT

9 ODOT 09 PRIM. SCH. ESUK ODOT PRIM. SCH. ESUK ODOT

10 ODUKPANI CENTRAL 10 PRIM. SCH. NEW NETIM PRIM. SCH. NEW NETIM

11 ONIMAN-RIONG 11 P/S OKOYONG USANGABASI P/S OKOYONG USANGABASI

12 IKONETO 12 PRIM. SCH. IKONETO PRIM. SCH. IKONETO

13 ITO/IDERE/UKWA 13 CENTRAL SCH. ITO CENTRAL SCH. ITO

CVR Centres in Ogoja LGA

1 EKAJUK I 01 PRIM SCH. MFOM I PRIM SCH. MFOM I

2 EKAJUK II 02 PRIM SCH. NWANG PRIM SCH. NWANG

3 MBUBE EAST I 03 ST. PETER’S PRIM. SCH. OSERIM ST. PETER’S PRIM. SCH. OSERIM

4 MBUBE EAST II 04 PRIM. SCH. EGBE PRIM. SCH. EGBE

5 MBUBE WEST I 05 LUTHERAN PRI. SCH. EKUMTAK LUTHERAN PRI. SCH. EKUMTAK

6 MBUBE WEST II 06 CHRIS THE KING PRI.SCH ODAJIE CHRIS THE KING PRI.SCH ODAJIE

7 NKUM IBORR 07 ST. MARK PRI. SCH. UKPAGADA ST. MARK PRI. SCH. UKPAGADA

8 NKUM IREDE 08 PRIM. SCH. IBIL PRIM. SCH. IBIL

9 OGOJA URBAN I 09 ST. BEN’S DEM PRI. SCH. IGOLI ST. BEN’S DEM PRI. SCH. IGOLI

10 OGOJA URBAN II 10 ST. BEN’S PRIM. SCH. ISHIBORI ST. BEN’S PRIM. SCH. ISHIBORI

CVR Centres in Yakurr LGA

1 AFREKPE/EKPENTI 01 ST. FRANCIS PRIM. SCH. ST. FRANCIS PRIM. SCH.

2 AJERE 02 PRIM. SCH. 3 AJERE PRIM. SCH. 3 AJERE

3 ASSIGA 03 OLD TOWN MKT SQR OLD TOWN MKT SQR

4 BIKO BIKO 04 BIKO BIKO TOWN HALL BIKO BIKO TOWN HALL

5 IDOMI 05 PCN PRIM. SCH. IDOM PCN PRIM. SCH. IDOM

6 IJIMAN 06 IJIMAN EVENING MKT. IJIMAN EVENING MKT.

7 IJOM 07 IJOM TOWN HALL IJOM TOWN HALL

8 IKPAKAPIT 08 TOTAL ROUNDABOUT IKPAKAPIT TOWN HALL

9 INYIMA 09 PRIM. SCH. INYIMA PRIM. SCH. INYIMA

10 MKPANI/AGOI 10 AKUGOM TOWN HALL AKUGOM TOWN HALL

11 ABANAKPAI 11 COMM. SEC. NKO COMM. SEC. NKO

12 NKPOLO/UKPAWEN 12 AGOI-EKPO RD AGOI-EKPO RD

13 NTAN 13 KEKONKOLO TOWN HALL KEKONKOLO TOWN HALL

CVR Centres in Yala LGA

1 ECHUMOFANA 01 PRIM. SCH. ECHUMOFANA ST.PAUL PRI. SCHOOL

2 GABU 02 ST. PETER’S PRI. SCH. ST.PATRIC PRI. SCH. GABU

3 IJERAGA 03 ST.PATRIC PRI. SCH. AYUGBE PRI. SCHOOL NO. I

4 NJERAGOM 04 PRIM. SCH. IJIRAGA ST.BENEDICT PRI. SCHOOL

5 OKPOMA 05 MKT. SQR OKPODON CHRIS THE KING PRI.SCHOOL

6 OKUKU 06 CHRIST THE KING PRI.SCH. ST.JOSEPH PRIM. SCH. OKUKU

7 WANIHEM 07 ST.JOSEPH PRIM. SCH. PRI.SCH. WANIHIEM

8 WANIKDADE 08 ST.JOSEPH PRIM. SCH PRI. SCHOOL WANIKADE

9 WANOKOM 09 P/G ADUM MKTSQR. ST.PAUL PRI. SCHOOL

10 YACHE 10 PRIM. SCH. UZENYI ST.FRANCIS PRI. SCHOOL

11 YAHE 11 PRIM. SCH. WANAKOM ST.JOHN PRI. SCHOOL

Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) Centres in FCT

Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) Centres in FCT

CVR Centres in Abaji Area Council

1 ABAJI CENTRAL 01 UNGUWAR MANKO UNGUWAR MANKO

2 ABAJI NORTH EAST 02 CENTRAL PRI.SCH CENTRAL PRI.SCH

3 ABAJI SOUTH EAST 03 CENTRAL PRI.SCH CENTRAL PRI.SCH

4 AGYANA/PANDAGI 04 AGYANA PRI.SCH. AGYANA PRI.SCH.

5 RIMBA /EBAGI 05 NAHARATI SABO PRI.SCH NAHARATI SABO PRI.SCH

6 NUKU 06 NUKU PRI.SCH NUKU PRI.SCH

7 ALU MAMAGI 07 ALU PRI.SCH ALU PRI.SCH

8 YABA 08 YABA TOWN PRI.SCH YABA TOWN PRI.SCH

9 GURDI 09 GURDI PRI.SCH GURDI PRI.SCH

10 GAWU 10 GAWU TOWN PRI.SCH GAWU TOWN PRI.SCH

CVR Centres in Bwari Area Council

1 BWARI CENTRAL 01 PILOT SEC.PRI.SCH PILOT SEC.PRI.SCH

2 KUDURU 02 F.G.G.C KUDURU F.G.G.C KUDURU

3 IGU 03 IGU PRI.SCH IGU PRI.SCH

4 SHERE 04 SHERE KORO PRI.SCH SHERE KORO PRI.SCH

5 KAWU 05 LEA.PRI.SCH LEA.PRI.SCH

6 USHAFA 06 USHAFA PRI.SCH USHAFA PRI.SCH

7 DUTSE 07 DUTSE ALH.PRI.SCH DUTSE ALH.PRI.SCH

8 BYAZHIN 08 BYAZHIN PRI.SCH BYAZHIN PRI.SCH

9 KUBWA 09 MODEL PRI.SCH KUBWA MODEL PRI.SCH KUBWA

10 USUMA 10 P.W. PRI.SCH P.W. PRI.SCH

CVR Centres in Gwagwalada Area Council

1 GWAGWALADA CENTRAL 01 DEMONTRATION PRI.SCH DEMONTRATION PRI.SCH

2 KUTUNKU 02 KUTUNKU PRI.SCH KUTUNKU PRI.SCH

3 STAFF QUARTERS 03 GADO NASKO PRI.SCH GADO NASKO PRI.SCH

4 IBWA 04 IBWA SARKI PRI.SCH IBWA SARKI PRI.SCH

5 DOBI 05 UNG.SARKI PRI.SCH UNG.SARKI PRI.SCH

6 PAIKO 06 PAIKO KORE SARKI PRI.SCH PAIKO KORE SARKI PRI.SCH

7 TUNGA MAJE 07 TUNGA MAJE PRI.SCH TUNGA MAJE PRI.SCH

8 ZUBA 08 UNG.SARKI.PRI.SCH UNG.SARKI.PRI.SCH

9 IKWA 09 IKWA PRI.SCH IKWA PRI.SCH

10 GWAKO 10 GWAKO TOWN PRI.SCH GWAKO TOWN PRI.SCH

CVR Centres in Kuje Area Council

1 KUJE CENTRAL 01 KUJE CENTRAL PRI.SCH KUJE CENTRAL PRI.SCH

2 CHIBIRI 02 CHIBIRI PRI.SCH CHIBIRI PRI.SCH

3 GAUBE 03 GAUBE PR.SCH GAUBE PR.SCH

4 KWAKU 04 KWAKU PRI.SCH KWAKU PRI.SCH

5 KABI 05 KABI KASSA PRI.SCH. KABI KASSA PRI.SCH.

6 RUBOCHI 06 RUBOCHI PRI.SCH RUBOCHI PRI.SCH

7 GWARGWADA 07 GWARGWADA PRI.SCH GWARGWADA PRI.SCH

8 GUDUN KARYA 08 GUDUN KARYA PRI.SCH GUDUN KARYA PRI.SCH

9 KUJEKWA 09 KUJEKWA PRI.SCH KUJEKWA PRI.SCH

10 YENCHE 10 YENCHE PRI.SCH YENCHE PRI.SCH

CVR Centres in Kwali Area Council

1 KWALI CENTRAL 01 KWALI PILOT PRI.SCH KWALI PILOT PRI.SCH

2 YANGOJI 02 YANGOJI PRI.SCH YANGOJI PRI.SCH

3 PAI 03 PAI PRI.SCH PAI PRI.SCH

4 KILANKWA 04 KILANKWA PRI.SCH KILANKWA PRI.SCH

5 DAFA 05 DAFA PRI.SCH DAFA PRI.SCH

6 KUNDU 06 KUNDU PRI.SCH KUNDU PRI.SCH

7 ASHARA 07 ASHARA PRI.SCH ASHARA PRI.SCH

8 GUMBO 08 GUMBO PRI.SCH GUMBO PRI.SCH

9 WAKO 09 WAKO PRI.SCH WAKO PRI.SCH

10 YEBU 10 YEBU PRI SCH YEBU PRI SCH

CVR Centres in Abuja Municipal Area Council

1 CITY CENTRAL 01 G.S.S GARKI G.S.S GARKI

2 GARKI 02 GARKI PRI.SCH GARKI PRI.SCH

3 KABUSA 03 KABUSA PRI.SCH KABUSA PRI.SCH

4 WUSE 04 WUSE ZONE 2 PRI.SCH WUSE ZONE 2 PRI.SCH

5 GWARIMPA 05 G.S.S LIFE CAMP G.S.S LIFE CAMP

6 JIWA 06 JIWA PRI.SCH JIWA PRI.SCH

7 GUI 07 GOSSA PRI.SCH GOSSA PRI.SCH

8 KARSHI 08 KARSHI DEV.AREA KARSHI DEV.AREA

9 OROZO 09 OROZO PRI.SCH OROZO PRI.SCH

10 KARU 10 KARU PRI.SCH KARU PRI.SCH

11 NYANYA 11 G.S.S NYANYA G.S.S NYANYA

12 GWAGWA 12 GWAGWA PRI.SCH GWAGWA PRI.SCH

For details for all other LGAs and Wards during this registration phase, please click here http://www.inecnigeria.org/?inecnews=registration-area-centres-continuous-voter-registrationcvr-phase-2 and follow the link.

Brechtian Thoughts on Political Cluelessness

“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participate in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”

The above harsh but profound words of Bertolt Brecht rang in my mind this morning after I dropped off a man and a woman I had helped on my way to work. I didn’t set out to find out their positions on issues of politics. I was merely doing a good neighbourly service of helping people on the road in my neighbourhood in the little way I could to assist them to get to their places of life endeavours.

The man looked every inch an artisan, or in some lowly self-employment. The woman, not in any way related to the man, looked a typical ‘working class’ woman and seemingly of more education and perhaps more ‘exposure’ than the man. A few minutes into what turned out to be about 10-minutes’ drive, I inquired of them if they had collected their permanent voters’ card (PVC) which were distributed in Abuja between Friday and Sunday. The woman was the first to respond that she didn’t know where that was being done or where she had to go get it.

I asked her where she registered for the last general election and if she has a temporary voter’s card. After some hesitation she said ‘truly I have never registered or voted all of my life’. This lady seemed to be somewhere in her 40s, by my estimation. That would mean she had been qualified to vote since 1998/99 to date, a total of four general elections. But here she was, telling me even with an air of pride that ‘I have never voted in any election’. Then she went on with all the lame reasons I often hear from people like her – the votes don’t count, they can’t change a thing with government, ‘na God go help us sha’…

Interestingly, the man the seemingly less educated of the two answered that he collected his PVC the previous day and told us where he got his. I then admitted that I missed registering in 2011 because I was not in the country then and I was looking forward to registering during the continuous voter registration (CVR) scheduled for after the PVC collection. The man confirmed that he knew about the CVR too.

For the next few minutes, I tried to convince the woman that she needed to register and think to vote in elections as means to changing the course of events in the country. Somehow, she agreed with me and the next thing she said was typically Nigerian, ‘sir maybe people like you should come out to contest so we can vote for you’. Really? But I wasn’t saying all those because I want to contest elections. I said them because I believe citizens ought to know where their power lies and should ensure to use it. That much I told her and she said with those few words of mine, I was able to convince her that it makes political sense to get on the voters’ register.

I only hope the education helped and that she too will teach others.

https://blogs.premiumtimesng.com/2014/08/19/brechtian-thoughts-on-political-cluelessness-by-obo-effanga/

Ebola and the fool in us

Like a bad dream, the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is here with us in Nigeria. No need to restate the obvious, that a certain Liberian-American named Patrick Sawyer, against medical advice, stole his way into Nigeria in circumstances that led to the infection of an indeterminable number of Nigerians. Sawyer’s silly action has been so widely condemned by Nigerians, many of whom are so angry with him. Even President Goodluck Jonathan, during the week, went a wee bit less presidential when he publicly referred to the late Sawyer as a “crazy man”.

But it was not only the Liberian-American that got Nigerians angry. Another set of Nigerians were mad at the United States government and its president, Barack Obama, for playing what they considered medical politics with the release of the trial drugs and vaccines to Nigeria and other West African countries in dire need of help. This was after the U.S. had despatched air ambulances to evacuate two of its citizens infected with the virus, while providing medical assistance in Liberia. The U.S. further went ahead to administer the trial drugs on their own citizens.

As far as many Nigerians are concerned, what the U.S. did showed that it does not really care about us. Our expectations are in line with our recent attitudes of expecting the world to come to our aid in our times of trouble. After all, when we face terrorism, we look to America for help, since ‘AmericaWillKnow’. But while we were quick to blame the American government, few of us focused on how Nigerians cared about their compatriots.

Try a search of shops in the cities, you would notice the dearth of many sanitary products such as hand sanitisers. And where you find them, the prices have more than tripled, not because the manufacturers have increased the prices but because those on the distribution chain see this as their season to ‘hammer’. Yet this same Nigerians are quick to see the peck in the American eyes than the log in theirs.

By far, the craziest contribution to the Ebola discourse by Nigeria is the embarrassing incident of salt water bath. It happened in the dead of the night. The power of the mobile phone was set in motion all for the most stupid reason and before daybreak on Friday August 8, many Nigerians admitted they had bathed in salt water, all to prevent contracting the dreaded EVD. And although many, in hindsight, now deny falling for the foolish suggestion, there is indication that many citizens, across class, education, exposure and creed had made a fool of themselves.

There was frenzy in the land all through the night. Wake up. Take a bath of salt water. Not just for you alone, but get your entire household to do so, for the salvation of the salt water is not for you alone but for you and yours. Hey, don’t be selfish now that you have had that bath, so call your families and friends and tell them the good news of salt water bath. And for added advantage, have a full drink of the mixture. And so, one after another, Nigerians got soaked in salt water. And I hear it went beyond Nigeria, same way our comical home movies have captured Africa. That must go into the records as one of the world’s greatest and fastest spreading hoax, even as a few hypertensive persons lay dead from bouts of gulping salt water.

As we all look back at how foolish and gullible Nigerians were, it raises questions of how it is so easy to deceive our citizens. All it takes to swindle many of our people is sweet tongue, which many politicians possess, or a deception laced with a tinge of spirituality. From what I hear, the mere fact that people were asked to take this mystical bath before daybreak may have given some of the mass-bathers reason to believe that a divine solution was indeed a salty bath away. Too bad for them, all that salt was wasted.

I hope those who peddled this balderdash use the same zeal to share the true information about Ebola and learn more from the medical experts.

See more at: http://www.thenicheng.com/ebola-and-the-fool-in-us/#sthash.ko48PCaO.tAW4q2jR.dpuf

Of citizens and indigenes

Flowing from the views I expressed here last week about how anonymous Nigerians have become due to the poor data system to document citizens, another fundamental question remains what it means to be a Nigerian citizen. This question becomes germane because of the undue focus on the word ‘indigene’ in Nigeria.

While the Constitution guarantees certain rights of citizens including the freedom from discrimination on account of circumstance of birth, sex and place of origin, etc, the same document makes room for the granting of advantages on the basis of being an ‘indigene’ of a particular place, even when it does not define what that means.

For instance, the Constitution makes reference to ‘indigenes’ in the proviso to Section 147(2) on the appointment of ministers of government of the federation. Similar provisions are made with regards to the appointment of commissioners of governments at the state level. Yet, nowhere in the Constitution is there a definition of the word ‘indigene’.

This has led to various cases of infraction of citizens rights by all tiers of government, not only in areas of political positions and advantages, but even for access to public services. For instance, in virtually every public tertiary school run by state governments, there are differential fees paid by indigenes and non-indigenes, the later paying more.  This is predicated on the misguided view that a ‘non-indigene’ is alien and an outsider.

Other instances of undue discrimination on account of indigene status include forceful eviction of citizens from their places of residence and relocation to other states, presumably their ‘states of origin’. A case in point was last year when Lagos State government classified some citizens as non-indigenes and destitute and forcefully relocated them to Anambra State, their presumed state of origin.

Not only Lagos is guilty of this abuse, but virtually every state as was seen between Imo and Abia states over the forceful transfer of service of some ‘non-indigenes’ from one state to another. The most embarrassing case however was in June 2011 when the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA) did the same by relocating Nigerian citizens from the capital territory, the very cosmetic capital city to their ‘states of origin’.

The FCTA based their discriminatory action on an attempt to address the “current security challenges” and “to rid the city of the street begging and hawking which contravenes Section 36 of the AEPB Act of 1997”. Someone needed to tell the FCTA staff that their Act is subject to the overriding powers of the Constitution. One official said, “the beggars, who are widely unknown and who do not have any identity, often flood traffic jam in the city carrying bags with unknown items. They even peep into peoples’ cars while begging for alms”.

The action of FCTA was elitist and directed at punishing ‘unknown’, ‘unidentified’ and ‘anonymous’ citizens who form part of the poor and excluded in the society. Apparently, the FCTA forgot that the responsibility for giving identification to citizens and thus capturing them in the development efforts rests primarily with the government. And it is still baffling why the FCTA did not then consider rehabilitating the destitute, rather than forcefully relocating them in clear violation of section 41 of the Constitution which guarantees every Nigerian the right to live anywhere in the country.

Clearly therefore, Nigerian governments through their actions and policies create different levels of citizenship with different rights based on means of livelihood, even as the State fails in its duty to provide for the needs of very citizen. That is why one condemns the attempt by some states to proceed to register ‘non-indigenes’, thus creating an inferior level of citizens. For this reason, one commends the Council of States for speaking up against such discriminatory practice.

This is why many, like me, have canvassed the replacement of the word, ‘indigene’ with ‘resident’ in the Constitution. This is because the continued reliance on indigene as status for accessing political positions, privileges and opportunities has led to scores of conflicts across the country. We have seen instances where communities and individuals who have lived continuously in a particular location for upward of 50 years are still regarded as ‘non-indigenes’ or ‘settlers’, even when they contribute much to the development of such areas and stand to suffer equally with other longer-existing persons and communities, for example in the event of disasters in the areas.

The Constitution should either only refer to ‘residence’ or define ‘indigene’ to include persons who have maintained long residence of a particular number of years, say 5 years in a particular location. The section of the Constitution that guarantees against discrimination should be expanded to include indigene status as basis of discrimination.

After all, when it comes to representation of states in sports, nobody asks questions about the actual place of origin of the athletes, as long as they win medals for the state they compete for.

Nigerians anonymous

With the spate of terror attacks in our major cities, many citizens have again queried what happened to the security cameras that we invested huge sums of money to mount on major streets in Abuja. It was for an occasion as this that the cameras were installed in the first place. If they were really what they were promoted to be, those cameras should have captured critical moments where the criminal elements carried out their activities. I recall that in the wake of riots across Britain in 2011, many of the perpetrators, looters and other criminal elements were rounded up soon afterwards because the ubiquitous cameras in many public places had captured them. And all the law enforcement agents did was to match the photos with the database of citizens they had to know who they were.  

So, it was not just the cameras that worked the magic, but the database which could be relied upon. In our case, even if the faces of the criminals were caught on camera, could we have matched them with anything? Ours is, therefore, what Fela Kuti’s song calls “double wahala for dead body” as neither the cameras nor the database are workable.  

One reason Nigeria’s security challenges seem intractable is the lack of comprehensive database of citizens. As of this moment, we have no single database of all Nigerian citizens or residents, be they nationally or of any defined territory, even of small units like streets. Not that we have not made efforts to compile such data. Truth is, our efforts have never been properly thought out or intended to bring about the required result. The result is that we have, in the last few years, carried out several different, non-collaborative registrations that, on their own, are defective in content and form. Let’s take a look at a few examples. As response to the incidents of insecurity, sometimes perpetrated or aided through the use of mobile phones, government ordered all mobile telephone service providers to carry out compulsory biometric registration of all subscribers. But how did and do we ‘register’? It is quite simple. You walk into the registration centre, give them a name, any name and any address (correct, wrong or fake), have your passport photograph taken, do the fingerprint biometrics and off you go. Your data is ‘captured’.  

Next is the driver’s licence application. You start the registration online and give whatever fake information when asked, go to the licensing office, take the passport photo and do the fingerprint biometrics and later you are issued the licence. You do the same when it comes to application for international passport, and life goes on.  

But soon enough, the country introduced the national identity management system and began an elaborate citizens’ registration. You would expect that this particular exercise would form the very substructure for all other registrations. But that is not the case. For starters, the registration is limited only to persons who have reached the age of 18. So, if you are under 18, sorry, you are not yet a Nigerian; or better put, you are not yet a registered Nigerian. Does that make you an inchoate Nigerian? That is a good question for the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the government that set up its mandate. Apart from the clear exclusion of under-18s, the NIMC registration follows the same pattern as the others, in that a registrant gives unverifiable information at the point of registration. This alone renders the entire exercise questionable and non-credible.  

The other problem with our particular forms of registration is that it is doubtful if the biometrics data are really ever matched to identify double registration and to crosscheck consistency of information supplied. Maybe double registration on a particular platform such as voters’ registration is identifiable and penalised, but is it applicable on others, and raise queries if, for instance, the fingerprints match and the other details like name, date of birth and address are inconsistent or different?

What we require now is harmonisation of all the biometric databases and the expansion of the registration by NIMC to cover all citizens. The starting point is to ensure that every child born in any location, especially those in regular birth centres like hospitals and clinics, are immediately and compulsorily registered. NIMC registration officers should also be attached to the immunisation teams who make monthly visits across the country to immunise infants. We equally need adequate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) coverage across the country and proper address systems. Until we do that, Nigerians will remain anonymous citizens who cannot be traced. 

Published in http://www.thenicheng.com/nigerians-anonymous/#sthash.95Z4GhGn.dpbs