President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday assigned portfolios to his seven newly appointed ministers.
Expectedly, the President charged them to serve the nation diligently, be loyal to the country and office of the President. He assigned portfolios to the new ministers and reshuffled the cabinet, hoping that his action will reinvigorate certain sectors where the government desires to accomplish improved results.
He said the present administration is now on the home-stretch of its second term and more work still needs to be done in some areas of the economy and national life.
The newly appointed ministers and their portfolios are: Ikechukwu Ikoh, Minister of State, Science and Technology; Umana Umana, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs; Udi Odum , Minister of State, Environment; Ademola Adegoroye, Minister of State, Transport; Umar Ibrahim El-Yakub, Minister of State, Works and Housing; Goodluck Opiah, Minister of State, Education and Nkama Ekumankama, Minister of State, Health.
The following ministers were re-assigned: Senator Adeleke Mamora, Minister of Science and Technology (formerly Minister of State, Health); Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, Minister of Transportation (formerly Minister of State, Works and Housing); Sharon Ikeazor, Minister of State, Niger Delta (formerly Minister of State, Environment) and Sen. Gbemisola Saraki, Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development (formerly Minister of State, Transportation).
Though this administration is on the home-stretch of its second term with plenty remaining to be done, with determination, 10 months is enough time for the the President and his ministers to finish off Boko Haram, especially, and decisively tackle the menace of armed bandits, insurgents and other terrorist groups threatening the nation.
More than anything else, security (or lack of it) will define Buhari’s presidency. He must, therefore, spare nothing in ensuring the return to a state of peace and safety of lives and property in all the nooks and crannies of the country.
Of course, his government should also use the remaining period to rejig his anti-corruption fight, even if he should just concentrate on ensuring that as many politically exposed persons as possible are brought to book.
Of course, too, the President has got the time and chance to address, once and for all, the intractable spate of workers strike within the tertiary education sector – particularly strikes often embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other university-based unions.
And, importantly, the President should use the remaining period he has left to ensure that the 2023 general elections are free, fair, transparent, credible and acceptable.
Thankfully, the President has urged the new members of the cabinet to consult and collaborate with their older cabinet colleagues and focus on driving the key programmes already initiated by the present administration.
Thankfully, too, he warned them against corrupt practices, reiterating that public officers must be above board and those caught in corrupt practices would face the full wrath of the law.
“You are all coming on-board at this time with new energy, ideas, experiences and vigour, to join the existing team so that the implementation of policies, programs and projects associated with these electoral objectives would be escalated and accelerated,” he said. “You must resist bad counsel, resist temptation and be circumspect in your utterances and conduct. You must totally eschew corruption and be above board because, if caught, there will be no sacred cows.”
On Buhari’s visit to Kuje and sundry issues…
President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday visited the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which was attacked by terrorists Tuesday night and spent about 30 minutes there.
There, he was briefed about the attack by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Dr Shuaib Mohammad Lamido Belgore, and the Controller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) Mr Haliru Nababa. The President was shown the bombed section of the facility and its records office which was set ablaze by the terrorists who reportedly broke the detainees’ cells and set especially all Boko Haram terrorists free.
The President, who, like most Nigerians, was shocked by both the scale and audacity of the attack queried: “How did the defences at the prison fail to prevent the attack? How many inmates were in the facility? How many of them can you account for? How many personnel did you have on duty? How many of them were armed? Were there guards on the watchtower? What did they do? Does the CCTV work?”
After inspecting some of the points impacted by the attack, the President expressed disappointment with the intelligence system (and utilisation).
“I am disappointed with the intelligence system,” he said. “How can terrorists organise, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?”
Agreed, jailbreak is a global phenomenon, but it is not something that should be occurring with the frequency with which it is happening in Nigeria where, recently, some prisons and police cells were breached by some criminal elements with thousands of detainees and inmates released.
Many of them have never been recaptured despite the threat for them to either voluntarily come back or the federal government will publish the names of the escapees in the media and put them on the Interpol watch list.
In the latest jailbreak in Kuje, the President was informed that the security forces have recaptured 350 of the escapees while about 450 others are still unaccounted for with rapid work under way to recapture the rest.
Looking at the statistics of jailbreaks, however, most of the attacks on the correctional centres took place over the weekend and the majority of the escapees are awaiting trial inmates. Despite years of purported criminal justice reforms and, specifically, prison reforms, there is still a lopsided number of people awaiting trial vis-à-vis the convicts.
Naturally, this situation leads to congestion in correctional centres which, in turn, breeds restiveness. Many have reportedly died as a result of this while several others have contracted air-borne diseases and infections. Poor feeding and sanitary environment in the prisons have also led to riots and jailbreaks.
As it is commonly said, justice delayed is justice denied. There are gory tales of suspects spending up to five years as awaiting trial inmates. This is for an offence that the penalty or punishment may not be more than three years in prison with an option of fine. Many of these awaiting trial inmates end up becoming more hardened by their prison experience.
It is surprising why there should not be speedy trials of suspects with options such as suspended sentence, community service, parole and options of fine in order to decongest the prisons.
Apart from that, many Nigerian prisons are old and weak which makes them vulnerable to successful attacks. There is the need to build more modern prisons with sophisticated technology deployed to complement the security personnel on guard duties.
It is doubtful if there were CCTV cameras in the Kuje prison and all the prisons in the country. Of course, the need to infuse the use of technology in the fight against insecurity cannot be overstated.
It is high time security around the country’s correctional service centres and police stations were made watertight to avert another jailbreak and attacks. The negative impact of insecurity on the nation’s politics, economy and development cannot be overemphasised.
Corruption in the country’s criminal justice system, from police to court to correctional facilities also contributed to jailbreaks.
No doubt, the chain of corruption in the criminal justice system in the country is long and needs to be decisively dealt with if the country truly desires to bring to an end the frequent cases of jailbreaks. After all, it should be noted that with these jailbreaks, there is bound to be an exponential increase in crimes and criminalities in the country.
Yes, it’s one.
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