An elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, on Wednesday said that the solution to the prevailing security challenges in the country lay only in restructuring.

Clark, a former Minister of Information, gave the recommendation in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said the centralised security architecture in the country could not avert or respond swiftly to security issues in all parts of the country.

Clark said the country must, therefore, restructure to allow for the creation of state police and other grassroots policing options, to tame the security issues in the country.

“The security challenges the country is currently facing will be overcome if we adopt restructuring.

“This is because the issue of security is local and we cannot have effective security cover when everything is done from the centre.

“A major ingredient of restructuring is state police and it is when we have this and other community policing options that we can have proper security,” he said.

The former minister said that restructuring would also promote effective governance and development, if adopted by the country.

He explained that it would ensure that power devolved from the centre to the other federating units, quickening decision-making and bringing development faster to the people.

Clark said the central government was too powerful and some of its powers were better exercised by the states and local governments.

“Restructuring will ensure that power devolves from the centre to the other federating units for effective governance.

“Why, for instance, would the Federal Government be involved in things like secondary education, health services, agriculture that are better handled by the states?

“The government at the centre, in an ideal federation, should only control areas like immigration, defence and maybe prison.

“Restructuring will ensure that resources are freed up at the centre for the development of those local things like agriculture, health and secondary education,” he said.

The former minister emphasised that restructuring would favour all parts of the country, and would promote competitiveness among states and regions.

Clark said the idea of resource control would catalyse development in states, as they would be able to utilise their resources for their development.

He said he was glad that restructuring was now gaining wide acceptance among politicians, as some presidential aspirants now promised it in their manifestos.

The former minister said that those who had condemned initial calls for restructuring were now the ones promoting the idea.

Clark said leaders in the South-South were for restructuring and would only support politicians with restructuring agenda for 2019.

He called for peaceful co-existence in the country, saying it was only in an atmosphere of peace that the country’s goals would be realised.

NAN

https://www.africaprimenews.com/2018/03/24/governance/nigeria-southern-middle-belt-leaders-restate-demand-for-restructuring/

The Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, Europe (NIDOE), Mr Kenneth Gbandi, says the organisation will partner with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for the registration of its members.

Gbandi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja that the partnership was to create a database for Nigerians in Diaspora.

According to him, we want to register all Nigerians in Diaspora and we are keying into NIMC, which is the agency mandated to register Nigerians.

He said the purpose was to know the number of NIDOE members, their professions and locations to create a human resource pool needed for homeland development.

“We believe that before we can talk about development process in Nigeria, especially knowing that Nigerians in Diaspora have the largest remittance in Nigeria, we must have our database.

“We have the human resources needed to develop our country but our challenge has been to have a database where we can identify the needed professionals,” he said.

Gbandi said the induction of some outstanding Nigerians into the Diaspora hall of fame was to have individuals in the country that would support the adoption and implementation of NIDOE ideas and policies.

“No matter how beautiful our ideas and policies may be in the Diaspora, it can never germinate in Nigeria without having individuals to support the adoption and implementation.

“These individuals will have to go extra miles to ensure that the policy makers adopt and accept those policies and make them work in the country,” he said.

He, however, called on the Federal Government to urgently consider the establishment of the Diaspora Commission and granting of voting rights to Nigerians in Diaspora.

Gbandi said that NIDOE was ready to have the commission established and the voting rights granted.

NAN

Remedial works have commenced on the damaged R55 (Quagga Road) in Laudium, Tshwane, the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport said on Wednesday.

This was after a sinkhole formed on the busy route earlier this year. The development saw sections of the road, between Second and Third Avenue, being closed to traffic, the provincial department said.

“The Department investigated remedial repair methodologies to expedite repairs to the road and following a detailed dolomitic stability survey conducted by geotechnical experts, the estimated cost for the repairs is R12.1 million,” said Department spokesperson Melitah Madiba in a statement on Wednesday.

The results of the seismic survey and drilling programme together with proposals for rectification were submitted to the Council for GeoSciences (CGS) for approval. CGS is mandated to develop and publish world-class geoscience knowledge products and render geoscience-related services.

“A Departmental team of experts has been monitoring the area around the sinkhole for the past ten weeks, and no further settlement or movement was recorded during this time,” said Madiba.

The team has commenced to pour concrete into the throat of the sinkhole, an exercise meant to throttle the sinkhole so that no further collapse can occur, particularly during rainy seasons.

“With the throat throttled, the process will commence to stabilise the area through dynamic compaction to collapse whatever unstable ground there is within the immediate surrounds. Suitable fill material will then be imported and compacted until the area is totally stabilised and returned to ground level.

“Upon completion, holes will be drilled so cement grout may be pumped under pressure into the rock formation to fill whatever voids may remain. Construction to the affected section of the road will then start to return it to its previous state. Total construction is expected to last approximately four months,” Madiba explained.

Motorists have been urged to utilise alternative routes during when continued on the route.

SAnews.gov.za

https://www.africaprimenews.com/2018/08/15/news/south-africa-malibongwe-drive-roadworks-completed/

South Africa’s Communications Minister, Nomvula Mokonyane has expressed concern at the potential loss of 300 jobs at Afro World View News Channel after MultiChoice SA did not renew its contract on Monday.

While noting that these are commercial agreements between private parties, Mokonyane said she was concerned about how young, mostly black people, were affected by this development, as their employment is a source of income for their immediate and extended families.

“We have been informed by MultiChoice SA of their intention to make an announcement on a new 24-hour news channel by Tuesday, 28 August 2018, whose conditions, amongst others, is to consider the future employability of the no less than 300 workers affected by the Afro World View contractual termination.

“We are pleased that there will be consideration given to these skills and that they will not be lost to the sector. To ensure that our national aspirations of a transformed and diverse media sector are realised and that the media plays a role in social cohesion and nation-building — as envisioned by the National Development Plan — we must enhance the available talent and develop new skills.”

The Department of Communications, Mokonyane said, remains committed to creating a vibrant communications sector, characterised by diversity of content, ownership and views, as envisioned in the Broadcasting Policy.

Meanwhile, the Minister said the release of spectrum, as part of the migration to digital platforms, should also create sufficient opportunity for inclusivity and broader participation in the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors as a means towards a transformation.

SAnews.gov.za

Gauteng provincial government has instituted an investigation into alleged financial mismanagement involving its Sustainable Livelihood Programme.

This comes after the provincial government earlier this year uncovered gross financial mismanagement involving some of the Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) that were contracted by the Gauteng Department of Social Development to manage the Sustainable Livelihood Programme.

Premier David Makhura in a statement said his office was inundated with complaints from representatives of affected NPOs after the non-renewal of their contracts with the provincial government.

He says he was told that the non-renewal would adversely affect the beneficiaries of their services, many of them poor and vulnerable.

“The Premier is convening a meeting with the relevant MECs and Heads of Department to receive a full briefing on the Sustainable Livelihood Programme,” Makhura’s office said in a statement.

The briefing will include measures being taken by the departments to ensure that the beneficiaries of the Sustainable Livelihood Programme continue to receive services while government is addressing the issue of financial mismanagement.

On the recommendation of Treasury, the Department of Social Development decided not to renew contracts with the affected NPOs for the 2018-2019 financial year.

NPOs Bokamoso Development Centre, Fountain of Life, Carol Shaw, Siyabonga Africa and Agelang Sechaba were all affected.

“A full forensic investigation is now underway to establish the extent of the mismanagement of public funds intended for the poor. Appropriate action will be taken against anyone found to have been involved in the mismanagement of the funds,” read the statement.

SAnews.gov.za

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Wednesday account to South Africans on the work of government – when he responds to questions for oral reply in the National Assembly in Parliament, Cape Town.

The questions for oral reply is one mechanism that Parliament uses to hold the executive accountable.

With the land expropriation without compensation debate gaining momentum, President Ramaphosa will, among other questions, brief Parliament on government’s approach to the national discussion on proposals by the governing party that the Constitution be amended to advance land reform.

“He will also respond to questions on the high unemployment figures recently released by Statistics South Africa, as well as government’s plans on the review of the list of zero-rated items to mitigate the impact of the increase in value-added tax from 14% to 15% earlier this year,” said the Presidency in statement.

The President will also speak on government’s signing of the Independent Power Producers agreements, as well as how South Africa, as a BRICS member State, intends to build a fairer global trade regime to forge strong, sustainable, balance and inclusive growth.

SAnews.gov.za