Is a Fukshima-type event in store for Nigeria?

The news coming out of Nigeria last week was that the country intended to build nuclear power stations to alleviate chronic power outages in the country.  Really?

In a country that in over 50 years of independence, has stubbornly refused to demonstrate any arm of government with excellence or even just basic capability, nuclear power stations are the best way forward?

What Fukushima and Third Mile Island showed us was that even in developed countries with experience in managing advanced technologies, nuclear accidents are still possible.

We are meant to believe that the same type of folks managing NEPA, sorry.. make that PHCN, are going to be able to manage nuclear plants effectively.  You’ll have to let me know where those plants are located, so I can live as far away from them as I can.

What makes this doubly foolish is that the push by really forward-looking countries is on renewable energy on an industrial scale.  China is building a 2 Gigawatt solar plant, Germany is getting 20% of its power needs from renewables, and Portugal has reached 45% from solar.

We can easily generate several thousand megawatts of power from 2-3 large sized solar energy facilities for a few billion dollars.  Easy. Our leaders are probably salivating however at the billions in bribes they will share from nuclear contracts for dangerous facilities.

To these geniuses I ask: where will you dispose of the nuclear waste?  In your village?  In mine?  Who will manage these plants.  The same experts who can barely keep the refineries up 25% of the time?  Where is our pool of nuclear experts.

Solar power is almost “build it and forget it”.  Once built, maintenance is relatively easy. We have sunlight galore close to the equator.

In short, Nigeria needs to stop the nuclear foolishness.  Look to wind and solar energy on an industrial scale instead of indulging is backward thinking approaches and future white elephant projects.

Kweku Adoboli's rougue trades caused a $2.3 billion loss at Swiss-based UBS Bank

Last week, it emerged that a Ghanaian-born stock trader working for the Swiss Bank UBS, Kweku Adoboli, was able to bypass system checks and cause losses via rogue trades totaling $2.3 billion.

UBS is Switzerland’s biggest bank and the announcement last week by the Bank stunned the Swiss banking industry.

UBS in particular, was struggling to emerge from the cloud of accusations in its speculative role in the Great Recession via its participation in the housing markets.

In fact, it had to be bailed out by the state after its speculative positions raised the risk of bankruptcy.

London-based UBS-based employee, Kweku Adoboli was arrested and charged on Friday with fraud and false accounting that dated back to 2008.

UBS issued a statement, saying “The loss resulted from unauthorized speculative trading in various S&P 500, DAX, and EuroStoxx index futures over the last three months.”

It added, “The loss arising from this matter is $2.3 billion. As previously stated, no client positions were affected.”

Apparently, Adoboli concealed the his index future trades from UBS risk limits by executing fictitious cash exchange-traded fund (ETFs) positions in the UBS’s system. ETFs are index funds listed on an exchange and can be traded just like regular stocks.

For years, regulators have been warning about the dangers of ETFs and hedge funds, to little avail from a banking industry that still sees them as high-margin sources of profit.

The bank said it has since covered the full $2.3 billion loss, but this would likely result in a loss for the current quarter, in which they were hoping to show a profit.

Calls for UBS Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel have already begun from large investors, but he announced today that he is not considering stepping down at this point.

In an interview, Grubel assumed responsibility for all activity in the bank. “But if you ask me whether I feel guilty, I say no,” he said.

“If somebody proceeds with criminal energy, we cannot do anything. That will always exist in our job.”

Ecobank acquires Oceanic

Nigeria’s Oceanic Bank announced on Monday that pan-African lender Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) is purchasing it lock stock and barrel.

Oceanic Bank with be 100% subsumed within ETI, fulfilling the Central Bank’s mandate to capitalize before a September 2011 deadline. Oceanic is the fourth lender to reveal details of its recapitalization plans.

ETI will pay ?38.5 billion ($24m million) worth of its ordinary shares and ?16.5 billion in preference shares for 100% of Oceanic.

Shares will be divided between existing shareholders and AMCON – the state-owned asset management company. The deal is expected to be approved at a shareholder meeting on Sept. 27.

Oceanic’s official statement regarding the merger was as follows:

“ETI will own 100 percent of the share capital of Oceanic Bank, while existing shareholders of Oceanic and AMCON will become shareholders in ETI. Subsequent to this, ETI will merge Oceanic Bank with Ecobank Nigeria.”

The Federal government set up AMCON – a ‘bad’ bank last year to absorb non-performing loans in order to prevent a collapse of the financial sector due to billions of naira of these loans.

Oceanic and ETI ‘s merger agreement was signed in July, enabling Oceanic to be capitalized and preserving shareholder’s investments in the bank.

The Nigeria Police Force have a tarnished reputation

In the latest example of policing gone wrong in Nigeria, four drunk police officers on duty at a funeral in Delta State opened fire on the mourners, killing at least three.

The unprovoked shooting took place over the weekend at Akoko in Delta State after the officers reportedly were under the influene of alcohol after drinking heavily.

Police spokesman Charles Muka indicated that the accused officers had been detained and would face criminal charges for the sooting.

Nigeria’s police vie with its politicians for the worst reputation in the country. Their checkpoints on major highways are used to extort both private vehicles and those used for public transport.

The force is receiving another black eye for its performance at a time when it is showing itself less than capable in stemming the ethic crisis in Plateau state as well as the terrorism of Boko Haram in Nigeria’s northern states.

The violence in Jos appears unending

Violence in Jos, already unthinkably high, continued yesterday as gunmen attacked and killed a family of eight, including 7 children just outside the metropolitan area..

A father, his 7 children and a neighbor were the latest casualties in Barkin Ladi, despite security forces pouring into the area in an effort to stem the violence.

Nigeria and Jos in particular has had particularly nasty ethno-religious conflicts over the years, and Jos in particular, has seen battle between the Muslim Hausas, seen as settlers and the ethnic Beroms, who are mostly Christian.

To compound matters politically, the Beroms are mainly supporters of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) while the Hausas generally favor the opposition northern-led parties.

In the latest round of violence, over 100 people were murdered in the past two weeks in the state in conflicts between these rival ethnic groups.

Last week, Jos’s Catholic Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama and Muslim leader Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir appealed for an end to the violence, to little avail.

Now the United Nations has lent its voice to those asking for peace to reign in the state. It has appealed to all parties to cease from attacks and revenge attacks.

A spokesman for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said security forces had sometimes made the ethnic clashes by appearing to take sides or using excessive force.

The Nigerian Army’s Special Task Force (STF) was recently accused by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) of supporting the Hausa ethnic group while other security forces have also been accused of supporting the Christian population.

Nigeria is still looking for solutions to the crisis in Plateau state even as it struggles to put down the insurgency-turned-into-terror-campaign of Boko Haram further north.

Nigeria is adopting the yuan as a new reserve currency, says the CBN's Sanusi

As the United States remains embroiled in its economic malaise, Nigeria’s Central Bank has chosen to stock up on the Chinese yuan as part of its reserves.

Central bankers across the world are getting more nervous about holding vast amounts of U.S. dollars due to huge U.S. deficits  - currently about $14.6 trillion dollars – and the increasing likelihood of continued dollar devaluation.

This is also compounded by the toxic political environment which makes it difficult to get even the most simple laws passed in the U.S Congress and the increasing likelihood that the U.S. will keep printing money as a means of stimulating its economy.

When money is printed in this fashion, the value of Nigeria’s (and other T-Bill holders) reserves is reduced. In short, confidence is slowly evaporating in the U.S. dollar remaining the natural global reserve currency.

Central Bank Chief Lamido Sanusi described Nigeria as having a current over-reliance on the dollar, with 79% of Nigeria’s $32 billion reserves held in dollars.  The rest, he said were held in Euros, Sterling, and Swiss francs.

He announced that the CBN would immediately begin to build up yuan (or as it is called locally, renmimbi) reserves until they reach 10% of Nigeria’s reserves.

He is not alone in this. Issuance of yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong has more than tripled to 115 billion yuan ($18 billion) this year and is rising as quickly as China allows purchases.

In addition, the yuan rose 6.2% against the dollar in the last year, outperforming the currencies of Brazil, India and Russia.

While the U.S is still the leader in global reserve currencies, accounting for $9.5 trillion of $10 trillion global reserves, the full convertibility of the yuan by 2015 will make China a new competitor to the U.S. dollar as its economy continues its rapid rise.

The are some small risks of China’s economy overheating, so Sanusi may be wise to look for other safe havens, not just the currently-fashionable China. The Australian and Canadian dollars may be other alternatives to consider.

What do you think about Nigeria’s diversification of reserves to the yuan?

The Presidency denies the Wikileaks allegations

Following the release of Wikileaks disclosures on Nigeria and a host of other countries, the Nigerian government has hastily responded to the allegation that Dame Patience Jonathan, the President’s wife was once caught with $13.5 million at Lagos airport.

The report insinuates corruption, which the government bristles at, and refutes in the strongest terms possible.

Here is the government’s response:

Sep 7, 2011, 11:31

The Presidency has noted with concern the lead report in today’s edition of a national newspaper, The Daily Trust, which contained malicious, disrespectful and disparaging remarks about President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan purportedly authored by an official of the United States Embassy over two years ago.

We are completely at a loss as to what purpose the Daily Trust expects its report which is wholly based on erroneous opinion and false conjecture to serve other than the objectives of those who persist in seeing no good in the Jonathan Administration and doing everything possible to distract the President from his Agenda for National Transformation.

It is a matter of public record, as the editors of the Trust well know, that no charge of corruption was ever made or sustained against the President while he served as Governor of Bayelsa State, while his many achievements as governor of the state speak for themselves.

The report also includes an unjustifiable attempt to impugn the President’s integrity by rehashing a well-worn fictional account of alleged corruption by the First Lady which has been dismissed as arrant nonsense by the former Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

For the avoidance of any doubt whatsoever, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has never been on any EFCC list of corrupt governors and we challenge anyone to prove otherwise.

In point of fact, it was his record of achievement and incorruptibility in public office that recommended him to the leadership of the PDP as a worthy candidate for the Vice Presidency in 2007.
Furthermore, the cable which purports to be the source of the story is unverified.

Moreover, even the alleged cable itself cites as its source “reports” and yet the newspaper went ahead to report an alleged incident which was not in the purported cable and involved the seizure of large sums of money from the President’s wife while he was governor.

The incident described above never happened and is at best a figment of the reporter’s imagination. Let me state categorically that at no time was $13.5 million or any other sum seized from Dame Patience Jonathan at the Lagos airport or any other airport.

The former Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, who was in office at the time President Jonathan was a governor stated categorically that the allegations were just lies inserted into the media for political purposes.

Malam Ribadu’s precise statement on this issue made on the 13th of October, 2010 was as follows: “We investigated it and there was nothing connected with Mrs. Jonathan. Even as at that time those who were desperately looking to make a political mile out of every opportunity decided to use that to link it with them simply because they wanted to kick them out of office at that time”.

Finally, let me state that President Jonathan remains committed to Press freedom and freedom of speech which is why he signed the Freedom of Information Bill into law. With the passage of this bill into law, the expectation of the President is that such a law could be utilized by the Press to thoroughly investigate allegations before they are released into the public arena as truth.

The FOI law allows reporters to request for records from the EFCC which when perused would establish the truth about any matter that has been before the EFCC. With the FOI law, there is no longer any excuse for speculative journalism beyond laziness.

Reuben Abati, Ph.D
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
6 September 2011

China's 2GW solar plant in the desert will power half a million homes

Vanguard reports that the Federal Government is urging private businesses to step into the business of renewable energy, insisting it has “set up a framework” for this to happen.

The minister’s senior technical assistant, Dr. Mohammed Al-Amin said, “Effective negotiations will not be achieved without push from the private sector. Direct leadership by business will help guide policy development and demonstrate a resolute commitment to drive forward the transition to a profitable green economy“.

The minister, through her assistant also talked about carbon credits, the need for foreign direct investment and possible carbon credits in the future.

Al-Amin added that the government has put in place a number of environmental management policies, legal frameworks, banking sector reforms and pilot projects on solar energy and other renewable energy sources to assist in this effort.

In Nigerian-eze, that means very little. It also means that unless there is concerted effort by the government to pursue renewable technologies, it will not happen.

To bring about a push in renewables, frameworks are not going to help. There must be government subsidies and “skin in the game” for one or two really large public renewable energy projects.

China is in the process of building a 2 Gigawatt solar energy plant in the Mongolian desert at a cost of under $5 billion, while wind farms are sprouting up in Europe, Asia and the United States.

These didn’t come about by ‘frameworks’ – they came about by private-public partnerships, subsidies and government incentives.

2 Gigawatts (2,000 Megawatts) would probably support the entire country, being what we receive on a regular basis from our 6,000 MW ‘installed’ capacity.

To the Nigerian government – get in the game and get even one large-scale project going. Private industry will surely follow. What do you think?

A dual epidemic will be tough to handle

Author:  Mobolaji Aregbeshola

Just as Nigeria is still battling with the prevention and control of communicable diseases, the burden of non-communicable diseases has begun to rise in the most populous black nation in the world, Nigeria. Now, we have a dual epidemy.

In 2008, WHO estimated that 36.1 million people died from conditions such as heart disease, stroke, chronic lung disease, cancer and diabetes. Nearly 80 per cent of these deaths occurred in low and middle income countries. People in developing countries with low incidence of NCDs compared with those of the developed countries are dying from NCDs more than people in the high income countries.

This is probably the reason why the UN General Assembly has decided to hold a UN Summit on NCDs in order to agree on a global strategy to address NCDs which is now regarded as a developmental issue. There may now be a global focus on non-communicable diseases.

WHO said NCDs cause more than twice the number of deaths globally than are caused by all infectious diseases (including HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria), all maternal and childhood conditions and nutritional deficiencies combined. There is some concern in the infectious disease community that funding could be diverted away from communicable disease funding.

Worldwide, chronic NCDs account for 60 per cent (35 million) of deaths, making these under-acknowledged diseases the leading cause of death in most regions of the world (except Sub-Saharan Africa, where too they are expected to overtake mortality from infectious diseases by 2030). This is according to Arogya World. So Nigeria must make sure that the increasing burden of NCDs in the country is curtailed before it becomes uncontrollable and a major health problem. The first WHO Global Status Report on NCDs has already listed Nigeria and other developing countries as the worst hit with death from NCDs.

The Director-General of WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan has said the “rise of chronic NCDs present an enormous challenge. Chronic NCDs deliver a two-punch blow to development. They cause billions of dollars in loss of national income and they push millions of people below the poverty line each and every year”. There is no doubt , NCDs will further pauperize the citizens and affect economic development just like communicable diseases such as Malaria, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis which are some of the causes and consequences of poverty.

Research has shown that CVD accounts for most NCD deaths or 17 million people annually, followed by cancer (7.6 million), respiratory disease (4.2 million) and diabetes (1.3 million). These four diseases are regarded as the most prominent NCDs. Interestingly, they are all linked by shared common modifiable risk factors including tobacco use (which is the one implicated the most for all NCDs), alcohol abuse, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity.

The challenge of reducing the increasing burden and deaths from NCDs is starring us all in the face just as we are struggling to reduce the burden and deaths from communicable diseases. Our lifestyle is fast contributing to the burden of disease due to NCD. According to Lancet, tobacco use alone accounts for one in six of all deaths resulting from NCD. Everyday, more than 1 billion people smoke or chew tobacco because of their addiction to nicotine and about 15,000 die from tobacco-related diseases.

Also, consumption of foods high in saturated and industrially produced trans-fats; salt and sugar are the causes of at least 14 million deaths or 40 per cent of all deaths every year from NCDs. Overconsumption of salt causes up to 30 per cent of all cases of hypertension. Physical inactivity causes about 3 million or 8 per cent of all deaths per year from NCDs. Furthermore, alcohol consumption leads to 2.3 million deaths each year, 60 per cent of which are due to NCDs and has adverse health, social, economic effects and not just for people drinking.

Governments at all levels have to double their efforts in ensuring that Nigerians do not suffer and die unnecessarily from both communicable and non-communicable diseases especially now that we have a dual epidemy. We have been battling with communicable diseases for many years up until today and one can only imagine what would happen if the increasing burden of NCDs is not curtailed. Leaders of government cannot afford to be insensitive to the epidemiological transition in the country.

Four out of five chronic disease deaths are in low and middle income countries and a third are in people younger than 60 years says The Lancet. Definitely, NCDs are no longer diseases of affluence because the risks from NCDs are greatest in poor and developing countries.

Two out of three deaths each year are attributable to NCDs. Overall, age-specific NCD death rates are nearly two times higher in low income and middle income countries than in high income countries. NCDs often cause slow and painful deaths after prolonged periods of disability.  This double burden of disease places enormous strains on resource-deficient health systems, the Lancet further said.

Our lifestyles are mainly responsible for the increasing incidence of NCDs. We are the architect of our own misfortune. What used to be the nations health problems were diseases such as poliomyelitis, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and so on but now, coronary heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, road traffic injuries, obesity and cardiovascular disease are beginning to kill our people.

These are definitely not the best of times for developing countries that are still struggling to strengthen their health systems in order to cope with the 21st century challenges. If urgent and adequate measures are not taken to reduce the incidence and prevalence of NCDs in Nigeria, the health system we are trying to strengthen to provide effective, efficient, quality, accessible and affordable health care may collapse.
You would observe that many health workers are emigrating from developing countries to developed countries, this is due to the strain having an elderly population with different chronic diseases put on a nation’s health system even though the developed countries have better health facilities and equipments. But Nigeria rates high among other developing countries in deaths from NCDs because we do not have an effective and efficient health system.

The past and present state of the nation’s health system has led to the unnecessary and preventable deaths of many citizens with its attendant effect on economic development.

“Age-Standardized mortality rates by cause for NCDs in 2008 was 809 per 100,000 population while for communicable diseases, it was 832 per 100,000 population” reported the 2011 World Health Statistics which is a yearly report based on more than 100 health indicators reported by WHO’s 193 member state.

WHO strategy for preventing NCDs is similar to the ones proposed by the NCD Alliance and The Lancet NCD Action Group as the UN General Assembly High-Level meeting on the prevent and control of NCDs takes place between 19-20 September, 2011 in New York. They include strong anti-tobacco control, promoting healthier diets, improving physical activity, reducing harmful use of alcohol and providing universal access to essential drugs and technologies. But tobacco control, salt reduction and treatment of people at risk of cardiovascular disease are seen as cost-effective among other interventions.

The success of these interventions lies in behavioral change and/or modification. A modification and/or change in lifestyle is a major way of treating, preventing and controlling NCDs besides western medicine has not found cure for NCDs — I stand to be corrected!

There is no doubt that reducing alcohol intake; using safety equipment such as seat belts; stopping tobacco and drug use; taking appropriate and healthy diet/nutrition; avoiding sedentary lifestyle; reducing salt and sugar intake (especially sweetened drinks) and following preventive guidelines all have the capacity to reduce an individual’s risk of coming down with NCDs. There is no other way out for now except adhering strictly to these lifestyle changes and/or modifications.

We as citizens must not contribute further to the disease burden in the country and now that the prevention and control of NCDs partly lie in our hands, it behooves us to have a good health behavior. Governments at levels must address the social, economic, cultural and political factors that affect the health of the Nigerian people.

Bolaji Samson Aregbeshola, A Graduate student of Public Health at the University of Lagos, Lagos-State.

The issue of the 10,000 sacked workers won't go away

Some Nigerian politicians play the ostrich game; hard to hear, hard to see and hard to smell trouble brewing in the air. Days ago, the invitation started spreading for a 50,000-man march In Owerri in solidarity for the 10,000 disengaged Imo State graduate workers. But Governor Okorocha is not losing sleep. He sticks to his usual posture.

What is it? Pay no heed to the hypocritical sanctimony of these 10,000 sacked workers. He got into a plane and jets out of the country on a two week visit to Asia. To him,the 10,000 sacked workers should go to hell for they deserve unemployment.

On this trip, we are told that Okorocha intends to attract foreign investors to Imo State to develop the areas of power, agriculture and tourism. OgaPatapata, thank you for gracing the Asian countries with your saintly presence. Did I hear anyone say he is out there to attract foreign investors to Imo State ? For where? OgaPatapataOkorocha has no intention to draw investors from anywhere. He is just unnecessarily indulging in junketing not giving a damn about the problems in Imo State.

Okorocha has increased the number of Nigerian Governors that have turned their office into a tourism ministry by going on too many travels out of the country.He is failing to attend to pressing issues in Imo State because he is always traveling out of the country.

It is disappointing that Governor Okorocha has decided to pay a blind eye to the challenges the 10,000 disengaged workers are facing and has instead focused on attending to every international event that comes up in his diary.Maybe this time he has gone to Saudi Arabia and Iran to help resolve the differences between the two countries or gone to Pakistan to talk about ways to resolve the Boko Haram menace in Nigeria with Al Qaeda. OgaPatapata,please stop this your useless foreign trips.

Can someone help me tell Owelleto first try to resolve the problems in his home State of Imo. He should make himself a welfare conscious governor by re-engaging the 10,000 Imo state citizens that he sacked from work since June 6th this year rather than junketing round the globe.Here is a Governor who during electioneering campaigns promised that before his first 100 days in office, he would create jobs for youths. Sadly just three months of his government, he has thrown back into the labor market 10,000 highly qualified youths. The Governor’s actions are callous.

You may write me down with your bitter, twisted lies.You may trod me in the very dirt.But still, like dust, I’ll rise and continue to say it that Okorocha has no reason to sack the workers other than he is anti-people and anti-workers conscious. Does my assessment of the governor upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? You may shoot me with your words. You may cut me with your eyes.You may arrest me with your hatefulness ,but still, like air, the truth must be told. last week, over 8,500 Imo state graduates applied for 20 police cadet positions assigned to Imo State. You can see that the situation is very pathetic and we must speak to help these poor graduates.

Imo State – A War Zone?

Dr EmenikeNwankwo said in an article I read earlier ‘Imo State was a war zone and these poor kids worked hard to do whatever was legal under Ohakim to get their jobs. If the new body did not like how they got it, they should quickly make changes that does not affect those who must work by impoverishing them the more. They need jobs whether by Ohakim or any other”

All these are happening in Imo state because the Imo House of Assembly has refused to do their jobs. DrEmenikeNwankwoalso said “what regulations and what steps have theImo House of Assembly taking to protect the interest of the powerless 10,000 workers. Saying they are not qualified does not create a job for them. We elected a new governor and house to give them jobs or make their jobs legitimate.”

It is true that a Speaker of a State House of Assembly plays a key role in the governance of a State and has a very big stake too but OgaYafunyafuUwajumogu has totally made himself a Yes man to governor Okorocha that we from outside the corridors of power see him as a weak Speaker

The Speaker’s Pledge

In his acceptance speech as Speaker , Rt. Hon. Benjamin Uwajumogu pledged that the House will enact people’s oriented laws and motions through effective legislative responsibility which will put smiles on the faces of Imo people in a bid to bring to the grassroots the impact of the “Rescue our pocket mission” of the government of His Excellency, OwelleRochasOkorocha.

But we are yet to see laws sponsored and approved by the Speaker that is of help to the growth of Imo state. All what we hear in Imo State is dissolution upon dissolution. We are yet to know the notable things that the speaker has done beside receiving one politician or one traditional ruler or paying empty courtesy visits . Sir, na your turn ooooo. It is good and commendable that you spend valuable hours on courtesy visits, instead of wasting your time attending to the need of Imo state. The more courtesy calls the more developed Imo will become.

When I read Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha’s defense of the Imo Assembly Speaker on the 10,000 job issue,Ilaughed.Iwuoha is an activist gone soft. If it were those days,Iwuoha would have been in the forefront of the fight for the re-engagement of the 10,000 workers.Iwuoha told us that so far the present government has taken back about 4,500 people out of the 10,000 into the system. I immediately made phone calls to some of the 2035 workers that the government shortlisted their names on paper but refuse to fix them on payroll to ascertain Iwuoha’s story.

In Umuapu, 28-year-old Ukachukwu said he is still at home without a job since his sack in June .Ukachukwu has had “on-and-off jobs” since losing his job, most recently driving taxi cab for his uncle.He is one of the 2035 workers shortlisted but has not been asked to resume work.InEmekuku, Nta, 26, has also worked for a short period of three months with the Imo State Civil Service before receiving the shocker sack from Governor Okorocha.Now he work for a gardening contractor to feed himself and his aged mother but is still hoping that Governor Okorocha will reinstate the 10,000 workers so that he can go back to work

Last week, Imo state alone received over N14.5 billion in allocation for the month of July excluding local government allocations. What about the allocation for excess crude for Imo State? Then, tell me why we can’t help these poor youths. I join others to call on the government of Imo State to immediately and unconditionally recall the 10,000 workers who have been unjustly sacked by the government since June 2011. We do not want 10000 youths in kidnapping and armed robbery .I also join others in calling on the leadership of NLC in Imo state to defend the rights of the 10,000 workers.

Kenneth Uwadi writes from Mmahu-Egbema, ImoState, Nigeria