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The task before ÇÇÌÌ
Tribune – Thursday, 30 May 2013 00:00
Some years ago, a pan-socio cultural organization known as the Çentral Çouncil of Ìbadan Ìndigenes(ÇÇÌÌ) comprising a motley collection of other social groups like the Ìbadan Progressive Union (ÌPU), was formed.
The Çouncil has as its main objectives, bringing together all Ìbadan sons and daughters of all shades of opinions at home and abroad to for a common purpose like fostering unity among its members to provide a forum where the legitimate aims and aspirations of Ìbadan indigenes would be discussed with solutions found to various problems that may arise in the land.
Since its inception, ÇÇÌÌ has been doing its best to bring about peace, stability and progress among its members.
Ánnually, it organizes a series of activities like lectures, visits to civic centres and others to mark Ìbadan Week.
Recently, the Çouncil announced its strong backing for the second term bid of Governor Ábiola Ájimobi in 2015, after the conferment of honorary traditional title of Áare Átunluse of Ìbadan land on him by Oba Samuel OdulanaOdugade 1, the Olubadan of Ìbadanland. His wife also bagged the title of Yeye Áare Átunluse of Ìbadanland, at a colourful ceremony on May 18.
The purpose was to show appreciation for the strenuous efforts being made by the governor to transform Ìbadan municipality in particular from its conservative outlook in the past into one of a modern presentable world standard.
The Çouncil also commended the Olubadan for conferring the honour on the couple.
This is interesting. There is no objection. Ì too see nothing wrong in the support given by ÇÇÌÌ.
The organisation, Ì am sure, is sentient of the lingering political crisis between the governor and Senator Rashidi Ladoja, as ex-governor of the state. This crisis has led to the sack of Ladoja’s loyalists by Ájimobi on account of some things the former alleged the latter of saying, particularly the public criticism of Ájimobi’s administration.
Áll hope is however not lost. Now that the matter has been brought to the attention of ÇÇÌÌ, the Çouncil should muster efforts at bringing the warring sides to a round table meeting for peace talks to further enhance the prestige of the Çouncil and to serve as a good example for others to exemplify.
Ì am sure they will nip this crisis in the bud and look into the matter for appropriate action which will also serve as a milestone in the annals of t history of Ìbadanland.
•Ola-OlaniyiBamgbola, 53, Ágbeni Quarters, Ìbadan.
Youth unemployment worries ÇÇÌÌ
Posted on Friday, May 17th, 2013
By Oladele Ogunsola,Çorrespondent, Ìbadan
Worried by the spate of youth unemployment and its attendant social vices, the umbrella body for all the socio-cultural groups in Ìbadanland, the Çentral Çouncil of Ìbadan Ìndigenes (ÇÇÌÌ) has set up a tripartite committee to look into various ways through which the menace could be addressed.
The organisation also restated its commitment to the construction of a modern palace for the Olubadan of Ìbadanland within the next two years when the tenure of the newly elected executive council would lapse.
The newly elected President of the organisation, Bayo Oyero, made this disclosure at the maiden media briefing by the new executive council held at Ìbadan House, Oke-Áremo, Ìbadan.
The President said the rising rate of unemployment among the youths in Ìbadanland was a source of worry to the organisation and this he said informed the concern being expressed by the ÇÇÌÌ, noting that a tripartite committee, Ìbadan Foundation and Ìbadan Elders Forum was already in place to tackle the problem.
To drive home the quest for employment of the youths in the land, the ÇÇÌÌ boss noted that the human capital with which Ìbadan is blessed with will be harnessed.
Áccording to him, “Ìbadanland is highly blessed with human capital of the first order and in the next two years, ÇÇÌÌ under my leadership will motivate this huge resourceful Ìbadans to mobilise investible capital for economic development of Ìbadanland”.
Police kill two, arrest three in a foiled robbery in Ìbadan
Posted by: Bisi Oladele, Ìbadan on THE NÁTÌON May 4, 2013 in News Update3 Çomments
Ìt was a black day for armed robbers in Ìbadan, the Oyo State capital on Saturday as the police foiled a major robbery at a bureau de change, killing three and arresting three other armed robbery suspects.
The suspects, who rode on motorcycles to the bureau de change in Sabo area of the city around 5:30 pm, disengaged swiftly, swooped on the shop and commanded both customers and the operators to surrender all the currencies in their possession.
Á member of the gang, who manned the entrance of the shop was said to have fired a shot into the air to scare neighbours and passers-by forcing them to scamper for safety.
Çonsequently, some of them contacted the police. The command swiftly mobilized members of a special task force code named: “Skynet” from the nearby Mokola Police Division. The armed police swooped on the shop instantly.
On sighting the police, the armed bandits were said to have made attempts to escape by engaging them in a gun duel. Two of the five-member gang were killed in fire exchange while three others were arrested.
The gun duel caused pandemonium in the Sabo/Mokola area as residents, passers-by and motorists tried to avoid been shot in the cross fire. While shop owners and customers ran for cover, motorists abandoned their vehicles to seek a safe haven. The development also caused a huge traffic in the area
The bandits’ eventual defeat triggered jubilation among residents in the area and restored normalcy. Residents, traders and motorists hailed the police for a job well done.
They corpses and three suspects were taken to the Special Ánti-Robbery Squad. (SÁRS) headquarters in Ìyaganku.
Ìncidents of armed robbery with motorcycles had increased in the state capital in recent times, forcing government to give commercial motorcyclists and tricyclists a 21 days ultimatum to register with the government or face ban.
Two robbery incidents had been recorded earlier in the day.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Mrs Olabisi Ìlobanafor, confirmed the incident.
45 shops, 25 homes burnt in Ìbadan
Posted by: Our Reporter on Ápril 23, 2013 in Featured, News8 Çomments
You are here: Home » Featured » 45 shops, 25 homes burnt in Ìbadan
The week began yesterday on a sad note for residents of Ode-Olo, Ìnalende and Omitowoyin in Ìbadan, the Oyo State capital.
Properties worth several millions of naira were lost as 25 houses and 45 shops were razed when a fuel-laden tanker spilled its content.
Scores of residents were still missing as at the time of filling this report last night.
The fire began at about 6.20pm.
Án eye witness said no fewer than 80 tenants were rendered homeless.
The tanker fell on its side when the driver, who against advice, chose to ply a neighbourhood road under construction.
Ìt was learnt that the content spilled on St. Stephen Primary School junction, where a food vendor was cooking.
The National Emergency Management (NEMÁ), through its Southwest information officer, Ìbrahim Fariwoye, blamed the incumbent on the obstinacy of the driver.
He said: “The PMS tanker fell near residential buildings and close to a woman cooking. Presently (last night), 25 houses and 42 shops have been burnt.
“Fire fighting operations are ongoing and the details of casualties cannot be ascertained as it is dark. Search and recovery will start as soon as the fire is brought under control by firemen.”
Á resident, who identified herself as Ìya Kafaya wailed uncontrollably. She was said to have lost everything to the fire.
Many of the residents shouted aloud to ensure that their members were not trapped inside the burning houses.
Lagos-Ìbadan Expressway: Dancing on an Open Grave
THÌS DÁY – 21 Jan 2013
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Ádeola Ákinremi probed what led to the Federal Government’s revocation of the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) concession agreement with Bi-Çourtney Nigeria Limited. Ìn this report, he exposes the power games that frustrated quick implementation of the project
When Susan Ásiimwe, a Ugandan, first arrived in Nigeria, she compared the roads in Nigeria to the pictures she had seen of wide Ámerican roads, but she didn’t notice the neglect. Ms. Ásiimwe assessed the Nigerian roads with a journey through the Lagos-Ìbadan Expressway from the Third Mainland Bridge.
Ásiimwe might be right after all; except for South África, Nigeria boasts of widest roads in sub-Saharan África. However at the exact time that Ásiimwe was making her comparison, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Ádua had received report of how the road had been neglected for 34 years.
Prompted by the report and the success stories he has heard about Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) strategy that has indeed given Nigeria its first model domestic airport built by Bi-Çourtney Limited, he ensured the Federal Executive Çouncil (FEÇ), at one of its weekly meetings in May 2009 approved the concession of the Lagos-Ìbadan Expressway to Bi-Çourtney Limited for 25 years on a Design Build Operate and Transfer (DBOT) arrangement. The company was saddled with the upgrade of the expressway that was budgeted to cost N89.53 billion with a free hand to recoup its investment through tolls and appropriate charges.
Ánd with that announcement, property business soared around Lagos–Ìbadan Expressway.
“When we heard of it, everything changed here, because that announcement triggered sales in landed properties with companies, individuals and estate developers coming to beg us with money to sell lands to them,” Jide Ákintunde who had lived for 52 years in Mowe, a community near the expressway told THÌSDÁY.
That was not all. Ákintunde says, “When we saw the company itself moved to site with their equipment, working and changing the face of the road, especially around here, people shouted for joy. Ìt means the announcement was real and in no distant time we’ll have a road like they have in Ábuja; road accidents would be reduced and business would thrive.”
Ìndeed, Bi-Çourtney promised all that. Ìts chairman, Dr. Wale Babalakin, had told Nigerians after the announcement by the Federal Government in 2009 that it had granted concession of the road to Bi-Çourtney Limited that, “The primary objective of the proposed rehabilitation and modernisation project is to unlock the economic potentials of the Lagos-Ìbadan expressway by redeveloping it to efficiently carry available traffic demand. Ánd in the process create a world class infrastructure that will be the pride of all Nigerians and a reference point.
“The road would boast of dawn lightening powered by a gas fired plant, improved and new interchanges, new drainage system, recessed service areas, lay-by emergency parking areas, footbridges in heavy pedestrian areas, weighbridges, electronic traffic control and informative signs.”
Ánd like a ready combatant, Bi-Çourtney moved to work while papers were being perfected on the contract for the concession. Travellers who frequent the expressway agreed they saw Bi-Çourtney’s men at work on the road.
“Ì have seen them here. Ì saw heavy machines belonging to them parked at different locations from the popular 7up junction in Lagos up to Ìbadan and Ì have had to say well done to them at a time when they were working somewhere on the road just after the Redemption camp,” said Jubril Shittu, a bus driver who plies the road daily carrying passengers from Lagos to Ìlorin.
Á university lecturer who works in Ìbadan, but has his family resident in Lagos, Dr. Ábraham Ákanni, said, “Bi-Çourtney indeed had done appreciable work on the road that Ì can call palliative work such as fixing of pot holes and cracks on the entire stretch of the expressway and the clearing of bush on either side of the road.”
But, that was all Nigerian knew about the concession and Bi-courtney. Nigerians had little knowledge of the politics that had delayed the commencement of the project on a larger scale, until the government announced recently the revocation of 25 years concession granted to the company.
THÌSDÁY reliably gathered that some individuals in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration frustrated the process of the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) arrangement on the expressway, initiated by his predecessor.
For instance, out of the 3 years six months that Bi-Çourtney had the concession, direct delay by the Federal Government was 2 years 10 months.
Ìn effect, in a period of three years and six months, Bi-Çourtney only had two months to work properly on the expressway.
Áfter giving Bi-Çourtney an ultimatum for urgent palliative works on the road in 2011, the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, commended the firm for doing a good job, adding that he got a feedback that the company was working even at night.
Onolememen said on the eve of the contract termination with Bi-Çourtney that: “Bi-Çourtney has been on track. There are processes in the execution of this project and the company has followed due process. The final design was approved on May 10, 2011.”
Á public analyst, Wale Sokunbi, said, “Ìf it actually took the Federal authorities two years to approve the drawing for a road contract that was expected to be delivered in four years, that was just too bad, and should not be repeated with the latest contract.”
Not only that, party politics in Nigeria soon crept in as Lagos and Ogun states that have sizable portions of the expressway within their areas considered the project a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) project that could alter political calculation of Áction Çongress of Nigeria (ÁÇN) in the South west where it has maintained its hold as a political party.
Sources told THÌSDÁY that the ÁÇN governments in Lagos and Ogun worked to frustrate the project as well.
“Those frictions you heard of, between the Ogun government on one hand and the Lagos State government on the other hand, were not child’s play. They were calculated and deliberately planned against the PDP, but unfortunately Bi-Çourtney became the grass that suffered where two elephants fought.”
THÌSDÁY learnt that the project suffered setback with initial non-approval of the site for its asphalt plant by the Ogun State Government, just as the Lagos State Government also expressed its disapproval in the way Bi-Çourtney was serving notifications to property owners in the state over the issue of right of way on behalf of the Federal Government. Over 55 court cases, it was learnt, have been instituted by property owners over the issue of 60.35 metres right of way on both sides of the road.
Ogun State stopped the concessionaire from installing its $6.5 million asphalt plant in a yard formerly occupied by Reynolds Çonstruction Çompany, saying it wanted to use the parcel of land for a trailer park, while Lagos State issued a statement of disapproval of the company’s move.
Ìn a statement issued on Áugust 4, 2011 and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Lands Bureau, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola, the government said the 1999 Çonstitution (Ámendment 2011) and Land Use Áct “vests exclusive power of revocation of right of occupancy to any piece of land with the state in the governor of the state”.
The Permanent Secretary, therefore, described the acquisition notice being served on behalf of the Federal Government by Bi-Çourtney Highway Services as illegal and unconstitutional.
Head of Çommunications, Bi-Çourtney, Mr. Dipo Kehinde, had, in the heat of the crisis, explained the processes followed by his company before settling for the former RÇÇ yard.
“Since the concession was granted, the Ogun State Government was taken as a major partner, given that 80 per cent of the highway falls within the state. Ogun State was to give us land as its own contribution to the project. The former RÇÇ yard was identified, visited and allocated to us by the state government. The process entailed joint visits, and assessment before allocation, following all due process.
“To buttress this fact, we duly settled the land owners, promptly, to demonstrate our commitment to the site. The payment to the landowners was done, after due consultation with the state government and confirmation of the landowners at a joint stakeholders meeting with officials of the Bureau of Land. The state government actually brokered the meeting with the family land owners.
“Á search was also conducted at the Ogun State Survey Directorate, and the search report revealed that the property was unencumbered,” he said in a statement.
That has since been resolved. Ogun State government defended its action and said in an interview by its Çommissioner for Ìnformation, Mr. Yusuf Olaniyonu, that it would offer every support necessary for the success of the project.
“Áside the misunderstanding which we had on the issue of the parcel of land marked for our trailer park, we no longer have any issue with Bi-Çourtney,” he said, even though the firm complains that the equipment is still being held by the state government.
“The state government is ready to cooperate with the contractor and Governor Ìbikunle Ámosun has promised every assistance since the project is in the interest of the masses,” Olaniyonu added in an interview.
The commissioner also maintained that there was nothing unusual about the intervention of the state government in the 500-metre stretch around the Redemption Çamp, saying the rehabilitation work done there was in the best interest of the people of the state who ply the road on a daily basis.