• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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You cannot win the race on a stolen horse

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The retired partners of KPMG who are still awaiting their gratuity and pension have been mandated to intervene in the dispute between Republican American President Donald J. Trump and his Democratic nemeses with Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives as the leader of the pack who want the President impeached for grave crimes and misdemeanours.

In her preliminary submission, Mrs. Pelosi has taken great pains to protest vehemently that contrary to the agenda and narrative which Donald Trump has been spewing, she is the one remonstrating with her fellow Democrats not to launch impeachment proceedings midstream of Trump’s tenure. She would rather bid her time and wait for the 2020 elections when, according to the polls, whoever is the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party is expected to trounce Trump.

In any case, for the impeachment to succeed, it would require a two-thirds majority of the Senate which is under the control of the Republicans.

Regardless, the caucus of the Democratic Party is hell-bent on going for Trump’s jugular now – before Trump inflicts irreparable damage on the United States of America and its allies.

This totally unexpected honour and rare privilege, which came entirely out of the blue has put us in a huge quandary. This stupendous engagement unfortunately conflicts with our previous commitment to honour a long-standing invitation from Mr. António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations to present our case to the General Assembly which unlike previous years will take all of the rest of this year – due to climate change!!

While we are wrestling with the problem, other matters have crept up. Here is a random sample:

Front page “The Guardian” newspaper May 3, 2019

  • ) “UNEMPLOYMENT RATE TO REACH 33.5% BY 2020, SAYS FG”

“Nigeria’s unemployment rate may reach 33.5 per cent by 2020, says the Federal Government.

 

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said this yesterday in Abuja while declaring open a two-day workshop on “Breaking the Resilience of High Unemployment Rate in the Country.”

He said the incessant increase of unemployment in the country was alarming.

According to him, the high unemployment rate of 23.1 per cent, and under-employment of 16.6 per cent by the National Bureau Statistics (NBS) of 2019 report was alarming.

Ngige, who stated that various government social intervention programmes targeted at reducing youths’ unemployment and eradicating poverty had been implemented by different administrations since Nigeria gained independence, said that available records showed that between 1972 to date, about 14 different programmes had been implemented.

He said these programmes included the National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP) and the current National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which had been embedded in the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020.

He noted that the unemployment rate and poverty levels are on steady paths of growth, indicating high resilience against the intervention efforts.

The minister said that the workshop was aimed at presenting the outcome of some of government’s efforts and the commencement of another phase of the processes.

He, however, called for a collaborative mechanism that would yield desired results while assuring that the recommendations from the workshop would receive prompt and sustained attention.

Also, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr. William Alo, said the workshop was aimed at examining issues around the persistent high unemployment rate in Nigeria.

“This workshop is very important to the Ministry of Labour and Employment due to the direct relevance of the theme to the ministry’s mandate.

However, the fact remains that the consequences of high unemployment rate in Nigeria affect each and every one of us as individuals and as members of the Nigerian society,” he said.

Meanwhile, while Mr. Dennis Zulu, Country Director, International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Nigeria, said that unemployment was a major concern to the organisation, especially in Nigeria, Director, Special Duties/Projects of the ministry, Mrs. Martina Nwordu urged participants to keep to the objectives of the workshop which aimed at achieving the goals of reducing high unemployment rate in Nigeria.”

 

  • ) “RESIDENTS RESCUE TEENAGE GIRL FROM RITUALIST’S DEN IN LAGOS”

“Providence yesterday saved a 17-year-old girl, Rachel, when she was rescued by some residents from the hands of a three-man gang of suspected ritualists, who abducted her along Ibasa Road, Alasia, Ijanikin, a Lagos suburb on Wednesday.

The girl, an apprentice in a make-up studio, was sent on an errand when she was abducted by the kidnappers, who took her to their shrine in an obscure area on Dan Ajayi Street, Alasia, Ijanikin at about 7:30a.m.

It was gathered that the suspects had allegedly perfected the plan to kill the young girl for ritual, but luck ran against them when she suddenly regained consciousness and screamed “Blood of Jesus”.

A neighbour, Tochukwu, said the suspects allegedly hypnotized the young girl before they took her away. It was learnt that the ritualists allegedly touched the girl with a charm, which made her to follow them unconsciously.

It was further gathered that the suspects took the girl to a house, where they intended to prepare her for ritual sacrifice before the bubble bust. All three suspects escaped through the bush.

Narrating what transpired, Tochukwu said Rachel followed her abductors like a ‘zombie’ without knowing where she was being taken to. “The suspects were already preparing the girl to be used when some neighbours heard her scream. The shrine, where they took her to was behind an isolated house on Dan Ajayi Street. The suspects took to their heels when they knew that the game was up,” the eyewitness said.

Another witness, Chika Ugochukwu, alleged that the ritualists only moved into the area last year, adding that nobody took notice of their activities since where they reside was isolated from other houses. Chika added that she still could not believe that those who lived in the house along with others were ritual killers.

She said ritual killers are no respecter of age, as both the young and the old fall prey to their hypnotism and knives, adding that she had often read of innocent adult and children who constantly fall victims. “Most vulnerable are school children, young ladies, especially undergraduates, pregnant women and the elderly,” she said.”

 

Bashorun J.K. Randle