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Lagos’ Demolition of Monkey Village, an Attack on the Poor, Children’s Education -CEE-HOPE

A Non-Governmental Organisation, the Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE) has criticised the Lagos State Government for the demolition of Monkey Village, an informal housing settlement in the Opebi area of the state.
In the morning of December 31, 2020, truckloads of policemen, taskforce officers and thugs descended on the community and with the aid of graders and bulldozers, pulled down the houses, displacing more than 400 persons including children. Many of the residents who had gone out for the day had their homes totally demolished with their belongings inside.

An ICT Centre and youth hub built in the community by CEE-HOPE was also pulled down with several computers, library and other gadgets intact in the building. Pleas by community members who had the key of the centre to retrieve the materials were ignored.


CEE-HOPE’s water project in the community was also totally destroyed. Several members of the community were also brutalised by the government-sponsored thugs, according to community sources.


After several denials by the Lagos State Ministry of Environment, the Lagos State Task Force office and other official quarters, the Lagos State Ministry Of Physical Planning & Urban Development: came up with a statement on Sunday January 3, 2021 accepting responsibility for the demolition exercise carried out on December 31, 2020, in Monkey Village. They gave ‘reclamation of wetland’ as the reason for the forced eviction exercise.
But in a statement on January 4, CEE-HOPE faulted the action of the Lagos State Government which it described as ‘crude, autocratic and a gross violation of all known laws and guidelines guiding the handling of such matters world over’ which has not only displaced 400 persons (currently homeless) but also endangering the educational dream of more than 200 of the community’s children.
‘It is indeed a crying shame that the biggest news out of Lagos every single year would revolve around the savage treatment of the urban poor,’ said CEE-HOPE’s founder/Executive Director, Betty Abah. ‘From Maroko, Makoko, Badia East, Iluibirin to Otodo-Gbame, and now Monkey Village, it is the same pattern of the gross abuse of the human and shelter rights of the urban poor, when Lagos is not the only state in Nigeria and when Nigeria is not the only place where we have slum settlement or indeed where the urban poor exists. Yet, the most painful for us was the destruction of educational facilities funded by private individuals and for the most vulnerable of children, and in a country with the highest number of out-of-school children, at a time of a global pandemic and during a national recession,’ she added.

According to CEE-HOPE, the latest statement from the government was part of the layers of lies bandied by the Lagos State Government in the last few days to cover up the atrocity committed against the poor residents of Monkey Village. From claiming it was a take-over of a land under contest in court, to saying it was a hoodlums’ hide-out, it has now framed a wetland narrative.
‘But whatever it is, how come there was no prior notice to the residents to at least take out their few belongings before they were crushed by the graders?
According to Abah, Monkey Village sits on about 10 plots of land which belongs to about seven individuals. The individuals then gave out the land to the residents pending when they are fully ready to develop the place and each land is overseen by some members of the community who are well known to the land owners. She stressed that the people are therefore not illegal occupants neither have they ever been served any evacuation notice.
Now that an agency of the Lagos State government has finally come out to admit culpability in the entire fiasco, CEE-HOPE is therefore demanding the following:
1. An apology to the community members for the gross violation of their rights, including the failure to follow due process by duly serving them formal notice.
2. Compensation of every one of the community members for lost personal and household belongings.
3. A relocation of the victims of this arbitrary forced eviction as guaranteed by the UN provision on Housing Right.
4. Compensation of CEE-HOPE for the complete destruction of its multi-million Naira ICT Centre/Youth Hub in the community and water project.
5. A promise by the government to end all such arbitrary actions especially with regards to the urban poor in future engagements, commit to meaningful engagement of informal housing residents rather than the usual use of brute force, commit to upgrading of such settlements as is the current practice across the world rather than forced eviction which pushes the poor into worse levels of vulnerability.
6. That the Lagos State House of Assembly institute hearings into the incident, with a view towards addressing the issue and unearthing the personalities and real reasons behind this reckless, inhuman and lawless action which has been ongoing in this state unhindered, and which exacerbates the suffering of the poor and is in violation of the state’s supposed duty as the hope of the poor and vulnerable.
Betty Abah
Founder/Executive Director
CEE-HOPE
January 4, 2021




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Goodbye Saint Obi, Goodbye Tomorrow

Popular Nollywood actor Obinna Nwafor, better known as Saint Obi is dead.
The actor, who was famous for his adventurous roles typical of the American actor James Bond died on Sunday May 7 2023. He was aged 57.
The Nollywood actor, whose body has been deposited at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH, died after a protracted illness.He was said to have died in the home of one of his siblings, where he had relocated to and was receiving treatment at JUTH.

According to reports the reason Saint Obi’s demise took so long to be made official was as a result of an alleged disagreement between the siblings

The Actors Guild of Nigeria are yet to make an official statement because it has not gotten full information from the family yet.The movie star came into prominence in his role in Zeb Eiro’s ‘Sakobi’ and was featured in over 250 movies. He is also well known for his roles in Candle Light, Goodbye Tomorrow, Heart of Gold, among others.

Saint Obi was born in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on November 16, 1965. The only son of his parents – he had eight sisters – he grew up in Jos, Plateau State where he had his primary, secondary and tertiary education.He attended Zang Secondary Commercial School and in 1991, graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Jos.

He was married to Lydia Saint Nwafor and the marriage was blessed with many children.
Source: pmnews
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Angola is African’s Top Crude Oil Producer, Overtakes Nigeria

Angola has now emerged the topmost crude oil producer in Africa, upstaging Nigeria as the latter’s output level hits a new low.
The direct communication data in the April 2023 monthly oil market report (MOMR) of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) shows that Angola recorded 1.06 million barrels per day (mbpd) crude production in April 2023.
Despite initial optimism, Nigeria’s oil output dropped 23 per cent, month-on-month, MoM, to 999,999 barrels per day, bpd, in April 2023, from 1.3 million bpd in the preceding month of March 2023.
Also, on year-on-year, YoY, Nigeria’s output level indicated a drop of 16.7 per cent to 999,999 bpd in April 2023, from 1.2 million bpd recorded in the corresponding period of 2022.
After a steady decline to about 1.1 mbpd in the second half of 2022, due majorly, to oil theft, Nigeria’s oil output began to recover after a nationwide outcry in the fourth quarter of 2022 hovering at 1.3 million bpd in the first quarter of 2023.
At less than 1.0mbpd, this is the lowest production rate Nigeria has recorded in the year 2023 while Angola’s output shows steady increases.
The OPEC figure is close to that of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the regulatory authority in Nigeria’s petroleum industry, which shows that Nigeria produced 998,602 barrels per day during the period.
The OPEC report further stated that total OPEC-13 crude oil production averaged 28.60 million barrels per day in April 2023, lower by 191,000 barrels per day, month-on-month. Overall, the report showed that crude oil output increased mainly in Saudi Arabia, Angola and Iran, while production in Iraq and Nigeria declined.
OPEC noted in the MOMR that Nigeria’s economy faced challenges in gaining momentum in the first quarter of 2023, with business activity and consumer spending remaining subdued, in addition to high input-cost inflation and lower employment levels compared with 2022.
Source: All Africa
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FCT Residents Sue For Extension of Buhari’s Tenure

As legal tussles continue over the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeria’s President-elect, some residents of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, have asked the Abuja Federal High Court to extend President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure and stop Tinubu’s inauguration over failure to secure 25 per cent votes in the nation’s capital.
In a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/578/2023, the plaintiffs applied for an order, restraining “the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, other judicial officer and any authority from swearing in any candidate as President or Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, until it is judicially determined in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution that such candidate has fulfilled the requirement of Section 134(2) (b) of the Constitution.”
According to the suit, “the plaintiffs and other FCT residents have a legal interest and constitutional rights to be heard on the question of whether a President elect must secure at least 25 per cent of votes cast, on the first ballot, in the FCT, Abuja.
“Among other prayers, FCT residents want the court to extend the tenure of President Buhari until the controversies surrounding his successor in the 2023 general election is determined.
“A declaration that no state of the country is at the same time the FCT for any purpose whatsoever, including, in particular, under section 134 (2) (b) of the Constitution.
“A declaration that no candidate in the February 25th presidential election may validly be declared elected President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria without obtaining at least 25% of the votes cast in the FCT, Abuja.
“A declaration that following the February 25 presidential election and until a successor is determined in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and sworn in, the term of office of his Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, GCON, as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria subsists and endures in accordance with the provisions of section 135 (1) (a) of the Constitution.”
Also, “An order setting aside any declaration and issuance of a Certificate of Return to any candidate in the February 25 presidential election in the country as having been elected, save and except it is judicially determined with finality that such candidate fulfilled the conditions stated in section 134(2) (b) of the Nigeria Constitution.”
The CJN and Attorney General of the Federation were cited in the suit as 1st and 2nd defendants.
Source: Daily Post
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