5 Dangerous Contact Lens Mistakes You Should Avoid

There can be different explanations behind individuals wearing contact lenses. They are considered convenient and aesthetically valuable; particularly among people with severe nearsightedness who have to wear extremely thick glasses otherwise.

The majority of contact lens users don’t use proper hygiene and that puts them at risk of both minor (irritation) and frightening (vision loss), eye infections, including inflammation of the cornea called keratitis. One type of keratitis called microbial keratitis can occur when bacteria, viruses, and even amoebae invade the cornea. keratitis can lead to blindness or the need for corneal transplant.

Your contacts require a ton of consideration as far as taking care of, wearing and taking them off. Indeed, even a minor slip-up might give you a horrifying contamination and even lasting visual impairment. A large number of people treat them as a cosmetic item, remember that your contacts are a medical device and should be used responsibly and safely. Here are five dangerous contact lens mistakes you should avoid.

1. Wearing contacts for too long

Try not to hold up to change your contact lenses until they begin to feel uncomfortable. Adhere to the substitution plan your specialist recommends. Studies have found that half of individuals utilizing dispensable lenses wear them longer that their suggested plan.

Wearing contact lens for too long is very bad for the eye as the cornea (surface of your eye) needs oxygen to keep it healthy. In spite of the fact that contact lenses are gas porous, it does not allow as much oxygen to reach your eyes as when you keep your eyes naked

Contact lenses make a warm and sodden environment where microorganisms such as bacteria, parasites and fungi flourish and breed. So therefore keeping the contact lens laid on your eyes for a drawn out stretch of time offers more opportunity for microorganisms to delve into your cornea and feast upon it.

2. Going Into Water With Contact Lens On

The shower, hot tub, swimming pool, or other bodies of water can contain bacteria and amoebae which might devastate your eyes if you don’t disinfect your contact lenses properly. A terrifying disease called Acanthamoeba keratitis notorious for showing up in hot tubs could get into your lens and might lead to vision loss and even blindness. If you have to shower with your contacts on, try to keep your eyes closed as much as possible. And if you do end up getting water on your contacts do not forget to clean them.

3. Wearing lengthening mascaras

Most ‘lengthening’ mascaras contain tiny fibres that stick to the eyelashes, making them look longer. However, these tiny fibres can fall off and get under contact lenses, irritating the eye.

‘There is nothing to say that these fibres are harmful to the eye, but they can irritate it, making you rub it,’ says Adrian Knowles. ‘The problem is your fingers may not be very clean’

4. Sleeping with contact lenses on

If you sleep with your contacts on, you’ll stand a five percent higher risk of developing CIEs. The warmth and moisture in your eyes trigger the action of microorganisms that may have been lurking on the lenses or may have entered your eyes through the air. Sleeping with your lenses on is one of the top causes of corneal ulcer—an extremely painful and costly eye infection.

5. Using an unapproved contact lens cleaning care system

Not all contact lens care systems are as effective at disinfection.  Avoid the temptation to purchase a cheaper generic solution.  Instead, use the care system the doctor specifically recommends for use with your brand of contact lenses.

‘Hand of God’

It looks like a fireball has been travelling through the sky.

Not so: this is actually a cloud that was captured earlier this week by photographer and weather blogger Rogerio Pacheco on the Portuguese island of Madeira. He published it on his blog and described the cloud as "the hand of God".

We spoke to the BBC weather meteorologist Aisling Creevey to find out why such a spectacular "fireball" tore up the morning sky. We spoke to the BBC weather meteorologist Aisling Creevey to find out why such a spectacular "fireball" tore up the morning sky. 

It might surprise you that clouds with this type of structure are quite common, she says, but we usually don’t have the luxury of seeing them in this way.

The reason the cloud appeared like this was because light from the sun caught onto a clump of cloud at a lower altitude just as it came into contact with cloud higher up.


There are three layers of clouds, she explains. And this fireball seems to be mixing some layers. The dark features for instance, appear to be clouds at a "middle” altitude - 2,400 - 6,100m - called altostratus clouds.

In fact, clouds like this might be above us all the time, but we usually cannot distinguish the differing shades of grey from each other very clearly. "This cloud is no more complex than normal but just happens to [have been photographed at] the exact moment that the light was caught," says Creevey.

Another meterologist, Emma Sharples from the UK's Met Office agrees. She says: "I think the presence of a rising sun has made [it] appear more striking than the clouds alone would appear. We think they are probably cumulus clouds [cauliflower-shaped and fluffy], so pretty common, but enhanced by the light conditions."

Pacheco was lucky to have captured these images, as the cloud would not have appeared like this for long, possibly only a couple of minutes, adds Creevey.

PDP crisis deepen as Gulak files fresh suits against NEC meeting

The self-declared National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, has returned to court, asking it to stop the party from holding its National Executive Committee meeting or any other meeting, according to The Punch.

Gulak also asked the Court of Appeal to restrain the Acting National Chairman and the Secretary of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, and Prof. Wale Oladipo, or any other person from presiding over any of the party’s meetings.

In a motion filed by his lawyer, Mr. J.S. Okutepa (SAN), at the Court of Appeal on January 29, “Gulak is seeking an order restraining the party from allowing any other person to act as its National Chairman or preside over its meetings.”

He urged the court to hold that he “is the only person in the PDP that is legally allowed to occupy the office of the National Chairman of the party, except a December 16, 2015 judgment of Justice Baba Husaein is overturned by a superior court of competent jurisdiction.”

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has fixed February 3 to hear the appeal.

Meanwhile, Gulak had also filed another suit before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, through his lawyer, Silva Opusunju, asking the court to determine whether the December 16 judgment of Justice Husaein was not valid while the outcome of the appeal filed by the PDP was being awaited.

Joined as respondents in the suit are the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; its National Secretary, Oladipo; and the party’s National Legal Adviser, Mr. Victor Kwon.

He also asked the court to determine whether Secondus was not being contemptuous of the court when he continued to parade himself as the PDP national chairman in spite of the court judgment.

Meanwhile, the PDP has urged the judiciary to continue to assert its independence and not allow itself to be deterred from upholding justice and the rule of law, no matter the pressure.

Secondus, who spoke for the party at its National Secretariat in Abuja during the inauguration of the Imo State chapter of the PDP, was reacting to a statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari on the need to reform the judiciary.

The President was quoted to have said that the fight against corruption would not be successful if the judiciary was not reformed.

The polygamy hoax that spread from Iraq to Eritrea

A false rumour that men in Eritrea would be legally obliged to marry at least two women went viral this week. But it's a hoax that has hit at least four countries to date, and actually began in Iraq, where it wasn't as implausible as it seems.

When a far fetched story about enforced polygamy in Eritrea began circulating, it captured attention across the continent. But in fact similar stories - all of them false - have cropped up in a number of countries since the beginning of the year.

And in each case, the way hoaxers spread the rumour on social media pretty much identical. Here's how it plays out.

An "official" government document is leaked on social media, bearing a letterhead, or the signature of a supposed dignitary.

It reads - and we're paraphrasing here - "Due to the recent troubles in our country, we are experiencing a serious shortage of men, and an abundance of woman. Men are now legally required to take at least two wives, and any that fail to do so will face strict punishment." The punishments range from life imprisonment to the death penalty.

The Eritrean government has since been battling to set the story straight, dismissing the document as a fraud, and explaining that polygamy is illegal in the East African nation. It hasn't been able to stop chatter spreading on social media, and a raft of jokes at the countries expense. But more on those later.

Although the rumour about Eritrea went viral, it isn't the first country to be hit by the hoax. At least three other countries have been the subject of the same story, which appears to have begun in Iraq.

A letter mocked up using an official looking letterhead began circulating there early in January, making the same declaration. Because of the country's recent woes, men who failed to take at least two wives would be punished by death, it read.

Of course, it was a hoax as well, but it may not have seemed as absurd a proposition as it did later in other countries. Back in 2011 the BBC reported that Iraqi politicians were considering offering men financial incentives to marry a second wife. Years of conflict have left the country with more than a million war widows, and a shortage of unmarried men. The proposals were never enacted.

Following Iraq, a near-identical hoax document surfaced claiming to be from the government of Sudan. And Arabic news sites suggest a similar letter supposedly from officials in Saudi Arabia was circulated as well - before the story about Eritrea cropped up.

And the rumour about Eritrea? That actually began in Kenya and Nigeria. It was first reported by Kenyan news site Crazy Monday, well known for its focus on gossip stories according to Mathias Muindi from the BBC's media monitoring service. The story was picked up and reported as fact in Nigeria and later South Africa as well.

It spread quickly, and it wasn't long before jokes stared spreading on social networks like WhatsApp and Twitter, mostly involving men from outside the country flocking to Eritrea in the hope of finding multiple wives.

Iheanacho takes over Nasri’s place in City’s CL squad

MANCHESTER City have included Kelechi Iheanacho in their Champions League squad.The 19-year-old who has been in fine form for the Citizen this season replaces Sami Nasri who has been ruled out of the competition.

“Yes, Kelechi will be in the Champions League squad. I told Samir Nasri I would take him out of the list as he needs two months more to be fit. We need Kelechi now as Bony is injured too. We couldn’t take the risk to go into the last 16 game with just Kun,” Pellegrini confirmed to club’s website.

“It’s always difficult to tell a player he will not continue in the list but Samir understood perfectly that he needs at least two months more.

“It wouldn’t have been easy for him to recover his best performance in that length of time. We needed another striker and Kelechi is in a good moment.

“Kelechi is one player in our squad – it’s important when young players have the option to show why they’re an important player. He will continue trying to fight to start every game. For me, as a manager, you have to work with the whole squad as we have to play so many games.

“It’s important for everyone, not just for the players but for the club who’ve invested a lot of money in the training ground to have players arriving from the Academy into the first-team.

“It’s important to bring young players into the first-team but they must be good players so that we continue to be a competitive team,” he concluded.

With Goal.com

Why I didn’t pick Aluko as my CoS, by Fayose

Governor Ayo Fayose has said the allegation by the former Ekiti State Secretary of the‎ Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tope Aluko, that the military was used to influence the outcome of the June 21, 2014 governorship election in the state was another ploy in the fruitless efforts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rubbish the mandate freely given him by the people of the state.

He said Aluko was beclouded by his desperation to seek revenge against Fayose because of his refusal to make him his Chief of Staff. He (Aluko) is not mindful of committing the criminal offence of perjury, the statement added.

The governor described as “shameful” that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has refused to accept a scandalous electoral defeat they suffered 19 months ago, asking whether it was also soldiers that rigged the 2015 presidential, senatorial, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly elections that the party lost.

In a statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, the governor ‎ said the election that ushered him to office was conducted about 20 months ago and applauded by the election observers and the international communities, wondered when the opposition would stop licking their wounds.

Fayose said “ all these steps are being taken by the APC to silence me because of my criticism of obnoxious policies of Buhari administration, but I cannot be silenced. If I Ayo Fayose remains the last man standing to put Buhari administration on its toes, I will not look back. Strong opposition is ingredient of ‎virile democracy. I don’t have skeleton in my cupboard. If the APC has any concrete evidence against me, it should give it to the EFCC.”

Fayose added that he felt sorry for Aluko because he had allowed those who rented him to do the very dirty job to destroy him totally therefore bringing shame upon himself and his family.

The Governor continued: “ It is very obvious that those who rented him will keep him at alms lenght believing that what he did to me, he will do same to them.”

He said: “For Aluko to be taken seriously, he must first have to report himself to the police to be tried for perjury and committed to prison for three years since what he is now saying is different from what he said under oath at the Election Tribunal where he was the only witness called by the PDP and Governor Fayose.

“If after giving evidence under oath at the tribunal that the Election was free, fair and credible and that security agents, including soldiers performed their duties creditably, saying something else more than one year after is not fair.

“It is also a demonstration of the fact that given the right offer tomorrow, the same Aluko can also address the press tomorrow to deny all he said today. He can even deny his own existence since he can deny what he said under oath just because he was not made Chief of Staff.

“We know him to be an unstable mind and that was why our party expelled him and others last year. The power of the people is greater than the power of those in authority. There is no way anybody will take through the back door what the people openly denied them through the ballot,” he said.

“From Aluko’s rant‎ing, one could see that he wants to poison our waters because he did not get the position he expected in our administration. He complained that he was not made the Chief of Staff, how could somebody with great lust for money and insatiable drive to jump from one camp to the other be trusted with such a sensitive post. I was advised by well-meaning Ekiti people not to trust him with sensitive positions because of his greed.

“As the state secretary of the party, he was going from one aspirant to the other to collect money, using his position.

When he was at the state-owned university, he was sacked because of certificate racketeering. Pressure was mounted on me not to appoint him otherwise he would put credibility problem on my administration. I therefore offered him another position which he rejected. He thinks he wants to rubbish me and my electoral victory but he is only putting himself and his family to shame.

“‎if he hopes to reap anything from this wild chase, he will only reap the whirlwind. The APC can never trust him with anything because they know that what he did to me, he would do to them. He was the principal witness of the PDP even up to the Supreme Court where he said under oath that the election was free and fair and now at what point was the election flawed?

“I pity the young man. He is only being used by the opposition and they will soon dump him after they are done with him. I won the election about 20 months ago and they are yet to come to term with the hurricane that hit them. First, they blamed what they called ‘photochromic’ for their defeat.

“When that did not sell, they tr‎ied a futile impeachment exercise and also they failed. They came up with a military panel, which could in no way act as an appellate court over the process stipulated by the Electoral Law.

They will probably need to pay INEC to tell Nigerians that an election it conducted, in which an incumbent governor lost in his own local government, was not credible.

“As per his claim that $37 million was given to the governor for the election, the governor got financial support from various sources as it is usual of anyone contesting election and it is not for him to begin to advertise in the media the level of support the governor received from individuals, corporate organisations or groups.

“However, if money belonging to the APC is missing and they suspect that the money was stolen by Dr Goodluck Jonathan to fund Ekiti State governorship election, they can approach the EFCC.”

'Africa's first solar bus'

A solar-powered bus described by its Ugandan makers as the first in Africa has been driven in public.

Kiira Motors' Kayoola prototype electric bus was shown off at a stadium in Uganda's capital, Kampala.

One of its two batteries can be charged by solar panels on the roof which increases the vehicle's 80km (50 mile) range.

The makers now hope to attract partners to help manufacture the bus for the mass market.

Kiira Motors' chief executive Paul Isaac Musasizi told BBC News that he had been "humbled" by the large and positive reaction to the test drive.

People have been excited by the idea that Uganda is able to produce the concept vehicle, or prototype, and Mr Musasizi said he wanted it to help the country "champion the automotive, engineering and manufacturing industries" in the region.

He also hopes that it will generate employment, predicting that by 2018, more than 7,000 people could be directly and indirectly employed in the making of the Kayoola.

But backing from international companies, which make vehicle parts, is essential for the project to take off.

The vision is that by 2039 the company will be able to manufacture all the parts and assemble the vehicle in Uganda.

The 35-seat bus is intended for urban areas rather than inter-city use because of the restrictions on how far it can travel.

If it is mass produced, each bus would cost up to $58,000 (£40,000), which Mr Musasizi says is a a competitive price.

Kiira Motors grew out of a project at Uganda's Makerere University, which is now a shareholder in the company, and it has also benefitted from government funding.

Boko Haram crisis: Amnesty condemns reinstatement of Nigeria general

The campaign group named Maj Gen Ahmadu Mohammed and eight other officers in a report last year, accusing the military of killing more than 8,000 detainees.

"It is unthinkable" to recall the officer, who was sacked in 2014, before an inquiry had even begun, it said.

The military is investigating the allegations, a spokesman told the BBC.

"These are just allegations - until proven, no-one should be punished unnecessarily," military spokesman General Rabe Abubakar said, confirming that Gen Mohammed had been reinstated.

Amnesty says Gen Mohammed was "in command of operations when the military executed more than 640 detainees following a Boko Haram attack on the detention centre in Giwa barracks on 14 March 2014".

He was sacked for unrelated reasons before recently being reinstated.

"Major General Mohammed must be investigated for participating in, sanctioning or failing to prevent the deaths of hundreds of people," Amnesty's secretary general Salil Shetty said in a statement.

But Gen Abubakar said the allegations were being investigated.

The London-based group said since March 2011, more than 8,000 young men and boys have been either shot, starved, suffocated or tortured to death in military custody and no-one has been held responsible.

President Muhammad Buhari promised to look into the issue when he came to power last year.

Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency has claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than two million people over the past six years.

In the latest incident, at least 65 people were killed and 136 injured when militants attacked the north-eastern Dalori village on Saturday night.

Iwobi is a special player England will miss, says Wenger

ROY Hodgson could have missed out by not moving to secure Alex Iwobi as a full England international, according to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

The 19-year-old, born in Lagos, Nigeria, played for England at youth level before declaring his allegiance for the Super Eagles last year.

Iwobi has made two appearances for his birthland in friendlies against DR Congo and Cameroun, though will remain eligible for England until he makes a competitive appearance for Sunday Oliseh’s side.

Among the most highly-rated of Wenger’s young prospects Iwobi has made a big impression in recent weeks, starting FA Cup ties against Sunderland and Burnley.

Speaking after the 2-1 victory over the Clarets at the Emirates, in which the youngster was among his stand-out performers, Wenger made clear that he believes Iwobi would be good enough to play for England.
“He plays for Nigeria now, and he should play for England,” he said.

“I think he has shown everybody that he is a good football player again. I find him personally very interesting because his decision making is spot on and his awareness is very interesting.

“I like the timing of the decision making and the quality of his decision making. He always turns when you want him to turn and he plays the ball where you want him to play the ball. It is very interesting.”

With The Guardian

Jonathan's $37m gift to Fayose for Ekiti poll

Former President Goodluck Jonathan gave Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose $37 million cash for the June 21, 2014 governorship election, it was learnt yesterday.

A former Secretary of the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Temitope Aluko, a member of the team that prosecuted the election, said Dr. Jonathan gave Fayose $2 million in March 2014 for the primary election. He alleged that the cash was collected at the NNPC Towers in Abuja from businessman Ifeanyi Uba, who last night denied playing any role in the election or giving Fayose any money.

Aluko said the cash was taken to Fayose’s private house in Abuja from where it was moved to Ekiti.

“Immediately after the primary election, we collected another $35 million from Jonathan on June 17, 2014. The money was brought to us by the former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.

“We all assembled in front of Spotless Hotel, Ado-Ekiti, owned by Fayose. Thereafter, the cash was taken to a Bureau De Change in Onitsha  where, with the support of Chris Uba, it was converted to N4.7 billion,” Aluko added.

But Fayose dismissed Aluko as a “distraction” and his story “untrue”.

The embattled PDP chief, who fell out with Fayose shortly after the election, disclosed that the governor collected about N3 billion cash from Senator Buruji Kashamu in 2013 to revive the then comatose PDP structure in Ekiti.

But Kashamu’s aide Augustine Oniyokor said: “While it is true that Senator Buruji Kashamu supported PDP candidates, including the Ekiti State governor, as a true party man, I’m not aware of the financial implications.”

Giving an insight into how the military and other security agencies were drafted into the Ekiti State election, Aluko said Fayose insisted that the only way the PDP could win was to use the military.

Said he: “The former President agreed with Fayose and summoned a security meeting at the Presidential Villa for the purpose of the election.

“Those at the meeting were the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh, then Chief of Army Staff Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimmah and former PDP National Chairman Adamu Mu’azu.

“Others included Fayose, Senator Iyiola Omisore, then Minister of Police Affairs Jelili Adesiyan and Obanikoro.

“At that meeting, the former President made it clear to the ex-Chief of Defence Staff that Fayose would stand for him (as Commander-in-Chief) in terms of providing security for the election.”

According to Aluko, the implication of Jonathan’s directive was that the military chiefs were to take orders from Fayose for the duration of the election.

On the strength of Jonathan’s directive, Aluko said Fayose then approached the former Commander of the Army Brigade in Akure, Brig.-Gen. Dikko, to take charge of the election for the PDP.

“But Gen. Dikko did not give us audience. He stated bluntly that he would not be available for such operation. So Fayose sponsored a petition against him, which led to his replacement with Brig.-Gen. Aliyu Momoh who was amenable to our plans,” Aluko stated.

Giving details of how the military and other security agencies were mobilised to win the election for the PDP, Aluko said four party stalwarts were picked from each of the 16 local government areas.

According to him, the 64 party stalwarts were carefully picked because they knew the terrain in their local governments very well.

“They gave detailed information regarding names and locations of opposition members in all the local governments, the various routes, areas of strength and weaknesses of the PDP in the 16 local government councils.

“Today, most of these 64 men are members of the Senate, House of Representatives, state House of Assembly, commissioners, local government chairmen, special advisers and the rest,” Aluko said.

“We went into the election with 1040 recognised soldiers and another batch of 400 unrecognised soldiers brought from Enugu by Chief Chris Uba.

“In addition, we raised 44 Special Strike teams, brought in Toyota Hilux buses from Abuja and Onitsha. We made special stickers for the vehicles that conveyed members of the Strike Team and black hand bands for each of them.

“Each Strike Team was made up of 10 members headed by a soldier and comprising soldiers, policemen, DSS operatives and Civil Defence Corps. They were detailed to attack and arrest prominent APC chieftains in all the local governments.

“We set up anchorage, mainly residential houses, in every local government where the Strike Team members collected their welfare and other allowances.

“To encourage the Strike Team members, we gave them orders to share money and other valuables they could lay their hands on in the houses of APC chieftains they raided.

“Then we set up detention camps, mainly in primary schools, where most of the APC chieftains were detained. Others were detained in police stations where the DPOs were friendly with us. We let them off after the election was over.

“A day to the election, we used the military to block all routes in the local governments and prevented APC chieftains, including former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, from coming into Ekiti.

“So we ensured that no APC chieftain was in sight on election day. We provided polling agents for the APC in most of the polling units so we had no problem getting them to sign election results in the units.

“All these local and foreign observes that described the election as free and fair only witnessed the voting on election day without knowing what transpired before the voting.”

Aluko, who was the Chief Returning Officer who signed the results for the election, said he was fully involved in the plot with Fayose from the very beginning.

According to him, he was forced to divulge the information because Fayose betrayed him and derailed from the original plan they had for the development of the state after winning the election.

Said he: “Before the election, Fayose, Femi Bamishile and I jointly swore with the Holy Bible on a sharing formula after we must have won the election. We agreed that Fayose would be governor, Bamishile his deputy and I, Chief of Staff.

“But the moment he got into office, Fayose reneged on the agreement and left me in the lurch. More worrisome is the fact that Fayose has derailed from the original Ekiti project we envisaged”.

He also spoke about the Osun election which followed and the inability of the PDP to take the same system they adopted in Ekiti, to Osun State which Governor Rauf Aregbesola resisted.

Aluko, who testified in camera before the military panel that investigated the role of the military in Ekiti and Osun states elections, said he gave the same testimony before the panel.

With The Nation

Obasanjo accuses state governors of diverting LG funds

Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on Monday lambasted some state governors in Nigeria for living like emperors while demanding sacrifice from the citizens for Nigeria to survive the hard times.

Obasanjo disclosed this Monday in his opening remark at the inaugural conference of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy which was held at the University of Ibadan in the Oyo State capital.

Obasanjo said when he became Nigerian president in 1999; he recognised corruption as a major impediment to the Nigerian state, setting up structures like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to fight the rot. However, he said that after he left, corruption returned to Nigeria with a vengeance, draining billions of dollars from the nation’s economy that could hardly afford to lose even a million dollars.

The former president insisted that chief among the many problems plaguing the presidential system of government in Nigeria is the alleged diversion of funds meant for developmental projects by state governors which consequently renders the 774 local governments impotent. He added that governors have rendered public institutions irrelevant.

“Is there good governance in the 36 states of the federation where some governors have become sole administrators, acting like emperors? These governors have rendered public institutions irrelevant and useless. Is there development work going on in the 774 constitutionally recognized local government councils which are known to have been appropriated as private estates of the governor’s?

“And of course, when governors take their money, the chairmen of the councils take the balance of the money, put it on the table and share it out among council members. In some local governments, has the governors not hijacked most of the resources in them and expended them to serve their whims and caprices instead of using the resources to galvanize growth and development? Have we embraced the principles and values of the presidential system of government such as to enable us to realize our vision of a great country? Instead of the waste that we experience, has the National Assembly been able to live up to its role as an agent of oversight and public accountability?

“When are we going to be able to practice federalism in a way that promotes healthy competition among the states for the benefit of the citizens? When are we going to subordinate partisanship to collective goals and deploy the full potentials of our diversity to advance public causes that serve the aspirations of the teeming masses of our people crying under the cringe of poverty, disease, unemployment and neglect? When shall we all unite around the Nigeria dreaming our quest to be the giant which God has graciously endowed us to be?

“Why is it that every model that has worked elsewhere never seems to work sustainably in Nigeria?  Can go on and on.”

He said, “Leaders who call for sacrifice from the citizenry cannot be living in obscene opulence. We must address these foundational issues to make the economy work, to strengthen our institutions, build public confidence in government and deal with our peace and security challenges.

“We must address the issue of employment for our teeming population particularly for our youths. Leadership must mentor the young, and provide them with hope about their future as part of a process of inter-generational conversation.

“Nigeria is a country where some governors have become sole administrators, acting like emperors. These governors have rendered public institutions irrelevant and useless.

“Is there development work going on in the 774 constitutionally recognised local government councils, which have been merely appropriated as private estates of some governors?

“Some governors have hijacked the resources of the local governments and this has crippled the developments of the local government councils in the country. The National Assembly must also open its budgets to public scrutiny.”

The former president said drastic fall in the price of oil in the international market had exposed the weakness of governance in Nigeria, while also saying that Nigeria was racing towards becoming a nation of debt with its attendant burden on the citizens.

“The drastic fall in the price of oil in the international market has unraveled the weakness of governance in Nigeria. The Minister of Finance has recently announced that the 2016 budget deficit may be increased from the current N2.2 trillion in the draft document before the National Assembly, to N3 trillion due to decline in the price of crude oil.

“If the current fiscal challenge is not creatively addressed, Nigeria may be on its way to another episode of debt overhang which may not be good for the country,” Obasanjo said.

On the establishment of ISGPP in Ibadan, Obasanjo said there was clearly a need for schools of its kind that would focus research and teaching on implementing policy and making the government work well in Africa.

“I hope it will generate ideas that will lead us from thinking to doing. It must not only generate ideas, it must foster a willingness to use those ideas within government and non-government sectors,” he said.

At the conference were the Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, who was represented by his deputy, Chief Moses Alake-Adeyemo; Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Prof. Akin Mabogunje, who is the Chairman of the school’s Board of Directors; Prof. Pat Utomi; Prof. Alaba Ogunsanwo; Prof. Jide Osuntokun; former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran; Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Abel Olayinka; former Head of Service, Prof. Oladipo Afolabi and Mr Odia Ofeimun.

Others are former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola; Prof. Ostia Ogbu; Dr Yemi Farohunbi and former Minister of Communication, Dr Mrs Omobola Johnson, among others.