The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday commended the executive government and unanimously adopted a motion ratifying the $1 million donation by the state government to Haiti, after last week's devastating earthquake.
The state governor, Babatunde Fashola, wrote a letter to the House, following the decision of the state executive council during its weekly meeting on Monday, to adopt a "resolution recognising this humanitarian service".
Although the motion was passed with relative ease, a few lawmakers raised concerns about the source of the donation, wondering if it would be taken from the 2009 budget or the yet-to-be-passed 2010 budget. However, the magnitude and urgency of the Haitian need, coupled with the fact that Nigeria, as a nation, has been absent on the list of donating nations, helped douse the concerns.
"The governor has the right to spend up to 25 per cent of (money voted for) donation in the 2009 budget," said the Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, as a reminder to the lawmakers, and consequently, the motion was moved by the majority leader, Kolawole Taiwo.
An example
The Lagos Assembly also called on other Nigerian states to help the needy Haitians. "The federal government should have done this but there is a vacuum at the top and there is no response from Nigeria," said Ahmed Omisiore, chairman of the House committee on information.
Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, representing Mushin I, was also worried that the federal government, which was unable to respond to the case of the suspected bomber, Farouk Mutallab, is "still not available to respond to the need of the Haiti people.
"The donation should be stressed as coming from the Lagos State government and not from Nigeria because we cannot continue to shoulder the responsibility of the entire country," she said.
While it was not part of the adopted motion, the majority leader, Lola Akande, representing Ikeja II, suggested that a minimum amount of N50,000 should be made compulsory for each lawmaker as their contribution, which was supported by Babatunde Ogala, who also suggested that the contribution should be deducted "immediately from source".
In response, the speaker said anybody who wants to contribute to the state's donation can walk into any branch of Skye Bank where an account has already been opened.
Bringing the discussion home, Sanai Agunbiade said "while we are thinking of Haiti there are some communities in Lagos suffering from serious environmental degradation. The rains will soon be here and something must be done."
NEMA responds
Also in its response to the disaster, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said it plans to send cash donation.
Speaking to reporters in Abuja yesterday on the role of the agency regarding the incident in Haiti, the Director General of the organisation, Mohammed Audu Bida, explained that the enormity of the incident is so great that instead of moving relief materials through the seas, which are already congested as a result of massive goods coming from other countries, sending cash right away makes more sense.
Mr. Bida who declined to disclose the exact amount earmarked for the people of Haiti, said Vice President Goodluck Jonathan who is the chairman of agency's board has already said that the government will come to the aid of the country.
He criticised those condemning the perceived slow response of the Nigerian governme
Read more…
British taxpayers are to provide £1million for a comfortable jail in nig.e.ria to take convicts whose crimes were committed in the UK.
The prison would house 400 nig.e.rian inmates incarcerated in our own packed prisons who cannot be forcibly sent home to complete their punishments.
Jails there are considered so rough that any prisoner the UK tried to deport could oppose their removal on human rights grounds.
But the Government hopes that by spending as much as £1million turning a rundown nig.e.rian prison into something approaching British standards, the convicts could be repatriated.
Lin Homer, the UK Border agency chief, said it would save taxpayers' mone
Lin Homer, the chief executive of the UK Border Agency, told MPs the deal would save taxpayers' money, because the UK would no longer have to pay the £30,000-a-year cost of keeping inmates in our own jails.
'We are in negotiations with nig.e.ria to help them establish better prison conditions,' she said.
'It's about helping them generate a structure that can cope with the prisoners. It would be well worth the money to do so.'
But Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'It's an absolute scandal that British taxpayers may foot the bill for a nig.e.rian prison.
'The Government should not even entertain this nonsense proposal, particularly at a time when our own prison service is so desperately in need of funds.
'If nig.e.rians are here illegally and are going to be deported, we should be sending them home immediately.'
Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister, said: 'This should not mean in the long term we build prisons all around the world instead of sorting out our own deportation processes.'
Ministers have been frantically searching for a solution to the UK's chronic prisoner overcrowding crisis since 2005, when the number of foreign criminals soared past 11,000 - the equivalent of more than one in every eight inmates.
Prisoners have been offered cash windfalls - which some say are bribes - if they returned home voluntarily.
Boy?s feet in shackles at a Young Peoples Home in Jos/nig.e.ria
A prisoner's feet at shackled in Jos jail in nig.e.ria
But this is the first time the Government has announced firm plans to provide funding for a jail overseas.
The idea had been suggested in relation to Jamaica, but never got off the ground.
It would require nig.e.ria to change its laws so prisoners could be sent back without their consent.
Human rights groups say current conditions in nig.e.rian prisons are appalling.
Amnesty International said there was severe overcrowding, and more than half of prisoners are awaiting trial - some for up to ten years.
During the same home affairs committee evidence session yesterday, Mrs Homer updated MPs on how the Home Office is dealing with two scandals - the 2006 foreign prisoner fiasco, and the discovery of up to 450,000 outstanding asylum claims.
Three years on from the mistaken release of 1,000 overseas inmates without them even being considered for deportation, almost two-thirds are still in the UK.
Incredibly, 87 of the 1,000 convicts - who included killers and sex attackers - have yet to be even traced. Of those who have been located, only 348 have been deported or removed.
The remainder have either been told they can stay - often because removal back to their homeland would be a breach of human rights law - or are still going through the deportation process.
Mrs Homer also revealed that, so far, 197,500 of the 450,000 asylum 'legacy' cases discovered by the Home Office in 2006 had been processed.
More than 30 per cent have been awarded asylum, in an exercise that has been described an amnesty by opponents. At current rates, more than 100,000 people with claims dating back years will be awarded permission to stay in the UK.
Read more…
