What the Police won't tell you.

This has to do with fundamental rights. Fundamental right is a right that stands above the ordinary laws of the land and which in fact is antecedent to the political society itself.

The main purpose of guarantee of these specific Fundamental Rights in our Constitution is to prevent disorder and to leave an outlet for the oppressed to seek a redress and fair play in the sanctuary and temple of justice, thereby serving as the remedy for defect of the police and those ugly things one finds in the body polity.

People it is written languish in their ignorance, because we do not know our rights, policemen take us for a ride,we are duped because we do not know our rights. This article contain rights that you should know whenever you have dealings with the police.

RIGHT TO BE INFORMED OF THE CRIME ALLEGED
This is the provision that the accused understands the charge against him. It is enacted in section 36(6)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN), that a person charged with a criminal offence is entitled to be informed promptly, in the language that he understands and in details, of the nature of the offence (that is, crime alleged).

RIGHT TO FAIR HEARING
The right to fair hearing is a constitutional right enshrined under section 36(1) and (4) of the 1999 CFRN. The right cannot be waived or statutorily taken away. Also, trial courts are enjoined to ensure that hearing notices are issued on parties before embarking on the trial of any matter before them.

PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE
In other words, an accused is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. However, it is the duty of the prosecution who alleges that the accused person committed the offence to prove it beyond reasonable doubt.

RIGHT TO ADEQUATE TIME AND FACILITIES FOR DEFENCE
Under section 36(6)(b) of the 1999 CFRN, every person who is charged with a criminal offence is entitled to "be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence". Whether an accused has had been adequate time and facilities to prepare his defence as provided in this section is a question of fact

RIGHT TO DEFEND BY COUNSEL
This is the right of the accused person to defend himself in person or by legal practitioners of his own choice.
Section 36(6)(c) provides that a person charged with a criminal offence is entitled to defend himself in person or by legal practitioners of his own choice.

There are so many provisions in our laws that we should all know.
Ignorance is no more an excuse.
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25 million naira reward for Mamman Nur

This man is Maman Nur, The Nigerian secret police has placed a N25 million ($175,000) bounty for his capture,he is the alleged mastermind behind the August 26 car bombing of the United Nations office building in Abuja.

Alhaji Nur was declared wanted on Septemeber 1st 2011 by the Nigerian government.
In a statement issued with Mr. Nur's photograph, the SSS reiterated that Alhaji Nur, a businessman with ties to Boko Haram, was still on the run.

What your LOCAL GOVERNMENT can\ should do

1. The main functions of a local government council are as follows:
(a) the consideration and the making of recommendations to a State commission on economic planning or any similar body on -
(i) the economic development of the State, particularly in so far as the areas of authority of the council and of the State are affected, and
(ii) proposals made by the said commission or body;
(b) collection of rates, radio and television licences;
(c) establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for the destitute or infirm;
(d) licensing of bicycles, trucks (other than mechanically propelled trucks), canoes, wheel barrows and carts;
(e) establishment, maintenance and regulation of slaughter houses, slaughter slabs, markets, motor parks and public conveniences;
(f) construction and maintenance of roads, streets, street lightings, drains and other public highways, parks, gardens, open spaces, or such public facilities as may be prescribed from time to time by the House of Assembly of a State;
(g) naming of roads and streets and numbering of houses;
(h) provision and maintenance of public conveniences, sewage and refuse disposal;
(i) registration of all births, deaths and marriages;
(j) assessment of privately owned houses or tenements for the purpose of levying such rates as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of a State; and
(k) control and regulation of -
(i) out-door advertising and hoarding,
(ii) movement and keeping of pets of all description,
(iii) shops and kiosks,
(iv) restaurants, bakeries and other places for sale of food to the public,
(v) laundries, and
(vi) licensing, regulation and control of the sale of liquor.
2. The functions of a local government council shall include participation of such council in the Government of a State as respects the following matters -
the provision and maintenance of primary, adult and vocational education;
(b) the development of agriculture and natural resources, other than the exploitation of materials
(c) the provision and maintenance of health services; and
(d) such other functions as may be conferred on a local government council by the House of Assembly of the State.
From the above provisions of the constitution, it is evident the important roles our local government councils play in the administration of our various local government areas.
This is a call for everyone to demand accountability and high performance from our local government chairman and their commitees. It is our right.

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100 days of Goodluck

In reviewing the first 100 days of President Goodluck Jonathan's' tenure as president, it is obvious there has been little leaps of achievements, I must presume that the government does not wish to consider itself satisfied by this little feats but intends to pursue vigorously the continuous and steady growth of our beloved country on all levels.

Every citizen should see this little successes not as the success of Goodluck Jonathan but as the success of our Nation, I would in no way paint Gej as the God sent messiah but I would describe him as a man who possesses a burning desire to see Nigeria grow into its rightful place amongst the comity of Nations.

In the last 100 days we have achieved the following as a Nation;

•Nigeria's oil industry expanded by 20% and we reclaimed our position as Africa's largest oil exporter which we'd hitherto lost to Angola. Nigeria was also recognised by OPEC in July as the 2nd largest oil exporter, 2nd only to Saudi Arabia. It is the first time Nigeria has recorded such a feat.
Though this results into more revenue for our country which we may now put into other sectors such as Education, Security and the development of critical infrastructure which is needed, I would advice the government to reduce its dependency on oil and focus on agriculture, though this has been the recent policy of government, I believe youths should be vigorously driven in this direction. Youths should be advised to abandon the lure of white collar jobs and delve into the abundance of agriculture. Also policies which would aid this youths in terms of availability of resources should be put in place.

• Secondly, Inflation rate has been reducing as the administration enforces tighter fiscal policies and in June the Consumer Price Index showed an inflation rate of 10.2% which dropped to 9.4% in July being the lowest rate in the last 4 years.

•Foreign Reserves Rose by 10% to $35 Billion, due to misinformation I once heard a young man say "Gej had spent all our foreign reserves on his campaign", apparently this was not the case.

•Nigeria has been declared top three investment destinations in Africa (number 2) by the independent Africa Business Panel in The Netherlands. Mr Henry Bellingham, UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State For Africa and Overseas Territories,  said during a two-day investment forum in march 2011 tagged: "Making Nigeria Your Goal.''that;

"Nigeria has averaged growth of  8.9 per cent which is really stunning.
"Nigeria is the world's fourth fastest growing economy with solid growth in the next five years and beyond ; this is truly remarkable,'' he said. He also stated that  the Nigerian economy  may outpace that of  South Africa in the next 10 years if the current  reform in the banking sector was extended to the power, oil and gas sectors. The benefit of course is enormous for our economy.

•Nigeria now generates power at her highest level ever (4000mw) which is still far from enough but which will improve monthly according to Reno Omokri, the Presidents special adviser on media.

•Nigerian Railway Corporation commenced Mass Transit Services in 5 of 6 geo-political zones and the Last zone should come on stream by year's end.

•Furthermore with the establishment of the NSIA which would facilitate direct investments into infrastructure with priority areas being Power and Roads, Nigerians should rightly expect more infrastructure development.

• The Launch of NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X Satellites would help expand Internet Bandwidth and provide early warning to prevent natural disasters, with such technology we would be rid of the poor internet facilities we are currently experiencing and disasters such as the floods in Lagos and Oyo states would be well managed to avoid loss of live and property.

•The President also introduced the policy of engaging the Private Sector on kerosine pricing, this resulted into the price being reduced between May and September, 2011.

•In addition, by recognising the sacrifices of youth corps members, the President approved an upward review of allowances from 9,700 to 19,800 Naira. Corp members received the news with great joy in July and we hope that one day, Corp members would earn as much as 50,000 naira.

•The Implementation of Minimum Wage Increase for Nigerian Workers to 18,900 Naira monthly is another good step in ensuring the commitment of Civil servants to their duties.

• Women are also not left out as they were given a 16.35% Slot in the cabinet.
With this we hope to see the rise of more women in our polity.

•By deepening Security and expanding Peace in the Niger Delta, the reign of militancy and guerilla warfare amongst our youths in the Niger Delta has reduced. Also with governments recent commitment to cleaning Oil spills in the Ogoni land, we should hope for the better welfare of the Ogoni people.

• Also, there has been reduced kidnapping in the South East with implementation of President's order establishing the 14 Brigade of the army in Ohafia, Abia state. Maritime Safety has also been ensured and stabilized in the last 100 days.

•A stellar cabinet comprising former MDs of the World Bank & Goldman Sachs, Chairperson Accenture and multiple PHds and the approval of genuine foreign investors to obtain visas at the point of entry to facilitate FDI investments, we hope would formulate policies that would help grow and promote the Nigerian economy.

•The National Automobile Council established an Automotive Development Fund to resuscitate the automobile industry and generate jobs is also a platform for providing employment for our youths.

• Model Skills Training Centers in Abuja- collaboration between Industrial Training Fund & the Institute for Technical Education,Singapore have been established as well.

•Finally, there has been established the Nigerian Vehicle Credit Purchase scheme, which would help the common man to acquire vehicles.

I would advice the Federal Government to continue in this direction of development and growth, though there are other sectors of the economy which still require drastic reforms, I pray God grants government the wisdom, knowledge and understanding to continue to provide the dividends of democracy to Nigerians.

God bless Nigeria.

Adedunmade Onibokun
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Nigerian Constitution

Reno Omokri said on his twitter account that "Our present Constitution isn't a perfect document and needs the people's input. But until it is amended it's all we have. Read it and use it!"

Every Nigerian should have a copy of the constitution, download a copy of the Nigerian constitution free by following this link: http://t.co/wWDjbgl

Share the link with friends as well.
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