People, Places and Events
OAU
Unity call on Liberation movements
Nigeria has advised liberation movements in southern Africa to form a united front to fight racism in the region. The Minister of Defence, Maj-Gen Domkat Bali, gave the advice in Lagos when a delegation of the Pan-African Congress, PAC, visited him in his office.He said that concerted efforts would place the liberation movements in a position of strength in their campaign against the apartheid regime in South Africa.
The Minister noted that the Incomati accords between racist South Africa and some frontline states had created operational difficulties for African nationalists and warned that such a situation could put racist South Africa at an advantage. Maj-Gen Bali, however, gave an assurance that despite the present economic situation in Nigeria, the present Administration will continue to support and sustain liberation movements in southern Africa.
Earlier the chairman of the PAC, Mr Pokela, had briefed the Minister on the situation in southern Africa and the effects of the Incomati accords on his organisation.
BURKINA
Border relations with Mali
The settlement of the Mali-Burkina border dispute was at the centre of discussions that the President of Faso, Capt Thomas Sankara, had last week with Jean- Pierre Cot, former French Minister of Cooperation and Development. Mr Cot, who is an expert in international law and attorney for Burkina Faso at the International Court of Justice at the Hague, said he came to brief President Sankara on the border dispute with Mali, currently being heard by the International Court of Justice. But apart from this he said he was honoured by the friendship he expressed to him.Kojo Tsikata in Ouagadougou
Head of State, Capt Thomas Sankara, has received in audience Capt Kojo Tsikata, Ghana's national security chief. According to Tsikata, emissary of Capt. Rawlings, his visit falls within the framework of the periodic exchange of views between Burkina and Ghana.Thus, the visit by the Ghanaian emissary has given the lie to certain rumours that relations between Ghana and Burkina are cooling off. This is not the case. Ghana and Burkina stand by each other and are working towards the same goal, which is to defend their respective revolutions.
Concerning rumours that there has been a border closure between the two countries Capt Kojo Tsikata said the rumours are fabricated by the enemies of the Burkinabe and Ghanaian revolution. "They are baseless and unfounded. I must stress that there is no such intention by either Ghana or Burkina Faso to close the border
CAMEROON
President's visit to France
President Paul Biya has ended an official visit to France. The visit was his second since assuming the Presidency and the atmosphere during it was less tense than during his first one. Military cooperation had been discussed at length and that France would deliver more sophisticated equipment to Cameroon to help in its military modernisation programme.Speaking at a press conference in Paris, Biya said that, "on the whole Franco- Cameroonian cooperation is proceeding well but we hope for an evolution in certain directions and would like to see action to reduce the deficit in Cameroon's trade balance with France."
He spoke of a convergence of views between himself and President Mitterand on the main African and international issues which they discussed.
NIGERIA
Comment on the Conspiracy against the naira
Lagos has said in a commentary that the Nigerian currency, the naira, although not among the major international currencies, is attracting great attention in West Africa, Europe and the USA. As trafficking in the currency has become "as a result, luxurious business for some never-do-well foreigners and unpatriotic Nigerians".Such activities are the cause of the country's economic woes. The Nigerian Government's currency change in 1984 had been successful, the radio said, but "devil-minded forgers" had soon got to work and new counterfeit notes appeared in Nigeria.
Kwara's sanitation day
Every Saturday of the week has been declared as a sanitation day, throughout Kwara State.According to Governor Adebola Latinwo, it has now become mandatory for public officials, organisations, schools, market women, mosques, churches and unions to physically participate in cleaning and maintaining their environment, streets and public places.
The decision was taken during a meeting held by the governor with sole administrators and council of chiefs.
The governor will personally head the sanitation team of the state capital by 9am for the cleaning exercise which will start from the Ilorin Local Government Secretariat. Governor Latinwo viewed with great concern the ineffective way in which refuse dumped into some of the strategically- located incinerators was being disposed of.
More sackings on the way
Governor Adebola Latinwo of Kwara state has said that his administration was in danger of imminent collapse. To prevent such a collapse, he was going to sack many more civil servants in the state.Group Capt Latinwo said that he aimed to keep the recurrent expenditure to a reasonable limit by running down the civil service.
Literacy order
Messengers, cleaners, watchmen and allied workers have been given six months within which they should learn to read and write inBauchi state. Governor Sani Sami who gave the order to all workers in his state also directed that female education in secondary schools in the state shall be free.He said that N56 million was needed for the repairs of classrooms while more than N25 million was required to provide educational materials.
Import licences approved
Thirty-one breweries are among 228 companies whose applications for import licences for this year have so far been approved, the National Concord has reported.In the chemical sector, 31 companies in the foam and mattresses business were successful in their applications, while 13 companies were granted import licences for salt and sugar under the Nigerian/Brazilian Trade Agreement.
Also approved for import licences under the agreement were five companies for paper, three for steel, two for spare parts and one for cotton, while one company's application was approved for tyres and tubes.
GHANA
Workers occupy SIC houses
Three hundred units of low-cost houses built by the State Insurance Corporation (SIC) at Juapong and abandoned in the bush for the past eight years are now being occupied by workers of Juapong Textiles Limited (T.T.L.).The houses are part of the 800 units built by the corporation to ease accommodation problems in the area. Conducting newsmen around the estate, Messrs Thomas Apau and Ben Mensah, organising Assistant and Union Chairman respectively of the J.T.L. said the occupation of the houses had become necessary in view of pilfering of items from the houses.
Messrs Apau and Mensah explained that though the contractor has not officially handed over houses to the SIC, all the 300 units they are occupying had been earmarked for the workers before their completion and stressed that the unauthorised occupation was not, in any way, a take-over.
Herbalist banned
A 60-year-old man said to be a herbalist who attempted to disrupt the maize purchasing and evacuation exercise at Ziope in the Ho district of the Volta Region has been banned from entering Ziope or any other town in the district.Togbe Mikesokpor known as a fisherman and hat weaver from Anyako was said to have played the wealthy maize farmers in the area against each other and sometimes threatened them with death through juju and succeeded in persuading the farmers not to sell their maize to the Government, The Mirror has reported.
The paper said Togbe Mikesokpor was tried and banned by a People's Tribunal which was set up by the people of Ziope soon after his arrest.
Two face abduction charge
Two women, Comfort Darko, a pregnant mother of three and Maku Adjonyo a nursing mother are on trial before an Accra Circuit court on a charge of conspiracy to steal and stealing a six year old girl.The court has been told that the two women abducted the girl Ama Asantewaa from her home in Accra and took her to Nigeria where they allegedly offered her for sale for 10,000 naira. The Ghana High Commission in Lagos, however, got wind of the deal and caused the arrest of the two women who were later flown to Ghana for trial.
The Government had recently disclosed that forged naira notes had also surfaced in Europe and the USA and that security agents had discovered that the forged notes were being circulated by foreign elements with the collaboration of some Nigerians.
Stool for OAU
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Opoku Ware II and the Asanteman Council have presented a stool to the OAU to mark the 50th anniversary of the restoration of Asanteman.Reorganisation of CDRs
Proposals from the Greater Accra on the reorganisation of the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR) have been published. The region suggested that unit CDRS should be expanded to comprise up to 2,000 people. The unit CDR council or executives should be elected by all the people of the unit under the supervision of the area CDR secretariat.Area CDR councils should be made up of two elected representatives from these units. District CDR councils should have two elected representatives from each area and regional CDR councils should have three elected representatives from each district CDR council.
The regional secretary shall be the chairman of the regional CDR council with one representative from each district forming the other executives. The council should have the power to levy taxes for specific projects.
The CDR secretariats should each be headed by cadres to be designated area, or district or regional CDR organisers. In addition there should be a supporting office staff. Area CDR secretariats should have an organiser and three organising assistants. Their functions should be to educate and politicise the people, to organise and supervise elections at unit level, to promote communal activities and productive ventures and to coordinate activities of unit CDRS in the area.
Don't alter secretariats
The Upper East Region does not suggest any alterations in the structure of the CDR secretariats. It, however, proposes a change of emphasis to concentrate more on the work of education, organisation and mobilisation. The secretariat's functions relating to investigation and complaints should mainly consist of monitoring and immediate reporting to their secretaries or the security agencies for action.Finance for the secretariat should be handled through the accounts of the district and regional administration. Discipline of organising assistants and the cadres of their secretariats should be under their district or regional secretaries.
Although there have been calls in the Upper East Region for elected cadres to man CDR secretariats, the proposals warn that opportunists can take advantage of elections and this is not necessarily the best way to identify the committed cadres required for the task.
