62-year old Ibadan zoological garden gets a facelift

Ibadan Zoo

After the payment of the required fee, visitors are allowed into the University of Ibadan Zoological Garden, which is almost as old as the premier university itself. The first sight that confronts the visitor seen is the different species of birds like geese, parrots, and ducks in their cages.

Each cage has a label that offers information on the species of birds or animals, and this include their biological and common names, habitat, feeding and sleeping habits, and so on. A detour will reveal a water-moat enclosure, where crocodile sun themselves. This leads to the reptile house, where different species of snakes, turtles, and monitor lizards from around Africa are kept in a safe glass container.

Visitors are warned not to touch the glass for their own safety. As is the case in every section of the zoo, each glass container has a label offering information about the animal that lives there.

The exit from the reptile house leads to tall iron cages holding different species of monkey, chimpanzees, and orang-utan. A walk further into the zoo and one sees the wild boar lounging in the mud at the water-moat enclosure. Right beside it is a cage where a fox inhabits. Adjacent to it is a stable housing a horse.

A climb down the bamboo bridge leads to the lion enclosure, where a pride of lions are kept. A lucky visitor might witness the feeding of these ferocious creatures with live goats. After that are cages holding hyenas, an ostrich, antelopes, camels, and herby goats.

Indeed, there is much to see in the old zoo at the University of Ibadan.

The zoological garden is one of the oldest zoos in Nigeria. It was originally created in 1948 as a place to house the animals used for research and teaching in the Zoological Department of the university. It became a fully fledged zoo and opened to the public in 1963.

Built on 10 acres of land, a curator, Mr. Bob Golding, was appointed to manage it. He later expanded and diversified the animal collection. The zoological garden soon became a popular site where many people went for relaxation and to view the wild animals in a safe environment.

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Desperate lawmakers dig in ahead of 2011 polls

L-R: President Goodluck Jonathan and PDP chairman Ezekwezili Nwodo.

Okwesilieze Nwodo, the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was not particularly happy when he arrived his office at Wadata Plaza, from the National Assembly last Monday evening. A few hours earlier, he had attended a public hearing of the bills to amend the Electoral Act 2010 during which he presented the position of the ruling party.

Mr Nwodo felt uncomfortable with the exercise, particularly the lawmakers' defence of the proposed amendment which, if passed into law, will admit the federal lawmakers to the national executive committee of their respective parties.

According to one of his aides, the national chairman summoned a few members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to his office and within minutes, put a call across to the Senate President, David Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole informing them of the intention of the leadership of the party to meet with its members in both chambers.

An agreement was reached for the PDP leadership to meet with the about 80 senators and 260 members of the House on Wednesday and quickly, Mr Nwodo's aide on national assembly affairs went to work to make the necessary arrangement for the parley.

The agenda was obvious - the amendment bill, which the party boss and all the stakeholders who attended the public hearing, had condemned.

Source: http://234next.com

Aregbesola inauguration: Opening floodgate of probes in Osun

Aregbesola

With the change of leadership in Osun State, TUNDE ODESOLA writes that the new governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has a lot of contentious projects executed by his predecessor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, to look into

Damocles was a courtier in the palace of King Dionysius II of Syracuse, Italy. Lusting after power and royalty, Damocles exclaimed that Dionysius was truly fortunate. But the king, in an attempt to teach the courtier a lesson, offered to switch position with him. Damocles jumped at the offer and he was placed on the throne. In his majesty, Damocles, while on the throne in a fleeting moment, savours royalty but when he looked up to view the ceilings, he saw a huge sword held at the tip by a single hair of horse tail hanging above his head!

The Sword of Damocles fell on the three and a half years old administration of Okuku-born Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola on November 26, 2010 when justice flooded Osun State like a rolling river as an Appeal Court in Ibadan, Oyo State, swept the torn and tattered umbrella of the Osun Peoples Democratic Party away. A five-member panel of judges led by Justice Clara Bata Ogunbiyi, including Justices Mohammed Lawal Garba, Paul Adamu Galinje, Chima Centus Nweze, and Adamu Jauro, after a five-hour judgement, returned a unanimous verdict that the April 14, 2007 governorship election in the state was characterised by violence and fraud. The judges ruled that the Action Congress of Nigeria governorship candidate, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, is the winner of the election.

Before the verdict, there had been some topical political issues over which both the then opposition party and the ruling party sharply differed. One of the areas is the acquisition of an N18.38bn loan obtained by the defunct administration of Oyinlola. The ACN had objected to the acquisition of the loan by Oyinlola and described it as a conduit created to siphon public funds. In paid advertorials and news conferences, the Osun ACN had called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the loan. The ACN had warned that it would not repay the loan if it eventually wrestled power from the PDP. Aregbesola, in an interview, had faulted the loan, saying it was callous, scandalous and irritating.

He said, ”How can a state as poor as Osun obtain a loan of N18.38bn with a monthly repayment interest and capital charges of N620m? This means that the state will pay N1.4bn yearly on the loan. The loan is repayable in three years. Here is a state that borrows between N900m and N120m monthly to pay workers salaries and pensions. Can you imagine how the loan was disbursed? I will tell you; the loan was disbursed without the commencement of the projects earmarked. Isn‘t that absurd and wicked? How can you disburse money upfront before a project is done? I constructed gigantic projects in Lagos without mobilising Julius Berger. Lagos State paid after the job was satisfactorily done. If not for ulterior motive and going by the remaining months in their tenure, only N3bn should have been disbursed so far but they have disbursed N12bn. The projects they obtained the loans for are worthless. They say they want to build six stadia; where are the stadia? On every naira the state government is spending on the loan, it is gaining four per cent and losing 14 per cent. What is the sense in that?

Another contentious issue the ACN faulted before it got to power was the bomb blast allegation in which a serving Magistrate, Mr Ayo Oyebiyi, and many ACN members were incarcerated. Some explosives had gone off inside a grey colour Peugeot 505 on June 14, 2007 at the Governor‘s Office Secretariat, Abere, disemboweling an occupant simply named Tunde. Another occupant, Richard Adesanmi, lost an eye to the blast while the third occupant identified simply as Henry fled the scene. The case is still in court as at the time the Oyinlola administration was nullified.

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Senate shelves debate on multi-billion naira transport ministry scam

Tony Anenih, a former transportation minister and leader of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

Around this time last year, a damning report detailing how Tony Anenih, a former transportation minister and leader of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and some of his successors in the ministry, allegedly misapplied billions of naira meant for the rehabilitation and construction of federal roads, was listed for debate - for the third time in a row - by the Senate.

It was not taken; but postponed by one month because the budget was considered the pressing issue at that moment. December came and went and it kept appearing on the order paper as a matter to be taken "next month." The report which took the ad hoc committee 18 months to produce kept appearing that way till February this year when it was again listed to be debated and adopted in March.

Later, at the same time that the late president, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, became invisible, the report also disappeared completely from the calendar of the Senate and has not been re-introduced till date.

The transport probe report is filled with revelations of alleged serial malpractices, and shows how, in 10 years (1999 to 2009), through multiple contract fraud, connivance between contractors and government officials, some N633 billion was spent on only 4,752 kilometres of road; shortchanging the government to the tune of N47 million per kilometre of road.

Source:http://234next.com

Mark and Bankole to buy official residences

The four people that make up the leadership of the National Assembly; Senate President David Mark, his deputy Ike Ekweremadu, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, and his deputy Usman Bayero Nafawa , will soon be owners of choice real estate in Abuja.

They are to benefit from the largesse of President Goodluck Jonathan who has given permission to the four men to purchase their current living quarters.

It is not clear what price has been put on the houses, but the commonwealth will pay for the president's generosity to the tune of N1.5 billion. This is the amount in the proposed 2011 budget - which NEXT got exclusive access to - that is to be spent on building new legislative quarters for the leadership of the Assembly.

At least one lawmaker is unhappy with Mr. Jonathan's decision and says it is a sign of how desperate the President has become, ahead of elections. "You know, there are so many things that he (Mr. Jonathan) wants from them (National Assembly leadership) so they are taking advantage of situation, '' the lawmaker said.

Source:http://234next.com