After days of denial, Iran admits, deeply regrets shooting down Ukrainian plane

Hassan Rouhani of Iran.

Iran on Saturday confirmed suspicions that its missile system shot down the Ukraine Airlines plane killing 176 people and blamed US adventurism for the disaster.

In an apologia on Saturday, Iran said it unintentionally shot down the plane, calling it an “unforgivable mistake”.

The Ukraine International Airlines plane came down on Wednesday shortly after Iran launched missiles at bases hosting American forces in Iraq in response to the killing of Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran’s top generals, in a US drone strike.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tweeted.

“Armed Forces’ internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people,” he added.

“Investigations continue to identify & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake.”

Earlier, Iran’s official IRNA news agency had published a statement from the military saying the Boeing 737 was mistaken for a “hostile plane” at a time when enemy threats were at the highest level.

The admission came a day after Iran’s civil aviation chief denied claims that the plane had been shot down, as international pressure mounted on Tehran to conduct a credible investigation after several Western governments blamed a missile strike.

The disaster came as tensions soared in the region after the Soleimani killing, and fears grew of an all-out war between the United States and Iran.

Washington has said the Soleimani strike was carried out to prevent “imminent”, large-scale attacks on US embassies. Iran had vowed “severe revenge” for Soleimani before launching missiles at the bases in Iraq.

“Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted.

“Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.”

Iran has invited the United States, Ukraine, Canada and others to join the crash investigation.

The majority of passengers on UIA Flight PS752 which had just taken off from Tehran were Iranian-Canadian dual nationals but also included Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons and Swedes.

It was Iran’s worst civil aviation disaster since the US military shot down an Iran Air plane over the Gulf by mistake in July 1988, killing all 290 people on board.

Video footage of the UIA 737, which the New York Times said it had verified, emerged and appeared to show the moment the airliner was hit.

A fast-moving object is seen rising at an angle into the sky before a bright flash appears, which dims and then continues moving forward. Several seconds later, an explosion is heard and the sky lights up.

Many airlines from around the world cancelled flights to and Iran in the wake of the crash, or rerouted flights away from Iranian airspace.

Nations around the world have called for restraint and de-escalation, and fears of a full-blown conflict have subsided after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran appeared to be standing down after targeting the US bases in Iraq. (NAN)

Delta Civil Servants to receive minimum wage with January salary

Workers in Delta will receive the new minimum wage in their January, 2020 salary as the state government and the organised labour have resolved to accept the template being used by the Federal Government for the implementation.

At a joint press conference where the agreement was signed in Asaba on Friday evening, the Secretary to the Delta State Government, Mr Chiedu Ebie stated that with the agreement, two months arrears would be paid to the workers.

"From the word go, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa made it clear that his administration will implement the new minimum wage in line with the template received from the Federal Government and  so we have not deviated from that; we just needed to agree on the final details which was done courtesy of the negotiations that started sometime in December 2019.

"The highlights are pretty simple and straight forward and going by the circular we received from the National Salary Based Income and Wages Commission in Abuja which highlighted the new minimum wage and the consequential adjustments, the state government has implemented same.

"Essentially, the salary structure is broken down in which ministry or area a civil servant falls into and we have adhered to what we received from Abuja.

"We will be implementing the minimum wage and paying two months arrears of the minimum wage effective from the 1st of November 2019 and we agreed that it will take a little time for the implementation so the actual payment will take effect from January 2020," Mr Ebie said.

He disclosed that the new minimum wage would increase the state wage bill with about N700 million and urged the state workforce to always put in their best.

Chairman and Chief negotiator of the organised labour, Comrade Goodluck Oforbruku in his speech, said, "let me use this opportunity to thank Governor Okowa for keeping to his words and promises that he made that whatever the federal government agreed, that he will implement.

"At the end of January 2020, we will receive the new minimum wage with one month arrears and in the month of February, the remaining arrears will be paid.
"We want to assure the state government that workers in Delta will continue to support government programs and put in their best to ensure effective delivery of a stronger Delta."
Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Martins Bolum,  stated, "we want to thank Governor Okowa for making it possible for Delta to be the first state in the whole of South East and South South to implement the minimum wage.

"As at yesterday, only 5 states have implemented and Delta is the 6th state to implement the minimum wage in the country; we got positive reactions and encouragement from the workers of Delta while the negotiation was on."

At the signing of the agreement were the Head of Service Mr. Reginald Bayoko, Commissioner for Finance Mr. Fidelis Tilijie, representatives of different trade unions among others.

OPINION: Delta 2023: Beating the gun the dubious way

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.

 

By A Special Correspondent

Though Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa is barely seven months into his second and final term as Governor of Delta State, the politics of who succeeds him in 2023 seems to have become the major pre-occupation of some politicians in the State.

And in this no-holds-barred scheme, there are no limits to conspiracy theories being weaved to advance group interests. The Secretary to State Government (SSG), Chiedu Ebie, had a taste of such scheme in a recent story by an online journal. In what followers of leadership in Delta State saw as appalling display of ignorance of the dynamics of power equation in the State, the writers alleged that Ebie had begun building a war chest of funds to prosecute an imagined quest to be the running mate to the governorship candidate of Urhobo extraction in 2023.

According to the report with the headline: MONEY NO BE PROBLEM: DELTA SSG EBIE WASTES N1.3 BILLION ON NONE EXISTING NGOs, CBOs and FBOs FROM PUBLIC COFFERS AS HE EYES DEPUTY GOVERNOR SLOT, Ebie has spent over N1.35 billion in "just one year" to engage Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). 

By the writers’ imagination, the money was channelled through the CSOs to prepare him to run for the office of Deputy Governor with an unknown Urhobo candidate in 2023. In the haste to cobble a false narrative, the authors lost sight of history. While claiming that the SSG had spent N1.35 billion in "just one year", they forgot that Ebie was appointed only in June 2019. In effect, he had only been in office for just seven months when the story was published on January 2, 2020.

A glaring omission in the story that has made the exercise a hatchet job is the fact that the SSG has an approval limit of N5 million. To then initiate the documentation for approving the withdrawal of the phantom N1.35 billion would require documentation of immense proportion to achieve such approvals for CSOs. Of course, this is practically and administratively impossible. 

For a State that operates under a strict fiscal regime, the story lost sight of the fact that even the Governor of the State does not have the power to unilaterally approve such amount. Only the State Executive Council can make such approval, a situation that cannot even be imagined. 

Given the complementary role of CSOs as watchdogs on government, the Delta State Government supports and collaborates with them. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) have been part of efforts of the government of Delta State to institute transparency in the machinery of governance. 

What was lost on the authors of the story is that as part of Gov. Okowa's desire to entrench greater transparency in governance, CSOs are involved in the evaluation of bids for project execution under the auspices of the Delta State Public Procurement Commission (DSPPC). The Commission was established in 2016 courtesy of a bill by the Governor to entrench procurement reforms in the State and plug loopholes for wastage. CSOs are usually invited by the DSPPC to witness the opening of contract bids for projects. 

Again, contrary to the authors’ false claim, all CSOs are required to register with the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development with proof of registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) being one of the key conditions for registration. Clearly overcome by its desire to undertake a hatchet job, they failed to access the information that are on the public domain. 

Sen. Okowa has repeatedly stated that in the conduct of public affairs, award of contracts and disbursing of funds, his administration is always guided by extant fiscal rules designed to curb waste, deliver quality projects and provide the platform for businesses to thrive and individuals to actualise their dreams.

In Delta's nearly 20 years history, Ebie is the first SSG with a rich pedigree in the corporate world. A brilliant and successful lawyer, he came armed with impressive experience in the private sector and was picked by Okowa to drive his agenda of creating the right ambience for entrepreneurship, private investors and development of human capital to thrive as encapsulated in the governor's Stronger Delta mantra. 

It is still a long road to 2023, a period Deltans who overwhelmingly voted Okowa for a second term to lift the quality of their living to deliver. That is the task Ebie is committed to superintending. And he needs no distractions from politicians at this time.

Finally, Okowa gives Ogboru upper cut defeat at Supreme Court

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa ... victory steps.

The Supreme Court today, Wednesday, January 8, 2020 upheld the election of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and dismissed the appeal by Great Ogboru of the APC challenging the victory of Okowa and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) victory at the poll held in Delta State.

The judgment, an upper cut defeat, has therefore confirmed Ogboru as a serial loser in all the governorship elections as well as all the court cases he instituted to challenge his serial defeat.

In the judgment, Justice Centus Nweze held that the apex court had no reason to upturn the concurrent decisions of the lower court.

“The appeal had been rightly described at the Court of Appeal as a metaphor of forensic Golgotha.

“The appellant woefully failed to prove over-voting polling unit by polling unit as required by law.

“In the circumstance, the appeal is bereft of any iota convincing evidence and it is hereby dismissed. Ifeanyi Okowa is therefore affirmed as governor of Delta State,” Justice Nweze said.
It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal had in a unanimous decision by a panel of five justices affirmed the Okowa’s victory at the poll.

The benefits of reading the Bible in 2020

By Jerry Newcombe, CP Op-Ed Contributor

Teddy Roosevelt remarked in 1914: “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.” If that was true then, it is truer today — because of the curse of political correctness.

With a new year upon us, and the opportunity to turn over a new leaf, why not resolve to spend more time in the wonderful book God has given us — the Bible?

This is the book that has had unparalleled influence on so many great people in history. Many of our nation’s presidents made it a habit to read the Bible on a regular basis. It is part of what made them who they were.

Consider these sample opinions:

• John Adams, our second president and a key founding father: “I have made it a practice every year for several years to read through the Bible.”
• 
  
• His son, John Quincy Adams, American president who was a champion against slavery, and who greatly influenced the thinking of fellow Congressman Abraham Lincoln during the latter’s one term (1847-1849): “The Bible is the book of all others to read at all ages and in all conditions of human life; not to be read once, or twice, or thrice through, and then laid aside; but to be read in small portions of one or two chapter a day, and never to be omitted by some overwhelming necessity.”
• 
  
• Abraham Lincoln: “In regard to this great book, I have but this to say: It is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. Except for it, we would not know right from wrong.” The 16th president made that statement when a delegation of African Americans visited him in 1864 and gave him a beautiful copy of the Scriptures. Having known of this story for years, I was overjoyed to see the actual Bible at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. about a year ago.
• 
  
• Lincoln’s winning general, Ulysses S. Grant, later our 18th president: “Hold fast to the Bible as the anchor of your liberty; write its precepts in your hearts and practice them in your lives.”
• 
  
• FDR: “Throughout the centuries men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel and inspiration. It is a fountain of strength and now, as always, an aid in attaining the highest aspirations of the human soul.”
• Ronald Reagan: “Inside the Bible’s pages lie all the answers to all the problems man has ever known. I hope Americans will read and study the Bible ... it is my firm belief that the enduring values presented in its pages have a great meaning for each of us and for our nation. The Bible can touch our hearts, order our minds, and refresh our souls.”

But what about George Washington? An influential book written in the early 1960s claimed that our first president did not quote the Bible.

But that is not so. In Appendix  No. 2 in the book I co-wrote with Dr. Peter Lillback, George Washington’s Sacred Fire, we show example after example of quotes and phrases and special vocabulary found in the writings and speeches of Washington (public or private) that come from the Bible. It is as if you cut Washington, he would have bled Scripture.

Clearly Washington was a Bible reader and very familiar with it. For example, more than 40 times he alludes to Micah 4:4 in the King James: “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.”

Author Dr. Art Lindsley of the Institute of Faith, Work, and Economics, told me regarding Micah 4:4, our first president’s favorite verse: “[Washington] uses it up to about 50 different times in his writings. And it’s really what he wanted for America. ... Your own vine and your own fig tree. There’s the idea of private property, that you can have property that’s your own, which, of course, is the antithesis to Marxism and some forms of socialism — with no one to make them afraid. And it particularly shows the primary place of government as a rule of law, and thoroughly fits in with a biblical perspective on that subject.” 

Why not make it your goal in 2020, like some of our presidents, to read through the whole Bible or to continue to study the sacred volume? I have found a classic book from the 1940s, Search the Scriptures (edited by Alan Stibbs, IVP), as a wonderful aid to help me study the Bible, passage by passage.

·         Source: https://www.christianpost.com/voice/benefits-of-reading-the-bible-in-2020.html

Examination malpractice: Delta Govt. closes down 2 schools, sanctions 16 teachers

Mr. Patrick Ukah, Delta State's Commissioner for Basic and Secondary
 Education.

The Delta State Government has ordered the closure of two private secondary schools and sanctioned 16 teachers across the state for various levels of their involvement in examination malpractice in the state. 

This is coming as a result of the approval of the report of the Examination Ethics Disciplinary Committee (EEDC) investigation on WAEC indictment of some public and private secondary schools in the state for examination malpractice in the 2018 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) by the state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah.

St. Vincent College, Ovwian, whose candidates wrote the 2018 WASSCE at Anointed Secondary School, Ubogo, without the approval of WAEC or the ministry, with the intent to committing examination malpractice is to be closed down along with Anointed Secondary School.

Twelve supervisors found guilty for collusion, compromise, negligence of duty and failure to write reports at the end of the examinations will suffer one year deferment of promotion and banned from supervision of any school examination for a period of three years.

They include Akporode Amos of Boboroku Secondary School, Boboroku, who supervised at Ogharefe Secondary School, Oghara, Ugbune O. of Mosogar Secondary School, Mosagar, at Ogharefe Secondary School, Oghara, Nwabueze A. I. of Ukavbe Secondary School, Otefe-Oghara, at Our Lady of Nigeria Secondary School, Ogharefe, Agbavwe G. W. of Ihwighwu Secondary School, Ijomi-Oghara, at Our Lady of Nigeria Secondary School, Ogharefe, Omeresan M. E. of Gbaraun Grammar School, Oproza, at Ogidigben Grammar School, Ogidigben, and Sawacha F. T. of Gbaraun Grammar School, Oproza, at Ogidigben Grammar School, Ogidigben.

Others are Eko Patrick of Gbaraun Grammar School, Oproza, at Ogidigben Grammar School, Ogidigben, Elelekute M. of Gbaraun Grammar School, Oproza, at Ogidigben Grammar School, Ogidigben, Awoyemi S. O. of Ogbe-Ijoh Grammar School, Ogbe-Ijoh, at Ogidigben Grammar School, Ogidigben, Arirediegha O. F. of Burutu Grammar School, Burutu, at Ogidigben Grammar School, Ogidigben, Igbigbi E. E. of Orhuwhorun High School, Orhuwhorun, at St. Vincent College, Ovwian, and Igweze M. O. of Aladja Grammar School, Aladja, at St. Vincent College, Ovwian.

The Vice Principal (Academics) of Ogidigben Grammar School, Ogidigben, Mrs. H. Akponeware, who was found guilty of inefficiency in handling the affairs of the school in the absence of the Principal due to her nonchalant attitude, negligence of duty and connivance during the conduct of 2018 WASSC is to be demoted by one salary grade level.

Similarly, the Examination Officer of the same school, Mr. Akpochimara Ufuoma, was found guilty of gross complicity in the act of examination malpractice, compromise, sharing money amongst Supervisors and pressurizing WAEC Officers/Supervisors to release question papers and answer scripts for candidates outside the examination hall and is to be demoted by one salary grade level.

Ms Onoriode Q. from Ovwian Secondary School, Ovwian, who was Supervisor for Mathematics 2 at St. Vincent College, Ovwian, was found guilty of not writing report to the ministry or WAEC and is to be banned from supervising any school examination for three years.

Speaking after the approval of the recommendations, Chief Ukah seriously warned those who might still have the intention of involvement in examination malpractice to have a rethink as the state government has zero tolerance for the act.

He said that stiffer penalties will be given to any person who is involved in examination malpractice no matter how highly placed and advised them to operate within the provisions of the rules guiding the conduct of examinations in the state.

The approved recommendations have been forwarded to the PPEB for implementation.

EEDC, Chaired by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, is an inter ministerial body with representatives from the Ministry of Justice, Post Primary Education Board (PPEB), Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), Association of Private School Owners of Nigeria (APSON), the Director of Examinations as well as that of Inspectorate Department in the ministry.

·          

From prison cells to Ph.D.: Advocates push to restore college access in prison

Stanley Andrisse

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter

What started as selling drugs as a teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, led to a pattern of more serious poor decisions for Stanley Andrisse as he grew up. 

By his mid-20s, he found himself convicted of three felony drug trafficking charges with a prosecutor calling for 20 years to life in prison. The sharp words said by the prosecutor that day in 2006 stuck with Andrisse. 

As he began a 10-year prison sentence, he contemplated the label he was given by the attorney. Could he really be a “career criminal” with little hope of leaving the criminal lifestyle? 

Looking back on his life choices as a teenager and young adult, he was led at the time to believe that the prosecutor was right. 

“For much of my early incarceration, I saw myself as a bad person,” Andrisse told The Christian Post in a recent interview. “I saw myself as this career criminal. I saw myself as being someone who was hopeless. Once I got out, I thought the only thing that was really left for me to do was to continue doing what I had been doing.”

But thanks to encouragement from a mentor and his pursuit of higher education, Andrisse turned his life around. 

Today, Andrisse is living proof of the abundance of talent and intelligence living within people imprisoned in correctional facilities across the United States. And if given the opportunity and access to postsecondary education, they are capable of reaching extraordinary heights many never thought possible.

“What we seek to do is really change that narrative around what that potential is [for people in prison],” he said. 

Years removed from his imprisonment, Andrisse is an endocrinologist scientist and assistant professor at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., where he is researching Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. 

He also holds a visiting professorship at Georgetown University Medical Center and previously held an adjunct position at Johns Hopkins Medicine — a far cry from the career criminal label that had been pressed on him over 13 years ago.

Additionally, Andrisse serves on the frontlines of the growing bipartisan push to restore access to federal postsecondary education grants for people serving behind bars. He also mentors 100 formerly and currently incarcerated people each year as the executive director of a nonprofit called From Prison Cells to PhD (P2P).

P2P is one of many organizations advocating on Capitol Hill for a measure to restore incarcerated students’ eligibility to receive Pell Grants. 

Pell Grants are a federal subsidy provided to low-income students to help them pay for college and other forms of postsecondary education. The grants are provided to all eligible students who apply.  

But after tough-on-crime legislation passed in 1994, students in prisons have been barred from receiving Pell Grants. Since then, most college education programs in prisons have vanished. 

Restoring Pell Grants to prisons, Andrisse argues, would provide more access to vocational classes as well as college and university degree programs. In due time, proponents contend, improving access to education in prisons will only reduce the nation’s troubling recidivism rate.  

“Nationally, 43.3 percent to 51.8 percent of formerly incarcerated individuals will recidivate within three years of leaving prison,” Andrisse explained. “Education has been correlated with a drastic reduction in recidivism rates.”

What does the data say?

A research report from the independent national research and policy organization Vera Institute of Justice, published last January, states that most people in prison in the U.S. are not receiving postsecondary education despite the fact that 64 percent are academically eligible. 

The report explains that 58 percent of people who are incarcerated in the U.S. do not complete any education program at all while in prison. Citing 2014 data, the report suggests that only 9 percent completed a postsecondary program during their prison time.

Part of the problem is that access to postsecondary education in prison is extremely limited. 

Most existing programs are funded through the federal Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative, which serves a maximum of 12,000 incarcerated students nationwide annually through partnerships with over 60 higher education institutions. 

The Vera Institute report estimates that if the ban on Pell in prisons is lifted, about 463,000 incarcerated people would be eligible to receive Pell Grants.   

According to a 2014 RAND Corporation report, the odds of recidivating are anywhere from 36 percent to 43 percent less likely for those who take part in correctional education programs than for those who do not.

The RAND report also found that the odds of finding post-release employment for those who participated in a correctional education program was 13 percent to 48 percent higher than for those who did not. 

Source: https://www.christianpost.com/news/from-prison-cells-to-phd-advocates-push-to-restore-college-access-in-prison.html?uid=*|UNIQID|*