The Chairman of the board of Cross River Basin Development Authority, Eseme

Eyiboh, has been sacked by President Muhammed Buhari.

Mr Eyiboh’s sack came about two months after the Minister of Water Resources,

Suleiman Adamu, overruled the board on the suspension of the agency’s

managing director, Bassey Nkposong, over an alleged corrupt act.

Mr Nkposong was suspended after an ad-hoc committee which looked into how

the agency was run accused him of irregularities in the award of N250 million

worth of contracts and other “breaches.”

The managing director refused to respond, twice, to the allegations, including

a query from the board before he was suspended.

Mr Nkposong, however, told PREMIUM TIMES he did not receive any query or

suspension letter from the board. He also said he was not aware of the ad-hoc

committee set up by the board.

Mr Adamu, while overruling the board on the suspension, said the board did

not possess the needed authority and also did not also follow due process.

Axed

A letter from the Ministry of Water Resources to Mr Eyiboh said President

Buhari has approved his removal as the board chairman.

The letter, dated October 8 and signed by the permanent secretary, Didi

Walson-Jack, on behalf of the minister, did not state why the board chairman

was removed.

Mr Eyiboh’s removal, however, appeared to be in connection with the board’s

investigation and eventual ‘suspension’ of the managing director.

Mr Eyiboh was not queried by the ministry. The allegation of corruption was also

not investigated by the ministry.

The minister, instead, asked the sacked chairman to hand over to a member

of the board, Ademola Oyadare.

The minister did not respond to calls and a text message seeking his comment.

Undeterred

Mr Eyiboh, on Saturday, issued a press statement over his removal. He

addressed the alleged corruption in the Cross River Basin Development

Authority.

“The Board under my chairmanship did not reckon with the organised

corruption ring that had the active connivance and protection of the power

grid at the supervising Federal Ministry of Water Resources,” he said in the

statement.

“The trajectory of the board’s running battles to ensure transparency and

probity by the management of the CRBDA shows clearly that the agency’s

Managing Director could not have been acting independently of a powerful

protective cocoon located in the supervising ministry.

“Six months after the composition and inauguration of the Governing Board of

the Cross River Basin Development Authority by the President, the management

of the CRBDA engaged in the most scandalous public auction of the

commonwealth of the people occasioning the carting away and conversations of

public assets under spurious circumstances and continued to run the Authority

as if there was no board, with the Managing Director acting as a sole

administrator, as it were before the board was constituted.

“The Governing Board had to invoke its oversight powers by setting up an ad-

hoc committee to look into the activities, programmes and projects of the

Basin Authority,” Mr Eyiboh said.

Mr Eyiboh said his removal “should not end the quest for accountability” at the

agency.

“I want to restate that Hon Eseme Eyiboh may be the target, but he is not the

issue at stake at the Cross River Basin Development Authority. The main issue is

corruption, which I believe is actively being covered up from high places. If the

supervising ministry dares, let the minister institute an independent panel to

confirm or rebut the findings of the board,” he said.

This was disclosed by the Chairlady whose name is Alice. Alice, according to the report has come out to say that things are getting harder by the day for prostitutes in the country as their customers seems to lose interest in patronizing them on a daily basis as usual.

Alice who was interviewed by the local news in the country, said that the Sex workers no longer charge USD$5 for a whole night.

 According to her, they now accept anything including foodstuffs for their services to anyone who might be in need of it.

We discovered that our customers can't afford the amount we charge per sex, they need it and we need the money or the food stuff to survive, she said. 

Alice called on the government to grant prostitutes loans in order to set up some projects in their respective communities to help fend for their daily needs and that of their family members back home.

 Alice further disclosed that she has three kids and she needs to fend for them as a good and single parent she is. Accepting foodstuff in place of money will help her get customers faster, and she will feed them comfortably with no issue. 

She further said that her kids are in school, one of her children is already in form 4, and the Child needs Zimbabwean School examination council registration fees, while the other two are still in grade 7, all these entails money, we can't survive all these challenges without the help of the government, we need loans, she said.

 Another sex worker who identified herself as Mavis told the news men that she could have opted for house help job,  but Zimbabwean people don't pay.

Just like what Zimbabwean young women and girls are experiencing, sex workers in South Africa are facing alot of challenges from their customers as there have been complains about a serious decline in patronage due to the pandemic. This has made most of the sex workers in South Africa gone digital, as selling of their nudes and videos online seems more lucrative than serving customers physically.

According to one of the former sex workers in South Africa, customers are  too broke to go for a prostitute to satisfy their sexual desires, we lose alot of money. We opted for online pornography and it's really paying off. I won't go back to prostitution again, she said.

Prostitution is growing in many parts of the world. This might be due to the global economic down turn due to the pandemic, but this shouldn't be the real reason young women and girls should choose prostitution as an option. 

Not only in Africa, According to recent studies, the number of sex workers in Melbourne, Australia is on the rise amongst students, as there is rapid decrease in government's support for students in highier institutions due to the pandemic. Prostitution is a global issue and something needs to be done, very urgently to prevent more women and girls from taking prostitution as a career, as it poises a serious danger to the future of our world.

http://www.tiznaija.com/2021/05/exclusive-zimbabwean-sex-workers-now.html